A little bit of baking...

Hi everyone,

Daisy and I did a little baking the other day...

Shortbread 

Fruit cakes

And fairy cakes with pink icing. Look how good she's getting at icing!

All of these recipes came from my childhood cook book

Daisy also loves to help me get the tea ready and sometimes we make a pudding too. Yesterday I cleaned out a couple of kitchen cupboards and I found a few bits that needed using up, so we made a sort of trifle. 

The flan sponge was bought for a strawberry flan originally (but never happened) but was close to its date. I put this on a dinner plate. At this point you need to make the jelly (see below ;)

Then I drained the peaches.

Next we made a little arrangement with the peaches. Yes there are gaps, but this was a use-up kind of pudding so we didn't mind. 

Here's a jelly I made earlier! I made the jelly first so it started to cool. 

We poured the jelly over the flan slowly and evenly being careful that it didn't spill over. Then we put it in the fridge until teatime.

It ended up like this...a trifle sponge with fruit. We ate it with whipped double cream and Daisy had soya ice cream. I couldn't decorate with the cream because of Daisy's lactose intolerance. 

Does anyone else invent puddings according to what's about, lurking, just waiting to be used? This one was quite nice!

Mandy x

Advent activities...day 6

Hi everyone

Today's advent activity was...

Make gingerbread.

I will give you the recipe if anyone requests it but I think I may have already put it on my blog before???

Gingerbread is so easy to make, but not so easy to bake!

You really have to keep an eye on it! I turned my back and this is what happened :(

The rest was fine, but I'm still getting used to baking in my oven.

Daisy loves baking and that's the objective...for her to enjoy Christmas activities. Daisy had fun! 

I then went on to make tiffin...

This is so good and you don't need much! A little extravagant with cadburys chocolate on top, but I rarely make it, so it was a little weekend treat. Obviously I made a dairy free version too. Recipe on request! 

Back tomorrow 

Mandy x

Halloween...I just don't get it!

Hi everyone,

I know I promised my recipe for pasta bake next, but I'm feeling a bit deflated today. That will be my next post now!

This morning we were up early and baking for Halloween. I don't have any sweets in the house and know I have to have something for the trick or treaters. The icing turned out horrible because the orange food colouring I used contains paprika...the cakes taste of paprika! The trick or treaters are in for a shock! 

I just don't get Halloween! People go silly for it, buying costumes, face paints, decorations, treats and pumpkins. Daisy is only 2 and is actually frightened by anyone wearing a costume on tv (even a bumble bee!) we are not joining in. We haven't done a pumpkin this year either. You may think I'm a bit miserable! I'm looking forward to November and planning a lovely Christmas instead. 

Also, what is going on with the weather??? It's so warm here today. Brilliant for getting the washing dry! It's November tomorrow but it's so mild still. 

I'll leave you with a little more baking from this morning...

Mary Berry all-in-one Victoria sponge...comment if you would like the recipe...cheap and easy! 

Hopefully back tomorrow with a blog post about cooking once and eating twice. Pork chops and roasted veg for tea and hopefully not too many knocks at the door!

Does anyone else not like Halloween ??

Thanks for reading,

Mandy x

What I've baked Wednesday...

Hi everyone

Well I've discovered that thrifty tips is my most popular of posts. Yesterday I received 400 page views! I normally get less than 50, so I'm thinking you want me to share more of these?

On to today...

Lately I've been trying to reduce my grocery spending and reduce my food waste. This means I only bake small amounts so it all gets eaten. This week Daisy and I have baked chocolate cake! Daisy was in charge of her lactose free recipe of little chocolate cakes and I made a chocolate sandwich cake...

It's a moist cake and doesn't rise much!

 

Tastes good though :)

Here's the recipe...

Dark Moist Chocolate Cake

125g marg

125g sugar

2 eggs

75g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

3tbsp cocoa

Icing sugar, cocoa and real butter to make the icing...plus a little icing sugar to dust on the top.

Method

1). Beat the marg and sugar until pale.

2). Add beaten eggs slowly with a little flour.

3). Add remaining flour, baking powder and cocoa. Fold in.

4). Spoon into two greased and lined sandwich tins. Level the top.

5). Bake for 30mins @ 170oC until it springs back when touched. Cool.

