Those of you who have been following along on socials will have seen me mention that I was doing a fundraiser in July and thus I quickly wanted to give a little update now that I’ve completed it.
In July, dad and I took part in a fundraiser for Point North, which is one of our charity partners at work that supports our local communities at a grassroot level. The fundraiser was to complete 38.7 miles in July to help raise awareness and funds to support the 38.7% of children who are growing up in poverty in our wider area of County Durham and the Tees Valley.
Every mile completed helped to provide: food, uniforms, bedding, holiday clubs, lessons, and more. If you’d still like to make a donation, our fundraiser page is still open for a few days:
As proof that I did complete the 38.7 miles, I made a little compilation of all the walks and gym trips I did in July, and so I thought I’d share it as a nice round up of the fundraiser challenge.
I’m so glad I signed up for the fundraiser, as not only did we mange to raise some funds for Point North, but it also forced me to get out more. I get so nervous venturing out on any journeys which are further than about a 20 minute car journey or walk (I might delve deeper into the why at some point), but to get my steps in I have had to push myself to overcome / deal with my fears. Although my anxiety spiked at times, I overall had really positive experiences and ended up enjoying some wonderful longer walks exploring new places. Now I just need to keep pushing myself to head out and not fall back into letting my nerves get the better of me!
Something a little different, but I wanted to talk about the fundraiser I signed myself and dad up for with work for two reasons. One, to raise awareness of what we’re fundraising for but also two, to talk about how it’s been helping my anxiety which is something I’m really proud of.
At Kaffeehaus Coffee Roasters giving back to our local community is very important to us and we’re proud to already be regular supporters of Point North, but we wanted to do more, and by participating are hoping raise more awareness for this amazing charity supporting our local communities!
So, dad and I are stepping it up and taking part in Point North‘s fundraiser completing 38.7 miles in July to help raise funds to support the 38.7% of children who are growing up in poverty in our wider area of County Durham and the Tees Valley.
“Thousands of children in our own communities are falling behind through no fault of their own. As the cost of living continues to rise, more families than ever are struggling to get by. The need is urgent and growing. This challenge gives all of us a way to do something about it,” – Michelle Cooper, Chief Executive at Point North.
Every mile helps to provide: food, uniforms, bedding, holiday clubs, lessons, and more. And any donation you can give, no matter how small, will help to make a difference To donate or follow our progress please follow the link below
By signing up to this fundraiser I have also ended up forcing myself to face my anxiety which has been an unforeseen bonus. Essentially, I get very nervous venturing further than a 20 minute car journey or 15 minute walk (I might delve deeper into the why at some point, but not today), but to get my steps in I have had to and still am pushing myself to overcome my fears. So far I have had some really positive outcomes and endend up enjoying some wonderful longer walks exploring new places. The repetition of positive outcomes and experiences, is slowly creating positive reinforcements to counter my anxieties which I’m really happy with.
Below was my first 4 mile walk. I pushed myself to drive up to the Pennines, about a 30 min drive to a place I’d never been to before, and go for a walk around a reservoir I’d previously known nothing about. It turned into such a wonderful morning. The Smiddy Shaw reservoir along the Waskerly Way ended up being such a wonderful expedition for me. It was a quiet path and we barely bumped into another soul which was fab and just how I like it. The path was well paved and easy to walk, and although a little overcast at first, the clouds soon cleared giving way to tow a warm and the sunny atmosphere and stunning views all around.
And yes, my anxiety did surface at times, but I was generally having a good day and feeling more positive and so I managed to keep it in check and ende up having a wonderful morning out. It may seems like nothing to those of you who don’t suffer for anxiety, but to me this was a pretty big feat and I felt very proud of my achievement. It made me want to go out more straight away.
So, a few days later I headed out for my second 4 mile walk through a more local Nature Reserve. I completed this walk before work one morning and there were a great number of paths to meander through and explore; although some ended up being quite overgrown and narrow this time of year resulting in a fair few nettle stings and bramble scratches haha!
All in all I have really been enjoying working towards completing this fundraiser and I’m generally feeling more hopeful for the future with every new step I take.
