Jamie Oliver’s ‘Kate and Will’s Wedding Pie Recipe’

This is one of those recipes that you don’t want to do every day as it is time consuming, but oh my it is worth it!

The recipe is simple to follow and the ingredients inexpensive. I somehow managed to make more than stated in the recipe ( used slightly less meat and slightly more pearl barley and managed to make 3 pies, they are all smaller than in the recipe but will certainly serve my husband and I for at least three different dinners and can be frozen too.)

The suet pastry is soft and crumbly and the rich filling includes stout, beef, pearl barley, cheese and mustard. Ours is served with steamed baby carrots and green beans. Delicious!

Thanks Jamie for a fantastic recipe – can be found here if you fancy giving it a go.

this moment……….

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – soulemama

(feel free to add a link to your own ‘this moment’ in the comment section below)

Today….

Today is slow going. I decided to make a pie from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s Great Britain’ book (I’m really enjoying this book and looking forward to making many of his recipes). Ok so I have just tested it and it tastes absolutely wonderful but it did take a long time,well the filling alone took 2.5 hours of cooking, plus the preparation and making the pastry etc, hence I haven’t got a lot else done this morning, though of course the good thing is that I have somehow managed to make such a large amount that  I have enough for 3 meals, thank goodeness for the freezer! Anyway – a post coming soon about the pie, for now I’ll update you on the scarf. It STILL isn’t finished, I’m begining to get bored of knitting it now but I’m desperate to finish it off soon. So here it is at it’s current state:

Remember to head over to see Ginny at Small Things as well as over to Frontier Dreams too x

Cajun bean potato bake recipe

Using up what we already have at home has led me to be a bit more inventive in the kitchen and I came up with this meal the other day. It’s really delicious, full of goodness and super cheap too!

Ingredients:

• 1 x cup mixed beans (I’ve used pinto, mung and haricot in this recipe though any would do – or a pre-soaked can would do fine too)
• 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 x stock cube (or teaspoon of bouillon etc)
• salt and pepper to season
• 2 x teaspoons cajun spice
• 2 x chopped garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 x chopped onion
• 4 x medium sized potatoes
• splash milk
• knob butter
• olive oil
• 1 x cup grated cheese

Method.

In a saucepan cooke the pre-peeled and chopped potatoes. When soft, mash with the butter, all of the cheese and milk and set aside. In a seperate saucepan cook the chopped onion until softened, add in the mushrooms and beans and cook until mushrooms are also soft. Then add in all of the other ingredients.

Pour the bean mixture into  your serving dish:

Top with the mashed potato mix and score with a fork to help crisp up:

Cook in the oven for 25 (ish mins) at 180C until golden on top. Serve with salad or mixed steamed vegetables.

 

Weekending.

This weekend we have been………….

• Playing with ‘T’s new swimming toy (her ‘flashing gem’ which she uses in her Water Babies swimming lessons. She hasn’t quite mastered collecting it from the bottom of the pool yet though has had lots of fun with it in the bath)
• Making a new pork casserole recipe. Perhaps the best casserole yet!
• Drawing, sticking and making pretty pictures, being in charge of the glue seems to be the highlight of this activity for ‘T’.
• Out for a VERY blustery walk at Old Sarum, oh it was a windy day!
• Stocking up on cough medicine for the little one. Poor mite has a terrible cough and cold as well as suffering with teething (what a bad design fault they are!)
• Enjoying reading Anita Shreve’s ‘Let It Snow’ – I think she may be my new favourite author
• Worrying about what our futures hold in Australia, some weeks seem to make us excited for the move, others seem to leave us worried. This has been a worrying week!
• Catching up with a lovely friend and old neighbour. What a treat, was so nice to have a catch up and a coffee with such lovely person.
• Trying to complete the scarf I started knitting for ‘T’, I want to get started on making something else though Im not allowing myself to do so until I’ve finished this project!
• Baking cheesy scones and chocolate chip cookies.

Hope you’ve all had lovely weekends xxx

GIVEAWAY: Little Shoes Pattern & Little Dress Pattern

It’s giveaway time again!

Ann has the Etsy shops  Little Shoes Pattern and Little Dress Pattern - adorable little shoes and dress patterns for little people! I have given the little shoes a go myself and they were really easy instructions to follow, no measuring required as the patterns come accross via email and can be simply printed off. I did the shoes by hand as I wanted to watch TV at the same time!

