Basic Banana Bread

Serves: 5 / Time: 10mins prep, 35-40mins cooking time

Banana bread is my favourite lazy day breakfast food. And by lazy day I mean Monday to Friday, working week where I do not have the time to make breakfast in the morning. Well, I just value my sleep more and I'm not that much of a breakfast fan. But I know I'll get hangry and have no energy an hour later so in my adult life thus far, I've made it a habit to eat breakfast. Adulting at its finest, eh?

Jibber jabber aside, when I make this, I slice it up and can either it cold or warm it up (the latter being my preference). I would wrap it up in foil to keep it warm,  and carry it to eat on the tube...during rush hour...lush. Now I tend to eat it whilst I'm doing my make up, and it's nod messy like cereal or a smoothie BUT...it's so filling!

Ingredients:

2 cups oat flour*
1 cup self raising flour*
3-4 large bananas
1 cup plant milk
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon (I add more cos I love it)
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp coconut oil (optional if oil free)

I use gluten free flour - I but gluten free oats and grind it to flour in the blender, so I always have some on tap. Gluten free AND vegan baking is different from the "norm" so keep checking the oven to make sure the mixture hasn't burnt/dried out.

METHOD:

Mix the flours and cinnamon sugar in a bowl together.
In a blender, mix the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
Transfer the wet ingredients to dry and combine until fully mixed.
Grease a bread tin or line it with baking paper.
Transfer the mixture to the tin, put a few banana slices on top to decorate and put in the oven for thirty minutes.
Check to see whether the mixtureis firm or not. Leave in the oven for ten minutes.

Once down, take it out on a cooling rack and serve anyway which you please.

Hope you enjoy!

♡ Peace n love ♡

Green Smoothie pt.1

Serving size: 1 large (meal), 2 small (snack) / Time: 5mins

So, this is one of my go to green smoothie recipes. I have a fair few variations so watch this space! I often have this on Saturday morning when I'm not in a rush to go anywhere, but I've left it too late to eat anything and therefore deliberating whether to eat lunch or breakfast. I guess that means brunch but yknow when you just can't be bothered to make something? And you want something quick to eat? But filling and nutritious? Yeh, this'll do it for ya!

Ingredients:

-Big handful of spinach


-Handful of kale
-1/3 of a mango or 80g frozen mango pieces
-1 banana
-250ml apple juice
-200ml water (or to your desired thickness)
-Half the juice of one lemon
-Tsp of spirulina
-Tsp chia seeds (optional)

Method:
Funnily enough, just whack into a blender (after you've washed all your fruits/veg ofc - click here to see how I wash mine thoroughly) and Bob's your uncle!

Hope you enjoy this refreshing smoothie!

How to wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly

Washing your produce, no matter where you get them from, is essential. Not just because they might've dropped somewhere, or that they're expose to the elements, but because (unless they're home grown), they are usually covered in "nasties". By nasties I mean, pesticides, preservatives, and a whole other bunch of chemicals and toxic elements that we do not need in our system. Unfortunately, running things under water just doesn't cut it anymore, so I've got a couple of quick tips when it comes to cleansing and eating the things us vegans apparently only eat. Yeh, I went there.

1) If it's not organic, try not to eat the skin. Although people agree to disagree with this, (Google is free y'know, how do you feel about this?) It is best to peel off the skin on produce like apples, cucumbers, potatoes etc, as it removes any residual pesticides lurking in the skin.

2) Use a brush and soap to wash hard fruits and vegetables - Soap?! I haven't gone mad, I promise...yet. I often have a designated washing up brush and pour a little bit of fairy liquid onto the brush, and scrub my produce clean. An old wives tale, or a Caribbean thing it may be, but it works.

3) APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. I have a whole post coming on this nauseating beauty right here. But in the meantime, one of it's many uses is getting any nasties off your produce, especially on smaller or more delicate ones such as berries. Use 1/2 cup or 100ml for (e.g) a couple of punnets of berries and a punnet of plums. Optional, alternatively AND concurrently use 2 tsp of bicabonate of soda too. Soak produce for 10-15mins, use hands to gently wash produce under plain water too.

Hope this helps!

I'm back! But I hate vegans??

At the beginning of 2016, I wrote a post here on why I've decided to go vegan...absolute cringe at that...you'll see why if you click HERE. But through trials and tribulations, slip ups and finding my own flair, I'm proud to call myself vegan!

I personally think I'm a pretty good vegan, imo, FYI...just saying.

Now I know there's apparently "different" types of vegans which I feel is kinda elitist and snobbery. If you're vegan, in my opinion? Doesn't matter whether you're an ethical vegan or not. The end goal and outcome is the same. We don't eat/consume animal products and we're doing our best to be more environmentally friendly. I went vegan for purely personal reasons but just because my initial mentality for doing so was selfish per say, I'm not vegan for the right reasons? Bullshit. (There's no filter on this blog, btw.) I'm still vegan for health, but also for ethical and environmental grounds too.

The end goal is EXACTLY the same as us vegans, in one way or another, have the same end goal - whether it be for health, ethics, environmental reasons or whatever, none of us are contributing to the cruel industry of animal production for selfish gain.

Now, forgive me for any grammatical errors or if anyone takes offence to this (I'm ranting without the editing), however, self righteous "I'm ONLY vegan for the animals and health vegans are sooooo annoying" vegans need to step back down off their high horses. Instead of denigrating those in a community that we are ALL apart of, let's uplift each other and unite to try and spread awareness to those not engaged with veganism. You want to eat kale salad everyday? That's cool. You wanna eat potato waffles and vegan nuggets all the time? You do you. You want to spend your free time preaching the benefits of veganism whether it be for for the self or the ethics? Also good. You wanna sit and drink three glasses of vegan baileys whilst writing a blog post? Well...ok? Anyways, let's stop criticising each other on "who's a better vegan" and just make like a smoothie and chill :)

Let's sway veganism from the superfluous, prestige and borderline charm offensive omniscient flair us vegans more often than not get categorised as. Let's spread ALL the benefits of veganism that have benefited us and can benefit others too!

Notting Hill Carnival, 2017

Anyway, rant over. I'm *hopefully* back and ready to blog about all the food, fashion, beauty etc etc etc so I'm hoping anyone crazy enough to even read my blog, will find something helpful...or probably somewhat hilarious. Here for your entertainment. Follow me, it's free ;)

♡ Peace n love ♡

(Ps - was defo drinking a lot of the new vegan baileys, so excuse the rambling. Btw, It's lush...blog post on it soon, probably 4 bottles later...)

December Glossybox! The Rose Gold Edit

A much overdue post on the December Glossybox, especially as January's box has arrived, and February's box is around the corner, nevertheless, here it is!

This month's box came in a pretty (almost rose) gold packaging, Their theme was rose gold or something to that effect if I can remember that far back, but I guess it was reminiscent of that 'gold glam' look most associated with Christmas *boo*.

Inside the Box (left to right)

Etre Belle – Golden Skin Caviar Eye Roll On

This is cooling gel is designed to keep your eyes looking bright, perfect for the ‘party season’. I place this in my fridge for extra ‘coolness’, and place under my eyes when I come out of the shower. Not too sure if it’s worth the £31 the full size retails at, but it sure does wake up my dreary morning eyes. Might stick to the old cucumber trick in the future when this runs out though.

Full Size: £30.66 | 7/10

Philosophy - Purity Made Simple

Now, I haven't used this product, but I feel like this would be an ideal cleanser for the face to carry with me when I'm travelling or going on holiday. It claims to remove all traces of dirt and oil, whilst being gentle and calming on the skin. Personally wouldn't purchase it for myself as I'm quite satisfied with skin care routine, but as I said, will be suitable to pop in the bag if I'm staying over anywhere I don't have access to m usual cleansers.

