craft | christmas gifts!

So for Christmas, we thought it was about time we got crafty again.

Mum has a problem with always losing her keys! So Sarah thought it would be a good idea to try and find some place she can put them or buy some sort of key holder for her Christmas present.  And so started the creative juices flowing! Next thing I knew, my lovely friend at work handed me a magazine that had a brilliant craft section in the back, and there was a great idea for a key holder that can go on the wall!

Off I headed to Amazon to buy the supplies...

Handmade Key Box 

You will need:
1 wine box (we used one that could hold 2 bottles of wine, try eBay or Amazon to buy them online if you haven't got one hanging around)
Paint (we used leftover acrylic paint from our Art GCSE days)
Self adhesive hooks (we used 'Command' self adhesive hooks, which you can get on Amazon)
Picture hanging hooks (so you can fix the whole thing to the wall)

What to do:
1.  Sand the wine box down so it's nice and smooth all over.

2.  Paint the entire box in whatever colour matches your decor.

3.  Give it two coats if you think it needs it, we only used one as we were going for the shabby chic look!

4.  Set aside to dry thoroughly.  We left ours for a day.

5.  Decide how you want to customise your key box.  You can make it totally personalised - and the idea in the magazine was to use a photograph for the front of the box.  You simply print the photo onto A3 paper and then trim it to size so it fits the lid of the box, making sure it's clear of where the lid runs in and out of the box so it doesn't get rucked up.  Glue the photo in place.

6.  We decided against using a photo, so using a different coloured paint, we painted our design onto the front of the box instead.

7.  If you do decide to use a photo, once you've put it on the front of the box, use Mod Podge Gloss to coat the picture so that it looks shiny once it's dry.  You can get this in HobbyCraft or online.

8.  Add your self adhesive hooks to the inside of the box so you can hang your keys.  Screw picture rings into the back of the box so you can hang it on the wall.

I also decided I would make Sarah something for Christmas.  She's looking to update her room and really wants to go down the natural route - everything in white & accessorised with natural plants so in green and brown.   I thought it'd be a nice idea to make some wall art for her new room.  I had a canvas lying around, so I used that to create...

Fairylight Canvas Wall Art 

You will need:
Sharp scissors
1 blank canvas
Acrylic paint in your choice of colours
Battery operated fairylights (I bought mine from Amazon, 30 will be just right)
Selotape

What to do:
1.  Prep your canvas if it needs it, by giving it one or two coats of white acrylic paint.  Leave it until it is dry.

2.  Using a light pencil line, draw your letter onto the front of the canvas.  Using the paint colour of your choice, fill in your pencil drawing.

3.  Leave the whole thing to dry.  I left mine for 1 day.

4.  Pierce as many holes as there are fairy lights in the canvas along the line of  the letter using scissors.  Don't make the holes too big as the lights will just drop out the other side.  You want a tight fit.

5.  Push a fairylight through each hole.  The canvas should hold the bulb in place.  Tape the wires to the back of the canvas so they don't fall out.

6.  Secure the battery pack in the bottom of the frame with tape.  Hang on the wall!

Hope you enjoy making these Christmas crafts as much as we did.
Happy holidays! Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets    x

live | music we're loving right now

Our friends Saru & Emily helped us out by giving us a list of tracks she thought we would like to formulate our first rosinaviolets playlist! This is by no means definite but certainly includes some of the tracks we've had on repeat recently.

Here's a link to our youtube playlist where you can listen to the following songs...

For when you're feeling thoughtful
These songs are kind of broody, and help you think about stuff when you're feeling calm and pensive

1.  Bon Iver: Skinny Love

2.  A Fine Frenzy: Avalanches

3.  A Fine Frenzy: Pinesong

4.  Coldplay: Atlas

5.  Ed Sheeran: I See Fire

6.  Angus & Julia Stone: Big Jet Plane


For when you want to do something (like clean your room / you need background music)

1.  Lorde: White Teeth Teens

2.  Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes: Home

3.  Charlie Simpson: Farmer & His Gun

4.  Futures: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

5.  Train: 50 Ways to Say Goodbye

6.  Coldplay: Yellow


For when you feel like dancing!
We love listening to these when we are cooking or at other times when we feel happy!

1.  Beyonce: Love on Top

2.  Beyonce: Party

3.  One Republic: If I Lose Myself

4.  Tinie Tempah: Lover Not a Fighter

5.  Of Monsters of Men: Mountain Sound

6.  30h!3: Back to Life

7.  Coldplay: Charlie Brown

8.  'Frozen' Soundtrack: For the First Time in Forever (our guilty pleasure!)

read | life lessons from an alchemist: Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'

I was recommended Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' by a good friend at work, and I am so glad I decided to read it!  The book won the Guinness World Record for the most translated book by a living author after it was translated into 67 languages.  It's sold over 65 million copies and won loads of different awards.  I think it deserves it.  It's probably the most inspiring read we've had since Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret', but it's better than that because it's fiction so you've got the fun of doing a bit of work yourself to decipher the meaning behind the story.

The book isn't too long - if you're a voracious reader you'll probably read it in a week - but it's one of those books that you'll dip for a long time to come after you've read it once.  I think the more it's in your head, the more you'll apply it to your life, and the more you'll become the alchemist of your own life!

What is it about?
The book is about a shepherd boy called Santiago, who keeps having the same dream of finding treasure in the Pyramids of Egypt.  He goes to a gypsy, who tells him that he should follow his dream, because when he reaches the Pyramids he will find his treasure.  He then meets an old King, who encourages Santiago to follow his dream and carry out his Personal Legend.  This is what: 'you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is... when you want something, all the Universe conspires in helping you achieve it'.  Santiago decides to follow his dream and leaves Andalusia, where he was living, to find the Pyramids.  The rest of the story tells the tale of his remarkable journey.

We thought we'd do our review a little differently this time around, and try to distil some of the key principles of the book for you.  Like 'An Alchemist's Guide to Life', if you will.  We hope you find these inspiring, and we hope you go ahead at read the book - it's brilliant and there's no way we can do it justice in just these few words.

1.  Vanity, despite it's perils is not the devil we make it out to be
You've got to look after yourself and your dreams.  The book makes it clear that even though being vain in the traditional sense is perilous, you have to allow yourself to spend time on yourself.  Being entirely selfless all the time is not the route to happiness.  You've got to get a balance between being charitable and spending time doing the things you love that will bring you closer to your dream.  The book makes it clear that we mustn't be guilty for spending time on our own dreams and desires, rather, we must spend time cultivating them in order to truly be happy.  And when we are happy, that's when we can have the most positive effect on other peoples' lives.

2.  To be happy, we've got to seek out a higher purpose for ourselves
So many people know they're not satisfied doing what they're doing, and know they're not happy in the place they're in.  But so few of them actually take the time to think about what would make them happy.  They live with a general feeling of dissatisfaction, but don't really know what would make it go away.  You've got to grab hold of life and decide where it's going to go for you.  If you don't like working at the supermarket, think about where you would like to work.  The next step is realising that with hard work and determination you can get there.  It is never too late to forge your own path to happiness.

Take a moment to sit down and brainstorm ideas.  If you could do anything, what would you do?  Take inspiration from children around you.  Once we get older we forget the power of dreaming without limits.  This is something that children do every day.  Get back to this position, and think of boundless options for your life.  If you can conceive of them, they are possible for you to make your own.

3.  Embrace breaking out of your comfort zone
Yes, things might go wrong, but if you truly want what it is that you are dreaming of, then you must have faith that you can manifest it into your own life.  You are an extraordinarily powerful being.

In order to get where you want to go, there will have to be changes.  You don't get someplace new doing what you always did.  So you've got to jump in there and embrace those changes.  This is a new and exciting time for you as you follow your own path to your own dream.  Keep your eyes on the prize, but enjoy the ride too.

