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December 27th, 2010
I came across a request for submissions to a special seasonal Friday Club over at Notes from Home. The theme is ‘New Years Resolutions’.
Now, I’ve never really been one for New Years resolutions as such as I tend to make resolutions throughout the year on an ongoing basis. Only to break them within days. But I thought I might have another go this year as there’s SO much I could improve in my life….
1. I resolve to maintain my current level of interest in my new beech block wooden worktop. Since installation (2 weeks ago) I have religiously sanded and oiled the surface every other night like a good girl. Which I appreciate is necessary to preserve the look of said worktop ongoing, but which I also might get a teensy bit bored of, 2 weeks further down the line.
2. I resolve to take a deep breath and count to 10 BEFORE screaming/yelling like a banshee at my children. No matter what the provocation. Even if they have written over the walls / peed on the new sofa / sneaked a lemon drizzle cake into the teepee in their bedroom and scoffed half of it / flooded the bathroom floor (again).
3. I resolve to take a deep breath and count to 10 BEFORE rising to the bait that my husband lays in his so carefully worded traps. I resolve to then ignore said comment in the manner of a bison ignoring a swarm of pesky buzzing flies.
4. I resolve to first eat a piece of fruit if I feel hungry rather than reaching for a lump of chocolate / cake. This is going to be a tricky one, I’ve been trying it for a few weeks now and not doing so well. Blaming it on my baby bump can only continue for another three months (although after that I can blame breast-feeding, yippee).
5. I resolve to deal with left-over food immediately by either freezing it, binning it or actually using it up. As opposed to putting it in the fridge in a cling-film wrapped bowl, only to find it covered in mould two weeks later.
I was aiming for 10 New Years resolutions but somehow I think with the 5 I’ve got, I’ve got enough on my plate! Would love to hear any New Years resolutions you can share…
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Here’s what the rest of the Friday Club had to say:
Cass at The Diary of A Frugal Family thinks about resolutions in Happy New Year…..
Nova at Cherished By Me writes A New Year, New Goals?.
Domestic Goddesque writes Dear 2011: a letter to the year ahead.
Diary of a (Not So) Single Mum writes her New Years Resolutions.
Michelle at Mummy From The Heart posts about 2011 – What does the year hold?
Ghost Writer Mummy posts her resolutions at Part 1 Made to be Broken and Part 2 Made for Keeps.
Liz at Violet Posy writes about 2010 and her New Year Resolutions.
Adele at Monkeying Around posts her ideas for healthier, more organised monkeys.
Cartside at Mummy Do That posts her Hopeless Idealist’s plan for 2011.
Mum’s the Word posts about how to ensure a fresh start for the New Year.
Abby at Little Red Buttons posts her resolutions for the new year.
Tags: new years resolutions
Posted in Friday Club | 3 Comments »
December 21st, 2010
 Although I’ve got loads of chutneys, sugars and salts set aside I gave away my 3 jars of Apricot jam which just leaves me with raspberry jam and marmalade for my hampers.
This is a really, really last minute gift idea in that the ingredients aren’t seasonal and are readily available, although it’s a two day process but still really easy to make. So, with 4 days to go until Christmas, I’m going to make a batch of dried apricot jam to bulk up my christmas hampers.   This recipe is taken from Darina Allens ‘Forgotten Skills of Cooking’ which I can thoroughly recommend.
Ingredients
- 450g dried apricots
 - juice and zest of organic or unwaxed lemon
 - 1.8kg granulated sugar
 - 6 almonds, peeled and split
Method
• Chop the apricots into quarters and place in a bowl.
• Add the lemon zest and juice and 1.8litres of warm water.
• Cover and soak overnight.
• Next day, pre-heat your oven to 180c, then warm your sugar for about 15 minutes.
• Put the apricot mixture into a wide greased saucepan, then add the warm sugar.
• Heat gently and stir until all the warm sugar is dissolved.
• Increase the heat and boil rapidly for 20 – 30 minutes until setting point is reached. The almonds can be added half way through cooking to give a nutty flavour which is very yummy.
• To test for setting point, put a tsp of jam onto a plate which has been in the freezer and then pop in fridge for a few minutes. When you take it out of the fridge, see if it wrinkles when you touch it – if it has, you’ve reached setting point.
