Christmas flower arranging tutorial

Sunflower for Inspiration

 Don't you just love it when the sunflowers come out?

This year they have been my inspiration for a quick and simple watercolour painting.

If you reply with the comment, please. I will add a video in the next couple of days.

Learn to paint a blue and purple hydrangea flower

Every so often I like to paint simple versions of the beautiful flowers in my garden. So watch the video and you will see how easy it is to paint a hydrangea flower.

Clothes peg your raspberries for a bumper crop

I adore raspberries and this is a really good tip to make sure that I have some to eat in the morning.

How to make an envelope from A4 paper

Super fast and easy envelope making in this video. 

How to Fix a gaping dress front

I 

I really didn't want to waste this dress so I came up with a fix and now I can wear it with dignity.

Salmon and Broccoli Quiche

 Salmon and Broccoli Quiche

Pastry to line a 10 inch tin.

150 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

90 grams very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Enough ice water to form a dough.

1. Add flour, salt a to a food processor. Pulse 2 to 3 times until combined.Scatter butter cubes over flour and process until the butter is broken up. (There should be no uncoated butter). The mixture should be lumpy. You really don't want a fine breadcrumb mixture.Transfer to a medium bowl then sprinkle ice water over mixture — start with 3 tablespoons and add from there. Using your fingertips press the dough into itself. Add more water if necessary.Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Work the dough just enough to form a ball. Cut ball in half then form each half into discs. Wrap each disc with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days. 
2. Roll out the pastry into an oblong fold into three. Roll out again. This will help to put layers in the dough and distribute the butter.
3. Roll out and line a tart tin. I used a 10 inch tine with fairly deep sides. Put the pastry case in the freezer for about an hour. This will stop it from shrinking too much.
4. Preheat the oven to about 190C. This very much depends on your oven. If yours cooks at a lower temperature feel free to adjust the cooking temperature.
5. Once the pastry case is frozen put it on a flat surface. Place the piece of foil over it, then press it down over the base and up the sides of the pastry. Turn the edge of foil inwards and crumple it against the sides to create a support that will hold the pastry in place whilst it cooks. I usually add baking beans.
6. Put the pastry case onto the pre-heated tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes then remove the pastry case from the oven and ease the sides of the foil inwards and carefully lift it away from the pastry case Brush the base and sides all over with beaten egg (use a little from the filling), which will provide a sort of moisture proof coating so that the pastry stays beautifully crisp even after the filling has gone in. Now return the pastry case to the oven for 7-8 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
8. Turn the oven down to 180C.

For the filling

4 fillets of salmon

4 eggs

1 head of broccoli steamed until al dente. Break the broccoli up a little.

100ml of double cream

150g cheddar grated

salt and pepper.

Poach the salmon in about an inch of seasoned water. It will only take abour 5 minutes to turn opaque. Leave to cool. Skin and break up into large chunks. Set aside

In another bowl beat the eggs with some salt and pepper and the cream to make a smooth custard base.

Cover the pastry base with salmon. 

Top with broekn up broccoli

Top with the grated cheese.

Pour over the custard mix and return to the oven. 

It should cook in abour 20 minutes but this is only approximate. It's ready when it starts to brown on top but there is still a little bit of a jiggle in the middle.

Mince pies are a Christmas treat that you really shouldn't miss out on.

 Christmas is almost with us and here in the UK one of the traditional treats that most people tuck into is the much loved mince pie. Not made with mince meat but with a delicious mix of dried and fresh fruit. The fresh fruit comes in the form of apples and lemons while the dried comes from currants, raisins, sultanas etc. All will be revealed in the recipe. I use Delia Smith's recipe for my mince meat but I do make a couple of tweaks. I don't like mince meat to be too sweet so I up the lemon juice to give it a sharper edge. I also peel the apples. Who wants to eat thought apple skins. Not me for sure. 

Pop over to Delia's page for the recipe and the method.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-happy-christmas/home-made-christmas-mincemeat

You will need to start by making your mince meat. you can do this well in advance or, if you are short of time, buy a large jar. 

The pastry used for these pies is usually shortcrust but I prefer a richer crumbly pastry so I make a pasta frolla, which is an Italian version of pat sucre. It really is yummy so please give it a go.

Ingredients for Pasta Frolla 

200g plain flour. If you can get ‘00’ flour this is the best. 

120g butter I used salted. If you use unsalted you will need to add a big pinch of salt.

90g sugar The finer the sugar, the crispier the pastry.

2 egg yolks

Grated rind of half a lemon or a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Start by creaming the butter, lemon rind and the sugar.

When you have creamed the mixture for about 5 minutes, beat in the egg. 

Mix in the flour until the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The butter will firm up and make it easier to roll out the pastry.

