Hannah's Veggie Lifestyle

No matter how extroverted or introverted you might be, starting university is a daunting experience. But it's also the perfect place to grow so much as a person, achieve more than you ever thought possible and create so many amazing memories. Regardless of whether you have just started uni or you're going into your final year, here's my advice for starting this year in the best possible way! 1. If there's something you know you want to do, get involved straight away. It's very easy to use the stress of moving to uni and settling in to never get involved with doing much else than surviving at uni, rather than thriving. It's okay to give yourself a week or so to adjust, but don't put off joining societies or other groups for so long that you get so busy with your degree you never bother or no longer feel you've got the time to. If you're a returning student who didn't get stuck in with much last year, use this year as a fresh start to make the most...

Completely vegan chocolate cake - who would know? We are all aware that reducing our meat and dairy intake is a great way to reduce our individual impact on the environment, as well as holding large companies accountable for the damage they do too, of course. So, I've decided to share some of my favourite meat/ dairy replacements for when you want a taste of the original, with a much smaller environmental impact! I'd love to say I'm a vegan, but if I can't find a good enough alternative for some dairy items, I do still eat the original (although in much smaller quantities than I used to). As veganism continues to grow, so does the incredible alternatives available, which means it's getting easier and easier to swap out meat and dairy products in our diets. It's still important to incorporate lots of unprocessed foods like fruit and veggies into your diet, so I do try and only eat these when I truly want an alternative. But, if it's helping us eat less dairy ...

If I had to tell you what the biggest thing people notice about me when they first meet me, it would 100% have to be my hair. Over the years, my hairs gone from being so long I could sit on it, to up above my shoulders- and pretty much every length in between. It's also gone from barely even wavy, to the ringlet curls I have today.  Rapunzel who? The rise of the curly girl  means so many people are embracing their curly hair at the moment, which is amazing! Straight hair is beautiful, but if your hair naturally wants to curl then why cover that up? I've heard people say that straight hair means you're more likely to be taken seriously and it helps you look grown up, which I have to admit is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Just like the way you dress isn't for other people to judge, neither should the way you wear your hair.   Lockdown has given me a lot of time to experiment with different products for curly hair, and I think I have finally  ...

Since  Vidhathri Matety  went undercover at a factory in Leicester making clothes for Boohoo and found terrible working conditions, the hashtag #BoycottBoohoo  has been found all over Twitter and Instagram.  Great- this news story is raising awareness of the exploitative nature of fast fashion, but why is such an uproar being caused now, when this is not a new problem? Yes, scandals appear in the news every so often (think the  £1 Missguided bi kini ), but we hear about them, make a fuss, and then forget about it.  Simply boycotting Boohoo is not enough. Just because other brands such as H&M and SHEIN are not being targeted in the news right now, it doesn't mean they are any better. To make a real difference, we need to commit to stop buying from all fast fashion brands, even when it's not flooding our newsfeeds. Over 600 items added  per day-  on a site ever-increasing in popularity. The biggest excuse I've heard countless times for continui...

This isn't exactly going to come as a surprise, but all of the cookbooks are vegetarian. But if you're a meat eater, don't stop reading! You don't have to commit to a 100% vegetarian or vegan lifestyle to enjoy these recipes (although I can promise you, you won't regret it if you do). 1. MOB Veggie- Ben Lebus The more I learn about MOB, the more I love them. It started off with one guy wanting to help young people cook delicious dishes cheaply, and it's grown so much since then. This book has helped me to experiment with new flavours at university without blowing all my weekly food budget on expensive ingredients. I love the fact that every recipe has a song associated with it too- it shows how much thought has gone into every single dish.  Favourite recipe- Veggie Nasi Goreng This is in the brunch section of the book, but I always make it for dinner and it's become a firm family favourite. Make sure you undercook the rice slightly when you boil it so it doe...

