tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28081373229178946272024-03-13T00:05:37.826+00:00A Few Different ThingsMiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-91391539880802253142014-04-19T14:30:00.000+01:002014-05-11T17:49:09.889+01:00Roasted almonds and raisins chocolate treats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-81bMlcW0Ukg/U1J4lm_vSWI/AAAAAAAABx0/PQp5CTs_M6U/s1600/chocolate+treats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-81bMlcW0Ukg/U1J4lm_vSWI/AAAAAAAABx0/PQp5CTs_M6U/s1600/chocolate+treats.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I decided to make these little chocolate treats for easter, as I am still trying to make healthier food choices. Now they are not healthy in them selves, but they are maybe just a bit more healthy than most of the chocolate easter treats you find in the supermarkets.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr42N2pVsnA/U1J5fxnu9WI/AAAAAAAABx8/gHX56wcibxU/s1600/chocolate+treats+easter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr42N2pVsnA/U1J5fxnu9WI/AAAAAAAABx8/gHX56wcibxU/s1600/chocolate+treats+easter.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">200g dark dairy free chocolate of choice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25g coconut oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons of sweet freedom or agave</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pinch of salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100g almonds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100g raisins</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lightly roast the almonds in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, until they get a more golden colour inside the almond when cutting it in half. Set aside to cool, then chop roughly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Melt chocolate, coconut oil, sweet freedom or agave, and salt on a low heat while stirring. Once all melted and incorporated, turn the almonds and raisins into the chocolate mixture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spread into a small dish or baking pan lined with baking paper. Refrigerate for a few hours or over night, then cut into bite size pieces.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep refrigerated until serving. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-30025200836113171362014-04-18T21:35:00.002+01:002014-04-18T21:36:51.707+01:00Paper decorated Easter eggs decorations.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0g-qdQTIGzjhk9flH7XKYizsjAtENGu8ENryKrmkE4cz4mUdiewKC-kH7KQ_BDyPytLtnzZZInBI-_W7v9m570StU6n-SP-YIBRyFyAr1UkejBVk91xBM1a6m3QKLnJCfRQfskKcRwhE/s1600/easter+eggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0g-qdQTIGzjhk9flH7XKYizsjAtENGu8ENryKrmkE4cz4mUdiewKC-kH7KQ_BDyPytLtnzZZInBI-_W7v9m570StU6n-SP-YIBRyFyAr1UkejBVk91xBM1a6m3QKLnJCfRQfskKcRwhE/s1600/easter+eggs.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easter decorations since living in London the past 6 years, I thought it was about time to make them again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are quite easy to make and are really great if you have made the whole in the eggs a bit to big when blowing them out, as they will be covered with paper anyway.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CXA8oYtjDCE/U1GKVBj2DAI/AAAAAAAABxA/iM-96L7-eEc/s1600/easter+eggs+materials.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CXA8oYtjDCE/U1GKVBj2DAI/AAAAAAAABxA/iM-96L7-eEc/s1600/easter+eggs+materials.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What you will need:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eggs that are blown out and sterilised. <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Blow-Out-Eggs">Click Here to see how</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sheets of handmade paper</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">string or thin ribbon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PVA glue, that dries transparent </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and a small brush</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aydrBv7O6no/U1GL92dPX7I/AAAAAAAABxc/EjdNraIvqFo/s1600/easter+eggs+how+to.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aydrBv7O6no/U1GL92dPX7I/AAAAAAAABxc/EjdNraIvqFo/s1600/easter+eggs+how+to.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Start by looping through the string or ribbon and making a big enough knot for the ribbon not fall out of the top. tip is to use a match in the loop, so the ribbon doesn't fall out while you are tying the knot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tear the paper into small pieces, making sure you don't have any straight edges. This will make the pieces seem seamless when applying to the egg.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then just start gluing a piece of paper at a time onto the egg, brushing from the middle of the piece of paper towards the edges of it. Add a little bit of water to the glue if to thick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the whole egg is covered, leave to dry and then add a second layer if needed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">End with brushing on a layer off glue to seal it all in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Easter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-37749061692569781892014-03-31T16:06:00.001+01:002014-03-31T16:06:42.089+01:00The end of Eco Friendly March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VVJmwyczv98/UzmEK6VrbCI/AAAAAAAABwQ/LwSpnSOPQ7g/s3200/eco+week+three.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VVJmwyczv98/UzmEK6VrbCI/AAAAAAAABwQ/LwSpnSOPQ7g/s3200/eco+week+three.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my eco friendly March challenge is now over, but hopefully I will carry on with most of my challenges and it has certainly made me think a lot more about things every day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't feel like last week was so successful though, I did end up using the dryer twice and with our current shower, it was impossible to shut off the water in-between shampooing, as it would talk forever to get hot again, wasting the same amount of water. But it has definitely made me more conscious about things, like being conscious about what water appliances we will be installing in the new bathroom, the fact that we probably should have more than one set of beddings, so when washing, it doesn't have to be dry before having to be put back on in the evening.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have also started looking on all of the food packaging of what is recyclable, making sure I have recycled everything I could this week. But currently we have to bring our recyclables to our supermarket, that has a recycling area, so I went online to order new recycling bins from our council, where I found out that there is a lot of help with recycling in our area, so I have put it on the agenda for our next neighbour meeting and hopefully they will all be on board with a few recycling changes.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And for energy I actually found, that we were already doing what we can in that area. Most of our light bulbs are energy saving ones and we are quite good at shutting of unnecessary lights and appliances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of March as a whole I think has been quite enlighten for me, there were definitely areas I feel like I have improved on and I have become a lot more conscious about being eco friendly in every day life. But some of the things I will defiantly keep doing, is using my bike more and the car less. Within a very short time, I can already feel a big change in my energy and I have gotten back to actually like taking the bike.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have also found it extremely easy to bring my own bags to the supermarket and on the days where I have forgotten to bring, I actually get annoyed with the plastic bags after putting the groceries away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the biggest change I think is going organic, even my husband has really gotten on board with it and we pretty much only buy organic now. Our favourite being organic strawberries, that just have so much more flavour despite not being in season and we have been having them raw every evening as an evening snack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing that I find quite strange (and a bit difficult with my height) is that most supermarkets put their organic on the top shelf. I mean wouldn't it make more sense to have it on the middle shelf, as they are the products that go of the fastest, so from a business side, those would be the once you would want people to grab for, not put them up where people can't reach them!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have actually really enjoyed this month and I really hope I will be able to continue with most of my changes, as this has definitely been an educational month for me, where I feel like I have learned a lot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-80742516936289666462014-03-24T11:32:00.000+00:002014-03-24T11:32:04.968+00:00Eco Friendly March, week four<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fafA9vOAG98/UzAUj7HV-NI/AAAAAAAABvI/B5kXMlRhd54/s3200/watersaving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fafA9vOAG98/UzAUj7HV-NI/AAAAAAAABvI/B5kXMlRhd54/s3200/watersaving.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Week three went really well, I have definitely used my bicycle a lot more and the only times we have used the car was for my husband to go to work and a trip to the home improvement store for supplies for house renovations. There are just things you can't bring on a bicycle, and big planks of wood would be one of them, but instead of going to the store when ever we needed some supplies, we made a list of what we would need for the whole week and bought it all in one go. This not only made us be more organised and use the car less, but it also meant that we didn't waste time going to the store, that we could use working on the house.
But doing all my errands on the bike or on foot, has also meant that I have been getting more exercise in during the day just by doing errands, a win win in my book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not getting plastic bags while doing my shopping has also been going really well and we only forgot to bring our own bag once during the week.
