My take on Prezzo's Pollo E Spinaci Salad

For as long as I can remember, I've always been someone who is fairly health conscious and try to lead a well-balanced lifestyle as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the odd treat, as long as everything is in moderation, but recently I've been trying to make healthier lifestyle choices, without having to cut out all that I love.

I'm quite a foodie at heart and love cooking and experimenting with different ingredients, as well as going out for meals. While it’s fine to eat out occasionally the thing that puts me off, is the fact that you don’t know exactly what has gone into your food. For this reason, I have been looking for healthier alternatives to some of my favourite restaurant dishes.

If you read my last post, you'll know that a few months ago I moved to sunny Spain! Now I don’t know if it’s the heat or simply the change in scenery, but since moving here I've been craving healthy food…salads in particular and lots of them! One salad that I've really missed, has got to be Prezzo's ‘Pollo E Spinaci’, one of my all-time faves! Although this dish is probably relatively healthy anyway, the beauty of home cooking is having control over what ingredients go into your food and no hidden nasties! I therefore decided to do my own take on this salad, with a couple of tweaks here and there.

The quantities used, I found to be the perfect amount for 3 adults, but you can obviously adjust this accordingly, depending on the number of people and your appetite!

For the salad you will need:

Ingredients:

Approximately ½ a bag of baby leaf spinach

1 punnet of field mushrooms

½ a red pepper

½ a yellow pepper

1 large chicken breast

1/3 cucumber
1 1/2 avocados

Handful of cherry tomatoes

Sprinkling of cooked quinoa

Honey Mustard Dressing:

80ml Extra virgin olive oil/coconut oil

160ml honey

40ml lemon juice

20ml Dijon style mustard

Pinch of salt

Instructions:

On the whole the preparation for this recipe can be done in any order, but the main thing to bare in mind, is that you want the peppers, mushroom and chicken to still be hot/warm when served.

1. For the first step I decided to wash and cut the peppers in 2 halves.  Next remove the core and seeds, slice into thin strips and set to one side.

2. Wash and cut the ends off the mushrooms. As I was using small field mushrooms, I chose to slice them in half, but you can adjust this depending on the size of the mushrooms and your preferences. Again set to one side.

3. Although the Prezzo salad doesn't contain quinoa, I chose to include it in my recipe for the added health benefits and protein.  Make sure to rinse the quinoa thoroughly and following the cooking instructions on the side of the packet, mine took approximately 20 mins to cook. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool. 

As you only need a sprinkling of quinoa in the salad you don't need to cook a lot, bare in mind that it expands in size quite generously after being cooked. As you can see, I made too much, on the plus side I had some left over for lunch the next day!

4. At this point I decided to make the honey mustard dressing. Now obviously you can buy this ready made in the shops, but as I was going for the healthier option, I decided to make it myself. The dressing was so easy to make and only contained 5 ingredients: Extra virgin olive oil/coconut oil, honey, lemon juice, pinch of salt and Dijon style mustard.  Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until combined...it really is that simple! 

5. The next step is time to prepare the chicken.  I have to say this is the part I dread the most...it's just something about touching raw meat! In fact this is part of the reason I like cooking vegetarian meals the best. You can choose to cut the chicken however you like, it really is down to personal preference, but I chose to slice it into small strips as I found it cooks quickly this way. After doing this place the chicken in a large bowl drizzle with a little sunflower/olive oil making sure all the chicken is covered and season with salt and pepper.

5. Place a griddle pan over medium heat. Once hot, place the chicken strips in the pan and cook for approximately 2 mins each side until they have a chargrilled effect on the outside and are no longer pink when cut in the middle (again you may need to adjust this depending on the size of your chicken pieces).

6. In the meantime place the mushrooms and peppers in a pan and lightly fry until slightly wilted.

7. Prepare the bed for the chicken by lining a bowl with spinach leaves. Next halve the cherry tomatoes, slice the cucumber and avocado and mix into the leaves.

