Freebies & boot fair goodies.

Myself and hubby have been busy bee's this last few weeks finishing off the last of the rooms that needed decorating ready for carpets to go down, first to be finished was the dining room, it feels lovely to finally get this room done as since we moved into the house over a year ago the room as been used as an indoor shed, although now the carpet is down and curtains up etc etc, the room felt very bare with just a dining table in it so I was on a mission to try and furnish it as cheap as possible.

Last year my sister gave my son a lovely fish tank, the plan was to always have it in the dining room once it was decorated, but first I needed something to stand it on,  upon browsing through the freebie sites on F@cebook I came across this picture

It does look a sorry state doesn't it?? I kindly asked the lady if I could have it and she said yes! Within an hour I had my husband driving to Folkestone to collect it whilst I waited at home sorting the sugar soap, sander and undercoat out, ready to give it a makeover, upon his return I was pleasantly surprised by the size of it, the photograph the lady posted of it made it look quiet small so I was delighted to find it was quiet a big old piece which would be ideal for accommodating the fishtank

Anyhow, within 24hrs I had turned it into this... Now just got to get the mirror up on the wall and set the tank up.

Looks much better although the photo does make the doors look like they have a dark tinge to them, must be the light.

Must admit I am very pleased with it and it will go alongside this other piece of furniture I picked up for the dining room from a friend who was going to throw it out!

 Here's after  a few coats of paint and a few new knobs... I spent a grand total of £15.98 for paint & knobs... not bad for 2 pieces of furniture!

Sunday I went off to the boot fair and picked up this original painting for £1, the frame was dark brown ... that had to go! so out came my tester pots of paint - I chose vintage green as I thought it went well with the colours in the actual painting.

This cute vintage tin for 50p

My son saw this on a stall and took a shine to it at 20p how could I refuse it? it brightens up my kitchen window.

I adore this 1950's bird, another bargain at £1 he sits just nicely between my vintage plates above the spice rack

A nice Cath Kidston style milk jug & sugar pot set, ... £1.50 brand new!

 Its nearly that time a year again where I'll be busy  in the kitchen making lots of jam's & chutneys to fill the pantry up with, so these 2 books will come in handy, and at 50p & 75p I think they were a good buy.

 A cute floral stock pot £1 ...its not very big but it will do for one pot meals

 A brand new flask with the label from Dotcom giftshop... £1.50, this will be fab for those autumn days when I'm stood watching my son at football practice, I can now have a warm cuppa whist watching.

and lastly these lovely enamel candle holders, which my lovely friend gave to me, Not found a place for them yet although I may save them for when we have completed the bath room and pop them on display in there.

This weeks charity shop buys

I tend not to visit many charity shops nowadays because the items they sell are priced way out of my price range, sometimes I have even seen items for sale in some shops that are priced either equal or just a tad over what the item costs new to buy!

Anyhow, on a Tuesday I always nip into a neighbouring village to collect the weeks eggs from the farm, whilst there I nip in to the Age concern charity shop, its only a small place but they have some good quality stuff at really good prices

The trip proved to be successful as someone had obviously had a sort out of their pyrex cupboard

 I got this little lot for the grand total of £5.50!

Also picked this book up for 20p, I do sometimes cook for the freezer but not as much as I would like to  because I never really know how long certain ingredients keep for in the freezer, I've not had chance to have a good look through it yet but even if I get one recipe that I'll use from it, it was worth the 20p.

Shepherds pie.

One of my all time favourite dinners is got to be Shepherds pie, my mum used to serve this up to us at least once a week, I do tend to make it now and again for myself and husband (my darling son hates mashed spud so it is a big no no for him) I have tried several different recipes for this over the years but this one is my fav.

I loved the Hairy bikers "mum's know best" programme when it was on the TV and I have bought the books that accompany the series and I can honestly say of all the recipes I have used out the books I have yet to find one I don't like, I particularly like this shepherds pie recipe because it is cheap, easy and tastes fantastic.

 Here's mine all ready to go in the oven to be browned and then served with cauliflower and thick gravy.

Beef cobbler

Last year I was reminiscing about school dinners, one of my all time favs used to be beef cobbler, anyhow whilst having one of my weekly chats to my sister on the telephone I mentioned about beef cobbler and how I'd like to make one, well she had just bought this fantastic  mince beef recipe book which had a beef cobbler recipe  in it, she read the recipe down the phone, I wrote it on a scrap of paper, stuck it in my book with the intention of making it for our tea one day, well a week later I had a parcel arrive which was a copy of the book! my lovely sister had gone out and bought me my very own copy!

It is an absolute must for any of you mince lovers out there, it is especially good for people who like to cook on a budget as mince is one of the cheapest most filling dishes going.


