10. Cook 52 different recipes

On my 24 Things To Do Before My 24th Birthday list number ten was to cook 52 different recipes. As I mentioned before I wasn't really sure how I wanted to demonstrate to myself how I managed to do 52 different recipes so I decided to count the recipes I posted about. 

So far I have posted 5 different recipes. 

First I made some amazing Peanut butter-Chocolate-Banana Cinnamon Rolls, which were devoured.

Then I started making different kind of milk I made Oat Milk and Coconut Milk.

And at last I made something I've wanted to make for ages: Homemade Nutella.

I am really happy about all the things I did and I am really exited for the other things I'll be trying to make!


So I can finally say


10. Cook 52 different recipes (4/52)


Bisous

Making Homemade Nutella

This recipe only has 4 ingredients: hazelnuts, dark chocolate, coconut milk and salt. There is no added sugar or any ingredients you can't get easily! Furthermore, it's super easy!

This recipe yields about 300 ml (1.3 cups) of delicious nutty nutella.

Ingredients:
250 ml chopped hazelnuts (I used them with the skin still on)
200 ml coconut milk (you can easily make it yourself)
50 gr dark chocolate
A dash of salt

I measured the hazelnuts only after I blended them for 1 minute.

Start with blending the hazelnuts for couple of minutes whilst you melt the chocolate with 100 ml of coconut milk.

In the blender add the other half of the coconut milk (100 ml) and start blending it with the hazelnuts. Add the melted chocolate and the coconut milk in the hazelnut mixture and keep on blending. Taste and add the salt after you liking.

Blend until you like the consistency, it looks like the chocolate hazelnut spread is way to thin but trust me it isn't.

But it into a jar and cool it in the fridge. It needs to be kept in the fridge, both for it to not go bad to quickly and for the consistency to be just right.




Bisous

Making Homemade Coconut Milk

I like making things that I usually need to buy. Not only is it fun it is as well frequently much cheaper than buying it from the store.

I've previously demonstrated how to make some oat milk and I love using the oat milk when I am baking and I am sure that I won't use cow milk in baking ever again!

But today we are here to talk about coconut milk. Making coconut milk is easier then oat milk, it even takes less time!

There are only two ingredients in the coconut milk I make. Since I use it for cooking, baking and all kinds of shenanigans I don't add any flavor enhancers.

Ingredients:
250 ml shredded coconuts
500 ml warm water

The water shouldn't be boiling hot but it should be somewhat warm, what I like to do is to put the water in a pot and heat it up until it burns when I test the temperature.

Add the shredded coconut into the water and let it stand for couple of minutes. Put it into a blender and blend on the lowest setting for one minute and let it stand again for about 15 minutes.

The reason I let it stand is to give the water a chance to absorb as much as possible from the shredded coconut.

After that it is time to sieve the shredded coconut away from the liquid. I have found the best way to do that is through a muslin. 

Don't throw away the coconut gunk! It can be dried and used for baking, in your oat meal, with your yogurt and anything you can imagine. 

I have never had to sieve the coconut milk more than once.

Store it in a fridge, it needs to be consumed in 4-5 days! 

Bisous

P.S. Check out my homemade oat milk post! 

Review: St. Ives - Hydrating Vitamin E Daily Moisturizer

Since I wanted to review all my make-up why shouldn't I as well review my lotions, body washes and that kind of things!

I've wanted to review this lotion for some time now, I've had this bottle (18 fl oz, 532 ml) for almost a year now and it's not even close to be finished.

I only use this lotion after I shower and it makes my skin super smooth! It doesn't have a strong smell, I can't stand when my lotions are too scented.

There are some things I don't like about it, it takes some time for the cream to be fully absorbed into the skin and I feel really sticky until it is fully absorbed.

I don't like that it has Mineral Oils in it and that is probably why I wont buy it again when I finish the bottle.

It doesn't have any Parabens and Phthalates and it says on the bottle that the moisturizer is 100% natural, has not been tested on animals and does not contain any animal ingredients. Furthermore, the bottle is made out of 20% post-consumer recycled material.

You can buy a 21 oz bottle at Walgreens for $5.29!

The good is trying to outweigh the bad but the next lotion I want to buy will be even better! Any ideas what I should buy?


Bisous!

P.S. Did you remember to put on sunscreen today?

