Orgran Gluten Free Pasta & Vegan Eggs

Vegan & gluten free alternatives

How do you like your eggs in the morning? How about gluten free, vegan and easy. The guys at Orgran have recently introduced me to their Vegan Easy Egg product which has solved my problem in the I like eggs, but seeing the red blood spots make me vom department. Not to mention the cruelty of the dairy industry, this article on 

why everyone should go vegan

is a great read and should be read by everyone in the hope to change their perceptions. 

So, I’ve been a pescatarian for a while now and I’ve been gradually adapting to going full vegan, I’ve been drinking soya, coconut and almond milk, buying diary free butter, vegan cheese and buying whatever food I can find in my local supermarket that has vegan on the packet. But I had yet to find an alternative for my eggs, until now. 

At home, I can find it easy to eat vegan, but because I’m such a picky and indecisive eater (ask my friends they hate eating out with me!), I struggle when it comes to eating vegan when dining out if the menu has limited options for vegans. But after reading that article from the Independent it’s made me want to snub anywhere that doesn’t have anything vegan on the menu from now on.

Orgran Gluten Free Vegan Easy Egg

The Orgran Gluten Free Vegan Easy Egg is a yellow powder that makes scrambled eggs, quiche, omelette and frittata when mixed with water and vegetable oil. All Orgran products
are gluten free, wheat free, egg free, dairy free, yeast free and vegan. The vegan eggs are a good source of fibre, are cholesterol free and contains 7.5g of protein per serving.

My first attempt at making vegan easy egg, wasn’t that easy as I wasn’t so sure if I had cooked them right on the pan as the consistency was a little strange. But I’ve been making them most days with vegan & gluten free seeded toast, spinach and mushrooms with a sprinkle of sea salt and chilli flakes which I really enjoy and certainly sets me up for the day along with a cup of green tea. I’ve been eating the vegan eggs scrambled mostly, although I attempted to do an omelette with peppers and mushrooms but it didn’t turn out very photo worthy – I’m rubbish at flipping the pan, so it looked more like scrambled eggs again.

Nonetheless, I’ve been really enjoying eating the vegan eggs, they taste good and are guilt free, I’ve now found a great egg alternative that gives me all the goodness of real eggs just without the added cruelty.

Orgran Gluten Free Super Trio Pasta

Now onto the Orgran Gluten Free Super Trio Pasta, these are also vegan, yeast, dairy, egg and wheat free like all Orgran products are. But what else is so super about these pasta spirals? They are made from superfoods - millet, quinoa and buckwheat.

To try out the pasta for the first time, I made one of my favourite homemade veggie pasta bake dishes. Although my pasta creation doesn’t look that appealing in photos, I can honestly say it does taste great.

To make the pasta I fry peppers, mushrooms, and courgettes in a pan while the pasta is boiling. After draining the pasta, I mix in the tomato pasta sauce and add in the vegetables and pour into a glass baking dish. I then grate a generous amount of vegan cheese on top and sprinkle with a layer of crunched up crisps to give the meal texture and added crunchiness. I then pop it into the oven for 30 minutes or so for the toppings to melt and go golden. It’s a winner with all the family and is so easy to make.

The Orgran Super Trio pasta is a great alternative if you have food intolerances and want to benefit from a superfood pasta that contains vitamin A & C, calcium and iron.

Orgran have a wide range of free from products, from buckwheat pancakes, quinoa porridge. Chocolate pudding and Crispi rice breadcrumbs. In the UK, you can find them in Holland & Barrett and many other stockists around the world.

Disclaimer: The two Orgran products were sent to me complimentary for review purposes. All other ingredients were paid for with my own money. All photos and words are my own.

How to improve your skin from the inside out

Beauty & Go - Summer Skin Multivitamin drink

We all want flawless skin all year round, but during the summer months I want it more than ever because who wants to be wearing a face full of heavy makeup for it to be a sweaty mess and clog your pores? If your anything like me I prefer to let my skin breath during the summer by wearing lighter makeup (on my skins good days!), like the Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done Hybrid Complexion Perfector which contains an SPF 20 followed by Rimmel’s translucent pressed powder.

