Homegrown Homemade Christmas.

I made it myself this Christmas. Yes, that's the cool thing to do now, but also I'm a student; Happy to grasp every opportunity for being a bit cheap. Having said that, you can't really beat the satisfaction and pride from giving somebody something you created yourself.

My goodies are all nestled in this gift bag, created from brown packing paper and string, a few hole reinforcers and a roll of sellotape. The method was found on Youtube, but after watching I was amazed by how simple the concept is;

Wrap a box that's the size of the bag you want (a shoebox is a good base I think.)

Then crease along the edges before slicing one end of the box off with a sharp knife and, voila, you have the base of a bag.

Creasing the sides is fairly simple as long as you're careful, ensuring the corners all meet when you're folding.

Next, I punched a couple of holes in the top and reinforced them on the inside of the bag before using the string to make the handles. This isn't a step to skip, as I discovered with trial and error, as the paper is quite delicate.

Finally, I found some scrap cardboard (cereal box, Amazon delivery packaging, etc) and made a base to put inside the bag, this helps to strengthen it and keep the structure when it's full.

I also knitted the holly on the front of the bag, that's sewn to the paper. It's not a tutorial followed, but a fairly simple pattern using added loops and knit-two-together techniques to get the spiky holly shape. The berries are just circles that are stitched together to make balls.

The first treat inside is a delicious Spiced Damson and Apple chutney, with homegrown damsons and apples, naturally! The recipe for this is from Delia Online, although Delia is awfully faffy with her spices, I use ground instead of fresh, and chuck 'em in instead of 'suspending them above the pot in muslin.' It still tastes amazing my way.

Ah, Sloe Gin. This is a yearly brew, thanks to an abundance of Sloe trees in our garden. Very easy. It involves a quality bottle of gin, (thanks Gordon) and freshly picked sloes that are spiked all over with a toothpick. Proportionately, you'll also need about half the weight of sugar that you have of sloes. Whack the ingredients in a sterilized and sealed jar, and shake frequently for about 2 weeks. After that, return each week to give the mixture a shake. It should be gorgeously sweet after about 3 months, (coinciding quite well with Christmas!) but it'll continue to improve with age.

I decant the gin into these cute little Lakeland bottles to give away as presents.

And finally! These are caramelized chocolate brazil nuts, a traditional favourite of my Dad's, that I've decided to create myself this year. Quite simply, (and found online at about.com) brazils are whacked in a non stick pan with a generous amount of granulated sugar and a hunk of butter. Stir until the sugar melts, and for about five minutes after that.

Lay out, separated, on baking sheets and leave to cool until the sugar is solid (about half an hour.)

Now, melt a very large bar of deep dark chocolate (85% cocoa solids) in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Ensure it's in a bowl big enough so that you can add the brazils after you've taken the melted choc off the heat.

Stir until the brazils are covered, and whack it in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Repeat this step a few times, about 3.

Finally, lay the chocs out on a baking sheet again and leave to cool overnight in the fridge before presenting in cellophane.

Merry Christmas!

In Pictures.

Because each one is worth a thousand words? I love art, I love playing with ideas and creating fabulous aesthetics. Technically, I'm probably not actually very good at it! Here's a small selection of the amateur artist's gallery...

Carol Robertson - imitation is the highest form of flattery? I love the impact her dramatic shapes create on canvas, so I had a go.

Self portrait. This is a copy from a photo, picking out the darkest patches and finishing up with this black and white imprint, inspiration from all those stunning Hepburn prints in Ikea!

Words on a canvas. It's that word, 'impact' again. But it's true, I love thick free standing canvases. I use cheap ones, that I wouldn't paint anything of a larger scale on, but they're brilliant for a touch of individuality to the mantelpiece.

A broken mirror. The mirror was a really stunning art deco masterpiece actually covered in huge bulbous tulips. But anyway, it fell in the bath, so instead of replacing it (impossible, it was older than me and spectacularly trashy) it got its own.. tribute.

Hubcap girl. A splash of colour and, hopefully, that striking silhouette effect again. It started off as a sketch of a new romantic with unbeatable cheekbones. Not sure how this happened.

Winter Vegetable Pasta Bake.

So, a blog! I'll test the water with one of my favourite recipes for this icy time of year..

Sweet potatoes are one of the most glorious autumnal treats. To bulk out a spicy soup, infused with cumin in a sweet curry and roasted with honey. Here they make the perfect ginger flavoured crust to this easy mid week bake.

Ingredients: N/B measures are all approximate.

2 - 3 large sweet potatoes.

1 red onion.

3 large cloves of garlic.

a generous shake of dried basil & ground coriander.

a tablespoon of olive oil.

350g diced closed cup mushrooms.

200g diced aubergine.

a tin of tomatoes. (can be chopped, I like to smoosh the whole ones with a spoon as the mixture reduces, and they tend to leave glorious tomato chunks in the final dish, more so than the pre-chopped tins.)

a tin full of tap water.

a hefty squeeze of tomato paste.

a dash of dried oregano.

a handful of spinach leaves.

a teaspoon of pulped fresh ginger.

a small hunk of butter.

a sprinking of cayenne pepper. (can be substituted for paprika)

200g dried penne pasta.

Method:

Start by dicing the red onion, add it to a large non stick pan with olive oil, the garlic (crushed and finely diced) the coriander and dried basil. Heat from standing, whilst stirring, and fry off for about five minutes. Take this time to roughly chop the sweet potatoes. I like to leave the skins on, they're wonderfully nutritious and hold a surprising amount of the distinctive flavour. Once they're cooked you won't notice the rough texture.

This is probably a good time to set the oven to 200 degrees.

When the onion is softened add the mushrooms and aubergine, giving everything a stir for about a minute, so the flavours have enough time to get to the veg. Add the tin of tomatoes, then rinse the tin with tap water and add this excess to the pan as well. Add the oregano and tomato paste then let the mixture simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes, so the ingredients have softened and the tomatoes have begun to reduce, but there's still plenty of juice to cook the pasta in the oven.

Whilst this is simmering, add the sweet potatoes to boiling water and let them cook for about 10 minutes, until they've softened enough for mashing. Then drain, and add the ginger and butter before mashing thoroughly.

Now, the vegetable mixture should be looking and smelling glorious. Chuck the spinach leaves and pasta into it and give it the speediest of stirs before putting the whole lot into a deep oven dish. (Mine's about 3 inches deep and a 30 cm square) Now take your sweet potato mash and yup, you guessed it, spread the whole lot over the top to seal the dish. Take care here as the potato is quite heavy and has a tendency to sink in vegetable mix, I find it easiest to spread a bit on at a time with the biggest knife I own. Finally add a sprinkling of cayenne and use a fork to make a few crispy peaks if you wish.

Et Voila! It should take about 20 - 30 minutes in the oven uncovered, just wait for the potatoes to turn golden brown and that marvelous winter bake smell to fill the kitchen. To re-heat, cover and bake for about 20 minutes on 200 degrees again.