Best Version Gluten Free Vegan Cheese Toastie

My title states this is a cheese toastie, well that is not entirely correct as I fry the bread but as anyone who eats GF bread will know it is dry enough without making matters worse by putting it in the toaster.  As I don't eat dairy I  have tried a few vegan cheeses as well as making some of my own, currently the best store bought one for me Violife original flavour block.  It tastes good cubed in a salad and it will melt, the thing I have found is that it takes longer to melt than regular cheese and putting it under the grill gives varying results.

As I was missing my once favourite snack I thought I would try a few things to sort this out, frying the GF bread in a little olive oil on a low heat gives it a nice colour but also a bit of moisture.   I like to add a few cherry tomatoes to my pan as well, I may add a bit of onion sometimes too.

When I have fried it a little on both sides I slice some of the cheese then add it to one side and turn it face down to the pan,  (it will melt but not stick or run all over your pan)  it stays in more or less one piece and can be got off the pan easily with a spatula.  It is moist to hold so have a napkin ready to wipe your hands while you are eating.  If you are GF vegan and  miss a decent cheese toastie give this a go, it just shows there is an alternative way with most foods if you are missing something.

I think there may be lots of vegan cheese alternatives that are good but because I have tried a few bad ones I am sticking with this one at the moment.  It is a bit expensive to buy them to try and then not like them.  If anyone has any tips for any good ones let me know, I know there are mozzarella flavours but I have not tried those, it would be worth knowing if any were worth a try. 

People tend to say to me 'oh no what do you eat?'  because I am GF vegan, well I eat plenty and it is just a case of swapping things and experimenting.  Going out is always awkward as restaurants seem to have no vision at all and they have trained cooks working for them!  It is a bit annoying though when the family are tucking into fresh tiger bread which smells amazing, none of the GF versions are ever soft and fluffy like that, including the bread I've tried myself.

( My comments on Violife cheese are entirely personal preference, this is not a sponsored post)

Another Burda Shirt Finished

This shirt has been enjoyable to work on today, I have been back and forth to the sewing machine in between doing other things.  It helps that my sewing table is in the room next to the kitchen because you can hear the washer stop and check on food. This pattern is reliable and that is  why I keep using it although the take on it has been slightly different.  On this particular shirt there wasn't enough fabric for even a full short sleeve, but adding a small folded band from the little bits of fabric around the pattern pieces gave me just enough for a small sleeve.

I didn't add the front yokes as there wasn't enough fabric, also the back yoke is single whereas usually it is double so it hides your join at the back on the inside.  That is not a problem for me, you wouldn't know that just by looking at it when it is on.

The pockets are a bit smaller than the pattern too but again I had to work with the bit of fabric I had.

Another little thing I had to do was cut the collar in two pieces each, rather than on the fold. This was to maximise on all those little bits that are just not quite big enough.

This  has not affected the look of the collar and if anything makes sure it is central at the back!

Here is the little sleeve band, I will use this idea again as it gives a nice finish.

It was just a case of folding a strip, sewing it to the bottom, neaten the edge and then topstitching on the right side.

I shortened the overlength when cutting out too as this is quite a long shirt on the pattern. 

 I am very happy with it, and managed to force it out of one metre.  There really are only tiny bits left that have gone in a little box for applique or very small patchwork.   The pattern has been carefully  folded and put away for next time. 

Starting a New Shirt

I have started cutting out a new shirt today with some of the fabric I bought last week, now I only bought a metre so I have been stood scratching my head as to how to force this shirt out of a small amount of fabric.  Craft cotton too so not even very wide, well it wasn't going to beat me so after moving things around a lot, folding pattern pieces and deciding to omit a couple of the pieces I got there.  I will finish this up in the morning and share more on this tomorrow but here it is in mid jigsaw.

I have used this pattern a few times and I am sure I will use it many more, I make it slightly different each time I make it up and it has also been a dress you can see that version here.

There were a few treats for me when I went food shopping as I bought myself a couple of magazines, I don't very often buy them so this was a change I bought Sew and a gardening magazine because it had four packs of seeds in it.  I was pleasantly  surprised with Sew, quite a coincidence there was an article on repairing patches just days after I had done a post on that, also the free pattern for a dress is almost identical to one I am about to do a post on for Minerva.  There wasn't much gained there but I may give both the patterns a try anyway ( the other one was for a top) just to see how they turn out compared to what I would usually do.

Looking at the pattern for the top the only real reason I can see for the centre seam at the front is if you are going for option A with the ruffle which is what I'll do.  I don't think the other versions need it. Thoughts on that anyone?

We are going to watch a film as Netflicks offered films on a special deal for one month, we mistakenly chose one titled Mother the other night, what a load of disturbing rubbish. The synopsis stated psychological thriller what it turned into near the end was sick horror I ended up not watching all of it.  So if you have this deal I would say give that one a miss.  Nobody needs to have that film in their head.