The Blog Girl <3

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Welcome to my blog!🤍✨

Hey, I’m ‘the blog girl’ and this is my blog. I have been wanting to start a blog for ages and ages (this may have come from reading Girl Online many times hehe but no ones needs to know that :)) but have never felt like I have been ready too. So you might be thinking, well if she wasn’t ready then how come she suddenly is? Well the answer is I’m not. I’m fact I’m nervous about posting this blog. Super nervous. But with being off school for a while and having quite a lot of free time, I’m trying to become a better person in myself so I thought what better way to start that than start my own blog?

If your going to read my blog you probably want to I now a bit about me so I am going to tell you 5 facts about myself that are personal but not to personal that someone might be able to find me and kidnap me because, you know, the internet is a scary place and not all sunshines ☀️ and 🌈

5 WONDERFUL FACTS ABOUT ME!

1. I love elephants🐘 like love love love them! 💗💗💗They are my favourite animal and if you see my room then you would probably realise quite quickly haha

2. My dream job is to become a vet 👩‍⚕️ because it’s what I’ve wanted to be since I was little and I love animals 🙊 and I am good at science and because one of my biggest idols (Noel Fitzpatrick – aka the supervet, search him up if you don’t know him, I’d hope you’ll admire his work!) is a vet.

3. I am a runner 🏃🏽‍♀️ I run cross country for one of my local teams. I love running because it’s a way to keep fit and helping you with your mental wellbeing (I’ve always hated those words 😂 what can’t it be called like making you feel good or something, sorry I’m rambling 🤭) but the main reason I love running is because of the amazing friends I’ve made because of my team! Love you all!❤️❤️

4. My favourite subject is Drama🎭 or English Language📖. Drama is one of my favourite subjects because it allows you to be someone else for the lesson (that sounded deep 🙃) and because the majority of my friends do Drama and we are like one big family! And English Language because my teacher is absolutely AMAZING and so kind🥰 and because my seat is fantabulous (this is one of my made up words meaning fantastic and fabulous, there may be more made up words so consider yourself warned hehe) but mainly I love writing which is one of the reasons I started a blog.

5. One of my favourite things to do is bake🍩 I think this is because it helps you pass the time but gives you something at the end of it but it’s probably because I love food 🍿 is that bad?? Maybe 😂😂 my favourite thing to bake is bread 🍞 because I feel like baking is always associated with sweet things 🍬and as good as sweet things are I like to be different so that’s why my favourite thing to bake is bread 🙂

Thank you so much for reading my first blog post – if ofc any one is reading- and will you please tell me what you thought of my first blog post in the comments below! And just before I finish I would like to say a special thank you to my one of my friends who helped me to make my dream of writing blog posts a reality! I love you!! x

Make sure you all read my next blog post and thank you again! Love you all!! X

the blog girl ❤ xxx

mental health post

HEYYY!

This week has been mental health awareness week and I really wanted to do a post that related to that because raising awareness of mental health and promoting ways in which to improve your mental health is something I am passionate about.

Before I go any further I just wanted to say I do not have any mental health related illnesses/issues and I know I am fortunate in that sense but just because I haven’t been diagnosed doesn’t mean that mental health and promoting ways to improve your mental health isn’t very close to my heart.

Today’s post is going to be split into three parts: part 1 will be me giving ideas on things you can do to improve your mental health and then part 2 is a little interview with somebody who does suffer from a mental health issue and finally part three is some positive quotes that really help me 🙂

Okay, that’s enough rambling for one post, onto the main part of the post.

PART 1:Physical activities you can do to improve your mental health.

go for a walk.
read a book.
watch a film or series or youtube.
do some yoga or meditate.
call a friend (I understand this can be difficult for some people as they find picking up the phone difficult but if you feel confident enough to do this just talking to a friend about absolutely can really help).
do some baking.
drink some water.
take a nap.
do some school work to take your mind off things.
scroll through instagram (if you feel like Instagram is a safe space for you and not something which makes you feel bad about yourself).
go for a run.
dance around your room.
listen to music (preferably not a sad playlist).
go out for a coffee (now things in the UK are opening up more going for a takeaway coffee or sitting in a coffee shop garden can be so therapeutic).
start a little vegetable patch.
listen to a podcast.
journal.
manifest your dreams.
clean your room or organise your drawers.
scroll through positive quotes on pinterest.
read some blog posts.
take some photos.
do a workout.
take a bath.
look through old photo albums.