We even made a "romantic" walk, out of going grocery shopping, by putting on bag packs and walking together to the supermarket a bit further away. When you walk there isn't really that many things to distract you, so it just seems easier to have a long talk about things you sort of forget to talk about during the day. So not only did we get some exercise, did our shopping, saved money on fuel, but we also got some quality time together, just by leaving the car at home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have also found this genius eco friendly shopping bag from <a href="http://www.trolley-dolly.co.uk/">www.trolley-dolly.co.uk</a> that I will be getting in the near future, just waiting for new designs to come out. As I think this will work really well to bring on the bike or when I am out for a walk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Week four:</b>
This week I will be trying to change some of the little things at home , like becoming better at recycling, not using the tumble dryer, saving water and energy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-60112297275007031462014-03-21T19:19:00.004+00:002014-03-21T19:19:47.475+00:00Different take on a victoria sponge cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I came up with this recipe for mothers day, for any mother who might want a bit more of a healthier cake (not in the diet fat free way though) or who may be struggling with some food intolerance's. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is super easy to make and will make any mothers Mother's Day extra special I think.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">300g fine spelt flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 teaspoons baking powder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/4 teaspoon salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">200ml unsweetend apple sauce (<a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/small-lemon-drizzle-cakes.html">click here on how to make yourself</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100ml flavourless oil (light olive oil, vegetable oil, groundnut oil)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">150ml agave or sweet freedom </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon of vanilla paste</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strawberry jam with no added sugar (<a href="http://shop-stdalfour-co-uk.myshopify.com/products/st-dalfour-strawberry-conserve">I use St. Dalfour, click here for more info</a> )</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fresh strawberries</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">125ml whipping cream (<a href="http://www.lactofree.co.uk/">I use Lactofree, click here for more info</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon of vanilla paste</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 175C. Line cake tins with baking paper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until white and fluffy, and holding their shape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sift all flour, baking powder and salt in a big string bowl.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whisk together, egg yolks, apple sauce, agave or sweet freedom and vanilla paste together in a different bowl.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then slowly pour into the flour mixture while string together, until everything is incorporated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slowly turn in the stiff egg whites 1/3 at a time, being careful not to beat out the air.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Divide into the two cake tins and bake for about 30-35 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leave to cool on a cake rack. Cakes will deflate a level out while cooling, so don't be afraid if this happens, it is quite normal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once cakes have cooled and you are ready to serve, whisk whipping cream and vanilla paste until wanted thickness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then layer a layer of strawberry jam, cut strawberries and whipping cream on one cake layer and place the other cake layer on top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">p.s. Can be made completely dairy free by substituting the whip cream with vanilla coconut yoghurt (<a href="http://www.coyo.co.uk/index.htm">click here for more information</a>) or skimming a can of coconut milk (<a href="http://miaslactosefreekitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/skimmed-coconut-milk.html">click here to see how</a>) and whisking in some vanilla paste and a bit of sweet freedom to taste.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-91244298244495283622014-03-20T17:00:00.001+00:002014-03-21T09:35:43.222+00:00Shippable Mother's Day gift ideas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uVo-Uko_7Ys/UysdEimOglI/AAAAAAAABoE/d_1AsSOwKGc/s3200/mothers+day+shippable+gifts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uVo-Uko_7Ys/UysdEimOglI/AAAAAAAABoE/d_1AsSOwKGc/s3200/mothers+day+shippable+gifts.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Denmark, where my mum lives, we normally just give flowers on mothers day and no gifts. But since popping by with a bouquet of flowers isn't that easy for me, with a ocean and a few countries between us, I normally send her a little something in the mail, just to let her know I am thinking of her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But when it comes to sending a present, you need to consider shipping cost as well, when you are looking for something special to send. I have done the mistake a few times, once ended up paying twice as much in shipping, than I had payed for the nice tin of biscuits I was sending, which meant I could have bought her a silk scarf and it would have ended up being the same price all together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you are having to ship your mothers day present like me this year, here is my list of thing I have sent in the past or are considering sending this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Silk or light weight scarf</b> is one of the best things to send, as they don't weigh a lot and can often be folded very compactly, making it easy to send. They don't have to cost a fortune if they are silk, I got a really beautiful one from Uniqlo last Christmas for only £9.95 and Accessorize has some really cute ones at the moment for only £12.00. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But for this mothers day present as we are going into spring, this light weight one from M&S is super cute and very fitting as a mothers day gift with the mum and baby elephant print. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marksandspencer.com/lightweight-elephant-print-scarf/p/p22295387">Price £12.50. Click Here for more information</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tea and chocolate</b>, this was actually something I sent my mum last year, with a note saying "for you to sit back and relax for a few minutes". Individual packed tea bags, like Fortnum and Mason or Pukka teas, are great for this, as you can take them out of the outer packaging and re pack them. Together with the BeyondDark chocolates buttons, that comes in small individual bags and are high in antioxidants, works really well together next to the tea bags and makes it easy to fit into any size box.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.beyonddark.co.uk/">Click Here for more information on the BeyondDark chocolates.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A beautiful print</b> is an easy thing to send in a hard back envelope, as long as you don't exceed the A4 size. Small shops or museums shops like V&A often have some great ones, also Paperchase has some really nice ones currently. But for online finds, some good places are notonthehighstreet.com and Etsy.com. The one I am considering, I am even considering getting my self, as both me and my mum have a weakness for quirky cat art, is from Etsy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/64632576/clockwork-kitty-steampunk-cat?ref=sr_gallery_1&sref=sr_3510b2751c254a4f1170070e07bf784d997cb496d17b45b59f958d9d91c2407b_1395334720_14086924_cat&sref2=NjQ2MzI1NzY.%3AY2F0%3AMTQwODY5MjQ.%3AcHJpbnQgY2F0%3AdzA.%3AMTM5NTMzNDcxOQ..%3AMjoxMzk1MzM0NzIwOmx4UVRObHJucjg1RDU5NEdXdnB3bWtQOHpIamM6YlB1S3dnMEpvM2loU2EyTUFkbkd1OWV6N2staTowMjVjNjNkNjVmZmYzMmNkY2Y1YTc5MTk0YjhhNDFiZTE3ZDQxMDYy%3Aac6fc70e62b088ca170a1347b6af0580d65b2e55&ga_search_query=print+cat&ga_ship_to=GB&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery">£4.32 (plus exchange rate can change if you are buying from a seller outside the UK on Etsy). Click Here, for more information</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My mum has a small stamp size garden and love flowers, so think these <b>flower seeds</b> from The Kew Collection would be a great present to send. Not only is this a fun little present to send if you live in London, but she will get some flowers in her garden she might not have been able to get anywhere else and will think of you when they flower.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shop.kew.org/seeds.html">£2.29-2.99. Click Here for more information.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last one is more of <b>a thoughtful present</b> and it would require using a bit of time on it. But if you are living in a different city or country than your mum, she would probably love a little insight into you daily life, so making a little Vlog of "a day in the life of you" would probably make her really happy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did a similar ting for my mum 12 years ago but with pictures, when I was studying in Nottingham, showing her where I lived, the collage where I was studying, city centre, etc. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But now a days most people are able to record video on their phone and most computers have some sort of video editing program. Then just burn on a dvd or upload to youtube with a private setting and send her a link to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do however have a little bit more time to get my mothers day parcel sorted, as in Denmark, it isn't mothers day before 11th of May.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X </span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-87451094442569021592014-03-17T20:45:00.000+00:002014-03-17T20:45:01.217+00:00Eco Friendly March, week three<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0EloGSjeas/Uyddv1PfT4I/AAAAAAAABmo/ZE8PTYzUCPc/s1600/bike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0EloGSjeas/Uyddv1PfT4I/AAAAAAAABmo/ZE8PTYzUCPc/s1600/bike.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Week 2 was all about trying to get better indoor climate, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/eco-friendly-march-week-two.html">click Here</a> to read why and how week one went. But since you can't really tell that much of a difference after just one week, I will just explain what changes I have made.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First thing I wanted to figure out was the candles, the reason why I wanted to look into getting a better indoor climate in the first place, as I had bought a bag of tea lights that made my house smell like gasoline. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From what I have gathered after reading up on the subject, it is mainly paraffin based candles and lead core wicks, that are not that good for you. So I found some Organic plant oil based tealights online to try out, though I am not sure I will buy these again, as I didn't realise they were made from palm oil when buying them. The only difference with these from the normal tea lights I buy, is that they don't have as big a flame, but I think that is down to wick being a pure fiber wick. They do however last a lot longer than my regular tea lights, about 2 hours longer, so I suppose what they lack in brightness they make up for in burning time. I have noticed a small difference in that I am not as tired late in the evening, but since the weather has been so much nicer this week, it can also be down to the house being more aired out from the open windows on sunny days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another way I found while searching for ways to improve our indoor air, is house plants. NASA actually did studies on house plans improving air quality, to use on space stations, and are shown to remove toxins in the air from chemical cleaners, paint and more. Now reading this, as I am literally living in a house we are currently renovating, definitely made me think about our current indoor air. I then contacted a friend who owns a decorating company, as I know they often work with a lot of healthier paints, and she told me that normal paint will give out fumes for up to two years of painting the walls and 5-10 years if you are using stronger paints, like oil based. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now how many plants you should have per square foot seems to varies from article to article, but most are saying a 6-inch size plant pot per 100 square foot living area. Plus they should be placed in areas where you spend the most time in the house, in my case around the bed, desk and sofa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did however find it quite funny that looking at pictures of the best plants to improve indoor air, they where all plant that I associate with elderly people, as I remember all of my grandparents having these plant all over their house….just makes you think that they might have known a bit more than we do. I am not super keen on all of the plants for my personal style, but I did find a few that seems to work in our house and I will slowly be acquiring more and more, as I find the place for them around the house. Now lets just hope I can keep them alive!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mnn.com/health/healthy-spaces/photos/15-houseplants-for-improving-indoor-air-quality/a-breath-of-fresh-air">Click Here to see a list of the 15 plants that improves indoor air.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third thing I found I could change is cleaning products, as some cleaning products will give off fumes from ingredients that aren't that good for you to breath in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now we were already using some of these products, but have now changed out all of them with non toxic ones. I don't really feel that there is a difference in efficiency, except for maybe the toilet cleaner, but I think it is just a case of using it more often than I am used to. My favourite is definitely the Method surface cleaner, that literally dissolves any mess in 30 seconds, but without any strong smell that can make you cough or be uncomfortable to breath in when using it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Week three:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is going to be a difficult one I think, but for this week I am going to challenge my self to not use the car and use my bike for errand instead. My husband has just done a spring check on my bike, making sure the wheels are keeping air and that everything is oiled up, so no excuse not to use it now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second thing is not to get plastic bags when doing my grocery shopping. Now I already do that when I remember, but I do forget to bring my reusable bags quite often, or I will just get a few things on my way back from a long walk, where I didn't bring a bag. So to set myself the challenge to not use any plastic bags for a week, will hopefully get me into a habit of not forgetting to bring my own bags when doing the grocery shopping.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
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Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-17135256287457218702014-03-12T19:24:00.000+00:002014-03-17T13:10:10.275+00:00Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGtY91w5AkY/UyBrb_sQ5RI/AAAAAAAABmA/AYWhU1Zh0to/s1600/Josie+Maran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGtY91w5AkY/UyBrb_sQ5RI/AAAAAAAABmA/AYWhU1Zh0to/s1600/Josie+Maran.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought this little bottle of Josie Maran 100% pure argan oil, when we were in the States at the end of last year, but since I still had some of my other facial oil left, I didn't start using it until the beginning of this year. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I only bought the small travel size as I had heard a few people saying that it was to rich for their skin and made them break out. I do find that some facial oils clock up my pores, but I also find that that dry oils makes me get dry patches, so I decided to just try the small size of the original version.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly, which is a big plus for me, is that the oil has no scent what so ever, it even has less scent than water does, crazy! I don't think I have ever come across an oil that didn't have a scent, but this is so welcoming to me as I normally can't stand a lot of scents natural oils have on my skin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second is that it is quite rich, yes, but my skin was fine with it if I only use very little during the day and it absorbs quite quickly, without clocking up any pores. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have mainly been using it in the evening instead of a night cream and after 6 weeks my skin definitely looks more hydrated and firm, even my pores look diminished.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I now regret not buying the big bottle, but isn't that often the way it goes! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can only cross my fingers that Josie Maran will come to the UK at one point, as after trying this amazing oil, I now want to try the whole line out. Especially the new Pure Argan Milk Intensive Hydrating Treatment, that just sounds like skin heaven in a bottle and the Argan Daily Moisturiser with SPF 47, that seems to have just launched.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But for now, if you are living in the UK like me, you can currently get a hold of some of the products on QVC UK. <a href="http://www.qvcuk.com/CatalogSearch?langId=-2&storeId=10252&catalogId=10152&keyword=josie+maran&x=-1040&y=-44">Click Here to find out more</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this brand in general fits so well with my eco friendly March theme, as companies goes, they just tick all the boxes in regards to ingredients, ethically and humanitarienly. <a href="http://www.josiemarancosmetics.com/about-josie.html">Click Here to read more about Josie Maran</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X </span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-88347516161043304632014-03-10T16:04:00.004+00:002014-03-10T16:04:52.725+00:00Eco Friendly March, week two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xf1gdtma-ZA/Ux3hwgYP0yI/AAAAAAAABlw/mcT0yoV07ug/s1600/eco+week+two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xf1gdtma-ZA/Ux3hwgYP0yI/AAAAAAAABlw/mcT0yoV07ug/s1600/eco+week+two.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first week of Eco Friendly march has gone surprisingly well and buying organic and fair-trade has been easier than I thought. <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/eco-friendly-march-week-one.html">Read first eco friendly march post by clicking Here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first concerns with this was how much more I would use buying only organic and fair-trade when possible, but since we sort of have a weekly food budget, I found it quite easy to just cut back on a few other things making me not go over our budget.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing I found had the biggest price difference is Chicken, we actually used 7 pounds more on chicken this week. Where as with beef there wasn't that big of a difference in price than what we normally buy and there was a deal on diced beef this week, so we actually ended up saving money on that one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The area I was really surprised by after gathering up the difference, was vegetables, where we actually only ended up using around 5 more than buying non organic vegetables and that is including all the vegetables we use for making juice and smoothies. Some things, like bottled tomatoes actually ended up being cheaper if you got the organic brand and some things didn't even have that big of a price difference, like spinach that was only £0.10 more and is on the list of the fruit and veg you should eat organic, <a href="http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php">click Here to read more about about that</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things I had a hard time finding was organic frozen berries, only place I found them was Whole Foods, but it doesn't actually say organic on the packaging, but googling organic frozen berries the same brand comes up, so still a bit confused about that one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way we make our food budget work, was to buy less expensive meat and some days have a vegetarian dinner or have things like eggs that are a cheaper than meat as our protein at meals. Plus using up all your groceries and not waisting has also helped with the budget.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the not waisting part I also think it went really well and only thing that got waisted was a tiny bit of spinach and kale that had gone bad over night.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some food preparation that I was already doing, just meant a bit of re-thinking, because normally I was buying things to make them specifically instead of waiting until I had over ripe bananas or apples, for frozen bananas and apple sauce. We eat a lot of bananas at our house but they do have a tendency to become overly ripe over night, so when ever they do, I peel, cut into pieces and freeze. Great for healthy banana milk shake or in smoothies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With apples that are past the eating stage, I just peel, cut into smaller pieces and cook with a bit of apple juice. When cooked and starting go mushy, then just blend, pour into small containers and freeze. Great for baking, in deserts or in yoghurt for breakfast, just take out of freezer a few hours before use to thaw.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the best way of using up vegetables, I actually came up with one evening, while only having a few things in the fridge and didn't want to go to the shops, was pasta sauce with vegetables. I only had a few mushrooms that was starting to go soft and a courgette that was a bit bruised, but together with some tomato passata in a jar, a bit of garlic and chilli, this made a really yummy tomato sauce. I think pretty much any vegetable will do, so a great way to use up vegetables. You can also blend it if you are not a big chunky vegetable fan, have kids who are just not vegetable fans in general or just make and freeze for a lazy day when you don't feel like cooking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all I think this week was a success and I found it very enlightening, especially with which supermarkets that are best when buying organic, which in my case was Tesco Ekstra and the worst actually being my local Waitrose, that doesn't have that many organic vegetables as I would have thought they would.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it has definitely made me want to continue buying as much organic (preferably UK grown) as I can and I am even currently looking into getting an organic vegetable box subscription. Not only because buying organic doesn't cost as much as I thought, but I have also found that the products have a lot more flavours and smell, than regular fruit and vegetables, so all around a convert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Week two:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for the next challenge I am going to set myself, is going to be to get a better indoor climate. Recently I kept being able to smell a gass/petroleum smell in the evening and after three days, I figured out that it was coming from our tea lights. When googling it, it turns out regular candles aren't that good for your indoor climate. But this google search also led me to a some other articles on indoor climate, so for this week, I will reed up on what I can do to improve my indoor climate and try some of them out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So stay tuned for next week if you want to know how I got on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-19874996888518664412014-03-03T16:37:00.002+00:002014-03-03T16:37:11.033+00:00Eco Friendly March, week one<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gi3g_BDJy4/UxSu4iN7-lI/AAAAAAAABlI/5n4p1l8_gcU/s1600/eco+week+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gi3g_BDJy4/UxSu4iN7-lI/AAAAAAAABlI/5n4p1l8_gcU/s1600/eco+week+one.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I wrote about, in a post last month, click to read Here, I am going to try and be a bit more eco friendly in the month of March.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for my first week of challenging myself to be a bit more eco friendly, I am going to:</span><br />
