Homemade Mint and Lemon Lip Scrub

Mint and Lemon Lip Scrub

Hi guys, 

Today I thought I would put together a little lip scrub post. I don't know about you but my lips have felt the effects of air conditioning and also all the bad weather here in Scotland as it really can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be sunny or rainy!

Mussels in a Lightly Spiced Vietnamese Broth

Hi guys, 

I just came back from the Lake District yesterday where I was visiting two of my best friends who moved there a while ago, it was such a great, relaxing weekend but it’s time to get back to reality. I recently posted my Mussels dish to Instagram and you went crazy for it so I decided to put together a recipe for you. I did use more of the Posh Pickles SaVa Tu`o`ng o`t V Relish* as I loved using it in my Vegetarian Vietnamese Soup but I wanted to try something different. I was going through my local Morrison’s and stopped at the fish section to pick up some seabass and saw a huge bag of fresh mussels still in their shells and that’s when I knew what I wanted to do with this relish.

Mussels are a thing of beauty, I adore seafood and eat it as much as I possibly can as its super healthy and it tastes amazing. You will notice in my recipe that I have used some of the ingredients that are already in the relish but I always double up on flavour when I use a premade product as I want to make the dish to sing and as this was a main meal I really wanted it to pack a punch. This recipe serves two people for a main with some fries or bread or both.

Ingredients

2 x Small Brown Onions (or 1 large one), finely sliced

2 x Tbsp of Posh Pickles Vietnamese Relish*

2 x Garlic Cloves, finely sliced

2 Inch Piece of Fresh Ginger, julienne style

1 x Green Pepper, finely sliced

1 x Red Chilli, sliced

1 x Can of Coconut Milk

Glug of water to stop it becoming too thick

Soy Sauce

1 Tbsps. Fish Sauce

1 kg of fresh mussels (ask fishmonger to clean and prepare them for you)

Zest and juice of a lime 

Method:

Use a large, deep pot with a lid as you will be steaming the mussels in the sauce once it’s ready. 

To a large pot add some olive oil and finely sliced onions. Allow to cook out on a medium/high heat until nicely coloured.

Add the relish to onions and leave to cook out for a few minutes to awaken the flavours.

Add in garlic, ginger, peppers, red chilli and coconut milk. Give it all a good stir to make sure it’s mixed.

Leave for a few minutes before adding fish sauce, lime zest & soy sauce. I added the water at this stage too as it was looking a little thick, I also added in a small amount of garlic puree as I am a garlic fiend but you can skip this step if you are not as keen on it. 

Leave the sauce to cook out for 10 minutes to let all the flavours infuse, give a stir and then add in your mussels and lime juice.

Put a lid on top or something to cover the pot as you want the mussels to steam. I left mine for 4 minutes as the shells were open. Discard any that are still closed.

 Fill a bowl with your delicious mussels, throw over some coriander (if you want to make it even prettier) and serve with some crusty bread. 

You will notice that I didn’t add any additional salt or pepper as I felt mines was alright on the seasoning front as I had the fish sauce, soy sauce and the mussels which are pretty salty without adding more and overpowering the delicate mussels. As the mussels begin to open they infuse the sauce with the flavour of the sea so when you dig into your sauce it will taste a little different but even better, trust me.

Both Liam and I devoured ours as soon as it was served and he doesn’t even like seafood but he asked to try something different and wanted something lightly spiced to I came up with this. I would make this all the time if I could as it was full of flavour, filled me up and was super easy to make. If you want to give it a go and need to get your hands on the amazing Posh Pickles Relish then click here.

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Vietnamese Vegetable Soup with Posh Pickles

Hello guys,

I was in the mood for a spicy broth with a load of vegetables to have for a light meal and decided to use my Posh Pickles Sa Va Tu’o’ng ot relish* (from £3.50) as it sounded perfect and exactly what I was looking for. This turned out a lot better than I hoped for as it was super tasty, easy to prepare and only took twenty minutes to cook so I thought I would put together the recipe I used for you to try. I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished meal as I was too busy stuffing my face, so apologies guys.

