The Lucy Diaries: Cheesy Chilli Beef Nachos [RECIPE]

Who doesn't love Mexican food? Tacos, enchiladas, chilli con carne... oh and a cheeky Margarita to help wash it all down!
Today I wanted to try something new on The Lucy Diaries. So, I am going to show you how to make my incredibly highly praised 'Cheesy Chilli Beef Nachos'. They really are delicious but I must warn you of the giant food baby that will be expected immediately after licking your plates clean (and he/she will grow at a very rapid rate so this should only ever really be a treat meal!). It's incredibly easy to do, if you know how to make chilli con carne or even a bolognese sauce, you're halfway there.

To make your Nachos you will need:

• 500g minced beef
• A large onion
• Two cloves of garlic
• A tin of tomatoes (400g)
• Red kidney beans (410g)
• Chilli Con Carne mix (though if you want to be more authentic or your own personal chilli recipe includes an actual chilli/chilli flakes you are more than welcome to use that alternative)
• Cheddar cheese
• Guacamole
• Salsa
• Crème fraîche or soured cream (soured cream is better in my opinion but crème fraîche works just as well)

 1. Chop your onion and garlic

 2. In a large pan/wok (I prefer a wok as the pan gets hotter faster making it a much speedier process, thus nachos on your plate sooner!), add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to your pan and gently fry your onions and garlic until the onions become clear.

 3. Add your mince. Break it up and keep stirring so you brown all of the meat.

 4. Once all of the meat has browned, add your chopped tomatoes.

 5. Pour your kidney beans into a sieve over the sink, draining the excess juices. Then carefully transfer the drained kidney beans into your pan and give it a good stir.

 6. Pour in the chilli mix/chopped chilli/chill flakes (depending on what you're using), making sure it's well mixed into the rest of the mixture. Now your meat is done, take it off the heat and let the sauce reduce. Stir occasionally if you need to but it should become a thick meaty mixture!

 7. Now the fun part! I must add, this is my younger brothers portion with a VERY large appetite! You don't even want to know how measly the portion I had was....
Arrange your tortilla chips onto a plate and add a dollop of the meat sauce into the middle. Top with grated cheese and pop it in the microwave until it's melted (usually between 45 seconds-1 minute, the heat from the meat should help). Now top with spoonfuls of guacamole, salsa and crème fraîche/soured cream...

And here is the finished product! Tuck in and if you happen to have some Tequila and lime lying around, feel free to add a Margarita to your meal.

Let me know if you try this out or if you'd like to see more recipe's like this in the future.

Lucy xxx

The Lucy Diaries: Midweek Instagram (02/05/12)

1. Obsessed with Marina and The Diamonds new album, particularly Teen Idle 2. Trying on a Mary Katrantzou inspired dress in Primark, gorgeous! 3. Feeling feminine and fancy in a pink collared shirt dress 4. Finally found the Primark dress I wanted in a lovely coral/pink :) 5. Told the hot guy at Starbucks that my name was Britney ;) 6. Beyoncé + Britney! 7. Sparkly purple OPI nails 8. Wild Saturday night in watching Moulin Rouge 9. Umpteenth Liz Earle purchase 10. Chocolate cake I baked for my beautiful best friend, Izzy's (or BelRse as she's known on here) birthday 11. Cheeky Topshop goodies! 12. More OPI from my Mumma - such a nice surprise!

Hey everyone, hope you're having a good week so far. I'm currently nursing very sore battered and blistered feet from my new Topshop boots :( Not such a good idea to do one of my trek's in them when it was my first time wearing them out.... Also got a rather upset stomach at the moment, so once I get some work done I'll curl up in bed with a hot water bottle and watch The Apprentice (can I just say, I'm still gutted Duane got fired a few weeks ago, he was brilliant!).
Anyway, hope you're all having a fabulous week.

Love Lucy xxx

Topshop ACHEIVE Boots

(apologies for the baggy leggings - not a good look!) ACHEIVE Elastic Side Boots

After seven months of doing 6 mile treks every day in my beloved £15 Primark boots, it has come to the end of the road due to a giant hole in the soles which have not been particularly useful with the current rainy days we've been having in the UK. Cue immediately drenched socks and soggy feet - not nice for a full day of college!

Anyway, new shoes were therefore a necessity so I spotted these boots on the Topshop website and knew I had to grab them straight away. At £75 however, I was hesitant. In an ideal world I would have bought the AMBUSH boots from Topshop's AW11 collection and my feet would look fabulous forever but I think these are a great alternative. They do have a slight heel on them and although I'm a bit like Bambi in heels, I can happily tell you that they are very comfortable to walk in, so fingers crossed I'll be able to walk miles every day in them!
They're a very flattering cut and shape I find and will definitely be great transition boots going into Summer (whenever it arrives). I think they'll look great with anything: hot pants; floaty skirts; pretty summer dresses and playsuits. Alternatively, in the Autumn and Winter I will no doubt be teaming these boots with my wardrobe staple - leggings! Jeans or tights will go perfectly with them too, as they're such versatile boots. Of course, at their extortionate price I would like to claim that these are in fact an investment buy! There's no way I'll be able to afford boots like these come AW12 when I'll be living as a University student, clutching onto my pennies for dear life!

I hope you're all having a fabulous week so far. This morning I had my French AS Oral retake which I hope went ok... I had a bit of déjà vu however as we had pretty much the exact same conversation as last year! We discussed Lady Gaga's influence on young people's lives... my favourite topic! Fingers crossed I did ok otherwise. Now I have less than a month until the rest of my A-Level exams so no doubt I'll be a busy bee revising hard for them, hoping I'll have done enough to get into Uni.
What are your plans for the rest of the week? And let me know your thoughts about the boots in the comments!

Love Lucy xxx

Weekend Wishlist (28/04/12)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Hello guys and girls,

My first weekend wishlist for quite sometime! And it's a biggun'! I hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far. I'm just procrastinating, lazing about in bed watching YouTube videos and wasting my life on the internet - anything to stop me from revising for my French retake oral exam on Tuesday (!) or for my A-Levels (!!). Anyway, here's a collection of things I'm lusting after at the moment, and surprise surprise, all mainly from Topshop!

1. I'm loving the neon-trend, as you can tell, at the moment. These neon pink jeggings from Pull & Bear are gorgeous. I actually tried on a similar pair in Primark the other day but they were far too big - a size 8! Can't believe it but they were just horribly baggy, yet they looked tiny, I was worried I wouldn't be able to fit in them at all haha! Anyway, Pull & Bear have this gorgeous pair for only £19.99, they have them in a whole range of colours and I'm also loving the neon yellow and neon orange.

2. This Topshop dress is a rather garish and daring colour, I'm sure you'd agree! However I saw this on the website a few weeks ago and fell in love. As I mentioned, I'm loving neon especially neon yellow. This dress + a gorgeous golden tan = holiday fashion Goddess perfection.

3. How ahh-mazing are these pyjamas?! I think I could quite easily say that Topshop, hands down, do the best pj's! I still am loving moustache print things, and I'm still desperate to find a ring and necklace like everyone and their Grandma has. Anyway, these are so cute and kitsch, and I love how snuggly the pyjama bottoms look too.

4. A perfect, shimmery and sparkly Barbie pink nail varnish. I'm actually yet to purchase a Topshop nail varnish, however I received a Topshop gift voucher for my birthday a month ago that I'm yet to spend and I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to buy nail varnishes, a lipstick or some jewellery. 

5. Neon yellow again! There are quite a few neon yellow nail varnishes out there however I've heard the American Apparel one is the only one that cuts it. Beyond tempted to purchase this.

6+7. Topshop lipsticks are some of the best high-street lipsticks out there, in my opinion. They've recently released three new colours and I adore these two. Tease is described as 'barbie pink' - hello! Anything Barbie pink or in fact Barbie related catches my eye (the 5 year old is still in me....), and Whimsical is described as a pinky nude. I only really love it for it's name! Whimsical, ooh it sounds so magical! It was recently reviewed on Lily's second blog, albeit slightly more nude than expected, however I need a good nude lipstick in my make-up collection. 

8. I so nearly purchased this gorgeous white skirt from River Island on Thursday when having a browse during their 20% off for students day. However, my friend did point out it's similar to a white skirt I purchased from there last year but it's so, so pretty! What do you think?

9+10. I'm quite eager to find some new tops at the moment as I'm rather bored of all of mine. This pink, pleated, Peter Pan collar top from Topshop is adorable, and I love this bargainous peplum style t shirt from Topshop too. There are some cheaper versions of the peplum t shirt on the high street, from New Look for example. I think if you want to take on the current peplum trend, a simple t shirt is the easiest way to work it into your wardrobe.

11. More cute, kitsch Topshop things! This unicorn necklace isn't very me but I just couldn't resist, it caught my eye straight away and I love a good piece of statement jewellery.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and enjoyed my wishlist. What's caught your eye this weekend? And what are you up to? Let me know with a comment below.

Love Lucy xxx

The Lucy Diaries: Midweek Instagram (25/04/12)

1. Saying goodbye to Puppy Patrick in the window 2. Birthday cards speaking the truth 3. Birthday nails 4. A glass of Rosé for the birthday girl 5. Sunbathing during lessons...naughty 6. Strawberries for lunch 7. Been shopping 8. Marc Jacobs for me? 9. Finally, my watch fits my ridiculously small wrist! 10. Goodbye CrapBerry, hello iPhone! 11. The bestie and I playing around with my iPhone 12. Reading for the train journey.

Hello everyone,

I don't know about you but I l o v e Instagram posts! I know it's kind of become a phenomenon in the blogging world and on twitter. I actually downloaded it last July but never really used it. However, now that I officially own an iPhone (good riddance to my BlackBerry, it's time really was well and truly over), you will be seeing a lot more of me around here ;) And I know it's a bit of a tradition on here to post your Instagram posts on a Sunday, I thought I'd do mine every Wednesday as I think it's quite nice to have an unexpected nosey in the middle of the week. The sudden rush of posts in a Sunday is fab but it's nice to have some in the middle of the week too. You can follow me @lucyloves.

