food – Lily Pebbles

STAYING IN FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE

lily — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 07:00:00 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of going out on New Year’s Eve. Cabs are impossible to book, it’s always cold and it seems everyone gets especially drunk, loud and rowdy on the 31st December. So instead of my usual New Year’s Eve makeup tutorial, this year I’ve made a video for those of you who are also staying in.

There are two recipes in this video that are both extremely easy. All of you on here have probably seen my brookies by now but here they are in video form and I’ve also added a hazelnut and mint chocolate chip hot chocolate float. Both indulgent and both delicious. The diet can start tomorrow, right?

I hope you all have a very fun, safe and happy new year. As I say at the end of this video, thank you all so much for your support this year! xxx

Ballymaloe’s Red quinoa tabbouleh with toasted pine nuts and pomegranate

lily — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 07:00:00 +0000

Now this is no creation of mine unfortunately, but after my birthday vlog last week I’ve had a lot of requests to share this recipe. It’s one we found in the Times Magazine a long time ago and have re-used many, many times.

It’s easy for non-chefs like me to make, it looks really impressive and the gentle touch of spice makes it the perfect cold Christmas salad. So here’s the recipe and let me know if you end up making it – I’d love to know what you think!

Ingredients

225g Red Quinoa

Half tsp Salt

350ml Cold Water

25g freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, stalks removed

25g freshly chopped mint, stalks removed

Seeds of one pomegranate (or 2 packets of ready to eat pomegranate seeds)

110g spring onions, white and green parts chopped

75g pine nuts, toasted in a dry frying pan with no oil over a medium heat until lightly browned – (keep them moving or they will burn)

50g dried cranberries

2 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

1 and a half tsp ground cinnamon

1 scant tsp of ground allspice

For the dressing

50ml fruity extra virgin olive oil

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp honey

Sea salt and black pepper

Serves 8

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

1. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under cold running water for 2-3 minutes to remove the natural butter outer coating. Put the quinoa and salt in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and cover with the carefully measured cold water.

2. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 12 minutes covered, or until the grain is tender.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, keeping the lid on the pan and set aside to steam for a further 10 minutes to fluff up the quinoa.

4. To make the dressing, mix the olive oil, lemon juice and honey in a jar and season to taste.

5. To serve, add the remaining ingredients to the warm quinoa and pour over the dressing. Mix well and season with freshly ground black pepper and a little more salt if necessary.

Serve with grilled fish, chicken, lamb or chickpeas – or I like to eat it just by itself!

Recipe taken from the Time Magazine, originally from Darina Allen’s book ’30 years of Ballymaloe’

Vapiano, Central London

lily — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Just a quick intro as this is hopefully a new weekly feature on WIHT (well I’ll TRY and do it every week). I eat out ridiculously often as you’ll already know if you follow me on Instagram and I always get a great reaction from my photos, so I thought it would be nice to occasionally write about the restaurants I go to on my Saturday post. There’s so many amazing restaurants in London and my boyfriend in I are always up for trying the new ones that pop up here and there. So this will be the space for me to make you drool over photos and let you know my thoughts. If it’s not a restaurant review it’ll be something food related. I’m no food expert, but I sure do love to eat!

Spaghetti Arrabbiata

Vapiano is situated directly behind Topshop on Oxford Circus which makes it great for tourists. It’s open for lunch and dinner but I would personally recommend it for lunch. It’s an Italian restaurant that offers Pizza, Pasta and Antipasti.

The restaurant itself is really big and spaced over 2 floors. The tables are high up with tall benches that you can share which makes it seem good for big groups. There’s also an area downstairs with sofas for a more relaxed meal. I love that all the tables have a basil and rosemary plant on it so you can take as much as you’d like, it’s a really nice touch. There’s also a self service tap water and glasses which is good for people like me (more tap water please!).

