Saturday 30 September 2017

RECIPE: Cheesy butternut squash and sage autumn bake

Autumnal recipe for butternut squash, sage, sausage and cheese pasta bake that can be made vegetarian

Matt started a new job a few weeks ago, and on his first day I wanted to make a special dinner as a treat, because nothing says 'I love you' like ALL THE FOOD, right? Certainly not in my book, anyway.

I had a butternut squash to use up and, because I was feeling all autumnal (yes, this was during the totally non-summery August we had), I decided to make a butternut squash, sage and sausage pasta bake. I very vaguely used this recipe as a guide, but very quickly started to ignore the recipe, so I mostly winged the entire thing. And I have to say, it was awesome. Probably one of the best things I’ve ever made. Make it now, and you will not regret it - it would also be equally delicious without the sausage, so good for vegetarians, too.

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Friday 22 September 2017

Back to Weight Watchers (9 months on)



I've been pretty candid on my blog in the past about weight loss and body image, I think, including documenting a two stone loss back in 2013 when I did Weight Watchers. I've been struggling for a long time with the implications of wanting to lose weight and not being happy with my shape - being part of the 'oh, women and their diets' trope always makes me feel like a bad feminist, and makes me wonder if it's possible to be truly body positive when you don't feel positive about your own. I don't have the answer. On social media I follow and admire so many awesome, gorgeous plus-size women who look incredible and truly own their size, and try as I might, I've never been able to see myself in the same way that I see them.

All these conflicting emotions is why this year, I decided to give following a diet plan a proper go again and not to talk about it too much on my social channels. For the record, I don't believe that fat means unhealthy. I don't believe that skinny means healthy. BUT I do recognise that, for me, when I weigh more it's the result of an unhealthy lifestyle. I find it easy to slide into the habit of eating lots of fatty food and doing no exercise, and not only do I see the ramifications of that pretty quickly, I feel them too. Prolonged periods of eating unhealthily does nothing good to my IBS. And that's why I wanted to try Weight Watchers again this year, and see what happened.

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Sunday 17 September 2017

LIFESTYLE: An Autumnal shopping spree



Lately, I feel like I've been shopping a whole lot. I think when the seasons change, the temptation to buy things is always stronger, isn't it? I just want all the jumpers and all the boots and all the coats, and it's simply inconceivable that I could pop a pair of tights under one of my summery dresses to tide me over.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few bits that I've bought lately, in the hope that someone reading this will buy them too, and make me feel better about shopping a little too much. I have to stop now, or I'm going to have to start cutting people from the wedding. Does EVERYONE need to eat?

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Wednesday 13 September 2017

RECIPE: Frozen yogurt with Alpro

Al fresco cooking with Alpro

This is supposed to be a post about eating al fresco with Alpro, but it's not exactly al fresco weather. In fact, it's been super autumnal lately, and I'm kind of delighted about it because I can wear all the stripy jumpers I've been stockpiling all summer. WITH BOOTS. There's something glorious about rediscovering boots after the summer. Wonderful boots.

Anyway. I for one think that ice cream and other hot-weather treats are fine to eat all year round, even if you need to chase them with a hot chocolate to warm your mouth up afterwards. I was challenged to make something summery using Alpro products, so I had a go at this recipe from their website for Alpro frozen fruit yogurt. Alpro sent me a selection of their products to put this post together, so I chose the big pot of vanilla yogurt and got to work.

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