I hope you had a great weekend! I must apologise for not posting last night, I had a busy weekend and was busy socializing both evenings and thus didn’t get around to finishing a post. So I thought I’d recycle a post this morning as it’s an easy peasy recipe for a fresh yummy start to a new week.
Here goes, this is my absolute favourite fresh juice of all time. Sadly making fresh juice can be quite expensive sometimes, so this is a treat, however occasionally you can find reduced fruit so keep your eyes open and look in local fruit and veg shops too!
The drink – it’s nothing special, just freshly squeezed oranges, grapefruits and lime with a sprig of mint, but the combination is kinda amazing!
I would usually squeeze 3 oranges, 1 red grapefruit, 1 lime and garnish with a sprig of mint. I would also recommend popping the freshly squeezed juice in the fridge to chill before drinking or adding and ice cube or two – it is the most tasty and refreshing when cool!
Well I really hope you all make this because I’m obsessed with this juice aha. Do let me know if you try & enjoy it too!
If you follow me on Instagram (@simplycarinaxo) you will already know that I made vegan meringues the other day!!
If you’re a meringue fan but are like myself a vegan and can’t eat eggs or are allergic to eggs or even just fancy trying something new, then this recipe is for you.
I’ll warn you in advance, although easy it takes almost 3hs to make these meringues, but they are super tasty and so it’s totally worth it!
Now you might be wondering how on earth you can make vegan meringues when one of the main ingredients is egg white. Well I’d heard ages ago that chickpea brine could apparently be used as an egg white replacement and so when I stumbled across this recipe I was eager to test it.
I was a bit skeptic at first but apart from turning out somewhat hollow and crisp rather than chewy, they were very tasty!!
If you’re not drooling already at the thought of a meringue dessert then here’s the recipe for you to test yourself :
Makes 6-8 meringues
400 g can of chickpeas which should yield
100g of aquafaba (brine)
110g of caster sugar
Vanilla seeds
Whisk the aquafaba at high speed until stiff white peaks are formed; this will take about 15-20 minutes.
Mix the vanilla seeds into the sugar before adding the mixture to the aquafaba a couple of spoonfuls at a time, making sure the sugar is whisked in properly before adding the next few spoonfuls.
When all the sugar is mixed in and the meringue is thick and glossy, it is ready.
Preheat the oven at 130 degrees centigrade and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.
Spoon the mixture (I’d say a large heaped tbsp) onto the baking tray well apart as the will grow quite a bit.
Now bake for 1 3/4 – 2 hours until the meringues are fairly firm unto and on the base. Take out of oven and leave to cool completely.
Once cool, you can enjoy this delicious treat however you like. I suggest some vegan vanilla ice cream and a fruit compote or fresh berries!
Now enjoy!
If you give these a go do let me know how they turn out!!
Now that the weather finally seems to be improving I’ve been feeling the cocktail vibes more and more and am ditching the red wines. However as summer and bikini season are approaching I thought I’d share with you my favourite low sugar cocktail so that you can still enjoy a drink without worrying about your waistline too much.
I’m not sure what to call it yet, maybe Bitter Breeze or something…
Well here it goes. You will need:
A lime
Gin
Diet bitterlemon
Fresh mint
Ice cubes
First pop your ice cubes into your glass – next add to your strength liking gin and bitterlemon (for this glass I used 2 shots of Bombay Dry Gin with ca. 300ml of bitterlemon) – squeeze in half a lime – decorate with another slice of lime and fresh mint.
Et voila – one Bitter Breeze at the ready – now sit back, relax and enjoy!
It’s time for me to share one of my favourite recipes with you – I hope you are excited!!!
This recipe is from the beautiful vegan cookbook Peace & Parsnips. I love this book and everything I have tried so far has been super tasty, so I can’t wait to try more recipes in the future!
I’ve made this beetroot brownie recipe a couple of times now; the brownies are super easy to make, perfectly moist and of course taste amazing! So no excuse not to try this recipe for yourselves!
I have altered the original recipe a little, but it is quite flexible so don’t worry about experimenting. Anyway, let’s jump right into it!
