New hair

Semi-permanent purple by Stargazer.
It's reaaaally bright!!
(And no ammonia)

Greenhouse update coming soon :D

Handmade coasters

A while ago I made myself a little coaster from cross stitch aida. I made the pattern up from random embroidery stitches. I wanted to make a partner for my lonely coaster...and about 2 weeks ago I finished it.

They're only about 10cm x 10cm. The colours remind me of Indian saris, and the pattern reminds me of Islamic patterns .

:)

Butternut squash, mushroom and raisin Risotto (Vegan)

Butternut Squash, Mushroom and Raisin Risotto (Vegan)

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Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

• 2 tbsp Margarine
• 200ml White wine 
• 500g Aborio Rice
• 250g Butternut Squash
• 12 Mushrooms, sliced.
• 500ml Vegetable stock
• Half of an onion
• Handful raisins
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 Garlic clove, diced

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Method:

• Preheat oven to 200°C/ 400°F/ Gas 6
• Cube squash, slice mushrooms and dice up 1/2 of the garlic. Add to non-stick roasting tin, toss and add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Leave in oven for 40-50 minutes until soft and golden in colour

• Once veg has roasted, turn oven off and set tin aside to cool while you prepare risotto

• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in pan with 1 tbsp (generous) of margarine to a deep, heavy-based pan

• Add onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes until tender 

• Then add rice to pan. Stir and cook for 1 minute 

• Pour in the wine and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice

• Add 250ml of hot stock, handful of raisins,and pinch of mixed herbs. Season well with salt and pepper and simmer

• Keep adding more stock and stirring. Cook for 15-30 minutes

• After 15-20 minutes the rice should be soft but still have a bit of bite left to it. The texture of the risotto should be thick and creamy, but not loose. Add extra stock if necessary

• Remove pan from heat and stir in 1 tbsp butter, roasted vegetables ans mix into the risotto. Season to taste and add any remaining stock, if required

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Serve with home-made garlic ciabatta and a glass of wine :)

This is my 1st time of making a squash risotto and it tasted magnificent! (Even my fussy boyfriend loved it)

Visit me at Cut Out + Keep! http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/profile/projects

Paisley top

I decided to turn an old bra, some buttons and some black material into a new evening top :)

So it's not completely finished yet.

Button detail

But it fits nice

Paisley detail

I just kinda went with the flow. I like it :)

What have you accomplished today?

Broccoli, garlic and cashew nuts with Soba noodles

MORE FOOOD!!!!

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Ingredients:

• Soba noodles
• Broccoli
• 1/2 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you want it)
• Cashew nuts
• Veg gravy/stock to use as a sauce (optional)
• Chives (optional)

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Method:

• Boil the broccoli until just cooked. Don't over cook it and make it go all soggy.
• While that's cooking, I heated oil in a frying pan and chopped the fresh chives and garlic up.
• Add the garlic and chives to the frying pan. cook until fragrant. Don't over cook or cook on too high temperature.
• Drain the broccoli and add it to the frying pan. Toss around to get the flavours all mixed together.
• Boil some water for the soba noodles. Follow directions on the pack ( Mine said submerge for 4 minutes then rinse)
• While the soba noodles are cooking, make up some stock or gravy. Make it as strong or weak as you want. Or don't even do it. I made it to put in my frying pan with the cooking veg etc because i thought it'd be a little dry without
• Once all items in frying pan are cooked , including stock/ gravy, then serve up ontop of soba noodles.

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Enjoy :D

(pics to come later)

My very 1st GREENHOUSE

Sooo.... I bought myself my 1st GREENHOUSE the other day from Argos!!!
Easy and quick to put together!

OOOO!! Ok...it's not the biggest of GREENHOUSES...but it's more than good enough for what I need it for.

So..I've got my Dwarf French Beans (top left), peppers (top middle) and lettuces(top right). Second shelf is watering can, odd bits and onions. At bottom are the strawberry plants.

A close up of the Dwarf beans, peppers and lettuces.

On the right side of the GREENHOUSE we have :

Salad leaves, oriental mix (top left and middle) and some more Dwarf French Beans. On the second shelf there's some Lolo Rosso and at the bottom there are 3 more strawberry plants :D

Then on the floor there's 3 tomato plants in a grow bag.


I'm really very excited to be actually growing things!

Oh... and i have loads more pepper seedlings that've just sprouted up... 2 more tomato plants from iain's mom and some chives from her too.



 How very lovely this year is going to be.

Vegan cake and Star Trek Voyager badge!

Just made my 1st vegan chocolate cake, complete with chocolate filling.

DECADENT!

and some more mouth-watering pics:

mmmmm cake......














Star Trek Voyager badge!!!!

ooooo yeah.

ENGAGE!