Author: Scottish Mum

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An alternative Burns Night Supper – Slow cooked mince, neeps and tatties.

In Scotland, we all know it’s the birthday of the Bard coming up.  If you don’t know who – it’s Rabbie Burns, and we celebrate it on the 25th January every year, so Friday night will be haggis night in many  households around the world.   Robert Burns was a poet who is now looked upon as being the national poet of Scotland.   His birthday is celebrated by both Scots and Non Scots worldwide.

Our children will have Burns celebrations at schools, and many a charity function will be held in his name on Friday night.  I’ll never forget a local poet giving a lament to the haggis a few years ago at a special school, where the lady poet was swinging huge kitchen knives above her head before she ripped the haggis open ceremonially.

A logistical nightmare, our knives had to all be locked away forever after that one.  At least with me being there, I knew where the new-found fascination for knives came from.  I pity the parents of other kids who had no idea why their kids would suddenly have taken to brandishing knives above their heads like daggers with a swagger!

Back to the cooking…

The traditional dish is haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties.

There are vegetarian versions of haggis, but not everyone likes the meat or the vegetarian options as they can be quite spicy.

As an alternative, this weekend, we did a trial run of slow cooked mince with meat from Andrew Gordon Butchery and Fine Foods and the new Neeps & Tatties from the Scotty Brand range.

As always in our house – anything from the slow cooker gets the thumbs up from me for ease – and always tastes fabulous.

Scotty Brand Neeps & Tatties

Lesley S Smith

Slow Cooked Mince, Neeps & Tatties. Alternative Burns Night Supper

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 6 - 8
Course: Mains
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Lean Steak Mince
  • 1 Large Onion Chopped
  • 1 kg Neeps & Tatties
  • Stock Pot
  • 500 g Carrots Washed, scraped and chopped or sliced.
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cornflour

Method
 

  1. Switch on the slow cooker to high to warm up.
  2. Brown the mince with the chopped onion on a thick bottomed pan.
  3. Add the mince and onion to the slow cooker. Add in the neeps, tatties and carrots. Add boiling water to almost the top of your ingredients.
  4. Add a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper and a stock cube, or stock pot if you prefer a stronger taste.
  5. Put the lid on and leave for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.
  6. If you want to thicken your hotpot, half an hour before the end of cooking, mix up cornflour with cold water and mix to a smooth paste. Add to your hotpot and fold in until it thickens. If you over thicken, add a little boiling water to fix it.
  7. Serve.

 

 

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Top Tips for Baking the Perfect Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1. Use the minimum of utensils and keep your ingredients list reasonable.

I have a habit of making a huge mess of the kitchen when I am cooking, and with 6 mouths to feed, the kitchen can look like a bomb site quite easily.  I have got cup cake making down to a fine art with only my mixer, a cup, a dessert spoon and a knife at the ready.  I use no bowls whatsoever and just put everything straight into the mixer.

2 – Choosing Ingredients

Use the best ingredients you can afford.  It does make a difference.  The quality of flours can be quite different when you have your finished cup cakes.   If you’re using chocolate, use real chocolate and not the cooking kind that nobody really likes.  For chocolate powder, splash out on something like Green and Blacks Cocoa powder and not cheaper versions with fillers, and you’ll be very glad you did.

Use unsalted butter instead of margarine.  I really don’t understand the margarine or spread brigade as I’d rather have a little less of the real stuff than a heap of manufactured fats full of additives and other difficult to pronounce ingredients.

Baking really is a case of getting the mix of ingredients right.  As long as you add butter, sugar and flour at the same proportions and 1 egg for each 120g of any one of the other ingredients, you should be fine.

3 – The Mixing Moments

How much to mix is always a big issue with cup cake chefs.   I do have my mixer on at a fairly low-speed for a couple of minutes and then I turn it up high for the last little while at the sugar and butter stage to try to blast some air into the mix.

4 – When to Add the Ingredients

I’m going to go completely against the grain here.

Sifting the flour in can add extra air, but I suspect most home bakers don’t bother.  I am not telling you that I actually follow the rule for sifting flour into the mixer, as there are times when I don’t.  I’ve never had complaints from not sifting and my cakes seem to be as light as when I do sift, but I can often hear my grandmother in the background nipping my ears for not doing it right.  Guilt will sometimes make me reach for the sieve.

If you’re really brave like my sister-in-law, you can throw everything in the mixer at the same time and just mix until it’s ready to spoon into cases.

5 – Get the mix even in the cases.

This one is common sense.  If some cases have more mix than others, some will be cooked more quickly than the rest.  Try using a standard sized spoon or scoop to get the same amount of cake mix in each cup cake case.

6 – How to know if it’s mixed.

The consistency should be creamy and not like Scottish Tablet with a grainy consistency.

7 – Work your oven.

It takes a while to get to understand a new oven.  Each one works differently and gives different results.  If you know your oven tends to run hotter or colder than recipes usually ask for, change your baking time.   Use a skewer to know when they are ready.  If a skewer comes out clean, then the cakes are ready.

Resist the temptation to open the oven part of the way through cooking.  Your cakes may well just fall flat as a pancake…

8 – It’s disaster time..

Cakes that don’t look perfect are rarely a disaster.  Make a form of Eton Mess using the sponge, or change a bread and butter pudding recipe, or cover it all up with icing.  If it tastes great, then it doesn’t matter what it looks like.

 

 

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Baxters Beetroot – Stir Fry and Chocolate Brownies.

Baxters sent a gorgeous hamper with a lovely Baxters apron and a selection of Beetroot from their range.  Baxters are reasonably local to us, and I’ve often bought their beetroot as it tends to be a nice sweet vinegary taste.

Their products have been in my life as far back as I can remember, so we’re regular customers in this house.

Baxters have been going in the UK for several generations and the make soups, preserves, condiments, beetroot and chutneys among other thing.   Baxters create their own recipes and showcase some of the them on their website.  They even have the opportunity for you to add your own recipe to their website, and if they like it, they might feature it online.

They have a visitors centre that is based around a highland village experience in Fochabers, Aberdeen.  I’ve driven past it several times, but have not stopped off as yet, but after this challenge, I may well give their Highland Village a visit in the near future.

They challenged me to come up with a recipe for their Beetroot so I used it as an alternative to rumpledethumps for leftovers in a Chicken, Bacon and Beetroot Stir Fry which went down a treat.

I opted for another recipe for one of the jars of beetroot in making the Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies from their website.  I had to tailor the recipe as I didn’t have quite enough beetroot for their version, and it went down well with the kids.

Baxters Beetroot 1

I can’t say that it was my favourite and I much preferred the savoury stir fry to the sweet versions, but the kids loved the brownies.  I think I just have more of a savoury tooth.

Here we go with my two recipes from the challenge.

Baxters

Baxters Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings: 24
Course: Baking - Brownies
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 x 340g Tin Baxters Baby Beetroot
  • 150 g Softened Butter
  • 300 g Milk Chocolate
  • 375 g Brown Sugar
  • 4 Eggs
  • 150 g Plain Flour
  • 35 g Cocoa Powder

Method
 

  1. Preheat your oven before you start and set it to 180ºC, or reduce it to 160ºC for a fan oven.



  2. Grease a medium to large baking try or roasting tin.

  3. Soften the chocolate by putting it into a microwave for a few minutes, or on the hob as a plate on top of a pan with water in it, similar to a bain marie method of softening the chocolate.

  4. Add all the ingredients into a mixer if you have one, or a large bowl. Mix them all together for several minutes, until the mixture is smooth.



  5. Pour the smooth mixture into the baking tray and bake for 40-45 minutes. The brownies should feel a little soft under he centre and might be a bit wobbly, but they'll harden up as they cool.

