Vegan Chocolate Brownies

Okay, so I have to hold my hands up and say I did not expect this to go well! I've cooked vegan food but i've never baked anything vegan. So when I was doing my daily scan of Pinterest and stumbled upon a few different recipes and ideas, a lightbulb did flash above my head. WHY NOT EH?

The recipes I found were really straight forward - some only using four ingredients - however I've heard of these scary 'Making a Pinterest Recipe' stories from friends and I was a bit....well terrified. I sort of tailored the recipe to what I had in the cupboard because, well, bugger going to the shops when I was in full blown lounge wear and my hair resembling a milkmaid's with a bandana to stop my fringe pissing me off. For the record, this is not the cute look that you see on the 'milkmaid braids with bandana look' Pinterest search images; oh no! this is a sweaty, no make-up, faded and frizzy hair look - HOT!

So adorning my pinny, I ventured into the rarely-opened baking cupboard. The measuring was a bit of a faff (as I hate measuring) but it was reasonably easy to do as the recipe I was basing mine on was all cups. 

You've seen the photo *points above* and I actually haven't said this but the brownies are AMAZING! For someone who isn't actually vegan, I surprised myself with how much I loved these. The dark chocolate gives it a richness and the uncooked batter actually tastes like there's egg in there - BUT THERE'S NOT! I haven't actually tried any other vegan brownies so I can't compare to where these should be on the 'Awesome Vegan Brownie' list, so I encourage all you vegans to try it. I also used spelt flour for this to make it a bit more on the healthy side and less gluten-y and adds a bit of protein.

The recipe I made up is:

2 heaped cups of Spelt Flour (around 2 and a quarter cups)

2 cups dark drown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup dark choc chips (for melting)

Half a cup dark (or dairy free milk) choc chips

1 large ripe banana

Half a cup olive oil

1 cup water (give or take half a cup depending on consistency)

4 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and flour (or greaseproof paper) a rectangular cake pan that's about 11x7 inches.

Melt the cup of dark chocolate chips over a Bain-Marie until all the chocolate has melted. Keep this on a low heat until melted to stop the chocolate setting.

Sift the flour and add in the rest of the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mash the banana until it's a smooth consistency without any lumps then add in the oil, water and vinegar. Whisk these together and add to the dry ingredients. Before mixing, add the melted chocolate and stir until the mixture is fully combined and smooth. Add your chocolate chips. Bung in the oven for 15-25 minutes until the top looks cooked.

Hopefully this has made sense! As you can see it's all pretty easy and straightforward and measuring with cups made it a bit less stressful than all this measuring on scales malarkey!

ENJOY x

Summer, Summer, Summertime....Lemonade

Time to sit back and unwind! Apologies for the nod to Will Smith there but I couldn't help it!

So Summer has well and truly arrived in the Highlands and for most it would be "taps aff" but here it was a bit more reserved kettle of fish with picnics on the bistro set in our garden and the idea of making homemade lemonade thanks to a Tesco version we tried recently.

This version of lemonade is really refreshing and really light tasting (despite the sugar) and I am really happy with the way it turned out.

What you will need:

3 unwaxed lemons, cut randomly (skin on - the lot!)
140g sugar (to taste, you can add more)
1 litre water

Add the lemons, sugar and half the water to a blender or food processor and blend.

Place into a sieve over a bowl and stir until all the juice has come though. Discard the pulp (coz there will be seeds and rind there - YUCK!)

Add the juice to the rest of the water and chill. Add ice to serve.

Simple as that really! If you want to make it PINK lemonade, add raspberries or cranberries for a bit more tartness and a lovely pinky colour :)

Pardon for the lack of arty photos!

Butternut Squash,Cabbage and Green Lentil Curry

Say whaaaaaat? Curry that's healthy? AAAAND vegan? Yes! Yes, it is!

I am a super fan of curries. I am not, however, a super fan of the aftermath of curries. Yes, the bloats, the gurgles and the inability to move.

So I found a curry recipe online that included lentils and decided to put my own twist on it using the basic recipe I found. Of course I included my all time favourite veg - the Butternut Squash. Seriously, this guy ca do no wrong in my eyes! AND! You only need one pan! Plus a tray to roast the butternut squash and parsnips.

