Frugal Foodie ~ Pesto & Blackberries

I picked up a few bargins when I stopped off  at the co-operative on my way home from work yesterday 🙂  I really should try and pop in there more often, after all I have to drive past it nearly every night 🙂

3 Pots of Basil  £1.10 each normally I got them reduced to 30p a pot saving me £2.40

2 Pots of Parsley £1.10 each normally I got them reduced to 30p a pot saving me £1.60

2 packets of Blackberries £2.00 each normally I paid 60p each saving me £2.80

= a total saving of £6.80!!

So tonight I made 2 batches of Pesto…. one for tomorrow night’s tea and one for the freezer,  the blackberries were frozen, they will be a welcome addition to an apple crumble this winter 🙂

Pesto Recipe is a case of throw it in the food mixture until I get the consistency I like

• Basil
• Parsley
• 5 cloves of Garlic
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Put everything in a blender and whizz together adding the olive oil through the funnel

Cheese Scones

Well autumn has arrived and the tree’s are starting to turn beautiful shades of red and yellow, and it’s this time of year I love, It makes me want to bake 🙂

Cheese scones were beckoned by the oven today, and I found this wee recipe in one of my many cook books called “Porridge” by Margaret Briggs ISBN 978-1-86147-069-0.

I have quoted the original recipe below and then my modification to the recipe in bold alongside it, because when I added the milk and egg to the mix it was too runny.    If you wanted a smaller batch of scones, i’d suggest adding half the milk and keep to the original recipe.

You will need :

• 120g (4oz) Oatmeal
• 120g (4oz) Plain Flour (I used double the quantity of flour 240g / 8oz )
• 60g (2oz) grated, mature cheese of choice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt (I would recommend a big pinch)
• pinch of paprika (I used a pinch of chilli powder as i’d run out of paprika)
• 40g (1.5oz) Margarine
• 1 Egg (2 x small pekin Bantam Eggs courtesy of Brenda)
• 150ml (1/4 pint) Milk

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 230 Degrees C / 450 degrees F or Gas Mark 8
2. Sift the flour, salt, pepper and baking powder and mix with the oats
3. Rub in the margarine, then mix in the grated cheese
4. Mix the beaten egg with the milk and add to the rest of the ingredients to make a soft dough
5. Knead lightly, turn onto a floured board and roll out to about 2cm (3/4″) and cut into 5cm (2″) rounds with a cutter or small glass.   Knead the offcuts of dough gently
6. Brush with milk and bake for approximately 12 minutes.   Serve warm

Nutty Plum Crumble

This recipe is courtesy of  “The Best of Mrs Beeton’s Christmas” ISBN 978-1-898-80176-4

Serves 4-6

Ingredients :

• 675g Plums, halved and stoned
• 50g Sugar

Topping :

• 175g Plain Flour
• 75g Butter or margarine
• 25g Demorara Sugar
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 75g Chopped Hazelnuts, toasted

Set the oven at 180 degrees C / 350 Degrees F / Gas Mark 4   Place the plums in an ovenproof dish and sprinkle with sugar

Make the topping.   Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and hazelnuts.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the plums, pressing it down very lightly.   Bake the crumble for about 45 mins, until the topping is golden brown and the plums are cooked.   Serve with custard, cream or vanilla ice cream.

The Perfect Carrot Cake

I was looking at Carrot Cake recipes this morning amongst the books in my bookcase, then had a browse around online and finally decided to make this one as I really fancied the recipe, plus I had all the ingredients 🙂

The recipe is from the website http://www.cakebaker.co.uk and the link to the acutal recipe is here   http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/MakingThePerfectCarrotCake.html

The cake is in the oven as I type this and has about 45 mins left to bake, once its all done and dusted I’ll post a picture

The Perfect Carrot Cake

Ingredients for the cake

• 12½ oz carrots
• 2 oz pecans
• 4 oz self-raising wholemeal flour
• 4 oz plain wholemeal flour
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 8 fl oz vegetable oil
• 6 oz soft brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup

Ingredients for the topping

• 7 oz cream cheese
• 2 oz softened unsalted butter
• 2 oz sifted icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essenceThese quantities make a 9” round cake / 1 x 2lb Loaf Tin

• Start off by grating 12½ oz carrots and chopping 2 oz pecans. Put to one side.
• Sieve together 4 oz self-raising flour and 4 oz plain flour (both wholemeal) with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. (Tip the bran bits left in the sieve into the mixture.)
• Whisk together 8 fl oz vegetable oil, 6 oz soft brown sugar, 4 eggs and 2 tablespoons’ golden syrup. (Heat the spoon first and the syrup will slide off easily.)
• Add this to the dry ingredients and mix until it’s nice and smooth. Stir in the carrots and pecans.
• Tip the mixture into a greased lined tin and cook at 160oC for an hour, or until cooked.
• For the topping, mix 7 oz cream cheese, 2 oz softened unsalted butter, 2 oz sifted icing sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, until smooth.
• Allow the cake to cool and then add the topping

This cake will keep for a few days in an airtight container. That is, if you can resist it that long!

