2017 End of Year Round Up

Looking Forward to 2018 After a Very Busy 2017

A fast forward through the month of December with this photo blog showing some of the things we did during December.

The children started decorating a tree at Frugaldom
reusing the baubles and tinsel  from last year.

We had some old clothes to recycle so we made Mr Scarecrow,
giving him an old football for a head, a flower pot for a hat
and a broken rake to help prop him upright. He's stuffed with hay.

For extra tree decorations, we used toilet paper tubes
and salvaged food wrappers - these are our Hovis crackers!

Making bells for the Christmas tree from
old tin foil, egg cartons and wool

Our start was made from cardboard covered
in gold foil from a tomato puree tube

It snowed!

Frugaldom looked lovely in the snow,
especially around the new ponds

Frankie loves rolling in the snow

Our American visitor returned for her Christmas break
and got her first ever experience of sitting on a bareback,
barefoot, bitless pony - Willow in her winter woollies.

It was very pretty at the caravans, even if
this first lot of snow only lasted a day or so

Most of the snow fell on the Galloway hills.

The decorated tree in the mist at Frugaldom,
standing among the tiny native trees planted
as part of our World War 1 Centenary woodland

The wild-seeded Sitka Spruce at Frugaldom
came in handy - we carefully selected a lovely,
small tree and lit it up by the caravans,

Pippin the pony walking on ice!

The gorse by the roadside between Frugaldom and
the caravan park is beginning to flower in the snow.

December flew past and most of our time was spent preparing for Christmas. The budget was kept well under control and the challenge spreadsheets were totalled up for the end of the year, allowing for one final small investment in seeds and an Argos voucher for spending on bonus items that were afforded by exra scrupulous budgeting practices throughout the year. :)

 Olivia, our American student who was with us for a few weeks during summer, returned to spend Christmas with us at the caravans and then she headed further north.

Christmas shopping was done as carefully as ever, affording us a big supermarket shop and the many bargains that were available through MuscleFood. (This is my friend referral link that will also get you some meaty freebies.) And then there were all the Christmas leftovers to freeze for later use. The homemade clootie dumpling was, as always, pidding of the day and allowed our guest to sample some traditional Scottish cooking.

We spent Hogmanay at the holiday park, listening to the piper piping in the new year and watching the fireworks display.

For those of you with an avid interest in number-crunching, here are end of year results. I began the year with the customary £4,000 and spent the following from each category:

• Groceries - spent £942.83
• Toiletries, laundry & cleaning products - £43.27
• Electricity - £932.83
• Coal & logs - £40.00
• Mobile phone - £20.00
• Telephone & Internet - £574.60
• TV Licence - £145.50
• Footwear & clothing - £41.84
• Gifts - £321.48
• Travel - £365.00
• Postage & deliveries - £21.17
• Insurances - £312.99
• Pets & livestock - £189.55
• Misc other - £50.50

Total spend on household-related expenses = £4,000.60

Left in the 'EEK' (Everything Else Kitty) £50 Argos voucher,

Gifted Amazon vouchers, Topcashback balance (accrued from Christmas shopping online), Nectar points and a tub of loose change.

Progress at Frugaldom has come on in leaps and bounds with resurfaced tracks, drainage runs cleared out, the yard completed, more fruit trees planted plus 1,000+ more native tree saplings planted around the place. Frugal Breaks launched, offering you the opportunity to come and  visit for a short break (or longer stay, if you choose) and the bulk of the penny-pinching savings were poured into a tiny, one-bedroom cottage, complete with an out-building and a plot of garden land. The cottage is now part of our Frugal Breaks holiday lets enterprise, but more on that in a later blog post, as there's still quite a bit of work to be done.

That's it! We're now up to 2018 and the start of a brand new year. Good luck to all and please do consider joining us in our new  private group on Facebook for the 2018 Frugal Living Challenge. Don't forget to let us know if you are interested in the money saving, money making or frugal breaks when joining. 

Traditional Clootie Dumpling or Microwave Clootie Dumpling

The festive season is upon us and it's almost time to make the traditional Scottish clootie dumpling - but has anyone tried the super-fast, easy recipe for microwave dumpling?

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Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling

Every year, we have a family tradition of serving clootie dumpling as part of the Christmas day meal. This year will be no different, but dumpling making has already begun, because I need to cook at least three of them. Our recipe has been handed down 5 generations of the family. The first dumpling was made yesterday, by traditional methods. You can find the recipe for our traditional Scottish clootie dumpling on the Frugaldom blog.

Yesterday's dumpling was made for another family member, so I still need to make on for this household but these take at least 3 hours each to make, as I have only one large pan and no standard cooker, just the mini cooker with hot plates or the log-burning stove. But what happens when you make a dumpling? That dumplingy aroma wafts throughout the house and ignites the taste buds into a stat of wanton disregard for dieting, meal planning or even patience! So a quick search for speedy dumpling found this microwave clootie dumpling recipe.

I melted the sugar, margarine, spices and milk then simmered the sultanas in the mix for a few minutes but was in far too much of a rush to allow it to cool, so it got mixed with the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and beaten egg. I used only half the amount quoted, as there are only two of us here until Tuesday and, unlike traditional clootie dumpling, I don't think this variety will freeze. The above is what it looked like when I poured it into a microwave-safe bowl, which had been lined with plastic food film. (Not too sure I like the plastic film, I will try without this next time.)

I cooked mine in the microwave on high for four and a half minutes and this was enough to bake it through. It turned out of the bowl without any problem and smelled like spicy dumpling.

Unlike traditional clootie dumpling, which gets boiled in a cloth for over three hours and then grilled or toasted to dry the sweet, leather-like skin, this variety contains eggs and has no skin, so the texture is more of a spongy soft fruit pudding, not the easiest thing to slice when serving. But it does smell really good and we do like our puddings in the household.

In true frugal living fashion, a hot pudding usually gets served with custard, so here is the finished dish. Overall, this version of clootie dumpling cost me approximately 40p to make (double up if making fullsize) and by the time you add on some custard you are looking at around 60p for something that easily provides for 6.

Tonight we cheated - instant packet custard made with boiling water and 'dumpling' made in under half an hour via the microwave... cheap and cheerful, frugal and festive, hot and tasty!

Let me know if you try this really frugal microwave clootie dumpling recipe. For my personal preference, I would use less spice next time but there will certainly be a next time. I wouldn't call it dumpling, as such, it being more of a spiced fruit pudding, but it certainly makes an excellent substitute for occasions when you simply don't have a spare 3 or 4 hours to hang around the kitchen.

Happy Haggis Day

In Honour of Robert Burns

Haggis McGonk

No self-respecting Scot can overlook the importance of Burns night on 25th January to commemorate and celebrate the life and works of Robert Burns, by way of the annual Burns supper of haggis, neeps and tatties. There may even be a drap o' whisky goin' doon the hatch!

There are literally millions of pages on the web dedicated to Robert Burns and his poetry, so I won't go into any of it here. Suffice to say, this is one Scottish bard who will never be forgotten. But I would like to remind you all that a haggis isn't just for Burns night and that a frugal house may serve a frugal meal any day of the year!

Frugalhagg is a fantastic alternative! You just mince and mix together all your meaty scraps and leftovers with diced onion, oatmeal and suet, season it with salt and plenty of pepper, wrap it in a floured cloth and boil it in a pan of water until it's done. It's a bit like a clootie dumpling but with a meaty, spicy taste rather than a fruity, sweet taste. I'd suggest making it about a third of the size of the normal clootie dumpling.

I'll make some frugalhagg the first chance I get and do a step-by-step photo blog. Until then, you'll need to make do with a photo of the exceptionally cute Haggis McGonk included in this post.

NYK, Frugaldom

King's Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling Recipe

It’s that time of year again – the time when we need to start thinking about the forthcoming festivities and getting into practice for making all that festive fare. One of my personal favourites is traditional Scottish clootie dumpling, so that’s what this post is all about – nothing new, just an old favourite revisited on a regular basis.

A ‘cloot’ is a cloth in which we boil a mixture of flour, fat, fruit, sugar and spices to produce the most delicious (in my opinion) cake-like dessert that can be eaten hot, cold, alone, with a selection of toppings, grilled, steamed, fried and served with or after any meal of the day.

Clootie dumpling is versatile, it’s tasty, it’s filling and it’s one of Scotland’s most cherished recipes that gets handed down from generation to generation, with each family having its own special recipe.

My original recipe from Great Granny Kerr has been adapted to create a dumpling that’s fit for Royalty.

Check out this fabulous King's Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling Recipe and then consider becoming a part of a very special Frugaldom promotional fundraiser that is about to launch as part of November’s challenge in the Frugal Forums.

Frugaldom's Christmas Clootie Dumpling Recipe.

Great Granny Kerr's Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling

Our 'secret' frugal recipe, passed down several generations of the family

Get a large stockpot of water on to boil before you start, so the water is ready for the dumpling. Place a plate on the bottom of the pan, so the dumpling can bounce off that, rather than the bottom of the pan.

INGREDIENTS

12oz plain flour

4oz shredded suet
3 tablespoons of sugar
3 large handfuls of raisins (or sultanas or dried fruit)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice or mixed spice
1 teaspoon ginger

Mix all of the above dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add:

1 large tablespoon of treacle
1 large dessertspoon of syrup
Enough milk to bind the mix together into a soft consistency without it going mushy.

Lay out a damp cloot / cloth and sprinkle plain flour liberally across the middle part, where the mix will be poured. (I use a round cloot/cloth cut from an old cotton tablecover, but a piece of muslin or even a cotton tea towel would do.)

Pour all of the mix into the centre of the cloth.

Gather up the edges and tie them all with string or a piece of cloth, leaving enough room for the mix to expand as it cooks.

At this point, there's also an old tradition of having everyone pat the dumpling before it gets immersed in the boiling water. I suppose we also need to remind folks to wash their hands, first, if this tradition is to be followed.

Gently lower the post-patted dumpling into your pan of boiling water and cover it with the lid.

This now needs to be kept on the boil for about three to three and a half hours, always ensuring that the water level doesn't drop too much.

 

It's also wise to check that you have left enough room for the mix to expand in the cloth. We don't want any episodes of dumpling bursting oot its cloot!

Traditionally, coins or lucky charms would be cooked in the dumpling, as gifts for whoever found them in their serving. This practice has slowly fallen by the wayside for health and safety, food hygiene and dentistry reasons, but some stalwarts still follow tradition! (I'd advise sterilising the coins or charms in boiling water and then wrapping them in greaseproof paper before adding them into the mix to be boiled in the pudding. HSE can be so strict, nowadays! Ho, ho, ho hum!) Best to ask your host or hostess if they're a true traditionalist before biting into a big mouthful of clootie dumpling, especially if they happen to be a wacky, Scot. Oh, and if it does happen to be a Scottish host, make sure they know you're talking about the clootie dumpling and not their kilt, before asking how traditional they are, otherwise it could make for a very embarrassing scenario at the dinner table, especially after a few wee halfs!

Removing the dumpling from the cloth can be a bit hazardous, so use strong tongs to lift it from the boiling water and take great care not to drop it or drip boiling water on yourself. I find it easiest to place the whole thing into the mixing bowl until the cloth is untied - a tricky process that's easier done if you have long nails, rather than burn your fingers. The prongs of a fork work quite well, too.

Turn the dumpling out onto a large plate - at this stage it will look very pale and pasty or, as we say here, 'peely wally'.

Sprinkle the dumpling with sugar and place into a hot oven for approximately 15 minutes, keep checking it doesn't burn. Traditionally, the dumpling would be sat on the hearth by the open fire.

 

During its time in the oven, your dumpling should develop a lovely, brown, leathery-looking skin. At this point, it is ready for eating hot, served with cream, custard or milk. You can decorate it with a small sprig of holly and a dusting of icing sugar, if you really want it to look 'posh'.

