Homemade banana and oat granola!

Today I thought I would do something a little bit different and blog about this amazing granola recipe that I recently discovered. This is a super healthy snack/breakfast and this recipe has so many more benefits than going and buying granola from the shops. This recipe is super quick and easy. Feel free to change the recipe around to make it perfect for you, take out or put in as many ingredients as you like.

 

You will need:



                                          1 or 2 barely ripe bananas

                                          1/3 cup walnut oil (I didn't have this so I swapped it for virgin olive oil)

                                          1/3 cup of golden syrup or sweetener of your choice

                                          1 tsp cinnamon

                                          1/4 tsp nutmeg

                                          A pinch of salt

                                          3 to 4 cups oats

                                          1/2 cup of chia seeds (optional)

                                          1/2 cup of nuts of your choice

                                          Dry fruits (optional)

 

The first thing that you need to do is pop your bananas in the oven until the outsides go brown making them easier to mash around. This should take around 2-5 minutes.

the banana should look something like this after being in the oven

 

 

 

Now add the oil, syrup, nutmeg, pinch of salt, cinnamon and the peeled banana into the bowl. Mash everything around.

 

 

Now add the oats to your mixture. As the recipe goes on you may find that you need to add more oats if you find that your mixture is a little wet. Add the nuts of your choice and optional dried fruit and mix together (you can either mix by hand or with a mixer, its up to you)

 

 

Place the mixture into a baking tray and bake for around 25/30 minutes. Take out half way through and turn over to allow both the top and bottom to cook.

 

I put it with fruit and Greek yoghurt it is so yummy and a perfect healthy snack!

store in a cute little jar and use throughout the week as snacks and  breakfasts

Let me know if you try this recipe out!


Grace x
 

 

 

Christmas 2013!

Is it just me or has this year gone super fast? I can not believe that 2014 is just around the corner.

I know that Christmas was nearly a week ago, but there is still no harm in blogging a week later, is there? This year, it didn't feel at all like Christmas. However it was still amazing.

My Christmas day always starts opening a big stocking of presents from my mum and dad. I know that Christmas is not at all about presents, and to be honest I prefer the giving side of it. But I am SO grateful for what I received. I am super excited because this year I got a Fujifilm camera, this means better quality pictures and a lot more blog posts! yay!



This is our lovely tree (it looks a lot better with the sparkly lights on though:)

Such an amazing Christmas and such a lovely year. I hope 2014 turns out to be just as good. Happy new year to everyone. I am thinking of doing an blog post of all my instagram pictures from 2013 and share with you some great memories.




 

                                                      How was your Christmas this year?



- Grace x

Christmas Fitness Spirit!

So seeing as its the ultimate run up until Christmas (yay!) I thought I would do a little blog about my recent fitness routine. I think that Christmas is the time to pig out and eat whatever you want. Its also the time that I usually pile on the weight. However! this year I am determined to keep fit on the days counting down to Christmas and when we reach the most amazing day of the year, I won't feel as guilty for eating lots of junk.


My usual weekday meals:

Breakfast- so usually I start the day with some Weetabix, to spice it up a bit I tend to throw on some fruit and occasionally a bit of yoghurt. If I need to rush I tend to have some yoghurt with some chopped up banana on the top.

Snacks- Recently I have been loving to snack on the belvita breakfast fruit biscuits. But I do love good old fruit during the day.

Lunch- I tend to have wholemeal wraps for my lunch. In the wrap I pop in some humous, thin wafer chicken and a bit of salad. With the wrap I usually have some mini cheddars.

Dinner- I usually try to have a balance dinner but I cant always promise its the healthiest food.

Drinks- water/juice.


Weekends:
 Use weekends as your treat day.

Breakfast- I love scrambled eggs with some tomatoes (it is so yummy!)

Snacks- usually the same as weekdays unless I am having a treat, then I opt for chocolate (oops!)

Lunch- A lot of the time I tend to have soup as its just the easiest thing to make.

Dinner- (usually same as weekdays, although it probably isn't as balanced)

Drinks- Juice/fizzy pop.

Don't feel as though you have to be super healthy day in, day out. You don't really want your diet to get too boring which ends up with you slipping out of the healthy eating routine.

Exercise:

I am going to link an amazing work out which I have started to do. I like to do this near enough every day. Don't push yourself too hard. Just do what you think you can cope with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52uvwCi03yE

Let me know if you would like any healthy recipes from me!


                                                          Are you starting to get fit for the holidays?

