Festive Cheer in a Glass.....

Evening folks, I wanted to share this glass of festive cheer I'm enjoying with you all! It smells and taste's so christmassy and yummy.

Place a carton of apple juice in a pan with a cup of water, an orange and a lemon chopped up, some grated nutmeg two cinnamon sticks and about 3tbsp brown sugar, although I didn't measure the sugar. simmer for 30-40 mins then enjoy ....yummy. You could keep this warm in a slow cooker, for all those guests visiting on Christmas eve. :o)

Now I was supposed to be showing youl my finished craft project from yesterday, but it's not finished yet. I had some family pop over this afternoon so didn't get around to it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get it done.

I've noticed that I have 197 followers how lovely is that. Thank you all so much for following my ramblings folks.  So I'm planning a little giveaway, as soon as I reach 200 followers, so keep your eyes peeled.

Have a lovely warm and cosy weekend folks.

TTFN

Apple Cake

I've been meaning to make this cake for a while, and as I've been given some lovely windfall apples I gave it a go yesterday. It's fairly easy to make and has a lovely autumn flavour, perfect with a nice hot mug of tea.

3 Cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced      

5oz butter softened

5oz soft brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

8oz self raising flour

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

2oz sultanas

2oz glace cherries, halved

grated rind of a lemon

1 dessertspoon demerara sugar for sprinkling

Cook the apples with a little water until soft, then sieve to produce a smooth puree; there should be 4 to 5oz. Allow to cool. Set oven to 350 f or mark 4. Grease and line a 7 inch round cake tin. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, a little at a time. Sift together the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt and stir into the mixture. Add the dried fruit. Mix the lemon rind with the apple puree and fold into the mixture. Put into the tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle a dessertspoon of demerara sugar over the cake to give a crunchy topping. Bake for 45 Min's or until golden brown and springy to touch. Cool in the tin for 15 Min's, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Enjoy!!!

Hobnob Recipe

These are my husband's favourites. He bugs me all the time to bake them for him, so as he's being good at the moment making a radiator cover for the hallway and a wardrobe for the spare room, I thought I'd treat him to a batch :o) lol!  I was going to make an apple cake as well, but decided that could wait until Saturday. So I whipped up a batch of hobnobs and a warming beef stew and dumplings for tea, comfort food indeed.

Hobnob Recipe - Makes 45 (although the size I make them it's more like 35)

8oz/225g self raising flour

8oz/225g sugar (I use vanilla sugar, but any will do)

8oz/225g porridge oats

8oz/225g butter

1 tbsp golden syrup or honey

1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Mix the dry ingredients together, melt butter, syrup and water very gently, let it cool slightly then pour on dry ingredients. Mix well and form into balls the size of walnuts. Put on a greased tray and flatten with a fork dipped in cold water. Bake at 180 or gas 4 for 15 mins. Leave on a tray a minute then put to cool on a rack.

You could also melt some chocolate and make choccy hobnobs yummy.

TTFN

Happy Halloween - Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Greetings witches and wizards. I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen yesterday whipping up

some lovely warming pumpkin soup to eat with some homemade fresh bread later today. I did have a bit of a taste yesterday to sample, :o) here's what i did........................

500g pumpkin, skinned and cubed

1 med onion

1 med potato

1tsp dried cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

150g spit red lentils

1.2l veg stock

2 tbsp sunflower oil

chop onions and fry in the oil until just soft, add the spices, chopped and skinned pumpkin, potato, lentils and veg stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 3o mins. When cooked blend with a hand blender or put in a food processor, return to pan to reheat and season to taste. yummy!

I had enough pumpkin left to make pumpkin puree too. You can never seem to get pumpkin puree in the shops and I've so many lovely recipes that require it.

Pumpkin Puree

Put 500g pumpkin skinned and cubed in a pan of boiling water, when tender drain, then pat dry with kitchen paper, then blend to a puree and refrigerate until ready to use. This make approx 300g puree. I'm hoping to make a nice pumpkin pie later. Even after the soup and puree I still had a little pumpkin left which got put into yesterday lambs stew which was scrummy.

hubby and I went for a lovely walk in the woods yesterday with the dogs. Beau has only been allowed to start going out this week and he's loving it, so many sniffs lol :o). (Isn't he growing fast).

My boys!!!!

I love the autumn colours in this pic. Woody blends in well. I think Beau is a winters snowy day kinda dog lol.

I hope to be back later to show you my ginormous pumpkin that I would have calved. :O)

TTFN

Pixie xxxx

Custard Ice Cream

As requested folks, Custard Ice Cream recipe, taken from the River Cottage Family Cookbook.

