Continue the change and enjoy the journey!

Lula-Hula

Great news on the running, hope you get a good night's rest & feel much better in the morning
xx

fedupandskint

Slept in for an hour this morning and feel a little better today.

Cheered myself up by making some strawberry jam from bargain strawberries bought yesterday 2.5kg for £2.55 and got 7 jars of jam out of it. Already had the sugar in and used lemon juice out of a bottle instead of buying a lemon. Made 2 lots in 2 different ways and only had to discard a few strawberries that were mouldy so quite a good result overall. Preserves cupboard is stocking back up again with left over chutney from last year, asparagus, beetroot and jam from this year.

Planning more jam over the next month or so and some butters and jelly making and will have a little look in my book for some recipes this afternoon

Flying wise not done too much so far - chucked the sheets into wash as the weather looks ropey for this weekend and just deciding what to do next

fedupandskint

Feel much better now - hope it continues!

Just reserved some presents from A*g*s to collect by tomorrow - for mum for Christmas - bargain skincare. I know its early but I like to make a start when the sales are on rather than rush about in December

Cleaned to bathroom and swept and mopped the floors just a couple of rooms left to do and a couple of washed while the weather holds

fedupandskint

Update for so far this year

Preserving plan 2011

Jan/Feb
[STRIKE]Seville Marmalade
Seville and Whisky marmalade[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]3 Fruit marmalade [/STRIKE]
Lemon Marmalade?

Feb/Mar/Apr
[STRIKE]Rhubarb Jam[/STRIKE]
Rhubarb and Ginger

April/May/June
Elderflower cordial
[STRIKE]Rhubarb Relish[/STRIKE]

June/July/August
[STRIKE]Strawberry Jam[/STRIKE]
Redcurrant Jelly
Blackcurrant Jam
Plum Jam
[STRIKE]Tomato Chutney[/STRIKE] - have a load of this left from last year
Mint Syrup - might have a go at this at the weekend
Raspberry Vinegar
Picallili

Sept/Oct
Apple Chutney
Pontack Sauce
Rosehip Syrup
[STRIKE]Christmas Chutney
Cranberry Christmas Chutney[/STRIKE] - still got plenty left from last year - might see about making some more if I can sell them
Beetroot and Ginger Chuney
[STRIKE]Beetroot Relish[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Blackberry Gin[/STRIKE] - still have a big bottle left over from last year!
Blackberry Vodka
Sloe Gin
Honeyed Hazels
Mincemeat
Chilli Jam
Spiced pickled pears and plums or damsons

Oct/Nov
Chestnut Jam
Winter Fruit Compote
Pickled Onions
Flavoured Oils

Dec
Fudge
Candied Orange Sticks
Lemon squash

fedupandskint

Feel almost back to normal now - yeah!

Pottered around the garden this afternoon mainly tieing up sweet peas etc

Only the kitchen left to finish off tomorrow then all the cleaning is done another yipee!

Tomorrow will be a big potter around day finishing off cleaning jobs, pop into town and generally chill out and rest for a nice change at the weekend

fedupandskint

July/ August
Blackcurrant Jam
Plum Jam
Mint Syrup
Picallili
Runner Bean Pickle

Sept/Oct
Spiced Crab Apple Jelly
Rosehip and Apple Jelly
Blackberry and Apple Jelly
Apple and Herb Jelly
Cider Apple butter
Blackberry butter
Apple Chutney
Pontack Sauce
Rosehip Syrup
Beetroot Relish
Blackberry Vodka
Sloe Gin
Honeyed Hazels
Mincemeat
Chilli Jam
Spiced pickled pears and plums and damsons

Oct/Nov
Chestnut Jam
Winter Fruit Compote
Flavoured Oils

Dec
Fudge
Candied Orange Sticks
Lemon squash

Looks like I'll be busy the next few weekends over the next few months if I can find all of these ingredients. Some will be bought, some will be foraged and some will be asked for from friends. Let me see how I get on with it all

Lula-Hula

Right missy,

I need to know about all this preserving you do. How long have you been doing this ? How did you start & do you have book that you're working your way through or one you can recommend ? I am so far behind on this lifestyle.

