Monday 28 March 2016

meals for uni- Ainsley Harriott's Lamb pittas

Hey guys! Todays' recipe is one by Ainsley Harriott that is in his low fat meals cook book which is one of my favourite cook books and I would recommend getting! I am showing you this recipe because it is really easy and you could easily make it for university if everyone chipped in.


(for 4) For this recipe you will need:
1 tablespoon of harissa or a chili sauce
1 lemon juiced
handful chopped fresh mint
350g of lean lamb fillets
4 pita breads (I used six giving us an extra half each)
bag of rocket
reduced fat hummus

Mix the Harrisa, juice and mint in a bowl and put the lamb into it. Use your hands to make sure the lamb is covered in the mixture. Leave to marinate for about ten minuets


Now heat oil in a frying pan if need be, and when hot add the lamb and cook for about 10 minuets until browned on the outside and pink on the inside or a little longer if prefered.

You could use this pan to heat up the pittas, or just pop them in the toaster. Cut the lamb up into smallish chunks if not already.

Fill each pitta with rocket, and then the lamb. Serve with a blob of hummus! (or just pile a much hummus as humanly possible like I do.)

These are delicious, one of my favourite meals ever!
Hope you enjoy,
Lot of love
Eleanor x

Tuesday 22 March 2016

la Tasca restaurant review

Hey guys! I have not done a restaurant review in quite a while but on Sunday me and my boyfriend were looking for somewhere to eat in the Trafford Center and we decided to get dinner at La Tasca. My boyfriend had never had tapas before so I was eager to introduce him to it. La Tasca is a Spanish Tapas restaurant and you order as many little plates of food as you like.




Me and Luke Shared 5 tapas plates, it recommends 3 per person but we found 5 was enough. We ordered the chicken wings, battered prawns, patatas bravas con alioli (fried potato) pollo marbello (chicken in white wine sauce) and the meatballs.

All five dishes were amazing and I would really recommend the battered prawns which were in an amazing San Miguel batter which was amazing and fried potato which come with a garlic butter sauce. Although the dishes are amazing, it is quite an expensive restaurant, each tapas can be little more than 6 pound although most are around £5 and if you get the recommended 3 plates each that's already £15 per person, it could potentially be over £18 pounds per person depending on the dishes got and that is not including drinks.

La Tasca is a really good way to introduce people to tapas, especially as there are many recognisable dishes on there, such as the chicken wings or  meatballs. There are many fish, meat and vegetarian options with a lot of gluten free options available too. If tapas isn't your thing there is lots of different piella dishes available too. The dessert options (my favourite part of s menu) look amazing but unfortunately we were too full to order any dessert options, for such tiny portions I am always surprised about how quickly I am filled up!

Overall I would recommend going to this restaurant, I love tapas as it is a little different to things you can get in other restaurant and you get to have lots of different things, not just one meal. There is also a kids menu with more kid friendly tapas inducing a mini burger, French fries and fish fingers. If you want to give something different a go I would say go for it, the dishes are amazing, so tasty although do watch the price of the tapas you are ordering.

Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Sunday 13 March 2016

Sweet potato and aubergine curry

Hey guys! This recipe I have been loving to make at uni because it's so healthy and you can make a lot of it and freeze it! It is also vegan and full of goodness! Coconut milk is so creamy and delicious and sweet potatoes are so good for you sp this recipe is a winner!

For two

1 can of coconut milk
three or four small sweet potatoes
1 aubergine
a can of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
a can of chickpeas (I usually serve about 100g per person but however much you like)
brown rice

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Peel potatoes and cut potatoes and aubergine up into small pieces.

Put coconut milk and tomatoes in a pan and heat on a hob until boiling then add the veggies.

Put the pan in the oven for 30 mins. Then add chickpeas and cook for another 30 mins.

When the pan is in for the second 30 minuets, I cook my rice as I use brown rice which takes 25 minuets therefore will be done at a similar time!

And you are finished!
I hope you enjoyed this post!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Sunday 6 March 2016

What I eat in a day 26.2.2016

Hey guys!  haven't done one of these yet but I thought I would show you what I eat on an average day. Perhaps I will do more of these in the future, I am also thinking about similar posts such as what I eat for dinner in a week, I love these kind of posts because I'm a) nosey, and b) to give me food inspiration! This was last Friday and on Friday's I am in university from 9-3 and then I went out at night so I had quite a busy day. I think this might be especially useful for students too.

Breakfast:
For breakfast I nearly always have porridge for breakfast. I love these little sachets as they're easy to make and I don't have to waste time measuring out a portion. I normally get the original ones and add a banana in for extra goodness, as I know the flavoured ones are high in sugar but it's what my mum bought and I am not going to waste money!

Lunch:
I made a packed lunch as I was in uni all day. I stupidly forgot to buy more salad and this is quite a bit smaller than normal. It consists of quinoa, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce leaves.

Friday treat:

This is not something I would normally do but I had some fudge during my lecture with my friend! On Fridays we always buy something a little bit unhealthy to snack on during our last lecture of the week to keep us going. Would definitely recommend this!

Afternoon snack:
At about four I always start to get hungry, especially as I eat my lunch quite early on a Friday. This snack is one that I have almost every day, a banana (unless I had one for breakfast then I'd have another bit of fruit) and some corn things which I adore.

Tea:
For my tea I had two black bean burgers which are a deliciously ella recipe from her new book with some veg.

Pudding:
I often have some yoghurt later on again if I get hungry.

"Drunk" food:

On a normal day I do usually have a sweet treat after my dinner but on Fridays I often don't as I have usually had something sweet earlier and I wasn't going to have anything on Friday as I had had the fudge. When I start drinking though I usually find I am starving when I get home, instead of having a burger or something in very high fat, I filled my junk food craving by having the sweet treat I would have had if I had fancied it earlier (I actually had a small dairy milk chocolate bar but forgot to take a picture- so here's the sweet treat I had after dinner a few days ago.)

Hope you enjoyed this post!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x