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

Chocolate Orange Aero Cookies

These *points above* are my YUMMY cookies i made today. I normally sew or try to be crafty on days off from work so I decided to make something a bit different. The result? These Aero chocolate orange cookies. The Aero bubbly chocolate makes the cookies not as sweet or heavy as normal chocolate does i think. Why not give it a bash with the recipe below and see what you think?

(makes about 18 cookies)

You will need:

125g or 4 1/2oz soft butter/margarine (plus a bit extra for greasing)
175g or 6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g or 3oz muscovado sugar
5 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
125g, 4 1/2oz or 1 large bar of Aero Orange Chocolate bar
Preheated oven to 190oC/365oF/Gas Mark 5

- Lightly grease two baking trays or use grease proof paper.

- Cookies are probably the easiest thing i've ever made. All you need to do is throw ALL ingredients into a bowl and mix until well combined. I added the chocolate after all the other ingredients had been mixed in case any of the mixture spilled out.

- Use a tablespoon to put the mixture onto the trays, make sure there is plenty of space between them as they do spread out a bit. I cooked the dough in two lots, having six spoonfuls of dough on each tray.

- Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes (for fan assisted ovens bake for 10 minutes). If you have to put your trays on two separate shelves, set a timer for five or six minutes then swap around and bake for another five or six. This makes sure the top tray doesn't get burnt!

- Using a palette knife (or fish slice in my case!) transfer the cookies to a wire rack and leave to cool. If you don't have a wire rack, use a few sheets of kitchen roll instead :)

TADAAAA!

Hopefully this has made it easy for even the most novice baker.

Why not try making other types of flavours too? 

Just change the chocolate for anything else you think might work :)

Create your own Owl :3

HOLY MACKEREL! I haven't posted in a whiiile! I have been super busy going on travels and working and, in general, living.

OKAY! So I have started to get into crafting again because it RULES! Much like how a King rules the land. So hopefully I'm going to make time to put what I have been crafting up here and also put up instructions for you lovely people, in order for you to create your own crafty crafts :)

So the latest creation we have, and in which I am going to show you how to make, is this bad boy...

How cute is he?!


Right-o! What you will need to make the owl of cuteness is...

Some snazzy fabric (you can have as many or as little different patterns you want. Make sure they're all cotton or poly-cotton as it's easier to sew and there's less chance of it fraying), a piece of cardboard or paper (this will be for your template so make sure it's big enough), some needles, pins (to keep your fabric in place), scissors, a pen or a fabric pencil, loads of thread (i used white, navy and black sewing thread) and LOADS OF TIME!

Sorry for the verticalness of this!

So first of all i started by freehand drawing an owl template onto a piece of card. It's a bit uneven, yes, however that's what gives this guy a handmade look. You can, if you do so wish, print off a template if you can find one online (which there probably will be coz there's many more stranger things on the internet!) Place your template ontop of your chosen fabric for the main body/part of the owl, draw round it with your pen/fabric pencil then flip the cardboard over to the other side and trace round that (that's so when the fabric is placed together they both match up (we don't want a squint owl do we??) 

        *MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CENTIMETER OUTLINE ROUND THE OUTLINE*

I also cut slits every so often round the outline so i had a good idea on placement

  After that you'll need to cut out a shape similar to this...

I've no idea what shape this would be actually called!

 This part will create the face of the owl where the eyes and beak will go. I also drew this freehand, however if you can find a template then that'll do as well. Trace round it with your pen onto a different type of fabric from the body. Cut out and place to the side.

After that, we can now go on to create the wings. This was also drawn freehand.

For this, i just marked out how wide i wanted the wings to be using my template to get a rough idea of size, i then marked two lines where the top and bottom will be the drew a curved line joining up the two. I then used the template to draw the outside line so it matched up with the body of the owl.

After that we need to draw the eyes, for this i used polka dot material and used the dots as the eyes ^.^

You'll need to find something round that fits inside the face of the owl and is a decent size. I used an E-45 tub! 

            

Place your chosen object onto the fabric and draw round,       you'll need two as we don't want to owl to have one eye!

