Clean Eating Recipe: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

The idea of cauliflower substitute for carbs is one that's been around for a while. As a self-confessed carb-aholic it's always been hard for me to get my head around why on earth anyone would bother.  However, conveniently I'm also self-confessed cauli-aholic, so now I'm on the clean eating wagon cauli pizza (and cauli rice) was something I had to get on board with and try.

For the crust, I used this recipe and didn't change anything at all. It was my first attempt and I definitely wasn't confident enough to mess with it. I think it turned out ok, a bit burnt around the edges, which I think was down to my rubbish rolling pin action. The recipe was good, easy to follow and tasted gooooood. Although, I think the next time I make this, I'll tone down the amount of herbs used in the base. I like herbs but in this case, they were just a little bit over powering for me.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust - The Breakdown:

♥  Level of ease: 7/10. It's not particularly hard but it is fiddly and frustrating so you need to have your patience hat on when making this! It is possible to make the crust without a food processor (I used a blender), but I believe it would be much easier and quicker with a processor. Also, when the recipe says squeeze the water out, it really means squeeze the water out. This bit was the most annoying and took the longest but is completely essential so don't skimp on it. 

♥  Time: 6/10. It probably took me about 1 hour from start to finish (that's prep, making it and cleaning up afterwards), not too bad and most likely something that could be sped up once you get used to making it.

♥  Taste: 8/10. When it comes to this point it is essential you keep an open mind. No it's not going to taste like your favourite take away pizza and sadly, the cauliflower doesn't magically take on dough like properties whilst in the oven. But what it does do is act as a marvellous conduit for pizza toppings with significantly less calories and without making you feel naughty, fat and bloated. Plus it doesn't taste like cauliflower which is a bonus for all those out there who aren't keen on the veggie. Obviously you can top with whatever you like, and next time I think we'll go for something chicken based but this time, since I was already convincing Nick to go crazy and accept cauliflower as a credible pizza base I didn't want to stray too far away from the topping comfort zone. I went for basically what we would order from a take away - pepperoni, jalapeños, onions and mushrooms (I also put some goats cheese on there as it's meant to be one of the best cheeses for you).

♥  Chances of making again: 10/10. Definitely will be making this again, but for me it's a weekend meal, I wouldn't be doing this after work!

♥  Chances of serving to people who aren't clean eaters: 7/10. Although I think most people would like this after they got over the idea of cauliflower as a pizza base, I don't know if I could be bothered convincing them!

Before the toppings went into the oven:

After:

Healthy Aldi Shop

One of the reasons I've always been unwilling to commit to clean eating before is due to my perception of the amount of money it's going to cost. But that was before I discovered Aldi. 

When Nick and I moved in together back in January the purse strings were tight after we'd spent money on things like bookcases and blenders. We were skint and had heard Aldi was amazing pricewise. Needless to say we were apprehensive. Don't get me wrong I love a good deal and I'm always in value shops like B&M and Poundstretcher scouting out the cheapest branded items they have in stock. But with Aldi I was very dubious - a value shop that sold it's own brand and fresh produce. I was imagining Iceland or Netto but with half rotten vegetables. Oh how wrong I was! I don't normally like to be proved wrong but I'm happy to say Aldi won be over almost immediately!

For those who are thinking about clean eating but are worried about the cost I thought I'd give a few pointers as to what to expect from Aldi if you've never been before, as well as my 'typical' healthy food shop (complete with total amount spent!)

My Aldi 101:

♥ Prepare for lots of people. You will be fighting down the aisles with a lot of people. They're regularly rude and sometimes they have screaming children in tow. More often than not they're unaware that there are other people in the store trying to get round with a trolley. There are people of this ilk in any shop but because Aldi's are usually smaller than your average shop you notice them more. But just take a deep breath and get going because it's well worth it!

