Sunday Beauty: Favourite Lipbalms

Hello :) I thought today, I'd share my favourite lipbalms- a nifty little product most ladies aren't without! When looking for a lovely lipbalm, I look out for natural ingredients & like supporting mostly Australian brands. Here are 3 I'm loving at the moment...

1. Tingling honey lipbalm (Moogoo) This is a wonderful everyday sort of lipbalm. It's moisturising, smells nice & has a lemony tingle when applied. 

2. Paw Paw & Honey balm (Suvana). I read about this moisturising lipbalm, when Zoe Foster talked about it (here). It's a beautiful paw paw balm, without the petrochemicals & has the nourishing benefit of honey. It's smells so yummy :) 

3. Red Dahlia tinted lipbalm (Burt's Bees) This is a fabulous tinted lipbalm, with a subtle red sheen. I like to use it when I want to wear a hint of colour, but don't want to hassle of a lipstick. It also comes in lots of other pretty shades too. I'm a big fan of the other Burt's Bees lipbalms too, especially the honey one!

What are your favourite lipbalms? 

Hannah x

Broad bean & ricotta dip

Hello :) First of all, I hope your Australia Day was fab! I had a great time wandering around the city, sipping lemonade & listening to choirs and jazz bands. I listened to triple J's hottest 100 in the afternoon and finished the day off with some vegemite toast, which seemed appropriate!

Well today, I have a really good dip recipe to share. My Nanna made this dip on Christmas day actually, and I've finally got around to making it too :) It's made with broad beans, ricotta & feta, and at first I thought it was guacamole! It's a little fiddly, as you have to peel the broad beans- but it's worth it. The dip has a beautiful creamy texture, perfect for dipping in vegetable sticks & crackers! And I used frozen broad beans too (so much cheaper!)

Recipe: Broad bean & ricotta dip (adapted from Donna Hay)
Ingredients-
2 cups blanched and peeled broad (fava) beans
200g ricotta
100g feta
1 clove crushed garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt & cracked black pepper
Method-
Whizz in a food processor until smooth. Drizzle with olive oil to serve.

Have a great weekend!

Hannah x

Broccoli & kale coconut curry soup

Hello :) Recently, I've been reading a fabulous blog called Stone Soup. It's all about simple recipes with five ingredients that only take about ten minutes to cook. Well, yesterday I came across a recipe for green curry of broccoli soup, which sounded pretty delicious to me. Luckily, I had some broccoli as well a bunch of kale, that needed to be used. Add in some rainy weather, and a comforting green soup seemed like the perfect lunch. 

Here's a link to the recipe :) 

I made a few adjustments, using a regular red curry paste instead of green & used almond butter instead of the peanut butter, although I might leave it out next time as I found it kind of clumped in the soup. I also added some cannellini beans for some extra protein and oomph! 

It literally took 10 minutes and was seriously nourishing & scrumptious. It was a great way to use kale, as I tend to buy it knowing how nutritious it is, but never really know what to do with it! 

Yummo! I also whizzed up the rest, and had it for dinner too with some crusty bread :) 

Well, I'm going to get back to watching Downton Abbey! There is just so much scandal ;)

Hannah x

Sunday Beauty: Oatmeal & Almond Meal Scrub

Hello :) So you know I love my oats. I love homemade muesli & have recently fallen in love with granola (made another batch this morning!). Well, let's talk about incorporating some oats into...your skincare!

Carla Oates (nice name!), author of feeding your skin writes: "oats are remarkably cleansing, healing, anti-inflammatory, softening and moisturising. They are also high in silica and therefore great for skin, nails and hair. For years, professionals have heralded oats as the healing grain, recommending them for irritated and sensitive skin".

Almond milk or oat milk paste cleanser (adapted from feeding your skin)
~Soak almond meal or oatmeal overnight in a milk suited to your skin type* and use the mix to cleanse your face in the morning. Both combinations are very cleansing and hydrating, and will keep the skin blemish free.
* most milks are fine for all skin types including buttermilk, goat's milk, rice milk, soy milk & even yoghurt. Buttermilk and skim milk are particularly beneficial for oily skin types and full cream milks are best for dry or dehydrated skin.

Last week, in my first Sunday Beauty post, I wrote about a simple body scrub, which was too harsh for the face. Well, using oatmeal or almond meal is fabulous and gentle enough for your face! I love popping some in a small teacup, with some milk (not too much, just enough to make the paste) and adding a drop or two of rosehip or jojoba oil. Adding a drop of lavender essential oil would be wonderful too. In the morning, your skin will be super cleansed and refreshed, especially as the mixture will be cold! 

If you're looking for a simple exfoliating cleanser, I recommend adding an oatmeal or almond meal milk scrub into your skincare routine :) 

Oh & my gorgeous peach roses started to bloom, and they were too pretty not to share again! 

Enjoy your Sunday! 

Hannah x

Fresh spring rolls

Hello :) This morning after a nice breakfast date with myself (which included a delicious vegetarian omelette, I must make soon!), Adrian came over to make...fresh spring rolls (or Vietnamese spring rolls) for lunch. They're fun, fresh and healthy!

Oh and after brunch, I came across these roses which were too pretty not to buy. How peachy!

Now onto fresh spring rolls!

I marinated some tofu in tamari, sesame oil & lemongrass. I couldn't really taste the lemongrass flavour, although it smelt divine. Any tips?

 Then I chopped up some cucumber, green beans, carrots & coriander and also soaked/drained vermicelli and cut up some leftover chicken schnitzel.

I find soaking the rice papers in a pan filled with hot water works best. So that's what we did! 

Making my tofu spring rolls :) 

They were some yummy morsels! A great way of eating crunchy raw veggies & dipped in some soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce, they're super moreish! I think adding some crushed peanuts would have been quite excellent too. 

Small & sweet strawberries were a nice treat afterwards...

Although, the real treat were these mini hazlenut cupcakes (courtesy of babycakes). Cute!

Well I'm feeling relaxed & ready for the weekend! I think it may include a trip to the markets, a stretch class, catching up with friends & probably lots of tennis watching!

Also! A little while ago, I was very kindly asked by the lovely Annette from Wellness WA (a fabulous blog you should check out, especially if you live in WA!) to write a guest post. I wrote about superfood raw fudge balls, which I whipped up for an end of year gift for my ballet teacher. It was very exciting to post a recipe on another blog & would be awesome if you checked it out :) 

Hannah x

Sunday Beauty: Energising Body Scrub

Hello :) Welcome to a new series on my blog, I'm super excited about! I'm going to be writing about beauty related posts on a Sunday. You can expect posts mainly on skincare (as I pretty much don't wear makeup), whether it be on simple skincare recipes I've made myself, product reviews or anything I can think of!

This first recipe, is a basic sugar scrub I made this afternoon after I'd done a lyrical dance class (at Sydney Dance Company) & came home exhausted. I wanted to make a scrub that would be moisturising as well as energising and uplifting. It's raining at the moment too, so it's always nice to take some time out to pamper yourself. And Sundays after all, are a perfect time.

Recipe: Energising Body Scrub
Ingredients- 
1/4 cup raw caster sugar
Glug of olive oil (don't use a fancy olive oil, any one will do)
1 teapsoon freshly grated ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 peppermint teabag or a few drops of peppermint essential oil

Method- 

1. Mix ingredients together. As you can see in the picture below, I didn't use too much olive oil. Just enough to coat the sugar really. Other oils would work too, such as macadamia or grapeseed oil which are full of good fats. 

2. On dry skin, gently massage the scrub in circular motions. Make sure to avoid your face though, as the skin on your face is too delicate for the sugar granules. I also tend to avoid my chest and neck. 

3. Rinse off in the shower. I find using a loafer works well. 

4. Moisturise afterwards for silky smooth skin! 

Well this scrub is certainly energising & I feel quite refreshed! I always find peppermint or mint tea to be uplifting so it made sense to add it to the mixture. Feel free to play around with the recipe. You might want to use sea salt instead of sugar, or hemp seed oil instead of olive oil. 

I hope you enjoyed the first post in my Sunday Beauty series :) 

Do you like using a body scrub? If so, what's your favourite...whether it's a product or one you might whip up yourself! 

Hannah x

Saturday eats...

Hello :) My Saturday started with a bowl of tahini granola, after Lyfina recommended this (recipe) in a comment. The granola is coated in a mixture of tahini & maple syrup, and although you can't really taste the tahini flavour- it sure does help make yummy crunchy clumps!

