A new look for MMM....

it was time for a change and I do hope you like the new look, I've certainly had a great time designing and geeking!  I had wanted to expand last year's Christmas card design to include us all (though I've still not found a place for the chooks....) and I love the new photo slider.  

I have a couple more tweeks, but it's nearly 1am and even the dogs are looking a little desperate!

G'nite everybody x

Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip goes Vegan

Thanks again to France, where I was eating lots of artichoke hearts in my salads, I decided to try and veganise a firm favourite of ours, Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip, to take to a BBQ that we were having with the B's.

It was the lovely Mrs B that first introduced us to it, following a holiday in Florida, and her dip is legendary. Truly, legendary. I couldn't hope to emulate its glorious melty-cheesy-tasticness, but I was pretty certain that I could create a good alternative, especially now that I have got the whole Sour Cream thing nailed!  I googled a few recipes and settled on a version of one from Fettle Vegan, which goes something like this:

Ingredients:

1 piece whole wheat bread

1 tsp vegan butter

1 medium onion, finely sliced

1 tbsp EVOO

1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup tofu based sour cream (follow the link above)

1/4 cup water

1 tsp seasalt

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp red chilli flakes

6 clives garlic, minced

4 good handfuls baby spinach

1 can artichoke hearts

I preheated the oven to 180C.  

In a blender I blitzed the bread and vegan butter, then set aside in a bowl.  Back to the blender, I added the beans and blitzed them till mostly smooth, before adding the water, basil, chilli flakes and 3 tbsps of the sour cream and blitzing to combine.  In a large, non-stick frying pan, I added the EVOO and onion and cooked for 5 minutes, added the garlic and cooked for another couple and then added the artichokes.  These I did not pre-chop, but broke down gently into halves or quarters (size depending) with the back of my wooden spoon as the heat worked its way through them.  Then I added the baby spinach and cooked through till it had wilted.  I took the pan off the heat, stirred in the bean mixture, 3/4 of the bread crumbs and the rest of the sour cream.  This was then transferred to a baking dish (I have a 6" round, 6" deep dish which is just perfect) and topped it with the last of the breadcrumbs.

I baked this in the oven for 20 minutes before going to the B's and another 15 once we were there.

As it was, Mrs B had made a dish too so we had a bit of a dip-off!  Dip chips in hand, the lovely boyf nominated himself "Chief Taster" and set about the challenge with gusto.  It's safe to say that I didn't embarrass myself.  Paraphrasing badly, his review went something like this: "Darling, this is good!  Full of texture and you can taste all the different flavours." The "Mrs B, yours is just..... GREAT!", complete with smacked lips and a touch of salivating, said it all however, I did not manage to match the gloriousness of her melted, stringy-cheese-filled magic dip!  

As with all things vegan, especially if you don't try to include a cheese substitute, it's never going to be an exact match.  This is however, a lovely nod to the original.  I deliberately tried to maximise the texture and flavour and I was very pleased with the results.  Yep, Mrs B wins hands down when her dip is sharing bar space, but it was unanimously agreed (by 5 self-confessed Mrs B dip addicts (myself included)) that this could stand beside it and, on its own, wouldn't be refused either.  I call it a win ;O)

Neither lasted long enough for a photo either... I'll have to make another bowl; BBQ anyone?

Pickled Garlic, a little taste of France

If I had to list my five favourite ingredients, garlic would be there, probably in the top three and one of the real treats of our little trip to France last month was a pot of pickled garlic cloves that I picked up at the market.  Home and unable to find anything comparable, I decided to make my own.  The recipe is based on this, with a couple of changes as I wanted to try a sweeter pickle juice.

Ingredients: enough for a jam jar's worth

1 cup white wine vinegar and Asda's Apple Dressing (a lovely blend of white vinegar, white grape and apple juices) - approx. half a cup each

1 cup dry white wine (I chose a "crisp and fruity" Italian Trebbiano Rubicone)

A pinch each of red chilli flakes and herbes de provence

1 pinches each of dried rosemary and sea salt

2 dried bay leaves

10 whole peppercorns
3 tsps of granulated sugar
4-5 bulbs of garlic

The jam jar was washed and steralised in the oven (100C for 15-20 minutes and left to cool) whilst I peeled my cloves... which reminds me, I learnt a lovely phrase in France; "en chemise" which means "unpeeled" but which I couldn't help but think of quite literally, and couldn't help but laugh, as I imagined lots of little prawns (which were on the menu at the time) or in this case, garlic bulbs, in their undergarments!  It is the kind of job that gets equally tedious and addictive but well worth the effort.  Into a heavy based pan I put all the other ingredients, brought it to the boil for 5 minutes and then put the garlic in for another 30-40 seconds.  The garlic and pickling juice were instantly transferred to the jar and left to cool before being put in the fridge.  I tried a piece before I put it in the fridge, soft on the outside and crunchy in the middle; I prefer my garlic soft all the way through so will have to see if that comes with time and absorption... I have a week or so to wait.  I have since seen other recipes that cook the garlic for longer, the perfect excuse to try again if these are not quite as I would like!  

Yes, I misread the recipe and picked the garlic out again!

In the meantime, the leftover pickling juice makes a lovely light and fragrant salad dressing, an unexpected secondary treat.

It's time to stop being a fool!

“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.” 

― W.C. Fields

So said my calendar last month.  I laughed when I first read it but it proved to be good advice,particularly for someone who doesn't like to give up.  I'm quite pleased to have turned the page: all I need to do this month is laugh at myself and I do that already, as a good friend once said, "you can't be our kinda crazy without laughing about it!"

And so it is, with August's wise words echoing about the brain, that I have decided to call it time on the Mermaid costume as it currently stands.  It has been wonderful, but deeply frustrating, project from the day I started and it feels like it has fought me all the way.  With only a few weeks to go and left feeling, once again, as though I'm going backwards, not forwards, I am calling time on it.  Life is too damn short to be swearing at my sewing, it's my "go to" not my "get away from".

The nail in the costume-coffin was a disastrous afternoon this weekend spent trying to make the pannier hips which would have started the skirt.  After three attempts, the second of which involved 2 broken needles and a damaged bobbin case (all the same incident, I managed to leave my seat and duck at the same time) and more wasted fabric, boning and materials than I care to contemplate, the only good thing I can say about the experience is that my sewing machine finally got a much needed mini-service.  I was left with one pannier, that looked like I'd thrown it together (truth be told, by that point, I pretty much did) and just didn't/couldn't/wouldn't follow the line I was trying to create.  I was getting grumpy and when the lovely boyf stuck his head above the parapet and dared ask if maybe I shouldn't stop for now, I realised that yep, it's time for me to stop.

So I have a blue wig, a bag of blue fabric, shells and other assorted wotnots, and a lingering desire to still make it as a Mermaid in time for Halloween.  For now though, I'm going to listen to Mr Fields, have a good chuckle with myself, take a couple of weeks off and, for Round 2, the strict instruction will be to "keep it simple".

Stu goes on Retreat

Try as we did, last Saturday I came to the decision to rehome the fabulous Stu. It was turning out that he was a doodler, still not a particularly good one, but very, very keen. He could doodle standing up, sitting down, lying on his back having a belly rub, daytime, nighttime, dawn, dusk and never for less than at least a couple of dozen doodles. We ran out of options for keeping him quiet and his hormones were getting the better of him too. He was picking on the girls, Macy included, and my little run is not big enough to give them all room to safely escape each other.

He still loved a cuddle and is young enough to find his place in a new coop; I found the perfect place too, a rescue that will keep him forever and has both a flock of roos and of hens. They seemed delighted to have him and I trust them to keep him well and happy.

So, Saturday morning we went on a road trip. It was pouring with rain and the traffic was awful so Stu and I did what all good road trips do, chewed the fat and sang. Well, he doodled (and doodled and doodled) and I sang loudly (and somewhat out of key) over the top. It was a good goodbye.

I can't say I'm not appreciating the more relaxed atmosphere, the girls certainly are not pining (fickle ladies, all of them) but I do wish we had had the means to keep Stu, he is a great character and I was rather fond of his doodles, despite the noise and frequency. At least we know we saved him from being "surplus to requirements" and have found him a good place to live out his days.

Happy doodles Chicken Stu x