Happy Easter Sunday

Hi Smites and a Happy Easter Sunday to you all.

I have spent the weekend so far helping my youngest son and his lovely partner move into their new home. As under 30's buying in Sydney (if you're not from Australia, you may not know that Sydney is the second most expensive real estate market in the world to buy into, right up there after Hong Kong at number 1), they have played an absolute blinder as we say here in Aus, and bought their first apartment. It's taken several years of saving every single penny the two of them earned to get their deposit, and we are so so proud of them, and so very happy to see them so happy.

And so our Easter weekend has been spent unpacking a kitchen, helping hang artwork, moving couches and putting together a bedframe. I even built an outdoor table, it had Allen key instructions and everything, I'm very pleased with myself 😂

Having built the outdoor furniture (and yes, it is structurally sound!) I thought I had better get back to doing the things I'm actually good at - making things pretty and feeding people. They had decided on chocolate brown and light blue as their bedroom decor, and although there is a quilt being made especially for them they know that they might wait a while for it, and luckily I had this one waiting in the wings, the perfect size and colours without even trying!

This quilt is called Sunday, I made it for my book Material Obsession Two. The pattern is available to pre-order here in either PDF or paper formats, and there's also an acrylic template to cut all those diamonds, and EPP papers for it if you like to do things that way coming soon. We like for you to have options :)

So that got the making things pretty out of the way for a moment, and I got on to the feeding. I thought I would share what I made for them for dinner last night, their first proper meal in their new home! We had a toast with a little glass of bubbles, and then a heart healthy dinner because Alyssa is watching her cholesterol at the moment (I know she's young for that - its a family issue). These burgers were absolutely delicious, very low in fat and very good for the old ticker! I would highly recommend whipping them up if you're scratching about for an easy and quick weekend family feast.

• 1tsp sumac

• 1tsp ground cumin

• 3 zucchini, grated and excess moisture squeezed out

• 1 carrot, grated

• 3 shallots (scallions) thinly sliced

• 2tbs minced flat leaf parsley

• 500g minced chicken breast

• 6 wholegrain bread rolls

• Store-bought Tatziki

• Baby rocket (arugala)

• Red sauerkraut

• Ripe avocado

Mix everything in the ingredient list down to the chicken mince together well in a large bowl, then shape into 6 equal patties. Cook on the BBQ hotplate - they're a little sticky, so make sure to spray a little oil first.

While the patties are cooking, warm the rolls in the oven so that they're nice and warm and crunchy.

To assemble the burger, spread one side of the bun with avocado and the other with tatziki. Place the patty into the bun, and top with rocket and sauerkraut.

I also made some chips by very thinly slicing a sweet potato and two beetroots on a mandolin, and spreading them out on baking trays. I sprayed the slices lightly with olive oil and then sprinkled them with more sumac and cumin, and a little salt. Bake in a 180C degree oven for 15 mins, turn, and bake for another 15. Watch them carefully because they do burn easily!

Aaaaand everyone needs some dessert afterwards... this is my current favourite. I usually serve these plums with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, but as we were being heart healthy I picked up some passionfruit and mango sorbet, and they will went pretty well (they're better with something creamy. Greek yoghurt also is delicious with them). If plums aren't in season where you are this also works well with any soft fruit - pears, peaches etc but the strawberries are a must! Strawberries and balsamic vinegar is a match made in heaven.

• 4 ripe plums

• 2 punnets of strawberries

• 2 tbs brown sugar

• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the sugar, spices and the wet ingredients together in a small bowl to make a rough slurry. Remove stones or cores and quarter the larger fruit, take the tops off the strawberries and cut them in half.

Place all the fruit on a baking tray with edges (there's juice afterwards!), then pour the slurry over the fruit and toss it all together well. Bake in a 180C oven for one hour. It's just as nice served room temp as it is served hot. Yummo... starting to regret leaving the leftovers for them yesterday.

OK I hope that gives you something to think about peeps, and I hope very much that your Easter weekend is lovely and relaxing, wether you celebrate or wether you're just enjoying the holiday. And no matter which it is, I hope you get some time for stitching! If you're looking for a new project, make sure and watch my Down the Rabbit Hole videos - last week, this week and next week, I'm taking about my Jazz Hands quilt and giving some little tutorials about making it using either EPP or hand piecing. Have fun - and don't eat all the chocolate at once!

Sarah x