Recipe: Healthy Cottage Pie Two Ways

Cottage pie is the ultimate comfort food, but the usual recipe using white potato can make it pretty heavy on calories. Instead, you can swap the buttery mashed potato for either carrot and sweet potato or celeriac and leek. Both combinations are really delicious, but the sweet potato option is my personal favourite as I LOVE sweet potato. 

The following ingredients will make four servings (we usually cook this for the two of us and freeze half the portion to use another time, it comes in handy on a night when you can’t be bothered to cook!)

For the cottage pie:

250g minced beef (extra lean)

2 red peppers, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

2 tbsps tomato purée

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper to season

300ml boiling water

2 oxo cubes

Celeriac and leek topping:

2 young leeks, trimmed and sliced           

500g celeriac, peeled and cubed

100g half-fat crème fraiche

Carrot and sweet potato topping:

300g carrots, peeled and chopped

300g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

100g half-fat crème fraiche

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200C (400F), heat some oil in a large pan (or use oil spray to keep the calories down), brown the minced beef and set it aside. Pop the onion, pepper, celery and carrots in the pan and allow them to soften for 10 minutes. 

Then add the meat and stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and chopped thyme leaves, as well as some salt and pepper to season, water and oxo cubes. Bring it to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For the celeriac and leek topping, boil celeriac until tender, drain and mash it with crème fraiche until smooth. Heat oil in a pan and sauté the leeks, then add them to the celeriac mash and season.

For the carrot and sweet potato topping, put the carrots, sweet potato and garlic in a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 12 minutes. Add the crème fraiche, mash until smooth and season.

Pour the beef into a shallow ovenproof dish and top with your mixture of choice. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Enjoy! x

Are you a bride-to-be? Top tips to help you find the wedding dress of your dreams!

Wedding dress shopping is such an exciting experience... you hope it’s going to involve plenty of fairytale gowns, champagne and happy tears, and you REALLY don’t want it to remotely resemble *that* scene in Bridesmaids.

I am still walking on air after finding my perfect dress. So here are my top 13 tips that will hopefully help any brides-to-be find the dress of their dreams!

1. Do your research

No really, DO YOUR RESEARCH! This is absolutely vital, hence the shouty capital letters. This is probably going to be the most expensive dress you’ll ever buy and you’re going to be wearing it on the most important day of your life. You really don’t want to look back on your wedding pictures in 10 years, shudder and ask yourself what the heck you were thinking.

I’ve found two techniques that work well for basic wedding dress research:

One, you can buy a huge pile of bridal magazines, grab some scissors and glue and put together a scrapbook. Or you could just fold down the pages of dresses that take your fancy. If you do this, it’s worth making a note on the page about what exactly it is that you like - is it the style, the silhouette, the material, the detail? Jot down anything and everything that you love.

Two, create a Pinterest account, if you don’t already have one. (*Warning* it is very likely you will quickly develop a Pinterest addiction!) There are tons of wedding dress images on Pinterest, so you’ll be spoilt for choice. Try searching for different designers, cuts and shapes, as well as your wedding theme and your wedding season. Pin everything that catches your eye.

2. Check out loads of designers

Think of it this way, if you were buying a £1,000+ handbag, you’d want to buy it from a designer you absolutely love, right? It’s the same with a wedding dress. There are SO many designers out there and they all bring something different to the table, it just depends on the look you’re going for and the type of dress that will complement your wedding theme. A few to get you started are: Mori Lee by Madeline Gardner (my favourite!), Sassi Holford, Justin Alexander, Essence, Jenny Packham.

3. Write a hit-list of shops to visit

These shops could be nearby, or you could even tie your shopping trip in with a fun girly weekend away. Just bear in mind that you will probably have at least two fittings before the big day, so be careful not to complicate things TOO much by having to travel really far away each time. If you have your heart set on a particular designer, try to pick shops that stock that designer, then you can prioritise trying on those dresses. 

It’s also worthwhile doing a quick google search of the shop names, as wedding forums with reviews will often pop up in the results – this is a good way of sussing out whether a shop is worth visiting or not... just keep an eye on the date of the comments, if they were written five years ago then things might’ve changed (for better or worse – excuse the pun!) Give the shop a call and book an appointment, bearing in mind bridal shops tend to be quieter on weekday mornings and busier on Saturday afternoons.

