In my three minutes of spare breathing time this morning, I jumped online and created one of my favourite things- an Etsy Treasury!

For those of you who haven't come across them before, Treasuries are beautiful, member-curated galleries celebrating the gorgeous things that are found on Etsy. Any member of Etsy can create one, and they're an absolute blast to do! Here's all the information to get you started if you're interested in making your own.

Meanwhile, here's the one I got to make! I chose to celebrate all the enchanting, evocative and magical vegan things that I've found on Etsy over time. Here's a preview:


You can click on it to make it larger and clearer, but to see it in its full glory, head here.

Have a great weekend- I hope to see some of you at the Thread Den or Shirt & Skirt Market on Sunday!

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Enchanting, Evocative, Magical Joy!

What do you get when you combine World Vegetarian Day with a whole group of Etsy craft fanatics?

Delicious recipes, handmade heaven, and stupendous savings, that's what!

As some of you may know, today is World Vegetarian Day- and it's also the start of World Vegetarian Month. My gorgeous EtsyVeg Team and I are celebrating with special sales and a collective sharing of vegetarian and vegan recipes on the web.

Today, I wanted to share with you a special recipe I learnt how to cook whilst living in Thailand- Gai Pat Met Mamua. It was taught to me by one of my favourite ladies of all time, Miss Ning, who looked after Sharon and I whilst we were living with her as though we were her own daughters. May the delicious flavours and scents of Miss Ning's food bring joy to your home also!

Preparation: 15 minutes ~ Cooking: 10 minutes ~ Serves: 4-6


INGREDIENTS
6 tablespoons Mushroom Sauce
2 tablespoons Medium-Hot Chilli Sauce
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Corn Flour
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
1 large Red Onion, chopped roughly
3 cloves of Garlic, skinned and crushed
1 large Carrot, sliced or julienned
2 cups of Mushrooms, sliced (Oyster, Shitake, and Straw Mushrooms are particularly good)
1 packet Firm Silken Tofu, sliced into chunks
3 medium Capsicums/Bell Peppers (one red, one yellow and one green), chopped roughly
1 cup of roasted/fried cashew nuts
1 cup of water
6 cups of steamed rice


METHOD
1. In a bowl, thoroughly mix Mushroom Sauce, Chilli Sauce, Brown Sugar and Corn Flour. Set aside.

2. Place Olive Oil, Onions and Garlic in a wok or a large frying pan and toss until the Onion and Garlic are translucent and a pale golden-brown.

3. Add a Tablespoon of water and the Carrots to the pan and continue tossing all the vegetables until the Carrots begin to soften.

4. Add the Mushrooms to the mix, and another tablespoon of water if the pan is dry. Cook until Mushrooms begin to shrink and turn brown.

5. Add Tofu and toss the mixture until the Tofu begins to brown.

6. Add another tablespoon of water and all of the Capsicums/Bell Peppers. Cook until the Peppers begin to soften.

7. Add a further tablespoon of water and pour in the Mushroom/Chilli sauce combination. Stir through thoroughly until all of the vegetables are coated.

8. Add cashew nuts and continue cooking for a further two minutes.

9. Remove from heat and serve over steamed rice.

10. Enjoy!


While you're munching away, you can head over to my handmade store, Pepperberry & Co., and my beautiful paper store, Papers By Pepperberry, where I'm celebrating World Vegetarian Day by offering 10% off all of my items from now until the end of this weekend (Sunday, 4th of October). Simply add 'World Veg Day' in the Message to Seller during checkout and I'll refund you via PayPal!

You can also head to the EtsyVeg blog for the yummy details of today's celebrations, including links to original recipes and a list of all the crafty shops offering great savings. Oh, and don't forget to hug every Vegetarian/Vegan you know and thank them for doing the world a favour!

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Miss Ning's Gai Pat Met Mamua

In the land of tomorrow that was thought of today but will not exist until yesterday, there was an ordinary tea cup called Mr. Teetally Tea Cup.

He lived in an ordinary house on an ordinary street with an ordinary little old lady, who had one magical secret...

She could cook extraordinary Magical Scones.

She would order her minions to gather her piles of wood and set her stove alight, making very sure it heated up to exactly 220 degrees Celcius, or 428 degrees Fahrenheit if they were travelling through the magnificent land of Ah-merr-icka.

The minions would then collect 3 cups of self-raising flour, 1 tablespoon of caster sugar, 1 cup of soy milk, and 80 grams of vegan butter, perfectly cubed; for if it was not, the ordinary lady in the ordinary house on the ordinary street would turn into an extraordinarily evil Queen of Hearts.

Once the ingredients were accumulated, the little old lady with the extraordinarily evil streak would snatch her broom and chase her minions wildly from the depths of her kitchen, as they could never be allowed to discover the Top Secret ingredient within her Magical Scones.