Those are just a few ideas I came up with that may improve your mental health!

PART 2: Here is a little interview with someone who suffers with a mental illness.

Hi, thank you so much for agreeing to do this little interview today. Would you be able to tell my readers what mental health illness you have and just a little explanation about it?

i struggle with anxiety and depression. anxiety can come in loads of different forms, but for me, i struggle with panic attacks, social anxiety and general anxiety 💛 it’s like i’m drowning in thoughts and constantly on edge but it’s so much more than worrying, lots of physical symptoms too depression is often taken not seriously enough and joked about. i’ve really struggled with it and have gotten to a really low state, but again it’s not the same as just feeling sad xx

I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all of that – you must be so strong. What sort of things have helped with your anxiety and depression?

i think the biggest things have to be having my dog- and any pets! yoga, meditations and baking 🥰but also, you just have to take each day as it comes.

Aw, I totally understand! Is there anything that your parents or friends did that really helped you?

my mum has really helped me. she’s made sure i get up everyday and keep going

Thank you so much for doing this little interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

no problem! i think just: to anyone who is struggling, no matter how big or how small. please please reach out to someone. there’s always people to talk to (even if you feel alone) and also lots of mental health services (I’ve linked some mental health helplines on the bottom of this post.).

PART 3: quotes!!

That is all for today’s post – I really wanted to do a mental health themed post for mental health awareness week and I hope this post has helped you.

Some mental health help websites:

the blog girl <3xxx

i may have a minimalist cake obsession….

HEYYY!

I often see posts floating around in my readers section of wordpress about my ‘current obsessions’ or ‘April favourites’ etc and I really wanted to hop on that trend and at this moment in time i LOVE minimal cakes.

I asked on my instagram for what tonight’s post – I gave my followers 4 options and they chose this post – should be and they chose this post so here we are 🙂

Today’s post is quite picture heavy so I apologise in advance if this isn’t your type of post, I’ll be back to more writing posts next week!

Enjoy the pictures of these SUPER pretty cakes <33 disclaimer: these are photos from pinterest mostly and not my own – full credit to the owners of these photos.

this painted cake from @baking.by.ben is so gorgeous🌕

this little smiley face makes me smile☺️

i love love love the cherries @bakesbyamal 🍒

Aren’t the cakes just so pretty :)) Do you think I should make one? #

Comment which is your favourite design! I think mine is either the painted one of the one with the clouds!

the blog girl <3xxx

my tips on how to get well risen smooth cakes :)

HEY!

How are we all doing? Welcome or welcome back to my blog – if you are new here, hey! I’m so happy you decided to click on this post to read it and if you read my blog weekly thank you so much for coming back – I really appreciate it!

Earlier in the week I was lying in bed, trying to get to sleep and my brain was just whirring round and round (does this happen to you guys too? Like my brain never switches off when I want it to) and the idea of writing this blog post popped into my head and I just really loved the idea as it would have been a post U would have really benefitted from reading when I was a beginner baker! This post won’t be too long either so if you are short for time just stick with me!