To Serve 6

Single cream, a 284ml pot
Vanilla pod, 1
Free Range egg yolks, 4
Caster Sugar, 125g
Double Cream, a 284ml pot

1. Pour single cream into a saucepan. Slit the vanilla pod open length ways with a sharp knife and drop it into the pan. Set the heat to medium and heat the cream until it just starts to steam a little, then switch off the hob. Let the pan just sit there and the heat will draw the vanilla flavour into the cream.
2. Meanwhile, put the egg yolks into a jug and add the sugar. Whisk them well together for a minute until they turn thick and a little paler.
3. Pour the saucepan of hot cream into the sugary egg mixture and whisk again until smooth. Pour it all back into the saucepan . Rinse the jug for later.
4. With the heat set very low, stir the creamy mixture all the time with a wooden spoon so that it doesn't stick to the base of the pan but heats slowly and evenly. To see if the custard has heated enough, check from time to time with this classic test: take the spoon out of the custard and look at the back of it - the film of custard over it should look noticeably creamier. Draw your finger across the back of the spoon and, if the line stays clear and distinct, your custard and thickened enough. Turn off the heat and put the pan on to the work surface, carry on stirring for a few seconds so the cooking process is halted and the custard starts to cool down. Strain the custard through a sieve into the jug you rinsed out earlier.
5. Fish the vanilla pod out of the sieve, rinse it under the cold tap and let it dry ( you could put it in a jar of caster sugar to give the sugar a vanilla flavour).
6. As soon as the custard has cooled to room temperature, put the jug in the fridge for half an hour, then stir in the double cream.
7. Either pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn it until it freezes or pour it into a plastic container . Freeze it for about an hour or until the sides start to go solid. When this happens, mash up the mixture with a fork, mixing the frozen sides into the liquid centre. Put it back in the freezer for another hour, repeat this twice more at hourly intervals, then let the ice cream go solid.
   

Faerie Nuff One Today!

I just can't believe that my blog Faerie Nuff is a year old today, where has the time gone. I've met so many lovely people through blogging and would recommend starting a blog to anyone. Its lovely to look through old posts and see what I was up to a year ago and see my photos of the changing seasons, and of course pics of the animals and projects I've made.

Today I decided to make a very seasonal dessert. I had some lovely gooseberries from Winchester farmers market, which I combined with some elderflowers from the garden, cream, lemon zest and sugar and made gooseberry fools.

Recipe serves 4

10 freshly picked elderflower heads, plus a few sprigs to decorate

500g gooseberries

2 tbsp caster sugar

a strip of lemon zest

300ml double cream

Gently shake any insects off the elderflowers, place the gooseberries, elderflower heads, 2 tbsp sugar, lemon zest and a splash of water in a pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for about 10-15 mins until the gooseberries are soft and mostly broken up. Rub the mixture through a sieve into a bowl then taste and add more sugar if needed.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold into the gooseberry puree. Divide between large wine glasses or similar and chill for at least 2 hours. Serve with a little sprig of elderflower in each glass.

It tasted scrummy and we still have one each to look forward to tomorrow. I'm hopefully going to pick some strawberry's at the end of the week, so may try a strawberry fool too.

Heres our elder tree in bloom. Can't wait for all those lovely berries in the autumn to make some pontack.

I've really looking forward to the new series of River Cottage summer this week, as Hugh's a bit of a hero of mine. My friend and I embarked on making a batch of elderflower champagne on Monday which Hugh made in river cottage spring last year, fingers crossed it works, as we're hoping it will be ready to drink at Mid summer. I forgot to take my camera when we made it, but will try and remember to take some pictures at bottling time. Hugh made gorse flower wine tonight so may have to give that a bash if I can get my hands on some demi johns.

TTFN

Pixie xxx

Recipe's as promised.....

As promised Autumn, Lemon Curd and Coconut Macaroon Recipes.

Lemon Curd Recipe

Juice and grated zest of 5-6 large juicy lemons
5-6 new laid eggs
8oz unsalted butter
1 1/4lbs sugar, caster or granulated

Grate the lemon zest finely and put into a bowl, then juice the lemons well and add the juice, strained. Chop the butter and add to the bowl, along with the sugar. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir regularly until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted. Beat the eggs well, and pour through a sieve into the bowl; stir frequently until mixture thickens to coat the back of a wooden spoon, then pour into hot jars. seal and label. When cool store in the fridge, keeps for up to six weeks.

Coconut Cookies/Macaroons

2 egg whites
4oz caster sugar
6oz desiccated coconut

Set the oven to 325'f or gas mark 3. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until very stiff. Fold in the sugar and then add and fold in the coconut. Drop small dessertspoonful of the mixture on the baking sheet, leaving some room between each for expansion. Bake for about 15 mins until lightly browned. Allow to cool slightly on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire wrack to cool. Makes 18-20 cookies.

Whats in the box????

My Veg box arrived yesterday. I only have one, once every two weeks at the moment, but if I can get more organised with recipes and making stuff from scratch to freeze etc, we will have a box a week and have no convenience food at all. That's the plan anyway. This weeks box contains:-

Sante Potatoes Parsnips Cauliflower
Carrots Celeriac Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Onions Sweet Mama Squash Jerusalem Artichokes (free)
Leeks Green Cabbage

Any Recipe ideas would be most appreciated. Sometimes I haven't got a clue what to do with it all. I would love to get hubby and myself eating less meat and more veg, saying that I'm not a vegetarian so recipes containing meat are still welcome.


Last nights dinner was lasagne yummy. I froze the two remaining portions for a meal in the week. This is so handy as i work three evenings and one day a week, so when i get home at 8.15 i can just reheat something.

It's still raining here, so the mission for today is to get a load of housework and washing done. I'm so addicted to blogging at the moment that my house is getting neglected. xx