Week 1: Tomato Soup, Croutons & Guacamole

This week's recipe was taken from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals. If you have the book the recipe can be found on page 78.

The basic idea behind Jamie Oliver's book is that a homecooked meal can be made within 30 minutes - ideal for those who find it hard to make the time for cooking.

The meal actually included Prune puddings for dessert but as I can't actually stand prunes I swapped it for a bowl of ice-cream.

The soup and guacamole platter were pretty easy to make...



Roast your tomatoes in the oven with fresh red chilli and crushed garlic. Drizzle ciabatta chunks with olive oil and roast in the oven till crispy. Chop onions and cook in a pan with balsamic vinegar. Chop a handful of cherry tomatoes, some chilli and fresh coriander. Add your roasting tomatoes to the pan of onions. Chop avacado and add lime juice. Cut your vegetables into pieces for dipping. Blend your tomatoes with fresh basil and creme fraiche. Serve with your croutons.

I also added an extra dollop of creme fraiche and reduced the amount of chilli recommended as both the soup and guacomole were still quite fiery with the reduced measures.


The meal took around 40 minutes to make but as I'd never cooked this recipe before this was still a super quick dinner. And it was yummy! I would definetly recommend trying it.

Lisa x

NOTHS Sale!

Our heart chalkboards are on sale at Notonthehighstreet.com.



Available in three sizes with a choice of pastel pink, pastel blue, country brown or country red gingham ribbons. You now save 10% off our regular price.

Our hearts are a pretty way of writing notes or sending messages with a traditional chalkboard and white chalk.

Lisa x

My 52 Week Recipe Challenge

I love to cook.

This is why this year I am going to be undergoing a 52 week recipe challenge. Every week I am going to be searching recipe books, websites and blogs to find a recipe that I really want to try.

I'll cook or bake it and share my thoughts with you here on my blog. Hopefully pushing myself to make more time to spend in the kitchen.

Plus John thinks it's great that I'll be making yummy things for him to try!

I'd love it if you want to join me along the way - either trying the recipes yourself or trying your own and sharing them with us all.

I'll be back this week to share my first recipe.

Lisa x

Looking to the New Year

Yes it's that time of year again where we take a long hard look at our life from the past year.

2010 has been full of ups and downs but looking into the the New Year I know that things will get better. I'm really hopeful that next year will be a great year. So here are my goals for 2011...

My number 1 goal is to lead a more balanced life. With Altered Chic taking off in a big way at the end of 2010, it took over our lives in the run up to Christmas. I really need to be able to find that balance between work and home - which is much more difficult when your business is at home!

I am a Libra and this whole balanced thing is supposed to be natural to me but it is something that I have always struggled with. But I will be taking the first step towards this from January - I am reducing my hours at work (only 3 days rather than 4) so that I can spend more time in the week on running the business and leave evenings and some weekends free to spend how I wish.

With all this spare time I really want to start drawing again. All through school, art was my thing. After leaving university during the first few months (where I was studying art and hating it), I took a step away from my drawing and I've never had the time or the will to want to pick up a pencil or paintbrush.

I also want to continue making our house into a beautiful home. The projects for 2011 are the living room and the stairs. I've already begun collecting furniture to renovate.

What are your goals for 2011?

Lisa x

DIY: Christmas Stars Garland

I made these little star garlands to hang on the shelves in my kitchen and thought I'd share how to make them as they are so easy to make yet look so pretty.


Materials & Tools:
Vintage sheet music
Cream cardstock
Piece of scrap card
Thin red ribbon
Glue
Hole punch


How to:
1. Glue your sheet music onto the cream cardstock.
2. Draw out a star template onto the scrap card (or print one off your computer).
3. Draw and cut out stars from your sheet music, the number of stars you will need will depend on the length of garland you want to make.
4. Punch two holes in each star as shown in the picture. Thread your stars onto the red ribbon and hang your garland in your chosen place.


I told you it was simple.

Enjoy!
Lisa x