Tuesday 21 April 2020

Craft Gift Ideas To Do With The Kids This Week (when


Thinking of building up a crafting drawer, for your home? You are not the only one! There is no better time, to stock up on some favourties, from glitter, to coloured pens, paint and so much more.
This time can be a little daunting being cooped up at home, but we are very lucky to have the luxury to be at home, whilst the frontline workers are working hard and doing and incredible job to keep us all safe and healthy.

During this time if your have small kiddos a great way to keep them entertained whilst being at home is to get crafting.

Whilst not knowing when we are able to come out and see friends and family, Leanora and I decided that just because we can not physically meet and be with our loved ones, does not mean that we can not let them know that we are thinking of them.


If I am honest, my house is looking like someone sort of discotech with paper and glitter all over the place, but right now I would not have it anyother way, whilst at times however i'd rather be on the sofa, feet up and reading a book, crafting with Leanora is my highlight, until I have to clean it all up, but we are having lots of fun making and tidying up after, plus keeping busy keeps up happy and focused.

We have not seen my grandad, in nearly a month now, whilst prior to this pandemic, not a week went by we did not see him. To let him know that we are thinking of him and miss and love him dearly, we got our crafting hats on a decided to make a big collage to send to him to let him know we love him and we will see and give him cuddles soon.

A great platform for crafting material is from Design Bundles they have so many sweet images to let our family know we love them! Our favourites has to be the love svg or the heart svg format designs which you can purchase and download, they are inexpensive and have loads of designs to offer for you and the kiddos to either download and insert on to an e-card or print off to stick on your cards or canvas to be sent to your loved ones.


Those with or without kids, crafting is a great way to have a fun afternoon, making something plus it brings you together more than ever at this time. Not only has crafting with Leanora given me joy, it’s actually inspected me to start decorating our home. I’ve got two major tasks which I can’t wait to share with you, just waiting on a few things to be delivered which I’m super excited about and will show you the beginning and end results.

If you and your family are crafting, let me know what your favourite craft activities are in the comments below!

Be safe & well.

Lindsey

Disclaimer: this is a paid collaborative post but all words are my own

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Wednesday 15 April 2020

11 Minute One Pot Pasta


Pasta is my go to any time or day of the week. This delicious Martha Stewart inspired dish is a one pot wonder! Its a fresh delicious meat free family friendly dish, with a little kick of chilli. 




With Leanora and I working up a sweat in the garden, all I wanted to do is just have a fresh shower and a tasty bite to eat. However, after a long day of digging up weeds, turning the soil with new compost, taking up tiles to prepare for astro turf to be laid, all by me may I add cooking is the last thing I want to do, but is an essential. That is why this 11 minute pasta dish is the ultimate fuss free one pot dish to make. 


At this time in our life, we are all feeling the strain of COVID19 and not being able to leave the house, see family and friends freely, can be a bit of a struggle even a mental struggle, but it is what us all over the world have to do right now. 





The first few days of lock down, I, as you may have been too was in shock, what was I going to do am I allowed out, what about my parents, grand parents, what was going to happen with Leanora's education, what was I going to do. A few days of sitting on the sofa, watching the news, I knew that sitting there was not going to be healthy for me or more importantly Leanora and my family! I decided to make a schedule, make a plan of how I was going to use my time wisely, making sure Leanora's kept on top of her education and keeping us both fit and healthy. So I've made a daily scheduler and try to stick to it as much as possible and one of those things on my list is sorting out the garden and getting other items done around the house. I find that in insolation the way to keep on going is by putting good use to your time and being proactive and I am putting that proactiveness into my home and garden and Leanora all whilst cooking and baking along the way. 


So as we all have a spare 11 minutes, this one pot pasta dish is super easy to make. 


Ingredients - Serves 2
1 handful of pasta
1 medium onion thinly sliced
2 handfuls of baby tomatoes cut in half
3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 bunch of fresh basil leaves
a pinch of salt (to taste)
a pinch of black cracked pepper (to taste)
a pinch of chilli flakes


Directions
1. In large pot add all of your ingredients and add water to just cover and cook over a medium high heat for 11 minutes. 


2. Keep an eye on the pot throughout the duration of cooking and stirring occasionally so all ingredients combine together and the pasta does not stick. 


3. Serve immediately. 


If you make this dish, let me know what you think in the comments or below or share your snap with me over on Instagram.

If you are looking for other recipe ideas, check out my recipes section. 

Lindsey










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Tuesday 14 April 2020

Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings


These Lemon Pepper Chicken wings are mouth-wateringly sensational and jam-packed with flavour.

An important part for me to stay sane and get through this pandemic is by organising my days, be it homeschooling times, activities to do with Leanora and gardening, but most importantly lunch and dinner prep. We are all cooking a lot more, personally I think it’s great, my waist may not be feeling it, but we slot in our daily work out with Joe Wicks, so I don’t feel as guilty about all the bread and cake we’ve been making and I’ve been eating.


