Mindblowing Broghies Wheat Minis

I mentioned in a previous post about Broghies that they are versatile and quirky, but I wasn't mentally prepared for my mind to be absolutely blown by the new kid on the Broghies block...

Broghies Wheat Minis

Oh my actual goodness, I think, were my exact words when I first tasted what I can only describe as heaven in the form of a low-calorie cracker or bread substitute! 

Much like the larger Broghies, they lend themselves well to rice-based dishes, sweet recipes and bread-based meals.

This isn't a sponsored post, but I did speak with Broghies to learn more about Wheat Minis.

Fast Facts

5 Broghies Minis - 23 Calories

Available in Morrison's stores throughout the UK
Retail Price - £2.00 per bag
(Most likely to be near the Bagels and Thins)

No fat, added sugar or preservatives

Suitable for all recipes - Hot, Cold, Sweet, Savoury

Check out the Broghie website www.broghies.com for full nutritional information.

Here's one of my favourite savoury recipes - 

Bruschetta Broghies: 

 6 tomatoes (de-sessed and finely chopped)

Either 1 clove of garlic or 1 tablespoon of garlic powder

Either 1 chopped onion or 2 chopped spring onion 

3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar or Worcester sauce

4 tablespoons of dry basil - if you have fresh feel free to use that!

Mix together in a bowl and leave to marinate for 30 mins to 1 hour.

Spoon mixture onto Broghies Wheat Minis and enjoy! 

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Loving the quirk out of....Broghies

I started writing this post months ago and then my brain got taken over by work and other mind consuming things and it got left sitting in my drafts!

Something I've been loving since I started trying to have a healthier relationship with my body is Broghies.  They have been a real find for me.  This is not a Sponsored Post although I did contact Broghies for permission and some information. 

I first found them in Iceland but you can find your local stockist by checking out their website here. 


One of my favourite things about Broghies is that they are so versatile - they can be sweet or savoury. I must confess I usually eat them a bit a like a prawn cracker with a curry or chilli but here are a few recipes my boyfriend helped me cook up! 

Beef Tacos:

500g lean or less than 5% beef mince
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons of garlic salt 
1 onion (chopped)
1-2 teaspoons oregano
1 medium pepper
2 teaspoons of Tobasco

Serve with boiled rice and Broghies


Chicken Tacos: 

Chop chicken into strips and leave to marinate for 1 hour. 

Marinade
1 Keffir Lime Leaf (chopped finely)
4 Tablespoons of Worcester Sauce
1 Teaspoon Tobasco 
1 small red Chilli (de-seeded)
1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice
Bundle of fresh coriander
Juice of half a lime

Allow 45 minutes to an hour to marinate but stronger flavour when left for 24 hours.

Serve with salad of your choice and Broghies


What are Broghies?

Broghies are a large crispy wafer & a really healthy alternative to bread for a snack.

Fast Facts

Only 20 calories each
Two varieties available  -  Wheat  &  Corn
No fat, added sugar or preservatives
Popped from a machine using only heat & pressure  -  no oil or frying in the process 
Retail price in Iceland & Morrisons: £2.00 per bag of 12
Stay fresh for 7 weeks
Delicious with all Dips, Spreads & Toppings (Hot, Cold, Sweet or Savoury)

Check out the Broghie website www.broghies.com for full nutritional information as well as a demonstration of the Broghies machine in operation.

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Loving the Crap Out Of...#1

I've done a few 'Favourites' posts in the past which weren't spectacular but that's because I was trying to write what I thought a favourites post should look like based on ones I'd read on other blogs. 

That's not me and it's not my blog so from here on out, no more feeble attempts at monthly favourites. 

What I will do sometimes is a round up of things I'm 'Loving the Crap Out Of' at that particular moment in time. 

Any products mentioned below are not gifted, no brands I've mentioned have sponsored me to mention them, I'm just presently loving the crap out of the stuff below and thought I'd share it in case you love the crap out of it too! 

Mixx Audio Headphones

I'm loving the crap out of my Mermaid Mixx Audio headphones right now. I bought a marble pair for my dad (primarily for selfish reasons - I couldn't be bothered listening to the radio programme he listens to on a Saturday morning) and decided to pick myself up a pair too.  You can plug them in or go wireless and connect to a phone or device with bluetooth. Podcasts,, Music, Meditation, deterrent to chatty strangers when I'm tired - all possible. Majorly improved my morning journey to work! 

