Frugal Cooking

After a morning of ironing, my least favourite household chore it was time to decide what to cook for tea. I'd defrosted some mince the day before but hadn't used it so today it was going to be chilli for tea. To save a few more pennies and make the weekly food shop go further I've started to divide my 500g packs of mince in two before I freeze them so we now get two meals for the price of one. I made my normal chilli receipe but packed it out with veg, courgette and carrot.  It looked and tasted delicious. Enough for six portions.

I also had some coffee butter cream to use up so made some butterfly cakes.  When I ran out of the cream I just used icing sugar and sprinkles.

Next to be used up were some dates left from Christmas! The next one will soon be with us. I used my trusty old Dairy Cook book to find a recipe.  Sunshine Bars it was. Dates, cinnamon and a whole chopped up orange go into them but no sugar! I was a bit sceptical of no sugar so sprinkled a little demerara on top during cooking. Well I have to say that they did taste great. Lovely moist pieces of orange.  I served it warm with a little custard for our pudding. The dishes were empty so that's a good sign.

A Nice Stroll

Sunday we got up and drove to the Wrekin in Shropshire.  Took us about 45 mins to reach the top. What a great view from up there.  Would have been even better if the weather had been brighter. Don't think I would have wanted it much warmer, I sweat enough getting up there. 

I've Found Blogger

Well it's been quite some time since I posted.  Been doing other things, not much crafting, plenty of cooking though.  I've been trying to get our weekly food budget down. I've found some great recipes on the net and that's what has bought me back to blogger. @queen_frugal has been a great inspiration.  She really knows how to stretch the pennies. I also purchased a copy of Jack Monroe cook book, now that's what I call living on a budget.

Hopefully I'll remember to take photos and write a few posts to let you know how we are doing. Doing this post off my phone, how blogger has changed since I last used it!

Busy Day

Well what a busy day I have had today. I have managed to hoover and polish all the way through and do a spot of cooking. I have been inspired by some of the very lovely blogs I read, everyone seems to be saving the pennies and using up all the weekly grocery shop so I thought I would too. I do try to make a meal plan every week but some weeks just don't go to plan. For tea tonight I roasted some of the leftover veg that was lurking in the bottom of the fridge then popped it on a sheet of puff pastry along with some chorizo and cheese. Served with salad  I must say I rather enjoyed it.

For our pudding I made a lemon tart. This was very tangy but very nice. First time I've made sweet shortcrust pastry and it wont be the last. 
Still got some left over veggies so think tomorrow will be a soup making day. Got to go to the train station now to pick up dear daughter then its back to watch The Paradise which we recorded from last night. 

Rainy Day

Been a bit of a grey wet day here so decided to make a cake. Used the spooky sprinkles I got with last weeks shopping. Hope it tastes good with a cup of tea.

Happy Birthday!

My Dads 65 today!

Christmas is a Coming!

Well it was a very quiet in our house today, there's only me and hubby until  the weekend when Soph will come back from Uni to stay. I kept myself busy though, making my Christmas cake and finding out the Advent candle I bought a few weeks ago. Once this was out it made me realise how close Christmas is and how much I have to do. We began decorating our bedroom in September and I still have to make the curtains! Well I'm sure everything will get done in time but what the heck if it doesn't.

Once it was dark we lit the candle and also the fire, its so cold tonight, looks like Jack Frost is going to pay a visit.

The Journey Begins...

Little sis, Dad, and Jacko

After twelve months of planning it was the day I had been looking forward to but also dreading at the same time when Jacko went off on his travels, 7 months of sightseeing! Thailand, Australia, New Zeland, Hawaii, California and New York. He's going with Rachel his girlfriend and meeting up with other friends on the way. What a chance of a lifetime, when I left school it was straight to work! 

The Travellers

And so the journey begins

Christmas Comes Early!

We had an early Christmas Dinner yesterday at my Moms as my eldest Jack is going travelling for 7 month on 1st December with his girlfriend Rachel. My brother, Sister-in-law, and their 3 girls came too so it was just like Christmas Day. We all gave them there Christmas and Birthday Pressies to open and they were both surprised by how much their travel fund has grown! 

Jacks favourite chocolate cake

I will miss him loads but I know that now is the right time for them to do this. I wish I could pack up and go off for 7 months. He's just graduated from Uni and has a job to come back too so then he can start on the 9 to 5 grind everyday until your 65!

The Grandkids

Hopefully more blogging will resume here now so as to keep Jack up to date on whats been going on in Sunny Gornal whilst he's away.

The Travellers

Can I Tempt You

Bought this book a while ago but never used it so since we are having a clear out I have listed it along with a few other items on Ebay. If your interested take a look here.

Bank Holiday Makes

In between sorting out my cupboards I have managed to make a few items, the covered hanger is from last weekend, I can't believe how quick these weeks fly by! I ordered a couple of cushion inners a while ago and so I decided to have a go at another union jack cushion. I like two much better than the one I made a couple of weeks ago.

I think the Scotty Dog ribbon goes well with the colours of this one.

I made one of these hangers for MIL birthday so I thought I would have a go at another one. I may end up doing quite a few, they look so much better in your wardrobe than boring wooden hangers.