See! He's starting to take shape now :)  

However what we need now is the beak! So grab a piece of material and place where you would like the beak to go

I used a gingham material as it helped me make straight lines (again this was freehand however you can use a ruler) draw the beak to how big you think it should be (making sure there's enough gaps between all the pieces of material as there will be stitching there. Cut out and place all the pieces of material where you want them situated on the owl...

Use the pins to keep the fabric in place to give you a great idea of how your owl will look :)

 We're also going to give this wee guy a bow-tie to make him all smart looking so what you will need for that is a piece of material, a strip of another type of material (or you can use the same if you wish) and thread. Cut the material into a rectangle depending on what size you want the bow-tie to be, make it slightly over the size you need it to be

Next fold over in half so the material is back to front and sew round the outside. Make sure to leave about an inch gap at the end so you can turn it inside out once done. I just used a running stitch for this, plus it doesn't matter how messy your sewing is as no one will see! YAY!

Push the material through the gap so it looks like this

Next sew the gap in which you pushed the material, You might want to push the edges of the material so there's a neat fold where you sew.

Now that you have your rectangle shape what we need to do now is make it look more like a bow tie! What you need to do is pinch together the fabric in the middle of the rectangle (you can be as accurate as you like - mine was slightly off centre!) and pin it so to keep it in place.

Next up what you need to do is sew through the folded pleats and pull it as tight as possible so the bow doesn't become loose. You can be as messy as you want with your sewing here too as we'll cover it up. Sew until you feel it's secure enough.

To make it look that wee bit neater, i wrapped a piece of black material round the middle to cover the sewing i done. This was just a small piece of material wrapped right round and secured at the back with some more messy sewing!

Right, so now we have made a fabulous bow (i made a matching one for my hair, i just attached a bobby pin and it's sooo cute!) all we have to do now is put the bits of material together and sew this mother!
  It's preferable to sew everything on the front before joining together the front and back of the owl as it's easier to get the detail on the sewing. I sewed all of this by hand which took me ages however i got the result i wanted. If you want to use a sewing machine then that'll work too :)
  I can't remember the stitch i used for this, im sorry! However i hope the photos below help you! Make sure everything is pinned down before sewing (i left the bow-tie til last!)

Okay! So that should be the front of the owl all sewn and looking braw! So we're on the home stretch now! YAY!!

                       
Turn the front of your owl over and match up with the other piece of fabric. Pin them together to keep them in place. Now sew along the line you drew earlier (the line you used for the outline - not the extra hem bit!) I used a backstitch for this as the fabric is alot heavier than the other bits of material, plus it also creates a stronger seam than the running stitch :)

Keep in mind to save about two to three inches so you can push the fabric through and make your owl the right way round!!!!

Once brought through the hole so you can see his pretty wee face, stuff him with the filling of your choice (not as in pie fillings!!!)

I used wadding for him to make him super cuddly, however if you wanted a beanbag effect, you can use the beanbag bean thingies.

I used the wadding from an old cushion which i didn't use anymore, so if you have any old cushions lying around, why not recycle them!

Once stuffed, sew up the gap you had left earlier, again i pushed the edged in and fixed with pins to keep it in place. Again for this i used a backstitch and tried to get it as close to the seam as possible. Make sure your gap is somewhere near the bottom of the owl so as to make it less obvious.

ET VOILA!!! You have your very own owl cushion. Now give yourself a pat on the back, grab a cup of tea and give him a cuddle :)

Hints and tips: 

 USE A THIMBLE - I had many a war wound during this due to the fact i never used a thimble. You don't have to go splashing out on one, you can normally pick one up in a cheap sewing kit you can get at supermarkets. Other wise you'll end up with a casualty like this.....

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

SWITCH IT UP - You don't necessarily have to give the owl a bow-tie, it could even be an apron!

If you're unsure about the stitching or are just a novice at sewing but REALLY want to make an owl visit this website for sewing tips;  http://sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/hand-sewing-basics 

If you are unsure about anything please feel free to contact me with any questions you have about this post.

ENJOY! :)