Yoghurt Maker and a Recipe

Okay so I have to admit I'm NOT posting a craft project but I am posting.  I have been reminded by a few people lately that I haven't posted for a while and am in danger of not doing it if I don't do it now so I'm sharing a few things from my kitchen.  Some of you may know I love being in my kitchen.  It may not be a high tech, glossy magzine kinda kitchen but it's the heart of our home and it's where I feel so much at ease - where I do the bulk of my creating don't ya know.

Anyhow my week with my daughter was fab (I miss her already) but it plum wore me out!  That girl could shop for England and win a medal for it. LOL!  The week wouldn't be complete without a trip to Lakeland Plastics in Ipswich.  Love, love, love that store - I could come home with more than half of it I swear!  Sorry - shouldn't swear (see - I still have my sense of humour in there somewhere - haven't totally lost it).  I also love that my daughters are becoming home makers as well as everything else besides.  We are sharing more and more as the years go by and I love it.

Jess kept singing the praises of her yoghurt maker.  Since Dave and I try to be healthier - as long as it's easy that is - I was almost convinced but I didn't cave.  We're supposed to be conserving our pennies right now.  Usually we're busy doing something with church, kids, friends or family on weekends but we'd kept this one free since we needed some time together.  We decided a walk into town might be nice and before I knew what I was doing (ok maybe I knew exactly what I was doin) we found ourselves in Palmers and they were having a sale.  Gee!  Imagine that!  Despite cutting back I knew the yoghurt maker thingy was in there and I was just gonna check it out - that's all - honest!  Nah! We all knew I was gonna end up leaving with it so who am I kiddin?  But it will be so much healthier and save us pennies too won't it? Yes indeedy!

Well here it is.  Doesn't look mega impressive does it?  I am testing it out today since we are both at home doing things together again today.  I chose to make a batch of lemon flavour, low fat, no sugar, yoghurt for my first try so after mixing it up I poured the boiling water in the flask thingy, popped my yoghurt mix in and by the time we have dinner this evening we should have some yummy home made yoghurt ready to chill for work on Monday morning.  Jess says she makes this up before she goes to bed and just gets it out fresh in the morning.  Hopefully it will turn out good and Jess was right.  In fact it was so super easy even Dave could manage this one LOL!  You'd know how funny that was if you saw him in the kitchen - he's such a clutz - but I still encourage him to come cook with me even if it does mean I'm cleanin up everywhere including the floor.  Bless him :-)

Since making the yoghurt took all of 5 minutes (am lovin that part) I decided to try out a quick and easy recipe for lemon curd that I ran across recently.  I adore anything lemony and I love anything that cooks in the microwave in minutes but gives a fabby end product.  Like my peanut brittle or microwave jam for instance - so much quicker that you'd be hard pressed to find a reason NOT to make em' and perfect for gift giving too.

This was the resulting jar which apparently has to live in the fridge - that's what the recipe said.  It doesn't look like any lemon curd I'm used to seeing but it was made fresh.  I don't really care what it looks like - it was yuuummmeeeeee! And that was before it even got cold! My brain got real busy for a while there trying to think of all the things I could do with it.

My plan is to put a swirl of this yummy lemon curd into the home made lemon yoghurt to sweeten it up and then maybe take along a bit of crushed ginger snap biscuits or something to add just before eating.  Doesn't that sound like a scrumptious yoghurt?  I could see layering this up in a pretty glass with gingernuts and sweetened soya or oatmeal cream too for a tasty dessert. 

Want the recipe?  Thought maybe I'd share it with you in case anyone's interested.

Lemon Curd

50g butter

150g castor sugar (finer grain)

Zest & juice of 2 lemons (non-waxed kind)

3 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk)

Put butter, sugar and lemon in a large bowl and microwave 1-2 minutes until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved.  Set aside to cool slightly.

Beat eggs with a fork until smooth.  Strain if you prefer a smoother end product.  (I didn't bother to strain).  Add the egg mixture to the slightly cooled lemon mixture and blend well. 

Pop in microwave for 3-4 minutes stopping to whisk up after each minute.  Curd should thicken nicely but remember it will thicken even more as it cools too.  Let cool for several minutes and then place into a hot sterilised jar (or 2 smaller ones).  Place in refridgerator once completely cooled.

