Highlandhearts

As a new vegetarian, I am trying to find a few staple recipes that are cheap and i can do quickly and easily.  It goes without saying that they need to taste good too.  Today i made carrot, cumin and feta fritters with a yoghurt and coriander dressing.  Here is the recipe Grate 250grams of carrot Chop an onion and add to bowl Crumble in 100grams of feta cheese. In another bowl mix 8 tblsps of self- raising flour with 2 tblsps cumin Add 2 beaten eggs and 4 tblsps water and whisk till a smooth batter. Add in the carrot mix with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Doesn't look too appetising like this! Next make the dressing by combining 8 tblsps greek yoghurt with 2 tblsps chopped fresh coriander. I had a wholemeal pitta bread and made up a simple salad Put a couple tbsps of oil in a frying pan and put in a large blob of carrot mixture.  Flatten slightly with a spoon and fry both sides for 2-3 mins. This quantity made 4 large fr...

After decorating the stairs earlier this month, I just wanted to show you the floorboards in the hallway which are now painted this lovely deep red and we got it finished just before the family arrived. It stood the test of four children and five adults very well and was so quick to clean, just a quick sweep now and then to clear up sand from our trips to the beach and dirt from the piles of footwear. So, the only thing i have left to do now is to make a little curtain for the landing window.  I have been collecting pretty floral hankerchiefs from my various charity shop visits over the last few months and I think I will make it with these.   I will show you when its done. On a trip out to one of my favourite places, Cromarty on the Black Isle, I came across this lovely placemat and just had to have it!  I love hares but it wasn't cheap at £10.  Lucky for me though my Son had given me some money to spend in case we went to a cafe as that was expensive as ...

This old wooden pier doesn't look very attractive does it I'm sure its not used anymore and fenced off for safety reasons Its a bit of an eyesore on such a lovely stretch of beach But i started to look closer Underneath Look at the colours on the wood.  They hint at how it used to look I think it still has a beauty about it after all don't you? Terri X

I haven't posted for a few weeks as we have been enjoying our time having the Grandchildren up on their annual visit. The weather hasn't always been good, indeed sometimes it was quite wild, wet and windy but that didn't stop us having fun :-) We discovered pretty new places and new beaches We searched for and found fossils much to the childrens delight Look at this photo, a bee flew past just at the right moment! I was happy as always just to have my toes in the sea And to watch and listen to the waves .  I always feel soothed by the sea. It wasn't all beaches, there were parks and woodland walks Obstacles to tackle A willow weaving morning making fish OH hung them from the hallway ceiling.  We have a puffa fish, a shark and a colourful fish of some kind! A trip to the cinema This movie was enjoyed by young and old. I put my swimsuit on for the first time for years regardless of being overweight as I was determined to join in...

When we moved into this house 15 months ago I really hated the hallway flooring.  It had a horribly stained blue carpet on the floor and stairs and I knew I wanted to get rid of it but as we don't have a lot of spare money I had to think about how to decorate it cheaply. The first job was persuading OH to rip up the horrid carpet and see what we were dealing with underneath.  Actually the floorboards weren't too bad although they had been cut about when the new heating system was put in a while ago. A bit of filler filled the worse gaps. I wanted to do something about the handrails too as they had loads of paint covering them and looked really dirty. OH stripped the paint off the handrails and sanded them back to the wood. Cost nothing but his time as we had the sandpaper and paint stripper in his shed.  After a coat of varnish they looked much better.  He refreshed the paintwork on the rails and at the edge of the stairs to clean them up whilst I thought abo...

I've had a busy few weeks again preparing for another craft fair being held today as part of Gala week.  I was up till nearly midnight last night making a handbag and it turned out to be the first item sold today so was worth the effort. The afternoon was a bit of a wash out though as we have strong winds and heavy rain today and as we were in a marque you can imagine what it was like.  My friend popped back home to get us a flask of coffee to warm up and returned with some homemade sponge cake which went down a treat. The sides of the marque were being battered by the wind and water was pouring through the gaps in the roof.  Our stock was getting wet so we were constantly moving it about.  Not many people were about in such horrid conditions really and those that were, were really there for the children's entertainment.  There was also a raft race on the loch.  It was decided that it would go ahead and there were four rafts.  One immediately sunk an...

I've finished transforming my standard lampshade and it cost me zilch as I used bits and pieces I already had in my stash of craft stuff. First I tried crocheting the frame with wool but I didn't like it so I cut it all off.  Next attempt was crochet with ribbons but I decided I didn't like that either so I then decided to wrap the entire frame in red and white gingham cotton fabric.  I tore strips so I had frayed edges just because I liked the effect. It took ages though. I used old necklaces, some kept complete and others I mixed and rethreaded onto clear fishing line.  I added ribbons and floral fabric strips and glued buttons and bows onto them and then sewed more buttons to the top and little red heart buttons to the bottom joints of the frame. I added four little pictures pinned with multi coloured paperclips just because i liked them and I thought that when I want a change, I could renew them perhaps by pinning on some black & white photos. ...