DIY Christmas Felt ‘Paper’ Chains
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: christmas, crafting, DIY, eco-friendly, felt, green, how to make, paper chains, recycle, tutorial 1 Comment
Remember making paper chains every Christmas when you were a child?
I’ve come up with a couple of variations for you! Here’s the first…
Felt ‘Paper’ Chains
Cut out felt strips approx 1/2 inch wide & 7″ long. I’ve made mine in two varying shades of pink as I intend to keep them up in my room but for a festive feel try green, red, silver & white felt.
Once you’ve cut up what you think is enough strips to start your chain (remember you can always add more) stop cutting!
Get one strip, join the ends with an approximate 1cm overlap and stitch together with either matching or contrasting thread, your choice.
Voila!
Pick up the next strip and thread through the first strip before stitching the ends together.
Repeat until your felt chain is at the desired length.
The beauty of making this felt Christmas ‘paper’ chain is that you can pack it away carefully & bring it out year after year!
The alternative paper chain idea I had is to use up old magazines, advertising leaflets (ie from supermarkets) & newspapers to make your paper chains instead of using tissue paper as is traditional. A good way to recycle!
Awesome Tutorials
Posted: November 5, 2011 Filed under: felt, Fox, friendship bracelets, garland, how to make, jumper, necklace, tutorial 3 CommentsI thought I’d share some of the fabulous tutorials I’ve seen dotted around with you in case you haven’t spotted them yourself..
This jumper is AMAZING!!! Um, also, this one isn’t actually a tutorial but if you pop over to Tiny Owl Knits you can buy the PDF pattern & make your own! If you can knit. Which I can’t!
How to sew all those fiddly felt bits without them going wonky over at Future girl!
A cute spool necklace tutorial over at Wild Olive.
Bright colourful friendship bracelets over at HonestlyWTF
Lovely necklace over at Elsie‘s…
And this gorgeous felt-leaf garland on Instructables.
I’m off work for a week so I might give the friendship bracelets a go… and maybe the leaf garland.
Have a great weekend,
Hugs, Caz x
Foodie Friday
Posted: September 16, 2011 Filed under: chilli con carne, Foodie Friday, how to make, recipe Leave a comment
Chilli Con Carne
You will need:
Onion
Garlic
Peppers
Mushrooms
Olive oil
Chilli powder
Ground cumin
Ground cinnamon
Kidney beans
Tomato passata
Minced beef
Sea salt
Black pepper
*Peel, deseed & chop your onions, garlic, mushrooms & peppers
*Pop a large pan (or Wok) on a medium heat. Put in a couple of glugs of olive oil & then chuck your vegetables in.
*Add all of your seasoning.. cinnamon, chilli powder, ground cumin, salt & pepper, adjusting to taste.
*Stir every so often for approx 5 minutes, then drain & add the kidney beans & the tomato passata.
*Add the minced beef, stir in to break down any large chunks.
*Whack the pan on to a high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking as the meat browns.
*After about 10 minutes check seasoning & then pop a lid on to simmer for 20/30 minutes (dependant on how impatient you are!)
Serve with rice, nachos or a jacket potato.
Scrumptious!
PS. Picture stolen from the BBC website & yes, that is chocolate that you can see! Adding a couple of squares of dark chocolate to chilli con carne or spaghetti bolognese gives it a smoother texture, a slightly richer taste, and a nice boost of antioxidants!
An Ode to Vegetables
Posted: September 3, 2011 Filed under: carrot, Claudia Pearson, courgettes, how to make, recipe, vegetables 3 Comments
At work today I had the most amazing flash-cooked yellow & green courgettes. Absolutely delicious! I also got quite excited about seeing a Borlotti bean pod for the first time! They are actually quite pretty… & the beans themselves are all shiny & smooth. I’ll try & take some photographs & share them with you.
I love these food-related illustrations by Claudia Pearson. If I owned my own house I think they’d look great framed & hanging up in the kitchen.
This picture on the Howies website made me giggle.. the carrot is huge!
Flash Courgettes:
You will need…
*courgettes (green & yellow preferably!)
*a fresh chilli
*garlic
*olive oil
1. Thinly slice the chilli pepper, removing any seeds. Thinly slice the garlic (use as much or as little as you like with both) & slice the courgettes.
2. Heat a glug or two of olive up in the pan, get it nice & hot & then drop in all of your ingredients. Be careful not to burn yourself!
3. Cook for approximately two-three minutes & then remove from the heat & serve.
So simple & so yummy!
