My favourite recipe

Happy Friday everyone! I wanted to share with you one of my favourite recipes - Chicken and Chorizo Jambalya.  This is a recipe I saw in Good Food magazine sometime last year and has fast become my all time favourite.  Apparently it had the highest amount of hits of any of their recipes on their website last year (most of them were probably from me!)

Tastes even better than it looks!

The reason I love it is because it's healthy and so versatile, you can add extra ingredients to make it your own and it's suitable for so many different occasions.  It's quick enough for a midweek meal but feels special enough for a casual dinner party.  My favourite thing to do is to take the leftovers in for lunch to work and make all my colleagues jealous of the smell wafting from my desk. I sometimes leave the chicken out if I'm feeling a bit broke and that works fine too.

n.b. the recipe can be found online on the Good Food website, but I have altered it slightly because I always find there's not enough stock in the original.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper
2 garlic cloves
75g chorizo
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
250g long grain rice
400g can plum tomatoes
450ml chicken stock

Heat the oil in a large frying pan (best if you have one with a lid, otherwise use a big saucepan).  Fry the chicken for 5 - 8 minutes until golden.  Remove and set aside.  Fry the onion for 3 - 4 minutes and then add the pepper, garlic, chorizo and Cajun seasoning,  cook for 5 minutes more.

Stir the chicken back in, add the tomatoes and stock, cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes until the stock is absorbed and the rice soft.

Enjoy :)

x

(Not so) Glossybox

...*Big disappointed sigh*...

I was so excited about receiving my Harrods Glossybox this month because I had read lots of blogs about what people were receiving and my expectations were HIGH.  Too high it turned out.

What I wanted more than anything was the Molten Brown bath & shower gel and the YSL serum (I'm a MASSIVE fan of serum!) But sadly that wasn't meant to be.  I did however receive a Clarins body moisturiser which I was excited about.

This month, my box contained:

Roman Leather on skin... give me strength!

Fendi - Fan di Fendi Eau de Toilette Apparently this is supposed to make me smell like 'light Roman leather on skin'.  If anyone can tell me what Roman leather smells like on skin, I'll give them the whole entire contents of this months Glossybox. Actually, I'm being unfair, I don't hate this. It's just not for me, I normally wear more floral fragrances.  But I have given it a go and worn it to work these past 2 days, but I'm finding that although it seems to last all day, it's not a very powerful scent.  I'm used to knocking people out with a mere whiff of my Paul Smith Rose on the train in the mornings, so this might just be me.

Ojon - Damage Reverse Instant Restorative Hair Serum
I tried this, this morning and I have to say it did make my split ends look less bad - which is a good thing - but my hair felt quite greasy by the end of the day.






Erno Laszlo - The Hollywood Collection
I don't know much about Erno Laszio, other than that he was quite a famous dermatologist.  Anyway a quick bit of googling just now tells me these products are actually real expensive.  I tried the night cream out last night and whilst it was a bit heavy for my skin, I've just read quite a lot of reviews from devotees of EL who seem to really love the products.






Burberry Beauty - Miniature Lip Cover Rosewood No4
This was another disappointment to me.  The feel of the product on my lips itself was ok, but I really didn't like the colour.  I'd like to try the lighter colour that other people received though as it looked a whole lot more subtle than Rosewood.









Clarins - Extra Firming Body Cream
Believe it or not I am a Clarin's virgin, so I've been enjoying trialing this.  Only used it twice though, so all I can report so far is that it feels nice on the skin.  But I guess any firming qualities will take a while to show themselves.






ANYWAY, I've done a heck of a lot of moaning.  To stop feeling bitter and sorry for myself, I've decided to cancel my Glossybox membership and instead spend the money I would have spent, on something I've always wanted to try.

On the hit list so far are:
Molten Brown shower gel
Mac Strobe Cream
HD Brows

Anyone got any ideas of other things I could try?

x

Soap & Glory Dupe

You know what happens when you talk to your friends about Soap & Glory? Everyone goes bubbles! It's one of the few Indulgent Bathing brands to really get us all talking.  And it's not just the packaging that we love, it's also the contents.  S&G is really unique and breaks convention of the bathing category.

Being a big S&G fan, I have until today resisted buying Dirty Works, stocked exclusively at Sainsbury's (think this basically means it's Sainsbury's own brand).  Not least because I have a whole bathroom cabinet of S&G and other brand products waiting their turn to be used.

But during my weekly shop this evening, I couldn't help but give into temptation.

The pack designs of Dirty Works are clearly modelled on S&G... quirky product names/ tone of voice, block colouring, pictures of retro beauties... check, check and check!

When I got home I couldn't resist trying out the shower gel straight away and what I noticed is IT SMELLS JUST LIKE SOAP & GLORY!

I don't think the shower gel is quite as luxurious as the S&G version but it only cost me £2.99 vs. £6.50 for Clean Girls (S&G) so I think it was worth the slightly less quality.  I'm definitely going to try out the body scrub and moisturisers to see if they match up at all.

I feel like I've cheated on S&G... But I also love Sainsbury's, so I'll try not to loose any sleep over it tonight.

Super cute Chapstick tins

For as long as I can remember I have been a Chapstick lover so just imagine my excitement when my colleague gave me this tin! I haven't seen them anywhere in-store, but I've been assured that they are available nationwide (although I'm yet to find a stockist).

To be totally honest, the tins are pretty useless as a lip balm carrier, because there's never going to be an occasion where I'd need 3 different flavoured lip balms on one day but I'm addicted to beautiful packaging and this one will definitely take pride of place on my dressing table.

Bananarama Cake

Ok, so Bananarama might be bit of a bold name, this is actually just a banana cake recipe that I made up on Thursday night.  But I wanted to share it because it is so simple to make and is the best I've come up with so far.

This is not one of those 'healthy' banana bread recipes, but it is a lot lower in fat than other cakes because the banana replaces a lot of the butter.  It's a great way to use up mushy old bananas that nobody will eat in their raw form.  Makes 1 loaf.

Yummy, yummy in my tummy

2 - 3 overripe bananas
70g melted butter
220g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
200g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 175degrees
Grease loaf tin
In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter and the mashed banana.  I love the way this mixture looks and feels.
Mix in the egg, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in
Pour the batter into the load tin and bake for 1 hour.

New Tatty Devine

I'm TOTALLY lusting over the new Tatty Devine Tortoiseshell and Peach Melba colours.  I also love the glittery ones... what to get first?!

The Peach Melba with a gold chain would look lovely over a white blouse

Or the Tortoiseshell with a gold chain would look super vintage (the colour looks better when it's not a mock up!)

Or the sparkly silver with the new little bow addition would look good on a night out

Any suggestions?

Mothers of Invention - for any inspiring entrepreneurs out there

The British Library have got a  good conference lined up for any inspiring entrepreneurs. On 19th March they have one on the 'Mothers of Invention' which gives us the opportunity to hear from some pioneering female entrepreneurs such as Rosie Wolfenden, co-founder of Tatty Devine and Sophie Cornish, founder of Not On The High Street.  It's only £10 a ticket - I've booked my place.