Stilton and Caramelised Onion Tartlets

200g shortcrust pastry
1 onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 Stock Pot
1 pepper (bell pepper)
100g Stilton cheese

Line 4 individual loose bottomed pastry tins with the pastry. Prick the base with a fork. Put greaseproof squares over the pastry and cover with baking beans. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200°C. The baking beans will prevent the pastry base from puffing up.

Whilst the pastry is cooking slice the onions and start to caramelise them. Add a little water if needed. Slice the pepper and gently cook them in a small frying pan. When the onions have almost caramelised add the chopped garlic and stir. After 2 minutes add the Stock Pot and a small amount of water to help the stock disperse. Cook off any excess liquid. The onions should be moist, but there should be no liquids running off them.

Cut the Stilton into slices.

Take the pastry cases from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove the baking beans and paper.  Place the onions in the bottom of the pastry case, peppers in the middle and Stilton on top.  Return to the oven until the cheese has melted, bubbled and slightly browned.  

-x-x-x-x-x-

I made this with gluten-free pastry (DS-gluten free) and vegetarian stock.   The peppers were only put in two of the pastry cases as two members of the family do not like them.  The tartlets can be frozen.  

Lemon Muffins

Makes 10-11 muffins

250g self-raising flour (Dove Farm Flour for gluten-free)

100g white sugar

1 medium egg

240ml apple juice 

90ml vegetable oil

1 lemon

icing sugar

Method

1. Prepare muffin tin with paper or silicon muffin cases.  Preheat the oven to 190-200°C.
2.  Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix, and the wet ingredients into a second bowl.  Grate the rind of the lemon into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix the contents of each bowl.  
3. Combine the wet with the dry, mixing thoroughly, but working quickly.
4. Divide the mixture between the 10-11 cases, and bake for 22-25 minutes.  
5. Whilst the muffins are cooking, use a lemon reamer to extract the juice from the lemon.  Strain the lemon juice.  Slowly add icing sugar to the lemon juice, stirring as you go.  This will be about 3Tsp of icing sugar.  Combine it well.  This is the lemon glaze.
6. When the muffins have cooked and are still hot, spoon a litle lemon glaze over each one.  Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes, and then place on a cooling rack.

The muffins freeze well, but they are best served warm.   They also freeze well.

Oat Bread

I have been meaning to make Oat Bread for quite some time, but haven't managed to get around to it.  Today is the day!

The original recipe is from  Yammies' Glutenfreedom, Gluten-free Honey Oat Bread.  However, there are a number of ingredients I either don't like or don't have.  Also the quantities are too big for my baking tins. This is my version of Oat Bread.

Ingredients
200g of gluten-free oats

1 (7g) sashet of dried yeast

180ml of warm water

60ml of oil

2 tablespoons of sugar

80g of Dove Farm gluten-free flour

1 teaspoon of xanthan gum

1/2 tsp of salt

big pinch of cinnamon

2 eggs

Method
In a food processor,  turn the oats into oat flour. Add the yeast, sugar, flour, xanthan gum salt, and cinnamon. Mix in the processor. In a jug, break the eggs and mix, add the oil, and mix, then add the water. Once combined, add to the dry ingredients. Beat for a few minutes until fluffy. Turn out into a well greased loaf tin. The dough will be a sticky mess at this point, not the beautifully smooth dough ball of gluten bread. Place the tins in a warm place and leave to rise until it has doubled in size. Sprinkle the top with a few oats, and bake in the oven at 175°C. 

Notes

Ohhhh!  That worked well!  Very well in fact!

How do you clean? In chunks!

Recently on an on-line discussion forum, someone asked 'How do you clean?' This got me to thinking, how do I clean?  And that answer is 'In chunks'.

Let's explain that answer...

When I was a child, my method of tidying was to empty everything into a massive heap on the floor and try to cope with the massive heap.  This just created a problem that was too big for me to deal with.  I would work away at it for a while, but the problem was so big it didn't feel like I was making any progress, and so I would bundle it up and dump it in the wardrobe.  

In computing, I was introduce to the idea on specifying the problem and using the specification to find a solution.  The trick was to break things down into smaller and smaller bits until I think "Oh yes, I can do that."  By applying this technique to housekeeping, I was able to get rid of the massive pile on the floor that I could not tackle, and instead have a series of little tasks that I could manage quite easily.

