Let's Cook - Cauliflower Pizza.

Hi there Folks,

I love pizza. Love love love! But, I'm trying so hard to watch what I eat and let's be honest, pizza is not the healthiest of foods! Which is a shame because it tastes so good. Now, I'd see some recipes for cauliflower pizza floating around Pinterest so I decided that I would give it a little go. I won't lie, I was sceptical, I don't mind cauliflower, especially when it's smothered in cheese sauce, but it's not my favourite vegetable. The recipe I used as my inspirations and guide is this one from Eating Bird Food. So here's how I did it...

It really is as simple as chopping up a cauliflower, blitzing it in the food processor, cooking it in the microwave (no need to add anything) for 8 minutes, mix it with some cheese, an egg, salt, pepper and herbs and form into a pizza base. It then needs baking in the oven at about 180°c for about 15 minutes or until it's golden. Then you just need to add your toppings, we had chicken, onions, peppers and spinach, and pop it back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese a bit. But just a note, your toppings need to be cooked before adding them seeing as it only gets cooked briefly.

And there you have it, it really is that easy. No hours of rising and kneading and knocking back...simple! The most important question though, does it taste good? The answer to that is YES! Ok, it's not a Domino's pizza but it is delicious and so much better for you. I imagine it'd be a great way to sneak veggies in for kiddies too...I asked my boyfriend to guess what it was made from and he literally had no idea it was cauliflower.

Have any of you tried making cauliflower pizza? Or do you know of any other healthier choice pizza variations that are out there? I'd love to hear!

Ciao for now,

JB.

Instagramming #1.

Littlest niece is growing fast, the wonders of modern physiotherapy, a smattering of snow,  banana bread, roadtripping, working out,  Lincoln, cheeky treat, 15 minute meals beef stroganoff, veggie soup, healthier Sunday roast, night time essentials, cauliflower pizza, Flight, Topshop - Junkyard, choccy choccy, new sneaks, radioactive porridge, two of my favourites, safe place, collaborating, go hard or go home, cheeky Frankie & Benny's, pretty candle

Let's Cook - Super Simple Vegetable Soup.

Hi there Folks,

Last Sunday I had the biggest craving for vegetable soup...I know, weird right?! Craving veg soup over chocolate is not like me at all!! I wanted it so bad that I ended up going to Tesco to pick up the bits I didn't have so I could make it. It was such a success, super simple to make, done inside 30 minutes, really tasty and super healthy. I'm pretty sure you could eat an entire humongous pan of this and it would only be like 200 calories, but you wouldn't need to because it's nice and filling! Plus I'm pretty sure there's a decent chunk of your 5 a day in one bowlful, I'd guesstimate it's at least 2/3!

So as you can see the soup consisted of red onion, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, courgette and spinach. The reason it's super simple is because I literally chopped the veggies up into smallish chunks, added them one by one to the pan, added 2 litres of vegetable stock and then let it simmer for around 15 minutes. Then I added the spinach just to wilt it a bit and I gave it a tiny little blitz with a hand blender. See, super simple. The whole thing takes maybe 25 minutes to make. In fact I cooked up another batch the other morning whilst making and eating breakfast. 

Ok, so the final product isn't the prettiest soup ever, it's very...green. But it's tasty and full of goodness so I think we can forgive it, yes?

please excuse my chipped bowl and the slightly dodgy photo!

Do you guys have any other lovely super simple soup recipes? I'd love to share some!

Ciao for now,

JB

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Bargain Beauties #3.

Hi there Folks,

Today I'm going to share with you some of the bargain beauties that I've acquired over the last couple of months. I should probably stop buying make up because I already have more than I need but I just can't resist when it's £1!!

L-R: Chit Chat pink glitter polish in ???, Rimmel Exaggerate liquid eyeliner in 007 (does this make me a Bond girl when I wear it?!), Covergirl Shine lipstick in 470 Nude Shine, Covergirl Shine Lipstick in 465 Peach Shine, Revlon Just Bitten lip stain in Lust. 

Swatches L-R: Covergirl Shine lipstick in 465 Peach Shine, Covergirl Shine Lipstick in 470 Nude Shine, Revlon Just Bitten lip stain in Lust.

