January 2022 Review

 

My three goals for January were to lose 3kg, make or remake an item of clothing, and to try a new vegan recipe.

Losing weight was 3kg.

My new skirt is rather missing. The pattern was created, and as I was going to cut out the pieces I realised the fabric had been sun-bleached, and so wasn't suitable. The plan for this fabric is to set it aside, and use it for a straight skirt when I have lost more weight. I'll make 2 items in a month later on.

We are enjoying the Spiced Parsnip soup, the lemon and poppy seed muffins, and also the onion and walnut savory cake. The pumpkin falafels were a pile of 'meh'. One of the local shops has falafels, and they are rather nice, we've been eating them instead. 

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredient

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

100g white sugar

20g poppy seeds

1Tsp chia seeds

3Tsp water

240ml apple juice or oat milk

90ml vegetable oil

1 lemon

icing sugar

Method

Prepare muffin tin with paper or silicon muffin cases. 

Preheat the oven to 190-200°C.

Put the chia seeds and water in a bowl, leave the seeds to swell.

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix.  Grate the rind of the lemon into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the chia seeds. Mix the contents of each bowl.

Combine the wet with the dry, mixing thoroughly, but quickly.

Divide the mixture between the 12 cases, and bake for 22 minutes.

 

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.

When the muffins have cooked and are still hot, spoon a little 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. 

Onion, Spinach and Walnut Savory Cake

Ingredients

Onion marmalade

2 Tsp olive oil

4 large sweet onions, thinly sliced 

3 Tsp balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 Tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme

Cake

1 1/2 cups plain, gluten-free flour

1 Tsp baking powder

1 tsp  salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp medium curry powder

2 Tsp chia seeds

6 Tsp warm water

1/2 cup  yogurt (vegan)

5 Tsp olive oil

1 cup spinach (coarsely chopped)

1/3 cup toasted walnuts, (chopped)

Method

To make Onion Marmalade: Heat oil. Add onions, and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar, brown sugar, and thyme, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 40 minutes, or until onions are caramelized. Cool.

To make Cake: Preheat oven to 175C. Line loaf pan with parchment paper.

Mix the chia seeds and water in a bowl. Then measure, and chop, ingredient. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in bowl. Mix chia seeds, yogurt, and oil in separate bowl. Stir the wet mixture into the dry. 

Fold in the spinach, walnuts and 1/2 cup  of onion marmalade. Spoon into the loaf pan, and bake for 45 minutes.

Notes

This would be great for a buffet or picnic.

Christmas Under the Stairs

 

Whilst the Beloved was taking the decorations of the Christmas tree, I was busy under the stairs decluttering, organising and tidying.  This large cupboard is used to store the Christmas tree, all the decorations, the recycling boxes, cake decorating supplies, and a number of  small kitchen appliances. 
The space has been re-organised - the items used most frequently are now most easy to reach.  

The Christmas tree and decorations have been decluttered and put away too. 

A Vegan Cook

 

A new person , F, came along to Shut Up and Write. She is a friend of MJ and also DH. As well as being friendly, she is a vegan cook, and works in one of the local cafes. She has given me some tips and pointers for falafels.

F suggested using a bit of cinnamon, and some curry powder to bump up the flavour, and agree with the addition of onion and the need for more fresh herbs. She also said pumpkin and butternut squash were to soft and squishy. Grated carrot would give a better texture.

Something I am finding is vegans are incredibly supportive of others learning to cook vegan foods. They are patient and kind.

Second Day Falafels

Oh my goodness! The difference a day (and an onion) can make. 

A quarter of the falafel mixture was left in the fridge overnight, and this morning, half a grated onion was added. The falafels were shallow fried, and placed on top of my lunchtime salad, along with some garlic cream cheese (vegan).  So much better! SO MUCH!

It was still too sloppy, but there are plans in place. Next time, I'm going to use a couple of sweet potatoes. These will be roasted in their skins whilst another meal is being cooked. The spices will be bumped up, as will the parsley and garlic. A grated onion will be added too.

I'm also wondering about whether it would be worth trying to deep fry them instead of baking or shallow frying.

My plan is to experiment with the new falafel recipe on Saturday, and to leave it overnight in the fridge. This has the potential to create a really quick and easy meal if the work can be done the night before, rather than straight after I come in from work. 

