I know, it's been a long time since I blogged on here. I've been busy, I've been... yeah, yeah let's stop making excuses! I've just not been motivated to write on this blog - life has trundled along as it does. Health issues have taken a front seat and learning to eat  differently in order to give my poor body a fighting chance has been a challenge.

Despite it being a challenge it is one that I have begun to relish and to keep myself motivated on the food front I've been writing a new blog. I know, I know I'm a traitor to this poor little neglected blog. I'd like to say I'll resume this blog too but hand on heart I'm not sure. what I do know is that at the moment my other blog is taking all my spare time. It's all about the new healthier recipes I've been creating to fit in with my slimming World eating plan. If you're interested do feel free to take a look at Slim 'n' Tasty - my new blog.

Slim 'n' Tasty Slimming World friendly recipes.

I aim to keep this blog live for the time being - I love looking back nostalgically  at old posts myself. So I'll pop back every now and again just to update things a little - and who knows once I get my health back on track I may well find my motivation for the comfort of my Vintage Hearth returning.

Advent Calendar Box for Oxfam

I was recently contacted by ParcelHero and asked if I'd like to take part in their Advent Calendar Campaign for Christmas in collaboration with Oxfam. 

The idea was that I'd be sent
 a small blank wooden box to decorate and to put a small handmade gift inside.

In all 25 identical blank boxes were shipped to 25 bloggers from all over the world to be brought together and used to create an advent calendar which is being auctioned for charity with all proceeds going to Oxfam.

The brief was simple, to decorate the box inside and out in any way I chose and to include a small handcrafted gift in the box.

Initially my mind went blank when it came to decorating the box but I quickly decided that I wanted my gift to be inspired by my summer holiday to the Isles of Harris and Lewis. I had brought back some offcuts of Harris Tweed and knew I wanted to use some of these in the creation of my gift. I have also been experimenting lately with needle felting so I decided to use some Harris Tweed to create a little broach and to embellish it with needle felting and embroidery. For the actual design on the broach I was inspired by the colours of the Hebridean landscape.

Once the broach was completed I used a picture of  The Isle of Harris landscape to fasten it to.

Having made the gift to go in the box, my thoughts turned to the box itself. As this was to be part of an advent calendar I wanted it to look festive so decided to decoupage the box using some napkins from last year. They were festive colours of red and green with a touch of gold and what's more the design reminded me of a plaid tweed. I neatened the edges with red ribbon and a row of red sequins.

Turning to the inside of the box I painted the edges in a misty pale lilac colour then decorated the sides and the inside of the lid using overlapping patches of gauze in colours reminiscent of the frequently stormy skies on The Isle of Harris. The inside base was finished off with another piece of the same napkin used on the outside.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to contribute to this unique and inspired advent calendar and hope that it will raise lots of funds to help Oxfam in the war against poverty. 

You can find the E-bay auction here.

xxx

Linda

Once Upon a Basic Christmas...

A while between posts I know, but I'm out of excuses.  I'm feeling that life is too short to stress about the small stuff or to be honest about the any stuff! But I'll post as and when the mood takes me after all I'm not a career blogger - I blog for myself and if anyone is out there listening to my ramblings I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your virtual friendship because what I like about this here blogging lark is the support and kindness that comes from those who stumble upon my little space here and connect for a little while.

I've entitled this post "Once Upon a Basic Christmas" and feel it perhaps deserves a little explanation.When my dear children were young I was often strapped for cash, not just at Christmas, but of course those who struggle financially can find Christmas a rather large burden. You know though I like a challenge, in fact put me under pressure and I thrive - tell me I have all the time in the world and I'll take it - all of it! Tell me it needs to be done in the next 24 hours though and my little brain suddenly gets it's act together and I focus.

My previous marriage ended 5 weeks before Christmas when my then husband , who earned a reasonable wage, thought that it was acceptable to spend over 75% of his income down the pub - where incidentally he also spent every night and weekend afternoons! 

I walked out of the marital home with my children and a couple of bin bags of clothes ( I never looked back and have never regretted it for an instant) but faced with a rapidly looming Christmas holiday and 4 children  well, tell me about pressure! We initially moved back to my parent's home - they took me and my children in borrowing camp beds from friends and rearranging sleeping arrangements. We were lucky to manage to rent a furnished property quite quickly and moved into our own little refuge with 3 weeks to go to Christmas. 

Even if I do say so myself we did wonders on a literal shoestring! That and the subsequent financially strapped years taught me much about how to celebrate on a shoestring.

So... 

... motivation prevailing my next few posts will give some tips on how to not only survive but thrive a meltdown Christmas. (Also useful for a general thrifty Chrimbo too!) 

Hommity (ish!) Pies with a Wholemeal Olive Oil Pastry - Yum!!!

Autumn...

that must mean time for comfort food, and what is more comforting than a pie?

Pie!!!

Mmmm, economical, delicious and healthy.

Okay, maybe healthy is debatable but I think my version of Hommity Pies is perhaps, a healthier pie than most. Having just the one crust, the base, it almost halves the amount of pastry in the first place, but then the pastry is made with wholemeal flour and olive oil. Yes I kid you not the fat used in this pastry is olive oil giving you a pastry where the fat content is a healthy monounsaturated oil as well as a pastry that is easy peasy to make too.

Made mainly from leftovers this frugal pie is warming wholesome and comforting - perfect autumn fare.

According to one t'interweb source Hommity Pies contain a filling of potatoes onion and leek, but I utilised leftover potatoes and vegetables from the previous evening's meal, so the vegetables in my pies included carrots and broccoli, hence my title Hommity-ish pies.

 Hommity - ish Pies

Ingredients:

Pastry:

8oz (225g) wholemeal flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

5 tbsp olive oil

5 tbsp cold water

Filling:

1 medium onion - chopped

1 garlic clove -  finely chopped

1 tsp olive oil

Leftover cold potatoes chopped into 1/2 inch cubes. 

Leftover cooked vegetables chopped into small pieces.

( If you don't have any suitable leftovers you can cook the potatoes and veg especially for the dish, just use up what you have!)

4oz (100g) grated cheese.

Splash of milk

Salt and pepper to taste.

To Make the Pastry

Mix the wholemeal flour, baking powder and salt together and then make a well in the centre.

Add the water and the oil then mix into the flour - I used  a fork for this and it worked well. When all the liquid is combined with the flour bring together the resulting dough with your hands. At this point you could roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut into 4" rounds, but I chose to divide the dough into 6 small balls and use my hands to flatten them into circles to fit my tin. Line your pie tins.

I rather liked the rustic look that this gave to my pie cases.

Filling

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute until soft but not coloured. Remove from the heat and in a bowl mix the onion and garlic with the potatoes and vegetables. Add half the cheese and a splash of milk and mix well to combine all the ingredients.Taste and add seasoning if necessary.  Fill the pastry cases and then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven at 220C Gas mark 7 for 20 minutes until golden.

I prefer these pies warm rather than hot so I cool them on a rack for a little while before serving, they are however also delicious cold.

Proving that a self catering holiday can be relaxing for all!

We've been on holiday to The Isle of Lewis in The Outer Hebrides, and what a long journey home we had - setting off at 9a.m to arrive home at 10:50 pm!

Waiting for the ferry!

As usual we self catered and I had it planned like a military operation - lol!

It was my holiday too and the last thing I wanted was to feel I was stuck in the kitchen making endless meals. To prevent this I've found that a little forward planning can make a self catering holiday fun and relaxing for everyone including the usual chief cook and bottle washer.

First off I make a list of all the meals we'll need while we are away including breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals. I always plan for one evening to be a take-away and another to be a treat meal out. 

Armed with my list of meals I then menu plan, keeping things simple. Now if you read this blog regularly you will know that my usual way of cooking is from scratch, but on holiday I make an exception. For example a curry planned for one evening, but using good quality jars of curry sauce where the only prep is slicing up and frying off some chicken breasts before adding the sauce and using those pre prepared packs of microwave rice and long life naan breads.  

I do this well ahead of time and then write a list of all the non perishables I will need. These are then bought over several weeks or even months and packed away ready to take with us. I take with me a separate list of perishables to buy in a single shop once I get to our holiday destination. 

This may seem like a lot of work but it is all done ahead of the holiday, I also do a bit at a time so it doesn't feel at all onerous, in fact, I really rather enjoy this pre planning stage. Once on holiday, apart from an initial quick shop, I don't need to worry or think about meals. The preparation for the meals is minimal never taking more than 15 easy minutes of my time.

Do you go self catering? If you do, how do you plan?

I've reproduced this year's lists below to give you some idea of how I plan.

Pre buy Essentials Tea Bags Coffee Sugar Salt Pepper Tomato Ketchup Butter (Stored in fridge till we go then in cool bag) Squash Spray Oil LL Milk Breakfasts Jam (Honey and marmalade!) Cereal Packed Lunches Canned Tuna Canned Meats  Cheese Part baked bread (LL Vac Packed) Main Meals Curry & Rice with Naan Breads Jar Curry Sauce Packet Rice LL Naan Bread Pesto Pasta with Chorizio Jar Pesto Wholewheat pasta Chorizio Tortillas and taco's Tortilla kit (mix, wraps, salsa) Tacos Chinese Packet Egg Fried Rice Blue dragon sauce sachets Pizza Pizza bases Tomato pasta sauce for topping Sunday Dinner Gravy Processed peas

Buy When There Essentials Milk Bread Additional Butter Breakfasts Bacon Black Pudding Square Sausage Tomatoes Orange Juice Packed Lunches Crisps Main Meals Bagged salad Garlic bread Mince (for tacos) Chicken (for fajitas, curry & Chinese) Sour cream Onions Grated cheddar Grated Mozarella Chinese stir fry veg Prawn Crackers Prepared potatoes for Sunday Prepared Veg for Sunday Cooked Chicken (Sunday Dinner and Packed Lunches) Pre cooked Yorkshires Yogurts Snacks Peppers

A Duet of Sausages

Now that I am working part time, frugality and thriftiness are a necessity, whilst embracing the need to be careful I don't necessarily like "cheap" especially when it comes to sausages. Do you remember that several years ago there was a huge furore over one of the big supermarkets selling value sausages at 16p for 8? Yes really 2p each! The downside was the actual meat content was only 34%. That is a sausage composed largely of rusk and water - not for me - sorry!

Both me and the hubby love a great British banger! 

At farmer's markets around the country artisan sausage makers ply their wares - delicious, juicy meaty bangers, just as they should be, but at a price!

Homemade sausages for breakfast!

I'm not entirely new to sausage making myself having bought a "Sausage King" sausage making kit way back in the early 1980's. The set consisted of a hand held sausage stuffer, some collagen skins, a couple of packets of flavouring mix and some rusk. Despite trying repeatedly to make passable sausages, I had limited success. The sausages were too dry (100% lean meat does not make a good sausage!) or  poorly flavoured and the collagen skins seemed tough - that is they did when they didn't burst leaving an unholy mess in the pan! Needless to say the sausage stuffer was relegated to the back of a box and largely forgotten.

Recently my thoughts have returned to sausage making - I'm older and (questionably) wiser, so I felt in the mood to resurrect the sausage stuffer and try again.  I  bought some natural hog sausage skins from good old EBay - not a large quantity, but enough for a few experiments.

I began with a google search for recipes - mainly to get an idea for proportions of ingredients. My first revelation was that water needed to be added to the sausage mix to keep it moist. I hadn't added water to any of my experiments in the 80's. I wanted to use ready minced meat, and knew though that it needed a proportion of fat, so I made sure that I didn't choose the extra lean stuff.

I had a pack of organic saddleback pork from a local farm supplier which weighed 435g so armed with a calculator I deemed that I needed 87g of some sort of filler, 7g of herbs, 4g pepper, 2g salt and 87ml water.

I decided to use homemade wholemeal bread as a filler and I have copious amounts of sage growing in pots so I popped the bread and the sage together in the food processor and whizzed them into sage flecked breadcrumbs. The recipes I had found on t'interweb tended to specify white pepper, but I only had black pepper so that is what I used. Everything was thoroughly mixed together just using my hands. A little bit of the mixture was then fried off and tasted to check for seasoning - I deemed it perfect. It was slightly spicy from the quantity of black pepper so I named this batch "Spicy Pork Sausages". The mixture was stuffed into the soaked hog casings and twisted into links.

Homemade Spicy Pork sausages.

Flushed with my apparent success and having quite a bit of hog casings left over I wanted to try more. Not having any more fresh minced meat in the house however I raced off to the local butcher. At this point I was thinking  - beef with Stilton and Moroccan lamb.

