How to Style your Dining Table for Spring

Hi all and welcome back to The Tea Cozy Kitchen. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. March is upon us and that means spring is right around the corner, hopefully! The sun has even made an appearance where I live, it's still freezing but at least it's showing it's face reminding us that it will be back soon. In light of this, I was inspired by Arhaus to share my spring tablescape ideas. So, today I will be showing you a couple of ways to style your dining table for spring. The dining table is the heart of the home in my opinion, well, it is in my house anyway. Decisions are made there, serious discussions had, laughs aplenty and of course delicious grub consumed, so it makes sense that we would want to dress this area a little for spring, bringing the colour into the home before it officially makes its debut outside. And with Easter on it's way there will surely be lots of family feasts and lunches to let your new tablescaping skills run wild.

Cue a lot of yellow daffodils (i'm obsessed with daffodils at the moment)...

I set my table up for a spring afternoon tea as this would be a great idea for Mother's Day or even Easter Sunday. Can you tell that I really love dressing my table and hosting foodie gatherings?

I love old teapots filled with fresh flowers, set on cake stands. You can have just one like in the picture or three on different heights of cake stands as an amazing centrepiece! I love this vintage china teapot that I found in a Charity shop. It even featured on tables at my wedding.

I really feel that tin cans are totally underrated. There are so many ways you can recycle them and they are completely FREE! I love them styled with ribbons and flowers and placed on stacks of vintage books!

Pretty glass jars can be recycled as well into cute little vases!

Spring is the perfect time to get out all your floral china to lend a little pop of colour to your table. Teacups and milk jugs can also act as mini vases when filled with fresh blooms.

Brightly coloured tablecloths are also a good way of brightening up a dark wood table for spring. Here I used a vintage floral tablecloth with a natural table runner from IKEA over the top. You only get a little of the floral pattern on either side of the table runner so it's not too much or too clashy!

I also like the idea of recycling old milk bottles with flowers and ribbons to dress the table. I'm all about recycling!

Another way of updating your dining area if you've got a wee bit of money to do so (unlike me!) you could invest in a new dining table or a new tableware set.  Arhaus have an amazing selection of dining tables and some beautiful tableware collections. I think when it comes to dining tables something big (if you have space for it) and light in colour is nice for spring, so you can entertain your whole family at once and have a lovely light coloured table with pops of bright florals. Here are some of my favourite dining tables...

Zinc Alloy Rectangle Table with Weldon Base

Pietro Dining Table in Bleached Oak

I would absolutely love this one, would be absolutely perfect with my house!

Copper Verdigris Rectangle Table with Weldon Base

Here are some of my favourite tableware sets...

Avignon White Dinnerware

Avignon Octagon Aqua Dinnerware

Oh be still my beating heart, these two colours would work perfectly together on my dream table above for a wonderful spring table scene.

If you would like any more inspiration, check out my Pinterest page, The Tea Cozy Kitchen, I have a whole board dedicated to my spring tablescape inspiration. I hope you enjoyed this post, it was something a little different for me. I would love to know any of your tips for decorating your spring tables, please do share them in the comments below. Thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

January Favourites

Hi all and welcome back to the Tea Cozy Kitchen, we are almost at the weekend! Yay! My plan for the weekend is to drink all the coffee and eat all the cake (as always!). I have plans to bake two rather exciting cakes so stay tuned to my Instagram if you want to see how these turn out, I'm @rachheron1 if you want to follow me! Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend? Today, I'm sharing my January favourites, a little late I know but January was such a long and dreary month that it took me a while to think of what I was actually loving. I've got a couple of foodie favourites mixed with some other less foodie favourites. Let's get going...

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

As you may or may not know, in January I started an evening class at my old university. The course is called 'The Hidden Lives of the Bronte Sisters'. So naturally I have been re-reading a couple of their novels. Wuthering Heights has always been one of my favourite books since I was 16 but re-reading it now (for the 3rd time!) and actually studying it has been a real eye-opener. I'm a real lover of classic literature anyway but this novel is so different to anything else I have ever read. I really recommend giving this a read if you haven't. It's one of those 'must read before you die' books (sorry, things got a bit morbid there!).

• Smoothies

I have been really loving making smoothies for breakfast or snacks lately. You've probably seen this in my 'What I Eat in a Day' posts on the blog. I have loved experimenting with different fruit and veg combinations. Here are some of my favourites...

Banana and Mango,

Apple, Banana and Spinach,

Strawberry, Banana and Carrot,

Berries, Banana and Apple.

What are your favourite smoothie combos? I would love to know.

• Baking

In January I started baking a lot more. I used to bake a lot a year or two ago but sort of lost my way a bit with it. But, I'm so happy to back at it. I really love to eat cake so this is a perfect past-time for me. So far I have made a cherry bakewell cake, a coffee cake, a marbled loaf cake, banana bread, mars bar rice krispie buns and a carrot cake. They have been some pretty yummy adventures in the kitchen, let me tell you!

• Flowers of any description, mainly tulips.

I have really been craving colour lately, everything in Northern Ireland just seems a bit grey in January. I have loved having fresh, brightly coloured flowers about the house.  It's amazing how having bright flowers brightens your mood slightly! Tulips have been my favourites but I also love roses, carnations and of course, Daffodils (but I can't seem to find any at the moment, a bit early me thinks!).

• Exercise videos on YouTube.

Exercise and me are just not friends, I've never been the kind of person who loved to work-out. I was never good at sports in school, I was always very clumsy and not co-ordinated, so sports were usually embarrassing and possibly dangerous for me to take part in. Over the years I have tried different things but nothing has stuck. I love going for walks in the beautiful countryside but we don't really get the weather for that all year round. But, in January I found 'The Fitness Marshall' on YouTube and have since been loving doing his dance workouts, I have actually stuck with it for about 5 weeks (a record for me!). And from there, a whole new world of different work-out possibilities opened up on YouTube. I love how I can fit in a work-out as long or as short as I like and the best thing is, no-one has to see me trip up or miss all the moves entirely. If you hate exercise but feel like you need a bit of activity this might be something to try, it's free and fun. If you have any exercise videos that you love, please do let me know?

So there you go, a few things that I have been loving in January. I would love to know what you have been loving in January too. January felt like the longest month EVER, so I'm very happy to be into February and hopefully spring is just around the corner with it's longer and warmer days. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Rachael xx.

Meal Plan Monday

Hello my lovelies! How is everyone? Did you all have a good weekend? My weekend was pretty busy, lots of chores to do about the house and lots of cooking, of course! We had friends over for a little mini dinner party, which was lovely. I made a big pot of veggie chilli and for dessert we had chocolate malt cookie ice-cream sandwiches, just thinking about it is making my mouth water again ( I have loads of cookies left in the cupboard calling out to me).

Apparently, it's 'blue monday' today, the most depressing day of year. I have to tell you I don't feel it, I got up early, did a workout, the sun is shining (it's still freezing though!) and I am feeling motivated to power through my to do list! Hope you aren't feeling too blue! So, today, to brighten everyone's mood let's talk about food, Yay! I'm sharing with you today my meal plan for the week ahead. This week we are going back to some old favourites for some comforting winter food. On with the food...

Tues: Vegetable and Cheese Soup with Wheaten Bread, my recipe.

Wed: Spaghetti Bolognese, my recipe.

Thurs: Pasta and Spinach Tortilla with Green Veg, Good Food book.

Fri: Speedy Meatball Stew, Good Food book.

Sat: Aubergine Dahl, Save With Jamie.

Sun: Chicken with Roots and Veg, Good Food book.

Mon: Veggie Thai Green Stir-Fry, my recipe.

As you can see, this weeks recipes are a mix of my own and some favourites from both Save with Jamie and Good Food's 500 Triple tested recipe collection. If you're lucky this week I might share one or two of my favourite recipes from this week. I just want to take a moment to talk about that Good Food recipe book because it's amazing. You all know my love for Save with Jamie but this recipe book is such a dense collection of recipes, there really is a recipe for every occasion and every meal. I have tried a huge quantity of recipes from this book and every recipe is delicious, simple and fail-safe, you really can't go wrong with this book. There's cheap, healthy, family, comfort food and dessert recipes in there and they are all so tasty. I highly suggest that if you ever see this book in a book shop you nab it before anyone else does, it's simply fantastic.

That's it for today, what will you be eating this week? I would love to know, so please comment down below! I'm really looking forward to making some of these dishes especially the spaghetti Bolognese because it's been one of my favourites my whole life (i'm a bit of a pasta addict!). I will leave you today with some pictures from a walk by the seaside on Sunday in the beautiful Crawfordsburn, Northern Ireland. Thank you so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

Hello 2017!

Hello my lovelies, I hope you are all doing well! I'm back with some thoughts for 2017, you've probably seen a lot of these kind of posts floating about the blogosphere. As I have already said I love the new year, I love a chance to evaluate my life and discover what's working, what isn't and any improvements I can make. Usually, I make a whole list of resolutions that I never keep and end up feeling pretty deflated that I haven't achieved enough during the year! Leading to the feeling that I am not enough, my life is not enough! However, this year i'm doing things slightly differently and setting myself five (yes only five!) ideas that I want to keep at the forefront of my mind this year! I'm not doing any fad diets, planning to lose any weight or exercise a certain number of times a week. These sorts of goals for me are unhealthy and doomed to fail. So what am I going to do this year, I hear you ask, well read on...

