Friday quickie: What I ate (for some of) today!

I was going to write a what I ate today post but I haven't been taking many pics this week and I forgot to take a pic of breakfast today (it was only PB&J on toast, not that exciting!).

So instead, here's a pic of my lunch and my pre-lunch snack!

Pre-lunch snack:

Nakd carrot cake bar: these are the new limited edition flavour and they're not bad. I bought a box off Nakd's website, as I haven't seen them in shops yet and they're limited edition. To me they don't taste much different to some of the other nakd bars so I'm not overly concerned that they're L/E! They are tasty though.

I had it with a starbucks soy coffee frap, no cream (my summer staple!)

For lunch, I had a pitta and some Sabra Baba Ganoush (my favourite thing right now!) and these things that I got from Ocado:

 

They are pretty good and more spicy than I first thought. I was eating them with the baba ganoush and didn't notice the chilli, til I ate the last too alone. Not super hot, but definitely have a nice chilli kick.

The ensemble!

Hope you all have an awesome weekend.

Sal xXx

Friday Quickie - Neve "Lost in Venezia" Eyeshadow Palette

This week's Friday quickie is swatches from this gorgeous Neve Palette, called the Lost in Venezia palette. There's loads of these quads available and they retail for £13.95. I've been dying to play with it but was waiting to take photos before I swatched it - now that's restraint! haha

You can buy Neve direct from their website, or in the UK from Cutecosmetics or Cocktail Cosmetics. When I saw this swatched on instagram, neither of the usual UK sellers had this palette so I got it from Beauty Chamber, who I'd not shopped with before, but it arrived really quickly, so I'd definitely buy from there again!

Shades, clockwise from top left:

 "Fiori D'Ombra", "Bikini", "Pioggia Acida" & "Bouquet"

Swatches:

"Fiori D'Ombra" - a beautiful brown with an almost purple duochrome

"Bikini" - gorgeous goldy peach (I think this would be a beautiful highlight on deeper skintones!)

  "Pioggia Acida" - My favourite shade in the palette - absolutely gorgeous goldy/olive green. Stunning!

 

"Bouquet" - lovely icey silvery blue!

I love Neve eyeshadows. Loads of their items are vegan and they do label everything if it is vegan and also whether it's lip safe too! Also, they are super easy to depot so if you want, you can put them into a Z-Palette, which is my plan for these, along with some from other Neve palettes!

If you've not tried Neve, I recommend them!

If you have tried any of their stuff, I wanna know what you think! Let me know in the comments or tweet at me.

Have an awesome weekend everyone.

Love & stuff
Sal xXx

Friday Quickie - Saucy tofu for lunch

When I'm working from home, I like to make a tasty, but quick lunch and this was one from earlier this week, that I thought I'd share with you, because it was really easy and took about 20 minutes to whip up, start to finish.

To make this, you will need:
Cooking oil of your choice
Tofu
Tenderstem or regular broccoli
Veggie stock
Balsamic vinegar
Light soy sauce
Chinese 5 spice powder (or herbs / spices of your choice)
Maple syrup
Black sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Rice to serve alongside tofu

I used about 1/3rd of a block (about 130g if you're weighing, I didn't - I just eyeballed it) of cauldron tofu. I cut it into squares and then pressed it for a few minutes, while I rinsed and drained some basmati rice.

I got the rice on to cook and then spray a hot frying pan with a bit of oil. Then I fried the tofu for a good 5 minutes on each side, pressing it down with the spatula regularly to get rid of excess water.

I also chopped a handful of tender stem broccoli / broccolini into bite size chunks and boiled it for 3 or 4 minutes.

To make the sauce I mixed a veggie oxo stock cube with about 1/2 cup of water, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and sprinkling of 5 spice powder (add whatever herbs/spices you like).

I added the broccoli to the tofu pan and poured over the sauce. I let it bubble rapidly until it reduced enough to coat the tofu and broccoli. I din't let it go for too long though as I wanted the dish to have plenty of sauce for the rice to soak up.

A sprinkle of black sesame seeds on top just made this look pretty. Some sriracha would've been great but I didn't think of that til it was too late :)

And that's that!

What's your favourite quick lunch?

Hope you have an awesome weekend.
Sal xXx