An apple a day

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an apple a day keeps the doctor away, apple, apple juice, apple pie, Apple purée, bake, baking sheet, brown sugar, bruises, comfort food, comforting, cooking apples, cool, core, countryside, crisp winter afternoons, crop, delicious, divine, easy, fresh, fridge, gin, ground cinnamon, ham, harvest, home, honey, hot, juicer, last-minute dessert, lemon zest, menu, mid afternoon snack, munch, mushy, natural goodness, oce, pick, pip, Plastic, recyclable bottles, ripe, roast pork, shortcrust pastry, slice, soft, spices, sterilised bottles, sticky, store, treat, true, vanilla ice cream, vitamin packed drink, wholesome

The old saying goes, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and while we aren’t sure this is 100% true, they are packed with natural goodness and they taste pretty too delicious.

Go out in the countryside right now, and you are bound to come across trees bearing fruit that is ripe to pick, but once you have got them home, what can you do with them if you can’t munch your way through them as they are? Well, we have a few ideas.

Apple juice
There is nothing quite as delicious as fresh apple juice. Take your washed apples, cut out any bruises and then use a juicer to blast your crop. Put your smooth blend into sterilised bottles and either store in the fridge for several days, or if you have a lot then you can put in the freezer – but we suggest going for plastic, recyclable bottles for this. Add ice and drink alone, mix with a little gin or add to smoothies for a really fresh, vitamin-packed drink.

Apple pie
Who doesn’t like apple pie? This is a really easy, comforting way to use up apples and why not make extra and freeze some for those crisp winter afternoons when comfort food is on the menu but the shops are shut. We would say go for shortcrust pastry, cut and cook your apples in a little water and sugar, load in the fruit in a pie dish with some spices and extra raisins and your pudding is good to go in the oven to bake.

Apple crisps
Whether you have eating or cooking apples, you can make fruit crisps with your harvest. Slice the apples thinly, take out the core and pips, then place on a lined baking sheet with a little ground cinnamon and bake for about half an hour, turning over halfway through. Let them cool and store in an airtight container, and enjoy as a mid-afternoon snack, add to cereal or use them to top ice cream dishes.

Apple purée
If you have a lot of apples, making them into purée could be a good move and save any waste. Peel and core the fruit, then add them into a pan with about 1cm of water. Add some lemon zest and a little sugar, cover the pot and gently cook on a medium heat until the apples are soft and a little mushy. Freeze in pots, taking out what you need, when you need it and enjoy with roast pork, ham or add to some creamy custard for a sneaky treat.

Baked apples
The baked apple is the perfect last-minute dessert that looks wholesome and tastes divine. This simple winter pudding is budget-friendly and even more delicious when it is served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of honey. Wash your apples and heat your oven to 200C. Mix cinnamon, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon juice together then spoon the juice onto each apple, then bake for around half an hour. They should be soft and sticky when served but mind little mouths because the apples will be hot!

So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Team Pure-Beauty

Hair Focus: Long or Short?

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crop, flowing, hair, long, pixie, short

Whether you like to wear your tresses long and flowing or short and pixie-like, there’s no denying that sometimes it’s nice to make a change to your overall look. If you’ve worn your hair the same way for years, it’s easy to feel like you simply couldn’t do anything drastic without affecting your whole identity, but we thought we’d look at some of the pros and cons of both long and short hair to help you make up your mind.

Washing

Short hair is often reliant on using a lot of product, which means that you need to wash it often so that you don’t end up with nasty build up and hair which looks like Lego snap-on hair! By the same token, many of us heat-style longer hair which encourages over-production of oils from the scalp, leaving us needing to wash hair just as often to keep it from looking lank and greasy. The only way to avoid needing to wash your hair all that often is by having either a crop or dreadlocks, two looks which can be VERY tricky to pull off!

Styling

It’s easy to think that short hair needs less styling, but unless your hair is cropped SUPER short, this very often isn’t the case. Short hair often needs a lot of faff to keep it looking presentable, whereas plenty of long hair dos require little more than brushing. It’s also worth remembering that you can stick long hair straight into a ponytail if you aren’t in the mood to mess around (or you don’t have the time).

Maintaining

The level of maintenance required for both long and short hair depends very much upon the actual style you opt for. If you go full Amber Rose and shave your head, you can maintain your own hair with a pair of clippers, however a neat little pixie cut will require regular chops by a hairdresser to keep it from looking untidy. Conversely, long hair can pretty much be left to its own devices, unless you opt for something like an asymmetric bob or layers, which will need to be trimmed every 6-8 weeks to maintain its shape. Make sure you think about all of this before deciding which style to go for.

Face Shape

The fact of the matter is, some of us simply don’t suit certain hairstyles. Those of us with super round faces (that’ll be me, then…) usually can’t pull off short hairstyles as our facial bone structure just isn’t delicate enough. It’s also true that people with delicate features can sometimes look as though they are drowning under a huge mop of hair. If you don’t know what your face shape is, wait until the bathroom mirror is steamed up after a bath or shower and use your finger to draw around the edge of the reflection of your face – what you’re left with should be a good indicator of your face shape and should help you to decide which style is best for you.