I thought i'd need to accompany this dish with rice, but I found the lentils helped fill out the meal and there really was no need for any side dish. Which is a step in the right healthy direction as a) no naan is involved and b) no stodgy rice.

You can obviously add and subtract veg depending on what your personal taste is and of course make it hotter and mix it up with different spices.


So here's my spin (Serves two - and some for lunch the next day)

For the roast veg;

1 Butternut Squash - peeled and cubed
2 Parsnips - peeled and cubed
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Madras Curry Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt and Pepper

For the Curry;

1 tsp Olive Oil
1 Onion - diced
3 Garlic Cloves - or less depending how much you love garlic!
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Madras Curry Powder
2 cups Veg Stock/Broth
Half cup Green Lentils (or any other type you fancy!)
A few leaves of Cabbage - or a handful of Spinach

Preheat your oven to 220oC/Gas7/fan 200oC. Place the Butternut squash and Parsnips into a bowl and add the oil, spices and salt and pepper (about a pink of both) and toss until all is covered. Place on a baking sheet and cook for about 30 minutes until soft and brown at the edges.

Heat the oil and add the garlic and onion. Cook until the onion starts to look transparent.

Add the spices and give a good ol' stir until the place smells amazing! Add the lentils, cabbage and the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat then simmer for about 10/15 minutes or until the lentils have soaked up the stock and you're left with a thick curry.

Taste to see if you need to add anything - Salt? Pepper? More spice?

Serve into bowls and add a good old dollop of Creme Fraiche or Yoghurt. Prepare to eat it all as it's so goddamn YUM!

Okay, so that's me done with the recipes for today! Hope you find them as delicious as I did and as easy to make!

Vegan Butternut Squash and Quinoa Chili

Okay so I would have put up a finished article photo, except that I forgot and ate it all!

I've been dipping my toes in the vegan/gluten-free side of life and quite frankly I am loving it! I love trying out the vegan version of things where at the end of the meal, you don't feel like you need some Oompa Loompas to roll you out the room!

This was my most recent experiment and it turned out delicious! Really tasty and left us feeling full but not bloated or in need of a nap.

It was really simple to make and doesn't take forever, like most chilis I've made in the past!

Basic ingredients are; (you can add or take away - much like standard chili)

Half butternut squash - peeled and cubed
Half cup Quinoa
1 onion - diced
1 tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic - finely diced or minced
2 cups of veg stock/broth
1 tablespoon of chilli powder (mild or hot - or mixed!)
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Add the oil to the pan and wait until it's hot. Add the garlic and onion and cook 'til soft and slightly brown.

Add in the spices, butternut squash, kidney beans, tomato puree, quinoa and stock.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15-20 minutes until thick and the squash is soft but still has a bit of crunch to it. You don't want it to melt into the sauce!

Serve with some salsa or some greek yoghurt.

DONE!

Simple Fish Pie Goujons

Healthy food seems to have taken over my life in the past two months. Not only does it taste good, it makes me feel good too! Some stuff can be a bit manky tasting, so I've been trying out a few recipes to see whats the yummiest way to get good stuff in me without feeling like i'm eating cardboard constantly.

These beauts are hands down the easiest and quickest dish I've ever made that's tastes DIVINE!

For two people, what you need to make them are;

1 Sweet Potato (or normal potato if you don't like them - however sweet potatoes are healthier!)
Cream Cheese
2 fillets of haddock, cod or any meaty white fish - cut in half vertically then halved horizontally (so they're like goujons! You should have eight pieces)
prawns (I've literally no idea how many i just fire them in - but maybe half a pack?)
Tsp of Paprika (mild or hot)
Salt and Pepper

Start by peeling and slicing the sweet potato into cubes. Boil for about 15/20 minutes until soft and crush-able.

Heat your oven to 220oC/fan 200oC/gas 7

While these are boiling, get a baking tray and line with grease proof paper. Sprinkle over salt and pepper.