It's as easy as that!  I think this would be yummy in the centre of lemon cupcakes or sandwiched between a lemon sponge topped with fluffy frosting.  Ooooo it's making my mouth positively water!

Next time I post hopefully it'll be a craft project to share.

Enjoy!

Gettin Back to It - Beware it's a LONG post!

I've been away for awhile I know but I am finally feeling like I can begin doing a few things again.  I have never really lost anyone so close to me before and the urge to shut myself off from the world was a very real one.  Thanks to 2 very serious (and scary) bouts of depression in my life I know I could so easily have done just that so I was fighting a very real battle.  I have also never felt 'panick' stricken at the thought of losing anyone else close like my husband or my family and have needed them around me to get through this.  It has taken some time to deal with all these emotions and experiences but I am working through to daylight.

I do know that I believe I've turned a corner and now feels okay, not brilliant but getting better.  It's been tough dealing with things like no more emails from mom or any other kind of contact.  She was also our link to family stateside so I had been fighting a real sense of 'dis-connection' too.  I knew mom followed my blog because she used to comment ( I will miss those) but until we went back home and I found a HUGE binder full of my blog printed out and carefully saved 'page for page' I didn't realise just how much!   Mom would want this to go on and in the long run so do I thankfully.  For a while there I thought I would never want to blog again.  Sandy & Linda if you're out there - hi :-)

Mom was a crafter herself and she would be sad to think that I didn't want to craft anymore.  While we were home I found many of my own hand crafted items that I had sent her over the years and that she had so lovingly kept.  I also found a few crafting photos on my computer that I will share real quick.

This is mom and I taking a class together several years ago on one of our trips back home.  This was something we always said we would do but it took a few years to bring about cos there never seemed to be space on a class at the same time as our visit.  Aaarrgghhhhh! - do you know how frustrating that was!

And this (below) is one with my daughter Jessica (left), Mom, my sisters Gillian and Sherilee to the right of the photo and I think even my sister Theresa took this class as well.  I was the tutor for this session so I not only took classes with mom, I taught mom in my classes as well.  She shared my passion for crafting.  In over 20 years of battling leukaemia she never stopped enjoying the things life had to offer her.

Well after several phone calls with friends and family and making myself get out and about on my own again (this is sometimes hard for me - scars from depression etc.) I decided yesterday to just take a look at some craft supplies I had purchased a while ago but not had the heart to do anything with.

As I started to look through them I began layering up a few things and generally 'having a play' which is how my creative process usually begins.  Before I knew it I had gone up to my craft room several times for supplies (can't craft in there yet - my craft room still overwhelms me a bit right now) and I found myself giving birth to a design idea that had magically formed in my head.  As I crafted at my kitchen counter the sun shone down through the kitchen window directly onto me - all warm and cosy and I had a real sense of peace and contentment I haven't had for a while now.  I'm certain mom was watching over me as I worked.  Does that sound too weird?  Maybe but I can almost hear mom saying 'Suezie I was'!

Anyhow I created a page - well almost - it's not completely finished just yet, I have a few more touches in mind still.

I'm not sure why I decided to grab stamps and embossing powders (silver flourishes and edges) but I went with the creative flow.  It's kinda nice to do something different once in a while I guess.

I used a series of products from Craftwork Cards which provided the colour inspiration.  This series does come in other colour combos but this was the only one I had purchased.  I teamed it up with a lovely 'concorde grape' colour polka dot background and added lots of silver to mimic the silver detailing on my 'punch outs'.

Here you can see a close up shot of the upper left of the page showing some added 'bling' and below a close up of the lower right hand corner (and more bling).

Although most people would make cards with these products as they don't come in 12 x 12 I like to be different and use card making supplies for pages too.  No sense in limiting your creativity to just one thing huh?

I was pleasantly surprised to have created this page so to ensure I stay on track I rang up Amanda and booked in a few dates for classes.  I wanted to make sure I keep going forward and besides I have missed everyone.  Grieving can be a very lonely business.

