A/W 2015 Style Forecast- High Street Buys

So judging by this year's A/W catwalks, retro prints, bright colours and pattern clashing are set to be a BIG thing.

Think paisley dresses with a tweed bag, retro earrings and checked loafers! Get the jist? While few of us could pull off grocery shopping in the sort of mismatched, oversized garments models stride down the catwalks in, that is not to say we can't have a little fun with some (slightly more purse friendly) key pieces.

 

 

 

From top to bottom: Michael Kors, Missoni, Gucci and Maison Margiela

A highstreet nod to the catwalks

 

Coat- £95 Zara, Tweed skirt- £76 House of Fraser, Barbara Bixby green sterling earrings- £75 QVC, Ribbed knitted top- £111 Tory Burch, Brown crochet wedges- Catherine Malandrino £38, Printed trousers- £60 Mango, Aztec colour block poncho- £38 Chicwish.com. Purple paisley print dress- £10 Newlook, Knitted wrap mini skirt- £80 Rebelle.com

Sweet potato, coconut and chilli soup

I made this soup on Tuesday night and underestimated a) how delicious it would be b) how popular it would be with my family c)how many of my friends would comment saying it looked delicious. Another culinary success! Here is the recipe. I recommend serving with rye bread. Any good quality bread would be nice though!

4 sweet potatos

2 tbsp Coconut Oil

1 Onion

4 Garlic Cloves

2 tbsp red curry past

1 tbsp green curry paste

1 tsp Coriander

2 tsp Salt

1 Lime

4 Cups of Chicken Stock

1 Can of Coconut Milk

Fresh Coriander to Serve

Pumpkin Seeds to Serve

Method:

Peel and cut the sweet potato into smallish squares

Heat the coconut oil on a medium heat. Finely dice the onion and pop into the pan with a pinch of salt, cook for 5 minutes then add in the sweet potato, garlic, curry pastes and coriander. Stir for 5 minutes then pour in the stock, coconut milk and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes until cooked through. Blend these ingredients until there are no lumps and squeeze in the juice from the lime.

Garnish the soup with coriander and sunflower seeds and enjoy!



Chia, banana and raspberry breakfast bowl

In my quest to become better at making quick, healthy foods I have started experimenting with various concoctions of ingredients and hoping for the best. Once in a while I make something which tastes delicious, so for those of you wanting a little inspiration, I have spared you the countless failed attempts and posted a nice little recipe for a breakfast bowl which is also a good fix for a sweet craving.

Ingredients:

Generous handful of raspberrys

1 tbsp. of chia seeds

100 ml almond milk

1 tbsp. peanut or almond butter

1 banana

4 drops vanilla essence

juice of half a lemon

Method: Put the raspberry's, chia seeds and lemon juice into a bowl. With the flat side of a spoon, crush the raspberrys into the mix and stir together. Leave for a few minutes and give it another mix until it has the consistency of jam.

In a blender put the banana, almond milk, peanut/almond butter and vanilla essence and give it a whizz for 30 seconds.

Pour this into the bowl with the raspberrys and chia seeds and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Voila!



Easy nutrient packed soup

I thought I'd share this recipe for a really nourishing soup I made- perfect for fighting off the pesky commuter cold going around! Apologies for the poor lighting, I made it late last night for my lunch today. It's so quick and takes about twenty minutes from scratch. Sometimes these very green soups can taste quite grassy but the cannellini beans give it a nice creamy taste.

Ingredients:

Cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
1 bag spinach
1 head broccoli
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons depending on preference
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful coriander
2 garlic cloves
1 pint of water
olive oil

Begin by heating the garlic in a saucepan with a little olive oil, pepper and salt. Add the pint of water and broccoli, and simmer until the broccoli is tender. Now add the spinach in and leave for a couple of minutes until it has wilted.

Put all of this into a blender along with the cannellini beans, lemon juice and coriander and blend until it is the same consistency as cream. Now the soup is ready for heating and eating, voila! This is perfect as a healthy office lunch and pairs well with rye bread and avocado for something a bit more substantial.

If you give it a go then let me know what you think! x



Skincare SOS!

So being blessed with a wonderful array of skin ailments which grace me on the regular, this post is really just running through the products I am well stocked in which I hope will help any of you who can relate. I'm going to start by saying that beauty really does come from within, and it's important to eat a balanced diet for long term benefits. It's amazing the difference little changes can make in clearing up skin problems such as eczema, spots and dermatitis because the problem could be something quite simple like a vitamin or mineral deficiency.
I aim to keep my pizza, whiskey and cake addiction strictly limited to weekends and try to fit in lots of fruit and veg in my daily routine. Smoothies are great because they are quick and really do make a noticeable difference to how you look and feel. I'm pretty hardcore and make mine with whatever we have lying around the kitchen- the one in the photo has banana for potassium, beetroot which is packed with iron, potassium, folic acid and fibre, spinach for iron, an apple and a bit of water. I also take omega 3 supplements and love the Terra Nova Digestive Enzyme capsules which really help with digestion.
Spots are something we all get, granted some of us more than others. Life has played this cruel joke on me where I had perfect skin throughout my teens and spots as soon as I hit my early twenties. A couple of month's ago I had a breakout because I was stressed and using a lot of new products while makeup artistry training. My amazing tutor Amanda Bell sent me home with a Pixi glow tonic and told me to use it for two weeks. As the days went by my skin got noticeably clearer and now I'll never stop buying it. The tonic contains witch hazel which sorts spots right out and a brightening 5% plant based glycolic acid which gently exfoliates dead skin cells. The Inika foundation is in my spot-fix category because it's a natural, mineral product which goes on problematic skin better than any other foundation I've used. Also because the ingredients are better, it makes sense that it's less likely to make spots flare up more. The Bourjois concealer is brilliant for hiding and brightening spots and never goes cakey.
Rashes really, really suck. There are all sorts of reasons why people get them, from hereditary reasons, allergies to dust mites, common ingredients in washing detergents, skincare, make up, diet intolerances, stress...you name it. I suffered with painful eczema from the age of four and remember clawing at my skin until it was raw. My gran used to cut my nails at bedtime and plaster me with liquid calamine lotion which was often the only way I could get to sleep. To this day when a rash pops up, calamine lotion is something that helps every time. It's inexpensive, available in every Boots/chemist and I can't thank whoever invented it enough. Before using steroid creams, please try calamine lotion first!
Z-Gel is a fab organic natural gel which contains arnica. It's great for bites, stings, sunburn, rashes, you name it. I've used it on bruises and seen miraculous results within hours. It's clear so doesn't show up on the skin and the sanitary little tube is good for carrying around. Another little gem for soothing rashes! The Graham's Natural bath oil and skin cream were given to me by my friend Rebecca at Biteable beauty when a big stress rash popped up overnight. Look at the no-nonsense packaging! Ha. The bath oil has a thick olive oil consistency and to be honest doesn't smell much different. Much in the same way olive oil does, it locks in the skin's moisture and helps reduce redness. Also a brilliant little skin saviour is the cream which I kept reapplying at work. It made a huge huge difference and it's another all natural product. Go nature!