Wednesday Wishlist #2 FUTURE HOME: KITCHEN

I did my first wishlist last week (here) and very much enjoyed it so I thought I'd do another one this week. I am currently collecting ideas for my future home and I wanted to share them with you. I don't know yet if I'll have my own place in september but I definitely will sometime in the future and even if I'll live in halls in my first year at uni I will definitely need certain things there to be able to survive and most importantly, cook. 

this is why I started my 'future home' wishlist feature with the room that's most important to me, the kitchen. I love looking for kitchen stuff and could do that for hours, well I do it for hours if I get the chance to. these are some things that I either really love or really need and most of the time it's both. you can expect me to do a second kitchen feature in the future because I keep finding more things that I love.

1. Blue Kitchen Sign - dotcomgiftshop
isn't this french style kitchen sign adorable? I want one of those for every room one day, but the kitchen is the most important. I'm in love with it.

2. Pistachio Cutlery Set - dotcomgiftshop
after I kept annoying the boyfriend to decide on the colour scheme for the kitchen, we both agreed on green (which I had secretly already decided) and this cutlery set definitely goes with the theme and has a lovely vintage look.

3. Heart Chalkboard - Next
a chalkboard is something I've always wanted in my kitchen as I want to write some food ideas and little messages on it. when I saw this lovely one on the next website I knew this was the one.

4. Floral Tray - Cath Kidston

we're back to floral, we have a floral tray at home which I absolutely love so I definitely need one for my future home too. I'd use it to serve sandwiches or muffins.

5. Apples and Pears Tea Towel - dotcomgiftshop

something fruity for the kitchen, also going with the green theme (at least one of them) and I do love apples and pears and definitely need some lovely tea towels. is it just me or are there just so many cute tea towels out there?!

6. Ivory Kitchen Scales - dotcomgiftshop
scales are something I'll definitely need, even though I can make my pizza dough without them I can't make a cake without scales, no way. I know there are very exact digital ones out there but I'm in love with these kind of retro ones, they're also a bargain!

7. Floral Storage Tins - Next
I'm in love with storage tins in general and could buy so many of them (not that I have bought any yet). these are definitely pretty and green too (at least some of them) and floral, a winner!

8. Floral Food Containers - Cath Kidston
back to floral again, I definitely need some containers, I know they don't need to be that fancy and I'll probably end up just buying some cheap ones as I wouldn't spend the money for things like that, wouldn't mind them as a present though. I have to keep my soups save.

9. Pastel Spice Tins - dotcomgiftshop
these lovely pastel and beautiful tins are probably one of my favourite things on the whole list, I love spices and these would keep them safe and pretty.


that's my second wishlist done and I'm definitely in love with all of these items and hope I can get hold of some of them for my future kitchen. also I can't wait to share with you the wishlists for other rooms, let me know which one you'd like to see next. also let me know what you think about these items and which is your favourite.

Magdalena.

A WEEK IN MEALS #9

I'm back with another week full of lovely meals, a day late but if I hadn't mentioned it nobody would have noticed right? well let's just keep it to ourselves now shall we.

it's been a lovely week even though it's been boiling hot all week which is something I don't deal with too well. we have all been waiting for proper summer and when it comes around we complain that it's too hot right? but in my opinion up to 37°C is just too hot, there's no denying it.

anyway, the hot weather made me get back to basics food wise and just wrap up a salad quite often which is very convenient as it's mostly healthy and really quick too. paired with a lovely fresh drink and some fresh bread it's definitely my go to summer food.

I've also had some very good news last friday which you can read about here. but now let's get on with the food.

monday is already the first salad day of the week and this is my creation of a greek salad with a twist the twist being some extrawurst. doesn't add to the healthiness but surely to the tastiness. to go with that a jug full of cold water with mint and lemon and that hot day can't do you any harm.

