Just a little note:
I'm in the process of responding to comments. I have been remiss and let my blog slide, especially my responses to all your comments, thank you for being so graciously patient, it may take a while but i'm working on getting back to you all.I recently made some Marmalade.
Below you can see it when it had been potted/bottled….don’t you agree that the lids look pretty? When i purchased them i didn’t really think about getting any matching labels to go on the jars.
But of course, when the lids were delivered, I regretted not having done so.
Well, there I was t’other day, looking at my jars of Marmalade all sitting pretty and I was feeling a twinge of regret about the labels and then i hit upon the idea of making my own. I’d already made gingham check craft papers last year, so there surely wouldn’t be much tweaking to be done to make my own very own matching labels?
Happily, I found it really easy to do. I started making preserving labels in red and white check and in blue and white check, but before too long I’d made yellow and white check and green and white check and also lots of vintage style preserving labels too. Here are what the labels looked like when i printed them off…
…and here is what my labels looked like when I stuck them on the preserving jars. I think my labels compliment the lids quite well and look quite good, even if i do say so myself.
Now, the beauty of these labels is that they only cost a piece of A4 and the ink to go on it. They can be printed directly on to adhesive A4 sheets or alternatively, cut out and stuck on to the jars with sellotape or glue…i am using sellotape as it comes off really easily in some hot soapy water and it also happens to be inexpensive. I’m not a cheapskate, i’m just frugal.
The best bit about these labels?
Oh yeah…I’m making them available for free download to anyone who wants to use them for their own personal use (the labels are not to be sold).
I am going to be putting up a link at the top of the page (some day soon) entitled ‘free preserving labels’ or somesuch, and then all my jam/chutney preserve labels can be accessed just like my scrapbook papers and prayer cards, and downloaded totally free.
Enjoy!
p.s. just in case you enlarged the pic of my preserves….I am teetotal but cadged a wee dram of my Dad’s whiskey for this recipe, as it goes really well in this marmalade and there is no alcohol content when it has been cooked off, so to speak.
These are long overdue.
Here are the newly created prayer cards for the Holy Father’s Prayer Intentions for January and February (I know we are in February but I thought some people might still like the January ones also). Click either of the images below to go to my freebie prayer card page where you can download and print off these prayer card sheets for free. Please feel free to distribute them amongst friends and family and in parish groups (in parish groups, with the permission of the parish priest please). Apologies for my abismal time keeping.
Will try to do better next time.
It’s not about the stats.
But i did say i would post about stats again only when the blogs stats reached the following figure, hence this post.
I don’t know if you can make out the smallprint on the table below, but you may be able to enlarge the image by clicking on it. I just want to say ‘many thanks’ to those of you who visit Ukok’s Place. I hope you enjoy your visits here.
I’m very fortunate and your visits are very much appreciated. I hope you get something out of being here every once in a while.
Thank you!
I should have my knuckles rapped with a wooden ruler for neglecting the blog for a month. I hadn’t intended to go AWOL, truly I hadn’t. Life got in the way. As it does for all us bloggers from time to time. For the time being, in fact, for an indefinate period, I am going to try to not blog personal posts. Not only because I am feeling some sensitivity about my personal life, but because I really don’t want to dwell on certain aspects of said personal life, any more than is necessary.
My diversionary coping strategy…in other words, how to avoid coping with pain and loss by not thinking about it (as far as one s able to)….has seen me spending much of this month researching self-sufficiency topics and how i might implement self-sufficiency ways and means in my own life. In large part this is because of necessity ie; our ever diminishing financial situation, but a sizeable part of my interest is just about my enjoyment in making things myself rather than buying something made by someone else.
To that end, a couple of things of the top of my head, that i have ventured into…
- I am teaching myself to make both cold processed soap and hot processed soap. I have made bars of each and hope to do posts on both methods. Eventually I would like to go on to making my own shampoos and conditioners etc. I will write more about my soapy adventures as i develop skills in those areas. Right now skills = a little above zero. But hopefully that will improve.
- I received 2 rather brilliant presents for Christmas. 1) A pressure canner. 2) A dehydrator. I have been having a wonderful time using both products, the latter more so at present. I am thrilled to bits.
- I am teaching myself to crochet and I am really enjoying it. I can’t knit a stitch but i can just about handle what to do with a single crochet hook. Goodness knows what i am making….i think it will be a blanket eventually. I’m just about half way through my 3rd crochet square. I can’t do owt fancy and the tension is all wrong i’m sure, but i’m enjoying it and i think that is all that matters.
- I’m intending to use my patio to grow veggies this year and will document the process on the blog. Hopefully i will grow enough veg so that i can ‘can’ some veggies using my pressure canner.
Just before i sign off, I just want to say a huge “!!!thanks!!!” to those of you who have emailed, commented etc. I understand my abscence may have caused some concern. To be honest, not wanting to get into things here, but things have been really tough. What’s new eh? Anyway. I’ll be back soon with another post, i hope, so until then, big hugs x
Hi folks. Hope you all had lovely Christmas. I pray for you all a healthful and peaceful 2010.
A bit about our Christmas.
Though things were very different (and at times, very difficult) for us as a family, we did manage to enjoy our Christmas very much. As you probably gather from the wording in the previous sentence, Wonderboy remains separated from us….emotionally as well as physically, and certainly spiritually.
It grieves me, and I am numb with it all.
But this is how it is now.
Wonderboy has made it perfectly clear to me that he will choose his father every time and and in every way….even though he doesn;t have to choose to be civil, respectful and loving to only one of his parents…he continues to weary me by lashing out verbally, playing mind games, being uneccessarily difficult. And all the while i try to hold on, to maintain contact with the son i love, but no longer recognise.
He feels lost to me.
But still.
My parents and my daughter and I had a truly lovely time. We have one another, we support one another. We encourage one another.
I couldn’t ask for more.
I have posts i want to post, want to write, but just not yet. My head is in a bit of a strange place and i find it difficult to concentrate for very long. But the time will come, I hope, when more frequent blogging will resume. My heart just isn’t in it at the moment. I feel such a whiny-ass writing posts like this and i’m sure you are all sick to death of hearing my sob stories by now….for this i apologise.
Much love to you
x
p.s. a special shout -out in thanksgiving for Sarah O for sending me my first ever Christmas card from Hawaii (yes there were enough stamps on the envelope darling girl!)….also to Mary Lou for caring so much about me as to enquire often about my wellbeing, and to Shell, for being a dear kind hearted friend. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me and mine,and to family and friends who know me personally who have sent cards, emails, gifts, sent up prayers, provided generous hospitality and conversation etc….I LOVE YOU ALL!
p.p.s i hate naming individuals in my posts usually because I greatly fear causing offence by omitting to mention other people, please forgive me if this is so. It is not that you are not all important to me.
God Bless you
This year I decided to make you, my dear friends, a virtual Christmas card rather than sending Christmas cards abroad throughout the world. Partly this was for financial reasons and partly because I decided to make a small contribution to charity instead.
I created the card below on a bit of a whim and i’m surprised it worked out as well as it did. Please forgive the inferior photo quality, I recently sold my Nikon camera to pay some bills and i only have my old camera now. Hopefully you will still be able to enjoy this Bubblegum for the Brain picture I made for you.
Many, many thanks to all who continue to hold me and mine in your prayers, there have been some very dark days recently and your prayers and words of comfort and encouragement surely help me and mine, more than you or I will know on this side of Heaven.
Bubblegum for the Brain - copyright of ukok
May you all have a most wonderfully blessed Christmas and a peaceful and healthful 2010. Thank you so much for your continued friendship over the past year, and in fact for the 5.5 years I have been blogging thus far.
If you could, of your charity, please spare a prayer for the following intentions which have been left on the Prayer Page of my blog. There are many hurting people who are not so fortunate as we are.
I do so love you all.
Stella writes….
“hi please pray to our heavenly father 1.for my husband’s buisness for financial miracle 2.for our immigration to cannada 3for my 4 kids sarah,sherril ,joshua and joel good health long life 3 my married life that must have love,care, affection,trust.respect and understanding”
Carmen writes…
“Please pray that God hear my prayers and we can sell the house and don’t go into foreclousure. Please pray for my marriage to be bless with love, comunication, friendship, hapiness and joy. Please pray that we can make the right choice in moving to Israel or staying in the US…”
Suzanne writes…
“Please pray for my 19 year old son Jacob. He is making some poor choices lately. I know he has some old wounds from the divorce of his father and me when he was 8. Also, when he was a baby, I was not going to church and never had him baptized.
Your prayers are greatly appreciated!”
Maria Teresa writes…
“Thank you for this site, I want you to pray for me in my job, that my position will stay as is and they would not move me and guide me and my family”
Donna writes…
“My husband and I have lost our home. We will have to move soon. We have been looking for a place and found a condominium that we can afford. Please pray my husband and I will be able to get the condominium we are interested in.”