Much love,
Grace x

Yummy chocolate brownies!

so today I have been baking brownies for a christening I am going to tomorrow. So I decided I would blog about them for you. These brownies are yummy and so easy to make. Here's how I make these rich, chocolaty brownies.. Enjoy!

 

 

 

To make a large batch of these tasty treats you will need:

 

275g/10oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) (or plain / milk if you want them sweeter)

275g/10oz unsalted butter
175g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
325g/12oz caster sugar
pecans, chocolate chunks, marshmallows, anything you want in the brownies!

 

 

Equipment:1 large bowl, 1 small bowl, wooden spoon, a whisk (optional), a sauce pan, scales and a sieve.

 

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas3. Line tin with lightly buttered greaseproof paper or foil.
Put the plain chocolate and butter in a large bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt.
Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla essence. Fold in the flour and treats of your choice.

Put in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the top is firm and the middle is still squishy.

Cut into pieces and leave to cool! You could also pop on some icing sugar for decoration.

 

Recipe inspired by:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/triplechocolatebrown_7685

 

 

I hope you have fun making them!

Much love,

Grace x

 



My Pamper Evening!

Today I am just going to explain and go through everything that I love to do when I'm having one of my little pamper evenings. I love to do these after a rough day to relax me a little or its just a really nice thing to do before bed sometimes.

So, the first thing I like to do is start to run my bath. I also love to have showers but I think that a bath is a perfect way to lay back and relax.
While my bath is running I like to light some candles. I just have some cheap ones and a yankee candle that I like to burn to set the relaxing mood. The things I put in my bath is a lush bubble bar which you crumble under running water to create tons of bubbles. The bubble bar I have is 'the comforter'. Then, I just throw in some herb bath salts. I never really used to like bubbles but as I have got older I feel like they are a protection over me.

The next thing I do is wash my face, my current cleanser is the Neutrogena multi defence gentle purifying face scrub to clean all the rubbish off from the day.

Once I have washed my face, I go and grab myself a cup of tea (probably sounds strange) but it really relaxes me and warms me up!

The next thing I do is get into the bath. Not really much to say about that!


The product that I use to clean my body is the original source body wash in coconut, its soo lovely! Or I also love using my Soap&Glory shower gel in sugar crush, it smells just like cola bottles mixed with lime, its such a nice scent! After washing my body, I wash my hair. If I am feeling fancy I use my herbal essences raspberry shampoo and then I like to apply my raspberry split end hair masque.
If I just want to wash and go, I use my Toni&Guy shampoo and conditioner for dry hair, its amazing. But, as it is my pamper evening I opt for the hair masque option.

While my hair masque is doing its thing, I like to apply a face mask. The face mask I love to use while I am in the bath is a Superdrug raspberry mud mask.

While I am chilling with my face mask and my hair masque on, I like to listen to music or read a book. Once I am done chilling, I rinse out my hair and wash off the face mask. Then I get out of the bath.

 

Once I'm out, I blow dry my hair and apply my night time moisturiser, my current moisturiser is the traditional boots cold cream. It is super lovely and always leaves my skin feelings nice and soft.

And finally I throw on a blanket, chill out and watch tv my the momma. <3

Much love,
Grace x

my ombre hair!:)

I know that ombre hair has become a bit of a trend lately so I thought I would blog about my mine. I will also include the dye that I used and products that I find useful:)
If you're unsure of what 'ombre hair' is, it is when you dye the tips of your hair (most commonly with blonde but can be done with others colours) to make it gradually look a bit lighter.

In April(2013) I decided that I wanted a bit of change with my hair after seeing girls with ombre hair, I just thought it looked really nice. I have found that it gives my hair a lot more texture and it just looks a bit more interesting.




I used the blonde to dark blonde to ombre my hair.
(Price- £6.63)

 

This dye is so easy! it comes with everything you need to ombre your hair. Before I did anything I decided how far up I wanted the dye to go, I decided that it should go from the tip of my ear to the ends. It comes with a comb which makes things super duper simple. All you have to do is mix the power into the dye, squeeze it onto your brush and then comb through your hair.


The amount of time you leave it on depends on how light you would like the blonde to be. Personally, I wanted mine quite blonde so I left mine on for 40minutes. But, the less time you leave it on, the more subtle it will be.

The pack of dye also comes with a little bottle of shampoo, which I may add, is really good! So after leaving it on for your chosen amount of time, rinse it out and then rub in the shampoo. It looked really weird the first time I saw it in the mirror, its so strange to have  two-toned hair.