I have a mission, this mission is to beat my silly iron deficiency and save money. ideally in combination. which means that pork liver is a great thing to have every now and then. for a hot day I had it with some vegetables and rice. nothing to exciting but it was tasty.

on wednesday I was a bit pushed for time in the morning and decided to take my breakfast, muesli, to uni with me. yes I admit that the main reason for this was because I wanted to take my cool star wars spoon. and because summer is not summer without a (not so much) BBQ I made this pork chop in a frying pan and had it with a lovely greek style chickpea salad.

on thursday I didn't have any lectures in the morning so I got up a bit later and for some reason though it would be a good idea to have smoked mussels with whole grain bread for brunch, turned out it was actually a good idea as they were delicious, good idea to buy them mum. the not so great idea of the day was to make pasta with gorgonzola sauce as it was still hot and well, that's not exactly a light meal let's put it that way, it was delicious though and I wanted it so it was probably the best choice.

on friday I had more food than just this avocado greek salad but apparently I didn't take any pictures and also can't remember. but the salad was delicious. (oh I remember now, it was roast chicken my mum made and I was too hungry to take a picture, sorry!)

saturday was my happy day which didn't start out too happy because I had to run around town for an hour and no reason but oh well, this coke with my name on it most definitely made up for it. and I do love a good bowl of rice with leftover chicken. (yes, that's what reminded me that we had chicken the day before)

sunday was my lazy day as me and my friends had been out the night before and I don't really do things like that, meaning I am absolutely useless for at least a day when I stay up later than 12, kind of sad I know. however, this made me go for a simple meal, pasta with basil pesto, chicken and feta cheese. simple but actually really delicious, who would've thought.

so that's another week gone, is it just me or is time really flying by at the moment? I'm actually quite glad about it as I can't wait for uni to start, but it's still slightly scary.

what have you been up to this past week and what was your favourite meal you had?

let me know in the comments!

Magdalena.

RECENTLY... #1

recently my life has been quite busy, trying to spend as much time as possible with my friends so they don't completely hate me once I move to the UK as well as this horribly warm weather. I know the weather doesn't exactly count as being busy but it's just been rather exhausting so I feel like I've done a lot when in fact I haven't.

also, last week I finally got to do the IELTS test (International English Language Testing System) which I had been studying for for a while and needed to get into uni in the UK. fortunately I can now announce that I've had my results yesterday and it's looking like I'll be over there in september. those of you who follow me on twitter probably already know all about it as I felt the need to express my happiness in every way possible (apologies for that by the way). you can imagine that totally made my day.

today I ran around town for ages just because I wanted to get to a bank but one had closed down and the other one wasn't working properly (meaning the cash machines weren't working) so I ended up taking over an hour for something that was supposed to take 20 minutes. to cheer myself up I thought I'd get myself a little treat and buy a bottle of coke which I only ever drink as a treat now since I refuse to drink the diet or zero stuff, if I drink something that's bad for me I might aswell be honest about it right? and guess what I found? they actually had a bottle with my name on it! I actually never thought I would find one, I love the idea with the names but it made me kind of sad to think I'd never find mine, but here it is, absolutely made my day!

also, I'm off to a lovely summer fête at my primary school later today with all of my lovely friends who I met there, maybe I'll do a post about that too if anyone is interested? let me know!

hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Magdalena

Wednesday Wishlist #1 MOVING AWAY

my first ever wishlist on this blog will be a rather special one; as many of you probably know, I will be moving to the UK in september (I currently live in Austria) and this is more than enough reason for me to create a little wishlist of things I will need for the move and for starting out over there. I'll warn you now, because this will only be the first part as I am planning to do another one for homeware kind of stuff. so part one is purely for some little practical things I might need on the move and some basic things I'll need for uni.

1. Floral Travel Wallet - Cath Kidston 

a travel wallet is something I've always wanted to keep all my travel things together, and isn't this print just adorable?

2. Roses Washbag - dotcomgiftshop

I've been traveling a lot over the last two years and never had  a proper washbag, I think for my trips home I'll definitely need a lovely one like this, going with the floral theme of course.

3. Floral Passport Holder - Cath Kidston

of course my passport holder needs to go with my travel wallet, I'm just in love with the flowers aren't I.

4. Tube Map Umbrella - Paperchase

can I move to the UK without a proper umbrella? obviously not! and this way I won't get lost when visiting london either, perfect!

5. Owl and Flowers Diary - Paperchase

can't live without a diary especially at uni so I'll need this to come with me wherever I go. and I love owls.

6. Floral Bento Box - Cath Kidston

I suppose this is not something I desperately need, but I fell in love with it and thought it would be really useful to take meals to uni to avoid buying junk food, so it can only be a good thing right?

7. Donald Laundry Bag - Butlers

this is to store my dirty laundry in style, because who doesn't love donald!

8. Vintage First Aid Kit - dotcomgiftshop

one of the most essential things every household needs, this little kit has everything I'll need to cure little cuts. 

9. Patchwork Owls Cushion - dotcomgiftshop

and this is for when I feel homesick so I have something soft to cuddle, and also they're just too cute.

so this was my first little wishlist, I am really in love with most of those things an I secretly hope that some of my friends might get me some as going away presents, although I'm not sure they think this is something to give presents for, I don't know,  if not, I'll have to save up to get some of them definitely!

what do you think about my choices? which one would you get if you were me (or for yourself)?

Magdalena.

#40 BROCCOLI COURGETTE AND MINT SOUP

soups are something that aren't a regular part of my diet, they're just one of those things that never come to my mind when I think about what to make. there are probably two reasons for this, one is that soups are somehow seen as a starter over here, something you have before an actual meal and I really don't tend to make starters and desserts at home when I'm just cooking for me and my mum. also I do quite like to have something a bit more substantial so I'd be in danger of eating loads of bread with my soup which really isn't that big a deal but I just don't see the point either.

however, for some reason I did find myself fancying soup also because I read this post and it reminded me how me and my mum used to have courgette soup a lot when I was younger. I still had half a broccoli left in my fridge which I needed to use anyway so I went and got a fresh courgette, grabbed some mint from the balcony and this soup was born. it's definitely not a difficult thing to make and it's really quick too. also with all the lovely veg in it it's actually quite filling especially if you eat it with some whole grain bread like I did and you don't need more than a slice of it. also with the mint I find it's a lovely soup for summertime, we usually see soups as wintery food but I do find it gives energy which I really do need all year around. 

what I love
this is also great because you can easily just make more of it and put it in the fridge for a few days and warm some up when you need it. really great if you don't have the time to keep every day but still want something healthy and lovely. it's also definitely something for a student budget as really you don't need many things at all and none of them are expensive at all. also, you could definitely make this with cream to make it a bit more hearty, but making it with almond milk like I did makes it a lot lighter and you'll end up with a filling but light meal.

Broccoli Courgette & Mint Soup

for 2-4 people

1 courgette

1/2 head of broccoli

1/2 onion

5-7 fresh mint leaves

100 ml almond milk

1 L vegetable stock

salt

you'll start by chopping up all the veg while heating up some coconut fat in a large pan (basically big enough to hold all the soup afterwards). throw all the veg in your pan and stir fry for about 5 minutes. then add your vegetable stock, make sure all your veg is covered, if not, add a bit more water. then leave that to simmer at a low heat for about 10-15 minutes. make sure your veg is soft, if not leave it for a bit longer.

once it's all soft and lovely, chop up your mint leaves and add about half of them to the soup, then get your hand held blender and blend away until it's as smooth as you want it to be (I personally don't mind a few veg pieces left in there). if you don't have a hand held one you can just use your regular blender aswell, I just find it easier that way. after blending it you can add your almond milk and salt to taste. 

to finish it off, grate up some courgette and garnish your soup with that and the rest of the chopped mint, et voila! a lovely fresh summer soup!

tip: enjoy with some whole grain bread and cottage cheese, the creamy-ness goes so well with the soup! also, serving it on a plate with flowers on it makes it even more summer-y!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! what are your favourite soups? do you think soups are any good for summer? let me know in the comments!

Magdalena.

A WEEK IN MEALS #8

it has definitely been a while since my last week in meals post which is not actually because I didn't take pictures of my meals (which I do, all the time, just in case) but just because I didn't get around to posting them. with blogging every day in may I didn't feel like posting two posts every sunday because really, who would read them, and after that I just had to get back into blogging again properly but now I'm back with a week full of food and a bit of random things about my life.

