September Diary

Shirt- River Island
Jeans- Topshop
Shoes- H&M
Scarf- Vintage YSL

Hey there,

I've finally decided what I'm going to use this blog for, better late then never I know. As everything's got a bit full on recently as you'll soon see, I've decided to use it as an online diary, so here goes my September round-up.

I moved back up to Birmingham, ready for Welcome Week and the start of Uni, slightly earlier then most students as I was part of the Student Unions Welcome team!

Before I left home I made some bunting from the fabrics collected from my internship with Louise O'Mahony. Instead of stitching the bunting onto the ribbon I chose to pin them on with little christmas pegs and I love the effect. It looks perfect on my new desk.

I also moved all my treasures I collected from Turkey into my new room. It's such a novelty for me to have such a large room compared to what I'm used to at home and I've recently discovered how much I love homewards. Somehow managed to convince myself its not splurging, if it's essential for my room, hehe. 

Shirt- Primark
Necklace- H&M
Coat- Mango
Boots- H&M
Jeans- River Island
Bag- TK Maxx
Scarf- Vintage YSL

  Whilst in Birmingham, I've been hot on the job hunt with mixed results but I guess thats to be expected from the current climate. However it does mean I've had to carefully consider my wardrobe choices, including the end of my nose piercing. This OOTD was snapped by my friend Mollie, for her blog, before one of my interviews.

Being back in Birmingham also gives me the chance to catch up with friends I haven't seen for months. The other day we checked out a new healthy vegetarian cafe tucked away in Digbeth. For a very reasonable price we shared some sundried tomatoes and I had a delicious Millet salad. Although I'm not vegetarian, I do really appreciate it especially since being at Uni. I shall defiantly be visiting the Warehouse Cafe again.

And finally, Tomorrow's my Birthday!! Hip, hip, horaaay. Tonight I baked a batch of (almost) guilt-free brownies, containing agave nectar and bananas instead of butter and sugar. I haven't tried them yet but my housemates have had a few tasters and I think it's safe to say they went down well. Also think I finally got a very exciting job today and some new university projects on the go but thats all I'm going to say for now... watch this space! 

Love 

Sophie Agnes

xxx

Heavenly Sweet Treats #4

Strawberry & Lime Ice Lollies

These ice lollies are perfect for this rare heatwave, the lime gives them such a refreshing flavour. They also have the added bonus of being Sugar-free! Mum's been growing strawberries for a few years now and we've never had such a good crop as this year. She's been desperately trying to find recipes to use them up so I thought I'd try mixing them with some lime, after all they go so well together in Strawberry Mojitos!

Ingredients
Simply..
1 Lime
Water
Handful of chopped strawberries
Dash of Sugar free lime cordial

Combine all the ingredients in a jug and pour into the ice lolly moulds then freeze for over two hours until fully frozen. Once they're ready sit back and enjoy in the sunshine, while it lasts! Leave a comment to let me know what you think of this recipe or if there are any other combinations I should try.

Love Sophie Agnes xxx

Heavenly Sweet Treats #3

Frozen Banana Loaf

This is a recipe I found on Oh, Ladycakes blog, then adapted according to what I had in the larder. As you may have guessed I'm a lover of all things banana flavoured and containing bananas! A while ago I watched a programme about raw foodies on 4od, and while I thought they were slightly extreme when it came to some of their food habits, some of the ideas made me think more about the benefits of raw recipes. 

This loaf is gluten-free, sugar-free and doesn't involve any cooking or much washing up!

Ingredients

100g Almonds

100g Walnuts

75g Oats

2 Medium Banana's (the riper the better)

1tsp Cinnamon

50g Dried fruit (I used Dates, Prunes and Sultanas)

2 tsp Honey

Method

1. Place all the dry ingredients in a blender and blend until they form a flour like texture.

2. Then add the other ingredients and blend until the mixture becomes like a thick dough.

3. Place the mixture in a tray lined with cling film and press down with a knife or back of a spoon.

4. Place in the freezer for 1-2 Hours then remove and serve.

I added honey to the original recipe for extra sweetness. If you want a different texture to this loaf then why not try adding some chopped nuts or currants to the mixture once it's removed from the blender. Feel free to leave comments to let me know what you think or if there are any other raw recipes you think I should try!

Love Sophie Agnes xxx

Heavenly Sweet Treats #2

Mango Frozen Yogurt

Since I've been at university, I've become obsessed with the Fro-Yo stand in the Bullring so I decided to try make my own frozen yogurt especially now Summer's here. It's great as a guilt-free dessert or just as a replacement for ice creams on sunny days.

Ingredients

80g Mango (Fresh or frozen)

50g Greek Yogurt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Empty the mixture into a suitable container.