8. Once cooked top with the char-grilled chicken, peppers, mushrooms, a sprinkling of quinoa and drizzle a little honey mustard dressing over the top. As I was cooking this for family I also decided to add a side of home made garlic bread, but I enjoy the salad just as much on its own.

Shopping in Bath

Having spent much of last year travelling around England and Wales for work, I've really developed a love for visiting different places, and last weekend I did just that!

On Saturday my mum and I decided to make a day of it and visit the city of Bath, South West England. As it's relatively close to where I live, I've been a couple of times before, although I'd forgotten just how nice a city it really is!

Home to quaint Georgian buildings and a lovely selection of my favourite high street shops, such as Urban Outfitters, Newlook and Topshop as well as smaller Boutiques, Restaurants, Caffe's and specialist independent and designer shops such as Cath Kidston, Rossiters and Jo Malone. Bath really does have something for everyone and as the city centre itself is fairly small, all the shops are close by and easily walkable, meaning you have extra time to shop!

The first shop we visited, was one of my favourite clothes stores...H&M, where I managed to pick up a lovely top, jumper, pair of jeans and a few accessories.  I also bought a playsuit I'd had my eye on in Topshop and a little bag in the sale.  Rather than show what I bought here, I thought I would do a shopping haul, as a seperate blog post.

We could have chosen a nicer day to go, what with the horrendous weather we have recently been experiencing in England.  Especially in Somerset, where weeks of wind and rain, have resulted in a multitude of problems, including severe flooding!  Luckily for us, although a little dismal, the weather did seem to hold off, for the majority  of the day, with only a few showers here and there.

When ever I visit a different city, I always like to try and find somewhere new to eat, that I don't have the luxury of having in my own town.  On this occasion, my mum and I decided to try Carluccios, a lovely modern restaurant, serving authentic Italian food, which changes depending on the season!

The restaurant was lovely and bright, and was nicely decorated with a real Italian vibe. The true sign of a good restaurant is one that is busy and this one certainly was, so I'd recommend booking a table in advance if you were to visit.  Just by chance as we arrived, a cosy little table tucked away in the corner had just become free, so we were fortunate enough not to have to wait.

There was a nice selection of different dishes on the menu, but unlike most Italian's, Pizza was not one of them!  My mum and I both opted for the seasonal special risotto.  Mum chose the seafood one, while I went for the chicken and spinach, I've got to say although they don't look like the most appetising dish they tasted delicious.

Within the restaurant was also a Deli and Food shop selling a variety of products sourced from specialist producers all over Italy, allowing you to take a little bit of Italy home with you.

I thought the meringues looked amazing!

After lunch we popped in to Cath Kidston which was just around the corner and it had to be one of the nicest Cath Kidston stores I've been in!

The upstairs was a beautiful shabby chic room, with white painted wooden floors and exposed brick walls, stocking everything from bedding, pyjamas, & makeup bags through to bathroom accessories and cosmetics all laid out perfectly.  Downstairs displayed handbags, purses, crockery, cutlery and a kids section.

I really had to restrain myself from buying the whole shop...but left feeling quite content with a beautiful wash bag and keyring, carefully wrapped in tissue paper and topped off with a signature bow!

As we strolled back down the street, we clocked eyes on the notorious Jo Malone shop and just couldn't pass up on the opportunity to pop in and sample some of their luxurious perfumes.  I'd never actually been in a Jo Malone shop before, but had heard so many good things about it.  The fragrances are quite unusual and definitely an acquired taste, but I really did enjoy having a browse. I'd definitely recommend popping in if you ever have the chance, however I don't think I could quite bring myself to splash out that much money, unless it was for a very special occasion.

Eventually we decided we should start to make our way back home, but had just enough time to pop into Waitrose and pick up a freshly baked Pecan Danish Swirl from their in store Patisserie.

 I am wearing: Jumper - H&M, Leggings - Zara, Scarf - Primark, Coat - Newlook, Boots - Newlook, Bag - Topshop.

I had such a good day, the nicest I've had in a long time and although I didn't have time to look in all of the shops, it just goes to show that you don't have to spend masses of money to have a great time!