Luckily, we have a very marvellous food blogger, Chloe Adlington of The Loveliest Food, on hand with a delicious vegetarian feast with a Mediterranean edge that will blow tradition out of the water. Of course, this dish is wonderful year-round, but I wanted to put it up just before Christmas in case any of you have a veggie coming for Christmas dinner and wanted to whip them up something easy and special. Thank you so much, Chloe, for your wonderful recipe – I will hand over to our guest chef now!

Squash, roast vegetable and feta cous cous

Chloe here from The Loveliest Food popping in to say hello… I know it’s customary for guests to bring sweet treats (maybe next time) but instead I’ve got an easy, healthy and very tasty mid-week dish for you.

It’s one of our favourite suppers at the moment, I concocted it a few weeks ago and now it’s become a weekly staple.  You can use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge and goat’s cheese works too if you’re all out of feta!

You will need

♥ Half a butternut squash, peeled, cored and cubed
♥ 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
♥ 1 courgette, sliced
♥ 1 red onion, sliced
♥ 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
♥ Fresh thyme leaves
♥ 1 block of Feta, cubed
♥ 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
♥ 5 tbsp olive oil plus extra for drizzling
♥ 1 tbsp mixed dried herbs
♥ 400ml cous cous
♥ 3 heaped tsp of Swiss Bouillon powder made up to 700ml of stock

Step one

Preheat your oven to 200’c then in a small bowl mix the crushed garlic, olive oil, mixed herbs and balsamic vinegar together.

Step two

Pour this dressing over the cubed squash in an ovenproof dish / tin and roast for 30mins or until soft and golden at the edges.

Step three

In a separate dish drizzle olive oil over the chopped onion, courgette and pepper. Sprinkle over some fresh (or dried) thyme leaves and roast for 20mins, or until soft and browning slightly.

Step four

Around 10 minutes before the all the roast vegetables are ready make up the vegetable stock and pour over the cous cous in a pan. Simmer with a lid on for a few minutes or until all the stock has been absorbed. Turn off the pan and leave for a further five minutes.

Step five

Fluff up the cous cous with a fork then stir in the roasted squash, vegetables and cubed feta.

Step six

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a few extra thyme leaves.

It will make enough for four, or two suppers and two office lunches. I hope you enjoy and you’re very welcome to pop over to TLF for more lovely food any time… Chloe x

Christmas is nearly upon us. As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I’m not one for traditional décor, and that extends to my Christmas decorations. At Darling Lovely Life HQ, there’s not a splash of red or green in sight. Tinsel? Nah. We’ve been crafting our Christmas, first with this sparkly bunting and drink stirrer tutorial, then by making our own floral Christmas crackers and now we’re putting the finishing touches on the tree with these adorably creepy felt decorations!

You will need

♥ Assorted sheets of felt in your chosen colour scheme. Black and white felt with adhesive backs are both handy for things like eyes and outlines.
♥ A pen (preferably close to the colour of your felt, but I’ve marked mine in ballpoint so you can clearly see what I’ve done)
♥ A small pair of scissors
♥ A needle and white thread
♥ Thin ribbon (for the hangers)
♥ Decorations like buttons, ribbons, pipe cleaners, bows etc.
♥ Cardboard to make your own templates
♥ Soft toy stuffing
♥ Your imagination

Step one

Draw and cut out a template for the main body of your decoration. This could take a few goes but try to make it as symmetrical as possible. Put the template against the felt and draw around it twice.

Step two

Cut out the two templates for the main body of the decoration.

Step three

Measure out your soft toy stuffing and put it aside. You will almost always need more than you think you do.

Step four

Cut out any smaller felt decorations and add ons.

Step five

Choose one of the two duplicate main pieces to be the front (if you have lots of time, you can make both sides of the decoration identical) and sew your decorations onto the side without the pen markings. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to be the best at sewing, rough stitching (as you can see) adds to the charm of the home-made decorations.

