Mixed Bean & Chorizo Fajitas With Homemade Tortillas.

I wasn't going to post this recipe as it doesn't really contain much cooking but it really tasted delicious and its the first time I have ever made my own tortillas which turned out great although not quite round but not bad for a first attempt.

To make your flat breads you will need 250g of plain flour, 150ml of water and 2tbsp of olive oil.....and thats it! Its just a case of combining all your ingredients until they start to come together into a dough, kneed for a few minutes on a floured surface then split into 8 balls. Each ball has to be rolled out as thin as you can get it....the thinner the better, then placed into a dry hot fry pan for a couple of minutes each side or until you get a little colour on them. SIMPLES!

Now onto your mixed bean filling! Take half a chorizo sausage and cut into small chunks and fry in a dry frying pan until it starts to release its oils, then chuck in a can of kidney beans, 1/2 can of sweet corn and some diced red or yellow pepper. You can leave you leave it at that or add a few mexican spices if you wish, then dish up your mixed beans on to a plate then crumble half a packet of feta cheese on top.

I love to serve this dish with some humous, salad and some homemade avocado sauce, which is simply the flesh of a whole avocado blended with some natural yogurt and the juice of 1/2 a lime. When you realise how easy this is to make you will never buy a supermarket fajita kit again!

Thank you for reading.

LouLou.  

Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation Review.

I received this quite generous 10ml sample of the Maybelline Better Skin foundation in the post and was very excited to try it as I had heard and read very good things about it. I had been eyeing it up in boots for quite some time but wasn't sure whether it would be pale enough for me so it's great that I've got enough product for several days trial. 

After answering a few questions the shade they sent me was their palest shade 01 Light Beige and from looking at it in the tube I was a bit concerned it would be too orangey for me but when I actually tested it blended perfectly into my skin and matched exactly. This foundation almost seems to adapt to your skin tone as it looks quite a bit darker then my everyday foundations but on the skin its a perfect match which is often difficult to find on the high street. In fact I'd even go as far as saying I think this matches my skin tone far better then any other high street foundation I have tried which is a big statement for a pale girl. 

The product is quite thick in consistency which to be honest I find easier to work with, I found that applying it to my face with my fingers then working it in with my real techniques buffing brush the best method of application. A little really does go a long way with the foundation, I made the mistake of putting way too much product on the back of my hand and in turn applying a bit too much to my face and ended up having to wipe some excess away. When you get the hang of how much product to apply it blends like a dream, covering redness, evening out skin tone and matifying any shine whilst still looking natural. I would say this foundation definitely left a matt finish but is a lot more natural then other matt foundations, it doesn't look or feel heavy but gives substantial amount of coverage at the same time. 

Here are my before and after pictures and I am quite impressed with how well it has evened out my skin tone covering the redness around my nose and getting rid of any shine on my cheeks and forehead. It did make my skin look a lot smoother and airbrushed which is always a good thing!     

Today was a great test for this foundation as its been a scorcher and my home town recorded the highest temperature in the country! After spending the day out in the garden and running around after the boys in this heat I'm seriously impressed with how well this foundation wore. It seemed to keep me pretty matt most of the day despite of this heat although my oil did start to break through come early evening meaning the foundation did start to go a little patchy round my nose.

Once I've finished up this tester I definitely think I will purchase this foundation, I'm not sure I buy the fact that over time it helps improve your skin but I will follow up with my thoughts on that some other time!

Thank you for reading.

LouLou.

Weekly Menu.

This weeks dinner meal plan, as always I will try my best to blog as many recipes as possible!

Day 1: Mixed bean fajitas with homemade tortillas, feta and guacamole.

Day 2: Chorizo, bean and feta salad with couscous. 

Day 3: Gilled chicken satay with broccoli and rice. 

Day 4: Chicken and bacon salad with shaved parmesan.

Day 5: Garlic and chilli spaghetti with crumbled goats cheese. 

Day 6: Pork stroganoff with greens and rice.

Day 7: Homemade burgers, sweet potato chips and salsa. 

Day 8: Mixed vegetable curry and rice.   

So stay tuned for some yummy food posts! 

LouLou.

New Discoveries.

We are only 2 days into July and for me its already full of new discoveries and I am desperate to acquire! The first being the most yummiest sounding and beautifully packaged Sea Salt Caramel Truffles by Carbonnel et Walker available to buy in John Lewis here. These chocolates look absolutely divine what a perfect little treat for a special celebration like my birthday for instance HINT HINT!

The second in my new discoveries is not really a new discovery but a new release as such. I already own one of the Joe Malone fragrances from the 'Blackberry & Bay' collection which is my all time favourite scent but in September a new fragrance will be released in time for Autumn. The new Wood Sage & Sea Salt scent is supposed to reflect the smells of the seaside and evoke feelings of freedom and escape into nature with hints of salty sea air and driftwood.....I mean doesn't that sound amazing?! This is definitely one I want to get my hands on!        

Lastly a brand that is completely new to me Arran Aromatics of Scotland, based on the Isle of Arran which I visited almost 10 years ago on a school trip. I have such fond memories of this beautiful Island and I love the philosophy of this brand, their cosmetics being inspired by nature whilst being environmentally friendly using sustainable ingredients and recycled packaging. I have a huge wish list of products I would love to try here are just a few for you to see:

Feel good formulas seaweed and mineral salt scrub.
After the rain bath salts.
Sandalwood and lavender bath oil.
Feel good formulas rosemary and sage bath soak.
Feel good formulas cucumber and avocado facial scrub.
Sea mud cleansing and toning facial mask. 

I hope these will be some new discoveries for you too! Thank you for reading!

LouLou.