♥ Make a shopping list. I cannot emphasis how important this is! Especially when you're eating clean as it helps you not get distracted and ending up down the chocolate aisle. If you have a list you're prepared and you can waltz around that store like you own the place. Which means you can minimise the amount of time spent with the people above. Win win!

♥ Don't expect the world. There will be some things they don't have, or they will have but they won't be of the highest standard. For example, I would not buy sandwich fillers like ham or sliced chicken from there (not that they're clean anyway). I'm sure it's fine but it's not for me. In terms of clean foods, they do have a good selection of staples like nuts, frozen fruit, herbs, eggs, and regular fruit and vegetables. What they don't have is things like almond milk and quinoa. No surprise there.

♥ Have a look at the Foodie Market range. This is a health food range they have that mainly comprises of crisp breads and chewy bars (kind of like the Nakd bars). I've not tried the bars because the sugar content is pretty high but the crisp breads are good and come in a few different varieties (3 grain, oats and chia seeds and spelt and pumpkin seeds - I think!) They're £1.29 a pack and they're really handy for a quick bite. Nick has been having them with cottage cheese (bleurgh) as a quick snack after a bike ride and they seem to be going down well so if you're into that, give it a go!

♥ Take your own bags. I think most people do this already regardless of where they shop but it's essential at Aldi as they charge for any kind of bag (3p for a regular carrier, about 7p for a more durable, bigger bag and then I think it's around 12p for a proper bag for life). 

♥ Move and pack. The check out staff at Aldi scan your shopping so quick you blink and you miss it. Common practice is to load your trolley up with your shopping and then move over to the side of the shop to pack it into your bags. You can try and pack your bags as they're scanning but I can guarantee this will get you dirty looks from people in the queue behind you. I think this is the biggest Aldi faux pau you could ever make and will definitely out you as a noob!

And finally...

♥ Check out the flowers. They have great bunches of flowers for the fraction of the price you'd pay in a more 'upmarket' shop and they are really good quality too. And with all the money you're saving you've got an excuse to buy some!

My Aldi Shop:

(My key ingredients for the next week, minus the meat as we normally get this from the local butchers. However we have had meat from Aldi before and it's always been of high quality.)

Cauliflower x2 (89p) - for cauliflower pizza base... watch this space to see how that goes! 

Pack of 6 sweet potatoes (89p)

Baby Spinach (99p)

Bag of Kale (69p) - for smoothies :) 

Bag of 4 Red Onions (85p) 

Mixed Chillies (49p) 

Whole Cucumber (39p) 

Closed Cup Mushrooms (69p) 

Bag of 3 Courgettes (89p) 

Cherry Tomatoes (75p) 

Pack of 6 Kiwi Fruit (74p) 

Pack of 8 Bananas (68p) 

Pack of 3 Lemons (59p)

Pack of 3 Limes (69p)

Frozen Raspberries x2 (£1.49)

6 Organic Eggs (£1.49)

Chorizo Slices (£1.79) 

Jar of artichokes x2 (99p) - for a mushroom and artichoke bake which is delish 

Halloumi (£1.39) 

Goats Cheese (£1.49) 

Dried Basil (41p) 

Californian Raisins (£1.29) 

Walnuts (£1.89) 

Mini Crispbread x2 (£1.29) - I've not tried these yet but I'm looking forward to it!

Full size Crispbread in Oat and Chia (£1.29)

TOTAL - £29.39

Since I'm a massive geek, I had a browse through the Sainsburys website and worked out that a similar shop (minus the crisp breads as I couldn't find a comparable product) there would cost around £39! 

Do you have any tips for maintaining a clean diet without breaking the bank?

Until next time :)

Journeys Far and Wide: Grassington, The Yorkshire Dales

A month or so ago Nick and I booked a last minute stay in the Yorkshire Dales - he'd just come back from a work trip to Australia (it's alright for some eh!) and I'd been really busy at work (in England, boo) and we both felt a little like we'd become passing ships at home, and hadn't actually spent any quality time together for a while so I made the executive decision that we were going away for a relaxing night in the heart of one of our favourite places. 