My skin type is oily and prone to hormonal breakouts, besides from following a three step skincare system twice a day, doing my best to eat healthy, avoiding oily foods and changing my pillows every other day what else can I do? According to scientifically proven skincare brand
Beauty & Go, drinking a bioactive beauty drink could help improve my skin from within.

I’m always up for trying new products for the blog, especially if it could be the solution to achieve flawless summer skin. So, I took up Beauty & Go’s complimentary offer to receive eight bottles of skin multi-vitamin drink packed with MacroAntioxidants to consume daily every morning for eight consecutive days.

## Firstly, who are Beauty & Go?

Beauty & Go are a Spanish company who specialise in scientific skincare, by creating beauty supplements in the form of drinks containing 50% of your daily vitamins & minerals, rich in antioxidants and skin firming collagen peptides to take care of your skin from the inside out by improving your skin’s firmness, hydration and elasticity over time.

## What’s in the ‘Summer Skin’ drink?

Two concerns I’ve had in the past with vitamin drinks is their calorie and sugar content. However, Beauty & Go contains only 80 calories per a bottle and has no added or refined, sugars, which isn’t so bad and counts towards your 1 a day.

The Summer Skin bottle contains carrot, grape, coenzyme Q10, collagen aloe vera pulp, camomille, green tea and hyaluronic acid. To be honest drinking my first bottle wasn’t that pleasant as it obviously tastes like carrot. Although, I love eating carrots, I did find drinking carrots a struggle. However, by my third bottle I had got used to the taste and started to enjoy it especially chilled straight from the fridge which is the best way to drink it. Surprisingly the drinks have a long expiry date of over a year, I was expecting them to have to be consumed within a matter of weeks with a lot of the ingredients coming from fruit and vegetables. The drinks are high in Vitamin A, C, B6, B12, E, Panthothenic Acid, Niacin and Zinc which are all skin loving ingredients that are scientifically proven to improve the skin.

## How the ‘Summer Skin’ drink is recommended to be consumed

Beauty & Go recommend the drink to be consumed 1 – 2 weeks before the start of summer. Or in other words for us Brits to drink it before we go on holiday abroad. So, our bodies can increase its ability to withstand UV damage to protect it alongside our SPF. They then recommend drinking it after sun exposure to repair and restore the skins tissues.

## My results

After drinking Beauty & Go Summer Skin drinks for 8 days, my skin was glowing on the 8th day and the breakout I had when I started went quickly, which was great. But as soon as I stopped drinking them my face went back to normal. So, to see visible results and improve your skin’s firmness, hydration and elasticity its obviously something you are going to have to drink for the long term to reap its overall benefits. But unfortunately, at a cost of £28 for 8 bottles its sadly not something I could commit to invest in as an everyday thing. Although, if I had a special event coming up or a holiday planned then I would drink them prior to the day to increase my chances of having better skin by nudging off any breakouts.

Beauty & Go also have other variations and flavours of beauty supplements to improve the skin. If you’re a bit sceptical on the results, (I’ve studied Marketing at university, so I’m always sceptical about claims brands make) and I’m sure most people would be considering the price, then you can read about their clinical trial results.

Disclaimer: Beauty & Go sent me eight bottles for review purposes. All photos and words are my own.

Sipping my way into Spring

Study time & Mojitos

A week in the life of Sian Victoria: Studying, cocktails and food!

That time Missguided had 50% off... Haul!!

REMEMBER THAT TIME THE MISSGUIDED WEBSITE CRASHED, BECAUSE EVERYONE WENT CRAZY FOR 50% OFF EVERYTHING. WELL HERE'S WHAT I MANAGED TO GET MY HANDS ON!

Do you remember not so long ago when Missguided had a 50% off discount code and everyone went crazy and the site crashed? Well here's just a couple of items I managed to buy. I spent about £300 worth of shoes and clothing and only paid half. Usually, I return the majority of stuff I buy off the internet because I am very picky shopper, but nope this time I was happy with everything but one item which I returned, that never happens!. The rest of the stuff I brought was mainly plain grey, black and white tops so I haven't included them in the haul, they are all v-neck, which is a neckline I am loving at the moment.

The black coated high-waisted jeans look fab styled with the 'Indiana' slogan t-shirt and white croc pumps, it's an outfit I wore as soon as the large delivery came. The laser cut out shoes with a criss cross detailing at the front and a low block heel are really nice too, I wore them recently to a cocktail masterclass which will feature on the blog soon. 