CM writes…
“Prayer need: My formerly very devoutly Catholic teen daughter has just informed me that she is an atheist. We are heartbroken.”
Donna writes…
“Holy Mother of God, I’m lost. Please pray for Rob to come back to me. I know he has free will, and if he truly wants to come back, he will. I pray for intercession from you to Jesus Christ, to go to Rob and enter his heart and implore him to give me another chance. I pray every day, with faith. I don’t know what else I can do but place my faith in God to help. Help me, I am so sad. My life has changed since he left. I ask this most humbly through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen”
Pauline Writes…
“I have lost my current job, my last day is mid November. Please pray for me that I get a good suitable job near my house, good manager and environment very soon. Thank you and Good Bless”
Antoinette writes…
“Please pray for my son Andrew, he is suffering from deprssion and has a back problem that has prevented him from ever working again,he has made some bad choices he has a baby boy who is not yet baptised. I pray for him everyday, I know that God will answer my prayer one day. Also my older son Martin would like to find a good catholic girl. I thank you and may God bless you always.
Antoinette”
Donna writes…
“Please dear Lord, let me get this grief out of my life. I need to heal. I am so screwed up. I pray every day and cry every night. The pain wont go away. Please help. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
Leslie writes…
“Please pray for my brother who has a drinking problem. tks Leslie”
Eero writes…
“I need plenty more belief, plenty more power of prayer and more Holy Ghost with me. Please pray also that God gives me gifts of God’s grade.”
Sheila writes…
“Please pray for my marriage. My husband is going through a bad depression and it is effecting his faith and our marriage. Please pray that we can get through this and be married for the rest of our lives. I am crying a lot so please pray that I can recieve strength and my husband will come back to me. Also that my husband is more active in praying with me. Thank you. God Bless all who read this!”
Johnjoe writes…
“Please pray that we might all use the amazing educational resources we have – the internet, libraries, the school system, etc – to educate ourselves and get properly involved in the running of our country. I like Mr Obama….but I am a Republican….I can’t believe we let Bush Jnr get ourselves into Afghanistan and Iraq….what were we thinking….how many US and ROW solidiers have died….what about the civilians…..they aren’t combat people…how do they face that on a day to day basis….while we wake up to cheerios and fresh milk. Let us get the UN in…..we will support them with fire power……we just shouldn’t be leading this stuff…..the only reason for ourselves and the UK to be so front of shop is if we were trying to spyphon off the monies for ourselves….and that is not what we want to do….so let us support UN co-ordination of this war.”
Donna writes…
“Please, remember me in your prayers. Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I am a very sorry for anything and everything I have ever done or said to ruin my relationships. Forgive my sins. I am ashamed of myself. Stay with me and help me to accept life as it is now. I am alone, which is dearly not what I wanted. I lied yesterday. I told my ex-love yesterday I don’t want him to contact me anymore, but I didn’t mean it. I want him to get away from that young girl he is living with and come back to me. Please don’t let him marry her. I am asking this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen”
Joanna writes…
“I am going to pray for you because you have a beautiful blog site. I am Catholic too, but I don’t often see someone proclaim that openly on their website. And I’ll join in and pray for your other readers who have left a prayer request. Pray for me too, please. I need to find work. Thank you and God Bless”
Donna writes…
“I pray that Robert Paul comes back to me and we put the past and all past hurts behind us and go forward anew. I want to spend the rest of my life with him, I love him so much. Let him be as open and honest with me as I am with him. Please, please fulfill the promises given, I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
Dennis writes…
“Please Pray that my wife Marina Will come home before Xmas 2009. Please Pray that she will change her mind and not ask to divoce or spreate but united with me forgeting all misunderstanding and what people has said lies about me. May her heart grow in Love for Jesus and Love in Me.”
Varunika writes…
“my brother PRASANNA HETTIGE (49 years ) , is having brain cancer. he is now on the ventilator . please pray that GOD’S will be done in his life”.
Kaca writes…
“Can you, please, fervently pray
For URGENT DIVINE INTERVENTION FOR COMPLETE RECONCILIATION with my loved one SHULE
That SHULE DOES NOT GET INVOLVED INTO ANY NEW RELATIONSHIP, but THAT WE START AGAIN, SPEND CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR TOGETHER and officially get married!
Thank you very much. God bless you. I pray for you. Praise the Lord for He hear prayers and answer on it.
