Now it may be the end of February, with Spring just around the corner, but here today in London it’s snowing hard and thick! Winter is still well & truly here, so it’s important to… More
Roasted Tomato Soup
A hearty lunch that warms your bones ❤️
2 pounds tomatoes, quarted (any variety will do)
2 medium red onions, quartered
4 cloves garlic, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt + more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 teaspoon sea salt + more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt, optional
fresh, sliced basil for topping
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C
Add the tomatoes, red onions, and garlic cloves to a large baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables, sprinkle half the sea salt and pepper and stir to coat.
Roast the vegetables for 30 minutes. Turn the baking sheet about half way through.
After 30 minutes remove the veggies from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
Add the veggies to a blender along with the stock and seasonings and blend until smooth. If you want a thinner consistency of soup add more stock to suit your preference.
At this point the soup was still warm enough for us to eat, but you may need to heat it up more on the stove first.
Slice some fresh basil for topping and serve
1st day in Cape Verde
…and I’m loving the place!
This island is almost untouched. It hasn’t really been a ‘touristy’ spot for too long so it’s very up and coming. Just how I like it.
We’re staying in Sal which is known to be more developed. It’s very peaceful and quiet here, lots of families and older people.
The hotel where we’re staying is unreal! There is literally everything you need on the complex (apart from mosquitos I’d happily get rid of those). The staff at Melissa Dunas are so friendly! The food is amazing with so much choice. We have 7 pools to choose from, our very own beach, and there are so many excursions to do in our time here. I am so excited for his week!
Pure bliss to me. It’s a bit windy but that’s nice when the sun is scorching hot aye!
Here’s a few pics of our first day So far, lots more to follow…. 
GPSMyCity – Taking travel guides offline!
Hi All,
I am VERY excited to announce that my ‘Hectic Hanoi’ blog post, that I wrote last year while travelling, has now been PUBLISHED into the largest travel port app of its kind!!!
GPSmyCity.com features self-guided city walks and travel articles for 700+ cities worldwide. Theres over 5,500 city walks and travel articles available – spanning over 700 cities across the globe. Now wait for it…
The articles and maps can be saved and used OFFLINE!! Basically its your very own way of making you mobile your personal tour guide!
Each city walk or travel article comes with a travel route plotted on an offline map guiding you to the famous attractions, monuments and interesting sights, as well as hidden gems, as if you had brought along a local guide. How amazing is that?
No more panick attacks from venturing off the beaten path, or carrying multiple maps in your already heavy rucksacks.
You will always have the confidence of knowing where you are, where to go and how to get there!
Please download the FREE app and give my first post a save by clicking HERE on your Android or iOS
LwL x
2016 Reflection – Happy 2017!
Happy new year to all my fellow bloggers and readers!
Did you bring in the new year in style?
The new year is a great time for a bit of life reflection isn’t it? And 2016..Wow what a year!
🔥 I started the first quarter travelling around South East Asia with my favourite person 😘
🔥 I have visited 13 countries, 7 since coming back from travelling in March ☀️
🔥 I came home jobless and confused about what to do with my life – 8 months later I have my own successful business brand 💪🏻 another career ahead of me 🎉 and the opportunity to take on another role 🙌🏻
🔥 I reduced the intake of my life long medication by two thirds 😍
🔥 I learnt to drive and bought a new car 🚗🚗
🔥 I am happier and healthier now than I have ever been 💚 and I help people become happier, healthier and wealthier on a daily basis 🍉 #h2oproject
🔥 I have met & am surrounded by the most amazing and inspiring women, and get to work with them on a daily basis #FFN
🔥 I have reconnecting with old friends
🔥 I’ve hit 4 Promotions in my part time business accumulating £3000 in just bonuses!
🔥 I’ve learnt a lot of things and developed myself as a person
🔥 I now have a Save wage and a Spend wage every month to fund my travel habit 😂
🔥 I had the most memorable Christmas with my Wonderful family
🔥 I am feeling so blessed and thankful to every single person this year and every year before that who support me in everything I do – including you all!
I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store!! #theonlywayisup
Wishing everyone health and happiness in 2017
LwL X
A very Merry Christmas to you!
Wishing all my bloggers, readers, friends and followers a very merry Christmas! I hope your day was filled with good food, great company and loved ones!
Here’s a few snaps of my crazy Christmas 🎅🏻
Healthy(ish) Mince Pies
Tis the season to be jolly! And eat your weight in food!
I’m in love with this healthier version of mince pies!!!
Definitely going to give them a go ready to leave out for santa
Ingredients–
Mincemeat:
- 100g of raisins
- 100g of cranberries
- 100g of sultanas
- 1 apple
- 1 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 oranges
- tsp of vanilla bean paste/extract
Mince Pie Cups:
- 250g of almond flour
- 2 tbsp of coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp of coconut oil
- 1egg
Directions:
• Juice the oranges and place in a saucepan.
• Chop the apple into little pieces and place in the saucepan with raisins, sultanas, cranberries, vanilla, 1/2 tsp of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes.
