Homemade Granola

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Breakfast is my far my most favourite meal of the day! I could have breakfasty foods for every meal. To be honest there are some days where I have. Having a sweet tooth means that I enjoy the sweeter options, but dont get me wrong I still love a good egg. Although I said I like sweeter options I almost always go for healthier options rather than the sugar loaded cereals or pancakes. So, I have a topping of least 2 pieces of fruit whether it be on porridge, weetabix, pancakes or my of all time favourite - granola and Greek yoghurt. 

But, and Im sure you have heard it before, most store bought granolas have more sugar than needed. As a result of this I did exchange granola for muesli for a short time, which is still a delicious breakfast but granola just tops it because its crunch. But a few weeks ago, I dont know why the thought had never occurred to me before, I thought Id give a go at making my own.

Id like to say I nicely gathered together a few things I either look for in store bought granola or things I add on top, but it was more like I basically raided the cupboards and threw a bunch of stuff in a bowl. After making it a good few times and tweaking little things, I thought I share my recipe with you. Of course, the ingredients dont have to be strictly followed as you can change things to suit your preferences, for example if you dont like walnuts go for almonds or cashews, if you dont like raisins go for dried cranberries or goji berries.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup walnuts, crushed
• 1/3 seeds, I had a mixture of sunflower, pumpkin and flax
• 1 cup of raisins
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp honey
• 4 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

Yields around 6-10 servings

1. Preheat your oven to 160°c. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Melt your coconut oil in a pan or in the microwave. If you are using a microwave, melt it in bursts of 30 seconds. Once it has almost melted add in your honey and return the pan or microwave for another 10-20 seconds.

3. Pour the coconut oil and honey onto your dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Pour the mixture into a baking tray or dish and place in the oven for 10-20 minutes, mix the granola at around 7 minutes. Check after 10 minutes and return to the oven if you want it to be crisper. I prefer mine when it is in between muesli and granola, you get the best of both worlds (and the Hannah Montana song just popped into my head).

5. Once it has baked, allow to cool before transferring the mixture to sealed container. It should last for up to 2 weeks.

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My Skincare Routine

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It has taken me quite a while to find myself an effective skincare routine, to be honest I think this is the first proper one Ive had and stuck to. If you read my acne story, youll know about my skin type and that I tried countless products. For those of you who dont know, I have the very annoying combination type skin. By which I have an oily t-zone, which can at the same time get dry and flaky, alongside normal cheeks. Finding products that dont completely dry out my skin, but at the same time dont send it shooting up to the oily end, is pretty difficult. So I try and balance out the products I use to suit all my skins needs.

First of all, at night anyway, I remove my make-up. It may sound strange, but I dont use the typical make-up removing wipes or some kind of special make-up removing lotion, I use baby wipes. Okay, I know it may not remove make-up as well as other methods but I personally wear very little - a bit of concealer, mascara, eye-liner and a dab of powder, and I find they work just find. In my opinion, they are much gentler on the skin with no harsh chemicals, as they are made for babies. Im using Simples Soothing Chamomile Moisturising Wipes. An added bonus is that they are more economical - around £1/£2 for 80 wipes opposed to 25 wipes specifically for removing make up around the same price.

Next, Ill cleanse with Clean & Clear Deep Action Cream Wash. I use this both in the morning and at night. I find this product to be really effective whilst still feeling gentle on the skin. As it is a cream wash, it feels so nice when applying to to the skin and afterwards my skin doesnt feel dried out and tight, which I have found with quite a lot of cleansers. Furthermore, its oil free!

Around 2 or 3 times a week I will use St Ives Apricot Scrub - only at night time. Im sure youve heard many people talk about this product and quite a while ago too. Im not late jumping on the band wagon as Ive been using this for around 2 years now and, once I learnt that its not to be used every night, I could see why everyone loved it. Its a product aimed at oily/blemish prone skin, and although it doesnt have a major impact on my skin, the salicylic acid in it helps to keep some control over blemishes. This is oil free too.

After cleansing, Ill use Simples Kind To Skin Rich Moisturiser. Ive wrote a full blog post review on this (here), but it is perfect for adding the right amount of moisture my skin needs.

Last of all, every night Ill apply a small amount of Duac, which is initially a benzoyl peroxide gel. Again, if you read my acne story, youll know that my doctor put me on prescribed medication and this is the product Im using at the moment and it works much better, on my skin, than salicylic acid. 

Around once every week or fortnight, Ill use a face mask. I have a choice of 2, depending on what I feel my skin needs. If I think it needs a nice deep clean Ill use Botanics Ionic Clay Mask. This was the last product to be added into my routine and I love it! You can really feel a difference after using it, my skin feels so soft, fresh and clean. With many clay masks, Ive found them very over drying on my skin, but this one not so much - I tend to put a little extra moisturiser on afterwards. 

On the other hand if I feel my skin needs a little umpf, Ill use a honey mask. Simply applying a thin layer of honey all over my face, massaging it in and then leaving it for 10 minutes before washing off. Honey has many benefits for the skin, it helps soothe and fight acne, moisturises and gives a healthy smooth glow.

And thats pretty much it. Whats your favourite skin care product at the moment?

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A Batch Of Birthday Cupcakes

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Happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful 2014 - I feel like Im still stuck in 2012. Whether you where in full blown party mode or asleep by 9pm, Id love to know how you spent new years eve. Also have you made any resolutions/goals for the new year, I shared mine the other day in this post.

Usually, on new years we have another big meal like at Christmas and, since its also my brothers birthday on the 1st January, it means more cake. The food galore continues! But as we still have half a Christmas cake left, a big box of biscuits and a years worth supply of chocolate, I opted to baked a small batch of cupcakes. I thought Id share this little bake with you.

I mainly used the Healthier Mini Vanilla Cupcakes from EatGood4Life, but halved the recipe which made 8 cupcakes. However, I think I put a little too much in each case and I could of made an extra one - which would have been perfect as my brother turned 9. I also went half and half using brown and white sugar.  

Measurements I used :

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence 

Lets face it this is what baking for the majority of people looks like, well I hope its not just me, spilling the mixing everywhere. 

Also, there was some left over chocolate in the cupboard, from making Christmas treat gifts. So I half filled the cupcake cases, melted down the chocolate, placed a spoonful of chocolate in the centre of each case and then put another spoonful of cake batter on top. They turned out wonderfully. I think this is a brilliant little go to recipe and can easily be jazzed up by simply adding some icing. 

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A Special Birthday Box Perfect Gift Idea

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Today is my mums birthday and unlike past years, where I have just given her a simple generic gift, I wanted to make this years something special. Theres always that one person who is hard to buy for - in my case thats my mum. She isnt a make up person, doesnt like scented things and never really states or even hints at particular things. So I popped onto pinterest to try and get some creative ideas. Then I came across Clarinas Contemplations with the idea of finding key events from the year the person was born and then relating gifts to it. Its brilliant!

I went on over to Wikipedia and found key events of the year she was born and began brainstorming related gift ideas, baring in mind I wanted to include as many home-made things as I could - thats one thing I know she loves.  This was a few weeks ago so I thought I was doing well, not leaving things to the last minute as usual. But then I got really busy and only managed to pick up my list of supplies earlier this week. This then meant that my brothers and I had only 1 day to put it all together - yesterday. 

Excuse our wrapping skills

One thing I found quite funny though is the fact that each day this past week, Ive had to sneak a few things from the kitchen (cake tin, electric whisk, flour etc) and gather them in a hidden box in my room. As we went to my dads to put the gift together and bake the goodies, so we wouldnt need to kick my mum out the house for a day, but he isnt much of a baker so has literally no baking utensils or ingredients. Im not sure whether my mum noticed the things disappearing or not.

Yesterday was none stop! I was up and out the door by nine, had a hair appointment first, then it was a day with my brothers full of crafts, baking a birthday cake and biscuits and wrapping - lots of wrapping. We cant forget the licking of the bowls and eating the leftover biscuits mmmmmm.

The gifts each had a tag on them with the key event and a little message so shed understand how we are relating them. We bought one of those big cards and a balloon to go along side the birthday box and presented them to her with the delicious cake - yum! She loved it and because we had been thoughtful about it all, it was much more satisfying watching her open them. 

Id highly recommend doing this idea for someone special for their birthday, its a way of showing them you care as youve put time, thought and effort into it. 

Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. Its all about the memories. - Buddy Valastro

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