Happy Halloween

Hello fellow Bloggers and how are you this fine Halloween? Must admit I have always hated the constant knocking on the door of every child in the village and I think I have only ever taken my girls trick or treating once. They have always gone with friends parents or with big sis when she was old enough to take them. Then when they were old enough they used to go out with friends. I know it's good fun for the kids and they love it but myself I hate it. So this year I have bought no sweets and I'm off out for the night to the local pub with one of the daughters and having a cheap pub meal and keeping away from any trick or treaters. I know, I'm a miserable cow but I don't care. Daughter No3's going out with friends to trick or treat. She was not that bothered for going but friends wanted her to go with them.

MENU PLAN WEEK 31/10/11

MONDAY - Off to pub
TUESDAY - Chicken & leek pie, roast potatoes and vegetables
WEDNESDAY - Seafood risotto
THURSDAY - Spaghetti bolognese & homemade garlic bread
FRIDAY - Sausage, mash, vegetables and onion gravy
SATURDAY - Chicken/tofu fajitas
SUNDAY - pork, apple sauce, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables

When I did my shop in Aldi today they were selling a roll of brown packaging paper for £1.49.

The roll is 15meters long. What I plan to do is print Christmas images on the paper using potatoes and paint then use it to wrap presents. Will update you with the finished wrapping paper.

Bloody Rain!

Rain messed up all my plans to prune two trees in my front garden today. Shall have to wait for a dry day to do the job now. Instead I had a day of bread making. Made my usual hot cross buns for daughter No3's breakfasts and then made some rustic roasted veg bread. I needed to use up some marrow I had in the fridge for ages and I had lots of peppers so roasted these and about 4 cloves of garlic. I made my bread dough using some olive oil left in a jar of olives I'd finished. When the dough had risen I knocked it back then added some of the roasted peppers, marrow and garlic all chopped into small pieces.

The bread is covered in a lot of flour, I always sprinkle the bread with flour before cooking, it gives the bread a soft crust. So we had one with our meal and the other is in the freezer for another day.

Used up some leftover mascarpone cheese in the pasta sauce we had tonight and also blended into the sauce some of the roasted marrow and some of the peppers. Still got some roasted veg to use in a sandwich for lunch tomorrow and for work tomorrow night. Got lots of odds and ends used up today so no food waste happening in this house. Tea tonight, good old cheap pasta with the use it up sauce with some value tuna mixed through it. Lovely it was too.

Nothing much of a day

Had quite a nice sleep after my night shift. Daughter No3 took the dog out for his walk this afternoon so I didn't have to get up and take him out. Daughter No2 was busy at the hairdressers she works at usually at weekends. Wanted to prune some trees in the front garden today but I never seem to have much energy after a night shift so shall tackle them tomorrow. Had an evening tea of Fragrant pork rice one pot. This is a very frugal meal needing only a few main ingredient, sausages, rice, tin tomatoes and half an onion. Was a request from Daughter No 2 this week. The recipe is here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9527/fragrant-pork-and-rice-onepot    we had this with some homemade bread.

Nothing much happened today. It's been a quiet day and I hope to have a more productive day tomorrow. To tell you the truth, a none productive day is quite a lovely day and a rare day here!

Must just finish on a high. So pleased with my views on my blog each day, I'm up to about 150 a day which is a big increase on my blog. Thanks to all who view. Much appreciated.

Chocolate Fondant Day

Had a morning of catching up on a huge pile of ironing whilst catching up on my celebrity master chef (don't tell me who won, I've not totally caught up yet) Felt good to have gotten rid of the huge pile of ironing but it doesn't take long for it to grow again!

Think it was one of the earlier parts of master chef that I saw one contestant making chocolate fondants and thought to myself I must try making these myself one day. I have wanted to make them for years and have never gotten around to it. I bought a bar of chocolate a couple of weeks ago so thought today shall be the day. We are not pud eaters in our house but I'm sure we will enjoy them. They are cheap enough to make using just chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar and flour. All the ingredients people usually have in except the chocolate. My eggs are cheap because I get them from the farm. I bought two dozen free range seconds yesterday for £2.00 so the fondants have not cost much to make. I have spent half hour making them and they are sat in the fridge ready to cook later. That's the hard bit, cooking them for the right amount of time or I shall have no runny centre. We shall see later.

The last few days I have looked out of my kitchen window and thought what a lovely colour my blueberry bush is. So today I thought I'd take a picture to show you.

I then went on a walk with the dog. It's been another lovely day here again. We walk each day by this apple tree

It's on the edge of the carrot field Sherlock harvests every time we pass it. I like to pick an apple when I fancy one on our walk. Here's todays picking

They are lovely apples, taste a bit like a golden delicious but sweeter. Shall have to come and pick the rest off soon as they are all dropping on the floor and the tree is on the turn now so they won't be there much longer.

Fondant update

They worked! Came out perfect.

