Staying healthy in university, tips and meal ideas!

So I've been in university for almost two months now and before I left I had a goal: I will not let myself start eating unhealthily! 

To me, personally, eating unhealthily isn't the whole "eating pizza and pot noddles" thing that most students do, to me it comes across by just not eating enough so I made sure to eat well every day.

The problem most students face is that "healthy food" isn't as cheap as lets say, bread or frozen pizza or instant cook noddles, which is why they would normally go for that, which is perfectly understandable however it is possible to eat healthy food and not spend your whole life savings on it.

In this post I'm going to show you some different meal plans I usually eat during the week and some nice recipes! 

Please note that I am a vegetarian however you could if you want add meat to the dishes I'm about to share, it's your choice!

Breakfast: 

For breakfast I usually go for one of 3 options, if I'm lazy I'll probably have some toast with butter, if I can put a bit more effort I'd have yogurt with granola and fruit and if I am really about making something I will have porridge with granola and fruit. All of these are a great meal to make in the morning because they all take no time at all and will fill you up for a long time. I also like to add chia seeds to the yogurt or porridge because they are full of vitamins and omega 3, I just soak them a bit with water beforehand and then mix in to my yogurt or porridge. Chia seeds can be expensive at times however I got mine for really cheap in home bargains. 

Lunch:  

Now it's time for some real recipes! For lunch (and also dinner) I change things up constantly however it's usually some form of vegetables, and pasta or rice. One thing that I do do a lot is that I make food in advanced and keep it in the fridge that way I have meals for a few days and don't have to cook every single day. Things usually keep for 3 days or more, depends what you're making.

Stir fry vegetables: 

You will need:

• 1 Onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Whatever colour of pepper you like (my favourite for this is green) 
• Frozen vegetables 
• Dried oregano, thyme, parsley and paprika
• Sweet and spicy chilli sauce
• A bit of oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to make:

• In a sauce pan with some oil sweat down the onions, pepper and garlic
• Add your dried seasoning
• Add the frozen vegetables, chilli sauce and a splash of hot water
• Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are defrosted and the sauce inside the pot has reduced.
• Serve on it's own, with pasta or with rice!

Pashtida:

So I don't know what it's called in English but it's one of my favourites. Basically it's the inside of a quiche without the pastry bottom. It's really nice and you can change it up every time by using different vegetables. 

You will need:

• Eggs (amount changes depending on your filling, so start with 3 and add as much as you need if you see the mixture is too dry, the most I had to use is 5)
• Cheddar cheese  
• Feta 
• Vegetables of your choice (in what I made in the picture I used onions, red peppers, broccoli and mushrooms)
• Seasoning of your choice.

How to make:

• Pre heat oven to 180c
• Beat eggs 
• Add seasoning (oregano thyme and rosemary usually work nicely)
• Add vegetables
• Add cheese
• Mix well (it's as this point where you can see if more egg is needed, if so just beat one in a separate bowl, pour over and mix again)
• Put in a greased baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes checking every now and then.
• It's cooked when it's slightly golden and doesn't have a wobble to it.

Dinner:

For dinner I would usually eat the same as I ate for lunch, but on cold winter nights nothing is better than a hot bowl of soup. My personal favourite is lentil soup, here's how I make it.

Lentil soup:

You will need:

• Dried lentils
• Onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Carrot 
• Celery 
• Seasoning to taste (I like to add salt, black pepper and parsley)

How to make:

*If you are using black lentils it's best to soak them overnight first, however with green lentils you do not have to.

• Add all ingredients to a sauce pan, cover with water and let simmer for about 40 minutes to an hour, checking on it every now and then and adding more water if needed.

This takes the longest to cook but you don't really have to do much with it. It keeps in the fridge for 3 days so once you make it you have dinner for 3 days which is great!

And those are my recipes! I hope you found it helpful and let me know if you give any of those a try!

Yam xx

New Products: Reviews

Hey guys!

So being that I have recently moved country it was the perfect opportunity to try out some new products! I bought all of them over the course of the past month and had a bit of time to try them out and make up my mind on how they work for me. A bit reason for buying these new products is to replace products I use from back home that are not sold in the UK so a lot of this was also done in comparison to the products I already use and love.

