Let's Cook! - Old El Paso Stand N' Stuff Taco kit

Hello Everyone!

It's time for another Let's Cook! Today I'll be showing you Old El Paso's Stand 'N' Stuff soft Taco kit - this is the smoky BBQ one. Old El Paso very kindly send me some of their new range to try out, as I've already tried out the fajitas before (The BBQ one is one of my favourites!) I decided to try out the taco kit first as I've seen these advertised on TV recently and as I like Mexican food was curious about them.

The kit comes in a brightly coloured box - you'd definitely notice this in a super market! I love the fact Old El Paso's branding uses a red tile roof, it makes you think of somewhere warm and sunny. So the kit is very easy to use - you only need to add 500g of minced beef, two tomatoes, lettuce and 125g of grated cheese. The back has very simple and straight forward instructions on how to prepare the tacos - I think this is ideal for a week night dinner as it's ready in 20 minutes with very little fuss or mess.

Inside the box are the tacos, a sachet of seasoning mix and a pack of salsa.

The instructions say to heat a little oil in a pan, add in your mince and brown the mince. Easy peasy!

Once the mince is browned, the box says to drain off any excess liquid (I didn't seem to have any!) Then sprinkle in the seasoning mix.

Once the seasoning has been added you mix it through to coat the mince before adding the water. I do love the smell of this seasoning.

I'll be honest I found it quite hard to get the seasoning to mix through as there didn't seem to be enough of it or water. The box says to let it simmer and once its boiling to let it boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Mine never came to a boil as it just didn't have enough liquid in it despite following the instructions. I'm wondering whether I should have cooked this in a sauce pan rather than a frying pan, the box didn't specify either way and I use this pan for fajitas.

Whilst the mince is cooking you need to warm up the taco shells - again this is really straight forward, you simply take them out of the packet, carefully separate them and pop them on a microwaveable safe plate and into the microwave for 30 seconds on high power.

After about 10 minutes the mince looked like this - I think due to the lack of liquid it did dry out in a few places, it smelt really good though!

Here's my pre-pared lettuce, tomato, cheese and the salsa sauce from the kit.

Everything all together! Look how colourful it is!

Assembling the tacos is simple, you take an empty shell, add some mince, some tomato, lettuce, salsa and finally cheese! How easy is that? Dinner in 20 minutes with very little mess to clear up after which is always an added bonus. These did taste pretty good, although I thought a little dry and the flavour wasn't super strong - it's very similar to the BBQ fajitas which is great in my opinion. If I bought these again (and I may well do) I'd be tempted to add either more water or try a different pan to see if that made a difference to the dryness. As tasty as these were and fun to make I still think Old El Paso's fajitas will remain my favourite for the time being, but I'd definitely recommend giving this a try for a straight forward and easy dinner!

You can find the Old El Paso range in most super markets, but if you'd like to check out their products, why not take a look at their website below?

Old El Paso Website

Ta-ta for now,

X

In collaboration with Old El Paso.

Sponsored Review: Riku's Raving Hama Revolution ~*~Positive~*~

Hello Lovelies,

Today I have a sponsored review for you from Riku's Raving Hama Revolution.I contacted Riku after seeing she was looking for testers for her new designs and wares and after contacting her we discussed a custom design at a discounted price of £6.00 which included postage, I was also able to tell her what I liked and pick a colour chain for the necklace.I could also pick out two bonus gifts and I picked some Sailor Moon stickers and cards. Riku informed me that commissions usually take a week maximum but are normally much quicker. A few days later I received a photo of my commission, which I instantly knew I was going to love! Riku then popped in the post to me.

Just for fun I asked Riku a couple of interview like questions so I could get to know more about her before posting the review!

Q: Who are you? What's your name, and can you tell us a bit about yourself?

A: My fb name is Riku Brennan, I'm a cosplayer, crafter and big gamer.

Q: What made you want to start Riku's Raving Hama Revolution?

A: I started Riku's Raving Hama Revolution a couple of years back as I was rubbish at most conventional art eg, drawing and painting. I was a huge fan of minecraft and I used my lobby games in minecrafts as virtual hama studio then translated that to hama bead.

Q: What’s your favourite thing about owning Riku's Raving Hama Revolution?

A: I love making pieces of jewellery and canvas art pieces that nobody else has. It makes the job worth it to know that you have worked hours on a canvas to please someone.

Q: What would you like Riku's Raving Hama Revolution to achieve in the future?

A: Stalls and to get my name out there as a bead artist, since not many people do hama art.

Q: Is everything at Riku's Raving Hama Revolution handmade? How long do you spend crafting on a weekly basis?

A: Everything is handmade  from jewellery pieces to canvas pieces to 3d sprites. I work alone so I spend at least 10 hours a day doing hama, either making hama or making templates for future pieces.

Q: Do you try and incorporate cute things into your décor at home or at the office?

A: My room is my workspace - so I'm surrounded by anime and video games custom art that I've commissioned from other artists.

A while later after a postal issue, a jiffy bag marked fragile arrived! This is what's inside! Look how awesome it is, this is Sailor Uranus doing her World Shaking attack! (She is my second favourite Sailor Scout!) Everything was sealed up in a cellobag.

Inside were my bonus items, the necklace and a business card.

Look how much detail went into this, it must have taken forever to plan out and make! I so, so like this! It's really beautiful and colourful and the perfect size. I was a little apprehensive about it being of hama beads as I wasn't sure how sturdy it'd be but it really feels quite robust.

Here we go! This is the necklace on, it works so well with this t-shirt too!

If you'd like to check out Riku's Raving Hama Revolution, you can check out her
facebook page below:

Rikus Raving Hama Revolution

I hope you enjoyed this review! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Ta-ta for now,

x

Nice Nails Baby ~ Walking on air pedicure! ~*~SPONSORED REVIEW~*~

Hello Lovelies!

Today I have an exciting review for you! The lovely Michelle from Nice Nails Baby invited me to come and try out her 'Walking on air pedicure'.

'Nice Nails Baby is an exquisite nail salon located in London's Clapham Junction. 

Our salon provides the affordable luxury of fabulous nails without the drama of using the electrical nail file in a small chic lively atmosphere. We have created the perfect environment for you to chill and enjoy your treatments, which are provided by our experienced technicians – our aim is to make you feel special when you visit our salon. It’s all about having a great experiences in a salon.'

This sounded fantastic to me, so I booked in to go check out Nice Nails baby! The salon is based at Clapham Junction inside Electric Beach - it's really easy to locate as its right opposite the Clapham Junction Station, so it was just a short train ride from Reading to get to the Salon.

The salon is located downstairs inside Electric Beach, where I met the lovely Michelle who showed me into the nail bar to pick out a polish whilst she finished setting up. It's super light an airy in the salon and I love the décor - there's lots of pictures of manicures on the wall which makes it very colourful too.

There are different sections for manicures and pedicures, This is the Nail bar, the way everything is set out is fantastic! I love the way that you can see all the colours of nail polish easily on the wall which makes it much easier to see what colour you might like to try! (I wish I had my polish at home set up like this, I can never find the colour I'm looking for!) I opted for an awesome glittery/metallic pink.

When Michelle was ready she showed me into the pedicure area! This area has a built up bench that you sit on, and is so, so cosy! I could have quite happily taken a nap up here!

Feeling cosy on the bench with lots of soft pillows!

So the first part of the pedicure was the foot soak! This was a bubbly foot spa filled with warm water to soften up the skin and nails.

Next was the fruit foot mask! This smelt really good.

Then my feet were wrapped in film to retain warmth whilst the foot mask did it's thing, but left my toes free!

Michelle then carefully filed my nails. (I never make a good job of them and get them even, but Michelle did a perfect job!)

Next came the foot scrub before my feet went back into the foot spa for another soak. The foot scrub was kinda tingly as it was mint which was nice! (It smelt great too!) I then put on my flip flops so Michelle could paint my nails witho out me smudging her hard work once she'd finished ! (I thought this was a fantastic idea, so many places don't do this and I nearly almost wreck it before I get out the door!)

Once they were painted with a base coat, the colour and a top coat,  I sat back in the waiting area with a little fan to let the polish dry - I could use doing this at home!

Perfect toes! And I do love the colour, it's such a vibrant pink!

The lovely Michelle and myself!

I had an absolutely fantastic morning chatting to Michelle whilst she gave my feet a make over! When I left she gave me a bottle of hand and skin cream with her business card which smells divine! She really makes you feel at home and her talents with nails are amazing! (I've been looking at her facebook page over the last few weeks and some of the manicures she has done are spectacular!) I'd really love to go again, and I really think that Nice Nails Baby is totally worth a visit too!

If you'd like more information or to make an appointment you can contact Nice Nails Baby at:-

Nice Nails baby Ltd Website

info@nicenailsbabyltd.com

07940451001 / 02079766696

Inside Electric Beach

33 St. John's Hill

Battersea

London

SW11 1TT

Let me know if you pay a visit to Nice Nails Baby in the comments!

Ta-ta for now,

X

Pasante - Genève laboratoire ~ Replen 10 Wrinkle Reducing Lip Masks ~*~Sponsored review ~*~

Hello Lovelies!

Today I have a sponsored review for you! Genève Laboratoire were kind enough to send me a box of their Replen 10 Wrinkle Reducing Lip Masks! These are normally £9.99 for three masks. Now, although I don't have many noticeable wrinkles yet, it is something that I am very keen on preventing in the coming years! 

The lip masks are anti-wrinkle and have a full and firming effect on lips. The box says 'Wrinkle reducing lip masks. clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. a unquie collagen and hyaluronic formula developed by GENÈVE LABORATOIRE. REPLEN 10 is clinically proven to help you combat not only today's busy lifestyles but also the skins ageing process. REPLEN 10's advanced formula can also help reduce dark circles and bags, repair the skin after lengthy exposure to sun and achieve optimal levels of skin moisture' . This sounded great to me! I've been under a lot of stress recently and feel that my skin is probably suffering for it.

As the instructions said, I found myself 30 minutes in which to chill out and try out the masks! 

Firstly I washed my face to ensure my skin was super clean for the mask.

Opening the packet was very easy, the mask is almost jelly like which I wasn't expecting, and was a very nice surprise! It also smelt like roses which is one of my favourite scents, so this was a bonus too!

Application is super easy as the masks clings to your skin on contact. All I needed to do was press lightly to contour it to my lips. It's probably advisable to avoid talking whilst using this else you may find it comes unstuck.

After 30 minutes I removed the mask! I did notice that my lips and surrounding skin was super soft and smooth and that my lips looked a lot fuller than before!

I'm really impressed with these and would love to have them as a regular part of my skin care routine - I'm very tempted to try out the rest of the Replen 10 range too!

You can find the lip masks here:
Replen 10 Lip Masks

Pasante also currently have an offer running - if you buy the collagen powder for £39.99 you get a set of eye, lip and face masks free too! 

You can find this offer here:
Replen 10 Collagen Powder offer

Ta-ta for now!

x