Step six

Sew together the front and back of the ornament, filling with soft stuffing as you go to keep its shape. Sew until a small hole is left and then insert as much stuffing as you would like. The more you put in, the longer the decoration will keep its shape, although be careful not to put too much pressure on the stitches.

Step seven

Sit back and enjoy your work for a moment

Step eight

Cut a small length of ribbon and sew it firmly to the top of your decoration in a loop.

Step nine

Hang on the Christmas tree or around the house. Any non Christmas-specific decorations can be reused later in a child’s room or just as decorations around your home.

And here are some more we made…

You will need

♥ Luxury wrapping paper with a pattern of your choice. We’ve used leftover wallpaper below just for the demonstration but wrapping paper sticks a lot better.
♥ A ruler
♥ Toilet roll tubes (you can buy cracker middles at Hobbycraft too)
♥ Cracker snaps (we got ours from Hobbycraft)
♥ A pen
♥ A glue stick
♥ A paper perforator
♥ Ribbon
♥ Gifts for the inside of your cracker. This is where you can get really creative and give loved ones great surprises – lipsticks, nail polishes, jewellery, personalised jokes or fortunes, fabulous sparkly crowns – this could be the cracker that really pays out!

Step one

Measure and cut a 20cm x 30cm piece of wrapping paper.

Step two

Put the tube in the centre and mark where the edges rest. Using the ruler, draw two lines there.

Step three

Stick a cracker snap length wise across the paper (as pictured below) avoiding gluing the actual part that snaps.

Step four

Put your tube back in (filled with your goodies), roll and glue. then gently twist the ends.

Step five

Tie a little ribbon on each end et voila – you have a cracker! 

For bunting, you will need:

♥ Scissors
♥ A pen
♥ Sparkly card (you can buy this from Hobbycraft)
♥ Thin, plain ribbon
♥ A hole punch
♥ A spare piece of cardboard

Step one

Make a heart-shaped template out of the spare card.

Step two

Turn the glittery card upside down and draw carefully around the template on the back of the glittery card.

Step three

Cut carefully around where you’ve drawn so that you’re left with a heart shape. Save the off cuts for later (you’ll see why).

Step four

Repeat as many times as necessary depending on the desired length (or lengths) of bunting.

Step five

Punch holes in the corners of your heart shapes and lay them out in the order you’d like to string them together.

Step six

Cut a length of ribbon (make sure you cut more than you need, you can always trim later) and thread through the holes making sure you go round the back, rather than the front of the sparkly card.

Step seven

Sit back and enjoy your sparkly bunting before using the off cuts for the next project below!

For drink stirrers, you will need

♥ Stick glue
♥ Scissors
♥ Spare card
♥ Off cuts of glittery card
♥ Bamboo skewers

Step one

Cut any necessary templates, such as heart or star shapes. Make sure you make them in even numbers as they will need to be glued together. For flags and crowns, cut strips.

Step two

For flags, cover the back of a strip of sparkly card in glue, wrap around the top of the bamboo skewer, press firmly together and cut a triangle shape out of it. For crowns, cover the back of a strip of card in glue, fold it in half and cut triangles to form a three-pronged crown shape. Then insert the bamboo skewer in the middle of the shape and firmly secure. For heart shapes, cover the backs of two shapes in glue and firmly press them around the top of the bamboo skewer so that they match up.

Step three

Make some fabulous cocktails, sit back and stir. Merry Christmas!

So this little tutorial is in his memory – I hope some other family adopts this cake as their go-to recipe and makes it a part of the fabric of their family life too. It was originally from a 1990s Sainsbury’s baking book, but has been adapted many times and substituted to perfection by my mum.

