The Naturalista: Recipes for a healthier, happier life by Xochi Balfour

The Naturalista: Recipes for a healthier, happier life by Xochi Balfour
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Xochi Balfour changed her life from her little London kitchen and, as The Naturalista, has been blogging about her experience of balancing and simplifing her life in harmony with the natural world. Without recourse to expensive ingredients, all-consuming cleanses or dramatic diets, Xochi has taken the principles of naturopathy and created a way of life, from a gentler way of eating to simple beauty recipes as well as bringing relaxation and mindfulness into your everyday routine.

Her food is gluten- and dairy-free and predominantly plant based, but straightforward and delicious, her skincare recipes can also be made from kitchen ingredients and her techniques for everyday mindfulness can be fitted into the busiest of lives. Her recipes include power balls and energy bars, raw chocolate, sea salt and pistachio fudge, cornershop turmeric and coconut dahl and beetroot falafel as well as a gluten-free carrot and flax bread. For your body, there is a rosewater facial spray, passionfruit and papaya face mask and lavender and shea butter body lotion, while for your home, Xochi will show you the benefits of barefoot earthing and how to make your own incense.

This is truly a bright and beautiful guide to natural living in the modern age.


I thought this would be great for healthy recipes and it does have these in, along with beautiful photography. This book looks more at changing your lifestyle rather than just cooking one or two healthy recipes, which is great if you are looking for that kind of book.

The recipes are easy to follow and are clear.

I would recommend this for anyone looking at changing their lifestyle to make healthier choices.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step: Secret Formulas with Photos for Duplicating Your Favorite Famous Foods at Home by Todd Wilbur

Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step: Secret Formulas with Photos for Duplicating Your Favorite Famous Foods at Home by Todd Wilbur

My rating: 5 of 5 starsA knockout full-color cookbook from America's Clone Recipe King

For more than twenty-five years, Todd Wilbur has been obsessed with recreating America's most iconic brand-name foods at home. In his first cookbook with color photos, the New York Times bestselling author brings you 125 new clone recipes: 75 first-time hacks and 50 overhauled all-time favorites. Each recipe comes with easy-to-follow step-by-step photos so that even novice cooks can perfectly recreate their favorite famous foods with everyday ingredients. And your homemade versions cost just a fraction of what the restaurants charge! The result of years of careful research, trial-and-error, and a little creative reverse-engineering, Top Secret Recipes® Step-by-Step hacks:


• KFC® Original Recipe® Fried Chicken and Cole Slaw
• Cinnabon® Classic Cinnamon Roll
• IKEA® Swedish Meatballs
• Pinkberry® Original Frozen Yogurt
• Raising Cane's® Chicken Fingers and Sauce
• Arby's® Curly Fries
• Lofthouse® Frosted Cookies
• Wendy's® Chili
• Panera Bread® Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
• Starbucks® Cake Pops
• Cafe Rio® Sweet Pork Barbacoa
• McDonald's® McRib® Sandwich
• The Melting Pot® Cheddar Cheese Fondue
• P.F. Chang's® Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• The Cheesecake Factory® Stuffed Mushrooms
• Ben & Jerry's® Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
• Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich
• Chili's® Baby Back Ribs
• Chipotle Mexican Grill® Adobo-Marinated Grilled Chicken & Steak
• Cracker Barrel® Hash Brown Casserole
• Mrs. Fields® Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Ruth's Chris Steakhouse® Sweet Potato Casserole
And over 100 more delicious dishes, from snacks and appetizers to entrees and desserts!




When I was offered this to review I jumped at the chance. Having a husband that loved food and eating out is one of his favourite past times I couldn't wait to try this out on him.

This is beautifully presented on high glossy paper and easy steps to follow. I love that the recipes are easy to follow and they have been rated on difficulty to prepare the meals. I found this really useful to choose one that I thought I would be able to achieve. Majority of the recipes in the book seemed to be easy or medium, this was good as a novice.

The ingredients and weights are set out in cups, this was useful as I could create the meals without the need for scales. Some of the ingredients were unusual and perhaps you wouldn't have in the kitchen cupboards, occasionally I substituted certain items for things in the kitchen, this didn't effect the overall flavour of the dish. Some of the ingredients you may have to go to a larger supermarket for.

Some of the Top Secret recipes come from American fast food chain restaurants, some of these I had heard here in the UK and I have even tried, however some were totally new to me. Due to this I can't actually comment on the likeliness of the flavour compared to the original, however the recipes I have tried so far I thought were excellent.

I would recommend this to others, especially if you are a fan of American food chains.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Seasoned Ground Beef (Taco Meat Filling)

I decided to give this one ago as I love Mexican food and although I have never been to a Taco Bell I know I would love it. This is a picture of what the taco should look like. 

