Friendly Nettle
Friendly Nettle is a community site for crafters of all sorts offering free project ideas, patterns for knitting, sewing and crocheting.
As Mother’s day is soon approaching, I am really excited to be involved in the annual Mum’s and Daughters Tea Party organised by Every Nation Church. Yey!
Today we are making stamps for labelling gift boxes. If you would like to make your own lino print stamps than go here for fun tutorial!
Have fun today!
Rasa :-)
Lately I felt poorly :-(. Caught the cold even if it was pretty warm outside! That must be because of weather change… Do you feel the same? If yes, than this flavoured steamed milk is for you ;-).
When I was little, my mum would make me steamed milk with some honey, butter and garlic. You are probably thinking that it have tasted yucky. But actually, that was the main thing I was looking forward to when I got ill! I of course edited the recipe to more grown up version. I have added rosemary twist into it…. because I love it and it recently flowered in my garden ;-).
ROSEMARY MILK
1. Simmer or steam milk with rosemary, garlic and olive oil until hot. (don’t let it boil)
2. Sieve the milk and pour it into the mug (serves one unfortunately). Swirl in the honey!
Enjoy and have a lovely weekend ;-)
Rasa
It’s have been really fun meeting everybody for knitting and cup of tea with a cake in our knitting get-togethers. This was quite an experience for me too! We have learned different methods of casting on, knitting and interesting new stitches. We shared tips and even books!
Sadly this is coming to the end as Friendly Nettle is on the move. But not for too long! In the new location there will be new faces and even more knitting and crafting fun! So watch this space for new events coming ;-).
For now join us at our last knitting group meeting on 24th of March. For more details click here!
Hopefully see you soon ;-)
Rasa xoxo
Only few weeks ago I have posted a recipe for the digestives. I have already found many uses for these simple biscuits! I used them as banoffee cheesecake base in the past while today I have crafted banoffee ice-cream sandwiches. Ahh… there is never enough of banoffee pie ;-).
BANOFFEE ICE-CREAM SANDWICHES Makes 6 sandwiches
1. First make banana ice-cream (this can be done long time ahead). Prepare egg cream by mixing egg yolks with sugar and whisking until it becomes pale.
2. Put double cream and milk together into the sauce-pan and heat it up, but don’t let it to boil. Then reduce the heat and add egg yolk mixture into the pan. Cook it on the small heat (just in case as it is very important not to get it boiled as then you would get an omelet, not an ice-cream) and mix continuously until it becomes thick (about 10 min).
3. At this stage it is best to cool the mixture down by placing the pot in the cold water as when you get the right consistency it is best not to overcook it.
4. When the egg cream has cooled add yogurt and mashed bananas and combine everything well. Pour the mixture into the plastic container (or even baking tin lined with baking paper) and place it into freezer.
5. After two hours scrape off the sides of the container and mix it with the fork. Repeat this after three hours and after that you can let it stay there until it is completely frozen.
6. Remove frozen ice-cream out of the container or tin and lay it onto the chopping board. Using cookie cutter cut out circles in the ice-cream block.
7. Make the ice-cream sandwiches: spread some caramel on the digestive, stick ice-cream round on top and cover everything with another digestive.
Enjoy!
Rasa xoxo
I love making (and eating) nicer breakfast in the mornings when I have more time. That mostly happens at the weekends. My favourite is egg Benedict of course! However couple of years ago I came across eggs in pots (oeufs en cocotte) that have a very similar taste minus the effort.
The other of my favourites are crepes that can be both savoury and sweet. I especially fond of these savouries: easy chickpea crepes!
Apple and potato rosti is another one of my brunch favourites ;-).
And if you are still in the rush today today (like me actually), then this Bill’s rhubarb and Banana smoothie is a good one!
Enjoy your Sunday!
Rasa xoxo
I have fallen in love with bobotie from the first time I tasted it! Thanks to Joni for introducing me to it ;-). Bobotie is curried South African dish that reminds me of coronation chicken, because of its sweet curry taste. What’s more, it is really easy to make! The recipe bellow is an edited version that I got from Joni’s mum.
BOBOTIE
1. Pour half the milk onto the bread and allow it to soak.
2. Fry the onion and garlic gently in a little oil until translucent.
3. Mash the bread and add it into the onion and garlic mixture, the spices, meat, jam, apricots, half the almonds, and the salt.
4. Mix together with your hands (thoroughly).
5. Pack the mixture into a baking dish to a depth of about 4cm.
6. Beat the eggs with the remaining milk and pour this over the top, then add the remaining almonds.
7. Bake in a preheated medium oven (180C or Gas mark 4) for 45-50 mins until the meat is cooked through and the custard on top has turned golden.
7. You may need to cover the top for the last 15-20 mins with a piece of foil to prevent the custard burning before the meat has finished cooking.
Enjoy!
Rasa xoxo
First of all, happy Pancakes Day! You are probably looking for pancakes recipes right now… Although these pancakes are not the sweet ones, they offer more than an afternoon treat. They are great for dinner too! Žemaičių pancakes have originated from Lithuania, the region where my Grandma lives. They have meaty filling in the potato case. Basically, worth to try ;-).
ŽEMAIČIŲ PANCAKES
(for filling)
1. Make the filling by frying an onion with butter and mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Season everything well!
2. Make the pancake dough by combining the ingredients together.
3. Take a lump of pancake dough, flatten it in the hand and insert some filling in the middle. Fold the filling in by covering with another small lump of dough.
4. Fry the Pancakes on the medium heat flipping sides until both of them turns golden.
Enjoy your pancakes today ;-)
Rasa xoxo
I have recently started dreaming about warm spring weather, when the winter coat is not going to be an only dress code :-D. This is why I can’t wait to start making my own dresses. I found these 50’s inspired dresses on etsy that are perfect for the season to come. Just throw the cardigan on and pull the polka dot tights on!
