How to Style your Dining Table for Spring

Hi all and welcome back to The Tea Cozy Kitchen. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. March is upon us and that means spring is right around the corner, hopefully! The sun has even made an appearance where I live, it's still freezing but at least it's showing it's face reminding us that it will be back soon. In light of this, I was inspired by Arhaus to share my spring tablescape ideas. So, today I will be showing you a couple of ways to style your dining table for spring. The dining table is the heart of the home in my opinion, well, it is in my house anyway. Decisions are made there, serious discussions had, laughs aplenty and of course delicious grub consumed, so it makes sense that we would want to dress this area a little for spring, bringing the colour into the home before it officially makes its debut outside. And with Easter on it's way there will surely be lots of family feasts and lunches to let your new tablescaping skills run wild.

Cue a lot of yellow daffodils (i'm obsessed with daffodils at the moment)...

I set my table up for a spring afternoon tea as this would be a great idea for Mother's Day or even Easter Sunday. Can you tell that I really love dressing my table and hosting foodie gatherings?

I love old teapots filled with fresh flowers, set on cake stands. You can have just one like in the picture or three on different heights of cake stands as an amazing centrepiece! I love this vintage china teapot that I found in a Charity shop. It even featured on tables at my wedding.

I really feel that tin cans are totally underrated. There are so many ways you can recycle them and they are completely FREE! I love them styled with ribbons and flowers and placed on stacks of vintage books!

Pretty glass jars can be recycled as well into cute little vases!

Spring is the perfect time to get out all your floral china to lend a little pop of colour to your table. Teacups and milk jugs can also act as mini vases when filled with fresh blooms.

Brightly coloured tablecloths are also a good way of brightening up a dark wood table for spring. Here I used a vintage floral tablecloth with a natural table runner from IKEA over the top. You only get a little of the floral pattern on either side of the table runner so it's not too much or too clashy!

I also like the idea of recycling old milk bottles with flowers and ribbons to dress the table. I'm all about recycling!

Another way of updating your dining area if you've got a wee bit of money to do so (unlike me!) you could invest in a new dining table or a new tableware set.  Arhaus have an amazing selection of dining tables and some beautiful tableware collections. I think when it comes to dining tables something big (if you have space for it) and light in colour is nice for spring, so you can entertain your whole family at once and have a lovely light coloured table with pops of bright florals. Here are some of my favourite dining tables...

Zinc Alloy Rectangle Table with Weldon Base

Pietro Dining Table in Bleached Oak

I would absolutely love this one, would be absolutely perfect with my house!

Copper Verdigris Rectangle Table with Weldon Base

Here are some of my favourite tableware sets...

Avignon White Dinnerware

Avignon Octagon Aqua Dinnerware

Oh be still my beating heart, these two colours would work perfectly together on my dream table above for a wonderful spring table scene.

If you would like any more inspiration, check out my Pinterest page, The Tea Cozy Kitchen, I have a whole board dedicated to my spring tablescape inspiration. I hope you enjoyed this post, it was something a little different for me. I would love to know any of your tips for decorating your spring tables, please do share them in the comments below. Thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

Favourite Foodie Christmas Presents

Hello everyone, it's finally Friday, woop woop! Who's got that Friday feeling? I certainly have, I'm looking forward to a weekend of winter walks, getting organised and of course, tasty food and drink. We are having spaghetti for dinner tonight and I'm scarily excited (pasta fiends put your hands up!!). Today I have a long overdue Christmas gift post, I got so many lovely presents that I definitely didn't deserve, it was so hard to choose some favourites. But, I decided to pick a few of my favourite food and drink gifts.

Hotel Chocolat Cocoa nibs

I'm sure you have seen me using these in different dishes in my January posts. I absolutely love them, they give that chocolate flavour with a crunch and reduced sugar which is fab post Christmas. I use them on top of yoghurt, porridge and even in baking. I had never tried these before now and am so glad I got them as I will definitely be repurchasing.

Hario V60 Coffee Maker

This was actually a present I got for my husband, Sean. He's a big coffee lover and has many different ways of making coffee. Little did I know that I would enjoy this present as much as him. It uses a pour over method of making coffee which is super simple and even more tasty. Definitely an investment if you are into your coffee, it's quite inexpensive too compared to other coffee production methods.

Eden Mill Gin

My husband and I love a G+T at the weekend and this was a Gin that we had never tried before. It comes form St. Andrews in Scotland and is really delicious. Also, I really love the bottle, I kind of can't wait till it's done and I can put some pretty flowers in there.

 Tesco Clementine Honey and Oat Shortbread

Firstly I love the tin, again I can't wait to put some flowers in there and secondly these biscuits are truly amazing and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. The flavours are so subtle in these but they taste nothing like any shortbread you have ever tasted. I think they would be lovely crumbled on top of a chocolatey dessert.

Rice Cooker

This was a gift from my parents. This has revolutionised the way I cook rice, so simple and the rice is perfect every time. A great investment for the kitchen if you eat a lot of chillis, burritos, curries and stir-frys like us! It's also great for steaming vegetables but I haven't tried this yet, I still have that to look forward to!

Co Couture Chocolate

As you know, I am a chocoholic and let me just say that this chocolate is amazing!! It's from a local chocolatier to us in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We received a couple of bags of these mini chocolate bars, raspberry and white chocolate and salted caramel. They are so delicious and well worth a try if you are ever in Belfast. I love that they were only made down the road.

And there you have a few of my favourite foodie Christmas gifts. There were so many more but these were the top few (for this read the only ones we hadn't eaten yet, ha!). Did you get any yummy Christmas gifts? I would love to know! Also, have you tried any of these tasty treats? Thank you so much for reading, I will be back with another post soon,

Rachael xx.

What I Eat in a Day 8

 Hello and Merry Christmas from Portstewart in Northern Ireland. I'm staying with my family in my family home over the Christmas holidays, yay! I'm so looking forward to all the yummy food! How are your Christmas plans shaping up? Today I have a what I eat in a day post and it's slightly different as I am in a different home with different foods, also slightly more pricey ingredients which is always fun! I'm still trying to eat relatively healthy, as I don't want to be feeling yucky over Christmas, I tend to feel like that when I go all out on rich fatty foods. So on with the days yumminess...

BREAKFAST

Lizzie's Granola, Greek yoghurt, strawberries, blueberries, a teaspoon of honey and a glass of apple juice.

This was such a yummy breakfast and a great start to the day! A good few portions of fruit and it kept me full for a while! I never buy Lizzies Granola as it is quite expensive but my parents love it as it has a higher protein content and lower sugar so is pretty healthy (it tastes delicious too). I also had a teaspoon of fancy honey which was so delicious! See what I mean about the pricier ingredients.

MORNING SNACK

A flat white with a slice of Carrot Cake

I was helping my sister finish her Christmas shopping in our local town so naturally we had to pop in to my favourite coffee shop EVER. It's called Lost and Found and is in Coleraine in Northern Ireland. It's AMAZING! The décor is very industrial and the staff are so nice, not to mention the amazing buns, coffee, breakfasts and brunches. Yum yum! I had a flat white and a slice of their carrot cake, it was so scrummy! I always feel like the test of a good coffee shop is how good it's carrot cake is, this one did not disappoint. If you are ever in Northern Ireland you must check it out :).

LUNCH

Two slices of wheaten bread with cream cheese, cured ham and a handful of grapes.

Bit of a random lunch, we had a smorgasbord of delicious grub. I will still kind of full from my cake so just had a light lunch. I love the combo of ham, cheese and grapes, it's so yummy. I also had to have my obligatory slices of wheaten bread, I love the stuff.

DINNER

Stuffed Baked Pasta Rolls and a big salad (not pictured).

Not the most attractive picture, sorry! I was definitely more intent upon eating this rather than photographing it. I first made this for dinner last week for my husband and I, it was so good, I made it again this week. The pasta rolls are stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, chicken and ricotta and baked with a tomato sauce and parmesan cheese on top. It is delicious and the perfect comfort food with a big salad and a (big!)glass of red wine!

And that was me (plus, a lot of Christmas chocolate, not pictured! ha!). Hope everyone is eating some yummy festive food and enjoying as much as they can the festive season thus far! I will be back soon with another post! Thanks for reading,

Rachael xx.

5 Homemade Gift Ideas

Hello! It's officially less than a week to Christmas now, yay!! I'm heading up to my parents house this afternoon for the week, i'm so excited, it's the first time in about 5 years that I will be able to spend so much time at home over Christmas, yay! Hubby will be joining me later on in the week as he still has work (booo!), so I have a few days of girly fun with my sisters! Coffee will be drank, cake will be eaten, Christmas movies will be watched and I will have many cuddles with the cute pups. This is also why I will not be posting a meal plan this week. In light of it being so close to Christmas and you probably have all your Christmas shopping done (right?!) I have brought you a post today of my favourite easy and quick home-made gift ideas. These have all been featured on the blog throughout the years and are all perfect for gift giving. So let's get on with the show...

