Inviting A Stranger Over For Christmas Dinner?

Some of you may be very confused and shocked by the title of this post, and if you'd have suggested this to me a couple of years ago I would have probably run away in terror (stranger danger). But last christmas my family and I invited a stranger into out home to share Christmas dinner - and it was quite honestly one of the best Christmases we have ever had. There were last arguments from my grandparents, we were forced to get dressed (and not stay in our pyjamas all day) and made much more effort to chat! 

There is a big emphasis on spending time with family over the festive period, but what does this mean for those who have no family? Well last year Bisto launched a campaign where you give up a spare chair for the elderly and share your Sunday lunch with someone who would otherwise be eating alone. Sunday dinner is the one meal we all look forward to, where we sit down with firiends and family for good food and conversation. Yet for 1 in 7 older people, it is one of the loneliest times of the week, with over one million elderly people going days without communicating with anyone. So you can imagine how loneliness is a massive problem, especially around the festive period. 

I live in the countryside, in a very small and rural village that is probably made up of around 180 people - 90% of which are elderly. We get on with pretty much everyone at our end of the village, but very rarely venture down where the majority of the older residents live. My grandma (who also lives in the village), likes to go to the local coffee morning and regularly chats to a lady who's husband had died several years ago. My grandma being my grandma, instantly invited here over for Christmas dinner as soon as she found out that she usually spends the day alone. She didn't stop to think about the logistics, or the fact that she wasn't even hosting the dinner (my mum always has everyone over to my house and we cook for everyone), she just invited her along!

At first we were all a bit skeptical, we hardly knew this woman, yet she was going to be sharing our special day with us. Eating our food and joining in with our little family traditions. I remember being terrified just before she arrived, I thought she might ruin the day. I thought everyone would feel too awkward to talk, and what if she didn't like the food! What would we do then? But as soon as she arrived the day just seemed to flow. We got her a drink, we gave her a present, we sat down for dinner. Conversation flowed and she loved the food - she even asked for a few of our recipes. She stayed, watched a film with us, we gave her a little doggy bag and she went home! We enjoyed having her over, and she enjoyed being with us! I'm pretty sure she's coming back again this year!

So all I'm saying, is just spare a thought for those who aren't as fortunate as you this Christmas. I'm not saying that you have to scour the streets looking for someone to have over for Christmas dinner, but if someone you know (or even someone you don't) happens to mention that they are spending the day alone, just consider sharing your day with them. 

Would you ever invite a stranger over for Christmas dinner?

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The Fluffiest Scones You'll Ever Make

I love scones. As a young child I used to bake them with my grandma almost every weekend so my grandad could have fresh scones with a cup of tea in the afternoons. As I've grown up, I bake them less and less, but I still enjoy making them now and then. I've been experimenting with a couple of different recipes over the last couple of years, changing quantities and adding different ingredients, and I've finally found one that gives me perfect scones every time. The secret is to add extra baking powder into the flour, as it makes them extra fluffy and delicious. 

Start off by preheating your oven to 200C. Tip the self-raising flour into a large mixing bowl (no need to sieve), and mix in the salt and the baking powder. Make sure your teaspoon is level when measuring out the baking powder as you can taste it if you use too much, but you want enough of it because this makes the scones nice and fluffy.

Cut the butter into small chunks and rub in until the mix looks like fine bread crumbs. Top tip - shake the bowl to see if all the butter has been rubbed in as the larger crumbs rise to the top of the bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Measure the milk into a jug, and add bit by bit into the dry mixture. Part way through, add in the vanilla extract and stir into the mixture. Carry on adding in the milk until the mixture is quite wet (but not sloppy). Use your hands to 'knead' the dough until all the liquid is absorbed and it is no longer wet - the dough should be smooth. If you have added too much milk, mix in a little more flour - but not too much. 

Tip onto a clean work surface and use your hands to pat the dough until it's just over an inch thick. Take a smooth cutter (they give a better rise), roughly 5cm in diameter, and cut out your scone. Repeat until you have 12 scones. Place the scones onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and use a pastry brush (or your finger) to brush milk over the tops of the scones. Be careful not to let it run down the side of the scones as it can burn when in the oven. 

Place on the middle shelf of your preheated oven, and after 15-17 minutes they will be nice and golden! I usually find that most of them are done after 15, but one or two need an extra couple of minutes to finish off! If you can wait long enough, allow them to cool and enjoy with clotted cream and jam. If you don't manage to eat them all within 10 minutes of them coming out of the oven, you can freeze any leftover scones. When defrosting, allow to thaw thoroughly and pop in a low oven (approx 150C) for a couple of minutes to warm through.  

