One things always leads to another...

Why is it you start to do one job and then this job leads to you doing even more than you first intended to do and then before you know it another day has gone and the jobs you wanted to get done have been left.

As the saying go a woman's work is never done. I only intended to wash up and then I ended up giving the whole kitchen a thorough wash down and cleaned the windows.

I done some baking on Sunday, there is not a lot left as the boys have been tucking in!

I made a Victoria sponge, a chocolate cake, shortbread and some peanut butter cookies.

We had the chicken and butternut squash pasta bake on Monday, I adjusted some of the ingredients. I used less squash as the boys are not over keen on it and I made my sauce slightly different as I felt that the dish would be quite dry and we like our pasta with plenty of sauce. I added half a pint of chicken stock and a tub of creme fraiche (reduced fat) and some garlic and thyme. I served it with garlic bread and everyone really liked it. Another dish to add to the monthly menu in future. To get a copy of the original recipe click here which will take you to the good food recipe channel website. I get a lot of great recipes from here.

Yesterday I popped into Woodbridge town with Mum and Dad. It was quite a blustery day so we had a walk through the town window shopping and we dropped into a large second hand antique furniture store and work shop. I am looking for some pieces of furniture to decorate, however the prices were quite high for  the type of things I want but there was some lovely antique pieces that I would love to own.

I was quite good and only spent money on some milk and a celeriac. For those of you that don't know what a celeriac is, it is a root vegetable and apparently quite easy to grow in my part of the country. I had been meaning to get one to try but just had never got round to it however it was reading the blog of frugalqueen that had prompted me to get one.

.
It is a bit like swede but not as sweet but it is a bit of a pig to peel! I used half of it last night. This one cost £1.67. They are usually quite a cheap vegetable but like most things prices for fresh vegetables are constantly rising. We had meatloaf last night and I made some homemade potato chips using normal potatoes and the celeriac. And they all ate the lot as they didn't know they were eating a different vegetable. (ha you have to be sneaky!) I did tell them once they had eaten.

I cooked the chips in the Actifry, it is a food fryer but you only add one spoon of oil. It is amazing how crispy the chips are, just like normal fried chips but with hardly any of the fat. It was an expensive purchase but worth it.

The weather has been chopping and changing, we had huge snowflakes last night and I thought it was going to lay but thankfully it didn't. It had been quite cold and windy with a little sunshine thrown in. I just hope the snow stays away!

Right time for me to take these dogs for a walk, hopefully before it rains and then clean out the noisy clucker's when I get back. A big hello and thank you to my new readers and follower. I hope you enjoy your time here. Until next time x

Finally my Fingers were in the Soil!

Well I managed to get out and rummage in the soil! Oh it felt so good to be in the potting shed with my windup radio and dancing around whilst seed sowing to keep warm.

First job was to layout the seed potatoes to chit. As you can see they have already started. They are Pentland Javelin first early. I grew these last year and I'm sure they were a good cropper. I am going into town this coming week and will hopefully pick up some more seed potatoes. I am not sure what variety but it will depend on what the shops have in stock.

The second job I got done was to make up my salad box to go on the windowsill in my kitchen.

I added some polystyrene for drainage

I filled it with compost and sowed some mixed Oriental salad leaves. These are cut and come again leaves and will give a good supply of different leaves to add to our salad and sandwiches. I have also sown a small tub of cress.

Patiently waiting for something green to appear

I then sowed some broad beans into toilet roll inners. I had two varieties so I have sown nine of Witkiem-Manita which are a fast maturing crop of high yielding short fat pods and are ideal for freezing. The other variety is Aquadulce Claudia. These are also a high yielding variety with longer pods and also ideal for freezing.

preparing toilet rolls for broad beans

I found that an old funnel used for adding salt to a dishwasher is excellent for filling up toilet rolls for seed sowing. I have used the fish boxes to add extra insulation to the broad beans and the basil that I also sowed. I have three varieties of basil and have sown two pots of each. Franchi-Sementi, Basilico Bolloso Napolentano and Basilico Violetto Aromatico.

I also sowed some early onward peas, and a variety of peppers. A hot slim chilli pepper and California wonder, a sweet bell pepper. The peppers were also placed in a fish box and all the seeds have been placed in the greenhouse and have been covered with plastic sheeting.

Hopefully something will germinate!

I was bought this herb growing set for Christmas. You get these soil pellets that you add water to and they expand. I have added the water but as yet nothing has happened.

 I will check it again tomorrow and if nothing has happened I will throw out these pellets and fill with my compost. I like the look of the set and it seems a shame not to use it.

