Make your own Katsu Curry!

Hey guys its Alex!

Japanese Inspired Katsu Curry!

So I have a big obsession over Japanese food, but really fail at cooking it (especially sushi) so when I was really board the other day i thought; wouldn't it be nice to find a simple katsu curry recipe 

Katsu Curry can't be that hard? Can it??

I eventually found the perfect recipe that seemed simple enough that I could follow and adapt in my own little quirky way- Here's the link for the non quirky recipe :) 

To start I bought some chicken goujons and Uncle Bens microwavable rice, this cut time and cost!! and after getting all the basics of the dish I needed to concentrate on the sauce….

This is how I got on :) 

What you will need….

Ingredients:

3 tbsp sunflower oil 
2 medium onions, roughly chopped 
25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped- this was debatable and i didn't add in the end
4 garlic cloves, sliced 
3 tbsp medium curry powder 
1⁄2 tsp ground star anise- or I have Chinese 5 spice which did the trick 
1⁄2 tsp ground turmeric 
4 tsp of plain flour 
500ml chicken stock (made with 1 chicken stock cube) 
4 tsp tomato purée 
2tsp freshly ground black pepper
ohh and then i added a tad soy sauce when cooking the onions.

-My first move was to fry the onions with some sunflower oil for about 5 mins- but make sure not to burn them like I did, just let them go golden - I may have aded soy sauce- you don't need it though.

-Then add in 4 garlic cloves with the onions, sliced into iddy, biddy, diddy chunks 

-With them slowly frying, add and mix in all the turmeric, curry powder, black pepper, the star anise/five spice and sprinkle in the flour. 

-Once mixed up in the pan add the chicken stock slowly, then add in the purée, I suggest at this point taste the mixture and see if it needs more flavouring. 

-Let the sauce mix on a light flame to simmer. If its turned thick and paste like, add more water and slowly stir mixture. This is when I popped the rice in the microwave and the chicken was nearly finished being cooked in the oven.

-Once everything looks cooked put the rice and chicken on the plate with the sauce, you need to pour the sauce into a blender or use a stick blender to grind the mixture down to a smooth and creamy appearance and then its ready to serve

Daaadaaaa easy peasy lemon squeezy!!!

Tuck in and enjoy, let me know how you get on!

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Healthy New Start

Motivational Mondays....Oops Its Wednesday!

Hey Internet,

Hows everyone been recently? still keeping up your new years resolutions? or did you fail miserably like me?

 I said i would drink more water-FAIL. I said i would make more time to blog-FAIL. 

I've failed miserably, but not to worry, to be fair on myself, i did say i would try to be healthy (as a non resolution) and its worked! (this is the key, make things 'non resolutions')

 I have been super healthy, like more healthy then i have ever been in my life! 

well done me! The hard bit was trying to stay motivated and somehow i have managed it! I've been mostly influenced by +Sprinkleofglitter with her whole #glittergetsfitter reading through everyone's progress on instagram, its seriously been a massive help! and now I've got Dan and Phil bloody running, so i suppose Ive gotta start doing that now- since I'm so easily influenced!

Progress so far; I've lost about half a stone which is about 7lb, i have been eating salad everyday and having fruit smoothies for breakfast after recently purchasing a smoothie maker, i been like a master fruit mixologist making all kinds of fruity goodness! 

Ive made being healthy FUN

Just want to point out i know there is a ton of sugar in fruit smoothies, but because i don't eat vegetables its my only option on the smoothie front...

Not only am i eating healthily, I'm actually leaving my 'bed-cave' (as my dad like to call my bedroom) Ive got this app on my phone that counts the steps i do per day, I'm trying to achieve 10,000 steps a day! its a hard target and i hardly reach it but its nice when i get close. Ive also been using a 'slender tone' machine, its a belt that you use to tone up your muscles whilst exercising, i use it whilst doing squats and sit ups.. sometimes when I'm feeling lazy ahhemmm..most the time i just put it on max and just lie down, its very intense, but it does work and the toned feeling is more or less instant

+ Here a few of my favourite healthy smoothies;

1) strawberry smoothie;

strawberries, low fat yogurt, banana and almonds

2) baby spinach ginger and peach smoothie;

baby spinach, peeled grated ginger, peaches, honey and water

3) Mango Yogurt smoothie;

cinnamon, lime juice, mango and low fat yogurt 

4) mixed fruit smoothie

oranges, blueberries, banana, pineapple and strawberries

I hope i have motivated you to carry on with your diets? or start a healthy routine? what you have to remember is that the results won't be instant, much to my distress.

You might as well give it a go!

let me know how your new year diets are going and recommend me any tips and tricks! 

I need all the help i can grab! we all gotta help each other!

Toodlepip xx

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Healthy Cookies!

January is the month of diets and for everyone who has a sweet tooth, this can be a hard thing to deal with. To get you guys in the baking mood but to still keep healthy, I concocted my own "healthy cookies". 