Our family celebration chocolate buttercream sponge cake (serves 8 – 10)

For the main cake, you will need

♥ 175g (6oz) salted butter, softened (salted butter, for the cake and the icing, is crucial. It gives it that lovely balance of flavour without being sickly).
♥ 175g (6oz) soft brown sugar (you can use ordinary caster sugar but I promise it comes out much nicer with brown sugar)
♥ 3 eggs, beaten
♥ 150g (5oz) self-raising flour
♥  25g (1oz) Green & Black’s cocoa powder
♥ 1 tablespoon medium fat milk
♥ 3 drops vanilla flavouring
♥ A tiny pinch of salt

For the icing, you will need

♥ 125g (4oz) salted butter
♥ 2 tablespoons Green & Black’s cocoa powder
♥ 250g (8oz) icing sugar
♥ 1 1/2 tablespoons boiling water
♥ 4 drops vanilla flavouring
♥ Any decorations you like – go nuts (I always do)!

Equipment

Mixing bowls
A seive
An electric mixer, stand and hand mixers are both fine
Scales
Two 18cm / 7inch cake sandwich tins
A palette knife (for levelling cake mixture and icing the cake)

Step one

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F / gas mark 5

Step two

Measure your ingredients into bowls, beat the eggs and set aside

Step three

Cream the butter and the brown sugar together until the mixture is creamy and fluffy in consistency and caramel coloured.

Step four

Add the beaten eggs a little at a time and mix well in between each small addition.

Step five

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder and pinch of salt together.

Step six

Fold half of the flour and cocoa powder mixture into the mixture bowl containing the eggs, sugar and butter. Add in the milk and then fold in the rest of the flour and cocoa powder with the vanilla flavouring. Mix thoroughly. Grease two 18cm / 7 inch sandwich tins with butter.

Step seven

Divide the mixture between the two tins, making sure to keep the mixture level.

Step eight

Bake in the pre-heated oven for twenty minutes. By this time the cake should have risen. If you aren’t sure, insert a skewer into the cake and see if it comes out clean.

Step nine

When the cake halves are ready, take them out of the oven, using oven gloves, and leave them in their tins for five minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Step ten

While your cake halves are cooling, it’s time to make your buttercream icing. In a cup, mix the cocoa powder with the boiling water and set it aside.

Step eleven

Beat the softened butter until creamy. Slowly add the cocoa mixture and sift in the icing sugar. Beat well and then stir in the vanilla flavouring.

Step twelve

When they are cool to the touch, sandwich the two cake layers together with buttercream icing and cover the two cake halves with the remaining icing. If you’re struggling to get the icing to stick to the cake (without taking part of the cake with you) keep a small mug of lukewarm water next to you and dip your knife in to make it moist as and when you need to.

Then you can get creative and decorate any way you like! Tadah!

Baked banana and chocolate melts

You will need

♥ One banana (ripe, but not over ripe)
♥ A chocolate bar of your choice. I have found the best options to be Mars, Malteser and Snickers, but it’s all down to personal preference.
♥ A sharp knife
♥ A chopping board

Step one

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F / Gas mark 3

Step two

Slice the banana open so that the fruit can be pried apart but the bottom of the skin is still intact, creating a clean line down the middle.

Step three

Dice across the top of the banana so that it can be more easily pried apart but not so you chop any of it off.

Step four

Cut three quarters of an ordinary-sized chocolate bar into small and thin pieces.

Step five

Literally stuff the sliced open banana with the chocolate pieces from edge to edge, making sure it’s full but that it won’t overflow or tip in the oven.

Step six

Put the banana and chocolate on a baking tray and put it in the oven for ten minutes. The skin of the banana should be black and the chocolate should be melted.

Step seven

When the banana is ready, carefully take it out of the oven (using oven gloves, of course) and serve still hot with a spoon! Yum!

Images © Dawn Wilkins Photography

Don’t be afraid

The nights are closing in, the heating is on, and Christmas is round the corner.