Unfortunately there was no lamb mince to be had so I satisfied myself with the purchase of 500g minced beef. Once back home I once again consulted the all wise google to see what the recommended proportion of Stilton cheese is in a sausage. The consensus seemed to be about 40g to 500g meat. Now my dear hubby loves Stilton sausages but his usual complaint is that there is insufficient Stilton in them. With this in mind I decided to up the quantity of Stilton to 60g. I also added a chopped onion fried sweated down in a little butter.

Once I'd fried a little taste I deemed there was still not enough Stilton so upped it by another 10g. After another taste, I upped it by 10g again so I used 80g of Stilton in total. 

Homemade Beef & Stilton sausages.

Were they both a success? You bet they were. We both had two of each flavour for tea served on a mound of colcannon (mashed potato and cabbage) with onion gravy. Hubby did ask however, that I include a little more Stilton next time!

What about the costs?

Spicy Pork Sausage

435g Organic Pork Mince  (£2.90)

87g Breadcrumbs  (10p)

7g Sage  (Homegrown so free)

5g Pepper & 2g Salt (Costed at 5p - though doubt it would be that much)

87ml Water

Hog casings (66p)

So £3.76, and the weight of the finished sausages was 600g so £6.26 per kg

Beef & Stilton Sausages

500g Beef  (£3.85)

100g breadcrumbs (10p)

7g Sage (free) 

1 Small Onion (10p)

5g Pepper & 1tsp Salt (5p)

80g Stilton (94p)

100ml water

Hog casings (66p) 

So £5.70, and the weight of the finished sausages was 800g so £7.12 per kg

Comparable sausages tend to be around about the £7.50 per kg mark - so whilst there is a saving in monetary terms it is not a massive saving. However, you do know exactly what has gone into the making of these sausages and that is as important to me as the price.

Home Made Stuffing

Sage and onion stuffing. So quintessentially British and generally loved by all...

...well not quite all, as personally I've never been a fan.

Now, I'm not sure what I disliked - the texture? The flavour?

I like onions and I like sage, but somehow sage and onion stuffing has never had an appeal...

till now!

What's changed?

Quite simply I had never made it from scratch before having always used the dried packet mix. Every time I've been offered it by anyone else too, it has been made from a packet. I think that because I rarely ate it myself it had never occurred to me to make it from scratch until that is, last Sunday.

Being only the two of us for Sunday dinner (and coming from the North East where a Sunday roast is seen as obligatory) I didn't feel the need to do a full roast chicken. Having some chicken thighs in the fridge I decided they would do fine as the "roast". Having decided on the thighs I chose to skin and bone them and wrap them in bacon for cooking.

Problem number one came when I went to get the bacon out of the fridge to wrap around the thighs. Uh oh!!! No real rashers left, just a few straggly end bits. So I thought - oh well, I'll pop a bit of stuffing in the centre - sage and onion for hubby and perhaps defrost a sausage from the freezer for myself?

Problem number two: No sage and onion stuffing mix and no sausages. (I've been a terrible housewife lately!).  

Then a light bulb moment - how hard can it be to make stuffing? A quick google gave the answer - not very. Once I had the basis of a recipe it also made me think that there was nothing in there not to like - I rather liked the sound of the home made stuff. I also had all the ingredients - a rather forlorn lone wholemeal pitta bread - to make into crumbs, onions, an egg, and plenty of sage in a pot outside.

I began by whizzing up the pitta bread and a dozen sage leaves in the food processor until I had herb flecked breadcrumbs.

.I chopped two small onions and allowed them to gently sweat in a teaspoon of butter for about 15 minutes.

Added the onions and egg to the breadcrumbs and sage.

Seasoned well with salt and pepper and gave it all a thorough mix.

Then stuffed chicken thighs and popped the scraggy bits of bacon on the top just to keep them moist.

I must say they were lovely and made a very frugal alternative to a roast chicken. I used five thighs and there was plenty left to use in sandwiches the next day.

And have I changed my mind about sage and onion stuffing - you bet I have!

In my blogging absence, life itself has continued along it's merry way. Some ups, some downs and a little meandering along the way. Though by far the best thing that has happened is the birth of a second granddaughter!

Meet Catherine...

...born on 2nd June which was incidentally the day of my son's 40th birthday!

