fashion-food Archives - fashion food

Eighteenth Birthday

June 18, 2015 by ellied

Wearing: J Crew dress, Topshop sunglasses (similar), Dune shoes

The past couple of weeks have been very hectic; finishing my final A-Level exams, leaving school forever (!!!), passing my driving test, celebrating friends birthdays and now my own 18th. I’m finally a free woman which means plenty of time for regular blog updates and sharing lots of recipes and other style-related content.

I kicked my birthday off with a lovely brunch with my mum and sister in Shoreditch and a wander round in the sunshine. I’m keeping this post very short and sweet as I’ve got celebrating to do, but I look forward to whatever adult life brings and an exciting summer ahead.

Now, pass the gin *insert dancing lady emoji*.

Spring Clean

April 1, 2015 by ellied

Happy 1st April! A little eager for summer, I’m welcoming Spring with a crisp white attire – which, a green smoothie, some turmeric and a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter later, won’t be very white for long, I can assure you. Wearing white-on-white almost makes me feel as though I’m not wearing monochrome and feel a little less bad about avoiding colour…even though I very clearly am still wearing monochrome? I’m liking the contrast between the ragged, frayed jeans and the tailored look of the dress; definitely an easy way to dress down the open-back Zara number.

Maybe it’s vitamin D getting to my head from the brief appearance of the sun, but I’m feeling a little bit of spring ‘optimism and youth’ and re-living my childhood sartorial choices with the dress and jeans combo – a mix that has somewhat evolved from the days of floral Boden dress and pink corduroy trousers. Someone get the S Club 7 CD on quick.

ZARA dress
ASOS jacket + shoes
TOPSHOP jeans

Coconut yogurt + roasted beetroot dip

April 1, 2015 by ellied

Inspired by part of a lunch I had at Raw Press last month – a divine baked beetroot with a blob of coconut yogurt on top – I wanted replicate the melt-in-the-mouth delicious-ness in the form of a sweet yet spicy dip. This is a perfect side to accompany some baked rosemary sweet potato fries or fresh crudités. I’ve used the natural coconut yogurt by the Coconut Collaborative for an incredibly creamy flavour. Although here I could only get my hands on the purple packaging which comes with a small packet of seeds and berries, the flavour of the yogurt is still natural and I have just reserved the seed mix for breakfasts/smoothies.

Behold, yogurt made from the milk of the coconut!

The dip:

2 small beetroot, roasted
1/2 cup coconut yogurt
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp. tahini
1 tsp tahini
Juice of 1/2 lemon/lime
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 spring onion
A handful of fresh coriander
1 tsp cumin
Pinch of cayenne, paprika and chilli flakes
Sea salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Scrub and dry the beets then wrap each one in tin foil. Bake them for about a hour, until soft on the inside. Once cooked, leave to cool and assemble the rest of the dip ingredients. Once cool, place the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust the spices to your liking. As I’ve said before, I’m a spicy food kinda gal so used quite large pinches of spices, but just go with your instinct. To serve, drizzle some extra chilli flakes, olive oil and some sesame seeds (toasted or raw).

I served the dip with some baked fries, made by slicing 1 sweet potato and 1 large carrot and roasting in ghee/coconut oil, S+P, cayenne, rosemary and cumin. Simply bake for about 30-40 minutes, whilst the beetroot cooking! This would also be lovely with a sprinkle of feta and a fresh rocket salad.

#UOunearthed

March 31, 2015 by ellied

I was thrilled to be asked to ‘take over’ the Urban Outfitter’s instagram account a couple of Sundays ago, as part of their first ever installment of #UOunearthed. I had intended to write a little blog post nearer the time but the past few weeks have been so busy and I never got round to it (yay for A-Levels). So, below are the photos that I posted on their account on the day, featuring some lovely UO products. A big thank you for having me!

@ellievdunbar
@UOeurope

Watercress is the new Kale & 2 green smoothie recipes

January 17, 2015 by ellied

Why you need watercress in your life.

It seemed Kale was the reigning champ of the health food world in 2014, but move over, there’s a new superfood in the spotlight. It may not be printed on a sweater spread across Beyoncé’s chest (see here and here), but watercress sure is pretty impressive in terms of nutritional value.

Rich in an array of vitamins and minerals, including vitamins K, A, C, B, watercress has more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk and as much vitamin C as an orange. Rich in fibre, with anti-inflammatory properties, it can successfully aid digestive function and is essential for overall blood and liver health. The vitamins A and C help to keep skin soft and smooth, whilst also providing healthy hair and strong nails.

The unique mustard oil found in the plant, gives watercress a slight peppery flavour which makes it great in soups, salads and a lovely accompany for fish/meat/roasted veg. However, adding watercress to smoothies makes an easy way to obtain all of the nutrients in a discrete way.