When you enter the restaurant you’re greeted by a hostess who gives each person their own Vapiano ‘credit card’ and this is basically what you use to buy and pay for your food. It’s a buffet style restaurant so you go up to either the pasta or pizza counter to order your food. The pizzas take a little longer so after ordering you’re given a buzzer that will let you know when to go and collect your food. For the pasta though, you stand and wait whilst they very quickly cook your pasta in the hot woks. You’re able to chose your pasta type first and then your sauce and both the pasta and sauces are all fresh. The food is really good. I feel like when it comes to Italian I kind of know my stuff, not for any particular reason, just because I eat it A LOT and always have since I was little.

After ordering your food the chefs will ask you to scan your card on the till and this will add the amount for your meal onto it. There are also a few bars that you can go up to order your drinks and again scan your card. At the end of your meal you take the card to the till and pay the total.

The reason I say it’s better for lunch is because depending on what everyone in your group decides to eat, it can be a bit of an antisocial place to eat. If it’s busy you’ll need someone to stay behind to hold the table and if some people get pizzas they’ll be waiting longer, so if you go in a big group you can easily end up all eating at different times which is a bit annoying. I went with Rich on a quiet Sunday and we both had pasta so it was fine, but if you do go, bear that in mind.

I’d go back again. Mainly because of it’s handy location but also because the pasta was great and I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere.

Have you ever been to Vapiano? Will you try it next time you’re in the Oxford Circus area?

Lily xx

Feed your skin

lily — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:30:00 +0000

Philips Advance Collection Juicer*

A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday morning Rich and I had a mammoth juice making session, so I thought I’d show you what we made. I’ve always loved fresh juice and we’ve always had a juicer in my house. I used to make myself a Carrot and Apple juice every morning before school (looking back I can confirm that it did not help with the grades).

I really think drinking fresh juice is so good for you, it makes you feel amazing too. These were the 4 juices we tried using the Philips juicer which is the best one I’ve tried. I love it because you can fit whole apples and peppers in without having to cut them up into smaller pieces. My favourite juice was ‘The Morning Riser’… I could literally drink gallons of it.

If you get the right juicer (one that’s easy to clean like this one), having a juice every morning is really easy and it will make you feel so much better and more importantly, it will make your skin amazing. It’s an easy and yummy way to get all your fruit and veg.

So anyway… a bit off topic, but I like doing the more lifestyle side of this blog where I can.

Anyone else have a juicer and love experimenting?

Lily xx

*UPDATE* My nutritionist friend Gemma recently told me most the goodness is in the pulp and without it you’re left with mainly sugar. So try adding a bit of the pulp back in to get some extra goodness!

I’m currently running a NEOM candle giveaway on my YouTube channel, find out how to enter here

Sugar Sin

lily — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:39:00 +0000

Scarf: Forever 21

Coat: Zara

Bag: Zadig & Voltaire

Top: H&M

Belt: Primark

Shorts: Topshop

Tights: Primark ‘Super Cosy’

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Me looking pretty normal on the weekend. Not much makeup, looking a bit worse for wear, but comfy! I really think this coat is so ugly but I can’t take it off – it’s fur lined so it’s ridiculously warm!

My boyfriend and I drove to Covent Garden last weekend for a little mooch around. I tried on some American Apparel Disco Pants, I bought myself a NARS foundation but the best part of the day was discovering Sugar Sin – the greatest sweet shop I have ever been to! It was beautifully decorated and packed full of every sweet you can imagine. Paper bags and scoops everywhere.. it’s pretty hard not to go crazy. I got my favourites; mushrooms, the red liquorice sour sugar things, red lips, cola bottles, the pink prawns (that I call ears) and the peach chewy ones. – Congratulations to anyone who knows what the hell I’m on about!

Anyway.. it was a wonderful discovery and I spent the afternoon in a lovely sugary food coma.

What are your favourite sweet shop sweets?? Anyone else got a weird obsession with the mushroom ones?

Lily xx

Poncho No.8

lily — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:30:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the launch night of Poncho No.8 in Soho. I love Mexican food and so of course accepted! The lovely Jemima was running around making sure we were all fed with a beer in our hands, and I had a really great night. It is a really cute little lunch style restaurant and the food is AMAZING! I had a burrito and I literally scoffed it down in seconds!

I will definitely be returning to Poncho No.8 very soon!

I highly recommend it if you like a good burrito and a frozen margarita! Check out their website HERE.