Easter biscuits

Last week I treated myself to a new mixer.  Aldi's Thursday offer was a bargain stand mixer in cream so I had to have it.  Yes a kitchenaid mixer would be nice but I really don't like baking or even eating cakes enough to warrant the price.  I also had a voucher so got the cute biscuit stamps for free.  

We had to try both last Thursday afternoon.  So obviously we would make biscuits.  I did a basic mix which was fine but I think the stamps would work better with a really dry mix and something that doesn't rise as this obliterates the writing.  Anyway with trial and error I am sure next times will be better.

So an hour or so later (I'm doing this with the help of an eager toddler so there's a lot of rolling, eating mix, squashing, starting again ....) a kitchen and child covered in flour and the biscuits were ready to go into the oven.  At that point (no sooner I swear) I remembered with horror that both me and the other half have given up biscuits for lent (I've given up crisps as well so roll on Sunday!).  

So a dilemma could Little L eat all those biscuits by herself and me not sample even one! I can't say what happened but there are no biscuits left.

Teething

All I talk about is teeth and gums!  Well it seems that way.  I have officially the most affected baby by teeth ever.  She started with red angry checks when she was four months old.  She really started to suffer a couple of months after that and so has been teething for a year now!!!

(Can I have that shoe back)

 

 

Last night she wouldn't even have her dummy (never happened before) as I think maybe her front teeth/gums were hurting.  So she wouldn't sleep.  My plans of picking out knitting patterns ready for Fridays jaunt was scuppered and so me and little L went to bed early in our bed (poor other half on sofa) and she kept waking up over night.  Tired house this morning.

 

So much to do as we are going up North tomorrow for a night out (for other half's birthday (thank you baby sitters) and then some visiting etc before our grand day out on Friday.  Have to sort out clothes/ food/ blankets/ nappies/ knitting/dog etc for tomorrow morning ... oh and try to whip up a birthday cake. 

 

 

 

Anyway cup of tea and breakfast first.  Hope you are all having fun

Green tomato chutney

The tomatoes this year were a big disappointment.  Hardly any ripened and the ones that did were tiny.  I always seem to leave planting tomato plants too late but usually that just means a glut of them in August and September.  This year was no exception I did plant them late but these weren't going to ripen and the few that did didn't taste that good.  So I decided to give up on them and pick all the green ones.  I ended up with about 1 kg and thought after my success with the jam making I would try chutney.  The recipe looked easy.

 

I chopped up the tomatoes and onions, sprinkled them with a teaspoon of salt and left for 24 hrs.  This got rid of lots of moisture (for half a day I let them stand in the colander and it kept dripping).  I'm glad I did this otherwise I would have been cooking it all day to reduce it.

 

The onions, tomatoes, sultanas, black pepper, chillies, garlic, ginger and vinegar went into a pan to boil for 10 mins then I added the sugar and simmered the mixture for probably 2 hours. 

 

 

The whole house smells of vinegar, the fumes were awful but eventually it was thick and ready to bottle.  Three jars of chutney.  I did try it a couple times whilst making it and I'm not sure I liked it but to be honest my head was so full of vinegar fumes that that was all I could taste.

 

 

I will give it a proper try and it can always be binned.  I won't make this again.  Jam making is definitely easier!

 

PS Since my last post about should we do the fire we have started it.  As of yesterday I now have no gas fire just a hole instead!

 

  

We're jamming

Well I am anyway.  So one of the trees in our garden which looked pretty rubbish, straggly and old has turned out to be useful, so it can stay.  Greengage plums no less.  I love plums preferably Victoria plums and tend to eat them straight from my parents tree in their garden, as does our great big dog (the dog also helps herself to fresh tomatoes from Dad's greenhouse).  So I sent my other taller half up the ladders yesterday and what a crop we got.  Shame as there are tons still left but the branches are just too high.

Washed and ready to start (we have the same amount again which I put in the freezer).

 

I had a look at a few recipes on line and decided to just keep it simple and do 1kg plums to 1kg sugar.  As the fruit was ripe I took the time to de-stone and quarter them before I put them in the pan.  I've never made jam before (well I helped my mum once when I was little) so it was a bit of an experiment but I got a few tips from my mum and little L was busy with her Daddy (don't think small child, molten fruit and stressed mummy mix well).

 

I was instructed to heat the fruit (no water or sugar) until it was nice and soft like stewed fruit (this took some time and do keep stirring or it might burn).  Then add the sugar and keep stirring to dissolve it and then crank the heat up.  I had already put some saucers in the fridge to chill ready for testing the jam.  So I turned it up to the second to highest setting on our stove and let it bubble away for at least 5 minutes then started to test it (drip a blob onto cold saucer and see if it sets or a skin forms on it).  By this point I was absolutely boiling it was like a sauna in the kitchen and the jam just wouldn't set.  So I held my nerve and whacked it up to full heat for a few minutes.  It started to go a bit brown and I thought it was burning but I tested it and it had set.... phew turn the heat off.

 

Next bottling... a spoon no the jam is going everywhere, a ladle no still going everywhere.....hhmmm I know a funnel made from cutting up a tonic bottle.  Yep this worked until it started to bend with the heat and I poured molten jam down my hand arghhhhhhhhh yes that hurt.  Anyway eventually I got it in the jam jars and it tasted good.  A messy job though, the kitchen looked a wreck there was jam on the floor (from my burning hand incident), jam on the side, the cooker, numerous saucers and spoons, my arm, my trousers and the phone (I had to make an emergency call for advice).

 

I think before I make the next batch I will treat myself to a jam funnel and maybe a thermometer.  The jam cost 30p per jar in sugar and who knows the cost of the gas (probably £5 knowing my luck) so it is cheaper I think as decent jam especially better flavours are £1.50-2 a jar.  Next time I won't boil it as much to start (so there are some lumps left in it) and I will be quicker to turn it up to the max so it shouldn't take as much gas.

 

So much fun, burnt hand, kitchen a mess and a mini facial at the same time but at least we have jam.

Bye for now x