Bake with me!

June 24, 2020 trulyraisa3 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m a little excited for today’s post because it’s been a while since I wrote a post like this! Today’s post

I’m going to be sharing some things I’ve been baking during the lockdown!

Brownies

The first thing I baked was brownies! I liked brownies before, but because we baked them two or three times I started to dislike them. 😦 The recipe is actually very easy, but with this recipe I would recommend that you add something else to give it more flavour, some things I would recommend would be adding some walnuts or orange zest to it. It’s quite plain by itself. This is the recipe that I use to make these brownies Chocolate Brownies recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls

I also attempted to make Cinnamon Rolls! I have to be honest and tell you that they looked delicious but I must have done something wrong because they did not taste good at all. I also didn’t make the icing but it is also included in this recipe. But the first try doesn’t always have to be successful! This is the recipe I used Cinnamon Rolls recipe.

Oat Bars

This was probably the most easiest thing I’ve baked! It was a really simple recipe to follow through and when I had made them I didn’t add any of the seeds and instead of berries I used raisins but they still turned out delicious! This is the recipe I used Granola bars.

Chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are probably a very straightforward thing to bake but when I baked them for the first time they didn’t turn out as I had hoped. But when I tried them for a second they were just perfect! The recipe is quite easy to make so you can try this at home too!

Shortbread

Shortbread is something I bake often because it’s the easiest thing in the world to make. It doesn’t require too many ingredients or even much effort and they taste delicious anyway! The recipe I use is Shortbread recipe

That’s all I have for today! I hope you will try and enjoy some of these recipes and be sure to leave a comment or tag me in your photos on Instagram!

Life of an ex-university student.

June 16, 2020June 16, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

So I unofficially finished university back in May and since then, things haven’t been the same! So I thought I would write a blog post about it! Shall we begin?

The Coronavirus was probably a shock to the whole world. It changed life as it was and because of it I wasn’t able to cherish my last semester at university. All my classes had moved online (I’m guilty for not attending them!) and I was knee deep in a pile of assignments!:( However, I managed to complete all of them and unofficially complete my semester!

But because of the Coronavirus it meant that I wasn’t able to graduate or even meet any of my friends to celebrate the end of the last ever semester. 😦

Since March the country has been on lockdown and things are finally starting to reopen again but nothing has changed for me because I don’t have a full-time job yet or a school to go to. It’s been weird not to have a daily routine or anything to look forward and honestly speaking it’s starting to become depressing. But I’ve been actively trying to look for a job and hopefully soon I’m sure something will come along. I’ve also been trying to keep busy by cooking and baking things and posting them on Instagram and trying to write more blog posts! I’m aiming to at least try to write one blog post a week, but there are no promises!

I’m curious to know how other graduates around the world are dealing with this situation, because I know we’re all facing the same problem so it would be interesting to know!

But for now, I will have to work harder at producing more content and trying to find a job. I have a fun blog post coming up where I share everything I’ve been baking so far and linking the recipes too!

That’s all I have for today, if you’re also a graduate comment how you’ve been getting on as an ex-student!

For the love of food…

June 1, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my space 🙂 Today I’m going to be talking about the most common problems or situations I have surrounding food and nutrition and “keeping healthy” So, shall we begin?

I wasn’t always interested in nutrition. In fact I didn’t know that there were courses on nutrition and until I came across it while doing some research on what university to go to. But I was a big foodie (I still am now!) and I think that’s what got me to think “I really want to learn more about food”. I was originally a media student but it wasn’t a practical career field I saw myself in.

Adapting from being a media student in the Arts to doing Nutrition in Applied Sciences was a huge change. I swear the first few lectures were gibberish and the first year I would wait until I was home to properly take notes and understand the lectures!

Apart from learning about nutrition I tried to pay more attention to what I ate and I had a lot of struggles. Some of them maybe some of you will be able to relate to. Something that I had struggled with in the past is snacking. In my opinion I think snacking is a bad habit and for us who should be eating three meals a day, that should be more than enough to satisfy our energy and caloric intake during the day. In the past, I used to snack a lot and it often lead to binge-eating. So recently, I have tried not to eat anything in between my three meals and occasionally I still snack on something (unhealthy, usually!) but I am working on it more.

Another struggle I had ever since I was a student was stress-eating. A-levels were a particularly hard time for me, even harder than university and because of my bad habit of snacking I used to stress eat a lot. I’m glad that with time I can now say that I’ve completely eliminated that struggle!