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer:

I've heard many great things about this concealer by bloggers from the UK so I went into this with very high expectations and I am please to say this did not fail. It's a very thick and creamy concealer, it blends in really well and has very high coverage. It stays on all day perfectly and covers up dark circles (which I have plenty of). The one thing I will says is that I chose a slightly too dark of a shade for me so it comes off a bit too orange, so I use it before foundation and blend in my foundation over it to cover it up. When this runs out I will no doubt buy a new one and when I do I'll just go for a lighter shade. Rating: 8/10

Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation:

I purchased this foundation because I ran out of my trusty Revlon colorstay and the specific superdrug I went to did not sell any Revlon products. I have to say, I'm not a fan of this one. For my skin the formulation just did not work at all, it didn't blend nicely into the skin and couldn't stay for very long. The use I have for it now is mostly on days when I want a very light coverage I'll just use a bit of this buffing it into my skin and tapping in to specific blemishes with my fingers and it pretty much works but I normally go for the medium to full coverage which this just doesn't do for me. Rating: 4/10

No7 Beautifully Matte foundation:

So after trying to get the former foundation to work for a couple of weeks I decided to try out another one and since I heard good reviews on this one I decided to give it a shot. It is a bit more pricy however a little bit of it goes a really long way so I can already see that it'll last me for a long time. Since I go for a really full coverage I usually go for two pumps of products but with this one pump is enough. It's really thick and is really buildable in it's coverage. Rating: 9/10

No7 Beautiful Skin Day and Night Creams:

I got these while I was getting the foundation, as they had a sale and I figured I needed to find a replacement for my trusty moisturizer at some point anyways. These are really good, the day cream is really thick and you can feel that it will moisturize your face for the whole day, it also has SPF in it which is always good. The night cream is much more light and is really nice for night time. Both are not greasy at all and soak in the skin in no time at all. I have been noticing my skin being a bit better since I've started using these but it hasn't been long enough for me to actually give credit to the products. Rating: 9/10

Garnier PureActive Anti-Imperfections Cleansing Gel:

Garnier is actually a company I am very familiar with and my normal cleanser is by them, which is what I was looking for when I went into boots but could not find my normal one anywhere, I also went into superdrug in the search for it and again, nowhere to be seen, so I just decided to try another cleansing gel. I really like this one, though with Garnier you can't really go wrong. My face feels really clean after using it but not too dry and it's great for day and night as it is very gentle on the skin. Rating: 8/10 

And that's all the new products I got so far! Will keep you posted as I keep getting new ones!

Yam xx

University Room Decor Ideas!

Hi,

In this post I'll give you some easy and cute room decor ideas to make your university room as cosy and home-like as possible, in 5 easy steps!

Step 1: Beddings!

A nice set of beddings makes such a difference to the atmosphere of the room. Cushions and throws are nice to have as well. You don't have go all out and buy really expensive things, home bargains, primark and even ASDA have some really nice things. My bedding set was 12£ in ASDA, my cushions were about 4£ each from home bargains and my throw was 5£ in primark.

Step 2: Fairy lights!

So I don't know what about you but I am obsessed with fairy lights, I think they give such a nice a cosy feeling just sitting in my room, watching a YouTube video with a nice cup of tea and my fairy lights on. Again, you can find really cheap ones, mine were 2.50£ in primark and I just put them up with a bit of tape.

Step 3: Photos!

If you're moving away from home for uni it's nice to have photo of your friends and family. I decided to go a bit creative with them and used clips to put them up. This was a bit more DIY, I painted the clips myself with metallic paint before I came here and framed every photo using washi tape to make them look cuter! I have a cute flower in the end of each thread as well that I just got from the craft store. 

Step 4: boxes!

I have most of things in boxes and jars, just to keep them organised. most boxes are ones I already had like tea boxes and I just decorated them with nice printed paper or washi tape or they are boxes I found a new use for like my iphone box ect. 

 

Step 5: Calendars! 

It's good to have a nice calendar in university in general, it makes studying easier when you know what's coming up, you can go out and buy one or, you can like me, find printable versions online and just print them out! I find that it also makes writing things down easier since it's printer paper and it isn't likely to smudge. I printed 3 pages of a 2015 calendar for the last 3 months of the year and then a full 2016 one.

And that's it! your room is all decorated and prepared to be your rescue place for the year ahead!

Hope you enjoyed this post and you'll have a great productive year in university! xx

Debenhams haul, first impressions, and swatches!

So recently I went into Debenhams and went a little crazy with make up. I bought some new things I haven't tried before and am really excited to share them with you!

So the first thing I got is an old favourite that I have mentioned before, it's the Porefessional by Benefit. If you want to read a previous review on it click here.

Second thing I got is Roller Lash mascara by Benefit. So far I've only used it once however I must say I'm not crazy for it. Good mascaras for me are very difficult to find and although it is very nice I don't think I'll purchase it again after I'm done with it, but this might change in the future. 

Rating: 5/10

Get roller Lash mascara HERE.

