'It will not always be Summer; Build Barns'

 {Title quote by Hesoid... Who also wrote 'Do not let a flattering woman coax and wheedle and decieve you... she is after your barn.' He needs to calm down REF: Barns}

We've been fanning the flames of DIY here at Derbyshire Towers recently, from Chicken Palaces to Glitter Jars. We've been thrifty, handy and cunning; producing some pretty nice bits of furniture and ornaments and fully taking advantage of the brilliant weather we've been having!

My top favourite has to be the beautiful rustic farmhouse table and benches my husband made at the weekend.

It's high up, sturdy, and has that homely rustic country feeling that sits so well on a warm Summer's evening. We had friend's over for an evening last week and the extra space for food and drink was well received. 

 Not to mention the extra room for well-fed stomachs to expand.

Initially I wanted to decorate the entire inside of the gazebo with these tissue paper garlands... but then I remembered that I'm a Mother who barely has the patience to put my pants on, let alone sit for hours twisting and tearing paper, life's too short.

These looked so pretty fluttering in the breeze though.

I made my handy-hubby {ew to the word 'hubby' but for alliteration's sake I'm sticking with it} a really special dinner to sit on his table, home-made pasta using eggs laid that morning from our three girls. You can't get fresher than that... except for the fresh watercress and parsley I used to make the simple sauce.

Gone are the days of Ikea and Argos, we've taken it upon ourselves to build new furniture and refurbish the old stuff worth saving, flat pack is out, individual custom-made pieces are in!

The Funny Farm

'If we're going to be a family that eats eggs, we need to know that we're getting them from Chickens that are treated well.'

This noble statement was how it started.

'It'll work out cheaper.'

we convinced ourselves.

'Chickens don't take up much room'

we said, surveying the landscape of our back garden.

'Chickens are friendly and funny to watch.'

we chuckled.

'Nahla can learn about where her food comes from.'

Yes, excellent idea. It was decided.

Going to the shop to buy eggs is a really difficult and costly task... much more difficult and costly than measuring wood to modify a rabbit hutch to fit three chickens in...

...it's also a lot more difficult to pop to Tesco to get eggs than, say, driving up and down random country lanes to try and find a farm 'with no name' to pick up three chickens from a man wearing a string vest. Especially when said man briskly walks your husband away into a barn, closes the door to the deafening sound of squawking and you don't know if you'll ever see him again.

Eggs are hard to come by any other way, you have just HAVE to have your Husband open the box and let them out all at once so you have to shout 'Just put your hand on their backs!' at him until he's succeeded in rounding them up like cattle.

You could always get your eggs in neat little cardboard trays, but I find it simpler to have to search for them amongst hay and Chicken poo, or sometimes conduct such a search then have nothing to show for it at the end because one of the Chickens keeps escaping into your neighbor's garden, despite you being assured by 'Scary String Vest Man' that "They're nay good jumpers, Lass, ye ken?"

Gloria, Hermione and Leia seemed like cute names, but clucking them at 7am sounds ridiculous. 

After spending money buying (and altering) the biggest rabbit hutch you could find, thinking that it would be cheaper to house Chickens that way than to buy a fancy coop, you then realise that you've purchased one of the largest breeds of Chickens that require the most roosting space.

Your fancy hutch is no longer enough, so instead you have to transport a neighbor's beaten up, old Wendy house that belonged to their daughters (it was full of High School Musical posters) over two 7ft high fences. 

The Zac Efron Chicken Palace is too heavy for your husband to chuck over his shoulder, so he has to draft in the help of not one, but four other men, all of which look like they want to kill your husband at the end of the ordeal, despite your promises of beer and your eager cries of 'You're so strong!'

Then you (YOU), with your stupid 'everything has to look nice' brain, has to paint the Zac Efron Chicken Palace, in the rain.

Then your Chickens roll in the paint and brush up against the wood so that they're no longer glossy and pretty, instead they look like extras from a Panasonic HD TV advert.

(pics to follow)

So, if you want a really SUPER easy way to get eggs, follow our lead...

...Derpcat doesn't like the noises they make either.

MIA!

Oh my goodness, life has been non-stop recently, I can't believe how tired I am!

I've been a bit sparse on the old blogging recently because I've been visiting relatives, then, upon coming home, I've just been caught in a spiral of projects and routine-setting!

