Pay it Forward and Cornish Pasties

GAH!

I knew there was something I'd forgotten. My apologies to everyone who entered and who have been waiting patiently with baited breath for the results and thanks to Guava for reminding me. Now...drum roll please....... The lucky three people who will be receiving a gorgeous home made gift from yours truly are: Georgia DJ Ginger YAY! Congratulations guys. Email me your addresses and I'll make sure to pop a little something in the post for you all within the next 365 days and go Pay it Forward yourselves. Now onto food...... I had a load of casserole/stew leftover that we had for dinner last night, and whilst eating it Mr treehugger declared how it would make nice Pasties. Not being one to disapoint, Pasties is exactly what the man got for dinner tonight. This a GREAT way to use up leftovers and they are so versatile and easy. Shortcrust Pastry Makes enough for 3 Pasties. You could make them smaller, but why would you want too!!!?? Ingredients 8 ounces Flour 4 ounces Marg pinch of Salt 6 Tablespoons ice cold Water Method Sift the Flour into a big mixing bowl, add a pinch of Salt and the Margarine. Using your fingers and thumb, rub the Margarine into the Flour until it resembles Bread Crumbs. Add the ice cold Water and gather the dough into a ball. Roll round a clean surface for a few minutes (DO NOT KNEAD) until it is all smooth. Set aside until ready. When ready, lightly Flour a clean surface and roll out the Pastry. Take a small plate, place on top of the Pastry and score round the edge with a knife. Gently lift up the cut out piece of Pastry and place on a lightly oiled baking tray. Gather up the remaining Pastry and repeat until you have as many cut outs as you can get. To make the Pasty Spoon filling of choice on one half of your cut out Pastry and lightly water round the edges. Fold over one half of the Pastry and press along the edge with your thumb, crimping the edges tightly together. Brush with Olive Oil and bake in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 50 mins. YUM!

(sorry about the poor quality of the photo - I am having issues with my lovely new camera and I'm not sure on the exact settings I need to take good pictures in my darkened kitchen at night - which is when we always eat)

Thrifty Living Soup and Bread Pudding

It's no secret that I am a complete Soup addict. I will gladly and happily eat Soup for breakfast, lunch and tea (and I often do). It has to be my most favourite food in the whole world and the fact that it is cheap, easy and healthy, not to mention extremely versatile, are all added bonuses.

I am always looking out for new Soup recipes to try and Felicity over at Thrifty Living totally tempted me with her Black Bean and Sweetcorn creation. The best bit about making this Soup (apart from eating it of course) was toasting and grinding the Cumin Seeds. The aroma that those bad boys gave off when being ground was just out of this world. I can see toasting and grinding Cumin Seeds is going to be a regular occurrence in the treehugger household. I pretty much stuck to the recipe as well except I didn't have Black Beans so I subbed them for half of Kidney Beans and half of Pinto. Also, I added extra Lentils and used the whole tin of Tomatoes because I'm planning on eating this Soup for the next two days so a HUGE pot of the stuff was in order. Because I used extra Lentils I also had to add more vegetable stock otherwise I would have had a more stew like consistency, which wouldn't have been a problem but by adding more stock I got more Soup!! Genius! And just to tempt you with a little teaser, here's some Bread Pudding I made but which you'll have to wait for the recipe for as it needs me to be a better recipe creator and actually write down exact measurements of things. And that's not just an excuse to make it again......or is it??!!

Go on, bite me!

Two Thousand and Fine

Happy New Year guys. Did you miss me?? Yeah...I know you did really. Thanks for all your lovely words of condolences, they all meant so much to me. I've not really had time to grieve as Salem passed away and then we left for England the very next day. Being home now I am feeling the full force of my loss - the house is so empty and lonely without him. But onto brighter and happier things and a chance to regale you with tales of my first Vegan Christmas. I am completely in love with Toffuti. It was my first taste of vegan cheese and I absolutely love it. The tubs of Cream Cheese are just amazing. I tried the French Onion, Garlic and Herbs, and Herbs & Chives and they are all AWESOME. I smuggled 2 tubs back with me which I am rationing myself to and I also bought some Cheezly but have not tried that yet, I'll give the verdict after I have. Bought some Cheese Powder, Bouillon, Custard, Mayonaise, Chocolates, Braised Tofu, Paté, Pepperred Steaks, Mince, Fry's Polony (sliced sausage), Agave Nectar, Reggae Reggae Sauce (OMG how good is that stuff!) and ...ummm....there's more I'm sure but you get the general idea - I WENT VEGAN SHOPPING MAD AND LOVED IT!! Santy bought me a nice new shiny camera so hopefully my photographic skills will improve and won't make your eyes bleed looking at my photos. Having said that - I have no photos of my Christmas dinner because Mr treehugger's family don't open presents 'til after dinner, which is around 6pm. Yeah I know!! But we had McSween's Haggis with all the usual trimmings and my plate was piled so high it wouldn't have made for a pretty picture anyway! Managed to see lots of people, missed a few too ;) and got out and about on lots of walks to the Forest, the river and the beaches. Went to Wagamama's (AMAZING!!) and visited two other restaurants where I had Spanish Tapas and Greek food. The Greek place, Bar Zuka, did the BEST Dolmades and Falafels I have ever had! All in all, I had a fantastic trip to England but I am glad to be home and looking forward to getting back to normal. Well, as normal as I can ever be. Cue the montage

