Sweet Potato Brownies

Hello everybody!

The other day I had a go at making some healthy sweet potato brownies (well healthier than normal ones) and they were so delicious I thought I just had to share it with you. I would definitely recommend these brownies, they are just as easy to make and taste better than the sugar filled normal brownies. So here it goes...

Ingredients

150g Sweet Potato (one medium - large)
50g Honey
2 Medium Eggs
50g Coconut Oil
100g Ground Almonds
30g Raw Cocoa Powder
1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
Pinch of Salt
75-100g Walnuts

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a square dish with grease proof paper for the brownie mix.

2. Gather together all the ingredients to make it a bit easier for you. Then peel and chop the sweet potato into chunks and place them in a pan of boiling water, I only put a little bit of water at the bottom of the pan so the potatoes will steam and cook. Make sure the potatoes are cooked through. Drain and cool.

3. Whilst the sweet potatoes are cooling, blend the eggs and coconut oil by either mixing in a bowl or using a food processor, I just mix them in a bowl as I don't have a food processor unfortunately. Mix until slightly combined.

4. Add and blend in the honey and sweet potato, again you can do this in a food processor, however I put the honey and potatoes in the combined mixture and mash the sweet potatoes and honey into the mix with a potato masher. This seems to work fine for me :). Mash until the mixture is combined to make a not so attractive orange baby food looking mixture (stay with me here, I promise they are yummy).

5. In a separate bowl mix the ground almonds, cocoa powder, bicarb of soda and salt. Then add this to the wet ingredients and mix until combined to make a nice chocolaty brownie mix. Add the walnuts, I break the walnuts into pieces, makes it less walnutty.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, this time is based on the shallowness of your dish, if it is quite a deep dish I would cook for 20-25 (keep and eye on it) if its more shallow then 15-20 minutes should be enough time. I would just keep an eye on it and stick a knife into to see if its cooked.

7. Let the brownies cool for 10 minutes and enjoy your brownies with a nice cold glass of milk!

Hope you enjoy these brownies, if you end up giving it a go please let me know if you enjoyed them. I'm going to scoff my face now :)

TBT | Childhood in a Nutshell

Hello Everyone!

Hope you are all well and enjoying this crap weather we have been having lately in the UK... Ugh please, it's May I think it's time for the sun to STAY out!

Today I thought I would do a throwback post as I have never done one before, nor have I ever posted a TBT photo on instagram. I'm loosing my TBT virginity, how exciting. Instead of showing you embarassing and majorly awkward photos of me growing up, I thought a throwback of a few bits and bobs that were basically my childhood in a nutshell, would be more fun - who doesn't love a bit of nostalgia. I've narrowed it down to a mix of 10 things that were a big part of my childhood, I could literally go on forever, there was so much - I feel lucky to be a 90s/00s kid, the best timezone to grow up in fo'sho!

Lets crack on then - in no particular order...

1. The Babysitters Club: Movie - This film is AMMMAAAZING, seriously underrated I think. I actually found this on Netflix the other day, seriously I have been searching every single website trying to find this film on DVD but had no luck, so you can understand my extreme excitment to see it on Netflix (Netflix - what would life be without you). Also watching it the other day for the first time in yeeears I noticed that the fashion was seriously on point, a lot of which has come back in nowadays.

 2. Dream Phone - This was so much fun, I use to play this a lot with my two childhood besties and whenever I think of this I think of them and it makes me feel very nostalgic - I love it!

 

 

3. Doll Maker - I really hope other people played on doll makers, I was so obsessed I could spend hours dressing up dolls in different outfits with different hair etc. I loved it and the picture below is a 'doll' I made earlier to show you, this was a princess one and I actually ended up playing on it for a few hours - rather sad actually.

 

 

4. Old School Disney Channel - Ugh why did they have to go and change something so damn perfect! This was my favourite channel EVER with the best programmes, such as - Lizzie McGuire, That's so Raven, Recess, Kim Impossible... The list could go on. Also they use to show a movie every Friday as a treat and they were always so good - like Recess School's Out, amazing film.

5. The Sims - I think this was a part of everyones childhood, I could spent all day on this like literally all day, wake up get on it - fall in love a few times, kill a few people off, have a few babies etc - and it would suddenly be bedtime. It consumed my life but was so bloody worth it.

 

6. Rugrats - Cynthiaaaaaa!!! God this show was great, I love this little gang and the films were pretty blimen good too. I think everybody has watched and loved Rugrats - if not there is something wrong with you.

7. Spice Girls - If ya wannabe my lover, you gotta get with ma friends... Very self-explaitory here, Spice Girls were seriously cool, Girl Power always! Oh and their film was the best.

 

 

8. Britney Spears - Of course it's Britney Bitch! Need I say anymore, Britney was with me through thick and thin with some brilliant tunes, like all of them, they were all brilliant.

 

 

9. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen - God I wanted a twin so badly! Everything this pair did I loved, the films - Passport to Paris, Our Lips are Sealed, New York Minute etc. and their TV programmes - Two of a Kind and So Little Time. They were amazing and bloody gorgeous!