I just thought I would drop in quickly and tell you what will be coming up on the blog soon...

Terrariums!

These were so cheap and fun to make! 

D.I.Y Chalkboards!

Chalkboard paint is all the rage at the moment, and I jumped on the bandwagon!

Organise your life!

Raising a 5-month-old and keeping a home is more difficult and time-consuming than you think, it's often 11:30 before I'm able to crawl into bed, so I've had to get my life organised! 

So can you!

Like I mentioned earlier, I recently visited family down south and flew, by myself, for the first time with this chirpy bird!

I'll be blogging about the journey and my stay at home, along with tips for traveling with babies!

I've been such a Foodie at the moment!

I think I've got about 5 recipe posts lined up, all Vegetarian of course.

These posts WILL be coming soon, Nahla's down to one nap a day which has left me no time for blogging, but I'm determined to figure it out!

Lazy Baking

I am not, and never will be, a good baker.

I am not a domestic goddess who can whip up cakes and biscuits and muffins that look like they belong in a shop, I'm a good cooker of meals, but not sweet treats!

If I ever get a sudden crazy urge (and the time) to make cakes I usually reach for the old packaged pre-made stuff... you're always guaranteed a good, moist, sponge and pronto!

Betty Crocker is always a reliable old gal to go for, simply follow her instructions of

'add water, oil and eggs'

and you've got yourself some cakes.

 Decorating, however, takes longer... especially if you eat half of your decorations whilst waiting for the sponge mix to cook and cool.

This is what you will need!

I went for an Easter-style theme, lots of brightly coloured eggs and lovely spring wafer Daisies give the cakes a very seasonal look!

I love the new design for Betty Crocker's packaging! It looks so much better than the plain red they were sporting before. I think they're embracing the retro throw-back sort of look, which goes well with my kitchen, so no complaints from me there...

After following what Betty says to do in her instructions (I'm not going to tell you how to read instructions) you're left with a beautiful, spongey cupcake that is as light as air!

The next, and more fun part, is to decorate them! 

Decorating them took FOREVER.

I think I'll only make one type of cake rather than two next time, decorating that many became boring and monotonous after the first four cakes.

I did see quite a lot of my Husband at this point though, who 'helped' by eating half of the Popping Candy.

After roughly about THREE HOURS from start to finish I've concluded that I neither have the time, nor the patience for baking.

Yes, the cakes came out lovely, and I shall enjoy putting on the 5lbs from eating them all, but I much prefer cooking dinners, where measurements are not certain and you can throw caution to the wind.

I shall leave the fancy cakes to the professionals and part with my money that way instead!

Love, 

Laura xxx

Mother's Day

This is Nahla.

(Otherwise known as: Pops, Nahla-Banana, Nahla-Bee, Nahla-Bug, 'Dingus', Wet-Pants & Pinga)

 Nahla has just entered her fourth month of being a little Human and I've just realised that I've hardly blogged about her at all!

Where to begin??

Nahla's birth was pretty pants, but she is AWESOME. I've never been a very gushy/sappy/sentimental person but this girl just brings out all of those emotions in me!

I'm fascinated by how much she changes every week, it seemed like only yesterday that we were so careful and ginger whilst holding her and now she's trying to jump up and down on my tummy and is almost sitting up by herself.

She has the most beautiful big eyes, soft mousey hair and this gorgeous unique smell that I inhale like I'm desperate for oxygen!

I put so many pictures of her all over the place, and talk about her constantly, it must drive people insane but I don't care! This girl is my absolute world. At first I was worried that I would be too selfish to take care of a baby, too independent and headstrong; but as soon as I saw her I was overwhelmed with the desire to protect and nurture her.

Nahla's laugh is the most hysterical thing I've ever heard and her smile is infectious, she loves smiling at people and is ridiculously chatty for her age, I'm told.

She does something new everyday so it's never a dull moment!

This man has done so much for me over the past few months; everything from holding me up in the shower after my cesarean, injecting me in the stomach to stop blood clots, feeding Nahla at 2am whilst having me wail into his shoulder at the same time. I owe him so much, yet continue to bark and shout at him whilst simultaneously purring and cooing at him ... thus is marriage after the birth of your first child!
 