Pumpkin Falafels

 

I tried a recipe for pumpkin falafels, and it achieved a rating of 'meh', but interesting also 'has potential'. 

My new blender is not a suitable bit of kit for this recipe. It wasn't able to blend everything, and there were huge chunks. Water was added to try to enable blending. It worked (sort of), and naturally made a very sloppy mixture. The potato ricer worked far, far better. 

The plan is to switch to sweet potatoes, and roast them in their skins in the oven whilst cooking another meal. I'll also increase the spices, and the parsley to see if that makes a difference.

I'm generally reckoned to be a pretty good cook, and it's weird learning to cook in a new style, and finding practise is most definitely needed.

Spiced Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

4 Tsp olive oil

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

0.5 tsp ground turmeric

2 large onions, cut into chunks

8 parsnips, diced

4 large carrots, diced

1 Tsp chopped garlic

2 litres vegetable stock

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 Tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 220C.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, coriander, cumin, and turmeric  Add the onion, parsnips and carrots. Mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.

Put the veggies, stock, mustard and lemon juice into a blender and process until smooth. This will need to be done in batches. 

Bring the soup to a simmer, and check seasoning.

January Goals

• lose 3kg
• make or remake 1 item of clothing 
• try 1 new vegan recipe

The excess me created during lockdown has gone, but there's more of me to go. 3kg a month seems like a very achievable goal.

After the year of buying no clothes, I had a very hard job finding clothing I actively liked. The result was 10 new identical (bar colour) tops, and two pairs of trousers. The linen trousers could not stand the strain, and the crotch has gone. I'm going to remake the remaining fabric into a skirt, and use a bit of the left over material to patch my navy cord skirt. 

The vegan mushroom soup was not a success, but I'm hopeful other recipes will be better. 

Christmas Sweater

One of  the Beloved's Christmas presents this year was 12 balls of King Cole Explorer Super Chunky in the colourway Raleigh. This is being worked into a sweater. 

I'm roughly following a pattern.  The largest size is two sizes too small, so I'm grading it to fit. It was also written as flat pieces to be worked separately, and then sewn together. This is not my style at all! This sweater is being worked in the round, and will have Raglan sleeves rather than drop sleeves.... oooh, I'm going to make a 4 stitch cable pattern going up the Raglan.

The pattern was also created without a chart for the cabling on the front and back. One of my tasks this morning is to take the jumble of numbers and letters, and make a pretty picture. 

Mushroom Gloop

 My first attempt at Mushroom soup was not a success. It started out as a vegan experiment, and was only rescued by the addition of a pair of chicken stock pots, and half a pint of double cream!  These additions moved the soup from the 'It's food, I suppose' into 'Yeah, it's okay...ish'. 

My next foray into vegan soups will be spiced parsnip. This sounds like it has the possibility for tastiness.

Decluttering Clothes

From July 2020 for a year, I took part in a challenge not to buy any new clothes. There were a couple of exceptions, underwear and emergencies. The challenge went well, and I only bought two items outside of the exceptions - a party dress and a wrap.

In August, I bought 10 new tops, and two pairs of trousers. These were to replace worn out clothing. The worn out items have yet to be disposed of. That's what happening today. I'm going to go through my clothing and declutter.

In the past, I've asked such questions as:

• do I like it
• do I wear it
• does it fit
• does it need to be repaired

This year, I'm going to take a different approach. I shall be thinking about what I need and want, and whether my current wardrobe meets those needs.

I need 3 pairs of pjs, 2 night shirts, 3 bras, 14 pairs of knickers, 14 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of woollen socks, 5 pairs of tights, 2 slips, 2 strappy tops, 1 swim suit, 14 tops, 4 pairs of trousers, 4 winter skirts, 1 party outfit, 3 jackets, 5 sweaters, 5 cardigans, 5 pairs of shoes. (Closer to summer, I'll look at what I need for warmer weather.)

My clean clothing has been sorted and decluttered. As I work my way through Mount Washmore, I'll declutter as I go. 

Back to Decluttering

Decluttering isn't a 'once and done' event. It needs to be done again and again until people can find a balance of things entering the house, and leaving it. I'm good at decluttering, but woefully bad regarding bringing new items into the house. 