I've really been loving the eyeliner actually, its a beautiful navy blue. Seeing as I tend to keep my make up quite basic during the day I think its really good for adding a little pop of colour to my everyday make up without being too loud.

And here's a final shot of the lip stain in action. I actually really like the colour, I have naturally quite pinky red lips, so I think it works nicely with my natural pigmentation to make a more berry, plum colour. The two Covergirl lipsticks are very sheer, so you can't really see the colour very well on my lips and my lips are in no fit state to be concealed out to show off the colour. But they feel nice and smooth on the lips and they just add a nice subtle hint of colour and shine.

Have any of you scored any bargain beauties recently? I have more to share too so stay tuned!

Ciao for now,

JB.

Let's Cook - Rice Fakesagne.

Hi there Folks,

You may or may not have seen the post I did on Leek Lasagne a little while ago, where I replaced the lasagne sheets with cooked leeks for a lower carb option. Now I love lasagne, it's beautiful, but its just so calorie heavy, what with the pasta and the mince and the sauce and the cheese. So I wanted to try and make a lasagne with fewer calories so I can eat more chocolate...haha!

Our idea was to make a lasagne, but replace the pasta sheets with compacted rice. Now technically it's not lasagne at all, but I'm going to keep on calling it that because I can!

Here's how I did it...

First you need to make your basic bolognese, this can be with any meat of your choosing or of course veggie if you wanted. I used lean mince beef in ours. I also like to pack my bolognese with lots of veggies as this bulks it out without adding loads of calories so I added onion, pepper, mushrooms, grated carrot and the customary chopped tomatoes and passata...mmmm!

Once you have your bolognese, it;s just a case of layering it up with your rice and squidging it down. I also added a little bit of grated cheese between the layers seeing as I didn't use a bechamel sauce as I would normally do with lasagne. Then you just pop it under the grill to crisp up and Bob's your Uncle.

I must say it was realllllly tasty! And super filling too, to be honest, if we weren't greedy we could have easily eaten half of one each with a nice salad on the side, maybe I'll do that next time.

Does anyone have any other yummy fakesagne ideas they would like to share? Please do!

Ciao for now,

JB

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Cinema Round Up #1.

Hi there Folks,

I've decided that instead of doing a weekly film review style post, I'm just going to do a round up at the end of each month of the ones I've seen and what I thought etc.

January has been a flipping good film month, there has been so many that I've wanted to watch and I feel sad that I've not been able to see some of the ones I wanted. We've even been tempted to go twice each Wednesday as I have orange mobile and we also have orange broadband so we can get two codes...but we just don't have the time these days! :[

1. Seven Psychopaths

Now I wasn't really sure what this film was about before watching it, apart from that it's about seven psychopaths, but I did enjoy it. It was funny and witty and I think that Sam Rockwell (Wild Bill in Green Mile) plays a very convincing psychopath. I was excited also that two of the actors from Boardwalk Empire were in it as that's one of my favourite shows but that was short lived as their part was teeny tiny. I thought overall that it was interesting, with a funny, slightly quirky storyline, but just fyi, it's a bit gruesome!

Image from here

2. Pitch Perfect

This was such a feel good film! I love singing and dancing and musicals and I really really enjoyed this, it just made me feel happy and now I really want to join an acapella group! I think Anna Kendricks is beautiful, I really liked her in End of Watch (even though she only has a smallish part) and she has a smokin' hot voice too...what a winner! Also, Rebel Wilson is hilarious! So yes, although it's not going to win any awards, for me this was jolly, funny and overall an enjoyable film!

Image from here

3. Les Miserables

Holy freaking cow I am beyond obsessed with this film. I'd say it's almost verging on weird! I'd never seen Les Mis before and I didn't even really know what the overall storyline was about. But I LOVED IT!! In my opinion Hugh Jackman is incredible, I obviously have no other Jean Valjean to compare him to, but he was brilliant and what a cracking voice he has too! Ooh those high notes! As I just mentioned, I love a bit of singing and I really wish I'd got involved in the musicals my school put on when I was younger (one of which was Les Mis) and after watching this I really want to run away and join the west end. I think I would love to be Eponine, On My Own is such a beautiful and heartbreaking song and I can't believe I've missed out on all this until now! Even my boyfriend (who doesn't generally watch musicals ever!) really enjoyed it. I have had the soundtrack on repeat for the last two weeks now...love love love. I highly recommend a watch!!

Image from here

3. Django Unchained

Going into this film I'd literally not seen a single trailer, because it's an 18 it obviously wasn't shown before any other the other films we'd seen recently, so I literally had no idea what it was about at all. As with all Quentin Tarantino films, it's pretty gruesome, there's lots of blood and violence, so if you're not so keen on those kind of films I'd steer clear. The characters are brilliant, I particularly loved Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. Schultz (Christopher Waltz), they were a witty and entertaining pair. I think the film was very well written and felt really empowering and being the lover of chick flicks that I am I really enjoyed the little hint of romance thrown in there as well.

Image from here

4. Lincoln

I was looking forward to seeing this film after watching Django Unchained the week before, seeing as they both focus on similar topics - slavery. Although it was a tough choice between this and Zero Dark Thirty...that's next weeks pick I think. Anyway, I did enjoy this film, although I felt like the first hour of it dragged on forever, but after that I did get quite into it...Lincoln seems like a cool guy!

I also think that Lincoln and Django Unchained have been educational for me. I gave up history when I was in year 9 (age 14) and I'm pretty sure my school never taught us anything about slavery or American history so I literally know pretty much nothing on the topic, not even that Lincoln got assassinated ..how bad is that!

Image from here

What a great month of new films it has been! And there's still so many good ones to watch; Zero Dark Thirty, Gangster Squad, Flight, The Impossible and Movie 43 are still on my list of must sees. Be sure to check back next month to see which ones I managed to watch and what I thought!

Have you seen any good films recently? Please share your thoughts!

Ciao for now,

JB.

Favourites #1.

Hi there Folks,

I've decided that along with a monthly film round up I'm also going to share with you my favourite things of each month. I'm not going to limit my favourites to any categories, so expect to see a range of different goodies that I've really been enjoying. Let's get to it...

1. Actifry

We got our Actifry for Christmas and we haven't looked back since! We got the 1.2 kg one in black and it cost £109.99. So it is expensive, but I really think it was well worth the price, considering we have used it pretty much every day since we got it. You can eat chips everyday and not feel guilty...it's brilliant. And it doesn't just do chips, you can do egg fried rice, bolognese, risotto, stewed fruit...the list goes on! It comes with a little recipe book too that goes into the evidence behind it and has loads of different recipes in it. Winner!

This is the same as the one we have. Image from here

2. Les Miserables

Since watching Les Mis in the middle of January I haven't been able to get it out of my head. The songs just keep going round and round and round, but I guess it doesn't help that I have the soundtrack on repeat. I must say though, I'm highly disappointed that Who Am I isn't on the soundtrack as I love that song! Seeing Les Mis has also sparked a huge appreciation for Hugh Jackman...what a guy! I've linked a video of him at the Oscars a few years ago...if you've never seen it I highly recommend a watch, it's brilliant (and Anne Hathaway is in it too, she's also really good)!

3. Kindle

I got a Kindle for Christmas off my dad and step mum and I'm really enjoying getting into reading again. Although I've not had huge amounts of time to read as I've had assignments to write, but I've managed to get through a couple of books and I'm currently reading Jon Richardson's book It's Not Me, It's You! It's really amusing and talks about his obsessive compulsive personality disorder and how it impacts on his ability to find and keep a girlfriend. If you don't know who Jon Richardson is, he's a UK comedian who actually comes from the same town as me (woohoo!), he looks like a little elf and his comedy shows generally revolve around his obsessive compulsive habits and perfectionism. It's not the most well written book ever, but it's light hearted, amusing and has highlighted my own little obsessive quirks (having the toilet roll facing the right way, anyone?).

4. The Schuerman Show

My boyfriend thinks I'm really weird for watching day in the life vlogs, but I love them! I love watching YouTube videos anyway - it's totally my flow occupation! I like to say that I enjoy them so much because I'm almost an occupational therapist so I'm really interested in how people like to spend their time, but really I'm just nosy! Anyway, I digress, I've been watching Sam Schuerman's beauty channel for a little while now and I think she's brilliant, she's seems so happy and jolly and says some of the most hilarious things (holy crudmoly!) and when her and her beautiful little family started making daily vlogs again I knew I had to check them out. Firstly, her and her husband are just so ridiculously sweet and secondly she has the most beautiful children ever! And she seems like a wonderful mama and I like this! So yes, The Schuerman Show - check it out!!