Nahla and Pops are two peas in a pod when it comes to wanting to sleep in in the mornings, both of them are so lazy! I'll often be up and about long before they even start rubbing their eyes sleepily.

She smiles and laughs at Simon more than me, just the sight of him reduces her to fits of giggles and huge beaming grins... it must be something to do with his face, I tend to laugh at it from time to time too!

I find it so strange to see my husband holding a baby, it used to be pints of beer that he cradled but now he seems full of this new found wisdom. He picks up on her cries and knows what they mean, he can make her smile whilst she's in the middle of a tiredness-induced tantrum and makes her laugh by a mere flick of an eyebrow.

He tells her he loves her, and has affectionately nicknamed her 'Dingus' a name that I find quite endearing and that I know will be used to embarrass her on her wedding day!

To me, there is nothing more attractive than a man who dotes on his daughter, who reads her bedtime stories and bites her toes, puts her to bed and kisses her cheeks.

 I have changed so much since having her!

Naievely, I thought I would sail through this motherhood-business but it has been no easy ride. A traumatic birth, a difficult healing process and the onset of PND has seen me feel the most helpless and sad that I have ever felt in my life.

Simultaneously, my heart feels like it's going to burst with happiness!

Nahla is my daughter, my teeny little munchkin who nuzzles into me, who blows bubbles on my cheek, dribbles on all my clothes, pulls my hair and stamps her feet, and shares baths with me, being around her can snap from stressful to utter bliss in a few seconds.

Being a Mama is EXCITING.

I look at her and often think of what sort of woman she will turn into, I hope to nurture her into a strong, kind, driven Girl who has aspirations, intelligence and can hold her own.

As a Feminist, I want her to recognise and defend her rights as a woman and a person, I never want her to feel that there's something she can't do simply because of her sex.

As her Mama, I want her to succeed in life, for her to have a good job, a family of her own, an exciting hobby... these things are fine, but just knowing that she's happy would be satisfying enough.

I am loving her at this cuddly, teeny-weeny, adorably chubby stage, but also can't wait for the next milestones; talking, crawling, eating real food, walking etc, it all seems so exciting but happens so quickly!

In conclusion: Motherhood is a job and a half, but completely rewarding, especially when little girls like Nahla are involved!

Love,

Laura xxx

Accidental Discovery!

So this is actually a post about laziness and accidents.

I firstly wanted to make mini-quiches... but couldn't be bothered to make pastry.

So I then decided to make 'No-Pastry-Quiches' and try to fob it off as being healthy and calorie-conscious rather than me being a LAZYBONES.

Then they actually turned into delicious fluffy souffles. All's well that end well I suppose, but here's how I achieved it, without the all the cheating and failing it took to get there!

I'm getting quite good at using up my leftovers, you could chuck anything into this mix as long as it contained eggs. I had Mozzarella, Tomatoes and Pesto leftover from dinner with a friend the night before, and the two eggs from the night before that, so everything pretty much needed using up fast!

Firstly, I beat two eggs into a bowl, added salt and pepper then chopped my chives and tomatoes into the gloopy mix. So simple, so quick. Two minutes = Done!

Next, I grated the leftover Mozzarella into the mix, which was surprisingly difficult, I would have saved more time and washing up if I'd just torn it into little strips with my hand. 

Good to know for next time though!

Once your ingredients are all combined, grease your little individual pots with butter, or margarine and fill with the mixture.

Bake in a tray, in an oven pre-heated at 200 degrees for (roughly) 20mins.

I don't know why I was so surprised to see that these had risen to such a great height (the photo doesn't do them justice) and why, for all of the yolk they contained, they had ended up so fluffy and light... but I wasn't going to complain!

Not a gourmet-looking souffle but a damn tasty and simple supper that kept me full for ages! I struggled to finish one.

(I managed to eat the second one in the morning though!)

Light but filling, delicious with any ingredients plonked in it and only half an hour to make and cook; this is such a lovely supper, especially with salad, chips and a dollop of coleslaw!

Enjoy!

Love,

Laura xxx

What I've been up to...

February has had it's ups and downs but it's been mainly good times! I've really enjoyed blogging this month and finally have an idea of what I want to do with the blog and where I want it to go. I've changed it around so much in regards to it's style and layout, hopefully I'll be happy with it's design this time!

This month has also been a month for 1st's, I'm managing to fit back into my old clothes and I'm starting to feel well enough to venture out for the odd drinky-poo with my friends/colleagues.

I'm also experimenting more with homemade food and have started to make all of my sauces from scratch... most of it is trial and error but it tastes good!

Nahla is growing like a Runner-Bean and continues to surprise us and make us smile, she loves interacting with people and is so cuddly!

Valentine's Day was a big success, I've also started to put together outfit ideas for my Uncle's Wedding in May.

February really is the month of love!

Love,

Laura xxx

Pudding!

Whether through choice or through allergies, dairy-free and egg-free puddings can still be delicious! This is one of my favorite quick and easy puddings that uses up a lot of leftovers.

Rich, sweet, soft and crunchy at the same time, this is such a homely and comforting dish for this time of year.

(For those of you who read my 'Veggie Pie' recipe, you'll know that I'm not big on measurements and specific instructions, so it's all done by eye and taste!)

The ingredients are either readily available in most people's cupboards or can easily be attained, the bread pictured here was stale but not quite off and the strawberries were beginning to soften. A great way to use up old fruit!

I didn't have enough almond milk to soak my bread in so I added in some soya cream... oh my goodness, I don't know why I didn't do that sooner!

Butter both sides of your bread, cut in half and arrange so that the fill an oven-proof dish (grease the sides so the edges don't burn or stick). Sprinkle through some raisins or currants and squish down.

Half-fill a bowl with Almond milk, Soya cream, some Strawberries and a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar and whisk together... this mixture tastes like heaven!

Pour the mixture over the bread and squidge (real word) it all together so the bread soaks up all of the milk, it should be lightly swimming in a sweet almondy bath.

Sprinkle a handful of the brown sugar over the top to form a sweet crust then pop into an oven (about 190 degrees C) for 10-20 minutes, until the edges are golden.

This is the easiest and cheapest pudding and so delicious! It's also delicious cold, but better hot and steamy!

The strawberries are a sneaky reminder that Summer is only a few months away and that the cold nights will soon end, so enjoy hot comforting meals when you can!

Love,

Laura xxx

Mmmm Pie!

It may not be the fanciest looking thing in the world but I love this recipe! My Mama made this pie for me when she stayed at mine to help with my new baby, so the pie embodies everything that is homely and loving in my life, so I thought I would share this SUPER simple and cheap recipe.

It feeds four people... or my Husband in one sitting. 

(Disclaimer: There is no actual recipe for this pie, so there are no measurements or any accuracies like that, it's all done by eye, but it's really easy!)

As well as what is written in the picture above, you will need; Some sort of milky drink (I use Almond milk) and butter for the white sauce, salt and pepper, a vegetable stock cube, garlic oil and ready-roll puff pastry.

Chop up your veggies and extras!

Fry off your onions, mushrooms and extras in a heavy-based pan until they're lovely and brown, then remove from the pan and fill it with boiling water from the kettle (saves time!)

Boil all of your veg in one happy little veggie-Jacuzzi and leave to simmer until the contents are nice and soft.

(Excuse the state of the milk pan, apparently 'dishwasher-safe' does not mean 'dishwasher-safe' these days.)

Next, make a Rue. Add a couple of tablespoons of butter into a pan and melt, then add a few tablespoons of flour and mix until it forms a sort of tacky plasticine. This is when you add your milk, little by little, until the butter and flour has dissolved to make a deliciously creamy thick sauce. Add your stock cube to the sauce and stir in.

Mix your sauce and veggies together then transfer into an oven-proof dish, roll your ready-made puff pastry onto the top of the dish and put into a moderately hot oven (190 degrees) for 20-30 minutes!

Like I said before, it's not gourmet and you won't be seeing me on Masterchef in this lifetime but it's delicious and comforting and so so SO simple and quick to make.

Enjoy!

Love, 

Laura xxx

My House...

Welcome to my little pink kitchen. I love it and everything that lives in it; from the hand-made hanging hearts to our washing machine that sings when it's finished!

These are a few of my favourite nooks and crannies of my kitchen...

(I suppose this would be the bar!)

Every Kitchen should have a Cat!

Love, Laura

xxx