Pickled cucumber and red onions

1 cucumber
1 red onion
1 Scotch Bonnet (make a small batch without this for the kids!)
100 ml water
100 ml vinegar (white)
A few grains of Chinese sugar (this is like a sweetener be careful it is very sweet and needs to be added grain by grain to be able to control the sweetness You may substitute with 2 tablespoons of sugar)
1 tsp whole dried allspice berries
5 cloves
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
optional pinch of ajinomoto *

Cut cucumber lengthwise de-seed and cut in slices about 1,5 inch thick, cut red onion in rings, cut pepper in half de-seed. Put water and vinegar in a bowl and add sugar, dried allspice berries, cloves, adjinomoto, salt, black pepper stir well and add cucumber and red onion. Make day before so all the flavors have infused.

I keep empty pickle jars and wash them well with hot water and vinegar and use this to store. This can be kept for quite some time just make sure that you only use a CLEAN PLASTIC spoon or fork to take them out of the jar or it will "curdle"!

*Ajinomoto is a Japanese brand name for MSG, monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer. Ac'cent is the primary U.S. brand name, and the Chinese version is called ve-tsin. Please be careful using this too much can cause heart failure if you are cooking for elderly or children under the age of 5 who have never had this in their diet DO NOT USE!!

Lazy red kidney beans stew

Okay this is one of my favorite lazy day recipes it is made with canned red kidney beans but pls feel free to pre-boil dry beans and use those!

1 large can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 onion
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tomatoes deseeded and chopped
1 pack of vegan "ground meat" about 180 to 200 grams (I use the kind made with mushrooms but the one made of soy will do just fine)
2 tablespoons of ketchup
black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
1tb spoon of brown sugar (or to taste)
1 tb spoon of aromat (or to taste)
1 Scotch Bonnet
2 tablespoons of evoo
Warm water
Add oil to the pot and heat, fry onions and garlic, add "minced meat" and fry for 4 minutes,add drained beans and bayleaves and fry for 3 more minutes, add tomatoes, brown sugar, black pepper, ketchup, stir well and add warm water just enough to cover, season with aromat, put on low heat and add WHOLE 1 Scotch Bonnet, let simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with rice, fried plantain and pickled cucumbers

If your family consists of large eaters make twice the amount! This is just right for my family of 4 (12 and 3 y.o.)

Homemade vegan pasta/pizza saus

• 3 tablespoons of evoo
• 2 zucchini's (in cubes)
• 1 onion chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 4 cans of tomato cubes
• 10 tablespoons of dried mixed Italian herbs (you can choose to buy fresh herbs I don't because the wilt before I can finish them)
• 1 tablespoons of brown sugar (you can add a bit more to taste)
• Aromat to taste (1,5 tablespoon)

This sauce I use as a basis for homemade pizza's or as pastasaus. this is enough for serving a family of 4 twice so half of it can go in the freezer.
Heat 2 tablespoons of evoo, add onions until "glassy" add garlic, dried Italian herbs and 1 tablespoon of evoo. On medium heat keep stirring until your kitchen smells like the herbs, add zucchini stir, lower heat put lid on and leave to simmer until zucchini is a little softer (not too soft!) add tomato cubes stir and add brown sugar and aromat to taste. Let simmer for about 10 minutes to allow all the flavors to infuse. Use staff mixer or blender to make into a smooth sauce or leave as is if your family likes chunks.
This is in no way a traditional italian recipe it is more like "pasta a la Chayil" :-D this recipe is to familytaste I try to use as little salt and sugar as possible so possibly you will need to add more to your family taste.
I don't know if aromat is available in America but I am sure there are simalar mixes available maybe from Goya?

Blogger craft club re-usable grocery bag

Last week I was much to tired to sew anything. This week I tried to make my very first tutorial for my dutch budgetting website. It had to be something simple, inexpensive and of good use. I decided on a re-usable grocery bag. I don't like grocery bags with short handles I love one that I can carry on my shoulder instead of killing my fingers.

This is the end result: I have to say I am quite proud of it :-D

Happy crafting everyone I am going to spend some time with my dh it's his b-day today!