Hydrating Foods To Help You Combat Dehydration

Dehydration is a health risk, especially during the summer months. To avoid dehydration ensure that you're getting enough liquids from your drinks and food. You don't need fork out on expensive or fancy electrolyte replacement drinks or shakes to stay hydrated.

Dehydration is a common health risk. It can happen when the body doesn't have enough fluids to function properly. The summer can be a particularly difficult time because of all the activities that require you to sweat, such as hiking or playing sports. Avoid getting dehydrated by getting enough fluids from what you eat and drink. This means you won't need expensive or fancy electrolyte drinks to combat dehydration, instead you can just drink water and eat these hydrating foods.

In this post I'm sharing the foods that naturally hydrate you. These can make staying hydrated on a hot, summer day a much easier process.

Hydrating Foods - Watermelon

When we think of hydrating foods we instantly think of watermelon. Watermelon has a water content of 91%, making it a great snack or dessert for keeping you hydrated. Watermelon is also quite cheap per serving if you buy a whole watermelon, slice it up and keep it in airtight containers in the fridge. It's definitely one of my favourite hydrating food options during the summer.

Broccoli

Broccoli is a highly nutritious vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked. It's high in vitamins A, C, and K and contains potassium, calcium, and fibre. It also has a high water content which makes it great at hydrating you.

It can be eaten raw or cooked - you can snack on chopped up broccoli, add it to a salad or add it to many cooked meals for added hydration. I personally prefer it cooked and is one of my favourite vegetables.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON ORGANIC FOOD

Organic food is considered to be healthier alternative than conventional food. This is because It is grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, genetic engineering or ionizing radiation. Organic food is also more nutritious than conventional food because it contains more vitamins and minerals. Organic foods are also less likely to contain toxic chemicals because they are not exposed to these chemicals in production.

The benefits of organic food are many and varied. It helps people live a healthier lifestyle, which in turn has a positive impact on the environment and society as well.

Whilst organic food seemed to be a fad just a few years ago, it is now a growing business with many farmers changing the way they grow the food they sell to take advantage of the increased demand for organic food. Now organic food is so popular that you can pick it up in most supermarkets.

Whilst there are many health benefits to an organic diet, eating organic food is usually much more expensive than conventional food. If you are interested in eating a more organic diet then how do you save money on organic food? This is something that lots of people are wanting to know especially during the current cost of living crisis.

Grow your own

One of the best ways to save money on organic food is to grow your own. In order to grow your own organic food, you will need to start with an organic garden. There are many different types of gardens that can be used for this purpose.

A vegetable garden is a great option because it provides you with an abundance of vegetables and herbs, which are great for using in your cooking or you can simply eat them raw. Vegetable gardens are usually planted in rows and they can be laid out in many different ways depending on the size of the area you have available.

The Best Food For Stress Relief

Many of us are living with daily stressors, and you might be wondering if there are stress-fighting foods to help to reduce your stress. Food for stress relief doesn't mean you have to eat a completely balanced diet, but by adding these foods into your diet you can help to combat stress in your life.

Here are some food and drink that can help to reduce your stress:

Spinach

Spinach is not just a certain cartoon character's favourite food! Spinach is one of the world's most nutritious foods. It contains vitamins A, C and K, along with antioxidants and iron. It also has plenty of Omega 3s which help to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Green Leafy Vegetables

Leafy greens contain a lot of magnesium. Magnesium is an important mineral that has the power to relax muscles and help you to feel more relaxed. The best leafy green vegetables are spinach, kale, collard greens, bok choy and Swiss chard. These can easily be added to meals or you can make snacks such as kale crisps.

Oily fish

Oily fish such as salmon and mackerel contain essential fatty acids to help you to get more serotonin. Serotonin makes you feel good and enables your brain to better cope with stressors.

Nuts

Organic nuts make a great energy-boosting snack because they help to maintain proper blood sugar levels. If you find yourself having an energy dip at 3 pm and reaching for a chocolate bar or the biscuit tin then try swapping for a portion of nuts instead. The vitamin B complex in nuts helps to combat fatigue.

Tips For Baking Homemade Bread

Homemade bread is definitely my preferred preference instead of a shop brought loaf. Not only is homemade delicious and much more fresher tasting, but making it can be therapeutic to make as well. Making your own bread can give you a sense of accomplishment and it also can give you a feeling of nostalgia. Not to mention the amazing smell that comes from your kitchen.

Homemade bread is the perfect treat at breakfast or for a mid-morning snack. It's also an easy and inexpensive homemade gift. You can use an assortment of different types of flour to make your own bread, including whole wheat, rye, organic plain white flour and more. The type of flour you choose will affect not only the taste but also the texture and nutritional value. Baking bread is also a great way to get creative in the kitchen.

There are many reasons why you would want to make your own bread. For example, baking your own white or wheat bread can help you save money on your grocery bill. Eating whole wheat bread is also a healthier option that may even help you to lose weight.