 

Flic is over the moon to finally be a BIG sister.

 

 

Whilst waiting for Catherine's arrival I did manage a few little makes for her including a patchwork blanket backed with fleece. I felt honoured when my daughter chose to take it into hospital with her as baby's first blanket. You can just see a little peek of it at the bottom of the top photograph.

 

I was so thrilled to see comments in my last post welcoming me back, it's been so long that I thought I'd be blogging to myself for a while. Thank you so much for remembering me. If I needed any encouragement to get back into blogging it is knowing that the blogging community is filled with such wonderful caring souls.

 

xxx 

The number of times I've wanted to come back...

...you wouldn't believe it!

There has never been:

• The right time - (whatever or whenever that may be!)
• Anything to say
• Enough time - (though you'd think wouldn't you that if I had nothing to say I'd maybe have time to say it in, or conversely that if I had no time there's something going on that I could say!)
• The energy!!! 
• The confidence that what I have to say might in any way interest anyone.

And in that last sentence perhaps lies more than a grain of truth. 

Upon reflection however, I have on several occasions, perused my older blog postings and they have provided me with some lovely reminders of times that I might otherwise have forgotten. An online photo diary of the often trivial but nonetheless happy interludes in my life. Re-reading them made me smile and reminded me of happy times. Though sometimes posts were less positive and these reminders were sad, the supportive comments I received on these posts were uplifting. 

I think what I'm trying to say is that even if  no one else ever read my blog other than myself there would be an intrinsic value in it's continuation.

I think the time has come...
to resume at last!

Low Fat- Low Sugar Iced Cappuccino - Look no Syns!!

Summer is well and truly upon us, and isn't it glorious this year?

Cool drinks are an essential in this beautiful hot weather not only to cool  us down but to keep us hydrated. I don't know about you, but I still need my little coffee fix now and again though hot coffee isn't so appealing when the sun is shining. 

Enter the iced coffee!  

When I saw the Mullerlight yogurt in Skinny Cappuccino flavour, with dark chocolate bits, my immediate thought was "Oooh iced coffee!"  So having purchased a couple I set about experimenting.

I didn't want to use up any syns or healthy extras (those familiar with Slimming World will understand what I mean here) so with the thought that the Indian yogurt drink lassi is made by diluting yogurt with water I decided to try that first. I tipped the yogurt into a jug and added an equal quantity of water and a small handful of ice cubes. I blended using my stick blender then tasted. 

I often find the Mullerlight yogurts too sweet for my taste and this was definitely the case here - it tasted overly sweet with only a hint of the coffee flavour that I wanted. I tried adding a teaspoon of instant coffee and re-blended. 

Mmmm, better, but still the balance between coffee and sweetness was not quite right. 

Another teaspoon of coffee added ...

...yes!!!

Just right.

Syn Free Low Fat Low Sugar Iced Cappuccino.

I 165g tub of Mullerlight Skinny Cappucino Yogurt

Use the empty tub to measure an equal volume of water

A handful of Ice Cubes

2 teaspoons of Instant Coffee

Blend together with a stick blender - serve!

South African Seed Bread - Bread for a Diabetic Diet.

As a type 2 diabetic I can't eat white bread without my blood glucose levels soaring. Wholemeal bread is a little better but not a lot, so, I was very excited to discover the recipe for South African Seed Bread in Anthony Worrall Thompson's GI Diet Book.

The bread is extremely low GI due to the quite large amount of seeds in it. I adapted the recipe slightly as I only had sunflower seeds and linseeds,  the original recipe calls for both these seeds but also for pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, so I just doubled the quantities of the two types of seed I had available. I don't usually include sugar or fat in my bread recipes so I also left out these two ingredients. I also had no wheat bran in so I just upped the amount of flour. The bread is quite a dense bread as you might expect,  but in my opinion, that is how a wholemeal bread should be. It has a delicious almost nutty flavour to it and the seeds give it an interesting texture, but best of all,  it doesn't cause my blood glucose level to spike.

It is super easy to make and requires no kneading so no excuse for not giving it a go!

My Adaptation of South African Seed Bread

Makes 2 Loaves.

700g Wholemeal Flour

2tsp Fast action dried yeast

100g Sunflower seeds

100g Linseeds (So long as you use 200g of seeds in total I don't suppose it matters too much which seeds you use.)

1 tsp salt

600ml hand hot water. (I use 1/2 and 1/2 boiling water and cold water mixed together and find the temperature about right)

Grease 2 900g loaf tins. Mix the flour, seeds, yeast and salt together in a bowl. Add the water and mix to a soft dough. Divide the mixture between two tins and leave to rise until the mixture reaches the top of the tins. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C / Gas Mark 6 and bake for approx 40 mins until nicely browned. To check they are cooked turn them out of the tins and tap the bottom of the loaf - it should sound hollow.

A note about rising - you do not have to have heat for bread to rise. It will rise faster in a warm place, but you can even rise your dough in the fridge if you give it long enough. I find a tip I was given years ago to place the dough in a clean plastic bin bag works well every time.

Summer souper day!

Soups are not just for winter. Indeed a light soup on a summers day can be the perfect lunch. It is also such an economical way to use up all that wonderful  seasonal produce which is so cheap right now. 

When I think of soup in winter I think of hearty broths, thick with starchy vegetables and pulses, but when I think soup in summer the first to spring to mind is tomato soup. Not that thick orange gloup that comes in tins but a home made fragrant melange which captures the warmth and sweetness of summer sun. 

A summer soup should also be quick and simple to prepare,  after all you don't want to spend hours in a hot kitchen when our all too fleeting British summer is here.

A soup such as this Roast Tomato and Pepper Soup fits the bill so well.

This recipe is so easy to make; it practically makes itself.

Into a roasting tray bung some tomatoes (I used half a dozen, but you use however many you have.) One or two red peppers, deseeded and chopped into largish chunks. A medium onion peeled and cut into quarters. Two peeled cloves of garlic and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme. Sprinkle with a little olive oil - a teaspoonful or so will do and then roast in a hot oven for about 20 minutes or so.

Meanwhile pop the kettle on and make up about a pint of vegetable stock - I like the Marigold stock powder, but you can use good old stock cubes or better still any home made stock you might have.

When the veg are nicely roasted showing some lovely caremelised bits and one or two slightly charred edges, tip them into a saucepan. Add the stock and then blitz with a hand blender. Reheat gently and serve. I topped ours off with a little swirl of natural yogurt and a few fresh thyme leaves.

A perfect summer lunch!

P.S. Just edited to say that I have just signed up for Betty the Wood Fairy's- From My Home To Yours Swap. It's open till the 20th June for sign ups, so there's still time to pop on over and join in the fun.

The Vintage Footstool a Makeover Production!

After staying at this gorgeous little cottage in February and cosying up on an evening with my feet propped on a footstool, I've been hankering after one all of my own. As you might realise, I'm not one for just popping out to the nearest overpriced, poor quality, new furniture emporium - oh no!

I prefer to wait and pop the desired item on the little list of desirables, which I keep in my head, to remind me to keep an eye out on forays to charity shops, car boot sales and their ilk.

Okay, you're not going to get instant gratification that way, but you will get something which is well made and generally different to the run of the mill offerings in the high street. Not only that but it will set you back a mere pittance in comparison. 

Besides I like the thrill of the chase. I love having a purpose when I trawl through the charity shops or wander round the car booty, it makes me happy. I think I get as much out of the search as I do from the purchase and any subsequent tinkering that is necessary - though maybe that's just me?

Back to the footstool.

I think my heart gave a little skip when I spied the item below tucked at the back of a charity shop on a day out to Whitby.

 

It looked as though it had been through a lot. It was scratched with lots of paint splashes on it's once pristine cover, but it was structurally sound and I have loved these little stools with their wooden turned legs since I was a child. (No idea why - I just do!) 

 

I knew I had found my footstool, but would it prove too costly? Well at £3.50 that would be a no!

So he was brought home, an unloved scraggy little thing, but with potential - oh yes - oodles of potential.

To realise that potential I took inspiration from an old Ebay purchase, the seemingly never ending Indian Wall Hanging, featured here and again here and then again here.

Yes! there is still some offcuts left.

The top just lifted off and after I'd removed it I sanded the wooden frame. I then refinished the frame with several coats of Danish Oil. While I like many of the painted finishes that I see around today, I still prefer a nice wood finish. Danish Oil is my finish of choice as it's fantastically easy to use, after sanding back the wood you simply rub it on using a soft cloth. Leave it to dry, when you will see that at first it appears to all sink into the wood. Repeat this several times until It no longer seems to sink in as it dries but leaves a lovely soft sheen on the surface. I used five coats on the footstool, but as I said because you just wipe it on with a cloth it's simple.

I then used an offcut of the aforementioned never ending Indian Wall Hanging, which I simply cut slightly larger than the top and wrapped it over pulling it tight to the rear of the pad and stapling it. Popped the top back on and...

...the finished article.

 The £3.50 footstool...

...I love it!

A Fakeaway! Low Fat, Slimming World Friendly, Chinese Curry.

Since my diagnosis with diabetes, I have had to make some permanent changes to my diet.

Many people think that a diabetic just needs to avoid sugar, but it's not that simple. All carbs are converted to glucose by the body, so I need to limit all carbs. Through trial and error I have confirmed that, for me at least, carbs in their whole food form affect my blood glucose levels less. So for example I have no longer use white pasta choosing wholemeal pasta instead, similarly I now choose brown rice. 

One of the best things you can do to help control diabetes is to maintain a healthy weight.

http://diabetes.healthprobs.com/control-diabetes-healthy-diet/

Admission Time!!!

My weight had steadily increased with my years to the point that when I was diagnosed with diabetes I was officially classed as obese. Since then I have been steadily changing the way I eat. I don't like to call it a diet, that implies that there will be a point when I go back to the way I ate before, I can't do that. The changes need to become a way of life if I want to slow down the progress of this disease. I turned back to Slimming World as I have lost weight using their food optimising method in the past and I knew it worked. I also knew that this is meant to be a lifetime eating plan, not some quick fix and as such no food is actually banned. (As soon as I know a food is banned I tend to crave it! Psychological I know, but a problem nonetheless.) 

I am getting there slowly, things are improving and I am learning all the time. I am managing to keep my blood glucose under control with only one or two blips, but each blip is a learning experience where I think: "Ooops better not eat that again!"

I am now merely "overweight", out of the obese category, but still a way to go.

I love Chinese takeaways, especially the House Special Curry - but it doesn't fit on a couple of counts. 

• It contains monosodium glutamate - an additive that I have long tried to avoid.
• It is high in fat, so not conducive to losing weight.
• It is served with white rice, this makes my blood glucose level soar!

Well not to be beaten I have formulated my own recipe. It is free of MSG, low fat, and at only 3 syns for the whole recipe on Extra Easy will fit in with a Slimming World eating plan. 

Low Fat, Slimming World friendly, Chinese House Special Curry with Diabetic Friendly Fried Rice.

Excuse the quality of the picture, I've just got a new (to me) camera and I'm not sure of it yet!

For the curry sauce:

A non stick pan (important - this lets you "fry" off the curry paste without it burning.)

Fry Light Spray

1 heaped tablespoon curry powder

A clove of garlic finely chopped.

2 teaspoons grated ginger.

300 ml chicken stock (I just used an organic stock cube to make this).

3 teaspoons cornflour (3 syns).

In a small bowl combine the  curry powder, garlic and ginger and mix to a smooth paste with a tablespoon of cold water. Spray your pan with the fry light then add the paste. Keep stirring and moving the paste around the pan so that it toasts nicely, continue for about 2 minutes. Now add a splash of your stock and stir furiously until it is incorporated into the paste without lumps. Repeat with another splash of stock, then add the whole of the rest of the stock. Stir well to disperse and lumps and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, mix the cornflour with a little cold water until smooth. Making sure that you stir constantly add the cornflour mixture to the simmering curry and keep stirring till it thickens. Once it has thickened take it from the heat. At this point I generally pop it into a clean saucepan so I can use my non stick frying pan for the next stage.

The "House Special" bit.

Here's where you make it your own!

Fry light
1 Onion chopped into large pieces
Any other ingredients of your choice prepared how you like them, today I used:
1/2 an uncooked chicken breast finely sliced.
A handful of frozen prawns defrosted.
1/2 a bag of stir fry veg mix comprising carrot, pepper and cabbage.

Spray your frying pan with fry light and place on the heat. Add the onion and any uncooked meat or prawns. Stir fry quickly until the meat is cooked. Throw in any additional veg and continue to stir fry for 3-4  minutes. Add in any cooked meat or prawns and stir fry for another minute. Tip the whole lot into your curry sauce and heat up together. Wipe out the pan to make the fried rice.