With all the planning and preparation brought on by the Yuletide, styling might be the last thing on your mind. Sure, you’ll light the candles and trim the tree, but what about those tiny details that will make each Christmas a time to cherish and remember? The thought of creating a winter wonderland needn’t be a scary one, after all, Halloween has been and gone.

Candles create atmosphere and opulence

Creating the right ambience is the key to cosy Christmas styling, a little haven of light and warmth in the deep, dark winter. We really made the most of the beautiful candelabras, sourced from local charity shops – the silver reflected the candlelight around the room and the lighting really softened the white decorations – taking the room from frosty to inviting. Isn’t it amazing what a little candlelight can do? What I really love about the candles is the height they add to the centerpiece. The added height really speaks of grandeur and opulence, even in a small space. If you want to add some extra festive touches candles are easily available in golds, greens, silvers and reds.

Christmas decorations are an investment

The gorgeous décor came from The Range in Bristol. The owl candles, table runner, acorns, wooden stars, and the tea-lights came to less than £50. And the best bit about investing in seasonal ornaments? They can be used again and again for years to come. I fully intend to be the lady with neatly marked boxes in the loft for every holiday. So keep that in mind when buying decorative pieces. You want longevity, timeless elegance that you; will make you long to unpack them each year.

Keep colours simple and let the foliage do the talking

By keeping the colour story simple we were able to maximise on seasonal evergreen foliage from the garden. Silken green leaves, trailing ivy, and hardy herbs were paired with flowers we picked up from the supermarket were incredibly cost effective (and who can say no to a sprig or two of baby’s breath?). We arranged them in aged mercury style tea-light holders and kept the rest of the styling to white and clear glass.

Whether your table is adorned with a gorgeous heirloom tablecloth, or you’re going bare (because who wants to tackle gravy stains on Boxing Day?) a table runner or length of fabric is an easy way of updating the look of your room and adding a touch of colour.

Save table space

When laying the table though, we started with the place settings first, ensuring that each person would have enough room to eat, drink, and be merry. There’s nothing worse than battling with elegantly arrange sprigs of holly while tucking into your stuffing balls! Once we’d set out the tableware and glassware we started decorating the runner. Using the fabric as a guide for the centrepiece was an easy way to make sure we didn’t encroach on anybodies personal space. When it came to place settings we focused on layering, again to save much needed table space. We layered the dinner plate and side plate, topped off with a wooden star, adorned with a silver acorn and length of ribbon.

This effect could be re-created by tying a Christmas ornament around a napkin or to a luggage tag with each guests name. If you’re struggling for gift ideas you could even choose ornaments for each guest in place of a present (and you get to save on wrapping paper).

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to take the plunge and re-imagine your festive table. Special thanks of course to Dawn Wilkins for capturing our transformation and to Emma Norton for arranging the flowers and greenery and lending me her dining room. But enough of this! Finish your cuppa, there are presents to wrap, stuffing balls to roll, and you’ve got a room to decorate!

Merry (very early) Christmas.

Before you start, ask yourself these questions:

♥ Is the piece of furniture valuable in its own right? You might not like a brown piece of furniture, but if you’re sitting on an important antique, painting it might be a mistake. Make sure you’re using an old piece of furniture that would have otherwise been destined for a cheap resale or the rubbish tip.

This was a valuable piece but not an antique or a family heirloom. Keep reading to see what we did with it!

♥ What is my vision and how does it fit with the rest of my décor? It’s all very well painting something a lovely pastel colour, but if the rest of your house is red and orange (for example) then you’ll be hard pushed to find a place for it later. Take into account your overall decoration scheme and any changes you might be making to that and think it through from there. If your house is very modern and you want a distressed piece of furniture, again think about how this fits in with the rest of the room it will live in.

My house is filled with pastel colours and rose motifs, it was an easy choice to paint the furniture to fit with the colour scheme

♥ Are there any potential pitfalls? A crack in the foot of a desk? A door knob that’s attached to the mechanism of the whole piece? An unwanted shelf that’s important for the structural integrity of a wardrobe? Small and fiddly details that are hard to paint? Make sure you take into account any troubleshooting before you pick up a paintbrush.