R.I.P My beautiful beautiful baby Salem cat :(

Just horsing around..........

One thing that really bothers me is the fact that I don't do more to help animals. Some would say that by not eating them I am already doing enough and whilst that is true, I still feel like I can do more and I would like to do more. My reasons are full of half arsed excuses, such as I don't have the transport, I couldn't bear to work in the pound (which is a killing pound) blah blah blah blah blah.... So when I saw a plea for help on my local ex-pat forum I just knew this was my chance and opportunity to help the animals I love so much. The cry for help was in the guise of creating a website for a local Horse Rescue Centre. Perfect for me. I replied and the next day went out to meet the guys who run the rescue centre, Rod and Sue. Let me tell you - the minute I walked on to their finca I instantly liked these two people. They currently have 10 horses that have all been rescued from lives of hell and neglect, with nothing to look forward to except the knackers yard.

A knacker is a person in the trade of rendering animals that are unfit for human consumption, such as horses that can no longer work. This leads to the slang expression "knackered" meaning very tired, or "ready for the knacker’s yard", where old horses are slaughtered and made into dog food and glue. A knacker's yard or knackery is where this takes place, as opposed to a slaughterhouse, where animals are slaughtered for human food.

As well as the horses though, they also have a gaggle of geese, a brood of chickens, a flock of ducks, a prattle of parrots, 3 dogs and a cat. Oh, and they're vegetarian to boot!! WooHoo! They are two of the nicest people ever - and they have a cool friend called Yvonne who helps out and volunteers her time and resources to helping the horses as well. I LOVED it there and could have stayed there forever. I'm delighted and thrilled at being given this opportunity to help out, and if y'all want to take a look at the finished result - here's the link.

Easy Horse Care Today's song is by the utterly FANTASTIC MGMT - Kids

My Tribute to Oliver Postgate

Oliver Postgate, author and animation film-maker, born April 12 1925; died December 8 2008

Happy Merry Crimbo to ALL you Wonderful Vegans out there!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I heart Madhur Jaffrey ♥♥♥♥♥

And I heart my friend Anne who lent me her Madhur Jaffrey's Illustrated Indian Cookery cook book! YAY! If I told you we had Indian for dinner last night AND Indian for dinner tonight, what would you say? You'd say "Ooooh...let's see some photos of it all!!" wouldn't you? Ha dee ha ha ha.... I mentioned to Mr treehugger that I was dismayed I couldn't take a photo of all the wonderful grub and he simply shrugged and said that I will just jolly well have to make it again then! You can see why I love this man! Anyhooo onto the food, and whilst I am seriously lacking in pornz I will try my hardest to portray the wonderfullness of last nights and tonights food 'kay. Last Night Saag Aloo (Madhur Jaffrey doesn't use an ounce of ghee (hee hee hee) in her Saag recipe!!!) Mixed Vegetables in a Mustard and Cumin Sauce Black-eyed Beans with Mushrooms Uncle Ben's Boil in the bag Rice (yes yes I KNOW!!!) Tonight We still had leftovers of everything from last night except the Rice (doesn't Indian cuisine taste better the next day or what!!) So to accompany what was left I made: Chana Saag Spiced Basmati Rice (am I redeemed??) Cauliflower Pakoras Poppadoms Onion Relish Aubergine Pickle (this wasn't Madhur Jaffrey's) And a Partridge in a Pear Tree....LOL! I am so delighted to have been lent this book. I have to give it back on Sunday so I am frantically typing out lots of recipes and out of all the ones I have tried so far, the Spiced Basmati Rice, Cauliflower Pakoras and Mixed Vegetables in a Mustard and Cumin Sauce were just out of this world and are what I will make when I want to impress my omni friends from now on! I used Spices I'd never used before as well which is always exciting! (Kalonji and Black Mustard Seeds). I can post you the Aubergine Pickle recipe because it is one I have tweaked from numerous ones on the interwebs and it is so amazing and so easy you gotsta give it a try next time you make Indian food. Goes perfectly with Poppadoms! Aubergine Pickle Ingredients Red Wine Vinegar (about quarter of a cup plus a little more) 1 tablespoon bottled Water ½ teaspoon dried red Chilies ½ teaspoon ground Turmeric 1 inch piece of Ginger root, sliced 2 cloves Garlic, sliced 6 tablespoons Olive Oil 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 tsp Mustard Seeds 1 small Aubergine, peeled and cut into cubes 1 tsp Sugar Salt Method Use a small saucepan to cook this in. This will serve two people quite happily, along with their Poppadoms of course. Grind the red Chilies, Turmeric, half the Ginger and half the Garlic with 1 tablespoon of the Red Wine Vinegar and about a tablespoon of Water (I’ve done this with a hand blender and it worked fine – I just added a bit more water, the lumps didn’t make any difference). Heat the Oil and fry the Cumin and Mustard Seeds with the remaining Garlic and Ginger until browned. Add the ground paste and fry until drier (it will still be quite liquidy – this is good). Add the Aubergines and pour in enough Wine Vinegar to just come half way up the Vegetables. Add the Sugar and Salt and simmer until the Aubergines are tender and the Oil floats to the top. Leave to cool. We still have plenty of leftovers but I think even I couldn't make Indian food three nights in a row......or could I????????? Todays song is by the FANTASTIC Razorlight - Wire to Wire