6). Make the icing and use it to sandwich the the cake together. Dust the top with icing sugar.

Thanks for reading,

Mandy x

What I've baked Wednesday...

Hi everyone

Not much baking been going on here lately but I did make fruity fairy cakes with Daisy today...or if I'm honest...Daisy did most of it and I just supervised, took care of the oven side of things and tidied up the floury mess!

A really simple recipe of...

100g butter

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g self-raising flour 

A good sprinkling of raisins

Daisy even cracked the eggs with me! So proud she did that for the first time today and only a tiny bit of shell went in the bowl.

Fresh out of the oven she had to test one    And so did grampy (as you can see in the photo)...

Thanks for reading,

Mandy x

A bit of baking...

Hi everyone

Sorry for the gap in blogging, but things have been pretty busy here. The beautiful weather has meant that I've been spending much more time outside with Daisy. She will happily play outside whatever the weather, but we've been trying out different activities and taking advantage of the sunshine while it lasts.

Sorting, tidying and decluttering have also been happening (while Daisy naps) and I have thrown so much stuff away.

I really feel like I'm getting somewhere now.

Today we played out in the garden for a while then came in to do some baking...

Gingerbread men

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt 

1-2 tsp of ground ginger

75g butter

3tbsp golden syrup 

75g soft brown sugar

Decorations

1. Preheat the oven to 170 oC.

2. Sift the flour, bicarb, salt and ginger into a bowl...

As demonstrated by Daisy!

3. Melt the butter, syrup and brown sugar in a pan...

4. Leave to cool and pour onto dry ingredients...

5. Mix to form a soft dough...

6. Bring together and gently knead...

7. Sprinkle a board/ work surface with a little flour to prevent sticking and roll out to 2-3mm thick...

8. Cut out your gingerbread shapes and put on a lightly greased baking tin...

9. Bake for 10 mins...

10. Don't put them too close together as they will join hands! Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring them carefully to a cooling rack (limbs are easily lost at this stage!)...

11. Decorate and add eyes, mouth and buttons...

We used the tube of icing up as glue to stick the bits on. 

This is Daisy's own work...she is so independent now! 

We also made some vanilla cakes but I will put up the tutorial for these tomorrow as it's getting late now. I know I promised small cakes next, but this is how I bake...spontaneously! The gingerbread men were planned as an activity for Daisy   and the vanilla cakes just followed! 

I hope you're enjoying my recipes and tutorials.

Mandy x

Packed lunch ideas...savoury

Good morning everyone,

This one is for you frugal in bucks :)

Packed lunches can simply be a sandwich, apple and a piece of HM cake, but this isn't suitable for the times when you're 'being good'! Here are a few ideas:

Salad...

I would start with a base of lettuce (plenty of different choices there and easy to grow), cucumber and tomatoes. To that you could add different things to make it more exciting:

Baby spinach leaves

Watercress

Cress (easily grown on the windowsill)

Celery 

Grated carrot

Sliced red onion

Chopped peppers

Sweet corn 

To your chosen salad you could take a HM salad dressing (then you know what's in it) in a little pot to add when you're ready to eat. 

I would add some protein at this point:

Low fat cottage cheese 

A little grated low fat cheddar

Hard boiled egg

Tuna

Sardines

Pilchards

Other ideas

HM veg soup in a flask

Sticks of celery filled with low fat cream cheese

Spread low fat cream cheese on rice cakes

Pasta salad

Chicken drumsticks and HM low fat coleslaw (made with yogurt)

HM hummus and veggie sticks to dip

I found a recipe for hummus although I haven't made it because I don't like hummus! I hope this helps?

Hummus

410g tin of chickpeas

100g sesame seeds

2tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

3tbsp natural yogurt

Juice of 2 lemons (4-6tbsp)

Salt &pepper 

1. Put sesame seeds and oil in a blender and blitz for one minute.

2. Drain chickpeas and add with all other ingredients.

3. Blend for a few minutes on high.

4. Taste and check seasoning. Chill for a few hours and serve.

This will keep in the fridge for approx a week.

This recipe was taken (but not copied word for word) from a fantastic book that I cook from quite a lot...

