Day 11 of Making it in March - Delicious Syrup Sponge Pudding

Day 11 of 31, the Best Day of the Year so Far!

Making the most of the sunshine!

This morning dawned frosty and bright, so an early start was in the offing to make the most of the good weather. A good 5-mile walk with my camera built up my appetite, that's for sure! It should also have boosted my Vitamin D levels - frugal health and fitness from the free, outdoor gym.

 

Gorse flowering by the stream

The countryside is coming alive with colour as the grass takes on a fresh flush of green and the plentiful gorse explodes into a myriad of bright yellow flowers! I love gorse (or whins) as it is so utterly versatile! I have promised myself some gorse petal cookies and tea tomorrow, if the sun shines and I can nip out to collect some fresh flowers.

Gorse on the hillside

We are surrounded by gorse bushes - they line the roadside, line nearby fields and cover vast strips of hillside. I love the wood for burning in the stove, it is so flammable it doesn't need much drying to burn. The flowers are edible, so they can be used in salads, tea and for wine-making (or biscuit baking). In the past, this thorny evergreen has been used to fire bread-ovens - it burns exceptionally well - and makes for some unusual garden sculptures, as the wood seldom rots.

Yellowhammer

I made the extra effort to watch for wildlife and birds. We saw many chaffinches, Bluetits, great tits, pied wagtails, dunnocks and buntings, plus the familiar Yellowhammers that flit about the hawthorn. It definitely sounded spring-like out there this morning! The Greylags are still noisily grazing by the loch and the Goldfinches were where we usually see them.

Crocuses by the roadside

Along the way there are many snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils, all growing wild and spreading in their secretive way. I often wonder how the bulbs get to be in some of the places I see them flowering! Out this morning, I found a clump of them torn up by the tractor as it had been along the road hedge-cutting. I stuck what I could back into the ground nearby and brought the remains home to see if I could save them. I've stuck them in a pot out on the patio but don't know if they'll grow, as the actual bulbs have been quite crushed.

Buttercup species are poisonous

The first of the buttercups are beginning to flower but, sadly, this isn't anything edible, so no good for foraging.



The 'spooky' tree

This is what I call the spooky tree - it leans at a rather precarious angle across the road and, at dusk, looks very imposing as it looms overhead. Against an azure sky, it looks quite spectacular in it's leafless, winter form.

Catkins beginning to emerge

I remember playing with these when I was a child. We'd go into the woods and collect a handful from the nearest willow and imagine them to be tiny, furry pets, giving them names and building them houses from match boxes! Strange how memories of such simple childhood games can be recalled.

Ribes

What a beautiful display the Ribes provides. It grows among the hawthorn here and has a tangle of honeysuckle around it, all growing wild by the roadside. Did you know that Ribes sanguineum was introduced into cultivation by 19th century Scottish botanist David Douglas? We do now.

Phoebe laid us another egg today, so her contribution to the household groceries helped finish off the syrup that was crystallising in the last tin in the store cupboard. 

Microwaved Syrup Sponge

Microwaved syrup sponge is yet another of my favourites because it's so simple and quick to make. If you don't have syrup, use jam. I used equal amounts of sugar, margarine and self-raising flour and beat this all together with the duck egg and a splash of milk, poured the mix over the top of the syrup in a greased, microwaveable bowl, blasted it on full power for 5 minutes and served it hot with milk over the top. Delicious! Just replaced all the calories burned during my 5-mile walk and then some!

 

I now have 3 duck eggs washed and ready to paint and hang in macramé plant pot holders. I WILL make these tomorrow - please remind me! Thank you.

 

Having forgotten to take my 'Food for Free' pocket nook with me today, I don't know if I saw anything else that was worth foraging. I'll remember it tomorrow so I can check while out collecting the gorse flowers, weather permitting.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

Day 10 of Making it in March - Would You Eat Springbok, Kangaroo or Zebra?

Day 10 of 31 - Mung Beans, Quiche and Crazy Food Questions!

Today's first 'make' was a second bean sprouter!

 

My homemade mung bean sprouter seems to be working but there's a slight problem - I added too many beans and they'd totally filled the jar by the time I got up this morning!

 

Sprouting mung beans

 

I can easily see why bean sprouts can be a frugal source of nutrition but I was somewhat surprised by their technical dietary data. A one-cup serving has the equivalent of 6g of carbohydrates and two thirds of that is sugar!

 

'Phoebe' duck has been doing well and producing an egg each day, so I had yesterday's and today's to use, meaning 2 more shells to turn into mini planters. I now have these cut and primed, ready for painting tomorrow, so I'll need to get some more macramé done to keep up with the egg laying.

 

Cheese & onion base for quiche

To use up the remainder of the pastry from pie-making, I rolled it into a tray, added a diced onion and a sprinkle of grated cheese then baked this with the two duck eggs beaten with a little milk, salt and pepper. Quiche for tea tonight and we'll eat the rest tomorrow lunchtime. (Sorry, I forgot to photograph it coming out of the oven.)

 

Onion rerooting - I think?!