 

10, Bring It On - 'I'm major! I roar! I swear I'm not a whore!' I could quote every word from this film I loved it that much, I watched it constantly and new all the cheers. Oh and it made me seriously want to be a cheerleader - shame its not a 'thing' in England, dammit!

There we are theres my top 10 Throwbacks of my childhood, I'm feeling very nostalgic now and I think I will be watching Bring It On tonight for sure!

Thank you for reading!

10 questions Frozen forgot to answer...

I'm afraid, this post is about Frozen, not sure if you've heard of it, oh wait... EVERYBODY has heard of it duh!

I love Frozen, but I feel it needs to answer a few questions.

1. Does Kristoff have any parents? If not (which I am assuming is the case) why has he not got any?

2. Was Kristoff completely homeless that he was able to be adopted by trolls in a split second?

3. Why does Elsa have magical powers and is she the only one in the world ever?

4. Why doesn't she want anybody to know (everyone seemed pretty ok with it at the end)?

5. Elsa stays in her room and does not talk to Anna or see her for 13 years!?! Yet they live in the same house? Does this also mean both Anna and Elsa have not been outside for 13 years!? And Anna still treats Elsa like they've been the best of sisters for years, yet they only spoke up until Anna was 5, when Elsa nearly killed her. Like what??

6. Why, when Anna and Elsa see each other after 13 years, whilst living in the same house, does Anna not ask Elsa 'WHAT THE F WAS UP WITH THAT!?'

7. Since when can Elsa make life (Olaf)?

8. Now that Anna knows about Elsa's powers, why is Elsa still being a biatch and not talking to Anna?

9. Why did they include the troll's song? Like really, worst song ever, bad move.

10. Why, after all these unanswered questions, is Frozen still one of the best Disney movies, with THE best Disney song EVER - you all know it!

Anyways - gotta love Frozen really.

Summer is Coming...

Game of Thrones reference there as the 4th series starts Monday (OhMyGod YES!)

Summer is on it's way everybody, I don't know about you but I am blimen excited!

I seriously can't wait for Summer to finally be here, usually I am a massive Winter person but this year I just can't wait to be baking in the sun, going for little adventures and wearing pretty Summer dresses.

Although my brain is ready for Summer, my body, lack of motivation and laziness definitely is not. So I have decided to set myself some rules to get me prepared for this years sunshine. The earlier I start the better as I don't want another year of 'ugh I look horrible in this bikini/skirt/dress' I want to feel great rather than the blobbyness I'm feeling at the moment. Seriously I fell like a big lump, not a nice feeling. I thought I would put my 'rules' into a blog post as then they are set, they are on the Internet so basically I have to stick to them now.

Here are my 10 rules I will follow to get prepared for Summer, hope you enjoy!

1. Cut one 'bad food' out of my diet each week. The first week will be chocolate (Starting Monday - no diet starts on a Thursday duh!).

2. Drink at least 2 litres of water everyday and drink a pint of water before and after every meal. This should trick my tummy into thinking it's less hungry, therefore eating less (hopefully).

3. For my snacks at work I will have 2 pieces of fruit mid morning (Satsuma and Grapes) and 2 pieces of veg as a mid afternoon snack (Carrots and Cucumber).

4. Cut down on the amount of carbs I have after 5pm, I won't cut carbs out completely after 5pm, just some nights I won't have any and some nights I will - but not for every dinner.

5. No eating after 7pm, this will allow for my body to fully digest and burn off my dinner.

6. Walk to work everyday - the walk to my walk is about 40 minutes, and I always feel very fresh and energised after and it's an easy bit of exercise to put into my everyday routine.

7. Sit up straight at work - my posture at the moment is just terrible and I'm really paranoid I'm getting a hunch back so sitting up straight at my desk will definitely help with this.

8. Get a hair cut. As long as I can remember I've desperetly wanted long princess hair (Disney gave very false expectations of hair), now I have it - however it still isn't very long, but I've come to terms with that this is as long as it's ever going to be - I don't want it. I've decided to go for a fresh new look and have about 2-3 inches off so it will come just past my shoulders - hair grows back, I will get over it. But my long hair at the moment makes me soooooo hot and sweaty (ew sorry) so I think I need something short and sweet.

9. Moisturise my body, I am guilty of skipping this step far too often. I would love to have smooth soft skin for the summer so my goal is to moisturise my body everyday (if you have any recommendations as to what moisturiser, they would be most appriciated).

10. Go shopping!! I'm saving a bit of money at the moment to go on a big shopping trip getting all my Summer essentials, Summer make-up, Summer clothes, Summer shoes, everything basically. This one is my favourite rule I think.

Right, now my rules are set - bring on Summer!

You're Never Too Old To Be Young - Snow White

Hi everybody!

It's been one of those weeks, I've been so super duper busy lately stressing about Uni and everything that I just haven't had time to blog, nightmare! So for this weeks post I decided to base it around something that cheers me up no matter what, and that is Disney! Of course, doesn't Disney cheer everybody up?