CHILLI JAM

I love chilli jam it is such a great gift to give especially around Christmas time. It goes perfectly with leftover cold meats and cheeses, so it will definitely get used in all those cheeseboards. It's also great to use as a marinade for cooking meats or in stir-frys. You can find my favourite recipe here. Nigella also has a really good recipe in her Nigella Christmas Recipe book. Without fail, I make this jam every Christmas, I even made it for wedding favours at my wedding. It's a great one to start now as it can keep for a good month, meaning you can focus on more important things like cooking that turkey.

CANDYCANE CHOCOLATE BARK

Chocolate bark is probably the easiest thing in the world to make and looks fantastic. This one is particularly easy, this is a great gift to give kids or to get them to help make to keep them occupied over the holidays. You can find my recipe here. The bark looks great bashed up into a random shapes and popped in little sweetie bags tied up with ribbon. This is also a good one to make now as it can keep pretty well.

PEANUT BUTTER DOUBLE CHOCOLATE GRANOLA

A slightly more practical option, this would be great to make if you were going to stay with someone over the holidays. On Christmas morning you could produce a big batch of this to feed everyone, yum yum! It tastes delicious and looks pretty good, to make it even more festive you could add in some festive sprinkles. How cute would that look? This would also be a good recipe to make for hampers. You can find my recipe here.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING OREO TRUFFLES

These truffles always go down a treat! You try and have one but you just can't stop! They look so cute and are so tasty, they are perfect with a wee cup of coffee in the afternoon or after dinner. They are so easy to make and keep for about a week in the fridge so they could also be rustled up now and would be ready to gift at Christmas. These would also be great as festive party favours. I love making these as they look much more impressive than they actually are to make. Here's how I make them. Go on give'em a go and your family and friends will be well impressed.

TEALIGHT CANDLE HOLDER

Not an edible gift but a cute one none the less. These tea light holders are so easy to make and are very versatile, they can be changed up for every season or person. For Christmas gifts, you could put stars, antlers, snowmen or anything festive really. You could even spell out merry Christmas for a mantle piece or table display. The light they give of is so subtle, and is perfect for hygge-ish winter evenings. Your friends and family will be really impressed that you made something so cute out of recycled materials. Find out how I made them here. Crafted presents are great to receive as you know the person has put so much time, effort and thought into making them for you!

Well, there you have it, five great home-made gifts that are both easy, inexpensive and tasty/cute that your family and friends will love this Christmas. Do let me know if you give any of these a try this holiday season. Also, I would really love to know what you are making as gifts this year, I'm always looking for new ideas :). I've already made a HUGE batch of the chilli jam but I think I will also be making a big batch of the truffles this week and maybe some chocolate bark. You really can't go wrong with lots of chocolate at Christmas :). I will be back soon with another what I eat in a day post which will probably feature a lot of yummy festive grub.Thank you so much for reading and I hope you are having a wonderful festive season thus far!

Rachael xx.

Oreo Christmas Pudding Truffles

Hello again everyone! Its Friday, yay!! How's everyone feeling coming up to the last weekend before Christmas? The last opportunity to buy presents, anyone stressing? Hope not! I'm back today with a great festive treat that makes the perfect (last minute) edible Christmas gift! They only take about 40mins and taste absolutely scrumptious, you need to be careful you don't eat them all yourself (I definitely could be guilty of this)! Oreo truffles, i'm sure you have heard of them, everyone has their own way of doing them, today i'm going to share with you my very easy recipe!

Ingredients

2 packets of oreos, I used one double stuff and one normal packet (I also ate 2 biscuits, oops)

1tsp of vanilla extract

200g dark chocolate, chopped

50g white chocolate, chopped
150g of cream cheese

festive sprinkles

Method

1. Use a food processor to blend up the oreos into a fine crumb and empty the crumbs into a large bowl.

2. Add the cream cheese and vanilla to the bowl and mix until fully combined.

3. Line a baking sheet or plate with baking paper. Roll the mix into truffle sized balls. My mix made about 20 truffles but you could make more by making them slightly smaller. Cool in the fridge for about 20mins.

4. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.

5. After the truffles have cooled, roll each one in the dark chocolate to coat and put the tray of truffles back in the fridge for another 10mins.

6. Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate gently in the microwave in 5 second bursts.

7. When the chocolate coated truffles have cooled and the chocolate has hardened drop a dollop of white chocolate on the top of each one. Try and let the white chocolate drip down the sides just like a Christmas pudding.

