Good afternoon everyone (or whatever time of day it is where you are) and Happy New Year! I wanted to kick off the first post of the year by talking about goals and resolutions for the year ahead. With that being said, I haven’t actually set myself any New Years Resolutions because, well, they’re just not really my thing if I’m honest. I feel like if you want to make a change or set yourself a challenge, you don’t have too wait until the new year to do so and the aspect of setting these resolutions somehow makes me feel a greater pressure or time scale to achieve things. Lots of New Years resolutions typically involve giving up or cutting out things; which I don’t personally feel is a very positive way for me to approach the new year. I prefer to focus on what new things I can add into my life and different goals that I can accomplish. With that being said, I’ve spent a large portion of this morning (or what was left of it after my glorious lie in) writing out my aims and goals for 2018. I don’t think that this is something that I’ve actually ever done before; but was something that I found really refreshing and motivating. Off the top of my head, I couldn’t really name anything that I wanted to do differently in the new year and it all just seemed a bit of an overwhelming blur. However, as soon as my pen took to the paper, I found myself just bursting with ideas and all of these different things that I wanted to do/achieve.
So, if you haven’t get thought about your goals for 2018, then this is something that I would highly recommend giving a go. It doesn’t have to take very long and can literally consist of one or two bullet points, but it’s a great way to ignite that fire and really get you motivated for the year ahead. One of the main things that I’m aiming to work on this year is finding a better work and social life balance. A lot of people perceive that people who work from home and are self employed get lots of free time to do as they wish. In some sense I suppose that this is true because you can schedule your time around your lifestyle and fit things in as and when; but running your own business also requires a lot of persistence and hard work and I feel like 99% of my energy and time had been devoted to work throughout 2017. I absolutely love what I do and it was a hobby for such a long period of time, that I now find it difficult to separate my work and personal life at times. For this year, I’m going to make sure to allow more time for myself and to properly take care of me! Time for yourself is so important and it’s really easy to get carried away and become overworked and run down. I know this is something that you probably hear from lots of different people, but this year is going to be my year of self love!
Right, enough about my New Years mission and onto today’s recipe! Seeing as lots of people are currently taking part in Veganuary, I wanted to focus on some more plant based dishes on the blog this month. It made sense to kickstart with a breakfast recipe and one that was quick and easy to help get you back into the swing of those early morning routines. When it comes to a speedy breakfast, my go-to recipe is nearly always overnight oats. These are super tasty, easy to prepare.. AND you can toss everything together the night before, so you won’t be faffing about in the kitchen of a morning. They’re also easily customisable and you can switch up the flavours and toppings to your hearts desire. I also want to attempt to focus on eating more seasonally and basing my recipes around lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Not only is this a great way to enjoy locally grown produce, but buying seasonal ingredients is often more cost effective as well. Apple’s are currently one of my favourite fruits and they’re in season here in the UK at the moment- which is definitely when they’re at their best.. and are really inexpensive! Something that I’ve been waiting to make it’s way into the shops for the past couple of months is.. blood oranges! These are just so beautiful
