Recipe| Healthy Porridge Oats Magic Pancakes

As most of you know I'm following the Slimming World plan in a bid to get myself back on track physically and mentally. I'm always up for finding new ideas for SW friendly meals so that I don't get bored and hunt out rubbish to eat, and this morning I woke up with a massive craving for pancakes, and so pancakes I did make!

I think they came out rather well, they were delicious, fluffy and have so far kept me filled right up until lunch - I think these will fast become one of our favourite breakfast meals. I managed to make eight smaller pancakes with my mixture and so J and I had four each with some blueberries and bananas - yummy!

To make these delicious syn free, flour free, milk free, and sugar free pancakes you will need:

35g plain porridge oats

1 Mullerlight yoghurt (I vote vanilla, vanilla with choc sprinkles, or toffee flavours)

2 x medium eggs

Sweetener

Fruit (any of your choice to top).

Fry light.

1. Mix oats and muller light together and leave in the fridge overnight, or for around an hour or two. This will give the oats some time to soak up the yoghurt and leave you with a thick porridge consistency.
2. Once you're happy with the consistency of your oats remove them from the fridge and crack and whisk two whole eggs and the sweetener (however much you'd like, I like my pancakes more on the sweet side so I added about 6 tea spoons to the bowl) to make a runny oaty consistency.
3. Spray some fry light in a non-stick frying pan and pre heat it on the stove.
4. I used a ladle at this stage to try and make my pancakes all the same shape and size, but you can use what ever you'd like to spoon some mixture out and pop it into the heated pan.
5. Flip the pancake over to let it cook on the other side once the edges start to look cooked. I'd say let each side cook for about 2-3 minutes.
6. Repeat until you've used all of your mixture.
7. Stack the pancakes and top them with any fresh fruit that you enjoy, or even a small drizzle or maple syrup or honey.
8. Devour and enjoy!

What do you think of this recipe?
What's your favourite pancake topping?

Make-Up & Skincare For A Weekend Away

If you follow me on Instagram (@louisekwilliams) then you might have seen me upload some pics of my recent weekend trip to Bristol. J's Aunt and Uncle live in a gorgeous little village just outside of Bristol city centre in a beautiful house with an equally beautiful kitchen. It was't a long trip, just two nights and three days, but it's been ages since I've had to 'pack' to go anywhere so I thought I'd put together a little post about the products I took with me in my skincare / makeup bag.

The bag itself is from Victoria's Secret and I bought it when shopping in London for my birthday back in March. It came in a pack of three, with this larger sized one housing a much smaller plastic material pouch and then a sequinned pouch in a medium size. I absolutely adore this set and know that Victoria's Secret do similar in other patterns if you ever happened to be near buy and fancied purchasing one!

I originally toyed with the idea of putting all my skincare in one bag and makeup in another but found that this fit everything in one, both handy and space saving! I'm not sure if I want to combine the two again if I go away (i.e for my hol to St Lucia in September) but for a quick weekend away it didn't really matter to me that everything was all jumbled up.

I took a pretty good selection of makeup and brushes with me for the weekend because space allowed. I brought along my Real Techniques powder, blush and dual fibre contour brushes, along with a little pinkTopshop foundation brush. I adore Real Techniques brushes and have just seen that some teeny tiny travel sized brushes have been brought out - I'm definitely buying those in time for September! In terms of base, I brought my Origins Make A Difference + moisturiser to pop underneath YSL's Youth Liberator foundation and my Nars radiant creamy concealer. Over those I put my Bourjois Java Rice Powder, and experimented with a new bronzer, Maybelline Dream Sun (in blonde, which I am not, but I was afraid of having a heavy bronze on my pale skin!) and a new illuminating powder from L'Oreal in Rose Boudoir.

For my eyes I took along my favourite L'Oreal superliner, Maybelline's Master Kajal khol pencil and Benefit's They're Real mascara for a super simple winged eyeliner look. On my brows I wore Soap & Glory's Brow Archery pencil in Brownie Points and finished off my face with MAC's mineralize blush in Dainty.