<ul>
<li style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Buying organic and fairtrade</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No food wastage </span></li>
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<a name='more'></a>Buying organic is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I used to be quite good at buying organic, but for some reason I don't do it as much any more. But organic is not only good for the environment and the people growing them, but they are also a lot better for me as you won't be getting all the chemicals from spraying, but they are also suppose to have a lot more nutrients in them.<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fair trade because it is just better for the people of the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And no food wastage, because I am a bit tired of find fruit and veg that have gone past eating stage and end up throwing it out. Firstly because I have paid good money for it and second because there are just being waisted way to much food on the planet every year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for this week I am going to buy organic and fair-trade groceries when possible and to calculate how much more it has cost me that week to do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I will come up with solutions to cut food wasting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stay tuned for my update next Monday </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-40324402867746074022014-03-01T09:48:00.000+00:002014-03-03T13:29:35.295+00:00Spelt pancakes (creps)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PnVT7C-YPp4/UxGsTewl6fI/AAAAAAAABks/wx7EWHF1XZ4/s1600/spelt+pancakes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PnVT7C-YPp4/UxGsTewl6fI/AAAAAAAABks/wx7EWHF1XZ4/s1600/spelt+pancakes2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So pancake day is only a few days away, so I thought I would share with you my spelt pancake recipe. For anyone who doesn't know what spelt is, is a different grain than wheat, but in the same family. It is an older type of grain, that has a bit more of a nutty undertone and some people find it easier to digest than wheat flour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These thin and delicious beauties are so yummy and not really that bad for you with the right filling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this pancake day, I have filled mine with sliced bananas and a little of my refined sugar free chocolate syrup, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/chocolate-syrup-white-sugar-free.html">click Here to see recipe</a>.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>Makes about 8-9 pancakes<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">120g fine-ish spelt flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">300ml milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoon of butter, plus more for frying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whisk flour, eggs and a little of the milk until completely smooth and lump free. Then add the rest of the milk and cinnamon and whisk well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the pan over low heat, melt the butter, then slowly add to the pancake dough while mixing. With the leftover butter having greased you pan, put the heat up to medium heat. When the pan is hot enough, Add 2-3 tablespoons batter (depending on the size of the pan) and swirl to completely cover bottom of the pan. Cook until underside of pancake is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancake and cook for about a minute or two more on the other side.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When all the pancakes have cooked, fill with some sliced up bananas and a tiny bit of chocolate syrup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Pancake day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-52040452058359676492014-02-28T12:13:00.002+00:002014-03-03T13:29:17.827+00:00Chocolate syrup, refined sugar free<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f2m9Ay0APxc/UxB8-836BgI/AAAAAAAABkY/KEEXanwV550/s1600/Chocolate+syrup+white+sugar+free.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f2m9Ay0APxc/UxB8-836BgI/AAAAAAAABkY/KEEXanwV550/s1600/Chocolate+syrup+white+sugar+free.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I invented this recipe a few years ago, as my husband really likes his chocolate milk, but reading on the back of ready made chocolate milk I found them to be filled with a lot of sugar and other not so good for you things. So I looked on the internet to figure out how to make my own chocolate milk and the easies way it seems, was by using a chocolate syrup. So I started experimenting with some recipes, to make one without white sugar and this is the end result.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My husband loves this syrup, he actually says it taste a lot like his favourite chocolate milk when added in milk. But it can also be used on other things, like on ice cream, desserts or even a teaspoon in coffee to make a mochaccino. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>Ingredients:<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">½ cup pure cocoa powder<br />
½ cup water<br />
½ cup agave or <a href="http://www.sweetfreedom.co.uk/index.php/sweet-freedom-original">sweet freedom</a><br />
1/8 teaspoon salt<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla paste</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a small pot mix the cocoa powder, water and salt together and bring to a boil. Whisk until there are no lumps.<br />
Ad the agave or sweet freedom, and boil until it stars to thicken a bit (like syrup). <br />
Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.<br />
Let it cool for a bit, then transferee to container of choice (I used an empty agave bottle that I had cleaned, as it makes it easy to dispense).<br />
Store in the fridge for about a week and give it a little shake before use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-58131375426408183192014-02-25T12:09:00.002+00:002014-02-25T12:09:45.755+00:00Danish Fastelavns Buns (custard filled bun)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Da_nas7zOus/UwyHVoZc-xI/AAAAAAAABjE/ZRQSYJwDjTs/s1600/fastelavnsboller2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Da_nas7zOus/UwyHVoZc-xI/AAAAAAAABjE/ZRQSYJwDjTs/s1600/fastelavnsboller2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being Danish living in the UK, I am actually quite lucky that I get more holidays to celebrate as Denmark and the UK don't have all the same holidays, but I quite often forget. For instance in Denmark we have a day where we eat duck/goose, called Saint Mortens eve and a day where we eat a bun/roll called a Hvede, called big Hvede day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where as here in England there is pancake day, St. George day and Halloween. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Danes have however started taking on Halloween, though it wasn't around when I was young. We do have another very old traditional holiday where kids dress up, called Fastelavn, normally celebrated around February. Going back to the origin of this holiday, it was to celebrate the beginning of the fast, that would then end with easter celebrations. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>It is very much like the Halloween, in that kids dress up and go door to door singing a song saying, if they don't get buns, they will make trouble, where then people will give them money (not buns like in the old days).<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the buns are still a very big part of fastelavn, called fastelavns boller (fastelavns buns). Now I can't actually remember ever making these myself and we haven' t had any for the six years we have lived in England now, so thought it was about time that I started taking up this tradition again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the buns:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">275g flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">75g butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25g fresh yeast (I get mine by asking the bakery department in my Sainsburys and they will sell me some of theirs)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100ml milk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 egg</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pinch of salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">15g sugar</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the custard filling:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 egg yokes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">200ml milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons corn starch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For frosting:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100g icing sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons pure cocoa powder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about 1 tablespoon of water</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You want to make the custard filling first, you can even make it the day before if that works better for you, as you want the custard filling to have completely cooled and set before assembling (I was a bit short for time when I made them, so that is why mine is a bit runny on the pictures, as it hadn't cooled completely).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whisk together egg yolks and sugar well, in a pan off the heat. Then add the milk, corn starch and vanilla. Whisk until it is all incorporated and the corn starch has completely dissolved. Then place the pan over low to medium heat and bring to a boil, while constantly whisking. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transferre the custard to a bowl, cover and place in the fridge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tip is to cover with cling film, but press the cling film down on top of the custard, so no air is between the custard and the cling film. This way you the custard won't get a layer of skin on top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the buns, you want to heat up the milk just a little, just above room temperature. Then transferee to a bowl and crumble in the yeast, stir until completely dissolved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stir in butter, egg, salt and sugar. Then add the flour a 1/4 at the time, until everything is incorporated. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and kneed for about 5 minutes. Transfer back in a bowl and cover, letting the dough rise to double the size, about an hour. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beat down the dough and roll out until 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Then cut into 10x10 cm (5x5 inch) squares. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRhpIemCzts/UwyHX8h_l5I/AAAAAAAABjM/PUPJhjt4zQM/s1600/fastelavnsboller+step+by+step.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRhpIemCzts/UwyHX8h_l5I/AAAAAAAABjM/PUPJhjt4zQM/s1600/fastelavnsboller+step+by+step.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To assemble, add a small tablespoon of custard in the middle of a square cut dough, tugging a bit at each corner to stretch, then fold over the custard, then repeat with opposite corner and then the 2 others. Make sure to squeeze together all holes, as you don't want the custard to escape. Turn over the bun and transfer to a baking tray covered with baking paper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let the buns rise again, about 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brush with a bit of water and then bake the buns at 200C for about 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transfer to a cooling rack. When almost completely cooled, mix together icing sugar, cocoa powder and water, but adding the water a little at a time, you want a very thick consistency, where you can just about spread it. Then spread out a dollop of icing on each bun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alternatively, leave out the cocoa powder and just add more icing sugar for white icing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope you enjoy and happy fastelavn</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span><br />