Notes

Baxters recommend that the beetroot is well drained. You can also rinse them in some water. The vinegary flavour will not be tasted when you eat the brownies.
Lesley S Smith

Chicken, Bacon and Beetroot Stirfry

Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings: 8
Course: Mains
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 10 Rashers Bacon
  • 2 Chicken Breasts Cut into strips.
  • 4 Eggs
  • 600 g Mixed Stir Fry Veg Beansprouts, pumpkin strips, shredded carrot, green leaf salad, mange tout.
  • 1 Onion Chopped.
  • 1 Jar Baxters Crinkle Cut Beetroot Chopped into smaller pieces. Wash, drain and dry the beetroot before adding to a stir fry.

Method
 

  1. Use your pieces of meat, chicken or bacon and lightly fry in a wok or thick bottomed pan until fully cooked.

  2. Add eggs to the pan and let them cook similar to scrambled eggs, stirring in with the meat as it cooks.



  3. Add an onion to the pan and let the mixture slowly cook for a few minutes on low.

  4. Stir in your stir fry vegetables and either spray cooking oil, or add a couple of tablespoons of oil to make the stir fry.

  5. Add the beetroot towards the end of cooking if you are happy with the pinky shade that your meal till take on from cooking for a few minutes.

  6. I had split my stir fry into two lots. For the kids, I gently folded the beetroot in with their finished stir fry to keep it sharp, bright and pleasant to the eye.



  7. For my own, I stirred in the beetroot and let it cook with the stir fry for a few more minutes to take on the beetroot taste. I am happy to say this is one recipe that I am going to make several variations of.

 

 

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How to make a simple chicken pie with help from the slow cooker.

Chicken pie recipes are as many and varied as there are hot dinners in the year.  I wanted to have something no fuss, with full flavour, and easy to make.  Puff pastry is the one pastry that I cheat with.  It is such a faff to work with, that I always have some on standby in the freezer to make emergency pies or puff pizzas.  A little puff on the top of a dish can complete something that has been a bit of a disaster in the kitchen and needs a topping, or to finish a slow cooked recipe with fantastic flavour, by turning it into a pie.

The chicken is slow cooked, but the puff pastry has to really be popped into the oven with the pie filling to finish off the dish.  The filling is what makes the result spectacular in a pie.  Slow cooked food has a taste and aroma that I feel no other way of cooking can produce.

According to the kids, this was the best chicken pie ever, so how to make a chicken pie had to be turned into a blog post.  I get my meat, as always these days from Andrew Gordon Butchery and Fine Foods and the traceability, quality and texture never let me down.

Lesley S Smith

Slow Cooked Chicken Pie Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 30 minutes
Course: Mains
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken Breast per person Cut into strips.
  • 2 Tablespoons Rapeseed Oil
  • 100 g Vegetables Per Person
  • Water Tailor to your recipe.
  • Salt Pinch
  • Pepper Pinch
  • Cornflour
  • Pack of Puff Pastry

Method
 

  1. Switch on your slow cooker to high and add a couple of mm of water in the bottom. Look out a thick bottomed frying pan and your oil. This recipe is not cut and dried. There is very little that can go wrong, so choose how many people you will feed to decide how much you make ingredient wise. When you know your amounts, it is easy to judge how much of everything else that you need.

  2. Lightly fry your chicken in a tablespoon of rapeseed oil, so that the edges all round have gone white. Once the meat has been sealed, it can be added to your slow cooker.

  3. Choose which vegetables you use. I had 6 chicken breasts, and I added 2 chopped onions and 2 sliced carrots to my pan with the remaining rapeseed oil. I lightly fried those before adding them to the slow cooker.

  4. I add another cup or two of water to half cover the ingredients, give it all a quick stir and pop on the lid. It can be left for 4 hours on high, or turn it down to low for approximately 7 - 8 hours.

  5. When it's ready, you can thicken the gravy if you wish by using cornflour mixed in water, and adding it slowly until you reach the thickness of gravy that you prefer as a cook.

  6. Spread the slow cooked chicken evenly along the bottom of a baking tray.

  7. Roll the puff pastry out until it is the size you need to cover your baking tray. Lay it over the top, press the edges down and use a fork to make holes in the pastry at reglar intervals. You don't have to be perfect with the edges.



