SATURDAY MORNINGS ARE FOR DESSERTS

After a busy school week I like to create a chill and cosy Saturday morning so the kids can feel relaxed.

This morning I conjured up a made up apple pie recipe using some leftover apples (tossed with cinnamon, sugar, lime juice and flour) and puff pastry that was laying around in the fridge. 

I had made some chocolate coated dates filled with almond butter from a couple of days before and put those on the side. 

Both topped with milk and white chocolate hearts!

APPLE SPICE LATTE

It's already almost October, my favourite month. Partly due to delicious pumpkin spice lattes ...oh yeah!

However, recently, I saw apple spice latte on he menu and I thought I must search this!

I found and tried this recipe. There weren't many out there.

The apple spice syrup didn't end up having a syrupy texture as I imagined and I used a medium roast instant coffee as this is what I had on hand. Also had no whipped cream so my work was no match for store bought I am sure but it did satisfy my spicey coffee cravings!

I used this chai spice blend instead of the recommended apple pie spice since I am in the UK and the spices included didn't seem much different. I love the taste of this!

ONE PAN VEGGIE ROAST

Ingredients

3 potatoes

3 courgettes

5 small sweet peppers

1 aubergine

3 tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 tspn salt

1/2 tspn black pepper

Lots of olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 180c

Peel and chop all ingredients and add to roaster.

Mix with hands!

Put roaster in oven and cook for an hour at 180c.

Tip. 

Mix contents after half hour of cooking just to cook evenly.

Chop everything into very small pieces. This gives a nice texture to the roast.

HAVING TO SETTLE

I've spent the last 7 years moving. Moving house, moving countries, you name it. I'm 7 years older and I'm positively tired of it all. 

Not only tired, but being older and hopefully more wiser I believe I'm more confident. 

It feels unusual to be settled but I have made peace with it. By moving constantly I think I may have been searching for something to make me feel at peace where it didn't exist.

Life is what you make it after all.

KETO GARLIC BREAD

I made a keto garlic bread yesterday morning and it turned out pretty alright. I used this recipe but substituted the garlic powder with two fresh gloves of garlic and skipper the parmesan cheese coating. Also used a mild shredded cheddar melted on the stove instead of the mozarella and microwave.

Enjoy!

PALEO CUPCAKES, A MOUSSEY STAPLE

I despise long winded introductions to recipes so I've just attached the recipe and the finishes product to this blog post.

Enjoy x

CAREER FOMO (among other things)

Being a (young) mum has had many challenges but the thing I have found most challenging overall is  the Fear Of Missing Out, FOMO for short.

Whilst I am spending my days attending to every need and whim of my small children, I am pitifully aware of how my peers are getting on and upward in the career world. My degree, from which I graduated almost 6 years ago, is outdated, random and does not guarantee me any job in any sector. Together with the fact that I have literally no work experience, I find myself worrying daily about how I will enter the job sector after my children are all at school.

______________________________

A much later edit

The above bit of prose was a draft of blog post from two years ago.

I am pleased to inform you that I no longer worry about finding work once my children have grown. 

I moved back to my hometown which allowed me to emerge from my displacement anxiety. Honestly, I feel more settled now than I have at any other time in my life.

I've grown a little older and wiser and realised more so that I need to submit to fate and that it's actually convenient to do so. 

I have faith that when I need to find a job that I will. Because where theres a will, there's a way.

MOONLIGHT AND ROSES' DIRECTION

I have to actually type put a blog post on my phone for the first time in my life. The blogger platform has seemingly rejected safari as have so many others websites.

I blog because I need an outlet. Some sort of creative outlet to express all the wild and wonderful things going on in my mind.

For a long time I convinced myself that my blog should be some sort of professional, journalistic website, academic even.

Well, this limited my desire to actually write and keep it moving. I am a casual person. I don't have such professional writing desires. I only wish to write for myself for fun.

So I've concluded, on the spur of the moment, that I wish to write -casually- about whatever I wish.

Maybe, someone out there who chances upon my blog may be inspired as I am by so many other people's blogs and creative outlets...

X 

FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE

Here I am again, months and months since my last blog post. To be honest, I am ashamed I've abandoned this blog for so long. My intention was to write once a week, or at least once a month.

Of course I had my baby girl etc etc. You don't want to read about that. At least, I don't want to write about it. Giving birth is too usual for me by now.

What's more important for mum, me, the human is that I can come to terms with my past, particularly the dysfunctional relations I have with my own mother.

I have made an astounding discovery, so simple that I am relieved I can use only one word to describe my dilemma: NARCISSIST. My mother is a narcissist. There. I said it. And I shall say it to anyone who questions why I am not in contact with her.

It explains absolutely everything that is wrong. I am so relieved to finally know what the "problem" is called.

I am no nearer to forgiveness however and my personal journey will be a long and hard one, perhaps with no happy ending.

Never the less, I will be reading "Will I ever be good enough?" by Karyl McBride in the meanwhile.

Signing off.

Sena.

NATURAL THINGS I (SHOULD)EAT FOR CLEAR SKIN

I have the terrible misfortune of being blessed via genetics of having rosacea acne. My third pregnancy has made it flare up with such aggressiveness, it has been demoralising to say the least. Many people believe they have the right to comment on the redness of my cheeks and the small raised spots.

Until now, I was able to manage my rosacea relatively well. If I could tell it was going to get worse soon, I would resort to various supplements to keep it calm. This tactic doesn't appear to be very effective during this pregnancy though.

However, I will attest this to my rising levels of some hormones or other and the fact I am carrying a girl this time around and that I am older in age and proceed to list the various supplements/foods I eat to have clear skin.

• Garlic; garlic is a superfood. Known to bomb and blast out those bad bacteria in the gut. Clear gut= clear skin. Naturally.
• Collagen; the key ingredient of bone broth, great for the gut. 
• Fish oil; omega 3 to heal the mind and make the skin have an all-over soft glow. Healthier mind, less stress and the rosacea is less likely to be so ferocious.
• Avocado; The omega-3 reason again. I like to substitute mayonnaise (bad fats alert!) with avocado in a fresh fish sandwich. It has a great consistency and taste. Yummy!
• Vinegar; full of probiotics, acidic and clears out the gut. Get that waste out!

Dairy-Free Matcha Latte

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder

1 teaspoon stevia (or 1 sachet)

1 teaspoon collagen protein powder (optional)


STEPS

Blend everything together!

There you have a wonderful, slightly nutty matcha latte fit for the fanciest of vegan cafes.