Orange and peach jam

The recipe was for marmalade but since I left the peel out... this is more of a jam!

I am very relived it all worked out, having sliced halfway down my nail while peeling the peaches (which I got for a pound a punnet - pretty frugal!). I also thought I had burnt the jam only to find out it was just turning darker due to caramelising - I nearly threw it out! I'm glad I didn't because it's scrummy. 

It's set - phew! I made it in two pans as I don't have one big one, and one I think will set thicker than the other... I learnt a lot about jam making and was lucky enough to have a successful finished product - mostly due to my mums advice about testing if it was set and persevering if it isn't. It took about four times the time the recipe suggested! 

I am also impressed to see that the sealing of the jars has worked, as the jam cooled a vacuum was formed, pulling the lid downwards. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to actually work, brilliant! 

Next time I'll cut up the peaches a little bit smaller, well, a lot smaller! But I am quite impressed - may my jamming continue! 

Mangolicious chutney!

I have finally made my first preserve, and where better to start than with the one I eat the most - mango chutney! I used a recipe from a WI preserves cook book, but actually I changed it quite a lot - adding in lots of whole spices, ginger and some extra garlic and chilli to give it the punch I wanted. 

I used these cute christmas-y labels from my mum, and some christmasy fabric and ribbons to finish them off since they wont be ready to eat until November - besides I love everything christmas, even in August!

Bits n bobs

 

BOOKMARK made of fabric, I love this fabric and I have loads of it so it's getting made into everything. I made a book mark for my mum, I figured she needed an update since her current one I made for her when I was a very small child, and it's VERY dog eared by now. Actually so is my dad for that matter!

 A basic purse, I just wanted to practise with this zip I found for 10p in a charity shop, brand new! I sewed on some cute lace but it's a bit wonky... I think I really need to practise sewing properly to neaten up, but I'm too lazy! I suppose I have the time now so I should though.

Okay so I've finally found out how to make these! http://sewing.about.com/od/embellishment/ss/basicyoyo.htm I have a necklace I bought at a craft fayer made from them and it's so cute, these ones are pretty patchy because I was just messing about, I sewed some onto elastic to wear as hair bands and some onto saftey pins for broaches. Now I need to replicate my pretty necklace! 

A beach bag! This was simple to make, I used this tutorial http://fabricblissdenver.com/blog/?p=282 but missed out the pocket because I didn't have enough fabric. I kind of wish I had made it smaller now, it's too big to know what to do with, I might sew up the sides to make it narrower but then it's wasting the fabric really. But I love the design, it's really simple but sturdy. Sewing so much oil cloth was difficult, but worth it in the end :) 

Okay so THAT is what I have been doing for the past couple of free days I have had. I might make water bottles out of old jumpers soon, since it's autumn soon! Also I am going to be making some preserves soon so watch this space!

Pencil case, muffins and brownies.

Hello, I have managed to drag myself away from a book (I'm getting through four a week, it's starting to disrupt my life, I think that means it's an addiction now) to update a few of the things I have been doing this summer.


This pencil case was really easy, and dead cheap. I found some half price oil cloth that I bought to make a book bag, but in the mean time I made a new pencil case so I could practice zips (which is why it's a bit wonky, it's my first!). Oilcloth is my new favourite thing because you don't need to hem the edges, making sewing twice as fast. I added some cute buttons I was given too. 


This is the tutorial I used: http://www.momtastic.com/home-and-living/features/126139-diy-oilcloth-zippered-pencil-case 

 Muffins muffins muffins! Usually I have a firm policy against the disappointment that is low fat baking... but this recipe breaks all the rules because it tastes great, and only has 2.2g of fat per muffin and 140 calories! That means you can eat them legitimately for breakfast. 


Recipe (veganised from cook vegetarian):


250g SR flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
55g vegan margarine 
85g caster sugar
1 punnet of raspberries (I've also used strawberries, or any other berry really)
1 large banana
230ml almond milk
teaspoon of cider vinegar


oven: 180c 


- sift flour and baking powder
- add the margarine and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
- stir in sugar
- separately mash banana, milk and cider vinegar until frothy , and let stand until bubbles form 
- add to dry mixture, and mix until combined (and no longer)
- fold in the fruit
- dollop into muffin cases and bake for 20-25min


It might work without the vinegar, as the bananas might be acidic enough to react with the bicarb... but I haven't tried it without just in case. I also found they sank a little, so I'd probably just use 1tsp of baking powder next time. 


Muffins! 


These were made with a recipe from vegan cookies invade your cookie jar, and they are excellent. :) Enough said. 

Baking - jam tarts, orange biscuits and banana and peanut butter icecream!

So, as well as sewing to keep me sane, there has been some sanity baking too! These have all been made from whatever was left in the cupboard in moments where there were no snacks and I had a desperate need for something sweet and tasty! 

JAM TARTS 

Easy peasy, I had left over shortcrust pastry from making pies the day before, which I rolled out, cut out circles, lined a cupcake tin with, and plonked some jam in the middle (well, cherry and apricot preserve) and made some stars with the final dregs of pastry....! Takes five miniutes, 10-15 mins in the oven on 180 degrees: 

ICECREAM 

My icecream machine arrived from amazon the very day the sun came out,  this ice cream is from http://veganicecream.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/peanut-butter-banana-ice-cream.html here. 

Really easy, REALLY scrummy, and my ice-cream disliking omni boyfriend loved it! Gotta be a good sign.

  

Orange iced shortbread 

Another what-is-left-in-the-cupboards masterpeice. I used a normal shortbread recipe, replaced butter with soya margerine and added in lemon zest, orange zest and the juice of 1 orange. I had ready-made icing in the cupboard left over from my christmas cake, which I mixed orange peel (and orange food colour!) into it, rolled it out, cut it and put o top. Sweet, zingy and tasty.

Sewing projects - table mats and a denim bag (and a metal cushion)!

Hello! Okay  I've been super busy with exams, but in spare moments I have been doing some sewing and baking and cooking - I just haven't updated this blog for a while! So here are my quick sewing projects that have been keeping me sane during exam season...

 FABRIC TABLE MATS:

This was really a project of nessesity, my table mats are looking grubby and I had visitors, luckily I had just enough flowery tough fabric to wizz up four table mats - using a linin tablecloth my mum picked up reduced for about £2 to back them! 

Now I SHOULD have measured them out, but for some reason, absent minded dash-happy me didn't. You should though! Or they'll come out different sizes like mine did. 

I then just sewed them back to back with right-sides together, leaving a gap to turn them the right way out and then sew around the edge to give them a nice finish. 

They look pretty busy on my tablecloth, but you get the idea! The best thing is I can just wash them in the machine when they get dirty which is really easy.

SHOPPING BAG - made from old jeans.

 So I had an old pair of jeans, and I wanted a MASSIVE shopping bag that would hold heavy things like books for when I am scouring charity shops for a good read. 

I basically cut off a leg of the jeans (they were baggy style jeans so there was lots of material, but since the bag is pretty big, you could easily make a smaller one with normal jeans) and split it down the inside leg. I then bent it over, so that the fold was down the bottom of the bag, to make a square. You can then just make handles (I cheat and fold fabric in half, tuck the edges inside, and just sew around the edge), sew over the top and along the sides and voila! 

What I did was cut out two strips of fabric to edge the top, and also give it a bit more height so the shape wasn't too wide. I tucked over the edges and just sewed it along eachs ide, albiet a bit wonkily! I really love this fabric - my mum picked 16 meters up REALLY cheap and it's brilliant quality, and she gave me two so I have plenty left. I also think this gives it a neater edge around the top. I tried to take a picture (right) of it on me to give it some side, so sorry about the dodgy mirror picture!

Finally... a really quick project... a children of bodom cushion for my boyfriend. He had an old top, and I just cut off the front and back (so that the pictures were complete) and cut one in half to make a flap, sewed along the edges, added a popper, sewed the fabric together, and it was done. I had to resist the urge to decorate it with buttons and ribbon... 

Kartoffelbrot!

So I have made german potato bread using a hairy bikers recipe! On a side note, I am LOVING the hairy bikers bakeation program at the moment, a wonderful insight into baking and history across europe - and lucky for me lots of bread and soup recipes that are vegan (or veganisable)!

I must admit I haven't done it justice, the recipe said 220 degrees for 35 miniutes but I took it out after only 25 it was very close to burnt around the edges there, I think it needs a lower heat.

However it tasted GREAT, it was really yummy and had a wonderful moist texture that I adored. It is meant to last well, however I ate mine within two days so who knows!

I will certainly make this again! Great enjoyed with a hearty homemade vegetable soup for lunch :)

From shirt to cushion cover: SUPER easy sewing!

So this cushion cost me NOTHING - and was incredibly easy. It was once my partners work shirt, and the bottom of the boat is also an old shirt. The buttons, ribbon, and red check were just left over bits I had in my sewing box.

