February Review

The best things I ate, read and did in February.

It feels like I only just sent out my January review, but here we are at the end of another month. Today I’m sharing all the best things I ate in February, plus a few lifestyle favourites I think you should know about.

February Favourite Eats

Pasta e fagioli - I had a horrid cold and needed some comfort food and this really hit the spot. Super easy too - I used frozen soffrito mix and added a handful of Mediterranean chopped veggies too. Next time I’ll buy the good chopped tomatoes as I used cheap ones and they were a bit watery.

I’ve been eating some variation of this tuna salad (Actually with more tuna less salad) on repeat for lunches. I like to prep a big batch for the week and slather it on toasted cheese (a seeded or rye sourdough with a strong cheddar ideally).

And if we are not eating tuna salad then it’s this chicken mayo with shredded baby gem lettuce on toasted sourdough.

Minestrone Soup - will share my recipe for Pantry Minestrone this week so make sure you subscribe if you want to see that 😉

This chicken salad was excellent. I had some crispy chicken in the freezer and turned this into a pasta salad. I only had half a sorry looking bag of mixed leaves so I added some shredded carrot, cucumber, shallot and red pepper to that with the dressing, plenty Parmesan and some cooked pasta.

Salmon, rice and peas based on this recipe. So surprisingly good! The sesame oil was genius, it went so well with the nutty brown rice I used. I didn’t have spring onion or spinach so I used kale and shallot instead, and added about 150ml chicken stock (i just broke off a bit of a stock cube) to make it a bit saucier. And I cooked the salmon in the air fryer. A true 15 minute dinner.

Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins - a tasty treat for me and my toddler! We like to add choc chips. These are so easy to make with simple, kid friendly ingredients and excellent served warm with a cup of tea.

What I read

Workhorse by Caroline Palmer - I actually finished this in January but forgot to mention it. If you are a millennial who grew up wanting to ‘work at a magazine’ and also appreciate a bit of weirdness, then please read this. It’s about Clo, a lowly workhorse assistant at ‘The Magazine’ in the early noughties as she becomes obsessed with her beloved nepo baby co-worker and also tries to claw her way to the top at work. I hate to admit how much I identified with Clo. Not on everything she does (because she does some really dumb stuff) but more her general feelings about herself, feeling like a fish out of water and uncomfortable in her own body as she struggles through a world of impossibly beautiful and privileged people.

TLDR - This is The Devil Wears Prada but if Andy was obsessed with Emily and also kind of unhinged

This year so far I’ve really enjoyed reading multiple books at once for probably the first time in my life. I was always a one book at a time girl till recently and I typically read books quickly in large chunks. I’ve been following Footnotes and Tangents to do a slow read of both War and Peace and Wolf Hall, plus dipping into Private Rites when I want to keep reading after my allocated pages for the day. It has actually really helped me to read more often by allowing myself to read less at a time (and not feel pressure to meet my arbitrary Goodreads goal.)

Lifestyle favourites

So my toddler is at that stage where she just wants to have everything that I have. And that especially includes whatever I’m drinking. We already have matching pink water bottles but now her obsession has moved on to actual glasses.

I previously loved stemless wine glasses for my everyday drinks (I’m addicted to this and have a glass with dinner every night). So I bought these coloured glasses on a whim in order to give her a matching one for her water at dinner time and I’m actually really impressed. They look nice and, as a self confessed glass snob whose enjoyment of wine does depend on the glass it is served in, I am really quite enjoying them. I might even buy more.

I love these no mess painting sets! My almost 2 year old loves drawing and painting but I don’t always love the mess. These are a great low supervision activity that helps her scratch that itch.

Next is not my go-to store usually but their kids range is pretty excellent right now. I just purchased these sets of tops and leggings, and these excellent wellies and my wee one is looking extra cute.

What did you love in February?