Uni packing

I am so tired tonight, I spent all day helping my brother pack his room up in ready-ness for uni in two weeks, he is doing the big move to a place three hours away from us so it is all scary! I will miss him so much as he is my only "real" brother so to speak, we have same mother and father but that doesn't mean I love the other three any less.

I took so pictures of the mess as I was the one doing it all!

ebay stuff!

Brother really helping me (not!)

Dust! Gross!!!

It is nearly all done but I now have three bags of ebay stuff to sell for him (I'm taking 25% of course!), okay I am off as I am soooo tired :(

Round-up

Okay I have managed to do some of the work that needed to do tonight, I am a little behind with the paid blogging tonight and I did not do enough ebay again but I did have a good sale day on ebay :)

I am enjoying typing up my recipes, I am hoping that people might give them ago, I have a few in my head that I have to write down but I will get that in the end.

The husband is back soon, so that is all good, he is tired and grumpy though, so it will be a quiet evening, tomorrow I am going over to mums to babysit the youngest brother and to help the older one pack up his room in time for uni :)

Happy 13th Birthday to my younger sister

My sister and my stepmum (her mum)

The blonde guy next to her is her boyfriend.. oooooooooh!!!! :P

Tomato Soup with Bacon

Tomato soup

8 rashers unsmoked back bacon
1 onion
1 teaspoon lazy garlic
x2 tins plum tomatoes
either 1 tube of tomato puree paste or 1 carton of tomato passata
1/3 bag of red lentils
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt & pepper
chicken stock cube (knorr or oxo)
olive oil

graded cheese to sprinkle on
par-baked rolls & butter (yum)

fry onion & chopped bacon in a dribble of olive oil for 2-3 minutes.. add garlic & fry a bit more
add lentils & stir fry for a minute, add tomatoes & @1 pint of hot water and all the rest of ingredients
simmer 15 - 20 minutes stirring occasionally
can simmer for longer if you want (if boiling dry, add more water if needed)

blend with a liquidiser buzzy thing if you have one for smooth soup
or chop all ingredients finely before starting if you haven't.

Note. You can always take out the bacon if you do not like it ;)

Stew Recipe

Stew

ingredients (all as guide, can do more or less):
olive oil
2 small onions
6 carrots
1 swede
1 parsnip
salt & pepper
bisto powder
red oxo stock cube
nice big piece of steak @ £3 - £4 ('tenderloin'.. or 'braising'.. 'sirloin' too expensive and 'stewing' steak is too tough, whatever looks nice bright red)

peel & chop onions
peel & chop veg

put big pan on heat, add splash of olive oil
throw in onions & add the steak(s) fry for about 5-10 minutes until meat brown & sizzling
add chopped parsnip.. sizzle for another couple of minutes
add 2 pints of water & crumble in an oxo cube
add chopped swede & carrot
add some salt & pepper
bring to boil, then reduce heat, put on lid & simmer for 1 hour (check it doesn't boil dry and add water if needed)
take out the meat and chop off any fat or gristle, chop meat up and put back in pan
simmer for 1/2 hour with lid on until water level reduces down a bit.

put some crusty rolls in oven 10 minutes before serving

Just before serving mix up 3 teaspoons of bisto in a cup with a little cold water to a smooth paste, stir into stew mix, stirring for a minute or so until it thickens.. mix up more bisto if not thick enough.

serve & enjoy.. any leftover can be left to cool and put in the freezer in portions for a quick microwave another day

Pizza Recipe

Before it goes into the oven

Home-made pizza is the best pizza ever!

First make up the dough, that includes the following:

300g Bread Flour
1 Table spoon of Olive Oil
1 Table spoon of Yeast
230ml of Warm Water
A pinch of Salt

1. Put the yeast into the warm water and let it bubble for 5 minutes.

2. Put the bread flour into a bowl and add the yeast/water mix

3. Add the olive oil and salt, mix all together until it starts to form a dough

4. Leave the dough in a bowl with a tea towel over the top to rise for about 30/45minutes, this might take up to an hour depending on the room temperature or you can place it in a pre-heated oven at a very low heat.

