Healthy Cinnamon Cookie Recipe (GF & DF)

Hi :)

Sorry for not posting in a while, school been really busy recently!

Anyway I've been doing heaps of cooking recently and unfortunately not a lot of my recipes have worked out :(

THAT IS until a couple nights ago when I made some of the nicest cookies ever, you'd never even know they had no dairy, gluten or sugar!

P.S. I personally am intolerant to dairy and gluten so that's why this recipe has none of that :)

The Little Blog's Cinnamon Cookies -Makes Approx. 14 cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 and a 1/2 cup gluten free self-raising flour

- 1/2 cup plain gluten free flour

- 85g coconut oil

-85g dairy free margarine (I used Nutalex lite)

- 1 and 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

- 2 tsp organic vanilla extract

- 1 medium egg

- 1 egg yolk

- 2 tbspn cinnamon

- 1 tsp nutmeg

- 1 tsp ground allspice

Materials:

- 1 large bowl

- 1 medium bowl

- 2 baking trays w/ baking paper

- electric mixer

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. In a medium bowl sift self-raising flour, plain flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground allspice. (Mix together with a spoon/spatula).

3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together coconut oil and margarine. Then add in evaporated cane juice and blend into a smooth, creamy consistency.

4. Mix egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract into the wet mixture.

5. Mix dry ingredients into the wet mixture in parts.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.

7. Leave for at least 10 minutes without touching, to harden.

8. Lift off tray, eat, enjoy or store for later!

Hope you enjoy this yummy cookie recipe as much as I did! My family were snatching these off the tray as soon as they were ready and I brought them to school the next day for my friends.

Good luck and enjoy!

Xx

Easter 2014

Hi :)

And happy Easter!

Hope everyone has had a great day.

Normally I go to my grandparents or great aunts for Easter but this year, for the first time Easter was at our house. Here are some photos and ideas for Easter:

We (Mum, little brother and me) started on Friday by marbling some eggs, but it was last minute and all the stores were closed on Friday so we only had yellow and blue food colouring... Anyway this is the instructions we used http://www.marthastewart.com/921623/how-make-marbleized-easter-eggs 

This was such a fun activity to do, everyone enjoyed it and we spent the afternoon telling stories and laughing!

We then added some white cotton balls to white ramekins, in these we put our marbled eggs (with some ribbon wrapped around the middle) and a variety of different Easter eggs.

A picture of our delicious lunch, shout-out to mum for cooking our yummy lunch of lamb racks and roast veggies for 13 people!

On Saturday night mum and I spent the night baking these Easter bunny cupcakes for the kids at church (although they ended up looking a bit like mice...) We made plain vanilla cupcakes, iced them with lemon icing, put in a pink lolly for a nose and cut a marshmallow in half to make ears.

My favourite of all the things we did for the lunch was my little project. I found this old frame and painted it with paint leftover from painting my room. I stuck on a sign with blu-tac.

My cat Popoke 'helping' me during painting.

I then took photos of the guests at the lunch holding the sign and sent the photos out as a momento of the day.

Hope you enjoyed these photos and had a great day!

Happy Easter.

Xx

How to Eat Health-ier Living with Parents

Hi :)

Sorry for being a bit MIA lately, school has been crazy! (Pretty much 12 major assignments and 4 tests and 6-8 weeks for them all).

Today I thought I would write about eating healthier while living at home which is something I've found quite difficult as I normally I don't have control over what's for dinner.

 I just want to make a quick disclaimer saying I'm not a health professional in any way and also eating healthier does not mean losing weight it means living a healthy lifestyle and being the best you that you can be! (All photos by me)

TIPS

• Replace unhealthy energy and soft drinks with better options that still have flavour like herbal tea with honey, fruit smoothies, fresh fruit juices, coconut water etc.
• Replace white bread and rice with multigrain and brown options, quinoa for rice
• Instead of butter use margarines (we use dairy free Nutalex) or better avocado or hommus
• Ask your parents if maybe once a week or more you could cook dinner and choose a healthier option for the family
• Go to the supermarket with your parents so you can help choose healthier options
• Pack your own lunch instead of buying from the canteen, packing things like a premade salad, mixed nuts, hommus and celery or carrot sticks, fruit/vegetables
• When snacking instead of reaching for something full of sugar reach for something with protein instead, it will fill you up more and give you long lasting energy instead of quick fills that cause you to eat more
• Don't over or under eat, make sure you are eating the right amount for your weight, height and age
• Drink lots of water
• Try to eat as fresh as possible, make sure you know what's in the food you're eating, a lot of the foods you buy you can probably make at home so you will know exactly what is in it and you can change ingredients it make the recipe healthier
• Cook some vegetables or make a quick salad to go along with your dinner if your parents don't, this way you'll at least get some nutrition even from a quick, easy meal (you know the one- Friday night pizza... ;P)
• This may sound a bit stupid but follow accounts on Instagram with photos of healthy food, I find great inspiration and new foods/recipes to try on Instagram and a lot of these people also have blogs which have lots of great tips, recipes, inspiration and more. Also I'm a bit of a sticky beak and like seeing what people eat ;)
• Use lots of flavour to add taste instead of needing artificial flavours to get that taste

That's all I can think of at the moment! Hope you enjoyed this and it was helpful, again I'm not a health professional in any way so if you don't agree with anything I've said you don't have to do it :)

Xx

A Couple of Reviews- Rimmel, Almay and More!

Hi :)

Almay Eyeliner (Black 205)- $7.99

I recently got this eyeliner for free in a give-away bag and it's brilliant!

It's super pigmented and dark, it glides on so smoothly and is really easy to get an even line (even for someone as uncoordinated as me :P). 

This was Almay product I've ever used and from this product I'm excited to test out some more!

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation- $19.95

I had been using this foundation for a couple of months until (very embarrassingly) my good friend told me it was the complete wrong colour for me. I have to admit I think this was a mistake on my behalf, not only was the bottle put in the wrong place but the yellow lights in the store made me see the colour differently to what it actually looked like. Oh well! 

All in all I didn't really enjoy using this foundation, even though I've heard amazing reviews on it, I didn't find it that great. It had a light covering which didn't work for me, it was also quite shiny which made my already oily skin look even oilier. I have to say I probably won't be buying this again and I'll be looking for a new foundation.

Maybelline Rocket Volum Express Mascara- $7.50

I adore this mascara. It clumps so much less than my other favourite mascara the Maybelline Falsies, I normally first use my Model Co. Fibre Lashxtend to lengthen my lashes first and then the Rocket Volum for extra length, darkening and volume. I couldn't recommend this more!

Hope you've enjoyed reading some of my reviews!

Xx

P.S. I'm kind of scared to put out my details online, but slowly I want to start introduce myself more :D

Business Inquiries: morgscc@gmail.com

Get the look- The Carrie Diaries

Hi :)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been back at school and had lots of homework to do!

Today I thought I'd do a get the look for Carrie Bradshaw from The Carrie Diaries in 3 easy steps.
Enjoy!

The Look:

The Clothes:

Skirt, Blouse, Belt, Heels, Clutch

The Break-Down:

Patterned Skirt-
Topshop portobello print calf skater skirt $90
She adds a fluffy tutu skirt underneath for volume.
Get a cheaper version here for $45 or here for $15

Yellow Blouse-
Kensie sheer embellished blouse in citrus green (no longer available)
Get a similar one here for $50

Orange Belt-
The costume designer for TCD said that this belt is vintage so cannot be bought read here
I found two options on etsy here ($8) and here ($15)

Teal Clutch-
Fendi super bowl beaded baguette $2374
Get it on sale from bluefly here for $1755.89

Shoes-
Carven engraving of Paris platform wedges $560
Get them on sale here for $218

Hope this was helpful and that you enjoyed!
Look out for more coming up soon.
Xx

Back To School- My Top Tips

Hi :)

If you're like me and live in Australia then you too will be going back to school sometime next week or the following week.
It's taken me several years to learn how to get ready for going back to school so I'm going to share some of my top tips for going back to school.

Tip #1- Get Organised
Probably the most important tip in this whole post, people always told me growing up to get organised and not leave things to the last minute (I still do a lot of the time) but I didn't listen. Now that I'm older I find it soooooooo much easier starting a new school year and just a new year in general with a fresh head-space and mind set and getting organised.

The first thing I did this year to get organised and the one I'm going to talk about was COMPLETELY clean my room, I de-cluttered, found places for things I'd just left anywhere and my biggest accomplishment- cleaned my desk. Towards the end of last year I had let clothes pile up to the ceiling and had so much junk on and around my desk I couldn't even see it.

To clean my desk first: 

-I moved all the clothes onto my bed so that I could sort through them later 

-Then I got some plastic bags and got rid of papers I didn't need, wrappers, random bits of plastic and pretty much anything else I didn't need and wouldn't have any value 

-I then went through my stationary and threw out and pens and other things that no longer worked

-I found a place for everything and grouped things together that needed to be together (assignments and important papers in folders, pens and pencils in pencil tins etc.)

-After, I went through my clothes, I put anything that didn't fit or I no longer wore to the side to be sold or given away, threw out bad quality clothes with rips, stains and no elastic left and then I put the remaining clothes into drawers and grouped them together in my closet (jeans and pants together, skirts together, dresses together etc.)

Credit: thingsorgnizedneatly.tumblr.com

Tip #2- Set Goals 

Going into the year set a list of goals that you want to achieve by the end of the year, write them down somewhere you can see (maybe put it up by your desk). Once you achieve them mark them off and at the end of the year do something nice for yourself. 

When writing your list make them something that will challenge you, so you are always striving for something, but make sure it's still achievable. Don't say that you want to come first in every single subject this year if at the moment you're coming last. Say that you want to improve in all your subjects from last year, maybe try a new subject or start a study schedule if you don't already have one.

Credit: everybodyhasabrain.tumblr.com

Tip #3- Surviving in a strict school
My school is fairly strict when it comes to rules but sometimes they let things slide.Our school rules state that no make-up is to be worn, no nail polish can be visible, hair past a girls shoulders must be tied up, hair must not be dyed (older years it's allowed as long as you can hardly tell it's been dyed), dresses and skirts must reach past the knee/ touch the floor when kneeling, only one pair of earrings can be worn and they must be in the ears and many more unfair rules which you could say don't let us experiment and become our own person. I've become used to these rules though and have even found found some ways to bypass some of them or at least get by with them.

Make-up

If you really can't be seen without make-up on substitute a thick, cakey foundation for a bb or cc cream, not only do they look natural they cover breakouts, moisturise and most contain sunscreen. Maybelline have a cheap bb cream called Drem Fresh 8-in-1 BB cream which you can buy in Woolworths or Coles and pretty much any normal pharmacy for around $10-$15 or for a higher end product I've heard brilliant things about MACs Prep and Prime Beauty Butter which sells for around $40.

Find a matte translucent powder to get rid of any shine and set the bb cream. I use Maybelline Shine Free Oil Control Loose Powder which I bought in Target for $20 and it works brilliantly.

Finally find a good mascara, concentrate on the bottom of your lashes to get a thicker look and then on the very end of your lashes to really lengthen them without clumps which look unnatural and you may get told off for it. I found Model Co. Fibre Lashxtend extreme black lengthening mascara works really well, it doesn't clump at all, I got it for free with a magazine but it sells for about $28.

Credit: kitshsnitch.blogspot.com

Hair
Messy Bun

Credit: iwastakenbysurprise.blogspot.com

Perfect Messy Buns Hair Tutorial- Kaylnxo13

Braids

Credit: www.srugulo.info

Easy Messy Fishtail Braid Tutorial- Luxy Hair

Textured High Pony Tail

Credit; platform-online.net

Voluminous Ponytail Hair Tutorial- Le Sassafras

Anyways this has gotten pretty long so I might stop here if you think I should do another one of these let me know :)

P.S. I hope this all make sense I wrote it at 12am...

Xx

Old Photos

Hi :)

I'm a little bit obsessed with all things vintage.

The fashion, modesty, simplicity and elegance...

I was on tumblr the other day and found a few photos and thought they were too beautiful not to share, this isn't really a post more like a share haha.

Hope you like them :)

Xx