My brother bought me my bullet journal for Christmas 2 1/2 years ago, and I've been hooked ever since! I'm very picky as to the designs I'll put in mine, which means I'm still only halfway through my first journal. Most of my inspiration comes from Pinterest. So, if you don't know where to start for ideas then create a Pinterest account RIGHT NOW. Ideas for pages there are endless, and if you've got a specific idea in mind but don't know how to put it onto a page, simply search : '(insert idea) bullet journal' for plenty to pick from. I don't have a particular theme to my journal -other than lot's of colour- because I would never be able to stick to it, but feel free to make everything match if that's your style.  Regardless, no bullet journal is complete without these pages: 1. Sunshine tracker This is one of my favourite pages, because I love how bright it is. I know it's a bit cheesy but it does make me feel all warm and fuzzy when...

Lots of people are using extra free time to have a spring clean and redecorate the house (or just watch Netflix- which is totally fine too). But if you're feeling extra motivated to changes things up around the house, why not make some changes for the good of the planet too? Here are 5 easy ways to make your home more eco-friendly...  1. Get serious about food waste. Via Unsplash It's become pretty common to have a food waste bin now, but we should still be trying to put as little in it as possible. When you chuck out food, you're not only wasting money, but also wasting all the energy and resources used to produce and transport it. Even if you're pretty good at not letting the edible parts of food go to waste, there are lots of ways to reuse food scraps. Potato peelings can be baked with a little oil, salt and pepper for some zero-waste crisps, coffee grounds are a great fertiliser for your plants, and you can regrow loads of fruits and vegetables from scraps (...

Happy Easter! Okay, serious question: is it REALLY Easter Sunday if you haven't made yourself feel slightly sick by the amount of chocolate you've scoffed before 9am (but will carry on eating it throughout the rest of the day regardless)? I for one definitely think not. But I find that even after eating my bodyweight in chocolate eggs, there'll still be a huge mountain left. And for those that know me well, it doesn't take long before i start dreaming up new creations to make with whatever I've got on hand. So, I thought I'd share some of my favourite things to bake with Easter chocolate. I hope you enjoy! 1. Ultimate chocolate cake @Cadbury sponsor me please This recipe  claims it's the 'best chocolate cake ever', and I can confirm this is very true (but make sure you don't use loose-bottom cake tins like I did the first time I made it- it's very, very, sad). It's everything you want from a chocolate cake, and paired with Easter ch...

As I said in my self-isolating ideas post, now is a great time to get cooking from scratch. It's a fantastic activity that will leave you feeling accomplished, and you'll have something tasty to enjoy at the end too! So, I thought I'd share with you some of my all-time favourite recipes and some new ones I've discovered during lockdown too. If you're trying to shop less or struggling to find some ingredients at the moment, then check out some of the swaps I've included so you can still get in the kitchen. 1. Cornflake flapjack If you can't find flour or eggs in the supermarket at the moment but fancy baking a sweet treat, then this is the perfect recipe. Martha Collison (from Series 5 of The Great British Bake Off) posted a recipe for these on her blog and I knew straight away that these were going right to the top of my to-bake list. Adding cornflakes into the flapjack mixture makes them taste like the cornflake tart you might remember from school dinne...

Heading inside for the next couple of weeks is the best option to keep ourselves and others safe from Covid-19. So, if you need some inspiration for ways to stay entertained, then check out my top 6 tips below: 1. Board Games Olympics. (Shout out to the Godfrey clan for this idea.) Playing board games is a great way to while away the afternoon, but if you want to make it a bit more competitive, then why not turn it into a longer running competition? Depending on how many people you're playing with, award each person the amount of points depending on which place you came. So, if there's five people playing, the winner gets five points, and second place gets four...to the person in last place getting one. Then, whoever has the most points at the end is the winner. Go as crazy as you want for the awards ceremony, depending on how dramatic/ competitive you all are. My new photo wall to remind me of my uni room. 2. Get crafting! Painting by numbers is a relaxing activit...