I’ve been craving for KFC, fried chicken is literally my thing, not all the time but I mean I’m more than happy to smash through a 15 box with Leanora. So as no KFC is open, I decided to bring some tied chicken to me. I wanted something fresh, fried chicken can be a bit heavy at times, so I decided why not cut through it with a bit of lemon. Never had we had it this way before, so with Leanora out in the garden playing and wanting to make one of our favourite dishes I decided to get to it.


I made these wings in advance from the night before, all set for frying the next day. If you can, always try to season your meat the night before, or if you can’t wait at least give the seasoning 30 minutes to an hour to marinade and absorb all that great flavour

Armed with a few fresh lemons, some oil for frying I got to making these Spring fresh crispy chicken wings. 


Ingredients
1kg of chicken wings ( cut into wings and drummettes)
Zest of 3 Lemons
Juice of 1/2 lemons
3 tsp of crack black pepper
1/4 tsp Salt
2 cups of oil for frying
1 cup of flour

Directions
1.  In a mixing bowl, combine chicken wings with the zest of 2 lemon, 2 tsp of black pepper and toss well. Set aside in the fridge over night, or leave for 30 minutes - 1hour for the marinade to blend. Once ready to fry take out of the fridge and leave for 20 minutes to take the chill off.

2.  Pour enough oil to fry the chicken wings, I use a heavy dutch pan to fry.  Heat oil up to 375F if you don’t have a thermometer, just drop in a small piece of bread or fresh herb, if it starts to fry and rises, you are good to go).

3. Get another mixing bowl or shallow dish, add the flour, 1 zest of lemon, 1 tsp of black pepper 1/2 tsp of salt.
4. Once the chill has come off from your wings and you are ready to fry, coat your seasoned chicken wings in the seasoned flour and add to your pot of hot oil. Do this in batches as to not over crowd the pot.
5. Fry for 3 - 4 minutes on each sides, once done place on a cooling rack or on a clean plate, lined with kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil.

Serve up with some salad, fresh green beans or some fluffy rice and enjoy!

If you make this dish, let me know what you think in the comments or below or share your snap with me over on Instagram.

If you are looking for other recipe ideas, check out my recipes section. 

Lindsey








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Sunday 12 April 2020

Lemon Poppyseed Cake



Happy Sunday guys, another day, another week ended with us being in lockdown! How are you, how have you all been doing? This week, I've filled my week with loads of delicious citrus bursting lemons! 

Every other day, Leanora and I bake, granted the kitchen looks like a scene from Scarface with flour, all over the place. Baking I our special bonding time when we make something together and share the spoils afterwards not just between us but our family too on Zoom. 

Lemon Poppy Seed cake, is an absolute delight and I promise you, it takes no time at all to make super easy, super simple,  super tasty too. I am using this time whilst we are on lockdown to make things, that i never used to have the time for before and getting stuff done in and around the house. I am redesigning the garden, I've even made the decision done the reasearch on how to de-weed the garden, and seeding the garden to grow flowers and I am also toying with the idea about putting in a small green house to grow my own fruit and vegetables. My big challenge is, that i am super excited about is laying down fake/astro turf grass all on my own ,with the power of YouTube behind me I doubt I'll bodge it up, but this is me after all, so it will come out 50/50 Haha!



What better way to enjoy the fruits of ones labour is by baking this delicious Lemon poppy-seed Cake that I can sit back and relax and enjoy my hard work in and around the house. I go through a big citrus stage, you may remember a few years back i also went lemon crazy and made lemon curd, lemon pastries literally nonstop for weeks, this time, its  with this delightful cake, enjoyed with a cup of tea, or a refreshing elderflower cordial drink. 

This cake reminds me of brighter days, when we could venture out, have picnics in the park with friends and family or enjoy a slice of cake between friends whilst sitting outside a bustling cafĂ©, whilst that does not seem on the cards right now, does not mean i can not still enjoy the simple    pleasure of life, all from the comfort of my our own home. 

Light, fluffy and moist, that is what this cake is, topped with a delightful lemon icing to round it off, with a night from the poppy seeds. It's a classic this lemon and poppy-seed cake, it will never get old, I should know I've been eating it since a kid, now making my own I, am able to pass it on to my kid. 


Look, I am not going to keep going on about how great this cake is! Lets make it and let me show you how tasty this loaf cake is, it's simply to hard to resist and I can guarantee you that this will be on your table on a weekly basis


Ingredients
  • 300g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 185g caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp poppy seeds
  • 120ml rapeseed/canola oil
  • 230ml almond milk
  • Juice of 4 lemons
  • Zest of 3 lemons (~3 tbsp)
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence


Icing
  • 170g/3/4 cup icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice


Ingredients
  1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line and grease a 9x5" loaf tin.
  2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and poppy seeds and mix with a wooden spoon.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together the oil, milk, lemon juice, lemon 

If you make this dish, let me know what you think in the comments or below or share your snap with me over on Instagram.

Lindsey




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