8. Add your festive sprinkles, I found these Christmas tree and bauble sprinkles that I made to look like holly but anything similar will do! And finally pop in the fridge for 10mins until ready to scoff, gift or serve. These will need to be kept in the fridge until you are ready to give them as a gift as they have cream cheese in them so I wouldn't make them too far in advance!

A really easy recipe, wouldn't you agree? A great one to get the kids involved, they would love mixing the truffles, rolling them into balls and topping with the festive sprinkles! Go on and give them a go, even just to munch on yourself whilst watching Elf (my plan for tonight, wild Friday I know!). If you have any questions, just ask in the comments below. I hope you enjoy making and eating these cuties just as much as I do. I will be back again soon with another tasty post, thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

What I Eat in a Day 7

Hello again and welcome back to the Tea Cozy Kitchen! I hope you are well and are all organised for Christmas and not stressing too much, tis the season to be jolly after all! I got all my presents wrapped this morning, so I feel like i'm winning at life at the moment. Today I've got my what I eat in a day post for you, I love these posts! I like to look back on them and get ideas for what to eat! Yesterday, when I woke up I was feeling a little under the weather, I had a sore throat and head and feeling generally grumpy! The weather outside was so dark and rainy outside too which definitely didn't help perk me up! I also had a slightly reduced appetite yesterday so I ate a little less than usual (don't worry i'm making up for it today!).

BREAKFAST

 Fruit salad of 3 clementines and an apple

As I said I wasn't feeling great when I woke up so I just had quite a light breakfast and tried to get some valuable vitamins in to help me feel a little better! This was lovely for breakfast, nice and light and fresh, perfect for when you're feeling a bit yucky.

LUNCH

 Bowl of Parsnip and Stilton soup and a slice of wheaten bread

This soup is amazing and the perfect comfort food for when you are feeling a little ill. This is my chicken soup remedy. I made a big batch of this soup yesterday for the freezer so was able to have a big bowl for my lunch. If you fancy making this soup too, you can find the recipe here. It's perfect when served with some wheaten bread or I thought a cranberry and cheese toastie would also work well. I definitely felt a lot better after getting this in me. There's nothing like a thick, creamy, warming soup when your feeling poorly and freezing!

AFTERNOON SNACK

 A Large coffee and two home-made double chocolate cookies

By the afternoon I needed a pick me up. It was so dark outside my body clock wanted me to sleep. And what better way to enjoy coffee than with some yummy cookies. These worked a treat and perked me right up! I was also really cold so the coffee helped keep me warm and toasty! This cookie recipe is a new one I hadn't tried before from James Morton's 'How Baking Works' recipe book. You might remember him from the Great British Bake Off. The cookies were absolutely perfect, I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe. They were perfectly crunchy and chewy, just the way I like em. If your keen on baking or know someone who is, this book is fantastic, I would really recommend it!

DINNER

Salmon and Spinach Frittata with steamed Green Veg

Dinner was this delicious frittata from the Tesco food magazine! We both decided that it tasted very festive with the cream cheese and the smoked salmon. This was such a tasty dish and was so easy to make. And of course I had to up the veg factor with a mountain of steamed peas and broccoli. This really was just the perfect mid-week meal. I can't recommend the Tesco magazine enough for recipes, it's just fab!

That's everything I ate on a day where I felt pretty poorly! I still managed to eat good meals, you can tell I really love my food! After dinner we just settled down to watch lost and drink peppermint tea, a lovely relaxed evening. Also, we are nearly on season 3 of lost and can I just say I love Sawyer, that is all! Thanks so much for reading, I will be back soon with another foodie post,

Rachael xx.

Parsnip and Stilton Soup

Hello! Not too long now until Christmas, only a week and a bit! Is everyone excited? Is everyone prepared? If not, don't worry I come bearing some Christmas cheer in the form of this delicious and easy parsnip and stilton soup recipe. As I've said before on the blog, I have been loving soup this season, it's just so warm, comforting and such a tasty way of getting the veggies in! I've been experimenting with different recipes and have decided that this is one of my favourites. This soup is perfect for a Christmas lunch starter or using up any veg and cheese leftovers after the holidays! It's so warming, comforting and kind of healthy ( well compared to other Christmas grub!). 

This recipe makes enough for about 4 bowls of soup and can be easily doubled for a Christmas starter or for storing in the freezer for a rainy day.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped

6 Parsnips, peeled and chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 vegetable stock cube

100g stilton

300ml double cream

a good knob of butter

Method

1. Put onions in a saucepan on a low heat with a good knob of butter and a pinch of salt (stops the onions browning). Sweat until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10mins.

