Making

It was a busy day yesterday and I was at synagogue celebrating a bar mitzvah (and helping with the catering arrangements) so I didn't get home until 3pm. I had planned to make some owls which I had seen here. I thought they looked easy enough to make but how wrong could I be. Mine turned out looking more like an extra from the clangers. I know my attempt doesn't have the long nose but still...

I think I need to practice this as I haven't got it quite right yet. Instead of trying again yesterday I decided to tidy up my making room instead so it doesn't look quite as messy (I'm not sure my dh would see any difference!).

I was up early today and I've only just sat down. The mini pasta has been cooked for dd's pasta salad for her packed lunch. I say pasta salad but she only adds sweetcorn. At least it's filling and it doesn't cost much. The pizza dough is made for tonight so I only need to make the tomato sauce. I replenished the dukka as I'd run out (I'd eaten it all - it keeps for over a month and really enlivens hummus or any other dip or is just great with fresh bread and a good quality olive oil). The batter is ready for Yorkshire puddings for lunch and then I decided to make to extra things. Firstly, I managed to get 50g of basil leaves for 20p from Waitrose on Wednesday. I decided to make pesto with them.

I put 50g basil leaves in the food processor and added 25g cheese chopped up small (I used cheddar but the recipe says Parmesan). Add one peeled clove of garlic, salt and pepper to taste and then whizz up. As the food processor is on, drizzle in olive oil until you have a more liquid mixture. Here's the end result...

This will be perfect for a couple of portions of pasta and was really cheap to make.

I had been wanting to make some granola for quite a while and I found a recipe for it in my Leon cookbook (the original one). I adapted it a bit as I didn't have all the ingredients but it seems to still taste nice. I measured out 350g rolled oats and then mixed this with 150g mixture of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I then put 150g runny honey and 60ml vegetable oil in a saucepan and warmed through. Take the liquid off the heat and stir into the dry ingredients until fully coated. Spread out onto a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 20-25 minutes. You will need to stir it 3-4 times during the time it's in the oven and be careful it doesn't burn unlike mine which was a bit crispy around the edges.

Roast 100g hazelnuts in the oven until golden brown. This will take about 10 minutes. Once out of the oven, chop and then mix with chopped apricots and dates (or whatever dry fruit you have in,your cupboards). It should look something like this.

Once the oats mixture has cooled, mix with the fruit and nuts and then put in containers ready to eat with yoghurt and fruit. I'm really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning.