christmas yummies three and giveaway winners!

Hello all! Once again I have been a bad blogger and keep disappearing! But with my holiday hampers I just haven't been out of my kitchen!

Today is the day I pick out the winners of my crafty giveaway from my lovely hat :) and I am very pleased to announce that the three winners are......
LissyLou
Emma-Jayne
&
Rachel
I shall be messaging you ladies to get your addresses and will be posting on tuesday!

Today is also due for another yummy recipe! So far I can honestly say my nougart attempt was an utter disaster! But the chutney went very well :) And I have also made this recipe too which is very easy and VERY yummy!

Chicken Liver Pate

You will need......
220g/8oz butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
450g/1lb chicken livers, trimmed and cut in half
1 tbsp brandy
1tsp mustard powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf, to garnish
2-3 fresh cranberries, to garnish

1. Melt 110g/4oz of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, then add the onion and fry until softened, but not coloured

2.Add the garlic and chicken livers and fry the livers until golden-brown all over and cooked through. Add the brandy and mustard powder and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3.Place the liver mixture and 55g/2oz of the remaining butter into a food processor and blend until smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4.Transfer the pâté into a serving ramekin or small dish and decorate with a couple of cranberries and a bay leaf.

5.Melt the remaining 55g/2oz of butter in a clean pan. Skim off the froth and pour the butter over the pâté. Transfer to the fridge to chill, then serve from the ramekin when ready.

(I have taken photo's of my Pate but unfortunately my camera cable is missing! photo's will follow shortly :) )

christmas yummies two!

Hello all! It's time for another very delayed christmas recipe!
Sorry it's been a couple of weeks! I fell over on the ice a couple of weeks ago and bruised my coccyx, it has been far too painful to sit still long enough to blog since! But it is feeling much better now and so I can share another recipe with you all :). This particular one I will be making myself tomorrow!!


Spicey cranberry Chutney

30 grams dried apricots finely chopped
110g brown sugar (recipe does not specify what type so I will be using soft brown!)
80g raisins
235ml water
285g fresh cranberries
1 granny smith apple, peeled cored and chopped
2g grated lemon zest
60ml fresh lemon juice
20g chopped crystallised ginger
2g red pepper flakes

1. In a saucepan, combine apricots, brown sugar, raisins and water and bring to boil.

2. Reduce heat to simmer and continue to stir for 5 minutes.

3. Stir in cranberries, apple and lemon zest and simmer for another 10 minutes

4. Stir lemon juice, ginger and pepper flakes into the mixture before removing from heat.

5. Portion into sterilized jars and allow to cool

I'm really looking forward to this one, i picked up all of my ingredients today and they smell yummy!

Also I have managed to gather some lovely goodies to pop in with the giveaways for the lucky winners! So if you haven't signed up to join in already then what are you waitiing for? hehe :D

Christmas yummies!

Well now this year I have decided to do something a little different :) every year I have the daunting task of christmas shopping, trying to find things to buy for all of my family and friends! And when you don't have a clue what they want it can sometimes be rather tricky!
But this year due to lack of pennies, I have decided that christmas shall be handmade! And I couldn't be more excited to get started! :D
I have decided that for parents and brothers I will make a nice little hamper full of yummy christmas food! And I thought I would share a few recipe's with you over the next few days :) so for today!

Peppermint nougart!!

You will need.....
900g granulated sugar
300g corn syrup
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
6 drops red food colouring

1. Oil a 9" by 9" pan and a spoon and set aside. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan with 175ml water and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until mixture reaches 260 degrees if you have a good thermometer!

2. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks in a large bowl using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed. Reduce speed to medium and slowly pour sugar mixture into egg whites. Add peppermint and continue to beat until mixture is very thick and fluffy, about 12 minutes.

3. Immediately transfer to prepared pan and smooth using back of oiled spoon. Dot surface with red food coloring and drag a skewer through to create a marbled effect. Let stand at room temperature until firm, about 2 hours. Slice into 1-inch squares.

Alternatively you can dollop the mixture onto a baking sheet and sprinkle on grated chocolate, yummy :D
(I am going to start making all of my recipe's from next week, but if you beat me to it be sure to let me know how yours turn out!)

crafty giveaway!