If it's not needed at this time, allow your dumpling to cool, wrap it in tinfoil and keep it until it is needed.

Dumpling freezes well, whole or sliced.

Once thawed, dumpling can be reheated in the microwave, oven, grill or steamer.

If reheating dumpling in the oven, wrap it in tinfoil to prevent it from drying out, you can uncover it for the final few minutes.

If grilling, it's probably best to slice the dumpling first.

If reheating in the microwave, plate up the servings and cover them with an upturned bowl or microwave safe cling film.

 

Dumpling can be reheated in a steamer or by steaming over a pan of boiling water

Dumpling is very versatile.

 

It's a fruit pudding that can be eaten hot with a topping of your choice, or it is a fruit cake that can be sliced and served cold, in similar fashion to fruit loaf. But better still, it can be sliced and pan fried as part of a traditional breakfast fry-up.

Have you had your dumpling this year?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Frugal, Festive 'Champers'

Frugal, Festive Fruit or Flower 'Champagne'

 

A special blog post about cheap plonk, for 'THEO THE RANDY' and 'TEAM PUGH'.

 

It's not too late to make some for Christmas, if you have surplus fruit available.

 

Elderflower fizz & clootie dumpling

How to make the frugaldom 'champagne' is something I learned while spending time on a tiny island called Shapinsay, which is off the coast of mainland Orkney. It was some time ago, back in the 20th Century, so I can't remember when, only how.

 

This friend (thank you, Emma) taught me the secrets of frugal gourmet wines, from red clover to rhubarb. So easy and so cheap to make. For this, I will always be grateful.

 

For the clootie dumping recipe, that's thanks to my Gt, Gt Granny Kerr, the recipe for that can be found HERE and can also be found in the Frugaldom forum.

 

SPARKLING RHUBARB 'CHAMPAGNE'

 

You can substitute rhubarb with whatever surplus non-citrus fruit/edible flowers you have: brambles, red clover, honeysuckle, elderflowers, but don't add a full kilo of flower heads. (I wonder if nasturtiums would work?)

 

INGREDIENTS

1kg chopped fruit
1kg white sugar - reduce according to how sweet the fruit is, I've used half this in past.
1/2 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1 sliced lemon
5 litres boiling water

Thoroughly clean and sterilise your bucket. Pour in the boiling water, lemons and sugar, stir to dissolve. Add the chopped rhubarb. (I just top it, tail it and wash it, I don't peel it, as the red skins make pink champagne.)

 

Stir the contents of the bucket, cover and leave to stand in a cool, dark place. I give the contents a stir every day for about 5 days, then strain off all the fruit through muslin, cotton or fine net before bottling in glass bottles with secure caps.

 

When straining the fruit from the liquid, I cut the centre out of the lid of the bucket and used that to clip the cotton in place. The buckets with lids are easy to come by - just ask anyone who's bodybuilding and they'll have plenty of whey shake buckets to rehome.

 

Whatever colour fruit or flowers you use will dictate the colour of the resulting liquid. This batch was a result of a mixture of green and red stem rhubarb, but it paled to pink when done.

 

Clip top bottles are great if you can salvage any, but ordinary glass bottles with sloping sides and screw caps work equally well.

 

Now, I'll also admit to baking the strained rhubarb into crumbles after straining it from the liquid! Zero waste! From the ingredients stated, I can bottle 5 litres of liquid. 





This wine (it's naturally fermenting as time passes) does get a champagne-like fizz fairly quickly, so it's best to check the bottles and caps frequently.

 

The end result, as seen here, is ready for drinking within a couple of weeks of bottling, so there's still time to get a Christmas 2012 batch made.

 

CHEERS!

Storage-wise, I have managed to successfully keep this from one year to the next... other than the year it froze solid and burst the bottles.

 

Oh! And there was also the jet-propelled pink champagne rocket episode, which included a small explosion as a result of my testing out 2 litre fizzy drinks bottles. 

 

If storing it for longer (or in plastic bottles, as suggested elsewhere), don't forget to check the bottles & caps every so often. They WILL explode, just like my 4 bottles of blackberry 'champagne' fizz, they took off like rockets!

