Bluberry,Lemon and Honey Flapjacks...

We have had gorgeous weather the last couple weeks, perfect for sitting outside in the afternoons or spending the day in the garden. These flapjacks are delicious and a lovely treat with a cup of tea, especially after a day spent gardening.

Ingredients

600g porridge oats

250ml honey

250g blueberries

200ml coconut oil

zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil and honey till melted.
2. Once melted add the oats and blueberries and mix gently till combined.
3. Place in a baking tray and bake in the oven at 180 for 20 min or until lightly golden on top.
4. Once baked leave to cool. Cut into squares with a sharp knife .

The sweet honey is cut by the subtle lemon flavour and sharp blueberries and is the perfect combination of crispy and chewy.

Urban Escape Harpenden - Style and Couture Evening...

Tonight I was lucky enough to be invited to the Style and Couture evening held at Urban Escape in Harpenden. It was an evening dedicated to showing people how to recreate their favorite styles at home and answering any hair related questions you may have.

On arival, you were greeted by the gorgeous Ellie, Amy and Natalie, with a lovely glass of prosecco and then shown to your chair where you could ask your stylist to show you how to recreate your favorite look. They also provided you with lots of tips and information on how best to look after your hair.

Everyone that came to the evening seemed to have a lovely time and all looked absolutely gorgeous on leaving. The combination of prosecco, hair and an amazing team of stylist made for a wonderful evening enjoyed by all.

The Harpenden team, managed by Deepa is the most wonderful and talented group of stylist and always take the very best care of you when you visit the salon. If you have not yet found 'your perfect salon' I highly recommend that you pay a visit to Urban Escape in Harpenden. 

New Menu Launch - Slug and Lettuce Harpenden

Today the Slug and Lettuce in Harpenden launched their new menu and I decided to go and try it! For those that know me well will know that The Harpenden Slug is one of my favorite watering holes in Harpenden as their cocktails are divine! I am however also partial to a lunch or breakfast date there with my son Benji, who has been a popular presence since he was little. So me popping in to try out their new menu was a must.

The Slug and Lettuce group like to update their menus often which I like as it keeps things fresh and exciting. It makes you as a customer step out your comfort zone a bit,  as sometimes we tend to order the same thing over and over again.

So what did I have? This was between two people, well we each had a cocktail platter! 

Mini Cocktail Platter - Tapas 'Tails £11.45

mini French Martini, Strawberry Bellini, WooWoo and Mojito

How could I not have this gorgeous little array of cocktail goodness! All my favorites on one plate.
The cocktails may be small in size but still, pack a punch. My only disappointment was with the French Martini as they have changed the recipe and I did really miss the vanilla vodka.

Small Plates - 5 for £18

Crispy salt & pepper shrimp bombs with paprika garlic mayo , BBQ Chicken skewers with pineapple salsa, Lotus-style steam buns with BBQ pulled pork, pickled red onion

I am a person who likes choice when it comes to food and I enjoy a few little dishes to nibble on rather than one big one, so the small plates are perfect for me. The Shrimp bombs were good and the Pulled Pork buns were delcious - I could eat the pulled pork all day. And although the chicken skewers were tasty I wasn't a huge fan of the pineapple salsa. But everything can't always be perfect.

Calamari strips with a spiced tomato sauce, Chorizo in sweet chili sauce

We also had the breaded calamari strips that were again delicious, especially with the spiced tomato sauce but the Sweet Chilli Chorizo was by far my favorite! I just wish I had more bread to dip into the sauce.

Dessert Plates 3 for £7

Lemon & Lime Tart Wedges The zesty one, Warm Brownie Bites With whipped double cream, Warm Mini Churros Caramel-cream-filled churros, with dipping sauce

For dessert again we went for the small plates and really indulged in the sweetness! The lemon and lime tarts were well 'tart' but yummy and the brownie bites were warm and gooey just how I like them. My favorite though was the mini churros and the divine sauce they came with. I will however mention or shall I say warn you, the filling inside is HOT! So if you are like me and tend to skim over things ie the menu, you may end up burning your mouth with its unexpected molten center.