I love Sloe Gin - my sister made some & donated a bottle & I'm sure blackberry vodka will be just as fab. If you ever hear rustling in your cellar in the middle of the night, dont worry - it's just me sampling my way through the selves

fedupandskint

Right then yourself missy!

Preserving history is ready and waiting for you to read below:

I started about 3 years ago with the River Cottage Glutney recipe (chutney) which is in the river cottage book (meat I think - at the back). Made one version of this which made lots of jars and it went down a storm with me mum and others. Then tried Seville Orange Marmalade the following January which was lovely. That year moved onto a couple of Delia recipes - Christmas Chutney which uses dried fruit and is a dead ringer for Branston Pickle without all the nasties and a slightly less sharp taste. Also made Nigella's Chilli Jam which is dead easy to make, makes a load and tastes great and again has about 4 ingredients compared to whats in a bottle you buy.

Last year went bonkers and made all sorts of chutney and tried picallili which looked not the usual shade of bright yellow but a murkier shade however tasted great!

This year I'm having a go at a few jams to even up the sweet to savory ratio

Books - I really like the River Cottage Preserves Book which I've made loads out of and have worked great. I think some of them are on the River cottage website under recipes - might take some searching but some are on there which might be a good place to start without buying a book. Also Delia has some on her website - pretty sure Christmas Chutney is on there in the Christmas Section. It's also in her 2 Christmas Books if you have one hanging around

What else - Nigella's Christmas Book - I've tried the Chilli Jam, Cranberry Christmas Chutney and out of another nigella book - not sure which one - for marmalade recipes too.

So my main advice is save jars now if you can and remove the labels with lots of hot soapy water and scrubbing! Sterilise the lids in a pan of boiling water for half and a hour before you use them. If you have a dishwasher stick the jars and lids in there to sterilise before using and don't touch the insides. Also save bottles eg vinegar, glass booze bottles etc to reuse

Try and buy what you can as cheaply as possbile - when its coated in sugar, vinegar and spices all will be well! If you're lucky enough to find trees with fruit on then have a go with those for free!

Trying to think what else - blackberry gin or vodka is the easiest thing to do and also sloes too. All you need is a large glass container, fruit, sugar and vodka/gin and ta da!

The River Cottage Preserves book also has a very easy to read section of how to sterilise jars etc if you're new to all of this. My main advice is don't worry, give it a go and always expect everything to take much longer than the recipe suggests! All you need is a large wide pan to help and a bit of patience!

If you need to know anything else just ask - also there is a Preserver's Thread on the Old Style Board which has lots of advice

fedupandskint

Hmm cold kicking back in today - felt better after walking into town in the variable rain showers on and off however muggy, warm and mild it was out there.

I picked up mum's Olay stuff fro A*g*s on offer saving a good deal on what it cost elsewhere ending up with 3 items for the price of 1. Will squirrel these away safely to wrap up for a Christmas skincare hamper. Made a start - yeah!

Then popped into M+S to look for a card and ended up buying 2 things in the sale - a pair of bootcoot jean/trousers for £17 reduced from £29.50 and a black thick jersey skirt reduced from the same price of £29.50 to £17 again. I've been after a skirt like this for a while - panelled thickish jersey and I'm pretty pleased with it at the price and it fits in a size 12 - just a little tum sticking out which I'm working on getting rid of!

Also fitted into the size 12 trousers but the 14's fitted a lot better and came up to my waist instead of the fattest bit of my stomach so went with the 14. That's ok as there's plenty of room in them which is also a nice change! On another happy point I put a pair of jeans on I've not worn in ages which are smallish ones and they fitted perfectly! Although the weight insn't falling off the inches are and it's good to feel clothes fitting better again - it is worth the exercise and reducing calorie intake and addressing portion size!

Going to have a potter about now and have a think about putting some pictures up later on if I can be bothered or clean the kitchen

Lula-Hula

Oooh thanks fedupandskint - that's fab.

I've been saving 'interesting' shaped & pretty jars & bottles for while now, in the hope that some enthusiasm to create something to put in them might occur. It was going to be raspberry jam when I had the allotment ... but the raspberries never made it home alive

Not a huge fan of daily cooking, but this sounds like fun.

Thank you