How has January already come to an end? 2016 is going too fast! How has your’s been? What have you been up to? What have you been loving this month? I thought I would share some of my January Favourites with you!
January is actually quite a nice month in my opinion. Lots of people find it one of the most dreary and glum but I beg to differ. I’ll admit the weather isn’t always that great, but there is something beautiful about the freshness of January and the starting of a new year. I find January always a very positive, exciting month and January 2016 has been no different. Another great thing about January is that it’s the month of my birthday! I turned 25 this month… for the first time ever I’m starting to feel like my age sounds a bit older… I don’t feel any older though! 25 seems like quite a nice age really.
Anyway, now that January is over, I thought I would share with you a few of the things that have made me smile this month! It would be amazing if you could check out my January Favourites video above & subscribe to my YouTube Channel. There are lots of videos already up there & plenty more to come. To subscribe click here.
Hey Boo Coconut Caramel
I must admit that with myself cutting down on my sugar intake recently, I haven’t been able to indulge in this quite as much as I would like to. But even a tiny spoonful of this stuff is beyond amazing. This is also probably a January Favourite that I will dedicate to Mark… he loves the stuff! Regular caramel is something filled to bursting with dairy & unfortunately as I am sure many of you will know… Mark can’t have dairy! His favourite dessert is Banoffee Pie (my gluten free/dairy free banoffee pie recipe is on the blog, click here) & as you probably know a big part of a banoffee pie is the caramel. Hey Boo Coconut Caramel is a dairy free caramel and a vegan caramel too. It has a very subtle coconut flavour but I would say this is minimal and wouldn’t interfere with the flavours of any dish you use it in. It is rich, sticky & a little goes a long way! It goes really well in cooking generally as well as drizzled on ice cream. With January seeming to be Veganuary for many folk, this is the perfect vegan caramel to get our tastebuds into!
Better Call Saul
The past 6 months I have completely transformed into a lover of TV series. I’ve never been a massive fan of TV (except Breaking Bad which I LOVED!) until now. However I am now a TV series addict. I always like to have something on the go! Some of my favourites are returning for a new series in the early part of 2016 which is exciting. But in January my favourite TV series has definitely been Better Call Saul. So Better Call Saul is a spin off show based on the lawyer in Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman. It’s all about his life pre Breaking Bad, & it is awesome! There are so many subtle hints to Breaking Bad in it, & it’s a brilliant programme in it’s own right too. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, but seriously, it rocks! Season 2 arrives in February so if you haven’t watched season 1 yet I would definitely recommend making time to get up to date with the story.
Fjallraven Kånken Bag
I have wanted one of these rucksacks for absolutely ages, probably over a year. I see a lot of people wearing one and I just really like how they look. This month, thanks to a birthday present from Mark, I got my hands one one! What I love about these bags the most is how spacious they are, and thus practical, whilst still looking pretty damn cool! They are designed to fit a laptop in the back section which is perfect for me as I like to take my Macbook Air everywhere! I actually use it nearly every day if I’m nipping out to a coffee shop or into town. It basically means that I can take my Mac out with me & do some work anywhere I fancy. I never thought I could love a rucksack so much!
French Sole ‘Little Dax’ Shoes
I have definitely never been a lover of shoe shopping. This is not because I hate shoes by any means, but I have big feet! When I was a child my feet were really big, I had size 8/9 feet when I was in year 4 (age 8!). I still have that size feet now actually, and it is still a little tricky to find the shoes I want. I fell in love with these shoes when I saw them worn by a YouTuber I have watched for many years, FleurDeForce. She actually has her own little sausage dog so I guess these you would say are the perfect shoes for her; but as an absolute dog lover, these are also the perfect shoes for me! They’re so soft and comfortable, they actually feel like slippers! Obviously my favourite thing about them is the rose gold little dax embroidery but they also have a small rose gold heel. They are my ultimate special occasion shoe, & as a bonus, £50 from every sale of these shoes goes to Battersea Dogs Home 🙂
Deliciously Ella Every Day: Simple recipes and fantastic food for a healthy way of life
I loved the first Deliciously Ella book & have a few staple recipes that I regularly cook from it. Her healthy nutella (gluten, dairy, refined sugar free & vegan) recipe is to die for & I would recommend it to everyone! So with the new Deliciously Ella book hitting the shelves this month, I had to preorder it! The new book is all about everyday recipes, nothing super fancy or tricky, but things that will make you feel good. Over the past year I have come to realise that sugar is definitely not my friend & so the fact this book is jam packed with sugar free recipes just makes me smile all over. I’m really into experimenting with how to make things taste just as good but with a reduction in sugar & I am also really interested in trying out some of the more ‘on trend’ superfoods and learning about their benefits so there is plenty is this book to keep me in the kitchen! Click here to grab a copy too!
Hot Chocolate!
January has been the month of hot chocolates for me. Well, the last 3 months have been. Ever since we went to Amsterdam in November I have been loving hot chocolates from anywhere & everywhere. Costa I think is my most regular favourite even though I live opposite a Starbucks. I have also enjoyed an amazing hot chocolate in Leeds at the Hotel Chocolat Cafe & in Manchester we often visit 8th Day Cooperative & Teatime Collective for dairy free & vegan hot chocolates. Basically I’ve got into hot chocolates so much because I’m a 25 year old who hates coffee & any sort of tea. Tea is so weak tasting and coffee is so bitter. The syrups you can put in coffee really don’t agree with me so I always opt for a hot chocolate! I also like to make hot chocolates at home & tend to use ChocShot as it’s gluten free & dairy free. Basically life ain’t as good without a hot chocolate!
River Cottage Gluten Free
I noticed this book by Naomi Devlin for sale back in December when I was in Norwich. I checked and it wasn’t even supposed to be on sale at the time! Now it certainly is fully on sale however & definitely my favourite gluten free cookbook of 2016 so far. It is probably one of my favourite ever if I’m honest. The book is colourful & full of great imagery and the recipes are basically what I want to eat! Most of the recipes are also dairy free or at the very least 100% adaptable. Naomi, the author is also incredibly helpful and contactable on Twitter, so if you ever need any help with her recipes just give her a tweet! The gluten free chocolate eclairs are top of my list to make very soon I think, I haven’t made or eaten one in forever. I definitely recommend checking this book out, so click here to grab a copy.
So…
I think I’ll leave it there for my January favourites! I could go on forever, there has been loads of amazing things I have come across in January, but that just excites me even more for February! February is another underrated month… I mean you’ve got Pancake Day, Valentines Day & of course the best of them all…. Yorkshire Pudding Day (7th February this year!).
Let me know what your January favourites have been, whether they be a food, drink, TV show, film, book, event, organisation, person, clothing… anything at all! Just drop me a comment below, or on Facebook/Twitter.
Thanks for reading & watching my January Favourites,
Becky xxx