5. Simple Moisture Boost Hydro Cream

This stuff is my skin saviour! The weather in the UK can't make it's mind up what it wants to do, so one minute it's freezing, the next it's snowing, the next it's wazzing it down, and then it's gale force winds. That's a lot for my poor, dry, sensitive skin to contend with. But thanks to this wonderful cream my skin has been so much happier. It's quite thick and I tend to use it at night after I've Sonicleansed my face (you can see my review here). It has really helped clear up my dry patches, particularly around my nose where it is chronically dry. Plus it's from Simple so it's not filled with as much junk as other creams and it's not too expensive either, around the £6 mark I think. Which is more expensive than other Simple moisturisers, but they just don't cut the mustard like this does.

Image from here

I think that is everything that I've been really enjoying for the month of January. I love seeing what other people are enjoying so feel free to link your posts and YouTube videos because I'd love to see them!

Ciao for now,

JB.

Go Bananas...

Hi there folks,

I decided this afternoon that I would whip up a little banana bread seeing as I had a couple of manky bananas floating about and I really don't like eating them when they're all brown and gooey. So what better way to use them up than to make some yummy treats.

The basic recipe that I follow is this one from UKTV Food. Because I never seem to have the right sugar, I thought I'd try using half molasses and half golden caster sugar and I also added a some chocolate spread to swirl in and marble it a little. Also, today I chose to sack off the nutmeg and add a very generous sprinkle of cinnamon, because as far as I'm concerned bananas, chocolate and cinnamon are great mates!

And here is the finished product....

It turned out delicious! However, there was some major crumbling going on...that could be due to the sugar, but I don't really care because it all eats the same!!

I really want to try some other yummy flavours in my banana bread, does anyone have any recipes they could share for next time?

Ciao for now,

JB

Scrub-a-dub-dub.

Hi there Folks,

Today I thought I'd share my views on the Rio Sonicleanse with you all. I'd been interested in a Clarisonic for a fair while but I just couldn't justify spending over £100 on something to clean my face with. I'd heard of the Sonicleanse before and then I saw this video that A Thrify Mrs made about it and that got me thinking. When I watched the video it was right before my birthday and my boyfriend was struggling for what to get me so I suggested it and the rest is history.

That was nearly two months ago and I've used it pretty much everyday since I got it, give or take a couple of lazy days, and I really really love it. I'd heard that the battery on it wasn't the best, A Thrify Mrs said that hers had lasted 3 weeks initially and had got progressively less as she'd charged it. But I charged mine up at the beginning of December when I got it and it's only just needed re-charging yesterday...so that's over 6 weeks of use! However, as it's only just been recharged I can't say whether or not mine has decreased. I don't know how long other people use theirs for each time either, I personally only do 2 minutes because I have sensitive skin and I feel like that is plenty, so maybe that's why it lasted so long, but I'm so impressed none the less.

Like I just said, I have sensitive skin and it's also pretty dry, so I was worried that the Sonicleanse would aggravate it or make it worse but I've found that used with a good moisturiser, its helped get rid of some of the stubborn flaky bits, especially around my nose and on my forehead.

I've also been impressed because I was fully expecting to have an awful purge stage right around christmas with loads of nasty breakouts, but I really didn't. I've never been one to have breakouts anyway but I was expecting a couple so I was pleasantly surprised. I've only found that I've had a couple more on my cheeks which I don't normally get, but that's only been in the last couple of weeks when I've been quite stressed with uni work etc., so that could have contributed.

I've been using it with my Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean cleanser which I've really been enjoying and it has such a lovely smell, nice and fresh! I've also used it with the Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser as this is what I used before I had the Soniclease and I have a stockpile of it from when it was on 2 for £4, but it works nicely also.

Because I haven't used the Clarisonic before I can't say whether or not it compares to it, but to be honest, it doesn't have to, I like it just as it is and I'm quite happy to stick with the cheaper option!

