Anyone know what the hell this is?!

I was going to post this photo as a "Silent Sunday" post but really it needs words to express me exasperation.

The Big Man "made" this creation and it's been in our downstairs loo since Tuesday.  I have no idea why he did it or what it's purpose is and I have no intentions of clearing it away.  I want to see how long it stays there.

Are there any male behavioural experts out there that can explain this to me?

Silent Sunday

Advent Swap Catch Up

I haven't been able to show the lovely goodies I got in the Advent swap from the lovely Jill as it's been a wee bitty hectic here.  But now the Wee Man is at school I've had time to photograph all the lovely goodies I got and lovely they are!

Lookey, lookey see what I got!

Jill is so talented!  All the crocheted goodies has spurred me on to try crocheting again.  I remember enjoying crocheting when I was at school and could still vaguely remember how to do it.  So I picked up a crochet needle and gave it a go.  I'm struggling to find the "hole" where the needle should go into for each stitch so it's coming out a wee bit wonky, but I am getting there.

Thank you Jill for all the lovely goodies and for inspiring me.

Week 1 - Corn Bread (Free from wheat, egg, dairy, soya, gluten)

Here goes with the first recipe in my Allergy Free Recipe Challenge.

The Big Man and I love watching "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on the Food Network Channel.  Always  dangerous as we tend to drool and raid the biscuit tin, (not the most intelligent thing to do at 10 o'clock in the evening).

It was on there I learned about cornbread and saw how easy it was to make since it's yeast free.  So here's my version of allergy free corn bread.

Ingredients

1 cup Gluten Free Plain Flour (Doves Farm)
1 cup fine cornmeal
2/3 cup caster sugar
1tsp salt
3 1/2 tsp baking powder (wheat free)
1 tsp Orgran No Egg whisked with 2 tbsp water
1 cup Oatly Oat Milk (dairy and soya free)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and xanthan gum in a bowl
3. Stir in the oat milk, vegetable oil and the egg mixture. 
4. Pour the batter into a small greased loaf tin and a muffin tin*
5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out dry. 

* I decided to make little corn bread rolls using the muffin tins and poured the remaining batter into a small loaf tin.  You could just pour all the batter into a large loaf tin.

The Wee Man gave it a bug thumbs up and has happily gone to school today with a cornbread "roll" in his lunch box.   I found the end result to be more of a muffin/ cake texture than a traditional bread texture.  It was more crumbly despite the use of the xanthan gum.  Maybe it is suppose to be more cakey than bready.  But the Wee Man loved it and the recipe is going in my recipe book.

The "rolls" can't really be filled and used as a bread roll as it is so crumbly.  So my quest for the perfect allergy free bread roll continues.

52 Week Allergy Free Recipe Challenge

I've been toying with the idea of setting myself a recipe challenge for a while.  Now with the new year here, I've decided to jump in with both size 6s and see where it takes me.

The Wee Man pretty much eats the same food on a rota system.  I tend to stick to the things I know he's safe to eat and prepare them the way I have done for the past four years.  So to expand his and my repertoire I'm setting myself a challenge to try out one new recipe/ food product each week.

The rules I've set myself are:

1. Each recipe will be free from wheat, dairy, egg, soya, nuts, beef, citrus, berries, gelatine and chestnut mushrooms.   
2. By "food product" I mean shop bought mixes e.g. bread mix, gravy mixes.  There are a lot of products out there that should be ok for the Wee Man to eat but I tend to  steer clear of them for fear of the unknown.  There are usually a lot of mystery ingredients in them whose origins can only be found with an extensive google search.  
3. I will try something new each week and post about it
4. Sometimes life will get in the way of my Challenge so if I ever do miss a week or two then I have to make up for it in the following weeks.  So if I miss a week then the following week I need to do two recipes. 

I think that about covers it.  If anyone wants to join in please do.  I would love to get ideas and recipes from other allergy cooks.  Just write a comment and I can visit your blog.  I think it's such a minefield out there and any help and support is always welcome.

The Big Man has FINALLY Learned

The Big Man and I have known each other for a fair few years and finally after all those years he has come up trumps with his present buying.

Lookey what he gave me yesterday.

It's a gorgeous Johnson Bros Rose Dawn Coffee Pot.  It's in perfect condition and will be proudly displayed on my dresser.

Not only is it gorgeous and perfect, it was also bought from a charity shop.  Double points for the Big Man.

The Big Man done good!

A Handbook for Christmas

Come December, the shops are choc full of guides and handbooks on how to have the best Christmas ever.  How to dress your tree, how to serve a Michelin starred dinner and how to make exceptional presents that will become heirlooms.

Not one to deviate from the bandwagon I found the best Christmas handbook ever published.  Bought for a meagre £1 from a charity shop last week, the book has given me a lot of  lightbulb moments and a few chuckles.

It covers everything you need to have a very merry Christmas for all the family with recipes, decorating ideas, craft ideas and even instructs you on how to take down and store your decorations for next year. 

By far my favourite section in the book is the "Choosing of Presents".  With a handy illustrated guide on which presents to give and not give each member of your family.  For example,  who knew giving Gran a corset for Christmas would elicit this response from her?  

And it is really not a good idea to give Mum toilet paper and a scrubbing brush?

The kids would take exception to receiving a school uniform or writing paper.  And poor baby should definitely not be reminded of his incontinence.

There's also a chapter on how to decorate your tree to a theme with great crafting ideas for ornaments.  There's the Children's tree.

With wool and stick stars.  I remember making these at school.

Sweetie garlands which will no doubt rapidly become an empty sweetie wrapper garland.

And fluffy woolen pom poms.  Did these at school too and hated it.  They are so monotonous to do.

There's also the Victorian tree with gravity defying doves at the top of the tree.

A Soft and Safe Tree for baby with cotton wool garlands and paper chains.

And my favourite tree is the Wildlife tree for your garden.

Who needs gawdy Blackpool lights in your garden when you could have this lovely creation?  It's so simple to make and the little birdies will be kept happy through the Christmas season.

The book also gives some handy tips on how to build with snow.  Who'd have thunk you could use a cardboard box to make snow squares or a wasing up liquid bottle to make towers?  Genius!

All I need now are four trees, two feet of snow and definitely not toilet paper or scrubbing brushes.