Ingredients:
300g dark chocolate
150ml vegetable oil
125g Flour
100g Prunes
100g Nuts
200g Silken tofu
125g Beetroot, finely grated
150g Unrefined brown sugar
(I also added some dried apricots and a little rosewater – although apparently not enough of the latter as I couldn’t taste the rose flavour – I need to experiment more with this I future)
Method:
Firstly, melt the dark chocolate carefully in the microwave on a low heat/defrost setting making sure you don’t burn it. Once melted stir in oil. Leave to cool.
Preheat oven to 190 degree.
Whisk tofu and sugar together in a bowl before stirring in the cooled down molten chocolate. Next add the beetroot, Prunes, and nuts (as well as apricots or whatever else you want to add) then slowly fold in the flour until all is combined.
Pour the mixture into a ca. 27×17 cm tin lined with banking paper and level out.
Pop in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes on the middle shelf.
Leave to cool in tray then lift out onto wire wrack and cut into squares. The brownies should be nice and moist with a slight crust on the outer edges.
Best served warm with vegan vanilla ice cream or fruit compote.
And there you have it! Brew yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit down, pick up your favourite book and enjoy this yummy treat!!
Please let me know if you try these as I’d love to see what you think!
I recently purchased a few new cook books from The Works and thought I’d show you. If you’re not in the habit of frequenting The Works, I really urge you to check it out on a regular basis because they always have some amazing deals and sales on.
I always find it too easy to fall into the same cooking patterns recycling the same recipes over and over again, so I’m really looking forward to trying out some new recipes from these books. There’s so many yummy recipes out there I just need to make more of an effort to try them all. Which makes me think… Has anyone ever watched Julie & Julia?! It’s about a woman named Julie who decides to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s cookbook in a year and blogs about it. I’ve always wanted to do that haha a day although it’s never going to happen, the idea of actually cooking every single recipe in a cookbook is kinda cool. I’d love to achieve that, I mean who knows what delicacies we’re missing out on by not trying more recipes!
Anyway here’s the cook books I just added to my collection and I can’t wait to read through them and try some new recipes out!
I’ve already got one of Aine’s cook books but for a fiver I couldn’t complain and the more new recipes for inspiration the better. Then I also liked the idea of discovering some raw food ideas, as I’ve heard lots of positive things about a raw vegan diet. Oh and the last book I guess isn’t a cook book, but a book about vitamins and minerals which I thought would be a very interesting and hopefully informative read. Being vegan now has opened my eyes more to making sure I’m receiving all the nutrients my body needs; and this is not due to the ever present stigma that vegans struggle to get all the nutrients their body needs (a rant for another time), but rather because the whole vegan lifestyle for me is about starting to take better care of my body. So I’m looking forward to educating myself some more!
Now I’d love to know if any of you already own these cookbooks and if so what are your favourite recipes?!
A couple of weeks ago I watched a documentary on Netflix called Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, which taught me a lot about juicing and it’s benefits. I’d also heard lots about juicing from various Youtuber’s I follow so it’s been on my radar for a while, although I never really considered doing it because juicing machines can be rather expensive. However, Jessica and I had popped into our local British Heart Foundation store to look for a secondhand food processor a while ago, and although they didn’t have any food processors they did have a juicer for £10, so I instantly decided to buy it. I could tell it wasn’t the best straight away, but for a £10 who could complain?!
Having been really ill last week I thought it would be a good idea to cleanse my body and give it a few days to detox, so I decided to give my immune system a boost and went on a three day juice cleanse. It wasn’t an easy three days but it was definitely helpful not having to do it alone as my housemate Jessica joined me.
I’d previously tried a smoothie diet (just drinking smoothies – I can’t remember for how long I set out to do this but I didn’t last long). The thing I found hardest was just drinking meals, I almost instantly missed the action being able to chew and actually eat something. Although I’ve not done a juice cleanse before I knew I was going to face the same problem as when I tried the smoothie diet. It was going to be hard, but unlike last time I was determined to complete a full three day detox.
We started on Tuesday, my day off. Every morning began with a cup of green tea, then a glass of lukewarm water with a tablespoon of chia seeds. The slime of chia seeds when wet is supposed to help clear out/scrape toxins from the body and they have great nutritional profile so are very good for you. After this we drank ca. 800ml of juice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 1 was all juice. By day 2 we were craving food really bad and so we compromised dinner by having a homemade well blended soup. On day three we did the same juicing for breakfast and lunch and having a soup for dinner. Being able to have something savory and warm in the evening definitely helped.
I don’t know how much hood this cleanse has done me as I don’t think I did it long enough to see the difference, as in day 3 is supposed to be the worst regarding how you feel (eg. more tired and headachey) and then you’re supposed to feel an increase in energy and the likes. It’s hard for me to say how tired the cleanse made me because I was working ridiculous long busy days at work with no real break. But I did loose ca.7lbs in three days so I’m happy with that!
I decided to slowly work food back into my body by having a smoothie for breakfast and lunch today, and now for dinner finally having my first meal in four days.
I’m glad I stuck out with the cleanse and loosing some weight has only motivated me to continue eating more healthily! And I will definitely be adding a juice day into my life now and then!
Has any one else ever done a juice cleanse?! I’d love to know!
I have recently been obsessed with this Butterbean dip for the Peace & Parsnips recipe book. It is soo good I just had to share it with you! I use my mini food processor to blend this delight together and recommend you buy yourself one (you can find a link on my Shop page) it’s cheap and super useful. The Cookbook is another I would recommend – even if you aren’t vegan I believe it’s great to try different healthy meals you wouldn’t usually eat and have some fun exploring new recipes. Anyway here goes the easy quick Butterbean dip:
Ingredients:
Garlic (I would use at least 4 large cloves – use this as your starting point and you can always add more or less depending on your taste)
Butter Beans
Parsley or Coriander (I like to use quite a lot of fresh herbs, more than in the recipe, but again start with a little and keep adding to suit your taste)
Pepper & Salt
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Method:
Depending on the size of your blender you might be able to make this in one go or like me have to split the ingredients in half and blend two lots.
Chop up you garlic and parsley/coriander and put into blender
Add the Butter Beans, the olive oil and the lemon juice
Grind some salt and pepper into the mix
Now blend together
Suggestion – I admit I never measure the lemon juice and olive oil, I just keep adding them into the mix bit by bit until I get a smooth slightly thicker than hummus consistency
Ways to use the Butter Bean dip:
This recipe comes in the cookbook as an accompaniment to the beetroot burger (which recipe I will most definitely be sharing at some point too as it’s amazing!) but I have since used it in many different ways and here are some of my favourite – have a go and see what you like and if you can think of any other ways to use the Butter Bean dip, do tell me because I would love to know!
Use it like a dip (make it less thick by adding more oil, lemon juice or a splash of water) then chop up some carrot and cucumber sticks or use bread sticks, dip in and enjoy!
My favourite is probably these pitta breads – pop a pitta in the toaster and spread the Butter Bean dip on then top with tomatoes or cucumbers or whatever topping you like!
I tried this one for the first time last week and though it was yummy – the Butter Bean dip works well in a wrap and filled with delicious fresh veg like carrots, cucumber and salad – you could also add some falafel which would be scrumptious.
The other day I made vegan fajitas – it’s one of my favourite easy meals to make and so I thought I’d share my recipe with you – I hope you enjoy!
(serves 4-5 people)
Ingredients:
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 red pepper
3 large tomatoes
1 chilli
1 can of kidney beans
Tofu (Instead of meat I use tofu, although I guess you could use vegan mince as well)
Fajita spices
Salad
Wraps
Method:
Chop up your onion, garlic, pepper, chilli and tomatoes
Drain the tofu and cut up, then marinate in the fajita spices. Tofu by itself is rather tasteless I feel, but marinate it in fajita spices and it changes everything.
Fry your onion and garlic in a little olive oil, once a little brown add the peppers and chilli. After 5 mins add the tomatoes and kidney beans
Wash the salad (I used Kale to fill the fajitas, but it is quite coarse so any other salad would work well too)
Fill your wraps (I recently discovered these amazing beetroot and spinach wraps in Tesco – I definitely recommend). Alternatively you can use romaine lettuce as a wrap which makes for a lighter fresh meal.
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