Enjoy food with Nic

💙My week in pictures💙

1. Helpful as ever

2. Husband made an epic toad in the hole

3. And chicken tikka with salt & pepper chips

4. All the celebratory wine 🎉

5. Leading to a Friday working from bed with this handsome boy 🐾

6. Trying to eat everything!

7. Not had a pasty in years?!

8. Quick pub lunch in squelching trainers and soaking wet jeans 🤣🤦‍♀️

9. I've read 3 books this week! Never read any by this author though, finished the first one on Saturday.

10. 😍

11. Saturday night wine and tv

12. Huge cottage pie I made yesterday. Proper comfort food!

13. Obsessed with taking pictures of his random positions 🤣

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💙Recipe of the week💙

Roasted vegetable rice bowl

This was super easy and very versatile 👌

I had some par boiled butternut squash cubes i had stored in the freezer and I couldnt decide what to do with them. So I decided to roast from frozen and hope for the best. I added peppers and chickpeas, with some spicy seasoning.

Meanwhile I just microwaved a pouch of savoury chicken rice.

Dumped some salad bits on and there you go!

I got 3 portions out of this and really enjoyed it.

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It's been a funny old week and to be honest everything seems a bit of a blur as I type this!

I took bank holiday monday off work because I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Conference season is coming and I was trying to balance doing all that prep (for context this is 4 different slide decks) plus working on chapter 3, writing a journal article and coding my interview transcripts. It was all too much so I did nothing.

By Tuesday I had decided to plan my calendar into shorter/smaller tasks to make it more manageable 😊

What else? Erm I made a lovely salad bowl for dinners.... I slept more.... I walked less..... oh and I haven't weighed myself because my scales need recharging. And you know what? Im fine with that.

Oh I almost forgot! I had a brilliant networking opportunity meeting on Thursday and had wine to celebrate with a friend 🧡

Saturday I got soaked/terrified at my youngest nephew's football final (rain, thunder, lightning 🌩 😑) and that's pretty much been my week!

This week, the calendar is planned. My dinners are not. The weather is wild. It's tattoo week 🎉. I need to clean the flat.

Yay

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💙My fortnight in pictures💙

1. Sunshine at Glossop food hall

2. Bliss

3. We went for an afternoon nap 😴

4. Making the most of the Manchester sunshine

5. How can he sleep like this?!

6. This was so good and I feel like nobody cared

7. Peaceful mornings

8. Get to Lennox immediately.

9. I am so cool 😎

10. Look at his feet 😍

11. Clinging onto the weather

12. Fell over Ronnie and smashed my knee 😩

13. Why haha

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💙Meals of the fortnight💙

1. Amazing Greek small plates at Glossop food market: feta fries, hot honey halloumi and whipped feta

2. Spicy chicken and rice salad

3. Mixed bean and feta couscous

4. BBQ pulled pork, spicy mixed grains, roasted Mediterranean vegetables and salad

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The past few weeks have passed by in a blur and to be honest, its been a lot.

Work has been really good but a lot of juggling and I sorta feel like I am running out of motivation. I've been working on this for 2.5 years and with approx 10 months left, it is definitely getting harder to dig deep.

In other news I have been here, there and everywhere trying to spark some joy. I have been to another food hall and an amazing new restaurant in Manchester. I've had all the cocktails and late nights. But I have also been making some delicious meals (some a little more carb heavy than they should be) but I am slowly pulling myself out of this funk.

This week brings a meeting in town and other than that I will be working from home. I am getting back to morning walks and will definitely be getting more sleep.

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💙 My week in pictures 💙

1. Crying on the floor but loving my new Next pj's. Every cloud

2. My bodyguard while I had a bath. He tried to jump in. I dont know who was more frightened.

3. My research article was published!

4. Apparently he is 41 now.... think thats back to front 🤣🤦‍♀️

5. Its a hard life

6. What a beautiful sight 😍

7. Pretty flowers from M&S, lasted a week which is a miracle in this greenhouse

8. I cant be the only one?! Come rain or shine 🤣🤷‍♀️

9. I am done with this world. We ride at dawn girls... seriously why aren't we rioting in the streets?!

10. He thinks he is helping.....

11. Hunters chicken = heaven

12. If you're not drinking a limoncello spritz at 1130 on a Saturday, you need to re-evaluate your life

13. Ornellas = GOAT

14. Steak and ok, another spritz 🍹

15. Started watching The Pitt and immediately recognised this parent as the doctor who didnt order a head CT for Dr Derek Sheppard.... I dont care how much she is suffering in this show atm. 🤣 (I know, im nuts)

16. My house looks like a toddler play centre....

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💙Recipe of the week💙

Slow cooker BBQ Pulled pork

This was an absolute triumph 👏

I spotted a bottle of coffee bbq suace in M&S reduced to like a quid and a recipe was born.

I cooked it on birthday morning, popped it on warm while we went for drinks and served it before bed. Plus, I got 4 individual portions for the freezer to have in wraps or jacket spuds.

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Its not been a great week and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and frustrated.

So, I wake up Monday morning and can barely walk. The middle of my back is in absolutely agony, like the muscles in between my ribs? Who knows how i slept but this was no joke. It took me 20 minutes to get to the floor to lie down flat and then 40 minutes (and a lot of tears) to get back up.

I spent most of the first half of the week dosed up on codeine, no walks, no routine, no work and kinda spiralling.

Wednesday saw the husbands birthday 🎂 and butchers collection day. I managed both including a few drinks.

Toward the end of the week the pain has decreased and migrated to my lower back (which is still rubbish but at least i know what to do with that pain!).

On Friday I managed a slow treadmill walk and on Saturday we had a date day to a local food hall.

I am still not 100%, very tired and bit apprehensive that my routine has gone and it feels like I am starting from scratch. Considering what I've been eating and drinking (paired with not much movement) I was thrilled to see just a 0.2lb gain, but I am feeling fluffy. The balance of not doing too much to aggrevate my back further, eating rubbish because I'm in pain/tired/stressed etc and trying to do what I can, has been overwhelming this week.

But we go again

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💙My week in pictures 💙

1. Audacity is high atm!

2. Sunshine = white wine

3. Standard

4. This 👏

5. Just a long beautiful boy sunbathing 😍

6. Tuna pasta salad for a few easy days

7. Uh oh

8. Sick of the sight of this laptop atm!

9. Chicken rogan josh from the freezer stash

10. Obsessed 💗

11. Saturday brunch with the best butchers sausages and bacon.

12. Caramelised onion and sausage mash topped pie all prepped

13. A self care Sunday trip to M&S for picnic goodies

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