As you know, I like to put either vegan or vegetarian recipes on my blog as these recipes completely fill me up but take away the stress of being calorific. But today, I felt like a soup for these hot summer nights when a light meal is called for. This can be served with some chicken, seafood or beef to bulk it up but I loved it with just vegetables and noodles. This serves two people very easily as a main meal with some leftovers or as a small starter for four people.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. of Sa Va Tu’o’ng ot relish

1 tbsps. of coconut oil

1 x brown onion, half mooned

1 x red pepper, thinly sliced

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced

1 x clove of garlic, crushed

6 x large shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced

Handful of Water Chestnuts, halfed

2 x handfuls of bean sprouts

1 x carrot, finely sliced

1 x vegetable stock cube (chicken stock can be used if working with meat)

1 x pack of noodles (I used bare naked noodles as they are low in fat/calories and gluten/wheat/dairy free)

Soy Sauce, add to taste

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Handful of Organic Spinach, chopped

To serve:

Spring onions, finely sliced

Red chilli, finely sliced

Fresh Lime juice

Method:

Fry off onions in the coconut oil on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft and slightly browned.

Add in the Sa Va Tu’o’ng ot, mushrooms, garlic and ginger and fry off for a few minutes.

Add the stock according to the pack instructions and then add water chestnuts, carrot, peppers and soy sauce.

Leave to simmer away for 10 minutes until vegetables become softer and then add the noodles and bean sprouts. The noodles I used only took 3 minutes to cook so I added these in last with my bean sprouts as well as my spinach and coriander but if your noodles take longer then add them in at the stock stage so they cook properly.

Add everything else and leave for five minutes to wilt. Taste the soup to see if it needs any more soy sauce and grind in some black pepper too. When serving, squeeze over some fresh lime juice, pop some spring onion and chillies on top for decoration and enjoy!

You want the vegetables to almost look julienne style, but dont worry if they aren't, I just sliced mine super thinly so it would be easier to eat. You can add more relish, more chillies, pretty much more of anything if you prefer it to taste stronger but I loved this soup the way it was. It is fragrant and light but as I said earlier, you can add in meat or seafood to bulk it up, I think adding mussels and prawns in the place of some of the vegetables would work well with a little lemon or lime juice squeezed over before serving. This is a lightly spiced broth with nothing but healthy goodness.

Posh Pickles are a great company which was thought up by the beautiful Stephanie Bath in 2005. She actually started this up whilst she was on kidney dialysis. She has won The Prince’s Trust Award for Business Success in 2006 and Outstanding Business Achievement Award in 2007. They offer exciting flavour combinations in chutneys, relishes, oils and jams. They also offer small jars as wedding favours so if you or anyone you know is looking for something different then check out their website. If you want to check out the other flavours from Posh Pickles then head to their Website, Twitter or Facebook.

Let me know if you try this recipe, it is absolutely gorgeous and the Sa Va Tu’o’ng ot relish gives the soup a beautiful base to work with. I made this for myself and my mum which were quite substantial bowls and we still had loads left over. If you have some left, just leave the soup to cool down and pop into tubs and store in the fridge. It should stay fresh for up to 2 days.

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Chickpea, Potato & Spinach Rogan Josh

Hi guys, 

I posted a picture to my Instagram feed a few weeks ago which showed a Chickpea, Potato and Spinach Rogan Josh; it seemed to go down well with my followers so I thought I would put the recipe together for anyone who wants to try it out. This is one of mine and Liam’s favourite curry's as it’s spicy, healthy, full of flavour and absolutely delicious. We normally make this which serves about 4 - 6 depending on portion sizes and then freeze whatever is left in freezer bags, make sure the mixture is cool before doing so though. 

This curry can easily be made vegetarian by replacing the chicken stock cubes with a vegetable stock cube instead.  If you wanted to make it vegan then look for curry pastes and stock cubes that are suitable for vegans. 

Ingredients:

2 Tbsps. of olive oil 

1 x Red Onion

2 x Brown Onions

3 x Garlic Cloves (crushed)

1 x Tin of Chickpeas (drained)

2 x Handfuls of Organic Spinach

2 x Red Chillies with seeds (remove seeds if you don't want it too spicy)

Bunch of Fresh Coriander and stalks

2 Tbsps. of Tomato Paste/Puree

1 x Tin of Chopped Tomatoes

2 x Chicken Knorr Stock Pot (replace with vegan/vegetable stock cube if needed)

8 x New Potatoes (left whole) or 4 x Potatoes (quartered)

3 Tbsps. of Patak’s Rogan Josh Paste

600ml of boiled water

Natural Yoghurt is optional if you want to use it to garnish and as a cooling agent

Extra chillies and spring onion finely sliced as well as coriander for a garnish

Method:

Add the oil to a pan and heat on a medium heat before adding all of the onions. Leave them to cook out for about 10 minutes to brown them. The more colour on them, the better the taste so try and be patient with it. Keep checking them and give them a little stir and when you are satisfied then add in the crushed garlic and give a stir to cook it out for a few minutes. Make sure not to burn the garlic as it can make the whole meal very bitter.

Add the chopped chillies, Rogan josh paste, tomatoes, tomato puree/paste, coriander stalks, stock pots and water to the pot; give this a good stir so that everything is combined. Leave to simmer on a medium heat for 30 minutes. Give the curry a taste to see if it needs seasoning, add more if it needs it. I find the stock cubes and curry paste to be quite salty but it’s up to your palate.

Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 20 minutes. Pierce the potatoes with a knife to check they are cooked all the way through, when you are satisfied, add the spinach and coriander and leave for a few minutes to wilt into the curry.

Serve with natural yoghurt, extra coriander, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, finely sliced spring onions and chillies on top to garnish. Boil up some basmati rice, heat up some chapattis and chow down.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on. I personally love this as you can add all different ingredients, if I feel like something different then I will do a Butternut Squash, Cauliflower and Spinach curry with a madras curry paste or a Chicken Kashmiri Masala Curry, just substitute the vegetables for chicken and off you go.

I hope you enjoy this recipe guys, let me know if you try it.

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DIY Beauty | Green Tea Sugar Scrub

Hi guys,

I have seen a lot of blog posts and Instagram posts about coffee and tea based scrubs recently and decided to put together a post with my favourite tea scrub of all time, my own! I have used this scrub numerous times over the years and love how it makes my face, lips and body look and feel. Tea scrubs can be amazing for the skin, especially green tea as it has all kinds of health benefits such as fighting inflammation, reducing stress, protecting the skin and best of all preventing wrinkles. Most supermarkets stock these teabags but they offer different variations, please stick to pure green tea though as they aren’t blended with anything else.

As well as green tea I used *Viridian Nutrition`s 100% Organic Ultimate Beauty Oil (from £9.85 for 200ml) which contains a broad range of potent antioxidants including Vitamin E, Alpha-Carotene and Beta Carotene. This oil is vegan, kosher and organic and supposed to be used in salad dressings and smoothies but I honestly can`t stand the taste of it so I put it to better use and added it to my facemasks and sugar scrubs.

Onto the ingredients now, but first...Always do a patch test 24 hours before use, to make sure you are not allergic to any of the ingredients. I normally do this on my inner forearm as its most like the skin on your face. *If you are pregnant or breastfeeding please ask your doctor for advice before using any oils as they may not be suitable for you.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sugar (add more or less depending on preference)

1 Tbsp. of Viridian Nutrition 100% Organic Ultimate Beauty Oil (substitute for Light Olive Oil)

1 Tbsp. of honey such as Manuka or Lavender. If you can’t get one of these then normal runny honey is fine.

1 x Mint Tea bag

2 x Green Tea bag

2 x drops Vitamin E Oil (£1.59) (Skip this step if you are using beauty oil which contains Vitamin E)

3 x drops of any of the following oils to help with particular skin concern

Lavender Oil (from £5.19)

Great for all skin types and smells amazing! This is great for mature skin and minimising scars.

Lemon Oil (from £2.49)

An anti-bacterial oil which is great at reducing pores and will help with acne prone skin.

Myrrh Oil (from £4.95)

Will help to improve skin tone, firmness, and skin elasticity. Can also help sun damaged skin.

Neroli Oil (from £7.49)

Great for sensitive and mature skin.

Tea Tree Oil (from £4.49)

Great for acne prone and oily skin.

Method

Get a small clean container and add the contents from the tea bags and the sugar, give it a good mix to make sure it’s combined. Add the beauty oil, honey and all essential oils and mix thoroughly until it’s a scrub like texture. If you require the scrub to be coarser, don't add as much oil. Equally if you like it a little more loose then add in some more oil until you have the desired consistency.

Use

Double cleanse your face if you are using it this to treat your face, this will ensure it is clean enough before layering a generous amount of the scrub (it may fall off but just keep adding it until it sticks). I normally leave on my skin for about five minutes to infuse it with goodness from the oil and tea. If you are treating your body with this scrub then grab a nice hot shower and work over the desired areas before removing. It may leave your skin a little slippery so wash your skin again with your favourite shower gel.

Creepy Face!

Have a go; let me know what you think. If you really want to go all out and give your skin a good old clear out, I would suggest a green tea steam before the exfoliation step. All you need is a bowl of hot water with 2 x green teabags (leave to stew for about five minutes) and a towel to cover your head whilst you relax. This will help to open up the pores and infuse your skin with so much love and attention that you will be reaching to do it every week (or maybe more). As this is made with all organic and natural ingredients, you can be sure that your skin and conscience will thank you!

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