Grilled Halloumi With Chorizo & Chickpea Salad Recipe

Another salad for those who don't really do salads! This warm tasty salad is full of different textures which makes it a joy to eat, you could also make this vegetarian by leaving out the chorizo if you fancied a meat free day. The almost meaty texture of the halloumi makes this salad really filling you wont feel like you've 'only had salad for dinner'! So here is what you will need:

• 1 packet of halloumi.
• 1 lemon
• Small handful of mint leaves.
• 1/2 a can of chickpeas.
• 50g of lentils pre-cooked in boiling water.
• 1/2 a chorizo ring.
• 1/2 pepper.
• 2 spring onions. 
• Choice of salad.

The first step is to marinate the halloumi, cutting it into slices and drizzling a little olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkling some mint on top. Cover and refridgerate this for 20 minutes or for as long as possible meanwhile chop your chorizo into bite sized chunks and dry fry until it starts to release its oils. Add your chickpeas and pre-cooked lentils and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. 

Take your halloumi from the fridge and place on a baking tray and grill for 10 minutes or until slightly brown and crisp and the last thing you will need is some salad I like to use spinach and some shaved carrot and cucumber.

Before serving add some diced pepper and spring onion to your chorizo and bean mixture and then its just a matter of compiling all the salad elements! I like to spoon the warm chorizo and chickpeas on top of the salad then placing the grilled halloumi on top of that. A squeeze of lemon and another sprinkle of fresh mint will finish the dish off nicely! 

  

I've really enjoyed these kind of meals with week, trying to stay clear of pasta and potato based dishes has meant experimenting with more varied ingredients. Eating less starch rich foods has rid my body of the sluggish bloated feeling giving me energy and leaving me feeling full and fresh! 

Thank you for reading!

LouLou. 

 

June Favourites.

This months favourites may seem a little sparse....the fact is this month has been so busy with birthdays and events that I haven't had any time to discover many new loves. If fact a few of these favourites were only discovered in the last week of June so I may have posted about them recently or not got round to reviewing them yet so I am not going to waffle this post will be short and sweet!

Beauty favourites this month include the VO5 Give Me Texture spray, I almost always sleep with a wet plait so that I have effortless wavy hair the next morning without any kind of heat treatment. This spray helps with the textured tousled look and gives my waves a bit more definition and hold, I simply spray generously onto my wet hair before plaiting and it pretty much does what it says on the tin!

I managed to pick up one of The Body Shop scrub-gelee's in the scent blueberry whilst they were having a sale for a bargain price of £5! This scrub looks and smells like jam, the scent is just amazing so juicy and fruity and it does a great job of exfoliating the skin without being too harsh.

Now you may have seen my little Clinique haul post here.....well the two products I purchased are my all time favourites right now wearing them almost everyday! Neither I have got around to reviewing/swatching for you yet so I'm not going to say too much other then they are both fantastic! The Clinique cheek pop blush in 'peach pop' is just the perfect summery shade for my skin tone, I'm a bit of a blusher noob but you cannot go wrong with this and the quality is just incredible. My second Clinique fave is the new Longlasting Matt Lipstick in 'Matt Beauty' I'm such a lover of dusky pink lips so this shade was always going to be a winner for me. I could wear this lipstick all day every day and it definitely doesn't lie when I calls itself long lasting!

My random favourites this month are both food products....I have been loving drinking herbal tea at the moment and we have gone through a whole box of pick-a-mix Tea Pigs tea in less then a month (you can see my review here). The quality of the tea by Tea Pigs is just fantastic and the variety of flavour combinations you can get mean that you will never get bored! My last favourite is one of my most recent posts which is the Graze Breakfast box Subscription. Again another way of adding variety to what your eating whilst still being healthy, Graze breakfasts are both extreamly tasty and very convenient check out my review here to see how you can get your hands on a free box.

A quick note fashion wise another favourite of mine has been my brand new sale find the Zara Combined Office City Bag....annoyingly I forgot to include it in my favourite pictures but you can see my review of it combined with a what's in my bag here.

Thank you for reading.

LouLou.

Graze Breakfast Box Subscription.

Many of you may have heard of Graze before, they are a snack subscription box delivering you weekly goodies that are healthy, tasty and convenient. Graze not only do snack boxes for adults and children but they also do a breakfast box too! When I saw some pictures of peoples Graze breakfast boxes I knew I wanted to try it, I struggle with eating breakfast and get bored of cereals quite quickly so this seemed the perfect way to introduce some variety into my morning meal.

The Graze breakfast box contains a variety of porridge, muesli and granola and like the other Graze boxes you can go online and remove any you don't like the look of and rate which ones you are more interested in trying. I was open to trying them all so did not make any changes on my online account and this was the first box I received. I love the fact that they personalise your box I mean how cute! Inside your regular Graze cardboard packaging are 4 portions of breakfast cereal in handy sachets which would be great to throw in your lunch box if you wanted to have breakfast at work.

In my box I received 3 granolas and 1 muesli, I didn't receive any porridge in this box which is unfortunate as I would have liked to have tried one for even more variety. All of the flavour combinations sound absolutely scummy and each portion size is reasonably generous too! What I really like about the breakfast box is that provided is a little booklet containing the nutritional information for each cereal and amount of calories per portion which is great if you are keeping track of what your eating.

This morning I decided to have the 'La peaches provencal' granola sachet from my box with fat free natural yogurt, peach slices and mandarin segments. It was an absolutely delicious breakfast and the granola's are especially yummy with fresh fruit added but would taste just as nice on its own with milk.

So far I am loving the Graze breakfast box and if you would like to give it a try too you can get yourself a free box here with the code VGL331K3.    

Thank you for reading.

LouLou.