On the 'veg for free' experiment, the first of those musty peas have begun to sprout in the tin can planters on the window sill and, believe it or not, the ones I threw into the planter at the back door also seem to be germinating! The red cabbage base is amazing, with more and more tiny leaves unfurling all around the base and across the cut surface. The photo above is of the onion base, although I am not convinced this one is at all possible. I mean, how can another onion grow from it? I think someone's kidding me on about this one, but I'll leave if for now.

 

VEGETARIANS & VEGANS, LOOK AWAY NOW!

 

 

The above is a competition sponsored by MuscleFood.com and I am hoping that I can gain an entry in order to be in with a chance of winning, so if you haven't already done so, but have been considering it, give them a go for your meat order and have it delivered to your door. Not many can beat £5 per kilo for quality chicken breast fillets. But I have to warn you, their 'exotic meat' section is becoming more and more exotic!

 

Choice of freebies with your first offer

 

I was quite perturbed at seeing horse steaks listed but will admit that I have unwittingly eaten this in the past while on holiday in Europe. Now, however, their free offer for new customers has been expanded to give you a choice of meat free with your first order - tonight I see horse steak is one of them! Not sure what to think of this... but do take a look at what is available to buy for home delivery! It's quite an eye-opener to see:

• Springbok steak burgers
• Zebra haunch burgers
• Tilapia fillets (I had to search that one to find out it's fish that the southeast of England is apparently going crazy for - recipe included here!)
• Kangaroo steaks
• Buffalo stew
• Ostrich steaks
• Horse meat variety pack

What are your thoughts on the above list of meats and would you eat them? Is it just my upbringing on plain foods? Or perhaps my lack of interest in culinary adventure? Maybe it's simply lack of choice by way of my continued rural lifestyle or it could even be a deeply rooted, Old Testament induced belief on what's 'allowed', as far as the food chain is concerned?

 

I don't know... I have a fear of the unknown, but perhaps a bigger fear of actually discovering I like something that I otherwise 'shouldn't'.

 

Making my mind up about this could take some time, as I do remember the big meat scandal when authorities discovered container loads of kangaroo meat coming into Britain and ending up in school meals. That was in the late 70's, early 80's, so we do know that this sort of exotic meat has been reaching our shores for the past near 40 years, at least, but ... no! I won't pursue my line of thought because I'll end up sitting until midnight blogging for The Paranoid Times! 

 

NYK, Frugaldom

The Cost of Lighting : I Switched to LEDs from Energy Savers!

 

HUGE FRUGAL SAVINGS!

My entire house will soon be lit by LED light bulbs!

Originally, I completely dismissed this money-saving option owing to the initial costs involved in switching from my existing (free) energy-savers to the even more energy efficient LED light bulbs but, to be honest, I was thoroughly sick of the delay in switching on the energy savers.

There is something distinctly unsettling about switching on something electrical and not getting instant reaction! When it’s something as important as lighting, I find any delay is a potential hazard after dark! Apart from that, I was barely able to read in such appalling light.

Then I was given a sample LED light bulb and was instantly converted! Instant light! The 40w version looks, to me, closer to the brightness of an old 60 watt and, best of all, the new LED is using only 4.5w per hour. (For me, that works out about 3p for 4 hours of reading time after dark.)

To put this into bigger savings terms, when I first priced LEDs as a moneysaving option, it was working out at over £200 to convert Frugaldom, hence the delayed changeover! But the prices have gradually come within frugal reach. Now, I could converted my entire house and the garden studio for less than half of the original estimate.

Yes, it is an enormous amount of money to spend on light bulbs, but the entire 'bulbery' when every light in the house is switched on will total 156w (I still have double strip light in kitchen), whereas, it was 398w, even allowing for the energy saver light bulbs. That is a huge saving. What's more, I will reduce it by a further 106w (from 2 x 58w to 2 x 5w) once the kitchen is done. An estimated £43 per year compared to £112 for me with potential for a further £20 saving possible on kitchen lighting. That’s enough to convince me!

I've been told the bulbs should pay for themselves within 6 months and then from thereon in, I’m making real cash-in-the-bank savings! … Read more here

NYK Media, Frugaldom

This post supported by Lightbulbs-direct.com by way of my free trial light bulb.

Day 9 of Making it in March - Bread and Butter Pudding

Day 9 of 31 - Making Something Different Every Day in March

It's Sunday, I had a friend visiting this afternoon, I haven't done any crafting, but we did get a second duck egg and not one, but TWO chicken eggs from our feathered friends in the garden, so that made my day!

 

Friend brought me a carton of milk from the village store while on her way here, so that will take me up to 5 empties for another project that I want to try - making a vertical garden using a pallet, cup hooks, garden canes and recycled milk cartons. 'Mishy' from sunny Suffolk will be running this year's 'vertical growing pods' challenge in the Frugal Forums. My delay in starting this project is that I get so few plastic milk cartons here - I mostly get UHT in the waxed cardboard litre cartons. I'm saving what I can and will ask a neighbour if they'll save me some.

 

Back to today - what did I make?