4.  Don't tie yourself to material possessions
Like Santiago, the main character in the book, you've got to be free like the 'levanter' wind, to break out of your comfort zone.  The changes you need to make may seem difficult if you maintain an iron hold on all those material possessions that up until now have been the end in themselves.  Use them as the means to the end, instead, and you become as free as the wind, and capable of doing anything.

5.  Don't let fear stop you from achieving your potential
If you're too scared to get moving, you will never get there, after all! In the book, Santiago meets a crystal merchant who never achieves his dream of going to Mecca because he is too afraid that when he gets there things will not live up to what he's thought of.  He's also scared that when he's accomplished his dream, he won't have anything to live for afterwards.  His fear stops him from achieving his dream and is reflected in his lack of imagination to run his business successfully.  Santiago rejuvenates the business via changes the crystal seller was too anxious to complete on his own.  The crystal seller wasn't willing to change.  Santiago learns that sometimes you've got to be willing to sacrifice a comfortable life to be able to grow.  The crystal seller eventually realises the possibilities for life have no limits, and he feels weak for having resisted his dreams.  We don't want to sit thirty years from now and wish we'd done things differently - don't be scared - do it and don't have any regrets.

6.  Love the journey
Your prize isn't in finding your 'treasure' at the end of the day, but in the lessons you've learnt and the living you've done along the way.  Spend a moment every day to be thankful for the new experiences you are manifesting in your life.  Love today.  Live for the moment.  Enjoy the ride.

Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets    x

live | keen on green

I don't know about you, but my favourite colour is green right now. I'm just loving the fresh colour of grass, big palm leaves and... avocados! To me, avocados scream happy summer days on holiday, and those days are my favourite days in the world. There is something about the firm but soft texture, the juice that gets everywhere - giving my hands, face and chopping board a green tint, the beautiful central stone, and of course, the wonderful taste! These babies make me very very happy.

Just look at that fresh green colour! Don't tell me it doesn't just fill you with happiness. 

Avocados are something else. The avocado, a fruit native to Central and South America bags a spot among some of the best superfoods around. Yes, it's not only a superfood, it's one of the best ones! The health benefits of avocados are endless. Avocados are an incredibly nutrient-rich, energy dense whole food, containing an abundance of unsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids. These nutrients will boost heart health in the lowering of blood pressure and bad cholesterol! Eating avocados also will increase healthy brain function, established by the omega 3 fatty acids, folate and vitamin E, all of which have been proven to prevent the development of Alzheimer's. Not only are they a fab source of vitamins and minerals, they are carotenoid packed which aid the body in the absorption of nutrients from other foods. The antioxidant Lutein, is the main carotenoid present in the avocado, helping to fend off eye diseases. This is not all, though! There is so much more that avocados will do for you. This fruit is, dare I say it, utterly bangin. 

As there are too many things to say about them, I will list the benefits of avocados below (but even this list has been simplified)!

Health benefits of avocados

• Lower cholesterol and blood pressure

• Anti-inflammatory

• Optimised absorption of carotenoids

• Protect skin from ageing and dryness

• Prevention of Alzheimer's disease

• Anticarcinogenic

• Satisfying, YUMMY taste!

Clearly, eating avocados will do a world of good to us. We must take advantage of them! And did I mention they are extremely scrummy and so unbelievably easy to add into your diet? 

We have some tips to help you with your avocados at home, including storage, ripening and cutting (bit of a no-brainer but I thought I'd add that one in anyway), and a few yum avocado 'recipes' which can be easily inserted into/act as substitutes for your regular day to day meals! 

TIP #1

Making sure your avocado is ripe to eat:

Ready avocados are usually very dark green or black, with slightly wrinkled skin. If your avocado is giving way slightly when it's top (near the stem) and bottom are gently pinched, it will be ready to eat. 

TIP #2 

How to spot a spoiled avocado:

In your supermarket, sneakily remove the short stem part protruding from the avocado's top! If what lays beneath is black, put it back! It will be rotten. It is a healthy avocado if this piece of skin is green/yellow.