I quite often get asked how I get my cakes so flat when they come out of the oven (and just to specify here, I am talking about the actual cake – nothing to do with the icing) and how I get my cakes to rise so much so here are some tips (it is definitely something I have improved as I’ve gotten better at baking and I am in no way a professional and these are just things that have worked for me!).

my tips:

Do not tap or bash your cake mix when it is the tin before it goes in the oven. I know it is really tempting as you want to get all the cake mix level but honestly this is one of the worst things you can do as it knocks some of the air out of the mix which basically means your cakes won’t rise as well and may end up looking like pancakes!
Instead of bashing, smooth the top of your cake batter with a spatula or pallet knife before it goes in the oven. If you smooth the batter to the same level all over then your cakes will most likely be flat when you lift them out of the oven.
Now to get them to rise, a normal 2 layer cake uses around 3 eggs in total (unless you use janes patisserie which use 6 or 7!). To get a well risen cake, add an extra egg yolk to the cake mixture. I only learned this a week or so ago but honestly it really works! And if you are worried about the mix now being too wet, the extra yolk shouldn’t alter the consistency at all.
The last tip is be really careful when stirring in your flour as you don’t want to knock any air out of the mixture in this final stage. I normally stir in my flour with a spoon rather than beaters and I stir it in a sort of figure of 8 pattern. This allows the flour to be gently mixed in but also allows the flour to be folder throughout the mix including the mix right at the bottom of the bowl!

So there you have it! My top tips for getting well risen and smooth cakes in 4 precise bullet points! I really hope these help in the future when you make a cake!

Finally, remember these are just my experiences, everyone has ways that work for them and I am in no ways a proffessinal!

I’d love for you to comment a baking tip in the comments :)))

the blog girl <3xxx

BANANA AND BISCOFF HEALTHY ICECREAM BARS (my own recipe! )

HEYY!

I’m so sorry for not posting for a few weeks – I’ve been lacking in motivation but hopefully I’ve found it again and you should be able to expect a new post every Friday at 4pm for the foreseeable future 🙂 I have quite a number of ideas for posts (mainly foody themed with a few lifestyle posts too!) so hopefully you guys will be able to see them soon!

Anyways, today I am sharing a new recipe I have created and as you can probably tell from the title of the post I’m pretty excited about it hehe! Sometimes I’m just thinking about things and then my mind runs to baking (yes this normally happens a lot hehe) and I’m like oh my gosh I’ve created some of my own recipes that people in the world make and it just astounds me!

Today’s recipe is a healthy ice cream! If you don’t know I am always on the look out for more healthier recipes to make but often it’s quite difficult to find healthy things to bake on the internet as most things to bake use sugar and butter or cream so that’s why I decided to try and create a healthier recipe which brings us to today’s post. I’ve just read the first few paragraphs of this post and realised how much a ramble ahaha so sorry but also that is my style of post so you may have to get used to it.

This recipe only has three ingredients and the main ingredient is banana! I often find that occasionally you have a stray banana left in the fruit bowl which goes a bit mushy so this recipe is perfect for that although you can use ripe and underipe bananas for this recipe too as it is super forgiving! The other two ingredients are milk – this is for creaminess and to achieve the ice cream texture. I used cow’s milk bit any type of milk would also work perfectly. The final ingredient is a spread for the extra flavour. Of course this can be left out if you want the ice cream to be just banana. This time making my ice cream I used biscoff spread and the banana really complimented it. I’ve also used nutella before and I’m sure any other spread, maybe a nut butter, would work too!!

THE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

2 bananas
250ml of any milk(this can be altered: add more for more creaminess and more liquid and less for the opposite effect).
5 tbsp of biscoff spread
told you it was only 3 ingredients!!

METHOD: (if you guys prefer visual recipes a link to my recipe reel is HERE)

Get two bananas (of any ripeness) and peel them.
Chop them into thinish slices around 5mm (it doesn’t matter about accuracy as they are going to be blitzed.
Freeze until completely frozen (this took me around an hour).
Add your frozen sliced banana to a blender along with the biscoff spread and milk.
Blitz until all the ingredients are mixed and all the banana has been blitzed (like no big chunks of banana.).
Pour into a freezable container.
Freeze. I actually froze mine overnight to make sure it was completely frozen however it will take around 6 hours. If you just want this to be ice cream lift out the freezer before 6 hours is up.
Pop out of container and chop into bars. Mine are around 5cm thick.
Eat as many as you want and then pop the rest back in the freezer to prevent them from melting and then get them out as you want them!

here is a little video!