Here is my Beef cobbler all made ready for this evenings dinner

500g Mince beef
500g onions
1 bay leaf
1tsp Thyme
2Tbsp Tomato ketchup
300ml beef stock

Cobbler topping
225g self raising flour
0.5tsp mustard
pinch of salt
40g butter
85g Cheese
milk for glazing


1, preheat oven to 180c/ gas mark 4
add the beef to a pan and heat until evenly browned

2, Spoon the beef into a casserole dish, add the onions (chopped into quarters), tomato ketchup, thyme, bay leaf and season, pour in the stock, cover and stick it in the oven for 1hr

3, Whilst that is cooking crack on with the cobbler, sift the flour and salt, add the butter and rub in till it looks like breadcrumbs, stir in the cheese and mustard and enough water to form a soft dough

4, Roll out the dough to the thickness of 1cm on a lightly floured surface and cut out rounds with a 6cm cutter

4, Remove the casserole from the oven and discard the bay leaf, cover the mixture in the dough rounds , brush with milk and put in the oven for 30mins.

Hope it takes as good as it smells and looks :)

Britains best bakery

Been watching the Britain's best bakery on catch up, an episode I watched yesterday a lady who owned a cupcake shop in Brighton, made a rainbow cake as her speciality bake, Ooooo it looked beautiful! so thought I'd have a go, so this morning I emptied the cupboards and was gutted when all I could find was a yellow food colouring a dark pink, a purple and a light pink, I wanted green, blue and red! but with the weather being wild here I did not fancy going out to the supermarket so thought I'd make do with what I had and instead of doing 6 layers I made do with 4 due to the lack of colouring.

sooooo here it is...

Its massive as a 4 layer so gawd knows how big it would have turned out had it been a 6!
 
I'm really chuffed with how it has turned out as I never normally make cakes ..... my darling son is gonna love it when he gets home from school as he too was watching the programme with me and thought it was magic how the lady got all different colours into the cake, just hope he forgives me for pinching his tube of smarties to decorate it with!  :) x

Natures freebies...

I really do love this time of year, where I can pop on my cardie & wellies and go for a wander down the country lanes and come back laden with goodies to fill my pantry up.

I have been hooked on foraging for a good few years , well since my husband bought me Richard Mabey "food for free"  this year I am going that extra mile with gathering free food cos now I have a pantry to fill and a big one at that so I am  taking full advantage of the countryside offerings.

so far I have been really busy filling the pantry with various jams, chutneys & pickles ( will add individual photos and recipes etc to the blog when I get chance )
I have also took up wine making so all these free ingredients have come in very handy, so far I have Elderflower, Elder berry, Peach , Apple, beetroot & date on the go ready for Christmas. ( Again I will add individual recipes and photos soon)
 

Anyway...I had a spare hr this afternoon so off I went and gathered up this little lot.

These will be turned into Plum wine, Blackberry Jam and sloe Gin!

My husband went back to the plum tree this eve and collected 5ibs of plums so I will be making jam and plum brandy with those ready for christmas.

Plums have all been washed, Blackberries are soaking in salt water to get rid of the grubs and the Sloes are ripening... alll ready for me to work my magic on them tomorrow.

2 of my fav recipes ......Veg , lentil & mixed bean soup & sweet n sour pork

Whilst hubby is watching the footie I thought I'd nip on and share 2 of my all time fav recipes.

Veg, lentil & mixed bean soup

can mixed bean salad
can green lentils
can chopped tomatoes
can baked beans
handful of split lentils
2 large leeks
large onion
4 medium carrots
1 small swede
1 green 1 red and 1 yellow pepper
2 ham stock cubes
salt and pepper
mixed herbs

Chop all the veg into chunks, pop it all into a slowcooker, or large pan iif you want to do it on the stove, I prefer to do mine in my slowcooker cos then I can just forget about it without worrying if its boiling over or burning the bottom of the pan..lol

Add all the other ingredients, give it a good stir and cook on high for  3hrs

Then you should end up with something like this.

Its really is delicious and the ingredients costs just a few pounds, for a weeks worth of lunches! ... it freezes well too.


Sweet & sour Pork

500g chopped Pork, chicken or whatever meat you fancy
1 small tin of pineapple rings (chopped up)
1 onion
Mushrooms (optional)
Peppers (optional)
4Tbsp Tomato purée
2Tbsp Sugar
3Tbsp White wine vinegar
1Tbsp Soy sauce
200ml water
pinch of pepper
Fry meat & onions till brown, add the mushrooms & peppers

then in a separate bowl, mix the Tomato purée, Sugar, soy sauce, white wine vinegar & water, give it a good stir

The smell is blooming gorgeous!

Pour the juice over the meat, onions & peppers and leave to marinate for a few hrs or even over night!

when you are ready to pop it in the oven add the tin of pineapple with the juice and cook for 30mins - whilst cooking, pop some long grain rice in a pan, when cooked pop it in a wok, add 2 eggs and a dash of soy sauce and fry for 5 mins...

you should end up with something thing like this. 

Much cheaper then sweet n sour pork & egg fried rice from the take away plus there is loads left over to freeze for another day.