I began following the instructions exactly as it stated. I put the meet plus onion into a pan, along with the spices and water. This simmered for a while until the spice had mixed in with the meat. 

I then moved on to getting a tortilla - here is where I made some substitutions. I didn't have any cheese sauce and my local didn't have any either so I decided to use some grated cheese and put that onto the tortilla instead. I think this worked perfectly fine and it tasted very good. Whether this was like the original I am not sure as I haven't eaten there before but it seemed to be a good substitute. 

Following the recipe I then placed the meat on top of the cheese before adding a layer of nachos on the top, I also added sour cream on the top before folding the tortilla up. 

Finally I folded the tortilla up and cooked this on top of an aga. The heat stuck the tortilla to make it into a little pocket.I cooked it on either side for about 1 minute just to make sure the tortilla was nice and brown. 

When I served this up everyone was amazed at how tasty this is, since I have made it I have had more orders from the family coming in to make this again. I thought it was delicious, it had a perfect mix of crunchy with the nachos and soft with the meat. I added some salsa on the tables for everyone to dip this into, which I think really made it. 

I would recommend this to others and think once you have had one you would want to repeat the experience. If I ever am able to go to Taco Bell I would love to try this one, just to see how it compared to mine. As I can't give this a rating on how close the recipe is to the original I have given this a rating on taste and enjoyment and I would give this 5*. 


I also had a go at making a berry smoothy from McDonald's. McDonald's in the UK don't serve this so yet again I can't make a comparison on how this tastes against the original, however once again after following the instructions from this cook book I give this 5* the flavours are amazing. Here are some pictures from the smoothie I made. 

Live, Love, Bake, Wicked Cupcakes - Luisa Zissman

Live, Love, Bake! by Luisa Zissman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Luisa Zissman shot to fame when she became the runner-up in the 2013 series of the BBC's The Apprentice. A baker by trade, Luisa has been running her hugely successful St Albans cake shop, Dixie's Cupcakery, since 2011. It is her mission to show the world that you don't need a lot of time or complicated ingredients to create show-stopping cupcakes like hers.

In true Luisa style, her cupcakes are bold and brassy - a treat for the eyes as well as the tastebuds. Whatever the occasion, she has a cupcake that's the perfect fit: cocktail cupcakes for a girls' night in; ooh la la cupcakes for romantic liaisons; Dixie cakes, which are perfect cakes for busy mums to cook with their kids; vintage cakes for a stylish soiree and quirky cupcakes with unusual flavours, such as the genius Love Me Hate Me Marmite and Chocolate cupcake.

Packed with helpful advice on how to make and decorate your cakes, Luisa's book will put the fun and sparkle back into your kitchen.



I jumped at the chance to review this cupcake book. What girl does not like to bake cupcakes? I had the perfect opportunity to try some of these out, this week as I had some friends come to stay.

The book is beautiful, it is full colour and of excellent quality. Each page has a high gloss finish on it with beautiful photographs of the cakes you can make.

All recipes are very easy to follow and instructions are clear.

The book is broken into sections of different types of cupcakes such as skinny or signature etc. We learn a little about Luisa at the beginning of the book and she has even included her daughter in the book, which is a nice touch.

The recipes are very easy to follow, I don’t bake a lot and I could follow these well. I also thought that it was really good as it created the minimum amount of mess, I have no idea how but I used little equipment which is always a bonus when cooking!

At the beginning of the book there is a guide on how to create the tops of cupcakes, using a piping bag etc. This I also thought was very useful for a beginner.

The only suggestion I would have for this book is that the measurements could also have been written in cups. I couldn’t find my scales while I was making the cupcakes so had to google how many cups 220g etc was. This was O.K but I think it would have been helpful to have this information in the book or a conversion table in the front or back.

One other tiny issue I found with this book is the cooking time. It told me to cook the cakes for 20 mins, even though the oven was pre heated it took longer than 20 mins to cook them. I just used a knife in the centre of the cake to make sure it wasn’t wet anymore to check they were cooked.

So I choose to make the cookies and cream cupcakes, they tasted great, were slightly more dense than I expected but I would definitely recommend you to try them if you have this cupcake book. They looked fabulous; they weren’t dry and lasted for the full 3 days stated in the book.


Making Cookies and Cream Cakes:

I prepared my cases with a secret ingredient...

Easy instructions to mix the butter and sugar, plus licking the bowl brings me back to childhood ha ha!

Folding in the flour....

Out the oven and all decorated, using mini oreos. My guests thought they looked very professional. 

This was the final effect, as you can see they look really cute, my guests also loved them! 

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.