A Visit from the Blue Tit Family

The Blue Tit family came to the garden today to show us their new family… 3 little baby blue tits, and they are absolutely gorgeous..

Mrs Blue Tit is looking slightly frazzled, she has been a regular visitor to the garden for the last few weeks eating all the bugs from under the blackcurrant bushes…  I did put out fat balls for them last week but my springer spaniel jumped up, stole and ate the lot, giving him the most god awful skoots !!

Enough waffling and on with the pics of the babies 🙂

The Tale of the Cat and the Cat Biscuit

Today,  I bought a brand new bag of  IAMS cat buiscuit… 

It was left on the kitchen table waiting to be put away into the animal food cupboard…

Take one very sly and sleekit birman cat….

Who sneaks into the kitchen when nobody is looking…. jumps up onto the kitchen table and proceeds ……….. to pick

and chew………

and shred the bag open with his claws…..

Until he finally reaches the tiny little brown nuggets that he craves so much!

Why do cats feel the need to do this ?!?!

Easter Truffles

 

Ingredients :

• 150g / 6oz Plain Chocolate
• 40ml / 2 tablespoons Brandy (Adult version) or fruit squash (Kids Version)
• 50g / 1 1/2 oz Butter
• 60g / 2 oz Icing Sugar
• 50g / 2 oz ground almonds
• 16 small sweet paper cases

Method :

1. Break up two thirds of the chocolate into a bowl and place this over a pan of hot water.
2. Add the brandy and leave to melt
3. Take off the heat and stir in the butter, which should not be too hard.
4. Mix in the sieved icing sugar and the almonds s that it is well blended.
5. Leave to cool place until the mixture is firm enough to handle.
6. Divide into about 16 even-sized pieces and roll into balls.
7. Grate the remaining chocolate, place on a piece of greaseproof paper and roll the truffles in it.
8. Pop each one into a paper case.

Recipe courtesy of  :

“The Cadbury Chocolate Cookbook” by Patricia Dunbar ISBN 0 600 32018 9

The Ultimate Fairy Cake Post…

What can I say… they’re quick n’ easy to make and my kids love them and I love coming up with different ideas for toppings 😉 just a big kid at heart lol

If you would like the recipe and some ideas you can find them here , here , here , here , here , and here phew! 😉

Gingersnaps

Yay! I actually made something different today that doesnt resemble a Muffin or a fairy cake lol…

GINGERSNAPS!

Ingredients: ~

• 90g / 3oz / 1/3rd Cup Unsalted Butter
• 90g / 3oz/ 1/2 Cup Soft Brown Sugar
• 90g/ 3oz/ 1/4 Cup Golden Syrup
• 60g/ 2oz/ 2 tablespoons black treacle
• 250g / 8oz / 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method :

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C 350 degrees F Gas 4
• Butter 2 baking sheets (I used 2 sheets of baking paper instead)
• Put butter, sugar, syrup and treacle into a saucepan, stir over a gentle heat until melted.
• Cool slightly
• Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and spice into a bowl, make a well in the centre, then pour in the syrup mixture
• Mix well to form a soft dough
• Weigh dough into 15g (1/2oz) pieces, or divide into walnut sized pieces.
• Roll pieces into smooth balls, place on baking sheets, spacing well apart, flatten each ball to form a neat round.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until very lightly browned.
• Remove the buscuits from the oven, allow to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, as the biscuits cool they will become very crips.

Makes approx 30

Recipe courtely of “The Book of Biscuits” by Pat Alburey – ISBN 0-86101-282-8

Pineapple & White Choc Chip Muffins

I’ve been making rather a lot of Muffins lately….

But there is a genuine reason for this muffin overdose on my blog, my daughter.. she needs to practice making muffins, she has an exam this friday coming.

So instead of baking different things at the weekend, as I love to do, we have been making mostly….. the humble muffin 🙂

My daughter will be making Strawberry and White Choc Chip Muffins on the day of the exam, today we bring to you……….

Pineapple and White Choc Chip Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients :

• 4oz – 115g Butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 oz – 70g caster sugar
• 1oz – 30g dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 7 1/2oz – 215g Plain Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4fl oz – 125ml Milk
• 4oz White Choc Chips
• 5oz Fresh Pineapple, chopped small.

Method :

• Cream the butter until soft and add both the caster and the dark brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs 1 at a time
• sift together the flour and baking powder, then fold into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk then fold in the pineapple and the choc chips.
• Divide the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases/tin
• Bake for 25 minutes @ 375 degrees F – 190 degrees C or Gas Mark 5
• Once baked allow to stand for 25 minutes before turning out.

Verdict : My daughter gave it 8/10 because of the lack of choc chip in the one she ate and my son gave it 9/10 loved the taste combination.