Hi guys! Today I'm going to talk about healthy eating. It's easy just to say eat at least 5 pieces of fruit and veg a day, an apple a day keeps the doctor away and all that! But there is so much more to it than that. It is impossible to keep a perfect balance between your fruit and veg, sweets, carbs etc etc. What is interesting is the new 5:2 diet, which allows you to eat whatever you want for 5 days of the week, but for the other two you can consume no more than 500 calories. A task I'm not quite sure I could manage! I, personally, have never tried it and have only heard and read about it but it is suppose to be a really healthy lifestyle change that will benefit your body according to what I am reading. My problem, I feel, would be finding low calorie meals and sticking to them! The temptation to have a yummy bag of crisps or a chocolate bar is just too much! The diet would require will power, and changing simple things like juice for water on fasting days. The internet is full of recipes styled to fit the low calorie fasting days of the 5:2 diet. There is an abundance of help and ideas from other people if you are interested and feel this is the diet for you! It looks like it's the next big thing and that it's good for you! It's simple to follow, and pretty low hassle. I have no doubt there are ways to make low calorie meals delicious and interesting! If you want more information or recipes, you literally just have to google '5:2 diet' and you will be amazed at the results you find. If this is the diet for you then good luck!

Hello, sorry it's been a while! I'm here to talk to you today about fruit. What is your favorite fruit? Apples, bananas and oranges to name but a few. I personally love a bit of mango, but the effort to get to the fruit is often quite annoying. Fruits can be really tasty, but he bad thing  is that they can get quite boring, quite quickly. So I plan to give you an idea that will help make one of the most well known and well eaten fruits a little bit more interesting . The apple (preferably a green apple).

What you'll need:
1 green apple (red if you prefer)
some icing sugar
lemon juice

1 sharp knife
bowl

Method:

This method could not be simpler and takes seconds!

1. chop the apple in to wedges
2. put in the bowl and squeeze over some lemon juice
3. sprinkle over a little icing sugar

And there you have it!

I know! Simple, right? And it tastes really good, while staying reasonably healthy. Try it some time, you wont regret it! I'm not sure how this recipe works with other fruits, but if you're feeling adventurous you could always test it out!

TV Chefs

Today, for a change from the usual blogging, I am going to talk about TV chefs. My two favourites at the moment have to be Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay. You don't want to get me started on how much I love Jamie Oliver. He is such a naturally entertaining person! When you're watching him cooking on the television, you don't feel like it's just another cooking show, you feel involved. He constantly cracks jokes that I, personally, find hilarious. I would say that there is never a dull moment during his shows! Plus, more importantly, his recipes are really good and produce absolutely amazing and delicious food that is also reasonably healthy. Really into his 15 minute meals at the moment too! Although, I've tried, and it never takes me only 15 minutes so I always have to set aside some extra time to get everything done, which is no problem for me. 
Gordon Ramsay is, kind of, completely opposite to Jamie Oliver. He is almost equally as entertaining, just in a different way. Although he gives the appearance of being a big, tough, mean guy in his TV shows, I actually think he is a really nice guy at heart. Although he is terrifying when he shouts, I find it interesting to watch how he always manages to take control of what sometimes appears to be a rather bleak situation in some of his shows. The other thing I like about him is that he's not just all about the cooking. All or most of his shows include cooking but are not necessarily mainly about that. For example, I am talking about Hells Kitchen and Gordon Behind Bars. In both of these shows, although cooking is involved, he is offering an opportunity to the people involved. Something that they have to work hard for and towards. He sends a good message that to get rewards, you have to work hard for them. 
That pretty much concludes my opinions on these specific chefs. Feel free to comment with your own comments and opinions. 

Tuna Pasta Bake

For this delicious recipe you will need:

Pasta
1 tin of tuna
1 red pepper
Butter
Flour
Milk
Cheese

1.Start off by boiling enough past for yourself (and others if you are cooking for more than just you).
2. Start to make a white sauce. To make a white sauce, melt a small amount of butter in a pan before adding flour to make a roux. Add milk to the roux mix until the sauce is thick and creamy.
3. Add a small about of cheese to the white sauce.
4. Chop the pepper in to small bits and add to the white sauce.
5. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce along with the tuna.
6. Place in an oven proof dish and top with cheese before cooking for 15-20 minutes.

Ta da! You get your final dish. Easy, quick and cheap to make, delicious!

Wintery soup.

Winter is fast approaching and it is getting increasingly cold outside! There's nothing better on those cold days, when you just want to cuddle up on the sofa with a blanket, than a plate of warm, delicious soup! Lucky for you I'm going to tell you the recipe for the best carrot soup ever as well as showing you a picture of the soup when I made it.

Here's what you'll need:

8-10 carrots
2 parsnips
1 onion
1-2 cups of lentils
2 vegetable stock cubes
1 tbspoon parsley
1tbspoons coriander

Method:

1. Peel and chop the carrots and parsnips and chop the onion
2. Fry the onion in a pan
3. Add carrots, parsnips and lentils
4. Top up your pan with boiling water and add stock cubes
5. Chop the herbs and add them too
6. Leave to simmer for 50 mins to an hour (or until the vegetables are soft)

And there you have it, it's as easy as that! Not only is it easy to make, it's also cheap and it lasts ages! You could even freeze it so that you have some for later. Hope you enjoy making this and will speak to you again soon!

What's it all about?

Hello, and welcome to my blog! As the title suggests, it's mainly going to be about food. Seeing as I, myself, am a student, food that is ideal for students will feature a lot. Not just any student food though, good student food! Stuff that's easy and cheap to make but at the same time tastes good. You can also look forward to seeing pictures of some of the stuff I make. There's a few cook books that I'll hopefully be getting some inspiration from so I'll let you know about them and also possibly create some recipes from those too. Although my general focus is going to be main courses, there may also be the odd recreational cupcake recipe. That pretty much sums everything up for now, come back soon!