Have any of you ever tried one of these snazzy 'giant face toothbrushes' (this is what my bf calls it...he knows nothing!). Please do share what you think!

Ciao for now,

JB

Update...

Hi there Folks,

I'm so naughty, I totally said in like November that I was going to start blogging regularly again...epic fail!! I won't make up any excuses, I just did not have the time. So I thought I'd write a little update of what's been going down over the last couple of months! In the 6 weeks before Xmas I was on placement, which was such a wonderful experience, but what with having to plan what I was actually going to do with the clients, plus research, plus writing reflections and working in the evenings and weekends, I was just spent!

Then it was christmas, which was wonderful! It was the first one my boyfriend and I had actually spent together which was so nice, every year my parents say they aren't doing a big christmas and they definitely lie! So yes, it was lovely to go back home and spend time with both out families and eat, drink and be merry!

Then I had my dreaded assessments...urgh! They really seemed to step it up a level in third year, I didn't think they'd be too bad and I never really get stressed about work, but this time I did! But three weeks of solid work, two written assignments, one presentation and one all nighter later and I'm done! Well, at least until the next lot are due in...slightly terrifying that in 7 months I will (hopefully, touch wood) be a fully qualified occupational therapist!! EEEEK!!

So yes, this has been my life! I really want to try hard to at least put three posts up a week, I'm not going to make any promises as I'm pretty sure that my work load is going to go through the roof very soon, but I will try my best!

I thought I'd share a few photos with you all of what I've been up to lately, just to liven things up a bit! Ooh also, I'm trying to do some sort of photo a day challenge on my instagram (jordybuzz), so feel free to follow to get a daily snippet of my life, come say hi if you do!

birthday meal - sonicleanse - pretty ice - xmas stockings - xmas tree - my dog having a rummage - uni work - two of my faves - kindle time - cosy socks - amazing film - make up play time. 

Hope you're all well!

Ciao for now,

JB

Let's Cook - Leek Lasagne.

Hi there Folks,

So I thought I would share a super yummy alternative to Lasagne, we've basically substituted the lasagne sheets for leeks! I first saw this recipe on The Hairy Dieters and thought I would give it a whirl. I didn't follow the actual recipe they did, I just made it up as per my usual style but I've linked it there for you in case you did want to follow the original recipe.

It is super simple to make, it basically involves just your standard mince bolognese, which I made in my slow cooker...in fact it doesn't even need to be mince really, it could be anything you like! And then your cheese sauce, so that could be a basic roux, or you could just put spready cheese like philadelphia on it, or whatever you fancy! The only bit that really requires work is getting your leeks prepared.

To make the leek sheets its best to use the widest leeks you can find as these will give you the wider sheets. Trim the ends off and rinse out any dirt that's collected between the layers. You then need to slice the leek lengthways, but only go half way through the width of the leek. This means that once they've been boiled, your leek sheets will be as wide as the whole circumference of the leek. You need to take the inner most layers out as they're too small to do anything with, so I just trimmed these up and put them in the bolognese. Once your leek is sliced, pop it into a pan of salted, boiling water - I did this in frying pan that was wide enough to lie the leeks down in. Boil the leeks for a good 10-15 minutes, you need to make sure they're nice and soft otherwise they can be a bit tough to cut and chew. Once they're cooked just separate and dry them with a clean tea towel and there you have your leek 'lasagne' sheets!

So basically you just then assemble your lasagne as you would do with a pasta lasagne - I do meat, sheets then cheese. Get them layered up, top with cheese and pop in the over for 15 mins to melt the cheese up :] One thing I will say is, try to make sure your bolognese and cheese sauce are a thick and sticky as possible. The leeks don't absorb any liquid like pasta sheets would, therefore I can turn out a bit watery.

Here's just another shot of the finished product for you to drool over!

Please let me know if you try this or if you have any more alternative pasta dish ideas!

Ciao for now,

JB

Eat Like A King.

Hi there Folks,

So I'm a student. Students are renowned for living off 10p noodles and generally eating rubbish...in my first year of uni, I'm pretty sure some of the guys I lived with literally lived off chicken dippers and toasties. But not me. I love food and really couldn't cope with the idea of not being able to eat well. So I thought I'd share how I manage to live on a student budget and still eat like a King!