Spend more time outside

I live in the most beautiful country (it's true, you really should visit sometime!). Northern Ireland has many gorgeous beaches, forests, fields, mountains, parks and walks all within a short drive away (one perk of living in a small country!). I really am so lucky to live here. One of the things I would like to do this year is to spend more time outdoors appreciating this beautiful scenery. Whether that be a short and brisk cold evening walk in the winter or a long dander round the coast in the summer, i'm totally up for anything. I love my country and want to see everything it has to offer.

Read 12 books this year

Reading for me sort of fell by the wayside in 2016, but i'm hoping to re-ignite my passion for literature in 2017. I think that 12 books a year is a pretty good target, I've nearly finished my first one, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (amazing, in case you were wondering!). I'm a pretty fast reader, an English Degree can do that to a person. Once I get into a book there is no stopping me! So, if you have any recommendations please feel free to comment down below!

My health is my wealth

This idea is something I was thinking a lot about in 2016 as I was not taking care of myself like I should have been. In 2017 I just want to focus on my health, not in the diet 'I need to eat more healthily' sense, i'm very happy with my diet but in the case of my mind. I want to learn to think more positively, embrace life and enjoy it fully. Another thing I want to get cracked is a sleep routine. I could literally sleep all the time, anywhere, so I just want to get a nice clean sleep. What does this mean I here you ask? Well, going to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time, and spending some time before bed clearing my head of thoughts and worries from the day.

Love more

Quite a simple one really I just want to love more! Love life more and all the people and animals that live in it! Whether that be my lovely hubby, my family, my friends, my pets or even strangers. This is such an easy one to say but probably the most difficult one to live out, people can be a little mean and rude (working in retail taught me that) but everyone needs a little bit of love.

Simplicity

I think many people are thinking about this for the new year! In 2017 I want to get away from endless consumption and the constant feeling of not having enough stuff! I want to reduce the amount of clothes that I have and work to free myself of all the clutter I have amassed over the years. Simplicity also refers to the approach I want to have to life, enjoy the simple things and simple joys in life. Simple, hopefully!

So, there you go, some things that I am thinking about going into the new year! It's maybe a bit late but I didn't want to jump into committing myself to anything, these are well considered goals for the year! What are your goals for the year, i would love to know? Sorry that this post got a little personal I will be back with the foodieness soon, until then, thank you for reading,

Rachael xx.

What I Eat in a Day 7

Hello again and welcome back to the Tea Cozy Kitchen! I hope you are well and are all organised for Christmas and not stressing too much, tis the season to be jolly after all! I got all my presents wrapped this morning, so I feel like i'm winning at life at the moment. Today I've got my what I eat in a day post for you, I love these posts! I like to look back on them and get ideas for what to eat! Yesterday, when I woke up I was feeling a little under the weather, I had a sore throat and head and feeling generally grumpy! The weather outside was so dark and rainy outside too which definitely didn't help perk me up! I also had a slightly reduced appetite yesterday so I ate a little less than usual (don't worry i'm making up for it today!).

BREAKFAST

 Fruit salad of 3 clementines and an apple

As I said I wasn't feeling great when I woke up so I just had quite a light breakfast and tried to get some valuable vitamins in to help me feel a little better! This was lovely for breakfast, nice and light and fresh, perfect for when you're feeling a bit yucky.

LUNCH

 Bowl of Parsnip and Stilton soup and a slice of wheaten bread

This soup is amazing and the perfect comfort food for when you are feeling a little ill. This is my chicken soup remedy. I made a big batch of this soup yesterday for the freezer so was able to have a big bowl for my lunch. If you fancy making this soup too, you can find the recipe here. It's perfect when served with some wheaten bread or I thought a cranberry and cheese toastie would also work well. I definitely felt a lot better after getting this in me. There's nothing like a thick, creamy, warming soup when your feeling poorly and freezing!

AFTERNOON SNACK

 A Large coffee and two home-made double chocolate cookies

By the afternoon I needed a pick me up. It was so dark outside my body clock wanted me to sleep. And what better way to enjoy coffee than with some yummy cookies. These worked a treat and perked me right up! I was also really cold so the coffee helped keep me warm and toasty! This cookie recipe is a new one I hadn't tried before from James Morton's 'How Baking Works' recipe book. You might remember him from the Great British Bake Off. The cookies were absolutely perfect, I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe. They were perfectly crunchy and chewy, just the way I like em. If your keen on baking or know someone who is, this book is fantastic, I would really recommend it!