2. Crush in the garlic and stir for about a minute.

3. Chuck in the chopped parsnip and the stock cube and fill with boiling water until just covering the parsnips.

4. Bring the pan to the boil and leave to simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15minutes.

5. Turn off the heat and blend the soup until smooth. It will be quite thick at this stage but don't worry.

6. Stir in the cream. This should loosen the soup but if it's still a bit thick add a wee bit more boiling water.

7. Crumble in the stilton, reserving a little to top the bowls with.

8. Taste and season to perfection.

9. Serve up and devour with some lovely crusty bread for dunking or a cheese and cranberry toastie, yum!!

 You can just see my Christmas Tree creeping in there!

And there you have it, an easy, delicious and festive soup recipe to impress everyone over the holidays. You could swap the parsnip for broccoli or just add broccoli into the recipe, that would be delicious also. Or you could fry some pancetta until it's crispy to pop on the top, oh my I wish I had done that now! Hope you like this recipe, let me know if you give it a try! Also, I would love to know what your favourite soups are? I will be back tomorrow with another what I eat in a day post! I'm away now to devour a huge bowl of this soup that has been calling my name! Thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

How to make a Festive Wreath

Hello everyone and welcome back to a very festive and crafty Tea Cozy Kitchen! Today's post is going to be a crafty one. I'm going to share with you how I made my Christmas wreath for absolutely no moneys, nada, zilch, FREE! I always love festive wreaths but I find that every year they just get more and more expensive,  they just end up dying anyway. So, this year I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my very own unique wreath. Anything that can make Christmas that wee bit cheaper is a win in my book. Let me tell you, it was so easy and only took up about an hour of my time (you can probably tell from the look of mine, it's a tad shoddy! ha!).

First things first, the main reason that this was free is that I just foraged in my garden for foliage that I could use. I was going to go to a forest but chickened out as I thought it could be considered stealing from nature ( I know i'm paranoid!). But if you're braver than me ( let's face it you probably are) then by all means forage for branches and foliage etc. in your local forest.  Just be careful you're not stealing from other people's gardens! Also, let me just say I am no expert, this is just how it worked for me!

The best kind of foliage for making a wreath is some sort of bendy branches to make the shape, bushy but bendy foliage, like pine to fill it out, ivy to wrap around the wreath and hold it together and pretty decorative plants like, holly, eucalyptus or in my case, dying hydrangea. Other decorative items like pine cones, berries, bows, dried fruit and ornaments are also a good idea. I wanted to keep my wreath quite simple and traditional  (for this, read FREE!) so I just used whatever I could find in the house, these ribbons were from last Christmas. I think mine looks very Victorian (for some reason best known to myself!). I love the colours in the hydrangea and how it ties in so well with the ribbon.

Here's what you will need:

A wire hanger

Green thread or string

Your foraged foliage and decorations

Here's what to do:

1. Bend your hanger into a circular shape and attach both ends together so it forms a wire loop.

2. Bend your bendy leafless branches around the hanger so it holds the shape. You might need to do about two or three layers round the wire until the shape feels sturdy.

3. Slot your pine branches in between the bendy branches to your preferred fullness. Don't worry if it's a bit messy we will neaten it up at the next stage. I think it's probably a good idea to go fuller than you might think here.

4. Wrap green thread around the shape two or three times, pulling in any stray pine branches and neatening the wreath.

5. Tuck your ivy branch into a secure spot and wrap around the wreath a couple of times, attaching the end of the ivy branch securely. This also helps to neaten up the wreath AND ivy leaves are pretty! You might want to another layer of thread here if the wreath feels a bit loose or untidy.

6. Slot your more decorative plants in your desired spots, making sure that they are neat, secure and you can see them well.

7. Attach your bow and any other decorative pieces and hang on your front door! There you go, a pretty festive wreath for free! Ta-da!

There's still time if you fancy making a wreath before Christmas, it's the perfect thing to greet people as they arrive to your house for festive celebrations. If you have made a wreath before please let me know any hints and tips that helped you as I will definitely be doing this again next year! Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below! I really enjoyed making this wreath, even if it isn't the prettiest, I love it because I made it (and it was free!). You could even get your friends round and have a wreath making night with festive drinks, that would be so much fun! I will be back soon with another foodie related post and maybe even a sneaky recipe! As always, thanks for reading,

Rachael xx.