This week I’m sharing with you my super quick, easy and affordable recipe for Rawnola. Using just store cupboard staples and a high powered blender, this mixture can also be used for making bliss balls to have on hand for an energy boost snack, without the hidden nasties found in packaged products.
Store the Rawnola in an airtight container and enjoy as a topping on yoghurt, mixed with your favourite cereal or even straight from the jar because believe me when I say, this tastes like cookie dough!
Celebrating Valentines isn’t something we’ve always got involved with, however with it falling on hump-day this year, it felt like the perfect excuse for a midweek date night at home.
My boyfriend surprised me with this gorgeous bunch of red roses and the cutest card with a pop-out teddy bear.
Inspired by some stunning hairstyles I’d found on Pinterest, I decided to try putting my hair into a French Roll and it turned out so well. It was giving chic and sophisticated vibes for our date night, I’m obsessed.
I set the romantic mood in our dining room with candles and music whilst I set the table ready for dinner. It’s the little touches that make dinner for two at home special, like using our nicest gold cutlery with lovely napkins and putting condiments into aesthetic serving dishes.
It was midweek Mexican night, so we made our favourite burrito bowls with a side of chilli cheese nachos and all the dips of course. A bottle of red wine, candles lit and dinner served, we felt like we were in our own restaurant.
Mexican feast devoured, we moved to the lounge to watch ‘How to loose a guy in 10 days’, a romantic comedy classic perfect for V-day night.
I love a cosy date night at home and this was the perfect way to spend our Valentines evening together; simple and fuss-free, yet super cute and romantic ❤
English summer is well and truly here and I couldn’t be happier for my favourite season of the year ahead. There’s already lots of social events in the calendar for July and we’re kicking off our summer with a holiday to Kemar in Turkey at the end of this month, I can’t wait!
Friday evenings recently often look like this; we head to our local pub The Mutton where they have a stunning newly renovated garden overlooking the gorgeous Hampshire countryside. It really is the ideal setting for sundown drinks and the food is amazing too.
This week we celebrated my boyfriend’s mum’s birthday and so we invited his parents and grandma over to try our favourite vegan Mexican chilli bowls for a midweek dinner.
Our Mexican night went down a treat and we enjoyed a wonderful evening together as the sunset showered our dining room during golden hour.
I’ve also treated myself to some new pieces in my wardrobe this month which always gets me excited to try new outfits and looks. I’m loving my new velvet square toe mules perfect for wearing with flares, and this new taupe coloured top which is completely backless. Elevated basics are my go-to currently.
And of course next month my sister is due her baby and I’m thrilled to be an Auntie very soon. On Friday I invited her and her partner over for drinks in the garden to catchup and enjoy the evening sunshine. She’s looking radiant even now almost full term in pregnancy, I’m a very proud sister.
Today we went over to Farnham to see a car show which was a lovely weekend activity to get us up and out on a Sunday morning. It wasn’t as big as we’d anticipated, but the line up of red Ferraris basking in the sunshine was incredible.
I find summer is also a great opportunity to switch up my workout routine and get outside more. Moving my body everyday is a non-negotiable and with the warmer weather and longer days, I find myself more active with bike rides and walks as well as my daily home workouts.
So that pretty much sums up my life lately; lots of social occasions, family time, Fridays at the pub with friends, planning our summer holiday, getting outside and moving my body differently everyday, and enjoying those long summer evenings sipping a delicious drink in the garden at golden hour. You can’t go wrong with the Moth drinks for a good quality cocktail at home, perfection!
Following about a year and a half living in our house now, the spare room has gradually evolved into my dressing room. So given that we don’t have people to stay over for the night too often, we decided to replace the bed with this gorgeous white sofa bed kindly handed down from my boyfriend’s parents.
This fits perfectly with the other white furniture also in this room and lets the black and gold details on the cushions and in the art work hung on the wall do the talking. Minimal, simple and oh so chic!
Naturally this has now become my walk in wardrobe of dreams and I’m obsessed.
I’ve always had a passion for fashion and find dressing up and experimenting with my clothes a fun and creative outlet.
Now I have this gorgeous space to plan my outfits, play dress-up and take photos within the surroundings of my dreamy dressing room.
