Motivational Monday | Week One

Hi everyone, long time no speak! Apologies for the absence, I've been stuck in a bit of a rut and haven't really felt inspired to write anything lately. I think I'm over that now though so should be back with more regular posts!

To ease myself back in I though I'd post something a little different today, not the standard beauty/lifestyle post. 

I've decided to start a little feature on the blog called Motivational Monday. Since I've started working regular 9-5 hours I've noticed more and more that people hate Mondays. I mean really hate them. They use Monday as a reason to be miserable. Which in turn sets them up to have a terrible day. Now, I am as guilty as anybody of having the so called Monday blues but recently I've been taking a slightly different approach and have been trying to start my week off really positively. 

I'm beginning to see Monday as a new start, a day full of possibility. A day where we should be setting ourselves up for success and to have a wonderful week! 

From now on I'm going to schedule a Motivational Monday post to go up at 9am every Monday morning. It will just be a short post, something funny or maybe a nice quote, just something to remind us all to have a great Monday.

I hope you guys like this idea and maybe you'll join it too! If you want to join in I'll leave links to my social media below and hopefully we can spread the positivity!

Thanks for reading, have a great week and an awesome Monday!

Rachael x

Twitter: rmchaffs

Instagram: rachaelmchaffie

Everybody loves pancakes, right?

Pancakes are my favourite. I like them for breakfast, I like them for lunch.. I reckon I could even eat them for dinner. In short, I love pancakes.

What I don't love however is how unhealthy they can be. 

Thats why I decided to try to make my own healthier alternative.

I looked online, checking out different recipes, taking bits and pieces from recipes I liked and I managed to come up with a recipe I'm pretty happy with. plus they tasted really good! 

Banana and raspberry pancakes

Makes around 6-8 small pancakes

Ingredients

1 banana (Make sure it's ripe)
100g raspberries fresh/frozen (You could also use blueberries, strawberries etc or even leave this part out and make plain pancakes)
200ml unsweetened almond milk
200g multipurpose flour (You could also use gluten free flour if you prefer)
1 teaspoon vanilla/maple syrup (This is optional, if you haven't got any in it won't make a huge difference)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

If you have a food processor/blender, puree the banana, almond milk and vanilla/maple syrup. If you haven't got a food processor/blender you can mash it together by hand, its just a little more work. You want the mixture to be pretty runny.

In a bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together, then pour your liquid mixture in and mix together until its combined. At this point you'll want to stir your berries in.

Heat your frying pan/pancake maker/griddle to a medium heat and pour some oil (coconut is best) or spread some butter over to avoid the pancakes sticking. 

Pour the mixture onto your heated pan, its up to you big you want your pancakes to be so you can decide how much mixture you pour on. 

Once bubbles have started to form in the batter, flip your pancake. Let the second side cook for between 45 to 60 seconds and remove from the heat. I normally check my first pancake to see that it properly cooked the whole way through. If it is, perfect. If not, lower the heat slightly and cook for a while longer.

While I'm making the rest of my pancakes I normally leave the already cooked one's in the oven at about 80C°, so that when you're ready to eat them they're still nice and warm.

Toppings

When it comes to toppings you don't want to ruin your hard work and choose really unhealthy options, so I usually choose one or a combination of the healthier options below.

Raspberries
Blueberries
Strawberries
Greek yogurt
Lemon juice
Flaked almonds
Cacao nibs
Nut butters
Cinnamon
Honey 

So there we have it guys, yummy pancakes that aren't TOO bad for you!
Let me know if any of you try the recipe, or if you have any good tips/healthy recipes I can try!

Rachael x

What I've Been Loving This Month | April

I can't believe it's May already?! This year is going by so quickly! I'm looking forward to the next few months and hopefully the better weather though!

This months favourites is quite varied, there's a few rediscoveries in there as I didn't buy too many new things during April because I've been trying to use up things I already have to clear a bit of space in my bedroom! 

I only have one make up item this month and it's a foundation that I always seem to go back to, no matter what. Of course it's Estee Lauder Double Wear.

Shade 1N2 Ecru.

This foundation and I go way back, we have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I wear it for weeks, loving the fuller coverage it gives then suddenly one morning I apply it and it just looks flat. So I move on to a new foundation, then one day I'll be having a bad skin day, and I go back to it and its love again! That's definitely a girl thing haha! Double Wear is a great foundation, it gives quite a full coverage, but you can buff it in to create a really flawless base. Estee Lauder have a great shade range and at £28.50 it's definitely worth trying. I find that people with oilier skin seem to get on with it better, but I have dry skin and as long as I blend it in really well I have no problems with it. I wouldn't recommend it for a night out, solely because it has an SPF in and if you're taking photo's, you can get quite bad ghost-face because of the flashback. Apart from that though its definitely a brilliant foundation.

