What's your favourite "gadget"?

Mine is these little clippy things that hold the corners of the duvet when you're changing the bed..heehee...it's the little things that make me happy :-)

Quornish Pasties

It's been a cold and grey day today (no snow, but for sure, not a gardening day) so I thought I'd stay snug and warm and do a bit of baking. Today I made "Quornish Pasties"and managed to stretch one small bag of quorn and a few veg out to make 14 meals! I kid you not!

 

 

Peeled, chopped and into the bowl went: 3 small / medium spuds, 1/2 a fist sized swede, a couple of red onions ('cos red is what I had) , a couple of teeny carrots ( yes I know carrots don't go in a traditional Cornish pasty - but let's face it, the "good ship traditional" sailed right about the time I swapped the meat for quorn in the recipe so hey ho)

Then, swap it to a bigger bowl as a) the quorn was never going to fit in the first one and b) if there is one thing my life needs it's more washing up (NOT).

Chuck in a small bag of quorn (leave it frozen...makes no odds)

Add a bit of seasoning -  I used a bit of salt, a load of white pepper, a couple of these little maggi cubes, and then a load more white pepper (I like pepper!)

Throw in a gratuitous photo of my worktop saver for no other reason but it makes me smile every day ( and I like

 the idea of not asking about the broccoli!)

 

Take pastry I made earlier out of the fridge, roll it out and cut to shape...I used a side plate as a template but a saucer would give little empanada sized ones.

 

Put a spoonful of the quorn and veggie mix in the middle, eggy wash the edge ...

 

Fold over and stick....

 

Crimp it so nothing escapes...

 

I've made 6 big pasties ...

 

and still got this left.....

 

So I made a pie, and whipped up some smart price packet mash to make 7 cottage pie type thingies.

 

Then I eggy washed them and shoved them all in a warmish oven for 50 minutes / an hour- ish

 

Tadah! 6 pasties...1 eaten immediately straight from the oven with tomato sauce on the side, and 5 to cool and pop in the freezer .

I didn't let these get too brown as they are for the freezer and will be baked a second time.

I don't know exactly how much a portion it would work out at but I think 25p a pop wouldn't be far off...bargain!! There you go Ethan...gut-busting, grant-stretching pasties :-)

It's good to talk...

Do you remember the old BT adverts? I think my favourite one was the grandson with his exam results..." you got an 'ology, you're a scientist"
I spent 2 hours chatting and putting the world to rights with the Precious Firstborn in Sydney today...goodness only knows what that would have cost on the phone. We are so lucky now to have Skype and be able to call free of charge - it takes away that clock watching that you used to do...always aware of how much it was costing to call long distance. Mind you, I think that the fat snowflakes must have been interfering with the connection today...in 2 hours the call must have dropped out 20 times...how frustrating! I found it much easier to remain mellow about it as it was costing nuppence...can't imagine that I would have been so laid back if I was paying for it.  I wouldn't mind betting the charges from BT aren't that much different over the years.
I was thinking today about how pricing has changed over the years and some things aren't that much increased.  I'm sure when the boys were small (so 20 + years ago) milk was about 25p a pint...well I can still buy 4 pints for a pound now! I'm sure that I remember being careful and shopping for 2 adults and 2 children for about £30 a week...now I know that I probably had nappies in that , but I'm pretty sure I could still meet this target now if I had to, and as we only had the one salary coming in at that point, I'm pretty sure I wasn't being extravagant.  To be honest, I think that you can probably clothe yourself now for pretty much that same (or not a lot more)...when I say clothe , I mean but the stuff you NEED, not necessarily the stuff you WANT. Example..if I need a pair of jeans, I could probably find some for 4 or 5 quid...if I want a pair of jeans, I could spend over £100. Some things are a lot more expensive..housing, utilities etc , but not everything.

Happy Birthday Mum

Mum would have been 69 today.....we would have made all sorts of risque jokes.....Mum would have said "how rude!"  ... if you see me snigger when I take flowers, I'm not being disrespectful...the voices in my head have just told me another slightly off colour joke ! (don't worry - Mum would have laughed too)

The girls are back on form....

Finally the girls are back on lay! I don't know whether Mo and Yolko were embarassed by Fernanda and decided that they've had enough of the "pet life" and were ready to earn their keep again or , more likely the longer daylight hours just triggered some chemical in their little feathered bodies.

 

 

 

The bantam eggs seem to be a little bigger this year...last year it was a struggle to put them on the egg skelter as they weren't quite big enough and kept slipping through.

 

I wonder how long they'll be able to keep up the alternating pattern....not long I bet      :o)

 

 

I don't mind, they can lay in any order they please....I'm just happy to be collecting an egg every morning - I don't know how much is psychological, but somehow your own eggs always seem to taste nicer. Scramble egg on toast for lunch today...nom nom nom!

 

Ahhh..now I understand what happened...

A few of my favourite things.....

 

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens? Of course! And raindrops on any other plant, and I'd hate to be ageist  so let's cut the older felines some slack too! Things made of wood are what gets me smitten!

 

Are there certain types of "things" that you find yourself attracted to again and again? Over the years,  I  have found myself repeatedly picking up little wooden things for myself and for others. Some of these were things that I bought for my Mum, (and Nan) so naturally I was pleased for them to come back to me. Some of these are presents - friends and family know they won't go far wrong in my book with a little wooden something.. these are little shelves of memories

The little piece of wood inside the bowl is silky smooth and was found by Ethan in the woods when he was about 6, spice box was a present for Mum

 

Beautiful spoons from Josh for Christmas, and beautiful bowls made by Sarah's Dad

 

A little dish from the New Forest and a gecko found on holiday for Mum

 

 

 

The cat that Mum took a shine to in that little shop in Falmouth

 

 

Drawing of Ethan by Sarah, photo of Mum - aged 4

 

Ooops...I see the bits where I didn't dust very well Hahaha - nevermind.

 

 

What have you got that collects dust but still makes you smile??

Time for a new kitchen..

 

My kitchen looks tired and dated, but new kitchens cost such a lot of money, and there's all the upheaval too...so I've decided to give my kitchen a bit of a make-over. I'm in no rush, so I'm happy enough to work my way round a cupboard at a time.

It's always a bit scary when you've just slapped some undercoat on...oh no, have I made a dreadful mistake? How many hours will it take me to scrub it off?

 

Fear not...2 undercoats and 2 coats of paint later...tadah!!!  New kitchen!

 

It's quite a time consuming task, but it's costing practically nowt (left over undercoat and eggshell - though I may have to buy more to do the bottom cupboards)

 

 

It feels a lot lighter and fresher...

 

I'm quite pleased with it...

 

Now I just have to psyche myself up to do the bottom cupboards...may take me a while...

 

What's in your bin ?

Is this what it looks like down your street on bin day? I must admit, when I lived in Basingstoke this was a typical Monday morning view. My next door neighbours, a couple with 2 dogs, could rarely close the lid on their wheelie bin. To put this into ever sharper perspective, let me just confirm that rubbish was collected WEEKLY. Eth and I would sometimes sit and ponder WTF exactly 2 people got through to overfill a wheelie bin every week? Funnily enough, their recycle bin rarely made the roll down the drive...spooky that!

Now that I've moved "out to the country" I don't have a wheelie bin (mainly because I'm centre terrace, and up and down steps -no way could I haul it out to the road) and the bins are collected fortnightly. As is the case in most areas now we have great kerbside recycling - I have a black box for glass, tins, paper, foil, and textiles, and a heavy duty bag for cardboard and plastic. There is also another heavy duty bag for garden waste. I am at a loss to see what some folk find so difficult about recycling.  I have a bag in the kitchen that I pop recycling stuff in ( to save a trip to the garden each time)

 

It's just an Asda bag really....

 

 

So , if you recycle -how much rubbish does one person produce in a fortnight? ( so equivalent to a couple a week maybe)

 

 

Well - a bagful...I'm not chucking out the cookie tin,  I just put it there to demonstrate the size of the bag...standard carrier bag size. I haven't even squished it down that much...you can clearly make out a cat food sachet.

So what DO people chuck in their bins to fill them up? Is it just that they are too lazy to recycle or is there some vital stuff that half the population (or more) absolutely must have that I'm just too dim to know that I need it (or maybe not quite so gullible) I'm intruigued..........what is it that makes them all so angry when the local councils say they will move to fortnightly collections? I don't think I'd get too stressed if they only collected once a month. What goes in your bin?? Oh, I think my nosiness just reached a whole new level, Oops!  LOL

 

 

 

 

Girls Allowed...

out in the garden at last !

 The sun was shining and the cats were on best behaviour(-ish) so today I toodled down the garden with the scissors to give the girls a quick trim in the right wing department, and then let them have a scratch around in the garden.

 

Baldrick felt that Fernanda needed his close supervision as it was her first time in the garden

 

Shy little Mo was pleased to be out in the sunshine too.

 

 

 

 

and Queenie kept a close eye on her

 

 

I thought it was sweet the way the 3 girls stuck together....old pals after 2 weeks

Yolko takes the lead....

 

 

Erm...what exactly is going on in your head Baldrick?

 

 

What's that you say? Lunch?

 

 

No chickens were harmed in the making of todays blog

(but I did keep a careful watch from the kitchen - LOL)