TIP #3

Cutting your avocado:

Take a chopping board and lie your avocado on it. Take a medium sharp knife and cut vertically down the length of the avocado - in other words from the pointed part to the rounder part, or vice versa. The stone will prevent the knife from cutting right the way through the avocado, so turn the avocado as you cut into the skin to cut all the way around the stone. You might need to ease each half of avocado away from each other a bit, but you should be left with two halves, one of which containing the seed. The seed is easily removable and can be discarded if you want the whole avocado.


You can then cut the open flesh of each avocado half length and/or width ways a few times, and scoop it out from the skin or just scoop out the flesh with a spoon without cutting, depending on the requirements of your recipe.

TIP #4

Storing your avocado:

For avocado pieces, give them a dash of lemon or lime juice and place in a plastic container or set on a plate covered in cling film to be left in the fridge for one day. To store half an avocado, make sure this half has the seed still intact and spritz the exposed flesh with lemon or lime juice. Cover with cling film pressing the wrap close to the exposed flesh. The avocado half can be left in the fridge for a maximum of one day.

The avocado recipes!

AVOAST (my fav!)

This is, literally, avocado on toast. Amazing. 


It literally takes only a couple minutes to do, and makes a crazy good, healthy brekkie (or any timie!)

Pop your favourite sourdough, wholemeal or seeded bread in the toaster (I'm using some granary french bread sliced in half here), scoop out the flesh of half a medium, or the whole of a small avocado and squash onto the toast. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper and eat eat eat!

SIMPLE TOMATO AND AVOCADO SALAD WITH A SUPER DRESSING

So quick, so easy - you will always have these ingredients!

Chop up your avocado and any greens you have in the fridge, slice your tomato in two and plonk it all in a bowl. Mix a drizzle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a small splodge of honey together in a bowl. Add a tiny sprinkle of salt and pepper and toss it all into the salad. And you're done! Eat with sandwiches, soup or make it bigger and add a wider variety of greens and veggies/ chicken or turkey/ cheeses to have it for a lunch!

AVOCADO-SPRUCED POACHED EGG

This is similar to the first recipe, but it's a little different...

Scoop out the flesh of a small avocado into a bowl, and squash it all up. Mix in a teaspoon of lemon juice and some black pepper. Slice the tomatoes and squash them with the avocado mixture. Crack an egg into a small bowl and gently ease it into a pan of boiling water with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar (water must be covered in bubbles). Set the timer for 4 minutes, or until the whites are set. Meanwhile, toast your bread. Spread the toasted bread with the avocado and tomato mixture. When the eggs are cooked, lift out with a slotted spoon and lower onto the bread and enjoy!


One thing you ALL MUST DO is eat more avocado. Or at least try it! Including avocados into your daily diet is something you can do to benefit your well being. And such a simple move to make too, you can do it right now. Why would you not?

Enjoy your avocados!

Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets   x

live | christmas gift guide... Ideal Home Show

Last week, we made a trip to the Ideal Home Show at Christmas.  We've never been to the show before, but have heard some great things about it, and thought it would be nice to see all the cool things that are on offer.  We took the tube up and emerged from Earl's Court Station to find ourselves in a veritable Winter Wonderland, complete with fake snow, Christmas trees, Father Christmas on his sleigh, elves and reindeer.  Some technical whizz somewhere had come up with a way of making the fake snow actually fall from the sky (or just the top of the building!) so it felt like it was really snowing! It was cold enough to be convincing too! 

We were completely struck by how enormous the whole place was! The snow is centered around an ice rink on the ground floor, which, if we had booked in advance, would have allowed us to ice skate for the first time indoors! We hadn't booked, though, and it was busy all day.  

I thought I would write this post as a sort of Christmas gift guide.  The show was blocked out into various different areas: Interiors & Home Accessories, Technology & Gadgets, Home Improvements & Outdoor Living, Food & Drink and Fashion & Beauty.  Finally, there was a whole section on Christmas gifts and decorations.  In each section we found some gems that would be great to add to your Christmas list, or think about buying (or making!) for someone you love.  

Fashion & Beauty

We ended up firstly in the Fashion & Beauty section, which Sarah and I have to admit was rather more underwhelming than we had hoped! Not being fans of Peter Andre or Amy Childs seemed to put us at a bit of a loss as to what to look at! Either way, on venturing further, we found some lovely stalls selling genuinely pretty things.

Loving that necklace!

Estella Bartlett

Our favourite was definitely a company called 'Estella Bartlett', who make beautiful delicate necklaces and bracelets.  They'd make perfect gifts, and you can find them either online at their own site, or in John Lewis.  We particularly loved their 'botanica' necklace, which features a silver plated leaf. 

I think we loved the packaging nearly as much as the accessories! So simple, clean and classy.

Beautiful swathes
of shimmer

The Little Tibet 

We enjoyed 'The Little Tibet's' stall a lot too.  They are a small company bringing authentic Tibetan products to London.  They had some beautiful multi-coloured silk scarves that looked so shimmery on the models, with a lovely classic paisley design.  These kinds of scarves never go out of fashion and are always welcome at Christmas.  We don't like having cold necks, but it's always a bore to wear the same scarf every day - so it's nice to be able to change it up a bit!  

Zuzka Natural Beauty 

Honey Glow!

Finally, we were struck by 'Zuzka Natural Beauty's' stall.  This is a cosmetics company developed by a lady who had suffered from really sensitive skin for a long time, so she developed a range of natural cosmetics that would be suitable for even the most allergy-prone skin.  We were drawn to the stall by the lovely products which really utilise natural herbs and flowers.  The company is actually based in Dorset, which is quite a long way away, but they do have a website where you can buy online.  

We were also attracted by the fact that all Zuzka's products are organic.  Our skin is our biggest organ - there's logic behind saying if you wouldn't put it in your mouth, don't put it on your face! Medical research has shown that carcinogens in our skin products can pass through the skin and into the bloodstream, so it's best to go as simple and as clean as you can.  Zuzka only use organic herbs and flowers, and don't have any harsh detergents, SLS, synthetic ingredients,
animal ingredients or artificial fragrances.  We loved the 'Honey Glow' range, which was created to
bring life back to dry skin.

Food & Drink 

Around the corner from the Fashion & Beauty area, we hit the Food & Drink part of the exhibition.  As you can imagine, we were quite excited about all the new things on offer here!! There was even a Christmas Cookery Theatre where, had we arrived at the right time, we could have seen the likes of Aldo Zilli or Gino D'Acampo cooking up an Italian Christmas.  I was quite upset we missed Gino actually, as I am big fan of his cookery books.  'The Italian Diet' would make a lovely Christmas present for anyone who loves Italian food, but also is mindful of their health or wants to lose weight.  The food is gorgeous - literally every recipe in there is something our family would eat.  

Chia UK 

Chia seeds galore!

We were really excited to learn more about the new health craze: Chia seeds.  Where better to head than the 'Chia UK' stall?  The people on the stall were really friendly and gave us lots of interesting information.  Chia seeds are an amazing wholefood.  It's a nutty tasting seed, from a plant that's a member of the mint family.  Like the nutritional powerhouse quinoa, chia has really high protein levels, but is also balanced with carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.  Not only that, but it has more Omega 3 than any other plant that we know of.  It's really good for any stomach issues you might have.  Being a member of the mint family means it's a great aid for digestion..  It also is really good for any athletes you know because it maintains the electrolyte balance and improves stamina during exercise.  If you're interested in this element of chia seeds, you might like a recipe we saw for a natural chia energy drink from the amazing 

website 'Oh She Glows'.  

Chia UK were offering a range of products, including, obviously, bags of chia seeds, but as a more interesting Christmas gift, you could combine this with some interesting books on the subject.  

Yonanas 

So cool.  So tasty.  So healthy!

