A little lifter :D

Well today i've been gardening, getting rid of bits of rubbish from the front and back yard.
Damn green fly decided to attack my little rose bush and raspberry plants today so squirted them with a mixture of washing up liquid and water. Muhahahaha, some tiny little birds seem to love the green fly so they've feasted well today!


got a shock today and found these in a pot 

I know shockingly we have strawberries yay!!!!!

All my other plants have basically died so i'm really happy with these :)

This is my view from the front door an amazing array of colours, just me feel so happy.

Hardy Oriental Lily

Marigolds

Its the little things that make life so much better, i know its sounds a bit rich. But i know how it is when you've feel rubbish and you've cutback everything you can. But instead of focusing on the negative, try instead to focus on the positive. From something as simple as having a hot cup of tea , or in my case looking as flowers in pots.

Trust it will be easier, maybe not better, but you will find a way of coping.

kez xx

Is it a bird ?Is it a plane no its supersun!!

Had a lovely day out with the boys today.They had a ride on they grandmothers horse which they really enjoyed.

We all sat relaxing in the sunshine with a book in our hands.So the boys amused themelves with a footland.

Just a quick one today as i'm sbsoluely shatterd.

kez x

brrr its cold

Brrrrrrrrr Its freezing outside, decided to treat me and my partner today to a lovely breakfast out, yes not frugal i know but sometimes you need to have to yourselves. So we sat in  garden centre surrounded by torrential rain but it was really nice being together after he was working away. 

Came back as he had got a call for work and made some chicken stock from a leftover carcass from when we had dinner the night before. Also thought it might  warm me up!

Some people add onions, carrot and herbs, but i don't, i just strip the chicken meat from the carcass into a separate bowl.

Place a the remaining chicken carcass, skin, bone etc into a pan

This is the carcass remains

Place about 4 pints of tap water into a pan with the chicken carcass.

BRing to the boil and simmer until half of the liquid has reduced

When this is done get another pan and place a sieve over it and tip the pan and tip the stock into it

This makes it easier to separate the carcass from the liquid stock. Tried removing the bones by hand, it was a complete nightmare

I normally leave the sieve over the pan to allow any extra juices to drip from the carcass.

The result lovely stock!

you can freeze the stock or store in the fridge for a few days.

We love it in risottos and soup.

stretching food

Well today i've been making another batch of what i call mince mix, yes it doesn't sound appetizing but it is really nice.


After much reading on how to bulk out minced meat / vegie mince i read about using red lentils and how they provide added protein and lentils also count towards your a five a day. Great stuff.


So here's my mince mix recipe


500g of minced meat
2 medium sized onions (sliced and chopped)
5 small carrots chopped into small cubes or grated
2 tins of tomatoes
250 grams of red lentils
4 pints of tap water


Fry onions till softened, add the mince and cook till browned.
Then add the carrots, give it a stir, then add the red lentils. 

Stir then add the two tins of tomatoes, put water into the tins to get the last of tomatoes out and bung them 
in the pan.
Add seasoning , i normally use black pepper and garlic powder.

Bring to boil and let it simmer till fully cooked.
Remember to keep checking on it as you may need to add more water as the lentils soak up quite a lot of 

liquid.


Once cooked let it cool down and then separate into tubs ready the next few meals.

As its cooked it last a few months in the freezer. Just defrost on the day you want it and away you go.


I normally make between 4 and 6 meals from this, which is enough for 2 adults and two children.


The mince can then be used to make chilli (just add kidney beans), lasagne, spaghetti bolognese. 
Basically anything tomato based.


Enjoy :)

make do and mend

Today has been one of those days where you just want to relax and spend some quality time either on your own or with your children. This i did with youngest whilst my eldest went to his friends house.
In between playing on Scooby Doo and watching a film, my little one said "Mam, what are you making?" I replied a blanket and my little man said can i help? So we sat together whilst the Zookeeper was on, showing him how to knit. I'm only a beginner but i find it relaxing .
In the near future i'm keen to teach my children the basics such as sewing on a button, well you never know when your going to need it. Through to how to make full meals in the hope that when they older and left home they won't struggle like i did (and still do).


A couple of days ago i was given a dressmakers dummy off a site called freegle. Its great all i need to do make or buy a stand for it and I'm off! My aim is to attempt to make some clothes for myself and take up some skirts . Both of which I've never done before so should be fun. I'm so chuffed.
Have a look on your local freecycle or freegle site you never know what people are given away for free! 

Please ignore the marks on the carpet, tradesman ruined it years ago and no mater how much i clean / wash it the stains won't come off.

I'm a big believer of recycling and regularly give away items for free. We've just refitted the kitchen and had some new worktop leftover so straight on freegle it went. It was snapped up within minutes, luckily my boys are used to me and love trawling through charity shops for clothes, books and toys. I turn it into a mini adventure where i say right you've got £2 to spend and that its, you'll be amazed and what you can find for  such a small amount of money.

Fruit yay!!!

Well i finally got outside, just enough time to clear the front garden before the rain came again.
Its was really just being able to potter about and not think about work.


I decided to check on the raspberries and lo and behold i found some little fruit slowly forming.

Next to the raspberries i have a gooseberry plant in a pot and a conifer which i got given off Freecycle.

  On the same row as the raspberries i have the following:

Potatoes and strawberries

Rhubarb and strawberries

                                                                          Rhubarb



As soon as you step through my gate you literally walk into a lovely green area.

My mini patio rose which my amazing two children bought me for Mothers Day

In the pot as the rose there is a climbing fushia

Beside the gate there is swiss chard, oriental lily,

 hanging baskets with various plants in and 

a container with ivy in.

The plants on the hanging baskets are from a box of wild flower seeds i got from Poundland.

As you can see everything is pretty crammed in there.

Mostly everything i grow is in pots, as i really don't have any space for anything else.
You can easily turn a concrete laden street in a piece of heaven :)
Hope you like the pictures!