I left mine to dry naturally because I didn't really want to add much heat after bleaching my hair as I know it isn't the best, and it did feel a little dry. But what you decide to do with your hair is completely up to you! After it dried I didn't really do much to it, however, I loved the outcome! I never seem to get bored of it and I cant imagine my hair being all one colour now.

 Products I find useful:
Aussie 'take the heat- 3 minutes miracle' shampoo and conditioner
Toni&guy salt spray- for my lazy hair days!:P
Toni&guy heat protection mist
Toni&guy nourish conditioner for dry hair
Aussie leave in conditioner
Herbal essences hair masque
VO5 shampoo and conditioner

Hair dye:  http://www.superdrug.com/loreal/loreal-wild-ombres-3-blonde-to-dark-blonde/invt/508351&bklist



                                                   Have you been loving any hair trends lately?

 

my recent Superdrug/Boots finds!

 I love Superdrug and Boots. I could stay in there for hours. Recently, I've found some really lovely things there. I did a little review of some of these products on my 'summer essentials' blog, if you're interested:)

 

I will try to add in some prices, if I can remember how much they cost! I will also put if I found it in Superdrug or Boots but they do sell similar things anyway.

 

1- Cranberry&Pomegranate body butter.

This is a lovely body butter. It smells so lovely, which is always a bonus! It always leaves my skin feeling moisturised and silky smooth. The formula isn't greasy and it is easily absorbed.

(Superdrug- £2.99)

 

2- Loreal Paris studio matt&messy shine-free salt spray.

I was looking for a salt spray for a while until my mum found this on offer for around £1.00(bargain!)

I really like this, it has a very similar out come as the Toni&Guy salt spray. It gives really textured hair and a really lovely beachy wave with a shine-free finish. It isn't greasy at all, either.

(Superdrug)

 

3-  Toni&Guy

- Toni&Guy- heat protection mist

as far as heat protecting goes, this is really good. It really protects your hair and leaves you with a soft, smooth finish.

(Boots- £2.99)

- Toni&Guy- salt spray (went more into detail about this on my blog about summer essentials:))

(Boots- £2.99)

 

4- Barry M gelly hi- shine nail paint. (again mentioned in more detail on summer essentials)

(Boots- £2.99)

 

5- Rimmel London apocalips lip lacquers (in 501 stellar)

I absolutely love this! It is such a lovely bright pinkish, coral. It adds a really nice pop of colour even if you wear it in winter or summer- either way it still looks amazing.

It applies like a lip gloss and sets like a lipstick. It stays on all day and still has a glossy finish. Even when it starts to rub off, it still keeps a pretty tint to your lips.

Love it!

(Superdrug/Boots- £5.99)

 

6- Olay gentle foaming face wash

I mainly only picked this up because it was the cheapest one I could see, however, I am so glad I did.

I felt so refreshed and my face felt lovely and clean after using this. It smells really nice and the smell isn't at all over powering. My face felt a lot smoother after using this. I am definitely going to buy it again.

(Superdrug- £2.99)

 

7- Kate moss lipstick (03)

I always find that nude lipsticks suit my skin tone quite a bit more than a red or a bright pink. This lipstick colour is perfect. It looks lovely on a tan but I think it would also suit paler skin too. The lipstick feels really moisturising when you apply it and it has a nice, glossy finish.

(Superdrug/Boots- £5.49)

 

8- Herbal essences hair masque.

I've never really used herbal essences products before, but recently I discovered the raspberry split end hair masque in Boots. Again, it was on some sort of an offer. I was looking for a hair masque because my hair has felt quite dry so it just needed a bit of pampering. My hair is also ombre which does dry out your hair and the sun doesn't really help. This hair masque is amazing! its a perfect summer smell. I leave it on for around 5-10 minutes and my hair feels so soft afterwards.

(Superdrug- £1.87)

 

9- Aussie 'take the heat' 3 minute miracle shampoo&conditioner.

They have been so lovely this summer. The heat has really dried out my hair, and this has been my go to shampoo and conditioner. You use the shampoo as normal and then leave the conditioner on for 3 minutes(hence the name) it leaves your hair feeling sooo soft! Aussie products always smell really good, too!

(Superdrug- shampoo £4.49

Conditioner £4.49)

 

10- Garnier body intensive 7 days- I did a whole blog post on this! if you have time, please do check it out:)

(Boots- £3.32)

 

11- Botanics gentle cleansing cream

I saw this on offer for around £2 and I thought id just have try it out and see how I get on.

It isn't my favourite cleanser, and, to be honest I haven't really felt that my skin has been much different after using it. Although, it is refreshing. I probably wont pick it up again but that doesn't mean that it is a bad product.

(Superdrug)