NATURAL POND March 16, 2009

Making a pond sounds a lot more expensive then it actually is. Here is one I made earlier. If you decide to go for a natural looking pond its very cheap compared to its posher cousin with nice bricks and raised edges. The only thing you need to buy for this is lining and a few plants to oxygenise the water.

1. mark out a shape. I chose a kidney shape.

2.  dig, dig and dig. Save any turf you have dug up as this will be needed to hide the nasty edges of pon lining.

3. line it with sand. Beach sand is always free

4. place the lining

5. Cut the lining but not to close to the pond. Cover any lining edges with dirt, turf and plants.

6. FILL. and place some oxygenating plants. Wait for mini beasts and pond life to arrive. Try some frogspawn from another pond.

7. Remeber newts and frog spawn don’t mix. You can pick up some more freebies from the beach like stones and rocks to make it look pretty

Congrats with your new pond enjoy it. We are getting some rescued newts from a near by school to place in our pond. quite exciting I think

Sugar and Spice Cake March 16, 2009

Today I was messing around in the kitchen to see what i could make for dessert. I made this mixture into cupcakes. When it was done it was clear it should of been made in a cake loaf tin. Still tastes deliscious although would look more proffesional in a tin. A simple cake full of citrus and spices

Ingredients:-

3 eggs

4 cups of flour

2.5 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of margarine

half a lemon + half a lime

cinamon

nutmeg

honey

lined up for the oven

HOW TO:-

cream together the margarine and sugar

add the eggs and whisk

add a table spoon of honey and grate some cinnamon in

add a squeeze of the citrus juice aswell as some zest

grate a big lump of ginger into the mix. add as much as you want depending on how strong you like  it i grated about a teaspoons worth

add the flour

mix well and leave in the fridge to cool for atleast an hour

place into muffin cases or cake tin (those big fat polo shaped ones are best)

bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 170 degrees

after 10 minutes stick a knife in one. if it comes out clean its done

when finished decorate with a drizzle of honey a wedge of lime and a sprinkle of nutmeg

oh forgot to mention. I also put a few oats in these ones.

freshly done

I can’t decide if its a cake a muffin or something else. Reminds me of malt loaf and sweet bread

It’s still uber sexy either way

inside all light and fluffy

Signature Dish March 16, 2009

Yes I have decided to share the recipe to my signature dish with you.  It used to be a beef chilli as I am now vegetarian and considering going vegan it is now a vegan dish. So here is the recipe for Green Lentil Chilli. ENJOY!!!!

Ingredients:-

dried green lentils (half a small bag)

fresh chillis to taste

3 onions

3 carrots

1 leek

1 vegetable stock cube

handfull of mushrooms

1 can of kidney beans (drained)

quarter bottle of red wine

a few pieces of Lindt mayan (chilli chocolate)

fresh coriander

3 tea spoons of chilli powder

2 table spoons of cumin seeds

salt +pepper

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

3 Table spoons of tomato puree

sorry its not well presented but its gorgeous

HOW TO:-

Soak the lentils overnight. Once soaked boil in a large pot for 10 minutes. drain and empty back into pot. Pour in the red wine and stir at gas mark 4

Whilst the lentils simmer gently. Fry the finely chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil. Then add to lentils and stir

Now add the chopped tomatoes to pot, stir and then add the rest of ingredients except the fresh coriander and kidney beans

cook off on a very low temparature for around an hour. Then add the kidney beans and cook for a further 20 minutes.

When finished roughly chop the fresh coriander ( a decent handful) add and serve! Congrats you now have a chilli as tasty as mine. You can obviously trade the lentils for beef mince but the lentils are nice and friendly.

I like to serve this with either rice, wedges or nachos. You decide. So for all those people thinking what the hell does a vegan eat well there you go. It’s a treat!

Herbal blend March 1, 2009

As I didn’t know where this blog was going i have deleted my old posts. I am starting a fresh. So welcome to Lahaines world of food, drink, DIY,  gardening and arts and crafts blog. It will be featuring tutorials and pretty pictures on the things I make and do. Basically a poor mans way of living. so enjoy.

Lately I have been suffering a huge amount from aids voice. Maybe from too much singing. Here is a great d.i.y herbal blend to sooth throats. It can also be enjoyed instead of regular british tea as it has no sugar or milk in, it’s great for diets. If drank just before breakfast it cleanses the pallet and gives y our metabolism a boost. Please be aware that it contains nutmeg and if taken in a large quantity can make you feel like you’ve had a bottle of wine or a tab of acid. Yes i learnt this the hard way. When reading up on it i found it is a hallucanigenic. I am still feeling the headache. I did ingest atleast 2 teaspoons of the stuff though. I am now a herbal blend addict.

Ingredients:

1 slice of lime

1 slice of lemon or 1 table spoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of honey

1 pinch of nutmeg

a few flakes of cinnamon fresh from the stick

BE CREATIVE AND ADD WHATEVER YOU THINK MAY TASTE GOOD

HOW TO:

Take your favourite drinking vessel. place all ingrediants at the bottom of the glass. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon and lime. Mix ingrediants together with a teaspoon. Add boiling water and stir. Enjoy!

That simple. Feel free to be hooked. Its lovely on winter evenings. You can add more or less of each ingredient to suit your taste. Just be carefull with the nutmeg. The drink will look quite clear but it tastes deliscious. Add more honey if you feel strange drinking a clear perfumed liquid. Below i will list the properties and benefits from this. Just incase you need a little more encouragment to make this.

Lemon:  Internal cleansin, strengthens immune system, gets rid of toxins

Lime: Skin purifying, aids digestion

Honey: Sooths sore throats, antioxidant,

cinnamon: lowers cholesterol,  fights yeast infections

nutmeg: sooth stomache, stress relief

Joy looks something like this