We've been for weekends away in the Dales before, but usually either in summer or very late spring where we've gone with more of an 'outdoors-y' focus. This time I knew we wouldn't be doing that -  I was very skeptical about the weather and although we've been lucky in the past, I don't think we'd ever be so lucky to just happen to arrange a late trip in March with glorious weather. So we decided to go for a slightly more upmarket hotel that we normally would - just because if the weather was so bad we didn't even want to leave the room, it'd at least be a nice room to be confined to! We ended up staying at 5 Grassington House, in (wait for it....) Grassington. And I'm glad we did, because it was totally gross weather. 

One of the best things about Grassington is that it's big enough to have quite a bit going on for a village in the Dales (although by the Dales standard, it's more of a town) and you don't need to go out of the vicinity of the square for anything. Sometimes with little villages, you get a nice pub or inn and nothing else so you're stuck with pub food (don't get me wrong I like pub food and it's great after a day's walking but sometimes you just want a proper restaurant) but with Grassington there's more options which in my opinion is brilliant! It is honestly a beautiful place - it's the epitome of English country, full of little cafes, cobbled streets, cottages, rivers, waterfalls, old fashioned post offices and actual, real life bunting. So. Friggin. Cute. 

The hotel we stayed in was lovely, it's AA 5* and I was very impressed, especially for the price we paid - £100 for the night and breakfast the next day (obviously reflective of the time of year). We ate in the restaurant after having a couple of drinks beforehand in the local pubs, and it was a lovely evening. Expensive, but good. The quality was top notch and the service was on point. I didn't take any pictures of the hotel, but if you are interested, the one's on their website are pretty accurate in terms of what to expect.

This particular trip was exactly what I needed - a bit of relaxation, an excuse to forget the outside world and chill out with some red wine and good food.

Now I'm just excited to go back at Christmas - I've just found out they hold a Victorian Chrismas Fayre each Saturday in December which just sounds amazing!

Until next time :)

The Cat Collection #3

Cat shaped mug = mug perfection.

This is a rather new addition to my cat collection - I saw it in Urban Outfitters (it is still in my local store,  but sadly it is sold out online) a couple of weeks ago and although it was love at first sight (as with all my cat paraphernalia), I didn't buy it immediately because I was unsure as to what I'd do with it and I'm trying with all my might to stop spending quite so much money on nick-nacks such as this. However, after trying and failing to put it to the back of my mind, I went back in to the store the other day and bought it. By this point I'd convinced myself that I'd thought of a good use for it...

Voila!

I've recently bought some new make up brushes and thought this little dude would be perfect to store them in! So yes, my purchase has now been satisfactorily justified!

Until next time :)

Easter Baking :)

It's Easter.

Which always means, I bake.

I made the Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcakes (a long time favourite), and chocolate nests (these are a BBC recipe that I found here). I can confirm, both are heavenly! But since I gave up chocolate, cakes and biscuits for lent I am on a bit of a chocolate rampage at the moment.

I got the cute little cupcake cases and decorations from Poundland! God I love that place. So good. The little decorative chicks were from Tesco, and were bought purely for this photo opportunity. No idea what I'll do with them now....

This is a very short post but I just wanted to share some pictures! Happy Easter lovelies!

Until next time :)

Journeys Far and Wide - Amsterdam

Ooops sorry for my lack of posts in a while, I have been pretty busy with life and as a result this little corner of the internet has been neglected somewhat. But I am back - yay - to tell you about my trip to Amsterdam :)

Nick and I went over to Amsterdam in March, and as you can see from my previous post, I did a lovely bit of retail therapy which is essentially all it takes to make a trip worth it for me haha! But it was also gorgeous, so all in all it was worth hopping over the North Sea.