As always, I love it when you send me photos of your baking on Twitter - so if you make these please send me a snap!

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My Favourite Cookbooks

For last seven months or so, I have been completely in charge of everything that gets cooked in the family kitchen. And beside the surprising amount of stress that goes into planning meals that everyone will eat, I have enjoyed every minute of it! We recently started doing our weekly shop online, so every Saturday I flick through all my cookbooks and pick out the meals for the following week, and order the ingredients. Over the last couple of months I have found myself reaching for the same cookbooks over and over again, so I'd thought I share my favourites with you today. 

The Healthy Life by Jessica Sepel // I bought this book not realising it had recipes in it. Which was a bit stupid of me really. This book is a bit different to the usual cookbooks, as it focuses on living a healthy life (no pun intended). Jessica shows you how to address certain health ailments, to make sure your body is performing at it's best. The book focuses around Jessica's 10 principles for a healthier life. It teaches step by step methods to help you with a multitude of problems. From balancing your blood sugar, detoxing, and hormones, to stress, sleep, and mindfulness. It even includes various meal plans for each of her 10 principles. My favourite bit is right at the end of the book where there is a huuuuuuge list of blogs, websites, books, and online fitness classes to look at.  

The Skinnytaste Cookbook by Gina Homolka // I've been a fan of Gina's blog for years. I have made many of her recipes and they are all delicious. I don't think I've ever made a recipe of hers that I didn't enjoy. There is a halibut and broccoli bake (which I have made using cod) which is sooooo delicious it's unreal! Some of my favourites include the jerk chicken tacos (yum), the persian turkey burgers (mmmm), and the loaded potato skins (yaaas).

A Modern Way To Eat by Anna Jones // I bought this after a friend recommended it to me. I've recently been leading more of a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. Although I'm not completely committed (bacon tho), 75% of my meals are either vegetarian or vegan. I've only really made some of the salads from this book so far, but I did attempt to make the bay and mushroom biryani. I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, but I found it pretty bland. But I would buy it again simply for the salad recipes. They are completely delicious, and I hope to be more adventurous and make some of the other recipes soon! 

Good and Simple by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley // I've been watching the Hemsley sisters on the television for a while, and from what I can tell the book accompanies their show. Again I haven't really made anything other than salads, but the photography in this book is incredible. If I was allergic to food (and somehow still alive) I would flick through this book for the photos alone. They are so bright and vibrant, and a huge amount of inspiration for me. 

Lean In 15 by Joe Wicks // Although I don't agree with Joe's methods for losing weight, he has some pretty tasty recipes in this book.  The recipes are all fairly quick and easy (hence the 'in 15'), and are perfect for students or those with a busy lifestyle. There are a lot of asian style recipes, and a packed full of nutrients. What I would say is if you make the 'Cheeky Chicken Fried Rice' measure out your Sesame Oil properly - don't guess, it will taste disgusting! I especially love how there a couple of workouts in the back too - it covers all bases!

Where do you find your recipes?

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Recipe: Iranian Shirazi Salad

For me it is finally starting to feel like summer - I've just about finished university and I'm ready to collapse and do nothing for the summer holidays. I'm rather partial to a salad, especially when it comes to summertime, but sometimes you just fancy something a bit nicer than iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a few slices of cucumber. And last summer, whilst looking for a new salad recipe to try out, I stumbled across the Iranian Shirazi salad. With just a couple of simple ingredients, you'd think it would be pretty bland and boring. But you'd be wrong. This is up there in my top 5 salads that I've ever eaten (alongside a gorgeous apple and rocket one that I'll probably end up sharing at some point!) - and I've eaten a lot of salads. 

Makes: 4-5 servings (as a main meal or 6-8 as a side salad)

Ingredients:

• 2 cucumbers (or 4 Persian cucumbers if you can get hold of them)
• 4 medium salad tomatoes
• 1 medium red onion
• Handful of fresh mint - finely chopped
• Juice of a large lemon
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Step one. 

To a large bowl, add the juice of a lemon and the chopped mint. 

Step two. 

Chop up the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion into really, really small cubes, and add to the bowl. Mix really well to make sure all the veggies are coated with the lemon and mint, and can absorb the delicious flavours! Traditionally everything is chopped up really small so you can have a taste of each ingredient in every mouthful. 

Step three. 

Season with salt and pepper - I don't add salt to pretty much anything, so I just used the pepper and I thought that was more than enough alongside the fresh veggies, the lemon and the mint!

