Lifestyle Blogger
You’ve heard of Birchbox and Glossybox, right? The monthly beauty subscription boxes that have inspired interior design subscription boxes, snack boxes such as Graze and even stationery (breathe!) monthly boxes. A monthly box is like Christmas every 4 weeks! You get a present, yeah, that you’ve bought yourself, but it’s still a surprise what’s in your box every time it pops through the letterbox.
Recently I whipped up a batch of Protein Rice Krispy Treats with the amazing Manuka Doctor Active Honey +15 and I thought I’d give Holland and Barrett a run for their money and create a savoury recipe too! Manuka honey is 100% pure honey with no added sugar so it’s perfect for a dinner-time recipe. This is a super yummy spicy pork recipe that has a slightly Chinese flavour to it and works so well with the sweet honey and hot chilli.
One thing I love about cooking, if you could call these treats cooking, is the fact that you can make something you love a bit more enjoyable by removing the guilt! These Protein Rice Krispy Bites are also completely clean and don’t have any refined sugar or gluten in them. They’re also under 100 calories for a seriously substantial square.
If you know me, you know I love food and I’m a little obsessed with a good burger. We checked out Handmade Burger Co for the second time recently as they invited us for a little review at our local, the Intu Victoria Centre.
Eating is all about balance and I’m into a super food salad as much as the next person but sometimes you really need a great big burger with bacon, cheese and all the avocado. That’s exactly what I tried when we hit up Handmade Burger Co recently. I actually added the brie to the menu-written avocado and bacon burger that already comes with amazing red pepper relish, mayo, lettuce, tomato and red onion. I just feel that a burger isn’t complete without cheese, am I right?
I love a good mini-break and recently we explored Oxford for the weekend. We were really lucky with the weather and spent Saturday strolling around the city centre taking in the sights and eating everything in sight. I’d definitely recommend an ice cream from G&Ds, the Millionaire Shortbread flavour is amazing!
It might be a little bit early for a favourites post but I thought it was time as I’ve been loving all of these products for the past few weeks. There’s a mix of beauty, skincare, fashion and a tea in here, all perfect for the springtime.
First up are the Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Cleansing Wipes. These are new in the Neutrogena Visibly Clear Range and they’re the perfect morning pick me up for a quick cleanse or as the first step in my evening skincare routine to take off all my gunky makeup before going in with a cleansing gel or balm. Next and lastly in skincare is an eye cream. My love for avocados is growing by the day so it was only a matter of time until I picked up the Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado. I feel like my skin is definitely getting more dry in texture as I’m getting older and especially the skin around my eyes can feel like it needs some TLC so this is perfect as it’s super hydrating.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trialling a new range of teas from Teagime which is a fully personalised ‘teatox’ programme that has been tailored to me. I’ve never, ever been a fan of the cliched ‘detox tea’ packages that every blogger, Ex On The Beach and Instagram influencer promote that are probably laced with laxatives and therefore lead to that super-flat belly look by way of making you, basically, flushed out. I’m not into this type of teatox so I am sceptical when tea brands try to break into the market and work with bloggers.
During our Oxford escape we discovered The Handle Bar, an amazing hidden cafe and restaurant tucked into a side street in the middle of the city centre. They serve brunch all day which is amazing as we got there around lunch time but didn’t fancy an actual lunch in terms of a salad or a burger so we opted for some serious brunch goals. The menu was packed with pancakes, granola, brioche buns and your classic breakfast choices too.
On days where you don’t have much time it’s great to be able to get all your breakfast nutrients in one tasty hit using shakes and smoothies. Here are the best protein shakes for breakfast that I think are really tasty and also hit all those protein, carb and fat macros spot on. My preference is towards whey protein shakes but if you don’t like to eat dairy products or are vegan or lactose intolerant then there are a huge range of dairy-free protein powders out there on the market!
You’ll know by now that it’s UK Coffee Week until the 17th which is supporting growing countries such as Rwanda and Ethiopia through the vibrancy of coffee culture! We love coffee in the UK, you literally can’t walk 20 paces without seeing either a chain or an independent coffee shop in Nottingham, where I live. I’m sure we have 4 Caffe Nero branches within our one town centre as well as two Starbucks and a couple of Costas.
