Kale and Mushroom Risotto (Vegan)

Just recently I have been browsing lots of recipes, I feel the need to add some new ideas to what I eat as I have been rehashing the same recipes for a while now.  I think this is mainly because you come home from work and make the things you know will work, everyone (or some of you!) will eat and that don't take too long. The other reason is that I hate it when you come across recipes that require lots of ingredients that you don't have and may never use again.  This can be a waste, so often it puts me off.

While on holiday I made a recipe I saw in a Tesco magazine that was in the cottage we stayed in, tender stem broccoli with chilli and rice.  Now I ended spending a bit on ingredients there but I feel I will use them again as the dish went down well.

Yesterday I made Curried lentil balls from the Vegan Food and Living website, I forgot to take photographs but it was so nice and I have saved a portion for in the week.  Today we haven't strayed from home at all as we need to keep an eye on the little dog who is ill, he needs rest and can only have small amounts of food but I have to say he appears much better today and keeps trying to get the other two dogs to play.  I decided to cook some lunch and use what I have in so here is what I made...

Kale and Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

300/400g of white rice (the cheap stuff)

100g of red lentils

1 veg stock cube

1 red chilli

2 garlic cloves

75g Kale

50g mushrooms

1 teaspoon Oregano

1 tablespoon Nutritional yeast flakes

1/2 cup vegan cheese sauce ( made with hot water and powder from Holland and Barret)

salt and pepper to taste

Boiled water as required

olive oil

1 small grated piece of Prosociano vegan cheese from Tesco (if desired)

Method

Wash and finely chop kale, chilli and one garlic clove, fry in the pan for a few minutes until the kale has halved in size.  Transfer to a plate and set aside, heat oil in the pan and fry the rice and lentils for a few minutes gently then add the stock. 

After a few minutes as the stock cooks down begin to add more water as required from a boiled kettle.

While the rice and lentils cook slice the mushrooms, after about fifteen minutes add the mushrooms and the other crushed garlic clove, cook for five minutes more then add the kale mixture, cheese sauce, oregano and yeast flakes.

Keep stirring as it cooks down and begins to stick, about another five minutes, add seasoning and serve. I added grated Prosociano vegan cheese once it was cooked and stirred through, I bought this on holiday and while it is not cheap I really like it and you only need a little.

Half Term Break

We have just returned from a break in Devon, we came home early as one of the dogs is ill so while he is resting beside me I thought I would update here a little. 

We stayed in a property that was converted from an old barn, it was very nicely done with lots of little touches like fresh flowers in  every room.  It had a living room upstairs with a nice balcony overlooking the owners land, very private and quiet. It was close to Barnstaple and we also visited Woolacomb and Bude while we were there.

The dogs loved being on the beach the downside being that now I am worried that it was something from the beach that has made the little one ill.

The photographs above are from the two days we actually had sunshine as mostly it was grey and overcast, in typical fashion it was glorious all day yesterday as we travelled home. We enjoyed the change of scene it is just a shame it was cut short.

I did spot a little fabric shop in Bude and bought two pieces of fabric...

This is a stretch chiffon.

This one is quite unusual, you can't see in this picture but it is brown in the daylight and green when you are inside.

I really want to do dresses with both but what I need are more tops as in reality that is what I will be wearing with jeans when I'm home walking the dogs.  Some thinking required first before I decide perhaps.

Japanese Pinwheel Patchwork Cushion

 This week I wanted to make a new cushion cover as one of them was looking a bit tired, I decided I would do a patchwork pattern that I have done before and is a favourite.  There is also the bonus that I had already worked out the square sizes for this cushion pad the last time I made it.

It is quite fabric greedy as you are folding the pieces in half and laying them over each other but it gives a really nice result.  This is also a good opportunity to use up all those old shirts as they look so much more interesting when folded together like this.

I started by cutting out my 16 bigger squares which form the backing of your block from a charity shop duvet cover.  Then I cut the first of my smaller squares out of an old shirt, fold in half and pin on.

Then I had to decide which other fabrics to use with it, this involved lots of getting bits out of bags and holding it against it.  I eventually decided on my three other fabrics and repeated the process the whole way around the square.  So it is a lot of squares for one side of a cushion.

Then you just sew them all together as you would usual patchwork squares, I kept mine all facing the same way this time, the last time I made this design I turned each square one turn to vary the pattern.

I love the colour combination this time and this cushion is my new favourite, it was worth the time mulling over the fabric to use.  It is made from the duvet fabric, two fabrics from old shirts (the red striped and the blue) green craft cotton and grey cotton from an old project.

I made a vent and put the zip on the back part the way down so as not to spoil the sharp corners of the cushion as the seams are bulky enough.  The back of the cushion is the red fabric.

Now that is one finished I want to make more but I really ought to do another style, I just need to find another pattern I like as much. We have family for dinner today so I probably won't get chance later but I can browse ideas this evening.

Up very early with the dogs this morning and read the whole book 'Think Small' by Owain Service and Rory Gallagher before my husband got up.  It was quite interesting detailing how we should all be chunking out goals into small steps as we are often put off by the enormity of what we want to achieve.  Obviously it said a lot more than that but that was the basic idea.