Spiced pumpkin and oatmeal cookies

I can't believe its been more than a month since I last posted on here. I've been a little busy with university, placement and the endless assignments, whilst trying to savour the couple of weeks I had off for the summer. And in the midst of all this, exam season is slowly creeping up but at least there's some exciting news too. Autumn, my favourite season is nearly here! Can we please all just take a moment with me and be excited for cosy jumpers, early evenings, pumpkin spiced latte, knee high boots, candles, lipstick in all shades of plum, berry and crimson and fuzzy socks. Writing this is just making me feel all warm inside, seriously that's how much I can't wait, and especially when the clocks go back, those walks home back from uni are the best, earphones in, a coconut mocha in one hand and an umbrella in the other. Ahhhhh. So, to get you into the Autumn spirit try out my favourite cookies of all time; spiced pumpkin and oatmeal. They are seriously soft, moist and perfect with a mug of hot chocolate. The canned pumpkin in the recipe is from Americandy which you can buy if you live in Leicester, but if not then try Ocado or Waitrose.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plain flour 
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
• 2 tsp gingerbread syrup (optional)

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200℃ and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper. 
2. In a bowl beat together the sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Next add the pumpkin, egg, vanilla and syrup. Beat everything well together.
3. Sieve in the flour and add in oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. At this stage add in raisins if desired. 
4. Drop spoonfuls onto the parchment and flatten slightly with the back of a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Habeebah xxx

June/July favourites

Hey all my amazing readers! Hope you all had a great month and made the most of the blessed month of Ramadhan. Honestly though, how fast did the days fly by? And it won't be long until Ramadhan will be upon us again. Anyway this month has been brilliant after my potential life changing discovery of the Jersey hijaab. As dramatic as it may sound, I'm sat here wondering why it has taken me this long to have these in my life, so, let me break this ingenious invention down for you. You know when you have those days where you wake up in the morning, get your fav cereal out, open the fridge, grab the gallon of milk, about to pour over your cereal...but wait, THERE'S NO MILK LEFT! So now you have 2 options; either go to the corner shop and buy some more or have something else for breakfast. The first option is obviously not going to happen because you know the time it'll take you to go upstairs and put your hijaab on it will probably lunch time by then. And option 2, well urgh I bet you really wanted that cereal didn't you?

Okay, well maybe that situation was a little dramatic but let me assure you that a situation like that is why the Jersey hijaab was invented. Well I think so anyway. You just wrap it round your head and you're good to go! No pins, no mirror, seriously this hijaab is going to stay in place whether you're sweating it out on the tennis court or taking a trip to Alton Towers. (I am a little dramatic aren't I? But do you see my point?!!) The jersey hijaab got yo back!

They've got a great range of colours at Ar-Rahmah gift store on Evington road (if you live in Leicester) or have a look on Inayah.com. There's plenty on there to choose from.

A few more things that need a quick mention is the Seventeen contour kit from Boots. I've been loving this since I'm not a huge fan of contouring (takes too much time) but this does the job real quick! Also another new discovery is the Olive oil aloe shampoo which has magically transformed my hair from dry and damaged to thick, glossy, shiny and visibly healthy. And finally, the Virgin Mojito shower gel from The Body shop which is so refreshing especially if you shower in the morning it really wakes you up and smells good enough to drink!

Hope you found this post useful and let me know if you try any of these products.
Until next time.

Habeebah xxx

A bit too personal?

So this is where things get a little personal and I share with you something that I've been wanting to post for while but just didn't think it was something anyone else cared about. I'd been seeing the various  different brands of the so-called "Teatox" on Instagram and other social media where many people including celebrities had posted their results of the 2 week or 1 month Teatox. I have to admit at first I was surprised to see how much of a difference having tea twice a day for 2 weeks made to your body. So after reading into it I finally decided to give it a go and see what all the hype was about.

The brand I tried was BooTea from Holland and Barrett (14 day) that claims to increase your metabolism and detoxify your body. The pack contains 21 teabags, so you drink one in the morning and one at night every other night. I was quite eager to try it so I had my first mugful after coming home from a night shift. And then this is the part that they don't warn you about on the box. I woke up later that day with the worst possible stomach pains, went to the toilet and lets just say I couldn't go out for the rest of the day since I had the runs. The teabags contain a laxative which I'm guessing is rather strong and starts to work around 8 hours after consuming. I was mad enough to finish the entire 14 days but not consequtive days, I missed a few days in between.

By the 7th day I noticed my belly had become flatter than what it had been at the start and I felt as though my entire body had been cleansed from the inside. And upon completion I was happy with the results, but not sure if I would do it again. One thing to bear in mind is that you cannot start the Teatox without having a balanced diet and taking part in some sort of regular exercise. Those three things combined was the only way in which I gained good results.

So the question is would I recommend it to other people? Well yes obviously! The results are amazing but on the other hand I had to use the bathroom far too often than I wanted to and kept forgetting to brew myself a mug especially in the mornings, only in the evenings did I realise I'd missed the morning one. I'll leave this for you to decide, but it definitely was worth it!

Hope this was helpful to any of you.

Habeebah xxx