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).

Girl gone wild (ombre) again!

Hello hello.....so we meet again.

A total impulse move but I decided on Thursday that I wanted my ombre to be lighter. I had V sleeping over aka live in hairdresser.

There was a 2 for £10 deal in Boots on Jerome Russell products (so I saved about 10p!) soI picked up the blonding kit in medium lift [above picture] and a colour toner [picutred somewhere below]. Sorry about the box - V is an animal :) She did tell me to google image a nice box but I thought that I would keep it real. 

So we brushed out my hair and V mixed up the blonding kit and put it on my hair where it was already ombred, she then wrapped it in foil and she pinned it up to keep it out of the way. Not sure if I mentioned it last time but keeping it wrapped keeps things hot, and heat helps the chemicals to really do the business.

No pictures cos it gets a bit icky but after 30 mins V removed the foil and I rinsed my hair using the conditioning shampoo supplied in the box. We could already tell at this point that my hair was Barbie blonde. V's reaction was "holy f**k!!!".

[above - colour toner]

I towel dried and brushed my hair again and then V plopped the colour toner on my blonde hair. 

V wrapped my hair in clingfilm and I blow dried the cling filmed bit for 5 minutes and then left it for....I can't remember....maybe 20-30 mins? I then got back into the shower and washed my hair using my normal shampoo and conditioner. The best news at this point is that my hair wasn't feeling all melted and dead and weird. 

So erm....yeah.....this is my hair. The blonding kit worked!!! This is blow dried not straightened; not sure if my hair csn take 230 degrees heat at the moment.  (Sorry abut my nightie!! lol)

Friday morning I was still blonde and I was still scared to straighten it so I did a fishtail braid. I had people pulling at it thinking it was a clip in plait. I had people ask if I had extensions. And I had a lot of looks at horror.

I honestly don't know how I feel about my hair as a whole. I'm really happy with the colour just for the fact that I never thought I could be this blond. I'm really impressed with the products used. As a whole? It's not ombre at its best is it? Oh well. It's only hair!

DIY: studded bag

Hello hello!

Another DIY post from me featuring studs.

Bag is really old (but unused) from Next, it's a soft 'leather' unstructured bag, kinda reminds me of a pumpkin handbag.

I just started studding around the base of the bag and it was looking quite cool....

.....and then it kinda went wrong.

I admit I started getting lazy so instead of sticking to my 'pattern' (keep going round and round and round) I ended up with an uncool sunburst type pattern. Not cool. I might try to save it over the weekend and stick studs in the gaps and revert back to the original 'pattern'.

Lesson learned: be patient it pays off!

Addicted to studs and furs

Hi Guys!

OOTD 1

*Dodgy face pic*

I wore my DIY studded shirt again, and this time I tied a black ribbon to keep the neck closed (ribbon from ebay 99p). I wore the shirt tucked into a black mini skirt. I looked like a jazzed up waitress.

First day wearing my fur! FYI The colour I got was 'black racoon' and I'm really happy with my choice, it complements my colouring and wardrobe really well. I wore it every day this week. (Also got a black faux fur on the way!) Both £11.99 inc p+p from ebay.

Worn with a black elbow sleeved jacket from dorothy perkins. You can wear the faux fur like a collar (opened) but there is also an elastic on the underside that you can tuck the end in (as pictured).

OOTD 2

Leopard print, raccoon and rabbit skin - I kid I kid!!

Outfit basically the same as yesterday but with a leopard print blouse and my greenish gap jacket.

OOTD: Studs and leopard print

[Pic 1]

Hi Guys!

Outfit of the day for you featuring my DIY studded white shirt from ebay. Apologies for the crappy photo's but I wanted to show as much as I could and was running late for work!

What I'm wearing:

White shirt -ebay (DIY Studded collar)

Beige mini skirt - Dorothy Perkins £5!

Leopard print skinny belt - Asos

Over sized blazer coat - Primark (a long time ago)

[Pic 2]

[Pic 3]

And just one more photo (sorry about the mess) from a different day but to show you the coat in more detail:

[Pic 4]

The coat is...coat material (!) with cropped sleeves (past the elbow). It is literally just a big blazer jacket (with the most lovely grey leopard print lining!). I bought it maybe two years ago and never wore it. It was too big and just a bit blah. But then I cut off the buttons and when the winter is mild I just wear it open like a blazer [picture 2] and if I want a bit more shape and coverage I belt it [picture 4]. I think it's really cool and laid back and an interesting piece to throw on over skinny jeans.

Thanks for reading :)

To DIY List

This is just a list of DIY projects that I want to achieve. Limited by budget and skill I don't know if these will be achievable. I have tried to be as realistic as possible... (sorry for the lack of pics)

• Replace regular coat sleeves with leather sleeves - this will require specialist needle and thread but the main problem is the sewing- I've never sewed anything other then a dropped hem , buttons or a small hole. I want this so bad though!!! (EDIT: OMG!!! I've been further researching DIY leather sleeves and came across a wicked post!! The blogger basically took leather sleeves off an old leather jacket and sewed it onto her trench/dress. Now all I need is a plus size leather jacket.....)

http://leiannoffduty.tumblr.com/post/4377126273/diy-leather-sleeve-trench-coat

• T-shirts - I've just brought 3 plain t shirts off ebay (Black, white and ash grey). I hope to stud the shoulders of one, the collar of the other, and with the last one I hope to sew on pearls all over the t shirt. This will take time but is cheap and seems easy enough. Worse comes to worse I can stud all 3 t shirts.
  

• Have you seen those crazy Christian Louboutin flats? Studded with spikes all over. I could do this, but I'm worried I might hurt myself. Or hurt someone else (don't step on my shoes!!!)

• This next one seems straightforward enough but is giving me a headache. I want to stud a pair of leather gloves. The difficulty? I can't find any bargain leather gloves that fit me :( Googling how to stretch leather but a waste of time/money/effort if it didn't work...I'll keep you updated. I always want leather gloves every year.
  

Other things I am trying to do is just to use accessories to update my wardrobe. I've recently purchased a big fur collar to add onto coats because I really wanted a fur trim coat but this way I've only spent £15 instead of £80 for a coat and plus I can wear my collar with everything (not received yet, photo's will be posted).

I also had fur cuffs in my basket but at the last minute deleted them because a lot of my coats have short sleeves (bracelet sleeves or elbow) and so cuffs would probably be a bit pointless, plus I hate things around my hands and can only shudder at the thought of my germy furry cuffs.

Oooh! One more thing that goes into both updating with accessories/DIY is shoe clips! I've been looking into making my own but tbh I think it's more of a phase so can't afford/be bothered to buy all the bits and bobs needed.

If anyone has done any projects or has any cheap and fashionable ideas please let me know!

DIY: Studded collar

Hi Guys!

I got this shirt of ebay a few weeks ago and was waiting for some studs to start my next diy project.

The shirt was either £7.99 but I can't remember if that was with p+p, though I think that I paid extra for postage, but def under £10 all together.

It is a cream polyester long shirt and it has a very subtle check/square pattern (cream on cream).

Studding a shirt was much easier than shoes, not because of the thickness of the fabric, but because it's easier to get access to both sides of the material.

My studs were also from ebay, gold triangle studs (8mm); 100 studs for about £4 inc p+p.

The seller has a webpage www.idreamcraft.com and the prices are actually slightly lower on the webstore then on their ebay seller page (bigbenworld).

The seller also included a little free gift which was a sweet touch; a few round flat gunmetal studs. Very nice if you wanted a proper grungey rock and roll feel.

So I started studding the tips of the collar - three rows either side and then building up one row at a time, alternating sides so that I wouldn't use up all of the studs on one side and end up with a lopsided collar.

Pic above is what I thought was the final product (6 rows) but I've added another row. I would have liked to do many more rows of studs but 100 studs actually gets used up really quickly. The collar tips used up about 70 studs. I am thinking of getting another 300 studs and stud more of the collar, but also the centre (it's a fly button shirt) and maybe even the cuffs.

The studding is addictive!!!