Cream of Mushroom Soup

The more colourful your food the more nutrition it carries. This is something that we have been reading quite often these days. Dietitians and nutritionists advice of bringing more colour to our dinner table. So then how does mushroom make it to the kitchen and ultimately to our plates? Well, this is an exception. Mushrooms may be lacking the bright colours but is still packed with a whole lot of nutrition. The benefits of mushroom are many.

We all know that the sun is only source of vitamin D and this vitamin is vital for calcium absorption. We need not go into the benefits of calcium here. The only bother source of vitamin D is the egg yolk. Though a source of a vital vitamin the yolk cannot consumed in large quantities. And what about the vegans? They are completely dependent upon the sun for their daily dose of the D vitamin. This is where mushroom comes in to the rescue.

Mushroom is the only vegan source for vitamin D and that means that it holds a pretty important position in our diet. This exclusive property of the humble fungi is enough to make it a regular part of the diet.

Besides the important vitamin D mushrooms are also a good source of selenium, potassium, iron, copper, phosphorus and dietary fibre. They are also known to give the body an immunity boost.

So why not cook up a mushroom storm in the form of a creamy soup. But hold on, this soup though creamy, does not contain cream. The taste and aroma are splendid.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• Onion sliced - 1
• Mushrooms chopped - 200 gm
• Milk - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Olive oil - 2 tablespoons 
• Refined flour - 1 tablespoon 
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Pepper - 4 whole
• Salt as per taste 

Method:

Heat oil in a large, thick bottom dish. Add the bay leaf, pepper and cinnamon. Add the onion and cook till pink.
Add the mushrooms and cook till it gives off water.
Add the flour and cook further. The flour should not smell raw and the mix should look slightly thickening.
Add the milk and water and bring to a boil.
Allow to boil for approximately 10 minute.
Let the soup cool. We have not yet added the salt.
Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon.

When cool blend in a blender.
Put the vessel back on the fire and give the soup one final boil.
Turn off heat and add salt. Add freshly ground pepper and dry parsley or any other herb of your choice.

The herbs you add a matter of personal choice. You can even add finely chopped onion greens and parboiled carrots to give a bit of crunch to the soup.

I have also tried substituting the refined flour with a tablespoon or two of rolled oats. The results are equally good. 

Multigrain Digestive Biscuits

Every morning starts with a cup of tea and a couple of digestive biscuits. I find these biscuits to be light and just the perfect match for the morning cup. This is time when I do not like to eat much but at the same time have something to go with my tea. Tea alone does tend to cause problems with the digestive system.

Different brands have come up with their own versions of digestive biscuits and each one has its takers. I too stick to a particular brand but every glance at the ingredient list leaves me feeling confused and a little wary. Do I know what I am eating?

Since I am already into a bit of baking stuff trying out a digestive biscuit did interest me. I looked up quite a few recipes as well and finally came up with one of my own. These homemade multigrain biscuits are packed with the goodness of whole wheat, rice, oats and a touch of flax seeds. There are no additives and no such ingredient that I cannot pronounce or identify. 

And not to forget the sugar which is well within my control.

Using milk instead of water to knead the dough gives a boost to the nutrition quotient.

So let us make some super easy homemade digestive biscuits right away! With the given ingredient list you will get a rather small batch. You can multiply as per your need.

Ingredients:

·         Refined flour: ¼ cup

·         Whole wheat flour: ½ cup

·         Rolled oats: 2 tbsps

·         Rice flour: 1 tbsp

·         Flax seeds (roasted and ground): 1 tsp

·         Ghee: 3 tbsp

·         Sugar: ¼ cup

·         Salt: a small pinch

·         Baking powder: ½ tsp

·         Milk to kneed

Method:

In a large bowl, sieve together refined flour, whole wheat flour, rice flour, salt and baking powder.

Add the rolled oats and flax seed powder.

Add the ghee to the dry ingredients. Rub between hands to get a grainy texture.

When well mixed make a well in the center and pour a little milk. Start kneading.

Your dough should neither be too hard nor too soft. It will be a bit crumbly but that is fine.

Tear away a handful of dough and make a ball. Roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately one centimeter. Using a cookie cutter cut circles and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven as 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes. When done let them rest in the oven for a couple of minutes before removing the tray.

Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.  

Whole Wheat Chocolate Coffee Cake

Who does not love chocolate cake? Of course we all do but since long I have been thinking of making one with coffee. My first attempt was a disappointment since I followed a recipe that asked me to soak the cake in coffee syrup. Probably I went wrong somewhere and the coffee tasted pretty bitter in that form.

This time round I simply tried to play around with my chocolate cake recipe. And the results is rather good.  Like most of my cake recipes this one too contains whole wheat flour and vegetable oil. I have started using whole wheat ever since I decided to bake for Aseem. Children do love cakes and I could not see him have refined flour cakes all the time.

The reason I use vegetable oil in place of butter is that oil keeps the cake soft and moist, even when kept in the fridge. Unlike butter it does not become hard and retains its springy texture.

The sweetness of the cake may be bothersome for some as I use sugar less than regular cake recipes. In most cases a recipe calls for almost the same amount of sugar as flour. I keep it to half. Here I have made a small cake with half a cup of flour and one fourth cup of sugar. If you have a very sweet tooth you can easily increase the sugar quantity and get the desired sweetness.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – ½ cup

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Cinnamon powder -  a generous pinch (optional)

Unsweetened cocoa powder – 1 tbsp

Brown sugar – ¼ cup

Vegetable oil – 1/3 cup

Coffee granules – 1 heaped tsp

Eggs – 2 nos.

Walnuts crushed- 1 tablespoon (optional)

Method:

Prepare your cake tin. Either grease it or line it with parchment paper.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Dissolve the coffee granules in 2 tablespoons of hot water and set aside to cool.

Sieve the flour with the cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon powder.

Separate the eggs. Place egg whites in a large bowl. Add sugar and oil and whip well, for approximately 3 – 5 minutes.

Add the yolks one by one and continue whipping. Now set your mixer aside and grab a wooden spoon. Gradually add the flour-cocoa mixture to the egg mix. Do not bother to beat it well as we only need to fold it into the egg mix.

Once mixed, pour the batter into a prepared cake tin. Sprinkle the walnuts over the cake top. A cake of this size usually goes in to a six inch diameter tin.  Accordingly you can choose one for yourself.

Bake the cake in the pre-heated oven for around 40 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean. 

Relish this soft, yummy and guilt-free cake with a steaming hot cup of coffee!

Fabric envelopes

We need them for carrying important papers.

We need them to store those valuable hard copy data.

We need them to collect bills in one place.

If we look around our house or office we will find numerous items calling out to us to be stacked in an organized manner. These essential documents deserve folders and organizers. Allotting a folder to each one or each category of them will not only make things look neat and tidy but will also save us a lot of trouble hunting through stuff.

Now that the need for folders in established why not make these folders attractive? Let us move away from the store bought plastic ones and graduate to a fabric folder. A super simple DIY fabric folder!

You could use jute or burlap as I have done or go for any other thick material. Or you could use an interfacing to give a rather thin material some stiffness.

The folder that I have made is 15x10.5 inches in size. You can always make alterations as per your need. I needed it to carry some A4 size documents so this size. I may soon be making some in different sizes as well.

As I said this was an extremely easy DIY craft piece which hardly takes time to take shape. For the one mentioned here (the green polka dot folder) this is what you need:

Burlap or jute – 15 x 23

Fabric of choice for embellishment (for front) – 15 x 4

Piping fabric – you will need to measure the raw edges that require piping and prepare accordingly. Alternately you can use fabric tape which is bound to be a lot easier. Since I did not get that I went ahead and made the piping.

Self-adhesive Velcro – 2 pcs

Thread matching the fabric or burlap

A pair of scissors

And last but not the least a sewing machine.

How to make:

We have all made envelopes when we were kids and this is one of the simplest ways to do it. Take the burlap lengthwise and 9 inches from ones side fold it towards the middle.

Now take the other end and make a 4.5 inches fold towards the middle so that it overlaps the other folded end. Press well to make distinct fold marks. These overlapping parts form the back of the folder. Turn over to get the front portion.

Open up the fabric and align the embellishing fabric on the front portion. Stitch it in place. I have attached it towards the bottom.

