Monday 24 September 2012

Menu Plan 24/09/12

MONDAY - Homemade lamb burgers, homemade coleslaw and chips. Rice pudding

TUESDAY - Roast chicken, mash, Yorkshire puddings, carrots, cabbage, broccoli & stuffing

WEDNESDAY - Chicken kiev, salad, homemade coleslaw & jacket potatoes

THURSDAY - Spaghetti bolognese & homemade garlic bread

FRIDAY - Pork chops, roasted vegetables and wedges

SATURDAY - Chicken korma, rice and naan bread

SUNDAY - Freezer leftovers. Freezer needs defrosting so it's grab whatever to clear it out

Back in my wellies for dog walks now. Days like today I just want to potter around the house and cook hearty warming food. So this morning I made a lovely big pot of spicy butternut squash soup which I had a bowl of for lunch and it was lovely and spicy due to me chucking in an extra chilli. Homemade lamb burgers for tea and a good old rib sticking rice pudding with homemade plum jam, sooo good. I made a batch of cheese and bacon scones for daughter No3 to have for lunches at school.

CHEESE & SMOKEY BACON SCONES

4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
150g SR flour
sprinkle salt & pepper
25g marg
75g cheddar cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp milk

Set oven 220C or Gas7
Grill the bacon until just starting to crisp, cool.
In a bowl mix flour & seasonings then rub in marg.
Stir in bacon & cheese, saving some cheese to sprinkle on top.
Mix in egg & milk and form into a dough.
Form into a circle flatten to about 3/4 inch in thickness and cut into quarters.


Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes.


Saturday 22 September 2012

Glorious morning

What a glorious mornings drive I had home from work this morning. The sun was dazzling me as I drove (which I hate) but it was such a lovely morning. I then spotted them. Hot air balloons which looked like they were heading towards my village. I arrived home and grabbed the dog and my camera and hurried out to take the dog for his walk in the open fields hoping to get a glimpse of the balloons. Just as I got to the field I heard a loud noise and just saw one of the balloons land behind a row of trees. To be honest , I think they had abandoned the flight and landed because they were very near an electric pylon and I don't think they were high enough to fly over it. Two other balloons continued with their flights.



It was lovely watching them fly by. We go to the Bristol Balloon Festival whenever we have an holiday down south because we really like hot air balloons. On of my life ambitions is to fly in an hot air balloon.

The other day I didn't have time to tell you about my buys in the charity shop on Thursday. This week I got Nigellas Christmas book  for £2.00. Now I have wanted this book for years and I have borrowed it from the library in the past and even added it to my Christmas list for this year. Can take it off my Christmas list now and add another book instead.

I also bought the loose bottom baking tin for 99p I'm increasing my baking tin collection due to getting more interested in baking with watching The Great British Bake Off.

Off to chill out in a warm cosy living room with a glass of red on this chilly autumn evening. Have a lovely weekend x 

Tuesday 18 September 2012

I bought some NEW clothes!

Welcome to my two new followers. You are very welcome.

Well today I had to bite the bullet and buy some new clothes. Over the weekend I decided to have a sort out of my wardrobe and pack away the summer clothes and bring out the autumn/winter clothes. I have lost 2 stone over the last 5 months and on trying the warmer clothes they were all falling off me. I ended up with a sack load of clothes to take to the charity shop. Whilst ironing yesterday my finger went through a lacy part of a top I really like to wear so that's gone. The top I'm wearing today will go in the rag bag when I take it off tonight as it's got 4 holes at the front. I think it  got caught on my belt buckle. So my poor wardrobe has depleted to a very sorry looking  wardrobe.

I usually live in second hand clothes from the charity shop but I have not seen anything over the last few weeks I really liked in the charity shop to replace my clothes. We have a clothing budget, which is not a large amount, but my daughters seem to end up using this budget each month. Not this month I have spent it all! Felt odd buying all my new clothes this morning but it was a necessity. It won't be happening again for quite a while.

