A Refreshing Cilantro & Mint Chutney
Indian Style Mint & Cilantro Chutney
Growing up, my mom and aunts would make this AMAZING cilantro and mint chutney that I would eat by the spoon full (when they weren’t looking =), and most of all I loved to eat it was these Indian crackers called Mathari. I couldn’t…and still can’t…get enough of it!
Well, we had a lot of cilantro and mint from our garden, so I decided to take the plunge and try to make it myself! I got the recipe from my aunt and finally made it! So thought I’d share:
Ingredients (i’m giving approximate amounts, but a lot of this is to taste):
2 bunches of cilantro (take off the thick stems)
1/2 bunch of mint (leaves only)
1-2 jalapenos (depending on how hot you like it)
1 green (i.e. super raw) mango – if you have it
lemon or lime juice (about 1/4 cup)
black salt (to taste, probably 2-3 teaspoons)
regular salt (to taste, probably ~1 teaspoon)
cumin powder (to taste, about 1-2 tablespoons)
handful of cashews to thicken it (if you have them – not necessary)
Yummy cilantro, with the thick stems removed. Small stems are ok.
Mint…leaves only.
Instructions:
Throw everything into a blender and blend away! They key is to start of slowly, and then speed up. You may need to add a little bit of water so there is enough liquid to get the blender going. The rest of the liquid will come from the lemon juice – so just keep adding them to taste. The end taste of the chutney is supposed to be pretty tart. I think for the amount of cilantro and mint I wrote above, I would probably use about 1/4 cup lemon juice and a fair amount of black salt.
And then enjoy!!!!
Eat it with crackers, or eggs (it is GREAT on an omelet), or a veggie sandwhich.
Have fun!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Entrance
This week’s weekly photo challenge from the Daily Post is: Entrance. These are all pictures of doors in Italy that I took on my Honeymoon almost 9 years ago. I just loved all the old and interesting looking doors, even on them most ordinary buildings!
New Tutorials & Ideas Page!
I have finally consolidated all of my tutorials and crafts that I have made from other blogs into one page so they are easy to find and browse.
Come check them out and find something you want to make!
Stuffed Penguin Tutorial (Free Pattern)
Meet Paco the penguin…
…he is a little reserved, likes to keep things cool, and tries to avoid crazy situations…
…he is a great friend and loves to keep little kids company!
You might have seen my recent post (and free pattern) for making a cute stuffed sea turtle – well immediately after I finished that, I set on making this cute guy. I have a friend for whom I knew I wanted to make one sea turtle and one penguin, so I was super excited to get them both going!
So, here is my little tutorial on how to make your OWN Paco the penguin…or Pete…or Paul…or Prakash =)
First, download and print the pattern pieces (this is made for US Letter size paper, although size is not a huge issue here…but know that printing this full size on an 8.5×11 size paper does not yield a huge penguin…so if you want something bigger, you will need to enlarge it!):
(Please note: This Pattern is only for personal use. It is copyright protected and not available for commercial use without expressed permission from JAS Photography LLC. Please email info@jas-photo.com if you would like a commercial license for this pattern)
Next, cut out your pattern pieces:
You need:
1) 2 body pieces
2) 1 face
3) 1 tummy
4) 2 outer black eyes + 2 inner white eye reflections
5) 1 nose
6) 2 feet
7) 4 arm pieces
Then put your face together. Start with the outer black eyes, and then put the white eye reflections on top. I did not agonize too much in placement…just eyeballed it. That’s kind of how I roll for all things. I used a straight stitch to put the eyes on, and as you can see below – I tried both a straight stitch as well as a quilting applique technique for the nose. I like both, but I feel like the applique stitch in the contrasting thread looks like too much! Maybe if it was in the same color it would be ok.
Here is a close-up of the two faces with the different stitches for the nose. You can decide what you like better!
Nothing fancy…but cute anyways!
Of course after I tried the applique stitch, i then found the matching thread color…oh well…
Next put on the tummy. Again, I used a straight stitch just inside the edge of the tummy.
Then you attach the feet. I found the right color thread here, so I used the applique stitch for the feet.
Just make sure not to put them too close to the bottom because the outer 1/4-1/2 inch of the whole side will be stitched into the last seam.
So here is Paco the Penguin’s finished front side!
Next take 2 hand pieces, right sides together, and stitch from the beginning of one curved edge, up to the point, and down the other curved edge. keep the straight edge open so you can turn it inside out and stuff it.
Once you have done that for both arm pieces, turn them right side out, and stuff them with stuffing.
Then close the arms with a straight stitch along the straight edge. Then place the arms on the RIGHT side of the front of Paco, and line up the raw edges as you see below. Then straight stitch it into place. Make sure to stitch FARTHER from the raw edge than the previous seam used to close the arm.
Are you excited?? We are almost done!
Ok next, take the front piece, and put it right side down on the back piece (right sides together). Pin them in place.
I think it is helpful to have the front piece on top when you are sewing so that you can see the other seams and make sure you sew outside of the seams for the face and tummy, but inside the arm seams. Make sure to leave about 1.5 inches open along the bottom of the penguin’s body.
Then turn the penguin right side out through the open part of the seam, and stuff it with your stuffing of choice. You can also put a little jingle bell inside at this point if you like.
Don’t stuff too much, otherwise the shape of the penguin will be kind of funky…
Once you finish stuffing the penguin, sew the opening closed (I hand sewed this part) and you are done!
Now let Paco free to have some fun!
And make him a friend!
Have fun and I would love to hear your comments/suggestions for improvements. Thanks!
