Foodie Friday On A Saturday - What I Ate In October - Holiday Eating, Cheating And Some Comfort Food

It's been another odd month food wise but above all it been characterised by a total fail when it's came to sticking to my gluten and wheat free diet and dealing with my intolerance's. I don't know why but this month I've been really fed up with my dietary restrictions and as a result I've ate all manner of naughty things  and generally I've paid the price. Thankfully I'm not seriously allergic or intolerant but with bloating, tummy pains and yes other nasties I've learnt my lesson by feeling crappy - was it worth it? In some cases (my holiday eats) yes, in some cases (a disappointing cheesecake) definitely not. Never mind it's out of my system now and I'm back trying to eat sensibly and trying not to aggravate my poor little tummy any more.

The majority of this post is all about the yummy food that I ate whilst I was on my hols in Cyprus. We've been to the the hotel that we stayed in quite a few times and I know for a fact that I can always find something to eat. We stayed on a half board basis, and we had a breakfast and an evening meal. To be honest when it's hot this was enough for the both of us, we just made sure that we ate plenty especially in the morning to last us for the day. All the meals in the hotel are served buffet style, where you eat as much as you like,and go back as many times as you like :).

This little lot was the first part of my breakfast pretty much every day, give or take an item or too depending on how hungry I felt. My breakfast consisted of a little dabble in the traditional cooked breakfast, with a bit of a Greek / Cypriot / Continental twist. Fried potatoes, scrambled or fried eggs and erm lots of cheese, the sliced continental type, and some Cypriot Anari and Halloumi. You can also see my first dabble into the dreaded wheat grain. They look like little pasties and I guess that's what they were, a sort of spinach and cheese pasty like spanakopita only made with puff pastry, and a sort of cheese pasty made with a very mild white cheese - gorgeous and well worth the bloating!

Next I normally had some fruit - oh yes Watermelon - OMG it was sooooo good, sooo juicy and so refreshing. Every day I pretty much just had that but these pics were taken on our last day and since this was the last official meal of our stay I thought I better stock up, hence the diddiest little croissants which were only about the length of my thumb. The other pastry type think that you can reminded me a bit of cannoli, but it was a vanilla custard in a sort of filo pastry tube - again gorgeous and so worth it x

Finally I ended my epic breakfast with a bowl of yogurt, they do such amazing yogurt in this part of the world, this is the peach and apricot flavour but they had quite a few and they were all delicious.

Yeah so as you can probably gather we didn't need to eat very much during the day, my mum had a sandwich once, and we either had ice cream, fruit or crisps to tide us over till dinner time, and of course we drank ridiculous amounts of water to keep us hydrated in the heat. I've mentioned this ice cream brand on the blog before but Nestle Nirvana deserves another mention for it's utter brilliance -  the Praline and Cream one was mine x

Then it was dinner time - we usually ate about 8.30 onwards so by this time we were usually starving. I usually divided my meal into three. First of taking my pick from the hot food buffet and the salad bar. This is just an example of what I had showing some assorted salads, some vegetables, some Cyprus potatoes and some hummus !!!!

After that I then had a fruit and cheese course, which usually consisted of either some halloumi, some anari, feta, a goats cheese or a cheddar, and again I had some melon. I probably ate an entire watermelon in the the course of the week :)

Finally pudding, the usually involved creme caramel, some form of mousse, and maybe some form of cake or trifle. Here I had a little bit of something which was a cross between chocolate biscuit cake and tiffin - soooo good!

Then on a couple of occasions I ended my meal (usually waiting for Mummy Lou who took full advantage of the starters and meat and fish items) with an ice lolly - again by Nestle these Nestea lollies were amazing, this is the peach one but they also did a berry one and they really tasted of fresh fruit - so nice and a great way to end a meal.

I wouldn't be a holiday without a drink or two, and we started early with a little cocktail in a can on our outbound flight - I had an On The Beach and my mum had a mojito - I'm blaming the turbulence for the quality of this picture ;) lol

Again something else that I've mentioned on the blog before - is this ivi - which to be honest is just a slightly nicer version of Fanta - addictive on it's own or mixed with a bit of vodka ;)

I also frequented one of the hotel bars for my customary vodka and orange juice :)

Oh and I also managed to get another one of these,

Yes the Costa Raspberry And White Chocolate Cooler, available for such a short time in the UK, I was delighted to find these in the Costa next to the hotel :)

Ah dreams of sunshine x It's no surprise that from the moment I got back home I wanted to be back out there on the beach - boo - never mind I decided to make a dish using some of the yummy halloumi and feta that I brought back with me -Nigellas Double Potato and Halloumi Bake - because of the now traditional post flight cold I also added some pickled jalapenos and some chilli flakes.

and I also had a little dessert treat that reminded me of my holidays  - Creme Caramel.