  8. Some people will baste the top with egg or milk. For puff pastry, I never bother, and it always comes out fine. After being in the oven at approximately 220 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the pastry rises, take it out and score the top. The lovely flaky texture of the pastry makes a pie almost a whole meal in itself.



  9. The lovely flaky texture of the pastry makes a pie almost a whole meal in itself.

 

 

 

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Did you drink alcohol when you were pregnant? Do your kids misbehave? Read on..

Pregnant and Alcohol

Ok, the Daily Mail isn’t my favourite newspaper and this is one topic that will always be close to my heart (and the blog).   That aside, a friend showed me an article from today on page 15.

In a nutshell, it is talking about the prevalence of children in our society who are affected at varying degrees by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder which is milder but still affects day-to-day living. They estimate about 1% of our children suffer from Foetal Alcohol to some extent, but that it really is the tip of the iceberg.  It’s a fairly responsible article and explains how drinking alcohol is pregnancy can have far more lasting effects than smoking.

Lets have a look at what to watch out for with some basic signs and symptoms in your kids if you drank at all while you were pregnant:

FAS or Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is the biggest cause of mental health problems and retardation in kids today.  Not all children with FAS will develop retardation, and many may show up as behavioural problems.  Those with the associated issues that are outside of the main FAS diagnosis tend to be missed or diagnosed with something else.

Some signs to look out for:

– Disruptive behaviour.

– Difficulty in understanding concepts.  May learn to read & write easily, but struggle with comprehension of what it is all about.

– Generalisations, ie thinking of things in terms of black and white and often taking what is said literally.

– Shot term memory problems, ie ability to learn, but forgets very quickly and has to keep being reminded how to do things.

– Schools may think these children are just being lazy.

– Sugar cravings.  Many parents of FASD children have noticed that their children seem to be addicted to sugary sweet foods.

– Conscience could be underdeveloped so may steal and lie without fear or consequence.

– Finds difficulty coping with new situations.

– May over-react to small changes in a daily routine.

– Seems more immature than their age in years.

– ADHD and ODD type behaviours which may not respond to traditional ADHD methods of management.

There’s nothing to be ashamed about in recognising what a child’s difficulties may have been caused by, so if you suspect it, get it checked.

It’s not easy to get diagnosed locally, and there are places to help.

Mencap NoFASUK – National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome UK

FAS Aware UK – Foetal Alcohol in Pregnancy & Forums

FASD Trust – For Parents and  Carers – Information

To finish, all I can say is, that for the sake of your future children, if you are pregnant, are trying to get pregnant, or think you might be, don’t drink alcohol – AT ALL.

It’s the only sure-fire way to ensure your children can have the best mental health start that they can, without the possibility of any Alcohol related brain damage.

Foetal Alcohol destroys lives.  Don’t let it get into your family.

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Mashed Potatoes with Chilli Pepper Topping using Scotty Brand Kestrel Potatoes

Scotty Brand sent us some lovely Kestrel potatoes before Christmas.  They are fabulous for using for lots of potato things, boiling, baking or roasting.  Mashing is just one of the ways that they can be used really well.

Potatoes are really quite good for us.  I read a lot of negativity around root vegetables, and I can never quite understand the reason for it.  They are high in folic acid which helps our immune system and our white blood cell production, so for that reason alone, I think they should stay part of a balanced diet to eat well.

With around 93 calories per 100 grams, it is easy to count them into a good meal plan,

I like some plain cooking with potatoes and for this recipe, I kept it very simple indeed.

Lesley S Smith

Mashed Potatoes with Chilli Peppers

4 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Sides
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 3 - 4 Kg Kestrel Potatoes Scotty Brand Potatoes
  • 2 Oz Butter
  • 100 Ml Fresh Milk
  • 2 - 3 Chillies or Peppers Choose brightly coloured options and chop finely

Method
 

  1. Simply boil potatoes in a pan for 15 - 20 minutes until soft.
  2. Drain potatoes and begin to mash. After a minute, add the butter and mash a few more times. Then add the milk to finish mashing your potatoes into a thick creamy consistency. I add my milk a tablespoon at a time, just in case. Too much milk will also spoil the consistency of the potatoes.
  3. Serve and top with chopped chillies or peppers (or both)

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Ainsley Harriott Winter Warmer Hamper Review

A huge thank you to Ainsley Harriott for the lovely Winter Warmer hamper that arrived at the Scottish Mum Blog household for review.   The pack was just what we need up in the cold in the North East of Scotland.  It gets pretty chilly here and standard winter clobber usually involves multiple layers of anything that keeps us warm.  The hamper organisers must have known just how much a new set of winter cosies was needed in our home.

Who is Ainsley Harriott?

You know the one.  That chef off the TV.  The one who did Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook, and had us all glued to our TV screens.  If you don’t remember him, you really missed out and it might be a good idea to pop over and see some of his product ranges.

He’s also been on Ready Steady Cook, where he spent many years between chef and host.  Most of you will probably remember him from Good Morning with Anne and Nick.

Having moved to being an author and cracking the US, Ainsley has now launched a new product range of Cup Soups.    We’ve been happy to try them out.

Winter Warmer 3

We had the full Ainsley Harriott Cup Soup range to try, with a lovely mug to eat it in, and to add to it, they also sent some goodies to help keep us warm in winter.

Winter Warmer 6

A lovely hat, scarf, pair of gloves and cosy covered waterbottle with some packs of tissues by Emma Bridgewater filled up the hamper nicely, and finished it off with a gorgeous Lily-Flame Silent Night Sweet Dreams candle which has the kind of earthy but sweet smell that I really like.  As a chandler myself, I only like good quality candles and this one fits the bill perfectly.   I’d buy that fragrance oil if I knew what it was…..

The Cup Soups had to be tried before reporting back.  I’d have to say my favourite is the New England Style Vegetable Chowder.

Winter Warmer 5

We tried all of these:

  • New England, Style Vegetable Chowder – 97 calories
  • Italian Style Minestrone Soup – 85 calories
  • Bombay Potato, Pea & Spinach (my mums favourite) – 106 Calories
  • Tuscan Tomato Mozzarella & Chilli – 84 calories
  • Szechuan Hot & Sour (adored by two kids) – 62 calories
  • East Indian Mulligatawny – 110 calories

Cup Soups that I’ve tried before tend to be watery with some dried up croutons in them, so I am happy to report the lovely consistency of good soup which dissolves well into boiling water.

Ainsley has also launched products including cooking sauces, risotto, croutons and unusual rice accompaniments.  I really quite fancy trying the Chilli & Lime Flavoured Quinoa & Basmati Rice.

Winter Warmer 1

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Win an Unlimited Cinema Card from Cineworld for a year. Ends 9th January 2012

As much hard work as it is to get everything ready for Christmas day, it’s nothing in comparison to the people who have to spend it alone, for whatever reason.  We like to stay together as a family, but I do know people who spend it alone.   Friends and family are very important in the holiday season.

Everyone also has a favourite family Christmas film, and we all like to reminisce about our favourite oldies.  Whether it’s a comedy like Elf or a rom com like Love Actually, it is an undeniable fact that there are still so many films to enjoy this season, both new and old.  I’m told that it’s quite common for families to go altogether to the cinema on Boxing Day which seems like a lovely tradition.  It’s not something we have ever thought of doing as a family, but there is always room for a new tradition or two.

It’s for this reason that I have joined up with dating site eHarmony to offer one lucky reader unlimited cinema trips for a year.  Up for grabs is one Cineworld ‘Unlimited Card’, which also comes with access to exclusive advance screenings and meal discounts.  Think about a whole year of unlimited films at Cineworld, and you could have plenty to talk about to get any conversation started, whether you go film watching with your family, your friends or even with a new date.

I know a lovely couple who met online after a few years Internet courtship, and they lived at the opposite ends of the Country, so it is possibly to find love through a keyboard.

eHarmony have given all the readers of Scottish Mum the opportunity to win the unlimited cinema card for a year, so if you do find love in Scotland on eHarmony.co.uk, you’d have plenty to talk about with all the movies you’ll  be watching.

If you’re not based in Scotland, that’s no problem either.  They have members all over the UK, and they are all looking for that special someone to share their lives with.

To be in with a chance of winning the Cineword Unlimited card, complete as many of the entry methods as possible, then leave a comment to say you have done so. Each method – and comment – counts as a different entry. Good luck!

Entry methods: Follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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Guest Recipe: Carol’s Caribbean Christmas Cake

This is a fabulous Guest Recipe, featured and supported by Country Products.

We all want to know how to make fabulous cake when Christmas comes around, and the Caribbean Christmas Cake looks and sounds like  a worth cake to try out for special days.  I hope you enjoy it.

Carolann

Carol’s Caribbean Christmas Cake

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 300 ml Apple Juice
  • 100 ml Rum
  • 225 g Butter
  • 225 g Soft Brown Sugar
  • 1 tbls Treacle
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 225 g Plain Flour
  • 1 tsp Mixed Spice
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
  • 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
  • 170 g Chopped Nuts
  • 900 g Mixed Fruit
  • 1 Orange Zest
  • 1 Lemon Zest
  • Assorted Glace Fruits
  • Brazil Nuts
  • Almonds Blanched
  • Apricot Glaze

Method
 

Cake
  1. Soak all the fruit in a bowl the day before in the apple juice and rum. This plumps up your fruit and will make your cake wonderfully moist.
  2. Grease and line a 20cm tin.
  3. Weigh out your dry ingredients into a bowl (Flour, mixed spices) and set aside.
  4. Cream butter and sugar and add treacle and mix well.

  5. Add the orange and lemon zest.
  6. Add the eggs a bit at a time. If you get curdling add some flour between pouring in your eggs.
  7. Drain your fruit and add to the mix with the chopped nuts.
  8. Pour mixture into your tin. And line the outside with brown paper or newspaper and secure with string. This stops the sides burning.

  9. Bake at 150 degrees for about 4 hrs. After 3 hrs check by pricking with a skewer and if it comes out clean then it’s done. Leave to cool in the tin and then turn out, prick the base and drizzle rum over.
  10. Wrap in baking paper and foil and store in a tin.
Icing and Decorating
  1. Place cake on a cake board.


  2. Arrange all of your glace fruits and nuts on top. Be creative!
  3. In a pan place your apricot jam (about 4 tbsps) and a tbsp of water.
  4. Bring to the boil stirring all the time until it is smooth then take off the heat. Add a tbsp of rum and stir well.
  5. Using a pastry brush, brush over the fruit with the glaze. The glaze helps preserve your fruit, nuts and cake.
  6. Brush the sides of your cake with your glaze.
  7. Now roll out your marzipan in a long roll and make a collar to go around your cake making sure it goes about ¼” above the top of the cake.
  8. Roll out your fondant icing and again make a collar to go around the cake to cover the marzipan. Be sure to dampen the marzipan before adding the icing so that it sticks to the marzipan. I always use a measure when doing this procedure so as to get the right size of collar around.
  9. With the extra ¼” push down towards the cake. This is the lip where you will add your holly leaves.
  10. Make a small amount of royal icing for piping your leaves on.
  11. Cut out your holly leaves. Make sure you cut out plenty in large and small size.

Notes

Depending on when you make your cake feed it with rum but if you make it 2 or 3 months before Christmas then just feed it once or twice a month. Too much feeding and your cake will become soggy.

 

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Gorgeous Red Cranberry and Cherry Sauce Recipe

Cranberry Sauce

How to make cranberry sauce is something I have wondered for a while.

I wanted to try something different, and visiting Cosco saw me pick up a box of fresh cranberries that I fancied using to make a sauce for Christmas Day. I’m pleased to say it was easier than I expected to do, and it’s a recipe that I will probably make every year now. I would however, make it in far less quantities than I’ve ended up with as it is just to go with turkey trimmings.

I intend to freeze some tonight to see how it holds up when it’s defrosted at a later date.

