Snow, Veggie burgers, Illness and hairstyling, banana pancakes, January the unprocessed month leading into February the month without internet

 It was all lovely and snowy last week. College was closed for most of the week, so the whole world came to a stop. I spent lots of time cosied up with the girls from 4 doors up, watching films and baking, and just generally enjoying doing those indoor activities which keep the cold away. It thawed last night, though, and has been raining ever since.

I made veggie burgers last week, using this recipe I pinned for inspiration. I really like the idea of using quinoa as the base for burgers. But I couldn't find kale anywhere in the supermarket, so I used savoy cabbage and spinach instead. They turned out to be delicious! The cabbage isn't overpowering, but adds a lovely flavour and texture to the burgers. The burgers don't taste like meat burgers at all - but they do taste amazing!

I spent some time playing with the Octopus' hair last week as well. She's been ill all week with tonsillitis, so she was quite content to sit and watch a film while I played with her hair. I did a German braid for the first time! It worked quite well too, I think. Her hair is very fine, and lovely and long, which makes it great to play with. It was so nice to work with cooperative hair, too, rather than wild hair like my own!





 This is two strands of hair, each twisted one way, then twisted the other way around each other so they hold. My sister has done this many times, on various people - hence why I knew how to do it - but I'd never done it before.












This is just two of the same twisted strands as above, then twisted back against each other again. It looks a little messy here, but I think it looks quite clever close up!









See what I mean? you get all those twists of hair diving in and out of each other, a bit like a piece of rope.













Here's the German braid I did! See! How awesome is that?! I've never even managed to do a French braid before, but I remembered preferring the look of a German braid, so I decided to do that instead. I did big strands pulled in, and then once I tied it off, I teased the actual braid out to make it a bit bigger. I also did one starting at one side of her head, and twisting round the back of it to come to below her ear on the other side of her head. It worked okay for a first attempt, but I managed to forget to take a picture of it!







This is the last style I did. It's another of the twisty things, but I did it with a small strand of hair, coming round the side of her head. Then, once it was twisted and tied, I reached through between the two twists and pulled strands of loose hair back through. I actually really like this style - it just looks so pretty!


I made banana pancakes today. See, I saw this recipe and just had to try it! It works really, really well. They taste like banana pancakes, and have the texture of scotch pancakes. I'm still slightly amazed at how well it worked. They were delicious pancakes, and really quick and easy - I know pancakes are quick and easy in general, but these were even quicker!

A fuzzy picture, I know, but you can see that they basically look just like normal pancakes. I gobbled them all up! They made an excellent lunch. Do I feel guilty? not even remotely. Containing just banana and egg means that I would consider these to be extra healthy!




So I'm coming to the end of my unprocessed month. It's been both easier and harder than I expected. It was easier in that a lot of my meals are unprocessed anyway, so I didn't find it too difficult with regards to cooking for myself; it slid into my life quite easily. On the other hand, it was hard to find certain things, like bread, as most of the stuff in the shops was processed. I did find one which wasn't, but it was three times the price of the bread I usually buy. Otherwise I would have had to make bread for myself. It was also frustrating to not be able to just eat some chocolate if I wanted it, or a yoghurt. Snacking was harder. I managed the first three weeks fine, but the last week has been quite hard. I slipped up a couple of times - once with baked beans, once with a biscuit I just really wanted! I don't feel bad though, because it wasn't a resolution or anything. It was a goal, and I feel like I've learnt a lot from it. I'm confident in my ability to make healthy food choices for myself, and I'm also more aware of the way we eat things without reading the label to see what extra unnecessary chemicals we're eating with it. the bread really hit me with that!

So next month I have said that I'm going offline - yikes! I think it needs to be specified that I will still be checking my emails, as important information comes through to me that way. But I will not be on facebook, blogger, pinterest etc. for the month of February. This should mean that I will have lots of time for old-fashioned entertainment, such as reading, sewing, knitting etc, I really enjoy doing these things, but they often take a backseat to surfing the Internet. But for the month of February, they will be pushed to the fore, I hope, by all the free time I have to fill! And I will update on how it went in March, at which point I will be aiming to take at least 1 photo everyday. I'm feeling really good about this method of making goals, as I can try new things for a decent amount of time, and feel the benefits and drawbacks without trying to commit to it for so long that I get bored, and without feeling the pressure of it hanging over me.

I'm going to go now, and get some sleep! I have some more recipes I want to try this week, and I'll try to update once more before I'm gone.

Love love xx