OK.  So we didn't think it got much cooler than this.  This company were offering the most amazing ice cream maker - at it's most basic, you take some bananas, freeze them, take them out of the freezer 15 minutes before you want to eat ice cream, and then literally put them through this machine, with nothing else! to make the yummiest frozen banana ice cream we've ever had.  But it doesn't stop there, because there are so many different recipes! We tried banana and berries, but there were also exciting 'cookie dough' flavours (banana and a couple of biscuits), banana and chocolate, banana and anything else you can think of!.  We got very excited.  The machine costs around £30, and would make a great present for a family who likes ice cream (us please!) 

Olivier's Bakery 

Friendly Olivier and
his delicious bread.

Now, we know this isn't a standard idea for a Christmas present, but if you know us, you'll know that we love really good bread.  We get excited over great sourdough.  If you like bread too, or you know someone who does, why not give them a nice hamper of great flour, fantastic yeast, maybe a nice mixing bowl, and a bread recipe book.  

Olivier himself was at the show, and he was very friendly!  He showed us all the speciality bread he makes, and I told him that I remembered seeing his stall at Borough Market.  Olivier was born in France, and his baguettes are testament to his heritage.  Delicious! He uses organic flour for most of his products, and he even does a 100% spelt loaf, which is very tasty!

Technology, Gadgets, Home Improvements & Outdoor Living 

We put these two areas together.  There was a lot to see here! 

Hello, Little Printer!

Little Printer

This is an amazingly cool, web-connected printer, that would fit in the palm of your hand! It's really cute and perfect for anyone who lives a busy life but doesn't like reading off a screen all the time.  You use your smartphone to subscribe to over 100 different publications like BBC Good Food Magazine, or the Guardian, and the Little Printer gathers all your news into a miniature newspaper, that you can print at the push of a button.  You can even create your own publications, and print personalised content to loads of different people.  The printer costs £169.  

We had our photo taken,
and then printed
by Little Printer!

Meadow in my Garden 

We loved 'Meadow in my Garden's' stall.  This company sells seed mixes to transform your garden into a beautiful summer meadow! They're a very environmentally conscious company, conscious of the pressures imposed by us on pollinating insects and birds.  The UK has lost about 97% of it's wildflower meadows since the 1930's, and this has had a big impact on pollinator numbers. With this in mind, they hope to allow us all to create a mini-meadow somewhere in our back gardens.  There are over 13,000 square km of gardens in the UK, more than all the nature reserves put together!  So if we all do something to restore these important environments, we'll be on the right track to re-create the biodiversity found in Britain not too long ago.  

Who fancies a beautiful
meadow in their back garden?

The company make a really wide range of easy to grow seed mixes that can be tailor-bought for any particular garden.  Have a look at their website for all the different options available.  Their 'meadow in a box' presents would be a lovely gift, and don't cost too much money either - from £2.99 to about £10.  

Diverse Vinyl

This is a totally cool shop for any music-lovers out there.  They offer new music, but on vinyl.  Simple, and very cool.  

We particularly liked the 'Play & Display Flip Frame', which, for £39, allows you to hang your records on your wall in a nice frame, but then really easily to swap in and out different records to change the display, or take them out to play them without having to take the frame off the wall.  Great idea.  

Mango Crafts

This company uses wood from salvaged, reclaimed or managed sources to create amazing furniture.  

The furniture really shows off the wood to it's best advantage.  It looks so beautiful and natural!

Christmas Decorations 

Just one for this... we love them and we know you'll already love them too... 

Yankee Candle

We love all the different smells! The new Christmas ones are divine.  Sarah was a fan of 'Christmas Cookie' and 'Merry Marshmallow', whilst I loved 'Apple & Pine'.  So lovely.  The gift set shown costs £14.99.  

So, we had a lovely time!

We enjoyed ourselves, and hope to go back to the Spring time show next year! 

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x

make | christmas cake!!

So, it's getting near to that time of year again everyone! I hope you are looking forward to a good relaxing break, and to showering all your favourite people with love.  I can't believe this year has gone so quickly! This weekend, we seized the moment, and decided to bake our Christmas cake.  This recipe will make one round cake in a tin with a diameter of about 20cm.  It's not got too much sugar or saturated fat either, so it's a little bit healthier than standard Christmas fare.  But Christmas is all about indulging and living it up a bit, so don't worry too much - you can always live more healthfully again in the New Year! The cake still comes out rich in fruit and dark, two things our Dad requires in a good Christmas cake.  Our advice is to make ahead and feed with brandy every week until you marzipan and ice it.  Have fun with your decoration! We will keep you updated with what we choose to do with ours.