The rest of my food intake this month screams comfort food - I've wanted to eat things that are warming, soothing and that make me happy -  first up my mums gorgeous homemade cauliflower cheese, with gluten free cheese sauce, mature cheddar and Stilton.

Something else that I've eaten a couple of times this month is a ready meal. If your vegetarian and gluten free then you NEED to look at the Amy's Kitchen brand - you can get some of their bits in most larger supermarkets, online and in some health food shops. Yes, there more expensive but I've loved every single item that I've tried.This is the Cheddar, Rice And Bean Burrito which makes a great snack on it own or with salad or veg as a main meal.

Everything else in the post is all about the sugar, when your feeling a bit rubbish a bit of sugary sweetness always helps lift your spirits. We'll start off with some else out of packet - the Asda Free From Chocolate Brownie Mix

Yummy, something else that's yummy is homemade gluten free crumble - this one was made with plums and apples from my uncle's garden served with custard :)

The final fabulous things that I've consumed this month have been drinks and maybe a cheeky little chocolate treat. This month I've rediscovered my coffee and hot drink obsession and I've consumed countless cups of tea, hot chocolate, and coffee.

These are the Nestle Cafe Mocha Sachets and they are soooo good. I've been having mine with some Starbucks Toffee Nut Syrup for an Autumn / Winter warmer. I'm lusting after a pod style coffee machine now but my mum won't relent lol.

Autumn also means the return of a few Starbucks classics - Pumpkin Spice Latte to be honest doesn't do a lot of me but the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate on the other hand.....

Wow amazing, a few people have said that they find it too sweet, but for me there is no such thing - warming and sweet, you get a nice salty kick thanks to the sprinkles - make this permanent please Starbucks x Finally carrying on with the sweet and salty theme,  a pre Halloween treat - Reeses Peanut Butter Pumpkins 

So that was my foodie month, some treats, some holiday eats, and the realisation that I need to be more careful about what I eat, and I need to be stronger and try to stick to my gluten and wheat free diet no matter how much I crave things. Have you eaten anything amazing in October, leave me a comment and let me know xx

Holiday Hauling - Dr Lewinns, Benefit, Givenchy, Clarins And More x

I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to get this post up but you can blame the weather - how dull has it been over the last few weeks? yuck! so hard to take any decent pictures or videos! Thankfully though there's been some very rare sunny spells, so it's haul time :)

Walking around in duty free spraying perfume, and swatching things is all part of the holiday experience and this time was no different. I don't know what it was though but nothing really screamed buy me in Newcastle airport, in most cases you weren't saving that much and I couldn't really justify buying some all be it very lovely things (the new Chanel cream blusher, and Benenfit Rockateur in particular). So all I got in Newcastle airport was a bottle of my favourite fragrance at the moment Givenchy - Dahlia Noir.

I saved about 10-15 pounds on this 75ml bottle which was pretty good. I also got a free gift a small tube of Givenchy Ange Ou Demon Le Secret Silk Body Veil, which actually smells nice and works well alongside the Dahlia Noir.

Again in Larnaca airport I wasn't that inspired, the brand choice is amazing and way superior to Newcastle with MAC, Bobbie Brown and Kiehls, but alas the prices were equal too if not more what you would pay in the UK so I just got one thing.

The Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner is something that's been on my wishlist for a while now. I paid €25.50 which roughly works out at £22 so the saving was only abut £3 but at least it was something.

I've been using Alpha H Liquid Gold which I love but fancied giving this a go, I've got about a month or so's supply of Liquid Gold left, so I'll do a review of this for you when I've used it for a bit x

So they were my airport purchases, as well as duty free shops, I'm also a great believer in in-flight shopping. As soon as every one gets strapped in it isn't the flight safety card that they pull out of the curiously tight seat pocket it's the in-flight shopping and refreshment catalogues lol; It fills the time I guess but this time there were a few bits that I quite fancied. The item that me and the majority of my flight seemed to want though (the Marc Jacobs Mini Fragrance Set) alas was sold out :( so instead I went for the Benefit airline exclusive She's So Jet Set kit.

I'm having a bit of a Benefit love in at the moment, rediscovering old products in my collection and craving new ones, so this seemed like a good buy.

It's basically one of their boxed palettes, which comes complete with a mirror,  eyeshadow and blusher applicators and a step by step tutorial leaflet showing you some looks that you can create with the loveliness inside.

The palette comes complete with 3 removable mini products the Porefessional primer, a lipgloss in Life On The A List a gorgeous peachy nude , and a mini They're Real mascara.

As well as the items it contains 4 brown and neutral toned eyeshadows in Champagne Please, Gold Card, Pretty In Mink, and Elegant Espresso. All of the shadows have a bit of shimmer in them and the pigmentation is superb.

The kit also comes with a duo blush / highlighter called First Class Face Powder. Apologies for the awful photograph but these pale peachy / coral pink shades aren't that pigmented on my tanned arm (no it's not grey irl lol) They are very pretty shades though and give a lovely subtle, shimmer and glow to the cheeks.

You can also see Life On The A List swatched here - I already own the full size of this one and it's so pretty and wearable.

There are some really nice things in this kit which was about £25, both the cheek and eye colours seem to be exclusives and the other 3 items are things that I've already used before and love. I'll do a full look sometime with this kit so you can see how all these gorgeous shimmers and nudes work together.

My final in-flight purchase was something that I've wanted to try for ages. My nails at the moment are ranging between okay to dreadful in the space of a couple of days. I've tried pretty  much everything else on the market and this is pretty much my last hope 

Yes Dr Lewinns Renunail :) I've read a lot of good things about this and this was a really good offer for just £15 you get a huge 30ml of the Renunail Strengthener, and a 15ml bottle of the Renunail Nourishing Oil.

This kit is £22 on the Dr Lewinns website so it was a pretty good saving. I'm going to be doing the 4 week challenge, where you basically apply the strengthener once a day for a week, then after a week you remove it then start again and do the same for 4 weeks. You not really supposed to wear polish for this stage so I have a few nail posts to go up in the meantime and I'll report back in a month so you can see how I get on x 

The final part of my holiday haul comes from the resort itself. I didn't buy an awful lot to be honest the prices had majorly gone up since the last time I was there. I bought a few bits that I haven't photographed including some gorgeous halloumi cheese, and some framboise, and some postcards for scrapbooking :) but as per usual I bought a few jewellery pieces, including these bracelets, 2 with side ways crosses, and one with gorgeous brown stones.

I also bought another pashmina like scarf, I bought a gorgeous leopard print the last time I was here so this I managed to find the Zebra version :)

My next purchase was a bit of an emergency one, my lovely polka dot hanging toiletry bag didn't really survive it's journey very well, and the bottom zipped section broke spilling skincare all over the vanity. So I bought another make up bag / wristlet to put my bits in.

Yeah it's a fake Marc Jacobs one, whoops - no matter I love the design and I couldn't afford the real thing, and it did the job keeping my goodies safe on my return flight :)

My final two purchases were typical touristy things, this cute handmade wooden cat keyring :)

and this cats of Cyprus pen :) I also got the matching mug for free because I spent so much in one shop  :)

I've also made a little video so you can see some of my buys up close xx Don't forget to subscribe to my You Tube channel if you haven't already, you can find it here x

So that was my haul I expected to buy a few more bits to be honest but I didn't, the prices weren't amazing, and I just couldn't justify paying more for something than I would at home just for the sake of it, so I came home with some Euro's and some pounds - I still have the Euros' but the pounds may been spent since I got home - whoops - more on that to come next week ;) In the meantime though if you have any questions on anything that I've bought please leave me a comment x I love reading what you have to say and I really value your input x 

Thinking Slimmer - Slim Pod - Week 22 - Part 2

So my first week back on the Thinking Slimmer ends with a maintain. To be honest I wasn't really that surprised. I've been hormonal and fluey all week and to be honest I've been all over the hot drinks and comfort food, and not really caring what I've ate.

I'm still feeling a bit rubbish but I'm definitely going to try harder this week. I'm still going to be listening to my new Slimpod and I'm going to try and up my physical activity this week which shouldn't be too hard as I've barely moved for a week x

Thanks for all of your support and if you have any questions on the Thinking Slimmer system please leave me a comment and let me know xx

(The Thinking Slimmer Slim Pod "Drop 2 Dress Sizes (Or More)" Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

Sparkly Disappointment From MUA - Nails Of The Day

The plans of mice and men eh - today's post was supposed to be my holiday haul alongside an accompanying haul video - Unfortunately I woke up with barely no voice so I couldn't record never mind I'll do it as soon as I feel well enough. In the meantime though I thought I'd post one of the kazillion nails of the day posts that I have in draft.