There will be 2 x winners for this week’s giveaway!

The first winner will win any 2 x little shoes patterns from the store, just look at some of the cute designs:

The second winner will win any 2 x little dress patterns from the store, here are just some of the options:

There are 3 ways you can enter:

• Leave a comment in the comments section below
• Blog, tweet, facebook or share this giveaway somewhere on the web (and let me know)
• ‘Like’ my facebook page – over there on the right at the top

The winners will be drawn during the second week of February by using random.org.

Good luck! (Oh and Ann has another shop - go take a peek!)

Oh and it’s time for another round up of Handmade Monday - don’t forget to head over and take a nosey! x

Memory Lane

Friday morning was a beautifully sunny and frosty morning, it was the perfect morning for a stroll in the woods with a very old friend. We used to live in the same road together which leads on to these woods when we were children. We chatted about how time had flown passed, we wandered past our old playschool and school whilst we pushed our little ones in their pushchairs.

We wandered in the woods and spotted lots of squirrels and ‘T’ enjoyed squelching in the mud and running around. We came home to warm home-made soup before ‘T’ had a snooze. It was a lovely trip down memory lane x

An attempt at a teddy

I’m still being boring and knitted VERY easy things. Including this little teddy bear that I have started. I’m happy with simple, easy things at the moment that don’t require too much concentration, and I’m pleased to say it’s using up yet more of the free wool I got from freecycle!

I’ve borrowed a stack of knitting books from the library to inspire me for my next knitting project though. I enjoy flicking through them and getting ideas and trying to think of what to do next (perhaps I should finish that scarf first?!)

I’ll put up some pics if this teddy ends up working out okay! x

(I’m takign part in Ginny’s ‘Yarn Along’ from Small Things…….head on over!…………..

Weekending .:.

This weekend I have been:

Working on the Victorian toy chest I managed to salvage from freecycle, my friend has kindly let me borrow her heat gun which worked so well on the outside, the inside of it seems to be harder to get off though, think I may need to take more time over the inside. - looking forward to getting it finished now (below picture is of how it looked when it was collected – I’ll let you know when it’s done!):

Admiring the adorable cardigan my Mum knitted for ‘T’, I love the colour and the simplicity of the design, so cute isn’t it?:

Enjoying watching ‘T’ and her Daddy make a cake together:

Cooking up lots of food for the freezer, trying to make sure we use up everything (well almost) so as not to waste any food:

Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend too x

 

 

Handmade doll and felt food swap

Do you remember a while I go I did a post about a swap I was going to be doing with Laura from Under Rainbows? In November I noticed that Laura ‘liked’ some of the felt fruit and veg in my Etsy store, so I contacted her and thanked her and had a look at her shop too and noticed that she made the most beautiful Waldorf dolls, I left a note saying I would like one some day for ‘T’ though couldn’t afford one at the moment and then she wrote back with the fantastic idea of doing a swap. I was delighted!!!

I quickly got to work making the food for Laura’s children for their Christmas present. I made:

• a fish
• a pumpkin
• a carrot
• 2 x mushrooms
• 2 x strawberries
• a pepper
• an onion
• an apple half
• an egg
• a lemon
• an apple
• a tomato
• a turnip
• 

to swap with THIS beautiful doll! :

I am SO pleased wih her, I cannot wait to give her to ‘T’ for her Birthday at the end of March – I think she fits in well at home don’t you?! Laura was so kind as she even made an extra dress out of the same material that I made ‘T”s first Birthday dress from as well as her little dungarees, blouse, knitted cardigan, hat and socks.

It has been so nice to take part in this swap, it feels much nicer to trade in this way and to really make something and think of other children opening them on Christmas day – has anyone else taken part in a swap? Oh and we need a name for dolly too – so if anyone has any names then do let me know!

Thank-you Laura for your amazing talent and for making such a beautiful dolly, it will be treasured, looked after and cared for for years to come. x

(PS – I’m hosting 2 x FAB giveaways at the moment – the one here is to win some adorable Japanese fabric and the other one here is to win some Japanese craft books of your choice!)

……………and of course, don’t forget to head over to another week of ‘Handmade Monday’ over at 1st Unique Gifts xx