I took my IELTS test last saturday so I can hopefully study in the UK in september, so fingers crossed the results are ok, I'll be getting them in a week so I'll let you know. otherwise there hasn't been too much going on, after my test I had some time to relax, go to uni and just have a lovely time with my friends. knowing that I will be gone in september makes me appreciate them even more and I am happy about every minute I get to spend with my favourite people. luckily the weather has been nice again too which allowed us to just sit outside and talk for hours.

let's get on with the food now shall we, and I'll be back with some more stories next sunday (hopefully).

on monday my mum asked me if I could make food for the both of us, I cook a lot of the time anyway but I thought I'd make something lovely and healthy so I made a simple asian style sweet and sour wok with chicken and veg and I believe she enjoyed it. I also made hummus and had it on bread with tomatoes and chives. (you can find the recipe for the hummus here as part of my healthy snack series).

as you can see I went a little hummus crazy on tuesday and had it twice, once in the morning and once for dinner, but oh well, I love it. for lunch I made chicken in polenta with swiss chard and feta I shall post a recipe for that soon. as a little treat I made myself some simple banana and strawberry ice cream.

surely one of my favourite meals of the whole week, swiss chard with potatoes and greek salad this is something they serve as a side dish in croatia and slovenia and I'm just in love with it, I need to grab some swiss chard more often. and then I had the usual whole grain bread with hummus and a carrot. not that I always have a carrot, but I seem to love them lately.

thursday I made a lovely lovely broccoli and courgette soup which I will be posting the recipe for tomorrow, I had it with cottage cheese on whole grain bread. in the evening I went for some bread again, with cottage cheese and cucumber and some carrots and olives on the side. and because it's summer now I had a slice of watermelon for dessert.

on friday me and my mum went to a lovely buschenschank and had brettljause and a lovely apple and cinnamon cake for dessert, I was so full after that. I've written a whole post about that meal and the place here just in case you're not familiar with some of the vocabulary.

saturday was my lazy day as I was up far too long on friday because a friend of mine has just finished her exams and we were at hers for some celebration. and I am 21 and apparently going to bed at 2 am makes me incredibly useless the day after, who knew. I did manage to warm up some of my broccoli and courgette soup and have that with cottage cheese on bread and a carrot. I somehow even managed to make lunch for me and my mum, nothing special though, just a turkey steak with rice and tzatziki and my mum made some salad. since I was craving something sweet later on I grabbed some raspberries and made raspberry and mint ice cream, recipe will be up soon.

and here we are, it's sunday again. I started with breakfast and made myself a lovely raspberry porridge which has to be one of the best things you could ever eat in the morning. I shall be posting a recipe for that as part of my breakfast series soon. for lunch I made some turkey and pea pods in mustard sauce with carrot and courgette rice which definitely only sounds fancy because it's a very long name, it wasn't fancy but it was nice and just what I needed. 

so here we are, that was another week full of food. do let me know if you enjoy reading those posts or if you'd rather I do a meal of the day twice a week or something. also, as always, let me know which of these you'd like to see a recipe post about. hope you've had a lovely week and I wish you a lovely monday tomorrow.

Magdalena.

Eating Out #6: BUSCHENSCHANK KLUG-VOLTL

since we're now finally having appropriate weather for this time of the year, me and my mum decided to take a little trip to go swimming at a lake close to where I grew up which is in western styria. the water was still cold but it was lovely to chill and read my magazine after having a lovely swim. 

after some time in the sun a few clouds decided to come around and my mum and I decided that we were hungry. so we jumped back into the car and drove to a place called a buschenschank. in a buschenschank they generally only serve things they've made themselves and grown themselves. now I don't know how accurate that is anymore, but mainly they only serve cold things if you will. in austria we have a long tradition of eating cold cuts of meat and cheese and all sorts with bread, it's called jause and it's brilliant.

this kind of meal is kind of difficult to explain but all it is basically is that you have plates with cold cuts of things and veg and all sorts and you simply take whatever you like and eat it with a piece of bread. now that doesn't sound too difficult does it, now I look like an idiot.

we went to this place called Klug-Voltl (you can find out more about them and where exactly it is on their website here) which is located in the vineyards and it's truly lovely. the landscape is brilliant and we were so lucky with the weather. it was beautiful and warm and only a few clouds in sight, nothing compared to the ones that made us leave the lake. it must have been mainly us being hungry I suppose.

moving in to the food, which of course is the most important part and the reason we came, we ordered a Brettljause which is the typical styrian version of what I just explained and comes with several cuts of meat including ham and bacon as well as a sausage and meat spreads. there were several other things on the menu that looked very nice but I am glad we didn't get more as the Brettljause was more than enough for the both of us. also it definitely wasn't badly priced at € 6 for the size of it.

to go with it we both had grape juice made from the schilcher grape which is a regional specialty and has a very special taste to it, you'll have to try it if you ever find yourself in that part of austria. I'm not much of a wine person but I do love a good grape juice. 

needless to say we were definitely full after this and more than happy. however, we had spotted the waitress carrying around some sweet loveliness and when she was bringing some lovely cake to the table next to us we couldn't resist and asked what they had on offer. they don't have any desserts on the menu which is normal for places like this as they make it fresh and don't have the same things every day, you just have to know and remember to ask if you want to satisfy your sweet tooth. we did and ended up ordering a lovely slice of apple and cinnamon cake. it was delicious and I'm glad we shared it, although I would certainly go for another slice of it now if I could, might need to try and make some.

we were more than full after this and said goodbye to the lovely place and pretty scenery. how gorgeous is it that they have roses by the vineyard? they had different colours for every row. I do love roses. I'll be sure to come back and I definitely want to take my boyfriend here when he comes to visit so he can have some typical styrian jause like it's supposed to be.

have you ever been to a Buschenschank or would that be something you would like to try out if you ever found yourself in Austria? do you have anything similar in your country? let me know in the comments!

Magdalena.

Healthy Snacks #1 SIMPLE HUMMUS

I've been trying to get back into my usual blogging after blogging every day in may and I thought creating some new categories might help. also, having small meals during the day is really important but it's just so easy to grab something unhealthy. I don't want to say don't eat chocolate ever because I still will and everyone still will. I'm lucky as I'm not the biggest fan of crisps and things like that anyway but the healthier choices are still not what comes to my mind first. so I thought I'd collect some ideas and give you some inspirations.

I want to talk about easy things that everyone can make at home, that are quick and also definitely don't break the bank. as you all know I'm a student myself and I want to do more and more recipes that are suitable for students as I know that many of us don't have too many ideas when it comes to cooking. so let me know if you like that idea.

for now, let's talk about my first healthy snack idea. hummus is a middle eastern sauce/dip/spread made from chickpeas and usually mixed with tahine which is a sesame paste. for my recipe I used mainly chickpeas and some other easy ingredients to give it some taste. if you don't like chickpeas this won't be for you, but if you haven't tried them before then do because they're lovely. so first of all, here's how I made my hummus.

Simple Hummus

300 g cooked chickpeas (you can buy them already cooked in cans)

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

salt

simply puree the chickpeas with the juices from the can or add a bit of water. while pureeing it, add the crushed garlic, lemon juice and oil. once it's all a smooth paste add salt to taste. and that's it! all done!

now I want to show you some of my favourite little snacks I like to make with hummus and some whole grain bread, alternatively you could also use some rice crackers or whatever you prefer. you could also use hummus as a sauce for when you're having a BBQ like I did here. there are obviously many more and maybe I'll add some more in the future, let me know if you like the idea of this healthy snacks series and if there are some things you would like to see.

whole grain bread with hummus, tomatoes and chives

whole grain bread with hummus, cucumber and chives

whole grain bread with hummus, tomatoes and olives

whole grain bread with hummus, chives and carrot

I hope you liked this different kind of post, let me know if you'd like me to share some more healthy snack ideas I like to indulge in. let me know if you have some ideas too.

Magdalena.

#39 GREEN SALAD WITH BALSAMIC CHICKEN

this is a recipe I've had prepared for a while now and I did briefly mention it in one of my BEDM posts here where I also talk about how I try and eat healthy and what healthy means to me. this meal is lovely for when you don't have too much time, maybe you're a student and you don't want pasta again, but still fancy something fresh and mediterranean? this is something I love to eat when I've got home after a day in uni and I don't feel like spending a long time in the kitchen. it's really quick but still a proper meal and not just a sandwich.

also the balsamic vinegar gives it a little something that not every chicken has and with the yogurt marinade you don't even need to be scared of any oils, even though adding olive oil will make it even more italian.

Green Salad with Balsamic Chicken

6 strips of chicken breast

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

5 cherry tomatoes

1/2 green pepper

lettuce

mozzarella

2 tbsp yogurt

2 tsp lemon juice

chopped parsley

salt

first thing you want to do is take the chicken out of the fridge and cut it into strips, put them in a bowl and add the balsamic vinegar to marinate.

then chop up the tomatoes, pepper and mozzarella and tear and wash your lettuce. to make the marinate, simply mix all the ingredients in a glass/bowl.

put the lettuce, tomatoes and mozzarella into your salad bowl but don't add the marinade just yet. heat a pan with some oil and stir fry the pepper and chicken for about 5 minutes. arrange the chicken and pepper on top of your salad and drizzle with the marinade. enjoy as it is or pick a piece of bread to go with it if you like.

Magdalena

#38 PEAR BANANA STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE

firstly I would like to apologise for not having posted anything since the start of the week, but as I had a very important test yesterday I'm sure everyone understands. thank you to those who supported me and wished me luck for the test, you're the best.

but now I am back on here and blogging and it feels good. I thought I'd start with a little recipe that really helped me through a long day of exam preparation and I hope it will do the same for you. or just make you happy because it is rather delicious.

it's also absolutely affordable for a student on a budget (like me) because frozen strawberries are so much cheaper than fresh ones and they work super well in a smoothie to cool it all down and make it fresh.

Pear Banana Strawberry Smoothie

1 banana

1 pear

handfull frozen strawberries 

so this won't take very long as all you need to do is put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until they're all smooth(ie). you can then just pour them in a glass and drink right away or full it all in a bottle and take to uni/work/school for it to give you healthy energy while you're there.

Magdalena.

P.S. good luck to any of you who still have exams. I wish you all the best.

Drinks #4 LEMON AND LIME ICED TEA

what's a warm spring/summer evening or afternoon without a lovely cooling drink. but ever so often we reach for those drinks we can buy in bottles those of which not only account for more calories and sugar than we would want them to but also cost way more than for example a student like me would want to spend on something that's gone within a few hours.
and that's why I came up with this little recipe which is of course nothing too new or creative for anyone who's made iced tea before and it won't be very different from anything else you can find out there. but I made it and loved it so I wanted to share it with everyone who might still be looking for a lovely iced tea recipe.

Lemon and Lime Iced Tea

1 1/2 l water
1 tbsp loose leaf black tea with flavour or without

1 lemon

1 tbsp lime juice

1-2 tbsp honey

1 - 2 tbsp sugar (if you want)

ice cubes

mint leaves (optional)

boil the kettle and make tea (as you do) as strong as you like it to be. I used Harrod's Mango Tea (which is basically black tea with mango flavour) which I can't seem to find online, sorry. but you can use any normal tea you like basically. 

then you'll want to add the sugar and the honey for them to be able to dissolve properly. you can add the lemon and lime juice now or after you've left it to cool down, doesn't really matter. leave the tea to cool down at room temperature. I know many people just add ice cubes and drink it straight away but I like to leave it for a while as that makes it too watery for my taste.

but I do have a little tip for you when it comes to iced tea and ice cubes. use some of the iced tea you just made to make ice cubes. it will keep it cold but you won't lose any of the taste.

once it's cooled down, you can serve it straight away with some ice and mint leaves or fill it into a bottle to store in the fridge. enjoy on a hot day or on a cold one to make you feel more summery. 

Magdalena.