Now before I start, I must say that I'm not really your average student. I live with my boyfriend and neither of us really drink. I know alcohol plays such a big part of being a student, but I really can't justify going out and spending £30 on a night out. I don't feel that I gain anything from doing that apart from a massive hangover (which I hate) and a guilty feeling that I could have put that money to better use.

I generally budget up to £50/week for food shopping, which is for both me and my boyfriend. This buys more than enough food for both of us and also allows us to keep our cupboards, fridge and freezer well stocked. Jake's Grandma always used to say that your freezer is your bank. Which I totally agree with. When it gets to the end of the month and things are a bit tight, we always have a selection of meats just chilling in our freezer ready to make something with. 

Now I know if you live in student halls you're really limited on fridge and freezer space, in my first year I literally had half a shelf in the fringe and half a drawer in the freezer. I tended to take stuff out of packets where I could, I cut mince into single servings and freezer bagged it etc so I didn't have loads of plastic taking up valuable space! 

Meat can get quite expensive, I'd love to be able to buy free range chicken and eggs, but at the moment I simply cannot afford to. To save money, I buy basic range frozen chicken breasts, where you get around 2kgs for about £4. I also buy basic range chicken portions which are even cheaper at about £3 for 2kgs. These are really handy as you can just take one or two out to defrost whenever you need them. I also buy whole chickens or ham joints when they're on offer or available at a good price. I tend to slow cook these, shred or chop them and then keep them in tupperware in the fridge and use it in place of sandwich meat. I've come to realise that sandwich meat is really expensive! If you want to buy anything that looks remotely like a real piece of ham you're looking at about £2 for 5-6 slices. Whereas you can pay maybe £3 for a whole bacon joint that weighs 1.5kgs and would last so much longer! Then you can make yourself a really good looking sandwich to take to uni which means you don't have to pay the extortionate sandwich prices!

I also buy reduced meat wherever possible. This is key. If you go to the supermarket at the right time of day you can get some absolute bargains. In the past I've got silverside joints of beef reduced from £7 to 80p! These reduced items are so worth investing in if  you've got the freezer space to store it. I also buy reduced bread wherever possible too...I don't think I've bought bread full price for months. I find that I can then freeze it and use a slice at a time or put it in tupperware in the fridge where it can stay mould free for ages! A few weeks ago we went to Asda just as they'd reduced a load of bread and croissants down to 5p a pack! We filled a trolley up and it came to £1.45...needless to say we won't need to buy any more bread until at least next year. I find that things tend to get reduced around lunchtime and then again towards the evening. Evening time is when you get the best reductions as they obviously have to sell it before they close otherwise it just goes in the bin.

When it comes to fruit a veg, I like to try and got to my local fruit and veg stall as I find it you get so much more for your money. I can got and buy enough salad for a week (and my boyfriend eats it everyday, sometimes for lunch and dinner) and it'll cost about £3.50. And its really good, locally grown produce. My university also does a fruit and veg box scheme, where for £5 a week you can get a box full of fruit and veg that is all grown locally. Failing that I get myself to my local Aldi and see what they have on the 39p/69p deals and buy that.

Finally, if you want to eat well, I think its really important to know how to cook. I've lived with people who really have no idea how to cook a meal (I got asked how to cook bacon and make mashed potato when I lived in halls), and they therefore end up living off 10p noodles or domino's pizza. Now the noodles are cheap but they have no real nutritional value and Domino's is not only expensive but so so bad for you (although I will admit it tastes amazing lol!). I think knowing how to cook really benefits us as we can just throw whatever we have in the fridge together to create something tasty, which will really help save you money and allow you to eat tasty, home cooked food every day!

I hope this helps guys, please feel free to share any tips that you have in the comments!

Ciao for now,

JB

M.I.A.

Hi there Folks,

So I've been slightly MIA for the last few weeks...ooops! I started back at uni at the end of September and they really upped the ante this year! I knew final year would involve a lot of work but blimey...I  think I spent about 2 weeks just reading articles. So yes, that teamed with trying to juggle three jobs and keep my house looking reasonably presentable and spend some time with my boyfriend meant I was struggling to find time to blog. I didn't realise before I started this blog how much time it actually takes up writing posts and promoting and networking etc.