Since edges look ragged attach the piping. Begin with the both breadth sides – the 15 inch sides.

Fold it back and stitch both the open sides so as to give it the shape of the folder or envelope. You basic product it ready. Now stitch or stick the fabric tape on the edges. Since you have already stitched the sides they will not open so sticking will be just fine.

All that remains to do is ensure that the folder keeps papers secured - so place the Velcro patches. One good way to do it would be to attach both sides to each other. Now peel off the patch and stick to one side. When well secured peel of the patch from the other piece and close the flap of the folder. The Velcro will stick to the other side in just the right place.

And in no time your DIY fabric folder is ready!!!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Almond Muffins

Almonds, we all know are a storehouse of nutrition. But which child likes to have them willingly? Not many that I know of. Yet all of us as mums always make efforts to include the wonder nut in our children’s diet. Trying to list down the benefits before them does not have much effect, especially if the child is a very picky and fussy eater. Besides, with tempting junk food all over the place who would want to go for ‘almonds’ of all things?

Let us recap the benefits of almonds which will once again rekindle our efforts to sneak in almonds in the diet in different forms.

Almonds contain vitamin E, vitamin B12, manganese, copper, magnesium, phosphorus and lots of fibre.

With almonds in one’s diet the risk of cardiovascular diseases are greatly reduced. They help lower ‘bad’ cholesterol LDL and the flavonoids in them protect the arteries from damage.

The presence of phosphorus helps build strong bones and teeth.

According to Ayurveda almond consumption can also be linked to better brain functioning and longevity.

Research is also on to check the benefits of almond consumption and reduced cancer risks.

These are just some of the advantages of consuming almonds but they are proof enough to include them in the family diet. Given here is a muffin recipe that not only uses almonds but is also made with whole wheat. The addition of chocolate overpowers the almond taste to a great extent and children may never know that they are having almonds.  

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – ½ cup

Roasted Almond meal – 2 level tbsp

Brown Sugar – ½ cup (can use less as sweetness is a matter of personal choice. I used a little less than ½ cup)

Egg – 2 large

Vegetable oil – ¼ cup

Unsweetened cocoa – 1 heaped tbsp

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Vanilla extract or essence – 1 tsp

Whole almonds – 3 slit in to 6 halves (optional)

Method:

Sieve the wheat flour, baking powder and cocoa. Set aside.

Line six muffin moulds with muffin liners.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Separate the eggs. Place the egg whites, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat well until soft peaks form.

Add the oil to the egg mix and beat again until well mixed and peaks formed. A good whipping here ensures that air has been well trapped to give a well risen muffin.

Add the egg yolk and beat again for about a minute.

Pour in half of the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. When mixed well pour in the other half and mix again. At this stage all you need to do is fold in the flours. No beating is required else the trapped air will escape.

Spoon the batter in to the lined muffin moulds filling just a little more than half full.

If you wish you can place a half of an almond on each muffin at this stage just before putting the tray in the oven.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes or till the top is dry and a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy it hot or cold. It could be with a beverage of your choice – milk or coffee and once again hot or cold.

These muffins make excellent snacks both at home as well as a carry along one. Place them in your child’s lunch box and rejoice at his beaming face.

Whole Wheat Banana Almond Choco Chip Muffins

Muffins! Did you say they are unhealthy? It’s time to give it a fresh thought; time to take control and turn these so called unhealthy foods into healthy ones. They make excellent snacks and can also serve as a good breakfast, both for adults and children alike. Pack in some healthy accompaniments and they can double up as good school lunches. Very filling, satisfying and healthy.

These muffins contain the much energising bananas. Whole wheat replaces refined flour and the addition of almond meal packs in the much required nutrition. In powdered form it is a good way to sneak in almonds for fussy children.

You will need:

Whole wheat flour – ½ cup

Roasted Almond meal – 1 tbsp

Brown Sugar – ½ cup (can use less as sweetness is a matter of personal choice. I used a little less than ½ cup)

Bananas – 2

Egg – 1 large

Vegetable oil – ¼ cup

Chocolate chips – ¼ cup

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Salt – a pinch

Vanilla extract or essence – 1 tsp

Make it:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Line six muffin moulds with muffin cups.

Sieve the wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Separate the egg. Place the egg white, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat well until soft peaks form.

Add the oil to the egg mix and beat some more till the oil is well incorporated. The beating at this stage is very important. The more air you trap in it the frothier your mix and fluffier your muffin.

Add the egg yolk and beat for a minute.

Now set your beater aside and pick up a wooden spoon. Pour in half of the wheat flour and half of the almond meal. Mix well. Add the remaining flours and mix again. You only need to fold in the flours so that they are mixed well. No beating is required here and make sure not to over mix.

Now it’s time to peel your bananas and mash them. You could do this at the preparation stage also but by the time you have to mix it in the batter they will change colour. If you wish to have the freshly mashed colour then do it now. Mash and mix it in the batter.

All that remains is the chocolate chips. Pour them into the batter and mix once again.

Spoon the batter in to the lined muffin moulds filling just a little more than half full.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes or till the top is dry and a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy it hot or cold.

Tongue Tingling Mint Chutney (Pudina Chutney)

Mint or pudina and raw mangoes bring with them the whiff of the summer air up north in India. The smell of the spicy and sour pudina chutney brings back memories of those long and lazy summer holidays. The hot and dry loo winds blowing outside and the noisy air coolers blowing full blast to keep the indoor temperatures as cool as possible. 

Pudina or Mint

Pudina is a very common herb in Indian kitchens and is long known for its innumerable health benefits. Pudina helps relieve indigestion, gives comfort in aches and pains, fights oral infections and cancer, brings about a glow to the skin, acts as a blood cleanser, eliminates toxins from the body, and combats bad breath. These were some of the most important and known benefits of pudina.

The other main ingredient in this mint chutney is raw mango which has its own set of benefits. Compared to its ripened form it has a richer quantity of antioxidants and vitamin C thereby improving the immunity and stamina of the body and protecting against cardiovascular diseases. Along with salt raw mangoes aid in preventing excess body water loss in the dry summer days.

The addition of jaggery as opposed to sugar not only enhances its taste but also adds on to its nutrition factor. It also brings about a good consistency to the whole mix and gives a good rich colour to the chutney.

Mint Chutney

The two spices, cumin and fenugreek, are in a rather insignificant amount but their taste can be well distinguished and cannot be done away with.

Chutneys are that little addition to every meal that instantly perk up the entire menu. They not only taste great but also enhance the entire food ensemble. They are rather easy to prepare and have a finger licking taste. Let us prepare the very spicy mint chutney.

Ingredients:

Ingredients

• Mint leaves –  ½ cup
• Green or Raw mango – 1 medium sized
• Jaggery – ¼ cup
• Cumin seeds (jeera) – 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds – one pinch
• Chilli (dry red or fresh green) – as per taste
• Salt – as per taste

Ready for grinding

Method:

- Wash the mint leaves.

- Peel and chop the raw mango.

- Cut jaggery in small pieces.

- Dry roast cumin, fenugreek and dry chilli (if using the red dry one).

- Add all ingredients to the mixer jar and grind to a smooth consistency. You should be able to grind the chutney without any extra water. However, if you need to, add a very small amount – a teaspoon or two.

Your fragrant and delectable chutney is ready in a jiffy!

Recycling boxes

The amount of waste we 'produce' day in and day out is piling up on the surface of the earth. If only we could reuse articles it would take off a great load. However, reusing stuff is often taken up as boring and ugly which is one reason why many things land up in the trash bin.

How about making 'reuse' a little exciting and more fun. This following bit of activity is a short and sweet one and in no time you can have two boring looking boxes transformed in to cute storage boxes. Can you guess what these two boxes originally contained?


A little bit of alteration, couple of articles and a torch and cookie box take up a completely different look. This is what you need - fabric, fabric glue (I did not have this then and hence used the normal PVA glue), scissors and a measuring tape.

• Cut off one side of the box to give you a long boat type container. 
• Measure the box and accordingly cut the desired fabric - one for the interior and one for the exterior. It is just like covering it with paper. A little bit of variation in measurement is allowed as you will be pasting it and not stitching.
• Apply glue on the exterior and stick the appropriate fabric.
• Next, apply glue on the interior and paste the other fabric. 
• There, your boxes are ready. 

Store whatever you wish to now:

Very Versatile Chocolate Syrup - Homemade

Modern day city living means getting everything from the store. It is one of the many 'luxuries' of living in a metro where homemade is becoming minimal and store bought is seen as a way of living. But how many of us take care to look at the ingredient list and then decide what to buy and what not to. Believe it or not, not many of us. Time is short and workload is immense. The best thing to do is land up at a super market and grab all necessary items.

Chocolate syrup was one thing I had always spotted at the store but the presence of preservatives, fructose and corn syrup always discouraged me from getting it home. It definitely gives an instant kick to all those desserts and making chocolate milk becomes super easy but I could not go ahead with it.

The day I came across this recipe for chocolate syrup I went for it. In the next half hour I was sipping my glass of chocolate milk with my very own homemade chocolate syrup. It is one of the simplest recipes and the results are amazing. Plus you have none of the unwanted stuff. It is just chocolate, sugar, vanilla, salt and water.

Today I finished making my second batch with a little less sugar than what the recipe mentions. After all the sweetness preference varies from person to person.

Here goes the recipe (courtesy www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com )

You will need:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1 1/4 cup brown sugar)
dash of salt
I cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Mix the cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan.
Add water and mix well. Take care to remove all lumps.
Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring regularly.
Allow to cook for another 1 minute.
Remove from fire and add the vanilla.

Allow the syrup to cool before pouring into a container. Store it in the refrigerator and use as per your wish. The possibilities are many. You can make chocolate milk both hot and cold; pour over ice creams, add to cold coffee, drizzle over brownies and the list will go on and on.

Chicken Junglee Salad

Children always tend to love food that is not homemade. Going with this habit Aseem seemed to just 'love' the Chicken Junglee Sandwich that he ate on board a flight. On tasting it I realized there was basically mayonnaise mixed with chicken shreds. I had to give it a try and soon came up with my very own version of it. It is a rather healthier version with lots more vegetables, less salt and with a crunchy edge.

This is a very simple recipe with minimal cooking (only the chicken has to be cooked) and very versatile. You can have it as is or use it as a filling for sandwiches and wraps.

Versatile Chicken Junglee Salad

Ingredients:

Chicken mince - 100 gms

Cucumber - 1 medium sized

Onion - 1 medium sized

Capsicum - 1 medium sized

Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp

Mayonnaise - 2 tbsp

Mustard sauce - 2 tsp

Crushed black  pepper

Coriander leaves chopped -  2 tbsp
Salt as per  taste


Method:

Place the chicken mince in a non-stick pan and set to cook on a slow flame. No, you need not add any oil. Add the salt, stir a bit and cover it. The chicken will soon give off its juices and you will notice a fair amount of liquid in the pan. Let it cook in the juice. Stir once in a while.

While the chicken in cooking wash all the vegetables and finely chop . Mix all vegetables, add the mustard sauce, mayonnaise, garlic powder, pepper,  coriander and salt. Cover and set aside in the fridge.

The chicken would still be cooking and will take some time for the water to dry up. Once the water has dried  stir the chicken and try to get rid of lumps. It will have a rather grainy texture. Let it cool down.

Once the chicken is cool transfer it to the vegetable-sauce bowl. Mix all the ingredients very well and return to the fridge. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or till it is fairly chilled.

Relish as desired.

Re-purposed Boxes

Creating things time and again always gives a satisfactory feeling and when it involves making use of waste material the joy is greater. Same happens with this piece of craft - if I may call it so.

Milk cartons are a regular and till now I had been throwing them away. One of those bright days when ideas dawn upon me I saw a good storage space option in these boxes. Fabric was available at hand and in no time waste was transformed to a dainty storage box.

Since there is no stitching involved this project hardly takes time to complete. The only time taking part is the measurement and cutting of the fabric. Once you have your fabric pieces in place then it is a joy-ride.


Store whatever you feel like. They hardly cost anything. In fact, the fabric used here are the ones I obtained at discounted rates. The vendor was left with the last one or two meters which he wanted to do away with quickly. He offered them at reduced rated I could not resist the offer.






Worked out pretty fine for me. Spare one hour in a day and this super quick craft activity will be done in no time.

Mobile Pouch

Since the last phone pouch I think I have gained a little more experience with my stitching. I got a new phone and that called for new phone pouch. This one had to be a little larger, in fact a lot larger than the last one. I wanted an extra pocket in which I could hide in a little money and keys as well. The results were not bad.

Mobile Phone Pouch

As is pouch is supposed to carry by phone it needed some cushion. There is an entire layer of foam in between the two layers of cloth. Vertical stitches are done all along to keep the fabric and foam together. As for the button it is only for decoration.

You see, I was in a bit of hurry to complete it and so went ahead and stuck Velcro patches. I had come across these adhesive patches in a store and could not resist buying them. I know the two black spots do look out of place but who has to look at them all the time. :)

T- shirt to Drawstring Bag

This was a project I had on my mind since a long time. Aseem outgrew this t-shirt but I would not let go of it. Somehow liked it a lot and wanted to re-use it.

T-shirt to Drawstring bag

Initially I thought of making a cushion cover out of it but finally settled on a drawstring bag.

Being a full-sleeve t-shirt I had ample material to give it extra storage options. I ripped open the seams of the sides and the sleeves. (This was the most difficult part of the job since the entire shirt had a serge stitch running all around.)

The front and back of the t-shirt formed the front and back of the bag. The sleeves formed the front and internal side-pocket. (see the two small pen caps peeping from the right side. they are in the pocket).

I did have the basic idea of a drawstring bag but the task of inserting storage space, especially the internal side-pocket, needed a bit of thinking. Besides, as is well known, practical on-the-job work is the best way to understand the task and this was exactly what happened here. As I continued the stitching the ideas kept coming in the pieces fell in place. What I had before me was a cute looking t-shirt looking even better as a re-furbished drawstring bag.

Envelope Pillow Cover

This is my first envelope pillow cover project and took me a little too long to complete it. But the result was rather satisfying.

It is for my son since his pillow is of an unusual size and hence not possible to get one in stores. But I guess it is much more satisfying to have one hand made pillow cover. Select your own fabric, colours of your choice and give is it a desires design. You can go for one with or without the frills.



I used different fabrics for the front and back to add a little more colour and to break the monotony of the print.  

Bolster pillow cover

The covers of my two bolster pillows had to be retired long back. The only reason I hung on to them was because I wanted to stitch my own covers rather than get ready made ones. Finally I get enough time to stitch the covers and here I have two brand new covers which give a new life to my pillows.

These were the simplest that I could come up as they were the first ones I was trying out. With the minimum material required the pillows have transformed from old and faded to bright and colourful. If you want to make it this is how you go about it. The measurements as per my pillow size which was 27 inches round and 32 inches long. You may need to alter it as per your pillow size.

You need:

Printed fabric – 20X30 inches

Plain fabric – 7.5X30 inches (2  pieces)

Matching thread

Laces – 40 inches approximately (2 pieces)

Make it:

Align the 30 inch edges of the plain fabric and printed fabric with wrong sides together. Both plain fabrics should be aligned on both ends as these will form the sides of the cover. Pin them in place. Leaving less than a  ½ inch space stitch both the sides. This is an optional step that I did to give the cover the clean look from the inside.

Turn the fabric over to get the right sides together. Press along the stitch to make a firm mark and fold.

Leave ½ inch of space and stich keeping right sides together.  If you do not want to go into so many steps you can simple place the right sides together in the first step itself and stitch leaving half and inch space.

Now fold along the four corners lengthwise. The fold should be just about a little over half a centimetre. Run a stitch along all these folds.

Make a slot along the open end of the plain  fabric to allow the lace to go through. To do this fold half a centimetre of the material and once again fold over keeping  just about an inch. To make stitching this part easy it would be a good idea to press all along.

Stitch on both sides.

All that remains is to give the cover its basic shape. Join the two length sides of fabric. Once again to give it a clean finish on the inside stitch along the length with wrong sides together. 

Turn the cover inside out to get the wrong side toward you. Press along the stitch and keeping a space of around an inch. Turn right side out.

Insert the lace into the slots and pull the cover over the bolsters. 

There you have a new looking boster.