Mysteries

There are many mysteries in and of the world: Atlantis Stonehenge The Bermuda Triangle Why my camera spent Saturday night down the toilet Yep - you read that correctly. We went to an alternative Music Festival on Saturday night and got home about 5 in the morning a little bit inebriated to say the least. When I got up a few hours later to go for a pee - there down the toilet bowl was my camera!!!! You should have seen the look on my face - would have made for a good photo........ I have absolutely no idea how or why my camera was down the toilet - I didn't even take it out with me and it was nowhere near the bathroom when I went to bed. It is a total mystery. The only thing I can think of is divine intervention. I am always moaning about my camera - it's so old it should have been in a museum somewhere so maybe I needed some cosmic intervening like this to kick my butt into getting a new one. BUT - even though I always moaned about the crappyness of my camera it was still my camera and I did love it in my own special way. AND there were a load of photos on there that I hadn't uploaded to my PC! BooHooHoo. And the worse thing is I'm going to be cameraless until I go back to the UK in two weeks time. BooHooHooHoo! So...was it divine intervention? Or was it my subconscious addled with alcohol that makes me sleep walk and do totally uncharacteristic things such as trying to flush my camera down the pan? Do I have a poltergeist and this was how they wanted to introduce themself to me? Who knows.....like UFO's and Crop Circles....it will remain a complete mystery for all eternity......

R.I.P

Pay it Forward

My GOD! I can't believe it's a week into December already!! I am still alive and haven't fallen down a mine shaft or anything but I have been incredibly busy and hopefully I will be able to enlighten you all next week as to what has been taking up all my time these past two weeks. One thing I love more than anything is spreading some love and happiness across the world. I like nice things and I like everything to be lovely and nice, if it's sprinkled with glitter and sparkles then even better! So today folks - I have something lovely and nice and glittery and sparkly for you. A few days ago the lovely shellyfish participated in Paying it Forward and I was lucky enough to be chosen to Pay it Forward too. "But what's it all about?" I hear you cry Well, we all know there are some wonderful give aways and prizes to be had in blog land and that is what this is but with a difference. The beauty of Paying it Forward means that not only do I win a wonderful handmade goody but I also get to reciprocate the gesture by giving away hand made goodies to three equally lucky bloggers too. Cool huh! I'm not sure where it all started but it is a GENIUS idea if you ask me. I LOVE to craft but unfortunately I don't do as much as I'd like so this is a GREAT opportunity for me to get my crafty head on and pass on some freebie give away blogging love. The rules are simple:

• You must have a blog
• If you want to participate you must be willing to post a handmade gift to three different bloggers within the next 365 days (A WHOLE YEAR!!WoooHoooo!).
• If you want to participate then include "Jeni is FAB" when you leave me a comment to this post.

Three lucky winners will be chosen at random and I am willing to post my gift anywhere in the universe and beyond. I have some wonderful ideas on what to make you all so don't let this opportunity pass you by - I promise I won't wait 365 days for you to receive your gift. Knowing me it'll be around February - which by then you will have forgotten all about it and so you'll get another surprise ! YAY! This is open until the morning of the 21st December CET as after then I'll be jet setting home to Bournemouth to spend crimbo with my family and to see how many tubs of Toffutti and squirty Soy Cream I can consume before passing out! I will announce before I pass out who the lucky people are. Todays song is Outta Time - the new Oasis song. I FREAKING LOVE IT!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx