LOW FAT, CHOCOLATE-CHIP PANCAKES, with Greek yoghurt?!

omgggg these are insane!  In my insomniac state last night browsing Pinterest, I came across a recipe for Greek yoghurt pancakes and it was safe to say that I was very intrigued!

I have never eaten Greek yoghurt before… (pause for the crickets)… I know I know, I am a terrible person! I am so unadventurous with food, especially dairy products, I think it stems from this one time when my Nan accidentally gave me gone-off milk on my cereal when I was a kid! Since then I've stuck to the sell-by dates religiously and I stick to flavours that I trust! I.e cheddar cheese, flavoured yoghurts, and NEVER milk on its own *shudder*.

But I love pancakes, I do, and I love the experience of eating something indulgent that is actually low-fat!  I guess you can use whatever Greek yoghurt you want to, I used Total 0% as I wanted to add some cheeky chocolate chips, and it was the last pot on the shelf so I had to have it!

Here is the recipe I used, I adapted it to UK measurements and according to suggestions in the comments:

75g flour

tsp baking powder

170ml Total 0% Greek yoghurt (1 pot)

1 egg

handful of dark chocolate chips

1 tsp on vanilla sugar

milk if needed (I used skimmed)

Maple syrup (if you are anything like me ha!)

1. Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the egg and yoghurt in another.  Then add them together and mix till thoroughly combined.  If it is really thick (which it will be) add some milk to make it a bit more manageable.
2. With your frying pan on a low heat and add some cooking spray or a bit of oil or butter (just something to lubricate the pan- lubricate, lol)
3. Put in two tablespoons of mixture and spread it out so it is of an even thickness, then wait until the bottom is goldeny brown pancake colour before flipping over!
4. As the mixture is quite thick it is important to cook over a low heat so that it doesn't burn and cooks all the way through.

This mixture made three medium pancakes… I already ate one before I took the pictures as I am v. impatient and IT WAS DELICIOUS! The texture is fluffy yet light, moist and just divine!  I will without a doubt be making them again!  I bet they would be delicious with some fruit too, I would have eaten them with bananas but the ones I've just brought are still bright green..

I also brought some maple syrup as they are obligatory with pancakes imo and yum yum yum I was in heaven...

I have definitely been inspired to use Greek yoghurt in other recipes… I don't think I am quite brave enough yet to try it on its own but we shall see aha! 

ITS HERE: French pharmacy: products and reviews video!

Hiiiiya,

This is my incredibly long and quiet video:

Apparently I really love smells.... who knew?!

soz

I am really shit at blogging, and we are only three posts in *facepalm*

...but this will all be rectified TODAY! I just need to get out of my pjs then voilà I will begin filming my french pharmacy video

so that is coming at you today!!

ESSAY HELL

Currently in essay hell.  I have 2000 words to write, in French  for tomorrow.  Then another 2000 for Monday followed by a translation exam.  Why oh why oh WHY do I do this to myself every time!!

I cheekily snuck off to a 'pharmacie' this morning and purchased some other goodies for a post I am planning, very naughty but... what can you do!

So expect shortly:

• A post about make-up; how I used to wear make-up in England and how/why my attitude has changed living in gay Paris, comparison, thoughts etc...
• Pharmacy finds and wishlist! 
• Something about my quest for the perfect hair- à la française
• further along in the pipeline maybe a 'best of british' list of things I always make sure accompany me back to Paris! 

Voilà! Back to my numerous cups of tea, chocolate covered marshmallows and this 'concentration' music that I am rather unfairly pinning all my hopes of success on... wish me luck!! 

COMING SOON: French vs UK style series!

Ok, that title is neither catchy nor witty enough for my liking... but it captures the essence of what I am hoping the series will be all about!

I moved to Paris in August 2011, and that was the first time I had been in Paris for a good few years.  I had forgotten that the effortless 'Parisian chic' look was actually quite so prevalent as it is, not a ridiculous stereotype. 

The first time we decided to go 'out' was an experience.  I remember very clearly how all the usual preparations took place: the big glasses of wine, a flurry of hair appliances and fake eyelashes, and dresses.  We got to the bar.  To say that we stood out like a sore thumb is a gross understatement, take that thumb, stamp on it and shut it in the car door a few times maybe that is a bit more accurate.  There were no short dresses; no bare, fake-tanned limbs;  no towering heals or glittering jewellery... we were utterly lost.  And we thought we were going to be the epitome of chic, elegant, Parisian class... oh how wrong we were. 

So this series is going to document my experiences in trying to understand and emulate the Parisian look, general observations, and comparisons with UK culture/ style etc! The first piece will either be a French pharmacy skin care review, or something about hair!!  

You can also expect some poorly edited videos too, so subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep abreast of future uploads :) 

Laziest Chocolate Cake EVER

Yes indeed, you heard it right, the laziest chocolate cake is coming at you through the medium of a blog post.  And it would have been perfectly timed to coincide with OD-on-chocolate-alone Day/ Valentine's Day/ 14th February  but I was too busy eating 'cake' to worry about things like timing or the fact that 'he hasn't text me back' (he hasn't, but whatever...)

So 'Cake in a Mug', we've all heard of it, and if you haven't then I had better prepare myself for the torrent of pure gratitude heading my way upon you reading this! Its great.  That is all there is to it!

I like to think of myself as a mug cake connoisseur, I've made all the classic errors:

• Mug too small
• Olive oil
• too long in the microwave
• not enough sugar

... the list goes on.

I am at the point where I make a bloody good mug cake- which is worrying.  I may never make a conventional cake again! 

All it takes is: 

1. A large mug or a bowl (microwavable, duh)
2. 3 tablespoons of self-raising flour
3. 2 tablespoons of sugar
4. 2 tbsp of coco powder
5. 2-3 tbsp MELTED BUTTER (seriously, much better) or oil (not with a strong flavour!) 
6. tbsp of milk
7. 1 egg- OPTIONAL
8. tsp honey OPTIONAL

(before- no egg)

Why is the egg optional? Because without it you can eat the mixture straight out of the bowl and not have to worry about food poisoning, wehey! Personally I like the texture it makes without it too, even if you just warm the mixture up it thickens slightly and is delicious.  Leave it a minute of two and it is fairly cakey in texture.

(after- no egg, but TOO MUCH SUGAR ARGH!) 

THE KEY element to this however, is ignoring the list of ingredients as a) improvisation is always fun, b) this tastes better if you don't remind yourself that you are eating 3 tbsp of butter and 3 tbsp of sugar etc ... 

I hope this fills a hole that spending Valentine's Day alone did not.  Not that one though- cheeky. 

Dreaming of Weddings, and Nazis...

I am probably going mental.

In fact, I am almost certain of it.

In my infinite boredom, I often say to myself that I really ought to learn to sew! After all my mother and grandmother manage it, and it would be rather unfair of me to pile all of my sewing demands onto them (intricate, fussy and impatient demands at the very least)!

Alas,  I have neither the room nor the money for even the smallest addition to my apartment, even another plate would have a hard time squeezing in!  So a sewing machine and all the bits-and-bobs that go with it would outstay their welcome before you could say "How does this turn on again?"…

Where does this fit in with going mental? Ahhh yes… Last night, my subconscious invited me to another one-off performance of those surrealist masterpieces known as dreams.  But I was treated to three slightly entangled ones instead- bonus you might say…

In one segment, I was to be getting married!  And oh how happy I was too!!  Why I was dreaming this I do not know, even more mysterious is that I was getting married to  a complete Tory- something I hope never to replicate in my waking life!  

Anywho, the dress, yes, THE DRESS! So vivid is its image in my mind's eye that it has found a way to invade my dreams! In said dream, my mum was hard at work, getting ready to whip up this master piece by hand (which is where the sewing comes in).  However, for whatever reason, I was too late, in a reversal of fortunes I turned up half-way through only to catch the bastard in the middle of marrying someone else!  ( I wonder what weird psychological explanation there is for that cruel twist of dream fate!)

(This was my original inspiration for 'The Dress')

But nevertheless I have been floating around in a wedding-inspired haze all day! Maybe this has something to do with yesterday being Valentine's Day? Maybe not considering I barely left the house for fear of sickening Paris couples everywhere- yuck. Whatever the inspiration behind this dream was (that also included a Tsunami, and running away from Nazis) I am thankful for its existence as it has in turn inspired me to create this Pinterest board based on my Dream Dress- so that in the future, my sources of reference will be easily accessible, and I can aim to avoid the whole, 'being-late-and-missing-your-wedding' scenario of my dream.  I can either sew the dress myself (unlikely) or be all naggy and nit-picky while my mum slaves over it.  Or we could all face the fact that me getting married is highly unlikely and just forget about the whole thing! Although that makes all this typing seem even more pointless, hmmm…