Full Size: £18

Cheeky - Chat Me Up Nail Paint in 'Peach Love'

Another nail polish to add to the collection which I can't complain about! As far as I know, there were two options for the nail polish, a bronze-y shimmery gold colour, appropriate for the party season, and the one I got, a baby pink colour...which I LOVE. I wouldn't say it's very holiday season appropriate, but I love it regardless. It's quite nude in the sense that I think it would suit most occasions and would go with a lot of outfits. Also, I'm a sucker for anything baby pink. The finish it normal on the nails, and I think with a good top coat, would last longer than the two days it did without chipping.

Full Size (included): £7 | 7.5/10

Essence - Liquid Lipstick in 'Show Off'

A very apt and bright colour for the party season. At first, I was apprehensive about the colour choice being bright pink, as I felt like it would be too bright for my medium-brown skin tone, however, with the spring season approaching, I think a bold colour would be fitting..just need the confidence to wear it! It has a stick, viscous, lipgloss-like consistency that I'm not a fan of. but I'm sure I could pair it with a dark lip liner or base colour.

Full size (included): £2.50 | 6.5/10

So Susan - Statement Skin Highlighter Pencil

Tis/Twas the season to highlight? Highlighting has become a major staple in my makeup routine, and this highlighter, I must say, is absolutely beautiful! I have to worry with certain products being too ashy on my skin complexion as I have strong yellow undertones, but this highlighter I feel caters and will suit most if not ALL which is always a positive. A universal highlighter, compact and easy to carry, that glides on perfectly, leaving a subtle gold shimmery glow to the skin.

Full size (included): £15 | 8.5/10

Starskin Bio-Cellulose Second Skin Mask

Out of four masks, I got the brightening 'After Party' mask, designed to brighten up your skin after late nights, and partying during the holiday season. It claims that there is a 30mls of a vitamin packed serum in the mask to hydrate the skin. I'm always after masks that claim to do just that, so this was a bonus. I planned to use it before I went out for NYE but sadly didn;t have the time to I feel like I will save this for a relatively 'special occasion', such as an important day/night out or even before my birthday or so as a luxury treat to myself. Who doesn't like to pamper themselves?!

Full size (included): £8.50

2016 Resolutions + WHY I've decided to go vegan

I'm a person that likes to have goals to focus on, so when January 1st comes around, instead of getting the 'January Blues', I see the start of the year as a 'new beginning' if you will. Fair enough to say that yes, I may or may not stick to these goals (I broke two simultaneously at 2am on January 1st but we wont go into that...), but a goal is a goal to becoming a 'better you'...or at least a more content you.

So. here are my goals/resolutions for 2016:

-Be an active blogger/YouTuber
-Drink at least 1.5L of water per day
-Lose that pesky 15lbs that is just hanging around on my body!
-Maintain a good hair care routine
-Try to battle/diminish my acne once and for all
-Apply for my PGCE course
-Travel/go on at least ONE holiday
-Move BACK out of London
-Eat well, exercise more (even if it is only 10mins a day!)
-Eat gluten free (I'm gluten and wheat intolerant but I still torture myself with products containing said gluten...*sigh*)
-Eat mostly vegan...

...but...why an earth am I going vegan?!

For me there are many reasons why I am going vegan, and cutting out dairy from my diet, from an ethical stance through to health reasons.

1) I'm lactose intolerant
- Now, this is funny. I'm a vegetarian, and have been since lent/end of February 2009. The only dairy products I ate were cheese, eggs, butter/spread on occasions, and sometimes if I'm out and about, products containing dairy such as cheese & onion crisps for instance. Also pizza. YASSS, PIZZA.

Now, that might seem like a lot of dairy, but the only product I'd eat every day is cheese, and only a couple of slices of it too (as of the last couple of years). During my 1st year at uni (2013), I gave up dairy completely for lent (not religious, just for funzies)...never in my life have I felt so deprived of something. It. Was. AWFUL! But I did it regardless. When Lent was over, I went back to eating dairy, but not in a large quantities I did before (by large I mean 1kg of cheese and a tub of Philadelphia a week...minimum...yep). Summer of 2013 came around, and I was determined to get fit and healthy, and realised that I was eating mostly as a vegan, so I went vegan for 6 weeks until it was time for me to go back to uni...where I became 'pescatarian' for a year or so. I realised that my body was not having a pleasant reaction to dairy after the summer, which was only exacerbated by gastroenteritis and other health complications the following winter/spring. So, since 2014 I've had an on/off relationship with dairy, until December 2015 where I would be in absolute dire pain whenever I ate dairy, and practically fine (I say that because I have IBS as well as a gluten intolerance...*SIGH*), when I used dairy alternatives.

2) Not so good for acne sufferers
- If you follow me on Twitter, or you're a good friend of mine, you know how down my acne can make me feel. I've had it since I was about 10/11 (I'm now 21), and I haven't been able to determine the cause of it. Aside from dairy, my diet is alright, I used to exercise a lot as a teen, always cleansed my face, and generally took the appropriate steps to clearing my acne. However, I would always get bad breakouts, which I can handle, it's the years of scarring that follows. I cannot decisively say whether cutting out dairy has helped as I have just had another breakout *cries*, but I didn't have a spot in the first week of cutting dairy out of my diet (which is a record!!), and I have generally been getting less spots since cutting down on my dairy intake last month.

3) It's a by-product of an animal
- I feel like if I stay on this too long, I'll be sick. Milk from cows = milk for baby cow. Cheese - pus cells. Ew. Ew. Ew. It shouldn't be for human consumption...who an earth thought that it was a good idea to milk a cow for our own consumption?! Also, pus cells. EWWWW.

4) Why should the lifespan of an animal, be there purely to serve for our selfish dietary consumption...?
- We don't do it to our beloved household pets. Are they not animals too?

Now, I'm not so articulate on the industry of dairy/meat, nor do I necessarily want to at this point in time (as it quite distressing to hear), but for me, it's high time to say goodbye to dairy. Will I occasionally eat the odd cheese & onion crisps? Maybe. Will I give up honey? Most certainly not! Also, some gluten free products such as bread do contain dried egg whites, so given any particular circumstance that I'm in that will require me to divulge in such products, I might have do so. Hence why I'm 'mostly vegan'.

Five Bean Chili (Vegetarian and Vegan friendly)

Here is a quick, easy and healthy style five bean chili served with rice and quinoa!

Ingredients:

-Mixed Bean Salad

-Chopped Tomatoes (I made mine from scratch which I liked better than regular tinned ones!)

-Rice and Quinoa (I used leftovers)

-Onions

-Garlic (I used garlic paste)

-Herbs and spices (I used: mixed herbs [thyme, coriander, oregano, basil], paprika, cumin, tumeric, chili powder, salt, black pepper)

Method:

-If you do not have pre-cooked rice and quinoa. I recommend 'Tilda's' own brand which I have used in the past, or make your own blend which should take around 20mins to cook.

-In a pan, melt some oil (I use coconut oil), sauté a generous amount of chopped onions and add a dash of salt, black pepper and garlic to the mix.

-After washing and draining them, add the beans to the pan and cook for 5mins.

-If making the chopped tomato sauce  from scratch, blend four medium sized tomatoes with some mixed herbs and salt. Pulse the blender for about ten seconds so the tomatoes are not 'runny'.

-Add the tomato sauce to the pan after the beans have. and reduce the temperature to a low heat so it can simmer. (Add mixed herbs in at this point if using tinned chopped tomatoes)

-Add paprika, cumin, chili powder and tumeric to the mix.

-Serve the chili over the rice and quinoa, and enjoy!

Nutritional Values per serving: 280cals/44g carbs