For those of you who might be wondering - yes this page will be one of the classes tho' you're probably not seeing it at it's best.  It is still slightly unfinished remember!

I have also booked a class for card making or similar using some Craftwork Card products.  I was desperate to play with these after the craft workshop Amanda, Kay, Rosina and I went to this summer.  I am finally getting around to it.  They are such good quality and great value for money - no I'm not on commission - I am a crafter so I like value for money too!  Just as well as it will be in short supply for a while I think - we recently found out hubby like many in this recession is being made redundant (with no hope of redundancy pay) mid November.  

In 30 years of marriage we have been down this road a time or two before and our faith has always gotten us through.  This time will be no different but your prayers would be welcome right now.  He's a good man and not afraid of hard work so I'm sure there's a job out there he can do - whatever it is - nothing wrong with it if it's an honest days living.  he just has to find it and sooner rather than later would be good!

Anyhow may I take this opportunity to say a massive THANK YOU to those of you who have kindly kept (and continue to keep) our family in your thoughts and prayers.  And to those of you who have waited patiently for my return I can now say 'watch this space'.  To my DT gals - I hope to start getting back into circulation and back on schedule real soon - thanks for your patience with me, I've missed you.  I will be in touch :-)

Love, big HUGS and many blessings go out to you all in blogland!

Babysitting

Yesterday hubby and I found ourselves babysitting while our daughter went off to check out a neighbouring university.  She's currently on a prep course and is hoping to train as a paediatric nurse but needs to source a suitable nursing course as our local college doesn't do one.  So while she was off for the day with her college buddies we took care of the kids.

Dave had the 2 boys cos Kaleb had a footie match - his team won 2-0 (way to go Kaleb!) and then they headed down to the allotment to help Papa clear out the last of this years produce.  I had Maddy and since Jilly had also planned to keep me company us three girlies headed into town to run a few errands. 

We got Jilly geared up to knit dish cloths with needles from a charity shop and cotton yarn from the sewing shop in St John's Street.  Did you know it had changed hands?  Well it has and I found some really cute HK fabric downstairs that I hope I can make babydoll stuff with for Maddy at Christmas - more projects that I haven't started yet! 

It's pink, it's bright and the design features 2" squares so it'll be easy to machine quilt along the lines if I make up a bag or dolly blanket (or both).  It was only £3.30 a metre and a metre can go a long, long way especially if I team it up with scraps of white and pink.

Maddy has always been a child that could not sit still for even a minute unless SHE wants to and needs constant watching too - even her teachers ask her mummy 'how do you do it? she wears us out!'.  I came up stairs from the fabric section to find Jilly putting embroidery flosses back on a stand - clearly Maddy had been at them!  Jilly is a 'soft' touch with kids and hasn't spent a lot of time with Maddy. She'll learn - if she ever comes out with us again that is LOL!

After we were suitably worn out (Jilly and I) we headed home for a much needed rest and a cuppa.  I decided Maddy needed to sit still and colour so Jilly and I could recouperate!  Colouring always does the trick.  Maybe it's her creative gene at work who knows?  Sure hope so.

I sat opposite and watched them.  It was a real treat to see two of my favourite girlies getting along and to watch the interaction between them.  Jilly doesn't have grandchildren as yet so I'm always delighted to share mine with her.  I listened as Maddy complimented Jilly on her colouring skills and helped her choose colours - colours Maddy thought she should be using that is LOL!  Jilly was very patient and they got along great.

I would be lying if I said I'd had an easy year for 2010 - it hasn't been and spending time with family has sometimes slipped by the wayside especially when fatigue got the better of me.  We had a chance to have Vicky and the kids for dinner on Friday this week too and I realised just how much we've all missed this and need this.  The kids are growing so fast and have so many different interests and activities that I think now is a good time to reinstate 'family night' each week.  It gives Vicky a break from cooking and all of us a chance to spend more time with each other.  Think maybe we'll book a sleep over sometime soon too so we'll HAVE to get the spare room finished!

Still no crafting, still can't seem to find where I left my mojo at but don't give up on me just yet.  Christmas is fast approaching and I have projects that'll need doing. Besides, Jessy is coming to stay later this month and we share a passion for crafting so she'll help me look for it.