Sausage and Penne alla Vodka

I love trying out recipes as well as adding to them and making up my own. Thankfully, I have not yet created something inedible. I first started making penne alla vodka a few years ago, using several different recipes. Then last summer, after having had a barbecue, we ended up with a lot of left over sausages. So I chopped them up, added some passata and cooked some pasta and it tasted really nice. Since then I have been making sausage pasta more often and have experimented a lot. I recently decided to combine penne alla vodka and sausage pasta and everyone seemed to love it, so I thought I would share the recipe here. Cooking is personal so feel free to add or take away whatever you want. I never use exact quantities either, because I usually have to cook for 4-6 people. This will serve around 6 hungry people but use however many sausages you want and however much pasta is enough for you. 

Ingredients:

500g penne pasta (or whichever pasta you want/have)

6 sausages

Olive oil

1 chili or a pinch of chili flakes (depends on how spicy you want it to be)

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp sage

1 tsp garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves, chopped)

1/2 wine glass of vodka

500g passata

2-3 tbs cream

Peas

Parmesan to serve

Salt & pepper

Optional:

1 tbs gravy granules to thicken the sauce

Pasta water to dilute the sauce

Serves: 6

Start by cooking your sausages. You can chop them into disks before or after you cook them, it's usually easier to do it after. Then once the sausages have been chopped, put them back in the pan with a bit of oil. Cook your pasta and defrost your peas, and add the chili, garlic powder and all of the herbs to the sausages and stir. Then add you vodka and let it reduce for about a minute before adding the passata. If you feel the sauce is too thick add some pasta water and if it's too thin add some gravy granules (it also adds some flavour!). Make sure you keep tasting the sauce and seasoning it with salt and pepper to your taste. Then drain your pasta and stir in the cream and peas. Serve with some parmesan and enjoy!

Floral Dress

Dress - H&M

Cardigan - Primark

Belt - H&M

Shoes - Siemes Schuh Center

Hi everyone,

The nice weather has returned! I bought this dress a few days ago and decided to wear it. It has such a lovely floral print without being over the top and is perfect for spring/summer. It's also really comfortable and loose. I paired it with a knit cardigan that I got from Primark last summer, but I didn't end up wearing it for long as it was so hot outside. I also added a coral belt to cinch in my waist and add a bit of definition. I love the colour of the belt and thought it went well with the dress, since some of the flowers are pink/coral too. 

I got these pumps yesterday and I fell in love with them the minute I saw them. I usually only buy black pumps, but I couldn't resist these. I love the bow buckle detail. 

This whole outfit is quite a big difference for me since I usually only ever wear dark clothes, but I really like it and feel really summery! 

Hope you are all having a nice week!

Accent Plait

I've decided to start doing Hair of the Day blogposts, since I've recently been experimenting with different hair styles, rather than just leaving my hair down. I really like doing plaits and would love to try more difficult hair styles using them. This first one is really easy and great if you just want to do a small change to your usual style.

I was a bit bored with my hair and did a simple plait on one side of my head, starting from the top. Then I secured it with a tiny, black elastic band and got two hair pins ready. I parted the hair on the opposite side of the plait and flipped a section over so I could pin the plait underneath. I flipped the hair back over and made sure it hid the pins and the end of the plait. I left my fringe out but you could incorporate it into the plait as well. I left the rest of my hair natural but curls would look great with this style too.

You could even do two plaits, one on each side, but I thought it would look nice like this as well. 

Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my favourite things to eat and make. This is probably not the authentic way of making it, but I think that's the great thing about cooking (although this doesn't really count as cooking!), you can do what you like and add what you want and just personalise everything to your taste. Which is basically what I did. I don't have any exact amounts for this, as it really depends on what you like. Keep tasting it and add little bits at a time. This is kind of a cheat blogpost because it really is so easy to do.

Ingredients:

Ripe avocados (however many you want, I used two small ones)

1 lime 

Salt

Pepper

A pinch of granulated garlic

A pinch of smoked paprika

Hot sauce of your choice (mine is chili shaped!)

1 tbs sour cream 

I start by mashing up the avocado with a fork and then I squeezed the juice of one lime. Then I season it with salt and pepper and add the garlic and paprika. I put in a few drops of hot sauce (we like it to have a kick) and then the sour cream. You can add more or less, it really depends on how you like it. You don't even need the sour cream, but I just prefer it to have a little bit in to balance out the flavours. 

What's your favourite way to make guacamole?

Sick Day

Outtake: It's not a proper OOTD without a fail photo of me tripping up or pulling a weird face! Or in this case, both.

T-shirt - H&M 

Leggings - Asos

Shoes - Primark

Necklace - H&M

I've been ill these last few days and today was the first day I actually felt up to putting on a bit of makeup and making an effort with my outfit. Unfortunately today was the one day where the sun decided to have a break. It was the worst kind of weather, sticky and warm but overcast. My hair especially hates this kind of weather, because it just goes frizzy and horrible so I ended up doing a simple side plait, to keep it out of the way but still look pretty.

I have a slight obsession with v-necks at the moment, v-neck t-shirts, v-neck dresses, v-neck jumpers,... If I see any kind of v-neck, I just have to have it. I actually have this t-shirt twice now. I spotted it in H&M one day and fell in love with it. It's a lovely thin material and is super comfortable. They only had one left and it was a size M. I would usually buy a size L but when I held it up against me I thought it would be fine as it was very loose and oversized. Then just the other day I was in H&M and saw it again. Having completely forgotten how loose the M was I picked up an XL since once again they only had one left. It was only when I got home that I realised it was the same t-shirt, which isn't a problem. When I tried it on, it was obviously very oversized but again I don't actually mind because it's a good t-shirt to wear over leggings as it covers the bum! I'm wearing the XL in these photos.