5. After the dough raised, put bread flour and roll out the dough until it is the thickness you want then pop it back into the oven while you do the tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce

Table spoon of a garlic
Table spoon of tomato purée
A tin of chopped tomato
A chopped onion
Herbs

1. Fry the chopped onions in a pan until they are soft
2. Add the tin of chopped tomato
3. Add the garlic, tomato purée and herbs.
4. Let this bubble for 5/10 minutes, don't let it burn
5. You can either get out the electric whisk and make this smoother if you have a fussy eater or just leave it as it is.
6. Take out the pizza and spoon on the topping of tomato sauce.
7. Cut up some cheese or whatever topping you would like and put on top of the pizza.
8. Place this in the oven, gas mark 5 for 30 minutes.
9. Then eat!

Wheat Free Dough

Here is a wheat free dough recipe

• 1 Tablespoon dry yeast


• 2/3 cup brown rice flour or sorghum flour (see note)


• 1/2 cup tapioca flour (see note)


• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum (see note)


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder (Knox)


• 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning


• 2/3 cup warm milk (110 degrees F.) or non-dairy liquid


• 1/2 teaspoon sugar


• 1 teaspoon olive oil


• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar


• Extra rice flour for sprinkling

Busy busy bubble bee

So I went to see my best mate today and her daughter, trying to get her blog back up and running after like 2 years, I have been designing it, what do you think? Not finished at all but I have started it! Hurrah!

Hopefully I will get it down tonight, well I hope, and even better it might be up by tonight, I say maybe!

Husband is working till 8pm tonight so I am trying to catch up on websites, I have loads of new ideas to keep this website interesting, tonight I am going to start doing my recipes which I have made up or family recipes :) They are good, and I will include pictures.

Also I am starting some tutorials of things I have learned about from uni, for example, JAVA, and other important computer related bits :) Plus wordpress bits I have picked up oh and photoshop, my darling photoshop, hopefully you guys will enjoy it!

Oh as my title does say busy bubble bee, I have been accepted by the quilting bee :) I am so pleased, yay yay, longer post later

Five words

I saw a post on Kristin blog and five words, she was given from someone else, so I ask for five words to write about and these are the ones she came up with :)

Seasons

Now I do love autumn when I think about seasons, I think about going back to college or university, I think about my birthday which is 18th of October, I love it when the trees change colours. And then again I like winter because it is near Christmas and the start of a new year which is always exciting, oh and SNOW!  I find Spring and the time after Christmas really slow and wet, it is just horrible time of year!

Community

When I think of community I think of Lavish.nu mainly because I have been there for so long and everyone is really nice, I do love the random topics we come out with ;) Also community makes me think of my gurls and my university friends, because when you see someone every day for 9 months at a time, you become slow quite quickly and it is nice to have a support network.

Hobby

Now hobby, I have a few hobbies, my main one is my computer, I am so in love with all technology related stuff, I read, I work and I play all my computer, plus I would be so lost without the internet! Other hobbies are my tv shows, and collecting them, I also collect comics, Angelica dolls from the Rugrats and I love to re-designing my house :) Oh and making things from scratch!

Love

Me and my younger sister H (she is 13 years old and taller than me!!)

My younger sister S (being a chav for the fun of it!)

My younger brother K and me

My younger brother T

My father

My muther

My muther, brother K & Stepfather

T, Dad, Me, H & S

Normally I think of my husband and how we have changed each other for the better over the last two and half years, but then I think of my family, my parents and my siblings.  I adore my brothers and sisters more than they will ever know, they always light up my life and made it more interesting, I hope we will still be close as we are all growing up!  I don't really show pictures of my brothers and sisters but here is a treat for you all then :P I also have a stepfather and stepmother, but I cannot find nice pictures of them at the mo :P

Self-Love

Now I am not someone who hates they way they look, I don't like my tummy, but I do love my hair and I do think we some make-up I look pretty, I will try and love myself more, at least I am not as vain as I use to be ;)