Apple Cake

Well folks its just been one if those weeks where the time just passes and no blogging gets done, I have taken lots of pictures and then not found the time to write anything.  I have been busy prepping apples for the freezer, we seem to have had a huge glut of cooking apples this year and to be honest Im a bit sick of doing them...but... I will be thankful in the depths of winter when its a puddingy day and I can whip up a winter warmer for low cost.  Today I made this huge Apple Tray bake

You could easily make this in a meat tin, its delicious, you can eat it as cake or pudding, with cream or custard or just on its own with a cuppa.

Apple Cake

1kg Apples peeled and chopped, I sliced about a third for the top just cos it looks posh!

450gm Plain flour, I used half wholemeal

220gm Buttery Spread

350gm Sugar, brown or white

4beaten eggs

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

3teaspoons Mixed Spice or Cinnamon or a mix of the 2

Brown sugar to sprinkle on the top

Runny honey to glaze or I used my Rosy Apple Jelly brushed on the top of the cooked cake.

Oven 170*c for about an hour, test with a skewer.

Cream the buttery and sugar until fluffy, add the beaten egg then the flour, baking powder and spice and mix thoroughly.  Add the chopped apple and enough milk to make a dropping consistency, my eggs were large so I didnt need the milk.  Put the mixture in a lined tin and top with the slices of apple. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Cook as above. When cooked brush with the honey.  Cool on a wire rack, cut into squares and freeze.

Its lovely and cakey with little pockets of softened apple.  Any apples will do they dont have to be cooking ones.  If you dont have a big tray you can use 3 sandwich tins and have wedges of cake.

Does anyone has any Apple recipes they would like to share please :-)

Back tomorrow with some quilting.

Take care

Karen xxx

Thursday Shop

Last shop of the month today and I admit to going a bit overboard this month, oops!  I think I will be doing a Stretch it out September again this year.

Lots of lovely fresh fruits and vegetables are essential in our house.

Aldi and Morrisons....total spend £45:26.  The mini rolls are for family tonight and the Oreos for my grandaughter, apart from those I think its a healthy shop. Aldi super 6 veg this week was excellent quality and a bargain at 39p so I bought 2 each of cabbage, brocolli, spring onions and 1 bag of carrots, I had carrots for tonight from a bag bought last week. The chicken fillets are for a curry on Wednesday, we have friends coming over and we all like a good curry, it can be made a day in advance too and left to mellow in the fridge. Spring onions, raddish celery and peppers, olives and Greek Feta will make a delicious salad with lettuce tomatoes and cucumber from the garden. Fish fingers and scampi were on offer, less than half price and the chicken breasts were a half price whoops!

Dinner tonight is Shepherds Pie (I made 2 so 1 for the freezer) cabbage, carrots, brocolli and peas.

Its the Opticians for me tomorrow, I am dreading the expense.....its my varifocals that cost a fortune, I am going to Specsavers this time so we shall wait and see...

Enjoy your evening.

Love Karen xxx

WoodsWare. Beryl.

For some time I have been quietly looking around the Charity shops for some of this 1940's crockery and there just doesnt seem to be any around, so when this little lot popped up on ebay for £14, I thought why not. Its just a small start and I will continue to look at charity shops while I'm out and about.

It came very well packaged and even though it was all a but grubby a quick wash in the dishwasher soon brought it up sparkling. Unfortunately one of the cups was smashed to bits when I opened the wrapping, I could tell before I opened it :-( 

I was a bit dissapointed that it had survived from the 1940's only to be broken in transit  74 years later! I will email the seller to see what happens.

Thank you for all your concerns regarding my dental issues, My mouth is still sore and I'm still taking the painkillers but I am managing to eat soft foods for now, it takes a lot to put me off my food! :-)

Its just started raining here and there has been a bit of a nip in the air the past 2 days, I hope that isn't the end of summer. We are still hoping to get away in the caravan next month, probably back to the Yorkshire Dales for a week. If we wait until the kids go back to school it will be a bit quieter.

