Super Quick Cosmetic Pouches

I hope you'll excuse this deviation from my usual food-based posts, but I've recently got back into machine sewing and wanted to share my latest creations. They make great gifts, are very cheap to make and take just one afternoon, or a couple of hours to make.
This particular design makes two large and two small purses from just two fat quarters of fabric - so that's a cost of around £2-3 for all four pouches, depending on the price of your material.

The patterns for both pouches are made from a single sheet of A4 paper (folded in half for the smaller one). I hope you can follow my picture tutorial and notes...

1. For the large pouch, take one sheet of A4 (letter-size) paper. Place a dinner plate at one end, so the edge of the plate is touching one short and two long sides. Draw a curve around the top of the plate.
2. Fold the paper in half and cut around the curve, then open back out.
3. Put your two pieces of material together and pin the pattern to them.
4. Cut around the pattern, then remove.
5. Place the wrong sides of the material together and pin all around, except for around 7.5cm/3" at one corner (see bottom right photo).
   
6. Sew all around (except for the gap) leaving a small seam allowance.
7. Turn the fabric inside-out and poke the corners out using a chopstick or dowel.
8. Iron to flatten the seams, being careful to press under the unsewn section.
9. Fold up to make an open envelope and top stitch close to the edge all the way around, including the unsewn section.
10. Finally sew on a press stud and press the purse one last time.  

To make the smaller pouch, simply fold a sheet of A4 paper in half lengthwise and use a large mug to make the top curve of the pattern. The larger purse is ideal as a make up bag or pencil case, whereas the smaller one is just the right size for sanitary products! I reckon a teeny one, half the width of the small one would be the perfect size for an asthma inhaler.

If you make these, do let me know how they turn out and post a picture on my Facebook page.

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Super-Quick Microwave Chocolate Traybake

My microwave mug cake recipe has always been popular with my kids. Now they're teenagers, they can whip up a pudding themselves in record time and have adapted it to their own particular tastes. As they often want to entertain friends and there's a boyfriend on the scene, I thought I'd better come up with a recipe which can me made just as quickly, but can feed several hungry teenagers!

Serves 4+

• 50g/2oz peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 50g/2oz butter or dairy-free spread
• 1 egg or equivalent vegan egg replacer
• 2 tbsp date, agave or golden syrup
• 25g/1oz unsweetened cocoa powder
• 75g/3oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz soft, brown sugar or coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Toppings: your choice of chopped (dairy-free) chocolate, vegetarian sweets, dried fruit/chopped nuts, chocolate-hazelnut spread, jam, nut butter or a combination of any of these.

Put the butter and nut butter into a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 20-30 seconds to melt.
Stir well and mix in the sugar, syrup and vanilla.
Beat in the egg or egg equivalent and finally stir in the flour and cocoa powder.

Grease and line the base of a microwave-safe dish (around 15cm round or square).
Spoon in the mixture and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon.
Spoon or sprinkle your topping/s over the surface of the mixture.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on high in the microwave, or until the edges are cooked and firm and the middle still looks just slightly undercooked. Check after 2½-3 minutes, to ensure it doesn't over cook.

Leave in the dish and allow to cool for 10-15 mins.
Cut into 4-9 pieces.
Remove from the dish and serve warm or cold with custard or ice cream, if so desired.

Suitable for freezing.

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Toffee Apple Waffles

After trying out my new Sage No-Mess Waffle Maker for a few weeks, I think I've perfected my basic, sweet waffle recipe... 
I've used cup measurements to make these as quick and easy as possible to make. Many waffle recipes I've looked at involve separating the eggs and whisking the egg whites. Not something I have the time to inclination to do when making breakfast waffles! I reckon the addition of a touch of bicarb does the job to make these waffles light and fluffy.

Makes 4 large, sweet waffles

• 1 cup SR flour
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• ¼ cup melted butter, cooled
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the topping

• 4 dessert apples, peeled, cored and sliced thickly
• 1 tsp butter
• 8 tbsp dulce de leche or caramel sauce
• ground cinnamon and cream to serve.

To make the waffles
Heat the waffle maker to a medium setting; I used setting 4.

Put the dry ingredients into a bowl.
Mix the liquid ingredients together in a jug.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl and mix to combine.
Pour the batter back into the jug.

When the waffle maker is hot, pour around ¼ of the mixture into the centre. 
Gently close the lid and cook until the machine bleeps (or until the waffles are golden brown).
Remove and keep warm in a low oven while you cook the remaining waffles.

For the topping
Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and grease with the butter. Gently cook the apple slices for about 4-5 minutes minutes on each side - until starting to soften but not breaking up. 
Add the dulche de leche and stir gently to coat the apples and warm through - add a splash of water or cream, for a thinner sauce.
Top the warm waffles with the toffee apple mixture and serve with a dollop of cream and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Top tip: If you don't have a waffle maker (why not?!) then you could cook these in a heavy based, non-stick frying pan or griddle.

