Ginger slices

Hey guys! Today's recipe is for ginger slices! I decorated mine for fun too which you can also do! These are quick to make and taste yummy, although perhaps not one of my healthiest of recipes... I have become a massive fan of ginger, I love using it in cooking and baking, I often add it in for flavour. It's also great in smoothies and juices and I am constantly looking for new ways to use it!

Makes 12 slices
You will need:
200g of caster sugar
1tsp ground ginger
200g self raising flour
2 tbsp of golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
55g margarine
1 egg
240ml of hot water

icing:
270g icing sugar
75g butter
2 tbsp milk
a teaspoon of vanilla extract

Decorations!

Preheat oven to 180C. First of all mix the sugar flour ginger and bicarbonate into a bowl. Then rub in the marge until it forms breadcrumbs

In another bowl, beat the egg and add this to the mixture along with the water and golden syrup.

Mix with a wooden spoon until all combined. Then pour mixture into a greased tin and pop into the oven for 35 minuets or more. It should be golden brown and quite springy.

 Let it cool and in the meantime make the butter icing by beating softened butter in a bowl. Sift in icing sugar and beat it in. Then put the milk in and vanilla extract and mix in.
Cut the cake when cool, into squares.

Now ice and decorate in anyway you want! I used icing stars, pink sugar, glace cherries and bronze sprinkles but you can use whatever you like! You could even make different coloured icing or ice the cakes using a piping bag in pretty patters.
Enjoy!
Eleanor x

Chiquito restaurant review

Hey guys! Today I bring you another restaurant review. Chiquito is a restaurant bar and mexican grill, serving a wide range of delicious mexican food, including burritos, burgers, tacos, fajitas and more.

Before we sat down, we had a wait of around ten minutes which wasn't too bad considering it was a sunday night. While we waited we looked at there enormous list of drinks and cocktails. I went for an Amaretto sour and coke which was lovely. I was fascinated by their dessert cocktails too, including a strawberry popping candy one and the tiramisu martini. 

When we were seated, we were given a little dish of popcorn which we nibbled on as we decided what to eat which was a nice touch.

 I decided my order and I finally lost my burrito virginity, opting for a sweet potato and bean burrito. This came with tortilla chips, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. This was £10 which I was very happy with.

For pudding, me and my boyfriend once again shared some churros which were delicious. However they were not as good as the Las Iguanas ones I am afraid to say!

Overall the food was delicious and I did not think the pricing was too bad. It was £32 for two mains, one pudding, my alcoholic drink and a J2O. My drink was expensive at £6.45, and most of the cocktails were quite pricy. There was a specials menu which showed you which mains were exactly £10, and if you ordered two meals off of this, all deserts were £3.95. Most mains were over £10, and the Fajitas were about £15 which i thought was expensive.

I would recommend this as a nice treat. If you like mexican foods and grills then you will really love Chiquito's, the food was delicious but it wouldn't be something that is affordable often!

Have you been here? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Las Iguanas restaurant review

Hey guys! The first time I discovered Las Iguanas was on my holiday in Cardiff (some of you may remember from my holiday post on my lifestyle blog.) I adored it then and so imagine my happiness when I found one in Meadow Hall as myself and my boyfriend went to look for something to eat.

Las Iguanas is a Latin restaurant, with amazing Brazilian and Mexican foods and lots of tapas. Both times I have been here, I ordered the salads, the first time I got the Cranberry and Avocado and the second I got the Mango and Pecan.

My boyfriend ordered a shredded beef burrito which tasted amazing too!

On of my favourite things about this restaurant is that it is happy hour nearly all the time. It's all day Sunday-Wednesday and from 12-7 the other days. They have an amazing list of cocktails which although I didn't order from, I did get two raspberry cooler's for the price of one.

When in Cardiff, myself and my family found out how absolutely fantastic their churros is. Myself and my boyfriend also ordered the churros for pudding, three between the two of us as we were quite full with the dulce de leche sauce (caramel.) They were just as amazing and this sauce is fantastic.

Last time I went, I also got the mango sorbet which was lovely too! Their pudding list is mouth watering!

There is a wide range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free food too so everyone can find something they like!

The price is quite good, for the two of us (two mains, two drinks, and churros) it was £29. The salads are all under £10 and the rest of the mains are around £10. The only things that are a little on the expensive side are the steak and the Cordero, both at £16.50, and the whole blazing chicken at £16.90 (half is £10.90). The most expensive pudding is £6.50 which is for six churros and both the chocolate and dulce de leche sauce, the one we got for half and for one sauce was £3.50. The other puddings are around a fiver.  I would say it was definitely good value for money and would overall go back to try the other delicious food on the menu and some cocktails!

Have you been here?
What did you think?
Eleanor x

Breakfast smoothie

Hey guys! So recently I have been eating loads of junk food, just been one of those weekends with friends and whatnot so I decided to have a bit of a clean day and what better way to do it that start with a delicious smoothie full of goodness!

For this recipe for one person you will need:

Half a grapefruit, peeled and with no pith
half a fig
a banana
200 ml of almond milk
a sprinkling of cinnamon
a handful of oates
some blackberries and raspberries to top (optional)

First cut the fig up into small pieces

Now peel and de-pith the grapfruit. The best way to do this is to chop both ends off and use a knife to get down the sides and make sure both the peel and the pith is coming off. Put half of the grapefruit into the blender (I am actually using a hand blender thing as my blender is broken which works just as well as all of the fruit is soft)

Now chop up banana and add it to the blender along with Oates, cinnamon, fig and milk. Blend and put raspberries and blackberries to garnish!

Hope you enjoyed!
Lots of love
Eleanor x

Meals for uni- Vegan spaghetti bolognase

Hey guys! Today I am bringing you an adapted version of a Deliciously Ella meal of a vegan bolognase. I have named this "meals for uni" because it's one that will be really useful to all of you going off to university. I will hopefully be making more recipe's titled this, ones that I know will be useful to everyone! This will be easy to make at uni and you can make it in big batches and freeze it so it will last a really long time. The spaghetti I used was doves brown rice spaghetti which I got in the free from section at Sainsburys. Its gluten, dairy and egg free and so is a great substitute.

For this recipe you will need (for 5, although there were lots of left overs)

500g green lentils
500g of spaghetti
4 carrots
175g of sun-dried tomatoes
1 tube of tomato paste
2 cans of tinned tomatoes
3 cloves of crushed garlic
A slice of grated ginger (optional)
A chopped chilli (optional)

Grate your carrots and chop up sun dried tomatoes.

Put these in a pan with 450ml of water, garlic, ginger, chilli, both cans of tomato and the tomato paste and simmer for 45 minuets.

When nearly done, cook the spaghetti and serve!
The best thing about this is it needs minimal chopping and it doesn't involve a food processor, you can use what little tools you have at uni!
I also reheated the left over bolognase and had it with quinoa and it was just as lovely!

Lots of love
Eleanor x

Apple, Pear and Date cake

Hey guys! As I speak I am chomping my way through a delicious piece of this cake and I have to say it is beautiful, one of the best cakes  have made. This was an original deliciously Ella recipe I edited it a little and I am going to show you my version of it today!

For this recipe you will need:

3 green apples
2 pears
200g of medjool dates
95g of oats
125ml of almond milk
4 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of maple syrup (use five tablespoons of maple syrup for vegan)
125 g of pecans
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Peal the fruit, de core the apples and cut them into chunks. Place them in a pan with a tiny amount of water and one teaspoon of cinnamon. Cook for about ten minuets until soft.

Put the peacans into the food processor or hit them with a rolling pin to break them up into pieces.

Pit the dates and chop them up. Put the dates and pecans to the side.

Put all remaining ingredients apart from dates and pecans into the food processor and blend.
Add fruit to a mixing bowl, pour mixture on top and then sir in dates and pecans. Then pour mixture into a greased cake tin.

Now put it in the oven. After forty minuets, check and regular intervals to see if it is done. Mine took around an hour to bake.

Hope you enjoyed!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Quick and easy healthy Prawn and green bean stir-fry

Hey guys! Today's recipe is one which was originally from BBC good food. You can see the original recipe here. I have adapted it very slightly so here is my version! It's quick, easy, delicious and very healthy!

For 5 people you will need:

2 tablespoon of vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
2 lemon grass stalks outer layers removed and the rest chopped (I used used lemon grass sauce and put in a talespoon of it at the end instead!) 
a thumb sized piece of ginger grated
250g of pineapple chunks (can is fine)
a bag of green beans
250g cherry tomatoes
500g of uncooked prawns (If cooked it doesn't matter, just put them in last minuet to cook in the veg and sauce for a little while)
some basil leaves

for the sauce:
half a lime juice
5 tablespoons of chicken stock
Optional: a tablespoon of fish sauce and a tablespoon of soft brown sugar

Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside

Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok, and saute the lemon grass (if using) and ginger. Then put pineapple, green beans and tomatoes in and stir fry for five minuets or so, or check when the beans are cooked.

Now add the prawns and sauce. If prawns are uncooked, stir fry for another five minuets before adding basil leaves. If cooked simply stir-fry for two minuets until the flavours have mixed before adding basil leaves and add the lemon grass sauce if using.

That's it! Super good for a weekday busy night when the last thing you want to do is cook!
Hope you enjoyed,
Lots of love
Eleanor x