Pineapple and Grape Green Smoothie Recipe

Smoothies are my favourite light breakfast, and as Summer hits I usually find myself relying on them more and more. But, this summer I'm living in a room with my boyfriend's parents whilst we save up for our own flat, which means no smoothie making for me. However, my nostalgia for my one true love (green smoothies of course), means that I've whipped this recipe up for you today. I've already shared some of my favourite smoothie recipes of all time with you, including my strawberry and basil smoothie and my antioxidant green smoothie.
My pineapple and grape green smoothie however is possibly the lowest-calorie smoothie I've ever shared, so it's fab if you're looking to drop a few pounds and want a healthy breakfast alternative that leaves you feeling full. As it's a green smoothie, dropping a little bit of vitamin-filled wheatgrass or spirulina in is really easy to do without altering the taste too much.
Ingredients:
1 inch thick slice of pineapple, or about 1 1/2 cups Handful of grapes, or 1 cup Large handful spinach, or 2 cups 3 romaine lettuce leaves 1 stalk celery 150g milk alternative (I use rice milk)
Method: - Chop all of the solid ingredients up, apart from the grapes - Put all of the ingredients in your blender and whizz for 2 minutes
What is your favourite smoothie recipe for summer?
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Nourish My Versatility | Seedy Health Boosts with Linwoods Health Foods*

Despite having slightly unreasonable health goals for 2016 (stop eating sugar, look like Blake Lively, develop mermaid hair etc.), I have one massive downfall that is the likeliest reason to keep me from achieving even my minor ones (doing yoga 5+ times a week, going to the gym regularly, cut down on my dairy intake): laziness. If I can see a way around doing something the long way, believe me, I'll be down that rabbit hole of a shortcut before you know it. Often this leads to unhealthy choices - I've ashamedly had my share of takeaways over the past couple of months - but here is an opportunity to allow myself to still be that little bit lazy and get the health kick I need with my meals: seeds. Now, I'm not one of those people that can sit there with a handful of seeds or nuts and eat them as a snack unfortunately, but this selection of seeds* from Linwoods helps me get around that issue. Chia seeds are my main gal in terms of the seed world. They really hit the healthy food sphere big time a couple of years ago and now almost everybody has heard of them. These Linwoods chia seeds* are used on pretty much a daily basis for me. Firstly they're fairly flavourless, so I can whack them in almost anything to add a little bit of much needed nutrition. They're always blended up in my smoothies and pancakes, and are great for topping fruit salads.  My next favourite is the Milled Organic Flaxseed, Sunflower & Pumpkin Seed*. I'm really not the greatest fan of sunflower or pumpkin seeds in their natural form. I find the flavours far too strong and can't abide the texture of the seeds themselves. So, this little mixture gives me the opportunity to add just a tiny bit of a nutritional kick to my soups and pastas without having them swimming in boldly flavoured crunchy seeds! Finally we have my lesser favourites of the bunch: shelled hemp* and goji berries*. Again, this is largely a flavour thing for me. Raisins are pretty much my enemy (why can't I just enjoy all the foods that are good for me?!), and goji berries lie a little too close to that territory in my opinion. However, if you're like the other 80%ish percent of the population and are a raisin fan. these are great for adding to muesli or granola and topping your fruit salads with. The hemp seeds are similarly fab for adding to cereal to make it taste less bland and add a little bit of protein to your meal. I hope I've given you all some ideas on how you can add just a little extra nutrition to a whole range of meals without any effort - see, this changing diet thing isn't so bad after all!

Feeling Bittersweet | Homemade Orange Juice

The past year has been a little turmoil-filled for me to say the least. From graduating uni and becoming a graduate in a menial bar job (oh the joys of Wetherspoons), to the separation of my parents, as well as everything in between, my emotions have been put to the test. So, putting on quite a number of pounds this season has been a bit of the straw that has broken this camel's back, so to speak. I'm going to speak a little bit more about how I'm dealing with weight gain in a later blog post, but I wanted to share a recipe that has been making this girly's winter a little more bearable.  So, here's my blues busting minty orange juice recipe: 4 (organic) oranges 1 sprig of mint Juice the two ingredients and add some crushed ice if you want a really refreshing beverage. What's your favourite drink to drive away the blues (and yes, wine does count!)