Working with about a third of the dough at a time cut out rounds that will fit your pie tin. Remember to keep enough pastry back to cut out the lids.

Fill each pie with mince meat and top with a lid. brush with milk and cook at approx 180C until a golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool a little before removing from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy warm with the breath of the oven still on them.

Felt Christmas Trees

 It’s the beginning of October and as all good crafter know, Christmas preparations need to be well underway. In the last few years I have concentrated on making beautifully decorated felt hearts to hang in my Christmas home. I have not walked away from my beautiful hearts but I have just bought a new die to cut out trees that can be easily stitched into Christmas decorations. 

What I aim to do is to design a set of trees that compliment each other. These die cur felt trees are currently available on my eBay shop. I have lots of colours so goodness knows what I will come up with.

For this first tree I decides to use the scarlet wool blend felt. If you like this colour combination I have the ready cut tree shapes here on my ebay shop. It's current this month and next but I will remove it shortly so don't delay if you want to buy some

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164417738333

As we are in a lockdown area and I have an almost enforced plenty of time on my hands, I've decided to play around with these tree designs and try out anything that comes to mind.  

So, here is another using the light stone felt and the same colour decorations as the scarlet.

Now what about a blue scandi themed tree? 

See you all soon,

How to make chiffon ribbon flowers with stamens.

I've decided to make a few very quick and very easy videos on making ribbon flowers. Please watch the video until the end and add a comment on Youtube rather than on the blog.

Easy Flower Drawing

Many of you will know that years ago I used to sell ribbon and other pretty things at the big craft shows around the country. I also spent a lot of time drawing flowers and became known as the flower drawing lady. I not longer have a stand at the shows but my love of drawing flowers has not gone away. So I have decided to film a series of short videos in which I show you how to draw flowers. the technique is rather like one stroke painting. So watch the video and please be inspired.

If you want to buy the pens then they are for sale here on ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163371548355

Beautiful Puffy Vintage Style Ribbon Roses

I have intended to make a video tutorial on making a new style of ribbon rose for quite some time. Something always got in the way. Yesterday the sun was shining her in Wales. A rare occurrence her in Wales, so the light was good and I got on with it. No prevaricating was allowed. 

So, with many retakes and a fight with Photoshop Premier under my belt I finally got theirs baby up and running on Youtube.

In fact I published it 3 times. How did I do that?

Watch and create.

Have Apricots, Make Jam

The apricot season is here and nothing can be better than home made apricot jam. it is just on the right side of tart and the colour alone will bring a smile to everyone who sees it. Even in the depths of  winter this spoonful of sunshine will bring a smile to your tastebuds.

There is even a speechless tester at the end. 

Enjoy.

Blue two tone flower - Tutorial

Just had to make this video tutorial as I worked out how to replicate the flowers that I draw with Kuretake pens.

If only I could work out how to put the video further down the page I would be really happy. I am not too bad with technology but things like this really annoy me. GRRRR!

Delicious Kefir Berry Shake

How many of you have been watching the many, many television programmes on improving our health? If you have you may have seen Dr. Michael Mosley and others promoting the increasing of good gut bacteria. To do this we need to eat more probiotics and this is best achieved by eating kefir.

Kefir is the new super food that is said to promote good gut health. It is not readily available and when it is it is expensive. Not to say unpleasant to drink. So today I have a way of making kefir delicious. Watch the video and enjoy.

Panzanella, A Taste of Italian Sunshine

The sun is finally shining so today to celebrate the first real sunshine here in the UK, I've decided to post a sunshine salad. This salad is known as panzanella. It appears frequently on Italian recipe web sites but when I told some friends in the village that I was making a panzanella, they told me that they had never heard of it. This is fairly typical of Italian food knowledge. People eat what they were taught to cook by their mothers and grandmothers but don't really look outside that repertoire. What they do cook is excellent so it is hardly surprising that they don't look for anything else. 

The colours of this salad are truly vibrant, but don't expect pretty. It is a mix of all the ingredients so that the flavours mellow and blend together in a bowl of heaven.

I have to admit that I was lucky as everything in this salad came from my garden, so if you are not as lucky, then try to get the ripest tomatoes that you can get your hands on. The quality of the tomatoes will affect the quality of the salad.

I do feel that it not making this salad they are missing out big time. So, if you want to join me in a bowl of delicious and dare I say it, healthy eating this is what you need to do.

• 1 red onion that has been soaked in wine vinegar. This will soften it and make it less harsh.
• 3 or 4 large ripe tomatoes. I used the cuore di bue which are the size of my hand. 3 of these will weigh about a kg. So aim for that.
• 3 small European type cucumber. These will need to be peeled as they have a spiky skin. Failing these use 1 hot house cucumber.
• a large handful of stale bread cut into chunks.
• a bunch of basil torn up.
• olive oil
• wine vinegar

Begin by slicing the onion thinly and soaking it in vinegar for at least an hour. Drain and keep to add to the salad.