Yesterday was a housework day with lots achieved and a couple of cheese and onion quiches made, one for tea with left overs for todays lunch with soup and another for the freezer which we will have next week.

Its good old Sausage and mash with onion gravy tonight.... 

You can't beat the old favourites on a cold cloudy day can you? 

Thats all folks!

Take care

Karen xxx

The Dreaded Dentist!

I have been dreading today for the last few weeks, following my last check up at the Dentist I decided to have my troublesome tooth taken out, its been a bother for the last 12 months, starting with a filling then abscess and finally chronic infection and a dead nerve.  My dentist gave me the option of having a root canal filling, which she couldn't honestly say would work or an extraction so I opted for the later and got rid once and for all.  It wasn't too painful after the injection took effect but as the morning went on it gradually got worse. I have taken 2 lots of painkillers and had an hour in bed and it isn't too bad at the moment, iv'e just managed to eat some soft scrambled egg and a warm cuppa, I was starving!  I am hoping that by this time tomorrow the healing process will be underway and my mouth will be less sore.

It will be an early night for me with a book, at the moment I am reading Secrets by Lesley Pearse, its promising to be a good story as are all her books, if you haven't read any give them a try, you are usually hooked after the first one.

Nothing planned for tomorrow, my dentist said avoid anything strenuous for 24 hours, might make that 48 just to be on the safe side lol

Thank you for all your positive comments yesterday and a huge welcome to my new follower Janice Piper :-)

Take care

Karen xxx

Blocks and Boobies.

Lazy Sunday and I have been having a practice at making some 12" quilt blocks before I bite the bullet and make my first proper quilt.  I had coffee and a long chat with friend on Friday morning about how I needed to tackle this project, we are going to the Quilt show at Harrogate at the end of the month and I want to buy my fabrics,  hopefully they will be lots of show offers.  

I need to make 12 blocks for my project and to keep things simple I have chosen to do 4 each of these 3. The finished quilt will be about 56" x 71" including the sashing and the border.

Please excuse the photo quality, the light is terrible today and the blocks need to be pressed again and squared up, these are just my samples :-)

                                                      Churndash

                                  Friendship Star.

                                               Shoofly.

No doubt there will be plenty of progress reports and photos when I get started, my friend will be on hand to sort me out if I get into a tangle lol

Boobies... Mammograms..

                                 Google images

Friday afternoon and it was time to go for my 3 yearly Mammogram, I never really mind going as I think its very important to look after yourself.  Early detection of anything unusual going on means a bigger chance of success if you need treatment or surgery.  It takes around 10minutes to have the Xrays and is a little uncomfortable, imagine putting a sandwich in the sandwich toaster and pressing the lid closed...but worth every minute in the end.  It takes about 2 weeks for the results and I will be informed by letter, they also tell people that there is a chance you may be called back for another, I suppose it depends on whether the operator has managed to get a clear picture of the breast tissue.  I havent had any problems in the last 3 years so I am hoping for a good result.  I will let you know.

Please,please, if you get the chance to have a Mammogram take the opportunity to have one, peace of mind is priceless! 

The weather is a mixed bag today...sunshine, showers and squally wind. 

A nice piece of Pork retrieved from the depths of the freezer is roasting in the oven and smelling delicious, I will do plenty veggies and roasties so there will be enough for dinner tomorrow evening and the rest of the meat can be sliced up and frozen in gravy for a later meal.  Lots of Apples have fallen from the tree in the garden so they need dealing with too and we will need apple sauce for the pork.

Its just started raining again and I have left it until now to go and pick some french beans from the garden for tea!   Oops!

Enjoy whats left of your Sunday.

Back tomorrow after the Dentist!!!

Karen xxx

Thrifty and no so thrifty Thursday.

The postie was a bit late today and aswell as the usual junk I got these from Sainsburys

They seem to arrive on a regular basis, just as I have used the last one more appear, they must be desperate for my custom!  Once upon a time it was my regular supermarket but I found it getting more and more expensive and had to change to Netto and then Aldi and Lidl.  However if you read my last post you will know I use one of these vouchers to keep my storecupboard well stocked with Basics products.  Out off this batch I will probably use week 5 - 14th September, this will stock us up again  with whatever we need, the rest will go in the shredder.  I will also use my Nectar card to collect the points, we dont get that many but it has bought our Christmas meat each year for the last few years, so its still worth it.