Favourite Healthy Festive Snack | Simple Apple Tarts

Baking is probably my favourite form of stress relief. When I'm feeling really homesick, or just want to get rid of a bad mood I often turn to whipping something up in the kitchen, aka procrastibaking. I'm always on the lookout for something that will actually fit somewhere between "yummy, but filled with things that are bad for you" and, as my housemates often put it, "the crazy healthy shit that Steph makes and no one eats". This actually seemed to hit the spot! Totally suitable for vegans and anyone going dairy or nut free, these little apple tarts are cute and won't clog your arteries. 
So, here's what you need to make them:
2/3 cooking apples Coconut palm sugar (or a sugar of your choice) Filo pastry
And here's how you make them:
1.) Peel and chop the cooking apples. Place them in a pan with a tiny amount of water (about a centimetre at the bottom of the pan) and as much sugar as you wish. I like my apples quite sharp, but 150g is probably the maximum I would advise if you have a slightly sweeter tooth. 2.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. 3.) Cut the filo pastry into squares of a suitable size to fill a muffin/cupcake tin with a little bit of overlap on the edge. Place one in each cupcake hold and then place another one on top at a 90 degree angle.  4.) Cook the apples for 20 minutes and leave them to cool for 5-10. Then place a tablespoon full of apple in each pastry holder. 5.) Cook for 10 minutes. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then enjoy!
In my opinion cinnamon is like marmite: you either love it or you hate it. I hate it, BUT, if you're on the opposition as it were, you could add some cinnamon or nutmeg to the apples prior to putting everything in the oven to add a bit of winter heat!
What do you like to bake when you're feeling stressed?

Warming Vegan Chickpea and Tomato Soup

Autumn is upon us (and by the looks of it Winter is coming too!), and so my mind has turned to making homemade soups. As someone who's lactose intolerant, I often find it incredibly difficult to buy yummy tomato soups that don't have some form of dairy in, so I've been making my own for a couple of years now. However, this week I tried something a little different, by adding chickpeas and haricot beans to my normal recipe.
So, here's what you need for two portions:
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tablespoon tomato puree 1 small red onion 2 cloves garlic 1 small tin of chickpeas 1 small tin of haricot beans Coconut oil Fresh basil Salt and pepper
And here's how you make it:
1.) Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan. 2.) Chop the onion and garlic 3.) Place the onion and garlic in the oil and cook until soft 4.) Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, haricot beans, tomato puree and salt and pepper 5.) Simmer for 15 minutes 6.) Stir in the basil and you're done!
This is a great basic dish that you can add anything that's "on the verge", as I like to call, it in the fridge to - I usually end up putting some red pepper, carrot, peas, green beans, etc. in it: anything goes really! The other great thing about it (which makes it my favourite easy lunch of all time) is that you can bulk make it and freeze a whole load of portions, aka lunch for days!
What's your favourite Autumn soup dish?

No More Loneliness | Raising Awareness with Sunrise

We all know how awful it can be to feel lonely, yet it must be so much worse to feel lonely and either less mobile, or more isolated than us young'uns would be. So, I teamed up with Sunrise Senior Living to create a meal to raise awareness for the often crippling loneliness that elderly people feel. I invited my dearest grandmother to come along so that I could make her a meal, courtesy of Sunrise and the recipes they sent me, and play some games with her.
I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. My grandma is basically the master chef of our entire family and I wanted to make something to finally prove that I'm basically an adult and totally capable of cooking things for myself. So, I went with a goat's cheese and roasted cherry tomato salad (one of my own recipes which you can find here) for a starter, and Sunrise's beef bourgignon recipe. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself. Despite the bottom of my pan looking a little cinder-y, the main itself was delicious, and I've definitely saved the handy recipe card it came on for future use.
When Sunrise first contacted me, I was given a choice of potential games that they could send for us to play. After we'd eaten our meal together I got my whole household (well, the three of us plus Grandma) together, so that we could all play some card games. I am so glad to say that grandma absolutely loved this - though maybe that was the wine from the meal talking?! The entire day gave us a chance to spend some quality time together, as well as for her to learn some new card games and finally get out of the house. As we lost my grandfather earlier this year, it's become even more important that as a family we spend time together, so Sunrise provided me with a perfect opportunity to do exactly that.
Finally, I challenge you to do what I did: spend some time with a neighbour, friend or relative who is elderly: cook them a meal of something they wouldn't eat everyday and take the opportunity to listen to their woes and joys this Autumn.  

