Last one to the party: Strawberry & Banana Nice Cream

Nice cream. Almost a health blogger's right of passage. I had seen nice cream for years on the internet and those who posted about it made it look as if it was as simple as quickly blending some bananas then hey presto, you have a healthier alternative to ice cream. I was mistaken. It's not as simple as that - far from it - and it has taken me a few months of tinkering to get it right, so for those who have never ventured into the fashionable world of frozen bananas equating dessert, I thought I'd try my best to help you and hopefully make the process a little less confusing than I found it.

The ingredients you will need (per person):

• 3 very ripe medium bananas. Fewer bananas than this and you might as well not bother as it won't make enough... in my *eats-ice cream-by-the-pint* opinion.
• 3 large (or 4 smaller) frozen strawberries. Any more and it will not only thin the mixture but the strawberry flavour will be too overpowering. You want to strike the right balance between the two fruit.
• 3 tablespoons of the milk of your choice (I use semi-skimmed).

You will also need a powerful blender. I recently bought a NutriBullet (here) for the sole purpose of making nice cream. What they don't really tell you online is that blenders need a certain amount of liquid to make stuff blend; whereas everyone makes it look as if you could drop solid stone into the thing and produce water. You need liquid of some sort to allow it to blend, especially if you want to blend frozen bananas. But the problem with too much liquid for nice cream is that it will make it runny and more like a milkshake than ice cream. You want this as thick as possible and after a lot of trial and error, 3 tablespoons works the best, for me at least.

Lastly, I just wanted to share a point about the ripeness of the bananas. Whilst I am sure many people reading this post will say they loose all their nutrients when they are too ripe, they need to be ripe for two reasons: 1. They are sweeter the riper they get. 2. It will make them easier to blend as they will be softer. With all that spiel out of the way, now onto the method:

• Naturally, before anything, you will need to freeze your bananas. Slice them first (you don't have to do it too thinly) and put the circles into a sandwich bag then pop it in the freezer and leave for at least 8 hours, or until the bananas are in a solid block. 
• At least 20 minutes before you want to make your nice cream, take them out of the freezer and leave them in a place that is at least room temperature until the bananas have softened around the edges.
• While they are still in the sandwich bag, you will need to break up the bananas into smaller chunks - you don't need to bother separating them into their original slices though. You then want to put the chunks in the blender cup, along with the milk, and start blending.
• Like my advice for TSW, give this bit plenty of time and don't expect it to be done in seconds. This will take a little while. Every minute or so, stop the blender and give the mix a hard shake. Patience is a virtue with this and your objective is to make the mixture as thick as possible, but if you've left the bananas out of the freezer for at least 20 minutes, then you should be fine. You  simply can't put solid bananas in the blender and expect miracles. 
• When the mix has nearly fully blended, add in your strawberries. I'd suggest getting the strawberries out of the freezer for about five minutes before adding to the blender. It's all about creating the balance between the fruit being soft enough, but not too soft...
• When the mixture has blended fully, just go to town and eat all your hard work. You can do what I did in the picture and transfer it to a pretty glass, but let's be real, I've never done that before in my life and I usually just guzzle it straight from the NutriBullet cup. No judgement here.

Nice cream is really quite amazing and even though I already loved bananas, I was skeptical that when frozen they could turn into creamy ice cream, but somehow they do. Let's take a moment to thank the mighty banana for this absolute boon of nature.

Right, I have just bought some cacao power so I'm off to see if I can make chocolate nice cream and really blow my mind.

Enjoy.
Cara x

THREE YEARS

All it took was time.
Pic on the left taken nearly two months into withdrawal on Monday 29th July 2013
Pic on the right taken Monday 13th August 2018

It's another TSW milestone for me today so naturally, I've written a blog post all about it - although really, I haven't got anything to say. Because there is nothing to say.

Three years ago today I simply woke up and realised I had recovered from topical steroid addiction.

