Gluten Free Almond Slice with Chia Seeds

 I love almond slice and this is something I have missed since being unable to eat regular cake.  My mum always used to buy the little Mr Kipling ones and although they do not fill much of a gap I did love those little cakes.
This morning as I was up early again with the puppy (he still does not understand weekends!) I thought I would have a go at my own version of it.
I didn't want it to be too sweet as it was going to have jam on it, that would be sugar enough.  I also wanted to look at alternatives to using xantham gum, I'm not a fan of that stuff, I know it will be in the shop bought gluten free items we buy but I would rather avoid it.

Now I read that you can use chia seeds if you soak them in water first, I have these in the cupboard and they are so good for you.  If you don't have any you may need to substitute an extra egg white but I would recommend getting the chia seeds, they are expensive but you only need a small amount.
The recipe was an experiment as most of my food is but I like the end result, it is also quite guilt free due to the goodies inside.  If you were to used fresh fruit like strawberries or peaches on top instead of jam it wouldn't be naughty at all!

Now I had to taste this slice (for quality control of course) at 9.00 this morning! Oh so nice, people just do not get how exciting cake is unless they usually have to go without.

Gluten Free Almond Slice with Chia Seeds

3oz self raising Gluten Free Flour

3oz ground almonds

1oz sugar & 1tsp golden syrup

4oz  Bertolli spread (or any olive spread)

11/2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 2 tbsp of cold water

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

100ml soya milk

flaked almonds for top

strawberry jam

Cream the sugars and the spread in a bowl, then beat in the eggs (add a tiny amount of flour as you do this) set aside the flaked almonds for the top then sift in all the dry ingredients, next add the milk, chia seeds and vanilla essence then fold in gently. Do not over work it. Finally pour into a lined dish or tray, it should be runny, cook on 200 for 20 minutes. 

My dish was 20cm by 25cm the only reason I used that one is I only a have a few and I use the same ones for many dishes. If you use a smaller dish then your slice will be deeper but I think an Almond Slice is supposed to be a bit flatter.

A Recycled Christmas

We ventured out today despite the rubbish weather and went to Wentworth Garden Centre we didn't really need anything it's just not that far and I do love to go and look at all the Christmas decorations.  They were gorgeous and as I was looking at the silver and white selection my husband said 'oh are you finally thinking about changing the colour scheme on the tree?' Well no I'm not and I  really don't see why I would, I mean how fed up can you get with something that is only up for a couple of weeks a year?  Also if I was I certainly wouldn't be buying them on the run up to Christmas.

My current decorations have been used for  the last eight years maybe more. I remember buying them from Matalan after Christmas in the sale and they were ridiculously cheap, if not I wouldn't have bought them as I was quite happy with the red and gold I had before.

So the ones I have now are gold, orange and purple they are biggest at the bottom and gradually get smaller. I love them and complete with gold tinsel they cost about £8.00 for the lot and fill a 7 ft tree!

The ones we were looking at in the garden centre today were gorgeous but they were between £2- £4 per bauble! Let me tell you the queues were long in the Christmas  shop so many people did not find this expensive but that is ok my focus is on how I manage my money. 

  Another decoration that I love that comes out again and again is this little Christmas village that lights up, it used to go on a coffee table but  it sits in front of the fire now and it is very cosy to look at.

I think it looks better in real life, the flash on the camera spoils the effect.

I have a star on my tree that my 16 year old made in Y1 and a couple of baubles at the bottom that they painted when they were tiny. These things did not cost a lot but they are very special I don't think we need to be updating Christmas do you? It should be recycled every year.  

If I did ever need to start again with the decor I would hope that  I could make or purchase it all as frugally as possible.  Some of the best rooms I have seen online have been done with such style,  a lot of imagination and creativity but not cost.

I would recommend looking at the gorgeous Christmas decorations of  junkaholique in fact look at the whole blog, I also love her work shed.  She has lovely touches around her home that spring from recycled items, nature and handmade.  I think these are always the best sources and you get a unique feel. She has some snow scenes in jars which I may have to have a go at, I have some jars I have saved, I was thinking I might use oasis so I can preserve the greenery though, I will have to look around and see what I can find.

We don't have a lot of people to buy for as we all opted out years ago (the family members that is) we buy for the children and a couple of friends and that's it. A  lot less stressful, the wrapping I do use is usually recycled gift bags and we have a few Christmas boxes that we have used for the boys stuff for years now. We carefully fold them down and put them away for the following year. We have had the odd roll of paper but we try not to go over board, beautifully wrapping something for it to be thrown in the rubbish really bothers me. I would urge everyone to use gift bags if they can as people often keep and re-use these. 

There are plenty of ideas on eco wrapping out there and a few here on inhabitat 

Yesterday a quick look in the charity shop resulted in this CD (yes I still buy CD's )

£1 bargain! Some really good tracks on here.

Revamp and Resize Jeans

Usually when family or friends are getting rid of old jeans I ask if they can pass them on to me and I use them for bags and pouches.  If you have a bit of a search on pinterest you will find there are all sorts of things that you can do with them.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a bag with a few pairs in and straight away I used a pair to make a bag (which I  shared on here). However there was another pair that was such good denim and although not my style or size I thought I will save that pair and see if I can do something with them.
Today I took the scissors to them and thought why not? If it all goes wrong the denim will go on other projects as originally intended.   They have a bit of bright fabric in the pocket if you read below you will find out why.
These are the finished jeans...

I tried them first and they were a couple of sizes too big, they were also loose all around the bottom and the style of leg was a wide boot cut.  The jeans are from Gap and have a slight stretch.

First of all I pinned them at each side of the waist how much they needed to come in.  Then I stitched that part first to see how the fit was.
 I had to cut a 'V' shape out of each side before I stitched to get rid of the rivets or the machine would not have been able to stitch over them .  If you are only adjusting  the waist of your jeans by a small amount then cut this 'v' out from the centre back seam only.
I also removed the belt loops at the sides at this point to add them on after if required.  Because of the amount I needed to take my jeans in I also had to remove the small riveted pocket within the front pocket.

I know one side is bigger than the other but that is easily trimmed to match.

Because I had removed this inner pocket I then added a piece of fabric that I like along with a piece of scrap denim beneath it for strength. I stitched this by hand over where I had removed the small pocket.  You don't have to add contrasting fabric you could just use another bit of denim.

Once this was done I stitched down the sides then tried them on for fit, I had to take a little more off.

Then I turned them inside out, tried them on  again and pinned all the way down each leg to make them fitted and straight legged at the bottom.

Then I sewed the seams following my pins as a guide.  Next trim away all the excess fabric and zig zag to finish.

I am very happy with the finished result and these are probably my best fitting pair of jeans now! It is very rare you can get a pair that fit you properly all over.

Here is the front...

Much better I think

I also like the fact that they come up higher at the back than most jeans now, I have a couple of pair that you don't want to bend down in without forever hoisting them up!