BTW, I found this useful polka dot tights DIY. Just reuse your old tights then ;-)
Happy spring waiting ;-)
Rasa
It’s Vickies Birthday today! Yey! Good occasion to decorate a cake of course :).
I have decorated a cake many times before and as I mentioned in my past cake decorating post, I love when cakes are decorated with fruits. This one is no exception! I just followed my ” natural” instinct and picked a cake that I thought Vicki would like, the one that have all the chocolate and some alcohol. Some things never change ;-).
So I chose to go with chocolate amaretto cake. I tripled the amounts for the cake base mixture and baked two different size round cakes from it to make one big tiered cake. I placed the smaller cake on the bigger one and realised that it is not small enough to define the cake tiers. So I put the small plate on top to use it as a circle guide and cut around with the sharp knife.
Then I made amaretto chocolate glaze and poured it over the cake.
I used plastic spatular to spread the chocolate glaze over the cake.
I took a challenge and sugar glazed the plums. Unlike figs, plums are really watery, so the effect does not last that long. I dipped the plums into the sugar and placed them on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil. Using a kitchen torch, I caramelised each plum half.
While the chocolate glaze on the cake is still warm and soft, I decorated it with sugar glazed plums, grapes and chocolate flakes.
Happy Birthday, my dear friend Vicki!
Rasa xoxo
As March is coming very soon I thought I will share about the things I most look forward to in this first month of spring. Here they are:
1. SPRING of course! Its my favourite time of the year! I look forward to picking wild flowers by the river Lea. I look forward to longer days! But most of it I look forward to see a new fresh season to wake up from it’s sleep ;-).
2. PANCAKE DAY! Yey! Although I must admit I eat pancakes very often already, I still get excited knowing that there is a day specially dedicated just for them :). I often eat pancakes sweet, but for this occasion I would like to try something savoury, something like these sourdough pancakes filled with ricotta and mustard-maple glaze!
3. BIRTHDAYS, because there are so many this month! It seams that all my favourite people are born in March. My best friend Vicki turning 30 this year! On the same day my little brother is turning 12 (picture bellow when he was just a baby). Then it’s my dear mum’s birthday! So lots of birthdays indeed :-)
4. WEDDING PLANNING! As you may already know from my previous posts, me and Joni got engaged! So really looking forward to get all crafty and create a DIY wedding. I already found few websites like Intimate Weddings and Wedding Chicks that are inspiring me to go 100% handmade, although that would be quite a challenge!
5. MOTHER’S DAY (last but not least). We are planning something chocolaty for it ;-)
What are you looking forward to most in March? Whatever that is, enjoy it ;-).
Rasa
Sometimes simple things in life are best! So are the digestives with cup of tea ;-).
I don’t know if you knew, but it is possible to bake your own digestives! They taste even nicer than shop bought.
HOMEMADE DIGESTIVES
1. Cream butter with sugar then combine it with the rest of the ingredients.
2. Roll the dough to 5mm thickness and using cookie cutter cut out rounds from it. Pile the rounds with the baking paper in between and place them in to the freezer for 20min.
3. Just before baking remove the dough rounds from the freezer and poke them with fork couple of times.
4. Bake the digestives in preheated 180C oven for 9-12min until it turns golden in colour.
5. Optionally you could dip the digestives into melted chocolate to make them extra yummy ;-).
Enjoy!
Rasa xoxo
I have been knitting cables a lot lately! You loved cable sweater that I have knitted, so I thought I will give a tutorial on how to knit basic cables. Click here for the video tutorial. And it’s not as difficult as you think ;-).
Enjoy your weekend ;-)
Rasa xoxo
Last week has been really busy, hence no talking for almost a week. The great news are that me and Joni are engaged! Yey! So we have been celebrating just that and dived straight into the wedding planning.
So today as I have been doing some wedding planning, Anna (my neighbour) popped in to convince me to go out for some jogging (fun times!!). So long story short, we ended up running by the river Lea and I was really surprised by how much it feels like spring! I mean I have seen on Facebook a lot of people sharing their pictures of parks filled with blooms, but I never thought spring would come so soon. So I got all mesmerised and instead of jogging I just kept picking flowers and blooming twigs for home. Meanwhile Anna just kept running and I could not keep up with her, so I stayed behind :-(. At least I have flowers at my home!
Happy spring!
Rasa xoxo
Marshmallows a supper great for campfire treats and they make hot drinks look extra special (not only hot chocolate). Beetroot here is mostly used for pastel pink colour rather than taste, so don’t worry if you think that is weird. And what’s more is that these are really easy to make and the results are amazing!
BEETROOT MARSHMALLOW HEARTS
1. Line baking tin with grease paper and dust it with corn flour and icing sugar mix.
2. Combine caster sugar and golden syrup in the saucepan together with beetroot juice and water. Heat the saucepan on the medium heat until sugar is melted and it reaches 110C on the thermometer (I use prong thermometer). Remove saucepan from the heat and once it is slightly cooled then melt gelatine leaves in it.
3. Whisk eggs with 1tbsp of sugar until it forms stiff peaks. While whisking gradually add warm syrup.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and let it set for at least 4 hours.
5. Remove marshmallow from the tin and lightly dust the top. Using cookie cutters cut-out little heart shapes.
Rasa xoxo
“Unseen Lithuania” book by Marius Jovaiša claims that Lithuanian fog is most beautiful in the world! Although this sounds a bit too confident to say, I did like it when me and Joni were visiting Lithuania last weekend. It sort of made everything misty and fairy taley :-). Especially Trakai Castle that were situated in the middle of the lake!
Enjoy your week!
Rasa :-)