At the time, even though I was over the moon, a big part of me didn't truly believe it would last. In 2015, there were so few of us out there who had recovered and practically no one documenting the after. All there seemed to be was a lot of disappointment from those who had flared again and others who just vanished from the internet. I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

There is still so much fear and confusion surrounding TSW and the after years. Will I flare again?! I cannot tell each and every single lovely person reading this post that you will never find yourself in the clutches of TSW again, but for me personally, apart from two isolated incidents on my hands when I went to Verbier in Switzerland (which lasted a week) and the odd minor rash, I have had three blissful years of skin that I've waited my whole life to experience.

I know I am a broken record when I say this but not having to think about my skin now, and do whatever I want, not bound by anything, is truly the most wonderful feeling in the whole world. It is real freedom.

T-S-W. Within moments of finding those three magical letters for the first time, I knew with all my heart I had found the right path for me and that it would be the answer to my 'incurable' eczema.

I see so many people both on Instagram and Facebook understandably upset that they are not seeing improvements after months and months of suffering so I feel I need to say again that I went through withdrawal for years.

This process is not going to be easy and some of us had/have suppressed our system with drugs for many many years - there are even some of us who have done it for a lifetime - so expecting your body to recover in mere months is crazy. None of us should have to go through this process in the first place but if you are going commit, then you have to be realistic and remember exactly what you are asking your poor, confused body to do.

I am not a doctor or a medical professional, I am simply a woman who has inadvertently studied skin for over thirty years and while that does not make me qualified to tell you what you should or shouldn't do, I do believe it makes me justified in saying that by doing what I felt was right, turned out to be the best decision I ever made in my life.

Please do not take what I say as medical advice, but please take what I say as my totally honest opinion, not fuelled by anything but the need to impart what I have learned in the hope that it will help someone else out there.

I am so glad I went through TSW and I will never stop being grateful to every single person and website I came across that kept me going and helped me decide I was going to do this in the first place.

If you believe that TSW is right path for you then know there is light at the end of the tunnel and always remember that it will take TIME. This is not a linear process and it's pretty much a given that you will doubt said process. Doubt and anxiety are symptoms none of us are prepared for when we go into it and for some, they will be the hardest to overcome.

Ok, so maybe I had a little more to say than I initially anticipated...

Thank you, always, TSW.
Cara x

I've found 'The One'

They say that when you meet 'The One' you just know...

After being hurt in the past, I didn't know if I could trust another, until someone suggested I take a chance and now I can safely say that I'm in love...

With a sunscreen.

I'll take you back to the beginning of our beautiful love story.

This June, I wrote as part of my skin update blog post (here) that I desperately needed to find a sunscreen that wouldn't break me out in a rash like so many have done in the past. Cue my fairy godmother, the lovely Hannah, who commented on my post and suggested I try the Australian brand Sun Sense Ultra AND CHANGED MY LIFE.

This is unprecedented. I have tried so many sunscreens, everything from generic high street brands to natural and expensive ones, all with the same outcome. But with Sunsense, there's been no reaction whatsoever – not even the smallest hint of irritation. I'm absolutely over the moon. I have been using it every day for weeks and didn't want to mention it until I was sure, but now, all I want to do is shout its name from the rooftops.

My love has come into my life just in time, too, as the UK is currently in the middle of a heatwave, with temperatures I’ve never experienced in my life for such a prolonged period of time. I would like to take a moment to say that I hope everyone in the UK going through withdrawal is doing ok in this weather as I can't imagine how tough it must be on top of symptoms. I started withdrawal during a heatwave, but it was nothing compared to this.

I use Sunsense Ultra 500 SPF50+ Sun Screen in the morning before I leave the house, then apply a top-up after a few hours if I feel I need to. The consistency is light and rubs easily into my skin, leaving no white cast, and sinks in within moments.

From left to right:
Pic 1 - put straight on the skin.
Pic 2 - rubbed in quickly once.
Pic 3 - very minimal rubbing into the skin.

I have a large pump bottle, which I keep at home, and a small bottle for my handbag, and you can buy all Sunsense products (here).

Right, I'm off to marry my sunscreen.

Much love
Cara x