Crafting accessories

I made the above shortly before my trip to Abu Dhabi this Easter. If you're wondering what they are, you're seeing a hair clip, bangle and chain. The hair clip was a flower that I stuck onto a clip and then decorated. the chain consists of book key chains on some sparkly threads tied into a chain. The bangle is a cardboard roll decorated with glittery tape.

Bruschetta : Easy Veg. Breakfast/ Snack/ Appetizer

Italian in origin, this has now become a part of our breakfast menu when we have bread and tomatoes around.

Ingredients:
6-8 finely chopped tomatoes
3 sliced garlic pods*
1 tsp lime juice*
1 onion (optional)
cheese
dash of oil*
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
bread

Method:
1. Mix well - tomatoes, garlic, lime juice, onion, oil, salt and pepper. Let it marinate for about 5 mins.
2. Place cheese on bread, I usually use shredded mozzarella cheese.
3. Sprinkle tomato mixture on cheese.
4. Bake in oven or microwave till the cheese melts. I bake in the microwave for about 5 mins to get crisp bread.

Serves 3

Note:
*I use garlic powder instead of garlic pods
* If you run out of lime juice use a little vinegar instead
* Olive oil is recommended  but any oil will do

Recycled Earring Holder

A travel brochure you no longer need can have other uses too! Such as becoming a earring holder. Stick together a few pages to create thickness. The lazy bones in me decided to use duct tape to stick just the edges together. Stick an extra page to the front and back cover as well. Then start piercing holes with a pointed object. Do this carefully - we don't want any injuries. Your earring book is ready to hold all your earrings now!

Banana-Coconut Surprise

I found the recipe for Banana Nut Loaf in Mum's old microwave book and modified it to make the Banana - Coconut Surprise (for lack of a better name). A great dessert recipe for the health conscious.

Ingredients:
60 gm butter, softened
60 ml milk
1 large egg
125 ml mashed bananas
125 ml shredded molasses
250 ml self-rasing flour (or use maida with a tsp of baking powder in it)
125 ml grated coconut

Topping: Coconut tossed with sugar, with a pinch of cardamom

Method:

1. Mix butter, milk, egg, banana and molasses.
2. Add flour and coconut. Beat well.
3. Pour into greased and floured dish.
4. Sprinkle topping.
5. Bake about 8 mins in the microwave.Serve warm.

Cut n Craft

I put my cookie cutters to good use. They now grace the door to my kitchen. I tied colourful threads to paper clips and hung the cutters using the clips. Thus while being a decorative item, the cutters can also be easily removed for baking purposes.

Yum Chutney

Time for some food posts . .

I found this terrific chutney recipe at http://anuzhealthykitchen.blogspot.in . It truly is yummy and goes well with idlli, dosa, etc. Maybe even chappati?


Coconut-Onion-Tomato Chutney
Ingredients:

1/3 cup desiccated Coconut or fresh coconut
1 Onion chopped
1 Tomato chopped
3 Garlic cloves crushed
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Oil
(Note: You can also season the chutney...but I didn't)

Method:
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1. In a pan add oil, when it's hot enough add the garlic, onions and fry until translucent, then add tomato, turmeric powder and salt and cook until tomatoes cook and soft.
2. Now add the coconut and fry for more 3-4 mins. Off the flame and allow it to cool.
3. In a mixer add the sauteed ingredients and grind it to a paste. You can add little water if you need.

Photo magic

I stay  in a rented appartment and my landlord insists I do not hammer nails. That's how I thought of sticking photographs to decorate the place. I turned to Snapfish who provided free prints for new customers. Being an avid amateur photographer, I had no dearth of pictures to print. Have fun arranging them around. I used double-sided tape to stick them up. These are just some basic ideas. You could always have more elaborate schemes.

Using paper clips, attached pics by sis-in-law onto a rope with a tassle at the end. Used a clothes peg to attach it all to the window sill.

Pics printed in miniature size, attached to back cardboard squares and pasted on the walls.

Animal pictures with a chocolate box hung from the light above it.

Wrote out love quotes on scraps of paper and added those to the display along with some glittery flowers.