[gmc_recipe 9529]

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Christmas Delivery Dates Calendar

This is a thoughtful and helpful feature from Castle Cover.  They have built a delivery dates calendar for us all to use.

If you’re not sure when the Christmas Delivery Dates are, then just take a look at the interactive pages on their website and it will help you make the right decisions about those last-minute presents you are hoping to buy.

Clicking on the Delivery Calendar image takes you to their website, were you can check the last posting dates of different types of items and some high street stores.  Don’t waste any time as we are reaching the end of the road for buying our late goodies.

Castle Cover

 

 

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A Homemade Christmas with Crafty Projects and Food Recipes. From Christmas Tree Decorations to Mulled Wine.

A lovely Christmas featured post, brought to you by Simply Be.

It’s that time of year again when Christmas is nearly upon us.

Many of us are getting ready to stock up on luxuries, gifts and decorations.   Oranges, nuts and much more sit happily in shop windows, while boxes of cakes, chocolates and figs make their way into shopping trolleys across Britain.

It’s all about making Christmas your own and not necessarily spending enough money to keep the country afloat for the next year.  There’s no better way to keep your money in your pocket than getting a bit crafty in the kitchen and with the decorations.

Lets have a look at some nice and easy craft and food ideas that you can do at home to save some pennies.

 Crafts

 Christmas tree decorations

Homemade Christmas-01

Ideal for both kids and adults, these decorations will give your tree a real old-fashioned Christmas look, and provide hours of festive entertainment for the whole family.

You will need:

–          Some card

–          Coloured felt

–          Chalk

–          Safety scissors

–          Needle and thread

–          Glue stick

–          Glitter, sequins and any other decorations you’d like

–          Ribbon

Step 1: Take two pieces of felt and one piece of card. Place them on top of each other and, using the chalk, draw out your chosen Christmas design on the top piece of felt. You could make lots of different shapes, such as trees, angels or stockings.

Step 2: Once you’ve drawn your design, hold the felt and card together and cut around the outline so that you have three identical shapes, two with felt and one with card.

Step 3: Place the card in between the two pieces of felt, and sew around the edge. You could use gold or silver thread to make it extra sparkly!

Step 4: Use the glue to decorate your design with glitter, sequins, or even other felt shapes to create an applique effect.

Step 5: Take a piece of ribbon, cut to the desired length and sew the ends to your decoration, before hanging on the Christmas tree to shine among the fairy lights!

 “Santa, Stop Here!” sign

Make a colourful decoration for your window or garden to put out with the children on Christmas Eve – you could even get the kids to leave a carrot next to it, to lure the reindeer in!

Homemade Christmas-02

You will need:

–          A panel of thick card

–          Christmas wrapping paper

–          Coloured card

–          Coloured pens or paints

–          Glitter, sequins, felt shapes, or any other decorations you can think of

–          Safety scissors

Step 1: Cut your thick card down to the size and shape you want, and then wrap it up in your wrapping paper.

Step 2: Glue the coloured card to the centre of the wrapped thick card. Using pens or paints in festive colours, write a message to Santa, such as “Santa, stop here!” or “Santa, this way!” You can find some great templates for writing your message here.

Step 3: Decorate your sign with glitter, sequins, or felt Christmas shapes.

Step 4: Leave somewhere Father Christmas can see it – but not until Christmas Eve!

 Christmas Food Recipes

 There’s something incredibly satisfying about making your own Christmas food – the whole family can enjoy making it together, and your finished products are often just the thing for handmade gifts, Secret Santas and last-minute parties – for kids and grown-ups alike! Here are just some of our favourites.

Mince pies

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The ultimate in Christmas cuisine, there really is nothing that beats the humble mince pie. Who doesn’t note their “first pie of the season”? Making them should be a shared experience; taking turns adding ingredients to your mincemeat mix and arguing over who can make the best pastry is as satisfying as sitting back with a cup of tea and taking that first indulgent bite. Ours is a variation on a Delia classic, made the day before you need them, complete with a foolproof pastry recipe that will softly crumble and melt in the mouth.

Ingredients

Makes around 1.4kg

 Mincemeat:

–          225g Bramley apples, cored and diced into small cubes

–          110g vegetable suet (or even beef, for a slightly richer flavour)

–          110g sultanas

–          110g currants

–          175g raisins

–          110g mixed candied peel

–          175g soft dark brown sugar

–          Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

–          Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

–          25g almonds, sliced into slivers

–           ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

–          Pinch ground nutmeg

–          1tbsp brandy

–          1tbsp Irish whiskey

–          1tbsp dark rum

Step 1: Combine all the ingredients except for the brandy, whiskey and dark rum in a large, ovenproof bowl, and mix thoroughly (if you have little helpers, this is the time to employ them!). Once fully mixed, cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave somewhere cool for around 12 hours.

Step 2: The next day, pre-heat the oven to 120C (100C for fan ovens). Cover the bowl loosely with tin foil, and bake the mixture for about three hours.

Step 3: Take out of the oven and stir well. Stir occasionally for the next hour, as it cools. The shredded suet will have coagulated – don’t worry about how it looks, it will encase all of your other ingredients and lock in all the flavour!

Step 4: Once fully cooled, add the three spirits as generously as you like (our measurements are a rough guide!) and stir well. Your mincemeat is now ready to use, and can be cooked with immediately or will last for another year or so if packed into sterilised jars.

Pastry

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Enough for 18-24 pies

 Ingredients

–          225g cold butter

–          350g plain flour

–          100g golden caster sugar

Instructions

Step 1: Rub butter into flour with your hands, working quickly with your fingertips.

Step 2: Mix in caster sugar and a pinch of salt.

Step 3: Combine into a ball with your hands, and knead briefly. It should be fairly firm. You can use this straight away or leave in the fridge for later.

Making your mince pies

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 You will need:

–          Your mincemeat

–          Your pastry

–          1 egg, beaten

–          Icing sugar, to dust

 Step 1: Preheat oven to 200C (180C for fan ovens). Line two muffin trays by pressing a walnut-sized ball of pastry into the bottom of each hole, ensuring the surface is fully covered.

Step 2: Spoon about a tablespoon of mincemeat into each pastry case.

Step 3: Take slightly smaller balls of pastry and pat them down into a large circle with your hands, then place as a lid onto each pie. Apply a little pressure around the edge to seal the lid to the base.

Step 4: Brush beaten egg over the top of each pie, then bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool, then remove to a wire rack. Using a sieve, dust icing sugar over them just before serving. Don’t forget to try one while they’re still warm!

Peppermint Creams

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Makes 3-4 dozen

Excellent bite-sized treats, just right for satisfying those Christmas sugar cravings and easy enough to whip up in a hurry!

Ingredients

–          450 icing sugar

–          1tbsp milk

–          ½ tsp peppermint extract

–          1 egg white

Instructions:

    1. Sieve icing sugar into mixing bowl and mix in peppermint and egg white. If the mixture seems too thin, add some more icing sugar.
    2. When the mixture is thick enough, knead it and sprinkle with a little more icing sugar. Roll out and cut into small, 1-2 inch thick squares.
    3. Leave for 10 minutes, then turn sweets over.
    4. Leave for another 15 minutes before serving or gift-wrapping.

Mulled wine

A toasty treat on a cold Christmas Eve, mulled wine is the ultimate comforter. This recipe will also fill your home with delicious Christmas aromas, and is ideal if you have friends coming over!

Ingredients

–          1 bottle red wine

–          60g Demerara sugar

–          1 cinnamon stick

–          Pinch grated nutmeg

–          1 orange, cut in half

–          1 dried bay leaf

–          60ml sloe or damson gin

Instructions:

    1. Slowly heat the wine in a saucepan with the orange, sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon and nutmeg. Keep simmering until sugar has completely dissolved.
    2. Taste-test and add more sugar if desired.
    3. Take off the heat and stir in the sloe or damson gin before serving in heatproof glasses. The warmer the better!