Always baking!

Today has been a baking day for me. I'm trying really hard to avoid anything processed, so everything needs to be homemade.

I've baked a white loaf, baps and two little orange teabreads.

For tea I've made a cheese, bacon and onion quiche and lemon curd tart.

Treats for the children's tea (they have a cooked meal at school) are shortbread and rocky road. I wish I could show you photos :(

If you fancy trying any of my recipes just comment or email me and I'll send them to you.

It's such a busy time of year but we've nearly made it to the summer holidays!  Two dental appointments and sports day this week then loads planned for next week.

Mandy x

Back to baking again!

Whenever I make plans things go wrong! It's so annoying, I had plans to write regularly but then illness struck and  I'm currently nursing a perforated eardrum and a cold I can't seem to shift. 

When I'm ill I just plod on and muddle through, but I just didn't fancy baking. 

This morning I baked with the children. We made some plain cheddar cheese scones and some Wensleydale and chive ones. We had them with butter for tea and they were lovely. Obviously the children had to sample one fresh and warm out of the oven. 

Next we made plain biscuits which I iced and decorated with dolly mixtures and jelly diamonds. 

To fill the cake tins we made a variety of cakes...lemon cake, fruit cake and a small chocolate cake covered in chocolate butter cream. 

At the weekend we eat our cooked meal at lunchtime and have a proper tea. I wish I could share photos of our baking and teatime spread today but I've given up trying.

My future plans are to fill the freezer with homemade meals, puddings and cakes. Then I'll be better prepared for times of illness. We eat very little processed food now so cooking from scratch each day.   The next few weeks will be about experimenting with what freezes well. 

As we make changes to produce less waste, we are saving money too! I hope to share some ideas with you soon. We still have a long way to go but each step is a step in the right direction.

It's such a busy time of year with the school year almost over, there's lots of end of term events going on, plus all the preparation for our summer holiday, which we are very excited about. 

Well that's it for now, but hopefully I'll be back soon!

Mandy x

Changes ahead...

Hi everyone (if anyone's still reading!)

I haven't been writing because of the photo issue. I still can't publish a post containing photos but I've decided to carry on without them.

As the title says, there's changes ahead for us. We've started a new journey, to get rid of the plastic and be less wasteful. I've been working hard on this for a while now, but there's so much more to be done. 

My way of thinking is that I need to look to the past for ideas and solutions. Back to the days before people relied so heavily on plastic. I'm pretty sure there was no wastefulness back in my grandmother's day either. 

I was born in 1971 so remember just having one dustbin with a lid. That was sufficient for a weeks rubbish back then.

Plastic is so hard to avoid in the supermarkets so my way of shopping has seen changes. I've ordered the organic veg boxes before but found these so expensive and many items substituted. Last weekend I researched local veg deliveries and found a company that uses very little plastic. I placed an order and this arrived a few days ago. I was pleasantly surprised! I bought two small sacks of potatoes to try and these are such good value. The other fruit and veg have been lovely so far, so I think I'll be ordering again. Plus delivery was free!

This is just one little change. My supermarket fruit and veg come wrapped in too much plastic so this is a welcome change. 

Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing how I'm reducing our plastic and ideas on how to be less wasteful. Feel free to join in with your ideas too. 

Back soon...

Mandy x

I'm having issues!!

I've tried to do a post again today but there's an error. Every time I try to upload photos it refuses to post. I can only post text it would seem which is a bit boring really. 

I'll try to work it out x 

Testing...

Yesterday's blog post wouldn't publish so just testing...

Baking day!

Hi everyone.

I've been a busy baker today...

My first ever proper loaf! This was after its first rise.

Ready for the oven.

Whole meal country loaf, scones and melting shortbread.

Plus some lovely moist ginger cake.

I really love baking. Have you baked anything today?

Mandy x 

Yummy use up!

Hi everyone.

Yesterday I roasted a chicken and used up some new potatoes which I bought for over Christmas time. These were the only leftovers.

I put them in an enamelware oven dish and drizzled over olive oil and sprinkled on some rosemary and paprika. Henry really loved them and he's not a huge fan of potatoes. It made a change from roasties! I also roasted carrots and onions, plus we cannot eat chicken without stuffing! 

For pudding we had ice cream (I found a block rather than the usual plastic tub) and homemade chocolate sauce.

It was a yummy treat. 

No baking today but l have plans for tomorrow.

Mandy x