 

Frugaldom

www.frugaldom.com

Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling and Easy Shortbread Biscuits

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011 TO ONE AND ALL!

It's that time of year again, time for spending what we can afford on gifts for friends, family and loved ones. Homemade gifts abound, as do decorations, rhubarb and elderberry fizz, ginger beer, cakes, shortbread and, for us here in Scotland, the traditional 'clootie dumpling'. For anyone who missed last year's copy, here are the basic recipes I use.

Having moved house, I still haven't unpacked my cookie cutters, so this year's shortbread had to be cut into rounds using a tumbler.

I used a very simple 2, 4, 6 recipe, as follows:

Scottish Shortbread Biscuits

2oz / 50g sugar
4oz / 100g butter (or margarine)
6oz / 150g plain flour (I used 5 plain flour and 1 cornflour)

Mix the butter, sugar and flour.
Place the resulting dough in the fridge for half an hour before rolling and cutting
Bake on a floured tray for approximately 25 minutes at 170C
Remove from oven, sprinkle with sugar and cool on a wire rack.

I used the old measurements (ounces) and got 24 shortbread biscuits from this.

Next up was the clootie dumpling, so my old, trusty cloot (cloth) got boil washed beforehand.

Great Granny Kerr's Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling

Get a large stockpot of water on to boil before you start, so the water is ready for the dumpling. Place a plate on the bottom of the pan, so the dumpling can bounce off that, rather than the bottom of the pan.

INGREDIENTS

12oz plain flour

4oz shredded suet

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 large handfuls of raisins (or sultanas or dried fruit)

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon ginger

Mix all of the above dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add

1 large tablespoon of treacle

1 large dessertspoon of syrup

Enough milk to bind the mix together into a soft consistency without it going mushy.

Lay out the wet cloot / cloth and sprinkle plain flour liberally across the middle part, where the mix will be poured. (I use a round cloot/cloth cut from an old cotton tablecover, but a piece of muslin or even a cotton tea towel would do.)

Pour all of the mix into the centre of the cloth.

Gather up the edges and tie them all with string or a piece of cloth, leaving enough room for the mix to expand as it cooks.

Gently lower the dumpling into the pan of boiling water.

This now needs to be kept on the boil for three to three and a half hours, always ensuring that the water level doesn't drop.

It's also wise to check that you have left enough room for the mix to expand in the cloth. We don't want any episodes of dumpling bursting oot its cloot!

Traditionally, coins or lucky charms would be cooked in the dumpling, as gifts for whoever found them in their serving. This practice has slowly fallen by the wayside for health and safety, food hygiene and dentistry reasons, but some stalwarts still follow tradition! Best to ask your host before biting into a big mouthful of clootie dumpling, especially if your host happens to be a wacky, Scottish traditionalist.

 Removing the dumpling from the cloth can be a bit hazardous, so use tongs to lift it from the boiling water and take great care not to drop it. I find it easiest to place the whole thing into the mixing bowl until the cloth is untied - a tricky process that's easier done if you have long nails, rather than burn your fingers. The prongs of a fork work quite well, too.

Turn the dumpling out onto a large plate - at this stage it will look very pale and pasty or, as we say here, 'peely wally'.

Sprinkle with some sugar and place into a hot oven for approximately 15 minutes, keep checking it doesn't burn.

During its time in the oven, your dumpling should develop a lovely, brown, leathery-looking skin. At this point, it is ready for eating hot, served with cream, custard or even some milk. You can decorate it with a small sprig of holly and a dusting of icing sugar if you really want it to look 'posh'.

If it's not needed at this time, allow your dumpling to cool, wrap it in tinfoil and keep it until it is needed.

Dumpling freezes well, whole or sliced.

Once thawed, dumpling can be reheated in the microwave, oven, grill or steamer.

If reheating dumpling in the oven, wrap it in tinfoil to prevent it from drying out, you can uncover it for the final few minutes.

If grilling, it's probably best to slice the dumpling first.