Instead of setting a task of 'going through all of my clothes', I have little tasks like 'go through the top drawer in the chest of drawers', then the second, and the third etc.  Little chunks.

When I clean and tidy, I work on one chunk at a time.  On entering a room I choose the focal point.  In the kitchen this is the sink, in the bedroom the bed, the dining room has the dining table and in my craft room it is the craft table.  My object is to get that area done first.  Once that chunk has been done it has made a start, given me an access point, a place to spread out from.  

From there, I move to a nearby chunk and work on that.  Taking the bedroom for example, I made the bed and get that one thing done.  Next, I move around to the bedside table.  Now that the bed is tidy, I have a clean area that will allow me to spread out my accumulated clutter so that I can work on having a lovely bedside table.  The things that should be there (earring tidy, jewellery box, light, stack of books, clock, water glass and coaster) are replaced and the rest of the clutter is sorted.  It is either put away, or put out in the rubbish/recycling.

During all of this, I like to keep a TA DA! List.  'To do' lists leave me feeling overwhelmed, but when I have finished a task I can write/type it on my list, and I feel good.   I read through my TA DA! List and  feel contented.  I have accomplished something.  My world is a tidier, better place.  In the evening. 

Fifteen minutes on a sunny day

I love sunny days on my days-off; they make me feel alive and as if I could accomplish anything I set my mind too. Today is a bight, sunny day, and it will be a '15 minute day'.

Often we become overwhelmed by all the stuff we have to do. But, I know that I am able to work for 15 minutes, and that can make a big improvement. On a '15 minute day', the day is split into chunks of 15 minutes. I do one 15 minute task, and at the 15 minutes, I say 'Done'. It will have been improved, but it might not be complete. I can always go back and do another 15 minutes later. After three 15 minute chunks, there's time for a 15 minute rest.

It feels so good to get so much done, and still to have time to play.

My first task has been completed; 'Put a load of white washing in the washing machine'. I am now about to head into the front garden for a bit of weeding.

1. Put white washing in the washing machine
2. Weeded the front garden
3. Put away clean dishes and washed dirty dishes
4. Cleaned window sill and area around sink
5. Soaked the cooker hob in preparation for cleaning later
6. More weeding done
7. Put away dishes, pots and baking trays
8. Blogged about cleaning and baking
9. Make oat bread
10. Made lemon muffins
11. Hung out washing
12. More weeding
13. Tidied sitting room
14. Did the washing up generated by baking
15. Kept tidying the sitting room
16. Brought in clean, dry washing and put it away
17. Finished the tiding of the sitting room
18. Collapsed in a pile, then ordered a Chinese takeaway :o)

Poetry in Motion

The buses on the Isle of Man have poetry posters.  This is one that I saw recently and rather enjoyed.

Head Lines 

by Hazel Teare

Is it tidy inside your head?

Have you dusted and made the bed?

Plans neatly stacked like church hall chairs

of where to go and what to wear.

Orderly lines of thoughts and words

or ideas flying free as birds?

Raspberry and white chocolate muffins

The basic muffin recipe is very similar to the one in  Muffins - Fast and Fantastic by Susan Reimer.  This is an excellent book and has many excellent recipes for muffins.  It gives lots of ideas for combinations of flavours.

Makes 12 muffins

250g self-raising flour (Dove Farm Flour for gluten-free)

100g white sugar

1 medium egg

240ml apple juice (or milk)

90ml vegetable oil

125g frozen raspberries

50g white chocolate chips

Method

1. Prepare muffin tin with paper or silicon muffin cases.  Preheat the oven to 190-200°C.
2.  Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix, and the wet ingredients (including the raspberries) into a second bowl.  Mix the contents of each bowl.  Ensure that the frozen raspberries  are separated.
3. Combine the wet with the dry, mixing thoroughly, but working quickly.
4. Divide the mixture between the 12 cases, and bake for 22-25 minutes.  
5. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes, and then place on a cooling rack.

The muffins freeze well, but they are best served warm.   They also freeze well.

Using up leftovers

The friend who asked me to make the rainbow prayer shawl loved the colours used, but she does not feel confident in wearing them herself.  Therefore, I am using the leftover yarn to make a little blanket for her. This is a surprise, so don't tell.  ;o)

The first square was made last night, and  I rather like it.  

I was not terribly sure how to proceed and asked for some design help on Ravelry.  My ideas where to make a huge Granny Square, using the colours in rainbow order, or to make a number of small squares (12cm) and attach them.  