And that’s it!! I know – it is so easy, simple and healthy!

It would mean the world to me if you guys made this recipe and I hope you enjoy if you do!

QOTD: What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?

the blog girl <3xxx

IT’S THIS BLOG’S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!

Hey!

So um yeah – it’s been a whole year since I started this blog and to be honest I’m astounded it’s been that long!

This time last year I was laid on my bed in facetime to my friend and we were setting up this blog. We were both so excited ahaha and we had every right to be! Setting up this blog has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am so happy to have had to courage to ask my parents if I was allowed and also proud of myself for keeping going with my blog for a a whole year.

I wanted to take a moment to thank every single one of you for making this journey possible.

I want to thank you all for reading my posts (I really hope you guys like reading them – I don’t get how you do with all my random ramblings but I just find it so amazing you guys like to read things I’ve written – like it’s a dream come true for me).

Thank you so much to anyone who has taken time out of their day to leave a comment on one of my posts – replying to comments always makes me smile so much and I am so grateful for every single comment I have ever received.

And finally I want to say thank you for all the opportunities the blog girl has created for me – the amount of dreams this blog has allowed me to achieve is flabbergasting! From creating my own recipes to making some beautiful and really kind friends – I really am just thankful for it all!

I just wanted to make this post a celebratory post and one to show how thankful I am for all of you and then I put a question box on my story on Instagram (oop there we are again – Instagram getting all the attention, follow me @baking.by.meg) about what post I should do to celebrate the blog girl’s birthday and one of my friends suggested I recreate my first post so here I am, a year later reacting to the 5 facts I shared with you last year and sharing 10 new ones!

ARE THE FACTS FROM 2020 STILL FACTUALLY CORRECT?

Fact 1: I love elephants🐘 like love love love them! 💗💗💗They are my favourite animal and if you see my room then you would probably realise quite quickly haha – First of all I am really cringing at my use of emojis hahah! However the fact hasn’t changed – I am still totally obsessed with elephants :))

Fact 2: My dream job is to become a vet 👩‍⚕️ because it’s what I’ve wanted to be since I was little and I love animals 🙊 and I am good at science and because one of my biggest idols (Noel Fitzpatrick – aka the supervet, search him up if you don’t know him, I’d hope you’ll admire his work!) is a vet. – I hope that becoming a vet will always be my dream because it still currently is – since I wrote this last year I have really been pushing to help me achieve this dream and so far I have attended a conference (virtually of course) about different universities and work experience and I am starting to contact places for work experience!

Fact 3: I am a runner 🏃🏽‍♀️ I run cross country for one of my local teams. I love running because it’s a way to keep fit and helping you with your mental wellbeing (I’ve always hated those words 😂 what can’t it be called like making you feel good or something, sorry I’m rambling 🤭) but the main reason I love running is because of the amazing friends I’ve made because of my team! Love you all!❤️❤️ – I still run and I still run for the same club however I haven’t done a race since this blog was started aha! I also haven’t seen my team in over a year which is quite sad but the rambling part hasn’t changed hahah!!

Fact 4: My favourite subject is Drama🎭 or English Language📖. Drama is one of my favourite subjects because it allows you to be someone else for the lesson (that sounded deep 🙃) and because the majority of my friends do Drama and we are like one big family! And English Language because my teacher is absolutely AMAZING and so kind🥰 and because my seat is fantabulous (this is one of my made up words meaning fantastic and fabulous, there may be more made up words so consider yourself warned hehe) but mainly I love writing which is one of the reasons I started a blog. – I still love drama and english language however I think my favourite subject is now geography!

Fact 5: One of my favourite things to do is bake🍩 I think this is because it helps you pass the time but gives you something at the end of it but it’s probably because I love food 🍿 is that bad?? Maybe 😂😂 my favourite thing to bake is bread 🍞 because I feel like baking is always associated with sweet things 🍬and as good as sweet things are I like to be different so that’s why my favourite thing to bake is bread 🙂 – This definitely hasn’t changed, I mean if anything my love of baking has increased hehe!!

