Penny loves Pumpkin

Hi Guys!

This is just a random post but I'm feeling all type type type so here I am :) I've missed so many days with y'all! I can't believe I missed the whole of Summer and most of Autumn! Just going to update you on random bits of my amazingly boring life.

 I celebrated 100 days and 200 days at my 'new' job already.

My hair has grown out a bit (as you can see in the pic?). I'm on my way to missing two haircuts but that is due to a lack of time and not avoiding the hairdresser....not consciously anyway....I'm not too sure....

I am currently on Day 6 of Operation No Eyeliner. Which is me attempting to wear less eyeliner (because a naked eye isn't going to happen.) My mum says the amount I wear on a daily basis isn't 'appropriate'. It isn't the first time it's been mentioned but I decided to take it on board this time round. It makes getting ready in the morning quicker but I feel really exposed and fugly. Lets see how long I can keep this up for!

I'm conflicted over my eyebrow situation. I'm still growing them out but I'm bored.....I dunno.
 Brow routine post to come soon  ;)

As always, I'm loving A/W fashion. Breaking my coat/shoe ban last year has been an exhilarating experience. I think I might need to reinstate the ban in 2015. Penny Palace is not coping with the amount of stuff! I have also discovered jumpersh this year. I'll be sharing my Primark sweater season haul with you soon :)

I am in love with pumpkin.

I made my first ever pumpkin pie, inspired by my first ever pie at L's house many moons ago. Good stuff!

I had my first ever pumpkin spice late #psl from Starbucks with V and it was......ok. I prefer pie!

But then I discovered pumpkin spice frappucino with my mum and I love it. Sweetness and spice and all things nice mmmmmmmm

And that is it. Eyeliner, eyebrows, some clothes, coffee and some pie. My life!

xoxo

Recipe - Chocolate and banana brownies

Hi Guys!

I had some super duper over ripe bananas hanging around so decided to make chocolate and banana brownies. I used a brownie mix, but you could do this from scratch if you wanted. I'm a bad cook and I don't really like banana's but this was so easy and a great way to use up food that I would have just chucked in the bin. And even though this is by no way healthy it made me feel good to think I was getting some fruit into me. Does this count as one of my five a day? Do I care?

What I did:

Pre heated my oven according to the packet instructions

Greased a cake tin

Put my bananas in a bowl and mashed them. Truth be told they were so so ripe they came out the skin already mashed lol

I then dumped my dry brownie mix on top and gave it a good mix with a wooden spoon. As you can see from the picture, the mashed banana acts as a substitute for any water/oil you usually add. Cos I'm a greedy cow I did add vegetable oil anyway, but instead of 4 tablespoons I just added 1 1/2 to make it extra moist and glossy.

I then poured the gooey mix into the cake tray and popped it into the oven.

Once the time was done I took it out the oven and let it cool for about 20 seconds and then I ate it.

THE END. ENJOY!

Homemade Kale Chips

Hi Guys!

I had a go at making Kale Chips (the latest blogger's food fad!!!) and thought I'd share the experience with you. I say experience because truth be told it didn't quite go to plan!

The taste was good (seasoning) but I didn't leave the kale in the oven long enough so some were perfect and crispy, and then some was just a bit like stir fry.

In terms of taste and what I was aiming for - think seaweed from the Chinese takeaway. 

My kale was already prepared so the first thing I had to do was wash it under water but if your kale isn't already cut up then just grab scissors and cut the leaves off the hard stalk bits (cos these don't crisp up - if you wanted I guess you could just bung the whole thing in the oven - want not, waste not - waste not, want not?)

Then dry your kale (super duper duper dry) and place on an oven tray. Season with olive oil and whatever you want really. I ended up using salt, pepper and sugar to make it taste just like the Chinese seaweed stuff.

Put in the oven until crispy!

So erm. Like I said, mine weren't exactly what I was hoping for, but hopefully I'll master the baking technique second time round.

LESSONS LEARNED

1) DRY THE KALE DRY THE KALE DRY THE KALE - after washing make sure the leaves are dry, otherwise they will not crisp up in the oven, DRY THE KALE. I dabbed at mine with kitchen roll but was a bit lazy about it tbh so I deserved my soggy kale. DRY THE KALE. The one thing I would say to you is DRY THE KALE. Ok, do we get the point now? Because I read a few 'how to's' and I still didn't fully bother. DRY THE KALE. DRY THE KALE PROPERLY. KALE NEEDS T BE COMPLETELY DRY DUDE!!!

2) Don't overload the oven tray. This is probably common sense to most people - but I am not most people so I overloaded the tray and even if my kale had been dry it probably still wouldn't have had room to get crispy.

3) I've purposedly left out times or oven settings because I can't be trusted. I might edit this if I improve, but for now, read these idiot proof notes, but go and get the techy bit from somewhere else.

I've got half a bag of kale left and will be making more this evening (practise makes perfect...hopefully?). Despite my mishaps I would definitely recommend you give these a go - a healthy and yummy snack, that's "easy to make" (hahahaha).

Pasta bake

Ok this is totally random but I felt really proud and so wanted to share.

I made a pasta bake for the first time ever and it was pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

Inspired/copied off my friend R's packed lunch:

Ingredients:

Pasta(!)

Pasta sauce (dolmio's spicy pepperoni)

onions, garlic, salt and pepper

garlic sausage and normal ham

spinach, mushrooms, yellow pepper

cheese and fake breadcrumbs

What I did:

• Cooked the pasta (boiled in water ya'll!)
• olive oil in a frying pan. onions and garlic. sizzle my bizzle.
• add the mushrooms and yellow peppers (I cut all my stuff small and square)
• fried it off
• once 'done', added sausage (ready cooked) and ham
  
• seasoning!

• Once pasta was cooked I added in a whole bag of spinach into the pot and within a few minutes the spinach was done
• I then drained the pasta/spinach pot
  
• I then chucked the pasta and spinach into the sausage mix
  
• Stir, stir, stir
• Season if necessary.
  

• Pre heat oven.
• Put half (or a bit) of the food in your oven dish
• Sprinkle with cheese and stir
• Put the other half in the dish
• Sprinkle with cheese and stir
• (that was enough for me, you can keep going if you have a massive oven dish)
• Sprinkle the top with cheese
  
• Sprinkle the cheese top with breadcrumbs
• (And I then sprinkle a bit more black pepper on the breadcrumbs)
• Put in oven

• I left it in the oven for.....I think 15-20 mins which was fine. I can't tell you the temp, I always just guess.

A great dish - easy (I did it!) and you can add any veggies you have in your fridge and if you are less of a pig then me, you can go easy on the cheese (or add none) and it's a pretty decent meal.

Let me know if you give this a try. And let me know if you have any other easy food things I can try.

:)