Below, I’ve posted two green smoothie recipes; one very green smoothie and another creamy green smoothie.

#1 – A Very Green Smoothie

Refreshing, hydrating and easy to digest, this smoothie is an extremely energising as part of your breakfast in the morning or a great snack to keep you going throughout the day.

Yields 1 (or 2 smaller)

1 cup water
1 tsp coconut oil (I like Biona)
A large handful(s) of spinach
A handful of watercress
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
Chunk of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1/4 avocado
1/2 stick of celery
1/4 large cucumber
1 green apple
1/2 frozen mango
Optional – greens powder (spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass etc)

#2 – The Creamy Green Smoothie

If you’re new to green smoothies, I suggest you try this one. The avocado and frozen banana and hint of mango give an extremely creamy and naturally sweet taste and texture, making it feel like a treat rather than a mysterious, grassy concoction. As an alternative to the mango, you could also try another fruit like nectarine or peach. I’ve use almond milk here, however other nut milks taste gorgeous – particularly cashew or brazil nut milks!

1 cup almond milk (I use homemade)
Large handful(s) spinach
1 very ripe, frozen banana
1/4-1/2 mango, frozen
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp chia seeds

Bold Stripes

January 11, 2015 by ellied

I don’t know what it is about this dress that makes me feel like I belong in the Sound of Music, but I love the Sound of Music so I can roll with that. I think it has something to do with the bold inset stripes around the collar that mirror the iconic uniforms of the von Trapp children, whilst the flouncy, slightly dipped hem skirt makes me want to spin uncontrollable like Maria von Trapp in the hills. However, I’m not a optimistic as Maria and I’ll spare you my rendition of The Hills are Alive.

Hanging unaccompanied on a rack in H&M, I thought it was best I gave this gorgeous dress a loving home. I had spotted a similar dress earlier on in the year whilst browsing the J Crew website (link above) and so was thrilled when I found this almost identical tunic. The sleek fit of the dress makes the drape comfortable and gives a slightly over-sized look, whilst the cut also fits the figure well. I look forward to wearing this in the summer, when I can finally ditch the Primark tights for a couple of months and take complete advantage of this full and floaty skirt. I have paired it with my beloved leather jacket to toughen this look up a bit and had intended to capture more shots of the jacket but camera issues took over.

H&M dress (similar here)
ASOS jacket
TOPSHOP shoes

I just wanted to briefly mention that I’m going to try to update the blog as regularly as possible, but at the moment school/Saturday job/lack of sunlight life seem to be getting in the way. I have a lot of ideas for recipe posts and other blog content whirling around in my head that I just put my words into action and get into swing of things!

Rouge

January 2, 2015 by ellied

TOPSHOP ribbed crop top
ASOS skirt
NEW BALANCE 410 trainers
GAP coat
TOPSHOP earrings

A bit of quick and impromptu post abusing the back door step. Apologies for the bad quality photos, they were taken on my phone.

Day 2 of January 2015, and as you may have read in my previous post, my efforts to add a little brightness into my wardrobe seem to be going well. It may be a little eager to feature a red outfit immediately following my last red-inspired post, but I was feeling eager wear some rouge. I’m enjoying the red lip and red top combo a lot at the moment – which reinforces why red such a great colour; a matching green lip and jumper wouldn’t quite be the same now would it.

I like this ASOS skirt as the front split is an alternative to the usual side-split skirts, and since I don’t really like wearing tight body-con style skirts, this is a different, cool option for a midi. I wore my New Balance as it was an easy errand-running kind of day, also deciding to brave the weather and not wear tights – I was surprisingly not very cold.

The ribbed crop top is really soft and great for this time of year as it feels like a thin jumper, and easy for layering under coats or blazers. It was a Topshop sale find that I actually borrowed from my younger sister, although I saw it in the shop first *rolls eyes*. After a lot of experience, I think I have established that the best time to ask her to borrow clothes is in the mornings, when she’s half unconscious in bed and will mumble ‘yeah’ just get me out of the room. As we get older we’re both slowly started to accept the fact that it’s better to lend each other clothes. It’s a bit like having a double wardrobe, accept for the fact I have probably invested in double the amount of clothes as her, and so it isn’t much of a fair deal on my half. I have also found that sisters are also incredibly useful for purchasing things that you don’t want to spend the money on yourself. For example, the other day, I saw a black jumpsuit in H&M and as lovely as it was, I couldn’t quite justify getting it as I had bought another black jumpsuit about a week before. The simple solution? Make your sister try it on, persuade her it looks great (which it did) so that she buys it herself, and then just borrow hers when you fancy another black playsuit option. What are sister for ey?