Tomorrow is my Nephew's daughters first birthday so I made this bunting, mini hanger and card for her. Sorry about the colours of the photograph but it was took Thursday evening indoors and i had to use the flash.



Edit - Ok decided that I'll try my luck selling the cushions in my Folksy shop. Pop over and have a look if your interested.

Memories

We are going to have a bit of a DIY session through the house soon so I thought I would start by clearing out some of my cupboards to make moving them around to paint easier. I began sorting through loads of the kids old school work, well I just couldn't throw any away  could I! Thought I'd share this piece written by Sophie who last week was 20 ( I have no teenagers anymore) with you.

She dosen't want to be a Post Office lady anymore (thank God!) she's at Uni studying Environmental Managment. I have sold my Post Office and we no longer have any bouncy castles!

Flower Festival

Our local church held its first flower festival this weekend. I popped across on Saturday with my SIL to take a look. There were some beautiful arrangements and guess what, my battery decided to run out on my camera so I only have a few pics for you to look at. I managed to take a few with my mobile but don't know how to get them onto my blog form it. I have put a few off it on flickr but the others will have to wait until Jack gets back from uni to show me what to do. What will we do when he goes off travelling for seven months? Me nor hubby aren't very technically minded and Jack has got us set up with all this techy stuff, it takes me 10 mins to think about how to change the tv  channel.

Sunday I managed to spend a few hours in the garden and then I did a few hours sewing, it is MILs birthday next weekend and so I made her a covered coat hanger to go with one of the covered notebooks from last week. I also made the card but forgot to take a picture of that before I wrote it.

Hoping to do more sewing this week as I have a first birthday to cater for and thought I would make bunting with their name on. I haven't done much applique so will be a bit trial and error. Watch this space.

First Interview

My little lad is off for his first Job interview today. He's pictured here with his Dad when we went to visit him at Uni a couple of weeks ago. Hope he does well and the nerves don't kick in! Makes me feel very old this morning!

Sewing or House Work?

It was one of those weekends when I woke up and felt the need to do some sewing but I also need to get rid of a layer of dust that was looking at me too. After a few moments I thought sod the house work I'm going to do something I want to do for a change. Here's what I ended up with .

This is my favourite of the notebooks I covered. I have had these cut out for at least 6 months and never got round to sewing them up.

I bought this cushion inner form Ikea a while ago but it was too large. Today I decided to have a go at a cover for it but unfortunately I am not liking my choice of fabric, as hubby said it's a bit Granny looking.

Royal Wedding Party

We had a party to celebrate the Royal Wedding on our driveway. It was a great end to a great day. I thought the bride looked absolutley stunning and so did the bridesmaid! We asked all the guest to bring along some food and booze so as I didn't miss any of the wedding on the morning. We started at 3 and finshed at 11.30.

Pass the parcel!

So Cute..

Spent yesterday browsing the shops at Merry Hill. Homesense has to be my favourite at the moment and I couldn't leave these two little cuties on the shelf. Luckily Jack is home form Uni so as son as I got home he knocked a few nails in and put them up for me. I also got a bird table and an arc to put over the step down to the lawn which he put together too. He's so different to his Dad, they would still be in the boxes waiting to be put up! 

Souper Day

Well it's not been the best of weeks so far. Monday not only started off damp and foggy but I got a phone call just after I had taken that photograph to say my Aunt had passed away. We knew it was going to happen, she had lung cancer, but never expected it to be quite so soon. At least she went peacefully and didn't have to suffer too much.

Yesterday and today I have been using up all the veg that is lying in my basket. We have a shelf full of soups in the freezer now. Above are the ingredients for parsnip and app,e soup and below curried sweet potato soup. This is one of my favourites, lovely and sweet and spicy.

I also took charge of my first delivery from Approved Foods. Some of the items are really cheap so hopefully we'll be able to save a few pennies. If you want inspiration for saving pennies have a read of this blog.http://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/ I love to see what they are up to next.

I'm hoping that I can feed the four of us when the kids come home from uni for under £100 a week. Think we will be eating less meat and more veg. I'll keep you informed how we are getting on. Think the key to it is being organised and having a meal plan and sticking to it. You never know I may even loose that extra stone of weight that has crept on over the winter.

More Makes....Things are looking Up!

Well what a week it's been in our household. It all started so well, we all decided that we were going to get ourselves fit and trim in time for the summer. Hubby and I had been walking each night after our tea had gone down but this week we only managed Monday and Tuesday has after that we have both been under the weather will a cold. I thought we had finished with colds for now but obviously not. I never went out the door until Friday. Hopefully next week we can get back in our routine cause I sure could do with loosing a stone in weight before I have to bare all in the summer!

Today I have been home alone as hubby and son have been karting. I decided to have a day sewing and how I enjoyed it. Made these travel wallets out of Sew Hip mag. Could of done with doing these yesterday as daughter flew to Malta early this morning for a field trip from Uni.

Made another large cosmetic bag but with interfacing this time instead of wadding. Think I prefer the wadding.

Also made two Aprons, sorry about the photos but no one was here to take them for me.

Look at the concentration on my face. Lol

Managed to make a curry for tea too. Can't believe how much I got done today, beats doing the housework but I suppose that's waiting for tomorrow!