The best thing was that I used the shirt buttons to button up the back of the cover, so I didn't have to do them, and the consequence is they look really neat and tidy! However of course this could be made with whatever leftover fabric you have lying around, just make sure you have two back peices longer than your front peice, so that when you fold over the edges and add on the buttons and button holes it's still the right length.

Cut out a square, and either two rectangles (as above, longer when put together than the square) or two rectangles using the buttons from an old shirt down the middle to fasten your pillow.

Sew on whatever you fancy (geometric shapes like this are much easier than round shapes if you're not very good at sewing like me!), and then just do up the buttons BEFORE you sew it so they are in place, turn it right sides together, and sew all around the edges.

I bought a cushion insert for £1.35 and voila! Watch this space... I am going to make lots more!

Bean balls and spagetti in chilli tomato sauce

<-What you need

1. Chop an onion and three gloves of garlic, and gently fry

2. When fried, remove half and put in a blender, leave the remaining half in the pan

3. Add to the pan chilli powder, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, a stock cube and a little water, and simmer

4. Add to the blender parsely, kidney beans, cumin, corriander, salt and pepper. Blend, and then add 50g of oats

5. Mix together and roll into balls (see second picture)

6. Fry the balls untill browned all over, and then tip over the tomato sauce, and let it simmer (third picture)

     7. Serve over spagetti! 

Since this recipe didn't photograph well I've kept the pictures small... but it was delicious all the same!  

Vanilla Extract - REALLY easy, saves a fortune!

I saw other people doing this and I couldn't resist, it sounded too good to be true! A bottle of cheap vodka, a pack of vanilla beans, and a 3month wait... and I could have a massive bottles worth of vanilla extract at a fraction of the super-market cost?

So I bought a £6ish bottle of vodka (1/2 a litre), £5 worth of vanilla beans (and I only used a third) and I put the beans in the vodka and waited... and here it is! It tastes delicious and rich, and at about £7.50 for 500ml of vanilla extract vs £5.51 for 118ml of the extract I used to buy... I think I've saved about £16? 

The right hand bottle is finished product, and the left hand one I topped up. By pouring out 80% and topping up the remaining 20% you can use the same beans for, according to some websites, up to a year. I topped it up with gin, as it was all I had, so who knows how it will taste in the end but hopefully the vanilla will overpower it anyway.

You can also use bourbon, or any other spirit, I believe. I want to try brandy.... yum!

Kung Pao Broccoli, Cashews and Noodles

I've got a sort of before and after going on here (the red pot is sugar)! I based this meal on this recipe from the BBC, but I left out the tofu due to my tofuphobic boyfriend, missed out the added greens because I was in a rush, added noodles because noodles are yummy (ready for wok ones, I used Sharwoods and I really like them - much nicer than dried noodles!). I also ran out of ginger, and cheated with chilli powder rather than crushed. Nonetheless, even all this recipe-butchery later, it was really tasty!

It was also  super quick (about 25mins start to finish), and only one pan, a knife and a bowl to mix the sauce for washing up... brilliant lazy day cookery!

Five miniute projects

Hello all, I am updating with some quick and easy five miniute projects and I promise I will update more often!

Striped Nails: You need: 2 colours of nail varnish, 1 of clear, and some sellotape cut as thin as you can manage!

 First paint them one colour, then let them dry and put on little lines of selotape over the nail (must be bone dry!) and paint over it with the second colour. Try to use as many strips as you can to get an even stripe-age. 

Peal off the tape when damp, let them dry, and paint a clear layer to make it last and look tidy! Voila!

This was my first go and unfortunatly my colour choices were both limited and dull... but with some bright colours it looks much funkier.

I use Barry M nail varnish http://www.barrym.com/nail-paints which are cheap, vegan and not tested on animals. They usually cover the nail in one paint, except for the light colours.

 Hair-band! Okay this is super simple. My hair is a bit fine for such things really, but I was bored!  There are lots of tutorials online, I picked a gathered one to stop me looking bald, but the straight ones are even easier!

Cinnamon Bread

Soooo today I made cinnamon bread! Yum! I've never made this before, and I used the recipe from the veganyumyum book.

As you can see from the left, I put the loaf in a loaf tin which is just blasted out of! It was massive, I was very impressed.

To help the appearence I think next time I will roll it out long and thin on a baking tray, rather than let it spill out the loaf tin!

Full of cinnamon, and just 5tbsp in all of dark brown soft sugar, this bread is sweet and tasty... I can't wait to try it toasted.