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Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-40506444870614229292014-02-23T12:15:00.000+00:002014-02-23T12:16:16.751+00:00Kérastase Biotic and Resistance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again it seems I have a new Kérastase post, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/kerastase">click Here to read the others</a>, but this truly is one of my favourite hair care brands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was looking on Kérastase website, reading about some of the new'er products and for some reason I didn't seem to be able to find the Specifique Bain Vital Dermo-Calm that I wrote about not long ago, but instead there were some new (probably not that new though) Specifique products called Bain Bio-Recharge. Now I don't know if it means that the Bain Bio-Recharge has replaced the Bain Vital Dermo-Calm and I have tried contacting Kérastase about it, but with no response so far, but it seems to be aimed at the same thing the Bain Bio-Recharge just targeting a few more areas.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>First time trying it definitely has a very different scent than any other Kérastase products, a bit more clinical, that I wasn't a big fan of first time around. But now that I have tried it for a month, I now really like the scent, as it leaves the hair with a very clean scent.<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I paired it with an old favourite Ciment Anti-Usure, as I know this is great for damaged hair and as I am trying to grow out my hair a bit, I want to keep my ends in tip top condition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After first wash my hair felt extremely clean and scalp felt very nourished. I let it air dry that first time and was quite surprised to find my hair looking like I had blow-dried it, when normally it looks a bit frizzy when I let it air dry. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now after a month of use I still find it amazing at giving shine at the same time as giving my hair a bit of volume and body. I will actually go as far as to say that it might be working a bit to well, as the other day while looking in the mirror I literally had a little sparkle at the roots of my hair, that turned out to be a grey hair that was so shiny that it sparkled. So downside is, I suppose I will have to start colouring my hair a bit more often with this shampoo! But besides that I can't say anything bad about this shampoo, I am just so impressed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-30770194001143572852014-02-21T13:08:00.001+00:002014-03-17T13:10:24.835+00:00The month of March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So in January I did post mostly with the tag Healthy January, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/healthy%20January">click Here to see</a>, and in February my post have mainly been focused on Valentine, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/valentine">click Here to see</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So continuing in the theme of themes and because this is something I have been thinking about as a personal thing to do for a long time, I thought I would make March Eco friendliness, natural month or something….if you have a good name, please let me now.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not waisting and mending instead of buying something new, has always been a part of my childhood and some of the things I was brought up with still sticks to this day. But I also think that now a days things are very disposable and it is very easy to fall in to that way of life, I know I do that all the time. So lately I have been thinking a lot about how I could make some small changes in my life to be more eco friendly and natural, so what better way than to blog about it to keep me motivated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a few products I have been wanting to make a review about that is more eco friendly and natural, and I want to try out more in the month of March, to review and see how they stand up to other products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I also want to set myself some challenges during the month, like small or big things I can do in my every day life to be more environmentally aware. My plan is, that I will try out things for a week, then do a "review" on how I got on and if it was something I would easily be able to continue with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now this isn't an idea to convert others or a way to force people to be more eco friendly, this is simply me thinking "I should really find out what else I should recycle other than glass and cannes" or "I wonder if this is good for me" way to many times without doing anything about it. So thought if I find this interesting, the people who are reading my blog might also?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you know of ways to help the environment with everyday things and you want me to try it out, please let me know and I will try my best to try them out for one of the weeks……if they are not to crazy! Also if you know of any products that fits into this category that you want me to try, then also, please let me know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write any suggestions in the comments down below or send me a tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/mia_olander">@mia_olander </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-85405525127511857972014-02-19T19:22:00.002+00:002014-02-20T14:46:53.524+00:00Pub lunch with one of the best views in London<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I had lunch in the kind of pub you see in detective series, the ones with assorted light and chairs, low ceiling, furniture all in dark old wood and I liked it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of it being a very cosy and old fashioned pub, with a great atmosphere, this pub must have one of London's best views, located on the top of Richmond Hill in Richmond and overlooking the Themes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now today wasn't the best of days for pictures, as grey skies just makes everything look miserable, but you can just imagine how beautiful it will look on a sunny spring day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also a perfect place to rest you feet after a visit to Richmond Park, located about 300 yard from the park, like we did today.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XnbaSAVibSZOy_v-1-v4U2M1M4rhyO5rPMWIIElqSW0qxLN81auE_1jIOvlRxNo8hHT60o-o2VDtr7Rxx4tn0e_Qx786SLPKDWiIel2mcajyBPus13IgHI0f-g6a__nNvbP7kST-GQ_J/s1600/roebuck+pub4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XnbaSAVibSZOy_v-1-v4U2M1M4rhyO5rPMWIIElqSW0qxLN81auE_1jIOvlRxNo8hHT60o-o2VDtr7Rxx4tn0e_Qx786SLPKDWiIel2mcajyBPus13IgHI0f-g6a__nNvbP7kST-GQ_J/s1600/roebuck+pub4.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So besides the interior, location and view, the food was excellent as well, actually one of the best chicken burger I have ever had. One of my favourite dishes are a grilled chicken breast burger, but quite often the chicken is dry and sometimes burnt, the bun is stale or there is no green stuff in sight. But this burger had done all tree things perfect, moist chicken, soft and warm bun and lots of lettuce and tomatoes. Plus lets not forget about the chips, I am normally not a big chip person, but these were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside and I ate them ALL!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And last, this pub gets big points on the little things, like the staff wishing you a good day as you leave. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't wait to come back to this place to try the Sunday roast or on a sunny day to have a drink and enjoy the view.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information visit </span><a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/roebuck-richmond/s5628/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/roebuck-richmond/s5628/ </a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-50356733420382402712014-02-14T14:24:00.002+00:002014-02-14T14:24:44.346+00:00Romantic pampering for one<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So today is Valentines day and I am going to be sitting alone tonight as my husband is working. Now we don't really celebrate Valentines day in a big way anyway, but for some reason it sort of feels wrong not to celebrate it a little bit despite being alone. Kind of like when I was on the couch alone being sick this new year, it just didn't feel right to waist a perfectly good celebration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I have come up with a plan for tonight to have an evening of pampering, so if you are alone this evening or having a girls night, this might be for you. But don't let this be just a pampering night on valentines day, make sure you always make some quality time for your self, because if you are not nice to your self, then why should other people be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I am still trying to be more healthy, so I have found a few snacks that are still a treat, as no good pampering night is any good without treats, but these are just a bit more on the healthier side. I will be having Booja Booja ice-"cream" that is a good alternative to dairy ice-cream, that is organic, soy and gluten free, made without refined sugar and taste incredibly yummy. There might also be a few of BeyondDark chocolate buttons involved in tonights pampering…….or not might, there will be! (<a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/healthy-snack-options-for-home-and-on-go.html">read more about them by clicking Here</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is the treats sorted out, now on to the pampering part of the evening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have planned:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A relaxing bath with The Eco Bath London, Muscle and joint pain Epsom salt bath soak, this stuff is so good and really relaxes all my muscles and my back, making me very relaxed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apivita, express beauty with pink clay mask, with is a gentle cleansing mask. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few candles and dimmed light is a must to get really relaxed </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And to keep hydrated and taking care of beauty from the inside, a green lemonade, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/green-lemonade-recipe-and-how-to-juice.html">click Here for recipe</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time for pyjamas </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Followed by Origins Drink Up Intensive mask, for ultimate hydration </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then a little pampering manicure with my No.7 polishes in the colour Beanie. This is actually one of my favourite high street nail polish brands, as the base coat and top coat make the manicure last a long time, the brushes are rounded making them easy to apply, and the Beanie colour is the most used colour during winter, as it just seems to go with everything. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My current favourite hand cream from Raunsborg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For tonights entertainment, I have picked out 3 of my favourite romantic movies to choose from, <span style="color: #323333;">Amélie, Chocolat and Roman Holiday.</span> They are all perfect if you are having Valentines alone, because it all involves women who are independent, but who finds love, might be in different ways, but love non the less.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-39945330521516071212014-02-11T17:52:00.000+00:002014-02-12T11:44:05.116+00:00Thoughtful gifts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days ago I posted a Valentines day gift wish list, <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/valentines-gift-wish-list.html">click Here to read</a>, but maybe you don't celebrate Valentines day in a big way and just want to give a small thoughtful gift, maybe your budget don't stretch to a big present or maybe you just want your valentines gift to be a bit more personal. Either way, a thoughtful gift is special because it is thoughtful, not because it cost a lot of money, so here are five ideas that can work for both men and women that you can get for under £10 or maybe even just costing some of your time…….and they don't just have to be given on Valentines day, they can be given all year round.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just did a blog post reviewing The five Love Languages (<a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-five-love-languages-book-review.html">click Here to read</a>), so I think the obvious first thoughtful gift idea would be to learn someones love languages. Now Valentines day isn't far away, so if this was something you wanted to do for this valentines, it might be a bit of a squeeze time wise to read the book. But it could simply be giving the book as a present with a card or a card on its own, saying you will learn their love language and speak it, to make them feel extra loved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second is a little "care" package involving an activity they love, like if a man likes watching sport, a package with their favourite drink and snack, with a card saying "promise I won't disturb next time your favourite team is playing". Or if for a woman that likes to take baths, maybe a bath bomb and a candle, saying "I will draw you a bath next time you need a bit of pampering".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing someones favourite cake and baking it for them is another great way to show you know them, plus a cake baked with love always taste the best. My husbands favourite is Lemon drizzle cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doing something for them they don't normally like to do them self. Like in our house, my husband hates ironing his work shirts, so ironing all his work shirts for him and giving him a card saying I had done that for him as a valentines present, would probably mean more to him than an expensive gift. But it could also be vacuuming the car or cleaning the kitchen cupboards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Planing a day or afternoon out, which sounds expensive but doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot of money or any at all. Finding out what the other person likes to do outside the house, it could be bringing a thermos flask of tea and going to your local park to feed the ducks. A lot of museums and galleries are free to visit and some even have a picnic area, so you can bring a romantic homemade lunch for when you need to rest your feet. My personal favourite is V&A and having a picnic by the Diana memorial fountain, but my husbands would be to visit the London Imperial War Museums.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are so many thoughtful gift to be given, this was just a few. I think the key to any successful gift is finding out what the other person likes and why they like it and then you can`t really go wrong, or at least you should be getting points for effort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mia</i></span><br />
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Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-59894986897252479422014-02-08T12:53:00.002+00:002014-02-11T17:52:22.593+00:00Valentines gift wish list<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpUpKsiYNps/UvX_QxOBiQI/AAAAAAAABgA/7kJqLOStyuk/s1600/valentines+gift+wish+list.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpUpKsiYNps/UvX_QxOBiQI/AAAAAAAABgA/7kJqLOStyuk/s1600/valentines+gift+wish+list.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Valentines day is just around the corner now, so here are my classic Valentines day gift ideas with a bit of a difference and things I would be dreaming of. It might give you some ideas for what to get the lady in your life, a list for you to pass on as a hint to someone or maybe for you to buy yourself a gift this Valentines day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the women that loves Jewellery, there is only one option in my opinion, the beautiful Chelsea bracelets from Carat are so dainty and beautiful and would make any girl very happy I think. Carat's stones sparkle like no other, and it is where I got my wedding ring from, which you can read more about, by <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/my-wedding-ring.html" target="_blank">clicking Here</a>. There is a design for any style, but my personal favourite is the Arrow white gold finish, which is actually 50% off right now and the Cross white gold finish, both extremely beautiful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">£26.00(sale)-137.00 <a href="http://www.carat.co/web/list/category/en/110?antiCache=1391855153271BE0DC957151A3C6F96E180C03F69FCBA">www.carat.co</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second is because I love the sent of this and taking baths, so a good one for someone who likes baths and pampering. It is the Ren Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil. I used to have the body shower and body lotion, that literally makes you smell like you have been rolling around wild roses, so this couldn't be more fitting as a valentines gift. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">£30.00 </span><a href="http://www.renskincare.com/p/3135/Moroccan+Rose+Otto+Bath+Oil" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.renskincare.com</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love chocolate like most people, but Booja Booja is one of my favourite chocolate truffle brands. Not only are they organic, dairy free and gluten free, but they are also the best tasting chocolate truffles I have ever tried, especially the Hazelnut Crunch. So for this Valentines I am dreaming of the Booja Booja Special Edition Gift Collection Truffle Selection No.2, containing Rhubarb and Vanilla Fool, Hazelnut, Banoffee Toffee and Almond Caramel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">£13.95 <a href="http://boojabooja.com/chocolate_truffles.asp">www.boojabooja.com</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now if you like your bubbly or the women in your life does, then Nyetimber Classic Cuvee would be an excellent choice. We had this wine at our wedding, mainly because we thought it be perfect to have an English sparkling wine at our wedding, now that we got married in England with Danish guests (<a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/i-got-married.html" target="_blank">click Here to read the story</a>). We had heard so many good things about this English sparkling wine and it did not fail, I will actually go as far as to say that this is the best sparkling wine (champagne) I have ever had.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I think the one I would put on the Valentines gift wish list would be the Nyetimber Rose, as it couldn't be more appropriate for Valentines than this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">£29.99-45.00 <a href="http://nyetimber.com/our-wines/">www.nyetimber.com</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am personally not a big fan of red roses, but an obvious choice, if the one you are giving flowers to for valentines loves red roses. But for me it is all about the white flowers, also the reason I am doing an all white flowered garden in our new home. My favourite flower scent is gardenia, I have always been drawn to the beautiful and magical scent. I have tried having potted house gardenias several times, but they are a very sensitive/temperamental plant, so I have never been able to get very many flowers to bloom on them. But at a visit to a gardening centre last fall, I discovered that you can get a garden gardenia, that should be a bit more hardy. So the perfect flower to give me this valentines would be a Gardenia Jasminoides for my new garden, reminding me of love every time it flowered. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">£18.99-50.00 depending on size. for online purchase </span><a href="http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/gardenia-jasminoides-kleims-hardy/classid.2000013083/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.crocus.co.uk</a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Mia</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-5423228168452938152014-02-01T18:35:00.002+00:002014-02-01T18:49:35.619+00:00Green Lemonade recipe and how to juice without a juicer - Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hJ0ERYAeGHg/Uu0jfOs0beI/AAAAAAAABfM/imE41HCnWus/s1600/green+lemonade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hJ0ERYAeGHg/Uu0jfOs0beI/AAAAAAAABfM/imE41HCnWus/s1600/green+lemonade.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now this was suppose to be part of my healthy January, to see all post <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/healthy%20January" target="_blank">Click Here</a>, but there hasn't been good light to film in, so this is a day overdue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of my getting healthy regime involves getting more vitamins through my diet and juicing is a great way to do that. Only problem is, I don't have a juicer anymore. When we moved into our current house, we just didn't have room for all the kitchen gadgets anymore, and one of the things that took up the most space was our juicer that we hadn't used for a few year, so I gave it away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am still not sad I did, as it was big and difficult to clean. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But after a few visits to Whole foods, where I would get a juice every time, I realised how much better I would be feeling the rest of the day. Buying a juice at Whole foods is expensive in the long run, and I don't have one in walking distance of where I live, so if I wanted to have a daily juice, I had to think out of the box. I didn't want to buy another juicer, as they are expensive and I might just end up collecting dust again at one point like the other, so I thought about what we already had in our kitchen and came up with this method.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have a Nutribullet, but any good blender will do for this. Then you just need a fine strainer and a jug, thats it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You just add all the ingredients to the blender, with a little water and then blend until as smooth as you can get it. Then you just work it though the sieve with a spoon, easy peasy. And it is all things that are easy to clean and that most people have in their kitchen, so a great way to see if juicing is for you before investing in a big expensive juicer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I won't say I will never get a juicer again, but for now, this works for me and the size of our kitchen.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/TBxHiodX1g8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now for my favourite recipe that was inspired from my favourite juice at whole foods. It is rich in Vitamin C and iron from the spinach and kale and it taste divine, like a really refreshing lemonade.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green lemonade. Makes about 2 glasses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 big handful of organic kale</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 big handful of organic spinach</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 sticks of organic celery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a small piece of ginger (optional) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">juice of 1-2 lemons</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1-2 sweet organic apples or 100-200ml organic apple juice </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and about 200ml water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I use organic ingredients for most of the ingredients in this recipe, is that you are getting a very concentrated vitamin boost from this. So since the products I use organic here are all on the list of 15 vegetables and fruit you should eat organic, I have decided to use organic to get the healthiest juice possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also normally use organic apple juice from a carton, just because I haven't been able to find organic apples that are sweet enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mia</span><br />