 L-R Sugar Apple, Blueberry, Grapefruit.

How gorgeous are these Barry M Gelly polishes?! I loved the Gelly polishes last year when they came out, they have a brilliant range of shades, they apply really well and they last ages on my nails. Naturally when the new Spring/Summer shades came out I was running straight to Boots! They're an absolute bargain at £3.99 each and I honestly can't rave about them enough.

My next favourite is a new discovery, I've been using it since around February time now and it has been a godsend. I have the driest hands around, like seriously they're like old peoples hands, it's horrible! Therefore a good hand cream is an absolute necessity for me and this offering from L'Occitane is perfect. It's their Shea Butter hand cream and it is so so nice. It's really rich and moisturising without leaving your hands really greasy and meaning you can't touch anything for ten minutes. It smells super fresh and lovely too. This is definitely a winner!

Next up is the Charles Worthington Volume and Bounce Texturising Spray. I have long hair, lots of long hair. I like volume, but I also like my hair to look a bit messy and bed-heady. I'm asking a lot, I know, but this baby was definitely made for me. It's exactly what I need! After I straighten my hair I spray this all over, let it settle for a few seconds, then ruffle through my hair with my fingers (such a technical explanation hahaha). It gives it texture and makes it look a bit undone which is exactly what I want! I've heard that this is even better than the Oribe Dry Texturising Spray which I'm very pleased about! Now I don't have to fork out all that money to try it!

My next favourite of the month kind of contradicts what I've just said about my hair... (woops). Stay with me here, I'll try and explain! As well as liking my hair to look messy and undone, I like it to look smooth and in good condition... Naahh... I've lost you now haven't I? If you know what I mean then you'll like ths product. It's the Percy & Reed Wonder Balm. This stuff is seriously holy grail. It can be used on wet/dry hair, and it claims to "give moisture, shine, smoothness, definition, softness, light hold, high humidity protection and manageability". Phew, that's a lot... but I honestly think it does all of those things. I run it through my hair when it's dry and it works wonders. It retails at £18.00 which is a tad pricey for a hair product, but it's so worth it!

 A water bottle? Really?

Yup. This water bottle has been getting so much use this month! I drink a lot of water, usually about 3 litres a day and I've been reading a lot about bottled water recently. It's said that lots of chemicals from the plastic aren't very good for you, especially if you're refilling the bottle and using it for a few days, which is exactly what I normally do. I saw this in Tesco though a few weeks ago, its a Bobble bottle, it has a filter as part of the lid, so you can refill it and drink nice filtered water. Also the bottle is safe to drink from. It costs about £10 and you need to replace the filter every two months. The filters are sold separately and only cost £6 so although it sounds pricey, it's far cheaper than buying bottled water constantly.

Finally, another random favourite is this tea. It's from Dr Stuart and its the Detox tea. I picked this up in Holland and Barrett at the start of the month and I've finished this box now and will be purchasing another next time I'm in. Its a naturally decaffeinated tea and is supposed to be good for your insides. It's a herbal infusion with dandelion and burdock, peppermint and spearmint. I try to avoid dairy products in my diet which means I don't drink normal tea or coffee, so I really like herbal teas. This one tastes great and I've been having it most mornings in work. I'm not too sure about the detoxing properties but if anybody else has tried it and noticed a detoxing effect please let me know! I have my eye on the other teas in the range, especially the Skin Purify one so I think I'll get some different ones to try!

So thats everything I've loved throughout April! I've already done quite a bit of shopping this month, so I'll be posting a Haul within the next week or so! 

What have your favourites been this month?

Rachael x

  

THE WEEKEND: Easter times.

Hey guys! Hope you're all well and have settled back into work nicely this week after the Easter break. Or if you were one of the people who worked hard during the long weekend, I applaud you!
Today I thought I'd share with you a little bit of what I got up to during my Easter weekend. 
Warning: This will be a pretty photo-heavy post!

I was lucky enough to have a lovely four day weekend which tied in nicely with the gorgeous weather we were having in Belfast (a rarity!). On the Saturday, my boyfriend Dom and I got up early-ish.. got some breakfast and headed off for a long walk. We went to Cavehill which as the name suggests is a large hill overlooking Belfast, situated close to Belfast Castle. Its about a 4.5 mile walk, so its not too long, but its quite steep which makes it a good workout! Plus, the views are outstanding! We brought a picnic along with us and ate lunch at the very top in the sun, bliss!