10 NEW FACTS ABOUT ME:

I love Taylor Swift’s music – especially folklore and evermore!
I love to read! My favourite book is probably Being Miss Nobody or the Ruby Redfort series!
I am a gryffindor!
My favourite food is fajitas!
I am a little bit too obsessed with the ‘to all the boys’ movies.
I am currently writing a fanfic novel!
I love brown clothes.
I love all animals and really want a pet dog or guinea pig.
I am a bit of a plant mom and I am proud of it 🙂
I love almond coffee.

EEEKKK! I still can’t get over how I have been blogging for 1 year – thank you!

Lots and lots of love,

the blog girl <3xxx

40 EASY REASONS TO BE HAPPY :)) (you deserve it)

Heyyy!

Welcome or welcome back to my blog!

As you guys know positivity is something I’ve really been trying to promote on my blog recently but is also something I am trying hard to promote of my blog too!

Positivity is so much more than being that one person who is never sad (which is a lie I must say, I was that person once and believe me, everyone feels down once in a while).

Positivity is more looking for the good, or if something went wrong trying to focus on the why rather than dwelling on the mistake.

Positivity is making something small into something which can make you smile and feel your best. Take today for example, today the sun shined and it didn’t rain and that may be smile. Yes, it may not be as warm where I am compared to other parts of the world and also I’m aware it is going to rain at the weekend but the fact the sun made an appearance today gave me something to focus on to be more positive.

Now I am not saying to be positive all the time because I am fully aware that sometimes getting out of bed may be difficult for some people and maybe just going in the shower is a big accomplishment but then you can reflect on the goal, that accomplishment and you’ll feel better – that is why I love positivity so much because there is no right and wrong.

It’s purely attempting to focus on the good.

For the main of today’s blog post I wanted to share 40 small reasons to feel positive and be happy that maybe you’ve taken for granted before or just not thought that deeply into…

Disclaimer: some of these you won’t have been able to do for a while due to COVID but remember that you’ve had those experiences already or you will be able to at some point in your life!

Seeing people happy when you knock on their door.
Finishing something and then saying ‘I did it!’.
Wearing comfy clothes.
Shooting stars.
Late night talks.
Hearing someone say ‘I miss you’.
Lazy days (or equally productive days).
Cute quaint shops that have that cosy vibe.
Good night and good morning texts.
Watching the clouds pass by.
Duvet days.
Snow and water fights.
Deep conversations.
Seeing a rainbow and shouting ‘there’s a rainbow’.
Fluffy socks.
When someone says ‘I love you’.
Popping bubble wrap.
Singing in the shower.
Toasting marshmallows around a camp fire.
Sleeping in clean sheets.
Compliments.
Finding money on the ground.
Waking up on Christmas morning and knowing you have a magical day ahead.
Laughing so hard you can’t breathe.
Screaming lyrics to songs with your friends.
Getting letters through the post.
Splashing in puddles.
Jumping on a pile of crunchy leaves.
The feeling of sand between your toes.
Binge watching your favourite show/movie.
Hugs.
Finding out you are getting a brother or sister.
Chocolate.
Breakfast in bed.
Bird song on a morning.
Seeing other people smiling.
Long walks with your family.
Getting birthday messages
Doing your favourite hobby.
A dog coming to say hi when you are on a walk.

That’s the end of my little list of small things to make you happy – always attempt to focus on the positive!

On Wednesday It’s 1 year of the blog girl so there will be a special post<33

the blog girl <3xxx

NUTTY NUTELLA COOKIES my own recipe

Hey!

Welcome or welcome back to my blog!

Last weekend my sister and I wanted to make some cookies and my Mam wanted them to have nuts in since they have some health benefit hahaha and we wanted to stuff them so we decided to try and create out own recipe combining the two and I am so happy with the result!! I asked over on my instagram (see what I told you guys – lots of the action does happen on @baking.by.meg so remember to follow me :)) if they wanted the recipe and lots of people said they would love it so here we are!