The leggings I'm wearing a really comfortable but a little bit see through, which is why the t-shirt is a good idea. I would also recommend going a size down because there's a lot of extra material at the top and bottom of them! I actually have to pull them up so that they are almost under my boobs, which is not a good look. 

My brother gave this necklace to me a few years ago for Christmas and I hardly ever wear it because it can get quite tangled but I love the colour for Spring. I obviously couldn't find a link to the exact one but H&M have a similar necklace now.

I'm off to go and blow my nose and have a few hundred Strepsils now!

Hope you are all having a great day!

Zoeva Rose Golden Brush Set

L-R: 106 Powder, 102 Silk Finish, 127 Luxe Sheer Cheek, 110 Face Shape, 142 Concealer Buffer, 227 Luxe Soft Definer, 231 Luxe Petit Crease, 317 Wing Liner

After hearing so much about Zoeva brushes recently, I decided to invest in a set. The selling point was the fact that the brushes have rose gold metal handles. 

I don't own a whole lot of brushes, apart from a handful of Real Techniques brushes, which, as we all know, are amazing. But I'm not the kind of person who religiously washes their brushes after every use, in fact I'm quite lazy in regards to washing them. Which is terrible because of germs. (I do own one of those brush cleaning sprays that I use on occasion but it's not the same as having freshly washed brushes.) It's just so frustrating when I'm trying to get ready and all my brushes are dirty and I just don't have the time or the patience to wash them and then wait for them to dry (which is my own fault really).

So I decided to add to my small collection. Zoeva is more accessible than Real Techniques in Luxembourg, because it's a German brand. Although instead of driving down to Trier or Saarbrucken, I ordered them online and they arrived within a few days.

Everything about them is lovely, even the way they were packaged. The set comes with a dust bag, a makeup bag and eight brushes of course. I was quite impressed with the quality of the brushes. They are all amazingly soft and actually feel a bit heavier than my other brushes. Although not too heavy, they are still comfortable to hold. They feel a lot more expensive than they are. The set cost 58€, which I found quite reasonable but I suppose that's a personal thing. Some of you might find that really expensive while others might think it's a bargain. 

The set itself is perfect for creating a full face look. You have everything you need. I personally don't use foundation but the 102 Silk Finish brush would definitely get the job done. The 106 Powder brush is perfectly sized for powdering your whole face in order to eliminate shine and the handle itself is rather short and could be thrown into your handbag for on the go powdering. The 127 Luxe Sheer Cheek brush applies the right amount of blush without being too heavy and the 110 Face Shape is perfectly shaped for contouring. The brush shape fits nicely in the hollows of the cheeks and does a good job of blending too. The set also includes a concealer brush, the 142 Concealer Buffer which is comparable to the Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush in terms of size and dome shape. Moving on to the eye brushes, the 227 Luxe Soft Definer brush is comparable to the MAC 217 brush, although personally I found the Zoeva brush blends eyeshadows slightly better than the MAC brush. My favourite brush of the set is the 231 Luxe Petit Crease brush, which fits perfectly in the crease of the eye due to the slightly pointed end and it blends everything nicely. And finally, the 317 Wing Liner brush which is probably the best liner brush I have ever tried. It makes applying eye liner so easy and creates perfect wings. I have never been great at making the wings match but I found it so easy to do with this brush.

So there you have my little run through of the brushes. I would definitely recommend them because they work amazingly and because they are really pretty.

You can find them here and you can find a list of the countries they ship to here.

Have any of you tried Zoeva brushes before?

Healthy Bread

Hi everyone,

This recipe will be slightly different to my others because I don't want to just copy and paste the recipe here, so instead I will link it at the end of this blogpost. I just adore this recipe so much that I wanted to share it with all of you.

A few weeks ago I tried out this recipe after seeing it on one of my favourite blogs, thelondoner. I have always wanted to bake my own bread but I found the idea quite daunting and time consuming, so when I saw Rosie's blogpost, I knew I had to give it a try.

The recipe doesn't require yeast so you don't have to knead it and there's no need to leave it for ages to rise. You only need to bake it for around 20-25 minutes. It's also low carb, so basically the perfect kind of fuss free bread.

It tastes amazing and one slice fills you up without giving you that heavy feeling that you can sometimes get after eating bread. This is perfect for me in the mornings because I can't stomach eating a lot to keep me full during the day. This way I can have just one slice and not feel sick afterwards.

Everyone who has tried it, loved it, which is surprising to me because it's so hard to find something everyone likes. There's usually at least one fussy person! 

The consistency is slightly cakey and quite moist but it holds its shape nicely and is delicious when toasted. I love it with some mashed up avocado and a sprinkle of paprika, whereas my boyfriend prefers it with some jam. 

What I love most about this bread is how easy and simple it is to make. You just have to mix the wet ingredients with the dry, pop it in a loaf tin and bake. 

I've made this bread three times so far and it has worked every time. I tried tripling the recipe recently because my loaf tin was quite big and the only thing you have to do is add a few minutes to the baking time. Other than that it worked out really well. 

As I said before, I won't include exact measurements and instructions, so if you want to try out this recipe, head over to Rosie's blogpost. 

Hope you have all had a great weekend!