Chocolate Oatly

Can I just talk for a minute about how I'm loving the crap out of Chocolate Oatly? I enjoy Oatly in general (Orange and Mango is also the shiznit). It's tasty and super versatile. 
Heat it up for a super chocolatey hot chocolate or freeze it for a super chocolatey ice lolly - see mine above!
I've also found that pouring it over cereal is a game changer! 

Owl Backpack

Found this a few weeks ago in a shop on holiday. Couldn't tell you what the brand is, all i know is I had to have it and am presently loving the crap out of carrying my lunch and keys to work in it! 

Irregular Choice Trainers

I have quite a few pairs of Irregular Choice but this is my first pair of trainers. I love the two different designs on them and I think the floral and the polka dots go well together without being too busy! It also helps that they are super comfy! 

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Quirkmas/Bakemas - Homemade Ferroro Rocher

I know I said I wasn't going to post everyday and I'm fairly certain I won't but my lovely dad found the mini cake cases I was searching for and I decided to post up my second Quirkmas post! 
I also thought about calling it bakemas - I'm just winging it now. 

Someone I know took this recipe from pinterest and I messed
It's a totally customisable recipe and there are plenty of variations online if you don't fancy the ingredients in this one.

Homemade Ferrero Rocher

I'll get straight to the ingredients because it really annoys me when I have to scroll through endless paragraphs to get to the ingredients......

1 Bar of Cooking Chocolate (Melted)

- I opted for dark chocolate because it contained no dairy, use any kind you fancy. You could also use chocolate spread.

2 Bars of Weetabix (Crushed)
Blanched Hazelnuts (Dipped in Chocolate)
- If you cannot have nuts, the hazelnuts aren't essential, I just added them for experimentation. 

My ingredients are also essentially the instructions!

1. Crush the weetabix in a bowl - I used a wooden spoon to crush it, feel free to use the utensil of your choice!

2. Melt the chocolate - I opted for melting on the stove with a low heat, feel free to use the microwave!

3. Add the melted chocolate to the crushed weetabix bowl and mix until all of the weetabix is covered.

 
If using hazelnuts,Leave a small amount of melted chocolate behind.

No Hazelnuts

4. If you are not using hazelnuts, take a spoonful of your mixture and place it into your small cake cases and repeat this process until your mixture/supply of cake cases is complete! 

Using Hazelnuts

5. Dip a hazelnut into the leftover melted chocolate and then begin to assemble your chocolte and weetabix mix around your hazelnut. When you are happy with your assembled piece, place it in one of your small cake cases. 

6. Repeat this process until your mixture/supply of cake cases is complete. 

When you have finished

7. Place your small cake cases on a tray and place the tray in the fridge.

8. Leave your Ferroro Rocher in the fridge until set - mine took about 20 minutes to set, it may vary for others.

9. Enjoy!

My batch certanly do not look elegant and they probably aren't a patch on the real thing but they are very tasty!
The hardest part was the concentration it took to assemble them without dropping them! 

Judges Verdict

Me: "A bit rich but yummy!"

Mum: "A success story!"
Aunt Lynda: "They are lovely, bring some on Christmas Day"I may add other judges as I share them out! 😂

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Friday Firsts: Introductions and Avocados.

I’m a big fan of alliteration, you may have gathered this about me already if you’ve read some of my other blog posts.

So I decided that on Friday’s I’m going to start posting about activities or things I’m experiencing for the first time - Friday Firsts I think I shall call it.

Anytime I try or go somewhere new I can channel it into something creative to share with others.

I’d like to be optimistic and say I’ll do one every week but I’ll play it by ear! 

This weeks Friday First involves cooking - I know, shock horror.  It also involves avocados. Just because avocados! 

I'm becoming a bit obsessed with avocados, I have socks, a lunch box, earrings.....I digress.  

Behold - avocado potato salad! 

I can’t take credit for the recipe, I found it on Pinterest and comes from a site called Beckys Best Bites. I'd strongly recommend having a look, there are some great recipes on there.

Ingredients:I didn't stick rigidly to the recipe as I had no Dill or Cilantro but the premise is simple, 2lbs of potatoes, 1 avocado, 1 lime (juice and zest) and seasoning of your choice.

Method:Boil your potatoes then freeze them for 30 minutes, mix together the avocado, lime and seasoning and when your potatoes have cooled down sufficiently mix them together! 

It serves six so it would be a great side dish at a meal or a light bite lunch!

I've mentioned on my blog before that I have a dairy intolerance and its annoying when food in shops that look like it should be totally friendly for me actually have milk somewhere in the ingredients list.

When I spotted this recipe, I was so excited that it was something I could eat and prepare with minimal effort - as lets face it, my skills in the kitchen leave a lot to be desired!
I may document some of my kitchen disasters on here as I attempt to navigate the seemingly grown up skill of feeding myself.
Highlights include evaporated soup and exploding porridge.  

I've previously spoken about wanting to push myself outside of my comfort zone and trying new foods although it doesn't seem like much can be a big thing for me. 

Next Weeks First  - Clubersise! 

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My Favourite Things: January

I've been singing a lot of songs from The Sound of Music over the week or so as it seems to be the only thing that settles my baby nephew Harry when I'm looking after him. 
That's possibly his way of saying 'Okay Auntie Rachie, if you stop singing....I'll go for a snooze!'

Seeing as 'My Favourite Things' has been going round my head on a loop it gave me some inspiration  to do a blog post on some of the things I've discovered in the month of January that I've really enjoyed. 

Yes, I know it is February......but I'm only a day late! 

 I don't know if it's something I'll do more of, I'll see how I feel, I thought it would be a good way to mix 'feel good' with doing something productive like writing. 

Food and Drink

Caveman Cookies

I came across these by chance while browsing my local Wholefoods for some Dairy Free snackage and was pleasantly surprised.  The idea behind them being that the ingredients were all materials available to cavemen so no flour, no milk, no sugar......what some of them do have is nuts, which is fine for me, but probably not for someone with an allergy to nuts.
Nice soft consistency and just enough to satisfy my hunger!

Rebel Kitchen Banana Mylk

Again I came across a box of these by chance in Wholefoods and was curious enough to buy one!

As the packing suggests, it's probably aimed at a young persons perhaps for putting in a lunch box but there's nothing to suggest a 26 year old can't enjoy a nice drink of Banana and Coconut Milk through a straw!

They do have other flavours but my taste buds were more attracted to the Banana!

Shoes

These were a Christmas present from my Mum but they turned up in January so I've been treating them as New Year Shoes.  I adore the cats print!
They are comfy and cute! I'll go into more of a description when I put them in a Shoe Diary Post.

Clothes 

This isn't a spectacular picture but I am loving this cape by Banned!

It originally came with a detachable faux fur collar but I wasn't too keen on it... so I detatched it!

Love the colour and it's super comfy! 
I have a green coat which is also made by Banned, it's longer and more tailored but because I love it so much I knew I'd feel the same about this.

I'll hopefully get a fair bit of wear out of it before the warm weather reappears.

Blogs 

http://www.braintreeclothing.com/blog/

I like to read blogs and I recently discovered this one........Brain Tree are a fashion label but they also run a really interesting and positive blog, filled with tips for improving your lifestyle, home improvement, relaxation etc.  After looking at just a few posts, I already felt a bit more positive about my day - which is sort of the effect I'd like this blog to have for others.

Their clothes and accessories are really nice too.....

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Dairy Free Empties: Chocolate

I've seen a few people on Youtube do lifestyle/product 'empties' videos where they show the empty packaging and talk about the product they bought and whether they enjoyed it, the pros/cons etc

I'm fairly new to the whole 'dairy free' thing but thought I would give it a try for some dairy free products I've been using since cutting out dairy and getting a firm answer on the whole 'milk makes me ill' thing.  I live in the Scotland, so I'm not sure what the availability of everything I've mentioned is like further afield than the UK.  If you know of any brands or products I haven't mentioned - feel free to suggest in the comments! 

It might work as an interesting blog post or it might be crap but I figured I'd go with it!

Rather than focus on every dairy free product I've tried I thought I'd focus on the main things I've really been missing!  
I might do some more posts focusing on specific things but the first thing I'm gonna focus on is.....

Chocolate

My real weakness in life is chocolate. I love milk chocolate, I'm not massively in love with all plain chocolate, I feel it can have a bit of a dry taste depending on the brand and some (not all) dark chocolate on the shelves has a little bit of milk in the ingredients so for the last few months I've really been missing chocolate!

