Comfort Food

It's been a pretty rubbish week all in all. Horrendous, never ending wind and rain. Leaks in our kitchen window, car issues, broken glasses, no washing machine and illnesses. Still, as we live in Somerset I know full well that there are many people having a much more difficult time and we have kept reminding ourselves throughout this niggly week that we are lucky to be in our house and in the warm.

I took these pictures of the Somerset Levels three weeks ago, from the train.

I had been on a post Christmas health kick but this week has broken me and I've gone all out for comfort food!

Stews...

Soups....

and cake which had to be made after I bought these pretty cake tins.

The stew is made with Hodmedod's split Fava beans which I've been with experimenting recently. Although I'm vegetarian, I'm quite uncomfortable with the food miles that can sometimes be involved in that. These are pulses which are grown in the UK.

Here's my recipe...

Smoky Split Fava Bean Stew

1 onion, chopped

3-5 potatoes

2 carrots, sliced

1 parsnip, diced

1 cup of diced swede

1 pint of veg. Stock

1 cup split Fava beans

1 tsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

Mixed herbs, dried

Fry the onion for a couple of minutes, until transparent. Add the vegetables and fry for a couple more minutes. Add smoked paprika and stir well. Add stock and beans, seasoning and herbs. Top up with kettle to cover veg. Bring to the boil and let the stew cook rapidly for 10 mins, then simmer for 1 hr 30 mins - 2 hours. (I do all this in my wok).

Top with dumplings and finish in the oven for 30 mins.

 

 

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What am I Reading?

My current pile of books...

Plus this one on the kindle app...

I received 'Magus of Stonewylde' by Kit Berry for Christmas and really enjoyed it so moved straight onto the next in the series, 'Moondance of Stonewylde'. Then however, I spotted 'Stone Keeper' in the library and decided I had to read that and as it's a library book, it's getting priority right now. It's the fourth and last book in Beth Webb's Star Dancer quartet. The books are set admidst the Roman invasion of Britain and tell the story of Tegen, a Druid, who is believed to have the destiny of being the Star Dancer and saving the land. A couple of weekends ago, we had a night away in Bath and were able to go around the Roman Baths which was great timing with my reading choice.

As for the others, well I haven't signed up for any art courses this year yet. I might, but I still have quite a bit of Lifebook 2013 left to do and I feel like I want to do a bit of my own thing too so I'm making the most of the art section in the library. 'The Women's Wheel of Life' is a lovely book about stages of womanhood and I'm also reading 'The Art of Happiness' by HH Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. I found this in a charity shop in Falmouth and am reading it in the mornings whilst bathing my sons which is kind of nice. It has got me thinking that happy reading first thing in the morning is probably better than checking FB on my phone.

So I am pretty immersed in books right now! At the beginning of the year, I did a list. I went all around the house to the various places I stash books, went throught my kindle library and audible wish list and came up with 50+ books which I already own and want to read. I told myself that that was more than enough for the year ahead and there would be no need to buy any more books.

What can I say, I already bought more books!

 

 

 

 

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Last Year's Pay-It-Forward

I have seen a few 'Pay-it-Forward' posts floating around Facebook this week. I decided not to try and do that this year. I did get gifts to everyone for 2013, but in my usual last minute fashion, most people got them in December! Seeing the posts did remind me that I haven't shared what I made on my blog, so here are the ones which went out in December....

Lavender Eye Pillow and Handwarmers,

Orange, Cinnamon and Poppy Seed Melt and Pour Soaps with crochet cloths,

and a Moebius Basket.

 

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Breadmaker Dough Pizza

 

My family love this pizza and several people have asked me how I make it so here is my recipe.

For the base, I use the pizza dough recipe that comes with my breadmaker. At the moment I have a Moulinex ABKEP1 which my mum kindly donated to us after ours broke down. I don't make a lot of bread in the breadmaker these days, but I do find them really useful for doughs. I have adapted the quantities of sugar and salt slightly as have found with both breadmakers I have owned, the recipes are always too sweet and salty for our tastes.

BASE

195ml Water

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Sugar

1 and a 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil

350g Strong Bread Flour (I use 1/3 wholemeal bread flour)

2 tsp Dried Yeast

Sprinkle of dried basil and oregano

 

Add the ingredients to the breadmaker pan in the order listed and select the dough program.

 

TOMATO SAUCE

1 tin of Chopped Tomatoes

1-2 tbsp Tomato Purée

1 Garlic Clove

1 tbsp Olive Oil

A good shake of dried basil and oregano

Salt and Pepper

 

Heat oil in a small pan and fry garlic for a few seconds, add the chopped tomatoes, then the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 mins.

 

TOPPINGS

1 Pack Mozzarella

Grated Cheddar

3-4 Sliced Mushrooms

A Small Amount of Diced Pepper

Half a Small Tin of Chopped Pineapple

 

ASSEMBLING THE PIZZA

Spread the dough out on the baking tray and leave for 20 mins. Brush with a little olive oil and then spread over the tomato sauce. Arrange the mozzarella on the top and sprinkle the grated cheddar in between. Add the rest of the toppings and finally a little more grated cheese.

Cook for about 30 mins at gas mark 5.

 

 

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Untitled

I'm trying out yet another blogging app. Here's some photos of the sunset a few nights ago...

 

 

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Some Sewing

A few months ago, the iPad stand I made got involved in an autism incident consisting of a lot of eggs being smashed in the kitchen. I chucked it out. My life is too short to hand wash raw eggs off small textile items!

I have missed it though. It was really useful for cooking, watching TV on iplayer etc and even hands free reading.

So, I finally got around to making a new one. I have seen quite a few different online tutorials for these stands since I made my first one and this is a bit if a combination of all of them. I am hopelessly slapdash with sewing, working it out as I go, no pins and measuring by eye. All bad habits I know! 

I think it turned out ok anyway and I'm using it all the time. 

The fabric is reused from this top,

originally bought from Dark Star Designs.

I also did this little owl cushion whilst I had the machine out...

...it's another tea towel pattern and although quick to do, because of the shape, I actually used pins!

ARC October

I am more or less on time for this month's Artful Readers Club link-up. (I am actually 2 months behind but let's just ignore that for now)! The ARC can be found at 

http://art-and-sole.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/october-arc.html?m=1

When I chose my books back at the beginning of the year, I had just seen 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor whilst browsing the young adult section in Waterstones. I don't know why it caught my eye but it did and I added it to my list. I actually ended up listening to the audiobook version for this months book.

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' begins in Prague where we are introduced to the main character, Karou. Karou is an art student with an unusual life. She is able to perform some small acts of magic or 'wishes' and has been raised by the, actually real, fantasy characters whom she is always drawing in her sketchbook. She performs tasks for one of these characters, Brimstone, although she does not fully understand what the purpose of the tasks, the collecting of teeth, is.

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' is the first book in a trilogy and as it progresses Karou learns more and more about her life and where she is from. I found it totally enthralling and could not stop listening. (In fact, I downloaded book 2, 'Days of Blood and Starlight' straight after finishing it). The characters are fascinating and the storyline is really different and engaging. You can probably tell that I really loved it and would definitely recommend it!

My artwork is inspired by Karou's hamsa's, which is not something she understands at the beginning of the book, her blue hair and various other aspects of the mystery of Karou's life.