Tempting Tuesday: Nutella Cheesecake

Tempting Tuesday: trying not to kill my family with my experimental cooking.

Another dog-eared recipe which has sat around being ignored for decades is finally being brought to life.

Ingredients:

250g digestive biscuits

75g butter

400g nuttella (that's a whole jar)

100g chopped hazelnuts

500g cream cheese (pretty much two tubs)

60g icing sugar

Directions:

Whizz the digestives in a food processor until it's all crumbs.

Add butter, 25g of the hazelnuts and a tablespoon of the nutella and blitz until its basically like sand.

Squish it into the bottom of a 7 inch springform tin.

(I made a smaller version using half the ingredients, didn't have a small enough tin so I lined a Chinese take-out Tupperware box with greaseproof)

Place it in the fridge to chill.

Whisk the cream cheese and icing sugar together then add the nutella until it's all beautifully combined.

Smooth the mixture over the chilled biscuit base, sprinkle on the remaining nuts and chill for at least 4 hours.

Serve chilled.

I personally find this really quick sickly sweet, so maybe a dollop of vanilla ice cream would be nice with it.

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Monday Make: Grabby Ball

Monday Make: This week's project

 

I found this on pinterest. It looked fun so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm pretty certain we don't really need any more toys but this looks so perfect for tiny hands. Zander hasn't yet mastered the reach'n'grab, but when he does, this will be brilliant...until it rolls away...

 

The ball, not the baby.

It's really quite easy to make, but a little fiddly. 

You need 12 semi circles and 12 ellipses. I cut them out with a 5mm seam allowance. 

Lay a semi circle and an ellipse together, right sides together. 

 

Leaving 5mm at the end, sew the sides together and stop 5mm before the end, turn the ellipse so it's edges run along the rest of the semi circle. Your turn point should be the half way point on the semi circle, which can be marked with a little snip. 

 

 

Repeat for the other 11.

 

Then stuff them all with cushion/toy stuffing and hand stitch together. 

 

When you've got 12 of these crazy triangle things, stitch them together in threes like this. 

Bottom corners together. 

 

Top corners together. 

 

Now you have four of these, stitch all the bottom corners together and finally stitch the top corners together. 

I don't know about you, but it made more sense as I was doing it. 

 

The fabric choices are endless and you can make it out of scraps, which is always marvellous. 

Also, I wish I had gotten round to putting a jangly bell inside. 

 

Silent Sunday

Sticky Saturday: Little Birds

Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids

 

 

This week we made these gorgeous little birds using foam shapes from hobbycraft, feathers I found at a car boot sale, mixed sequins and copious amounts of PVA glue.

 

I was going to cut the bird shapes out myself but then I found the foam shapes at a really reasonable price so that saved me some hoo-ha.

 

 

38 birds later, and we were collecting the feathers which hadn't been glued to the table to save them for a future craft.

 

#tbt: Alphabet Cross-stitch

Throw back Thursday: taking a look at stuff I've made in the past.
 

 

This was the first (and only) kit I've ever completed, a gift from a family friend when I had Ed, my first baby. It took me a few months but I enjoyed it. It spent years hung on the wall in the boys room and now takes pride of place above the changing table in Zander's nursery. I love that I get to see it several times a day.
 

 

Wreck it Wednesday: Trace Your Hands

Wreck it Wednesday: a page from one of my journals.

Okay, I admit it. I re-did this page (which is completely against the rules), but the first time I did it was so wonky & it was much easier to do it on a sheet of paper & the paste it in. So I didn't really break the rules because I didn't change my mind, I just fixed my cock-up. 

 

About 'Wreck This Journal' by Keri Smith

(Description from Amazon)

It is book for those who've always wanted to draw outside the lines but were afraid to do it. For anyone who's ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book featuring a subversive collection of suggestions, asking readers to muster up their best mistake - and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).

