Christmas cooking the fun way

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This year, why not impress family and friends with homemade biscuits and snacks, and as well as saving yourself some money, you can have festive fun too? We have several tried and tested recipes we love, and hope you will too!

Christmas tree cookies
These cute cookies look good, taste great, are easy to make and even the youngest members of the family can get involved and help you to decorate them!

For these winning treats, you will need:

470g of plain flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of table salt
225g of unsalted butter
300g of caster sugar
Two medium eggs
Two teaspoons of vanilla extract
A Christmas tree cuter
Colouring icing sugar pens
Silver balls

Sift together the baking powder, flour and salt. Cream together the butter and sugar until you have a light and fluffy mix, then beat in the eggs (one at a time) and finally stir in the vanilla. At this point you can then slowly add the flour mix, and when you have a ball of dough, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for around an hour.

When you get the dough from the fridge, pre-heat your oven to 200 C / gas mark 6 /180C fan and line two baking trays with parchment paper – this means the cookies will slide off once cool and you won’t have any nasty pan scrubbing to do.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out your cookies.

Bake for about eight minutes or until the edges are just turning light brown, and transfer from the baking trays to cooling racks.

Decorate with the icing pens when the cookies are completely cool and put on the little silver balls for an added touch, then either eat them (fast) or put them in pretty boxes with tissue paper and give them out as presents!

Cheese Stars

For the school party, or drinks with friends, these easy to make cheese stars are winners.

You will need:

A pack of pre-made puff pastry
One mug of grated cheese – a mild cheddar / mozzarella mix works well
Flour for dusting
2 table spoons of whole milk
A star cutter

It is best to make these on the day of eating, so when you are ready, preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease them with a little butter.

Next roll out the sheet of pastry and put your grated cheese on half of it, fold it over and then on a floured surface, gently roll to around double the size. At this point just make sure no cheese is escaping from the sides as this can get messy in the oven! Next, cut out star shapes from the folded sheet and place on the baking sheets, brush with milk and cook for around ten minutes. You can add some herbs or salt to the tops of the stars if you like! They will last for a couple of days in a tin, but we don’t think they will be around that long!

Veggie Tree

For something super healthy for the party table, you can’t go wrong with savoury festive tree made with goodness and love.

For this you will need:

Lots of cherry tomatoes – cut in half
Green grapes – cut in half
A yellow pepper with a piece of the flesh cut into a star shape
Half a cucumber
Salsa
A large silver foil platter

Chop a 5cm piece of cucumber and place it at the bottom of the foil platter to make the tree trunk. Then you need to make a row of tomatoes and grapes to make the first part of the tree, and then add more layers, each one shorter than the last so you end up with a cute Christmas tree shape. At the top you can add your yellow pepper star, then serve with the salsa and the rest of the cucumber cut into sticks! This looks fun and jolly and also help to keep up your five a day!

Got a recipe you love, let us know about!

Team Pure Beauty

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Go organic on a budget

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We are increasingly being told that organic food is the way to go if we want to be super healthy and environmentally aware.

While we are all for that, we know this route can also be a more expensive option, so we have looked at how you can make the switch even if you have a budget you need to stick to.

Start with your kitchen cupboards
First of all, don’t throw out everything in your kitchen that isn’t organic – that causes waste which isn’t the aim of this exercise at all. As you run out of basics such as pasta, canned tomatoes, beans, rice, and other everyday dried goods, replace them with organic, which are often found at the same price as your regular non-organic items. Over time easy swaps will mean you have a kitchen cupboard which is full of organic basics so you will always be able to create a tasty meal or snack that is good for you and the world around you. You might also want to apply the same principles when it comes to cleaning products, as well as clothes, as there is a whole range of organic products out there just waiting to be found.

Do your research
Increasingly, supermarkets and independent retailers are offering organic ranges, so it is worth researching who is doing what. Outlets including Aldi, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, and Morrisons now sell their own brand organic ranges which can be more cost-effective than dedicated non-organic branded products which not only means you can get the best value for money but you have a better choice. It may take time to do this, but we think it is worth shopping around and doing some price comparisons to get the best deals for you. Oh, and don’t forget to go to your local greengrocers, butcher and farmers’ market as they can be real organic treasure troves.

Go with the seasons
This can take a while to get used to, but if you want to go organic and keep costs down, eating local produce when it is in season is the way to go. From tomatoes and strawberries to rhubarb and apples, there are some great foods out there, you just need to know what to look for and when.

Buy a box
Another way to eat with the seasons is to take part in a box scheme. There are various options out there, including Abel & Co and Riverford as well as local companies and they are a fantastic way to move to organic eating. You can mix and match your foods, including eggs, meat, and cheese, to get a box that is right for you.

Shop at the end of the day
This isn’t exclusive to organic food, but if you shop at the end of the day and check the discount section, you will be amazed at some of the bargains on offer and if you freeze what you aren’t going to eat that day, there is no waste either.

Leave packaging behind
Retailers are starting to stop using unnecessary food packaging and this is often the case with organic options. You don’t need broccoli wrapped in plastic, so take a bag for life, or even better a basket, when you shop and you can feel extra pleased with your choices.

Do it yourself
Growing your own food is a brilliant way to go organic. We aren’t saying go and buy a farm and get chickens, but growing herbs in the kitchen, tomatoes in tubs and runner beans in the garden are simple ways to do it yourself. Not only do these taste miles better than shop bought produce, but having your own mini kitchen garden is rewarding and totally cost-effective, go you!

Cooking from scratch
With a well-stocked larder, we hope that breaking away from microwave meals and cooking from scratch might be easier? One of the best things to do is plan your meals and then batch cook, freeze portions and make lunches in advance. From soups and stews to pasta sauces and flapjacks, you will honestly wonder why you didn’t start soon.

Organic when you eat out
You don’t have to be tied to the kitchen sink to make organic choices. You will increasingly find organic restaurants when you are out and about, as well as organic coffees and teas being served in cafes and wines and beers in pubs. Once you starting looking you will be surprised at what is on offer out there.

We hope you can see that while you need to be a little creative, small lifestyle changes can help you and the planet be healthier and happier.

Team Pure Beauty

How to Re-Grow Your Over-Plucked Eyebrows

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Here at Pure Beauty one of the ‘beauty truths’ that we wholeheartedly accept is that many things in the world of beauty and cosmetics are cyclical. This can mean that something which was fashionable for years can suddenly become the exact OPPOSITE of what’s fashionable now – and this has never been truer than it is with eyebrows! We all spent the majority of the Nineties and Noughties plucking our eyebrows into oblivion, only for 2017 to be the year of the heavy brow! Many of us have plucked our brows so much that we need a little help growing them back, so here are a few things you can try to give them a helping hand:

Step Away From the Tweezers!

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but you’re going to have to leave the tweezing alone completely for some time to allow all of your natural brows to grow back in. Once you’ve got a full set of eyebrow hairs, then you can reshape them (or even better, let a brow technician do it for you because, let’s face it, you can’t be trusted!) but until then you need to leave them alone.

Massage with Oil

Massaging the area will help in a few ways. Firstly, it will help to stimulate the hair follicles and encourage hair growth. Secondly, if you use an oil like Elemis Superfood Facial Oil it will trap moisture within the skin which your hair follicles need for healthy growth. Lastly, the nutrients within the oil, such as vitamin A and omegas, will also give your skin the vital nourishment it needs to be able to regrow the hairs.

Eat Protein

Hair and nails are made from a protein called keratin which is produced within the body, so it stands to reason that eating plenty of protein will help your body to have what it needs to some serious brow-growing. Things like meat, eggs, nuts and fish are all great sources of protein and will give you lots of hair-growing superpowers!

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an essential nutrient for hair growth so as well as eating plenty of things which contain it (avocado, sweet potato and spinach, to name but a few), using a topical product like Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm can really help. It’s usually intended for use around the eye and mouth area to combat wrinkles, but adding an extra layer on your brows before bed can speed up the hair growth cycles.

Be Patient!

This step is really important! Hair growth usually follows a 3-4 month cycle, which means that from the moment you stop tweezing you may have to wait 16 weeks to see how your brows have grown in. You’re potentially going to look a little bizarre with wild brows in this time, but it’s well worth it and really is the only way you’re going to see what you’ve got left to work with once you stop the hideous cycle of over-plucking.

Pumpkins are for more than just Halloween

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With Halloween fast creeping up on us, many people will be buying pumpkins and carving them out to create impressive doorstep decorations.

Rather than throwing the golden squash away, we have put together some easy to make, great tasting recipes that will help make your celebrations go even better.

Pumpkin Hummus

Hummus comes in many wonderful varieties and we love the creamy consistency of it when you make it with pumpkins.