Toast the bread for about 10 minutes in a medium oven. You are looking to dry stout so that it will absorb the dressing and the juices from the salad.

Make a dressing from 1 part vinegar and 4 parts olive oil. If you have some dijon mustard you can add that. I usually have this made up in a jar so I can't give you precise amounts. Just add enough to coat the ingredients. 

Cut everything else, except the basil, into chunks.

Put into a bowl and add the slices of onion, the dressing and finally the the basil torn up into pieces. Toss it all. Leave for about 10 minutes for the bread to absorb the dressing. 

Enjoy.

Pearls never go out of fashion.

Today's cards is on a Pearl theme.  I thought that this card of the lovely stamp Champagne Pearl was perfect.

The card is made with a fab stamp from I Brake For Stamps and you can get her by clicking the title  below:

Pearl and Champagne

Amethyst beaded necklace

Amethyst Necklace with a twist. A spiral rope necklace in fact.

I have some beautiful large silverlined glass beads. They are lentil shaped which means that they are discs with a dome shape in the middle. I also have the Silver Colour Scarf Tube Pendant x 2, which I used to hang the pendant.

Now, I'm not pretending that this was quick to make as it was not. The rope will take a couple of evenings but, when that's done, the rest is a breeze and the effect is stunning.

If you are interested I can make up a kit for you at the cost of £10. This will include everything except the fireline and needle.

Book Review: How to Lose Weight Well

Book Review: How to Lose Weight Well

Some of you that follow this blog will know that from time to time I review a book. Today's victim is

How to Lose Weight Well by Xand van Tulleken


You may well have seen the highly amusing television programme that was broadcast last month. Just about everyone lost weight on the variety of diets that they tried. This book is not about that, it is about the diet that Van Tulleken has devised with the help of a nutritionalist.

The preamble to the book is well written and it is easy to understand his reasoning behind weight loss and his own battle with being over weight.

The recipes that he publishes in his book are interesting and tasty with a big emphasis on vegetables. This is perfect for me as I tend to eat more veg than fruit. So far so good.

What I didn't like so much was the choice of three diet plans that are on offer in the book. Basically it is the same amount of food split between the three main meals of the day. You  either eat three meals, two meals or one meal. The amount of food doesn't change just the portions at each meal time. 

If you want a diet that will see you dropping fat at a fast rate then this is perfect for you. I only want to lose three kilograms so I can't say that it is for me. I will use some of the recipes though. The aubergine recipe is fantastic.

Make your own non dissolving dusting sugar

So you want to dust a cake with icing sugar. You do so, and much to your disappointment within an hour or so, sometimes even less the sugar dissolves and that beautiful finish has disappeared. Why doesn't this happen to the same cakes that are on display in the local bakery? 

This is an easy question to answer. In the bakeries they don't use icing sugar. What they use looks like icing sugar but it's a mixture of dextrose, cornflour, vegetable oil and flavourings. The important thing to know about it is that it is non-hydrating.

How does this happen? Here's the science for you. 

The sugar particles are coated in the vegetable oil so the moisture can't get at them. It's as simple as that. The use of dextrose instead of sucrose also helps as it is a finer and less sweet sugar. That's why those sugar coated doughnuts don't taste overly sweet.

Now we reach the second problem. This dusting sugar is not widely available in the UK. It can be bought from bakery supplies if they will sell it to you but it comes in 12.5kg bags. Far too much for the home baker to use. 

So what is there to do? 

The solution is fairly simple. Instead of using the above list of ingredients you can coat the sugar in melted cocoa butter. To give the sugar a delicate flavour of vanilla use some vanilla extract in the melted cocoa butter. 

You will need a food processor to make the dusting sugar, but at a push you could do it with your finger tips. It is less messy and more efficient in the food processor.

To make your dusting sugar:

10g cocoa butter, melted. 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g dextrose
50g icing sugar

If you don't have dextrose and it is fairly easy to get from Amazon. See this link then you can use all icing sugar. It will be sweet.

  

Melt the cocoa butter. I did this by putting the cocoa butter in a small bowl and placing it in a larger dish that contained boiling water. it didn't seem to like the microwave method of melting chocolate. It will only  take a couple of minuted to melt. Add the vanilla to the melted butter.

Put the dextrose and sugar mixture into the bowl of the food processor and switch on. Pour the cocoa butter in through the feeding tube. It will mix into the sugar. If any of the butter collects on the base of the bowl then give it a stir and pulse again. Repeat this until all of the cocoa butter has been absorbed. It will not be pure white as the vanilla will colour it slightly. You won't notice this when it's on the cake.

Your dusting sugar is now ready. Store in an air tight jar until ready to use.