...pea and ham soup

Today has been my last day of annual leave. Really not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow and so have totally made the most of today. We have a lovely garden centre near me called Squires and they have a fab aquatic/small animal centre so I went and spent some time being mesmerised by the fish. They also (in the main garden centre) sell lots of crafty stuff. I'm thinking of making my own Christmas cards this year so I went and checked out their card making section. Ended up buying a book to give me some ideas. I'm a real instruction follower and although I make lots of things, I'm not great at coming up with the ideas on my own so wanted some ideas on where to start and the bits of equipment I need. Then this afternoon I've been making a pair of trousers for my holiday later in the year. They'll be up on here once they're finished. This evening though I'm working my way through the veg from Leigh and Dad. I figure that even if I do have to go back to work tomorrow, I can have my favourite soup for lunch. I've never actually made it before, I've always bought it from Waitrose! But with the lovely fresh peas I decided I'd give it a go.

Pea and ham soup. Yum yum yum!!

I didn't make it complicated, starting off with a finely chopped red onion which I cooked somewhat too fast and shall we say caramelised it!

Then I added in the peas and a stock cube and some water and left it to boil for around 10 minutes (while I ate my dinner!)...

Then I tipped it all in my trusty blender along with some extra water and blended until smooth.

I'd hoped to buy some ham hock from Waitrose which is amazingingly tasty but they didn't have any when I went shopping on Monday. As such, I bought their smoked ham instead.

This is also really good. It comes in two packs and as I'd already used one in cheese and ham toasties for lunch yesterday and today, I added half of the remaining pack whilst the soup was blending and then once that was done, stirred in the remainder at the end. I've no idea on the quantity of peas, I would guess I used around 300g but it made this much soup!

The large tub will do me for lunch tomorrow and Friday and the small tub I think will be my late night snack tomorrow as I have a work event in the evening which probably will only be nibbles and I'll be starving when I get in!

... random non-clothing knitted items

Whilst I get my blog up and running I thought I'd share with you some things I've made previously. When it comes to knitting, I like to make small things. I get bored making big items unless they're made in very chunky wool and so grow very quickly! I'm so impatient. For a couple of friends I've made their children knitted toys. I really like giving homemade gifts. My friends are used to me being out and about lots, so if I've made them something, I hope they feel that it really goes to show how much I care. 

Odd things I've made include this bedtime clown for my cousin Sarah's little boy Alfie. 

  

For my friend Rachel's little girl, I made this Cinders/Cinderella doll. I think she's really beautiful!

Then a friend asked me if could make a tea cosy but for his cafetiere. So I decided to make something a bit unusual. Let's face it, who doesn't want a dalek cafetiere cover!

And then for my friend Laura's baby, I couldn't resist this zebra pattern...

There are some very clever people out there who come up with these fabulous patterns and to whom I'm very thankful!

...chocolate and beetroot cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting

The last few days I've been visiting my parents. My Mum was 70 (!) last Thursday although I'm sure she'll not appreciate me telling you that... She doesn't look it though so I'm hoping I got those genes. Anyway, I love visiting them at this time of year more than any other because of the wonderful fresh produce I'm given to bring home with me (again I'm not sure I'm meant to say that...) My brother-in-law, Leigh, is also working a marvel on his allotment so this trip was particularly lucrative with broad beans, peas and beetroot from him, and cucumber, carrots, courgettes, potatoes and strawberries from my Dad. The broad beans I double podded and mixed with freshly grated ginger, garlic, chilli, lime juice and zest and prawns then served this with fresh boiled beetroot and flat potatoes (my nephew's name for saute potatoes!) for dinner which was delicious (sorry I ate it before I managed to photograph it!). You'll get to see what I make with some of the other ingredients in the next few days.
The truly fun baking project today though was chocolate and beetroot cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. I used the recipe from allrecipes website with a minor modification in that I only used 240g sugar as I was concerned that if I used the full amount, with the vanilla buttercream frosting they would be too sweet, plus I had sunflower oil in the cupboard so used this instead of vegetable oil.
It was a really simple recipe to follow. After boiling and peeling the beetroot, I left it to cool then blitzed it in my food processor with the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. It came out the most beautiful colour!

 

 Then all the dry ingredients were mixed together...

 The wet and dry ingredients were combined and put into the cupcake cases...

I did the Ina Garten trick of using an ice-cream scoop to put the mixture in the cases. It works so well.

They were baked at 180 degrees C for 22 minutes and came out of the oven looking like this!

After cooling for around an hour, during which I made my vanilla buttercream frosting...

...the two came together to make these beauties!! 

Really impressed with the recipe. Not sure this picture really demonstrates it that well but they were beautifully light and very moist inside.

I'm pleased I reduced the amount of sugar in the cakes, with the sweetness of the frosting it would have been too much for me if I'd have used the amount stated in the recipe.

I now have a couple of days of annual leave and some lovely homemade treats sitting in my 'fridge ready for me to enjoy!