Pineapple and kale smoothie

Kick start the New Year with a health boost, perfect for those detox days

I'm already a lover of fresh spinach in smoothies (just add a handful to any kind and it shouldn't taste too different but is really good for you) and only recently tried adding kale. I've always heard how good it is for you - calcium, B vitamins (folic acid), anti-oxidants (lutein), vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K, so decided to give it a try. I now love adding it (even though it makes the smoothie a horrible brown colour) and have come up with a recipe below that I hope everyone else can enjoy too!

Makes 1
- 2 spoonfuls of low fat natural yogurt
- handful of frozen berries
- half a tin of chopped pineapple (or fresh)
- handful of raw, curly leaf kale
- pumpkin seeds or other seeds (optional)
- dash of ice cold water

Simply blend all together until smooth!

Enjoy :)

Summer smoothies

It's been such a lovely sunny, hot day here today even though it's September now, woo, so these cold smoothies were perfect for today. I have also had a really bad cold these last few days (surprise surprise) so although I haven't had much of an appetite, I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible. I really wanted to make the pineapple and spinach smoothie that I've posted on here about before because it has lots of yummy and nutritious ingredients in, and in the end I made two different smoothies. The purple (and more attractive) one is exactly the same as the pineapple and spinach one, just without the spinach! They are both really delicious, I had the spinach one with my lunch and am going to have the sweeter one after dinner later!

You can find the recipe for the smoothie here - it is low fat natural yogurt, frozen berries, fresh pineapple, fresh spinach leaves and some water.
This time I added a little more of everything (particularly yogurt) so it made two drinks rather than just one. I also added some fresh blueberries as well as the frozen berries. Add everything but the spinach into the blender then pour half of it into a glass.

Add the spinach to the remaining smoothie in the blender, continue to blend, then pour that one into a glass too!

Enjoy :)

Jubilee cake and cupcakes!

Most of the cupcakes are filled with raspberry jam so resemble mini victoria sponges (perfectly British for the Queen's Jubilee!), and both the cupcakes and the cake are topped with delicious vanilla buttercream. I am aware that the fruit flag pattern on the cake isn't exactly what the flag looks like, but I didn't have enough blueberries to do triangles or any raspberries for the diagonal lines so I just did what I could... I made these with my friend Leah, and it was so much quicker and more fun baking with someone else! We didn't have any red, white and blue sprinkles, but the union jack cupcake cases make up for it, and multi-coloured sprinkles still look cute. This is a really easy recipe to follow, so give it a try and make someone smile this bank holiday weekend :)

Makes 8 cupcakes and one small sponge

- 125g soft margarine

- 125g caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs, whisked
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 125g self-raising flour, sieved
- 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the buttercream:

- 150g unsalted butter

- 225g icing sugar

- 2 tbsp hot milk

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Toppings and decorations

- few spoonfuls of raspberry jam

- sprinkles

- strawberries and blueberries

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, line a muffin tin with 8 cupcake cases, and grease a small rectangular oven-proof dish or tin for the sponge.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the eggs, vanilla essence, flour and baking powder until there is a smooth batter. Spoon into the cupcake cases (about 2/3's full) and pour the remains into the greased dish.

3. Bake in the oven for around 12 minutes for the cupcakes, and slightly longer for the sponge. Leave to cool on a wired rack.

4. Meanwhile, make the buttercream by whisking together the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla essence until smooth. Set aside.

5. To fill the cupcakes with jam, I used a cupcake plunger which removes the core of the cake. However, you can use a knife to do this it just takes a little longer.