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Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-57104778974175804672014-01-31T16:35:00.000+00:002014-02-01T18:39:40.862+00:00My favourite kitchen appliance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7F7VrBI4eN0/UuvOZmvRTWI/AAAAAAAABes/FsVYtOcVn54/s1600/nutribullet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7F7VrBI4eN0/UuvOZmvRTWI/AAAAAAAABes/FsVYtOcVn54/s1600/nutribullet.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have actually only had the Nutribullet for a month now, but it is already my favourite kitchen appliance by far. I have actually gone through 2 Magic Bullet's over the last 8 years, that both literally died from wear and tear of being used so much. So this time when it was time to get a new one, we decided to upgrade to the big brother of Magic Bullet, the Nutribullet by Magic Bullet. The Nutribullet seems to be a lot better quality, has a better motor, more sturdy and doesn't have a lot of extra gadgets you never use, like the Magic Bullet, so really happy we upgraded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the reason we chose to get this kind of blender, is that we already have a food processor, so seemed silly to get a normal blender. Plus these big kitchen appliances take up a lot of space and are just a bit more difficult to clean. With this, you just unscrew, rinse under water and pop in the dishwasher, where it doesn't take up a lot of space.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We actually also own a hand blender, but to be honest, both that and the food processor get used only a few times a year, max, as even if I am blending a bigger portion of something, I will still use the Bullet and just do it in batches, as I know it will be easier to clean afterwards.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what do we use it for? well, everything really and not just for healthy drinks. We use it for smoothies, juices, healthy ice-cream, soups, pastes and sauces. We actually use it so much, that I wish you could get extra blades and cups, so I didn't have to wash them by hand in-between running the dishwasher.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I also like that with this you can sort of chop things roughly, like when I make puttanesca, but I can also get it completely smooth for when I am juicing.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ekoFzB2zZRQ/UuvObCzOOFI/AAAAAAAABe8/EZend8YuyVA/s1600/nutribullet+use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ekoFzB2zZRQ/UuvObCzOOFI/AAAAAAAABe8/EZend8YuyVA/s1600/nutribullet+use.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are some of the things I make during the week, using the Nutribullet. To be honest, this could easily be what I make in a day actually.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First picture is of the healthy pancakes that I learned to make via an Instagram from Gemsmaquillage, <a href="http://instagram.com/p/jEV6CtMLX0/" target="_blank">Click Here to see</a>. I just add a tablespoon more of my gluten free oats to my pancakes. I just pop all the ingredients in the Nutribullet and hey presto, you got easy healthy pancake batter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next picture is Puttanesca pasta sauce, where I just chop the ingredients roughly using the Nutribullet. <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/puttanesca-my-favourite.html" target="_blank">See recipe Here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next is my favourite juice recipe, green lemonade. <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/green-lemonade-recipe-and-how-to-juice.html" target="_blank">Click Here for recipe and video on how to make it.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there is my a bit healthier chocolate chip cookies, where I use the Nutribullet to blend together nuts and flour, and then stir in the wet ingredients with a fork. <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-bit-of-better-for-you-chocolate-chip.html" target="_blank">For recipe Click Here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And last is my favourite healthy dessert, just roughly chopped up bananas that has been frozen, with a few frozen berries, almond milk and a tiny bit of vanilla paste. Then just blend into a lovely healthy ice-"cream". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Definitely a good choice if you are looking for a blender and you want something that is easy to clean and doesn't take up to much kitchen space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Price is £99.99 and we got ours from Robert Dyas <a href="http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/nutribullet-nutrition-extractor/">http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/nutribullet-nutrition-extractor/</a> here in UK.</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-61148587104551950242014-01-29T12:09:00.001+00:002014-01-29T12:09:59.024+00:00Healthy snack options, for home and on the go.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qeomX39YKR0/UuENPqzmrVI/AAAAAAAABcg/pI0xfDAtG08/s1600/healthy+snacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qeomX39YKR0/UuENPqzmrVI/AAAAAAAABcg/pI0xfDAtG08/s1600/healthy+snacks.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think especially in the beginning when you are trying to eat healthier, it can be very difficult not giving into old cravings. So I have found some healthier no fuss alternatives for when those cravings come around, as I think if you don't have a substitute in your house or with you on the go, it is more likely for you to "fall in" and eat something unhealthy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of these snacks are also great handbag snacks to carry around with you, for when you suddenly get a chocolate craving or feel your blood sugar dropping. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of it the good old banana, it is great for when you are feeling hungry in-between meals and great for stabilising you blood sugar. It is great for the handbag as it has it's own protective skin, but if you do find it gets bruised in you bag, you can also get a banana case for it (just search banana case on amazon).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is also a great evening snack, so if you are feeling hungry late at night, they won't interfere with a good nights sleep, as they actually have muscle relaxing properties.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chocolate is something most people love and crave, but not all love dark chocolate, that are the healthier option, mainly because of the bitterness. But these lovely dark chocolate buttons, that are from Beyond Dark , are smooth, not very bitter, low in sugar, dairy free and has 3 times as much antioxidants than normal dark chocolate. They are also great for portion controls as it is easy to just take out a few buttons when you feel a chocolate craving coming on. If you cut off the top and put a sealing food clip on, they are also great for the handbag, #grannyalert but it works.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information visit http://www.beyonddark.co.uk </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dried fruit can be a great option, but they can be quite concentrated in fructose, so like anything really enjoy in moderations. Dates are suppose to be one of the healthier in the dried fruits category, as they are a good source of fibres, vitamins and minerals. If you get the fresher kind, the are also the natures version of amazing fudge-caramel like sweet, so really good to satisfy a sweet craving. In a small tupperware, they are great for the handbag.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last one is nuts. I think for a lot of years people have been afraid of nuts, as they are high in fat (if I had a penny for every time I had heard the phrase "vegetarians get fat because they eat to many nuts"). But a lot of new research are now saying that if you eat raw nuts, they will not affect you weight because of the way you digest them, but are very good for you because of vitamins and fibres they contain. The key word here being raw though and a small handful of almonds are a great snack for during the day, as it is high in protein and fibre, so will keep you full in-between meals. So just pop a bag in you handbag for hunger emergencies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me know what your healthy snacks are and what you find easy to carry around with you for when craving strikes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X </span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-5351961991384811422014-01-27T16:33:00.000+00:002014-01-28T12:43:45.280+00:00Puttanesca, my favourite.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/---o0g4uIOcQ/UuKN128STKI/AAAAAAAABeE/mnr5y7ehBEY/s1600/puttanesca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/---o0g4uIOcQ/UuKN128STKI/AAAAAAAABeE/mnr5y7ehBEY/s1600/puttanesca.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is probably my favourite pasta recipe, might actually be my favourite recipe all together now that I think about it. I have made it countless times, since I saw a chef make it on danish television, about 6 years ago and I don't think I will ever get tired of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not a big fan of Puttanesca when ordering it at restaurants, and I think the reason is big pieces of anchovies and tomato in those versions, which I am not a fan of personally. In my recipe all the ingredients are finely chopped and I think that is the reason, why everyone I have ever made this for like it so much as well, despite them normally not liking all the ingredients that goes into it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually hadn't heard about puttanesca before watching Lemony Snicket's A series of unfortunate events, where the kids make it, saying Puttanesca is Italian for very few ingredients, not sure if that is true though. But anyway, I have a bit of a weird obsession with food in movies, so when I saw the recipe on tv, I had to try it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend once said when tasting this, a friend who don't like anchovies, olives or capers I might add, that it tasted like a bolognese sauce, but with a lot more flavour and much yummier. So just goes to show you, that you shouldn't be put off by this recipe, despite not liking all the ingredients that goes into it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Makes about 4 portions for pasta, but can also be used as a courgetti sauce, on</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> cooked potatoes or as a hot dip.