Then it was off to Orange Grove Farmers markets, where I had a delightful time with my family drinking coffee, sharing some mango tapioca (yum!) & buying wonderful produce. Wholemeal sourdough, avocados, semi dried tomatoes (bought from a deli afterwards), finger limes, handmade pasta & sauce, and a vegan chickpea curry (more information here) 

I am truly in love with semi-dried tomatoes at the moment. 

Reading & tea. My tea of choice was buddhas tears & I added crushed cardamon and cloves. Green spiced tea, a new favourite? 

It started to rain in the afternoon, so I whipped up some bran muffins again. 

Dinner time, and what a treat! Garlic & basil pasta and sauce we bought from the markets, with olives, spinach, mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes and basil. One of the best pasta dishes I've had in a while & full of fresh, local produce. 

So my Saturday has been quite relaxed, but full of yummy eats! Oh & what will I do with the finger limes from the markets? Well I remembered a pancake (recipe) from Heidi, which looks totally amazing so I think we'll be having ricotta and ginger pancakes with finger limes tomorrow morning. I can hardly wait :) 

What have you been up to this weekend? 

Hannah x

Buttermilk cake with nectarines

Hello :) This morning, Adrian came over to make a cake! A buttermilk cake to be precise. With sliced nectarines on top :) How delightful!

Here's a link to the recipe, on Heidi Swanson's blog :) Well I used a very similar recipe, from her book Super Natural Every Day. In her book, she adds another 1/2 of buttermilk and instead of 1 cup of raspberries, 8-10 plums are sliced on top. I used nectarines though, because they're simply delicious! And we added some frozen raspberries & blueberries in the mixture too.

Adrian did all the whisking & mixing, whilst I got all the ingredients ready. Good job!

Here's the cake, ready to go in the oven. 

Such a pretty cake, and simply scrumptious. It's soft and wholesome and the nectarines were wonderfully sweet. 

 We both had a few slices, and Adrian said (and I quote) "it's the best cake, ever!". So there we have it, this cake is a winner! 

Well lovelies, I hope you're having a fabulous week so far. I'm looking forward to a morning yoga class tomorrow, but for now I'm going to start the novel Water For Elephants. Have you seen the film or read the novel? I loved the film, so I'm quite keen to get started on the novel. 

Hannah x

Bran muffins

Hello :) A few days ago, I made these bran muffins. They were good. Like, really good! The recipe just works, trust me!  Again, they're from Super Natural Every Day & the more I read her book, the more I love her food philosophy and all of her recipes. These muffins have the goodness of wholewheat flour, pure maple syrup, oat bran & bran cereal (I used All-bran) & buttermilk. Like Heidi Swanson writes they have a substantial crunchy muffin top hiding under a tender, barley sweet crumb underneath. Just scrumptious!

Here's a link to the recipe :)

As you can see, I also wrapped them in baking paper & sprinkled a few blueberries on top, because that's what the bran muffins at Luxe bakery in Newtown look like! 

Now, where's my piccolo soy latte...? 

Hannah x

Yummy Granola!

Hello :) Well it would appear it's already 2012! I had an awesome New Years Eve and had a great view of the fireworks, which really were spectacular as always! And these past few days have been really relaxing...I've been reading a lot, swimming at Coogee beach & going for morning power-walks. I've also been going through and trying on clothes, and figuring out which pieces I'm going to wash to sell. Why? I'm having a stall with a friend at Glebe markets this weekend! Super exciting!

Ok, now let's talk about food! As it's a new year, I naturally want to start making things I haven't made before. So I've decided to start with a new breakfast/brunch: granola! A little bit more decadent than museli & the perfect brunch for the weekend.

Here's a link to the recipe :) It's from Super Natural Every Day, a cookbook I'm just loving at the moment.

Oh and look at those crunchy morsels of oats, walnuts, coconut, orange zest and currants, which are coated with a combination of butter & maple syrup!

Some may prefer their granola with just yoghurt, but I prefer some soy milk too. 

Topped with caramelised banana, sliced nectarine and blueberries. 

There was plenty of leftovers, which I stored in a nice jar. 

But it's just so easy to eat...

And how easy it was to make! It's just a matter of combining the dry ingredients, then melting the butter, stirring in the maple syrup and pouring and mixing that well into the dry ingredients, so everything is coated with butter/maple syrup deliciousness! I can't help but wonder what I'll pop into my next batch. Dried figs, cinnamon, pepitas, sunflower seeds, raisins or hazelnuts...I could really go on...

Do you like making granola? What's your favourite combination?

Hannah x