Mix the prawns with some of the cream cheese and paprika until it's covered. I normally put a tablespoon in first and give it a good mix so as not to overwhelm the prawns with all this cheese going on!

Place the fillets onto the tray, top with the prawns (allowing maybe 3-4 per fish goujon - depending on the size of prawns!)

Next, drain and mash the sweet potato with some of the cream cheese. Spoon over the fish pies.

Now you can add Parmesan over the top to give it some crispiness, however we used these tremendous pitta bread crisps we found in Markies to ass extra flavour and crunch. it was amazing! I imagine you can add anything on top. You know, to some degree!

Put in the oven for 10 minutes, until piping hot.

ENJOY!

Banana and Sultana Muffins with a Chocolate Centre *Drools*

So I found some lovely brown squishy bananas in my kitchen the other day, and hating waste, I sat and had a good think about what I could do with these manky looking things.

My conclusion - banana muffins! I jazzed it up a bit by putting some sultanas in and adding a piece of dark chocolate to the centre to make a melty middle bit. They're soooo yummy and good for you too (..well it does have bananas and sultanas in them...)

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

What you'll need to gather:

85g (3oz) butter or margarine (I used olive spread)
85g (3oz) light brown caster sugar (however normal caster sugar is grand!)
170g (6oz) self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2-3 VERY ripe bananas, mashed into a puree (yuck!)
about 115g sultanas or any other type of dried fruit
small bar of dark chocolate broken into pieces
muffin tray
muffin cases
mixing bowl

Okay, so first of all heat your oven to about 180oC/Gas Mark4.

Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy looking. In another bowl mix together the flour and baking powder.

To the butter and sugar, add the egg and a spoonful of the flour. Mix until well combined. Add in the bananas and the sultanas. Then add the rest of the flour mixture until it's all mixed up well.

Divide evenly among the 12 cases then take a piece of chocolate and press it down into the batter so it's sitting in the middle. Do this for all the cakes.

Sprinkle a little bit of sugar over the top and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

If you have some left (which won't happen) you can always freeze them and defrost for a few hours as and when needed.

Just try not to eat them all!!

I'm Late! I'm Late! I'm Really Really Late!

Oh good God! I just realised I haven't posted on this is AGES! Apologies my dears!

I realise I haven't posted in near enough a year which is MENTAL! I've been super busy moving 140 miles from my hometown to the lovely city of Inverness. It's cold but its awesome!

While i've been unpacking and making the house all nice and homely and cosy, I've been cooking and baking up a storm!

The first lovely recipe I have for you is YORKIES! Or Yorkshire puddings....not the chocolate bar! I always loved having these for Sunday dinner and it was always Aunt Bessie's as my Mum was the cook. However seeing as I have upped my culinary skills I decided to take on the dreaded task of making them myself one Sunday while making dinner.

And the result? OH MY LAWDDDDD AMAZING! I couldn't believe how good they were compared to the frozen ones I had been living with for 26 years! They're actually not difficult to make either, providing you have the time (you need to let the batter sit for half an hour) it's a straight forward operation.

So let's do this shall we??

Nom, right??

Ok so the stuff you'll need (note: these will all probably be in your cupboards! See- they cost nothing to make!)

to make around 12:

3 eggs115 g plain flour1 pinch sea salt285 ml milk12 tablespoons vegetable oil

muffin tray
whisk/fork
measuring jug
mixing bowl

I don't actually use measurements (sometimes I'll use less eggs to make less batter) so what I do is crack the eggs into a measuring jug and take a note of where the eggs measure to (the wee markings on the jug), empty the eggs into a bowl. Pour the flour into the same measuring jug to the SAME level as the eggs came to. Again, empty this into the same bowl with the eggs. Then, add the milk, again to the same level (nothing more or less) and add to the rest of the stuff in the bowl. 

Give it a good whisk and season to taste (nb: it WILL need seasoned) then pour all the batter back into the jug so it's easier to pour into the muffin holes. Set aside for about half an hour.

Heat your oven to the highest setting and pour the oil into the muffin holes and place in oven until oven has heated up or for about 5/10 mins. By this point the oil should be ROASTING, so pour the batter into the muffin holes and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.

DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN IN THIS TIME. REPEAT. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN IN THIS TIME.

Otherwise the puds will sink and it'll all be a travesty! It's rather fun sitting and watching through the oven door at them rising. I cannot even explain how happy I was when I first made these and seen them rising, there may have been a squeal involved!

They'll look all lumpy and weird at first!

Serve straight away or you can always eat one while serving them. Noone will know ;)

Jammy Heart Biscuits

I made these little beauties for my birthday last week and I absolutely ADORED them (along with everyone else! - They were gone by the end of the day!)

I had been deciding what type of cake I should make for my birthday, when I thought that a) not a lot of folk in my family/extended family are huge fans of cake and b) there is an endless amount of genres of cakes I could make. One word: decisions!

So, after a few minutes of pondering (and a lovely cup of peppermint tea), I decided to make these beasts! Everyone loves jammy dodgers and what could be better than making a tastier, less heavy alternative?!

The recipe below makes about 20 (depending on the size of the biscuits you want to make!) and they're suitable for vegetarians :)

What you'll need:

250g Butter

150g Icing sugar

1 large egg (separated)

375g plain flour

seedless rasberry jam (about 100g or so)

for the buttercream:

You can either use this recipe:

140g butter (softened)

280g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

to make: beat the butter in a large bowl until soft, add half the icing sugar and mix until smooth. Add remaining icing sugar and 1 tbsp milk and beat until lovely and creamy. Add in the extra milk if the mixture needs loosened up. 

OR

buy buttercream frosting :)

Okay doke!

So first of all we're going to beat together the butter and the icing sugar until it's a light and fluffy consistency. Then add in the egg yolk and add half the flour. 

Add the remaining flour and mix with your hands to ensure you get all the mixture and start to knead with your hands in the bowl until it's smooth (this shouldn't take long). Then wrap in cling film and either put in a cool place (NOT THE FRIDGE) for about 30 minutes to rest.

Heat the oven to 190oC/170oC Fan/Gas 5. Roll out half the dough until it about 3mm thick (on a floured surface - believe me, it'll make your life so much easier!). I used a 5.8 cm fluted cutter to cut out 20 rounds. Place on a greased baking tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Next, roll out the remaining dough and cut out 20 more rounds (again on a floured surface). Now, we have the difficult part - cutting out the hearts. If you're lucky enough to have a tiny heart cutter, use that. Otherwise, the best way to do it is to place the rounds onto the baking tray first, then cut out the hearts using a small veg knife. It does get a bit tedious once you get to the 15th round but remember - ONLY 5 MORE TO GO!!

Beat the egg white until it's a wee bit frothy and brush over the biscuit just to give it that extra crispiness. Bake and cool as before.

Then what to do is make the - or use the bought - buttercream and spread over each biscuit (make sure not to get the ones with the hearts on it! Place some jam in the centre (about a teaspoon) and cover with a biscuit with the heart cut out. Push down gently so the jam fills the heart shape.

Sprinkle with icing suga.

So there you go. Yummy and fabulous looking biscuits that are suitable for a kids party and also for a grown up party. 

Now the only problem will be is not to eat them all!!

Trio of desserts... (Don't worry it's simple to make!)

Apologies for lack of action on here! Time does not seem to be my pal at the moment however I've kicked my ass into gear to get this blog back up and running. Recently I've been doing A LOT of cooking and baking.
Most recently, I've done these cute wee desserts which include Rhubarb panna cotta, meringue (with leftover roast rhubarb) and vienesse biscuits (dipped in leftover dark Easter egg chocolate!). These were for a dinner which I was making for my family and they only took me a few hours to do all three (this includes chilling time!) Plus i even had enough time to make Hollandaise sauce with the leftover egg yolks from the meringue for an asparagus and Jersey Royal potato bake thing (recipe to follow!)