Well as my last post was such a long one I thought I'd make a new one especially for this :). Over the past week I have been clearing through all of my crafty bits and pieces and have decided I have way way way too much!! So rather than throwing it all out, I decided it should all go to people who will put it all to good use :D and that's where you come in!
I have all sorts, from raw wool tops, card toppers, letterpress and balls of wool! Plus much more besides :) I easily have enough to gift out to at least 3 people :) but I decided we should make this a little more fun!
So I shall be making 3 packages, with a mixture of crafty bits and of course some little goodies just for good measure! All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is follow my blog and leave a comment on this post :D And if you post my button on your blog I will enter you twice! Yay!

I will be picking the winners from a hat on the 18th December :) good luck!

another come back!

Hey all! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, a little ray of sunshine had started to peek through our grey clouds, only to be covered over again with a huge thunderstorm!
Our shiny new (all be it second hand) renault clio turned out to be a scam, and within 2 weeks it also died. At the moment we are still trying to scrimp and save to find out exactly what is wrong with the car and if we can afford to fix it (so long the garage has given us a list as long as our arms of things it needs replacing!) and then the gentleman who was meant to be buying our vectra pulled out, meaning we had to stump up the very last of our money to pay back his deposit.
All of this coupled with the christmas rush at work, which consists of screaming crying customers coming in mad busy waves all through the day.
Then our gorgeous little kitty cat Jinx went missing and everything seemed to be falling appart.

Fortunately a week later little Jinxy came strolling back in as cool as a cucumber, not knowing how much he had me worried, especially after losing 2 cats in the past 2 years already! At the time this was a very small consolation as we still had bills coming out our ears and only one income. But 2 weeks ago something wonderful happened, and worked much better than anything the doctor could have given me to make me happy again :)

Yep! Kirstie's Homemade home! It sounds mental I know but I am a control freak and had lost a grip on every part of my life. My only release used to be crafting, but with so much stress I hadn't done anything creative in nearly 6 months! But one hour of beautiful things and lots of inspiration, I started to get itchy fingers to reach for a crochet hook.
A few weeks on and I finally decided it was time to stop sulking and start making! The last episode was such an inspiration to me and has had me happily scribbling up plans for our garden and how to do up the house without having to spend a fortune.
And best of all, as my biggest worry for quite some time has been money, and how will I ever afford christmas? I now have a full list of gifts I plan to make for all of my friends and family :D meaning I can save lots of pennies and still give a gift full of thought and love!

I have also decided to have a major clear out, as thanks to my diet I have now lost a stone and a half and am in need of a total wardrobe makeover :). So to make space I am having a huge clear out on ebay to make some pennies to go towards some shiny new rags!

And where better to go at this time of year than the clothes show!! I'm going next friday with the lovely Helen from work and can't wait :) Will be sure to show off any goodies I find!

I'm sorry this has been such a long post! I'm going to go and catch up with all of the lovely blogs I have been missing for the past few weeks!
Hugs and Kisses
Ness xxx

all systems go!!

Well today I feel like i've taken a bunch of these :) As you all know the past few months have been abit of a nightmare! But at last everything is starting to fall in to place :) Mr and Mr S have decided that we don't want to be apart and have agreed to put more effort in to time together! Also, after the death of our lovely car a few months ago, and trying desperately to save up to get it fixed we have decided to give up, and so have sold our lovely new vectra for an older renault clio :) which looks pretty much identical to this!

Infact I am going to go and pick up the little beauty in an hour :) huzzah!
Also on friday I was very excited to recieve a great big parcel from Mr Postman! It was my marvelous swap from Vintage Vicki and was jam-packed with goodies!

Everything was wrapped in lovely orange tissue, with a pretty card, sweeties and halloween sequins for good measure :D

I absolutely love everything i recieved :) which included a GORGEOUS hand made witch dolly! A super sweet cath kidston mug with a tin :D Some sweeties, some hot chocolate sachets, a pretty mushroom keyring, some home made jam, some socks, mini marshmallows, a notebook, a casserole and stew cook book, some chocolate, and a yummy candle!

Thank you Vicki :D xxx

busy busy busy!

Hello lovelies! Phew I have been pretty quiet on here for the past week and a half, as I have been snowed under with things to do! I've had a lovely time going around various shops and places trying to find all manner of goodies. I have recently taken part in Crafty helen's pumpkin swap and have had a great time picking up lovely bits and pieces for my lovely partner Vicki.I hope she likes all the goodies! I'm also planning a big halloween party this year and have had to start from scratch finding all kinds of different decorations and tableware! I am most definately super excited :D

On another note, this beautiful little bear could go to a very lucky winner in aid of cancer awareness UK. For a chance of winning her pop over to sew special bears.