Could not finish mine and Hubby only had half of his as they are quite rich . The girls polished off theirs though. I halved  the recipe by Gordon Ramsay http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8168/chocolate-fondant 

Menu Week 24/10/11

MONDAY - Creamy pesto chicken, jacket potato, peas and roasted tomatoes

• Mascarpone tomato & tuna sauce on pasta with homemade garlic bread
• Fragrant pork rice one pot with homemade bread
• Creamy beef and potato layer, carrots, broccoli and peas
• Thai fishcakes with noodles
• Roast chicken, Yorkshire puddings, mashed potatoes and vegetables  

Will choose what we fancy on the day from the list above.

Back on track this week. Hate it when things get in the way of my routine. Hated not knowing what to have for our meals last week and so glad I normally menu plan, makes life so much easier. Because I was on a course last Monday I could not do my usual shop. Tuesdays I'm too busy to go shopping, Wednesdays in bed because done a nightshift. Anyway, you get the picture so ended up shopping as I passed a shop and picking up something for a meal that day. I hate shopping this way. Come this weekend the cupboards and fridge have been bare. Ran out of lots of essentials and toiletries so today I was back on track and have replenished all my cupboards and fridge. Got a couple more Christmas presents too so my stash is building up. I bought a bag of nibbles to put away for Christmas too. I like to buy a bag of nuts or nibbly things and I stash them away each week and I have a good amount to cover Christmas and New Year and I don't notice the extra £1.00 - £2.00 each week.

No heating on yet. I admit to popping it on for a hour to take the chill out of the air in the morning when grandaughter was here this weekend and it was on for about an hour or so on a cold day last week but managing just fine without at the moment. Took advantage of the lovely breezy day today and have done a load of darks and a load of bedding and also decided to throw the dogs bed in the washer and get that done whilst its a good day for drying.

Oops look at the time. Better go and sort out tea.

Another rubbish day yesterday

Thought things were on the turn for the better then we had Thursday! My crown on a tooth broke so had to get a quick appointment at the dentist. They could fit me in at 2.00pm she said so off I toddled to the dentist yesterday. The dentist put a temp crown on my tooth and took an x-ray  because the bit of tooth my crown gets attached to was wobbly and she wondered if we should take a different route with crowning my tooth. One route was to go private and have a dental implant but this was expensive she said. £1500-£2000 per tooth! dont' think I'll be having that done then. On the NHS it's a plate or another process she explained where a metal plate is attached to the tooth next to the one I want to crown and this has the tooth attached to it somehow. Anyway shes going to check my x-ray and write to me with the options so I can study them and decide which way I want to go. Hoping the temp crown lasts until after Christmas then I will tackle the expense of a new crown in the new year.

Then, yesterday evening whilst eating my evening meal I began to feel unwell. I could not eat my meal so left it and said I may try to eat it later that evening. We had to be at daughter No3's school for 6.45 due to her receiving two awards at the award presentation evening. There I was sat in a crowded hall feeling unwell when I said to Hubby I was going to stand near the hall door because I was feeling sick. A teacher brought me a chair and another brought me a glass of water. I felt dreadful and just as the presentation was starting I had to make a quick exit into the car park. I had been hit with a D & V bug and ended up going home and missed daughters presentation which I was gutted about. So today I'm still not fully right but nearly there. Rang the voluntary job to let them know I would not be in this morning so I think I shall go back to bed now and try and get some more sleep.

It never rains but it pours as the saying goes. Promise my next blog won't be a moan.

Having a moan

Whatever I said a few days ago about being better with my cold did not hold. I actually felt terrible after that posting and it has taken me a few days to get myself together and feel ok to blog. All last weekend was taken up with me sleeping and not feeling up to doing much of anything due to my really bad cold. I can't believe the crap time I've had this week with work, training and just trying to catch up with life has had on me!

I started to feel like a human being today after many days of crap.I had an horrendous night last night taking a bank nurse out on our rounds around Leeds last night. She asked if I would drive which I said no problem. After an horrendously busy night I arrived back at base 45 minutes after my night shift had finished. Then to have another hours drive back home. I had not eaten in over10 hours and I was fit to burst because my shift had been so busy I had not been able to empty my bladder in over 10 hours! We had not had a break in over 10 hours and they wonder why the NHS is not working! No wonder I want to get out of the NHS!

After calling the kids to inform them I wouldn't be back before they left for school/college I had a long drive before I arrived home. On arriving home the dog needed taking out and feeding before I could contemplate having any sleep.Slept crap because the electricity cut off for a moment in our village ( a regular occurrence in our village) ended in me being woken at 12.30 in the day with the alarms ringing in the village and our alarm beeping in the house because our electricity had been turned off. So end of my moan and on to other stuff.

Bought these lovely squashes when I nipped into Morrisons the other day. They were only 50p each and I knew exactly what to make with them. The lady at the checkout said they were too pretty to eat.

I cut one in half and scooped out the seeds. In the cavity I grated a clove of garlic, added a knob of butter and seasoned well. One half I added some sage and the other half I added some chopped rosemary. Both herbs were from the garden. I baked these until tender, the smell in the kitchen was lovely. When cooked I scooped out the pulp and mixed with some feta cheese and returned to the oven for 10 minutes. A lovely autumnal meal.