Halloween Treats Ft. Indigo Herbs

I've reviewed a few products from Indigo Herbs on this blog and also on my vegetarian food blog over the past year or so and I've loved everything. I'm really grateful to be able to try these products, some of which are amazing and I probably wouldn't have tried them if I didn't blog. I was very kindly sent some of the Indigo Herbs Halloween themed products (Halloween is my favourite season so I'm super excited about these products, you'll see why if you read on!).

First up, my favourite product of the three, the *Indigo Herbs Organic Raw Pumpkin Seed Butter (£5.99, 250g) which is perfect for the autumn aka. pumpkin everything season. I love munching on seeds and they are great to add to salads and within homemade granola, flapjacks and crumbles; however the only nut/seed 'butter' I've tried is peanut butter so I was intrigued by this pumpkin seed butter. To fit with the halloween theme, the butter is green! It has a rich, nutty/seed and almost smoky flavour which I love! I've been using a small amount (a little goes a long way) on seeded crackers and almost as an icing on cinnamon muffins. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the texture, it's quite runny in the tub but when you eat it, it has quite a thick sticky consistency but for the price I think it is well worth a try! Overall rating: ★★★★☆, 4/5.

Next up, the *Indigo Herbs Cat's Claw Powder (£7.99, 100g). No cats were harmed in the making of this powder, although it's very witch like isn't it? I can imagine the experimenters at Indigo Herbs are looming over a beaker adding powders of various animals and plants into it and crackling...Can you tell I've had too much coffee and it doesn't help that I'm really excited about Halloween!

Anyway Cat's Claw is actually a vine that grows up to 30 metres in height in the rainforest of Peru. The bark of the vine is ground into a fine powder and that's what Cat's Claw Powder is. It can be added to juice or smoothies, I've been adding it to the latter. It doesn't have much flavour, it just adds a little earthy flavour if that makes sense - maybe I'm not using enough in my smoothies. It has anti-inflammatory properties which may help if you swollen joints etc but I think you may need to use quite a bit to have a noticeable effect. Overall rating: ★★★★☆, 4/5.

I'm loving all of these product names, first we have pumpkin butter, then Cat's Claw powder and now the *Indigo Herbs Devil's Claw Tea (£3.99, 50g). I love tea, well not traditional English tea but herbal, mint and green tea so I was excited to give this a go, especially with a name like Devil's Claw Tea! The tea is composed of the dried root of a desert plant from Namibia and has been used by the San Bushman for centuries; as with the Cat's Claw Powder it is great for those with joint pain.

Unlike all of the other tea varieties I have, with this one you boil a couple of teaspoons of the tea in 300ml of water on the stove and then strain into a mug. I didn't read this part when I first used it, I just used my loose tea infuser and it made such a strong mug of tea - it was really intense and bitter so definitely follow the instructions! I'm not crazy about this tea sadly but I still think it's worth a try. Overall rating: ★★★☆☆, 3/5.

Have you tried anything from Indigo Herbs? What do you think of these Halloween themed products? Are you excited for Halloween?

Read More

Indigo Herbs Super Cleanse Tea

I've tried a few products from Indigo Herbs and I've been really happy with everything I've kindly been sent, especially the amazing Raw Vegan Chocolate Kit which I cannot recommend enough! I'm always interested in trying new/different products and when this tea arrived, I was excited to give it a go.

I'm trying to switch back to a more vegan diet and to reduce the amount of caffeine I drink so herbal teas are an essential for me. I have the *Indigo Herbs Super Cleanse Tea (£3.99, 50g) which contains fennel seed, liquorice root, nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, red clover leaf and ginger power. It is suitable for vegans, it contains 100% pure ingredients and it is a loose tea.

I use my adorable squirrel tea infuser with my loose tea; I love this herbal tea! Sometimes herbal tea can be really bitter but this one isn't and I adore it. I do get an after taste of aniseed/liquorice which I personally like but I don't think it will be for everyone but it does add a earthy warm to the tea. It's comforting, warming and soothing but there's no caffeine as there are no actual tea leaves in it. I cannot recommend it enough! Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5.

Have you tried anything from Indigo Herbs/Indigo Nutrition? Do you drink tea, if so what's your favourite flavour? 

Read More

The Queen's 90th Birthday + British Problems

If you are British then you probably know but the Queen is celebrating her 90th birthday and to celebrate I have a cute and very British post for you all! The super lovely people at Deramores which is the 2015 winner for the best online knitting store *I cannot knit, I've tried* but I'd love to be able to knit, sent me some goodies.

I received a very generous box of goodies including tea *obviously*, Cath Kidston jam *who knew that Cath Kidston made jam!*, decorations, a cute mug, cupcake cakes and bunting which my mum has her eye on!

One of my favourite books is Very British Problems which I read in 2014, I think and it is now a TV show. So I wanted to share some of the very british problems that I encounter:

- Apologising when you bump into someone even when it was their fault for not looking where they were going 

- When a stranger talks to you on the bus and you are so shocked that someone is defying the unspoken (literally) rule of not talking on public transport that you quietly babble in response 

- Needing to cough in public but you're in a quiet shop so you hold it in until you eyes water  

- That feeling on a bank holiday monday where you have to have do ALL the DIY, leading to more and more jobs to do 

- The utter and genuine look of devastation and horror on the face of everyone when someone says that they don't like tea, scones or victoria sponge cake 

As much as I would love to live in Italy or the south of France *who wouldn't*, I am proud to be British! We are a very unique nation which has specific and quite unusual traditions. I freakin' adore English history *I've probably watched 80% of all English history documentaries out there* and I wish I had taken history as an A-Level instead of chemistry.

There are some drawbacks to our unusual culture and traditions, see Very British Problems but there are some nostalgic, timeless and lovely traditions, quirks and landmarks too such as afternoon tea, our amazing castles, ancient history and royal palaces and our stubborn and resolute nature but we are also a nostalgic nation too.

If you're visiting the UK then there are some things you should probably know: tea is basically a religion here, don't mention football or rugby as we have strong options and it will lead to an argument, we don't all have awful teeth (I believe that this is an American misnomer about the British), there's more to the UK than just London and yes, it will rain constantly but also bring sun lotion, a winter coat and wellington boots...just in case.

What are your Very British Problems? What are your favourite or least favourite things about the UK? 

Read More