Right so let's get our apron on and get started!! :)

Rhubarb Panna Cotta

serves 4

You'll need for the roasted rhubarb:

500g/1lb 2oz rhubarb
2tbsp caster sugar
4tsp apple juice

and for the panna cotta:

75g/2oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz double cream
2 leaves of gelatin (soaked in cold water til soft)
300ml/11 fl oz buttermilk (the buttermilk they sell here is around 284ml so i topped up the rest with normal milk)

Preheat oven to 200oC/180oC Fan/400F/Gas 6. Cut up rhubarb into 1" pieces and place in a roasting tin along with the sugar and the apple juice. Roast for around 8-10 minutes or until all soggy and yummy looking. Using about 125g of this, blend to a puree and place the rest aside for later.

Mix the sugar and the double cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer (at about a medium heat so they don't burn - YUCK!) just til all the sugar has dissolved. Squeeze out all the water from the gelatin leaves and throw in the pan and stir about until they've completely dissolved. Add the puree then remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 5/10 minutes or until you get impatient! Stir in the buttermilk then it's ready to pour into dishes!

I used these little plastic dishes you get with these meals for a tenner from markie parkies! However you can use little ramekin dishes or whatever else you can find that resembles a little dish :)
Place some of the roasted rhubarb you done earlier into the bottom of the dishes then pour over the mixture (I used a measuring jug for this to save mess!). Pop in the fridge for about 1-2 hours (or longer if you're making them the day before). If you want to be fancy (and have time) and want to turn them out onto a plate, dip the dishes (alliteration!) into some boiled water to loosen the sides and run a knife round the edges. Spoon some of the rhubarb over the panna cotta for some uber awesome taste!
I just served the panna cotta in the dish as it was and spooned some of the rhubarb over it.
So there you go! Something super fancy and super tasty and it literally takes you less than half an hour to make the mixture. I think the only difficult part is the waiting coz it's SO GODDAMN DELICIOUS!

So while we're waiting for the panna cotta to set we're going to do some...

Vienesse Biscuits

Makes LOADS!

These are always easy to do and the ingredients are always stuff that I have in the cupboards. What you'll need is:

100g/30z softened butter

25g/1oz icing sugar

100g/3oz plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

50g/2oz dark chocolate

Heat oven to 190oC/170oC Fan/Gas 5. Grease baking trays or cover in grease-proof paper.

Beat the sugar and butter together until it looks pale and it's quite a fluffy texture. Using a sieve, add flour and baking powder to the mixture and mix until well blended.

Fill a piping bag with the dough (as it's quite gooey!) and pipe about 2" lines on the baking tray. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown around the edges.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for about 5 minutes. If you try to lift them off while they're still hot then they'll just fall apart and you'll be left with broken biscuits! Yummy none-the-less but still broken! Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Then, carefully, dip half of each biscuit it so half of it is coated in chocolate. Place back on the wire rack and leave to set (this normally takes about an hour or so).

We made these while we were waiting on the panna cotta setting and we still had time to make...

Meringues

PHEW! *mops brow* We're nearly there! By now you'll be feeling like Delia Smith/Gordon Ramsay/Michel Roux Jnr (or possible senior) depending on your kitchen temperament!

Meringues have always been something I have wanted to try but have just been that little it too impatient to make them ever since i lost my electric whisk (seriously I have no idea where it went and I could have done with one for this!).

I was looking through loads of recipes to try and find one that sounded easy and yet had a photo to prove that it looked impressive, and came across the easiest theory for a meringue: For every egg yolk used, use 50g caster sugar. Tada! That's the trick so they're not too chewy and have just the perfect amount of crispiness!

I had used 2 egg yolks so used 100g sugar for this. This made about 9 decent sized meringues.

Heat your oven to 150oC/130oC Fan/Gas 2

Now remember I've lost my electric whisk - so I used sheer strength and determination to whisk the egg whites into lovely white fluffy stiff peaks. I must admit I did use the "hold the bowl over the head" theory and, luckily for me, it worked! If you're lucky enough to not have lost your electric whisk, use a medium speed to do this.

 Next, slowly add the sugar. Again, if you're using an electric whisk turn the speed down low as you don't want to over mix this! I added the sugar about a tablespoon at a time until the mixture was this lovely shiny mixture and gave stiff peaks when i lifted the whisk up.

Then I plonked a tablespoons of the mixture onto a greased baking tray (again you can use grease-proof paper but be careful incase it sticks!)

Place the meringues into the oven, then as soon as they're in, turn the oven down to 140oC/120oC/Gas 1 and cook for about 30 minutes until they're a lovely pale coffee colour and sound hollow when lightly tapped. Turn off the oven completely and leave the meringues in the oven to dry out (otherwise they go a bit overly-chewy!) I left them in for about an hour and a half and then removed them and they turned out ace!

To serve them all as trio, simply place on a plate and spoon some of the leftover roasted rhubarb over the meringue as a tasty extra!

So I hope these recipes have came in useful and that you enjoy them as much as I have! I also hope to find that you found them just as simple an stress free as I have!

ENJOY!

Garlic, Sea Salt and Herb Focaccia

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of posting recently! Things have been manic busy the past few months :) The only good thing to come of it is that i'm planning to up roots and move 140 miles north to the Highlands to be with the love of my life :) very excited about that!

Anyway! We're not here to drink tea and gab (although that does sound tremendous, no?) we're here to BAKE!

I've seen ALOT of baking programmes recently where they've been making focaccia bread. I must admit after watching the Great British Bake off where there was THAT episode with the focaccia, it kind of made me a bit scared. However I do not get scared of baking or cooking. No, I go in gung-ho and give it a bash - after all whats the worst that could happen?

I must admit, the initial dough formation made me panicky. I did actually wonder if I had put in too much water (which I hadn't) and the fact that it didn't act like normal white bread made me a bit out of sorts. however I am more than pleased with the final outcome and I am pleased to say that this lovely tasty bread will be taking pride of place next to my Flammkuchen tonight at dinner (recipe for that alternative German pizza to follow!)

So give it a bash and let me know how you get on :)

So, you will need:

500g/1lb 2oz white flour (you can also use bread flour)
2 tsp sea salt
3 tsp dried easy blend yeast (or buy 2 sachets)
2 tbsp olive oil
400ml/14 fl oz cold water
olive oil (for drizzling)
sea salt
1 large garlic clove, crushed
selection of herbs chopped finely

Place Flour, yeast, oil, salt and 300ml/10fl oz water into a bowl and mix together until a dough is formed (this is messy!), knead the dough for about five minutes while gradually adding the remainder of the water.

Stretching the dough by hand, fold the edges of the dough into the centre for another five minutes, turn the bowl 180 degrees and repeat the process.

Tip the dough onto a well oiled surface and continue kneading for five minutes until it looks a bit more smoother and manageable. Place the dough in the bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm place until it's almost doubled in size (I put mine under the radiator!)

Line two baking sheets or dishes with spray oil (this makes the bread easier to remove!) and set aside. Tip the dough out and half. Using your fingers, flatten the dough onto the baking sheets until all the area has been covered. Cover in cling film and place in a warm place to prove for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7. Drizzle each loaf with olive oil, sea salt, garlic and the herbs (or whatever you fancy!) and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once cooked, drizzle more oil over the bread.

If you are reheating it, just drizzle more oil over the top afterwards :)

Good luck!

Tomato & Red Onion Chutney

I've only started looking into chutney recipes recently when I got it into my head that i'm going to make everyone a jar of chutney for Christmas. So rather than going a bit gung-ho a week before Christmas and end up making a right pigs ear of things, I thought having a bit of practice would probably be the best and the most sensible idea!

I had a trawl through recipes and - seeing that I had a ton of tomatoes that i'd grown kicking about - I decided on a tomato-based recipe. However, most of them had a few different ingredients like cardomom seeds and chilli that I just wasn't into in a big way. So I concocted my own recipe using the base of red wine vinegar, brown sugar and tomatoes and kind of just added anything that I could find!

This does take quite a bit of preparation so make sure you have plenty of time to do this!

I do hope that you try and enjoy this recipe as I think I actually done really well considering this is my first attempt!

This makes about two standard jam-sized jars, however you can increase or decrease the ingredients accordingly :)

2 medium red onions
750kg tomatoes
1 or 2 peppers
4 garlic cloves (crushed and chopped finely)
half teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
250g light brown muscovado sugar
1 braeburn apple (or any type of cooking apple)
150ml red wine vinegar

First of all peel and deseed your tomatoes and peppers. To peel them, plunge the tomatoes and pepper into boiling water for about 30 seconds, drain then fill with icy cold water. This makes is so much easier to peel them! Cut into quarters and remove the seeds (WARNING! Your hands will actually stink of tomatoes afterwards!)

Dice the apple and onion into small bits and slice the tomatoes and the peppers.

Add all the ingredient to a stainless steel pan (not brass or copper as it reacts with the the vinegar and leaves a metallic taste apparently) and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and simmer for about an hour.

In this time you can sterilise the jars. There is a few ways which you can do this:

  - Wash the jars in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Shake off any excess water and place in the oven on a LOW HEAT for about ten minutes or until dry.

  - Place in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, boil for about ten minutes.

  - Or simple place in the dishwasher and fire it on a warm rinse (this is the method I chose!)

You should do this so the jars are just done and warm for when your chutney is ready.

So after the hour, the chutney should be looking a lot darker in colour and have a jam-like consistency. Like this...

It will reduce dramatically as all the ingredients sort of mush together. I left it on a low heat and stirred for about five more minutes just to make sure it was cooked properly.

I then placed into the warm jars and covered in kitchen paper until cooled. If you place the lids on right away, the condensation will settle on top of the chutney and make for a runny consistency.

This keeps for about 6 weeks.

So there you go! Some yummy chutney to make, right on time for this freeeeezing weather! It goes amazing with hard cheese and oatcakes. You could also mix up the vegetables and add or take away certain ingredients.

For hints and tips a great website to visit is here as it gives you ideas on how to prepare certain fruits or vegetables for the chutney and also whats a complete no-go for it!

Seasonal Spiced Lentil Soup

So here in good old Scotland it's just gone September and already it's time to pull on some slipper socks and a big jumper and make some soup to warm those cockles!

I LOOOOVE making soup and find it so relaxing. Plus it's so easy to make!

I don't generally follow recipes for soup. It's a theory of mine that firing a selection of veg into a pot with stock and leaving for 45 minutes, while you go sew/crochet/have a cup of tea, will make something gloriously comforting.

I've decided to post a recipe for this today as a few people i've spoken to recently have claimed they have no idea how to make soup. One even mentioned buying a soup recipe book. My answer? "Why ever would you do that?" so hence I am here and typing out a recipe (not so much a recipe as an idea for people) for lentil soup :)

Okay doke :) so for this you will need:

250g red split lentils (or there about i normally buy a 500g bag and put in just under or over half depending how generous i'm feeling!)

2 stock cubes (for extra veggie flavour)

some potatoes (however much you fancy i used 4 medium sized ones)

carrots (I found a bag already sliced in the supermarket for 50p! BARGAIN! Again just add what you want however if you're a bit unsure i would say about 3 medium sized)

half an onion

quarter of a teaspoon of ground ginger

a pinch of nutmeg 

I also added a leek just because there was one kicking about the fridge

some oil for cooking

You will also need a large saucepan, a seive and a blender.

That's the joys of this, is that you can add whatever you feel like and it will still taste amazing!

First of all give the lentils a bit of a rinse using a seive (some packets may say to soak them for an hour but I never do that as they're getting cooked anyway) then place in a pot and half fill with water. 

Place on a high heat and let it boil for 15/20 minutes. While this is happening, peel and dice the veg and place aside. Place the potatoes in a pot of water to let the starch escape. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan on a medium heat and add the leek and onion, cook for 2/3 minutes until softened but don't allow to brown.

So the lentils should be ready and looking transparent and a bit yuk! Add all the veg into the pot and top up with water. Add the stock cube, ginger and nutmeg. Bring to the boil then drop the heat to a medium heat and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. This will allow the veg to soften the the flavours to merge :)

Once the 45 minutes is up, blend and season to taste. If the consistency is too thick just add water a bit at a time and stir throughout until desired consistency is achieved.

This can be frozen and defrosted when needed. However in this household it doesn't make it to the next day! I love serving it piping hot in a big bowl with some toasted crusty bread placed on top.