If reheating in the microwave, plate up the servings and cover them with an upturned bowl or microwave safe cling film.

Dumpling is very versatile. It's a fruit pudding that can be eaten hot with a topping of your choice, or it is a fruit cake that can be sliced and served cold, in similar fashion to fruit loaf. But better still, it can be sliced and pan fried as part of a traditional breakfast fry-up.

Have you had your dumpling this year?

ENJOY!

NYK Media

http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk

Confectionery & Clootie Dumpling - Frugaldom Style

PROGRESS IN THE FRUGAL KITCHEN

First job, today, was to get the clootie dumpling on to cook, so here's the simple, step by step method to show you how it's done.

The first thing you need to do is get a big pan of water on to boil. You'll need to put a plate on the bottom of the pan so the dumpling can sit on top of that, rather than straight onto the base.

I put out all the ingredients straight into the mixing bowl then mix them all together with just enough milk to make it 'muddy' without being too runny or gloopy. The spoon should just be able to stand upright and no more when the consistency is right, as per photograph.

Once everything is mixed together, prepare your cloot (cloth) by dampening it down and sprinkling it liberally with flour. This is what will help form the skin on your finished dumpling. I put the cloth in a large jug before pouring in the mixture, but you can just as easily lay it out on a flat surface and then gather up the edges to tie them. My 'cloot' is cut from an old cotton pillowcase with the trimmings kept for tying it all together. Remember to leave enough space for the dumpling to expand during cooking.

Once it's all tied up, it should look something like this:

 It's an old family tradition that everyone in the household pats the dumpling before it goes into the pot of boiling water but, as I was alone in the house at the time, ours escaped its 'skelp erse'. It was also traditional to hide silver sixpences inside the dumpling but, for obvious health and safety issues, this part of dumpling making has now been omitted. Afterall, we don't want granny choking or breaking her wallies on a coin at the Christmas dinner table, do we? Your clootie dumpling is now ready to be lowered into the boiling water.

Always ensure that there's enough water to cover the whole dumpling but don't worry if it's floating a bit. Just tuck the whole lot into the pan and put the lid on tightly.  You now need to keep this on the boil for about the next 4 hours - not very frugal if you need to cook with electricity or gas, but great if you have a multifuel stove or logburner.

While the dumpling is boiling, I'm getting back to making the marzipan fruits. I was able to text a friend who was en route here for coffee and a catch up, so she brought me the much needed cloves - all I was needing to finish the marzipan apples. I'm now in the process of doing the oranges and bananas.

Using the cloves, they are inserted long end in for oranges and star end in for apples and bananas. I haven't bothered painting in the ridge stripes on the bananas as mine are all sugar frosted. 

I've looked out some small boxes and think I should be able to cut lids into these and use them for presentation packs that can be personalised accordingly, but I'll tackle that job later.

Next up, more truffles. But I need to wait until the dumpling has finished cooking so I can use the hot plate. I only have a tiny pot belly 'pig' stove, hence the name, 'George'.

UPDATE

The dumpling is ready. After about 4 hours of boiling, lift the bag from the boiling water and carefully untie the cloth. At this point, you'll need to very carefully turn the dumpling out onto a large, ovenproof dinner plate. It will look quite wet and, as we put it, peely wally (pale).

Traditionally, the dumpling would be sat in front of the fire to dry out the skin and turn it a deep golden brown but for health and hygiene reasons, it's safest to finish it off under the grill or in a warm oven. This is primarily because we now have the cat and I'm sure she would love to sample a clootie dumpling.

This will now be cooled, sliced and eaten... NO! I mean it will now be cooled, sliced and frozen for next weekend. I'll probably keep a couple of slices out for eating this week. It can be eaten hot or cold, served with cream, milk or custard, fried for breakfast or just eaten like cake. Dmpling is an ideal frugal extravagance, so I always have all the ingredients in store. It's very filling and quite rich, so it's best not to over-indulge.

Don't forget you can join the frugal fun in the Frugaldom Forums at www.frugalforums.co.uk