3. Place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

4. Remove and Enjoy!!

Try adding toppings to your frozen yogurt, if you want to keep it healthy add some berries and a drizzle of honey. Alternatively if you want a less heavenly treat add some chocolate chips and enjoy. Feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of the recipe or if you have any other frozen yogurt recipes I may want to try.

Love Sophie Agnes xxx

Heavenly Sweet Treats #1

Banana Muffin Recipes

Not only are these muffins delicious but they're also Sugar-free and Gluten-free. They're perfect enjoyed as a snack or even for breakfast and super quick to prepare.

Ingredients

1 Banana

3 Egg Whites

25g Almonds

35g Oats

1 tsp Cinnamon

100g Greek Yogurt

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 Tsp Honey

Equipment
Blender
Muffin cases
Muffin baking tray

Method

1. Pre Heat the oven to about 200 degrees.

2. Blend the almonds for 1 min then add the oats and blend for another min.

3. Add all the other ingredients and blend until the mixture is smooth.

4. Evenly distribute between muffin cases.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until risen and slightly golden.

6. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

The muffins may sink slightly when you take them out of the oven. If you want to add more flavour then try adding dry fruit or blueberries to the blended mixture. Please leave me a comments to let me know what you thought of the muffins or any suggestions for other guilt free recipes I may want to try!

Love Sophie Agnes xxx

Green Smoothies

Hey there,

Since I've got home from Uni, I have got into drinking more and more Green smoothies, which taste delicious despite the sometimes off putting colour! They're so easy to make and quick to drink, so perfect as a healthy snack when I'm short on time or trying to multitask. Here's a few of my favourite recipes so far that I wanted to share with you...

Mango Green Smoothie

Ingredients-

1. Banana

1 cup of Green Tea

15g of Oatbran

20g of Frozen Mango (or fresh mango)

10g Frozen Spinach (Fresh spinach is preferable)

Simply throw all the ingredients in the blender and blend. The longer you blend it for the smoother it will be. It may seem odd to put oat bran in the smoothies but it's a good source of energy and will keep you fuller for longer, if you blend the ingredients for long enough you won't even notice it. 

Blueberry Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1 Banana

1 tsp Honey (Optional)

10g of Almonds

5g of Fresh or frozen Spinach

Handful of Blueberries

1/2 cup of water 

 For this smoothie you may want to blend the almonds a bit first or roughly chop them. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend. Serve in a cold glass with some fresh spinach leaves to garnish. 

This is easily my favourite of the green smoothies as it was so yummy! You may find you don't need to add extra honey as it should be sweet enough without it. Also I used water as the base for this one and if you want a thicker consitency then just add less liquid, same applies to the other smoothies.

Raspberry Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1/2 Banana

10g Oats

1 cup of Green Tea

5g Frozen Spinach (or fresh)

Handful of Raspberries

Once again pop all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Then serve in a cold glass with a few berries to garnish.

As you can see they're so simple to make. You can also substitute the green tea for water or vice versa, also you could use Greek Yogurt or fresh fruit juice as the liquid base. I reccomend using bananas as they give the thick, creamy consistency. The spinach can also be substituted for other greens such as kale. Please note, all the above recipes serve 1 and the quantities are just a rough guide.

Enjoy your green smoothies and feel free to comment with any recipe suggestions I might like to try!

Love Sophie Agnes xxx

Freebies!

Hey,

This is just a quick post to share with you some freebies I've managed to get my hands on recently...

As you'll soon discover I'm a bit of a health nut when it comes to food so when my friend sent me a code to get a free breakfast Grazebox, I was a little bit too excited.

 I'm already a massive fan of Grazeboxes and these are such a good idea! They were so easy to make, unlike normal porridge, just two mins in the microwave and they were ready. Plus they come in tasty flavours and have honey included, so an all-round tasty and healthy breakfast. The Apple and Cinnamon was definitley my favourite.

 Another freebie, I managed to bag this week was a haircut. Normally I'm so bad with getting my hair cut and don't get it trimmed as often as I should mostly because of the cost. Then a friend recommended  Bad Apple Hair in Birmingham.

Please excuse the picture, I was trying to be subtle!

 On Tuesday afternoons they have student hairdressers in and models get their haircut free of charge. It takes a little longer than a normal hair cut, just over two hours, but I was prepared to be there a while and they made sure I had plenty of refreshments. 

 Overall I was so pleased with the cut, thanks Bad Apple! Also I had that salon feeling afterwards thanks to the Tigi products used. It was a great way to save some pennies and get rid of my dead ends before summer.

Thats all for now,

Love Sophie Agnes

xxx