Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Soup.

Sweet Potatoes are one of my all time favourite foods and I am pretty obsessed. In fact, I am actually eating sweet potato fries right now! There is so much you can do with them, they taste amazing and are actually good for you! What's not to love?

So, the other day, with my deep love for sweet potatoes, I decided to make my very own sweet potato and red pepper soup! It was pretty magical if I say so myself. Word of warning though... it's deliciously addictive.

We are lucky in that we have a soup maker in our home. I totally recommend getting one if you love soup like I do. It makes soup making super simple and does all of the work for you On top of that, it can be used for way more than just soups. For example, you can also boil eggs, make smoothies e.c.t. It is pretty damn cool if you ask me. However, if you don't own a soup maker, you can roast the veg, blend and then simmer (so I hear, I can't say I have actually tried this technique). 

I used a recipe on Pinterest for inspiration but adapted it to be more my taste. On with the recipe...

Ingredients: 

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut small

1 red pepper, cut small

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 medium onion, cut small

1 vegetable oxo stock cube, dissolved in water

salt and pepper

A pinch of sage

A pinch of basil

Method:

1.Add all ingredients to the soup maker. 

2.Turn On and press smooth.

3.Leave until the machine beeps, signaling finish. 

Yes, it really is that easy.

This has to be one the quickest, simplest and more delicious soup recipes I have even tasted. I was beyond happy with how this tasted and 1000% recommend giving this a go.

The following week, when I had devoured this batch, I decided to make another load but with carrot instead of the pepper. Also very delicious.

So here we have it, my all-time favourite soup. I hope you give this a go because it really is amazing. If you do, I'd love to hear what you thought about it. 

Thanks for reading!

Holly X

November favourites

My oh my, is it December already?

November has gone so fast, it's crazy! 

This past month despite having a wonderful birthday, has been pretty stressful. 

Therefore I am happily welcoming December. I hope this month consists of many happy memories and me simply just can't wait for Christmas. 

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you my November favourites. Enjoy!

My first favourite is my food favourite of the month.This has to be the Covent Garden Vegetable soup.
Soup is so perfect for the season. My absolute favourite flavour is the vegetable, especially this one!
This soup is just so yummy, I am addicted. It tastes natural and yummy and leaves me feeling great.
Definitely recommended.

My second favourite this month is my Soap and glory sugar crush body wash.
I got this as a gift from a sister for my birthday and I am pretty much obsessed. This smells
absolutely heavenly and I am in love. It smells like lime and sweetness. Super yummy!
I will definitely be looking into more soap and glory products and this has been fab.

My favourite songs this month have been 'Counting Stars' by One Republic and
'How long will I love you?' by Ellie Goulding. I love the artists and these songs are pretty much perfection.
I don't really have much to say about this section other than its fab and I recommend you go check them out.

Another thing I have been loving this past month is my Simple oil balancing moisturiser.

My final favourite for this month is my Yankee candle. I got this as a gift for my birthday and
I am obsessed.

 So there we have it, my November favourites. Now time for December and more
importantly Christmas!
I can't contain my excitement! :D

Thank you very much for reading,

xxX Holly Xxx

October favourites

As October ends and November begins, I do believe it's time to review my October favourites.

October has come and gone super fast but I have still enjoyed using many products. I have narrowed it down to six items, so let's begin.

My first product is my baby lips hydrating lip balm by Maybelline. After hearing so many people rave about it I finally got around to trying it, and I have absolutely adored it! I suffer from dry lips all the time but it gets even worse around this time of year, which is why a hydrating lip balm is an absolute must have. This lip balm is super easy to apply and really moisturising. I cant wait to try them all.

My second favourite is the Tetley 'blend of both' tea. This tea has been my favourite tea for the past few months. It's half original tea and half green tea. As well as being a little healthier than usual tea, this tastes heavenly. I can't get enough of it! I haven't always liked tea but this tea has made me a bit of an addict. Oops.

One of my favourite foods/snacks lately is salted pretzels. I love them! Great snacks and super addictive, they are delicious. You can get these from pretty much any supermarket and I am in love with them so much. Yum.

 My next favourite is my hair clips from Primark. With 12 in a pack at only £1,  I figured I would give them a try and I have found them really useful. I tend to use these when clipping hair out of my face or when having my hair in a braid. These are really useful and stay in my hair the entire day.

Now for my skincare favourite of the month, the clean & clear foaming wash. As I was strolling around Superdrug earlier this month I came across this fairly new product. I, unfortunately, do suffer from breakouts that are pretty obvious and usually am left with scars. So my skincare routine is pretty crucial to me. I was in need of a new cleanser as my previous one was coming to an end so I figured, why not? This face wash leaves my skin feeling clean as well as soothing my skin. As someone with combination skin, this is very useful as well as helping to clear my blemishes.

My final favourite is the Elvive anti-frizz shampoo. I have naturally curly hair which I have learnt to love (most of the time) however, the one thing I absolutely hate about my hair is how frizzy it gets. This means that the majority or hair products I use are anti-frizz. My hair is never 100% frizz free but this defiantly helps and leaves my hair feeling lovely and soft.

That's all for my October favourites. Bring on November! 

Thanks for reading,

xxX Holly Xxx

Winter hot chocolate

One of my favourite things about winter is the hot drinks, especially hot chocolate.

As a fan of winter spices, I decided to try and incorporate them into some foods or in this case, drinks. To make this drink you just make a normal hot chocolate, but add a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon. In my opinion, this is just heavenly. It tastes so festive and is great for when you just want to snuggle up with a good book. 

This is a very short entry but I just felt the need to share my love for this drink. 

For another festive hot chocolate idea , perhaps try to incorporate some ginger.

Thanks for reading,

xxX Holly Xxx

Spiced Banana Bread

One of my favourite sweet treats to bake during the Autumn time is spiced banana bread. This is super easy to make as well as tasting delicious and is perfect for the season. Considering I class this as an Autumn essential I figured I would share how I make my banana bread.

First of all, I get all the ingredients.

(2 or 3 bananas, 1 egg, 100g caster sugar, 70g butter, 125g self-raising flour, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, ground ginger, cinnamon).

 Then I grease and line my baking tin. To do this I used oil and a brush to cover the inside of my tin, then I cut out some baking paper and pressed it into my tin. Butter will also work instead of oil.

Once I had prepared for my baking, I set the oven to 180 C. (fan oven)

Using my hands I then creamed together the sugar and the butter.

Once the butter and sugar are fully mixed, I then sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and my spices. I then used an electric whisker to mix my ingredients, however, you can do this by hand using a wooden spoon. You decide how much spice you add. Personally, I like to add about 1 or 2 tsp mixed spice, 1 or 2 tsp of ginger and about 4 or 5 tsp of cinnamon. Then I beat the egg.

After this, I added in the beaten egg and the bananas. Then I mixed it using my electric mixer (a spoon is fine) until the mixture was smooth.

Then I poured the contents into my baking tin. Once all of the mixture was in my tin I placed it into the oven for approx an hour.

After an hour I took out my tin and let it cool.

Finally, I was left with my spiced banana bread.

I really love baking this for the Autumn and my family love to eat it. It's a great treat and very easy to bake.

Thank you for reading,

Xxx Holly xxX