Life | I Miss You!

You guys, life has been crazy.

Moving house sucks. It's official. And I don't say that lightly; you know I'm usually a "glass-half-full" kinda gal.

As excited as I am to finally be in the new house (and get to bombard you all with about a million photo's), something about the moving process of the last couple of weeks has just totally stressed me out.

Do you mind if I have a whinge?! (You guys are like Therapy, except free! Haha, lucky you...!)

Here's what's really ticking me off.....

1. The house is still not finished.
2. We need to build-in our storage (pantry, open-shelving in the kitchen, understairs, master bed solution) so things can't actually be put away at the moment.
3. We have discovered four (yep four), things leaking since moving in.
4. The dishwasher isn't working (I know, I know #firstworldproblems).
5. The gas hob isn't connected - living without a hob is surprisingly annoying.
5. I have zero patience and want everything done yesterday.
6. There are no more funds for the time-being - things cannot be done yesterday, tomorrow or the day after that....

Property renovation is amazing, I love the transformation process so much but it's this stage right now that's the most frustrating! You're so close to being done yet also so far!

Aaaaaand to top it all off I haven't blogged in over 3 weeks!! Gah.

I just wanted to say a huge Thank You for sticking with me and checking in even when there's been nothing new to see. I love this little blog and can't wait to share more with you - that being said, I have no idea where my camera is so you'll have to make do with phone pics for now......

Taking a few minutes to write this post has made me realise just how much I've missed blogging.

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So glad to be back! x

Life | Friday Favourites

Soooo, what put a smile on your face this week? Here's mine.

1. Dan has been away skiing and he's back this weekend, hurrah! Before he left he bought me these beautiful flowers, they smell amazing and have been making me smile all week long.

2. Some days I buy lunch, some days I buy Nail Polish. This week I bought Mint Candy Apple by Essie. Perfect for Spring Days!

3. The Cali Countdown Officially Begins! Six weeks today, we will be touching down in San Francisco for our Roadtrip!! Soooo excited....!

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4. I picked up this Wildfox Couture Sweater in the sale on ASOS. It's so soft and cosy....and if I wear it often enough I think Dan may just comply with the oh-so-subtle message...!

5. The Sky TV at the flat is broken....clearly not a reason to smile (and a very good reason to move into the new house!), so I decided to give Netflix a try. I know, I know....seriously late to the party. I'm now completely hooked on Modern Family! It's so easy to watch, perfect for winding down.

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Hope you all have lovely weekends planned! Happy Friday! x

Style | Spring Lust List

Everywhere I look at the moment the shops are filled with their Spring wares (or should that be "wears"?)

It inspired me to put together this Lust List, needless to say, I want everything! 

A girl can dream, eh?

Food | Chocolate Brownies {Wheat Free & Gluten Free}

So I finally got around to baking the Chocolate Brownies I talked about in my Friday Favourites a couple of weeks ago.

Why, oh why have these not been in my life sooner?!

And who knew that Black Beans could form the basis of something so yummy?

Too many questions!

This isn't a recipe post as such. If you click on the link above it will take you directly to the SkinnyTaste one.

I pretty much followed Gina's recipe to the letter, but just a note you need to invest in some "cups" for this one. You can get them cheaply on Amazon or TK Maxx.

Also, my main Food Processor is still in storage so I just blitzed the Black Beans with the Almond Milk in my Mini Food Chopper and then mixed the rest of the ingredients by hand.

For next time I would definitely consider adding some roughly chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts), for some extra crunchy texture. But if you're not a fan of nuts these are amazing as is.

For the perfect treat, serve with a pot of your favourite TEA!

Mine is still the Teapigs Chai....

Just a word of caution..... these are Gluten Free and Wheat Free, but not Sugar Free!

Brownies in any format should still be classed as a treat! Enjoy x

Food | A Moroccan Thank You Meal {Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon, Green Olives & Thyme}

We've had a lot of help with our house, and feel incredibly lucky to have such handy, and generous, friends and family.

I cooked up this Tagine as a Thank You to my Big Bro. To be honest, it's the very least I can do, he's been an absolute gem at Kitchen Fitting and saved us a small fortune.

Good job this little Tagine turned out to be very tasty indeed then!

I got this recipe from a book called Tagines & Couscous by Ghillie Basan. I contacted her Publisher Ryland, Peters & Small to see if I could share the recipe with you guys and I can, woop!

Here's what you'll need:

- 8-10 Chicken Thighs or 4 Whole Legs
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil plus a knob of Butter
- 2 Preserved Lemons (I used these ones), cut into strips
- 175g Pitted Green Olives
- 1-2 tsps of dried Thyme or Oregano
- Cous Cous or Quinoa to Serve

For the Marinade:

1 Onion, grated
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
25g fresh Ginger, peeled and grated
Small bunch of fresh Coriander, finely chopped
A pinch of Saffron threads
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 Lemon
3-4 tbsps Olive Oil
Sea Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper


Start by preparing your Marinade. Mix together all your ingredients in a bowl.

Place your Chicken in a shallow dish and rub the marinade into the skin. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

When you're ready to cook, heat the olive oil and the butter in a heavy-based casserole.

Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and brown them in the oil.

Pour in the leftover marinade, and add enough water to come half-way up the sides of the chicken pieces.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, turning the chicken from time to time.

Add the preserved lemons, olives and half the dried thyme to the tagine.

At this point the recipe says to cover and simmer for a further 15-20 minutes.

I transferred mine to an actual "tagine" and popped it in a pre-heated 180 degree oven to finish the cooking time. I think if you bothered to schlepp a Tagine all the way back from Marrakech you should probably use it.

Nope, not a bone of contention between Dan and I at all. Who would make their boyfriend a) haggle for said tagine b) realise you wanted to buy another tagine as a gift, and ask him to haggle some more and c) carry said tagines across a very hot and dusty souk back to our hotel, only to be very rarely used?? Nope not me, absolutely not.

Anyway, I digress....

However you decide to finish the cooking, when you're done season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle the remaining thyme over the top.

The recipe says to serve with Ghillie's Plain, Buttery Couscous, but I'm trying to be wheat and gluten free for the most part so I served ours with Quinoa and Spinach and a flourish of fresh coriander on top!

I can't say enough good things about this recipe. The chicken was so tender, it literally fell off the bone and the tagine itself tasted heavenly. I loved the freshness of the flavours and the combination was just perfection.

I think the Thank-You Tagine, went down well!

Please note that this is absolutely not a sponsored post. It's just a really great recipe from a fabulous book. I'm excited to try some more! x

Tagines and Couscous by Ghillie Basan is published by Ryland Peters & Small and is available from rylandpeters.com