Halloween Snacks | Spook Me

We all love a bit of festive cooking right? I've prepared this uber quick recipes for you guys to get in the spirit of things towards the end of the month!
Jelly-filled Oranges
Jelly sachet (flavour of your choice) Oranges
Create and set the jelly. Slice the top off of the orange. Using a knife/fork/spoon/your fingers to scoop the insides of the orange out. Carve an image of your choice in the skin of the orange. Cut the jelly up into cubes and fill the orange up with it!
Oat and Honey "Scab" Cookies
I used the recipe from my Great British Bake Off book, featured here, as a base. My hatred for cinnamon led me to leave this out however, and I replaced the dried fruit with mixed red berries.
To create the topping I warmed up 100g of frozen blueberries in the microwave and then mashed them. I spooned the warm gooey mixture over the cookies. 
What are you cooking up this halloween?

Make Me Smell Pretty | Treets Cosmetics

Mango is pretty glorious is any form in my opinion, so when I came across this range in Holland and Barratt my little eyes lit up. Treets' products are all pH neutral , paraben, colorant and silicone free, and smell beautiful - what's not to love?! 
The body lotion is incredibly light on the skin, so blends in easily in both winter and summer.This was definitely my favourite out of the two. Although the shower gel also smells divine, it doesn't foam as much as would be ideal. However, knowing that this is because it contains no nasties does help a great deal to make this seem like less of an issue!
Have you tried any of this range? 

Topping up on Nutrients | Holland and Barratt Mini Haul

As I've mentioned before, I love making my green smoothies that extra bit more nutritious by adding supplements (and yes, I do have half a shelf full of them!). Holland and Barratt is pretty much my go-to, so last time I headed there I picked up some Spirulina powder and energy boost powder to pop into my breakfasts. 

Although the energy boost powder (containing cacao, lucuma, maca and hemp protein) had the subtler taste of the two, the spirulina powder was definitely my favourite. It has really helped me to remain full for four or five hours after eating (or drinking?!) my morning smoothie, and so was perfect fuel during exam season. 

Here are a list of some of the potential benefits of spirulina:

- high in protein

- helps maintain eye health

- reduces inflammation

- improves the digestive system

What do you add to your smoothies? 

A First Time For Everything | Sushi at Overseas

When it comes to trying new food I'm a teensy bit of a stubborn person, and so my boyfriend, best friend and sister have been attempting to persuade me to try to sushi for over a year to no avail. But, when I headed to Los Cristianos in Tenerife earlier this summer I realised that I may as well push myself out of my food comfort zone as I was doing it with so many other things over the week that I was away. Unwilling at first to try "proper" sushi, i.e. that containing raw fish, I went for a chicken tempura california roll topped with mango, and it was heavenly (Yo! Sushi really need to get some of this on their menu!). When we returned to this gorgeous restaurant however, I pushed the boat out a little with some smoked salmon and cream cheese maki, as well as some mango maki.

All in all, I'm so glad that my first attempt at sushi was at Overseas Restaurant, and I'm waiting to find somewhere in the UK that lives up to the flavours and quality of presentation we experienced here. 

Where's your favourite place to get sushi?

My Experience | Raw Till 4 Week One

So much food inspo right? I've you've been keeping up with my instagram (@steph_nourishmindandbody) over the past few weeks, you will have noticed that I attempted and succeeded in doing raw till 4 for a fortnight. If you haven't heard of raw till 4, it's a lifestyle by which you only eat raw vegan foods until 4pm, usually in the form of mono meals (i.e. six mangoes, an entire melon, 8 peaches, etc.). Then in the evening you carb up and continue to avoid processed foods. Again, mono meals can be used here. The most popular dinner mono meal is a massive bowl of potatoes - and believe me, after a day of only eating raw fruits and vegetables, this is definitely an appealing choice!

The first few days for me were the best, and I think I might do it for three days once a month from now on to reset my system. I started raw till 4 a week before my first final exam, and it completely cleared the general sleepy fuzziness in my head up. I felt completely energised and as if I could take on the world.

However, since trying raw till 4, I've realised it is not the best idea for me. By time 4pm rolled around I had spent so long fantasising about cooked food all day that I ended up craving takeaways and ready meals - not something I want to eat on a regular basis. Plus, after a few days I felt as though I was really lacking in energy by time it got to about half four, and felt too lethargic to cook anything decent for myself. SO, I've taken on board what I've learnt and switched things around a little in an attempt to detox: I make a massive smoothie in the morning, and save half for dinner. I have my main meal at lunch time, which keeps me energised all afternoon!

Have you tried raw till 4? What did you think?

Love and Light

Steph