Win a Kenwood Smoothie Maker to Go

I'm coming up to my first blogoversary. Indeed, I do believe it is the 24th January.

Before I started my epic blogging adventure, I never really read blogs, and as well you know I started this one as a bit of a me and mine only. Alas, the world of blogging is a vast and many splendid thing, and in this seemingly ridiculously short year I've been dragged into many a challenge, community, whatever. Some I've passed with flying colours, and some I've failed miserably. Remember that photo challenge I signed up for at the beginning of the month? Hardy har!

But right up until now I've never signed up to a giveaway. It's one of my 101 in 1001 blogging goals to host one, so I thought I'd better see how it is to be on the other end first ;) But I'm not one for entering any old carp (glub glub). This is no flimsy little gift from a blog who wishes only for self promotion. Nay lads and lassies. This is a smoothie maker.

A smoothie maker to go.

Indeed, it is a kenwood smoothie maker to go.

Why am I so thrilled about this? You've all seen the piccies from my kitchen in the summer when I did my big clean out. It is tiny. It occupies the slightest little corner of my living room. If you have not seen them, then here is one;

You see that thing that looks like a microwave with hobs and knobs in the background? That's my oven. It's a brilliant little thing, don't get me wrong, we made Christmas dinner in it and it was a damn fine Christmas dinner at that! But my point is...I have no room for real, full sized kitchen utensils. My space is limited, and it's frustrating because I can only achieve so much with what I've got to hand.

This may well be just me, but if I had my hands on one of those there smoothie makers, it would become like many things in this here little flat of mine; multi functional. Smoothies, yes, delicious as they are, would grace my smoothie maker, sweetned with honey and thickened with the most delectable of 0% fat greek yoghurts. I'm drooling already. But also soups, purees and juices, all would I spin out of this pint sized wonder. What is a happy little gym gadget for some would mean a whole new lease of life in the kitchen to me.

So here's the deal. Check out Rebecca at Weight Wars and see what you think. And enter your little self on in there. Men and women of tiny little kitchens, take heed, and dream yourself up the wonders you could create with such an awesome little gadget.

And Rebecca, I know it's all randomised and everything....but please please please please please pick me!

Resipe: Chorizo and Chickpea Tagine

We had this last night, and can I just say...both me and Ben absolutely wolfed it down! The chorizo means it's not exactly amazingly healthy, but you could substitute it for paprika marinated chicken for something healthier. Also, we served it with couscous again (The third time this week I've eaten couscous...I've not eaten it since the first time I tried it when I was 13 and decided I didn't like it!) but it would go amazingly in a pitta bread. I'm considering making it one night and saving it for work the next day, but I don't think it'd last long enough! Oh, and I think I've figured the secret of using the tagine...cook my chickpeas first, and it survives wonderfully under a higher heat than I used the first time!

Chorizo and Chickpea Tagine

Serves 2

200g tinned Chickpeas
1 desert spoon of olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pepper, finely chopped
1 Chorizo sausage, cut into rounds
1 tsp hot chili powder
1 tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried thyme

1. Cook your chickpeas however it is you like to cook them (saucepan, microwave, however it is you like to do it)
2. Heat the oil in your tagine or heavy bottomed caserole dish 
3. Saute the onion, garlic and peppers till soft 
4. Add the chorizo and cook until it begins to brown
5. Add your chickpeas, chili powder, sage and thyme, stir in well, and cover and cook for about 15 minutes 
6. Enjoy the delicious yummyness!

Recipe: Carrot and Chickpea Tagine

My mum got me a Tagine cooking pot for Christmas, and I thought that it might be a great idea to make use of the recipe book that she got me to go with it and put the pot to its intended purpose (as opposed to using it as a pretty Moroccan style piece of decor.)

Being that we're trying to get back on track with the healthy eating (though, to be honest, not necessarily succeeding so far!) I took the chance to make a mini resolution of trying to have at least one vegetarian day a week, as there are some lovely sounding vegetarian recipes. I cooked this last night, changing the original recipe here and there to make it more healthy. I've still got to get used to cooking with the Tagine pot - it's meant to be used to cook tagine stews slowly on a low heat, and will apparently sustain damage if used on a direct, high heat...as such the carrots were a bit tough and the chickpeas a little undercooked...but the flavour was good, very earthy and wholesome. I served it with couscous and a salad of finely chopped onion, pepper, chili, cucumber, garlic mint and parsley, and dressed in freshly squeezed lemon juice.

If you don't have a Tagine cooking pot you can use a heavy bottomed, lidded caserole pot, or other pan you would use for making stews on a hob. I used a low heat throughout but I probably should have gone up to medium or increased cooking time.