Just a little apology, I know I promised quite a while ago I'd be properly blogging, however due to lots of busy and stressful times at college and a broken camera (sob), I've been unable to. However my camera is back to it's fine and fit self now and I'm very eager to get posting! Despite the fact I have 7 exams to be preparing for.... though I guess the two General Studies exams don't count, right? Shhh ;)

Hope you're all fine and fabulous,
Lucy xxx

What I've been up to....

Hello everyone, I cannot believe I just have had no motivation to post anything for the past few months (yes, months, you're probably reading this thinking "I don't even remember following you" - oops). I really am so sorry, I should make it a February resolution to post more on here.
Anyway, I thought I'd post a rather picture heavy (you have been warned) post of what I've been up to in the past few months......

1. Breakfast in Studio City, LA 2. At Britney Spears' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 3. Trying on clothes during my lunch break in New Look 4. Hangover cure 5. Gifts from New York 6. Front row for Britney! 7. Party 8. Homemade chilli beef nachos! 9. Christmas Starbucks with Izzy (of course, we got hot chocolate) 10. Cheeky Christmas tree cookie from Reeves 11. Christmas day outfit (jumper from Topshop) 12. Christmas dinner (I promise, I looked 7 months pregnant after eating all of this!) 13. Christmas dinner outfit (dress from Topshop) 14. Stocking goodies from Father Christmas 15. Christmas presents 16. A fabulous evening with my two favourite men 17. New Year's Eve with my best friend 18. My baby 19. Lusting after Spring/Summer '12 clothes in January... 20. Getting distracted from revision by OPI nail varnish 21. Hot Chocolate with le boyf 22. Lana Del Rey wannabe 23. Masquerade ball (minus the masks) with Chloe looking gorgeous 24. Rather tipsy with Hannah (my dress is from Missguided)

Hope to speak soon, send me messages on my tumblr if I don't post again soon!

Much love,
Lucy xxx

Weekend Wishlist (29/10/11)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Hello everyone, I cannot believe I haven't posted for just over two months.... That really is terrible! Truth is, I just have no time to really keep up with this blog. My other blog (http://madamelulu.tumblr.com) is much easier for me to run, this one requires so much effort!
I have a HUGE haul post coming up soon though so look out for that.

Anyway! Here's my weekend wishlist...
1. How adorable is this t-shirt? I love anything pink and I just love the illustration of this. I don't normally buy t-shirts like this one but it's just too cute to say no to.

2. Who doesn't love a good, jewel toned blazer? This is such a gorgeous colour and I love the silk detail of the lapels, it looks so elegant and would be fantastic with a pair of plain black leggings or black jeans and a nice blouse or sparkly top I think.

3. This black floaty Topshop skirt is gorgeous and I love the gold embroidered crosses, they make a nice addition I think. I did, however, spot this skirt on X Factor contestant Kitty (who, I am shamefully starting to love) when I met her at the Britney Spears concert on Thursday! It looked quite long on her though and I am definitely a short skirt person so perhaps a smaller size could change the length? Who knows. Topshop has run out of the size 6 and 8 (my size) online so if I really want this I'll have to pop into my local shop!

4. I have seen nothing but rave reviews about this mascara online. The pictures I've seen of people wearing the product are unbelievable - with one coat you get long, thick, volumised, amazing lashes - just what I want! Although the John Lewis price tag is £22, I have found sellers on eBay put this up for about £12 I think? Must. Get. Hands. On. This.

5. 'Tis the season for new jimjams! How CUTE are these pyjamas? Perhaps they won't exactly keep you warm and snug in the upcoming chilly Winter months but you certainly will look perfect for the holidays! These are an absolute must have in my opinion, and you can't beat an adorable set of Topshop pyjamas.

6. I think this is on everyone and their dog's wishlist's at the moment.... For me, this is the ultimate Winter party dress. It's a gorgeous black velvet material with pretty sparkly silver spots all over. It's a very flattering shape and would no doubt cause many compliments! I'm aware of the rose-y pink alternative but this is simply perfect and I must have it, even with it's £46 price tag (damn you, Topshop!)

7. Now, I understand that this will never be mine but I saw this on the Topshop website and my heart skipped a beat. This looks really similar to a dress that Blake Lively from Gossip Girl wore... I think. But it is a beautiful ombre effect sequin dress that costs an absolute fortune but you can guarantee would be the most incredible dress you have ever owned. Sigh... this is definitely for the wishlist.

8. Finally, these bad boys from River Island look perfect to finish off any Autumn/Winter outfit. They're not my usual shoe and the snakeskin effect does look a bit tacky but I'm sure when actually wearing them, they look beyond fierce!

Hope you like this weekends picks! Let me know which items would be on your wishlist in the comments section below, and hopefully it won't be too long until you hear from me again.

Lucy xxx