Christmas Mince Pies

Ingredients - Makes 12

1 Cup/250g Plain flour
2 Tblsp/25g Icing sugar
1/2 Cup/125g Softened butter
Grated zest 1 lemon
2 Eggs (1 egg for glaze)
6 Tsp Lemon Curd

12 Tsp Mincemeat

1/2 Cup Dried cranberries

Mix the flour, icing sugar and butter to form fine crumbs. Add the zest (you can add the juice too if you like or use it for a nice chilled drink) and 1 egg and mix thoroughly. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm it up a bit. (It will keep in the fridge for 3 days or the freezer for one month)

Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough to $1 thickness. Cut out 12 rounds to fit your pie/muffin tray (I find a cup just larger than a pint glass rim works for me but I guess aiming for around 8cm radius is good). If any dough is left over you can cut shapes to go on top, my 4 year old girl cut all the Santa tops for these.

Place your rounds into the pie/muffin tin but no squashing them down in the pan, lightly poke them in so the sit in enough to stay, that way they'll be easier to get out. (I hope that made sense) 

Fill the pies with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd, 1 teaspoon of the mincemeat (do not fill to the top, it just bubbles and dribbles out) and a few cranberries. Glaze with beaten egg. Cook for 15 minutes or until golden. 

Leave in the tray for 5-10 minutes before attempting to remove. I remove mine by running a sharp knife around the edge and then levering them out, though I shouldn't suggest this as it damages the non stick in the tray - any ideas would be welcomed.

I hope you have fun making them and enjoy eating them.

Let me know if you try it :)

Read More

Banana Cream Pie

Using the recipe here I created this wonderful Banana Cream Pie. I even substituted the Thickened Cream for Cream Cheese and the Cornstarch for flour and it still tasted divine. I used the leftover pie filling as custard for our mince pies after adding a little pouring cream and re-heating...Yummy!

Let me know if you try it :)

Read More

Cauliflower Cheese Pie

Ingredients - Fills 1 Pyrex dish and serves 4-6 people
1 Cauliflower
500g Minced beef
1 Large carrot
1 Pepper/Capsicum
1 Large Onion
6 Medium Mushrooms
1/2 Cup of sweetcorn (whole kernels)
1 Tin of tomatoes
1 Tablespoon of tomato puree (the thick stuff)
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of plain flour
1 Pint of milk
250g of grated cheese
Seasons of choice

Cut the cauliflower into florets and boil for 10 minutes or so...until soft.
Brown the mince in a frying pan. Chop the carrot, capsicum, onion and mushrooms small (pea size) and add them one by one straight as they are cut, stirring each time. Add the sweetcorn, tomatoes and puree and cook a further 2 minutes. Take off the heat and pour this mixture into the Pyrex.

Drain and chop the cauliflower then add this layer in the Pyrex.
Add the butter to a pan and melt, then add the flour and stir. Now add the milk and continue to whisk for the length of time it takes for it to thicken. Add this sauce to the Pyrex and cover with grated cheese.
Bake at 180 Celsius for 40 minutes. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it :)

Read More

Homemade Leather & Knit Shoes

Have your child stand on some leather (insides up) and draw the outline of their feet. Draw a 1/2 inch allowance around this outline (round off the toes neatly - no 'bumps') and cut around the allowance line.  I had planned to use 1 piece of hard leather for the sole and 1 piece of soft leather for the insole but in the end I went for 1 piece of soft leather only.

Now use this as a template to cut two more pieces from softer leather (insides up). Make holes as large as to fit a knitting sewing needle through, around the softer leather pieces, 1/4 inch in from the edge and at about 5mm apart.

Now take your sewing knitting needle and thread a base yarn through the holes, starting at the center of the heel. One round in and out and tie off at the heel then another round going through the holes missed the first time, round and tie off under the heel (trying not to have them tied at the same point). If one breaks the other should hold and two makes it more secure.

Now, pick-up the loops created and knit them onto three circular or double-ended sock needles:
1) Center of heel to big toe (the longest run)
2) Big toe to little toe corners (shortest)
3) Little toe to center of heel

 Here's the pattern, including the colours I used

Rows:
Cast on Cream
1: Purl (Cream)
2: Knit (Cream)
3: Purl (Pink)
4: Knit (Pink)
5: Purl (Pink)
6: Knit (Purple)
7: Purl (Purple)
8: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Purple)
9: Purl (Blue)
10: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Blue)
11: Purl (Blue)
12: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Green)
13: Purl (Green)
14: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Green)
15: Purl (Yellow)
16: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle.
17: Purl (Yellow)
18: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Orange)
19: Purl (Orange)
20: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Orange)
21: Purl (Red)
22: Cast off LOOSELY (Red)

Glue the hard leather (if you use it) onto the soles of the sandals covering the base stitches and voila, new shoes!

Read More

Homemade Mayo

I used this Homemade Mayo on a Portable Salad I made for a BBQ yesterday.

Ingredients
2 Eggs
A dash of salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon of mustard (any, dry or made up)
1 Tablespoon of vinegar (any)
1 Tablespoon of hot water
1 Cup of oil (any but I prefer cold pressed extra virgin olive oil)

Add to blender all but the oil and 'whizz' for a minute. Some say you should add the oil slowly, I add half the oil and whizz for a minute then add the other half and whizz until the mixture turns pale yellow.

Let me know if you try it :)

You're done! Now wasn't that easy?

Read More

Wholemeal Bread

I've devised a recipe that gets rid of the bulk of nasties that can be found in some commercial breads.

Ingredients
2 Cups of warm/hot water
2 Tablespoons of yeast
2 Tablespoons of honey
3.5 Cups of wholemeal flour

Add yeast and honey to the water, stir and leave for 15 minutes.
Lightly oil and flour a bread/loaf tin.
Set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Add the flour and mix until just combined (don't over mix).
Transfer dough to the bread tin and leave on the oven, near the vent for 20 minutes.
Place the tin in the oven for 40 minutes.
Remove bread from the tin and place on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it :)

Read More

Hooded Baby Towel

I'm so proud of myself! I can't stop looking at the Hooded Towel I made yesterday and wonder at how it looks shop-bought. I've not made many things.  My daughters mermaid outfit turned out too large and a little dismal (in my eyes but shes happy of course). There's a few curtains and minor quilt toppers half-complete but I'm very much a beginner in sewing. I hope to change this given time.

Anyway, I cut:

• two pieces of toweling into 26x26 inch squares
• one piece of cotton and one toweling into triangles with 10 1/2 inches down each right-angle side
• a few of cotton, 2 inches wide and ultimately measuring approx 110 inches long

I sewed the two triangles together, right sides facing, along the diagonal side. I pressed the seem to one side and then folded it back into a triangle, wrong sides facing, pressing then cutting the shape to a perfect flat hood. I sewed this loosely to one corner of one of the pieces of toweling.

I took the strips of cotton and sewed them to the edges of one piece of toweling - right sides facing (so as to hide the seem that keeps it from fraying). I pinned the two toweling pieces together and then pulled the other edge of the cotton to the other piece of toweling and hand sewed the edging on through fear of missing the edging on the other side if I ran it through the machine. 

I can only guess this would be better attached after folding the two edges to the middle and pressing then folding in half and pressing. That way you can wrap it over the toweling edge and run it through the machine. Corners, well, I cut the edging straight to the corners so I had a hard time! I tried to make corners like a picture frame, it worked but only just!

So, I'm pretty happy with myself as a novice. If you have any tips to share please do!

Read More