Overall we enjoyed our meal. The food is good and didn't break the bank, which is something we all tend to look for these days when eating out. So if you about in Harpenden and are feeling a little peckish why not pop into the Slug. You can see their full menu's here. 

The Fitness Space Harpenden - Grand Opening...

Today I attended and covered the Grand Opening of The Fitness Space Harpenden.  It was a great morning with two special guests, one being the mayor of Harpenden, who helped Aarron the owner cut the ribbon and the other was Tim Benjamin, ex GB athlete and the creator of The Fitness Space Franchise.

Aarron and the Mayor cutting the ribbon.

Tim Benjamin | Mayor of Harpenden 

The Gym

Now I could be biased as 1. Aarron and the gym are my neighbors, no excuse living upstairs. And 2. I am a member there. But in all honesty, it is the best gym I have ever attended, strong words I know but it's true!

The Technogym equipment is amazing and easy to use and if you ever are unsure about how to use something there is always a friendly member of staff on hand to help and explain. Two more unique features that you get with being a member of the Fitness Space is the use of their app My Wellness that is connected to all the equipment tracking your progress and keeping you in direct contact with your personal coach. They also offer a body composition test that breaks down everything and helps show your progress month by month as well as number of classes including Box Fit and Hot Yoga.

The best part for me, however, is how personal they are at the Fitness Space Harpenden. They know each member by name and make you feel so welcome and comfortable. They develop fitness programs around you and your needs and strengths and will help you work your way through that personalized program before leaving you to get on with it each time you come in. 

I have been a member of many gyms and been put off going so many times by being intimidated by other, shall we say 'muscley' members, scary looking equipment and just being lost as a member. But that is not the case here, I love and enjoy going to the gym now. I love seeing my results month by month and wish I could attend more. 

Huge credit must be given to Aarron the owner, who has an amazing presence in the gym and has helped me along with so many others in a relatively short time since opening. Aarron supported by his amazing coaches/staff Amy and Manuella make they gym what it is and I couldn't recommend it more. 

If you live in or around Harpenden I strongly encourage you to pop in, have a look around and have a chat with either Aarron or one of the girls. Or just check them out on their FB page which again is hugely focused on their members, inspiring and helping them to achieve the best results possible!

Speculaas Bundt Cake...

 

 Speculaas is not entirely new to me and actually brings back very fond memories of travelling through Belgium with two of my favourite people in the world.

 

 

The  'Speculaas flavour' is becoming more and more popular and It's biscuit spread, Speculoos is even tipped off to be the next Nutella. The flavour is  based on a traditional shortcrust biscuit made around Christmas in the Netherlands and Belgium.        

 

 

The Speclaas spice I have used in this recipe is special and that's because of where it comes from, The Speculaas Spice Company.
Steven created this little taste of the Netherlands based on fond memories and old family recipes.

"The Vandotsch Speculaas is a spice mix of nine organic spices that delivers deliciously warm, sweet and spicy ‘layers’ of taste taking any simple cinnamon taste to another level. "  

It can be used in so many recipes, some of which you can actually pick up off their websites blog . I although tempted to try and bake the traditional biscuits, decided to bake a cake using this wonderful spice.

 



 

Ingredients

The cake

200g Butter

200g Sugar

200g Flour

1 tsp Baking powder

2 tsp Speculaas Spice

4 eggs, beaten

 

Icing

1/2 Cup icing sugar

a little milk

1/2 tsp Speculaas spice

 

Method

1. Cream your butter and sugar together then add your eggs one by one, mixing between each one.

2. Mix in your dry ingredients until all combined.

3. Prepare a bundt tin and then poor in your cake mixture. Tap the tin against the counter to ake sure its even.

4.Bake in the oven at 170 until cooked through and your skewer comes out clean. About 30min. Leave to cool completely.

5. Remove cake from the tin and then prepare your icing. If I am honest when it comes to icing like this I just wing it as exact measurements can vary when it comes to 'your' favoured consistency. But once you have got your icing how you want it and its nice and dribbely...dribble over your cake in a arty way ;)

 

This cake is FABULOUS with a cup of tea.

