Is a change is as good as a rest?

As some people are aware baking is my passion, but I have also been known to make the occasional greetings card and am a great fan of beading – or more specifically making beaded jewellery.  In view of this and my desire to get back to doing more of it, I have been thinking of re-naming the blog ‘7^th Star Emporium’.

Now it’s not, at this stage going to be an ‘emporium’ in the true sense of the word:

Emporium (medieval Latin from Greek emporos = 'merchant') is a term used to denote a store which sells a wide variety of goods as well as a marketplace or trading center in ancient cities such as the agoras found in ancient Greece. 

However, if I can get my act together and you see anything that takes your fancy, I will be more than happy to sell it to you or even custom make something for you, so don’t be shy, please ask.  I may well set up an online ‘emporium’ at some stage, which has always been my plan, so keep checking back if you are interested.

What inspired me to make this change?  I went on a wrapped loop workshop a little while ago with a lovely lady called Carol at the Brentwood Bead Shop.  

It turned out to be a one to one session, which was great as it meant Carol had the time to show and re-show me how to make some lovely wire loops and shapes without disturbing anyone else!  I’m a bit heavy handed you see, so I kept snapping the wire, which was really irritating, but I did get the hang of it in the end.  

We made a bag charm, which I was thrilled with, so I bought some new wire from the shop and will take my new found skill and play with some of the trays and trays of beads that I have in my craft room – hah, get me!!  It’s actually a cabinet in the spare bedroom, which is where I do my crafting, but a girl can dream!

Mandy xx

I want something healthy for breakfast with seeds...

...and no wheat, is what Andy said to me a couple of week ago!

Sadly my hubby isn't the greatest at eating breakfast, but in order to get himself on the right track he's decided that a flapjack and a smoothie would be the way forward, so I went about finding a simple recipe I could knock up each weekend that would give him his daily flapjack, and here's what I found at http://www.healthy-magazine.co.uk/

Makes 8-10, takes 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter or polyunsaturated spread (I used Bertolli Light)

125g runny honey

25g demerara sugar (I leave this out and they taste sweet enough)

250g rolled (porridge) oats

a handful of seeds (I use pumpkin and sunflower seeds)

a handful of chopped ready to eat dried fruit (I use apricots or berries)

 
Method

1. Butter or grease a 20cm (8in) square loose-bottomed baking tin. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/fan 160˚C/gas 4.
2. Put the butter, honey and demerara sugar (if using) in a small pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.
   
   
   

   

   
   
3. Measure the oats into a large mixing bowl (with seeds if using). Pour on the honey mixture and mix together well.
4. Press the oat mixture into the prepared baking tin, levelling the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
   
   

   

   Before baking

   
   

   
   

   
   

    
   

   

   After baking

    
5. Cut through the flapjack while it is still warm to mark out between 8 and 12 fingers or squares. Leave in the tin on a cooling rack until completely cold, then transfer to an airtight tin or container to store.
   
   

   

Andy decided he didn't like them with both fruit and seeds (I did though!) so I alternate, one week seeds one week fruit - I've left him in charge of smoothie making...oh my poor blender!!