Being the boss, means I decide when the shop opens, and closes. This means the shop closes between Christmas and New Year to allow the staff to have a good long holiday. For me, this is 10 days. Three of these days have been used. One day for Christmas celebrations, and two days doing very little apart from resting. Now, my need to 'accomplish stuff' has kicked in, and it's time to turn my mind to decluttering.

• declutter DVDs
• declutter games
• declutter jigsaws

The grand total from this round of decluttering is 12 DVDs. In previous years, it's been far more. The objective is not to simply get rid of stuff, but to get rid of the things we don't need. I would happily have said goodbye to much, much more, however, I'm not the only person in the house who has a say in it. 

Contentment

 

The last few weeks have been busy. I've been working 6 days weeks, and staying late. But this weekend, I have two whole days off. I am relaxed. I am content.

There's some things I want to do, like make an apple crumble, a lemon cream cake, mend my grey sweater, and a bit of decluttering. Mostly, it will just be a time to relax, and not think about work. It's about closing my eyes, deeply inhaling the smell and sounds of the sea, and smiling. 

Currently, I'm sitting in a cafe, looking out at waves crashing over rocks. The sea is fascinating colour #B9BBB6 - a mid-light grey-green, with the tips of the waves being white. It's a misty day, with a soft grey sky. The whole vista is desaturated.

I love watching the sea.

Hello, October!

 

The start of a new month, new things to do, new creative outlets to explore. 

This month, I have a few things to accomplish:

o new passport

o create pumpkins for the shop

o create bats for the shop

o declutter, deep clean, and tidy the loo and bathroom

Goals Review

 The goals set didn't quite manage to be met, but I'm not going to beat myself up. Work was rather crazy, and almost everything else took a back seat. Thankfully next month things will be a bit easier, and I won't be working such silly hours.

Some weight was lost.  Four and a half kilos were lost in the last two months. I'm calling it good. Few walks were taken, and far too many snack foods eaten. The Christmas trees for work have been made.

Courgette Spaghetti with Spinach and Pine Nuts

Ingredients

80g dried spaghetti (I used gluten-free)
1 large courgette, trimmed and spiralised 
20g pine nuts
50g cubed pancetta, smoked lardons or diced bacon
1tbsp olive oil
150g young spinach leaves
80g feta

Method
Half fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the spaghetti, return to the boil and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. 

Add the spiralised courgette and stir together quickly, then immediately strain through a colander and run very briefly under a cold tap.

Meanwhile, place the pine nuts and pancetta (or lardons or bacon) in a non-stick saucepan with half the oil and fry over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly until lightly browned.

Tip out onto a plate and return the pan to the heat Add the remaining oil and the spinach and cook over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring regularly, until the spinach is soft.

Crumble two-thirds of the feta over the top, season and cook until the feta melts, making a creamy coating for the spinach.Return the spaghetti and courgetti to their saucepan, add the spinach and feta sauce and, using two forks, toss together well over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes.

Divide between two shallow bowls, crumble the remaining feta over the top and sprinkle with the pancetta and pine nuts.

Notes
Last night, we didn't have courgette, lardons, nor feta. We substituted 100g of soya beans, pancetta, and Stilton. We also added about 8 quartered cherry tomatoes. Those were stirred in at the last minute. It worked well.

September Goals

1. Finish more crafting projects than I start, at a rate of 2:1.

2. Lose 2kg. I'm going to ease myself back into weight loss. In the first week, I'll not have chocolate, crisps or sugary drinks. In subsequent weeks, I'll decrease the crap, and increase the healthy food.

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3. Walk each day.

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(I've no idea why someone chose white tulips to represent September, but they are beautiful, and I would like white tulips in my garden next spring.)

August Update

 

There were a number of goals set for this month, and I'm managed to finish some projects. Various Christmas Tree covers for Terry's Chocolate Oranges have been knitted. A hat has been made for the Beloved, and two dog snoods. A customer brought in a quilt that needed to be bound. It had been meant for a grandchild, but it's now for that's baby's baby

The rest of the goals... yeah, they missed the target. 

Clean Floor!

 

The kitchen floor has been swept and mopped. It's looking a great deal cleaner. My chairside table has also been cleared.

Cycling has happened.

So far this month, we have had chicken stir fry, and sausage, bacon and beans for dinner.

No craft projects have been completed, but I'm working on it.