Enjoy!

Dressing Table Runner :)

                       

                                                 

So the other day I had a massive clear out of my room and found some spare material from my sewing "box" (it's actually just a flowery waste paper bin filled with materials and thread!) and decided to put it to good use! Plus it's soooo easy and quick to make (I only spent half an hour doing this!)

All you need for this is a length of fabric slightly longer than the desired table/item you wish to cover and have it slightly wider as well, ideally you'd be looking for twice the width, but i didn't have that much! Also you'll need a needle and thread.

First of all i pinned down the edges of the fabric to create a hem. This is to make it the desired size of the table you're covering (check the creases in this! HAHA!)

I then used a back-stitch for this to create a stronger stitch. You could also use a sewing machine if desired or for quickness a running stitch (though it won't be as strong!) Do this around the hem part.

Once this is done, give it a quick iron (especially if you're fabric was as creased as mine!) et voila! A lovely little runner to bring colour to a table without the need for paint! 

You could also be more creative by going slightly longer and folding it into points at the ends then adding a tassle at either end or by simply adding some fancy edging.

Mr Fox has a Mrs!

After making the handsome Mr Fox for the other half, i decided to make one for myself. Plus i was bored and have been pondering over what to actually make next!

So I made this lovely lady! I'm actually really proud of her! GO ME!

I used the exact same process as the fox and owl cushions however i used buttons for eyes this time just to have a wee change :)

Fantastic Mr Fox

This lovely chap is my latest project to be finished. To make him all you need to do is follow the steps on my blog  Create Your Own Owl I drew the shape of him straight on to the fabric, however you can use a stencil (I didn't have a piece of card about at the time!) The only difference is I used a button for the nose (i got mine from a spare set for a cardigan!) Again I used polka dot fabric for the eyes and I used the same stitches as last time.

I must admit this wee guy was alot quicker to make compared to the owl. I made him colour coordinate with the owl cushion as he was a wee surprise for the other half (who has the owl)

The Count (my lovely owl) and Mr Fox chilling out :)

Easy Origami Heart

As probably everyone who follows me on Instagram knows i'm obsessed with origami. I find it really relaxing and therapeutic. I didn't always love origami though (As my best friend and sister of 25 years, Catherine (@porcelanne) will testify)
 Nope i was a hater once. I remember trying to do origami when I was about eight or nine and my best friend having to hide the book from me as I was about to have the child version of a mental breakdown. I'm pretty sure there was screaming involved!
Anyway, I made these lovely hearts and decided to share it with you lovely lot. This one is really easy to do, so those of low tolerance will even find it not as frustrating! I hope!

So are we ready kids? Good let's go! 

start off with a square piece of paper and fold in half and crease

unfold

now fold it the other way and crease

you should have a piece of paper with creases looking like this :)

now fold on side into the middle like so

now turn over so the folded bit is on the opposite side

fold the top corner (with the folded side) over to the middle and crease. Kind of like a paper airplane.

do the same on the other side and crease

flip the paper over to the other side. It should be looking like this :)

Next, fold the top corner in again to meet the middle and crease.

Do the same with the other side and crease. It should be looking like this.

fold the top bit of the part you just folded over again and crease.

like so

Do the same with the other side.

Now for the trickiest part! You'll see a pocket on the bottom part...

You need to fold the top half into this

Don't worry about these flaps, we're going to fold them down!

crease the flaps down

Like so...

Do the same on the other side

So this is what your piece of paper should be looking like. Don't worry about the rough edges!

Next, fold the top square in each corner over.

This wasn't very neat! However crease down :)

Again, do the same in the other corner

This is what it should be looking like...

Fold the top pointy bits down and crease

So fold them just down to the next folded bit

Do the same with the other side...

So it should look like this.

Turn over et VOILA! You have yourself a lovely wee heart :3

Why not try sticking smaller hearts onto bigger ones like the one above?

 Hopefully this all made sense to you, i tried to put it in terms I myself would understand. If you have any questions please feel free to comment. Also if you enjoyed this post please share :)

<3