I am quite proud of myself for creating my second own recipe (I know it’s not a lot to some people but the fact I have made one let alone two recipes blows my mind) I am so grateful that my Instagram and this blog have lead me to this point!

So without any more of my waffling (yesterday was international waffle day, did you know?) I’ll write out the recipe!

My Recipe:

Ingredients:

150g of unsalted butter
150g of soft brown sugar (of golden caster if you can’t get brown)
1 egg
1 tsp of baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
185g of plain flour
1/4 tsp of fine table salt
100g of walnuts
80g of hazelnuts
for centre balls of nutella spread around 10g each so 100g of nutella in total

Method:

Soften the butter in a microwave for around 20 seconds so it is easier to mix in.
Beat together your sugar and butter until it is soft and pale in colour.
Beat in the egg next, just be careful it doesn’t curdle by only mixing it until it has been combined (basically don’t over mix).
Next stir in your vanilla extract.
Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and salt, do this quickly to avoid overworking the cookie dough.
Pre-heat the oven to around 180 degrees
Chop both the hazelnuts and walnuts until they are smallish (maybe cut a hazelnut into three for a size guide??).
Now gently mix in the nuts into your dough. Don’t worry if the mix still looks a little wet it will firm up.
Now this is quite a tricky bit to explain so I advise you watch my reel on Instagram showing you how to do it, but I will attempt to explain it. Use an ice cream scoop and fill it with dough. Make a hole in the middle of the dough in the ice cream scoop and add your 10g ball of nutella into it. Take a very small bit of extra dough and place it on top of the nutella to seal it into the middle of the cookie. Then plop out the dough onto a lined baking tray and squash ever so slightly with the palm of your hand. Repeat this process 10 times until all your cookie dough has been used.
If your dough is still really sticky leave in the fridge for around 10 minutes before you bake them but they should be okay to now bake! Place your tray in the oven and set a timer for 6 minutes.
Turn your cookies 180 degrees (after the 6 minutes) in the oven to get an even bake and now set a 4 minute timer.
Lift the now cooked cookies out of the oven and leave to cool partially on the tray. They will look undercooked but they carry on cookie after you lift them out and then they will be soft.
After around 5 mins place them on a cooling rack to completely cool.
Eat and Enjoy!!

I really hope you all like this recipe and it would mean the honest whole world to me if you would try it out! Creating recipes is honestly a dream come true for me!!

Almost 1 year of the blog girl so remember to share ideas for a special one year post!

the blog girl <3xxx

REMEBER YOU ARE ALWAYS ENOUGH – some quotes to brighten the end of your week!

Hey!

How are you? I hope you are okay – always remember your feelings are valid whatever they are! I’ve been loving scrolling through pinterest quotes recently as they always make me feel more energised and all round more positive so I thought I would share some of my favourites with you in today’s blog post!

I hope you enjoy :))

QOTD: what is your favourite quote – I’m pretty sure you all know one that you live by, let’s hype everyone else up in the comments! xxx

I just wanted to end with a little message that is almost 1 year of the blog girl ! It’s crazy I know – I can’t believe that almost a year ago I was laid on my bed on the phone my friend who I will say was excited about this blog as much as I was hehe setting up my corner of the internet, time really does fly ahaha! Anyways, I’m waffling, what special post would you like for my blog’s birthday! give me some suggestions in the comments!

the blog girl <3xxx

This idea is from one of my favourite bloggers christine and camera!

UPDATED MEAT FREE MONDAY IDEAS!

Heyyyy!

Welcome or welcome back to my blog! This blog is almost a year old now (yes!! I know – it’s crazy but here we are!) and one of my first ever blog posts was some vegetarian meal ideas. I’ve found a lot more recipes since then so I thought it would be nice to do an updated version! I’ll link the first one HERE!

A little background on what I eat before we hop into the meals: I am not vegetarian or vegan. I try to eat as little meat as I can and would like to be vegetarian full time but since my parents and sister aren’t vegetarian I understand it can be hard to cook separate meals that cater for me. However, within my family we aim to have at least two meat free meals a week (this includes without fish, normal week would be 2-3 meat free meals, 1 fish meal and then 3-4 meat meals) which I am quite happy with at the moment.