MissRain's suggestion was to make a number of small squares, but to cycle the starting colour.  I have greatly admired her multicoloured crochet for quite some time and love the the ways in which she plays with colour.  

This is going to make best use of the differing amounts of the colours of yarn, but it is going to look good!  

Knitting ever onward

A little while ago I finished a single adult bee sock.  This didn't fit the intended recipient correctly.  Making the adaptations required, I have made another adult bee sock which has a much better fit.  Its pair will be made soon.

23.  an adult bee sock

Normally I would start the second sock immediately after the first one was finished, but a deadline was looming.  A friend asked me if I would make a prayer shawl for a friend of hers.  Normally, I wouldn't do this sort of thing, but because of the person who asked, I agreed.  

Knitting, crochet and many crafts consume a lot of hours of work.  This work can be done whilst on the bus, watching television, listening to an audio book and in the times when people are hanging around waiting.  But, it still takes a lot of hours.  For this reason, I only make things for people I like, and only things I know they will love

24. rainbow prayer shawl

A pattern for this shawl will appear shortly.

More items to add to the list

The total stands at 17 finished items.  And now it is time to add in a few more.

18 and 19 - a pair of Colinette socks
20 a Laxey tartan doorstop

21 a single adult bee sock
22 a single baby bee sock

The second baby bee sock is on the needles and will be finished tomorrow.  The adult bee sock will remain single for a little while.  They are being made for a friend, but this first sock didn't fit correctly.  I will need to make a different size, and then I'll come back to this one and make a friend for it.

23 and 24 a couple more drawstring bags.

Wow!  Almost half way through the challenge.  Hooray!  

Riotous Baby Blanket

My hands were bored, there was a crochet hook and a ball of yarn.  One thing led to another, and a baby blanket was made.

It is really weird.  I love almost all of the colours in this blanket, from the rich green into the blue,  purple and flowing through to the red.  But I don't like the golden yellow and hate the colour morphing between the yellow and green.  Sadly this means that I don't like the blanket.

But it is the 14th completed project and the 17th item.

Two more draw-string bags

I realised at 2.30pm that I hadn't done anything constructive with my day.  There has been pottering around, a bit of this, a bit of that, but nothing to physical to show.

My craft room has all sorts of bits in it, and I made a couple of little draw-string bag.  They were made simply because I could, but I had no idea what to do with them.  And then one started calling softly "I'm a gift bag, suitable for CDs." 

11.  Blue gift bag

12. Second blue gift bag

And the total is now up to 13 projects, 16 finished items, and we are at the beginning of week 16!  I am back on track!  Hooray!

A second thought on '52 in 52'

Time for a list.  Lists make me feel better.

1. Rubik's Cube
2. Wizard's false beard
3. Hereford Helices socks
4. Reverse stocking stitch socks
5. Teal cardigan
6. Purple and black socks
7. Autumnal striped socks
8. Rainbow sheep drawstring bag
9. Black drawstring bag
10. Rainbow hat

That's ten finished projects in 2013, but 14 finished items (there are two socks in a pair).  At the start of the year I very often count socks as '2' rather than 1 because it helps me feel further on.  Then later in the year when things are flowing, they revert back to 1.  :o)  

Using this logic, there are 14 finished items and 15 weeks have passed since the start of the year.  Perhaps things aren't as dire as they first appeared!

'52 in 52' is proving to be a challenge

As the title says, '52 in 52' is proving to be a challenge. Here we are, half way through the fourth month, and I have a tiny number of completed projects.

I have been exceptionally good and finished three projects started last year; a teal cardigan, a pair of socks that started out as yoga socks, and a pair of stripy socks. However, those stripy socks might not have been started last year. They might have been sitting around, missing a toe for longer than that. Yes, you read that correctly, I had a pair of socks, only needing a toe to be finished, and still they languished!

These are good socks! Not socks to be ignored for months on end! Here they are:

These socks have now found a new home with Emily. From the way she was holding them on Sunday, she will love them and look after them well.

The '52 in 52' count was at 4. :o( The teal cardigan, the purple socks and these beautiful socks bring it up to 7. Also completed are two drawstring bags, bring it up to 9.

As a total, that isn't too bad! It could be a lot better, but.... Oh, and there is a hat that I ripped back and re-knitted! That's 10. Double digits!

