Apple & Cranberry Crumble

Today's task with little mister Pj was baking, or to be more exact - Apple & Cranberry Crumble Baking.  Yum!

You will need:

3 Large Bramley Apples

50g Dried Cranberries* 

3 tbsp water

1 Cinnemon Stick

125g Demerara Sugar

150g Plain Flour

1 tbsp Ground Nutmeg

75g Softened Butter

* Cranberries can be optional or you could try raisins or other dried fruits :)

This should feed about 6 people.

First you will need to put the oven on to heat @ 180C 

1- Peel & dice the apples into 1 to 2cm squares, place in a bowl of water during preparation to keep them from going brown.

2 - Place chopped apples, dried cranberries, Cinnemon stick, 50g of the sugar and water into a pan & put over a medium heat until the apples are soft and mushy (about 10 mins).

3 - Whilst the apple mix is heating time to make the crumble topping! :)

Place the soft butter, nutmeg, flour and another 50g of the sugar into a mixing bowl and use your fingers to crumble the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.

4 - Now place the stewed apples into a deep oven proof dish (in the pictures I used several smaller dishes as the lil cuz wanted to share the crumble around the family :>) - don't forget to remover the Cinnemon stick!  After the apples sprinkle generously with the crumble topping and the left over 25g of sugar.

5 - Now place in the oven for 30 minutes. :)

Serve warm from the oven with ice cream or custard...

...yummy!

English and Proud!

Just showing my patriotic side and wishing everyone and great Saint George's Day... A cup of tea for all! ;)

@EskdaleGifts

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Jo

xXx 

A good day :) :) :)

If there's a better way to get some paper work done than sitting out side in the sun I can't think of one!  Our beautiful cherry blossom tree is in full bloom and the pup has stolen the seat next to me to sit and enjoy the rays. I'm still full of chocolate from yesterday and the first ladybird I've seen this year just landed on my shoe!  Over all a good bank holiday Monday, hope everyone else out there is feeling as blissful :)

Just chilling; blocking some crochet, eating some chocolate :)

Mmmm chocolate...I mean Happy Easter! ;)

What better way to start Easter Sunday than this;

Followed by this;

My mum still spoils me! And my dad has his uses to as he's going to have to widen the doors after I eat all of this!!! #fattyfatty  Happy Easter Pals! xXx 

My colourful, floral bangle :)

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Bank Holiday Weekend and managed not to over indulged in to much chocolate...unlike myself! :/ :s :/

Last night I finished my first crochet bangle and I'm really pleased with the results and can't wait to make more.  :)

Although it was very simple to make this is the first time I have attempted to write out any of my patterns so please feel free to get in touch with any questions or -ahem- point out any mistakes :):):)

For this project I used a large wooden bangle, a 3.5mm crochet hook, yellow and orange seed beads, invisible thread and DMC Natura Just Cotton 4 Ply in the following colours:

Turquoise - n49

Tournesol - n16

Coral - n18

Pistache - n13

Glicine - n30

Safran - n47

Geranium - n52

You can buy these shades from the following link: http://www.deramores.com/dmc-natura-just-cotton

And here's what I did:

Firstly I measured around a simple bangle (you could recycle one of your old ones) and then the circumference; as shown in my little diagram below:

Now you are ready to begin :) 

I made a crochet chain the length of 'measurement 1', then added one extra chain.  In the second chain from the hook I crocheted to the end of the row using dc (or sc if your American).  Ch1 then turn your work and continue onto the next row.  

I changed colour scheme after every 2 rows, but it is your choice how you wish to continue and what colour scheme you wish to use.

Note: After you have done a few rows it might be worth wrapping your work around the bangle to check that you are happy with the length and tension, as you may have to add or undo a stitch or two.  This will save a lot of time if your measurements were not correct. :)

When your work measures the same length as 'measurement 2' in the diagram you can sew the two short ends together to form a loop.  Turn your work inside out so that the seam is not showing and pull over the outside of your bangle.

Now onto those pesky end bits...you could use a needle to thread the bits into your work but I preferred to cheat a little by just using a simple hand stitch over them (as seen below in black thread), personally I found this quicker.  Invisible thread might prove best for this but as it will be hidden in the middle of your bangle your stitching shouldn't matter to much.  Great if your a sloppy stitcher like me :D

Finally sew the to edges together around the inside of your bangle making sure your colours match up and use a needle to hide any escaping bits... And your done! :)

You could choose to leave your bangle like this or add some embelishments; I decided to go with a crochet floral theme using the same bright colours as before. :)

Flowers:

3ch then slst into the first chain to make a circle.  *2ch, 1tr (USA 1dc) 2ch, then slst back into the circle.*  Repeat *_* until you have 5 petals and fasten off.

Leaves:

7ch and slst into the 2nd chain from the hook, then dc, htr, 2tr and dc in the last stitch.  (USA - sc, hdc, 2dc and sc). Fasten off and hide the loose ends.

After making enough flowers and leaves I had a little play around before desiding on the final layout and sewing them on using invisible thread.  This is a bit fiddly but worth it!

I then finished off by sewing a number of yellow and orange seed beads into the center of each flower.

Hooray!  You're done!

Here's my finished product ready to be torn from my adoring wrist and placed up for sale in my Etsy shop.  I would love to know what you think of my final design.  xXx 

www.deramores.com/blog-awards:

 This blog entry is my submission to the Deramores Blog Awards 2014. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies.