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.

A cheap home-grown little treat for our furry friends.

As rabbit owners myself and Husband try to treat our bunnies as much as we can with a variety of fruit and vegetables, we don't give them alot cos my husband has them on strict diet, which consists of Pellets, Oats and plenty of fresh hay, our buns are far to special to be fed crap full of additives plus all the shop bought bunnie treats are so expensive so no shop bought "special treats" are allowed.
So along with a selection of home-grown herbs I grow these for them.....

                                                   A 250g box from Asda costs just 46p

                  Pop 20 - 25 peas into a container cover with soil and give a good watering

                                      
                                               And within 2weeks you'll end up with this

                           My Tommy along with our other 16 Rabbits really do love them



I tend to have 5-6 pots growing on the patio so when one is done I then repot and so on... it means I have a constant supply of greens for them to enjoy, plus you can grow them all year round which is a bonus! .. x
                                                                       

menu plan..

In between cooking some delicious chutneys & Jams I've spent the morning rooting through my freezers & cupboards so I can get an idea of what my meal plans for the next week or so is going to be, well I was pleasantly surprised cos I have managed to get 21 days worth of meals!! this is going to save us a few quid, obviously I will still need to buy all the fresh Fruit, veg and milk plus bits for Jacks lunch at school, although I only buy him yoghurt and juice cos biscuits, cakes and bread are all home made... I have tons of cleaning products, toiletries and loo rolls too, so I am giving myself a budget of £13 per week... Eeeeek!

Everything is going to be made from scratch unless otherwise stated, snacks will be fruit, cakes and biscuits and any leftovers from the evening meals.

The plan goes like this.....

Friday 30th Aug
B: pancakes
L: Homemade bean, Lentil & Veg soup ( recipe to come later)
T: Pork chops, Chips & Garden peas

Saturday 31st Aug
B: porridge
L: HM bean, Lentil & veg soup
T: HM Sweet n Sour pork & rice ( all made from scratch using 2 pork chops left over from the previous day...Will post step by step tomorrow)

Sunday 1st September
B: Toast with HM rhubarb & blackberry jam
L: Egg mayo salad sandwiches
T: Minced beef & Dumplings ( made using the Hairy bikers recipe)

Monday 2nd Sept
B: Cheerios
L: Tomato soup ( got a few tins lurking in the pantry that need using up)
T: Mash potatos, Fish fingers , Peas & parsley sauce

Tuesday 3rd Sept
B: Crumpets
L: Tuna mayo rolls
T: Toad in the hole, New potatos & veg

Weds 4th Sept
B: Porridge
L: ham salad
T: Chilli con Carne with Rice

Thurs 5th Sept
B: Weetabix
L Bean, Lentil & veg soup (from a batch I froze the previous week
T: Spanish omelette

Fri 6th Sept
B: Cheerios
L: Bean, Lentil & veg soup
T:Honey & mustard chicken portions, Jacket potatos and salad

Sat 7th Sept
B: pancakes
L: Cheese & onion rolls
T Homemade Mushroom soup with warmbreaf

Sun 8th Sept
B: pancakes
L: Shepherds pie and veg
T: any leftovers from lunch

Mon 9th Sept
B: cheerios
L: Home made Leek & potato soup
T: Macaroni cheese & garlic bread

Tuesday 10th Sept
B: Toast
L: leek & potato soup
T: gammon steaks, chips and pineapple

Wed 11th Sept
B: Porridge
L: Ham salad sandwiches
T: Chicken curry & egg fried rice

Thursday 12th Sept
B: Corn flakes
L: Gammon rolls ( Left overs from Tuesday's tea)
T: pizza's ( made using up all the odds and ends from out of the fridge)

Friday 13th sept
B: Toast
L: Egg mayo salad wraps
T: Spag bol

Sat 14th Sept
B : Pancakes
L: Fry up ( Bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, toast and mushrooms)
T: Cheese on toast

Sunday 15th Sept
B: Porridge
L: Home made game pie, (made using Pigeon breasts,  Wild rabbit and Pheasant) Mash, fresh greens and gravy
T:  Spaghetti on toast

Mon 16th Sept
B: Ready brek
L: Home made Celeriac soup
T:  lasagne & garlic bread

Tues 17th Sept
B: Toast
L: Ham salad rolls
T: Fish cakes, wedges and peas

Weds 18th Sept
B: Corn flakes
L: Celeriac soup
T:  Pork loins, Mash and veg

Thurs 19th Sept
B: porridge
L: Celeriac soup
T: sweet n sour pork & rice ( Made using 2 left over pork loins from previous day)

By the 20th Sept, I think the cupboards are going to be a little bare! :)

Blooming heck!!

Cannot believe its been nearly a year since I last posted on here..Eeeek!!

Sooo whats been happening since I last updated?? well quiet alot really
We have moved home, hence the reason of my lack of blogging, The house was in such a state when we moved in that all my spare time I've been either scrubbing or decorating! phew it took some bloody hard graft but we are very nearly there.. just the bedrooms & bathroom to do but they will wait till after Christmas.
our new house is situated in a small friendly village, the house is much bigger than the old one, room sizes & garden! which is perfect for us, its also a 1940's whereas our old one was a new build and to be quiet honest from the min I moved in our old house I hated it! everytime I tried to hang a picture on the wall half the plaster would come off lol
plus I find the older houses are easier to keep warm in the winter...we are very happy and I can soooo see myself & family living here for many years to come.


anyhow, after months of neglect my cook books and cooking utensils have finally come out, I now have a HUGE walk in pantry that needs filling with lots of Jam's, chutneys & pickles to keep us going through the winter.

Its great to be back :)

using up stale bread...

I bake a loaf every 2nd day, it used to be 1 a day but I found we had a never ending supply of bread that was going stale before we got round to using it (there is only so much breadcrumbs and croutons I can keep in my freezer!) .. anyway instead of a stale loaf needing to be used up I only have a few slices so thought I would treat my hubby with a bread & butter pud!

Spread the leftover bread with spread, cut into chunks.. 

Layer it in the dish sprinkle 2tbsp sugar and an handful of sultanas/mixed fruit between the layers, (I used 2 dishes as I have 4 slices of bread that needed using up) In a jug mix one egg (freshly laid this morning ..Thank you Dottie) with half a cup of Milk then cover the bread mix with it, I did have to add another splash of milk to these as the bed was really chunky.

Then sprinkle the tops with Brown sugar then leave to rest so the bread soaks up all the liquid, these will go in the oven later today..  One for pudding tonight and the other can go in the freezer for one day next week.... x

Take one pack of diced beef.....

I nipped in Tesco the other night to pick a few bits up and whilst browsing I noticed that they had big packs of Diced Beef on offer @ £2.94 a pack so I decided to get a pack, Rewind a few yrs and I would have not thought twice about using the whole pack on a stew or a curry .. Makes me shudder the amount of food & more importantly MONEY I have wasted over the years! ..

Anyhow today out came my pinny and my oven went on...

 I made some Cornish Pasties last week Recipe was out of my war time recipe book and they were lovely so I thought I would make some Peppered beef and mushroom ones this time as my Husband used to buy the Ginsters ones ( before our pennypinching days )

 So I cubed a few pieces of the beef up and added some beef stock and let it thicken ( whilst it did that I made the pastry ( Will post recipe further down the page)

 I then cut large rounds out of the pastry using a breakfast bowl, placed soem of the filling into the centre of the rounds, moistened the edges and pressed them together on top of the filling then pinched the edges in ( if that makes sense?! ) I did get 6 pasties but dropped the 6th one on the floor!1 was not impressed!

 So then I moved on to a curry, Again this recipe is out of my Eating for victory book .. I took another few pieces of meat and browned it with 1 small onion, added some mushrooms, 4tbsp Flour, 2tbsp curry powder, 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder, 1tsp salt and 170ml water or stock (I used water)

 I had alot of Veggies that needed using up in the fridge so I thought I would do a beef casserole in the slow cooker, I love casseroles, especially now the weather is rapidly changing .. Just added a few mixed herbs, a cup of water and a splash of red wine .. Mmmmm the smell is gorgeous!

 Which then left me with this little bit.. I could have just loaded the casserole up but the money saver in me just could not justify it as I knew I could make another meal out of it so I chopped another onion, browned the meat with the onion, added some beef stock and part boiled a few potatoes .. Popped it in a casserole dish and covered it with pastry I had left over from the pasties.

This is what a £2.94 pk of diced beef got me. (casserole will be cooked over night tonight )

The pasties will make 2 dinners for me and my hubby and one for his Lunch
The casserole will make 2 dinners for the 3 of us
The curry will do 1 dinner for the 3 of us
and the Meat and potato pie will give us 1 dinner plus a small portion for my hubbies lunch


Because I try and cook everything myself and family eat  I have managed to totally get Christmas sorted this year a whole 3 months early!! and am well on my way to sorting out paying our bills early so that I can relax and enjoy the magic of Christmas instead of worrying about the bills that will be arriving after the Christmas period.



Pastry recipe:

8oz Plain Flour
1/2tsp Salt
4oz fat (I use half lard / half stork)
 cold water to mix

Sift flour & salt into a bowl
cube the fat and add to the flour
rub fat into flour using your fingertips (lifting the mixture up and letting it go)
rub until it looks like fine breadcrumbs
add just sufficient water to bind it together, mix with a knife
dust the worktop with flour handle pastry as little as possible
then roll out until you get the thickness you want (I make mine really thin as the pastry goes further)

I am now off to start the mass clean up in the kitchen after my cooking session :0) xx