Brita Boost - Confidence without alcohol - Guest post by Maggie

I wouldn't say I drink for confidence, but I know unfamiliar social situations do feel a little easier when lubricated with a glass of wine (or two). While I'm happy to stand up and present to a room full of people, I find one-to-one interaction with strangers difficult. So sitting in the upstairs bookshop of School of Life, nursing an elderflower cordial, I couldn't steal myself to approach anyone and say 'Hi' – even if we were all there for the same reason. Luckily the course leader Jean-Paul began to mingle among us, breaking the ice and making it easier to talk to my neighbours, indulging in the usual small-talk about jobs and the (really tasty!) refreshments, as well as our reasons for being on the course that evening.

The downstairs room we were lead to for the course itself was beautiful. A 2D black and white mural runs across the walls, depicting overflowing bookcases, a half finished game of scrabble and etc. Two rows of seats facing a screen showed we would be presented to, conference style, but the clipboard on each chair made me think there would be a bit of interaction expected too. There was a good mix of both – Jean-Paul talked us through what is meant by confidence and we did some improv and exercises with the person sitting next to us (more talking to strangers!).

 

There was a lot covered and I don't want to give it all away, but I'll mention the points that stuck with me most:

•      Externalise your pessimistic thoughts – if someone else was saying them to you how would you defend yourself? Really handy if you tend to get down on yourself and say things like “I can't do this”. Instead you flip things around and say “You can't do this” and you begin to feel like you want to prove that negative voice wrong

•      I very much fall in to the trap of the fixed mindset – it's a bit like the comfort zone where you know what you're good at and all your aiming for is success, even if it's same-old, same old. Instead I need to adopt a growth mindset; where I try new things, learn from failure and success is measured in growth.

•      My favourite inspirational quote from the night (and there were loads) was “Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training” - Carol Dweck.

I found the whole event very useful – if not just because I realised a lot of people struggle with the same lack of confidence, so I wasn't facing it alone. So next time I'm at a social event I'm going to shout down my inner pessimist and say hello to someone new – with or without wine, honest!

*This installment of the Brita Boost Dry January series was brought to you by the very lovely Maggie. People chose to drink from some of these five reasons - taste, socialising, confidence booster, relaxing and for the buzz. This post focused on confidence and  you can read all the other posts in this series here.

Cheeseburger Casserole

Someone linked to this recipe on Twitter recently from the American blog SkinnyTaste (originally from a Bobby Deen cookbook) and I was intrigued by it. Cheeseburgers? In a casserole? With pasta? And not full of fat? DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Obviously I had to try it though, and try it I did. I am usually pretty faithful when it comes to following recipes, but I looked at all the weird American measurements and totally improvised this one. So not like me. I kind of based it on the quantities from other recipes I’ve done like a Spag Bol and a cheesy bake, and it was super yummy! It’s not QUITE as good as a cheeseburger (come on, NOTHING is) but it’s really hearty and filling and there’s cheese involved, and you know that I’m all about involving the cheese. I’ve modified it a bit, adding some extra flavouring and stuff, and a few more veggies.

Cheeseburger Casserole (originally from here)

500g extra lean mince 16pp

300g pasta 29pp

150g light cheddar cheese 12pp

3 tbsp Dijon Mustard 2pp

1 onion, finely chopped 0pp

1 red pepper, chopped 0pp

1 tsp salt 0pp

1 tsp black pepper 0pp

2 tbsp tomato puree 1pp

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 garlic cloves, chopped or crushed 0pp

1 carton/can chopped tomatoes 0pp

1 jar pickled gherkins 0pp*

60PP / 10PP

Serves 6.

To reduce points: drop the amount of cheese, make into 8 portions instead of 6, drop the amount of pasta (40g per person instead of 50g per person would be enough).

1. Preheat the oven to 150c.
2. Cook the pasta according to package instructions and drain.
3. In a large frying pan or wok, add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add oil if you need to (but remember to account for it if you’re counting) or FryLight, but a smidge of water will also work to stop it sticking.
4. Stir in the garlic and the mince, and cook until browned.
5. Add the pepper, and any other vegetables you fancy.
6. Stir in the tomato puree, then add the salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, chopped tomatoes and the mustard. Let the mixture bubble slightly until it’s slightly thickened – a few minutes. Stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick.
7. Give it a taste and add any extra seasoning you think it needs, but if you’re happy, chuck the pasta in with the sauce and stir it together
8. Spread the meat and pasta mixture into the prepared dish, and top with your grated 150g of cheese.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and brown.
10. Sprinkle the chopped pickles over the top and serve – but if you’ve batch cooked this and are planning to freeze it, hold back on the pickles and only add them when the mixture is heated up and ready to eat.

*I’ve put 0pp on the pickles but it depends on what you buy. I bought a jar of pickled sweet gherkins and if I’d eaten the whole jar, it would have been a few points because of the sugar that was used to preserve them. However, allowing for a sixth of the jar was 0pp. So just make sure you check this – it’s not going to add a lot to the dish though. Also, if you’re not a fan of them, just leave them out!

SkinnyTaste also suggested adding sautéed mushrooms to the top which I did – I sautéed a whole punnet of chopped mushrooms in about 30g of Lurpak Lighter (5pp), a bit of salt and a couple of chopped garlic cloves which added an extra point per portion. I then put them on top of the bake when it was out of the oven so they retained their flavour. They were yummy, but I felt like the taste of the bake kind of drowned their buttery garlicky awesomeness. Next time, I’d just have them as a side.

Guest post - Getting a heel in the door - Caitlin

One of the things I’ve learnt on my journey is that fitness, like so many other things, is about getting a foot in the door. It’s really tough to get into the swing of things until you find that one activity that you actually enjoy doing.

When you find something you love you’ll stick at it, then you’ll start to get good at it and to see results. Then you’ll enter the cycle of results inspiring further work leading to more results and things take off from there. You’ll get more and more obsessed by fitness and start to love working out and cooking healthy meals and learning about nutrition. You’ll spend your free time finding different classes to try and researching new recipes and the momentum you’ve created will gradually make it easier and easier for you to stick to your programme. It’s getting that first foot in the door that’s the hard part.

For me, the activity that helped me get my foot (or six inch heel) in the door was pole dancing. In school I would have done anything to get out of PE. I was tiny and really weak, and I’m pretty badly co-ordinated which meant I was terrible at team sports.  I was also extremely shy so I avoided anything that I thought I’d be bad at in case I was right and it was embarrassing.

I first tried pole dancing the summer before my final year of university. Of course, I was hopeless at that for a long time too, but it was so much fun that I didn’t mind. I kept going back and built up some pretty impressive upper body and core strength without even realising it. In a few months I was able to lift my whole body up into an invert despite not actually consciously trying to get stronger.

Once I realised how much I liked being strong and how great exercising made me feel I joined a gym properly and now I train with my PT once a week. These days nothing makes me happier than lifting weights, doing hill sprints or cooking a new healthy dish!

It’s really important to remember that change is still a process and these things do taken time. Even after you find the thing you love doing the results will be gradual not instant, but believe me when I say that it gets so much easier from that point. My advice to anyone who’s been on fitness kicks before but didn’t stick to them is to keep at it – keep trying different things as you may not have found the one that’s going to work for you yet. It’s tough, but getting fit has honestly changed my life, and if anyone had told me how much better I’d feel as a result I would have done anything possible to make it happen sooner.

Good luck to everyone reading this, and if you ever need a motivational pep talk you can find me blogging about fitness and clean eating over here!

Brita Boost - Alcohol free dinner party with Foodelity

Hasn't January gone quickly?! I vowed to cut out alcohol for a month and that's exactly what I did. I had a little help from Brita along the way but I'm glad I accepted the challenge and there have been so many positives about giving up alcohol.  I will keep all of that and full round up for my final Brita Boost post in the week.


If you've been following the BRITA Boost Challenge posts you'll know that there are five main reasons why people drink and I've been given ways to overcome all of them:

Taste - Maggie went to a Mixology Masterclass to learn how to make alcohol free cocktails.

Relaxation - I had a wonderful full body massage to unwind without reaching for a glass of wine.

Confidence Booster - The lovely Maggie attended a Confidence class last week and will be reporting back soon.

Buzz - I'm going on a skiing lesson tomorrow as the final part of my challenge.


And finally

Social - I was treated to a Foodelity box filled with everything I needed for a alcohol free dinner party with some friends. This is how I got on...

After choosing the menu online for the 3 course meal, my box arrived with everything I needed for the dishes, in exact quantities, so there was no need to measure. They were all colour coded so I knew which items were each course.

The ingredients arrived with step-by-step recipe cards with pictures, which were easy so easy to follow. I'm a keen cook but I have to admit I'm no the best and stick to tried and tested recipes so I was excited to try this adventurous menu. I found all of this very easy to make and when I normally cook for friends I'm so stressed out trying to get all the timings right I feel like I need a glass of wine by the end of it.

There was even a timeline included so I knew when to prep and put things in the oven which meant more time chatting to my guests instead of slaving away in the kitchen. 

For my starter I chose pan seared king scallops with pea puree and balsamic vinegar reduction which I hope you agree looks pretty impressive. I felt like this was a fancy treat as I don't normally cook anything as extravagant as this at home.  

My main course was a very tasty roast poussin with sumac and red cabbage with minted potato. Presentation has never been my forte so I'm pleased with how this dish turned out. 

Dessert was probably my favourite course. I made my first tarte tatin and this pear one with lime and ginger had plenty of kick. Mmmmm!

There wasn't a single drop of wine to accompany the food and it really wasn't missed at all. My brother, his partner and I are all trying to shed a few lbs for our holiday later in the year and wine would have just added to the overall calorie total. I filled my Brita jug with some lemon and lime for the dinner party. The simple drink to accompany the meal meant that we could appreciate all the flavours in the food far more.

My boyfriend joined me for the meal too and he drives to visit me so can't ever drink when I cook for him. Nobody had any alcohol at all so this really helped those who drive and normally have to turn down alcohol feel a lot less left out.

Everyone had a lovely evening and it showed me that you can still have a hit dinner party without the alcohol. I highly recommend Foodelity to anyone wanting a special Valentines treat or a stress free way to host a dinner party. How do you think you would get on without alcohol at a dinner party?