For awhile now I have been looking for some high-waisted cigarette trousers and these are a perfect match, others I have tried on previously have been far too long but these are ankle grazers so are the right length on my short legs. And finally I brought some blue distressed jeans with frayed hems and some black mesh knee jeans, although I couldn't get these in petite so I need to get them turned up as they are far too long, and when I cuff them they look silly because they need about 6" cut off, otherwise I am really happy with my the new additions to my wardrobe :).

Got time to read more fashion posts?

Student life in Birmingham & Breakfast Bowls

A week in the life of Sian: Healthy breakfast bowl inspiration and student life

Sian Weekly | Chinese New Year & cute dog snaps

Top Travel Moments of 2016

A year of travel, featuring a jam-packed video of my China, Vegas & Santorini adventures!

In 2015 I ticked off a few things on my never-ending bucket list. It was an amazing travel year which I never thought il'd beat. But I did, in 2016 I created so many more memories, from skydiving in Vegas, hiking mountains in China and exploring a still active volcano in Santorini to name just a few. Carry on reading if you want to find out my top travel moments of 2016 and don't forget to watch my short travel video at the end. To see more photos from my travels, you can find me @sian.victoria.travels on Instagram :)

Sian Weekly | 25th Birthday

Eness Cosmetics - Exotic Africa Argan Oil Range

Eness are an ethical cruelty-free beauty brand in Birmingham with a great new Argan Oil range.

Chung Ying - Vegetarian Chinese Food in Birmingham

Chung Ying is a Chinese restaurant in Central Birmingham. They kindly invited me to their 'Blogger Bites' event where I got to try out a variety of vegetarian dishes..

King Prawns in Salt and Chilli

The new place to eat & chill in Walsall

Eat, drink, relax and play on Walsall high street

There’s a new place to eat, drink, relax and play on Walsall high street called Luda. There’s never anything new or fun coming to Walsall nowadays so I popped along to the opening to find out what this new place is all about and to obviously knock back the complimentary nibbles and fizz before heading to my next event of the evening.

Luda is part of Mecca bingo and they have decided to open their very first mini bingo in Walsall. To be honest I’ve never played bingo before, I’ve always associated it with big halls with unwelcoming bright lights and sorry to say a more mature audience. However, bingo has changed a lot in recent years and you are likely to find young ladies dressed up for a round of bingo before heading out for the evening just for some light-hearted fun, nothing serious.

However, Luda is different. It’s smaller, located on the high street so has the convenience factor, the dim lighting and comfy seating area makes it a welcoming environment and the games are all instant using the latest technology so there’s no waiting around or having to listen to ‘cup of tea’ number 3 or ‘rise and shine’ 29.

At Luda, you have the option to play bingo on the big screen using a tablet or via paper version. During the opening, I got to play my first ever round of bingo for £1, as the number gets called out, the jackpot of £10,000 goes down and so on. It’s over in a matter of minutes. So, you’re not having to wait around for the next game to start unlike with the larger bingo halls.

Personally, I’m not a fan of gambling, although you would assume I am considering I’ve spent my last two summers in Las Vegas. Gambling is a horrible addiction, one that I have seen destroy my closet friend so I always stay away from any kind of big deposit games. However, I do occasionally play small deposit games like the lottery and so would play bingo for £1 a game whenever I’m passing through Walsall. But I personally wouldn’t touch the slot machines as I’ve seen people get carried away putting in all there weeks earnings, losing and kicking the machines on their way out which is upsetting to see. So please bet responsibly.

On a more positive note, Luda has a great selection of food and beverages, they even have a license to sell alcohol, so I can see the people of Walsall enjoying a few rounds of pizza, beer and a game of street fighter with friends after work.

My favorite thing about Luda is the comfy seating, the selection of sandwiches, the salted caramel brownie, and strawberry smoothie which by the way tasted amazing and were all reasonably priced too. My friend Rachel works there, which is an added bonus! Luda isn’t just a place to play bingo, it’s also a place to relax, use the free Wi-Fi and simply have a coffee, panini and a cake or two on your lunch break.

Disclaimer: Invited to the opening as a guest. No payment has been received for this post. All photos and words are my own.

Wedding Outfit | Lace Fit & Flare Dress