Beetroot and goat's cheese crackers

We were racking our brains about what we could use to make a purple canapé for our rainbow, and then we remembered the beetroot dip that we've used in starters before. It's the most incredible bright violet colour and goes deliciously with goat's cheese. This is more of an assembly job than anything, although you could probably make the dip and crackers yourself if you had lots of time.

Ingredients
1 tub beetroot dip
1 packet soft goat's cheese
Seeded crackers
Rocket

How to

1) Break your crackers into the right size if necessary - we were using Ryvita thins.

2) Spread on a layer of soft goat's cheese, being careful not to break the cracker. Dollop on a bit of the beetroot dip.

3) Garnish with a rocket leaf like a flag.

Simple! They look great, and take all of about 5 minutes to put together.

Earl grey shortbreads with lavender icing

These are possibly the most delicious biscuits ever. They are perfect for tea time and the delicate flavours are a winning combination. I made them recently because we needed a 'blue' layer for our canapé rainbow and blue is not a colour often found in food products. I used food dye for the icing, which made them look really quite pretty.

Ingredients

For the shortbread:
3 earl grey tea bags
2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup caster sugar
dash of salt

For the icing:
Icing sugar
A couple of sprigs of fresh lavender (flowers and leaves both work)
Blue food dye (optional)

How to

1) Open the teabags and mix the contents with the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Scrunch in the butter with your hands until you form a dough. I found mine was a bit too breadcrumb-y so I added some more butter.

2) Place the dough on a sheet of cling film and roll it into a thick sausage. Wrap the ends closed and place in the fridge for at least 30 mins. Or if you're really impatient (like me) stick in the freezer for a bit (but don't let it freeze).

3) Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C. Extract dough from fridge/freezer.

4) Unwrap the dough and slice it into discs about 1cm thick. Place these on baking paper about 2 ins apart and bake for around 12 minutes, until the edges are browning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool whilst you make the icing.

5) Whip up your icing: chop your lavender as finely as you can. Mix some icing sugar with a tiny drop of water - remember you can always add more water but you can't take it away if you add too much! Mix the lavender in with the icing and add a drop of food colouring if you want.

6) Spoon or pipe a bit of icing onto each shortbread. Delicious!

My signature pea and mint paté

This is my favourite thing that I have made this year. It's an incredibly versatile recipe - it works really well as a starter (on some toasted ciabatta with a few rocket leaves) and as a canapé (on little crostini). I always make too much, but that's ok because it also makes an incredible pasta sauce - just stir it into some al dente spaghetti. I originally found the recipe here and have since been making it my own! It was a particular hit at the rainbow party as our 'green' offering.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen peas (or however many you want really)

Vegetable stock cube

1 tub marscapone cheese

Chilli powder

Salt

Bunch of fresh mint

Little crostini - you can usually buy these in supermarkets

How to

1) Boil your peas in a saucepan, crumbling in your vegetable stock. Cook until the peas are just soft (should only take a few minutes).

2) Finely chop your mint, removing the tougher stalks. In my opinion, for this recipe (or in general) there's no such thing as 'too much mint'.

3) Put half your tub of marscapone into a mixing bowl - this probably means a couple of good dollops.

4) Strain your peas and add to the mixing bowl with the marscapone, along with the mint. Sprinkle over a dousing of chilli powder and a dash of salt and mix it all together. Use a hand blender to whizz it all up into a paste. I think it's nicer if it's not completely smooth, so stop when you can still see a few pea shells etc. Add more chilli/mint/marscapone to taste.

5) Cover with cling film and put in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. This is important because your marscapone will have melted with the heat of the peas.

6) Spread a generous layer of pea paté onto each crostini. Sprinkle them all with a sparing amount of chilli. Eat most of them before you offer them to your guests because they're just so delicious...

Yellow Pepper Party Canapé

This is a really simple combination and can be made with any paté you like and any coloured pepper. I used bell peppers, but you could also use sweet peppers for a different flavour. We utilised the bright yellow of the pepper for our canapé rainbow.

Ingredients
Oat cakes
Paté (I used a smooth Ardennes paté)
1 bell pepper
Oil (for cooking)

How to

1) Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Cut your pepper into strips and place them on a baking tray with a little oil and pop them in the oven for about 15 mins. Keep checking them - you don't want them too crisped.

2) Spread some of your chosen paté onto each oat cake (mini oatcakes are better, but we couldn't find any of them - the curse of tiny London supermarkets).