'How to feed your whole family a healthy, balanced diet with very little money..and hardly any time, even if you have a tiny kitchen, only three saucepans (one with an ill-fitting lid) and no fancy gadgets- unless you count the garlic crusher...simple, wholesome and nutritious recipes for family meals'

Gill Holcombe

It's quite a title! Basically, no excuses, everyone can try to cook. It's  great book!

I hope this gave you a few different ideas to what you're already eating frugal in bucks. 

------------------------------------------------

Other news...I'm still busy sorting, throwing stuff out, recycling and preparing things to sell at the boot sale. 

I am trying to fit other activities into my day like baking and hopefully sewing soon. The house is getting easier to keep clean and tidy because we have less stuff! I'm currently looking at storage ideas to pack things away neatly. I went to Dunelm Mill for the first time the other day and they have some cute storage baskets that I'm thinking of buying. I did pick up a couple of bits for baking

I've been looking out for a cake storer/carrier for a while and this was far cheaper than what I've previously seen...£3.99

The gingerbread cutters were £1.49 and perfect for baking with Daisy as she loves the gingerbread man story and can chant the 'run run as fast as you can' bit! We also got Daisy a gruffalo tabard apron. 

I got some new piping bag nozzles. These were quite pricey at £5.99, but I want to make more pretty cakes and need a wide star nozzles for what I want to do. I looked for a single nozzle but the one I wanted came within a set of seven. I will use them all and this means I can pass my other nozzle set onto my son's girlfriend as she loves to bake too. See..the one comes in...one has to go rule is working for me now!!

Hopefully I will find time for more baking later for my next tutorial of small cakes. I have also noted the requests for choccy puddings. We still eat puddings (not every day), are we in the minority? Does anyone else eat puddings??? I have a lot of those recipes and all of them tried and tested!

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Mandy x

Chocolate cookies and an unexpected gift...

Hi everyone

I decided to do some 'proper' baking and made chocolate cookies...

With cadburys dairy milk and milky bar white chocolate chunks inside, these are best eaten fresh out of the oven.

Daisy is trying her first ever chocolate cookie. I used the same recipe but obviously used her dairy free chocolate. A little treat ;)

These beautiful flowers were an unexpected thank you gift from my OH's friends. They borrowed something from me and these were a token of their appreciation. We were also given steak for tonight's tea! We haven't eaten steak in years. I never expected these gifts, I just lent out something I have and they didn't (so would have had to rent them)...simple.

Just in case you haven't realised...I do try my best to reply to your comments. Please check the comments box.

I haven't forgotten about my promise to do a blog post on my ladybird book collection. I've been really busy with Easter and my decluttering. Yesterday I threw away loads of stuff...it actually feels refreshing and spurs me on to do more. 

Any requests for a future blog post?

Mandy x

Yesterday...baking cake mixes and resisting temptation!

Hi everyone, 

I did mean to blog yesterday, but by the time I got round to it, it was bedtime and the internet connection in my bedroom is very poor (too far away from the wireless router) so I gave up!

Yesterday I baked all morning...

I made cakes for the tin and for the freezer. I used up some longtime lurking packet mixes that I bought ages ago from approved food. They were out-of-date so I wasn't sure how they'd turn out. I decided to add coconut to one batch and dried fruit to another. The fairy cakes came with icing sugar and sprinkles. 

The results were not brilliant, but they needed using up and I didn't want to throw them out. I won't be buying those again! I thought I'd try them because they were so cheap and flour is so expensive! 

I have been stockpiling baking ingredients when they are on offer in asda and now have plenty to bake from scratch as I like to. Photos and recipes to follow... I love baking and so does Daisy. 

Yesterday I was also really proud of myself for resisting temptation! I had an avon book through the door and I used to buy most of my make up from them. I had spare money because I was working then and now I don't. I do have plenty of make up though and don't need any more! I didn't even look through the brochure. I also had a kleeneze book too, which I ignored too. I try to think that if I need something, I can go and shop around for the best price and buy when I want to. I don't need to buy for the sake of it. These brochures are being returned via my doorstep today without an order. 

Has anyone else tried the cake mixes from approved food?

Mandy x

Changing the way we eat...baking day and feeding the ducks!

Hi everyone!

It's been a busy weekend...

