Beauty Caper: Epsom Salt Scrub

Time for a different sort of caper... a beauty caper! I've been on the hunt for affordable do it yourself beauty products that won't require costly trips to the shops since I can never make it out of Boots or Superdrug with ONLY what I went in to get. So, I did a little bit of internet searching and Epsom Salt seemed like a good place to start. These salts have a lot of health uses, such as being added to a bath to help draw out toxins etc. However, I was most interested in the idea of an Epsom Salt scrub since my skin gets a bit dry and itchy when the weather changes. For example, the last few days have been horrible with the warm - cold - warm - cold changes. Very annoying!

Side view of the scrub

However, I've been really happy with this scrub so far. I use it on my face and find it gives great softness and makes my skin seem brighter and smoother. I've been trying to use it once a week since I think more than that might cause irritation since the salt crystals are a bit rough and so far I've have fewer breakouts and redness. Very pleased as it also makes a great foot scrub during an at home pedicure. I ordered 3 kilos of Epsom Salt off Amazon for 7 pounds so it's definitely a cheaper option than some of the scrubs you find in the pharmacy. This mix only used half a cup of the salts so I have tons left for other uses... just need to do some more research on what to use them for! If you have any suggestions, let me know! This scrub should be ok for a month or so... I made this before my recent trip to Rome so it's been nearly a month already and it still seems fine. Quick tip: I like to use my normal facial cleanser first to remove my make up, then use this scrub and finish with a quick swipe with regular soap since that helps to remove the residue from the oil. Also, make sure to give the jar a quick shake before use to recombine the ingredients.

View from above when it hasn't been mixed up yet.

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup Epsom Salt

1/2 cup Olive Oil

Jar with an airtight lid. 

Method: 

Mix the salt and oil in a bowl until nicely combined. Pour into the jar and keep in a cool place/out of direct sunlight for a month or so. Enjoy! 

Brown Butter Gnocchi with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

Hello! As most of you might know, I've been away for the last two weeks visiting my parents in Rome. I had a really lovely time and especially enjoyed the fact that the boyfriend (Sam), the lovely flatmate (Laure) and the lovely friend (Anna) were all able to visit as well! Of course, the real highlight is always getting to spend time with the most loving and sweet little mini dachshund. Little Izzy is just the greatest and I'm definitely missing her now that I'm home!

Ingredients

Zucchini ribbons, chopped onion and garlic 

Boiling gnocchi, ready to come out! 

Anyway, on to the food! I have a confession to make... while on holiday, I get very very lazy when it comes to food. Meals are more likely to be made up of bread, cold cuts, cheese and salad than to be something needs actual effort to create. This is particularly true in Italy because, let's be honest, their "cold cuts" are really a cut above the rest (ha). That said, I did take the time to test out this recipe that I found after searching online for "healthy gnocchi dinner" or something like that. This isn't actually that healthy I'm afraid since butter is one of the main ingredients but it's definitely tasty and surprisingly light - perfect for spring or summer! The courgettes are perfect in this and the cherry tomatoes really help to bring that brightness into the dish. I used mini gnocchi because they were too cute to pass up and so I went with 100g per person. That said, when I made this for Anna, Laure, my parents and their friends (7 of us total)... 1000g of gnocchi meant we had TONS of leftovers which made a perfect lunch the next few days.

Zucchini, garlic and onion in the brown butter 

All the ingredients in the pan

Finished product! Delicious!

Recipe via www.eatingwell.com

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp butter

1/2 a small onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 large zucchini, stripped

5 cherry tomatoes, halved 

100g gnocchi

30g parmesan cheese, grated 

Method: 

Chop the garlic and onion and set aside while you use a vegetable peeler to cut the zucchini into ribbons. When ready, melt the butter in a pan and let it simmer until it starts to brown over a medium-high heat. Toss in the onion and garlic and let simmer until fragrant before adding the zucchini to soften. Meanwhile, boil water in a pot and add the gnocchi when it has reached a rolling boil. The gnocchi are ready when they float to the top of the pot. While waiting for the gnocchi, add the cherry tomatoes to the pan, cut side down and saute until they start to break down. Finally, add the gnocchi to the other ingredients along with the parmesan cheese and enjoy! 

