Ok so it's been a Loooooooonnnnngggggg time since I last blogged!! 

I haven't really been making baking or blogging for a while due to the birth of my baby boy last September. The last year or so has just disappeared and he has been my world. We are now starting to get into a bit of a routine and I'm trying to use his nap time productively (and not always cleaning!!) so it makes sense that any makes I do make will be baby related for a while. I set myself a bit of a mission to make a cozy toes for his pushchair. I couldn't find a pattern and as you can tell from my previous post I have no experience of this sort of project but I set myself to it and this is the result.

You really dont want to zoom into the photo. (Don't even think about it ;-) ) as it is really rough around the edges and I can't give you any directions on how I made it as I dont really know but it fits the pram and it's warm and cozy and well it will do the job. Even though I could make an endless list of  the things that went wrong and the mistakes that I've made but in the end I am really happy with my efforts and proud that I have made a usable product! 

A Christmas make for my VW mad brother.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I can make for my brother for Christmas and following the success of my previous sewing projects I figured that it made sense to add another sewing project to my belt.

After a lot more thought and a lot of head scratching I decided that with his splitty being repainted ready for the summer he would need some new cushions go on his rock and roll bed. I wanted to find some fabric with campers on but that looked retro and subtle this was harder than I had expected as all of the fabric that I could find was wacky to say the least. I did however finally find the perfect thing.

So with my book in hand I set off to produced my first zipped cushions. And I think that he liked them as then asked if I wanted to help fit out the rest of the van! 

Sewing Fun!!

Sewing Fun!!!

On the 6^th of November I had my first ever sewing lesson with an old friend and ex colleague Sarah Waghorn who runs a company called i.make (https://www.facebook.com/i.makehomedecor) she welcomed me into her home along with a friend and current colleague of mine. We had a lovely evening and were made to feel very welcome, there were a few giggles alongside a few frustrated groans and the night was an overall success.

 At this time I had kindly been given a sewing machine by John’s mum but I did not have the pedal and therefore no power, it wasn't until the evening of November  14^th that I received the bits that I needed to get the machine working. 

During the evenings of that week I spent my time tinkering and testing my new machine and developing skills. I found out whilst at Sarah’s that I could sew a lovely straight line but curves weren't my thing. so I spent my time practicing this on John’s old shirts and sewing bits of fleece onto old fabric.

Before my lesson I had ordered a book from Amazon called 'Sewing Machine Basics' I had been reading it for a little while now so I decided to go ahead with my first project the envelope cushion cover. I cut up an old quilt cover and set to it. I completed the cushion cover very quickly and was surprised how easy it was it didn't even look that bad ;-)

I had already decided that I wanted to make my Mum an apron for Christmas and this happened to be project 3 in the book. So I cut up some more of my old quilt to start practicing. I got about half way through when I decided that I was going to go for it and start the real thing. I ordered the fabric from the internet then set off into town to pick the bindings and thread. I made the apron without any real dramas and it looks really impressive (even if I do say so myself) I felt soo proud of my work and really enjoyed every minute of it. And so my new addiction begins!! Watch this space for more projects and interesting makes.

Chocolate Courgette Cake

Chocolate Courgette Cake

Ok so once again these cakes are not going to win any prizes for their looks, lets face it presentation is not my strong point! but these courgette cakes have a very subtle flavour neither the cocoa or courgette blow your mind they just work together to form a really moist cake and for me baking is all about the taste!

Ingredients

1 medium courgette (about 200g), peeled

150g unsalted butter 
150g light soft brown sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 tbsp cocoa powder 
2 free range eggs 
250g self raising flour 
1 tbsp baking powder 
2 tbsp milk

For the Icing

150g icing sugar 
1 tbsp cocoa powder 
2 tbsp milk 

Method

• Preheat the oven to 160°C then finely grate your courgette. 

• In a separate bowl beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and cocoa until light and fluffy. 

• Gradually add the eggs with a little of the flour and beat well.

• Add the baking powder to the rest of the flour, then add to the butter mix along with the courgette and milk. Mix everything together.

•  Divide between 18-20 paper cases and bake for 15-20 mins until cooked through.

• Mix the icing sugar, cocoa and milk to a smooth paste and spoon a little over each cooled cake.

Homemade Butter

Home made butter

Homemade butter is a lot easier than I ever realised the method is really simple and the ingredients even more so. What's also worth taking into account is the fact that as the butter separates from the milk you are left with buttermilk which is not always readily available in British supermarkets so it can be popped in the fridge ready to made into something yummy!

Ingredients

900ml double cream

Method

• The first important thing is to start by bringing your cream up to room temperature I am insured that this makes a big difference to the way the butter will set.

• Put your cream into your food processor and start to mix I mixed mine on a slow to medium speed, but beware as the butter starts to solidify the leftover Buttermilk will fly out of the mixer try covering your mixer with a tea towel so that it doesn't fly out everywhere.

• Beat the cream until it starts to separate and become really lumpy (it looks a bit like scrambled egg) and you have lots of buttermilk in the bowl. 

• Drain the butter through a clean tea towel (Remembering to save the milk for later) Wrap the butter in a clean tea towel and wring it out. While it is still in your cloth rinse it in icy cold water, wringing it out as you go.

• Remove your butter from the cloth into a small bowl, add a little running ice cold water and work with a fork, pour the liquid out and repeat. Do this a few times until you notice the water becomes clearer. By doing this you are separating the butter from the liquid and the water helps you wash it out, this is why the water needs to be icy cold.  make sure you wash all the whey out of the butter as this will make it last longer, add a few pinches of salt or none if you choose.  (Though the salt also increases it’s shelf life.)  
• Place in the fridge until set then enjoy!

Good luck!

Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

This is another recipe which I have taken from my Mum's collection (Thanks Mum :o) ) I remember enjoying this cake when I was growing up but moaning about the addition of the walnuts, which she use to substitute for other toppings. 

This is the first time that I have used this recipe and I have made it for my Mum's birthday. I started to realize that this was a brave move as I didn't make any spare cake for testing and didn't want to cut into it to test it out. So I spent all evening convincing myself that I had made a mistake but as it turns out she loved it and it tasted quite good. It's an easy cake to make and can also be turned into scrummy cup cakes so why not give it a go.

Ingredients

8oz Self Raising flour 

 1 level tsp baking powder

6oz caster sugar

6oz margarine/butter

3 eggs

3 tbsp coffee 

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 190’c

• Make up some coffee with 1 tbsp of coffee and a little hot water then mix well. Put to one side and leave to cool

• Sift together the flour and baking powder into bowl

• Put all ingredients into the bowl including the rest of the coffee and mix well

• Poor into cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes (I found that around 20 was enough in my oven)

For the icing

• Add melted butter, A little coco and coffee to the icing sugar and mix with warm water until smooth. I used coffee which I mixed with a little warm water rather than straight coffee granules.

Pancakes

Happy Pancake Day! 

Here is a quick and easy pancake recipe which can be wiped together in no time. I find that the first couple are never as good as the rest but as the pan heats up and you grow in confidence they will get better and better.

Enjoy x.

Ingredients

200g Plain Flour

2 Eggs

600ml Milk

1 Tbsp Caster Sugar

Method

• Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, add in the egg and whisk. Next gradually add small quantities of the milk whilst whisking.

• Heat oil in a hot flat pan and add the batter swirling the pan to ensure an even coverage. Once heated all the way through loosen at the edges with a spatula and flip.

• Serve with a topping of your choice.