Now, I actually didn't take that many photos really, so I haven't got too much to show, but it was a great trip and really nice way to get away. I've wanted to go to Amsterdam for years but it's sort of never really been high on my list of priorities for whatever reason. But after we went to Brugge on the P&O mini cruise last year, I suggested to Nick (who had already been in his younger years) that we do the same but go to Amsterdam instead. It's just such a cheap and easy way to get there that there's actually very little excuses you can make to not do the trip! 

So, in early March off we popped on the boat over to the Netherlands. With Amsterdam we decided to stay over an additional night so we had two full days and one night there. Mainly this was just because Amsterdam is obviously much bigger than Brugge, and also, the coach that takes you from the port (Rotterdam) to Amsterdam actually lasts about 2 hours so, this greatly eats into the time you really get to spend in the city (unlike the mini cruise to Brugge, where Brugge is literally about 15 minutes down the road from the port). We stayed in the Inntel Hotel, which is really near to the station (where the coach drops you off) and is in the perfect location for exploring.

I bought a mini fold out map before we went but it really wasn't as good as the maps they gave out free in our hotel (and I imagine would be relatively easy to get hold of from any hotel or tourist information). The map they gave us had all the essentials on it, and was extremely useful for working out which tram to get to where. That is actually the one thing I would advise anyone going to Amsterdam - make use of the trams!!! The first day we walked around, mainly because we were keen to have a good look at everything, but later on that day and definitely the second day we just trammed it everywhere! 

My Amsterdam Recommendations -

1. THE FLOWER MARKET - Without a doubt. Very pretty, loads of Amsterdam souvenirs (aka utter tat) but well worth a visit! Also, the street that sort of runs parallel behind the flower market (Kalverstraat 176) is great for shopping.

2. The Heinekien Experience -  this was Nick's choice (obv!) but such a surprise for me, I actually really enjoyed the whole thing. It had minimal boring beer making talk, and had loads of interactive things to do. Plus, you got a few free beers so winner!

3. Anne Frank Huis - we didn't go in because the queue was insane, and I didn't want to get too upset (I've read her diary and never fully recovered), but I felt like I wanted to go and pay my respects and see it. I'm glad I did but it is quite harrowing.

4. Walk down the canals - you can find some great side streets with antique shops which are always good for a browse.

5. Red Light District - now, this is a bit of a controversial one but I would say it is worth a look. Now, I am in no way an advocater of drugs, and definitely not of prositution, but it is just so culturally different to England over there it's something I had to see. I managed to walk around a few little streets with the girls in the windows, until I got utterly freaked out and made Nick take me back to our hotel haha.

I would like to note, we also went to the Van Gough Museum, which was okay (great gift shop) but didn't completely blow my mind so I probably wouldn't recommend it unless you were really into art and such like!

If I were to go again, I would definitely go to the Amsterdam Dungeon, eat at Vlaming Eten & Drinken (which is meant to be one of the best restaurants in Amsterdam, but was sadly closed when we went, boo), visit the Bible Museum (weird, I know) and go on a boat ride!

I hope this was mildly interesting reading for my return to the 'blogosphere'. I have a few posts in mind for the coming days/weeks that may be a bit more serious than what my blog has had on it before so it might be a shock!

Until next time :)

Journeys Far and Wide (the back catalogue) - #2 Brugge

In October last year, me and Nick went to Brugge, Belguim. It was honestly, one of the nicest, prettiest, quaintest, cutest places I have ever been. We were super lucky as the weather was fab for an Autumn day and, literally everything was so picturesque, all the streets and shops looked like they were straight from a post card. It was a perfect place to visit for a day trip because it was quite small and we definitely got round it all without any problem and with little map reading/planning, and it just felt so relaxed. You know you sometimes get that insane rushed feeling in cities because you are in such a massive place and everyone is running around like a crazy person trying to go about their normal every day business? Brugge didn't have that feeling, at all. Probably because it isn't a big city (in fact, it's teeny tiny), but it was a lovely gentle atmosphere and I couldn't recommend it highly enough! We just lazily walked around the city centre, bought a few bits and bobs, admired all the chocolate shops, went in a couple of museums, had some lunch, walked by the canal (which had a market on a tree lined path just by it, so cute it hurt my heart), had tea and a waffle in a beauty of a tea shop and then slowly made our way back to the train station with time to spare. It was great! No running round trying to catch tubes, or dodging through throngs of people like so many other cities I've been to. Just thinking about it is making me relaxed! Unfortunately, we didn't actually get to go into The Hobbit pub because it had strange opening times and we were gone by the time it opened it's doors!

The above pictures were all taken with my DSLR whilst out and about, so below are a few cheeky Instagrammies I snapped whilst we were away as well :)

Until next time :)

Journeys Far and Wide (the back catalogue) - #1 Paris

Last August my boyfriend, his Dad and a friend decided to cycle from London to Paris. You know, as you do.

Not one to miss an opportunity for a quick trip to France, myself Nicks mum and the friend's girlfriend decided to fly out there to meet them under the Eiffel Tower when they finished their mammoth ride (which took 3 days), n'awww. And it was definitely one of the best decisions I made in 2013, because Paris is and was beautiful.

Due to time constraints of the trip and the fact that it was a bit of an impromptu decision to meet them at the end, we were only actually in Paris for one full day but it was still amazing, and quite exciting to be such a jet setter for a couple of days!

We got there on the Tuesday evening and had a lovely taxi driver pick us up from the airport to take us to our hotel. I normally hate the time spent on the transfer because it seems such a waste, but it was actually quite a good journey because the taxi driver took it upon himself to give us a little tour and he was pointing out all the popular tourist attractions and landmarks, which was really great because we had such little time there we knew we wouldn't see hardly anything really.

Our hotel was literally a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and it was exactly what we were looking for (Hotel Auteuil Tour Eiffel if you're interested), and great value for two nights in the middle of summer right next to the Eiffel Tower. 

So we got there, dumped our bags and headed out to the Tower to assume our places on the imaginary finish line! It was such a beautiful day and although we had quite a wait, I cannot imagine a more perfect place to wait :)

  (Meet Katie!)

(Meet Nick!)

After the arrival there was much time spent snapping away the Eiffel Tower, the boys under the Eiffel Tower avec their bikes, then couples under the Eiffel Tower.... you get the gist. Then we went back to the hotel, the boys collapsed for a bit, I read a bit, and then we went out for a lovely Parisian meal, and someone actually ordered snails (I know, what the hell?!)

The next day (our only day, boo) we went to the Eiffel Tower, on a cruise down the Seine (both of which were lovely) and I forced everyone to go on a perilous journey down the Champs-Élysées to find Sephora (aka heaven. I got an amazing highlighter and a coral lip gloss, that sadly no one I was with cared about). We had crepes, we had wine and the weather was beautiful - it was just a perfect day. And to say the men of the party had finished a 350 mile bike ride the night before, they were all troopers and didn't complain about being tired, or achey legs, bonus! Also, there was actually no complaining throughout the mammoth journey from the Eiffel Tower to the Champs-Élysées which was quite surprising since I was the only one who was remotely interested in that part of the day!

 (At the top of the Eiffel Tower - I'm on the right)

(This one is purely here because the fountains were making a rainbow, which is just delightful).

So after the wonderful day, we headed out for our final meal, sob. We went to a bustling restaurant in the Italian Quarter and after we had a few cheeky drinks in the little bars around and then saw the night lights on the Tower (awesome), and headed back to the hotel (by this time, the men really were tired).

(Nick and I, made into black and white because the hotel lighting was horrendous and made us both an odd yellow shade).

All in all, it was fabulous and I cannot wait to go back! Hopefully I will have another excuse very soon, and hopefully next time it will be for a considerably longer time than one and a bit days! I do think city breaks are best kept short and sweet, but maybe one day is a bit too short. But it was definitely fun, and lovely to have been there to meet Nick after such an acheivement!

Until next time :)