Bastelesel

25 Feb 2017

Maybe real diamonds are a bit too expesnive but then just make your own alternative with really lovely papers. I found a very comprehensive youtube instruction. You can create different diamonds in all sizes. All you need is two equal paper squares for each of them. Jenny W. Chan describes them as a nice Christmas ornament but I’m thinking thaa they’re really too nice to be used such a short time only.

That’s why I folded some of them with papers of colour matching paper sets and decorated them with different accessories. If you have already made some jewellery yourself you’ll surely dispose of a large chice of pearls and little silver or gold ornaments. You may take feathers or different ribbons as well. For my large diamonds I separated a pair of earrings bought in a bling jewellery store.

Just take off the hooks and fix the pendant with a nylon thread. Jenny’s explaining it in her video but I want to point out that you really have to insert the thread for hanging and decorating with accessories before gluing the two parts of your diamond. In addition I’d like to mention that it will be much easier to put the halves together correctly after having interlaced them once without using glue. Press them lightly and then start to apply glue on the tips. Deocrated with little feathers and a plastic easter egg the diamonds may be used as an Easter table decoration. Now go and have some fun when selecting your papers and folding the diamonds.

09 Feb 2017

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by Elke

Valentine hearts

A little something for your sweetheart or your best friend – little paper hearts will give a lovely pendant for your breakfast place setting. If you like you may even add a small chocolate heart. For Valentine’s day you should choose paper in red shades.

You’ll need six hearts for every pendant to be cut out by hand or with a paper punch. Fold the hearts along the center line and glue them together with one half of their backside. Before adding the last heart just place a small ribbon in the middle. Decorate it with a pearl if you like and if you do have some at hand.

Lucky owners of paper punches will be able to produce lots of hearts and circles in the twinkling of an eye. These will delight you beyond Valentine’s day. I took some papers matching with my kitchen colors and made a lot of hearts and circels. I joined six of them with a nice ribbon and suspended them on a winter branch without leaves. Both, hearts and circles are moving with the lightest breeze and make me dream when puttering around in my kitchen. Down in the left corner of my picture you can see a wonderful paper diamond which I will explain to you within the next days.

25 Jan 2017

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by Elke

Easy bread

Oh, how I love it to remove a fresh bread from the oven and most of the time I’m cooking all kinds of bread that need a lot of preparation and time for rising. But it’s even better if, coming home from work, you just decide to cook a loaf of bread for dinner and manage to do it thanks to a wonderful and easy recipe. In her blog “einhaeppchenliebe.de” Kathia proposes a bread that only needs 10 minutes of preparation. Well, I didn’t succeed in doing it in 10 minutes and I changed the recipe a little bit too but in fact this bread only needs a bit more than an hour before you can remove it from the oven. It’s very tasty and you may keep it in your breadbox for a few days.

Ingredients:

20g fresh yeast
1 tsp. caster sugar
500 g water lukewarm
300 g spelt flour (630)
200 g wheat flour (1050 oder 550)
50 g oatmeal
20g sesame
30g linseed
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar
sunflower or poppy seeds (or caraway or sea salt) for topping

In a large bowl mix yeast and sugar. Add warm water and leave to rest for 5 minutes. In a second bowl mix flour, seeds and sel. (Roasting the oats and seeds in a greaseless pan makes them taste much stronger.) Then add yeast water and vinegar and beat until well combined. Pour dough (it’s really soft, viscous) into a loaf pan and scatter with sunflower seeds or anything else. No rising needed put the pan directly into the cold oven and bake for 50-60 minutes at 200°C. Steam your bread if you like to have a nice brown crust. Therefore you should either place a small bowl (ovenware) filled with water at the bottom of your oven or just sprinkle it with some water from a spray bottle at the end of baking time. When golden brown remove it from the oven, leave it in your pan for some minutes before removing it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Theres no dough beating and rising to care for so that I’d recommend this recipe to all those who usually don’t dare cooking bread. You’ll get hooked on its odor and lovely taste!

14 Jan 2017

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by Elke

Pan-fried bread

From one year to the next I nearly forgot the promised recipe for all the bread leftovers occuring when cutting out bread stars for my Christmas dinner. I had used five slices of multigrain bread for the stars and let dry the edges over nigh to frie them in a pan lateron. This way you may make use of bread leftovers the whole year through.

Ingredients: two servings

bread (leftovers or 4 slices, diced)
2 bell peppers
2 eggs
125ml milk
100g salami
100g grated cheese
cooking oil, pepper, salt, paprika

Wash and seed bell peppers. Dice peppers, onion and salami. Heat some cooking oil in a pan and gently roast vegetables. Add the salami then and in the meantime whisk both eggs with milk and pour in the bread leftovers. When salami and peppers took on color pour egg whisk into the pan and mix with pepper and salami. Roast further 5 minutes, season with pepper, salt and paprika and add grated cheese shortly before serving.

We omitted cheese because my test eater doesn’t like it. This way the meal is a bit less satiable.

03 Jan 2017

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by Elke

Tortellini-skewers

These mini tortellini skewers are a lovely starter or a wonderful snack for a buffet. The pesto sour cream dip is done in a minute and served in a seperate bowl. Take small, dried tortellini and cook according to package directions. All kinds of fillings are possible, we took some with a “pizza filling”. For 25 skewers you’ll need:

125g small tortellini
250g sour cream or mascarpone
50ml cream
3 El basil pesto
25 – 35 cocktail tomatoes
1 pot basil
pepper, salt

Cook tortellini following package directions and let them cool. Mix sour cream/mascarpone with pesto and cream. Season with salt and pepper.
Thread a tomato and a basil leaf between two tortellini on a small wooden skewer. Then give some additional tomatoes into a small wine glass and place the skewers in between. Serve dip in a seperate glass or bowl.
If the skewers are to be served as a starter, simply give some of the dip into a shot glass for each guest and put one or two skewers inside.