Through a series of creatively and quirkily illustrated prompts, acclaimed artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts - poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, colouring outside the lines, and more - in order to experience the true creative process. With Keri Smith's unique sensibility, readers are introduced to a new way of art and journal making, discovering novel ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.

Tempting Tuesday: Easy Marshmallow Fudge

Tempting Tuesday: trying not to kill my family with my experimental cooking.

I found this recipe in a kids book and always wanted to give it a go.

I love marshmallows and I love fudge, so it should be good, right?

Ingredients:

450g icing sugar

100g marshmallows

100g butter

30ml milk

half a tsp vanilla essence.

Directions:

Line a 7 inch tin with greaseproof paper and any form of fat. I used coconut oil.

Sift icing sugar into a large bowl.

Heat marshmallows, butter, milk and vanilla in a pan until everything is melted and even.

Add this mixture to the icing sugar and stir until smooth.

I used pink and white marshmallows, it looks adorable.

Squidge the fudge into the tin, the flatter the better and chill in the fridge for 3 hours.

Remove, slice it all up and pop it back in the fridge to harden a little.

Our taste test went well. Ed says its the best thing he's ever tasted, like, ever.

I'm not so sure. I didn't realize until I started making it just how much icing sugar is in it, and man, can you taste it. It tastes like regal icing far more than it tastes of marshmallows which is a great shame.

Mr Strawberry says he'd like to try it with strawberries in it. I wonder if it would be possible to put chunks of fruit in? Another day...another experiment.

Free printable recipe card

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Monday Make: Change Bag

Monday Make: This week's project

 

 

I got really sick of throwing everything into a hold-all really quickly. I wanted everything in my change bag to be organised and easy to access one handed with the urgency that is usually required, be it a muslin to wipe up sudden pukage or a breast pad to swap before my t-shirt soaks through.

I had a look online but, as usual, I didn't like the ones I could afford and I wasn't going to spend upwards of £80 on a bag I'll only use for a year or two. Besides, the prints were so boring!

Cue a raid of my excellent fabric stash (which I am always happy to invest in). 

It didn't take me long to design it, basically it's all pockets.

It took me a couple of days to make, inbetween all the usual responsibilities; wiping poo off tiny balls & cooking family meals, etc. 

This post was originally supposed to be a 'how to', complete with instructions but when you're squeezing something in, a few minutes at a time, that's a tricky thing to manage.

 I also came to the conclusion that I could never encourage anyone to go about making something the way I made this. My brain was a wild, untamed thing. I read somewhere once, that when it comes to sewing, one should have everything one needs to hand, be of calm mind and unrushed. That's just not possible for me at the moment haha. On the plus side, he's very cute and just learning how to 'coo'. 

Anyway, here's my new change bag. I love it.

I especially love that I finally used the rainbow zebra print I've had for ages but been terrified of wasting. This was the perfect job for it. Gorgeousness. 

 

And to think it started with this crappy drawing...

 

It's pretty badly put together but I love it regardless.

And it just goes to show, if you want it, just bloody make it. 

 

 

Silent Sunday

Sticky Saturday: Shaving Foam and Paint Marbling

Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids

 

After a few months of fobbing the kids off with not-so-messy messy play, due to being very pregnant or having a brand new baby, I decided to give them something to make up for it.

Proper messy messy play.

Full of finger swirling, hand print smooshing and apron wearing fun.

 

Set up was easy, I did it one handed with baby Zander in a sling.

I simply sprayed shaving foam across all the tables, added dollops of paint (being very careful that everyone got a varying colour combination because I'm anal like that).

I invited the kids in a few at a time, (rather than all thirty-five!) and tried to 're-load' the tables in between

 

 

I left them to swirl and smush to their hearts content, then slapped on a piece of sugar paper and peel it away revealing beautiful marbled pictures.

(Warning: don't let the shaving foam and paint covered kids help with this bit else you'll have a piece of paper with paint on both sides and mildly bemused parents).

 

 

I love the multi-coloured patterns.