Hen Party Frivolities!!

It was my mum's surprise hen do yesterday that my auntie and I organised.  We decided to do an afternoon tea party and the best place to have it was at her house - so much secrecy and planning has been afoot to get her out of the house and back again with out her knowing where she was going!!  My sister in law deserves a medal for taking her on a very long convoluted route back home and getting her to keep the blind fold on until she walked in to her hall way when we removed it - and the look of shock and confusion will stay with me forever!!!!  Thankfully she was relieved and not disappointed we hadn't taken her somewhere more exciting and a great time was had by all!!!

I made a few cakes for the occasion and here they are in their full glory - even complete with willy confetti!!!

This one is a raspberry chocolate cake with raspberries and chocolate chips inside the chocolate sponge!!  Filled with buttercream and topped with raspberries.

This is a lemon drizzle cake 

This is an victoria sponge recipe but I added orange juice and zest to the cake and orange juice to the butter cream and also in the middle is orange curd.  I haven't tried this one (*blush* but have the others although I wasn't sure about the chocolate one so had to have another piece to be sure it was lovely!!! ) but am assured it was nice and orangey!

I also painted mum a mug with the date of the hen do on it but didn't take a picture - will get one when I see her next.

Mini Post

I've not got much to update at the moment but am back into crafting having got my knitting needles out! :)  Am in the process of making an elephant for Isaac but as I'm using up old wool he's going to have two odd legs as I've used up all the blue wool! Am contemplating whether to go for clashing colours or something more subtle!!

We are planning an extension to our house so am hoping to use my creative skills for that and will post pics as and when things get moving - its sooooooo slow at the moment!

On the cooking front not a lot has been happening as hubby had last week off and the involved spending quite a bit of time having lunch in the pub - not great for either the waistline or the wallet but you have to treat yourselves now and then.  Its my mums hen do at the weekend and baking will be occurring for that so will take some pics when its done

I'm baaaccck!!

Not that I've really been away!  I can't believe I haven't posted since the end of Feb.  March wasn't the best of months with illness for everybody and then the little man's birthday at the end of it and then some more illness after that - oh dear :(  But we all seem ok for now - well hubby has the startings of man flu but I'm hoping it will pass quickly and not spread.

I've not done an awful lot of crafting - I feel I've slightly lost my mojo and despite having a million and one ideas at the start of the year I have lost my inspiration.  I've got a few ideas in the pipe line but need to find some time to get on with them.  I have been cooking a bit here and there when I've had the energy but my Sunday morning baking sessions have suffered hugely from the start of the F1 season!! hehe  Anyway here are a few bits I've been up to:

So first things first this was the little mans birthday cake which I have to say I was very pleased with.  I made two plain sponges in a rectangular tin and then sandwiched together and cut them into the shape of a one (may have to think of  a different plan next year - 2's look difficult!!!).  I sandwiched them together with jam and buttercream - well actually I cheated because I had some Betty Crocker's buttercream left over from mothers day when I cheated some more *blush* and used this.  I used this again for the piping but mixed it with some green food colouring and then piped little stars all over the cake.  I think this gave a  better effect than I would have achieved with roll out icing.  I then added white chocolate stars and the little figures and candle.  

This is the result of a Sunday morning baking session in March.  Homemade bread, chocolate chip rock buns - which are amazing!!!  And cheese and marmite scones which I understand from the boys were also very good.  I also made some sweet potato soup which is lovely and comforting and some stodgy rice pudding - again for the boys!!  They really are spoilt! 

Hot cross buns whipped up in the breadmaker on Good Friday 

This is the result of last Saturdays baking session and is a combination of 1940's food for my mother in laws 1940's themed 70th birthday party - the red, white and blue cupcakes, the carrot cookies and the tea loaf - the two latter ones both being authentic 1940's style recipes.  And baby led weaning cooking - the carrot muffins - which I made in tiny muffin cases as my little man can never eat a whole muffin but could manage two of these little bites - and cheese straws which also went down very well. 

This is the patchwork cushion that I made my mother in law for her birthday which I have to say again I was quite pleased with having never done patchwork before and not following a pattern and making it up as I went along!! It is something I will definitely have another go at and I have a few ideas of what I want to make next. 

I've been wanting to make these for a while and have had empty plastic bottles kicking around for ages!!!  They are DIY skittles for my little man.  I filled each bottle with water and glitter/sequins and then added food colouring to three of them and a few drops of glycerine to them all to help the sequins/glitter move about in the water.  I wasn't organised enough as I would like to have had a bottle each of the three primary colours and secondary colours but didn't have any blue food colouring.  I thought this would be a good way for Isaac to learn his colours but he's still at the throwing them about stage and laughing at them when the fall over stage so I've got time to add a blue and purple one in and teach him colours!!!  I will probably in time also write the colours on the bottles for him.  I set them out like this in the living room while he was in the other room and he got upset as he wasn't allowed upstairs and then all of a sudden saw these and the tears stopped immediately and he went to investigate!!  A hit!!  They will be good for outside too if it ever stops raining!!!!!!

Today's baking session - no GP today so the boys were in luck!!  Today I did a Spanish Apple Cake from the BLW book which is lovely but not such a hit with Isaac who spat the apple lumps out!!  Maybe next time they could do with being a bit smaller so the little monkey doesn't realise they are there.  I wonder if its the texture of cooked apple he doesn't find appealing.  I also made cheese and lentil wedges from the BLW cook book - I'm not sure if it was the lack of cheese or I didn't cook them long enough but they were horrid and went in the bin - you can't win them all!! Then I made my infamous sausage rolls which have already taken a hit!!  I also made a bread pudding for hubby - can't stand the stuff myself and the making of it involves soaking bread in milk - yuk I really can't stand wet bread but he seems to like it and as he's paying the bills I guess I have to try and keep him happy!! hehe!!  The last thing I made was chocolate crunch - which is my mums recipe and something we had at least once a week as children and something she still cooks now when we all get together for a dinner.  I also made homemade custard for the first time ever.  I don't eat the stuff myself (I'm dairy intolerant and on a diet plus was made to sit in one lunch hour at school trying to eat a spoonful of banana custard by Mrs Lennon and it put me off for life!!!!!!) but hubby said it was much lighter and nicer than the bought stuff and was very easy so I will be making it again.  

Off to bed for me now and I will try not to leave it so long this time!! 

Sausage Rolls

No crafting this week - think I've run out of steam on that front at the moment!! lol!

Made this lovely batch of sausage rolls at the weekend though which I have been told by hubby are amazing (think they are quite nice myself!!) and so the batch I put in the freezer has already been taken out!  Very easy to make - fry some onion, apple (both cut up small) and some thyme with some oil and then mix into a pack of sausages taken out of their skins.  Then cut some rolled out puff pastry into strips and put the sausage mix into the pastry and roll up, sealing and covering the tops with a beaten egg and milk  Cook until brown - these are gorgeous.  The recipe is from the Hungry Innocent cook book which is one of the best I've ever read so would highly recommend.

In the brightly coloured pots is my deconstructed fish pie for the little one.  I baked some potatoes and scooped out the potato from the skins and mixed with some fish that I cooked in a pan, some peas and carrots left over from our roast and a cheese sauce.  He loved it - proper nursery food :)

Busy, busy, busy

I'm not sure if it's the fact I've been eating much better, been taking a good vitamin pill, that Isaac has got over his growth spurt/development leap/ill health/whatever it was that was making him a grumpy moo and has now gone back to being a content albeit mobile little sausage and is sleeping much better or that the sun has been shining and there are whispers of spring but my energy levels are very good at the moment and much crafting has been happening!!  Also despite the healthy eating so has some cooking.

Here is Sunday's results from a morning in the kitchen:

We had chicken, leek and bacon pie for dinner which was surprisingly easy to make.  Fried some leeks in oil and then added chicken thighs and bacon and fried for a bit and then added sweet potatoes and some thyme and two tablespoons of flour.  Then when this has cooked a bit add 200ml of stock and simmer for 20 mins.  Pop in a tin and top with puff pastry (shop bought - lifes too short!!) and cook for 50 mins.  

Also in the picture is a plum and apple crumble and Mary Berry's chocolate traybake - which is AMAZING!!!!!! This is an all in one chocolate cake topped with melted chocolate mixed with icing sugar - mmmmmmmm!!  There was enough to put half in the freezer.....ok I had to put half in there to stop me eating it all! 

Other bakes this week include two loaves of white bread (the Rachel Allen's honey wholemeal bread recipe - but I used all white flour for a change and this produced a much nicer loaf) and tuna croquettes for the little sausage - which he loved.....as did mummy!!  These were from the BLW cookbook - although I tweaked the recipe a bit.  I microwaved a couple of baking potatoes and scooped out the middles and mixed this with a tin of tuna, some lemon juice and a bit of marg.  I shaped these into small sausage shapes and covered in breadcrumbs (I always whizz up any stale bread into crumbs and freeze it so I always have some to hand - used these from frozen and they were fine)  I then popped them in the oven for 20 mins.  Isaac loved them and had them 3 days running!  They were great for him to feed himself with and also for me to break bits of to feed to him when he got lazy!! 

And so to the crafting...

I've finished my mothers day present - painted candle holders, which are baby food jars that I have painted with my new glass painting pens, which I have packaged up into chiffon bags and tied with raffia all things that I had in my craft box

I then found some flower pots in the garage that I had already painted:

 I had some booklets of decoupaged papers which I cut out and then stuck onto the pots with a mixture of PVA glue and water.  I am then going to put some little flowering plants in these nearer the time (so I don't kill them before the day arrives!!)

My last project of the week was to turn this broken mirror 

Into this for Isaac's birthday - its to hang on his wall.  I ordered some buttons and then used card and paper that I already had for the I and background.  I sanded the frame down after taking out the mirror and painted it with a light blue tester pot.  Really hope he likes it!!

Right next stop - my mums hen party invites although I have cheated with these and have bought some notelets that just need filling in!   I also cheated and bought a cake at a farmers market today so no baking for me tomorrow.....although might be making some sausage rolls! 

Food glorious food!

How is it Saturday again?!?!  Pretty sure I was going to get some crafting done this week but alas it doesn't seem to have happened.  But I have been thinking about things so I'm already to go once I get some free time - whatever that is!

I have however been busy in the kitchen.  Isaac's got his appetite back which is nice and despite hubby's best attempts to tempt us with take away before the end of the month we have resisted.  I made a white loaf of bread by hand on Tuesday - this was a Nigella recipe which worked surprisingly well (I have a love hate relationship with Nigella; I adore her domestic goddess book but some of recipes tend to be very hit and miss).  Thursday nights tea was HM wholemeal bread from the breadmaker (just sometimes there isn't time for all the kneading!  This was lovely though and I put the machine on and then we went down the road for our singing group and came back to the house smelling of freshly cooked bread - mmmmmmmm!!) and Rachel Allen's  Chorizo & Chickpea Soup.  This was blooming lovely - although I used thinly sliced Chorizo as I ordered the wrong thing from Asda and I only used about half a litre of stock (just vegetable stock powder) as that looked liquidy enough (ok the rest wouldn't fit in the saucepan!!!!!!) I also used passata  (my new addiction) and I realise now I didn't put the spinach in at the end - ooooops! Oh well it still tasted nice.

Last night we had my home made chinese.  This consists of homemade egg fried rice which my husband insists on making and prawn crackers.  I then make peanut noodles - soak noodles in boiling water while everything else cooks and then make the dressing:  tbsp of peanut butter, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and boiling hot water - I just do this by eye till there is about a third of a cup full.  Pour this over the noodles and then put in a pan and heat until the sauce goes all thick and bubbly.  I also do a chicken dish - cook some cubed chicken in olive oil and then take out and keep warm.  Fry spring onions, chilli and garlic for half a min and then put the chicken back in with some hoisin sauce, soy sauce and cashew nuts and heat until bubbly and then serve.  Again I don't use specific amounts but I do use the tubes of garlic and chilli (for everything - so very handy).  Generally if I am making this I will serve up the chicken and then put the noodles in the same pan so it catches up any left over peanut buttery loveliness.

Tonight we are having more peanut butter - love the stuff (although still too scared to give it to Isaac).  I've got chicken cubes marinating in peanut butter, curry powder, lemon juice, chilli sauce, soy sauce and a bit of garlic.  Will then cook in the oven (you can make them into kebabs on sticks) and then serve with lettuce in pitta bread with chips - can't wait.

Oh dear.....

Firstly a big hello to my followers!! wahooooo!!  Nice to not be wittering on to myself for a change!!!!!

Secondly - as if I didn't have enough craft ideas I've now discovered pininterest!!! OMG!  There's another way to waste a billion hours on the internet (again as if I didn't have enough - I said to hubby last night there is too much on the web for me to actually have a real life now! hehe!)  If I can work out how I will link this blog up to it and would like to link it all to facebook but that might be beyond my abilities (have you noticed I've still not worked out how to turn my photos round on here! and we all know that I go on the net to do something and end up doing a hundred and one other things instead!)

I've started on my mothers day presents - painting baby food jars to make into candle holders and am cutting out decoupage pictures to put on flower pots.  I've also had a minor panic that Isaac is one in less than 6 weeks - how the hell did this happen?!?!  I'm going to make him a button I to go on his door - have ordered the buttons from eBay and found a broken mirror that I am going to use as the frame....then there are the hen do invites to do and my mother in law cushions......really need to spend less time on the internet then don't I!! Damn pininterest!!!!!!