3) Once you've got your peppers out of the oven, leave them to cool for a couple of minutes so you don't burn your fingers. Once they're ok to touch, place a couple on top of each oat cake, forming a cross.

You'd ideally eat them when they're still warm, but they're still delicious when they've been left to stand for a bit!

Smoked Salmon Rye Bread Canapé

These classic canapés formed the 'orange' layer of our rainbow of canapés at our recent party. Although smoked salmon is really quite pinky, against the orange background they looked the perfect colour! These are a staple party food in my household (it's not really a party without some smoked salmon, in my opinion!)

Ingredients
Smoked salmon (a fairly small packet will do)
Cream cheese (preferably with cracked black pepper in it)
Thinly sliced rye bread
1 lemon
Black pepper
[optional] caviar, dill

How to

1) Take a slice of rye bread - many brands sell it in big rectangular slice which are ideal. Cover it generously with cream cheese. If there isn't already pepper in it, sprinkle some on.

2) Arrange a layer of salmon over the cream cheese.

3) Squeeze over some lemon juice and add some freshly milled black pepper.

4) Cut your rectangle into bite-sized pieces - most slices can be cut into 6 or 8 canapés. Top with some lemon zest curls, a dot of caviar or some fresh dill. Serve!

Mini Italian Tomato Salad Canapés

These little bites will remind you of a classic Italian mozzarella, tomato and basil salad - very refreshing and super simple to make! These formed the 'red' layer of our canapé rainbow - see it here.

Ingredients:
Cherry tomatoes - ideally nice ripe ones
Mozzarella
Handful of fresh basil leaves or a living basil plant
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Black pepper

How to:

1) Cut your cherry tomatoes in half (horizontally rather than vertically - this way they will stand upright). Place them on a plate and drizzle over some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, followed by a sprinkling of freshly milled black pepper.

2) Snip off some bite-sized bits of mozzarella with a pair of scissors.

3) Use a cocktail stick to skewer together your tomato, mozzarella and a basil leaf before arranging them on your favourite platter.

DIY Rainbow Party Ideas (for grown ups!)

We recently hosted a rainbow-themed party to celebrate a flatmate's birthday. We created an array of rainbow decorations, foods and features - have a look at what we came up with!

1. RAINBOW OF CANAPÉS

This was really the idea around which we based the whole party, and it worked out better than any of us could have dreamt!

First we cut a rainbow shape out of card, then used a pencil on a string like a compass to mark out six (approximately even) bands. We stuck on coloured paper to make it look like a rainbow and covered the whole thing in cling film so that it wouldn't get soggy with all the food.

We then made canapés in the appropriate colours:

Red - mini tomato mozzarella salad - recipe here
Orange - smoked salmon bites - recipe here
           - carrot sticks (don't think you need the recipe for them!)
Yellow - yellow peppers on paté - recipe here
Green - pea and mint paté - recipe here
Blue - earl grey shortbread with lavender icing - recipe here
Violet - beetroot and goat's cheese crackers - recipe here

We also made hummus, which was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, whilst we had mini meringues for clouds!

Have a look at the recipes - I'm particularly proud of the earl grey shortbreads and the pea and mint paté!

2. BALLOON CHANDELIER

It isn't really a party without balloons, is it? Our balloon chandelier was inspired by the glass chandelier in the entrance of the Victoria and Albert museum.

We blew up a packet of pearlescent multi coloured balloons, dropping a small coin into each one - this weighs them down slightly and makes them hang in place, rather than floating around with the breeze. We then tied them together in threes and hung them over the central light fitting. Better keep the light off when you have these up, otherwise they might heat up too much and pop.

3. BUNTING

There was way more bunting than this, but the other pictures didn't turn out so well. You can make your own bunting, but to be honest it's so cheap you might as well buy it and then personalise it, like I did. To make the 'happy birthday' one, I just cut out letters from coloured paper and stuck them onto pre-bought paper bunting.

We used some to make a beautiful and colourful entrance to the party in the corridor - it's all in the details!

4. FAIRY LIGHTS

These colourful lanterns were attached with blue tack to a shelf in the hall - they're battery-powered so they could go anywhere. We also had some multi-coloured christmas tree lights spilling out of a large glass vase in an alcove, which created a beautiful effect.

If you're wondering about the bottles, my boyfriend brewed a special beer for the party and made his own labels - it's called 'Rainbrew'!

5. 6 LAYERED RAINBOW CAKE

This was a bit of a masterpiece, if I do say so myself. I made this with my sister and it took at least 2.5 hours! We also had a complete nightmare with food colouring (and actually these photos don't show up the colours as they really were). N.B. always use gel food colouring!

It involved making the biggest sponge mix I've ever seen, separating it out into 6 bowls and dying them different colours, before cooking the layers 2 at a time. We then made a butter and marscapone icing and embedded it with skittles and m&ms!

Recipe to come!

Craft - easy sew Dorian the Tortoise

I had it in my head that I wanted to try a sewing project, an easy one to get me started. I was searching around and came across this exceptionally cute pattern and instructions for a toy turtle from Purl Bee. The tutorial is for a cushion-sized toy in a Liberty print. Unfortunately Liberty fabrics are a little pricey, although they are the best, so I used a bit of upholstery fabric for mine. Plus I decided I wanted mine to be a tortoise rather than a turtle.

What you'll need:

• Fabric of your choice for the shell and soft parts (head, feet etc)
• Felt for the underside
• Sewing kit
• Buttons for eyes
• Stuffing
• This template from Purl Bee - print it off at whatever size you want your tortoise and cut it out

Step 1. Cut your fabric from the template and work out what goes where.

Step 2. Take one shell piece, the correct way up, and pin the feet, arms, tail and head on top of it, as shown:

Step 3. Sew in place. This would be so much easier if you had a sewing machine (which I don't), but I managed fine sewing by hand! Then fold out the blue pieces and iron the seams away inside the shell. You should then end up with a tortoise shaped piece.

Step 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other side of the tortoise. You should end up with two opposite-facing tortoise silhouettes. 

Step 5. With the correct sides together, pin your tortoise shapes together, leaving the underside open. Sew together.

Step 6. Open up your tortoise and place it (still inside out) onto your felt underside. Pin in place and stitch together, leaving a gap at the back. Turn the right way out.

Step 7. Fill with stuffing. You can buy toy stuffing in craft shops but I was impatient so just used bits of fabric, old socks etc. Alternatively, fill him up with rice and dried lavender for a heavier, sweet-smelling pillow.

Step 8. Stitch together the opening. Give him some eyes by sewing on some buttons.

Isn't he cute? He took me a couple of hours to make, but it'd be super speedy (ironically for a tortoise) if you used a sewing machine.

Recipe - easy Tuscan biscotti / cantuccini

Yesterday I was trying to think of a dessert to make for a dinner party for 9. I wanted something I could make in advance because the oven was going to be full of casserole. Plus two courses and several glasses of wine in, cooking doesn't seem like such a good idea. So I scoured a few blogs and came across this recipe from Bread and Companatico (my FAVOURITE recipe blog).

I love biscotti and they're perfect at dessert because you can dip them in your dessert wine or your coffee. Also, they last for up to a month so you could make a big batch and bring a few out every time you have people over for dinner. They'd also be delicious with glazed baked pears or peaches.

Ingredients: 
500g plain flour
350g caster sugar
250g unpeeled almonds (I used ready-sliced because I couldn't find whole ones)
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1.5 tsp baking powder
4 eggs + 1 for brushing
30 ml milk (a splash)
Icing sugar to serve (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Combine your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (flour, sugar, lemon rind, almonds, baking powder).

Step 2: Mix in your eggs and milk. You might have to stir for quite a while before the mixture starts to resemble a dough. Add a splash more milk if it won't stick together at all, but be patient, it'll get there.

Step 3: Split the dough in two and form a rectangular slab on two baking trays covered with greaseproof paper. Brush the rectangles with the extra egg mixed with a little water.

Step 4: Bake for c.25 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn it down to 140 degrees. Transfer the rectangles, baking paper and all, to a chopping board and cut horizontally into biscuit-shaped slices. If the mixture is still too runny to cut cleanly, put it back in for a few more minutes.

Step 5: Put back in the oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the biscotti are turning golden brown and they stop looking soggy. Leave to cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve!

Biscotti means "twice-baked", which is what gives them their delicious crunchiness. However, remember that biscuits keep cooking after you take them out of the oven, so it's easy to overcook them. They will harden up as they cool down; ideally you should end up with biscotti which have a hard crunch on the outside and a slightly chewier inside.

9 brilliant, cheap and easy crafts and gifts

I decided to do a round up of some of the amazing crafts and DIYs I've come across on Pinterest over the last few weeks. There's a real range of ideas here so hopefully there will be something for everyone! I definitely want to try these all out one day.

1. DIY gilded papier mache bowl

This looks really easy and you can customise the shape, size and colours to your taste. (Beauty and Bedlam)

2. Pom-pom pushpins

These will brighten up any notice board! You could also make them with little magnets to go on the fridge. (Sarah Hearts)

3. DIY washi tape tea lights

So pretty and so simple. They'd be really lovely for Christmas in reds and greens as well. (The Benson Street)

4. Sweater slipper boots

Recycle an old jumper for cosy toes. (Most Interesting Things)

5. Driftwood Sailboat

One of my own! But one of my favourites. (Anna Louise at Home)

6. DIY "Polaroid" photo coasters

A great and simple way to make personalised coasters (One Good Thing)

7. Drift wood lamp

An amazing Ikea hack! (Ikea Hackers)

8. Vintage tea cup planters

Really sweet idea for the garden - vintage tea cups can be found in pretty much every charity shop! (Modern Magazin)

9. Seashell candle holder

This one might well be my favourite - I just need to get hold of a glue gun before I try it! (Whats Ur Home Story)

Hope you have fun trying these out for yourselves!

Craft - pressed flower ornament

This is a quick how-to for something which I've had for a really long time and have taken all over the place with me. It's really easy and also makes a really nice gift.

What you'll need:

• Flowers - freshly picked and cut to the right size
• Flower press (or heavy books and plain paper)
• Photo frame - I used this one from Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00075689/) 

Step 1. Choose and pick your flowers. My sister and I picked these flowers on the day my grandfather died and decided to press them as a way of commemorating him (he was Welsh, so thus the daffodils!)

Step 2. Press your flowers. If you have a flower press, you just need to slip them in between the layers of sheets, tighten the screws and wait for about a week. If not, just put your flowers between two pieces of clean plain paper (ideally some sort of blotting paper) and place between the pages of a heavy book. The more you weight it down, the better it will work.

Step 3. Put them in your frame. I loved this frame from Ikea because it displays the flowers but also works as a paper weight and is completely free-standing. I wanted the blooms to reflect the heart shape of the frame, so I chose two flowers which looked symmetrical and arranged them accordingly.

Try not to keep your pressed flowers in direct sunlight as they'll start to fade, which would be a shame! Otherwise they can last for years, like mine have. Enjoy!

Craft - Driftwood sailing boat

Whenever I go to the beach, I'm always collecting shells, sea glass and bits of driftwood. They usually end up sitting in a drawer gathering dust; shells look so much prettier when they're still wet, don't they? But this weekend I decided to try making a driftwood sailing boat. I made one a few years ago and I still love it. This craft is a great use for little odds and ends of fabric.

What you'll need:

2 pieces of driftwood - one for the hull and one for the mast
1 piece of material big enough for a sail
Little fabric triangles or bells for the rigging
String/ribbon
2 pins, drawing pins, tacks or staples

Step 1. Super glue your "mast" into your driftwood boat. Mine already had a notch in it for the mast to sit in, but you could easily gouge a bit out. Prop it up in the right position and leave it to dry. It can help to put a bit of blue tack on the bottom of the boat to help it stand up.

Step 2. Press a drawing pin or a tack into each end of the boat (you might need to tap them in with a hammer). These are to keep your rigging in place. I had run out of drawing pins so I had to improvise with a dressmaker's pin at one end and a bent staple at the other.

Step 3. Prepare your sail. Measure out approximately how big your sail needs to be and cut your material to size. If you have a nice straight mast this is quite easy as you can just make a right-angled triangle. My mast was all wonky, so it took a few attempts to get it looking right.

Step 4. Hoist the sail! How you do this will probably depend on what sort of fabric you're using. My fabric, apart from being hilariously retro, was very liable to rip. I tied a piece of string around the bottom of the mast before using a needle to thread it through the bottom left corner of the sail. I sewed it along the bottom of the sail and tied the other end of the string onto the pin at the end of the boat. I then tied the top corner of the sail directly to the top of the mast, carefully pulling it taut.

However, if your fabric is a bit more sturdy you can just make a little incision in each corner and use an individual loop of string to tie each bit in place.

Step 5. Make your rigging. Tie a piece of string or ribbon from the top of the mast to the pin or staple on the opposite side to the sail. For my first boat, I decided to make little flags by cutting little triangles of contrasting fabric and attaching them to the string with a simple stitch.

This time I made use of the little bells that come on the collars of Lindt bunnies. I looped the ribbon twice through each bell to keep it in place before tying it onto the staple.

These make such pretty decorations and gifts. The big boat currently lives on top of our bathroom mirror and the little one is going to sit on the window frame. They're very light, so it's easy to blue tack them in place. Have fun making your own!