Merry Christmas in advance everyone!

- rosinaviolets    x

Christmas Cake
Makes 1 20cm round cake

20cm round cake tin
375ml orange juice
200g candied orange peel
150g dried cranberries
150g chopped dried apricots
150g chopped prunes
100g currants
140g plain flour (keep half back to coat the fruit)
100g wholemeal self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml olive oil
2 tablespoons margarine, at room temperature
3 tablespoons black treacle
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites

• Grease the cake tin with some margarine.  Line it with a double layer of baking parchment.  Preheat the oven to 140C.  

• Bring the orange juice to a simmer in a small pan.  Mix the orange peel, dried cranberries, apricots, prunes and currants in a large bowl and pour the orange juice over the fruit.  Let the bowl sit for about 10 minutes until most of the juice is absorbed.  Strain out any excess before tossing the fruit with 70g plain flour, to coat.  

• In another bowl, stir together the rest of the plain flour (70g), baking powder, wholemeal self-raising flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger and salt.  

• In another (sorry washer uppers!) bowl, put the sugar, oil and margarine.  Use an electric whisk to beat together until smooth.  This will take about 2 minutes.  

• Beat in the black treacle and the vanilla extract.  Now add the egg whites and whisk for a couple of minutes to incorporate some air.  

• Use the electric whisk to beat in the dry ingredients. 

• Now pour in the fruit mixture.  Mix it well! Let everyone have a go at stirring, for good luck.  

• Put the mixture into your prepared tin, and bake in the centre of the oven for up to 3 hours.  Check on it during the last hour.  The cake should be lightly browned, and firm to the touch.  If you put a skewer into the centre, it should come out clean. 

• Let the cake cool in the pan sitting on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Then you can take it out of the pan, and let it cool completely.  

• To get it all boozy in time for Christmas, you can either wrap the cake in a piece of cheesecloth drizzled in 2 tablespoons of brandy, then cover it all up in cling film and then foil.  You can leave it in a cool place for up to 2 months, adding a bit more brandy to the cloth every fortnight. Alternatively, you can skewer all over the top of the cake in concentric circles and drizzle a tablespoon of brandy over the top once a week.  Make sure after each addition you wrap the cake up again really well, and don't keep it anywhere warm.  If in doubt, make some room in the fridge.  

make | lemony glazed chicken

This week we created a delicious peppery marinade to put on your chicken or turkey breasts.  We did it with chopped up turkey breasts, and then in the same pan we baked some new potatoes and veg.  You can use this marinade on other meats too - let us know how you get on!

The glaze is a great way of getting some yummy flavour into chicken breasts, which can be a bit bland just by themselves.  It's really easy and quick to make and utilises honey for sweetness and Dijon mustard to contrast.  Honey is really good for you.  Our friend Rowena and her family keep bees which make the most delicious honey! And it's local! It's a great source of antioxidants and has particularly special ones called flavonoids which can help prevent cancer and other inflammatory diseases.  All honey is also naturally antibacterial because of a special enzyme the bees put in it which creates hydrogen peroxide.  This means it's particularly good for your stomach and has even been shown to help treat stomach ulcers!

Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets    x

Lemony Glazed Chicken

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
4 tablespoons honey
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
400g baby potatoes, cut in half
steamed broccoli & vegetables to serve

• Slash each chicken breast two or three times.  

• In a shallow dish, mix honey, lemon zest and juice, garlic, mustard & pepper.  Add the chicken, marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (for best results - leave overnight).  

• Bring your oven up to 200C.  Arrange the potatoes and chicken in a single layer in your tin.  You can also add other vegetables that like to be roasted (we had some leeks in the fridge and some mushrooms).  Pour over the marinade.  

