The Modern Housewife Series Vol. I

baked vegan

Baste thoroughly with coconut oil and place in sun for 1-3 hours, turning regularly. Check for burnt bits now and again.

Nudity and steamy books optional.

baked apologies

I'm sorry. I haven't been baking and therefore have been a terribly  poor participant in vegan bake month. I am in awe of the beautiful breads, pizzas, cakes and spring rolls below... but have mainly been making juices, smoothies, salads, sushi rolls and things like that... but there were some baked potatoes.

Ta da!

I had great plans to then photograph them served with baked beans (misleadingly named, I think they are boiled in the tins) and rice salad but was ADHD style distracted by reading, writing and sunshine... that keeps happening...

However, though there is no photo, I did make a very nice salad with the extra ones the following day: cube the leftover baked tatties leaving the skins on, roughly chop two oranges and a cucumber. Dressing: a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard beaten up with a tablespoon of walnut oil and some lime juice... lovely :)

two cakes

Two cakes, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene.

Sorry. They are on a balcony though... both orange cakes, one topped with chocolate, one with icing sugar mixed with a little orange juice.

A rose by any other name... is in fact, cherry blossom :)

Vegan bake month

Next month (May) is going to be a dedicated bake month here on Modern housewife. Anything which gets "baked" in the oven is fair game so there will be savoury as well as sweet. Who knows what baked delights will appear here next month! Feel free to join in and let us know what your making and baking.

(Posts will not be set for specific days so you'll just have pop by to see what's happening or follow us on twitter (see sidebar). Some days there may even be two posts!)

more cake

I was going to say "it's been all go here" but that's only true if you count hoovering, walking the dog, picking up toys, laundering (clothes, not cash sadly) and cooking...the never ending cooking, eating and cleaning up. It feels as if its been all go here anyway.

The now one year olds birthday was survived by all and I won't bore you with the stress and annoyance caused by in laws arriving with ham and sausages "for the non vegans." Cake was eaten and whispered comments of enjoyment were overheard.  "it's good considering there's no butter in it." Great praise indeed. I ended up making a white vanilla cake and it was OK. It was a little dry. It's an ongoing problem with a vanilla cake. All other cakes (lemon, carrot, chocolate, coconut) are light and moist but plain vanilla? Not so much. I read somewhere it was to do with acidity. I'll have to check out the theory and see what I can do. Don't get me wrong it's not an unpleasant and unpalatable cake which has to be choked down with accompanying fluids. I just know it could be better. I use my chocolate cake recipe but replace the cocoa powder with a tablespoon of plain flour.

the obligatory valentines post

I abhor valentines day with a passion. I'm essentially a very unromantic person who has never expected nor wanted bunches of flowers or boxes of chocolates so to have a day dedicated to all things lovey dovey and which actively encourages public displays of affection...urgh, it gives me shivers up my spine.

I grudgingly acknowledge that not everyone is devoid of emotions though so if you can't fight those glandular secretions awash in your bloodstream and have the urge to proclaim your undying love you could try these few items (click on image to take you to the page):

Hannah's heart shaped quiche

 

 Lucy's lanterns (why not put rose petals in them?)

 Lucy's cake inspiration (I believe she has made a new one this year with even more tasty treats on top)

(This was going to be a longer post but, meh.)

 

normal service will resume

I'm sure normal service will resume here next week. I got distracted this week with my iPod which was supposed to be used for writing posts and keeping on top of my emails but in reality got used for playing Where's My Water and Mahjong. I shouldn't play games because as soon as I start using that problem solving part of my brain I find it virtually impossible to switch back to doing something more creative. Add to this the fact that once I start a game I have to finish every level and collect everything which must be collected then you'll see the problem. I could also blame the technical issues earlier in the week but let's face it, it just gave me more time to play games.

So until next week ( wait! That's tomorrow right?!) here is a poor, low res photo of a surprisingly delicious salad from a book I'll probably go on and on about lots

Turning creativity cant's into can dos

(Just to tease you!)

I have a banoffee pie recipe to share, but not until Monday. No reason  other than I am a cruel woman. I also have a cinnamon roll recipe that I may or may not wait until the following Monday to share because not only am I cruel but evil.

You see Thursday's are for wittering and waffling and Monday's are for recipes and rambunctiousness. Something like that.

You will be pleased to hear I wont be boring you with my on going organisation, other than it is miraculously continuing, and I won't detail my new home cleaning regime, as that's far too domestic and housewifey. No today it's all about creativity.

I have always felt that I'm not a 'creative' type and that my lot in life is to be a very practical person. You know, that person who is always unflappable and calm in a crisis. Practical.  I've always felt that creativity is for other people...artists, graphic designers, sewers, knitters, crafters,sculptors, makers...not for me then. When I was at school, primary and secondary, I was the quintessential average student. There was nothing I excelled at, mostly I was average but some things I failed miserably at. I couldn't draw, I couldn't sew, I couldn't knit...I couldn't create. I couldn't even grasp the basic concepts of how to do these things, they seemed so abstract! I have such strong memories about being baffled about how to even start off sewing and sure enough anything I made would somehow unravel and fall apart and I'd still be left feeling bemused. Worse still to have what you have just sewn ripped apart, literally, by a sadistic sewing teacher. Art was even worse and it got to the point when I stopped doing my homework entirely so that I wouldn't get another D scribbled across it.

Its not until the last 5 or 6 years that I have really started to get over some of my school day hangups and realise that I can do all these things. It's helped that I have realised that 'creativity' has a broader scope and definition than I previously thought. I write regularly on this blog...isnt that creative? I have taught myself to crochet...isn't that creative? I can sew reversible baby trousers when I havent sewn in years...isnt that creative? I can garden, create new recipes and develop unusual herbal recipes. All these things are creative. I'm learning in my own way, at my own pace and am now no longer afraid of making mistakes because this is how I learn. 

Right, enough of the baring the soul. I want this year to be the year I really unleash my creativity. Yeah, sure, everything has already been done but not by me. I'm not going to get too hung up about originality. So here is how i plan to approach my creative year.

• I will not hoard sketch books/notebooks but use them instead I have a terrible habit of collecting notebooks and then either get quite annoyed when they get used by others or am so terrified of filling them with utter drivel that they remain blank and untainted.

 

• I will not worry about the contents of said notebook. No one else has to see it. 

 

• Anything I make must be either practical and therefore not clutter or so fabulously fabulous that it must stay in my house forever and become a much coveted item by all who come visit.

 

• I will not permit further UFOs in this house as there are enough of them already! UFOs (unfinished objects) will be completed before taking up new projects. So no more crocheting more interesting items until my granny square blanket is complete! (although it's gone from a full size blanket to a cot size and now a dolls bed sized blanket...I may manage to complete that).

 

• I will not take on unmanageable projects in terms of size (see above) or ability (therefore no launching in with a self drafted coat).

 

• I will not let doubt or flashbacks to school days cramp my creativity. I'm a big girl now and don't have unmotivating and uninspiring teachers breathing down my neck whispering words of negativity in my ears. I am a creative person and have the ability to master anything I desire (so up yours Miss Stewart (my evil sewing teacher) and the drunk art teacher who I can't remember the name of but know she drank cheap sherry in the art store cupboard.)

 

• I will not inflict unwanted handmade goods on everyone I know, including my child. I will not force badly made gifts onto my loved ones...but if I hate you then oh, yes, I shall gift you the worst items I can, insist you wear them and then ask about them all the time. If I particularly despise you I shall make sure your name is on it so you can't give it away either... Bwhahaahahahahaha.

I think that's everything. Anybody else got any ideas on how to be/stay creative? What do you feel your creative outlet is?

sweet buttons

I sewed a button on something! It's amazing; a post-Christmas miracle if you will...

There it is :) It's attached to a piece of knitting that I did a couple of years ago, initially intended to be a scarf but the yarn ran out before it was long enough. So now it is a marvelous hip warmer/knitted warm up thing (trust me I look fabulous in it!), it goes so well with my legwarmers...

stars not my work...

In other sweet news, I am on a sugar and wheat avoiding thing, eating these flapjacks and feeling mellow. While I can't compete with Cat's pie, I have been baking sugary things for other people and they're quite pretty:

pie

Past experience tells me that every time I tell myself not to do something that's all I want to do. Like the time I decided to give up coffee and proceeded to drink more of it than i had ever done before...although the recent purchase of a coffee machine hadn't helped.  It took me a further 7 years to kick that habit.

Recently I was complaining that i was eating too much sugar and how it makes me feel exhausted and if I eat too much I get a cold (Hannah can attest to this) so I made the brave/rash decision to drastically cut down consumption. what has happened is I have systematically consumed more sugar laden goods in a week than I did all last year.

I had an overwhelming urge for sweet pie and ice-cream and it would have been rude to ignore it. Apple and blackcurrant pie with a coconut crust was the one that popped into my head. I used to make this most days when I worked in the restaurant and I used to do daily battle with the pastry, it was a nightmare to work in a hot kitchen...it just fell apart far too easily. But, oh my, so very worth it.

The thing is, with it only being the two of us, what do you do with left over pie? I've always found that the pastry starts to soften once cooled and it never reheats well but I discovered a solution to this problem (while watching TV) with the Pie Shake!

Oh pie shake where have you been all my life?! This is just not a British or Scottish thing at all (which is I suppose a bit surprising given that Scotland is home to the deep fried mars bar) but seems to have originated from the USA. All you do is combine a slice of pie and some scoops of  ice-cream (I also added some thick coconut milk because it was a shame not to) with a hand blender and ta da!! Pie shake! It really shouldn't work. It's wrong on just about every level.! However..

(I'm in the process of improving the recipe so I'll get it up next week).