Hello Folks 

I’m back with a post today that might help some of You. I often get messages from Ladies asking for help after a big blowout. I thought this was appropriate for today. I’m just back from a fantastic hen weekend in Bristol. Three days and nights of drinking, eating, laughing etc etc. We had a fantastic time and that’s what life is all about. Making memories with good friends and having fun. I don’t feel one bit guilty for a second of it. I enjoyed every bite of food and every drink. We all have hens, weddings , parties etc that’s life and it’s there to be enjoyed.

However, it’s Monday now and time to refocus and get back to my healthy habits. Exhaustion and dehydration are making me feel sluggish and demotivated. Tackling these issues one at a time and ticking them off the list helps me. I don’t jump straight back into it the first day. I ease myself in with a “transition day ” first. This usually works for me. I think it’s important to get the body and the mind in sync first. Getting into the right headspace is just as important as food prep, workouts etc etc. If the mind is not right, the body won’t perform. 

I’ve put togeather a few of my top tips and tricks that I use to steer myself back to normality. I hope You enjoy them and find them helpful. Please share the link with anyone who might like this post. 

Thank You for reading 

Love 

Maria xxx

• Let go of the guilt, You had fun with Your besties. Move on enjoy looking at the photos and don’t worry about the indulgence. Life is for living. 
• Do a healthy food shop, Your body needs good nutrition ASAP to help recuperate. Plan a family meal like a roast chicken dinner or a beef casserole. Something hearty and warming is the kind of comfort food that will help bring You round. I know it’s tempting but junk food won’t help You at this stage. 

• Make enough food for tomorrow as well. Food prep sorted. Being organised will make You feel calm and in control. 
• Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate if You find it hard to drink water, try herbal teas or sparkling water with lime is very refreshing. 
• Get some fresh air, go for a walk If You are feeling too delicate for the gym. Put on those headphones and listen to some good music. A good blast of fresh air will clear Your head and help You to sleep. 
• Chill for the evening, watch a movie or read a book for the evening. There’s no point pushing Yourself too much on the first day. You will be much better at handling tomorrow if You get enough rest today. 
• Relax. A hot bath always helps me to destress after all the running and racing. Light a few candles and add some Epsom salts to the bath. A long soak before bed will send you off to a deep sleep. 
• Go back to Your plan tomorrow. You will feel calm and ready. Don’t deprive Yourself to make up for the weekend. Just carry on as normal with good nutrition and training. Eat well to fuel those workouts and You will be back on track in no time. 

Hi Everyone

I made this simple Thai curry over on my snapchat (mrspdilly2b) it was easy to make and so tasty. I got 3 portions out of it so You can adjust the measurements if Your cooking for the whole family. It’s an easy one as it cooks quickly. It also feels like a takeaway so great for a Sunday evening.

Hope you enjoy it and please share with anyone who might enjoy it.

Thanks as always

Love Maria

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Hi Everyone

I’m back with a Fakeaway this evening. I’ve had a lot of messages from You all in regard to the weekends. It seems to be a real struggle for everyone to stay on track. I’m going to do a full post on this with a few tips that I find helpful. We all need somthing to look forward to at the end of the week. Fakeaways are a godsend   For me. This weekend I made this delicious curry. It was my Cheatmeal, for this week. We all need a Cheatmeal once a week I’m a great believer in it. However I would always choose a quality Cheatmeal. Opt for a nutrient dense version of Your favourite treat. Use up those cheat allowance or Yums wisely.  Always make a wise decision and fuel Your body with good wholesome food. The flavour and fresh taste of this curry is  simply divine.All clean natural ingredients. Try it out and let me know what You think.

Curry night sorted

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Hi Everyone

I’m back with another hotel review. My SnapChatters will know We had a midweek hotel break this week. Anyone would think I had a great life with going away again so soon. I wanted to take my son Lee away for a little break during his Easter holidays. Of course I was working all week as Easter is a busy time for us in the salon. Although I think We all felt a bit cheated this year with two long weekends so close. It all came together this year.

Anyway I was browsing online and found the Claregalway hotel had a few good deals on family rooms. I was looking for a hotel with a pool and kids club for Lee as it was his little treat for his Easter holidays. The Claregalway hotel was perfect. An hours drive from home, a very fresh and modern hotel with a fabulous leisure centre, perfect. I rang and booked a two night family package for Easter Monday night and the Tuesday. B & B with one dinner included for the three of us on the First night.  Mr Dillon came with us for the first night but as He was back to work on Tuesday morning myself and Lee had the second night in our own.  You can check their website for very affordable spring packages here.

Www.claregalwayhotel.ie
So Monday afternoon We headed off. We arrived to the hotel and checked in We were given vouchers for our evening meal. We got settled in our room and I headed off to the gym for an hour first and then headed for the jacuzzi while Lee checked out the pool.

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Hi Everyone

So regular readers will know we recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It has been a crazy year, those of you who have followed me for a while will know Mum passed away in August. anyone unfortunate enough to have experienced a loss knows of the severe trauma and the psychological impact this can have. Lets just say there are good days and bad days. I really was’nt feeling great at all coming up to our anniversary.Memories of the run up to the wedding and all the fun we had last year played on my mind, it was bittersweet. Mothers day falling the week before did’nt help either. It was a difficult week to say the least, but I’ve lived to tell the tale and I feel better now. A weekend away in beautiful Connemara was just what I needed to de-stress and have some fun. Of course we had to celebrate being Mr and Mrs Dillon for 365 days

In the station house bar

I had been browsing online for a hotel deal and came across the Station house hotel clifden  I had a look on the website and thought the hotel looked lovely. They have some very reasonable deals on for romantic breaks and for families. Our package included a two night stay with dinner bed and breakfast, and evening meal and two spa treatments. I booked it straight away as I have been to Clifden before and always loved the place.With a name like Conneely Id have to have Connemara connections. My Grandad actually came from Clifden before moving to Castlebar. He came from the railway cottage My Dads cousin rose still lives in the homeplace. I caught up with Rose and her hubby Lawrance for a few drinks during our stay in Clifden. It was great to catch up and have the craic.

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Hi Everyone

Im finally getting through posting these recipes from Last week. The burrito bowl was a very popular one. It’s a low carb version but You could easy add brown rice, homemade wedges or if you are treating Yourself Nachos would be divine. I had mine on a bed of spinach as I was saving my macros for a weekend away for Our anniversary. The burrito bowl was absolutely delicious and definitely one I intend to make again this week. I served it with guacamole, recipe is on here and Glenisk natural yogurt instead of sour cream. But as I said feel free to adapt it to your own taste.

Here it is, enjoy

Love Maria

Low carb Buritto bowl

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Hi Everyone 

I really can’t take the credit for this as I saw it on LovinDublins snapchat. However it’s a great recipe and it was very popular over on my SnapChat. It’s super easy and only takes a few minutes & my god is it tasty. 

Enjoy folks and let me know if You make it.

Love Maria 

Fresh and full of flavour

4 Ripe avocados, they need to be soft and squishy.

1 small red onion chopped finely

1 tomatoe chopped finely 

1 green chilli chopped. I used the jar version as I didn’t have fresh. I used 4/5 slices from the old El Paso jar. 

Chopped fresh coriander.

The juice of a lime

Black Pepper & salt 

Method 

Mash the avocados and add in all the ingredients and mix well.

That it, simple as You can enjoy on its own, with spicy mince or in a salad. Super simple and quick with huge flavours 

Hi Everyone

This is the recipe for the porridge bread I made on snapchat last week. I made two  different versions a savoury and a sweet. They were delicious. I was making two small loaves so I broke down the recipe into half.  Il give You the full version and You can break it down if You need too.

Enjoy

Love Maria xx

cake liner are from homestore and more

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Hi Everyone 

I’ve a little recipe for You all today. It’s a soup I made over on Snapchat. It’s a little bit different with a serious burst of flavours. My Dad gave me a few parsnips from the garden this evening. I used them in this zesty soup. Give it a try and let me know how You get on.

Enjoy 

Love Maria 

Ingredients 

2/3 parsnips diced

2 pink lady apples peeled & diced 
1 onion diced

1lt of veg stock (1 used 3 oxo cubes)

2 handfuls of spinach 

2 teaspoons turmeric,

2 teaspoons of paprika

2 teaspoons crushed chilli (optional)

1inch root ginger diced

2 cloves of garlic 

Zest & juice of a lime

25gchorizo 

Drizzle of rapeseed oil, teaspoon of real butter.

  
Method.

Heat up a lage saucepan & add the rapeseed oil & butter.

Fry off the garlic & chorizo for a minute adding in the onion, lime zest &juice, Ginger. Season with salt & pepper. 

Next add the diced parsnip and diced Apple and sauté for a few minutes.

Next add the turmeric,smoked paprika & chilli flakes, you can adjust these to your own liking. 

Slowly add the veg stock and leave to simmer. You can add the spinach at this stage and cover turn the heat down very low for about 20 minutes.

Leave to cool and blend. I use a hand blender it’s very handy for soups. 

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing a naughty but nice treat with You all today. It’s not low fat or particularly clean it’s just good old fashioned wholesome food. It’s a tasty treat for all the family without any processed junk or chemical additives. It’s easy to make and can be frozen and used at a later date. I have made this and sliced it up and frozen it in little individual freezer bags. Very handy for the aul portion control. Let’s face it We all need a little treat now and again. It’s nice to have a few simple recipes You can call on from time to time. Most of the ingredients are from Aldi as I tend to shop there most of the time. It’s very low cost to make Your own bread. I don’t really do it to save money as most of You know I love to cook, it’s just a bonus. 

  
There’s been a lot of talk lately about hidden sugars and nasties in our food. I think it’s good that We are becoming more aware and thinking before We buy. For me a good rule of thumb is to check the sell by date. If there’s a fifteen month stretch on the best before date, You probably shouldn’t buy it let alone eat it.

We can’t be saints all the time. On occasions and certain times of the year it’s nice to indulge a little, but We can still keep it reasonably y healthy by going for real food. Spending a few minutes extra in the kitchen per day can really improve the quality of of our food consumption and make all the difference to our long term health. Knowing what We are eating is half the battle. The only way to do this is to get creative in the kitchen. 

So anyway here’s the recipe, enjoy it. It’s a perfect one to make for Paddys day or Easter especially if There’s family coming to visit. You can all WOW them with Your baking skills.

Thanks for reading and please share

Love Maria 

Ingredients list

250g of self raising flour

20g of sugar

2 mashed bananas 

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon of baking powder

50g of chopped walnuts 

30g of chopped hazelnuts

 20g of desicated coconut 

30g of sultanas

300mls of buttermilk 

15g of coconut oil melted 

 
Method

Pre heat Your oven to 180 degrees.

In a mixing bowl add all Your dry ingredients and mix well. 

Add in the buttermilk and mashed bananas until You have a batter similar to pancake mix. 

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave and pour in. (If you don’t have coconut oil you can use real butter) it will do the exact same thing. 

Line a loaf tin with grease proof paper and pour the mix in. 

Scatter some desicated coconut and a few walnuts on the top.

Bake at 180 for 50-60 minutes 

Check by using a skewer if there’s no cake mix on the skewer it’s fully cooked.

Wrap in a clean tea-towel and leave to cool in the tin. This leaves the bread lovely & moist. 

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