4. Choose a trusted few to go with you

When I was researching wedding dress shopping tips, I read that you should never invite more than three people to go with you. It’s also worth bearing in mind that you want the dress to be a surprise on the big day, so you don’t want lots of people to have already seen you in it! Pick people whose opinions you trust, this could be your mum, best friend, godparent, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, or another family member or close friend. I really wanted to invite everybody close to me to come along when I was dress shopping, but I ended up just asking my mum, my best friend and her mum who’s also my godmother. We made a weekend of it and it was great fun!

Los and me

5. Have a pamper session the evening before

When you are trying on wedding dresses, you want to look and feel your absolute best. Indulging in a little pamper session the night before is a great idea, as you’ll be walking on air afterwards and you’ll look great too. (Don’t be tempted by the fake tan though, you don’t want to leave any orange smudges on the dresses!) I’d recommend starting off with a nice hot bubble bath, shave and exfoliate, then pop a face mask on. Use loads of your best moisturiser, pluck your eyebrows, paint your nails and dry your hair in your favourite way. You’ll feel absolutely amazing afterwards!

6. Eat breakfast!

It can be tempting to avoid breakfast, but trust me, it’s definitely better to eat something. Firstly, trying on wedding dresses is knackering! They’re big and heavy and not the easiest things to get on and off. You can get really hot and bothered and the last thing you want is to feel dizzy and tired. Start the day with a nice breakfast that won’t make you feel bloated – think eggs, avocado, yoghurt and fruit. Try to avoid white bread, bacon, sausages and sugary cereals.

Coconut porridge with fresh strawberries and chia seeds is one of my all-time favourite breakfasts

7. Remember to pack…

Shoes that have approximately the same heel height as the shoes you’ll wear on the day. Most shops will have a box for you to stand on in front of the mirror, but you need to make sure the dress flows in the same way while you’re the height you will be on your wedding day. Underwear is really important too. A white or nude strapless bra is a good idea, as is knickers that you’ll be comfortable wearing while stripping off in front of a stranger!

8. Don’t be shy

On that note, it can be a little weird getting your kit off in front of a stranger. But just remember, they’ve seen it all before! If it makes you feel better, wear big knickers and a strapless bra so that you won’t have to take it off if you’re trying on a strapless dress.

9. Keep an open mind

Dresses look so different when they're on the hanger. Keep an open mind and try on lots of different styles. I was convinced I would go for a certain style of dress, but I have actually ended up with a completely different style that I had never even considered. I wouldn’t have discovered that style without trying on lots of dresses with different silhouettes. Remember, you can also completely transform the look of a dress by adding a waist belt, jewellery and, of course, a veil. Many bridal shops can also change dresses by adding straps and altering the neckline. It’s definitely worth talking to them to see what they can do.

A waist belt can completely transform a dress

10. Just because you don’t cry doesn’t mean it’s not ‘the one’

This was something that really surprised me, as I was absolutely convinced I’d cry! Instead, if you are smiling so much that your face aches and you can genuinely picture yourself wearing that dress while walking down the aisle, saying your vows, eating the wedding breakfast, cutting the cake and having your first dance… then you’re onto a winner.

11. Don’t be pressured by pushy salespeople

During my first round of wedding dress shopping (read all about that here) I experienced the full force of a pushy sales assistant. She said if I didn’t order it soon then they’d be working to a very tight schedule to get the dress into the shop and finish the alterations (bearing in mind my wedding was almost one year away at this point). I mentioned this to Margaret at The Brides Room of Birkdale (the shop where I found my dress) and she said that in her 16 years in the industry she has never known a dress take longer than five months to come in. So, the moral of the story is to take no notice of pushy salespeople!

12. Take your time and think about it

I think this is so important. No matter how convinced you are that you’ve found ‘the one’, there’s no harm in going away and thinking about it, even if it’s just for 24 hours. Bridal shops have to order the dresses in anyway, so it’s not as if you’re at risk of somebody else swooping in and buying the last one in your size. Go home, have a glass of wine and look at your colour scheme and your wedding theme ideas. Try to picture the entire day and how you'd look and feel in that dress.

