Foodie Friday - What I Ate In May

May's been a funny month for me food wise, for the first 3 weeks of the month I ate what I wanted, when I wanted it. It was my birthday on the 15th so I overindulged just a little bit with several meals out and cake related yuminess!For the last week and a bit though since I've started listening to the Slim Pod my diet has changed dramatically and I'm eating a much more balanced and healthy diet all be it with the odd treat :) We'll start off with some of the food I scoffed whilst I was eating out - first up was an early birthday meal with Mummy Lou at Tex Mex chain Chiquitos. I went for the Roasted Vegetable and Goats Cheese Salad, which was amazing - I will definitely be having this again x

Next up I visited Gourmet Burger Kitchen GBK with some fellow North East based bloggers, the company was fab but I have to say that I wasn't that impressed the with food- I'd been before and dismantled a falafel burger which was lovely but this time I went for the GBK Salad, I love avocado and pine nuts but this just seemed to be a bit mehhh, it was £6.95 but it wasn't huge and you could barely taste the dressing so I chucked a bit of Tabasco on it.

The skinny fries on the other hand were yum, I just got a small portion and they were gorgeous super skinny and super crispy - I would also recommend the milkshakes 100% but again at £4.00 they aren't cheap.

To a dining experience that left me feeling a bit unfulfilled to one that hit the spot in more ways than one. One of my besties is one of the most understanding people that I've ever met, she always seems to scour restaurant and pub menus to find things that I can eat.

This time she suggested a meal at a local hotel, pub and equestrian centre near where I live, The South Causey Inn, I hadn't been there for years - I have vague memories of drinking hooch in the bar with another friend many moons ago. I have to say I was really impressed, the grounds are beautiful and are filled unsurprisingly with horses, but also sheep, newborn lambs, goats, geese, and as you can see here alpacas!!!

You can eat in the bar area but we had a table booked in the restaurant, which for a Tuesday night was surprisingly busy. My friend has been before and seeing the size of the meals we decide to skip starters and just go for a main course, the menu is really extensive and filled with lots of local ingredients, they also have a full vegetarian menu, a childrens menu and a coeliac menu. My friend went for the poached cod with prawn sauce on top of cheesy mash with veg, and I went for another salad this time but as you can see it couldn't have been more different.

Both our meals were massive!!!! I've seen salads in hotels and restaurants this size that are to feed 4 people. I went for the Feta Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato and Olive salad and it was crammed full of big chunks of feta, green and black olives and gorgeous sun dried tomatoes, as well as chunks of  cucumber, onion, tomatoes, peppers and loads of different salad leaves, and you got a little pot of coleslaw and a little pot of potato salad.

It should have came with a bread roll but they were out of gluten free bread, probably just as well as I couldn't have eaten it! We both stuffed and couldn't eat anything else even though the desserts looked amazing. My salad was £9.95 but it was really worth the money. If your in my neck of the woods I would really recommend this as a place to go x you can find their website here x

Two of these meals were all about the birthday and unsurprisingly I had a few treats on the day itself, including my traditional birthday carrot cake (you can see the recipe here) and my birthday treat - Mars Bar cake - (check out my recipe here)

and check out this gorgeous gluten free, fresh cream lemon curd sponge that my mum made mmmm

The rest of the month has been about comfort food -including my mushroom stroganoff (recipe here)

and the cheeky bottle of wine that went with it x

and my version of Wonky Monkey's fabulous broccoli and walnut pasta - obviously I used gluten free pasta but I also threw in a bit of Stilton which I love x This is a real comfort recipe for me which me and Mummy Lou both love x

By rights the weather should be getting warmer now but it doesn't seem to be so I've been slurrping soup again - I've actually made this tomato and red pepper soup (recipe here) twice this month but I've made it a bit spicy and add a small chilli to the mix each time to make it really warming for rainy days.

The final things that I've eaten are things that you would probably describe as snacks, first up this which
has certainly had some twitter and instagram  coverage ( follow me on instagram if you aren't already - LouLou699). One of Cadbury's latest offerings Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy Shells - I'm a huge popping candy junkie so I knew I needed to try this and I'm glad I did NOM.

Finally some more healthier snacks well ish, including this supermarket version and of Pop Chips

These are gorgeous and so much healthier than conventional fried crisps, just a word of warning the black pepper ones that I got were ridiculously hot, more so than some stuffed jalapenos I'd had the day before. Another recent addiction is popcorn

These are salt n vinegar ones from Sainsbury's but any savoury popcorn is doing it for me at the minute. I'm trying to find ways or doing it in a more healthy and cheaper way though, I already have an air popper but I'd love it if you have any healthier flavouring suggestions. Finally these...

As you know I received a little friend and a pack of the roast beef version to try (see my post here) but salt n vinegar is my true love, and the fact that their low in calories is pretty good too. I picked up a 6 pack for just £1 in Tesco's and if you pick up the latest Tesco magazine there is a 50p off coupon.

So that was my monthly food round up - I can guarantee that June's will be a little bit healthier ;) Have you eaten, discovered or made anything interesting in May? let me know in the comments x