Just loving the lovely autumn days we are having this week. It's been lovely on my walks with Sherlock.
Sherlock loves his walk by the carrot fields. He always digs up one or two carrots to chomp on. I picked another bag of blackberries to add to my stash in the freezer. Should have enough soon to make my jam.

Right, better get on with making dinner. Have to leave for work at 7.00pm as we have a staff meeting before our shift starts. Hate it when we have a meeting. It makes it such a long night. Roll on 7.00am 
 

Monday 17 September 2012

Freebies

Mother-in-law did a boot sale yesterday with my daughter No2. Mother-in-law had two boxes of plants to sell but sold none. I was offered any of the plants for my garden so choose this box full.



So now I have to find some time this week to get this lot in the garden. Couldn't say no to a load of free plants now, could I? Mother-in-law also gave me a whopper overgrown courgette so a large pan of soup was made with it today. I always make this recipe when I have a lot of courgettes


COURGETTE SOUP

1kg courgettes, chopped
2 veg stock cubes dissolved in 400ml water
pinch ground nutmeg
600ml milk
salt & pepper

Really simple, put courgette, stock and nutmeg in a pan and cook until tender. Add the milk then blend until smooth and warm soup through. Season well.

I got 5 large portions of soup and have put two in the freezer for next weeks lunches. the rest are for this week. You could thicken the soup a little more with the addition of a potato but I'm trying to keep calories low at the moment.

I've had a lovely day just pottering around the house doing chores and cooking. My kind of day. I've made bread, soup and pasta sauce and picked lots of lovely runner beans from my garden and a small bag of blackberries on my walk with the dog this afternoon. Everyday I pick a few berries here and there and take them home, wash them then freeze until I have enough to make jam. Love autumn but don't want it to get colder because that means I'll have to close the back door and I hate it when it's time for that. I just love the doors and windows open letting in the fresh air.

Thank you to all who welcomed me back. Lovely to hear from you all
Karen x 

Sunday 16 September 2012

She creeps quietly back...

... and hopes she's still got a follower or two left. Three and a half months of silence from me; why? I don't know really. I just felt like I had nothing interesting or exciting to blog about to keep anyone interested, so I had a break from blogland for a while. I kept having a look each week at all my fave blogs and even added some new ones to follow. Then after a day of reading others blogs I got the urge to do mine again. So here I am, hoping to get back into blogging and reading your blogs on a regular basis.

What have I been up to in my absence then? Not a lot really. No summer holiday this year which was a bummer as we had nothing to look forward to and it did make the summer drag. Summer! What's that? My veg garden has done terrible this year with the awful summer we have had. The only thing that grew well this year is the runner beans. Lettuces, courgettes, chillies, tomatoes and lots of other stuff were a big let down this year. We'll try again next year.

So now the nights are drawing in and days outside will become  days snuggling in the house and I will need things to do to occupy me. We went to B&Q last weekend to get paint for me to decorate the living room over the autumn and I spotted a fleece blanket for £2.00 and thought it would be perfect to start another Christmas project I blogged about here.


The fleece came in a variety of colours but I chose cream. You can't go wrong with cream when your not sure of someone else's colour preference. So this is my project to keep me busy through the dark autumn nights. Making an embroidered throw for my mother-in-law for Christmas.

Enjoyed making a lovely sponge cake this afternoon. It is a tried and tested recipe we have used for years. The recipe was given to us by my husbands aunt and never fails to rise and is a lovely moist cake.

AUNTIE JOAN'S SPONGE CAKE

8oz butter or margarine
8oz sugar
8oz SR flour
4 eggs

So simple this cake, just put everything into a large mixing bowl then whisk until everything is well mixed. Divide the mixture between two lined cake tins and bake in oven at 160C for about 20-25 mins.





I filled the sponge with homemade 2009 plum jam and sprinkled icing sugar on the top. So yummy.
Time to watch Downton Abbey now, can't wait.