I love barbeque!

One the best things about summer must be the barbeques. It just makes any type of food taste delicous, the possibilities are endless. Tonight we had spicy chicken wings with blue cheese dip and grilled potatoes. Enjoyed in the garden with a cold beer, it's been a lovely summers evening. It amazes me how most people prefer the more expensive chicken breasts, when in fact the legs and wings are much tastier and a real bargain. They are also much easier to cook since they don't dry out as easily.
Now we are watching the Olympic Games, I am struggling to find it interesting, being a hater of all sports, but I am trying my best to look like I care.

Quinoa Quiche

This weekend I tried something new, quiche made with Quinoa instead of pastry! I was looking for recipes with Quinoa and came across this amazing egg bake. Quinoa is a super healthy, grain like seed originating is south America. It's high in protein (18%) and also contains magnesium, iron and calcium and is a good source of dietary fibre. I have only used it as I would cous cous or bulgur but wanted to try something different. I found this recipe, which I made a few small changes to. It's so easy to make, much simpler than making pastry, chilling it, rolling out etc. With the added health benefits it's a great alternative to regular quiche. The quinoa doesn't require any pre-cooking, it simply falls to the bottom of the dish and forms a crust.

I made my quiche according to the recipe, but used whatever I had at home which led to the following changes:
I didn't use spinach, instead I added chopped bacon which I fried until crispy. I added chopped spring onions, skipped the garlic and thyme and threw grated cheddar in at the start. I also used half the amounts as I had a smaller dish. The possibilities are endless, you could use pretty much anything you like. I'll definitely be making this again when I am too lazy to make pastry!

Sleepless nights and power walks

Una woke up at 5.30 this and just would not go back to sleep no matter what I tried. She finally fell asleep in my arms at 6.30 but woke up again after less than an hour. I refuse to get up earlier than 8 because I just think it's inhumane so we stayed in bed until then. All in all I think I got about 5 hours sleep....

Once up I put my gym clothes on and after breakfast we headed out for a walk. I power walked to Holland Park where I did 20 minutes of squats, push ups, dips, plank and lunges, before continuing my walk to Westfield. I wanted to get some tops for Una, she has grown out of so much stuff. I didn't find anything in the end, I hate how all the baby and kids clothes are so over the top, frilly and pink or with prints on them saying "I love my mummy" etc. Not my cup of tea. I picked up a couple of things I needed from Holland and Barrett and stopped for a coffee at the Marks and Spencers cafe before continuing my walk home. It had started raining by this stage but it was actually quite nice walking home in the cool rain. The rest of the day we have just spent chilling, I baked some healthy goodies and pottered around the house. The sky is looking blue once again so we might go for a stroll a bit later.

Hot and sweaty in the Westfield loos.

Chocolate and almond cookies

For ages now I have been meaning to share with you a recipe for some "healthy" cookies I made ages ago. I say "healthy" because everyone's opinion on what is actually healthy varies. Some eat low fat, some eat low carb etc. Some think it's healthier to use sweeteners instead of sugar. I personally don't consider artificial sweeteners healthy and think it is much better for you to have natural, unrefined sugars like honey or dried fruit. Some people think agave syrup is healthy because it doesn't affect your blood sugar, I think it is really unhealthy as it instead turns in to fat in your liver because it is so unnatural your body is unable to recognise that it is sugar.... Actually, don't even get me started on agave, I think it deserves a whole post of it's own!

Anyway, the cookies. The are fairly low in carbs as they are made with almond flour instead of wheat or oats. They are not entirely low carb as I use honey for sweetness (by all means, use stevia or something if you are so inclined) and a little bit of dark chocolate for flavour. I think this is neglible, I really enjoy something sweet with my afternoon coffee so surely these are better than cadbury chocolate fingers. Each to their own!

This is my adaptation of this recipe.

Chocolate and almond cookies

1 egg
25 grams or butter
100 grams ground almonds
a handfull of hazelnuts
2 tbs honey (or more or less depending on how sweet you want your cookies)
a couple of squares of dark chocolate

Lightly whisk the egg. Melt the butter. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and the dark chocolate. Mix everything together to form a sticky dough. Roll little balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, before squashing them down with your hand. Bake for 12-15 minutes at gas mark 4 (175 degrees celcius)

They won't be crispy like regular cookies, but they will chewy and yummy!

The last days of summer

James has gone away to Womad festival for the weekend, so it's just me an Una. He was busy getting everything sorted yesterday so I never got a chance to go to the gym, I ended up doing 20 minutes in the garden with dumbells. I had intended to do 45 minutes, but Una was really needing my attention by that stage. I need to get in to a good routine as I am not planning on continuing my gym membership for various reasons. I'll have to sit down and come up with a plan going forward,  I don't want to lose momentum.

Today is the last sunny day for a while, the weather forecast says we will have rain now for the next week or so. So I guess these last few days were summer then? Rubbish. Today we are heading out for a walk to Westfield, I need to get a few things for Una and try on some trainers for myself.
In the meantime I give you some photos from the garden.

Heatwave!

Yesterday morning we got up early to attend Una's first ever music class. It doens't seem to matter how early I get up, I am always running late! I ended up bring my breakfast with me to eat on the bus. Already at 8.30 it was unbelievably hot. We were going all the way over to Camden to try out "baby bureau", a baby music class at Imagination Station run by my friend Ema. Una absolutely loved it, in fact it deserves a whole post of its own! After the class we had a little picnic in Regents Park in the melting heat. On the way to the catch the bus back I popped in to H&M and got a couple of sun dresses in the sale, £5 each. What a bargain! I am still around 5 kilos heavier than I was before I got pregnant, and a whole lot wobblier, so a lot of my clothes don't fit me.
By the time we got home it was nearly 4 pm. Una went down for a nap and I had half a glass of rose topped up with lemonade. Sophisticated, right?

Today is another sveltering day, we are heading out this afternoon to meet friends for coffee, then will probably enjoy the late afternoon sun in the park or the garden.

A morning in the sun

This morning we were up early to make the most of the beautiful weather. We met up with Aga in Holland Park at 9.30 and spent the morning at the playground.

Aga looked so lovely and summery and Una looked rather chic in her jumpsuit and floppy sunhat, both from Baby Gap.
After an hour in the sandpit we strolled to the kyoto garden and looked at the fish.

Holland Park is such an amazing park, the perfect place to spend a morning with children. Between the waterfall, fish pond, peacocks and all the beautiful flowers, there are so many interesting things to look at, you never get bored and neither do the kids.