What you need

♥ An old, unwanted piece of furniture with potential. If you don’t have something like this at home but would still like to make your own piece of painted furniture then search eBay, charity shops and car boot sales for hidden gems.

♥ Wire wool and turpentine if your furniture is finished with wax, sandpaper (and a hand sander for larger pieces) if your furniture is varnished.

♥ Rubber gloves

♥ An acrylic-based primer.

♥ A knotting solution (if necessary)

♥ A small paintbrush and a roller.

♥  Enough paint for two thin coats (perhaps a third if necessary)

♥ Lacquer or sealant if you want a high-gloss finish.

♥ Any accessories you would like to add to your finished piece, wallpaper, replacement handles, appliques, decoupage paper printouts and decoupage glue, for example.

Preparing the furniture

♥ Remove any knobs or handles that you don’t want to paint or that you want to replace (unless you can’t).

♥ Start by cleaning the surface either with sandpaper for varnished furniture or wire wool and turpentine for waxed furniture. This is important as otherwise your paint won’t stick. If your furniture is not heavily finished, you still need to sand it down just to make the surface of the wood slightly rougher. If you are using turpentine, wear rubber gloves.

♥ Wipe down the wood with water and a cloth or a mild detergent to get rid of any sand or residue.

♥ Tape up any parts of the piece that you don’t want to paint, for example door handles or glass windows.

♥ Keeping your rubber gloves on, put on your first layer of primer (if you need to, use a knotting solution first and wait for it to dry). Use a roller for wider areas and a brush for smaller, more fiddly areas. Most tutorials will tell you that it doesn’t matter if your primer is even. I agree to an extent, but beware of the dreaded drips! Believe me, it will matter later on when it looks like your furniture is crying. Drips are particularly prevalent around small details or grooves in the furniture. If you want to distress your furniture and don’t mind the shabby look, you can skip the primer altogether.

♥ Wait for the primer to dry completely and go over it once with fine sandpaper to help your second layer of paint to bond (I could show you some pieces where I haven’t done this and trust me, it’s worth the extra half hour of effort).

♥ Again, wipe down the sanded and primed wood to get rid of any excess dirt or dust.

Now you’re ready to paint

♥ Once your furniture has completely dried and has been taped and prepared, it’s time to paint. Using a roller, paint as much of the piece as you can. Some people prefer to only paint the parts that can be seen, others like to be thorough in case they ever sell the piece. For example, we never painted the back of our Welsh dresser as it will always be against a wall, but selling it on in that condition wouldn’t be easy.

♥ Go from left to right or top to bottom (or both) and find every area that the roller has missed. Fill it in with a paintbrush. Beware of drips, I would suggest coming back five minutes later before the paint has dried but after enough time has passed for new drips to form and ensuring, with a wiped down brush, that your piece is drip free.

♥ Wait six hours (or overnight – even better) until your paint is fully dry and put on a second coat. Consider any areas you may have missed, such as the sides or insides of drawers or the tops of doors. It can be tempting to paint too early, but trust me the paint congeals and looks really messy when you do that.

♥ Apply any finishing touches, for example we put wallpaper on the back of this Welsh dresser to really make it pop. We also changed the knobs to match the overall scheme of the room and the piece.

♥ If you want a shiny finish, use a lacquer or a sealant (I’d particularly advise this if you’re going to be using the surface a lot for eating or writing).

Tips

♥ Why stop at one piece? Make a matching set, or a mismatched set (like my kitchen set) with colours that complement each other.

♥ Design your own motif or find one that’s royalty free and decoupage your furniture! We’ll be posting a tutorial on that very soon…

♥ Protect your furniture from over-zealous pets by using a scratch prevention spray and making scratching posts readily available around your house.