You will need:
Around 500g of pumpkin flesh
A little olive oil
Garlic (we would say two cloves)
The juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of tahini paste
A 400g can of chickpeas, washed and drained
1 orange and one yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
Pitta bread and carrot sticks to serve

Firstly, heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Scoop out the pumpkin and cut the flesh into cubes, discarding the seeds, drizzle with oil and cook for around 45 minutes, with the garlic.

Once cool, add the pumpkin and garlic into a blender together with the chickpeas, lemon juice and tahini paste and chickpeas. Add a little salt then blend until smooth and serve.

Pumpkin Soup

As well as being perfect for Halloween, this is a great winter warmer for fireworks night too.

The ingredients needed for one batch are:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
500g of pumpkin flesh
1 vegetable stock cube and water for dissolving
100ml of crème fraise
Salt and pepper to season

Put the onions in a large saucepan and gently cook for around 5 minutes, until soft. Then add the pumpkin flesh and continue to cook for ten minutes, stirring now and again. Make up the stock and add to the pan, using salt and pepper to season as required. Bring the mixture to the boil and then simmer until the pumpkin is very soft and golden. At this point add the crème fraiche then bring back to the boil. If you want super smooth soup, use a blender, then serve with warm crusty bread and enjoy.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Everyone loves cupcakes and these seasonal beauties taste so fantastic you’ll want to eat them all year round.

For 12 cakes, you will need:

225g of self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and the same of ginger
2 large eggs
150ml of vegetable oil
225g of caster sugar
150g of pumpkin, grated
½ a teaspoon of vanilla essence

For icing you will need:
50g of soft butter
200g of cream cheese
50g if icing sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6 and line your cake tin with paper cases – Halloween patterned ones if you can find them. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl. Pour in the oil, sugar and eggs into another bowl and beat until blended. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, then add the pumpkin and stir together.

Spoon this mix into the paper cases and bake for 15 minutes, until well risen and firm but do not burn, then leave to cool.

Make the icing but mixing the butter and cream cheese until soft then stir in the icing sugar, vanilla and spices until totally smooth. Spread over the tops of the cooled cakes and if you can find some spooky sweets, add them to the top.

Whatever you do this Halloween, be safe and have fun.

Team Pure Beauty

Eating the right way on holiday

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Big breakfast buffets, all-inclusive cocktails and free after dinner chocolates and liquors are par for the course when you are on holiday, but if you go full speed ahead and fill your boots every night, your jeans might not be quite so happy when you get home.

Yes, holidays are all about relaxing and having fun, but if you go all out on the cheese boards and local wines when you are away, all that hard work spent in the gym and cooking from scratch the rest of the year will be wasted.

It’s not about being a kill joy and missing out on the good things but rather going for the healthier options and having the odd treat here and there so you get the balance right.

We have some easy to follow tips that will mean you enjoy all there is to offer without having hangovers all holiday and muffin top when you get back.

One great thing to is pack snacks for your trip. It is easy to overdo it on crisps and chocolate but if you have bags of nuts and boxes of dried fruit as well as energy bars, we love the new Deliciously Ella ones, then you will be less tempted to eat empty calories.

If you have a buffet at your hotel, look at the salad and fruit options and always start you day with a decent protein based breakfast that will keep you full and balance your blood sugar levels.

When you eat out, look for restaurants that are busy, offer local food, fresh fish and have a vegetarian option – if you search a little you will be surprised at what gems you find.

When it comes to menus, start off with deciding about a decent serving of protein. Go for grilled chicken or fresh seafood and you can then add local salads and vegetables to balance out your meal.

Chips are always up for grabs but think about which carbs you go for, especially if you are away for a couple of weeks. Rice, quinoa (ask about this if you can’t see it on them menu), baked or sweet potatoes are all good options and if you can’t find anything other than the deep-fried stuff, a lettuce wrap for a burger can be a great option too.

We know we need some fat in our diets so drizzle olive oil on salads, add avocado to your eggs and make sure you have some nuts on your cereal.

Cakes and pastries are all there for the taking when it comes to deserts but make the most of luscious fruits and cooling sorbets if you do have a sweet tooth.

Drink plenty of water (go easy on the ice depending where you are visiting) and keep a bottle with you at all times and this will keep you feeling healthy and hydrated. While you might be less partial to a coffee or cup of tea when you are away, the temptation to have an early G&T or glass of wine can really win when you are on holiday. We aren’t saying don’t drink, you are on holiday after all, but remember that alcohol adds calories and makes you hungrier and those beach hangovers in the heat the next day are no fun.

Have a great holiday and enjoy finding some great places, and thing, to eat!

Team Pure Beauty