Topping ideas: Fruit compote and Greek yogurt; Nutella and chopped banana/strawberries; peach Melba (peach, raspberries and vanilla ice cream), fresh fruit salad and maple syrup... 

I'd love to know your favourite waffle toppings, so please feel free to tweet me or leave me a comment below.

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Gigantes Plaki (Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce)

Traditionally, gigantes plaki is made from soaked, dried butter/lima beans and baked in the oven. My quick version relies on tinned beans and is cooked on the hob, but you could make a big batch using dried beans and cook in the slow cooker (boil the beans for 10 minutes before slow cooking). This dish can be serve warm a part of a meze or hot as a main dish with rice or bread.

My version costs around £1 to make, using budget-brand beans and tinned tomatoes. 

Serves 2-4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes or around 400g/1 lb chopped fresh tomatoes.
• 1 tin butter/lima beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp chopped fresh dill
• ½ tsp sugar, optional
• ½ tsp paprika
• a pinch of cinnamon or a small cinnamon stick, optional 

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion, carrot and garlic for a few minutes.

Add all of the remaining ingredients, apart from the beans, and stir well.

Cover and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes. 

Add the beans, stir and simmer (with the lid on)  for a further 10-20 minutes, until the carrots are tender.

Lower fat alternative: Just use 1 tsp of oil. 
Camping version: Simmer a jar of tomato pasta sauce with a drained tin of butter beans. Serve with warm pittas.

I'm linking this recipe to 'The Vegetable Palette'  over at  A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table.  This month's colour theme is red.

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Cheat's Patatas Bravas

This is another one of my non-recipes, which seams almost too simple to be worth blogging, however it makes a cheap, quick and super-easy vegan meal which can be cooked in about 20 minutes.

Patatas Bravas should really served as a tapas dish, however, it makes a great camping/festival meal and is also good for an end of the week/month dinner, when the cupboards (and purse) are bare!

Serves 4

• 2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil 
• 1 kg/2lb bag of frozen potato cubes, almost defrosted 
• 1 large jar of tomato and chilli pasta sauce 

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan/baking dish. Shallow fry or roast the potato chunks until cooked, crisp and golden brown (about 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally).
Throw in the jar of tomato and chilli sauce and any extras (see below) and heat through for a further few minutes until piping hot.

Serve with bread, olives and salad.

Alternatives: To bulk this out, add some extra veg/protein along with the tomato sauce (eg: a tin of drained beans/chickpeas/sweetcorn/sliced mushrooms/veggie salami/chorizo etc...anything ready cooked.). You could also swap the potato cubes for frozen chips, wedges or even hash browns.
For a cheaper version, use 'real' potatoes and a home made tomato sauce. 
Make individual portions and serve as a tapas dish whilst watching Spain play in the World Cup!

I'm entering this recipe to this month's Credit Crunch Munch , hosted at Gingey Bites and founded by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours.



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Pasta with Greek Tomato Sauce (Vegan)

After many years holidaying in Greece, I'm still yet to recreate an authentic copy of the Greek version of Napoli/Napolitana sauce. I've tried various variations from a very basic sauce with just onion, garlic, herbs and tomatoes, to a sauce with different combinations of vegetables (courgettes, peppers and carrots), but none are quite right...it's probably due to the fresh, ripe, Greek tomatoes, but may be due to some other hidden ingredient, which I am yet to discover. 

Do let me know the traditional recipe if you have it!

Anyway, here's my take on the dish, which is low-fat, only takes about 30 minutes to make and costs a very economic £2 to serve 4-6 people. It has lots of garlic plus an added kick of chilli and a touch of fragrant cinnamon - simply omit these for an Italian rather than Greek-style sauce. I generally make a double batch of this sauce and freeze half. You can use the sauce for lasagne, bolognese, veggie meatballs, aubergine parmigiana etc.

Serves 4-6

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 1 bay-leaf
• ½ tsp dried Greek oregano (optional)
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon/½ cinnamon stick (optional)
• ½ tsp fresh red chilli, very finely chopped
• 2x400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes (use good quality, not an economy brand for the best flavour) - or about 800g/1lb 12oz fresh, ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• ½ tsp sugar (optional)
• Black pepper to taste
• 450g/1lb dried pasta (rigatoni, penne etc.)

Heat the oil in a large pan.

Add the onion and cook on a medium heat for a few minutes, before adding the garlic.

Allow the onion and garlic to cook without colouring.

Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the pasta) and simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid on.

Remove the cinnamon stick and bay-leaf (if using).

Blend briefly with a hand blender if you prefer a smooth sauce.

Return to a low heat and allow to reduce whilst cooking the pasta for 10-12 minutes. Drain the pasta and serve topped with the tomato sauce.

For vegan garlic bread, simply mix a further small crushed clove of garlic with 2 tbsp dairy-free spread and a little chopped fresh parsley. Spread generously onto fresh crusty bread and bake in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

I'm linking this post to this month's, garlic-themed Pasta Please Challenge hosted by Tina at The Spicy Pear and started by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes. Pop over and take a look at the other great pasta dishes all using garlic.

