make | market salad

A delicious lunch idea that you can change up to meet your own fridge-limitations.  (Aka - you can use whatever you've got in your fridge!)

It also looks good enough to serve people too!

Our version is powered by parsley.  This fiesty herb is more than an ordinary garnish.  A couple of tablespoons give you more than your daily vitamin K requirements, which means strong bones to you and me! This salad would be delicious with a pitta bread on the side too, if you want it more substantial.  The best part is the combo of the Dijon vinagrette and the aoili.  If you manage to get some chives in there too, your getting a bit of antibacterial and antiviral action up in there, with lots of additional good antioxidants and flavanoids.  Yum!

Market Salad
(Serves 2)
- 1 big tbsp natural yoghurt
- 1 tsp lemon juice (and zest, if you've got a lemon to hand)
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 dessert spoon chopped chives
- 1 dessert spoon chopped parsley
- 1 1/2 cups boiled salad potatoes, sliced into halves
- enough salad leaves to feed 2 people (we used a mix of finely shredded romaine lettuce and swiss chard, but you can use whatever you've got!)
- another dessert spoon chopped parsley
- 1 tomato, cubed
- 1/2 cup cooked broad beans (or whatever beans you have)
- 1 tbsp Dijon Vinagrette (see recipe below)
- 1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly (we used 1/4 red, and 1/4 yellow pepper as we had them in the fridge!)

• Mix up the aoili (natural yoghurt, lemon juice and zest, capers, chives and parsley) 

• Toss the aoili with the potatoes and the cooked beans.  Put this to one side whilst you make up the rest of the salad.  

• In another bowl, combine whatever salad leaves you are using with the tomato and the parsley.  Toss with the Dijon Vinagrette.  

• Place 1/2 of the potato mixture on each plate and top with the salad leaves.  Garnish with the pepper slices, and finish with a grind of black pepper.  Yum! 

Dijon Vinagrette 

Makes about 1 cup (will keep in the fridge for 1 week) 

-1/4 cup Dijon mustard 

- 3 tbsp olive oil 

- 2 tbsp honey (or more or less, depending on how sweet you like it) 

- 2 garlic cloves, minced 

- 1/4 cup sherry vinegar 

• Whisk all the ingredients together.  

If you want something quicker, you can just take a spoon of your Dijon mustard and combine with your favourite vinegar.  Shake it up and pour over the salad.  Nice! 

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x

live | craft | all natural

Inspired by the all-natural stalls at the Om Yoga Show (which you can read about here), we decided to have a go at making our own face masks.

I had visited Lush for the first time (can you believe it!) over the weekend, and really enjoyed discovering the hordes of new products they had in store.  I couldn't believe you could make all of these things naturally (or using the most safe and limited number of chemicals).  I was intrigued... surely, if most of this stuff is natural, I could make these things at home too?

I listened carefully to the lady at Lush telling me about the face mask ingredients, and noted that the one she recommended for me (Brazened Honey) had (obviously) honey, but also lime juice, fennel, ginger and coriander.  It also had an exfoliant, which in this case was ground almond shells.

I thought about how I could make this more easily at home, and came up with a pretty good concoction, I have to admit!

Our face mask is really simple.  So simple, you can make it at home in the time it takes to make your morning porridge.  It also tastes good... don't know if that's a benefit or not!

Here's our 'recipe' for homemade face masks!

Honey Face Mask
- 1/2 cup oatmeal (the exfoliant)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 ripe banana, smooshed
- lemon or lime juice, to loosen

• Mix all the ingredients together to form a paste.  
• Massage over your face and focus on the areas that need a bit of a scrub.  Leave the mask on for 10 - 15 minutes, and then wash off with a cloth or just under warm water.  

There are so many varieties of ingredients you could use to do this - I think it will be fun to try out different versions of this base recipe.  I know the honey and banana are rich rehydrators which counteract the scrubbing abrasive action.  They also make the face mask smell (and taste, should you happen to get some in your mouth!) good.  

Quite shocked at my oatmeal-face... ;)

No way to make this look attractive... but it works!  It's quite messy to put on your face
so I would recommend doing it in the bathroom.

Once you've got the face mask on, you can relax in a nice warm bath, like Sarah did.
Or... you can clean the kitchen floor, like I did. ;)

Afterwards!  It makes your skin feel so soft and clean!

Our make-up free faces!

If you give it a try or vary the recipe, let us know! 

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x 

wear | new hair

Yesterday Sarah dip-dyed my hair!

I've had it cut shorter as well, and felt like a bit of a change.  What do you think?

We used the L'Oreal Wild Ombres Kit in No. 1 (for light brown to dark brown hair).  It was
really easy to use and came with gloves and a nice conditioner to use afterwards.
It also gives you a brush to use to apply the lightener.

My 'before' hair

After Sarah finished applying the dye.
I sat in the bath with a towel round my shoulders that I didn't mind getting
dirty.  I would advise also to wear a shirt that buttons through,
so you don't have to contend with getting it over your head
when you come to showering the dye off!

After I'd showered the dye off, I used this Argan Oil leave-in conditioner from Avon.
It smells amazing and leaves your hair silky soft.
I would recommend using a good conditioner on top of the one the kit provides, as lightening your hair
really strips it and leaves it feeling quite dry.

Once I'd dried it!