Okie dokie, let’s get on with these meals….. I’ve linked as many of the recipes as I could find.

Five bean chilli – I love this chilli (probably even more than beef chilli) and it is also quite an healthy tea which is always good. I have a love for rice at the moment (yes….. I really do love it) so I always have rice with my chilli. My mam normally makes up her own recipe for the chilli as she goes along using whatever beans she has in the cupboard oh and chickpeas too so it normally ends up being a 3 bean and pulses chilli but is very yummy non the less hehe!! I’ve linked a BBC Good Food recipe HERE which you can follow to make your own 5 bean chilli but always feel free to mix up the beans used!!

Double bean & roasted pepper chilli recipe | BBC Good Food

Greek omelette – This tea is such a simple one to make and can be whipped up in literally 5 minutes! It’s also a really good one to make if you are only making tea for 1 or 2 people because it’s really easy to change the quantities (just adjust the egg number). Now I’m not sure if my family just made this up so I’m just going to go and see if I can find a recipe….. okay I am back and we must have gotten the recipe from BBC Good Food because I just found the recipe on their website so HERE is the link to that. Greek omelettes are basically omelettes with olives, feta and red onion (and if you like tomato – unlike me – sundried tomatoes) which really make the omelette delicious!!

Tomato and harissa stew with cheddar dumpling – One of my newest meat free finds and it is delish!! Basically a tomato bean stew but then adding a little harissa paste gives it a spicy kick and then the cheddar dumplings are just so yummy – they are literally small cheese scones and I mean who doesn’t like cheese scones? No one – exactly my point. I’ve never made the dumplings (because when we’ve had this tea I’ve either had homework or an appointment) but my sister says they are super fun to make so if you want a little project, make this recipe which is linked HERE.

Tomato & harissa stew with cheddar dumplings

Egg fried rice – See, I told you I had thing for rice hehe!! This next meal is a one we make completely without a recipe because it is. Just. So. Easy. All you need to do is cook some rice in a pan of boiling water, fry some vegetables in a wok or a large saucepan, crack an egg into the middle of the wok/saucepan and fry that, add the rice, mix, pop onto a plate and drizzle with whatever sauce you want (I have teriyaki, my sister has hoisin, my Dad has siracha, just choose whatever tickles your fancy :p ). I’ll link a recipe HERE for anyone who wants to follow the recipe!!

Garlic Egg Fried Rice Recipe: How to Make Garlic Egg Fried Rice Recipe | Homemade Garlic Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Veggie curry or lentil dahl – These are firm favourites in my house! We have always loved curries but recently we have been really getting into veggie curries which of course I am very happy about! Lentil dahl is honestly so yummy and I love that it can go with almost any side – rice, wraps, chapattis! When we make lentil dahl I will admit that we probably make it completely different to how recipes tell you but you know what it works and I like it! As for the curry, we normally use a jar of sauce and then add the vegetables and onion for flavouring 🙂 a dahl recipe is linked HERE and a lots of veggie curry recipes linked HERE.

Quick and easy vegetarian curry {15 minutes} - Family Food on the Table

I could go on and on with more recipes hehe but I think I’ll leave it there :)) I hope you guys are all okay and if you have returned to school I hope everything is good! Remember you are amazing!

What is your favourite meal? Tell me in the comments below!

the blog girl <3xxx

MY MORNING ROUTINE (+ a few little snack ideas)

HEY!!

Welcome or welcome back to my blog! How are you? I’m so happy you are here, you’ve made me happy by being here and I hope that reading this blog makes you happy.

Yesterday, I put a little box on my Instagram (oh you are not following me, omg you are missing out @baking.by.meg is my username, go follow to see my yummy bakes and be part of deciding what blogs I post) with four blog posts ideas and they decided on ‘my morning routine’ so that is what today’s post is going to be. Let’s get into the routine (this is my routine when I have online school and as I go back to school on Monday so I could do an updated one in a couple of weeks)….