13. If you’re 100% sure, it’s time to crack open the champagne!

Ordering your wedding dress is one of the most exciting things EVER! It’s such an important part of the day and something you absolutely want to get right. Once this is done, it’s a huge box that can be ticked off and definitely time to celebrate! My mum and I did this by eating cake and drinking champagne… I can’t think of any better way to celebrate! 

I’ve blogged about my own wedding dress shopping experiences, which you can read by clicking on the links below:

Wedding Dress Shopping Round One: Prosecco, Princess Dress and Pushy Salespeople!

Wedding Dress Shopping Round Two: Finding THE dress!

Wedding Dress Shopping Round Two: Finding THE dress!

It’s nearly a week later, but I still can’t quite believe it… I’ve ordered my wedding dress!

It's such a huge relief because I was genuinely starting to worry that I was never going to find one, but HURRAH! I have and it is GORGEOUS!

Mum and I celebrated with cake and champagne! PERFECT combo

Last week, I had six appointments booked at various shops in Liverpool and Southport (my hometown), but I only ended up going to two and cancelled the rest.

My first appointment was at The Brides Room of Birkdale. I grew up in Birkdale and I have loads of memories of walking past the shop after school with my friend Hannah and talking about what sort of wedding dress we’d have when we grow up (yikes – does that mean I’m grown up now??)

I didn’t get my hopes up at all before the appointment, however, due to my first wedding dress shopping experience in Chester, which was slightly disappointing (read all about that here).

Thankfully, it couldn’t have been more different at The Brides Room of Birkdale. Margaret, the owner, was super friendly and incredibly professional. She let me and my mum have a look around the beautiful dresses, then she picked out five for me to try on.

We could tell instantly that she had been doing that job for years because she picked out the perfect dresses for my body shape (it’s not easy when you’re both petite and curvy!) 

Every single dress I tried on was absolutely gorgeous. It also helped that she pulled each dress in and fitted them really well – unlike the first shop I went to, where the assistant didn’t pin any of them properly and Loren and Cas had to pull the each dress in so I could get a better idea.

The dress, which is now known as ‘the one’ (aaaah!), was the last one I tried on and I knew straight away that it was special. I kept it on for a while and we experimented with lots of different looks, using accessories and veils, while mum took loads of pictures (… and got a bit teary again – bless her!)

Although at the time I was 99.9% sure I’d found ‘the one,’ I still had my sensible hat on and wanted to go away and think about it. Margaret didn’t put any pressure on me at all, she told me to take my time and reassured me that there was plenty of time to order it and arrange the alterations (again – a completely different experience to the Chester shop).

Mum and I went away, had a glass of wine and a good, long chat while looking at the (MANY) pictures. I still had another appointment the following evening at The Wedding Rooms in Formby, then four more over the next two days in Liverpool. We decided that we’d still go to the appointment the next evening, but if we didn’t find any others that came close to ‘the’ dress, then we’d cancel the other appointments.

So, the next evening, we went to The Wedding Rooms. It’s a really lovely shop and is perfect for trying on dresses, as they have a nice big changing room and two sofas for your friends and family to sit on. They also have loads of pretty accessories and veils to try on, so you get a really good idea of which accessories work well with the dresses.

The Wedding Rooms in Formby is another lovely shop

I tried on five dresses there, but the whole time I just couldn’t stop thinking about 'the one'... I thought nothing compared to it and mum agreed.

So, we cancelled the other appointments and made another one in Birkdale so I could go and try on ‘the one’ again.

As soon as I put it on, I just knew it was definitely my wedding dress. I was 99.9% sure a couple of days before, but then, I was absolutely 100% sure. I didn’t cry though, which was a little strange for me, as I totally thought I would! I was just so excited, I couldn’t stop smiling and I didn’t want to take it off.

When I could finally be convinced to take the dress off *sob* we ordered it! Then we went into Southport and celebrated with a lovely lunch, a bottle of champagne and cake! (I have to make the most of it before operation ‘shredding for the wedding’ officially begins!)

Now, almost a week later, I still can't stop thinking about the dress, or looking at pictures of it. I’m counting down the days until it arrives at the shop and I can have my first fitting! :)