"Fried" Rice

Cooked white or brown rice if you are cooking for a diabetic.
1 - 2 eggs depending how much rice you are using.
Fry light
Soy sauce

Spray the pan with fry light and put on the heat. Break the egg/s directly into the pan and immediately break the yolks and begin to stir fry them. You don't want to make scrambled egg here, the aim is just to give the eggs a bit of a stir so that they end up as small cooked pieces. Add the rice and stir fry with the eggs till warmed through. Sprinkle with a little soy sauce and mix thoroughly to distribute it throughout the rice.

Done!

 

As you can see my "House Special" contains a lot more veg than your average takeaway curry so it's also healthier for you in that respect and I really love the added crunchy texture that the veg adds to the curry.

Use it!

Can I ask you a question? 

Do you use your vintage wares?

I use this and it's matching coffee and tea counterparts on a daily basis.

I ask you this because earlier this week I narrowly prevented my dear hubby from buying me a very expensive present.

Now yes, I can hear you laughing and thinking, "Why on earth would you prevent your husband buying you an expensive gift?"

The answer to that lies in the nature of the gift itself. He had shown me a very beautiful set of silver Art Nouveau buttons on Ebay and asked if I liked them. I answered honestly saying that they were very beautiful. 

The next day, on my return from food shopping, he was sitting at the computer and said "You did like these buttons, didn't you" 

"Yes." was my simple reply.

"Oh good, because I've bid on them."

I think at this point my face rather dropped, "How much?" I asked.

"£105." He replied.

"How much!!!!"

Well after picking myself up off  the floor his face did begin to look a little crestfallen. 

"Don't you want them?"

Well no, I didn't and certainly not at that price. Beautiful though the buttons were, they were buttons! I would never dare to use them at that price, so as they weren't usable, I most definitely didn't want them at any price. I explained this as gently as I could, but I could see he felt more than a little hurt by my reaction, but it's not as if we are rolling in money and to be honest we urgently need far more practical things, like a new kitchen. (Ours is ancient and dropping to bits!). 

He did see my point of view and crossed his fingers that he would be outbid, which thankfully he was with 5 seconds to go!

This brings me back to my initial question.

I love vintage homewares, but I see no point in them if I can't use them. 

I love old Durham Quilts and vintage cotton sheets and pillowcases, but they get used.

 I love vintage china and tea trays, but they get used.

I love vintage objects for the home, but I like to display and use them.

So over to you. Do you like your vintage items to have a practical use? Do you use your vintage wares?

String "Quilt" Patchwork Tutorial

As promised in my last post, here's how I used up some of my scraps to make this set of cushions for my granddaughter.

Sort out the scraps of fabric you are going to use and cut them into strips. They don't have to be uniform, the width doesn't matter, in fact using a variety of different widths is both interesting and enables you to use up a variety of sizes of scraps. You don't want the strips too wide however, I think a maximum of 2" is probably about right.

Begin with a piece of paper the size that you want your finished block to be. In true recycling fashion I used squares cut from an old Argos catalogue as the base of each of my blocks. 

Choose your first strip, one that will fit across your paper backing from corner to corner and lay it across the backing paper, right side up.

Choose a second strip (ensuring it is long enough to cover both sides of the backing paper) and place it right side down on top of the first strip. Machine stitch it to the first strip.

Fold back and iron it flat. Add another strip in the same way.

Agin fold it back and iron. In this case the whole of one side of the paper backing is covered. As the width of strips vary you may need to repeat this until the backing is covered.

Repeat on the opposite side of the first strip.

Repeat until the whole of the backing paper is covered. As you can see the strips really don't have to be uniform, I personally think that it looks better with a more random selection of widths.

Turn the whole thing over. (Ooops! As you can see my sewing is far from perfect, but it still seems to work ok, it's a very forgiving method.)

Line up a ruler with the side of the paper backing.

Use a rotary cutter to trim off the excess fabric.

Back view.

Front View

Turn to the back and tear off the paper backing.

Give it a final press with the iron.

Et Voila - Your first block!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, it is a brilliant way to reuse and recycle. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will try and answer as best I can.

Linda xxx