How I Slay My Fall Style On A Budget

Hello!

Its been a minute since I wrote a blogpost. If you follow me on Instagram, you would know that I've been in Paris this summer.
As a born and bred Nigerian woman, I grew up in a tropical climate where the coldest day of the year would only require a light sweater with a camisola underneath. So, dressing for fall/winter has always been a learning experience for me. 

While it has been tempting to go all out and splurge on an entire closet haul for this new season, I’ve discovered that there are lots of summer pieces in my closet that can be reworked or combined  with newer fall pieces to make a dope outfits. Here are a few I came up with:

Look 1:

Thankfully, Paris isn't too cold and on days when the weather permits, I can wear my basic black tshirt from asos and pair it with these black tapered pants. I love a good "all black" look. I added these rings I got also from asos (Their summer sales are really good). 

Hopefully these rings last a while because I have a bad habit of misplacing my rings. The nails are actually press-on nails I got from H&M.
The boots are also from H&M and they are quite comfortable.

Look 2:
I participated in the craziness of Rihanna's Fenty Beauty launch and I was able to get my hands on her lipgloss. That gloss is the truth! Its perfect for fall and personally I'm over the liquid lipstick trend.
I got these shades from asos (I'm telling you, their sales are good!) and the rest are things I already had: basically just props for this flatlay that I slayed 💆🏾💁🏾😜.

For this look, I paired an old crop top from Zara and a dress from &otherstories. I also took my black cardigan as "weather backup".
Lip glow from Fenty Beauty. Face glow from God 👑 and MAC cosmetics.

I then added my asos shades to complete the look.

Look 3:
On colder fall days, I have no choice but to wear a coat. I got this stylish dark blue coat from stradivarius. It was my first time in their store and I found some stylish and affordable items.
I paired the coat with an old dress from New Look and primark jeans.

I really enjoy dressing for this new weather, so if you have any suggestions for this Nigerian girl 🙋🏿please let me know in the comment section or on Instagram.

Thank you for reading.

Love,

Tope.

Cooking Diaries: Chilli con carne and rice for the student on a budget

Image by cyclonebill

Hello! Baawo! Ndewo! Hola! Aloha! Salut! Shalom! Guten tag!
You know, I've been really enjoying all the recipes from the "student on a budget series" like Spaghetti Bolognese and Shepherd's pie. Its been a great way for me to enjoy quality without having to break the bank. I can use the money saved towards other things like buying gifts for myself and my family for Christmas.Speaking of Christmas, has anyone made a shopping list? I certainly have, it mostly consists of books I've been wanting to get on Amazon and some cool Jewellery. I've already started buying things for the "fam", because you never know who is going home for Christmas and when the person will be going. Anyway, I digress. I made something really delicious and easy this week. I made Mexican chilli con carne with rice(First it was Italian, then Irish, now Mexican; I feel like my mouth is making international trips!). This recipe is probably the easiest one I've made so far in terms of technicality so I'll keep my explanations short and sweet. The ingredients include:

450g beef mince
1onion, peeled and chopped
100g mushrooms, chopped
1 tin kidney beans
1 beef stock cube(Knorr)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons chilli powder
225ml water
125ml red wine - reduced to half by boiling
salt and pepper
200g rice(50g/portion)

 -Fry the mince in a pan until it has all browned, then add the chopped onions, mushrooms and chilli powder and continue cooking for approximately 5 minutes, then add the other ingredients and simmer for 25-30 minutes season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Meanwhile cook rice in boiling water for 10-20(depending on the type).

This was the first time I'd ever tried Mexican food, I'd always wanted to try it back in Nigeria but there weren't very many Mexican restaurants and it didn't seem like a very popular cuisine in the Lagos scene. I must say I loved it, Mexican chilli is definitely something I'll be trying again(next week maybe?) because I have some left over ingredients. Its so delicious and spicy, I made mine especially hot but you can minimise the hotness by putting 1 tablespoon chilli powder instead of 2 and even removing the bell pepper from your recipe. Its easily customisable to your preference. Enjoy!

