Soup!

As many of you may know I like to spent a considerable amount of money on craft stuff, but my other passion is cooking and I also spend a good few pennies on kitchen gadgets.  I just cannot seem to resist!

You know when you have an "Ooooh I NEED one of those" moments?  Well I had one when an advert came on TV for a Cuisinart Soup Maker.  It is a little cheaper now at £119 than it was when I bought it at £149  (Grrrrrr)  Having said that I have had it about 2 years now and use it a lot, so I think it was worth every penny   :)

A few people thought I was nuts  - you can make soup in a pan!  Well, yeah, you can, but this baby does it all.  Let me show you.

First stick a little drop of oil in and some onions and garlic and press the 'sauté' button for a couple of mins.

(Now, if you know me really well you will know I have an onion phobia so click HERE if you want to know the story  :) )  If I can't see 'em, I can eat 'em.

While it is busy sautéing away (is that a word?) you can chop up some carrots and some coriander.

Coriander has to be one of my most favourite things to chop up - the smell just bursts out the second you attack it with a knife.

Chuck the carrots and coriander in the jug with a pint or so of veggie stock - oh, and in my case a sprinkle of chilli flakes. I put chilli flakes in everything, I like a bit of a kick  :)

Then set the clock for 20 mins, press the button and leave.

While we are waiting for that to cook do you want to see my lovely Spice Rack?  Daddy L built me the rack, and I slowly collect the pots - I say slowly as the ones I am missing can be really tricky to track down, so while I do I also have a cupboard full of spice jars.

20 mins later you pop back, turn the dial and blend.  Voila!  SOUP !

Pour and eat.

The second best thing about this soup maker is that it has a self cleaning mode.  You just put water and a small drop of washing-up liquid in and run it through a programme.  This is good as the one time I tried to clean the blades as I didn't wash it immediately and it dried up a bit, I cut my finger really bad.  Ouch!

I had some for lunch with some gorgeous seeded bread.  I LOVE this bread, it's so yummy toasted with butter.

Well, today's blog was all about the food, what about some crafts do I hear you cry? 

Well, I have just started a jumper for myself, I am making this...

In this....

Watch this space  :)