Loves and loathes - February

OK so I know we are hurtling towards the end of March and here I am only just giving you the gossip on my faves and not so faves of February. But what can I say happened? Life happened is what.

My runaway winner for the month of February has been cake and lots of it (this theme is running into March as well dare I say it!). I do love cake at the best of times buuuuutttt at the moment I have a very moreish spot for anything a little bit spongy and swiss rolls are slipping down a treat, more specifically these Asda smart price (40p) raspberry mini rolls and they are sooooo mini that before you know it you have gotten through 2 or 3 or a packet (no? oh that's just piggy little me then ooops).

Next on my loves list is Rimmel's Stay Matte pressed powder. I won't hark on about it here as I did an in depth review only a couple of days ago which you can read about, well...in depth here.

My last love is this long forgotten but recently resurrected (read that as found languishing at the back of my dressing table drawer) eyeshadow by Natural Collection from Boots in the colour Heather, which looks a lot scarier in the pot that it does on the eye.

It's actually a really pretty purple-grey colour which looks really nice either as a wash of colour over the entire lid or used in a purple smokey eye look. Now as I've had this a while, I'm not sure if this particular colour is still available, but if you haven't tried the Natural Collection from Boots I'd definitely give it a go as I find the pigmentation in these little pots is excellent and at only £1.79 you can't really go wrong.

Finally for the month is this one loath. It's the Skin System eye make up remover from Asda.

I usually use Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth system and although I do use the Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion which is designed to remove light eye make-up, I always find it's not really enough to remove fully even the lightest of eye make ups, so I start my face cleansing routine by using a more heavy duty eye make up remover of which I am not faithful to any particular brand. So after coming to the end of my last bottle and seeing this in the supermarket I thought I'd give it a go. I wish I hadn't. I usually use a liquid type product (you can tell I'm not a beauty blogger can't you!) but this one is a cream and it does not matter how carefully I apply it to my eyelids with a cotton pad (and ladies we all know how gently we should clean the delicate eye area don't we now?), I just find all this product does is end up in my eye rather than remove my eye make up. So total fail and will not be repurchasing once this tube comes to an end.

So what things have you been enjoying/disliking recently?

 

Winter warmer a.k.a the quickest soup ever

This is the quickest soup I have ever made (apart from opening a tin that is!).  This chorizo and chickpea soup takes 10 minutes in total and serves 2.  You will need:

400g can chopped tomatoes

110g pack chorizo sausage (unsliced)

140g/5oz wedge savoy cabbage

sprinkling of dried chilli flakes

140g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 chicken or vegetable stock cube

1.  Put a medium pan on the heat and tip in the tomatoes followed by a canful of water.  While the tomatoes are heating, quickly chop the chorizo into chunky pieces (removing any skin) and shred the cabbage.

2.  Pile the chorizo and cabbage into the pan with the chilli flakes and chickpeas, then crumble in the stock cube.

3.  Stir well, cover and leave to bubble over a high heat for 6 minutes or until the cabbage is just tender.  Ladle into bowls and eat with crusty or garlic bread.

And that is it, that's as difficult as it gets!  The great thing about this soup is you can make it as spicy as you want by increasing the chilli flakes or just leaving them out all together if you don't like the spice.  I have also made this soup with spring greens and other green veg which I have had to hand, it is that versatile.

Enjoy x

Autumn yumminess

This is one of my all-time favourite easy dinners for autumn, so I thought I would share.

Roasted butternut squash with bacon, serves 2, prepare 10 minutes, cook 60 minutes.

You will need:
1butternut squash, halved
1tsp olive oil
6 tbsp creme fraiche
3 rashers smoked bacon, roughly chopped
1 and a half tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
half a tsp black pepper, coarsely ground

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees c.  Cut the squash lengthways then scoop out the seeds.  You can toast these if you want but I never bother - I'm a lazy bum.  With a small knife, deeply score the flesh in a crisscross pattern.  (Make sure you do deeply score the flesh otherwise it'll take until next autumn to cook - slight exaggeration I know but you get the picture.

2. Place the 2 halves on a baking sheet, cut side up, brush with the oil and season lightly with salt and roast for 35-40 minutes until the flesh feels quite tender when pierced with a knife - to be honest I find I have to roast it for longer than this as I like my flesh pretty pulpy but each to their own.

Before roasting

 3. Spoon the creme fraiche over the 2 pieces of butternut squash and scatter with the bacon, parmesan and black pepper.

Looks a bit anemic here but trust me!

4. Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes until the topping is bubbling.

Ta-da!

As you can see I just serve it up with a simple salad garnish.  It's quite a filling meal and sometimes (ssshhhh) I use more creme fraiche, parmesan and bacon than stated.

So give it a bash if ya fancy.  Will guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Blooper - so glad this wasn't for a youtube video as when I was carefully sliding it onto the plate, the flipping thing slide off the spatula and landed top down.  Creme fraiche, cheese and bacon EVERYWHERE!!! (Hence the small amount of splattered topping you can see on the salad!).

Enjoy!