Finding time to exercise is a struggle I can say that there are some of you who can relate to this. The NHS guidelines for physical activity is 150 minutes of moderate activity. I really wanted to achieve that, but working a part time job while being a university student meant I had barely any time on my hands. I’m not really comfortable with completing exercise with others and it’s something I like to do on my own so I don’t go to a gym. We have a treadmill in our house so I usually go running 2 or 3 times a week. Occasionally I also find a YouTube video and follow a Yoga or Pilates routine! But any type of physical activity is great! Just getting your body moving and being active is all that’s required!

After three years of learning about food I can tell you it’s not just black and white. The constant pressure to eat healthy and stay active isn’t as simple as gaining weight or losing weight. That is not the only goal, yes it’s amazing if everyone can be a healthy weight but that’s not the only goal. Foods are so much more complex and believe it or not, what you eat can prevent you from having diseases and being ill in the future. Having a good diet and exercising often can improve your health so much, do you ever see some people that look in their early 40s and they’re actually so much older? The chance of that is because that person has a good diet and they are active. Food is amazing and there is so much more to it than what meets the eye.

That’s all I have for today, but if you have any questions then let me know in the comments below!

University is complete

May 22, 2020 trulyraisa2 Comments

Hello! Welcome back to my space! Now that my final assignments are complete, I have officially finished university! I decided to write a post about it! Shall we begin?

First year was the best! I went to university with the mindset that I would just put my head down and work and I didn’t really care for making any friends, I just wanted to do well. But nothing goes as planned, but in the first year I made some really cool friends and it was a really chill year for me! I did well in my assignments and I was just enjoying my time. The only thing I would say that I struggled with was with the lectures, because this was my first time studying nutrition and I didn’t have a science background so I had to really learn a lot.

The second year in the first semester began to get harder, only because I wasn’t doing too well with my assignments as I would have liked, I passed all of them but not with the grade I wanted so that only made me want to work harder. In the second semester I did pretty well then, I started going into university to complete my assignments rather than at home because I get distracted easily. In the second semester we had to pick our dissertation topics and I begun to get more excited just thinking about it! I actually wrote a blog post on what my dissertation was about here : Dissertation topic

I think the highlight of second year was picking my dissertation topic and also reconnecting with an old friend and becoming close again!

Third year I had never felt more stressed. The first semester wasn’t actually too bad, the modules we studies were interesting and we started planning testing for our dissertation project! The second semester the stress just started kicking in because we had a lot of testing to do for our dissertation project and in such a short time but we managed to get through it all. The worst thing was back in the end of March when our country went into lockdown because of the Coronavirus and working from home wasn’t the prettiest.

After just over a month, I managed to finally have my written dissertation ready and submitted, along with some other assignments and I felt a heavy burden being lifted off me. But I still had a few more assignments to go and finally (yesterday actually) I submitted my last ever assignment and now I’m a free woman!

But actually the real stress is beginning now, because finding a job amidst this pandemic is going to be really really hard. So wish me luck because I have no idea what I’m going to do! 😦

Snacking is the problem!

May 13, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello! Welcome back to my space! Today’s post is all about snacking! It’s a problem 😦 Shall we begin?

Let’s face it, we all eat when we’re bored. Don’t even deny it, we all get bored at sometime at home and end up in the kitchen cupboard or the fridge looking for food. What if I were to tell you that most of the time people gain weight not because of the three meals a day they eat, but because of the snacks they eat in between.

I’m not going to deny it, I’m also guilty of it! But its something I am trying to eliminate. Well, I guess you don’t have to completely eliminate the element of snacking, maybe if we change what we eat then maybe it can make a difference.

If you’re someone who doesn’t like eating fruit……..shame on you (I’m joking) because you should be eating five a day anyway.

I know there are a lot of people who say to swap your snacks for fruit but you can make the fruit any way you feel comfortable! There are a lot of recipes out there to make sweet, delicious snacks from fruit in your home! It’s a few ideas to try while we’re stuck in quarantine too!

I created a Pinterest board with some ideas and recipes to try out: Fruit Snack Ideas!

There are also other things that are considered healthy snacks too, such as popcorn, crackers that you often get from the supermarket, oat bars and more! So maybe swap that bar of chocolate for one of these snacks and you’ll benefit much more!

Skincare Review: The Ordinary daily set.

May 1, 2020 trulyraisa2 Comments

This is my first skincare review! It’s been a while since I sat down and write a proper post but it was only because I was drowning in assignments! 😦 I still have a few deadlines but I have a little more time to myself. With that being said, shall we begin?

It’s been just over a week that I started using “The Ordinary” daily set from Deciem. Before making this purchase, my skincare routine was non-existent and my skin was breaking out. 😦

On a random evening my friend introduced me to this online shop called Beauty Bay so I started browsing and decided to purchase this set.

Step 1: Cleanser.

The first thing I usually use is the Squalene Cleanser. It’s an oil-like cleanser that you apply to your face when it’s dry. You only need like the smallest amount and once you start applying it becomes an oily consistency and make sure you wash off with warm water!

Step 2: Serum.

Step 2 is applying The Ordinary’s serum, which contains 2% Hyaluronic Acid and B5. You only need a few drops for this and to apply it evenly on your skin.

Step 3: Moisturiser

The last step is applying moisturiser! I usually wait for my skin to dry up after I applied the serum and then apply this and you’re done!

It’s been just over a week since I started using these products and for me, my skin has breakouts but they are minor so the difference I’m seeing from using these products is little. It has helped clear up my skin but it’s a slow-acting process. But if you’re someone who has a lot of breakouts and you’re looking for some new products I would definitely recommend! I put links in the beginning, if you’re from the UK you can order it from BeautyBay, but currently I think it’s out of stock. I also put a link for the Deciem website above so you can try purchase it there too!

Bluebird

April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Dear readers….

Today I’m going to tell you a story about a pursuit of happiness. This story is called “Bluebird” by the writer Maurice Maeterlinck. This is a story of a brother and a sister who set out on an adventure to find a bluebird that is told would bring them happiness. In their quest they encountered many things but couldn’t find the bluebird anywhere. They decided to return home and to their surprise they found that the bluebird was at home all along. Happiness can be found closer than you think and the best kind of happiness is disguised in acts of kindness.

What about you? What is one small thing that makes you happy?

Help a girl out…

April 11, 2020 trulyraisa2 Comments

Dear readers…..

Welcome back to the Goodnite club! It was a long awaited day.

I’m afraid this post is going to be more for girls. Actually I was browsing the internet and was trying to look for some skincare products to use at night. Lately my skin has been breaking out (probably because of all the unhealthy foods I’ve been eating 🙂 ) and I don’t have any specific products that I use. What kind of products would you recommend?

That’s all I have for today, sorry for the short post! If you have anything else you would like to talk about then leave a comment below!

Tomorrow’s Sun…

April 10, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

“Out of the universe, a million stars just passing by say that I’m nothing but I’m more than just a debris” – Suggi (Astroboy)

Dear readers of the Goodnite Club….

Welcome back. I hope you all had a good day, did you do anything special? Of course for everyone every day is looking the same but I think even if we weren’t in quarantine it would still look the same. It’s either work or school and then an evening at home. I guess there are a few people who can say their lives are extraordinary but it’s always how you make it.

You can either live in the present and do something different everyday, or complete the same routine day in and day out. For the sake of money we throw away a lot. I want to be one of those people, who can say their life is extraordinary, I just hope I get there soon. There are people who love routine and love to live an ordinary life and that’s okay because for them, that’s extraordinary.

What about you? Would you say your life is extraordinary?

To the stars who listen….

April 9, 2020 trulyraisa3 Comments

“To the stars who listen and the dreams that are answered” – Sarah J Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

Dear readers of the GoodNite club…..

Everyone, how was your day? Did you do anything special today?

Because of the virus, every day looks the same for me. I wake up and do the same thing that I did yesterday. Isn’t that the same for everyone recently?

Recently I don’t like to wake up in the mornings. A new day, another day closer to my deadlines. Another day to stress about university assignments and realise that I’m only one more day closer to my deadline. It’s frustrating and boring at the same time.

This is why I like the night time a lot. It’s free time for me to do whatever I want! I end up watching a TV show with my friend first and then I come here and then maybe watch something else after? But it’s fun and stress-free and so I like it!

And then I dread the morning that comes after. It’s the same endless cycle.

Everyone, what do you do at home these days to keep yourself entertained?

Leave a comment below and I wish you all a good night!