(Please note: This Pattern is only for personal use. It is copyright protected and not available for commercial use without expressed permission from JAS Photography LLC. Please email info@jas-photo.com if you would like a commercial license for this pattern)
I Heart Faces Photo Challenge: Eyes
Here is my entrance for this week’s weekly photo challenge at I Heart Faces: Beautiful Eyes.
This is my little girl…when she was younger (for that matter, even now) she would always stare at me with this serious face…and I would always get entranced by her eyes!
Check out other great entries here!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Mountains
I’m a little late for last week’s photo challenge from the Daily Post – but figured I’d still like to post something up!
This picture is not the best quality in that it is scanned from a print, and looking at it closely, not a good scan. But the picture itself is still something I love, and it has a great memory. This was taken from the hot air balloon ride that my L took me on when he proposed to me 10 eyars ago! Great memories =)
I heart faces photo challenge: Friendship
Although they have their fare share of fights, my niece and nephew are definitely best friends first!
Shirt solution for a short torso
I have a REALLY short torso…
so, shirts are usually way too long on me.
on top of that, i have HUGE hips! So all my shirts are too tight once they pass my waist
I recently bought several tops from old navy – simple jersey shirts, and of course had the same problem
this time, instead of returning them, i decided to use my new sewing skillz =)
For most of them, I used a twin needle and simple made a new hem on the shirt, and then cut off the excess fabric.
Pretty simple.
For this one, however, I had a little bit of fun. I made several rows of pintuck seams along the bottom of the shirt. This way I kept the original hem, shortened the shirt, and made a cool pattern along the bottom. plus, the extra sewing along the bottom of the shirt made it stretch out a bit, which accommodates my hips better.
Stil have a long way to go before these efforts look profressional, but better than returning the shirts!
A Fresh Garden Meal
Thanks to our bees, we have been getting tons of great tomatoes!
As well as cucumbers and eggplants (made baa ghanouj from those!)
I’m SO proud of my eggplants!
And of course of the monstrous cucumbers too =)
So the first part of the meal was a yummy cucumber soup – the recipe is from emeril and can be found here.
I did edit the recipe and make it a little bit simpler. I just threw everything in the blender – minimal prep. I.e. I didn’t really chop things up much – epsecially the herbs. I just threw them in. I also didn’t bother measuring – just estimated. I added some lemon juice, and lastly, the recipe calls for making an “essence” to add to the soup. That seemed to time intensive for me, so I just through a little but of each of those ingredients into the blender as well.
The main entree was pasta pomodoro in classic italy style. In fact, we used the recipe that we got from a chef at a cooking class in Italy a few month ago. We didn’t make this pasta in the class, but I asked the chef for his recipe because pomodoro sauce was one of the main things we LOVED in italy!
Luckily, the recipe is really easy:
1) Blanch the tomatoes so you can peel them. You want to use very red tomatoes, preferrably san marzano. You can also use canned whole tomatoes for a faster option or if you don’t have fresh tomatoes! To blanch the tomatoes, remove the stem, ad then cut a little x into the opposite end of the tomato. Then put them in boiling water for about 1 minute. Remove them from the water into a bowl, and peel the tomatoes. I kept the tomatoes in the bowl and just lifted the skin off and put it directly into my compost bowl. That way all the tomato juice stayed in my bowl to use. You can remove seeds if you like, but it is fine with them as well. You may also want to remove the stem attachment part of the tomato.
2) Heat your pan over low heat, and once warm add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. After a few minutes, add several cloves of smashed garlic (peel your garlic cloves, and then smash them with a meat tenderizer or the handle of a big knife). Cook the garlic until it turns a golden color. You can also add red chilli pepper flakes if you like.
3) Once the garlic is golden, add the tomatoes (first roughly chop them up) and generous amount salt (to taste. as the italian chef said, the bulk of the taste comes from the salt!). Add some basil sprigs and STEMS. The stems (as L’s cousin the chef informed us) have a ton of the flavor from the basil plant! Then cover the pan and let it cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
4) Uncover, and if you like, add a small dash of sugar (after tasting it only. you may not need the sugar!). Remove the basil stems and add the rest of the roughly chopped basil leaves. And that’s it! You’re done! If the sauce is too liquidy, you can simmer it to reduce it a bit.
Enjoy!
A Fun Toddler Beach Robe!
I recently found an awesome beach robe pattern at Made (www.dana-made-it.com) and decided to try to make it before our beach trip last week.
So I got this cute cow towel, and then a plain yellow towel for the belt.
Change from pattern: I originally followed the instructions to make the two separate ties that attach on the sides of the robe, but wasn't completely happy with it because the ties ended up hanging down onto the ground and then I was constantly worried R would trip on them. I also decided I liked the way the robe looked with the belt all the way across the back better. So I took the two belt pieces out of the side seams, and attached them in the middle. Since the seam looked funny, I put a strip of double fold bias tape across the seam to hide it. I also put two darts in the back so that it wouldn't be so big on my little skinny minny.
Although the robe took longer than I expected and more steps than my short attention span can usually handle, I finally got through it.
…and it was definitely worth it! I love it, and more importantly, R loves it! She wore it a ton this week and I LOVED seeing her in it!
Change from pattern: I lined the ends of the sleeves with yellow fabric (the same one that I used to line the hood) so that when the sleeves are folded up, you can see the lining. Then I used embroidery thread to sew the proximal edge of it down (the sleeve was too small for me to sew it with the machine, so I figured I would make a design element out of it).
Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of her in it on the beach…
But she enjoyed it plenty at home as well!
…and so did tigy…
Don’t you want to make one too?
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