Garlic and Herb Tortillas

I have just made tortillas again. This time with some changes. :o)

This time, the quantities were reduced to a quarter to make two tortillas. The sugar was removed, and instead 1/4 tsp of dried mixed herbs, and 1/2 tsp of chopped garlic was added. Whilst the tortillas were hot I added some Brie and a smoosh of cranberry and apple jelly (the sort eaten with meat, not the sweet kind for spreading on toast).

It was all rather delicious! :o)

Gluten-free Flour Tortillas on my day off

A friend on Ravelry was asking about gluten-free flour tortillas.  Someone posted a recipe that her friend uses.  As it is my day off, I decided to play in the kitchen, and I am so glad I did!  

The ingredients given in the recipe are:

2 c. Gluten-free all purpose flour (or 2 c. White rice flour)
2 tsp. Xanthan gum or Guar gum
1 tsp. Gluten-free baking powder
2 tsp. Brown sugar 
1 tsp. Salt
1 c. Warm water





and this produced 8 tortillas.  I made a half-recipe to test it out, and used Dove Farm Gluten-Free Self Raising flour instead of the all purpose flour and baking powder.  This was because I used the last of the baking powder last week and haven't bought a replacement yet.  


Whilst making one of the tortillas, I noted it was puffing up in the middle, and used a weight to bring it back down in contact with the griddle.  This produced a harder tortilla, more suited to folding in half rather than rolling.  Following the instructions as started gave a soft, roll-able, tasty tortilla.


My griddle is not terribly large, and my tortillas came out a bit thick.  Next time, I will make 5 tortillas rather than 4.  It is definitely a recipe I will be using again!  

More socks

A second pair of socks to add to the 2013 total.

These are plain 'vanilla' socks.  I had meant them to be worn with the purl bumps on the outside, but whilst weaving in the ends I did it on the wrong side!  

The socks are actually teal through to cream, but the photograph was taken in poor light levels and so the colours are not as they should be.

But, this is the fourth completed project of 2013.  (4 in 2013)

Hereford Helices

Last week, my daughter and I flew to England to enable her to attend two interviews for art college.  On the first day, we were going to be travelling at least six hours by train, as well as the flight over to England.  I anticipated that there  would have rather a lot of time to read and knit.

Reading didn't really happen, but a sock was designed and knitted during those couple of English days.  'Hereford Helix' was my first thought of a name for the design as we were travelling through Hereford, and the socks have a helical pattern.  My inclination when it comes to socks is an identical pair, but in this case, it made sense for the socks to be mirror images.  Therefore, instead of Hereford Helix, the pattern is now Hereford Helices.  

This is the third completed project in 2012: 3 in 52.  There's  pair of vanilla socks just waiting to have the toes grafted.  

This is the first time since starting the "52 in 52" that I have counted socks as one project, but it is also the first time I have included non-knitted and non-crocheted projects in the count.  

A thank you card

Yesterday I was clearing some papers out of my office, and I came across a thank you card from a former colleague, David.  David had a very aggressive form of cancer.  It was discovered in the summer, and by the winter, I was at his funeral.  

I went to visit him at home one day and was shocked to see how much weight he had lost.  He was wearing a big thick sweater, and was still feeling the cold.  As is the way of such things, I asked "Is there anything I can do for you?"  He indicated that there was.  "I have seen the beautifully coloured socks you have made for people.  Might I have a pair of socks?"  Of course he could!

The socks were started and I took them along to a social evening.  Someone asked about them, and when I explained that they were for David, she took the sock from my hands and started knitting a round.  These socks were passed around.  Knitters knitted rounds, and complete novices were shown how to knit a stitch or two.

When we went to Ireland on holiday the socks went with me.  I was working on them during coffee time after church, and a woman asked me about them.  I explained and said that so far the socks had been knitted by over 20 people.  She reached out and said "Twenty one", and another woman looked on and said "Twenty two."  All of those people prayed whilst they were knitting, and wanted to send their very best wishes to him.

When David received the socks he was utterly delighted, and quite awed by the fact that in the end over 26 people had knitted his socks.  

My little one's first sock

My daughter wanted to knit socks.  One of the easiest ways to learn to make socks is by making slipper socks on big needles and using thick yarn.  It gives a feeling of how to do it.  

She is using King Cole Mirage double knitting yarn.  This was held double and she cast on 40sts.  The yarn is in reds, in shade 870, with a dyelot of 43448.