One last product by Benefit is Puff Off. It's an undereye gel that is meant to reduce puffiness. I actually love this one. So you apply it before concealer, just use a few dots of the gel inside and then glide the tiny iron over it to blend it. It's very cooling and feels great to use in the morning and actually helps reduce the puffiness from under your eyes. 

Rating: 7/10 

Get Puff Off HERE

Then I went ahead and got 2 eye shadow palettes. The first being the newest Naked palette from Urban Decay, Naked Smokey. I absolutely love this one! I wanted to get a Naked Palette for a while but was not sure which one to get but once I saw this one I knew it was the one for me. The eye shadows are super pigmented and blend like a dream. It is not cheap but if you can afford it it's worth a try. I will say though that if you already have one of the Naked palettes it's not worth getting a new one for it, only if you don't any Naked palettes like me. 

Rating: 9/10

Get Urban Decay Naked Smokey palette HERE

Last thing I got is Too Faced Chocolate bar palette. Made of 100% coco powder this palette actually smells of chocolate! It's a great neutrals palette for every day use yet it does have some really nice shimmers to it. I can see myself using it as an eye shadow palette but also using some of it's shades as highlighters. All and all I did enjoy it a lot, though I do think you can find similar palettes for a lower price.

Rating: 8/10

You can get Too Faced Eye shadow palette HERE

And that's everything I got! Thank you for reading and before I go I leave you with some swatches of all of the eye shadows! xx

(Click on the photo to see full size)

Urban Decay:

Too Faced:

How to: pack for a long stay trip

Hey guys,

So I recently moved from the warmth of my home country of Israel to the cold and rainy England for university, meaning my trip isn't going to be a few weeks, it's going to be 3 years. When I was packing to go I tried to find advice on packing for such a long trip but didn't find much, so I decided to give you my tips on packing your entire life and moving to another country!

Suitcases, suitcases, suitcases!

First piece of advice is, if possible, to buy another full size suitcase to take on the plane, that is, buy the option for another suitcase from your airline company. That'll make the packing so much easier and you have more room to take more stuff with you. It is another expanse but it's worth it. Make sure your suitcase is light and can expand so you can add more things to it.

Carry ons are suitcases too!

So, on a flight you can usually take 3 bags with you, one full size suitcase, one smaller carry on suitcase and one small bag. Use the carry ons, pack it with clothes as well, things you'll probably use in the first few days-a week. If you can get a hold on an expendable one, again, it's best. As long as you don't go overboard with the weight it's good.

Learn to let go!

It is very hard to decide what to take with you and what to leave behind, but remember these are just clothes and stuff you won't defiantly need. When packing your clothes focus on what you will need right when you land and a couple of weeks after, and get things while you're there. Pack as if you're going on a 2 weeks trip and leave space for things you will absolutely need and require more room.

Learn to divide your things!

So now that you have your suitcases, start with deciding what goes where. It's best to put the heavy stuff in the bigger suitcases and fill up the carry on with more clothes. 

Get stuff in advanced! (if you can):

So in the UK there are a lot of websites offering student packs, it's everything a student needs from bedding to kitchen stuff to stationary in one pack. These website offer a delivery service right to the university halls room. Try and find these types of services if you can and use them! Two websites that I know of are UniKitOut and My Student Pack.

And now for more general travel advice:

Mark your begs!

You have no idea how important it is to do so. Get those little suitcase tags and write down your details inside in case it gets lost. Also, add some kind of marker to your bags so you'll know it's yours, a ribbon, a piece of string, anything that's noticeable and unique. 

Have your documents ordered and safe!

So you know how your mum used to give you this funny little bag to put your passport in? Yeah, use it. It's so important to have everything ready and organised so you can get it whenever you need it.

Shoes! 

This ties in with the last set of advice, but try to wear you most comfortable yet the heaviest shoes you own, for me, these are my doc martins, that way you can take down some of the weight in your suitcases.    

And lastly, here are some back pack essentials: 

No matter if your flight is 5 hours or 15 hours long, you'll get bored. I recommend taking a book with you, a puzzle booklet with a pen and a notebook to keep you busy. 

Speaking of keeping you busy, if you have a laptop this is a good time to fill it up with shows and watch them on the flight!

Headphones are a must, I take 2 pairs, one regular in ear iphone headphones, if i want to sleep, and one pair of big over ear headphones so I can watch stuff on my laptop with no distractions.

Make up wipes are good, even if you go on the flight completely bare faced it's always good to have make up wipes or face wipes with you to freshen up during the long flight.

And that's it! I hope you found this post helpful and if you have any other long travel advice please share it in the comments!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my next post!

Yam xx