Disney is my go too, my saviour, whenever I'm feeling sad, stressed, anxious, annoyed, poorly, anything really and it never fails to make me feel tons better. I've decided to put together my top 5 Disney films, I can tell it's going to take me ages to decide on just 5, seeing as they are all AMAZING (apart from Pinocchio, it's too scary and weird).

Number 1

Hercules
I love absolutely everything about this film, Hercules, Meg, Hades, Phil, Zeus, obviously the list can go on and on but I do just love every character in this film. The songs are also my favourite, I'd say 'I Won't Say' is my favourite (Meg), I love the Muses too, love a bit of Gospel sound.

Number 2

Alladin
Obviously the Genie is hilarious, I'm a massive fan of Robin Williams (Mrs. Doubtfire - Amazeballs!). The songs are great in this film, 'Friend Like Me' probably being my favourite. Of course Jasmine is gooooorgeous, who doesn't want to have hair like Princess Jasmine, literally a dream.

Number 3

The Little Mermaid
I wanted nothing more than to be a mermaid when I was little, and Ariel definietly fueled this obsession, did anyone use to put their legs together and try and swin like a mermaid? Please tell me you did... Anyways, Little Mermaid is a perfect film Ariel is beautiful and Prince Eric is a massive hottie - do not deny you fancied/still fancy Prince Eric! Favourite song would have to be 'Part of this World'.

Numer 4

The Lion King 1&2
Bit sneaky as this is two different films but I love them both equally so I think it's ok to have it merged into one. Along with a mermaid, when I was little I desperately wanted to be a lion/have a lion as a pet. The Lion King is very sad to begin with obviously - Dad, wake up... Oh dear getting teary just writing about it! But apart from that trauma, the songs are great (Scar's song is probably my Fave) and Timone and Pumba are pretty hilars. The Lion King 2 is also pretty great, I love the songs... Deceptionnnn, Disgraccceee. Love that one, and I know he's a lion but I swear everyone had a secret crush on Covu.

Number 5

Pocahontas
Just around the riverbeeeennnnd, I look once more! Anyway, Pocohantas is a great feel good film, the songs are fantastic and again John Smith is a pretty dreamy character. I use to have a Pocahontas costume and I blimen loved it. Favourite song would be a toss up between 'Just Around the Riverbend' and 'Colours of the Wind' both lovely sing-a-longs.


Hope you are feeling rather nostalgic now and maybe if you're in a poo mood Disney can make you better!

Wishlist: Home Edition

Hi everyone!

I thought I would do a home edition wishlist as I am hoping, after uni (May-ish 2015) I plan on moving in with my boyfriend. We have started saving for a deposit for a nice little home that is just ours so I am really excited, even though it will be a long way yet. So with this bit of exciting news I thought I would do a wishlist of a few things I would like to buy when we move in.

It was veerrrryyyy difficult to choose only a few items, I saw about a million things I wanted. I can tell my future house is going to be crowded with lots of bits and bobs... woops. Enjoy!

Zara - Small Star Lantern: I think lanterns are so pretty dotted around the house, makes a home feel very cosy I think.
H&M - Two-Pack Guest Towels: How cute are these towels!? Parrots smooching, I just loved it, they have a slight 'Him and Her' feel to them so they are quite ideal.
Zara - Two-Tone Faux Fur Blanket: Love faux fur, especially for the winter, I thought this blanket would look nice draped on a sofa ready to snuggle in after a hard days work.
Zara - Hibiscus Candle: Such a pretty candle, Zara have some lovely candles at the moment, very impressed, these just stood out to me, who doesn't love flowers? Especially ones that won't cause hayfever... The only thing I am dreading about Spring and Summer, runny nose and itchy red eyes is never a great look.
H&M - Pink Ceramic Jar: I thought this would be quite a nice jar to put some sweets in and keep in the sitting room for when we have movie nights.
H&M - Dinosaur Plate: I LOVE DINOSSAURS!! I've always been fascinated with Dinosaurs, they are crazy cool, so obviously I am a massive fan of this plate, well done H&M well done. It will match my dinosaur pyjamas - the best pyjamas in the world for sure!
Yankee Candle - Snowflake Cookie Large Jar: What house isn't complete with a few Yankee Candles here and there, snowflake cookie, even though rather christmassy, is a lovely scent and pink is my favourite colour so works perfectly!

This post has made me rather excited to get a new home and start my life as a real life grown up, YAY!

Springtime Fingertips

Hello everyone!

First things first, what amazing weather we, in England, are having! I couldn't believe I could go out of the house without having to wear 20 layers. So in spirit of this lovely weather I have decided to pull out a few nail polishes that I thought were perfect for Spring and especially for when the sun is shining, to share with you.

I am a massive fan of Spring colours, pastels are just undeniably pretty. With the weather showing some signs that Spring is officially here I think it a perfect time to say goodbye to reds and dark purples as Winter is technically outta here. Here are my top 5 Springtime nail polishes...

From left to right: Seventeen - Heartbeat | Essie - Mint Candy Apple | Barry M - Lychee | Topshop - Occupational Therapy | Essie - Fiji

What colours are you excited to wear during spring time?