157. Sunday Summary

Hello lovelies.

Here's my weekly round up - it's been a fairly quiet week but with some lovely bits and pieces thrown in too.

On Monday, S and I went to Newcastle for our 20 week anomaly scan (I'll be blogging about this next week!) and it was incredible. It's such a lovely feeling to see your little one on the screen - it makes it all the more real. We're now halfway through the pregnancy so I can begin the countdown!

After our scan, which took about an hour as we had to wait a while, we headed over to Zapatista for some delicious Mexican food. I've written a review here, which you should definitely check out if you're looking for somewhere to eat in Newcastle - I can't recommend it highly enough.

On Tuesday, I was still stupidly excited about our scan, especially as we received the news I'd been wanting to hear (all will be revealed next week, if you don't already know!) so even a trip to the dentist couldn't dampen my spirits. Half an hour later, I left knowing that I'd have to have my first ever filling - gutted isn't even the word. It's my own fault for drinking all those cans of fizzy pop though!

I met up with a friend for a tasty lunch and a catch up which was great, and then I headed over to my Dad's for the night where me, Dad and my sister caught up with Breaking Bad and had a nice, chilled out evening.

Wednesday morning meant I was back to work, all on my lonesome, but I had a trip to my Mum's to make up for it, so the day went surprisingly quickly. Me and my sister headed over to Mum's where she'd cooked us a really great Indian feast of curry, rice, naan, pickles and chutney - it was so good, and I was stuffed by the time we finished. Mum and I spent the rest of the night watching TV and having a natter.

Mum's delicious Indian meal // Our Pudding Palour treats on Saturday

Thursday was a lazy day and I spent most of it lying on my Mum's sofa reading David Walliams' autobiography 'Camp David'. I'm about half way through and it's so, so good. I've laughed out loud on a few occasions and it's great to get to know a bit more about him. 

On Friday, it was back to work again but - once more - I had something to look forwards to so the day flew over. At 4:30pm, we headed into town to pick up my new phone, which is a beautiful Motorola Moto G (2nd Gen) - I love it already, even after just a couple of days! The screen is huge, it takes great photos, it's fast and the battery life is a hell of a lot better than my previous phone, the iPhone 4S which I couldn't wait to get rid of. 

As always, Saturday morning was spent working at the quieter of our three practices but, as I get away at 1pm, it always goes over pretty fast. Before I knew it, I was on my way back home (having not seen S since Tuesday afternoon!). After the dreaded food shop was out of the way, S cooked us chilli for tea, picked up some goodies from The Pudding Parlour and we pulled the mattress and all our bedding into the living room to watch The Voice and The Jonathon Ross show. 

Today is my favourite kind of day: a lazy day. We haven't got any plans so it's a day of chilling out on the sofa, playing XBOX and watching tele. I might even throw a cheeky bubble bath in for good measure.

How has your week been?

112. Recipes // Speedy Chilli

If you're anything like me, the last week or so before payday is an absolute financial nightmare. Sound familiar? Despite promising I'll be sensible, track my spending and not go overboard each payday, within two weeks I'm scraping the barrel for pennies. 

Today's post is inspired by that feeling. All too often when we're skint we'll neglect our basic nutritional needs and instead of cooking up a dish containing veggies, carbohydrates and protein (because we all know how expensive meat is these days!) we'll opt for beans on toast or a frozen £1 pizza from Iceland, because it's cheap and cooking something more nutritious would be too expensive.

I try to avoid this as much as possible and I think I've found a quick, easy, nutritious and cheap dish that can be used for either lunch or dinner; it will go perfectly with pasta or in a salad as a packed lunch, or served with rice or even a jacket potato for your evening meal.

Ingredients (for 2)

1 x packet of Tesco's Meat Free Bolognese Mix (£1.75)

200g of Iceland sliced cooked chicken breast (£1.25 - sold as £2.50/400g)

2 x jalapeno peppers (sliced, £1 for large jar - only need 1/10)

1 tsp hot tobasco sauce

1 tbsp cajun spices

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Coriander (to serve)

Method

1. Heat your oil and add the bag of frozen meat free bolognese mix

2. When the bolognese mix has melted slightly, add the sliced chicken

3. Stir in the spices, jalapenos and tobasco sauce

4. Continue to stir on a low heat for 5-10 minutes

5. Serve with your side-dish of choice, sprinkle with coriander if desired.

If you're a veggie, simply leave out the chicken and you could enjoy this spicy dish too. 

As you can see, so long as you already had the spices and 'cupboard essentials' such as oil, this dish could cost you as little as £1.75 each (CHEAPER THAN A GREGGS SANDWICH!) if served with rice.

Are you going to try this recipe? 

Do you have any cheap and easy, healthy recipes?