I discovered there are actually lots of dairy free alternatives to chocolate that taste like milk chocolate!

The main one I've used so far is
Moo Free Chocolate.

Moo Free comes in a variety of flavours, some larger bars and some smaller bars known as Mini Moos. They are made from rice milk which gives them a nice creamy taste.

The empties I have here are two of the chocolates I got in my Moo Free Mini Moo selection box from my mum at Christmas.

These were the Minty Moo and Cheeky Orange flavoured bars.

There was also a chocolate Santa bar and a honeycomb (bunnycomb) flavoured - but they were eaten before I thought about doing this post!

The good thing about Moo Free is that as well as being dairy free, they are also gluten free, wheat free and lactose free and suitable for vegans - which makes them suitable for a variety of specialty diets - although I don't know if they are suitable for every specialty diet.

I really enjoyed all of the chocolates in the box but I think my favourite was the Cheeky Orange Bar. I'm a massive fan of Chocolate Orange but I find most brands can be a bit too rich tasting for me and this bar really locked in all the flavour while being light.

Alpro Chocolate Desert

 

Alpro have a nice range of desserts in a range of flavours such as Caramel, Vanilla and Dark Chocolate but I started off with the Silky Smooth Chocolate.
Made primarily from Soya and Cocoa amongst other ingredients I found the the chocolate had a really nice and creamy texture and was somewhere in the middle of a yoghurt and custard in terms of consistency.  It was quite a nice chocolate hit without being too sweet.
They come in 4 small individual portions which means there is just enough of it to be filling but not so much that it's over indulgent.
I might try the dark chocolate next time, but definitely enjoyed the silky smooth.

Humdinger Dairy Free Chocolate Buttons

I recently discovered these chocolate buttons by chance and picked a packet up to try them. 
They initially tasted very sweet but as I progressed through the packet I focused more on the chocolate-y taste.
I like that they come in a small packet as I don't think I could handle too many at once as they are quite rich in taste.
Very tasty though, I've made a fair few repeat purchases.


Plamil Chocolate 

Technically, this empty is the chocolate snowmen from their Christmas range but having already tasted one of their bars, I can safely say they taste the same!
I haven't tried as much of Plamil's chocolate yet but I've enjoyed what I've tried so far.
Taste wise it reminded me a little bit of cooking chocolate, which isn't a bad thing, I like cooking chocolate!

They also do a range of other products like chocolate spread which I have tried and it's awesome but the jar isn't empty yet so I've cheated slightly and included it anyway!

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Dairy Free Rachie

Dairy Free Rachie

I have noticed for many years that I often sneeze after I eat.

I also noticed that I seemed to get a sore stomach and visit the toilet often. 

It took me until this year to start trying to figure out what was causing these things so I started a food diary, keeping track of what I ate and how it made me feel.  I soon noticed that everything was pointing towards Dairy/Milk.

After trying a few alternatives to milk and feeling better for it, I went to visit my doctor and she confirmed that I have an intolerance to dairy and I've been trying to cut it out of my diet and try alternatives.

 I still occasionally have something I shouldn't like donuts/doughnuts - but I soon regret it, although sometimes the after effect is minor.

There are advantages, my real weakness when it comes to food is chocolate, specifically milk chocolate.
I would often go through a bar or a big treat bag in one sitting, sometimes more than once a day - I've almost cut it out completely and have come across a few dairy free alternatives - my mum even bought me a dairy free chocolate advent calendar - for context, I'm 26 so she went above and beyond in terms of kindness!

As well as eating less crap, I'm sleeping better too.  I used to take hours to manage to settle at night - possibly because I would have some cereal or a milky drink before bed, sometimes noise will keep me awake but I'm doing much better and getting some shut eye!

In the day time I feel much more awake and full of energy, whereas in the past I've wanted to seek out the nearest table or surface to rest my head on.

I might do some reviews or share some recipes of dairy free things I come across on my blog.  I've been trying some different brands of soya and almond based cheese so I might do something with that. 

Hopefully it'll help someone else who feels crappy after they eat or looking for some alternatives.

Feel free to share any brands/recipes/thoughts in the comments, if you have any food intolerance/allergies/preferences, maybe we could all help each other out.

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