So I'm going to start trying to blog regularly again, but instead of posting everyday, I'm just going to aim for 3 times a week as I think I have enough time to do this and produce posts that I'm happy with.

Hope you're all well!

Ciao for now,

JB

Coming Soon...

Hi there Folks,

I just thought I'd give you a sneak peek of what's coming up at JB's Eats & Treats in the next week or so...

Teehee, this is all I will say for now, keep an eye out for the posts coming shortly!

Ciao for now,

JB

What I'm Loving #3.

Hi there Folks,

So its What I'm Loving Wednesday numero tres!! I realise that is it now actually Thursday which is a stinker but I just didn't have time yesterday to sit and get this post written and posted so I'm afraid it's a day late, but there will be 2 posts today to make up for this!

The first thing I'm LOVING this week is tiffin! It's official, I'm a little obsessed. I made some of this on Sunday because my friend was coming round for tea and it was all gone by lunchtime Monday. It was just so yummy but so bad for me!. There will be a recipe up shortly, I highly recommend that you give it a go!!

Now, last week I was loving my Heat Holders, but my lovely new slippers have now arrived so I'm going for a double whammy slippers and Heat Holders toasty, warm combo!! I got them from here.

My final love is having more time! I'm back at uni now and although I'm still working quite a bit and I have quite a bit of uni work to do, I have a lot more time to myself to do what I like, so I've been crafting and cooking up a storm. I'm going to post a few of my projects in the coming weeks for you all to see!

Hope you're all well, please do share what you've been loving this week in the comments.

Ciao for now,

JB

Bargain Beauties #2.

Hi there Folks,

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the nail varnish that I'd managed to pick up in Poundland and today I thought I'd share the few little bits of make up that I'd managed to find too!

So these are the bits that I have, I've got 2 Revlon ColourStay 12 Hour Eyeshadows in 03 Pink Opal (top) and 04 Champagne (bottom). Then I have the Sally Hansen Diamond 12 Hour Lip Treatment, I think the colour is Gem but its a nice peachy colour. Next I have the Collection 2000 XXL Volume Sensation mascara. Now I'm sure you can still buy this one in Boots full price so this was a steal, I really like it too! 

I also have one of the controversial Stila products that they weren't meant to have, this is the Angel Light powder refill in shade B. Then finally I have these Revlon Mix & Mingle lip gloss pot in 280 (top) and 265 (bottom). These are great just to keep in my bag for those times I may fancy something a bit nicer on my lips. I'm fairly low maintenance with my make up most of the time so something like this can just make me feel a bit more done if I'm wearing minimal make up.

So there you have it, some bargain beauty products and I enjoy all of them! Have you found any bargain beauty products recently? Please share!!

Ciao for now,

JB

DIY Salt Spray.

Hi there Folks,

So as someone who has hair in that awkward 'growing out of pixie crop' phase, coupled with the fact that although I have a lot a hair, it's quite fine, I find that I'm needing a little help to make it look how I want it to.

Now, before I was a student I used to buy Lee Stafford's 'I Hate My Hair The Day It's Washed' spray which is great. But at over £6 a bottle it's something that I'd rather not buy and use that money towards something else. So I make my own. Now the Lee Stafford spray isn't a salt spray, but it does take away that slippery, fly away texture of hair when it's washed and just gives it a bit of hold without making it greasy. And I find that the salt spray does virtually the same thing, plus it adds a bit more texture rather than my hair just being straight. 

So what I do to make it is take an empty spray bottle (this one cost 39p from Home Bargains). Add some sea salt to it, I personally use sea salt but I guess table salt would work just as well...it's the same thing after all! I then add a dollop of hair conditioner and also a dollop of hair gel just to add some extra hold and protection. Then fill your bottle up with warm tap water (not boiling...as I discovered the first time it may well just melt the bottle!) and give it a shake to dissolve the salt and mix the conditioner and gel in.

And there you have it, your very own salt spray to give you that lovely texture and hold if you have unruly hair.

Have any of you made your own salt spray before? Or have any other recipes for other hair goodies that I could try? Please share!

Ciao for now,

JB