On Saturday, grampy took Daisy for a long walk to see the farm animals (she slept most of the way) while I had the chance to do some baking. I've got quite a few packet cake mixes that need using up, but they require an electric whisk and Daisy is petrified of our mixer. This was my opportunity to make a couple of madeira cakes. Two packets filled two large sandwich tins and a small one. The larger cakes were sandwiched together with value strawberry jam and dusted with icing sugar. Lovely hubby will take this to work in his packed lunch. I have frozen the smaller cake. I also made three apple cakes (leave me a comment if you would like the recipe) for hubby. It wouldn't be his first choice of cake (he loves victoria sandwich), but I had some eating apples that were past their best. I do give our chickens fruit and veg that is past it's best, but these were perfect to use to fill the cake tin. Our chickens would actually prefer to eat those apples as apple cake! One cake is in the tin and the others have been frozen. I am gradually ploughing my way through my approved food stocks.

Yesterday, we went out in the afternoon after clearing away the Sunday lunch things. As you know, Daisy is obsessed with farm animals (particularly chickens), so we took her to feed the ducks at the Fawsley Estate (Northamptonshire). We definitely got more than we bargained for... as I threw some bread and corn, along came lots of ducks and ducklings, several sheep and the swans heard about it too! Thankfully the geese stayed away (I'm not keen) and so did the swans, but the sheep and ducks were loving their treat. I took some lovely photos, but sadly I don't know how to get them on here now from my camera, I used to be able to upload them :-(

When we first got there, Daisy was asleep, so we stayed in the truck while hubby walked the dogs around the huge pond. We had a great time and all it cost was a handful of poultry corn feed, a couple of slices of bread and a small amount of fuel to get there. Daisy's reaction to the white Aylesbury duck was lovely...just like Jemima Puddleduck! We are also heavily into Peter rabbit at the moment, since I discovered it on the tele. Daisy has a cuddly Jemima which we bought from the carboot sale for 10 or 20p (I can't remember), and she washed up beautifully and Daisy loves her.

Changing the way we eat...

slowly, we have been making changes to our diet. We used to eat a lot of meat but now we don't! We can't afford to eat the same amount now. Sunday lunch has been a big change... we used to always have a joint or a chicken. Last week we had roast beef for the first time in ages (it was lurking at the bottom of the freezer) and this fed us several meals. Yesterday I made a roast out of of belly pork slices. The fat goes crispy and produces lovely dripping for the roasties. We had it with cheesy courgettes (from the garden), stuffing, yorkshire pudding (AF mix wasn't that nice), spring greens, carrots, broccoli and gravy. As far as we were concerned, it was our Sunday roast! I will also do this with pork chops, chicken portions, thighs, drumsticks, even chicken breasts too. 

When we do have meat, we have a lot less than we used to, especially when making mince or braising steak meals. I will stretch the meat with vegetables which is easily done when making a stew or casserole. We are now using what the garden is giving us... the courgettes are growing well and the tomatoes are small but growing. The strawberries have finished now, but the runner beans have started to appear. We are not experienced gardeners or vegetable growers, but we are getting our garden to produce food that tastes so much nicer than shop bought and the seeds cost a fraction of what buying veg and salad each week does. We failed on the cucumbers, which is a shame because we get through those and have to buy them. Charlotte takes a salad to work everyday (not this week, she's on her holidays), so the living lettuce that I planted has come in handy...thanks for the idea Sue  http://www.ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.co.uk

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Shirley - hi and welcome to my blog, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Thank you for your lovely comment, Frugal Queen has given me lots of new readers, so thanks for stopping by! I had a great weekend, thanks x

Sylvia (markdebby) - Thanks for your comment, quiet days don't happen here with an 11 month old baby and two dogs in the house!

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Hope you had a great weekend too and thanks for reading,

Mandy x

Finding the time to blog in May...

I thought I'd better make time to blog before May is over!

I'm always busy (like everyone else is), but May seems to be flying by. Daisy is teething with teeth numbers 5 and 6 and struggling with them this time. 1-4 just popped out of her gums with no fuss, but she is suffering at the moment and needs lots of cuddles and something hard to bite!

We've seen the Health Visitor and Daisy is growing! She weighs 15lb 3oz and still under the 9th centile (which is small), but consistent, so everything is fine, thank God. Weaning is progressing and she had her first taste of scrambled egg for tea yesterday. She wasn't sure about the texture, so next time I will serve it with some blitzed tomatoes to make it more exciting for her. She now has weetabix for breakfast too. We are managing more and more family food and she will have an adjusted version with no salty gravy or dairy. She loves her soya yogurt and cream and has even got soya vanilla ice-cream!