DINNER

Salmon and Spinach Frittata with steamed Green Veg

Dinner was this delicious frittata from the Tesco food magazine! We both decided that it tasted very festive with the cream cheese and the smoked salmon. This was such a tasty dish and was so easy to make. And of course I had to up the veg factor with a mountain of steamed peas and broccoli. This really was just the perfect mid-week meal. I can't recommend the Tesco magazine enough for recipes, it's just fab!

That's everything I ate on a day where I felt pretty poorly! I still managed to eat good meals, you can tell I really love my food! After dinner we just settled down to watch lost and drink peppermint tea, a lovely relaxed evening. Also, we are nearly on season 3 of lost and can I just say I love Sawyer, that is all! Thanks so much for reading, I will be back soon with another foodie post,

Rachael xx.

November Foodie Favourites

Hi all!! So, it's that time of the month again where I give you a run down of all the foodie and not so foodie things which I have been loving! November was a very cold and dreary month here in Northern Ireland. Christmas festivities were in reaching distance but we still had a lot to get through! I spent a lot of time curled up indoors in front of the fire watching TV, reading books and drinking tea (I really could hibernate in the winter). So here's what I have been loving this month...

Peppermint Tea

There's nothing like a steaming cup of peppermint tea in the evening to relax both the mind and the stomach! I find that having a cup of tea before bed helps me sleep and also settles my meal before hitting the hay! This one from Tesco is great in taste and value (so cheap)! I used to only go for the fancy branded tea but this one is just as good as the brands that cost 3 times as much!

TV favourite- The Missing

The BBC really hit the nail on the head with this drama! Set over the span of about 10 years in a couple of different European countries, this drama keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end! I absolutely loved it and I couldn't work out the plot, which is fab news for me as I always end up guessing what happens! I don't want to go into too much detail about what happens (spoilers!) but it basically surrounds a family in the army in Germany when their daughter goes missing. It's a lot more complicated than that obviously with lots of twists and turns that had me hooked! I think it's still on BBC IPlayer so you should definitely check it out. (also GILMORE GIRLS!!!! Don't get me started that's a whole other blog post!)

Book Favourite- The Muse by Jessie Burton

Let me just start of by saying that I love Jessie Burton, her writing style is amazing, you really feel like you are immersed in the novel with the characters! If you haven't read her first novel, The Miniaturist, you should (go read it now!). Her second novel doesn't disappoint either, set in two different decades in two different countries, this novel is pure escapism! The novel explores many different themes and gives you a bit of everything. Also, how gorgeous is that cover?

Tesco Chocolate

Let it be known that I am a complete chocoholic, anything chocolatey and I am there in a heartbeat! So imagine my delight when Tesco brought out a new range of chocolates, I just had to try it. It's so reasonably priced compared to my favourites (Green and Blacks, Lindt etc) that I was a little sceptical about the taste BUT it's delicious. The great thing about this chocolate is it's yummy when eaten on it's own but also great for baking. They have many different flavours, my favourite (it didn't hang around long enough for a picture) is the salted caramel flavour and the hazelnut flavour, so yummy! They are only £1 for a bar, which is amazing value for good quality chocolate! I love nothing more than sitting down in the evening with the hubby, a big mug of tea (or red wine!), a bar of chocolate and watching a good film/ TV show binge!

Candle from Sainsbury's

I spotted this candle in Sainsbury's one evening, it was reduced, it was festive and I need candles like I need a hole in the head, so of course I bought it! I'm so glad I had that moment of weakness, it smells deliciously festive! The scent is lovely and lingers all over the house when the candle is lit! I can't remember what the scent is, all I can describe it as is the most Christmassy smell EVER. And it was only £7.50 for a beautifully gilded gold, 3 wick candle, WIN!

Film Favourite- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Raise your hand if you're a Harry Potter nerd?? Just me then (my hand is waving like mad!). When this movie came out I was so excited, it brought back all that Harry Potter excitement. The movie did not disappoint, it was magical and I cheered at every Harry Potter reference in the film (sad, I know). I won't say very much about it, I've been told I give away spoilers too easily, just go and see it if you love Harry Potter or want a magical movie to while away an afternoon.

Wheaten Bread

Last but by no means least, I have been loving making my own wheaten bread! Wheaten bread is a Northern Irish delicacy that I can't believe it has taken me 26 years to master and cherish. It's so delicious and I love that I can rustle it up so quickly! It's perfect with soup or eggs or avocado or anything really, it's just so versatile! You can find my favourite recipe here. I also love that it's quite healthy, the recipe contains oats and wholemeal flour so is full of fibre and I know exactly what goes in to it! You should give it a try sometime.

There you go, that is just some of the things which I have been loving in November, I hope I have given you some food for thought and maybe gave you some ideas. What have you been loving this month? Any recommendations are more than welcome in the comments down below :).

Hope you are having a wonderful day,

Rachael xx.