Serves 2:

1 Onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrots, cut into rounds
1 tin (410g) chickpeas, drained
1 desert spoon of olive oil
1 desert spoon of clear honey
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp hot chili powder
Fresh coriander, roughly chopped/torn

1. Heat oil in the pot, and sautee the finely chopped onions and garlic till soft
2. Add the carrots, honey and spices (except the fresh coriander) and mix in well
3. Add enough water just to cover the bottom of the pot, cover and leave to cook for 15 minutes (I actually left mine on for about 30 mins on a low heat, so stick a knife in there and test your carrots to see if they are cooked to your standards!)
4. Add the chickpeas, top up water if neccesary, and cover and cook for another 15 minutes (I did leave it for that long, and as said, my chickpeas were cooked but not particularly soft)
5. When it's cooked, stir in the fresh coriander, and serve

Later this week I'm doing another one, but made with Chorizo and chickpeas. I'm really looking forward to it as I love chorizo, but am not a huge fan of pulses (hence why I'm trying to make these chickpea tagines, to  introduce them more to my palate and get myself used to them...same with the couscous...I did it with pasta so I can do it with these!) so I hope the one will cancel out the eww factor from the other! I will let you know how it goes!

Something you adore

I had to plan ahead, in a way, with this photo. It would have been so easy to give you another picture of mister Ben! But if I did that, he'd probably be popping up every other day of this here photo challenge, so instead I give you...

A clock!

Please excuse the dust!

Of course this is a very lovely clock, and was a gift for our engagement from Ben's aunt (she seems to have my personality and likes down to a fine art!) which gives it a lot of sentimental value anyhow, but it's the birdy on top that is what I adore.

I love birds, and when I finally get into a place where I have a bit more free reign over the design the place will be practically an aviary.

Birds can be graceful, stupid, clever, ugly, magnificently beautiful, clumsy, clutzy, bright, dull...but always, always quirky, and they can all reduce you to feeling like a dumbass when they turn their heads in that way that they do and fix their beady little eyes on you.

They're like fish, but there's something a bit more sentient about them. I think it's because they have a little bit more movement in their faces than fish. You can also have a cuddle with a bird. You can't with a fish.

Breakfast

Photo number two...breakfast!

Mmm...appetising...can you guess what it is?

Happiness in 2012

Well they say to start the year as you mean to go on...so in this case, productively!

I've signed myself up for two challenges this month. Well, one is for this month and the other is for the entire year. A year seems a long time to think about but when I think that this year I'll be celebrating my third (yes, THIRD!!!) wedding anniversary (holy cow, where did the time fly to?) a year really isn't that much.

The first challenge is from the wonderful Rebecca over at Weight Wars, who never fails to come up with wonderful ways of keeping us challenged and motivated! This year she's going back to basics and offering up a little pearl of wisdom of what really helped her to get into the right place to start losing weight the right way. I'm not going to go into too much detail about what it entails and why here because you can find out all about the Happiness Project over at her blog, so if the following lists confuse you and you really need to know, go check it out!

Happiness Project 2012: My own personal guiding principles in life

1. Remember that small victories add up into big victories
2. Eat well 
3. Make time for friends
4. Enjoy what you do
5. Just because someone else thinks it's a drag doesn't mean you have to!
6. Go forth and be creative
7. Always have some kind of goal to work towards; if the big one seems unachievable, make a smaller one to get you on the way
8. Actions make things happen, so just go and do it!
9. Don't change your priorities just because someone else thinks you have them all wrong

The rules of adulthood

1. The best way of building trust and reaping the rewards is to fulfill your responsibilities, whether those be to your boss or to your friends
2. Friends can be just as important as family
3. Sleep is a precious commodity
4. You have to give to others before they will give to you
5. Some people are poisonous to you and need to be cut from your life for your own benefit; but remember that to someone else they are more precious than diamonds
6. Treat everyone as an individual who is the result of their own, unique experiences; their outlooks, relationships and priorities are not the same as yours, but their feelings and needs are no less valid
7. You must respect yourself if you expect anyone else to
8. A year can make a world of difference

January Resolutions - Vitality

1. Get to bed no later than eleven
2. Eat your meals regularly
3. Get to the gym twice a week
4. Make a to do list each day and stick to it
5. Get back into the chores routine

Challenge number two is a little less introspective than this...a playful, light hearted challenge in which you take a photo a day. Sadly for you guys, the first photo is a photo of me, and today I have bummed around doing nothing in particular and generally feeling delicate and sorry for myself after last nights frivolities. For this reason, I've kept it till last. Happy new year!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012 everybody!

I didn't blog at all through the last couple of weeks of 2011, because I was having way too much fun! But it wouldn't feel right to not check in today!

This year I have a lot of things I want to do, many goals, wishes and resolutions. For many of these things I already set the ball rolling in 2011 so I'm looking forward to seeing them to completion or to get well on my way. These deserve a post in and of themselves though, so I shall be writing more about them later.

I'm hoping to give my blog a little bit of a makeover so I hope you can bear with me whilst things get changed around!

The big question of course is that of weight. Ive no stats really to post this month as I didn't really do much in the way of working out anyhow. I put on ten pounds in total over the Christmas week and a bit, although I've already lost three of those by Friday. I'm not at all phased about the prospect of loosing it again.

All in all I'm feeling so optimistic about this year, there are so many things to do and complete and start. 2011 was a great year and I started 2012 in such a great place in my life by comparison to last year, I can only anticipate all our hard work and efforts will pay off in an even better year this time round.

Wishing you all the best and can't wait to share the year through all of your blogs!