Pancakes!

If I ever find a recipe that works, I stick to it religiously! Cooking isn't my strongest point and if I ever change something it is usually after a long thought process. But this week I did something wild! WILD! (Well for me) I changed my American Pancake recipe to a savoury "brinner" (breakfast at dinner) recipe.

Ingredients to make 4 - 6 Pancakes (enough for 2 people with some scrambled egg or sausages for a side)
*135g Plain Flour
*1 tsp Baking Powder
*1/2 tsp Salt
*2 tbsp Caster Sugar
*130ml Milk
*1 large Egg, lightly beaten
*2 tbsp Melted Butter, or Olive oil, and extra for cooking.

Optional extras: Blueberrys, Chocolate chips, cooked pancetta cubes and sweetcorn (what I did on Tuesday and OMGGGGG that was scrummy! I even added some basil!) To be honest, add anything you like.

Method
1. Pop your flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a bowl and mix together. In a separate bowl whisk the egg, milk and butter together (keep mixing but don't get worried when the butter/oil separates, that's just science!)
2. Poor the mixture into the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Let stand for a few minutes. If your adding the optional extras add them here.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add some butter or olive oil until melted, then add a small ladle of the mixture. You will notice it is quite a thick mixture but will spread out a little. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble (which if you add extras too is harder to notice but mostly you kind of know...) and when it does, turn over. Cook a little further until the pancake is about 1cm thick (or thicker if u like a thick one).
4. Keep repeating until all the pancakes are made, you can keep them warm in a low oven until you have made them all but I think they taste best straight out of a pan :)

Scrummy!

Happy Baking x

Things I have eyes for..

Today I am feeling very vintage home wares and I have been thinking of all the things that I would love to own if I had my own little home. A singer sewing machine and a beautiful mannequin bust to make pretty dresses on; I would get a cute little desk with a typewriter so my man could type love letters to me all day long (I would love that, cheesy I know). I also love these old shoe forms that have been made into book ends, just a cute little vintage addition to a bookshelf...
I love having dreams... x

Easter Make

As it is Easter, I have decided to make myself a little Easter Egg broach! Its super easy and you can do it for any occasion really!

Take some felt, needle, silk threads (or any threads), stuffing and decorations (optional).

Draw an outline of the shape that you want to make, mine is an egg as it is Easter, onto a piece of paper, this is your template. Then using your template cut out two pieces of felt, a front and a back.

Then embellish the front with anything you fancy really, I just went for a small bit of sparkle. Then put the front and the back together and sew together using a blanket stitch in a clashing colour.

Obviously when you are almost all the way around, stuff your piece with some stuffing. I just used the stuffing out of an old cushion that I don't use anymore (upcycling is good!).

Then just sew or glue on a brooch fixing to the back and you are ready to go. An easy and quick little make! x

Happy Easter, hope your many eggs are treating you well :) x

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

My music to knit to this week comes from the great mind of Jack White and The White Stripes. After knitting my White Stripes-esque tea cosy and purchasing tickets to go see Jack in London in June, I thought I would go through my back catalogue of The White Stripes and pull out an old classic!

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground from the album White Blood Cells. Awesome! :)

Crochet Hook Wrap

Having had many, many knitting needles and crochet hooks passed down to me from my grandparents, I needed a home for them. So, I decided to make a crochet hook wrap. Using a mint green baby cotton/linen mix yarn that I picked up at my local yarn shop, I crocheted rows of double crochet to make a rectangle piece. I then edged it using single crochet in a natural beige colour. I made two crochet flowers and attached them to one side of the rectangle by a crocheted chain.

Using a piece of light blue spotty fabric, I lined the rectangle and created a pocket for my hooks to go into, with a small flap at the top to ensure that the hooks don't slide out (looking back this should have been a bit longer as some of my hooks are quite small).

It is really useful to keep scissors and all sorts in too, all the small bits that get lost in your knitting bag.

I hope that this brings you ideas of your own, my next idea is for a larger one to hold my knitting needles!
x

Things I have eyes for this week

Well this coming week the weather is looking like turning back to winter, and therefore wrapping up while trying to look springlike is a tough thing to do... but with some of these things I think I can manage it.

The first is a beautiful bag that I found today, which I may try to replicate in a different form. The second is an amazing yellow raincoat (something I have always wanted), the third are classic white converse trainers with the slim lined style, and the fourth is a pair of blue skinny jeans. I want ALL of these things!
It is more of a casual look for me, but I still think it is a cute look x

Chocolate Brownies

After visiting the Hummingbird Bakery on Wednesday I have had major Chocolate Brownie cravings! So today I got out my cookbook and got my bake on!!

 

Start by melting butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water

Add dark chocolate and melt in the same bowl as the butter

I then poured the chocolate and butter mix into a bigger mixing bowl

Add sugar and then mix until blended

Add flour and mix until it becomes almost like a thick paste

Add eggs and mix until smooth

Add to a baking tray lined with paper

When cooked and cooled take out of tin and paper and cut into even squares, decorate with icing sugar if you want to, they taste amazing either way to be honest!

They really are a scrummy recipe and you can get the book from 'all good book retailers', definitely worth it if, like me, you live nowhere near a Hummingbird Bakery...

Happy Baking :)