Hello everyone! How are your weekends shaping up?

It’s been a bit of a crazy week for me with trying to fit my exam preparation and job hunting around my work and everyday life, but I seem to be managing just fine at the moment. Making the most of my evenings by relaxing and watching TV/movies and generally spending my free time with Alfie is keeping me sane at the moment.

As a lover of all things food, making tasty meals is really helping me get through this busy period. It sounds sad, but it gives me something to look forwards to throughout the day and I have been taking my study breaks around my meal times so I can make something extra delicious and take pleasure in eating my meals. Cooking for me is one of my favourite hobbies. There is nothing better or more relaxing then pottering about the kitchen.

Some of my favourite meals from this week include:

My Paneer and Aubergine Curry with steamed broccoli and almonds. Alfie really loved this curry and would quite happily eat it meat-free. Although he couldn’t resist having some of the left overs with some chicken too and he thought it worked quite well together.

Roasted broccoli, squash and courgettes with smoked bacon and smoked cheese. There’s nothing more to say about this except that it was so darn tasty!

Scrambled free range eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast.

I’ve been going smoothie mad this week and made sure that I’ve got my fix every other day. This particular smoothie included spinach, a banana, chocolate and peanut butter swirl protein powder, ice, water and almond milk. The ice and almond milk made it super creamy and delicious!

For dinner in a hurry I made a 2 egg omelet and stuffed it with left over Paneer and Aubergine Curry with a side of steamed kale. Amazing!

It’s been such a long time since I’ve had muesli for breakfast so I treated myself to some Dorset’s Cereal’s simply nutty muesli with lots of almond milk, an orange and almond butter.

I made a spicy pork and tomato stew on Friday night. Stews are the best things to cook when you have to study as you can through everything into a pot and leave it for a while as the flavours mingle. This was great served with steamed kale and roasted squash.

Frozen mixed berries with super drippy peanut butter and coconut cream inspired by Laura, so tasty!

My week has been spiked with little treats too:

During a break from work I popped to the nearby Tesco’s for some groceries and spotted these babies. I fancied a treat and adore the Lindt dark chocolate range and hadn’t tried these new flavours yet. They went straight into my basket without a moment’s thought. So far I have tried the blueberry flavour and I have to say it’s pretty amazing!

Also, my very lovely manager treated me to a slice of this wonderful chocolate log. It was the perfect afternoon pick me up, which was much needed!

Well I better get back to my reading. I’m rewarding my hard work with a delicious meal, red wine, dark chocolate and a movie marathon tonight. Happy days!

Does looking forward to your meals help you through a hard day at work/college? Do you reward yourself with certain foods?

How do you treat yourself during busy periods?