Healthy Drinks – Friday Favourites

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love to stay healthy and fit... but sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge. One of the biggest health tips is to drink a lot of water; however, it can be so boring to drink the same thing every day! That is why we have formed a list of drinks that are good for your diet while leaving your taste buds craving more:

Our office fridge has recently welcomed a new natural ingredient: birch sap! It has been brought to us by Buddha Water, a refreshing drink that contains organic birch sap tapped from the forests of Finland.  This special ingredient is traditionally known for its detoxifying and cleansing properties.

So it’s time to forget about miraculous creams, pills, and expensive treatments. A can of Buddha Water give you everything you need to feel healthy and look great. The drink claims to work against cellulite, encourage weight loss, and lower cholesterol. It comes in a variety of flavours that are so subtle and delicious that we couldn’t really choose our favourite. It’s also perfect for office environments because birch sap promotes relaxation.

It’s time to embrace a healthier lifestyle! Try out one of the six flavours, you won’t regret it. Buddha Water is available in cases of 24 cans here for £32.99.

In April 2015, Mighty Bee, a brand known for certified organic products, launched a new line of coconut waters. Now we can easily absorb all of the health benefits that coconut naturally contains. Mighty Bee sources their green Nam Ham coconuts from Ratchaburi, Thailand, where they’re expertly picked at their peak ripeness to capture the natural aroma and sweetness.

The coconut waters are packed with complex B-vitamins, essential minerals, and amino acids that are retained by going from tree to bottle in 24 hours. The drinks are also never heat processed, and come either cold pressure processed (Raw) or completely untouched (Virgin) varieties.
 

Because the raw version is so fresh, it is sold fresh frozen and must be defrosted to enjoy. The Raw coconut water can be stored for up to 45 days thanks to the revolutionary processing method. To purchase, check out your local organic food store or shop here for Mighty Bee coconut water.

Next up we have Ojamin Herb & Fruit, a natural lifestyle and wellbeing tonic made from 15 different herbs and fruit that will help you feel and live better. The herbs are sourced specifically from pristine forests and are free from fertilisers, pesticides, and GMOs. Only the purest of spring water is used to make a drink that helps fight off diabetes, manage blood sugars, boost immunity, cleanse your body, and revitalise your skin.

To receive all of the benefits, all you have to do is mix one teaspoon of Ojamin with water, soup, juice or tea 2-4 times per day. Whilst being suitable for vegans, it is also gluten free, cholesterol free, sugar free, salt free, fat free, dairy free and aspartame free. Ojamin is the perfect way to start your morning with a boost.

After a week of trying Ojamin, we feel more energised and lifted. We cannot recommend it enough if you’re feeling fatigued throughout the day.

Take the next step towards a healthier lifestyle with Ojamin here for £34.99, and get ready to feel and live better.

TreeVitalise Organic Birch Water is 100% natural and that is exactly what we like to hear. All of the nutrients are naturally brewed within a tree and tapped into a bottle of TreeVitalise without any added sweetener.

Sourced from the Carpathian Mountains, known to be ecologically clean and natural, the organic birch water is made by tapping into birch trees that have absorbed the nutrients from the spring thaw. Only a small amount of the water is tapped, so the trees stay entirely unharmed! Birch water will help strengthen the immune system whilst purifying your body and assisting with weight loss. While the original flavour has the silky taste of the spring forest, TreeVitalise also produce versions that are infused with organic Lemon or Mint. We personally love the lemon flavour because of its zingy taste.

For a refreshing and healthy drink full of benefits, grab your TreeVitalise Birch water here for £2.75 a bottle.

Baru - Marshmallows

Here at The Amazing Blog, we're all for healthy eating, but every now and then we crave a bit of a sweet treat. So when the delicious Baru Marshmallows landed in our post box, we couldn't wait to sink our teeth into them. Four delicious boxes of fluffy Belgian snacks, they really satisfied our sweet tooth. 

We received some amazing flavours, including Fleur de Sel Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate with Red Berries. Lovingly crafted in Belgium, Baru has created tiny bits of heaven using the most delectable ingredients such as Vanilla Bean, Homemade Butter Caramel and Honey. Light and fluffy in texture, and covered in a delicate layer of mouth-watering chocolate, we didn't feel quite so guilty after binging on these bite-size morsels. We particularly loved the Fleur De Sel Caramel flavour, which was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. We struggled to stop at just one.

Indulge in a few of these fluffy treats, and grab a few boxes for yourself here. You can get a box of 4 for £3.14, or a more generous 20 piece box for £13.09.

HECK - Sausages

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love all things British. From a Sunday Roast to a cone of delicious Fish & Chips, we’re quite proud of our tasty English dishes, and so when we’re making them at home, we make sure to only use the best ingredients. You can imagine our delight when the lovely people at Heck sent over a selection of their mouth-watering sausages, absolutely perfect for some good old Bangers and Mash.

Made in small batches, Heck ensure that their sausages are packed with the best flavours possible, using only the best ingredients. A proudly independent brand, you can be sure that you're only getting the best out of these tasty treats.  We loved the 97% Sausages. Wonderfully succulent, and perfectly filling, they taste amazing served with mash and red wine gravy – the best comfort meal for an evening spent at home. As well as the traditional pork sausages, Heck also champion a range of delicious chicken chipolatas. Our favourites were the Smoky Paprika Chicken Chipolatas, which tasted so moreish when chopped up over a simple tomato pasta. All of the sausages are both gluten and dairy free, so everyone can tuck in. If you’re looking to step away from tradition, and try out something new, then why not check out the Heck recipe page. We’ve got our eye on that Pork & Apple Casserole.

With the quality of a Farmer’s Market purchase in the convenience of your local supermarket, we think we’ve found our new go-to bangers brand. Check out the delicious range here, and pick up your favourite flavour from £3.

Friday Favourites - Cookbooks

With a weekend of dinner parties ahead of us, what better way to spend an early evening than flicking through a plethora of new cookbooks for some heavenly inspiration. Here at The Amazing Blog, we want to share with you some of the most mouth watering  new cookbooks that have just launched.

Honey & Co  is a tiny restaurant hidden in the backstreets of Central London. It lures you in with their talent of baked goodies. Bringing food from the Middle East, husband and wife team Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich founded Honey & Co. which specialises in the most yummy selection cakes and desserts.

However, now you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home to get these delicious desserts, as Sarit and Itamar have launched Honey & Co cookbook. With recipes such a spiced carrot and walnut cake, raspberry and rose kadaif nests and apricot and elderflower jam just to name a few. Our favourite has to be cranberry, orange and almond caramel cookies. A simple and easy recipe and which had everyones taste buds going as soon as we opened the oven. Honey & Co: The Baking Book by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich is published by Saltyard Books in £25 hardback. Alternatively you can buy online here from The Book People. Also available as an eBook. 

As fruit goes with seasons so does cheese and reading through the pages of A Year in Cheese cookbook by Alex and Leo Guarneri we discovered so many things we didn’t know about this amazing source of calcium, we were left amazed! Alex and Leo take us on a journey through the seasons, explaining little gems like why you can’t have a proper goat’s curd in the Winter.

Their eye catching pictures will help you to spring from this damp February into a lustrous Summer with the freshness of their mozzarella and ricotta recipes.  And when it gets colder and all you want is to stay at home having dinner with your closest friends, the gruyere and reblochon menu suggestions will be the perfect choice. The recipes are so easy to follow that once you finished you just can't wait to start cooking again! If you want to explore the world of cheese then look no further. The book is available on White Stuff here for £20.

The finalist contestant Luis Troyano from The Great British Bake Off in 2014, decided to share his culinary knowledge publishing his very own book; Bake it Great. It is not a random collection of recipes but a proper baking course that guided us from the fundamentals. Starting from fillings like jam and custard, Luis teaches us how to cook the perfect bases for our little gastronomic accomplishments.

Here there is a recipe for every palate, we only had to open the book and whatever creation came up, we were only too happy to wear our aprons and start baking. We particularly liked the Butterscotch meringue tart and the traditional Empanadas. What we really liked was that at the very end of the book Luis listed few of the best shops where to find some of the harder to find ingredients. Buy your copy here a £13.60 for the hardcover and £10.79 for the Kindle edition.

Hosting a party and need a little inspiration for canapes? Look no further as the Clink Canape Cookbook has got it covered. Behind this cookbook is a heart-warming story, as it is created by Alberto Crisci founder of Clink Charity. This charity aims to reduce re-offending of prisoners through training and rehabilitation giving them new found culinary skills. These are then put into use at the Clink Restaurants in London, Wales, Cheshire and Surrey.

Alberto has compiled a collection of over 100 different canapé recipes from the friends, ambassadors and also from the prisoners at the Clink. With delicious recipes like mushroom and stilton tartlets, peach with cured ham bruschetta and smoked eel and beef terrine with horseradish; this cookbook is sure to get your taste buds tingling with delight. Grab the Clink Canapé Cookbook here for £14.99

Sally Clarke founded her legendary Notting Hill restaurant in 1984, pioneering seasonal fine dining and British cuisine. Now she celebrates it's thirty year anniversary by writing her own cookbook, 30 Ingredients. This book captures Sally’s love and passion for simple cooking.

The recipes are surrounded by Sally’s favourite thirty ingredients that she loves to cook with. There are so many delicious recipes with salad of duck breast with balsamic-roasted peaches and shallots to baked tomatoes with garlic and herb crumbs, you honestly wont know where to start! For more cooking inspiration, click here to get your copy at only £19.99.

Portlebay Popcorn

These cold January nights are prime time for snackaholics, here at the Amazing Blog we are no exception. We wanted to find the perfect sweet snack for our movie nights that won't leave us feeling too guilty. Portlebay Popcorn have revolutionised popcorn with their new delicious Cappuccino flavour, we couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Portlebay Popcorn are a Devon-based crew that focus on bringing us a totally natural sweet treat, by simply popping the finest corn in small batches. It is easy to see that they do not compromise on the quality of their handmade products. The corn is simply popped with a little rapeseed oil and a sprinkle of raw cane sugar for that characteristic crunch that we love so much. Coffee lovers will be glad to know that the Cappuccino seasoning is delicious, it leaves you feeling as if you’ve had a shot of your favourite expresso without the caffeine hit! What we loved is that this popcorn has a unique flavour, and for only 115 calories per bag. We found it great for a lunchtime treat or poured into a big bowl for a movie night.

No need for expensive cinema popcorn when you can get a healthier and tastier option at home. If you want to try the Cappuccino popcorn, or various other flavours from Portlebay, then get yours here for only £6.80 for a pack of eight.