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Posts tagged Caramel
Overnight Oats
2
7 years
by Naomi in Food
A few weeks ago I spotted a breakfast craze on Instagram of something called overnight oats. I’d never heard of them before, but they looked delicious and I couldn’t wait to give them a go. Overnight oats is basically just cold porridge, made overnight in the fridge. All you do is mix one part rolled oats, with one part liquid, sweeten it with whatever you choose, then leave it in the fridge overnight to do its thing. The oats absorb the liquid, and in the morning you’re left with plump, moist oats that are ready to eat without any cooking. You can then top it with whatever you want, and enjoy. My basic recipe for one person is half a cup of oats mixed with half a cup of semi-skimmed milk, but I’ve seen people use juice and nut milks too. Also, if you prefer your oats wetter or drier, you can add more or less liquid accordingly.
My favourite thing about overnight oats is how experimental you can get with them. I’ve had oats almost every day this week, but each bowl has had a different topping, which has stopped me getting bored of my breakfasts. They’re also really filling, and where I’d usually be feeling hungry by about 10:30am, I’ve been full until lunch, which for me is a big thing!
Here are a few of my favourite toppings so far…
Caramel Banana Crunch
Sweetened with: 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Topped with: Half a large banana, Lotus Caramel Biscuit spread, and granola.
Fruity Yoghurt and Blueberries
Sweetened with: 1 tablespoon of raspberry, cranberry, and blueberry yoghurt.
Topped with: Raspberry, cranberry, and blueberry yoghurt, and a handful of blueberries.
Choco Banana
Sweetened with: 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.
Topped with: Half a large banana, and milk and white chocolate spread.
Strawberry Coconut Crunch
Sweetened with: Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Topped with: Chopped strawberries, granola, and desiccated coconut.
I have quite a few toppings planned for future overnight oats too, including maple syrup and chopped pecan nuts, apple and cinnamon, and even Oreo biscuits and peanut butter. Definitely more interesting than Cornflakes!
Have you ever tried overnight oats? If so, I’d love to hear your recipe ideas!
Naomi x
Chocolate Tasting for Millennium Hotels
7Last week I received a very special delivery from Millennium Hotels… A goody bag stuffed full of Hotel Chocolat treats! Millennium Hotels are a luxury hotel company who have many hotels and resorts in exciting locations all around the world. To add something a little extra special to every room, they are currently trying to choose a luxury chocolate to place on their pillows for their guests, and I was asked along with a few other bloggers to help them choose by sampling each chocolate in the goody bag. How could I say no to that?! Here is what the bag contains…
From Left to Right:
Smiley Lick.
Eton Mess Slab.
Salted Caramels.
Chocolate Gemstones.
Billionaire’s Shortbread.
Choosing a favourite out of these five delectable delights is very difficult (I am a chocoholic, after all), as they are all different, and all extremely delicious. However, a decision has been made! Read on to see what I thought of each one, and to see which one is my overall winner.
Smiley Lick
The Smiley Lick consists of a disk of thick milk chocolate on a lollipop stick, which is happily adorned with a smiley face. This one is fun to look at, fun to nibble and it really shows off the high quality of Hotel Chocolat’s chocolate. The chocolate is extremely smooth and has a rich, sweet flavour. I gobbled this up rather quickly in one sitting, and was left wanting more. Delicious, but I don’t think it’s quite right for a hotel pillow as it’s a bit too bulky looking!
Eton Mess Slab
The Eton Mess slab is absolutely beautiful to look at, as the pink chocolate swirled with cream and scattered with strawberry and meringue pieces makes it look like a work of art. The chocolate itself is strawberry flavoured, with vanilla chocolate running throughout. It isn’t as smooth as the milk chocolate as the real fruit bits give it a bit more texture, as do the little chocolate cookies hidden inside (which I wasn’t expecting when I first bit into it!), but it is divine!
If you have a sweet tooth then this is definitely for you – it smells and tastes just like a strawberry milkshake. I can only handle a little bit of this at a time, but at least that means I can make the bar last and savour it. This would be the winner if my sister had a say – it was her favourite out of all five choices.
Salted Caramels
I have always enjoyed the contrast between sweet chocolate and salty caramel, and these are the best salted caramels I have ever tried – the balance of flavours is perfect! When you first bite into the chocolate the caramel comes oozing out, and you are hit with a toffee sweetness which has a slight tang of sea salt. These perhaps wouldn’t be to everybody’s taste, but I think they’re a very sophisticated little treat and I’d definitely have these again.
Chocolate Gemstones
Hotel Chocolat’s Gemstones are made of white and dark chocolate drops, which have been fused together to create silky and shiny little spheres, which melt slowly on the tongue. They might be small, but each one gives big flavour, with a creaminess from the white chocolate and a bitter edge from the dark chocolate which stops them being overly sweet. Out of everything in the goody bag, these are the ones I keep going back to… They’re very moreish!
Billionaire’s Shortbread
Last but not least, Billionaire’s Shortbread. These unusual truffles are made of milk chocolate, and have a caramel praline inside which has a lovely soft texture. Each one is also sprinkled with little pieces of shortbread cookie, which add a delicious crunch to every bite. These really do taste just like the dessert of the same name, but their delicate size makes them that little bit more refined. My other half absolutely loves the Billionaire’s Shortbread chocolates and I think these would win if it was his choice!
Though I like everything in the goody bag, my overall winner has to be the Gemstones! They might be the simplest chocolate of them all, but I think that would make them suitable for any guest to enjoy, and their beautiful taste and dainty size make them the ideal snack to nibble on throughout the evening, whilst you lounge in your comfortable hotel room. Bliss!