We've been to a couple of carboot sales (will blog about all my purchases later) and we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. I've managed to get on top of the housework now and have an ever growing pile of things, stuff to get rid of. Most of these will be taken to a carboot (when I've got time) as I haven't bothered ebaying for a while. Having less stuff around the house has made it easier to clean, so when I do buy something, I think about it more - I don't want to fill the house up again! My daughter sold at a carboot this month, so I have four more things to add to my declutter challenge:

46.   green jacket

47.   book

48.   top

49.   child's book

There is still a lot of work to be done here and I'm waiting for a charity bag to come through the door, hopefully from the air ambulance because they take everything including bric-a-brac.

I've been keeping up with my home cooking a lot better (which is good news for Daisy), using my meat stash in the chest freezer. This is what I've used so far:

• chicken - curry and Chinese (none left)
• mince - spag bol x 3, cottage pie and lasagne (5 left)
• sausages - with new potatoes, bangers and mash and a fry up (none left)
• pork - not used yet (2 left)
• beef - casserole (3 left)
• lamb - not used yet (2 left)
• bacon - fry up, quiche, pasta, sandwiches x 3 (2 left)

Other meals have been meat-free or made using meat that was already in the freezer and not part of my challenge. So far, I have made 16 meals from my meat stash and there are plenty more to come.

An area where I felt I was failing was my cake tins. I love having them full and on display (they are Emma Bridgewater hearts), but lately they've been tucked away in the cupboard. On Sunday Grampy took Daisy for a walk in her pram around the village and I managed to bake (I love it) some cakes. I made chocolate chip brownies, chocolate chip cookies, oat cookies, a victoria sandwich and two dozen fairy cakes. We have lacked in the homemade cake variety so much, that we have already made quite a dent in them! They are taken in packed lunches and I have some with my lunch. We also had chocolate brownies and ice-cream for pudding on Sunday.

That's it for now, hopefully be back soon...???

Mandy x

I've been baking...

I've finally got round to my baking (been looking after my beautiful baby grandaughter Daisy-May a lot lately). I made 2 chocolate fudge cakes, a sultana cake and some shortbread. I've also made giant sausage rolls with red onion chutney for tea (I haven't cooked them yet, so photographed in their raw state!)

FOR SOME REASON I AM NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD PHOTOS FROM MY LAPTOP???

No more decluttering or sewing because I've been too busy. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

Mandy x

A little bit of baking...

Hi,

Today I decided to do a quick bit of baking while my jacket potatoes were in the oven. I cannot afford to waste electricity so I made a batch of cheese scones, really yummy fresh out of the oven with butter, and a lemon cake. This cake was a new recipe, where you pour dissolved sugar and lemon juice over the warm cake and allow to soak in. When the cake is cool, you ice it with lemon glace icing. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it will be really moist. I forgot to take a photo earlier, so hopefully I will remember tomorrow before it's all gone!

Blogger is still preventing me from leaving comments on my favourite blogs :-(

I'm off to learn some more thrifty tips off fellow money savers on you tube now.

Decluttering of my bedroom planned for tomorrow...

Mandy x

A lovely Sunday... walking the dogs and baking cakes.

Today we went for a really long walk over the fields with the dogs. When we got back I had a baking session...

This is a syrup loaf (Ashley had a slice before I took the photo!) It's really easy to make, just syrup, milk, flour, bicarb and a pinch of salt. I think we will have it with custard for pudding tomorrow.

It's Ashley's birthday tomorrow so this will be his cake, I just need to add candles, 22 of them!!!

Ashley asked me to make cake for him to take to work to share. This is a lemon sponge.

I'm actually ahead of myself and organised! This is for my Valentine, my lovely husband.

This was a new recipe - spiced fruit cake. The texture is strange because you add a crumble topping.

Gorgeous chocolate fudge cake squares. I have made these since Ashley was a baby when I was 19. The cake is very moist and the icing fudgy - yum yum! Ashley will take some of these to work too.

I've just watched 'Call the Midwife', a perfect end to a perfect Sunday. I wonder what Monday will bring??? Ashley's special day.

Mandy x