I also popped a selection of lip products in my makeup bag as I never like to only take one in case I don't fancy wearing it - anyone else feel the same? I did take my Kate Moss for Rimmel lipstick in 101, a Chanel Glossimer in 148 and a new Topshop Lip Paint in Reminisce (which I am absolutely loving!). J's aunt also bought my a Lanolips lip balm which I am currently trying out.

The other bits and pieces you can see above are my current go to fragrance, Armani Si, some cotton pads, two nose pore strips that we never actually got round to using, a Bath & Body works pocket bac hand sanitiser, a Butter London nail polish in Toff (another gift from J's Aunt), a Bath and Body Works Coconut & Lime mini body lotion and the most ingenious travel invention for cotton buds that I bought in Walmart in Florida a year and a bit ago.

And finally, here's what I took skincare and haircare wise, from left: Clarins One Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser (not mine, but I borrowed some from J's Aunt because I actually forgot to bring a cleanser of any kind!), Avene Eau Thermale Spring Water mist, Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, Milk_Shake leave in conditioning mousse, Benefit It's Potent eye cream, Bumble & Bumble Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner, an Oral B 3D white sample sized toothpase, Dove Pomegranate deodorant, Caudalie cleansing water and a Balance Me body wash from a recent Glossybox.

I love using travel sized products, and had such fun picking out what I wanted to bring with me in my makeup/skincare bag. It's got me in a such a holiday mood...only 111 days until St Lucia...!

What do you take with you for a weekend or a mini break away?

If I Were A Rich Girl...

When I was in Bristol this weekend just gone it was inevitable that I'd end up in Cabot's Circus, circling the beauty hall of House of Fraser for exciting products I'd yet to discover, and also meandering up to Park Street to comb though the shelves of the stand alone Space NK that sits on the corner of the street.
While I did manage to come home with a few goodies (what girl wouldn't!) I came away with a longer wish list. I love Bristol for shopping, it has all the big name brands I love, and more. So what's on my wish list now?

1. First up is Clarins One Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser, a product that I actually managed to use as I found a small sample in J's Aunty's shower. It was such a lovely little cleanser, the microbeads weren't overly harsh and it left my skin feeling so soft and lovely. I'm definitely after the full sized product now!
2. Next is something else I tried, Jo Malone's Peony & Blush Suede Cologne. Harvey Nichols in Cabot's Circus boasts a rather large Jo Malone concession, and, having never tried the brand before I went in for a sniff. Before I knew it I was being treated to a consultation about fragrance combining and having the most luxurious body creme applied by the sales consultant. This fragrance really stood out to me as it's floral, and I don't have any floral fragrances - yummy!
3. I spied this new L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tanning Elixir in the sun aisle of Tesco yesterday and looked at it with wonder. I've been partial to a bit of self tan over the years and this one promises to gradually bring out the tan over two weeks, I'd love to try this one. And it comes in a glass bottle, how fancy.
4. I'm currently searching to the right kind of face base to take to St Lucia with me in September, I want it to have a good SPF and not be drying on my skin, two factors that Origins A Perfect World BB Cream has. I've always has good results with Origins products with all that I've used so far so I have high hopes for this one. 
5. Again another product I tried because J's Aunty has it, Bobbi Brown's Face Base. It's a luxurious moisturiser primer and felt incredible on my skin. I can't say I noticed a visible difference in the longevity of my makeup as I only tried a little bit once so I'd love to give this a go properly. 
6. Clinique's Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief Moisturiser (wow, what a long name!) was mentioned by Zoella in one of her recent videos as her go to product to take onboard a long haul flight. As a girl with really dry skin i'm constantly on the lookout for new moisturisers to combat my dry patches and this one sounds really promising, desperate to get my hands on this! 
7. My finally thing on my wish list is this gorgeous Rosa Mundi candle by Diptyque. I recently finished my Baies mini candle and found myself rationing it towards the end as I loved it so much. I had a quick sniff of this in Space NK and instantly fell in love, it smells divine. 

So that's my current wish list, seen anything that takes your fancy?

What's on your list?