The process of making your own bread is surprisingly easy and not as hard as often thought. It can also help you to save a significant amount of money. 

You can enjoy your homemade bread in your own home like we do or even start baking for friends and family members to enjoy.

Slow Cooked Beef Casserole

I love this time of year when it comes to food.
There is nothing better than a warm and filling meal and casserole's and 

stews are my favorite. 

Over the weekend Stuart and I made up this lovely warm and filling casserole using our slow cooker. 

It was yummy, Blake loved it as well and ended up having to have some off our plates. 

I was sent a recipe and some Knorr Beef liquid stock but I chose to adapt this Beef Casserole recipe, by replacing the mushrooms with carrots, withdrew the wine and added it all into a slow cooker to bring the flavours out even more 

Here is the original recipe: 

iNGREDIENTS

• 1tbsp sunflower oil,
• 600g stewing beef,
• 1 onion, chopped,
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped,
• 100g smoked back bacon, chopped,
• 20g flour,
• 150ml red wine ,
• 400ml water,
• Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot,
• 1 sprig of rosemary,
• Black pepper,
• 1tbsp tomato puree,
• 100g closed cup mushrooms sliced,
• 1tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 160°C, 140°C fan, Gas Mark 3.
• Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole or metal pot. Fry the beef so that all the sides turn brown.
• Remove from the pan and set to one side. Add the onion, garlic and bacon to the pan and cook for 1 minute., Stir in the flour and mix. Add the wine, water, Knorr Stock Pot, and tomato puree.
• Mix and bring to the boil. Return the beef to the mix and throw in the mushrooms, rosemary and Worcestershire Sauce.
• Transfer the cooking pot with the lid on to the oven for 2 hours or until the beef is tender.
• Slow Cooker Note: If you want to use a slow cooker then just do all the steps in a large pan and transfer to the slow cooker when the casserole is ready to go into the oven. Cook in the slow cooker on high for 1 hour, then 5–6 hours on low (or just 6–7 hours on auto).

We were very impressed with Knorr Beef liquid stock it gave our casserole plenty of flavor and was an enjoyable meal. 

Fathers day with sendmecakes

Fathers Day is just under two weeks away now and they say that the best way to a mans heart is through his stomach. 

Well I was sent some yummy cakes from sendmecakes which make the perfect gift.  Whether for  Birthday & Christmas Presents, Mother's & Father's Day,  Easter, Afternoon Tea , Picnics & Parties , Saying Sorry,  Thank you , Good Luck,  Get Well Soon , New Home  ,Thinking of You ... Or to treat yourself!

Sendmecake are a unique letterbox cake boutique. 

Bringing you delicious cake and bake slice boxes that are made to order in the heart of Kent using local and British ingredients.

The cakes have no fancy fondant icing, no buttercream and no "fake food" ingredients. 

The cakes stay moist for days and are full of flavor because every one of them has a fruit or veg, herbs and spices and only natural extracts to keep them that way.

I was sent a spring variety box which retails at £22 for the purpose of this post. 

The box contained nine yummy slices of cakes and bakes in seven wonderfully yummy flavors. 

- Chocolate and Cherry Jam sandwich

- Lemon and Strawberry Jam sandwich 

- Orange and Poppy seed drizzle 

- Kent Apple and Almond cake

Gran's Lavender shortbread

- coconut flapjack 

and

- Chocolate Brownie. 

I absolutely enjoyed every flavor and feel that this would make an awesome gift especially if you are a cake lover like myself. 

I feel that Dad's would love this treat for Fathers Day and Mum's and children will hope Daddy will share

a slice or two with them. 

Check out sendmecakes seasonally changing and growing range of different and better cakes. 

Order for asap, for a future date or they can be perfectly frozen in their box until required. 

My 1st Mothers Day

So yesterday was my first Mothers Day and it was such a lovely day. 

As Blake sleeps through the night he was still fast asleep when I woke at 9am. 

Stuart first of all made me breakfast in bed of pancakes with strawberries and nutella and a mug

of coffee in my favourite mug. 

He than ran me a bath and sorted out Blake whilst I relaxed with a facemask and then

did my hair and make up.

I received two wonderful presents from Blake a fab navy pen which has lots of sparkly diamanté's. 

I love writing so this was an ideal gift for me I am always jotting down notes etc on a daily basis. 

My other gift is this beautiful necklace that says "You are the Mum everyone wishes they had" 

I love this kind of thing and it is something I will treasure forever. 

I also of course received a lovely Mothers Day card from Blake which I will be keeping forever.

I just had to take a photo of it next to our block calendar to remember the date always.  

We then popped out to town to a little cafe called Cookies which we have never been in before for lunch. 

Its a lovely little place that does coffees and cakes and the usual lunch bits such as salads, jacket potato's, 

omelettes and also main meals such as scampi, chips and peas.

As it is in such a secluded area it was nice to be able to eat our where it wasn't busy as most

places usually are on Mothers Day. 

