The bag bit of the bag

• Iron the PJ trousers from the bottom up, about 18-20 inches up the legs.
• Measure the desired length of your bag, add about ¾ of an inch and cut – I measured against another bag I use, and found that about 15" makes a great length for shoes to go in a suitcase.
  
• You could just pin and sew across this newly cut open seam as is, but I chose to fold it down a slim margin – ⅜ of an inch, and pin
• Sew along the pinned seam to close up your new bag. I did a zig zag stitch, mostly because I had just done a cleaning and maintenance on my machine and I wanted to make sure everything was running well, but it is my go-to for a lot of projects, it has a little stretch to it, and I think it's generally a good choice, here I think it will combat fraying damage and along with the fold, give the bag a sturdier bottom seam. A standard, straightline, running stitch would work fine.
  
• Working on the open edge – find the vertical seams in the cuffs. There should be two – the inner seam and… well, the outer one… Using a seam riper or fine scissors, open these up only working below the hem, so that you don't split your bag, the point here is just to open the tube created by the cuffs. Depending on how the PJs were sewn, you may find that once you rip through the outer most seams, there's a second seam inside to get through.
  

Drawstrings

• Now you just need strings, I like a double drawstring. Folded in half, mine are about 2 inches longer than the bag is wide – here's how I did it:
• Cut ¾ inch strips from a t-shirt, mine was a men's medium, the loop measured 21 inches from seam to seam – so 42 inch circumference loop. I folded the shirt in 3rds and cut through the 6 layers of fabric in one go with my rotary cutter.
  
• Pull the strips to stretch them and curl the edges in on themselves, mine pulled out to about 26 inches long (52 inch circumference loop).
• Cut each seam, leaving you with 2 jersey knit "strings".
• Tie a slip knot in one end of one of the strips, thread a crochet hook through one side of the newly opened up drawstring tube, grab the loop of the slip knot and draw it through.

  If you don't have a crochet hook, you can tie a knot in the end and attach a large safety pin, you can then inch the safety pin along through the tube. Fish the safety pin and knot as far into the tube as you can, then, holding it in one hand through the fabric, bunch the tube up on the pin, then take the end of the pin in your other hand and pull the bunched fabric over it. Its hard to explain but a bit of a classic move. The crochet hook is quicker and less fiddly.
  
• Release the loop and thread the crochet hook through the other tube (from the other side, working towards the end with the loop in it), grab the slip knot, draw it through, and tie the ends together, I just used a simple overhand knot.
  
• If doing a double drawstring (c'mon you know you want to, it's a fancy bit of engineering and this has been an incredibly easy project) repeat those last two steps starting from the other side of the bag- this way you end up with a knot on each side. Having the knots on different sides isn't required, it just gives a nicer finish.

Prepare the dry mix:

• In a large bowl, or one gallon zip lock bag, combine oats, oat flour, brewers yeast, flour, flax meal, powdered milk (if using), chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, and chopped dates, give it a good mix.

  At this point you can seal up the bag or move the mix to a storage container until you're ready to bake. Be aware of the use by dates for the mixins. See notes for more.

On baking day:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C Fan) and set the oven rack to middle position.
• Put butter, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, barley malt extract, and vanilla extract in your stand mixer and mix on low speed to combine.

  Increase the speed to medium and beat until light in colour and soft, about 5 minutes. You'll really see how the colour has lightened when you scrape the bowl down from time to time.
• Lower speed and add the egg, scrape the bowl down from time to time, and bring the mixer speed back up to medium. Beat this mixture until the egg is thoroughly worked into the butter and sugar mix.
• Slow the mixer down again and add the dry mix. I don't dump it all in, but there's no need to do it in batches. Keep mixing for another minute or so until you don't see dry mix in the bowl.
• Scrape the bowl and get as much dough off the beaters or paddle as possible, bring the dough together and give is a quick knead in the bowl with your hand. Just a fold or two here to make sure there's no dry patches and to incorporate anything left in the bottom of the bowl.
• If you have time, or if the baby needs you just now – let the dough sit, covered, for 30 minutes or so, it'll help keep the cookies from drying out when they're baked.

Prep for baking and freezing:

• Portion out the dough into about 36-40 2TBSP balls of dough. Place a first batch on one or two baking sheets lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Flatten them out a little, and sprinkle each with a pinch of seasalt and a couple pieces of chocolate or extra dates, but really, the chocolate is the yummiest bit.

  Line a sheet pan that fits in your freezer with parchment paper and arrange the rest of the dough balls on it, don't be shy, these can touch. Pop the pan in the freezer for a couple hours or overnight and later, once they're frozen solid, move these to a ziplock bag. (probably not ideal, but there's harm, really, if you forget them there for days, we're all busy humans).
• Bake until the edges are lightly browned and the centers are still a little soft. 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. Rotate your cookie sheet about halfway through the bake, if baking 2 sheets, rotate the sheets and switch which rack they're on to help them bake evenly.
• Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a cooling rack.
• I find when they're freshly baked they have a nice almost carmelized crisped outside and are lovely and chewy inside, so I highly recommend eating one the day they're baked, let the others cool completely and transfer them to an airtight container.

Prepare frozen cookies for baking:

• Move a batch worth of dough balls from the freezer to the fridge to start to thaw overnight. In the morning, move them to the kitchen counter to let them thaw until you have 15 minutes to bake them.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C Fan) and set the oven rack to middle position.
• Just before baking them, put them on a plate and microwave in short 5-10 second bursts until they've softened up nicely, then prepare them on the baking sheet as above.

  (On parchment lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart gently flattened, sprinkled with sea salt and a couple small chocolate chips on top. Bake 10-12 minutes, rotate and reverse the baking sheet(s) halfway through.)

• Preheat oven to 325℉/ 160℃/ 140℃ Fan
• Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (optional but makes cleanup easy). Toss alllllllll the nuts on that.
• Toast nuts for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned stirring at about the 6 minute mark.

• Set the short crust dough out on the counter to warm up to room temperature while you prep the filling.

At any point in this process, go ahead and hard boil eggs, unless it's just after easter and you have a fridge full of them.

• Place 3 eggs in the bottom of a medium sauce pan, cover generously with cold water (try for an extra inch of water) and put it on high heat until the water comes to a boil. Cover the pot, remove it from the heat and set aa timer for 10 minutes. Put the eggs in cold water/an ice bath when time is up for about 5 minutes and peel.

For the rest of the filling:

• In a large skillet or sauté pan heat up the olive oil over medium high heat, add the onions first and shortly after the green onions (if using a shallot, then I add it and the onion together) once the onions are going translucent, add the garlic.
• When the garlic is fragrant add the red pepper and let it cook for 2-3 minutes until it's starting to soften up.
• Stir in the tomatoes, olives, and tuna, salt and pepper to taste.
• Bit by bit stir in the pimenton and ají molido – I use sweet or smoky pimenton and typically, for our family 1 tsp each gives it a good flavour and isn't seen as spicy. If you're using crushed red pepper instead of ají molido, tread lightly there as it is spicier than ají molido. Sauté for a few more minutes.
• Take the tuna mixture off the heat and set it aside to cool in the pan.

Prep the tart tin and crust

• Preheat the oven to 180° C Fan/ 200° C / 400° F.
• Butter and flour your tart tin.
• Split the short crust dough into two hunks weighing 300g and 200g each.
• On a lightly floured work surface, with a floured rolling pin, working around different angles, roll out the 300g portion as circular as possible, but don't be too fussy about it.
• Carefully roll the dough back it over the rolling pin and centering it over the tin, unroll it into place. Work the dough into the corners and any fluted edges with your fingers. It should completely line the tart tin with excess sticking up over the edge.
• Roll the second portion as circular as possible, and cut a vent hole in the center (I use a 1" cookie cuter, I have a ton in different shapes, sometimes I use a straw and cut a bunch of smaller holes.)

Finish up the filling and fill the tart tin

• Mix the cream cheese and 100g of the shredded mozzarella cheese into the filling. Gently fold in the chopped hard boiled eggs.
• If you're working ahead to bake tomorrow, this is where I'd pack the filling up and put it in the fridge.
• Whisk the raw egg, reserve ½ Tbsp of it in a small bowl, and mix the rest into the filling.
• Spoon the filling into the tart tin, level it out, and cover with the remaining 100g of shredded mozzarella cheese.
• Carefully move the second disk of dough to cover the tart, it's smart to place it so there's extra in parts where the bottom might not have quite as much. Seal the edges, I do a fold around the edge similar to cornish pasties and classic empanada rope repulgue. It's hard to put it into words, but start by pinching the top and bottom layers together and folding them in, towards the centre of the pie. Start the next by pinching at the end of the first fold and folding the dough over, pressing it into the tail of that first fold. Work your way all the way around the tart tin like this.
• Whisk ½ Tbsp milk into the whisked egg and brush over the top of the pie.
• Pop it in the oven for 25-35 minutes until the crust is golden brown and my sad repulgue job puffs up and looks half decent.

Prep the egg

• You may already know how to hard boil an egg, but this way prevents the dark layer from forming between the yolk and the white.

  Put the egg in a small sauce pan and cover by an extra inch with cold water. On high heat, bring the water to a boil. Once it's boiling, remove the pan from the stove, cover it and let stand for 10 minutes. While it's cooking, set up a small bowl with ice water, once the 10 minutes is up, move the egg over to the ice water for 5 more minutes. Peel the egg, discard the white (or use it for something else) and push the yolk through a fine strainer into small bowl.
• In your stand mixer, using the paddle, beat butter, granulated sugar, salt, and egg yolk from step 1, on medium speed until pale and fluffy, around 4 minutes, scraping the bowl when needed. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla, mixing until incorporated. With the mixer stopped; add flour and mix on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Using a spatula, press dough together just so you can easily remove it from the mixer.
• Transfer the dough to counter and weigh it. Using a bit of math, divide the dough into 3: 60% will be left un-dyed, 20% will be orange and 20% green, these are ballpark figures, it will depend on the size of your cookie cutters and your design.

  Roll and squish the white dough into a disk, firmly wrap it in cling film, and put it in the refrigerator.
  
• The chilling time between steps will be about 2 hours in the fridge or 45 minutes in the freezer, this will shorten depending on the shape and quantity of dough you're chilling, as the assembled dough logs get larger, they'll need more time to chill, as the coloured hunks of dough you're working with get smaller, they'll need less time to warm up to a workable consistency.
• As you work through assembly, remember: you'll want the dough you're adding to to be firm, and the dough you're adding to be warmer and more workable. After you finish any construction step, you can walk away if you need to and resume on another day, just tightly wrap the dough in cling film and return it to the fridge.

  Whenever the shape allows it, I wrap the dough in parchment paper before the cling film layer. I don't know why, I just do.
• Knead orange food colouring gel into the first smaller bit of dough, I don't like to knead it long if I can help it, so be a bit generous with your dye to start. I use tubes, and tend to flatten the dough or icing out and then put dots of food colouring, for something like this, I'll easily start with 20-30 dots and then add more if needed.

  Do the same with green and the other small of dough. work both colours as little as possible but get a rich and consistent colour.
• Mold the orange dough into a bar that's just about as thick as your cookie cutter is tall and as wide as your shape is tall. With these cookie cutters I go for just shy of 3cm thick so I can lift the cookie cutter back out of the bar.

  Since the stem will be a different colour, it doesn't need to be wide enough for the stem to also be cut. Tightly wrap this up and set it to chill.

  (I don't have the pumpkin handy for this photo – so we'll just pretend)
  
• About a half hour before you're ready for the next step, pull the green dough out of the fridge to warm up a little.

  You'll find as you work through the steps and there's less and less dough to add to the assembled cookie dough, it needs less time to warm up simply because there's less of it, something about volume and surface area, and ambient temperature… science.
• Using a cutter with a triangle shape or side (I used the bottom of a heart cookie cutter), or if you're brave, freehand with a knife, cut out a zig zag from one side of the orange bar – this will be filled in with green to make the stems and leaves on the pumpkins.
• Working with small bits of green, fill in the triangles you've just cut, point first. Be careful to not leave gaps, thoroughly fill the triangles. Once the green has mostly filled in the new cut outs, start adding green in bigger bits and build up the bar so it's big enough for your cookie cutter to cut the full shape.

  Gather the discarded orange together, wrap it and the orange and green bar up tightly and set aside in your chiller of choice.
  
• Once your orange and green bar is firm, pull it back out of the fridge or freezer, and onto the counter. Cut as many pumpkins as you can out of your bar, using your finger to push them out of the cutter. Once you have your pumpkins line them up one after another gently squishing them together to make a pumpkin shaped log. I make two logs around 5 inches long each. Working carefully so as not to mangle the shape, and smooth the seams over with your finger. If they get too soft, pop them back in the fridge to firm up and then resume work on this step. Once assembled into two pumpkin shaped logs, wrap them up and send them back to the chiller.
  
• Peel or cut apart the remaining orange and green as best you can – don't worry about being perfect. Wrap the leftover dough up and guess what? Pop it in the fridge or freezer. This will be used for the outer edge of the cookie.
  
• About 30 minutes (assuming you're using the fridge, not the freezer) before you bring out the pumpkins logs, get the white dough out to let it warm up to be workable.
• Once firm, get the pumpkin logs out of the chiller and immediate set to work creating the "white space" around the pumpkins. Starting with the small details and spaces, the bit at the bottom of the pumpkin and around the stem, start filling in the logs with the white dough. I do this by rolling thin snakes and pressing them into place. Once the shape is rounded out to a log, roll the remaining white dough into a rectangle and wrap it around the log. You may have a little scrap left that isn't worth rolling out and adding to the log. Wrap it, chill it. It may come in handy. Wrap up your pumpkin log(s) and back to the chiller.
  
• This is it… the final decoration layer. Get out all your scrap dough about 10-15 minutes before your pumpkin cookie logs and once ready to work with, roll the orange and green into snakes – medium sized and and as long as your cookie logs. Line them up one next to the other, and roll them flat across the snakes mostly. You're looking to get a rectangle that will wrap around the logs. Heres where the scrap of white comes into play – you may find it's just what you need to get a big enough rectangle. Dye it however you like to finish off the pattern. Don't worry if you couldn't fully separate the green from the orange after you cut pumpkins, this will be sliced into cookies, you won't really notice if the outer edge was swirly or stripey.
  
• Set your oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°C/160° C fan. Prep 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Working with 1 dough log at a time, leaving the other in the chiller to stay firm, slice ¼ inch thick rounds with a sharp knife and space them about an inch apart on the baking sheet. They will spread slightly while baking, but not much.

  At this point, sometimes I press big (seriously, small rock sized) grains of black decoration sugar in for eyes, nose etc.
  
• Bake cookies until the centers add a bit of golden brown to the pumpkin's orange, and the edges are slightly darker than centers, about 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets around the 7 minute mark.

  Because of the colouring in the decoration, it's hard to go by colour, the time is pretty dead on for the oven temperature, so you'll take colour and time into account to decide when they're "done".

  When you pull the cookies from the oven, you can press cake decorations into them for the eyes (I used some gold stars we had left over from a birthday cake project for eyes).

  Leave your cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  

• Reserving the olive oil for last, put everything but the leaf in a lidded jar or bottle that holds at least 2 cups of liquid.
• Nestle in the bay leaf so it's covered, and set it in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. Once it's settled a little, check it to be sure that there's at least a fine layer of oil over all the herbs.
• Chimichurri can get a bit solid in the fridge, so pull the jar out of the fridge about a half hour before using it, to bring it back to room temperature, stir it from time to time to help it warm up.
• The first time you use it, give it a taste, and add a bit more salt or adjust however you like if needed.

Make the cake

• Set the oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C/160°C fan. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans, set a circle of parchment in the bottom and grease it and a bit of the sides again for extra measure and tap flour in the pan to cover the base and at least ½ inch up the sides.
• Whisk together milk, egg whites, and vanilla in an easy to pour from container (I like a medium sized bowl with a pour spout). Using stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until they are combined.
• Add 12 tablespoons butter, 1 piece at a time, and mix for about a minute until the largest sized pieces are about pea-sized. Add half of the milky egg white mix and increase speed to medium-high. Beat the batter until it's light and fluffy, this will take another 1 minute or so. Slow the mixer down to medium-low, add remaining milk and egg mixture, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. The batter will look curdled, this is good. Give it a stir by hand for good measure to check the batter's consistency.
• Measure ¾ cup (180ml) of batter into two bowls and add and whisk in gel food dye to reach the colour desired. You'll see white flecks in the batter, the final colour of this layer will be the color you see BETWEEN the white flecks, so watch that and don't worry about the white bits.
  
• Pour each batch of coloured batter into its own prepared cake pan. Tilt the pan to cover the whole bottom evenly with batter, give it a wee shoogle (shake) and tap it, level, on the counter once or twice to remove air bubbles. Pop the cake pans in the oven and bake, swapping and rotating them halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (it's really thin, so go at an angle) or the top has the beginnings of a light golden color, about 10-15 minutes.
• Leave the layers to cool in their pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Slip a knife around the edge of each the cake layer and remove them from the pans, peel back the parchment and discard (I used a reusable parchment disc- in that case – wash and dry it for the next layer!). Let the layers cool completely on a cooling rack, they're nice and thin so this won't take long.
• Repeat steps 4-6, measuring the batter, dying and baking it, with the remaining batter. You'll get 7 layers.

Prepare the construction icing… (⅔ of the batch)

• The very first thing you should do here, before getting out any other ingredients is cut up the butter (100g of it for this batch) and set it out to soften, then move on to melting the chocolate.
• Put 200g (4¾ oz) of the white chocolate in a bowl over a small pot of simmering water, the water should not touch the bowl and it should be just simmering, it'll heat up further once the bowl's been on it for a little bit and you don't want to overheat the chocolate. I like to use a glass bowl and a rubber spatula so I can watch below for boiling.

  If it starts to boil, take the bowl off, lower the heat and stir the chocolate while waiting for the water to cool back down to a simmer, then replace the bowl on top of the pot if further melting is required.
• Stir the chocolate as it melts and remove the bowl from the heat while there are still visible lumps, keep stirring until the last of the lumps melt and the chocolate is smooth, you can move it back and forth over the hot water if the last of the lumps are a bit stubborn, set this aside to cool and thicken while you gather up the other ingredients and start making the icing.
• NOW gather up and prep the other ingredients.
• Using your mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk together 100g (3.5 oz) butter and 150g (5 oz) cream cheese until soft and fluffy, the colour should be uniform and there should be no lumps of butter. If you're seeing lumps of butter, it's not softened enough, you may need to let it sit for a while longer and come back to whisk further.
• Add 200g (7 oz) of the icing sugar and whisk to fully combine.
• Add 2 tsp vanilla and 200g (7 oz) icing sugar and whisk until fully or nearly fully combined.
• Add your cool-to-warm melted white chocolate – if it's still hot, hold off for a bit, you don't want it further melting the butter. Whisk until it's fully combined. Sometimes it's smooth at this point, because it's still a little warm and not ready to be worked, sometimes it's fully combined, but looks a bit rough, almost like it breaks apart when the whisk passes rather than stretches, this because it's cooled down enough to start assembling the cake.
• If needed, transfer to the fridge for 10-20 minutes until it's cooled and spreadable.

  If it's gone too cold, you can put the mixer bowl into a larger bowl of warm (not hot – just warm to the touch) water to help gently warm it back up.

Assemble the cake

• Spread a fine layer of icing in the middle of your cake platter and set your first layer of cake (I suggest running the rainbow in reverse – so working from bottom to top: pink, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). You can put a few bits of parchment under the edges of the cake covering the platter edges to protect it from stray icing. Spread a thin coat of icing over the pink layer and set the purple layer. Continue through all the layers covering each with enough icing to cover it. Cover the top layer and then work the icing down the sides to cover. Refridgerate about 15 minutes until the frosting is set, or set it aside at room temperature (I left it out for a couple hours).
  

Make up the top coat of icing (the remaining ⅓ batch)

• Repeat the icing process, with the remaining ingredients – here's the quick version:
• Melt 100g (3½ oz) of white chocolate in a glass bowl over a sauce pan with just simmering water. Stir as it melts, remove from heat and keep stirring when there are still lumps in the chocolate, stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Whisk 50g (1¾ oz) butter and 75g (2.5oz) cream cheese until uniform and "fluffy" in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
• Add 100g (3½ oz) icing sugar and whisk to combine.
• Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 100g (3½ oz) sugar and whisk to combine. If you want to dye this layer of icing, now's a good time, remembering that after the chocolate goes in, the color will be a little lighter, and once that happens, you can always go darker, but getting lighter means making more icing.
• Add your now cool/warm melted white chocolate and whisk to fully combine, adjust colour if you're colouring this batch of icing. If it's spreadable now, you're good to go, if it's still a little too warm, you can cool it down to spreadable in about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
• Spread this last batch over the entire cake to your preferred finish and decorate as you like. Ours was an "Under the Sea" scene, so the icing was swirly like waves and we added decorations made of white fondant dyed with food colouring gel, and cut with cookie cutters.
  

• Put all the ingredients in either your blender jar, or I just used a 2 cup measuring cup and an emersion blender.
• blend away until smooth
• serve. nom.

• Each vegetable is going into the food processor, it's important to process them separately because some are firmer than others. With that in mind, chop each into somewhat uniform hunks your food processor will handle.
• Process each vegetable (type) one at a time, adding it to your big bowl. I enjoy watching the layers build a rainbow here.
• Add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix all the ingredients, cover, and chill. I let it rest at least a few hours if not overnight.

• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/Fan 160°C. Set rack to the middle position and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour the decorating sugar onto a plate for later.
• Mix and sift (or whisk) the flour, cornmeal, corn flour, baking powder, and salt together, in a bowl, set aside.
• Cream the shortening and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the almond milk, zest, berry powder and vanilla.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bit by bit and mix on medium speed, stopping to scrape the bowl from time to time. Continue to mix until it forms a soft, workable dough. If crumbly, check to see if it comes together when pressed. If not, add a splash of almond milk at a time and mix until thee dough becomes workable.
• Working with 1 full-to-heaping tablespoon of dough (~30g) at a time, roll into a ball and press to about ½ inch thick into the decorating sugar, if using, careful to just coat one side. Arrange on the baking sheet, sugar side up, about 1-2 inches apart.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet when half done. They shouldn't get more than lightly golden around the edges – if they start to brown at all.
• Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for at least 2 minutes, the bottoms will still be soft at this point, you will doubt they are done, but they will firm up as they cool. Move to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Store in an air tight container.

• Slice your tomato(es) in half and grate into a bowl, down as close as you can to the skin (I use the big holes on our box grater). If your tomato(es) are watery, spoon out the extra liquid.
• Add garlic, olive oil and salt. Give it a good mix and taste. Adjust salt to taste
• Slice bread and toast (toasting = optional but recommended).
• Bonus step – thinly slice some manchego cheese (if using) – I use a cheese plane.
• Serve as-is, with a spoon for the tomato and a cheese plane to cut more manchego and assemble slices of tomato bread as you eat.

To assemble

• Spread a spoonful or two on slice of bread or toast
• Top with cheese
• Nom.