I'll start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of MUA nail polishes, I'd only been disappointed by one of them before now (the Love Heart Nail Polish in Love U) but unfortunately this one didn't cut the mustard either.

MUA 1D Little Things Nail Polish in Gold and Gorgeous, at first glance appears to have it all, a high end style bottle and the most amazing gold sparkly colour but for me it was one big let down :(

The polish has a wide brush which I love but the consistency was awful it was really thick. Despite that it still took two coats to achieve full coverage. Like a lot of metallics the brush strokes are visible, this is normally a big bug bear of mine but as it looked so pretty I was prepared to let it go. However after leaving my polish to dry for a good half hour I was gutted to find that it was still soft, I managed to get a whole load of dints on some of the nails and 3 nails just rolled and rubbed off entirely. The polish that remained though stuck fast and took loads of remover to get off, hmm.

I'm really hoping that I just got a bad one but I was so disappointed. It seems odd that the two MUA polishes that I've liked the least both came from special collections -hmm. Have you tried this polish and had better results that I did? let me know in the box below x

Foodie Friday - Cheats Baking - A Review Of The Asda Free From Wheat Gluten Chocolate Brownie Mix

You know me I'm all for making things myself wherever possible but can I be honest guys? sometimes I just can't be bothered!

Gluten free baking as I've said on numerous occasions can be a bit of a bind, and I guess I can understand why so many people buy things ready made, but it isn't so hard with a bit of perseverance to make some gluten free sweet treats, such as my peanut butter and white chocolate blondies, or my microwave lemon sponge puddings.

I always try to make things myself but as yet I haven't found a decent gluten free chocolate brownie recipe or at least one that equals the yummy ones that you can find in Costa :) Recently though I was in Asda and I spotted a range of  Free From baking mixes. Okay it's not the same as making something from scratch but anything that gets people into the kitchen is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. The store I was in had mixes to make chocolate chip cookies, both chocolate and traditional sponge cakes and chocolate brownies!.

The Asda Free From Wheat And Gluten Chocolate Brownie Mix is suitable for coeliacs and contains real Belgian chocolate chunks - they sounded good so I bought packet and I thought that I'd make them up and review them for you x

In the box you can get one packet of mix, to which you add 1 egg, 50ml of water, and 40g margarine - I hate margarine so I used butter.

Then you mix it together either with a wooden spoon or preferably with a food mixer, for 2 to 3 minutes until it's smooth. Use a wooden spoon? really? this is baking for cheats so of course I used a hand mixer x well after I'd photographed momma demonstrating that is x

Then pop it into a 6 inch round tin - I'm using silicone as per usual but because brownies can sometimes be sticky I greased it and lined it as a precaution.

 The mix looks and tastes super rich and chocolatey and there are small chunks of yummy chocolate inside and no I'm not ashamed to say I licked the bowl mwahaaahaaa

Sorry there in no pics from this stage I'm feeling a bit yuck and I got a bit finger happy with my camera delete button but at this point you put it into an oven preheated to about 200 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is cooked and it's still a bit sticky inside (pop a skewer in to check)

Voila, one round chocolate brownie. It didn't rise as much as I would have liked, and I'm not a huge fan of the round shape but yummmmmy this was good. It was very rich and very chocolatey.

I served mine warm with a little bit of one of my guilty pleasures squirty cream, and it was slightly crisp on the outside and warm and sticky in the middle.

Asda claim that this recipe will serve 9 people at 166 calories a portion, I would say that's probably a bit generous. I quartered mine, but I guess you could half each quarter to serve a small slice to 8 people. My and Mummy Lou are a bit chocolate obsessed though so ignoring the calories content this served us twice each. It was also nice cold as it firms up inside and goes a bit chewier.

I have to say this was a lot nicer than I thought it would be - a lot of gluten free food and wheat free products can be quite dry but this was moist, dense and very chocolatey. This is nothing better than making your own cakes and biscuits but this is a great store cupboard standby, I mean warm gooey brownies and a yummy smelling house in under half an hour what's not to love! This packet mix was £1.80 which to be honest it probably cheaper or at least on par with the majority of gluten free brownies on the market and it was definitely nicer than some of the pre packed ones that I've bought. Would I buy this again? yes definitely although next time I would probably make it in a square tin, and I might add maybe some chopped white chocolate or chips to give an extra luscious hit. Are you a fan of packet baking mixes? what are your kitchen time savers? let me know in the comments below x

Some Holiday Outfits Featuring Boohoo, H&M, Next And More x

Sun Hat Courtesy Of Mummy Lou 

Despite my declaration that LouLouLand is a beauty, fashion and lifestyle blog, I have to be honest and say that fashion posts have been a little thin on the the ground lately. I still love clothes and accessories as much as I ever did, but when you don't feel confident about yourself, posting pictures of your outfits isn't at the top of your agenda. I'm a firm believer though that we should love ourselves no matter hat shape we are. So despite the fact that my weight loss journey is continuing, I've decided to be brave and post a few evening outfit pictures from my holidays. The pics are all mobile selfies so they aren't amazing but hopefully you can see some of things that I wore and how I accessorised them with just two handbags, two pairs of shows, and a mountain of fashion jewellery xx

First up the shoes -  weight is paramount when it comes to package holidays, we had just 15kg of hold luggage and 5kg of hand luggage each, so I always try to be careful about what shoes I take. As much as I'd love to take a sandal or a wedge they're just too heavy. I'm a huge lover Mel and Melissa rubber shoes, so this year I took two pairs of their flip flops. A black heart design and a lovely white bow pair.

For each pair of shoes I needed a bag, so again I went for 2 light options including this recent ebay purchase

and this Primark black studded clutch. I actually used the strap from the other bag on this one too for another look and option x

So those were my shoes and bags, next up jewellery x I love my fashion jewellery with a passion, I have so many pieces it's ridiculous, and for my hols I went for a number of bright pieces that I could interchange depending on the outfit.

These pieces come from all over the place - the bracelets came from H&M, QVC, Dorothy Perkins, ebay, and my Meet At Mal goodie bag, and the neon spike necklace came from Primark. The earrings are also for everywhere including Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, and ebay - now for the outfits x

First up a dress you've seen before :) This gorgeous coral floral maxi is from a few years ago now from Boohoo. I love the summery colours and the pattern :)

Next up another Boohoo maxi. This one is from this year and was a birthday present from my godparents. Again I love the bright colours and the tropical floral pattern x

Another maxi dress, this time courtesy of Mummy Lou and Soon At Matalan. I love this dress, it made of a gorgeous shimmer, stretchy fabric, and again I love the almost tropical leaf style print. The navy background gives it a classic edge, but the lime green acrylic jewel detailing and the vibrant neon lime in the print gives it a modern feel. I wore this dress again for my godparents anniversary celebrations :)

The final dress I took with my with this neon orange dress from Next. It's made of a crepe style fabric and it has open shoulder detailing which unfortunately you can't really see here. It's has a drop waist and side pockets which makes is look a tab sloppy and shapeless. Despite that I love this dress, it's very comfortable and the neon orange colour looks great against tanned skin x

Due to worrying about weight restrictions these were the only dresses that I took - I wore the coral maxi dress twice, and I also wore a skirt and top. This black maxi skirt is from H&M and I also wore it with a white vest, a black cardigan, a black and grey H&M pashmina, and some white Birkenstocks to fly home in. Here though I wore it with a coral pink longline vest also from H&M, and loads of jewellery. These vests are a real find and I think they still have them online, they are really long - a must for me and they come in loads of different colours for just £3.99 each.

So they were my evening outfits x Would you like me to do some more outfit posts? Obviously ones with better lighting, better photography skills, and better posing but if you would be interested let me know in the comments x

(P.S. Click on the images to make them bigger and to see them in more detail x )

Going For Gold Winner Revealed

Hi Guys x A huge thanks to all of you who recently entered my Going For Gold giveaway to win an MUA Going For Gold eyeshadow palette and a London 2012 Official Olympic Keyring, and a huge thank you to all my new followers and subscribers x

Alas there can only be one winner so using Rafflecopter I randomly selected the lucky lady who is

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Katie Skeoch

Congratulations Katie, please can you email me at pootle28@hotmail.com with your details and I'll get your prize sent straight out x 

Don't worry if you weren't lucky enough to win this time x I have plenty more MUA giveaways planned and of course, the annual LouLouLand Christmas giveaway xx