Lunch time was a thrifty affair, posh BLT :-). I used some bits of Sainsburys Cooking Bacon, about 25p worth for 2 well filled sandwiches, the lettuce and tomato were homegrown, and I used some Basics mayo with a smear of pesto on the top.

It was wonderful.

Dessert was fairly healthy and still thrifty, homegrown apple and some Lidl yogurt, this has to be the best ever yogurt, its £1:69 for a 1kg tub and is very thick and creamy.  

It was quite a substantial lunch but we didnt have breakfast and had been working in the garden and we were starving!

Now for the non thrifty bit...

For ages now I have been on the lookout for a set of 1940's Woodsware 'Beryl' utility crockery, this searching has amounted to zilch! So yesterday I put a bid in for some on the bay of e and won :-). I will post a photo when it arrives.  Its not a full set just 4 each of the basic dinner and tea set so I will still be on the lookout for more to add to it, I even have my daughter in law looking for some lol. If anyone in the Doncaster area reads my blog and sees some for sale maybe you could let me know about it please.

Right its now cuppa time and then get on with the bit of ironing from todays washing.

Back tomorrow

Take care

Karen xxx

Thank you for your comments yesterday and a special welcome to my new follower, A new start. xx

Just an ordinary week.

I can hardly believe its nearly a week since we got back from our caravanning trip. Since being back home there has been a definite change in the weather, probably due to hurricane Bertha winging its way to us. I spent the weekend catching up with the laundry and cleaning and repacking the caravan. When I say repacking I mean putting the towels and clean bedding back in its cupboards and replenishing dry goods and toiletries, it all helps when we decide to go away at a days notice.  Ahh, the joys of being retired :-)

Monday was shopping day, I still had a £12 off a £60 shop for Sainsburys, stocks were getting a bit low due to cutting back before we went away so after checking the cupboards and freezers I made my list online and tried to print it off, I dont know why but that didnt work and I ended up writing it all out by hand! I had made a note of the costs so as not to go over the £60 limit, However I did have to substitute a couple of items and it took the total to a little over £61 ...minus the £12 voucher. I nipped into Home Bargains and Lidl as they are all close to each other so my total cash spends came to £68.60.  We are well stocked with everything again and it will last well into next month, just need to buy fresh milk and veggies weekly.

Tuesday, big catch-up with the housework! Hubby was at his voluntary job so I cracked on and got things done early so I could have a bit of sewing time.  Salad from the garden for tea with a tuna jacket potato then a lazy evening in blogland :-)

Today, hubby had a bit of home maintenance to do, some of the window locks have started getting a bit stiff and one had broken, they have all been cleaned and lubricated and are as good as new, he found a replacement part on ebay for £6 so thats been ordered.  I went out into the garden to catch up with some weeding....again! The apple tree had taken a bit of a battering and we had quite a few windfalls plus loads of rotten ones which must have dropped off while we were away.

I brought the good ones inside and stewed them down, instead of making crumble for the tops I made a deep traybake sponge, this will be portioned up and frozen with some small tubs of the apple...a sort of DIY Eve's Pudding.

I added sugar to taste as these are cooking apples and a bit too tart without.

The sponge is just plain, I used a 4 egg mix for my tin and it was perfect.

Served with custard....mmmm delicious!

Tonight.....maybe just slob in front of the telly....

Enjoy your evening

Love Karen xxx

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal and Beekeeping.

In 1132 thirteen Cistercian monks came to this secluded Yorkshire valley to start a new religious life. Over the next 400 years the Abbey they founded became one of the richest in Europe, until the dissolution of the monastries by Henry the eighth. 800 years later it has become a World Heritage Site which is managed by the National Trust.

The Abbey Water Powered Mill.

