An Easter bonnet, edible Easter nests and a tour of the Irish landscape

I revealed in my previous post that I have been dreadfully lazy and incapable of lifting my knitting needles and adjoining wool out of their flower print knitting bag residence. However I must retract this statement as I have not been terribly idle at all! I have in fact over the last number of weeks been exceptionally active! With the fantastic help of my 10 soon to be 11 year old niece, we created an Easter bonnet and prepared amazing edible bird nests. Both of which we brought camping with us to Westport in County Mayo for the Easter weekend.  Along with all these ventures I have once again strived to improve my fitness level by hiking and cycling in the west of Ireland! The views are breathtaking and I don’t feel like I am exercising at all. My gluteus maximus muscles say otherwise much to my satisfaction! Below I will take you through how we made the Easter bonnet and bird nests as well as show you some of the spectacular views we encountered on our trip away and activity packed weekends since. As one can observe from this post, this Sunday is a day of rest as I feel it is fully deserved every once in a while. Even if it feels outrageous to still be sitting in ones pyjamas at 3pm in the afternoon.  Shhh...Tell no one...

Easter Nests

Ingredients and materials for the bird nests

 Above I have a photograph of all the ingredients required to make the bird nests. Below is a list of the ingredients and how I prepared the bird nests.

1 pack of Cadbury Mini Eggs

120 g All Bran

225g cooking chocolate

Saucepan of boiling water

Glass bowl

Large plastic bowl

Old egg containers

Mixing spoon

In a bowl I placed the All Bran. Over a saucepan of boiling water I melted the cooking chocolate in the glass bowl. I added the cooking chocolate to the bowl of All Bran and using a wooden spoon mixed the two together. I then spooned the mixture into the egg cartons and topped each nest with two mini eggs. And there you have it, edible Easter bird nests! 

Completed bird nests

We added little chicks for an extra Easter touch

Easter Bonnet

Continuing with our Easter creativity, I have stated the materials we needed to assemble the bonnet along with the photographs below which demonstrate the Easter Bonnet assembly from start to finish! It was a big hit with my niece and she subsequently modelled it for the remainder of the day!

Materials used:

A straw hat

Tacky glue

Ribbon

Feathers

Paper flowers

Fluffy chicks (please refrain from using actual live chickens)

The materials used to assemble the Easter bonnet

Sticking on the feathers with tacky glue

The finished bonnet from the side modelled by my niece

The  Easter Bonnet from the front

And especially for those of you who appreciate the spectacular scenery which exists all around us I have attached some photographs of the beauty of the west of Ireland.

Killary Harbour

near Leenane Co.Galway/Co.Mayo

The beginning of a 10km walk alongside Killary Harbour 

Foher, a village deserted during the famine

Rosroe Quay with Connaught's highest
 mountain Mweelrea in the background.
A grassy boreen leads from here to Foher and it was along this boreen
 that food was brought to the people of Foher during the Famine.

A view of little Killary Harbour from a mountain valley
 which divides the two harbours.

A view of Killary harbour from the same valley
from which little Killary can been  viewed.

Westport/Murrisk, Co.Mayo

Standing at the peak of Croagh Patrick,
 Ireland's holiest mountain.

The valley we descended between Croagh Patrick
and Ben Goram Mountain.

Climbing down the valley next to a stream

Crossing the stream as it became larger

A view of the valley from the other side

The Easter Bunny at  Westport House

Birthday Celebrations

I think that is all for my post today. It is my fiancé's birthday and I have made a delicious Victoria sponge birthday cake with fresh cream and strawberries. Which we are about to devour in large chunks I have no doubt. I have made this cake before and it was a massive success with all that ate it. It is a recipe from The Big Book of Baking.

My favourite baking book

This is the most dog eared recipe book in my home! I got it on offer in Eason's bookshop in Galway for €8.99 and it is most certainly worth every penny and then some! I will leave you with a photograph of the cake. I swear I would give all my readers a large slice if I could but I am unable!

The Victoria Sponge Birthday cake

Happy Knitting and Crafting,


Helena =D

Why have I not been Knitting!!