Happy Saturday 🙂
Foodie Friday
Posted: September 2, 2011 Filed under: carbonara, food, Foodie Friday, how to make, Philadelphia, recipe 1 CommentThe Cheats Almost-Carbonara
You will need:
*Philadelphia
(or similar soft cheese)
*Cubed pancetta
(or diced bacon)
*Pasta
*Vegetables
(Traditionally carbonara isn’t served with many vegetables but I added spring onion, asparagus, yellow pepper & mushrooms)
*Parmesan
1. Boil the pasta according to packet instructions, drain & put to one side.
2. Dice pancetta or bacon if necessary.
3. Dice whatever vegetables you have chosen.
4. Put a dash of vegetable oil into a frying pan & put on a low heat.
5. Add the pancetta & vegetables to the pan, stirring occasionally.
6. After approximately five minutes add roughly 2 spoons of philadelphia, stirring to coat eveything.
7. Add the pasta to the pan, ensuring this is also coated. If not, add a little more philly, stirring through gently.
8. Season with pepper to taste & stir for a couple of minutes before removing from the heat.
9. Serve & grate with parmesan.
Yummy!
Bread 101 #2
Posted: July 24, 2011 Filed under: bread, Bread 101, cheese on toast, how to make, nutella, recipe, toast 1 CommentThe humble sliced loaf came in to being in 1928, invented by a chap called Otto Frederick Rohwedder. Smart guy! In 1943 it was actually banned in America from January till March. It has now become the convenient mainstay of the West.
I personally am not a fan of the sliced stuff unless it’s toasted. Because then it tastes completely different!
I am a HUGE toast fan.
Toast & *peanut butter (crunchy) *jam (blackcurrant or strawberry) *chocolate spread (Nutella is the King) *soft cheese (Philaedelphia, Boursin etc) *pate… sometimes just on it’s own, super hot, with lashings of butter. Mmmmmmm!
Cheese-on-Toast
You will need: Sliced bread, cheese, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Method:
Turn on the grill.
Slice enough cheese to cover two slices of bread.
Place bread under the grill. Toast one side then turn over & very lightly toast the other. Remove slices.
On the less toasted side arrange your cheese slices.
Place back under grill until cheese is bubbling.
Make sure you don’t burn the edges! When it is ready, remove toast from the grill & place on a plate.
Add a dash of L&P Worcestershire sauce.
Eat!
A little word about the cheese – it has to be a hard cheese as they melt perfectly. Think Cheddar or Double Gloucester.
Enjoy!
Foodie Friday
Posted: July 15, 2011 Filed under: chicken, Foodie Friday, how to make, recipe Leave a commentOven Baked Garlic & Herb Chicken in Parma Ham
You will need: chicken breasts, Boursin (or similar Garlic & Herb cheese), Parma ham (or bacon).
- Turn on oven & set to 200 degrees
- Place a slice of Parma ham into a shallow baking tray, then place a chicken breast on top.
- Open the slit up in the chicken breast & spread some Boursin into it. I usually put quite a thick spread on so that the chicken really absorbs the flavours.
- Wrap up the chicken with the Parma ham slice.
- Repeat with other chicken breasts.
- Cover tray with silver foil & pop in the oven for about 20 minutes.
- Once chicken is cooked remove foil & leave to crispen up the Parma ham, remove when browned.
Serving Suggestions: We had ours with homemade chips but try the chicken with a great salad or steamed vegetables & new potatoes.
Friday Fashion & Lasagne-how-to
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: earrings, Friday Fashion, how to make, jewellery, necklace, recipe, rings 2 Comments
(All pix sourced from weheartit)
This weeks Friday Fashion is all about jewellery… absolutely adore the last ring… amazing! Jewellery is all I can think about right now. I’ve made earrings all week & am now having to design 4 necklaces… 1 wedding necklace & 3 gifts that all have to be person-specific. Totally failing to do what I promised myself here I still haven’t bought a new battery for my camera but pix of the earrings will be here soon I promise!
I’m baking lasagne tonight for Drummer Boy & his daughter, Alia, which always goes down a treat… My version is dead simple, I make my own sauce but cheat on the white sauce step! You need…
Minced beef
Tomato passata
onions (or spring onions)
mushrooms (sssshhhhh, don’t tell Alia!)
lasagne sheets
streaky bacon
peppers
creme fraiche
parmesan
medium cheddar
garlic
vegetable oil
worcester sauce
black pepper
fresh basil
dried herbs – oregano, ‘italian seasoning’
Method: *Fry off chopped garlic & onion is vegetable oil (or sunflower or olive oil), add mince beef & brown. *Pour in tomato passata, add fresh basil & dried herbs, simmer… *Add roughly chopped streaky bacon… *Add sliced peppers & mushrooms… *Allow to simmer & thicken & add a good glug of worcester sauce. *Once meat sauce is ready spoon a layer into the bottom of an oven dish… layer over with lasagne sheets… *next spoon over a layer of creme fraiche & top with grated parmesan… *repeat until everything is used up then finish off with a top layer of grated cheddar & parmesan… *pop in the oven for roughly an hour et voila! Scrummy lasagne!
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