6. Fill the centre with raspberry jam. If you want, you can put the sponge tops back on or leave it as it is.

7. Spread both the cake and cupcakes with the buttercream, use sprinkles and/or fruit to decorate and voila.

Enjoy :)

Pineapple and spinach smoothie

I know it doesn't sound or look particularly appetising (hence the snazzy bit of pineapple on the side trying to improve it...) but don't turn your nose up at it until you try it! It honestly does taste pretty good, although you have to like the texture of smoothies to enjoy this. I usually opt for really sweet, berry smoothies, and although this does contain berries, it isn't as sweet as I usually prefer. Having said that, I will definitely make this again as I love the tang the pineapple gives, and I love knowing how nutritious it is - perfect if you're having a detox day. It sounds weird, but you really can taste all the ingredients individually, yet they taste delicious together. I got the idea of putting pineapple and spinach together from Jordan's workout DVD, believe it or not - her nutritionist makes a juice with those 2 main ingredients, alongside tons of other fruit & veg.

Ingredients (makes 1 large glass)

- 2-3 heaped tbsp natural yogurt

- 80g frozen strawberries & blueberries (or any berries)

- 2 rings fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

- big handful of spinach

- few splashes of water (depending on how thick/runny you want it)

Put the yogurt into the blender first with the berries and blend. Add the pineapple, spinach and water and blend until smooth. Taste and add more of anything if necessary.

Enjoy :)

Nutritious breakfast

One thing you need to know is that i LOVE eggs! I will usually have them soft boiled on wholemeal and/or seeded toast, but they're amazing on english muffins for a treat. The reason I usually choose soft-boiled is because i love how they can taste so creamy and rich, particularly from the yolk, without anything extra - no oil, no butter; just good old eggs boiled in water! It can be, however, difficult to time them to the right amount of boiled that you like, and difficult to peel them when they're soft.

Scrambled egg also make a nutritious breakfast - combine with skimmed milk, some margarine and some herbs mmm.

I try to alternate between having eggs one morning and cereal the next, as the yolk is fairly fatty and contains cholesterol, although i'm sure eggs have more health benefits than drawbacks so i don't worry too much about this.

I stay away from sugary cereal and try to stick to filling whole wheat or bran ones like branflakes or shredded wheat. I have noticed recently, however, than branflakes are quite high in sugar. I therefore bought cornflakes the other day which are low in sugar but have noticed that they don't fill me up nearly as much (i guess cause they're corn and not bran?) I also love special k but can get a bit addicted to it!
I have my cereal with skimmed milk because to me it tastes the same as semi with cereal, and it's less fat so win win! In the case of shredded wheat though, for some reason i only like that heated up in the microwave with milk and honey mm.

I really want to get into porridge in the near future as it is so filling, and warming especially in winter. I would probably vary making it with water or skimmed milk depending on what flavours i was adding, if any.

I love cinnamon sprinkled on things, and in porridge it would be delicious - maybe even with chunks of warm apple in as well.

I am a huge fan of honey which would work perfectly with porridge but i get a bit carried away with it (i love it with everything...) and would have to be careful not to make it too sugary, as it defeats the point of the healthy, nutritious breakfast.

I would definitely recommend buying plain porridge oats rather than the ready flavoured ones - like Quakers cinnamon or golden syrup etc. It would work out far cheaper to buy plain and add your own flavours, and that way you can mix it up daily instead of having to use up a dozen of the same flavours.

Other flavours I would want to try would be slicing bananas with it, adding blueberries, or sweetened dried fruits like cranberries or raisins.

If you are on a healthy diet I would recommend putting as much effort into breakfast as possible as it really should be the most nutritious and filling meal of the day - it starts off your metabolism for the day which is key for tackling any weight loss.


Just having fruit would not be enough for breakfast, but if you really want to block out carbs (which isn't the best idea...) then i would suggest teaming the fruit with some low fat natural yogurt, which is delicious and you can add so many flavours! Likewise if you want to make a smoothie make sure it consists of fruit like berries and a more satisfying fruit like banana to thicken, as well as low fat yogurt or milk, maybe some fruit juice, and adding oats in to keep you full for longer is also a good idea!

Anyway, i will definitely be doing more specific posts on natural yogurt and smoothies in the future because yogurt is one of my favourite healthy night time snacks, especially with blueberries and cinnamon.


Hope you start your day in a satisfying, healthy and delicious way :)