Vegan Risi E Bisi

Risi e bisi is a Venetian dish which basically means "rice and peas", but as a literature student I love it simply because it rhymes. This is a ridiculously simple dish that you can have on its own, or as a yummy, healthy carb side with a meal. I was surprised at how tasty this ended up in the end - even my boyfriend (who hates peas) offered to swap his dinner for it! Plus, it's totally vegan and nice and creamy, so it's pretty much a win win. 

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

125g brown rice or paella rice (I used a mixture)

Small white onion

2 garlic cloves

750ml chicken/vegetable stock

250g frozen peas

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon parsley

Sea salt

Ground black pepper

1.) Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Chop the onion, crush the garlic and add. Cook for 5 minutes on a medium / low heat. 

2.) Create the stock.

3.) Add the rice to the saucepan and stir for a minute, allowing it to soak up the flavour. Then add the stock and bring it to the boil.

4.) Reduce it to a simmer for 25 minutes.

5.) Add the peas and cook for a further five minutes.

And enjoy! You can freeze any leftovers for another day!

Love and Light

Steph

Spring Favourites 2015

Summer appears to be finally approaching (aka here in the UK it doesn't rain every single day anymore, hallelujah!). So, I thought I'd do a little post on what's been keeping me sane and positive over the hectic last few months of my degree. I've been studying at the University of Warwick for the past three (almost) years, and making my student houses feel a little homely is really important to me. Here are just a couple of picks that have helped spur me on recently to achieve everything I want to get done without being super miserable in the meantime.

Living as the sole female in my university household of five means that anything that smells nice is a MAJOR win in my book. I'd previously tried the Lenor Unstoppables after cheekily borrowing them when I was at my parents' house, but hadn't got around to purchasing them. When I did I was jubilant. My washing now smells gorgeous, even after coming out a washing hamper that it *may* have been in for a couple of weeks. You can get a whole variety of scents of these, but Fresh has remained a firm favourite!

Plus, combined with my new Sure maximum protection 'Confidence' deodorant, I feel like I'm fully prepared for the heat of summer. This leaves me mostly sweat (and body odour) free all day, and I honestly haven't found anything that compares at all!

The last couple of months have been super stressful trying to juggle what seems like seventeen different things all at once. So, taking time out to relax with a cup of this delicious Clipper strawberry green tea every evening has proved a great way to get a little "me" time in. I love sipping this whilst sitting down to write one of my favourite recipes down in my Paperchase recipe book.

Also, as we've both been so busy with university work at the moment, me and my boyfriend have started to try and allocate a little fortnightly "date night" so that we at least spend some time together without our laptops. As student times can be a bit rough on the pocket, we don't splurge on these too much, so a night in together with Netflix, a nice meal that we've spent time cooking and a relaxing massage is a winner! This has been my favourite way to spend time together this Spring, and The Body Shop's sensual massage oil smells absolutely amazing - it's our go-to at the moment!

What have been your spring favourites?

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Homemade Natural Hair Mask to Restore Vitality and Strength

As someone who has recently had uber-long hair, I've had to appreciate that it does take time and a bit of effort to keep it looking nice. So, hair masks and deep conditioning are things I try to keep up with doing from time to time to give my hair that a little extra pep. However, hair masks can be quite expensive, and often have a lot of added chemicals that aren't brilliant for your hair, so here's my homemade recipe - it'll cost you about £1 to make and have brilliant results (even if your male housemates do think you're insane for wandering around smelling a little eggy for an hour or two!).

Depending on your length/thickness of hair, the ingredients will need to be tweaked a little. When my hair was the length in this picture I used two bananas, two eggs, a couple of tablespoons of honey and about six tablespoons of olive oil. But as it is now (just below shoulder length), I would halve the recipe.

So, here are the benefits of each of the ingredients:

Banana

Helps to repair damage as they contain potassium and protein. Also helps to moisturise the hair.

Honey

Full of nutrients which not only help to restore dry and damaged hair, but also encourage the growth of hair follicles.

Olive Oil

Helps to encourage your hair's natural shine as well as softening it. It also aids the development of a healthy scalp.

Egg

The protein in these is great for strengthening hair as well as encouraging growth.

Finally, I would suggest that when you wash it out you use two rounds of shampoo to make sure you wash everything out. I found that it made my hair super soft, and helped to keep it volumised. Blend the ingredients together rather than mixing to make sure you don't end up with little lumps of banana in your hair - I learnt this the hard way, and believe me, it was not fun! Rub it into all of your hair, especially your scalp for maximum effect and leave it in for at least half an hour.

What is your favourite recipe for a homemade hair mask?

Love and Light

Steph