WISH YOU A BLESSED CHRISTMAS!
Kaca from Belgrade in Serbia”
I’m no domestic goddess but I certainly feel like the culinary queen of my own little kitchen when I follow a recipe and it actually works without my messing it up! I was thrilled, yes, thrilled i tell you, when I achieved success using Delia’s recipe for Christmas Chutney/Dried Fruit Chutney.
This chutney can, of course, be eaten throughout the year, but because of the high quantity of dried fruits it contains, it makes an excellent rich Christmas chutney with some cold meats and cheese and home made/crusty bread. This chutney is so good that it makes a wonderful home-made gift too..especially if you dress it up with a nice little jar top of material and bows etc.
At this time of year there are lots of sales and offers on dried fruits in supermarkets and in health stores, so take advantage of them before the prices hike up again, stock up now and then make this delicious chutney throughout the year whenever the whim takes you.
Ingredients (this makes a 1 litre jar – i tripled the quantity to make more to be given as gifts)
- 10 oz (275 g) ready-to-eat dried apricots
- 12 oz (350 g) pitted ready-to-eat prunes
- 10 oz (275 g) pitted dates
- 1 lb (450 g) onions, peeled
- 1 pint (570 ml) cider vinegar
- 2 oz (50 g) sea salt
- 1 level dessertspoon grated fresh root ginger or 1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 oz (75 g) allspice berries
- 1 lb (450 g) demerara sugar
Method
” The dried fruits and the onions need to be chopped very small, and this can be done in a food processor, or with an old-fashioned mincer, or else with a sharp knife and lots of patience!
When they’re all dealt with, put the vinegar in a large saucepan with the salt and the ginger, then tie the allspice berries up in a small piece of muslin, or gauze, very securely so they can’t escape and add these to the pan. Bring everything up to the boil, then stir in the chopped dried fruits and onions together with thesugar.
Leave it all to simmer very gently without a lid for about 1½ hours, or until the chutney has thickened. Stir it from time to time during the cooking period. When it’s ready, you will be able to draw a spoon across the surface of the chutney and make a trail that doesn’t immediately fill up with surplus vinegar.
In the meantime, the jar should be washed thoroughly in warm soapywater, rinsed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Spoon the cooked chutney into the warmed jar, seal well with waxed discs and tight lids, and label as soon as it’s cold.
Keep this chutney for 1 month to mature before eating”
I know the recipe says leave for one month, but we ate some with cheese and crusty bread the same day and it was delicious, so don’t be put off by that. You still have time to make some for Christmas.
Enjoy!
Tis (almost) the season to be jolly…ho ho OOOOOOOOOOOO.
Anyway, you know i like to cook?
You do know that by now don’t you?
Well I have got in to preserving (and persevering!) in a BIG way in the last couple of months.
I’m going to post about my most recent culinary endeavour first as it is highly seasonal and the couple of weeks till Christmas will really help the flavours of this recipe to develop as it matures in a sealed jar, ready to be served on Christmas Day along with the turkey and trimmings…or whatever traditional type foods you choose to eat. Alternatively this can be served with cold meat, cheese and fresh bread.
So, have you guessed yet what I’ve been cooking today?
Yes?
That’s right, it’s…..
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- The juice of 4 small oranges
- The rind of one of those oranges
- 500 grams fresh cranberries (they are £1.50 for 250 grams at Morrisons at the moment)
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 350 grams granulated sugar
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- a pinch of nutmeg
makes one and a half pounds/two pounds of cranberry sauce.
Method
- Sterilise a couple of 1 lb jars and their lids.
- Bung all the ingredients in a saucepan, warm it through and then when the sugar dissolves bring the mixture to the boil. When mixture is boiling, turn the heat down low, cover the pan and cook for 45 minutes or thereabouts, stirring every now and then to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and to make sure that the ingredients are distributed evenly.
- Allow to cool slightly and to thicken on its own for ten minutes.
- Pour into jars.
- Place a waxed disc on top of the sauce.
- Screw on a screw-top lid.
- Label.
- Leave alone for a couple of weeks if you can, but alternatively it may be eaten once cooked.
Yum.
Rightio ho ho. I’m off to have another taste of the sauce i just made…
p.s. I’ve been making Christmas chutney and also apricot jam so i’ll be posting those recipes soon – they make ideal home made Christmas gifts and they work out pretty economical/frugal too!
…i doubt it.