Wine and Cheese Party

Last Friday, my lovely flatmate Laure was returning from Paris laden with lots of delicious cheese so we thought it was a great opportunity to have a few friends round for a little wine and cheese night. I love these sorts of evenings since they tend to be cheaper than going out and are pretty simple to pull together in terms of food. I always go a little overboard and serve things other than just cheese and wine because I party food is my favorite food group. It just includes so many of the slightly naughty dishes that I would only ever have a treat or recipes that might be a bit strange if you made them for dinner. And, of course, party nibbles are delicious! Apologies in advance: the pictures aren't brilliant since I was using my phone and trying to be as unobtrusive to our guests as possible... and a few of the recipe results were eaten too quickly to photograph!

Marbled Deviled Eggs

Cheese, Breads and Crackers

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Cookies, Cheddar and Leek Muffins, Veggies

Because this was just a small get together with a few friends, I didn't want to go too crazy and somehow managed to keep things relatively simple. Another benefit was that I tried to use up ingredients I already had on hand so that they wouldn't go off while I'm in Rome next week. All the recipes included are super easy and can be thrown together pretty quickly if you're trying to host a party after a pretty crazy week like I was! I've given the recipes their own pages so click the links below for more details. Enjoy!

• Spinach and Artichoke Dip
• Deviled Marbled Eggs
• Cheddar and Leek Muffins
• Pigs in a Blanket
• Parmesan Stars 

Cheddar Leek Muffins

After last week's trip to the farmer's market in Brixton, I still had two leeks leftover from the risotto we made. And, since I'm off to Rome this coming week to visit my family, I was looking for a way to include them into the party food. A quick search led me to this recipe on the netmums website. I was a little worried that because this is designed for kids the salt level might be a bit too low (and it was.. but only a little!) so in the future I might add a bit more before baking. Other than that, this was a great recipe since it was easy, quick and made a pretty good amount of muffins for our party. Another benefit was that I already had everything in my cupboards so there was no need to rush out to the shops - exactly what I need from a party food recipe!

Muffins along with some cookies and veggies

Recipe via www.netmums.com

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 15-20 min

Makes: 24 muffins

Ingredients: 

2 leeks, white part only chopped
30 g butter
450g self raising flour (or the same amount of plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder)
2 tsp mustard powder
200g cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs
300ml milk
100ml olive oil
2 tsp salt

Method: 

Saute the chopped leeks in the butter over a medium heat until they have softened. Set aside. Meanwhile, sift the flour and mustard powder together in a bowl. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the milk and olive oil before slowly adding to the flour mixture. Add in the cheese, leeks, and salt and mix thoroughly to incorporate all the ingredients. Line two muffin trays with paper liners and fill them 3/4 of their capacity. Bake for 15-20 min, until a skewer placed in the center of a muffin comes out cleanly. Enjoy! 

Marbled Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are a party staple in our household (as my parents, sister, aunt and cousins can attest!) but I've been wary of making them for British friends since they don't seem to be as popular here as they are in America. However, after my successful marbling of hardboiled eggs last week, I thought it might be nice to use that technique to jazz up my favorite party food. Surprisingly, our guests seemed to enjoy them (although many were more intrigued by the colors I think!). If you're hosting a party, give the marbling technique a try since it adds that extra level of fun! This is just my go to method of making deviled eggs and the ingredients are usually just eyeballed. You want a nice amount of crunch from the celery and onion but you also want to chop them very finely so they don't dominate the flavors. The same goes for the cheddar: you want enough so that you can taste it but not so much that you lose everything else. If I'm at home, I'll throw in some Mrs. Dash or Worcestershire sauce if it's on hand but anything you like will work!

Freshly peeled eggs

And again

Sliced, ready for deviling 

Finished product!

Prep Time: 30-45 min

Cook Time: N/A

Makes: 20

Ingredients: 

10 eggs
Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
Cheddar cheese, grated
Celery, finely chopped
Onion, finely chopped
Red pepper, finely chopped (optional)
Paprika (optional)
Food coloring (optional)

Method: 

Hard boil the eggs and then leave to cool in cold water. Once they have cooled, dry the eggs and lightly crack the shell in different places. Place the eggs in plastic bags divided by colors and add enough food coloring to coat the shells. Seal the bags and leave aside for thirty minutes. Rinse each egg with white vinegar followed by water and then remove the shells.

Slice each egg in half lengthways and remove the yolks to a bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork until they resemble cornmeal. Add the onion, celery, cheese and enough mayonnaise to hold the mix together. Carefully spoon this mixture back into the yolk spaces of the eggs and top with the red pepper and paprika. Enjoy!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

When I'm at home in the United States, this is one of my favorite restaurant appetizers since it's filled with cheesy goodness while still masquerading as vaguely healthy by including spinach. I know, that's not very convincing as far as health food goes but this is too tasty to care! It's also one of my go to party recipes because it comes together so quickly and can be served hot or room temperature so you don't need to worry about keeping it warm. Finally, I used low-fat cheese and light cream cheese to try and keep the calories down and the flavor was still fantastic.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: A lot! 

Ingredients: 

1 can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and rinsed.
250 g of fresh spinach
A handful of fresh basil (chopped) or 1 tsp dry basil
200g light cream cheese
1 tbsp light mayonnaise
100g low fat mozzarella cheese, grated
100g parmesan cheese, grated
Tortilla chips to serve

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Fill a kettle with water and allow to boil while you place the spinach into a colander in the sink. When the kettle has boiled, slowly pour over the spinach to wilt. Follow with cold water so that you can handle the spinach and press out all the excess liquid. When ready, place the spinach and artichoke hearts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped (this can also be done by hand if you prefer a chunkier consistency). Remove the mix to a bowl and add the cream cheese, basil, mayonnaise, and cheese. Mix thoroughly and place in an oven safe dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy! 

Parmesan Stars

And... this is the second recipe that I managed to make and consume without photographing. Sorry! They were just too tasty! This is also a fantastic recipe to make if you're using puff pastry for other dishes as well since that means there will be lots of leftover pieces of pastry that might otherwise be wasted. All you need is a small cookie cutter shape (I used a star but any shape will work), an egg wash, some grated parmesan and paprika.

Photo from myrecipes.com, by Ian Bagwell and Heather Chadduck

I can't remember where I saw the original recipe that made me start making these a few years ago but the internet has several different incarnations of it: with basil or other spices, different types of cheese, etc. I prefer to keep things simple with just parmesan and a little pop of paprika and I basically make it up as I go along so apologies in advance for vague ingredient amounts! The final amount of stars you'll have will depend on the size of your cookie cutter so that is also a bit vague I'm afraid. I had about 30 and that was after only using the pastry leftover after the pigs in a blanket. 

Prep TIme: 10 min

Cook Time: 7-10 min

Makes: Lots! 

Ingredients: 

Puff pastry sheets

Grated parmesan cheese

Paprika

1 Egg 

Method: 

Roll out the puff pastry and cut into the bite size pieces with your cookie cutter. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and paint with an egg wash. Sprinkle generous helpings of parmesan cheese onto the top of each piece and follow with a tiny bit of paprika. Bake for 7-10 minutes (until the cheese has melted to a golden brown and the pastry has puffed up) and enjoy! 

Pigs in a Blanket

This recipe came about after an internet search to try and find a slightly cheaper/quicker alternative to sausage rolls since the party was coming on the heels of a surprisingly busy week. This method could not be simpler. Buy puff pastry and hotdogs. Roll hotdogs in puff pastry and seal with egg wash. Slice into four pieces. Bake. Eat. Done. Seriously, it's that easy.

Photo credit: www.leitesculinaria.com

The picture isn't mine since we ate the little rolls too quickly for me to remember to take their picture! Oh well. They were delicious and I served them with little bowls of ketchup and mustard. Perfect party food! I didn't have my computer open while making these so I used the cooking times/temperatures found in Lorraine Pascal's "hotdog's big night out" recipe.

Recipe via www.leitesculinaria.com

Prep Time: 5 min 

Cook Time: 15-20 min

Makes: 40

Ingredients: 

10 hotdogs
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 egg

Method: 

Preheat the oven to

Beat the egg in a small bowl and add a tablespoon of water, then set aside. Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Place a hotdog along the short end of the pastry and, using your knife, slice the pastry so that it's as wide as the length of the hotdog. This way, when you begin rolling the hotdog in the pastry, you won't have excess pastry at the ends. When rolling, cut the pastry just past the point where the pastry around the hotdog meets the remaining pastry so that you only have a little bit of overlap. Seal the edges with an egg wash and place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Continue with the remaining hotdogs and pastry, reserving the leftover pastry for the parmesan stars. Place the baking tray into the refrigerator for half an hour. Just before baking, slice the rolls into four pieces and evenly distribute around the tray. Serve with your favorite dipping sauces and enjoy! 

Leek and Lemon Risotto

On Easter morning, Sam and I wandered over to the Brixton Farmer's Market on the hunt for tasty ingredients for a hopefully spring-like dinner. We thought a risotto would be the perfect mix of spring veggies and filling warmth since "spring" has been mostly freezing so far. The green grocer's stand had some great leeks so we grabbed a few and decided to top our risotto with sausages since they were on sale with three six sausage packages for ten pounds. We went for the honey mustard, italian seasoning and hop flavors. Since we had the honey mustard ones for lunch, those ended up on our risotto later that night.

Some of the ingredients 

Chopped leeks

Rice being added to the leeks 

This is a great recipe from Ina Garden, the Barefoot Contessa. She uses mascapone cheese in her recipe which proved a little too hard to find in our corner shops so we went with herb cream cheese and it was delicious. I'd never added a cheese other than parmesan to risotto before and have to say it definitely improved the creaminess. I generally avoid risotto since it seems like such a pain to have to stay by it, stirring, for half an hour but actually this dish comes together so quickly that I didn't even notice the time. We had to use a wok for our pot since this makes a lot of risotto but it worked out surprisingly well so this is definitely a customizable recipe in all regards. As far as the ingredients, Ina's recipe included asparagus and peas but we skipped them since there weren't any available at the market. You could easily add mushrooms or other veggies that you have on hand. The lemon gives a bit of a kick but it was such a nice fresh flavor that this dish has helped to cement it in my favorites list. 

Finished product

Dished up with some leftover sausage 

Recipe inspired by www.foodnetwork.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp butter
3 cups leeks, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2/3 cup white wine
4-5 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp lemon zest
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Method:

In a smaller pot, heat 4-5 cups of chicken stock to simmering. Keep warm for the risotto.

In a separate large pot, add the butter and olive oil and allow to melt. Meanwhile, wash and chop the leeks. When the butter has melted, add the leeks to the pot and cook until softened. When soft, add the rice and stir to ensure all the grains of rice are coated in the oil and butter before adding the white wine. Stir until the wine has been absorbed. Now, adding one ladle at a time and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next, slowly begin to incorporate the chicken stock into the risotto. As you get to the end of the chicken stock, it will take longer for each ladleful to be absorbed, which is a sign that it is getting close to being ready. Give it a taste to ensure the rice is getting close to al dente without moving into mushiness. When the rice is almost ready, add the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese with the lemon juice and then add to the risotto, followed by the parmesan cheese. Make sure everything is well mixed and the rice is finished before serving. Top with more parmesan cheese (and sausages if you'd like!) and enjoy!