Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Friday, 21 October 2011

Some more Autumn firsts

This week has seen some more Autumn firsts for me.
On Tuesday I had my first Hot Cider of the year, I was so excited. All of last winter I drank Hot Cider in my local and I've been waiting all year for it to make a come back!


Yesterday I made my first Pumpkin Pie of the year. However, it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.


I used this slightly adjusted vegan recipe...

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients:

  • 750g of roasted pumpkin blended into puree
  • 150g cup muscovado sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 1/2 soy milk with a teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 4 Tablespoons cornflour
  • 4 Tablespoons water

  1. Mix the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice together in a large bowl.
  2. Heat the vanilla soy milk in a small saucepan over low heat.
  3. Dissolve the cornstarch or arrowroot powder in a small amount of cold water.
  4. Add the dissolved cornstarch to the heated soy milk. Bring to a boil for one minute, then remove from heat. The soy milk should resemble vanilla pudding.
  5. Stir the thickened vanilla soy milk into the pumpkin mixture.
  6. Set the vegan pumpkin pie filling aside and make the crust, or use a prepared crust and skip to the “Baking the Pumpkin Pie” instructions below.
Pumpkin Pie Crust

Ingredients:

  • 125g flour
  • 75g non-dairy margarine (I used Pure)
  • 3 Tablespoons water

  1. Pour the flour into a medium bowl.
  2. Cut the margarine into the flour using two dinner knives or forks, until all the margarine is small, flour-coated chunks.
  3. Add the water to the flour and mix thoroughly, forming a ball of dough.
  4. Spray a pie pan with non-stick cooking spray, or coat it lightly with margarine.
  5. Roll out the dough into a circle and place it in the pie pan, or simply press the dough into the pie pan. Make sure the crust is an even thickness throughout, and covers the entire pan.
Bake the Pumpkin Pie

  1. Preheat the oven 220 degrees.
  2. Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the crust. Bake the pie at 220 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees. Bake the pie for 40-50 minutes, or until the pumpkin is firm.
  3. Let the pie cool for about two hours before serving.
This wasn't the best Pumpkin Pie I've ever made, so I'm on the hunt for a better one, let me know if you have a good one, I'd love to try it out.

For the original recipe I adapted slightly please see here


Sunday, 4 September 2011

The first crumble of the year and my first Herman!

Today, we had 2 of our dearest friends over to drink lots of wine and eat lots of food!
I rustled up a vegetable pie and some roast potatoes after a series of disasters.

I had original planned to make a lentil roast (much like a nut roast minus the nuts) but I realised I had no loaf tin to bake it in :( then I discovered the lentils needed to boil for 45 minutes before I could use them.
Lastly something horrible happened to the first batch of pastry that Mike made, luckily I whizzed up another batch was all fine!

Also today was the day I made my first crumble of the year, a blackberry (from the blackberries I picked the other day) and raspberry.

I hoping the fact that it was all gobbled up before I could take any photos means they all enjoyed it.

Sarah brought me a Herman Cake to look after, I had never heard of a Herman cake before, but it sounded like such a lovely thing to do, it comes with daily instructions, I have to feed him, stir him and even talk to him :)


I'm off to eat the cheeky scraps left of the crumble, have any of you ever had a Herman cake?

Thursday, 1 September 2011

It's officially Autumn!

The 1st of September is here and some may say I'm crazy, but in my eyes, that makes it officially Autumn and what a dent we made in the first day of Autumn.
I made these gluten free and vegan cupcakes...


Mum made soup and we went blackberry picking ready for my first crumble of the year on Sunday. I also gained a fruit bowl (thanks Mum).


She gave me some of her homemade jam too :)


I also had my whole knitting technique re-written, we discovered my Great Nannie had taught me to knit by looping anti-clockwise instead of clockwise, leaving me with a twisted stitch. I was taught to hold my tension in such a way that once I've grasped it I should be able to knit like fury. I was like learning to knit all over again.

I almost forgot the squashes I have gotten this week, ready for my favorite time of year (yes, how did you guess, Autumn.) Anyone that knows me well, knows I have an absolute obsession for squashes of all shapes and sizes, I love finding new ones, my net challenge is to grow some.


Paquito and Gem Squash!

My 1st of September was finished off with this scrumptious vegan dinner...

Dan Dan Noodles with Spicy Tofu

Friday, 26 August 2011

Rain, candles and Great British Bake Off

Today I have had a really lovely day with Mum! We went to Taverham Garden center and resisted the urge to buy Christmas fabric.

I really fancied soup due to all the rain today, it feels ever so autumnal, much to my delight their soup of the day was vegetable :)

I may have been able to battle temptation with fabric but when it came to Yankee Candles I was far weaker and bought Mountain Lodge and Kitchen Spice ready for the autumn months (which I can't wait for now)

After running around doing errands in the rain I curled up in my PJs and watched The Great British Bake Off, I do love that programme, there is always some really interesting concoctions and its so inspiring!

I'm off to make this for the boy...


Thursday, 16 September 2010

Fabric Shopping Fun

It's taken me far too long to blog about my lovely day fabric shopping with Mum yesterday.

I got really well stocked up for my Autumn/Halloween crafting...


Apologies for the poor photo quality!



I also got a few Yankee Candles :)


Sunday, 12 September 2010

Autumn

I couldn't help but notice how early the leafs are turning yellow.
As much as I hate the cold I have to admit I truly love Autumn,
in fact I think it might be my favourite season :)

Instead of just letting the season pass me by I decided to take photos of the trees outside my flat everyday to see how their colour changes over time.




I took these Thursday!



and these ones I took Friday!