Low carb frozen lemon champagne cocktails

So Christmas seemed to come and go so so fast and it's now New Year tomorrow, how did that happen?! I thought I'd share a quick cocktail idea of you're trying to keep sugar low but fancy drinking something special! These really are delicous so I think you'll love them. Also don't forget to check out my previous low carb cocktail posts, like this French 75, low carb Moscow Mules, my Espresso Proteini, and the Green Goddess cocktail. I've had lots of positive feedback on all of those so hopefully you'll find something you like!

I've served them in these beautiful champagne saucers from the White company that I got for Christmas , as I'd been dying to use them for the last few days! They are unfortunately no longer in stock, however these LSA ones are very similar, and these are a cheaper alternative and I've had my eye on these for ages! I also used my trusty blendtec to get the ice super smooth and almost sorbet like!

Making them, as with all of my cocktails is super easy and takes only minutes.
To make two you will need (though I would double this and do enough for four as they're good and pretty virtuous...)

• Two big handfuls of ice
• Two lemons 
• 250ml champagne/ prosecco/ cava
• Some lemon/ mint to garnish- not essential but a nice touch if you're entertaining

To make them:

• Pop your ice into a blender
• Remove all the skin from your lemons and pop the flesh also into the blender, removing the seeds first
• You can add a little sweetener, either agave, powdered sweetener, honey etc if you wish, but i didn't
• Blend until smooth and almost slushy
• Add to your glass
• Top up with champagne
• Garnish
• Enjoy and have a lovely lovely New Years, whatever you're doing!

Thank you for your comments, e-mails, likes and support over 2017, and I can't wait to see you on the other side for lots of new ideas and content! 

Farah x 

Ps the name for this post/ cocktail is not perfect, if you have any better ideas, please let me know :)

Cruelty free complexion makeup lifesavers

In a world where everyone always seems like they're trying to downsize or streamline everything, including their makeup collection, I am currently doing the opposite. I work super long hours and have what you could definitely call a capsule collection where I use very few items day to day. In fact the only guaranteed make up I wear daily to work is eyeliner, lipgloss and something on my face ie bronzer or foundation or a cc cream. I do mean to wear much more though, I am aware I look better with a bit more, as the side effect of working such long hours is that I am often very tired so rarely look my best day to day. I have also been making an effort to start wearing more bits to give my make up the extra edge, for example primer to make it last longer and highlighter to make it all look a bit glowier and healthier.

I am trying to go through the house and make everything a bit more Pinterest so went through my make up collection and have tried to put together my essentials that I will make more of an effort to wear day to day now.

• Primer. I am loving the Marc Jacobs beauty range at the moment-the beauty range is cruelty free btw but not the perfumes. This primer evens out your skin so well, and sometimes I use it on it's own just to give my skin a boost. When used under make up though it really does make my make up stick and last all day. As an aside, the packaging is so lovely, the sort you want to leave out so everyone can see it! 

• Foundation. The Iconic foundation stick is my current foundation of choice, it's actually quite a high coverage one but I've manged to get a great match for my skin tone which means that despite it being high coverage I only put it on a few parts of my skin where I really need it, and blend it in well and it all evens out really well. There isn't a massive range of shades available but if you do find one that's a great match for your skin it's a lovely product that looks really natural. My only one drawback is it is ever so slightly dry, I always put a bit on my face then dot some moisturiser or highlighter around and then use my foundation brush to blend it all in together. 

• Foundation brush. I never used to over think what I put foundation on with, as I often just put it on with my fingers but I got this brush from Iconic about a year ago and I have never looked back. It really is the softest thing and it literally airbrushes your skin to perfection. That sounds rather cheesy but I cannot sing it's praises highly enough. I have washed mine so many times and always worry that when it dries it won't be as soft or the bristles won't hold together as well but it seems to bounce back as good as new each time. You need this in your life. they do a range of sizes, I use the largest one. I did really want to try the Artis ones but I am not sure they could be any more expensive for the price so haven't got one, not sure if other people have tried them though? 

• Highlighter. The By Terry Sun designer palette, is great if you prefer powder rather than liquid highlights. This is a great palette which has quite a few shades in so is great for eyes as well as highlight. It is so highly pigmented and has such a beautiful combination of colours, with a good mix of nude/ neutral shades and some which are a bit more exciting to take you from day to evening. The powders are lovely and soft as well so they blend like an absolute dream, Definitely worth checking out! An honourable mention in the category also has to go to the Iconic illuminating drops which definitely need a post of their own one of these days... 

• Lastly is the Mario Badescu facial spray. I saw this online everywhere last year and so eventually buckled and bought it, and I haven't looked back. I keep one in my car and midway through the day when I'm starting to look dull and tired spritz some on for a big hit of moisture. It literally lifts your skin and also feels super refreshing and smells lovely. I've seen some people spray it onto their foundation brush before using it to give skin a bit more radiance. I haven't tried this yet but keep meaning to.

So that's all I have for now, I hope you've enjoyed this little make up ramble. I'd love to hear your make up saviours! x

Five ways of enjoying low carb cauliflower rice

Now I have to confess to doing a post very similar to this ages and ages ago and to be honest I've been making it ever since. Cauliflower rice is pretty much a staple I make all the time now and I'm not the only one, for ages on Instagram I could see people in the US posting pictures of Green Giant frozen cauliflower rice and I was super jealous that we didn't have it here. Last week however I noticed that actually frozen cauliflower rice (along with other veggie rices like broccoli) are available in the UK and I couldn't be more excited! Made right you really barely can tell the difference from regular rice and even if you're not watching the carbs, there's no denying how good for you it is to have a big portion of cauliflower!



Now lots of the supermarkets do sell frozen and fresh cauliflower rice which is so easy and convenient, but don't forget that making your own does literally take minutes and is so easy. As with a lot of my cooking/ food prep, I have been making mine in my Blendtecand it's not even a 5 minute job, you just roughly chop a cauliflower, drop it in, blend for a minute and it's done!

1. Egg fried rice this really is my favourite way. It tastes so good, I really don't think you miss the usual rice, follow this recipe and don't look back! 
2. Risotto- follow any of your usual risotto recipe and just sub in the cauliflower rice for the risotto rice. Now it does need less time than risotto rice but just follow your recipe in terms of the other ingredients etc then knock a bit of time off at the end once it seems fully cooked. I have made mushroom risottos as well as veggie ones and they work every time. Bear in mind you do want to go quite flavour heavy if you're not to keen on the cauliflower taste. 
3. Bolognese. Now this sounds weird but you really do have to trust me on this one. I am obviously veggie and usually only have quorn/ soya mince in a bolognese so I instead sub in the cauliflower rice, I often blend it a little less so it's slightly more chunky and it really works, especially if you add lots of red wine :) 
4. Tabbouleh salad. This is one of my fave salads and when you sub in the cauli rice for the couscous you barely tell the difference! Just follow your usual tabbouleh recipe subbing the cauliflower in instead of the couscous and then than me later!
5. Cauliflower mash Starting from cauliflower rice, I just steam well until its really tender then mash or blend in my blendtec. It's far quicker and tastes so good. Now, you do taste the caulilflower so it's not the same as regular mash (though it's pretty close), adding in some garlic and cheese masks the cauliflower taste though and is so so good. It also reheats really well! 

That's it for now, I would love to hear your favourite ways for using cauliflower rice. Do you make it yourself or buy it in?