If you fancy a stay at a 4 Star Millennium Hotel (I know I’d love to stay at the London Mayfair hotel myself), now is a good time to book… They are currently offering 30% off room rates until the end of March, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this could be a lovely way to impress your loved one! Click here to find out more, and don’t forget to treat them to some Hotel Chocolat chocolates too.
Naomi x
*The Hotel Chocolat Goody Bag was sent to me by Millennium Hotels for review purposes. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*
Who Made Your Pants? Needs YOUR Help!
6
9 years
by Naomi in Fashion
Wonderful women of all shapes and sizes, this little post is aimed at YOU!
Who Made Your Pants? are a Southampton-based lingerie company who hand-craft amazing, ethical pants for amazing women. But they’re not just any lingerie brand, they’re a campaigning lingerie brand, which is what makes them very special. The company creates rewarding jobs for vulnerable women from all over the world, and gives them a chance to learn useful new skills. To keep costs low so that they can put more money back in to wages, training, support and advice, Who Made Your Pants? use material sold off by the lingerie industry at the end of the season to make their pants, and they can tell you exactly who made every pair of pants that they sell.
I’m sure you’d all agree that Who Made Your Pants? are an incredible brand, so in order to keep up the good work, WMYP need to keep selling lovely pants to amazing women like you! There are many different designs and colours of pants available to buy from Who Made Your Pants?, starting at just £12.50 per pair. So, if you can spare a few pounds, please consider purchasing a pair of pretty panties, not only for yourself but to help the brand and the women who work there! Also, please pass on the word about Who Made Your Pants? in any way you can (blog post, Twitter, Facebook, through friends), as word of mouth is a powerful tool.
Here are just a few of my favourite pairs of pants from the Who Made Your Pants? website…
Brilliant Black – £12.50
Pirate Pink – £23.00
Something Blue – £18.00
Perfectly Pretty Light Purple – £18.00
Black and Caramel – £25.00
You can also buy gift sets, gift vouchers and even yearly pant subscriptions!
Thanks for reading, and please don’t forget to spread the word about Who Made Your Pants?!
Naomi x
PS. You can also follow Who Made Your Pants? on Twitter and ‘Like’ them on Facebook!
TanOrganic Sunless Tan
16A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a bottle of TanOrganic’s Sunless Tan and a tanning mitt in Storybook Apothecary‘s giveaway (thanks Tianna!). In all honesty, I have never been a fan of false tanning, or tanning in general, as I have pale white skin which looks absolutely ridiculous in any shade of orange, however, the ‘organic’ nature of this tanner really intrigued me. The tanner contains no synthetic ingredients, parabens, colours or scents, just natural, organic ingredients, which Tianna assured me made for a natural looking tan, even on pale skin. I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself so I used it on my legs this weekend after receiving the package on Friday.
My first impressions of TanOrganic were good. The product comes in a 100ml brown glass bottle with orange and yellow detail, which I think looks a lot classier than the plastic bottles of false tan you usually see on the shelves. The mitt is a decent size too, not too small, but tight enough to fit snug to your hand so it doesn’t slip around.
The tan itself is applied with a standard pump spray which actually proved to be quite troublesome. I asked my mum to help me apply the tan (I’m an amateur at self tanning whereas she’s quite experienced) and she had some problems spraying the tan onto the mitt. She is right-handed, so she used the mitt on her right hand, which meant spraying with her left hand. The spray nozzle is quite small and difficult to press, and sometimes spins round, so it is quite difficult to press – definitely a feature that could be improved!
The bottle says that you must spray the tan onto the mitt first, and then apply it to your body in a circular motion. We followed the instructions carefully and the application was easy enough. It didn’t streak as much as I was expecting it too, but it did smudge here or there (though this is easily fixed if you rub the tan firmly to even it out). The tanner is also practically scentless. In the past, I have had the displeasure of sniffing various false tan products and they all, quite frankly, stink, but this one has an extremely delicate scent which is hardly noticeable. I put that down to the lack of chemicals, which gets it more brownie points from me.
One application to my legs used about a sixth of the bottle. I have long legs so I don’t really know if that’s a fair amount to use or not, but I imagine you could get three or four full body applications from one bottle. The bottle says to leave the tan on for six to eight hours before rinsing it off, so after applying the tan I left it to dry and then went about my business for six hours. When I rinsed the tan off the water went bright yellow, but my legs stayed looking brown as I hoped they would! As suggested, I washed with body wash and then applied moisturiser to help prolong the tan.
Now, here are the before and after photographs of my legs. The light looks different in both of them due to the direction of the sun at the time of taking the pictures, but I assure you they give an accurate representation of the differences!
BEFORE
AFTER
As you can see, my legs were very pale before. Though the tan didn’t give my legs an intense colour, it did make them look nicely, naturally tanned and lightly brown, and I am very pleased with the results. There are no orange blotches or dirty looking streaks in sight, and my skin tone looks very even and smooth. The difference is only minor, but it is noticeable, and that is what I wanted so it has done its job well in my opinion. In fact, I like this delicately tanned look and I’m pleasantly surprised that I do!
The phrase on the front of the bottle, ‘100% Natural Just Like You’, really sums this product up well. The formula is 100% natural (and registered as cruelty free, vegan and 95% organic), and the resulting tan looks natural – I will definitely be using TanOrganic again, I’m a convert. If you want to try it, TanOrganic’s Sunless Tan is available to purchase online from TanOrganic’s website, and costs a reasonable €19.99 (around £16, or $25) with a free Tan-Erase, or you can get it for free if you purchase their OilArganic for the same price. The mitt is sold separately for €4.99/£4/$6.25.
What do you think of the results?
Naomi x