I have been so lazy lately! I have not knit since my last blog post about young sweetie. Every day I come home from the lab with the intention of knitting! But then I end up curled up on the couch watching TV. I never just watch TV. I always do something else while doing so! I think I am ill. If this strange behaviour does not stop soon I may have to take a visit to my GP! Here is hoping I will break this nasty no knitting habit soon!! Young Sweetie will not knit herself and she has a very important job at our wedding sweet counter!! At least I have not gone over the edge altogether..I am still reading bucket loads. So at least there is a small smattering of normality still remaining in my everyday routine!

Signing off and hoping to update you on Young Sweetie very soon,

Helena

Dinner Party Recipes: The Side Dishes

Sweet Potato and Carrot Puree

Yield: Far too much for your average dinner party! If serving as a sauce you will need to quarter the recipe. If serving as a mash as equal part potato to sweet potato and carrot to give it a thicker consistency.

Ingredients:

4 large sweet potatoes (approximately 2lb)

1 lb carrots

2 ½ cups of water

1 tbsp of sugar (for fear that you’re not sweet enough already)

12 tbsp of butter (ssshhhhh….what do you mean? it’s a vegetable dish…it is very healthy =D)

1 cup of crème fraiche

½ tsp nutmeg

5lb white potato (optional)

Preparation method:

Clean the potatoes and slice down middle. Place in preheated oven at 200^oC and bake for 1h or until tender.

Peel and chop the carrots. Pace in a saucepan and add the water, sugar, 2 tbsp of butter, salt and pepper.

Place over medium heat and bring to the boil. Cook uncovered until all the liquid boils off and just butter remains. Carrots should be tender. If not add more water and boil it off again.

Scrape out flesh from potatoes and combine with carrots. Add crème fraiche and process/mash until smooth. Add nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Glazed Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts

Yield: 4 (Woohoo…the correct quantity of food!!! =D)

Ingredients:

125 ml of water

325g of frozen brussel sprouts (I adore cabbage balls!!)

2 tbsp Butter

100g walnuts

25 g sugar

¼ tsp allspice (plus a little sprinkle…measuring exact amounts reminds me of work..I need to rebel =D)

¼ tsp nutmeg (see brackets above)

Salt for seasoning (optional)

Preparation method:

Cook the brussel sprouts in boiling water until tender. This is where I add the salt. I add a sprinkle to the water before I add the sprouts.  Drain.

In a microwaveable bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, allspice and nutmeg. Cover and cook on high, stirring once or twice, until the butter is melted and walnuts are warm. Pour over brussel sprouts and serve! Mmmmmm!!

Roasted Irish potato

Ingredients:

As much white potato as you like. I used records. And on average 4 large potatoes which I quartered.

Juices of the meat

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation method:

Cut potatoes to golf ball size. Parboil and fluff up Helena style (steam until slightly tender, place in a bowl and give them a shake).

Add to the baking tin in which the pork fillets are roasting (or whatever meat you are roasting). Add vegetable oil if necessary. Spoon the juice from the meat over each potato. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast until tender and browning.

Remember..The more meat juices the better..It adds great flavor =D

Fillet of Pork Tenderloin stuffed with apricot and pistachio stuffing

Yield:  Enough for two pork tenderloins, two 5kg chickens and a few sandwiches =D I went a bit overboard regards the quantity. But it freezes very well. I later stuffed a chicken and roasted it and even used any leftovers from this to make chicken and stuffing sandwiches! I do not like to waste any food!

Ingrediants:

2 fillets of pork tenderloin (plus 2 chickens and a few sandwiches if you like)

12 cups of breadcrumbs

½ cup of unsalted butter

1 cup of chopped onion

1 tablespoon of dried parsley

1 ½ cups of chopped dried apricots

 2 cups of chicken stock

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

1 tsp majoram

Pinch of salt and black pepper

1 ½ cups of pistachio shelled nuts (preferably unsalted but if this is not possible then add no salt when seasoning)

Preparation method:

Preheat the oven to 200^oC

Place breadcrumbs in mixing bowl

Saute the onion and parsley in unsalted butter until soft. Add apricots and sauté for 10 minutes. Add one cup of stock and seasoning and cook for 3 minutes.

Pour the mixture over the breadcrumbs mixing well. Season with salt and pepper if required and add in the remaining stock. Add the pistachio nuts to the mix.

Slice the pork fillets down the centre like you would a roll or hotdog. Fill with stuffing and tie up with twine. Place the pork fillets in the oven until cooked, remove from oven and enjoy!