Wow! A guest post on Nifty Thrifty Things!
I’m Ruth and I blog my favourite recipes at Bread and Milk and Blackberries. I also blog about sewing at Cherry Coloured Twist.
When Vanessa offered up some guest posts I jumped at the chance! Who wouldn’t?
I live in a really beautiful corner of Yorkshire, in the the UK, and I love nothing better than to hang around in the kitchen, cooking for friends and family. I also love quilting. My sewing blog is sometimes a bit neglected in favour of my food blog, but perhaps one day I will have enough time on my hands to be just as productive with both!
Being married to a Swedish guy, I love all things scandinavian and I’d like to think that there is a Swedish influence in my sewing and my food.
I love being in the outdoors also a very scandinavian trait — so sometimes the call of the forest and fell is stronger than the call to feed the interweb. But that’s how it should be, isn’t it?
We have a German Shorthaired Pointer puppy who loves to share our outdoor avdentures.
So, let’s get on with it! Here are a couple of recipes and a bit of sewing too!
This is a great recipe. A bit of sunny sparkle from the lemon, a good dose of freshness from the mint, and just a hint of warming ginger.
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
Makes 4 servings
A good handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
A large piece of fresh ginger root (2 to 3 inches in length), chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon agave nectar
500 ml boiling water
2 lemons, juiced
To serve:
Ice cubes
Mint leaves
Put the mint, ginger and honey in a large jug or bowl. Add the boiling water and let the mixture steep for 30 to 45 minutes.
Strain into another jug, squeezing the liquid out of the ginger and mint with the back of a spoon.
Add the lemon juice, agave and enough cold water to make 4 cups of lemonade in total.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Serve over lots of ice with mint leaves to garnish.
This recipe was inspired by Kim Boyce, and her book Good to the Grain.
The recipe doesn’t come from the book at all — but it wouldn’t have come about had it not been for Kim’s encouraging voice in my head. You see she has changed the way I think about baking. Instead of following a recipe and tweaking the amount or type of nuts, fruits or spices, I now consider changing the fundamental building blocks of the recipe — the flour.
Makes around 12 small pancakes, or 6 larger ones
50 g plain flour / all purpose flour
50 g rye flour (I used whole grain rye)
A pinch of salt
1 large egg
300 ml milk
A small amount of butter or oil for frying
50 g rye flour (I used whole grain rye)
A pinch of salt
1 large egg
300 ml milk
A small amount of butter or oil for frying
To serve:
2 bananas
A handful of pecan nuts
Maple syrup
Place the flours and salt in a medium bowl and whisk thoroughly to mix and knock any ‘clumps’ out.
Add the egg and mix with a fork.
Gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth between additions, and continuing until all the milk is used. Beat well.
Heat a small amount of butter or oil in a frying pan. I used a small pan in this case. When the oil is hot, pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan (1÷3 cup if using a bigger pan). I used a small measuring cup for
this to keep the quantities even.
While pouring the batter swirl it around to fill the base of the pan.
Wait until the pancake is golden brown underneath (use a knife to have a look underneath one edge if you are unsure), and then flip it over to brown the other side.
Tip the pancake out onto a warmed plate, and repeat the process until all the batter is used up. Keep the pancakes warm.
And last, but not least, a bit of sewing…
I am a quilter. A quilter who recently tried spray-basting raster than pinning all the layers of the quilt together.
I followed these most excellent instructions and have no complaints whatsoever. Perfectly simple and sufficiently idiotproof for me, the most humble of beginner-basters.
Smoothing smoothing, spraying spraying, smoothing smoothing. And — ta-da — it was done!
Well actually, no, not quite, you see the only problem I ran into was running out of spray halfway through {bangs head on wall}. No biggie, except that the floor of one of the bedrooms was then out of bounds for a frustrating few days until I recieved another can through the post.
The moral of the story? Keep a spare can!
No problems with the spray — all the layers stayed together perfectly. I know some quilters tack around the outside just for good measure, but I didn’t. It’s not that I’m lazy or anything, I just couldn’t be bothered.….I just sprayed good and properly around the edges of the quilt top and it stayed in place like a dream.
Happy sewing!
Comments
Hi Ruth, the rye pancakes with bananas look awesome! And the ginger lemonade looks so refreshing,great guest post!