Right, where has March gone? It's been a whirlwind month filled with pancakes, birthday celebrations and moving plans - yes I've just moved too eeek. Trying to find someone to fill my room was SO hard and I'm still living out of boxes, bags and suitcases! Oooo and I completed a half marathon in that horrendous wind and sludgy mud - almost forgot that little achievement right there. This is on top of the usual work, blog, ELG stuff. Meaning one crazy month which has been very stressful trying to balance everything. But it's completely flown by. In a flash.
Can't believe it's less than a month already until Easter. Mmm I can't wait to try all the Easter goodies for next month's round-up. But first. March. Here's what I've been loving in the world of food and drink this month...
Bang Bang Vietnamese Canteen - Banh Mi
Erica and I have been here twice in the past month. And that's coming from someone who rarely buys herself a lunch like this. One of our colleagues unwrapped a pork banh mi one lunchtime, and from then on I had to try one. One visit down and I was hooked.
For those not in the know, a Banh Mi is simply a Vietnamese baguette. Bang Bang Vietnamese Canteen serve chicken, pork, beef and tofu banh mi out the back of their restaurant, on Warren Street. The queues can get long which is just testament to how BLUDY GOOD these are. They're made fresh, there and then, filled with your choice of meat or tofu, and various salads and sauces - including chilli.
We've tried the chicken and pork, and the chicken is definitely our favourite. A slight kick, and so much flavour. These are amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if it's my last friday treat of the month tomorrow too!
Whitworths Seeds
I don't eat enough seeds. Nuts, yes. I mean, we all know I'm the biggest lover of all things peanut butter and cashews. mmm cashews. But I don't add enough seeds to things.
I was lucky enough to receive a few different packs of seeds from Whitworths recently - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, mixed seeds and mixed seeds with salted caramel. The zip-lock bags have been fab to have at hand to sprinkle over breakfast or warm salads. The real winner of the show though; the salted caramel ones! Those are seriously good. I've loved popping these on porridge and in my granola bowls - I even shared them during our team brekkie. I know - I shared! haha
I'm definitely keeping this up - it's known we don't eat enough seeds, and I've really enjoyed adding these to things. Might try bake some treats soon to include some. Watch this space.
The Body Coach Lean in 15 recipes
This is a strange one, but in the 21 days running up to World Down Syndrome day (22nd March), people commit to challenges of all kinds. Chris decided he was going to cook recipes from the Joe Wicks cookbooks for 21 days. Previous to this, we'd started to get a tad lazy at times, still cooking tasty meals, but not putting all that much effort in unless for a special occasion. This changed things - we tried numerous new recipes, which really got me excited about cooking again. There were so many good ones, but my favourites were definitely the chicken carbonara and cheesy chicken mushrooms which were both so simple, relatively quick and super tasty! We're definitely doing these again!
Yard Pizzeria, Harpenden
Following our half marathon on Sunday 10th March, Abi and I decided we had earned whatever we wanted for lunch. So we booked in for pizza at Yard Pizzeria in Harpenden, and it was the best decision we made all day.
Yard is a cute, rustic little pizzeria with a proper stone baked oven, and friendly service. There is a good selection of Italian starters and pizzas, as well as a handful of desserts. The pizzas were fab with lots of flavour. The bases were of the classic artisan type, very tasty, and there was plenty of topping, including tomato and cheese. We had the meat special which had fennel sausage, ham and mushroom, and it was one B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L pizza. Seriously delish!
Pancakes
We couldn't get to the end of the march favourites without mentioning pancakes, when we've had pancake day! I always go all out and this year was no different. Look at these beauties..with bacon, maple, a little southern fried chicken atop, and a sprinkle of pomegranate to add some juicy bursts.
Now that's how to do dinner on pancake day! I used to argue with Chris over whose pancake recipe is best, and it's still a close tie. I love my wholemeal pancakes, but he uses the Matty Matheson recipe and makes some awesome, big and fluffy stacks!
And there you have it. Another month, another round-up. What have you been loving this month?
Chloe xx