• Mix the almond flour with the coconut sugar, 1tsp of cinnamon, coconut oil and egg and combine until a dough forms.
• Turn oven on at 160C.
• Grease some cupcake tins with coconut oil ready to place the almond flour dough.
• Place a tbsp of dough into each cupcake mould and mould into a cup shape ready to place your mincemeat in the middle. Add 1 tbsp of mincemeat into each cup.
• With the left over dough, roll out and then cut out circles that are big enough to cover the top of the cups and place on top.
• Place in the oven and bake for 25 -30 minutes
7 apps every Network Marketor should have!
Life in Network Marketing is so much easier when you have a few apps to help you along the way..here’s my top ones. Feel free to add more in the comments!
Z O O M – This is a connection app a bit like FaceTime but for a group – all training calls can be done on here 💛 (free)
B U F F E R – This is a scheduling app – Schedule posts the night before for the following day, a God send if you work full time like myself – you can choose a time to schedule so that it posts even when you’re not on your phone. Genius! (Hootsuite is also very similar if you want to download that too) – (Free)
L I V E C O L L A G E – A great app for creating collages and getting creative on your page – make your Social media sleek and professional with this – it is your business after all! 💛 (Free)
P H O T O E D I T O R – A good way to edit pics with effects/colour/blur out your spots or eye bags lol. You can also add basic text to pictures 💛 (Free)
B L E N D E D I T O R – You can use this app to add our brand logo to photos 💛 (free)
P I N T E R E S T – Full of Inspo and amazing pictures of women/boss babes/food recipes/workouts the lot to snap up your page and keep it varied 💛(Free)
W O R D S W A G – Literally my fave app ever! You have to pay £2.99 for it but it’s so worth it. You can make creative, colourful photos and super professional pics 💛
Mexican Stuffed Peppers
🌟Ingredients 🌟
4 large red and/or green bell peppers/capsicums
1 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided
3-400g extra-lean ground beef
1 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp chilli powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can unsalted black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 tbsp organic unsalted tomato paste
2 tsp fresh lime juice
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish, optional
🌟Directions 🌟
💛Preheat oven to 200˚C. With a paring knife, carefully trim bottoms of peppers so they stand upright; do not cut through flesh. Slice off tops and remove and discard stems; finely chop tops and set aside.
❤️Carefully insert a paring knife into cavities of peppers and trim away seeds and membranes from insides. Wrap each pepper in foil and arrange upright in an 8-inch square baking dish. Bake until slightly softened, about 20 minutes. Remove from foil and set aside until cooled slightly. Reduce oven heat to 180˚C.
💚Meanwhile, in a medium nonstick pan, heat 1 tsp oil on medium. Add beef and sauté, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove beef from pan, cover and set aside; keep pan on medium heat.
💛To pan, add reserved chopped pepper tops, onion, cumin, coriander, salt and chilli powder. Sauté, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute. Stir in beans, corn, tomato paste, lime juice and beef. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, for 5 to 6 more minutes.
❤️Brush bottom of 8-inch square baking dish with remaining 1/2 tsp oil. Stand peppers cavity side up in dish. Spoon beef mixture into peppers, packing tightly. Cover with foil and bake until peppers are tender and filling is heated through, about 35 minutes.
Enjoy 😋
John Freida Flyaway Tamer
Theres nothing that annoys me more than crazy stray away hairs.
When i was 7, i got one of those cheap glittery rolly brushes (that you get in those girly barbie type hair packs) stuck in my hair. If i can teach you anything in life, it would be to never buy one of these things for your daughter. Its scarred me for life.
As an outcome I had to rip front strands of my hair out. It was heartbreaking, not to mention painful, and to no surprise it has never grown back. Now 17 years later, these stray away crazy bits are a constant nuisance in my daily routine.Hair is after all, a very big deal for girls.
Anyway more to the point. Recently I came across the John Freida flyaway tamer.
You use this on your dry, styled hair. Simply brush the wand across the flyaway hairs!
BEFORE
AFTER
It definitely does what it says on the tin! My hair appeared more tamed and neat after use.
My only critique is that it gave my hair a more greasy look. However this appeared to dry out 10 minutes after.
I would definitely recommend this product, perfect for the handbag. You can grab yourself one from super drug, boots, or 3 of them on Amazon for under £7!
LwL X
Honey & Garlic Beef stir fry
Ingredients:
- Beef steaks
- Egg or rice noodles
For sauce:
- Honey
- Garlic
- Cornflour
- Soy sauce
– Leave a saucepan of water to boil for the noodles
– cut the beef steaks into strips
The sauce:
Add a few squirts of soy sauce, a squirt or spoonful of honey and a tea spoon of garlic together in a glass
Then squeeze a fresh lime in and add a teaspoon of corn flour
– Throw the strips of beef into a pan and cook
– once the water is boiled throw in the egg noodles
– Chop the peppers and the long stem broccoli
– once the beef is brown, add the vegetables into the mix
Give it a stir and a fry….
After a couple of minutes add the sauce, followed by the noodles bit by bit and give it a good old mix!
Mix and serve 🙂
Living with Lauren 