Whilst most recipes call for white sugar, I substituted it with maple syrup, a healthier aulturnative. Maple syrup contains antioxidants which benefits your your immune system and even though it is sweeter than sugar, is has fewer calories. Another healthy substitute is adding seeds in replacement for chocolate chips. If you don't want to add seeds you could add anything from nuts to dried fruit.

Quick little tip for you guys, make sure you do not over mix the cookie dough otherwise you will end up with a tough cookie! (pun not intended haha) 

Ingredients:

• 115g butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 cup flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
• 1 tsp hot water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup seeds/raisins/chocolate chips

1) Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. In a bowl add the brown sugar, maple syrup and butter, cream together until mixed. 

2) Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.

3) In a separate bowl add the bicarbonate of soda and hot water. Mix together and add into mixture along with the salt. Next gradually mix in the flour until fully mixed. 

4) Add the oats and mix well. 

5) Add the seeds or a mixture of anything you want to add. Mix until everything is fully combined and evenly spread through.

6)Using a tablespoon as a measurement scoop out the mixture and place onto the tray. Make sure the cookies are equally sized. Place in the oven for 10-11 minutes 

7) Once done, let the cookies cool on a cooling rack or you can eat them instantly!

If you enjoy these cookies make sure to bake them and tweet me picture! 

How are your January diets going so far?

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Hello January

Hey internet! New Year New Us! 

(Nothing like a cheesy message to start off the year!)

Happy New year everyone!
Over the christmas period we have been working our butts off to give you this new brand new super 'sexy' layout (which we hope you love as much as we do!)

Within the coming year we want to be active bloggers and create even more exciting and inspiring posts to allow you all to have a more fun and enjoyable read
(what do you guys what to see?)

To kick start the new year we are here today to share some of our new years resolution. 

April
1- Eat healthy & drink more water
2- Make more time to blog

Alex
1- Every month I want to try do 3 things I have never done before
2- Have a quirkier sense of fashion style

Amreeta
1- Read more books
2- Stop procrastinating and start doing!

Group resolution
- When having group skype meetings we must not go off topic
(we are literally awful when trying to have a meetings, once we were chatting for 3 hours and within that time we accomplished nothing for the blog... whoops)
- Do more group posts (consistence is key!)
- Introduce Guest Blogging

Anyway we will leave you to have a little snoop around our new blog, let us know what you think about our new look

April, Amreeta, Alex 

Butternut squash soup with chilli & crème fraîche

Hey guys! April here, and I'm making soup!

(This is what its ment to look like!)

Soups are the only way I will eat any sort of vegetables, so I try and make lots of different types of soups to keep up my 5 a day veg!

Here I’m going to tell you how to make my favourite soup-

Butternut squash soup with chilli & crème fraîche

Serves 4

Calories Protein Carbs Fat  Saturates Fibre Sugar  Salt

  264           5g          28g    15g     7g           6g      17g   0.61g

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, about 1kg, peeled and deseeded

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 onions, diced

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

2 mild red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

850ml hot vegetable stock

4 tbsp crème fraîche, plus more to serve

Method

~Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

~Peal the skin off the squash, I didn't and you could tastes the chunks! yuk

~Cut the squash into large cubes, about 4 cm/1½in across, and then toss in a large roasting tin with olive oil.

(Roast for 30 mins, turning once during cooking, until golden and soft.)

~While the squash cooks, melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan, then add the onions, garlic and ¾ of the chilli.

(Cover and cook on a very low heat for 15-20 mins until the onions are completely soft.)

~Tip the squash into the pan, add the stock and the crème fraîche, and then whizz with a stick blender until smooth. for a really silky soup, put the soup into a liquidiser and blitz it in batches.

(Be careful with a stick blender! I'm still finding soup all over the kitchen because I lifted it out the pan too early) 

~ season to taste.

~Serve the soup in bowls with swirls of crème fraîche and a scattering of the remaining chopped chilli.

finito! 

 And here is my finished dish! 

I didn't sprinkle more chilli on top of the soup because, for me, it was spicy enough.

So have a go and create this beautiful healthy soup!

Toodlepip xx

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Green Smoothie

Recently, i've been loving green smoothies. Since i've come home from uni i've been feeling tired and lethargic but after having one of these I get an instant energy boost. Green smoothies are packed full of good vitamins and it provides me with a way to eat my fruit and vegetables all in one go. Best thing of all it even tastes good! This recipe is quick and simple. It will provide with a smoothie within minutes! You can substitute any of the fruits below with any other fruit. You can also use plain water, personally i really like the taste of coconut water. 

What you need:

• Blender
• Handful of Spinach 
• 1 Banana
• 1 Peach
• Handful of Strawberries
• 1 glassful of Coconut Water
• Ice (optional)

1. Chop up the fruits and spinach 

2. Add the coconut water into the blender

3. Add spinach and fruit and blend

4. ALL DONE!

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