Review: Yves Rocher Couleurs Nature Single Eyeshadows

I wanted to review all my make up before I go out and buy some more. There are couple of reasons for this, first of all I want to be able to link them up whenever I use them and I want to write more reviews. I want to start with these four eye shadows. I decided to put them all together in one post because they are all the same model just different colours.

I've posted about these eye shadows a lot (here, here and here). I can truthfully say that I do like these eye shadows.

The colours that I have are 

63 - Bleu Volubilis 

52 - Turqouise Réséda

51 - Vert Absinthe

11 - Fleur d'orange

They are super colourful and they last forever! These are my usual go to eye shadows. I am pretty sure I'll buy some more of them when I buy more make-up!

These can be bought from Yves Rocher for $8.00 a piece!


Bisous

Nail Polish: Mavala - Tropique

Today I  won't do a Make-Up Monday. I have my first final exam tomorrow and I am certain my brain is melting inside my skull.  I was trying to ease my mind by putting on one of my favorite nail polish. 

Base: Alexandro - Nail Spa Colour - Mavala - Tropique Top Coat - Mavala - Incolore I am as well taking part in Mani Monday at Justlove.ly check it out: Bisous  P.S. Hopefully everything will be awesome after my last final on Wednesday! 

Make-Up Monday #9

The weather has been amazing here in Geneva! Sunny and hot and I am stuck inside writing a final essay and studying for the finals! Well, in 9 days it will all be over and I can start enjoying my summer!

I used a powder that I have from Clinique that is way to dark for my skin as a base for the Clinique eye shadow.  I don't believe in just throwing it away and this way it is really useful. As you  can see on the swatches the powder (nr. 1) is extremely dark for my skin!

Skin:

Sunscreen - Clinique SPF 30 - $19 SPF 50 - $19

Eyes: 

(1) Clinique - Stay-Matter Sheer Pressed Powder Stay Beige -$21

(2)  Eye Shadow -  Clinique - Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo - Butter Pecan (04) - $19.50

(3) Mascara - Clinique - High Impact Mascara - Black - $15

(4) Eye Liner -M·A·C Eye Kohl - Smolder - $15.00

Lips: 

(5) Tinted Lip Balm - Elizabeth Arden -Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick Sheer Tint SPF 15 - Blush-  $19.50 (reviewed here) 

Bisous

 

Make-Up Monday #8

I would like to start this Make-Up Monday with another close up of my eyelashes. As you can see they are almost back to their former glory! 

Lips

1. Lip balm 2. Eye shadow 3. Eye liner 

Elizabeth Arden -Eight Hour® Cream Lip Protectant Stick Sheer Tint SPF 15 - Plum -  $19.50 (Reviewed here)

Eyes

Eye shadow 

Yves Rocher - Single Eyeshadow - Bleu Volubilis - $8

Eyeliner  

Yves Rocher - 3-in-1 Eye Pencil - Plum - $10

Mascara

Clinique -  High Impact Mascara - Black - $15

And the result was this: 

Bisous 

Review: Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick Sheer Tint

I have wanted to do a review on these forever. Spoiler alert: I love them!

1. Transparent 2. Blush 3. Plum

There are four different tints (five if you count the transparent one). The tins are called: Berry, Blush, Honey and Plum. In this review I will review Blush, Plum and the transparent one.

They are all SPF 15, which I think is a big plus for them. The lips are in a great risk for sunburns along with the rest of the skin! Therefore, it is important to protect them as well.

I can't really pick a favorite of those three.

I love using the transparent one whenever my lips need moisture or whenever I am outside and just want a coverage.

I love the Plum one because it has a purple hue and purple is my favorite colour.

I love the Blush since it gives my lips a cute pink hue.

They are all super smooth and the lips feel amazing after wearing them. They as well smell exactly like the 8 hour cream from Elizabeth Arden (which can be a pro or a con, depending on if you like the smell or not). 

The staying power of them isn't that great but the tint goes away as well so that the lips don't have some funky colour problem going on, it is as well easy to apply since the colour isn't that strong. It is as well easy to build up the colour by adding more layers. 

All in all I love these lip protectant sticks (aka tinted lip blams) and I would definitely recommend them to anyone. You'll be seeing more of them in my Make-Up Monday segments.  

Below are some more pictures of the tinted lip balms. 

Elizabeth Arden - Blush- $19.50

Elizabeth Arden - Plum - $19.50

Elizabeth Arden - Transparent - $19.50

Bisous

Making Homemade Oat Milk

I have two confessions to make. The first one is that I am lactose intolerant and the second one is that I love cheese.