Having returned once more to blogging this very day, I have discovered that during my cyber absence, some people chose to bump me off their blogrolls/google readers etc.
Had i not such thick skin (actually i’m pretty thick everywhere but we won’t go into that!) I may have been hurt, but I have more weighty matters to grapple with in my life than whether I bored, offfended or annoyed this or that person who visits the blog.
So, sorry if this seems a tad reactionary but…TOUGH CRAP if you don’t like that i didn’t blog for a couple of weeks. Boo bloody hoo.
Disclaimer>>>I don’t say this to regular, long time readers who actually give a damn about me and mine!!!
Sometimes life is hard to be lived and can only be existed or ‘got through’….these past few months and especially recent weeks have been confusing and distressing and I haven’t wanted to blog morose posts but nor have i been in the mood for chatty, lighthearted posts either, so i felt it best to stay away.
To those who continued to leave comments, both here and on my private page, and to those who emailed me or contacted me via Facebook to leave messages of support and concern, may God reward your kindness to me.
I’m going to make the herculean effort to post more regularly henceforth(and not because my readers are dwindling – the site stats remain the same – it’s just time for me to blog again, that’s all). I have things to blog, I’ve just not wanted to blog again, until now. Hope all is well in your world. Thank you for your prayers.
As mentioned in the previous post, Wondergirl turned 18 years old yesterday. To celebrate, Mum and Dad paid for us to go to London for a day trip on the Saturday before her birthday. We got up really early on Saturday morning, caught the train to London and spent the whole day there, not getting home till about 11pm that night. We crammed loads in as we didn’t want to waste the opportunity….when we first got to Euston we went to get the tube to Waterloo so we could go on the London Eye. It was a really enjoyable experience going on the Eye…before we went on it we had to go through a 4D experience, hence the picture in one of the videos, featuring Mum and Wondergirl wearing massive black 4D specs!
It was a drizzly day and quite foggy so the views were not the greatest, but we still got to see quite a lot as we ‘flew’ in one of the pods on the London Eye. After that i think we made our way to Knightsbridge as we wanted to visit Harrods. Mum bought us lunch in Harrods and also bought a gift for all three of us from Harrods too. Let me tell you luvvies, you all know i’m a bit of a foodie right? Well, Harrods food halls are incredible, packed full with gastronomic delights.
Talk about a pleasurable shopping experience….as we rode up the escalator a lady with the most beautiful operatic voice sang to us from a balcony.
On one of the floors there was a memorial to Princess Di and Dodi Al Fayed….may they rest in peace… (his Father is the owner of Harrods) to raise funds for charity, i took some pictures which you should be able to see in one of the vids below. I took a really naff camera with me as i didn’t want to carry my Nikon around the tube and on trains and we didn’t go to take photos anyway, though they are a happy byproduct of our visit. So they aren’t that good but i think they give an idea of the kind of day we had.
After we had been to Harrods i think we then made our way to the tube again (we went on so many i lost count!) to go to South Kensington to visit a shop we had heard about that Mum had wanted to visit for quite some time, then afterwards we got a bit lost while we tried to make our way on foot to the Natural History Museum. LOL! We found it eventually though.
There were so many museums in the area that we would have liked to visit, galleries too….but there just wasn’t time because the last train home was quite early on in the evening. After the museum we went back to the tube to make our way to St. James Park…we had a right long walk to Buckingham Palace, trying to get there before it was dark…and would you believe the cheek of it….Her Majesty didn’t invite us in for a cuppa when we got there!
Afterwards we asked a policewoman for directions to Westminster Cathedral as it was dark and we didn’t want to get lost….we also wanted to get there for the 6pm Mass…well she directed us to St. Paul’s Cathedral instead so we did indeed get lost and ended up in a street where there were some dodgy goings on….
However, eventually, and with only minutes to spare, we did find Westminster Cathedral and were able to make it in time for the Saturday Vigil Mass (for Sunday). So pleased we made it, though if i am honest, i was not as overwhelmed by the appearance of the Cathedral as i had thought i might be.
Afterwards we had no time to waste as we had to get another couple of tubes back to the train station…then after rushing to get there in time to catch the last train, there was a delay leaving due to someone having a fight on the train. Fortunately it wasn’t in our carriage and we didn’t witness any trouble ourselves…though we did encounter quite a few ‘travellers’ and homeless people in London, in Westminster particulalry. God Bless them, please pray for the homeless.
The day after London, I drove Wondergirl and her friend to Alton Towers for a Halloween Fright Night….then on Monday (Wondergirl’s 18th) Mum and Dad took us all out for a meal, so it has been quite an elongated 18th Birthday for Wondergirl…still, you’re only 18 once eh?
And she is so worth it!!! Thanks for your Birthday wishes for my daughter, your kindness is appreciated!
Hope you enjoy the videos below.
Video of Westminster- taken from the London Eye
Video of Squirrels Playing in St. James’ Park
Wondergirl’s Tube Station Footage
Video made up of our London Day Trip Photos
I am now the proud mother of an adult daughter…because Wondergirl turned 18 (Monday) today!
To celebrate, my parents paid for us to travel to London for a day trip – in the next post i will include the pictures from our London trip and try to upload a couple of short videos we took while there ..but for now, here is a pic of my daughter raising her glass as we toast her coming of age!
Happy Birthday my darling girl!
p.s. just where does she put all that dinner! LOL!!!
I’ve been experiencing the extreme version of life’s big dipper ride of late…it seems that I get stuck on the ‘lows’ rather too frequently for comfort and the highs are far too fleeting for me to grasp on to for any length of time.
In other words…. life has sucked big time lately.
I can’t seem to move on from this horrible feeling of being oppressed by circumstances that are utterly beyond my control to do anything about, and because these feelings relate to matters that are deeply personal, they hurt more than can be imagined.
Try as i might to get on with life, life can not be got on with when ones family has been so abruptly torn apart, when rejection has been so absolute, when love is not reciprocated.
So i do the menial stuff of life, not that the ’stuff’ is menial in itself, but because of the imposing nature of my sorrow, the stuff of life seems but small and insignificant to be getting on with…and yet in their own way, the necessary tasks and responsibilities of life to be gotten on with, are getting me through each day.
Spiritually, i feel as though i am at my lowest ebb.
I do believe. God knows i believe…. but I see and hear no responses to my prayers and at times i find it frustrating and it angers me that my prayers seem to fall on deaf ears.
The garden of my faith, long sewn and grown, though now perhaps not tended so well – the fault, my own – still has me believing that there is a God, a God who cares, who weeps with me…..a God who tells me that free will is given to all and that this thing may not be resolved, not because God doesn’t will it, but because as individuals, we must choose to love.
And that love can not be forced but freely given.
For me, in my anguish, this is not good enough. Airy fairy ‘let it be’ is not an option.
And so it goes…out of the depths I cry unto the Lord…
Pray and do not be apprehensive about anything;
do not be afraid of trouble or misfortune,
for prayer will protect you and sustain you
in all circumstances~ St. John Chrysostom, 4th century
For this cooking extravaganza i’m using my mum’s pizza scone base recipe.
The name could sound a bit off-putting but it doesn’t taste at all like scones, the omission being the eggs and sugar and dried fruits which are replaced in the recipe by grated/shredded cheese and dried herbs. I recommend this as a quick and filling meal or snack. It’s super easy to make and bake…. and eat too! LOL!
Since Wondergirl is a vegetarian i left the chorizo off a third of the pizza (as you can see in the pic below).
Ingredients
- 12 oz self raising flour
- 4 0z margarine
- salt and pepper to season, as preferred
- Dried herbs
- 200 grams of grated/shredded cheese
- 1-tbsp olive oil
- 6 tbsps of tomato puree
- milk to mix to a firm dough (not much is needed)
optional: chilli powder/pepperoni/onions/tomatoes or whatever other pizza topping you want to use.
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees.
- In a bowl, rub the margarine into the flour.
- Add 75 grams of the grated cheese along with the seasoning and mixed herbs.
- Bind together into a firm-ish pastry dough using as little milk as possible.
- Grease your baking tray.
- Put the dough on to the tray.
- Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin, while its on the tray….or do as i do….take the olive oil and rub it gently over the dough to flatten the dough with your hands until it is equally spread out over the whole of the baking tray (I usually then sprinkle about 1/2 a tsp of chilli powder on to the base and rub that in with the oil to give the pizza a little ‘kick’, but you do what you prefer)
- Spread the tomato puree all over the base. I use a pallette knife as it makes this easier.
- Place on top of the pizza, sliced toms, veggies, pepperoni etc as your preferred pizza topping.
- Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and a generous smattering of herbs.
- Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
- Place in the middle of a preheated oven for approx 25 minutes. (keep an eye on it though so it doesn’t get cremated)
Enjoy!!!