 

The extra milk and the eggs are a clue - the duck egg shell has been kept to make another tiny planter and the eggs got combined with the milk not to make French toast for breakfast, as I'd envisaged, but bread and butter pudding!

 

Frugal bread and butter pudding

 

Ingredients

 

Eggs

Milk

Bread

Margarine

Sugar (I used my homemade vanilla pod sugar.)

Sultanas

Cinnamon

 

Method

 

I used 3 slices of homemade bread with the crusts removed - these get turned into breadcrumbs and go in the freezer. Cut the bread to preferred size and spread with margarine/buttery spread. Sit these in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with sultanas or raisins, sugar and cinnamon, then repeat for the next layer of your sandwiches. Beat the egg and milk together (as though for scrambling) then pour it over the contents of the dish. Add another sprinkle of dried fruit, sugar and cinnamon then cover the dish in tin foil and pop it into the oven until the egg mix has baked. Mine took about 40 minutes at 180 Deg C in the mini oven.

 

Bread and butter pudding

This is very filling, so the 3 slices of bread is sufficient for 4 servings, at least. We ate ours hot with a little extra milk over the top. You can microwave this dish and it cooks in minutes, but I was already cooking rice to go with some sweet chilli chicken. It did mean that I was able to warm all the plates on top of the mini oven and have a warm kitchen.

 

Making... Important Decisions!

 

Owing to the nature of Frugaldom, it derives very little by way of income. Let's face it, you read this for a reason and it's not because you have a huge income and millions in the bank. My blog caters for a very specific section of society - those living below the breadline. I am a genuine frugaler who genuinely lives on my £4,000 and I earn less than minimum wage: I NEED to be frugal. I NEED to steer clear of debt and attempt to save to protect my own future. But I also NEED to earn my income in the first place. For the majority of my working life I have been self-employed, which means no unemployment or sickness benefits to fall back on and no employer paying my tax and insurance, or even guaranteeing me an income in the first place.

 

However...

 

Online is where my business exists and that is where I need to focus my energy. I have several blogs, forums, websites and social media accounts so I have had to give this a great deal of thought to help determine the right route to take.

 

 

If you would like to follow Frugaldom on Twitter for the frugal living, money saving, penny pinching, budget busting, cost cutting blogs that include baking, making, cooking, crafting, gardening and recycling, then you should follow @Frugaldom

 

 

If you would like to follow NYK Media, where I write and blogs for my income while pursuing a career as a frugal entrepreneur with an active interest in horse racing (it can be frugal, I tell you!), then please follow the newer account @Frugaleur Just as we have money-saving and money-making challenges on the forums, so too do I have money-saving and money-making Twitter accounts, blogs and websites.

 

Back to normal tomorrow with the workaday things and ever hopeful of some sunshine soon. We ended up with more fog here this afternoon, then the rain returned this evening. I need to get into the garden soon!

 

NYK, Frugaldom

Day 8 of Making it in March - How to Make a Duck Eggshell Planter

Day 8 of 31 - Today we got our First Duck Egg of the Year!

White duck egg

Phoebe, our oldest surviving duck, has started to lay after her winter break, so today we had a lovely white duck egg. (I know it's Phoebe's because 'Custard Cream' lays pale green eggs and 'Oreo' lays blue eggs.) Cue an attempt at making one of those eggshell planters to hang in a home made mini macramé potholder.

Scoring the egg shell

I used a filleting knife to gently saw through the narrower end of the egg - don't cut right through, we want to save the egg inside for cooking!

Empty egg shell

Once sliced through enough to open the end off the egg, tip the contents into a dish or cup and put them in the fridge to use up for cooking. (Think I might make bread and butter pudding tomorrow!)

Wash out the shell before priming it

After giving the shell a good wash, allow it to stand upside down to drip dry and then give it a couple of coats of bonding - I used my PVA glue. This strengthens the shell. Omit this stage if you are planning on sowing seeds in it because once the seeds germinate, you can simply plant the entire egg shell into the ground.

 

Painting the eggshell

Once the bonding had dried, I used food colouring to paint this first shell a rosy red! I'll try different colours, depending on what I find in the baking cupboard.

Duck eggshell planter

 

I selected a brown embroidery thread and then knotted up another of the mini macramé hangers. (See earlier post for how to make these.) The colouring wasn't properly dried in time for me to plant up this shell for photographing, but I'll do that tomorrow. I have taken a couple more cuttings from my Money (Jade) Plant, so they should be ready to pot by then.

 

Turkey mince pie

 

And finally, for today, there were a couple of other makes! I made a batch of ice cream for daughter to take home with her and I made some pastry to turn some of the turkey 'Nile' mince into a pie to mark the end of National Pie Week! This one has turkey mince, sage  & onion stuffing and mixed vegetables already added to the filling. As usual, I forgot to photograph it when it came out the oven, so this is what's left of it. There is still sufficient mince to make another pie, so I've frozen that for future use. If I count a pie as 4 portions, my 400g pack of turkey mince stretched to 12 meals, six for each of us here.

 

NYK, Frugaldom