This cake and spice is something I will make and use over again as its delicious and because it reminds me of travelling with friends and one of my favourite places to visit the Netherlands. Which funny enough is where I am off to in the morning...in an hour to be exact. Better get moving...

 

PLEASE make sure to get your hands on this delicious spice mix and of course share your recipe. Hope you all have a fabulous week and I will post more deliciousness when I am back.

 

you can purchase the spice here .

 

Recipe - mine

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice-Cream ...

I have been wanting to make some ice-cream for ages and have been trying to decide if I should make a healthy one or a totally indulgent one... Of course I went for the one full of delicious hip expanding goodness! BUT for all my SW followers and healthier fans I will include a healthy recipe option too. One that is dairy free and vegan friendly :)

Let's start with the naughty one...

 

Ingredients

1 can of condensed milk

1 tub of single cream

2 tbsp. peanut butter, I used manilife peanut butter

50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

 

Method

1. Pop all the ingredients into a bowl except the chocolate and mix together well.

2. Once mixed fold in the chocolate and then transfer into a freezer proof tub.

3. This is non churn ice-cream but I do recommend mixing it a little every hour so the peanuts and chocolate don't sit on the top.

4. In about 3 hours it should be ready to serve but you can leave it over night,just remove from the freezer a few minutes before serving.

 

my happy helper today... handy when it came to drippy ice-ream



This ice-ream is so deliciously creamy, peanutty and chocolately that you could eat the whole tub in one go. But try not to as it is rather sweet.

 

For a healthier version just freeze couple of bananas in chunks. Once frozen whiz up adding your peanut butter and a spoon of coco instead of chocolate. Its instant ice-cream for half the calories but still super yummy!!

 

 

What is your favourite ice-cream, and have you ever made your own?

 

recipe - mine

syns - ALLOT sorry, maybe something for treat night.

Pork with Satay Sauce...

Today I met a lovely fellow Redbourner Hayley, who introduced me to Manilife Peanut Butter. It's so amazingly peanutty and delicious that I just had to cook with it...literally straight away!:P I had planned to create a recipe for the blog today and things just fell right into place and gave me one scrumptious lunch! WIN WIN!

Before I tell you how to make this super scrummy Satay sauce I will tell you a bit about Manilife all natural crunchy Argentinian peanut butter.

Manilife is all natural peanut butter. 'No sugar, no palm oil just really really good nuts sourced straight from Argintina.'

Manilife is peanut butter at it's best. They roast a fresh batch of nuts every week in their London factory and those roasted nuts are the only thing used to make their peanut butter, absolutely nothing else is added.
They say 'Argentine nuts are naturally sweeter and with a fat profile akin to olive oil, naturally better for you as well. You’ll taste the difference.' and believe me you do!

Now let's get into the tasty stuff... well... recipe...

Ingredients

Satay Sauce
2 tbsp , crunchy Peanut Butter - I used Manilife .
2 tbsp, soya sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped - I used my own home grown chilli's!
1 tbsp sugar
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Coriander, roasted peanuts and chilli to garnish.

Pork
Soya Sauce
Pork loin, cut into strips - you can use chicken in this recipe if you don't like pork or even tofu if you are vegetarian.

Method

1. In a wok soften your onions, garlic and chili in the sesame oil.
2. Add your sugar, soya sauce and peanut butter and stir to combine. Then slowly add your coconut milk till you reach your desired consistency. At this point give it a little taste and add more soya sauce if not salty enough. You want a balance of sweet and savoury with a fiery kick.
3. For the pork just marinade in some soya sauce, place onto skewers and then grill until cooked through.
4. Serve straight away with a sprinkle of fresh coriander and chilli.

Satay sauce can be made beforehand and stored in the fridge.

And there you have it, a quick and easy recipe perfect for lunch, dinner, as a snack or even as an horderve at a party.

And for the peanut butter lovers out there if you haven't tried Manilife peanut butter before...what are you waiting for! It's vegan friendly, its delicious and its nothing but NUTS!

Buy it online for just £5 at www.mani-life.com.

recipe - my own