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.  

Easter Decadence.

I have had such a lovely Easter, it is days like this when I feel super lucky. I have been surrounded by family and good food, there is nothing better than that in my opinion. This is my mum's fabulous version of Mary Berry's Easter Lemon Pavlova, mum even candied the lemon peel! I love lemony puddings and any kind of meringue, so this really was my perfect pud.     

Not many Easter eggs got eaten today, mainly because of the luscious lemon pavlova. Ed and I bought mum and dad a box of lots of tiny eggs filled with extravagant goo, I bought Ed a white chocolate and raspberry egg and Ed got me a massive walnut whip with baby walnut whips inside. It has been such a relaxing, chilled day. We are now just enjoying a nice cosy evening watching the TV. Hope you have had a great day.xkx

Man Flu Toddy.

My poor Ed has a stinking cold today so when I got in I decided to make him a 'bed time get better drink'. I know that you usually make a toddy with whiskey but we only had spiced rum in the house so I just used that. 

So all you need to make the man flu toddy is:

• A shot (or two) or rum or whiskey.
• 1tsp of honey (or agave nectar if you are vegan).
• Juice of half a lime and half a lemon (or you could just the juice of one lemon).
• 3 Cloves
• Half a cinnamon stick

It is a really simple recipe, add the rum and honey into a cup and cover with just boiled water. Next add the lemon juice, the cinnamon and cloves, then give it a good stir. This has all the useful ingredients that is needed to help fight man flu, the alcohol gives a nice numb, the citrus juice has plenty of vitamin C, the honey soothes and the spice gives a lovely round warmth. Just like a cuddle in a mug.

I leave the spice in to float around and add a bit of interest for the poorly Ed (he is very easily amused when he is ill). But you can take it out if you want to after a few minutes of infusing. And that is all there is to it, obviously don't give this to your man or administer it to yourself if you have to go to work or are driving etc. because of the alcohol. 

I also learnt that the wax on lemons isn't vegan friendly! I usually buy unwaxed but my local supermarket doesn't have such luxuries at 10pm. Ed said the wax is made from bug goo or something... EEeeeww. 

Enjoy hope this helps with the Autumn/ Winter snuffles.

Cheer Up Cheesecake.

The nights are beginning to draw in already and it seems like summer is graciously slipping away, if this makes you sad then this is the perfect recipe to give you a smooth, citrus cuddle.

Ed has had a stressful two weeks, so to keep him chipper I promised to bake him my Cheer Up Cheesecake. This is a lemon baked cheesecake that is light as a feather. This is the recipe I used to make this lovely, sunny pudding. I tweaked it a little though, I added the juice of two lemons and put a large tablespoon of lemon curd into the mixture. Next time I think I will double the lemon juice and even maybe add some lime into the mix just to give it a little more punch. I didn't bother with the raspberries on top either, I think this would have complicated the subtle flavour. 

This definitely cheered Ed up and put a smile back on his face. Well worth the effort. 

Lemon-balm-ade

As it has been such a lovely warm day again I couldn't resist to splash up some lemonade with a slight twist. This is a super easy recipe! To make around a pint all you need is 4 unwaxed lemons (if you use waxed you will get icky scum floating on the top), some sugar, around 1 pint of boiling water, some ice cubes and a little bunch of lemon balm.

I zested the four lemons, then chopped them in half and squeezed the bitter juice out of them (a handy tip is to roll the lemons or put them in hot water for a few minutes to get more juice out of them). 

Next I ripped up and added a small bunch of lemon balm. Then I spooned 3-4 tbs of sugar into the fragrant mix and poured over about 1 pint of boiling water. It is good to taste how sweet it is at this point (be careful not to burn your mouth though) if it is still a bit tart then add more sugar but I always think it is best to have it a bit sharper tasting because this tastes delicious when it is chilled. Then I left this in the fridge to cool. Once it is chilly I strained it through a sieve and chucked in a few handfuls of ice. 

I served this lovely-ade out of my little cottage teapot, in china tea cups with plenty of ice and some sprigs of lemon balm. I also made a little cocktail for Ed by putting a splash of gin into it which was rather yummy as well. 

Strawberry Shake.

So lately I have had a massive craving for milkshake. But I find the syrups you buy in the shops can be too sweet for me, so I decided to make my own. So here is how I made my strawberry milkshake, it is super quick and easy!

I took 400g of strawberries and blended them up with a stick blender and then added 2 tsps honey (you could use maple syrup or plain old sugar if you wanted). You can add more if you like depending on how sweet you like it, just taste as you go along. Then just add milk to taste. I divided my strawberry goop up into two because Ed had a soya version. Just add your milk then blend again, this makes the shake thick and bubbly. Then pour into the drinking vessel of your choice. I dressed the glasses with a strawberry each and added a mint sprig to the soya version and a sprig of lemon balm to dairy one. Smelling the mint with the strawberry made me think that next time I might make a mint syrup to swirl in the top, I think it would add a slight kick of yumminess.