Sunday Snippets

Evening Everyone,

Hope you have had a great weekend. Here at Casa Worthington the great leaf clean up has begun. So far the EM has raked up enough leaves to fill 6 black plastic bags using the method advocated by Monty Don on this week's Gardener's World. All being well we should have lots of lovely leaf mould in a year's time :)

And I've squeezed a bit of crafting while himself has been doing the physical stuff ... it's a tad too cold out there for me ... so here's a couple of cards for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 149.

Both cards were made using items from the Festive Flourishes Luxury Card Kit that came free with the current issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. The snippet in the first is the glittery sticky layer on the top half. In the second, everything but the base and the toppers came from the snippet mountain.

I'm also submitting these cards to Hazel's CHNC Extra for November.

I think I now have enough cards in stock, though there's bound to be someone I've forgotten, so I've given myself permission to make anything but cards over the next few weeks. I'll be dedicating my time from now to the first week in December to making as many Christmas presents as I'm able in the time. That doesn't mean you won't be seeing any cards in that time ... I have, in true Blue Peter fashion, a few I made earlier :)

Thanks for dropping in, I hope you have a very merry Monday.

Happy Crafting,

Saturday Supper - Potato, Leek and Cheese Tortilla

Evening Everyone,

Just enjoyed a ghoulish hour or so watching the Halloween Strictly - brilliant! Hope you are having a creeeeepy evening too. No bonfires and fireworks here tonight, the weather is dire - enough rain to dampen any witches spirits :)

It's been quite some time since I posted a recipe so I thought I'd remedy that tonight with one of my favourite ways of cooking eggs.

Potato, Leek & Cheese Tortilla

Ingredients:

• Butter for sauteing 
• 1 small leek or half a large one, sliced thinly and washed
• 225g cooked potatoes, (about 1-2 medium sized) 
• 6 eggs
• 85g cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tsp dried herbs or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs finely chopped
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan
• Saute the leek in the melted butter for about 5 mins until softened
• Cut potatoes in half and into slices about 0.5cm thick
• Beat the eggs, add seasoning to taste, then stir in the cheese and herbs
• Add a little extra butter to the pan if needed here
• Add the potatoes to the leeks, then pour in the egg mixture.
• Turn the heat to low, then cook for 10 mins until almost set
• Place under a hot grill for a couple of mins more until the top is bubbling and golden.

• Slice into wedges and serve with a salad.

 Very tasty!

I did hold back some of the grated cheese to sprinkle on top of the tortilla before popping it under the grill - I love grilled cheese :)

Note: this is a great dish for making leeks palatable for those who are not fond of the noble vegetable.

Hope you give it a try and do let me know what you think if you do.

Happy Eating,

Celebrating 1000 Posts with a Giveaway

Morning to all Followers, Friends and Readers ...

... of this Blog,

This is the one thousandth post I've put up on my blog ... that's 1000 posts! Truly an unbelievable number which I certainly could not envisage when I started out almost 4 years ago, on 28th September 2010. I've no idea how many words that amounts to or even the number of photos published ... whatever, it's a huge amount and  I can't tell you what fun it has been and no doubt will continue to be :)

Many of you have been here almost from the word go so to celebrate this momentous occasion and to thank you for all your visits and comments over the last four years I'm offering a wee giveaway.

It's a gift voucher for £30 from The Craft Barn. I've chosen to give away a gift voucher so that the winner can choose whatever takes their fancy from the huge range of products available at The Craft Barn - there's sure to be something to please most crafters. Edit Note #1: I chose The Craft Barn because they will ship internationally.

However, if the winner is a sewer, knitter, crocheter or gardener and would prefer it, I have an alternative in mind ...

... an Amazon gift voucher. I know from personal experience that there is a very wide variety of sewing, knitting and crocheting items available on Amazon, not to mention a huge selection of books on just about any handicraft and gardening you would care to mention.

So, what do you have to do to win? Simply be a reader of this blog and leave a comment on this post. Hopefully, if I can work out how, I'll make this a sticky post and you have until the end of this month, 31 October to add your comment. I will then collate them all in the old-fashioned but tried and true method of putting them all in a hat and ask the EM to do the honours :) The winner's name will be published as soon as possible after that date.

Many thanks in advance for your participation.

Edited Note #2: Sandy at the Craft Barn has very kindly donated a £10 voucher for me to giveaway, how lovely is that! This means that I will now be making a second draw and the EM will be working overtime :) 

Good Luck!