Since I love cheese I try to portion my lactose intake. Therefore, I don't drink milk and I don't eat yogurt and I buy lactose free cream. I wanted to change things up when I bake and make smoothies since I sometimes use milk in these things. I did some research and found a tremendous amount of information about milk substitute, after I talked it over with my sister she suggested I could make milk from oats. 

The ingredients are few: oats and water. Some people use salt but I don't like adding salt in something like that. I rarely add salt in things because I believe there is too much salt being used in the world! 

There are six simple steps in making homemade oat milk.

First, the ingredients:

125 ml (1/2 cup) of oats
water for soaking
water for boiling 

750 ml water for blending

Second, soaking 

Put the oats in a bowl and let them soak for at least 8 hours (I let mine soak for 24 hours) in the fridge

Third, boiling

Sieve the oats, rinse and squeeze. Place them in pot with some water and let cook them for 40 minutes.

Fourth, blend

Put the oats in a blender and add 750ml of cold water and blend it for couple of minutes.


Fifth, sieve through a muslin (I used baby burp muslin cloth, perfect size)
It takes some time to sieve it through the muslin, there is oat gunk that blocks the flow of the milk

Sixth, optional, sieve again.
There was a tiny bit of oat gunk left that sank to the bottom of the jug. Thus, I decided to sieve again!

This yields about 1 liter (33.8 fl oz) of oat milk.

I saved the gunk and dried it in the oven. There isn't a lot of it but it is still useful!

So what does oat milk taste like? Well, it tastes like the water when you are boiling oatmeal. It is a simple but pleasant taste.

Bisous

Weekly Weigh In

I haven't done a weekly weigh in in a month! Last time I was 75.8kg and today when I stepped on the scale I was 75.7kg.

Over the month my weight has been fluctuating, once it even went down to 74.6kg but it kept on going back up to 76.1kg. Always the same number 76.1kg. It's driving my crazy! Mr. Handsome said I should look at it and be motivated but I felt more like throwing the scale out the window.

6 things that motivate me:

• Seeing the number on the scale go down
• Feeling my jeans being looser 
• Feeling stronger
• Being able to do more sit-ups and push-ups 
• When Mr. Handsome looks at me and goes "wrarrrww"
• Feeling less tired

6 things that don't motivate me:

• Feeling tired 
• The number on the scale going up
• Feeling guilty
• Trying on new clothes
• Trying a new strength exercise and failing 
• Running out of breath

Now I know that losing weight is a life long journey but it is hard not to be discouraged and tired of the struggle. I just need some long lasting motivation!


Bisous

Outfit of the Day #3

I was trying something different with this outfit today. The thing is I have gigantic bobbies. I have all natural 32HH boobies and they make me look like a porn star if I don't cover them up. The  problem is, whenever I find cute dresses they either don't zip up at the top or they have way too much cleavage. Therefore, I need to cover up the ladies or people will stare and guys will try to touch and I really don't like that.

Dress: H&M     

T-shit: Helmet (borrowed from Mr. Handsome) 

Tights: H&M

Shoes: Converse 

Bag: H&M

Bisous

       

May 2012 Resolution

May is going to be another one of those super stressful months! I have two exams in May (22nd and 23rd). I have started to study for them, both of the exams are a year based exam. So two semester crammed into one exam!

My main goal for May is to not shut down and hide and wish for it all to be over but to plan and work hard and keep my head above the water! I know I can do this!

Other goals are:

• Work out 300 minutes with my EA Active 2
• Start doing one needlework thing for my soon to be shop
• Have a clean sink every evening!
• Lose 2 kg (today I am 75.6kg, the goal for the month would be 73.6kg)

The clean sink goal comes from the fact that we (Mr. Handsome and I) are awful in doing the dishes and the kitchen is super tiny so whenever we don't do the dishes it looks like hell! I have started knitting things for my soon to be shop! I want to open the shop with 10 things in it, I have finished one and a half things! So just 9 and a half more to go! 

I have planned almost the entire month for the blog! I just need to stay focused and actually follow the plan!

I plan on.... 

                  ....... doing four Outfit of The Day posts

                  ....... having two Weekly Weigh-ins

                  ....... showing y'all three more Make-Up Monday

                  ....... sharing with out what my favorite lotions are

Let's do this! 

Bisous