The newest addition to my wardrobe is this beautiful DKNY handbag, a classic staple which I know I’m going to get so much use from and love for years to come.
I wore this ensemble for my Dad’s birthday celebrations last weekend. It was giving me those polished, French Riviera vibes and was the perfect colour palette match for a photo in my elegant new dressing room; tres, tres chic ❤
As the sun sets on summertime here in the UK, I am making the most of these final days of summer with my favourite smoothie bowls for brekky.
Whilst frozen banana is a must for the base of any thick smoothie bowl, you can swap out different fruits according to your personal taste. My current favourite combo lately has been simply banana and blueberry. Blend together 1 frozen banana, a few handfuls of frozen blueberries, a splash of soya milk and a couple of ice cubes until that delicious super thick consistency is reached.
Best served in a coconut bowl, that deep purple colour from the blueberries makes for the most aesthetic bowl of goodness. Top with granola and more fresh blueberries and you have the most tasty, sweet brekky containing only natural sugars and healthy raw ingredients. You could even make your own granola, but my latest go-to store brought granola of choice is the Pret classic blend.
Sadly I will soon have to be swapping my colourful smoothies for warming bowls of porridge… Autumn is well and truly on the horizon babes!
Happy sunny Sunday babes! It’s a scorcher of a weekend here in the UK so I’m taking a little break from the sun and doing some recipe testing. In fact, this can hardly be called a recipe when it literally uses only one ingredient – cashews!
It’s so hard to find a good quality, creamy cashew butter in the supermarket, so I prefer to make my own to achieve that desirable, silky smooth consistency.
Simply roast a batch of raw cashews for 10 minutes and let them cool, before transferring to a blender and whipping them up. It does take quite a bit of blending and mixing, but it’s super satisfying to see the cashews transform from powder, to a sort of dough until finally becoming nut butter.
I’ve always used my Magic Bullet blender which does the job for small batches like this, I just make sure to let it cool a little every so often to avoid over-heating.
My personal preference is to add a generous pinch of salt to my cashew butter to bring out that delicious roasted nut taste, but this is of course optional.
Super simple, cheap and healthy home made cashew butter perfect for drizzling on porridge, dipping apple slices into or even spooning straight from the jar – delish!
With the shorter days and cold winter nights drawing in, there’s nothing like a comforting bowl of soup to warm the soul. As pumpkins only seem to be readily available around halloween in the UK, I’ve made the most of it this year and made a large batch of delicious pumpkin soup to share with family and freeze to enjoy well into the winter months.
Using my own twist on an old Jamie Oliver recipe, I kept it simple on ingredients to let the pumpkin flavour do the work. You will need:
1/2 large pumpkin
1 large onion
1 large carrot
4 cloves of garlic
750ml of vegetable stock
200ml of soya milk
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
The first step is to cut the pumpkin into large segments, keeping the seeds for roasting later, before placing the chunks on a baking tray and drizzling with a generous glug of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 170celsius for about an hour until soft and the skin caramelises.
Meanwhile chop the garlic, onion and carrot and cook in a large saucepan until softened. Once the pumpkin is ready, add to the pan along with the stock, chilli flakes, salt, pepper and soya milk before blending with a handheld stick blender.
Continue to blend and combine the ingredients until a smooth, creamy consistency is reached. Add a little more stock if required and taste to adjust seasoning accordingly. I made this batch with a little kick as I decided to add more chilli at the final stage also.
I served my soup up in a coconut bowl for that wholesome aesthetic and finished it off with a swirl of light yoghurt and more chilli flakes. Other extras you may want to try are crispy kale, toasted pumpkin seeds or even just fresh sourdough bread on the side for dunking.
Using the ingredients as listed above made a very large batch of soup enough to feed the family and freeze leftovers for later. There is so much more you can do with the rest of the pumpkin too; roast the seeds for snacking and topping salads, add the chunks of flesh to a curry, or roast up in large steak size pieces and enjoy in a wholesome salad perfect with quinoa, feta and hummus. Colourful, sweet and nutritious, I only wish pumpkins were in season all year long!
Dani Aneka 