The Water gardens of Studley Royal

Spooky looking tree roots

With nearly 3 miles to walk back to the car we needed a little snack to keep us going....well thats my excuse....it was delicious!

We walked back to the Visitors Centre just in time for the Bee Keeping demonstration, we didnt know about this when we arrived so it was a happy finding and as we had just been making the bee frames we thought it would be interesting to stop and take part.

What chumps we looked in the outfits!!  Of course we had to have a "selfie"

The gentleman was from the Harrogate Beekeepers Association.  First he gave us a talk on the different bees and how they work the hive to produce honey.

Then we were all kitted out and went over to the hive.

I was absolutely amazed at how many bees were in the hive, he took each of the frames out in turn to check them and to look for the Queen.  Unfortunately she must have been hiding because all we saw were the workers and drones.  It was a very interesting hour....and all free!

I think this one was looking for its mate :-)

We had a lovely day out and as we are National Trust members it didnt cost anything to get in but the Cream Tea cost nearly £10 for two.  It was one of two treats we had over the holiday.

Not very flattering outfits are they :-)

Back tomorrow

Love Karen xxx

A lovely break in North Yorkshire

After deciding to go to Norfolk for a couple of weeks things really did change and we ended up in North Yorkshire! It was a last minute decision, in fact until Friday morning we hadn't got a pitch anywhere and we were setting off on Sunday morning! We usually have an idea of where we want to stay then just ring before we set off but, it was very busy being the first 2 weeks of the school holidays and most if the small campsites were fully booked, maybe I had made a huge mistake leaving it to the last minute! well as it happened we were lucky and the last place to ring on my list turned up trumps, it ticked all the boxes and is top of the list of favourite places, one we shall return to time and again in the future.

Here are a few pictures of our caravan on site just on the outskirts of Ripon.

The site was in 2 enclosed paddocks, all pitches had electric hook up and there were a couple of water points.

This was the site at its busiest.  It was so quiet and peaceful the whole time we were there.  We had only booked for 5 nights for 2 units, our sons camper and our caravan,  but at the end of the 5 nights our son went home and we rebooked for a further 6 nights.  The other caravaners  were very friendly and even bought Willow a birthday card on the Monday as she was 11 years old :-)

These two were in the paddock behind our unit, you can just see the top if our roof in the background, they are Denis and Joyce, they kept us well entertained with the noises they made.

Willow made friends with an 8 year old boy called Flynn, they had a great time making loom bands, playing Minecraft and stroking the cows.  They named this one Manky Moo, as the day before this photograph it had a huge cow pat on its back!!

There was a stream at the bottom of the next field and Willow and her mum and dad spent lots of free time down there building dams, even the dog got in on the act. The aim was to redirect the water to get rid of the scum in the corner....

It worked!!  Just a little bit left on a rock, it cost nothing to do and it entertained them for hours.  

Next day we went to Janets Foss, near Mallam Cove, Willow had just been there with the school and wanted to show us what they did.

In the freezing water with mum.

We ended the day with a lovely picnic and Willow making us laugh with a hunk of sheeps wool.

Onto Brimham Rocks......free again :-)

I must have a weird imagination because this one reminded me of Santa getting stuck down the chimney lol

You can see for miles from the tops of the rocks.  Its a smashing place to let the kids have a scramble, my boys loved it when they were young.

Ripon.

One evening we went into the town centre, there is a traditional ceremony that takes place every evening at 9pm by the Wakeman, he stands at each corner of the monument in the square and sounds a horn to set the clocks and tell all is well.  This has been performed every night for the past 1128 years!

                                        The Town Hall clock strikes 9 pm

                    And the Wakeman sounds his horn.

                     The Wakeman and Willow.

I wondered why my phone was always flat....lol

Their week came to an end too quick, my son had to go back to work, they were also going to a friends wedding on the Saturday so Willow didnt want to stay with us as she was looking forward to the wedding.

  It was a bit quiet after they had gone, back to just the two of us!

 

I will be back tomorrow with further adventures and photographs.

Take care

Karen xxx