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Veggie Sausage & Baked Bean Pasta

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Not only is this meal quick and easy to prepare, it's cheap and filling too, especially if you use store's own economy brands! (I used ASDA's veggie sausages £1.58, baked beans 25p, passata 29p, onion 10p, red peppers 75p, pasta 29p - total to feed 4 people £3.26)

Serves 4, takes 30 minutes to cook.

• 1-2 vegetarian/vegan sausages per person
• 1 tin of baked beans (or any other kind of tinned beans)
• 500ml passata
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• ½ tsp mixed dried herbs or oregano
• 2 red bell peppers cut into chunks
• 2 tbsp veggie Worcester sauce (optional)
• Black pepper to taste
• 250g dried pasta

Heat a drop of oil in a large pan.
Cook the onion, garlic and peppers for 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened.
Add the passata, Worcester sauce, herbs and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the sausages and pasta.
Drain the pasta, chop the sausages into chunks and mix both into the pasta sauce.

Alternatives: For an even quicker meal, use a jar of ready made tomato pasta sauce instead of the onion, garlic and passata. 
Swap the baked beans for any other tinned beans, to reduce the sugar content.
Use any vegetables you need to use up (mushrooms, sweetcorn, courgette etc), rather than the peppers, to make this dish even more economical.

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Vegetarian 'Hawaiian' Quesadillas

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When I was growing up, fresh pineapple was considered positively exotic! We might have had tinned pineapple in fruit salads, or maybe on a Hawaiian pizza, but that was about it. Apparently pineapple on pizza isn't exactly traditional in Hawaii though, so apologies to any Hawaiian readers and especially to Little Ferraro Kitchen. 

Although I now love fresh pineapple, I hadn't thought of putting it in a sandwich; I came up with this simple veggie/vegan wrap combo after being inspired by a similar meat-based dish on Closet Cooking. I wasn't sure if the flavours would work with a meat substitute, but they really do. Coincidentally, Ephee has recently blogged an alternative vegan version over on her amazing blog: L'éphémère quotidienneté des repas et autres trucs de magie.

These quesadillas are really quick and easy to make, so are great for lunches and camping trips. 

Makes 4

• 4 slices of vegetarian/vegan bacon/ham, cooked if preferred and chopped
• 2-4 thin slices of pineapple (fresh is best, but tinned will do), chopped
• 2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, chopped (optional)
• 200g/8oz mozzarella/cheddar/vegan melting cheese
• 4 tbsp tomato puree/tomato salsa/bbq sauce
• 4 tortilla wraps

Fry or grill the veggie bacon/ham until lightly browned (this is optional, but I prefer it crispy!).
Spread half of each tortilla with a spoonful of tomato puree or your preferred alternative.
Divide the remaining ingredients between each wrap.
Fold the wraps in half and heat through until the cheese has melted, either in a hot pan or in a panini press/grill.
Slice into wedges and serve with salad.

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No-Bake Mini Desserts

If you're hosting a bbq, party or buffet and catering for a large number of people, make up a batch of these really simple mini-puddings in advance and refrigerate until needed.

You can buy packs of mini plastic shot 'glasses' from pound stores and supermarkets.

Serves 10 (1 of each dessert per person) - double or treble the recipe to feed more!

For the basic mix

• 250g/10 oz lighter/reduced fat mascarpone 
• 200ml/8fl oz double cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

Lightly whip the cream.

Add the remaining ingredients and lightly whisk together.
Divide between two bowls...

Tiramisu

• 50g/2 oz amaretti or chocolate chip biscuits/cookies, roughly crushed
• 1 tsp coffee granules dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water, allowed to cool and mixed with 1 tbsp Amaretto or Tia Maria
• 1 tbsp Bailey's liqueur
• Crushed chocolate flake/chocolate chips/drinking chocolate powder to top

Evenly divide the crushed biscuits between 10 small shot glasses.
Drizzle around 1 tsp of the cold coffee/liqueur mixture over the biscuits in each glass.
Mix the Bailey's into one half of the cream cheese mixture.
Using a teaspoon, carefully spoon the mixture into each glass.
Top with crushed chocolate flake/chocolate chips or drinking chocolate powder.
Chill until needed.

Alternative:  For an alcohol-free version, swap the liqueurs for cold strong coffee.

Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake

• 50g/2 oz shortbread biscuits, roughly crushed
• 100g/4oz ripe strawberries, half diced finely, half sliced
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Mix the vanilla extract into the remaining half of the cream cheese mixture.
Lightly fold in the diced strawberries and crushed biscuits.
Using a teaspoon, carefully spoon the mixture into 10 small shot glasses.
Top with the sliced strawberries.
Chill until needed.

Alternative: Swap the shortbread biscuits for crushed meringue to make Eton Mess.

Not suitable for freezing. Eat within 24 hours of making.

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