And finally I sowed a trough of carrots that has been placed in the greenhouse. Whether they will grow, we shall have to wait and see.

Whilst I was pottering about I let the girls out. They do make me laugh as they serenely step out of the run to then waddle and flap and try to take flight over to the raised bed and fruit border. Matilda is looking a picture of health compared to a few months ago when I thought I was going to loose her. She is the first to nestle down in the soil for a good bath.

I cleaned out the coop and then lead them back in to the run with handfuls of seeds and corn. I had to then sweep all the path as they had scattered the stones everywhere whilst they were searching for grubs.

Before I came in I thought I would go and dig up my parsnips.

Not impressed with this little lot but at least something grew. I will not be growing them again as they have to be in the ground for such a long time and then amount to nothing and to be honest I am the only one that likes  parsnips, it is less hassle and cheap for me to buy a couple from the supermarket.

I thought I would leave the digging for another day, my leg is not good today and I have a busy week ahead so I don't want to make it any worse than it is already, damn thing! I did however take a peek under the weed membrane that I put down at the end of the last growing season and some of the compost from the bins has still not broken down so it will need a good and thorough digging. I might have to call in dad to give me a hand of even get Jay to get the electric rotivator out and do it for me.

Well that is it from me for another day, I hope you enjoyed being with me in the potting shed today. I am now going to do a bit of baking, a chocolate sponge and some shortbread biscuits. Until next time x

Just another day...

So much for getting round to posting a blog yesterday. As I said I took the the dogs for a walk but unbeknown to me there was an oily substance in the rear of the car and Max had it all on his legs and feet and it ended up all over my floors! I finally managed to get most of it off Max and my floors but after an hour of trying to clean it up from the car and nothing was shifting it I gave up. Lewis has now fitted in a new piece of carpet in the boot so all is well on that score.

I woke up to a smattering of snow flakes and then the sun came along for an hour or so. I hung out a load of washing for it then to rain, a mad dash ensued to get the washing in. Snow returned along with the rain and I'm not sure what the rest of the day is going to bring. All I do know is that I have piles of wet washing and the machine is still going!

Any plans I had for gardening today have gone right out of the window. I was hoping to dig half of the vegetable garden ready for some sowing but I am now destined to a laundry day, as the beds have been stripped and bedrooms tidied up and as usual a mountain of washing has come out of all the boys rooms!

As the saying goes tomorrow is another day, my plans are to sort out my salad box for the windowsill in the kitchen and sow some herbs. I will also be sowing my broad beans in toilet roll inners and place them in the green house and as extra insulation place them in the polystyrene fish boxes. I also need to put my seed potatoes in the egg boxes to chit. If the weather holds off I may even get to do some of that digging. Fingers crossed!

As promised a few holiday snaps, nothing exciting I'm afraid as I am still trying to get the photos to load on to my laptop. I hope to get some better ones for your to view.

 Albufeira Beach

One of the pools at The Eden Resort

 Albufeira Beach

Here is a glimpse of our monthly menu

We have four new dishes we are trying this month, chicken & roast squash bake. Creamy ham Linguine, Spanish style chicken bake and also a skinny lasagne. Most of these recipes are from the hairy bikers diet cookbook. you can find a review for this book on my literary blog HERE.

I set Jay the task of going through our numerous cook books to find recipes that we would all like to eat with  fairly basic ingredients. I gave him a pack of sticky tabs and we now have a large selection of recipes for me to choose from for our March menu and will hopefully save me time when it comes to doing the menu.

Must get back to the laundry, hopefully some gardening tomorrow. Until next time x

A Quick Hello!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to drop you all a quick line to let you know we are back safe and well. The break was great and we even had a bit of beautiful sunshine.

I have lots of photos but as yet I need to learn how to upload them from Jay's gadget on to my laptop. Adam will be home later I'll get him to sort it and then I will post some of them. Jay got a bit snap happy and we have hundreds! The photo at the top is of a flower that was in the grounds of the apartments. The gardens were very well kept and it was nice to see some colour in a garden after leaving the UK with a blanket of snow.

Speaking of Adam he was a little star whilst we were away, he was head chef and chief housekeeper! Thanks Adam for keeping it all together, I'm sure the others would of gone hungry and I would have come back to a mountain of washing and a filthy house if it was not for you.

I spent yesterday doing the holiday washing, the monthly menu and food shop. Jay picked up the truck and she is once again raring to go.

I have lots to divulge to you but must dash as the dogs need walking. I will be blogging later today, so keep your eyes peeled! Until next time x