On Easter Sunday we had a pretty chilled day. We had an Easter egg hunt, a yummy family lunch and napped a lot! I got this Chok A Blok egg which was amazing. It didn't last very long to be honest!

On Easter Monday, Dom and I took a road trip with a few of our friends. We headed into Newcastle, which is a small seaside town about 45 minutes outside Belfast. Its best known for its sandy beach and being home of the Mourne Mountains. We headed up at about 12.45 and got stuck in all of the traffic, arghhh, but our friends in the car in front kept us amused! 

When we eventually got there we were freaking hungry! So our first stop was Country Fried Chicken for some seriously unhealthy (but so tasty) food! We ate our food on the grass by the sea and of course we had to take some group selfies!

Next up it was time for the Amusements, and with pockets loaded with change we hit up the 2p machines!

After being big kids for an hour or so we were all craving some ice cream so we went off to join the queue for Mauds. My banana ice cream was definitely worth the wait!

After quite a busy few days Dom and I decided to take it easy on Tuesday and do a lot of nothing. Our rumbling tummies did force us into town for a late lunch though. We wanted to try somewhere new so we went to Slim's Healthy Kitchen on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. Its been getting a lot of attention and is promoted as a healthy option for eating out. We were both really impressed. The menu is pretty extensive and caters for everyone and it makes it really easy to make healthier eating choices. 

I opted for the chicken stir fry and Dom got a Steak Wrap. We also enjoyed fresh fruit juices, sweet and potato fries. Everything tasted amazing, left us really full but not uncomfortably so and it was a really refreshing change to the normal restaurants we eat in. We'll definitely be back!

I hope you've enjoyed this little snippet into my Easter guys. Let me know what you got up to!

Rachael x

Smoothie Time.

Spring has finally sprung! Its starting to heat up in little old Belfast and I've finally been able to ditch my stodgy porridge breakfasts and start my days with something a little lighter and brighter (Sorry porridge, I still love you!). My go to breakfast choice recently has been a good old smoothie. I love smoothies. They're super quick to make, they're an easy way to get some extra fruit/veg into your diet and are perfect for breakfast on the go. If, like me you leave the house at 7am this is absolutely vital!

Seeing as I'm loving the smoothies so much at the minute, I thought I'd share some of my favourite combo's and recipes with you guys.

First up though, if you're gonna make a great smoothie, you gotta have the right blender/smoothie maker!

My smoothie maker of choice is this bad boy:

Andrew James 4 in 1 Smoothie Maker

Its a smoothie maker, blender, juicer and grinder. I'll be honest, I've only used it to make smoothies, but you can supposedly use it for lots of other things! My favourite bit about it is that it comes with a 1L container to make your smoothie in, once you've made it you remove it from the smoothie maker, pop on a lid and you're good to go! Which means you only have one thing to wash later on! I paid £27.99 for this as it was on offer on Amazon, total bargain! 

Moving onto the making of the smoothies. I like something quick, usually I'm in a rush, pulling my shoes on, grabbing stuff from the fridge trying not to wake everyone else. For this reason my breakfast smoothies tend to be pretty simple!

I generally go for 200ml unsweetened almond milk, a frozen banana (it gives it a nice creamy texture) and about 200g of blueberries/raspberries/strawberries. I sometimes add in a tablespoon of peanut butter too for protein. Be careful with the PB if you decide to add it, don't use too much, although its a great source of protein, it is quite high in fat. Finally I add a teaspoon of Matcha green tea powder, which is basically just a really concentrated green tea powder, its perfect if you don't like the taste of normal green tea as it doesn't give much flavour in a smoothie. If you're interested you can have a read about the health benefits of Matcha tea here. 

For those of you who prefer a less sweet smoothie, this recipe is great. Its made up of greek yogurt, nut butter, blueberries, pineapple, kale and water. I must warn you, if you're new to using vegetables in your smoothies it might take a while to get used to the taste, but if you can hack it its a great way to get some veggies into your diet!

Here are a few more of my fave smoothie recipes:

Almond Orange Smoothie

Watermelon Bliss Smoothie

Tropical Breakfast Smoothie

Berry Breakfast Smoothie

Orange and Banana Breakfast Smoothie

Spinach, Avocado and Apple Smoothie

If you've recently introduced smoothies into your diet, this Pop Sugar article is really useful, it'll keep you right and explain what to add to your smoothies in order to be as healthy as possible!

Thanks for reading guys, let me know your favourite recipes in the comments!

Rachael x