After we had enjoyed our meal we had a little browse in some of shops and I brought some storage baskets for Blake's room. 

Once home Stuart let me rest and put my feet up for a bit and then I played with Blake on

while he was on  his tummy time mat.

He is now starting to get use to the mat and liking it a little bit more now that he can lift his head. 

After playtime I had cuddles with Blake and read him a story before putting him down in his moses basket to sleep. 

Stuart then cooked me a lovely Mothers Day dinner of Lamb shank in mint gravy, roasted vegetables and garlic mash. 

This was then followed by a yummy raspberry roulade. 

We had dinner rather late as we were full from our lunch so after that I had a bit of time on my new laptop, which 

I brought on Saturday purposely for blogging. 

I then enjoyed a hot chocolate before heading to bed. 

I'd love to know how you all spent Mothers Day and what you got from your little ones

or even what you got your mum. 

Halloween Dinner Party Competition Entry

Atlantic Shopping is a leading home furnishing company operating from a warehouse facility in Birmingham city center. 

They cater for the latest trends in household goods at great competitive prices. 

To enable to achieve their goal they have recently re-developed an online store, now you can get all the latest items which are available in store from the comfort of your own home! 

Atlantic Shopping are holding a competition for Halloween with a prize jackpot of £500 to spend on

dining sets, dining chairs and dining tables. 

All you have to do is describe your perfect Halloween Dinner Party.

You can be as creative as you like but there are two requirements: 

1. What guests would you invite for example Zombie Elvis Presley or Vampire Marilyn Monroe. 

2. What dishes would you serve? for example sugar mice for starter a pumpkin pie for main 

and then jelly worms for dessert. 

Entries will need to be in by Midnight on 31st October so get your thinking caps

on and let your creative juices flow.

Here is my entry into the competition: 

The guests I would love to invite to the dinner party would be: 

- Dracula Paul McCartney

- Vampire Marilyn Monroe

- Frankenstein Sooty 

-  Witch-y Amy Winehouse

- Ghostly Madonna

By Tiramisustudio

                     from freedigitalphotos.net 

For the food and drink I would start off with a lovely pumpkin soup which I would make gruesome 

by adding prawns too it to make it look like maggots.

The main would be spooky pasta with cheese sauce which I would use food coloring to make

green and then add cheese to make it look like cobwebs and black olives to look like beetles.

                  Serge Bertasius Photography

from freedigitalphotos.net 

For Dessert there would be some yummy looking pumpkin cookies and some

blood curdling cupcakes. I would make the cupcakes so that some oozed jam to look like

blood and some that would ooze green fondant to look like slime. 

                                   YaiSirichai

from freedigitalphotos.net 

As for drinks I would have a wide range of cocktails in goblets like the ones below 

I would make them hauntingly delightful by adding jelly worms and floating eyeball sweets. 

                   by arztsamui 
             from freedigitalphotos.net 

If I was to win the competition I would choose the Tempo Dining Set so that we had enough space to have

everyone over for Christmas. 

I love the sleek black design with chrome frame finish and black glass top.

Pizza Express NEW Pizza's

If you love pizza and are a fan of Pizza Express then you will love their all 

New flavors that they have recently released in supermarkets.

The New flavors are : 

- Italian Ham and Mushroom 

- Goats Cheese and Spinach

-  Chicken Peppadew and Spice 

 - Spicy Beef, Peperoni and hot peppers

and 

- Vegetable and Pesto 

The Italian Ham and Mushroom pizza was lovely

with prosciutto ham , creamy mozzarella, black olives and roasted mushrooms. 

I am not a huge fan of olives so took them off my slice of pizza and let hubby have them. 

I loved the combination of the ham, mozzarella and roasted mushrooms. 

The Goat's Cheese and Spinach pizza was one of my favorites. 

This pizza had savory goat's cheese with sweet red onion chutney and spinach. 

I am a huge fan of these flavors so having them on a pizza was a fab treat

and the spinach is great for my Iron levels. 

Another great flavor is the Chicken, Peppadew and Spice. 

The majority of the time when I order a pizza i choose one with chicken 

as a topping. 

This Pizza has chargrilled chicken, sweet peppadew peppers (another topping I love), 

creamy mozzarella and cajun spice. 

This pizza wasn't that hot and was enjoyable. 

Next up is a pizza that Stuart always tends to go for

Spicy Beef, Pepperoni and Hot Peppers.

This pizza has spicy beef, pepperoni, creamy mozzarella and hot peppers.

I really enjoyed this pizza but removed the hot peppers I thought they made

it a bit too spicy for me but am sure hubby didn't think so. 

Last of all we have the Vegetables and Pesto. 

Toppings are: 

Artichoke hearts, basil pesto, roasted mushrooms, Santos tomato's and 

creamy mozzarella. Another great pizza but still not really my cup of tea. 

What do you think of Pizza Express's New pizza flavors?