And there you have it! A delicious salad! As always, please let me know if you have a go at making this and tell me whether or not you liked it!

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What I Got For Christmas 2015

I've toyed and toyed with the idea of writing this post. Questioning whether or not people would think I'm bragging. But you know what? I don't care. I'm writing it anyway! Every year I enjoy watching videos or reading about what people have been given on Christmas morning, so I'm going to write my own post this year! I meant to write on last year but failed to, and this year I've seen a few of the bloggers I follow write up something similar, and I have really enjoyed seeing what Santa brought them for Christmas. And I, as always, was very lucky to receive some truly gorgeous and thoughtful gifts for Christmas. After being thoroughly spoiled, and eating my entire weight in Ben and Jerry's/Vienetta/Cheesecake, I have pretty much been slumped on the sofa enjoying all my Christmas gifts. But I've mustered up the energy to sit down and write, even if I am accompanied by a berry daiquiri. Yum.

Beauty

Since I'm primarily a beauty blogger, I'll start off with the ton of makeup and skincare items I received from family and friends! My mum always likes to treat me and my two younger sisters equally at christmas, and when they were both receiving expensive gadgets, my mum decided to sneak into my bedroom and see what things I was running out of. She had a good rummage, and I could actually tell that someone had been through my makeup, skincare and perfume as everything was out of place. After rummaging through my perfume drawer, she noticed that I was running out of my Clinique Happy and my Prada Candy Eau Florale perfumes - so she repurchased the Clinique for me (the cutie), and accidently picked up the Prada Candy L'Eau perfume - although I actually really like it! It's very different from the Eau Florale, so I will still go ahead and repurchase that in the New Year - but I think the L'Eau is a lot more winter appropriate! 

My mum knows I have wanted to try the Urban Decay lipsticks after I told her at least once a day for about 3 months. Whilst rummaging through my muji drawers, she noticed that I am a fan of brown toned pinks, so she picked up the Sheer Revolution Lipstick in the shade Sheer Rapture. It is absolutely gorgeous and I fell in love with it immediately! I just know I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it - especially in the spring! It is the perfect shade for daytime wear and I bloomin love it!! My mum also remembered how I'd been eying up the Mac Paint Pots every time we've been into Leeds. I've never really jumped on the Mac bandwagon. I bought two lipsticks and then gravitated more towards brands like Charlotte Tilbury and Nars (I'm so high maintenance hahaha). But I've really been wanting some of the Paint Pots to use use a bases, and I have been eying up quite a few different shades. My mum bought me the shade 'Vintage Selection' which is absolutely beautiful. I'm yet to try it out as I've not really been anywhere to wear it since she gave me it. If applying either on the go, in my stocking I received a cute little compact mirror from Cath Kidston, which will come in handy as I've misplaced my other compact!

In terms of skincare, I'd asked Santa for the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate as it is such a cult products and I'm never one for buying myself expensive skincare. I actually knew that she got me this as she was having a bit of trouble checking out on the Debenhams website (she is useless with online shopping!) and ended up coming to me for help! I've used the Kiehl's oil for the past couple of evenings and I am in love! It leaves my skin looking hydrated and calm by morning, and it is a great accompaniment to a pamper evening! Speaking of pampering, I also got a lot of Lush for Christmas! My uncle got me a couple of loose bits, which somehow happened to be some of my favourite bits. I also received the Comfort and Joy gift set which has some of my all time favourite products in it! As the name would suggest it has a little bottle of the Comforter shower cream, alongside the Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, Reindeer Rock soap, and the Twilight shower gel.

Most of my real life/non-blogger friends know about my blog, and they bought me plenty of blog related things - including a few beauty bits! My friend Sarah bought me 'The Fashion Book' which is made up of an A-Z of icons, designers and all sorts! She also got me some of the Topshop beauty christmas baubles, and although the tree will be coming down soon, I have hung them on just for the time being. My friend Fern got me the Rimmel nail polish in the shade 'Chic in Chelsea' and the Soap and Glory Supercat eyeliner. I've actually wanted to try the Soap and Glory liner for some time, and I can't wait to try it out! 

Fashion

Who doesn't love a good pair of socks at Christmas! Last year my mum went a tad overboard on the socks and I think I received about 40 pairs - all of which were never seen again! Since the weather started to get chillier, I've kept complaining about how someone has stolen all my fluffy socks (*looks suspiciously at sisters*). I bought myself about 10 pairs from Primark last Christmas, wore them each once and then I've not seen them since! She picked out this gorgeous pair of chunky knit socks from Monki and they are so warm! I actually have them on now and my feet are so toastie! I also received some adorable Mr and Mrs Claus socks from ASOS which are so soft! Alongside the christmassy socks, I also got these christmassy pyjamas - which I will wear all year round! I am really fussy with pyjamas, and I prefer to have the ones that have a slim leg - so these ones fit the bill perfectly! Unfortunately both were in the wash when I was taking my post photos, so neither have made it into the post - but trust me they're cute!

Also from ASOS (my family love it just as much as me!) I got this lovely ring! I've only recently started to get into rings, and I absolutely love this one! I'd actually seen it online and liked it, but didn't realise it was so big until I opened up the little ASOS box. I absolutely love it and I wore it on Christmas day! I was also lucky to receive this gorgeous stacking rose gold ring from Pandora, which all my friends were admiring when we went out for our Christmas meetup on Sunday. I also wore a gorgeous chevron print scarf which I received from my sister, (also from ASOS) and I can't wait to go out and wear it again. I even wore it to the supermarket today! I love wearing scarves, and I have quite a collection but I've been on the hunt for some darker ones to wear with my grey coat. I usually wear a grey scarf, however it doesn't look at all right when I wear it with my coat as they are exactly the same shade of grey! This one will go perfectly with all my coats and it very oversized so I can still use it as a blanket in my lectures (even if my friends laugh at me)!

Lifestyle

My main present was so unexpected. I thought with expensive beauty products, I wouldn't receive anything else - but I nearly cried when I opened up a present containing the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90! I'd wanted an instant camera (and a Canon AE1, but I can still dream for one of those) years ago, but never received one - so when I opened this up I may have screamed a little bit! On Sunday I went out for an Italian with all my school friends as a little Christmas meetup before we all go back to university, and I took my new camera along. I had a photo with each of my friends (except one who wasn't able to make it!) and then we managed to get one all together. I also got a couple of packs of film and a camera bag alongside the camera, and I thought it was such a sweet gift! Plus the photos make for a good Instagram prop ;)

Another thing that makes for a good photo prop is a good book, and ever since the whole blogging community went mad for the book 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' by Marie Kondo, I've wanted to read it. I'm not really one for being spotless as I'm usually too busy to put things away and then a mess builds up around me. But I honestly can't stand messy and unclean places. I've read the first chapter or so, and I really hope this book inspires me to make the time to tidy things away, and I can't wait to sit down with a nice cup of tea in my new Cath Kidston Mug and read the rest of it! And that's everything I received! Well... almost everything, there were a couple of gift received post photo taking, and a few other bits like chocolate, socks and money!

What did you get for Christmas?

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Recipe: Warming Tomato and Basil Soup

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday! I haven't done a recipe post for absolutely ages, so I felt like doing one today! As it is starting to get a little chillier and the sun is nowhere in sight, I thought I'd do a soup recipe as soup is one of my favourite things to eat when I'm feeling chilly or when I have a dreaded winter cold! I've been making it a lot recently as the weather is freeeeezing and this week I've been feeling a bit ill. Making soup is incredibly easy, and you will be surprised at how much better it tastes than it does out of a tin! You can even make it in large batches, freeze some and save it for later! I like to mess around with different flavours but I love making the classics like tomato and basil, and that is the recipe I have for you today!

You will need!

Around 8 large salad tomatoes per person (don't use tins of chopped tomatoes or it will taste like pasta sauce! Which isn't very pleasant - trust me! Ew!)

Vegetable stock cube (I use the Knorr stock pots)

200ml of water (roughly)

Fresh basil (dried also tastes just as good)

A blender - essential!

Salt and pepper (as seasoning - optional)

First things first, you'll need to stick the kettle on (not for a cuppa) to start off your stock! Whilst you are waiting for it to boil, you can start chopping your salad tomatoes (and basil if you are using fresh) into chunks. Smaller chunks will cook faster if you are in a rush or staaaaarving! Once your kettle has boiled, add boiling water to a large pan and pop in your stock cube. Wait for it to dissolve before adding anything else. 

Once your stock is ready, you can add the tomatoes into the pan. You want to let them simmer down so they go all soft and squishy. Once they are soft enough, turn off the heat and add in your basil. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before blending (or you'll burn yourself if it splashes!) and serve! I like to have mine with a granary bread roll as the two go together perfectly!

See I told you it was simple! And so so quick! 

As always, if you make it tag me in a photo as I love it when you do this! 

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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