you might have noticed...

... that I've stopped blogging here. But it's not because I don't have lots to say – I'm still doing that, just in a whole new location, at www.sweet-dreamer.com. I hope you'll follow me there.

Alice x

Words Of Wisdom... From Pinterest.

I've got a confession to make: I just discovered Pinterest. And it's dangerous. Seriously. I'm on holidays from work and yesterday I got lost in there for Two Whole Hours. I almost forgot to eat lunch. Anyway, in the hope that something productive might come of my 120 wasted minutes, I thought I'd share these little pearls of inspiration with you...

loseweight-safe.com

Of course, if you want to follow me on Pinterest, you can do so here. But sign up at your own risk.

The Best Video You Will Watch This Week.

This week I saw an interesting video. It's called Hungry For Change. It's not a diet like Atkins and it's not groundbreaking. It's good, honest information about food and nutrition. And it had me nodding along for the full hour and twenty minutes.



The best bit of advice I got from the film? When it comes to changing your diet, don't restrict – add. Add in the good stuff. Get your recommended serves of veggies, fruit and good fats. Eventually it will crowd out the bad stuff, because there simply won't be room for anything else.

Of course, there is heaps more to learn from this video and if you get the chance to sit down and watch, I really recommend it.

Make Them Now: Jam Muffins

Serious Eats

 I'm a pretty novice baker, but muffins I can do. They're simple, quick and don't even require a beater. This weekend I took a stab at these jam muffins, and they went down like a treat. Recipe courtesy of Serious Eats... Make them, then freeze them so you're not tempted to scoff down the whole lot.

You'll need...

• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup jam

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and spray 12 standard-sized muffin tins with baking spray, or line them with paper liners. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, egg, and honey. Whisk to combine, making sure the honey is fully dissolved.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just enough to combine. It will be lumpy. Add the jam, and fold the mixture a few times to distribute it, but leave the mixture streaky. Portion the mixture evenly into the muffin tins.
4. Bake at 190 degrees until the muffins are browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

Love The Show, Get The Cookbook.

This one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" kind of ideas. They've been around since the '40s, but it seems TV-themed cookbooks are only getting more popular. While The Sopranos Family Cookbook is flying off shelves, the Desperate Housewives Cookbook is also a sales success, and now you can even eat Don Draper-style with The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook.

I had no clue these kind of books even existed, but the day they make a Friday Night Lights cookbook, full of Tami Taylor's Texan delights, y'all know I'm going to be first in line. What show would you most like to pinch the recipes from?

Got A Spare 20 Minutes? I've Got A Workout For You.

Check out this bunch of exercises from Women's Health. It's called the "Power Pairs" workout. Think moves you already do, with the added pain of dumbbells. Simple but bloody effective.

So Freaking Excited For The Hunger Games.

And if you're not? Well, frankly, I can't imagine why. It's an awesomely suspenseful story (no wizards, no vamps – just 24 kids who go into an arena where only one can come out alive) and it's got a smoking hot cast... Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and did I mention Liam Hemsworth? Sigh.

Anyway, it hits cinemas on March 22, which by my calculations leaves you a good five days to read the book before you hit the cinema. And trust me, that won't be a problem because it's a real page-turner. Here's the trailer. Watch it. Then book your tickets to the midnight screening.
 

Oh, and can I just say that Jennifer Lawrence looks phenomenal in this film – svelte but fit as, and it's so refreshing. As the lady herself said, "I play a warrior. I can’t be skinny. You know, Kate Moss running at you with a bow and arrow isn’t scary." True that.