This is what makes me happy

I have a lot to be thankful of in my life, especially my wonderful partner Chris who puts up with me and loves me and supports me in my endeavours...

Thanks to Jacinta for a great theme this week - you too can join THIS IS on Angela's Three Buttons blog!

C is for carrots

I've never been much of a fan of raw carrots I must confess. Carrot juice even less so. But baked carrots are definitely the bomb!


Baked Carrots
Ingredients :

4 cups of carrots, sliced.
½ cup of water.
6 tablespoons of nuttlex.
2 tablespoons of sugar.
1 teaspoon of nutmeg.
1 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:

In a casserole dish, mix the sugar, nutmeg and salt with water.

Add the carrots and dab them with nuttlex.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

Allow to rest for 3-4 minutes.

Serve.

Carrot soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek, halved lengthways, thinly sliced
• 6 carrots, peeled, chopped
• 4cm piece ginger, peeled, grated
• 2 cups salt-reduced vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• light soy sour cream, dill, and toast, to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek, carrots and ginger. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until vegetables start to soften.
2. Add stock and water to saucepan. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until carrots are very tender.
3. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool slightly. Process or blend soup until smooth. Return to saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and dill. Serve with toast.

Super Food Ideas - April 2004 , Page 30

Recipe by Alison Roberts


Vegan Carrot Cake

Ingredients

- 200 g grated carrots
- 200 g whole grain flour
- 100 g brown sugar
- 1 handful of walnuts or hazelnuts
- 2 tablespoons of raisins
- 1 tablespoons of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- nutmeg
- ground cinnamon
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1/4 cup of mild olive oil
- salt
Instructions:

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add a pinch of every spice listed and a bit of salt.

2. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until homogeneous.

3. Place it on a baking tray covered with margarine or baking paper

4. Bake at 170 ºC for 45 minutes.

5. Decorate with chocolate shavings or powdered sugar. Let it cool down before you slice it.

NB-I've had several bunnies living with me over the years and the whole carrot thing is a bit of a myth. Buns shouldn't be fed carrots except as an occasional treat, they are far too high in sugar. My buns favourite veggies were parsley, celery and asian greens.

I love op shopping!

Here's some bits and pieces from the op shop (charity shop) around the corner from my house. I got there regularly and never find anything, then suddenly....

Gorgeous plate from New Zealand of all places! (I decide to take these pics in the veggie patch as it was such a nice day):


Can you see my celery leaves peeking out from the side?the other side of the cup (resting in the cabbages):


And here's some random bits and pieces that make me happy. I'm currently decluttering as I now share a study/craft room with Chris so some of these things have been donated to charity:

Weekends away are ace!

Winter cooking is fun!

So much colour and vibrancy!

No, I haven't bought a dress yet

I haven't written a catch up post for a while as I've been extremely busy at work and too tired to post in the evenings. I have loads of pics to upload at some stage!

Other news:
Craftea Chat workshops are coming along nicely with lots of wonderful presenters and quite a bit of interest. More updates to come!

I got through this week ok, monday was the anniversary of David's death. It's still terribly hard and i still get really upset thinking about him and how he died but I've made it through Christmas, our birthday and now the anniversary of his death which is a help. It's very hard to make sense of suicide and I still feel alot of pain and guilt about everything. To not have him around for key parts of my life like visiting england, my wedding and such is incredibly sad. It's so hard as everyone says, 'think of the happy memories'. These upset me the most. But I'm coping as well as I can.

I'm writing for a couple of different blogs at the moment (although I haven't had alot of time to post all that much as I would like I must confess).

The Dawn Chorus
An ace feminist blog!

http://greenrenters.blogspot.com
chrischinchilla and I started this blog for discourse on how you can live in rental accomodation and still do your bit for the environment.

Crafty creations at Polka Dot Rabbit are coming along, I have many half finished things (brooches, cassette wallets, cards) and i will be finished a cross stitch for dear friend's birthday over the weekend! My softie ducks for Softies For Mirabel are coming on nicely once I weight the feet so they don't topple over upon standing! I'm also hoping to make a doll.

The wedding is also coming along. Slowly. Despite being constantly asked, no I haven't bought a dress yet. And yes, I know I should have a long dress with long sleeves to cover my fat bits. And yes, I will be wearing glasses.

Other news is that I am joining the gym next week and looking forward to it. Much easier than worrying about my eating at the moment and berating myself for not cycling to work.

Lastly, Chris and I are going on a wonderful weekend away this weekend which I'm really looking forward to and we sorely need. We booked it originally as we share house with another person and were keen for some space but she moved on wednesday back to Perth so now we are living alone together at last! We are both really enjoying it. The weekend will involve lots of sleeping, chocolate, red wine and fun in gorgeous surroundings! Hurray!

This is....

My most treasured childhood memory, Snoopy! I had him from age 6-25 (when I thought it was getting a bit embarassing....)

Danielle, it was a great theme suggestion.