06:45 – I usually wake up at around quarter to seven. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but I actually don’t have an alarm and I just wake up whenever but it is usually around this time. Because I am doing online school I don’t have to leave the house at 7:45 like I used to and I no longer have tutor so my school day doesn’t start till 9:10 which means I don’t have to get up as soon as I wake up. I normally read for a bit now, I am currently reading Girl Online (yes for the sixth time, don’t @ me, it’s a really good feel – good book and those are the emotions we are loving at the moment). I love having time to read on a morning because it just slowly gets me going for the day.

07:25 – Normally around this time I get up and have a shower. I always have showers in the morning because it makes me feel super refreshed but I don’t normally wash my hair on a morning because it takes a long time to dry and I just sort of got into a routine of washing it at night because of I washed it in the morning it wouldn’t have time to dry before school so I was it on a night time around three times a week (did I just talk about when I wash my hair for a full paragraph, yes but if you read my blog, random rambling is what you get). After a shower, I sort out my room, so do my bed, put my dirty washing in the wash basket and also decide on my outfit and put that on.

07:40 – I aim to be downstairs at this time very morning because that is when my Dad leaves for work and drops my sister off at school (my Mam normally leaves at around 7:10). I wave to my Dad and sister and then go to make breakfast! For breakfast I normally have shreddies with cranberries and a glass of orange juice but some other breakfast ideas are: – hot cross buns (I love hot cross buns and am making some tomorrow!) – any other cereal (always a good option, especially if you are in a rush) – pancakes (just so yum – honestly do I have to say anything else? Just pure delicious!) – toast!

08:00 – I now have my breakfast so I usually start eating that whilst replying to any DM’s and replying to any messages I may have from my friends. That usually takes around 10 mins and then I will put something on the TV to watch for a little bit. I have just finished a series called ATYPICAL on Netflix which I quite enjoyed and now I am watching the Taylor Swift documentary on Disney +. I watch TV for around 20 minutes which takes me to half eight.

08:30 – I go into the kitchen and wash up any plates/cups I have used for my breakfast and then go upstairs to brush my teeth and do my hair.

08:40 – This is the time I would normally start school if I was there but I don’t have tutor whilst doing home learning but I do like to do something productive with the half an hour I have before lessons start. In this time I will either blog or write some of my novel or I might even spend this time engaging with people’s content on Instagram.

snippet of the novel I’m writing – fanfic of to all the boys

09:10 – My lessons start at ten past night and I have two lessons before my break which are an hour long each. They change weekly so I can’t really say which two lessons I had aha but this morning I had PE and then maths which lastest for two hours and 5 minutes.

11:15 – You are now really going to see how much of a routine freak I am because I literally do the same thing every break time. My second lesson finishes at quarter past eleven and I spend the next two minutes handing in the work from my first two lessons on google classroom. When that is done, I go downstairs and put the kettle on (I sometimes watch some youtube whilst doing this if I feel like it) to make myself a hot drink. I normally have almond coffee (the BEST drink EVER, link to where to buy the one I have is HERE!) and cut up some fruit (normally kiwi). I also have a little bit of whatever I have baked that week if there is any left for a bit of energy. This is your friendly reminder that what you eat doesn’t define you and if you haven’t eaten anything today, go and get something to eat now. SOME SNACK IDEAS: -something you have baked (a cookie or a cupcake, I love being able to have something I have made :P) – a piece of fruit – a brunch bar – some nuts- yoghurt – a muffin – for more ideas, HERE is a link to my latest snack themed post!!! Whilst the kettle is boiling I put away the dishes from my families breakfasts.

11:30 – My lessons start again!

I am going to say that is the end of my morning routine because that is practically the end of the morning ahaha. Yes I am a routine person and my mormings are quite samey samey but having a routine helps me stay focused ao that is what I do :))

I hope you enjoyed reading the blog post and comment below if you would like an evening routine or another morning routine post but when I go back to school!

lots of love, the blog girl <3xxx