Cooking Diaries: Shepherd's pie for the student on a budget

Image by cyclonebill

Hello! Baawo! Ndewo! Hola! Aloha! Salut! Shalom! Guten tag!
Its been a minute hasn't it? I recently got some feedback from a friend who enjoyed the blog post on Spagetti Bolognese and promised to try it(I'll definitely hold him to that promise). That positive feedback gave me the courage to try out another recipe and share it on the blog. This time, it was the British/Irish staple, Shepherd's pie. Initially I was bit sceptical, because of the idea of baking mashed potatoes(I didn't think I'd find baked potatoes delicious) but I turned out great! Here's how I made mine, starting with the ingredients used(Recipe for 4 portions):

450g beef mince
1 onion, chopped
150g mushrooms
200g salad mix or
100g carrots(chopped) and 100g peas(cooked)
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
Salt
Pepper
4/5 large potatoes

The Process?

- First, fry off the mince in a pan then add all other ingredients and place in an oven-proof dish.

grease the oven proof dish with butter

- Peel the potatoes and dice them.

- Cook the diced potatoes in salted boiling water for 20 minutes and mash them up with a little butter and skimmed milk.

- Place the mashed potatoes on top of the cooked mince.

- Bake at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for approx 30-35 minutes until lightly browned on top and around the edges.

garnished with a dollop of mayonnaise

You can serve with other vegetables of your choice, probably a vegetable salad? I loved eating it just as is but if you feel like having an accompaniment, it might as well be something healthy like vegetable salad. Enjoy!

Cooking Diaries: Spaghetti Bolognese for the student on a budget

 

The first recipe I tried in the recipe booklet was Spaghetti bolognese, a meat based Italian sauce. Its a classic and you don't really need a lot of ingredients to make it. I'd made it before in Nigeria but not as rich and as tasty as this. In the original recipe, beef is used however I'm not particularly fond of beef so I decided to use turkey mince which is a leaner and healthier alternative. This recipe serves 4 meals.

450g beef/turkey mince
1 Large onion, peeled and chopped
150g mushrooms(I used chestnut mushrooms for their strong flavour)
1 beef stock cube
1 level dessertspoon dried oregano
1 level dessertspoon dried basil
1 tin chopped tomatoes(I chopped raw tomatoes)
200ml red wine-reduced by 1/2
150ml water
1 level tablespoon tomato paste
1 level dessertspoon corn flour (to thicken)
Salt and pepper
Carrot peels (optional)

70-100g Spaghetti/portion (Cook in boiling water for 15-20 minutes with a pinch of salt)

The process?
- In a saucepan fry mince off, (the mince usually contains enough fat to fry dry, but its advisable to add a small amount of oil to prevent it sticking) for approximately 10 minutes.

- Add chopped onions and mushrooms to mince.

- Place red wine in another small pan and boil fast until reduced by heat.

- Add stock cube, oregano, basil, chopped tomatoes, reduced red wine, water, tomato paste and salt and pepper to mince and simmer for 20 minutes.

- Stir in corn flour, to thicken just before serving and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- I added carrot peels to the sauce just to try something different.

 - Bolognese sauce could also be added to macaroni instead of spaghetti to create an interesting alternative or rice(I should try that *wink*).
- To reheat frozen portions, defrost  for 4 hours and then reheat in a pan for 5-8 minutes or reheat in microwave oven(covered) for 3-4 minutes alternatively microwave from frozen (covered) in 8-10 minutes.

Spaghetti bolognese is a really delicious hearty dish and I'll definitely be making it regularly from now on. Before I even added the corn flour, I was literally salivating and couldn't wait to finish making it. Sorry this post is coming late, I basically strong-armed myself to finishing up this post before midnight, I'm just busy busy busy!  As you can tell, I modified the recipe to my taste and preference. As you get better at making it, you  can gather more recipes for it and become more creative with it. Enjoy!