Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding.

Ed loves pudding so it is pretty difficult for him to decide which ones are his favourite, but rice pudding is definitely in his top 5. A lot of cow's milk doesn't really agree with Ed so he thought he would not be able to have rice pudding again. I tried to make him some with soya milk but it was a disaster, it just went brown and tasted funny. My mum had more patience with the soya version and had a lot more success. But I thought that coconut milk maybe a little easier to make rice pudding because it has more fat in it that soya milk, and this seems to make the rice fluffy and silky.

This rice pudding is absolutely beautiful, it's thick, smooth and the rich tasting coconut just transports it to heavenly pudding land. I used 1oz of sugar in this so it is sweet when the coconut is reduced down, as I don't have a sweet tooth I may reduce that amount next time. Ed is very happy with it though because he has a humongous sweet tooth. We usually have jam on rice pudding but I really don't think this needs it because it is like the little black dress, simple, chic and you don't need to accessorise with the right one.   

This recipe is in imperial because I stole it off my lovely mum, but it was my idea to use coconut milk so I'm not ripping it off completely. 

2oz Pudding Rice

1oz Sugar

1 Knob of butter (or vegan alternative)

1 pint of coconut milk (if you use a can just rinse the can out with water to make it up to a pint. You can also use soya milk or cow's milk depending on your dietary preference.

A generous flurry of Nutmeg

Just put it all in a saucepan and simmer gently for 20-25mins. Stir now and again to make sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan, you will know when it is ready because the rice with be soft and it will have a beautiful pudding sheen. Now if you use coconut milk or cow's milk you can eat the pudding straight away because the consistency will be thick and moorish. If you have used soya milk it is best to leave it to cool then heat it up a while later, this will give you that nice consistency. I grate nutmeg in whilst I'm cooking and at the end because it reminds me of home, just taste as you go along and add as much as makes you happy.

This bowl of pudding with definitely cheer up a rainy, grey Saturday evening. Hope you are having a great one.

xkx 

Kitchen Glamour - Coconut Lemon Sour Scrub.

I was sitting on the sofa the other day painting my nails after I'd had a shower, as I was paying close attention to my hands I realised just how awful they looked. The skin on them was dry and lifeless; they were crying out for some summer sun. The UK is barely providing any sun at the moment so I decided to concoct a scrub based on a tropical cocktail, a much cheaper alternative to a sun soaked holiday that's for sure! This scrub will exfoliate and moisturise all in one go and it gives you that little bit of extra love because it is heated over hot water. This means that it is lavishly warm and syrupy on your skin with a super delicious fragrance.

All you need is 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (you could use lime), 1 tablespoon of flaked coconut oil and 2 tablespoons of Demerara sugar. I'm using Demerara here because this is an all over body scrub so I like to use a sugar with larger grains, if you want a gentler scrub use caster sugar. 

Mix these ingredients up over a bowl of hot water so the coconut oil turns to its liquid state and it is ready to use. Scrub it all over your hands, massage it in really well for a couple of minutes then rinse the mixture off with some warm water and towel dry. DO NOT use soap to wash this off because you want the coconut oil to lounge on your hands and soak in. The coconut oil will not take long to quench your parched skin and because of the lemon juice you will not find your hands feeling like a oil slick. 

My hands felt and smelt absolutely amazing after this scrub. You could pay a lot of money for this treatment out trust me. Using the above amounts will easily make enough for your hands and face, but this scrub would be a great one to use all over your body, especially before a shower. Just be careful not to get too slippery before getting in the shower. I don't want you to be covered in bruises, even if you will have beautifully nourished skin!

I hope you try this because it really feels like a treat, a sure 'pick me up' when your are feeling like you need a little bit of scrubbing love. Let me know if you like it.

xkx

P.S. It is so good that even Ed asked if I could make him some hehe.  

Kitchen Glamour - Coconut Oil.

Coconut oil doesn't seem to that popular in the UK but I would not want to be without it in my kitchen/ bathroom cupboard. You can use this for both cooking and beauty, it is delicious on crumpets and you can even fry chips with it (I have never tried this but it does sound super yummy). I mainly use coconut oil for beauty bits and bobs though...  

I have found coconut oil invaluable when it comes to keeping my hair in good condition. It may not come as a surprise to you that my hair is not naturally bright red. I pre-lighten the roots then dye it red, so I find that I constantly battle with split ends and dry hair. You can  use coconut oil as a deep conditioner by melting it (you can do this by putting it into a cup, in a bowl of hot water) then smothering you hair with it and leave it in for 20 mins. It is best to wrap your hair in a warm towel because this helps your hair to soak in all the goodness. Then wash out, shampoo it first before you wet your hair because of the simple science that oil repels water. I'm not too keen on doing this though, I'm not always patient enough to wait and then to wash it out properly. The lazy way is to wash your hair as normal, towel dry then melt a little bit in your hands (about the size of of a 5p coin), make sure your hands are really oily then just scrunch it into your hair, especially the ends. You really don't want to put too much on because it will make your hair look greasy! You can then either let your hair air dry or blow dry it, I have found both works well. Doing this every time I wash my hair has really made a difference to the condition of it, which has meant the colour stays more vibrant longer and when I re-dye it it looks even redder. 

I also use coconut oil as make up remover. I used to use sensitive skin make up wipes but I found that they would flare up my eczema around my eyes and make them really puffy. So I started to use coconut oil instead. I melt a bit in my hands then I massage it around my eyes and wipe with cotton wool pads, then I rub the rest around my face. I wet my face with some water then just wipe my whole face with another cotton wool pad. Whatever oil is left on my face I leave there overnight and it is absorbed in the morning. It leaves my skin in wonderful condition and you don't have to worry about what chemicals are in your make up remover either. If I have a spot coming I dab a little extra on it at night and I find after a couple of days it will have disappeared (hopefully). It is also fabulous for any dry skin on the body and pesky dry cuticles, I just rub some around any problem areas at night and by the morning there is a great improvement. 

The last way I use it is to oil pull. I will probably do a whole post on oil pulling at a later date because it is a pretty amazing process that I only recently found out about. Basically you swoosh this in your mouth for 15-20mins twice a day and the oil pulls the bacteria from your mouth which means that your immune system is freed up to fight illness etc. 

The pot pictured above cost me under £10 from Amazon and it has lasted me 6months to a year. So it has probably saved me money for all the things I have replaced with it. 

I hope you found this helpful and I hope you have some rather lovely plans for the bank holiday weekend. Ed and I are going to a spa this evening for a bit of R&R.

xkx