• Roast for 25 - 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked.  

• Serve with vegetables.  

make | pumpkin soup

We always think it's a shame you can only buy pumpkins in the supermarket over Halloween.  But while they are there, we take advantage and buy a couple to enjoy! We've had them as a replacement for our favourite butternut squash in lots of recipes.  Particularly successful was a delicious beef and pumpkin curry!

But this week is a really easy recipe that you absolutely can't go wrong with.  Hardly any ingredients, hardly any prep.  Just boil, blitz and eat!

So here it is, our favourite pumpkin soup.

Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets    x

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4 generously

1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
750g veg (we used 600g pumpkin, 150g carrots)
2 1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tsp turmeric
250ml water
500ml vegetable stock

• Prepare your veg.  Mince the onion and garlic, cube the carrots and pumpkin.  

• Add all veg and spices to pot.  Add liquid, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes until everything is tender.  

• Allow to cool a little, then use your blitzer to blend everything together! 

• This makes a thick soup, but you can add more stock to get it to the consistency you like.  You can even add some lentils, or pearl barley to make the soup more substantial.  

make | winter vegetable hash

Good evening all.  This week, we got really cold!  We've only just turned on the heating this weekend, so during the week it was freezing at home!  Emily has been known to sit next the fire with a book and refuse to move.  Thank goodness for central heating! Now we can type without our fingers seizing up.  And Emily's iPad actually works again.  (She's convinced it doesn't like the cold either - it's screen froze twice last week!).

Rather than creating something new this week, we tried a recipe that came off one of those cards you can pick up at the supermarket.  This one was a Waitrose recipe card, for 'Parnsip, carrot and kale hash, with poached eggs'.  It was really yummy, so we decided to share it with you all! It also counts as two of your five a day.  If you find it a struggle to eat eggs (like Emily - she never fancies them in the morning, preferring a sweet breakfast), then this is a great way to get one in this week.  They're super good for you - our Guyanese Grandma always tells us about the levels of vitamin B12 which is relatively difficult to get from elsewhere.  They're also a really good source of protein.  They've done loads of tests and now know the cholesterol in eggs doesn't adversely affect our own cholesterol, so they're safe to eat (in moderation, like anything), even if you've got cholesterol problems.  But overall, they're quite a superfood on the quiet.

Hash is a really good and easy way of using up whatever leftover root vegetables you've got hanging around in your fridge.  You could even use leftover roast potatoes and greens from your Sunday roast.  Even better, grate in some fresh beetroot, or courgettes.  (We love both of those!).

We hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe as much as we did.  Thank you Waitrose!!

Enjoy today!!
- rosinaviolets    x

Winter Vegetable Hash

Serves 4

4 parsnips, peeled and cubed
4 carrots, peeled and cubed
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
200g curly kale
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp garam masala
olive oil spray
4 eggs

• Put the cubes of parsnip, carrot and potato in a big pan of boiling water and cook for 15 minutes.  

• Add the kale and cook for another 3 minutes.  All the vegetables should be done.  

• Drain very well.  

• Stir in the cumin seeds and garam masala.  

• Spray a big pan with olive oil and, once hot, add your vegetables.  You can flatten them down a little bit with a fork.  Leave to cook for about 10 minutes, and then break up the mixture.  

• In the meantime, you can poach your eggs in a pan of simmering water for 4 minutes, until they're cooked how you like the.  
• To poach your eggs, you can do two at a time in a pan that will hold about 1 - 1.5l water.  
• Get the water hot, so there are fine bubbles coming from the bottom of the pan.  
• Crack your egg into a bowl, and then gently slide it down the side of the pan into the water.  Do the same for the other egg a couple of seconds later.  
• Then start the timer.  3 minutes will give you a runny centre, 4 minutes will give a slightly set centre.  You can go to 4 1/2 minutes if you like your eggs more or less done all the way through. 
• Use a slotted spoon to take the eggs out of the water.  You can then cook the next two eggs.

• Divide the hash between four big bowls and top with the poached egg.  Serve with ketchup or HP sauce.