• Fill into sterilised pots (heated at 180c for 5 mins) cover and store.
 Have a fantastic Christmas & New Year everyone!
Tags: dried apricot jam, dried apricot jam recipe, home-made christmas gift ideas, home-made christmas ideas
Posted in Frugal Living, Home-made Gifts, Recipes | No Comments »
December 14th, 2010
Whether you call it Honeycomb, Cinder Toffee, Fairy Candy or Yellow Man, this is a great recipe to have tucked into your belt. On Sunday evening I realised that I needed to provide something for no1 sons school christmas party on Monday.
I’m enough of a food snob that I couldn’t bring myself to nip to Tesco’s for a packet of mince pies – and besides this was cheaper and I had all the ingredients in the cupboard!
I’ve made some more for the teachers pressies and it looks very pretty, but bear in mind that after a few days it gets a bit sticky so best made at the last minute. Not that this is a problem, it takes about 5 minutes to make and 2 hours cooling time.
I’ve tried a few different recipes but recently was watching Masterchef Australia and they had a couple of brilliant tips which I think make it fool-proof.
Ingredients
- 200g sugar
- 4 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
- A BIG saucepan
- A 2 litre pyrex bowl & greaseproof paper / silicone paper
Method
- Put the sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and mix together off the heat.
- Place on the hob and heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then heat for a further 4 or 5 minutes.
- While the sugar mixture is heating, line your pyrex bowl with either greaseproof paper or silicone paper
- As soon as the sugar starts to change colour at the sides of the pan, take it off the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
- The mixture will foam up, pour it into your lined bowl and leave to cool for 2 hours.
- Lift the set honeycomb out of the bowl and peel away the greaseproof paper / silicone paper.
- Place the honeycomb back in the bowl and break into shards (I used the end of a rolling pin).
You’ll be left with lots of shards and some honeycomb dust, which is fabulous stirred into melted chocolate or sprinkled on vanilla ice cream!
Tags: cinder toffee, cinder toffee recipe, honeycomb, honeycomb recipe
Posted in Frugal Living, Home-made Gifts, Recipes | 1 Comment »
December 9th, 2010
I spent yesterday morning making batches of lovely salts and sugars which make fantastic christmas gifts as they’re really easy to do, so I thought I’d share some of the recipes with you.
Vanilla Sugar
I can’t believe the price of vanilla sugar! It works out at more than £15 a kg which is outrageous given that you can buy 20 vanilla pods for £6, so a kilo of home-made vanilla sugar works out at about £2! It makes fantastic ice-cream and custard as you get to appreciate the pretty speckles of vanilla all through it.
Ingredients
1 kg granulated sugar
4 juicy vanilla pods
Method
- Put the granulated sugar into your food processor with the blade fitted.
- Split vanilla pods and scrape out seeds, add to food processor.
- Chop vanilla pods roughly and add to food processor.
- Blitz until fine.
Fennel and Lemon Salt
This lovely fennel and lemon salt is great with fish…
Ingredients
Coarse Sea Salt
Lemons – 1 lemon for every 100g salt
Fennel Seeds 1 tbs for every 100g salt
Method
- Peel Lemon rind with a potato peeler.
- Dry strips of rind in the oven at 160 c for 10 minutes
- Put salt and lemon rind into feed processor and blitz a little (not too much!)
- Add fennel seeds and bag / store in jar
Lemon & Chilli Salt
Use this to add a kick to just about anything!
Ingredients
1 lemon per 100g salt
2 dried chillies per 100g salt (or to taste!)
salt
Method
- Peel Lemon rind with a potato peeler.
- Dry strips of rind in the oven at 160 c for 10 minutes
- Put salt, lemon rind and whole dried chilli into feed processor and blitz a little (not too much!)
- Store in bag or jar
Tags: chilli lemon salt, fennel lemon salt, home-made gift, vanilla sugar recipe
Posted in Frugal Living, Home-made Gifts, Recipes | No Comments »
December 7th, 2010
No 2 son has become a fussy eater. He didn’t start out that way, and used to eat everything in front of him, but over the last 6 months since he turned 3, he’s become fussier and fussier.