With a beastly cackle, she would combine the self-raising flour and caster sugar in a medium-sized bowl; using her fingertips, she would rub in the room-temperature vegan butter until the mixture resembled fine breadcrumbs. She added the soy milk all at once, and used a round-bladed knife to mix the flour and sugar together with a cutting motion. She would be sure not to over mix her mixture, but simply mix until it was mixed together evenly.

It was at this stage that she would add the most important and Top Secret ingredient of all... a potion of Love, Sweetness and Delirium.

The extraordinarily evil Queen would bring the dough together with her hands on a lightly floured surface and wickedly work it until it was smoother than the Cheshire Cat's smile. She then used her weapon of choice (an evil rolling pin) to roll out the dough to exactly 2cm thick, and once she had captured her 5cm pastry cutter, would cut out perfectly round circles before placing them on a baking tray exactly 1cm apart.

They would then go into her preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until the Magical Scones were golden brown on the top and sounded hollow when she tapped the bottom of one with her bony finger. To serve, she would drench them with lashings of vegan butter, rich strawberry jam and thick, whipped vegan cream.

One sunny Sunday in September, she was making her extraordinarily Magical Scones with her Top Secret ingredient in the ordinary kitchen of her ordinary house. Unbeknownst to her, she had accidentally left Mr. Teetally Tea Cup, the ordinary tea cup, in the room with her... and he overheard her entire Magical Scone recipe!

It was in that very moment that he knew he needed to escape, before the ordinary lady in the ordinary house discovered his presence and turned her wicked ways upon him. To escape, however, he needed one very special item... a Magical Beyond The Looking Glass Passport Cover.

He racked his small pink brain for hours, and in a moment of genius, knew where he could get one- from the bewitching world of Pepperberry & Co. To get there, he only needed to squeeze his eyes very tightly shut, poke his handle harder into his hip, and wiggle his nose five-and-a-half times. Within a second, the Magical Beyond The Looking Glass Passport Cover appeared inside him, and he was off! Flying through space in a whirlwind of madness and kitten toes.

When he landed, it was with a thump. Dizzy and slightly sore, he rubbed his eyes and looked up into the face of the most beautiful young girl. 'Hello,' she said kindly, 'my name is Alice'. She lifted him into her arms, and gave him the sweetest rub all over his little face; suddenly, he turned the brightest of bright pinks and a blinding sparkle began to shine from his newly-golden handle. He was no longer an ordinary tea cup- he was the extraordinarily pink Mr. Teetally Tea Cup!

He wandered down a green grass lane with Alice, towards a meadow of bright pink poppies. On the way, he began to think about the Magical Beyond The Looking Glass Passport Cover that had saved his life; now that he was safe as safe can be, he wanted to pass it on to one of the wonderful people who lived in the magical world of Pepperberry & Co. So, he decided that anyone who wanted to win his Magical Beyond The Looking Glass Passport Cover simply needed to become a Follower of the Pepperberry & Co. blog, and leave a comment describing the most magical journey they would want to take with its help.

Oh, and whatever happened to Alice and Mr. Teetally Tea Cup? Well, they found a thick, brown trunk made from oozing vegan chocolate, and there they lived together, eating Magical Scones full of Love, Sweetness and Delirium and living happily ever after.

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Why, There Is Magic In The Air...

I've recently noticed that every crafter I meet has a soft spot for gourmet food.

Instead of delving into the sociocultural reasonings for this, I thought I'd share with you a pesto recipe so delicious that it'll make your cheeks pink, and so quick that it'll leave you plenty of time to get on with your crafting.



WHAT YOU'LL NEED (feel free to take out the commentary)
-1 pot of fresh basil (you know, about a bowl full of fresh basil leaves)
-1 small tub of semi-dried tomatoes (approx 250gm- can you tell I make it up as I go?)
-1 packet of pine nuts (250gm- I only know because my packet tells me!)
-1/2 cup of olive oil (try not to dwell on the future heart disease)
-2 crushed cloves of garlic (mmm, smelly)
-Salt & Peppa (insert cheesy 80s song here)
-50gm of Feta (optional! I use vegan Kolios Feta- ask for it at your local continental deli)

WHAT TO DO
1. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a frying pan.
2. Place the basil, semi-dried tomatoes, crushed garlic, oil, salt, pepper and feta into a food processor and blend until you have a Slightly Chunky Paste (that's the Scientific Name for it)
3. Add the pine nuts and blend until they are broken up into small chunks. Don't over blend- you want your pesto to have some texture!

HOW TO SERVE IT
1. Heat it through pasta, then sprinkle chunks of Marinated Artichoke Hearts on top.
2. Smother a pizza base with it instead of using tomato paste.
3. Cover your veggies with it and pop them into the oven to roast.
4. Spread it as a base for delicious Bruschetta.
5. Please remember to remove all drool prior to serving. I sometimes forget.

Share, enjoy, then get back to crafting!

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P.S. Pics thanks to the ever-useful Stock.Xchng!

Mouth-Watering Pesto in Ten Minutes Flat!