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I normally have this with my favourite gluten free spaghetti, BioFair Rice Quinoa spaghetti.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">200g black pitted olives</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50g capers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1-2 cloves of garlic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1-2 chilies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3-5 small anchovies or about 2 inches of anchovy paste</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons of oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">canned tomatoes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">zest of one unwaxed lemon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A big handful parsley</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chop up all the ingredients finely (blending the canned tomatoes), I just pulse them all separately in a blender.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then heat up the oil in a pan and add the garlic and anchovies, stirring for about a minute until the anchovies have melted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add the capers and olives and fry for a minute or two, then adding the blended tomatoes and lemon peel. Once mixed well, just let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes and you get a thick consist like a bolognese sauce. Then just add the parsley and you are ready to serve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mia</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-25209618299856981762014-01-25T10:25:00.000+00:002014-01-25T10:33:52.629+00:00A bit of a better for you chocolate chip cookie.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0cMblDu0cSs/Ut_T3N9MjTI/AAAAAAAABcI/GMwkBy4HZm8/s1600/healthy+cookie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0cMblDu0cSs/Ut_T3N9MjTI/AAAAAAAABcI/GMwkBy4HZm8/s1600/healthy+cookie.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love this recipe for many reasons, one of them being that it is a great way to use up some nuts you might just have left over or just lying around. But it is also a bit of a better for you cookie, it is still a cookie with fat and sugar, so don't think you can eat endlessly without guilt, but is just a bit better cookie for your blood sugar and has a bit more protein in it. I normally have one coming back from a long walk and craving something sweet or as an afternoon snack to tie me over till dinner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a very flexible recipe, as you can pretty much tailor this recipe to your need, depending on if you want it dairy free, gluten free or with what natural sugar or oil you like to use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is so easy to make, and once you find out the calculations of the recipe, it is easy to make with however many grams of nuts you have lying around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For instance, if you have 100g of nuts, then need same grams of flour. Then half the gram amount to get the grams of chocolate chip cookies and the ml amount for liquids, so 50g/ml of oil and sweetener.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then you can add a little salt or/and vanilla paste to taste, I personally like a bit of salt to even out the sweetness in the cookie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for good measures here are the ingredients listed in measurements, but you could just as easily make this with say 60g of nuts you had left over from something, and then 60g of flour and 30g chocolate and 30ml of the wet…..hope this makes sense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100g nuts, like almonds, hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100g flour (you can easily make these gluten free by using plain gluten free flour).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50g dark chocolate chips (use dairy free once for a dairy free version).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50ml oil, like coconut, groundnut or light olive oil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50ml sweet freedom, agave or light honey.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Salt and/or vanilla past to taste.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 175°C</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a blender, blend together nuts, flour and (salt), until finely blended. Transferee to a bowl and break up any clumps between your hands.<br />
whisk together the wet ingredients, and with a fork, stir them into the flour-nut mixture, until it all comes together as a sticky dough.<br />
Then stir in the chocolate buttons.<br />
Take teaspoons of dough and roll into balls between your hands, place on a baking tray covered with baking paper, and press them a bit flatter to a cookie shape.<br />
Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.<br />
Let them stay on the baking tray for a few minutes, then transferee to a wire rack to cool completely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808137322917894627.post-45230057741218102832014-01-24T10:05:00.000+00:002014-01-24T12:17:22.380+00:00Getting healthy and in shape. Part 2, what works for me.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So 2014 is going to be the year I get back to a healthier, happier, fitter me. But because of not really having been able to do a lot of exercise the last three years, because of a broken ankle, I am sort of starting from the bottom again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been trying to get out of the house as much as possible since I broke my ankle, but I had a lot of complications with it, so there were long periods of time where it just wasn't possible. I am now finally at a place where I can once again build up my fitness levels and become more active once again, but I also know it won't happen from one day to the next, having been through this once before. <a href="http://afewdifferentthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/getting-healthy-and-in-shape-part-1-my.html" target="_blank">Read about that in part 1 by clicking Here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am also going to be changing my diet up a little. I am already quite good at eating healthy, but I have definitely been falling a little in connection with often choosing easy meal option, while we have been busy renovating our new house and not having a kitchen for a long time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am quite fortunate in having gone through all this before, because it doesn't seem as daunting this time, as I have obviously been able to to it before, so know I can do it now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do have to be careful of not putting to much strain on my joints on the leg where I broke the ankle, but I think that is the case for anyone who are starting to get active from the button, as you joints are not use to the strain and you are more likely to do damage if not careful. This was one of the things I was very much aware of last time and this time. So first thing that I know work for me, are the right shoes. I was lucky that I got a gift certificate to a sports shop that specialise in custom footwear last time, so I was filmed running on a treadmill, where they found that I twist my foot inwards when I run because of a high arch, meaning that my trainers need to have arch support, for my ankles and knees not to suffer any damage in the long run.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My husband actually have the same thing, and for years he had trouble with his knee, but since getting insoles in his trainers and football boots, he hasn't had any problems since. So very important to get the right foot wear for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second thing that has already been a bigger help this time is a running app for my phone, as the one I have gotten also includes other activities beside running, like walking. Last time I would time myself walking the same route to see if I had improved, but this app just makes that much easier, as you can track the distance you have walked, the time it has taken you and your average speed. This is especially great for when you have days you don't seem to see any improvement, that you can compare how much you have improved since your first walk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last time I started off with a 20 minute walk, but this time I am able to start of with a 40 minute walk, just because I am a more active person now than I was 8 years ago and I have been doing physio as part of ankle recovery. I do that walk about 3-5 times a week and I walk in a tempo where I am flushed and a little out of breath after the walk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then when you find the walk to easy, you add in a bit more distance and slowly work up to the time you want. If you want to start running, that comes when you are able to walk 45 minutes to an hour without being out of breath and if you walk any faster you would be running anyway. You want to put the walk down to a 20-30 minute distance again, a few times a week. For every 4-5 minutes you want to do a slow run for 30 seconds and slowly week by week, add on 30 seconds of running one week, and take off a minutes of walking the next. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you do find that you are starting to get knee or ankle pains, stop running and start doing some exercises to strengthen the muscles around your joints and maybe see a doctor. Then try the running again a few months later. Very important to listen to you body, pain isn't always gain!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will also find that starting to exercise will take up a lot of you energy and you might feel more tired than before starting the regime, so make sure to take the time out to be tired and don't arrange a lot of plans in your calendars, try and have as open a calendar as possible in the beginning, it is about focusing on you and your health. You will have plenty of time to be sociable when you start getting the reward of extra energy when your body gets use to the exercise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another great thing I have found helps me get motivated to go on my walks, is audiobooks, something exciting that you are eager to hear what happens next is a good way to get you out of the house if you only allow your self to listen when on walks. I am currently listening to Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, that I got via Audible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third for me is diet, as exercise and diet go hand in hand. So I am cutting out white sugars, white pasta, white rice and white bread. have fruit and vegetables at every meal and a daily juice, and making my own healthy meals, so I know exactly what is in them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am obviously not being religious about this, as it can make your life a bit miserable, but as a good guideline for my diet most of the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I am definitely not going on a diet, I don't even own a pair of scales, it is all about being healthy for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope you found some of my tips helpful and please tell me in the comments down below if you are trying to get healthy and what helps you. Or if you are finding it hard and need a bit of encouragement, please write as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The running App I use is the Runtastic that works with a gps in your phone. for more information visit <a href="http://www.runtastic.com/">www.runtastic.com</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And for more information on Audible, visit <a href="http://www.audible.co.uk/">www.audible.co.uk</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mia</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span>Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01471802939656365416noreply@blogger.com0