We generally ignore it. He gets whatever everyone ielse is having and if he refuses to eat it, he gets nothing else until breakfast time. His big brother went through the same phase (which lasted about 2 years!) and now eats properly again. Hallelujah.
There are two foods guaranteed to be eaten at dinner time however, broccoli or potatoes. Chipped potatoes are preferable, but mashed, roast or boiled are also acceptable. He likes them unadorned with cheese or beans, just a bit of butter on the side is fine. No2 son would, in fact, eat potatoes for every meal apart from the fact that my concerns for his health and well being have so far dictated otherwise.
Until my husband sent me through this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11864290 about a US man who ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days, in an effort to prove that they are actually good for you. The gentleman in question is an executive director of the Washington State potato commission and was trying to debunk the myth that potatoes are bad for you. He got through 20 potatoes a day (!) and over the period he lost 18 pounds in weight.
Apparently potatoes are a good source of fibre, potassium and vitamin C, so great news for my fussy boy. In fact a bowl of mashed potato with full-fat milk would in fact be a relatively balanced diet as the milk would provide fatty acids, calcium and protein.
So if you’ve got a fussy potato eater like me, you can rest easy that their diet isn’t so unhealthy and just wait for them to outgrow their fussy habit….
Tags: fussy eating, fussy eating habits, potato only diet
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
December 3rd, 2010
I’m officially a grown-up, I’ve passed the milestone today and I can proudly declare myself to have put away childish things.
It wasn’t marriage, or the birth of any of my three lovely children which helped me pass this momentous milestone, nor even finding myself in an expectant state with no4.
This year, for the first time ever, instead of asking my Mum to make an extra Christmas pudding for me, I asked her to give me the recipe! How about that for daring? My Mum’s christmas pudding is fabulous, more pudding-y than fruity and much lighter and less dense than standard christmas pudding. Traditionally there isn’t any alcohol in the pudding itself, but it is served with as much brandy butter as you like which gives it a kick.
It’s really easy to make, and doesn’t have to be made a month in advance, in fact you could make it on Christmas Eve, no problems. If you do make it in advance as I have, it freezes really well, just cut each pudding into quarters, wrap in greaseproof paper and a bag and freeze individually. It can then be microwaved a portion at a time, meaning no hassle on Christmas Day.
I didn’t plan to made our Christmas Pudding in advance but used it to pass the time with eldest son as we were snowed in, so I’ve varied my Mum’s recipe. The ingredients list below shows what I actually used in brackets.
Ingredients
- 8oz brown sugar (I used 5oz dark brown and 3oz light brown sugar)
- 8oz butter (I used 5oz butter & 3oz margarine)
- 2oz plain flour
- 4oz grated apple
- 1/4 tsp mixed spice (I didn’t have any mixed spice so made the other spices heaped 1/4 tsps)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 beaten eggs
- 12oz sultanas / raisins (9 oz sultanas & raisins, 3oz dried apricot)
- 6oz breadcrumbs (I used brown, Mum uses white)
- pinch salt
- Orange or Lemon rind, grated
Method
- Cream butter/ marg and sugar together until fluffy.
- Add baking powder and spices to flour.
- Add alternating spoonfuls of flour/spice, egg and apple to the and mix, mixing them in well.
- Add the breadcrumbs, dried fruit and orange/lemon rind. Stir well.
- Place the mixture into a well-greased pudding bowl. I used a plastic one and as the pudding mix didn’t come right to the top I placed a layer of greased, greaseproof paper on top of the mix before I put the lid on. My Mum uses a pyrex bowl, but places two layers of greased, greaseproof paper on top and ties them on with string.
- Steam for several hours, making sure to keep your steamer well topped up with water. I took this to mean about three.
- Remove carefully from steamer, leave to cool, then remove carefully from cooking bowl. Serve or freeze as appropriate.
If you try this recipe, let me know, would love to hear what you think (and so would my Mum!)Â Mum, hope I’ve done your pudding justice!
Tags: christmas pudding recipe, light christmas pudding recipe, light plum duff recipe, plum duff recipe
Posted in Home-made Gifts, Recipes | No Comments »
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