Chicken Pasta With Avocado

This is one of my favourite lunch recipes. Great for taking to work or on a picnic. It's also a good way to use left over cooked chicken from your Sunday roast. 

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (you can also use leftover cooked chicken)

150g penne pasta

Cherry tomatoes

Cucumber

Small tin of sweetcorn

Cheese (any hard cheese you like)

Avocado

1tsp honey

2tsp whole grain mustard

Mayonnaise 

Salt

Pepper

Method

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook in the oven on 180°c (gas mark 4) for about 35 minutes. 

While the chicken is in the oven cook the pasta then drain. Set aside the chicken and pasta to cool.

Chop the cherry tomatoes in half, slice the cumcumber, dice the avocado* and throw it all into a large bowl. Cut the cheese into chunks ( I used white cheddar ) and add this to the mix.

Next drain the sweetcorn and put into the bowl along with a few tablespoons of mayo and the honey and mustard. 

Add the cold chicken and pasta and mix all the ingredients together. Serve with salad leaves and enjoy. 

*if saving the pasta it is best to add the avocado the same day as you are going to eat it. 

Crochet Mandala For Yarndale 2014

Yarndale is described as a "creative festival celebrating all things wooly and wonderful". Held in Skipton 27th and28th September the festival is a place to purchase yarny goodies, be inspired and chat to other yarnoholics. 

There are more details on the website http://yarndale.co.uk/

Lucy of the wonderful attic24 is collecting Mandalas to create an amazing display at the Yarndale festival. The information is on her blog http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2014/05/mandalas-for-yarndale.html

The idea for mandalas came from the famous cycle race Tour De France. Here is my contribution for this spectalicular display. 

I have used Dk cotton and a 4mm hook. I picked three pale colours, cream, pistachio green and peach. Two bright shades of, yellow and coral and finally a lovely vibrant indigo purple to create contrast. Towards the end of the project I decided the mandala needed brightening up a bit more so I added a round in a gorgeous tangerine colour. I think it worked well. 

 

Here we go with the first few rounds...

I love the bullion stitch, it creates a wonderful texture and looks like mini tornados of yarn. Although quite time consuming and fiddly it's well worth the effort. 

I wanted to create the spokes on a bicycle wheel in keeping with the Tour De France theme. I used the indigo here so the pattern really stands out. 

This is the finished result. The design was to be no more than 8 inches. Mine measures right on the mark. I enjoyed doing this so much I could have carried on until it was the size of a real bycicle wheel but I managed to resist.

Next I steam blocked my creation by putting my iron on it's lowest setting and hovering it over the mandala and letting the steam do it's job. Then I used white PVA glue mixed two parts glue to one part water and painted it on the back of the design. When dry it creates an amazing effect. The mandala keeps its beautiful round shape and is stiffened to make it easier to hang. 

This is a great technique to use to make projects display ready. 

And hey presto my completed crocheted mandala all ready to go on it's exciting adventure to Yarndale!

Crochet Bird Pattern

Here is the pattern for my crochet bird hanging. I love birds and I wanted a fairly simple way to crochet them. I came up with design after many trials and undoing and redoing. So here is the final result. It is written in UK crochet terms. I hope you can all understand my way of writing it out and that my spelling is all correct (3 children later and my brain doesn't seem to work as it did). 

                        

YOU WILL NEED

Dk yarn ( I used Stylecraft Special Dk)

Yarn A lilac

Yarn B turquoise 

Yarn C yellow

Yarn D magenta

Yarn E plum

A 4mm (US G/6) hook

A 3.5mm (US E/4) hook

Polyester stuffing or leftover scraps of yarn

2 beads or buttons

STITCHES AND ABREVIATIONS USED

Ch - chain

Fc - foundation chain

Ss - slip stitch

Dc - double crochet

Htr - half double crochet

Tr - treble crochet

Dtr - double treble crochet

Dc2tog - dc two together

St- stitch

Sts - stitches

Rnd - round

Magic ring

The bird is made using rounds and rows. 

CROCHET BIRD BODY (make 2)

Using yarn A Ch 15

Rnd 1: Dc in 2nd ch from hook, dc 2, htr 3, tr 4, dtr 3, 6 dtr into last ch. do not turn but work on the underside of the fc. 

                                      

Dtr 3, tr 4, htr 3, dc 3, join with a ss into first dc. 

(32 sts)

                                       

If using another colour for the body join now. 

Rnd 2: ch 1, dc 2, htr 3, tr 6,  2 tr in next 2 st, ( tr1, htr1) in next st, 2 htr in next 5 sts, (htr 1, tr 1) in next st, 2 tr in next 2 sts, tr 6, htr 3, dc 2. 

Join with ss in first dc. Fasten off. 

(44 sts)

                                       

WINGS (make 2 although the ending of each is slightly different)

                          

Using yarn B Ch 9

Dc in 2nd ch from hook. Dc 1, htr 2, tr 3, 5 tr in last ch. 

Do not turn but worn on the under side of fc. 

Tr3, htr 2, dc2, 

Ending of front wing: Ch 1, dc in first dc. 

(21 stitches)

fasten off leaving long tail.

Ending of back wing: Dc in same st 

( 20 sts)

fasten off leaving long tail.

HEAD (make 2 ) ch 2 counts as a htr

 

Using yarn A make a magic ring

                                   

Rnd 1: ch 2, htr 9 into ring. Ss in 2nd ch of ch 2. Pull ring tight. 

(10 htr)

Rnd 2: ch 2, htr in same st.  2htr in each st around. Ss into 2nd ch of ch 2.

Fasten off leaving a long tail (20 htr) 

        

 

TAIL (make 2 although the ending of each is slightly different)

Use yarn B

Front

Ch 12

Tr in 5th ch from hook. 2 tr in same st, htr in next 7 sts. Fasten off leaving long tail. 

(10 sts)

Back

Ch 10

Htr in 3rd ch from hook. Htr in next 6 sts, 3 tr in last st. Fasten off. 

(10 sts)

                         

BEAK

Use 3.5mm hook and yarn D

Ch 3

Row1:Dc in 2nd ch from hook dc.  Turn

Row 2: Ch1, dc2tog, ch 1. Fasten of leaving long tail. 

        

MAKING UP

Sew one wing onto the front and one wing onto the back of the body using the long tail. 

                                    

Place the fat end of the wing next to the ch with the 6dtr from rnd 1 of body as shown in the picture. 

                                   

The other end of the wing should be nearly touching the edge of the body as shown in the picture. 

Sew the tails on the body positioning as shown in the picture. (Make sure you use the correct tail for front and back, remember they are different)

        

Sew the beak onto the inside of one of the heads. 

                                     

Sew eyes on the front and back heads.  I have used small glass beads to give my bird a bright eyed look but they look equally as good with black beads or little buttons. 

                                     

Sew head onto body.

Pin the bodies together and position the front and back heads overlapping the edge of the body slightly on both sides. Using the long tail sew in place going the the thickness of all four layers (2 heads, 2 bodies) This creates a more defined neck when stuffing the bird. 

                                     

The bird should now look like this. 

         

EDGING 

Using yarn D ss in first st to right of beak. Dc in next 2 sts. 

                                      

Now working thru thickness of front and back, dc in each st around to the end of the tail. 

                                      

Dc in st and end of tail, ch 3, dc in same st. This creates a point.  

                                     

       

Dc in each st around until you reach 6 sts before the head join. Use this gap to lightly stuff the body and neck. You can use the hook to help push the stuffing in. 

                                      

Dc in each st around to beg ss. Ss in the first dc, ch 1. Now work behind the beak and dc in the remaining stitches, ss into the next dc. Fasten off. (This part was difficult to explain. Hopefully you can tell from the picture how it should look)

                                     

HANGER

Using yarn E ch 50. Fasten off leaving long tail. Sew the ch onto the bird just behind the neck to create a hanging loop. 

                                     

TA DAH!!! One little bird ready to brighten up your life. You can use different colours or yarns to get a different look. Here are some ideas. 

                                      

Crochet love birds pattern coming soon.....

                             I hope you enjoyed this pattern. Hopefully it reads well and correct.

                                                    Please feel free to ask any questions.

                                                                

                     You may use this pattern for personal use only and not for commercial gain. 

                                                                 THANK YOU

 

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Crochet bird

I've designed this little bird. I'm going to write out the pattern and experiment using different colours and yarns