Rainbow Roasted Chicken Bake

I cooked me and my Dad another healthy meal today. It is my signature dish and I cook it loads for myself at Uni. Originally I found it in a cookbook but after tweaking it slightly to my taste I have perfected it to my preference and renamed it Rainbow Roasted Chicken Bake!  I’m going to write a list of things you need, ingredients and then what I did, step-by-step!

What you need:

Roasting dish

Small Bowl

Cheese grater

Chopping board

Knife

Vegetable peeler

Ingredients (for 2 people):

3 chicken breast fillets

1 sweet potatoe

2 courgettes

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

Handful of cherry tomatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

How to do it:

Chop up 1 of the 2 courgettes into thin slices and place them into the roasting dish with a dash of olive oil. 

 Chop the peppers in half and then smaller until they’re small, finer pieces.

Peel the sweet potatoe and chop it into small pieces (this is never neat and tidy as sweet potatoe is SO difficult to chop).  I then add the pieces to the dish too.

Next I chopped the second courgette in half and grated one half of it. This grated courgette is then squeezed over the sink to get rid of most of the juices and then placed into a small bowl and put aside for now.

I then make a slit in the center of two of the chicken breasts so that there's a hole in them. The grated courgette is taken from the bowl and stuffed into the chicken breast. This makes the chicken stay nice and (excuse the vile word) but moist and it doesn’t dry out when being cooked.

Finally I sprinkle some salt and pepper over the whole dish and place into the oven for around 10 minutes before adding the tomatoes in. I then place it back in the oven again for around 35 minutes. Just keep checking to ensure the veg is browning slightly. 

Here is a photo of the finished meal before dishing it out!

Hope you think it looks nice and have a go yourself!

DIY: Captain America Shield

My friend is having an American themed 21^st party on the 4^th of July and so I have decided to go as a female version of Captain America.

I wanted a costume that I could make for very little money as I’m struggling for money at the minute. I have bought a royal blue dress, red gloves and American coloured socks all for £6.00 off eBay. I am making the shield out of cardboard and paints that I found around our house. 

First off I had to find four different circular objects in which I could draw around for the different sized circles on the shield. I used various plant pots and plates.

Once I had cut out four different sized circles, I had to paint them red, blue and white. I used some children’s paint that I found which wasn’t very good and so I had to add lots and lots of coats onto it.

I tried drawing and cutting out a star shape for the center of the shield but failed dramatically. I had to then wait for my mum to get home to help me draw a star! Hahaha. Here’s my rubbish attempt:

Once my mum helped me draw a star, I glued all the pieces together and placed a heavy book ontop of it for a while to ensure it stayed together well. After this I cut out a small strip of cardboard for the handle. I glued and taped the handle onto the back of the shield.

This was my final result. I was pleased with it in the end because it cost me nothing and it worked relatively well! Let’s just hope it doesn’t fall apart before the party!!

Let's go Swimming!

My Mum and I have decided to try and get fit this summer as well as eating healthily so we thought we’d make the most of my Grandparents new pool! 

We put some music on and set a timer for 25 minutes swimming and then 5 minutes relaxing and playing on the lilo’s and inflatables!

It was a lot harder than I imagined and I was tired after a few lengths, but I kept pushing on and managed to do the whole 25 minutes in the end J

We’re hoping to do this routine a few times a week over the Summer now! 

Salmon and Mediterranean Veg

Today I decided to make a nice healthy meal before I go for a swim with my mum.

Here’s a list of all the ingredients I used:  (bearing in mind, I made this for three people)

3 salmon fillets

1 courgette

12 cherry tomatoes

1 yellow pepper

1 green pepper

1 red onion

Handful of mushrooms

1 sweet potatoe

Firstly I peeled and chopped the sweet potatoe and courgette. I placed these into a dish and covered them in some olive oil and ground pepper. I then put this dish in the oven for around 45 minutes.

Secondly I wrapped the salmon loosely in some tin foil and placed that into the oven as well for 40 minutes.

Thirdly I chopped the onions, peppers and mushrooms and placed them in a separate dish with the cherry tomatoes. I sprinkled some chilli powder, Italian herbs and a dash of olive oil over these vegetables before finally placing them in the oven for 30 minutes.

After all the veg had browned slightly and looked cooked, I got it all out at once and served immediately!

It was so lovely, colourful and very healthy!

I then had a nice low fat, cherry flavoured yoghurt for my pudding! 

Naked - Jo Hill

Naked is the heartbreaking true story of a young girl named Jo. It delves into her tragic, challenging and confusing life, explaining the terrible experiences she’s gone through and the disgusting way she was treated. She was forced into attending nudist camps with her family but even her own parents didn’t realise what went on behind their backs.

At times when I was reading the book, I visibly cringed and had to look away before continuing to read, I wouldn’t suggest it’s for the faint-hearted. Awful things were done to Jo without her even realising how wrong it was at her young age. The story is gripping and full of horrific surprises and throughout the whole book your maternal instincts will make you want to hug Jo and tell her things will get better eventually. I highly recommend this book although it definitely changes your outlook on certain aspects of life.

My copy is battered and worn as I bought it already used, from Oxfam but here’s a photo of the cover so you can recognise it and also if you want to read some of the blurb.

Here’s a photo of me and my four gorgeous best friends at Ocean Beach in Ibiza. Ocean Beach is a lavish, extravagant beach bar situated on the coast of San Antonio. It is renowned to be a celebrity hotspot with many famous faces making regular appearances. Personally, I loved Ocean Beach although if you want the ‘full experience’ of the place, you really need to have a LOT of money. We however, managed the day without a drink and sat in the free area. I know people who have ended up paying just short of 950 euros for a bed for the day!

When I went, I wore a Dorothy Perkins Kaftan which I bought very last minute on the night before I went to Ibiza. It cost £22.00 but if you look on the website now, it seems to have been reduced by almost half!

Underneath the Kaftan I was wearing a River Island swimming costume which I bought for my holidays last year and cost around £30.00. Unfortunately we didn’t take any pictures of me without my kaftan covering it.

My two accessories were River Island sunglasses for about £15.00 and Primark sandals with a shiny silver top and white wedge.

Lady GaGa Black Fluid Perfume

I’ve been using Lady GaGa Fame perfume for a few years now and thought it’s about time I write about it. It’s definitely my all-time favourite perfume now! If you don’t know anything about this perfume, I’ll explain briefly…

GaGa released it in 2012, it is unusual because it consists of black fluid which, once airborne, turns clear. The black colour was supposed to represent the ‘dark side of fame’. It was found that GaGa used extracts of her own blood to base the scent on so that we’d all have ‘a bit of her’ on us. It’s a slightly bizarre concept yet is Lady GaGa down to a tee.

I personally love this scent because it’s not too sweet and sickly like many other celebrity perfumes. It has a more dry and sophisticated smell. I love everything about this perfume, from the concept and the scent to the monster claw-style packaging and the curious ingredients which include Atropa Belladonna extracts (which is an extremely toxic plant) as well as Tiger Orchid, Honey and Saffron.

I highly recommend this perfume if you’re looking to stand out and smell unique.