OS Christmas Support thread & timetable

CAFCGirl

Those steaks sound delicious.

I'm dreadful with roast dinners so that'd make a nice change but still sort of the same with the veggies.

Got christmas on my own this year so shall make myself a full on feast!

Shellybee

Hi all, been a lurker on the old style board for ages now and I have finally found a good tip to pass on:D (provided it hasn't been posted before, apologies if it has)
In my local Tesco today they had big tubs of Robertsons Mincemeat reduced from £1.34 to 33p


I was in such a hurry I didn't take note of the tub size. Couldn't buy any today as I had 2 children, a buggy and a full basket. Although I'm just hoping that it isn't only my local store to reduce them.

Anyway I'm hoping to pop into tomorrow and grab what stock is left. Mince pies are so handy to have in the freezer. You can get them out quick for suprise visitors at Christmas and also if you have neighbours a little box of them is a nice gesture instead of buying expensive biscuits or booze as presents:D

Topher

kiwichick wrote:

Ooohhhh yes please TOPHER, I have mum coming from NZ for a month (!) over xmas and would love to do an hm cake to go with everything else. Proper OS xmas for us this year.

Victorian Christmas Cake

1 lb (400g) Mixed Dried Fruit including peel *
4 oz (100g) stoned raisins
4 oz (100g) glacé cherries, quartered
¼ (1/4) pint (125ml) medium or sweet sherry

6 oz (150g) soft margarine
6 oz (150g) moist brown sugar ( Muscovado or Barbados )
1 Lemon, grated rind
1 orange, grated rind
3 eggs,
1 tbsp black treacle
2 oz (50g) blanched almonds, chopped
4 oz (100g) Plain Flour
2 oz (50g) Self Raising Flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice

1) Put all of the fruit in a bowl, pour the sherry over and leave to soak for at least three days, stirring daily.

2) Prepare a cool oven (275° F, 140°C, Gas 1 *)

3) Put margarine, sugar, lemon & orange rinds, eggs, treacle and almonds in a bowl. Sift flours and spice together and add to the bowl, beat well until blended, Stir in the fruit & sherry.

4) Spread mixture in a prepared tin *3 and bake in oven centre for 3¼ (3 & 1/4) hours.

* I candy my own peel from September (oranges eaten at work, with peel saved, cut & prepped. And 1 lemon peel from other baking) about 2oz (50g) then deduct that amount from the mixed fruit allocation.

*2 On my oven, I’ve found Gas Mark 3 better

*3 Prepared tin means greased and fully lined. Because this cake is cooking for so long, I double line the tin.


Hope this is O.K.
Topher:snow_grin

**purpleprincess**

129 days til Christmas!!! :xmastree:

nicki_2

I'm currently sitting down to my first mug of Snowman-soup-a-la-Nicki :drool: Many more will be consumed, and I'm going to be drinking it while wrapping Xmas pressies when I've sorted them out (penciled it in for the weekend of 16/17th December ) so they should be better wrapped this year without the usual bottle of wine being consumed :rotfl:

For the proper recipe for snowman soup see here

**purpleprincess**

nicki wrote:

I'm currently sitting down to my first mug of Snowman-soup-a-la-Nicki :drool: Many more will be consumed, and I'm going to be drinking it while wrapping Xmas pressies when I've sorted them out (penciled it in for the weekend of 16/17th December ) so they should be better wrapped this year without the usual bottle of wine being consumed :rotfl:

For the proper recipe for snowman soup see here

:drool: :drool: what is the recipe a-la-nicki though?

Trow

nicki wrote:

I'm currently sitting down to my first mug of Snowman-soup-a-la-Nicki :drool: I'm going to be drinking it while wrapping Xmas pressies when I've sorted them out (penciled it in for the weekend of 16/17th December )

Must be a big mug!

(okay, I admit, I snipped a bit..)

gingin_2

Hi,

I'd love to join in with thread. I am a big kid at heart and love Christmas!

We are having a quiet day at home today so I have given the children some huge sheets of paper and told them to start writing their Christmas lists (each item has to be accompanied with a drawing of it). They are 2 and 6 so I am not sure what they will come up with!

I am trying to put together a dressing up box for dd 2 year old for christmas and so am desperately trying to find bits and pieces, 6 yr old ds is after power rangers things which are just so expensive. I'm sorting out the pressies now so I can take advantage of all of the summer offers (bought Junior monopoly and Cluedo £9.99 for the both)

I am also setting up an amazon wishlist for the children, the relatives requested it last year and it is great as a lot of our family live overseas and it works out much cheaper than buying and sending gifts.

I know that my parents are expecting us to go to them this year but for the first time last year we had christmas on our own when they went away and we absolutely loved it so we would like to do it again, I know they will be really disappointed though. Last year (pre money-saving) I bought a single turkey breast that did us for 3 meals and sarnies but I naively paid £20 (!) as it was from the Waitrose Christmas range and so this year I really want to do the same thing but find it cheaper.

O.K having written this ds has come in with 3 remote contol cars on his list (yeah right) and dd has drawn a picture of herself!

The Christmas cake recipies look yummy and I would definitely like to try making my own this year.

^!£$&

Hi Guys I have been reading this thread with great interest and decided to get on the xmas bandwagon today I went to town and purchased to rather nice wicker baskets from pound shop and have decided I'm going to do my sis a girls night in basket with dvd, sweets, slippers, sachets how chocolate etc & Im going to do my mom a relaxation basket with bubble bath, candles, eye masks , sponge and a cd!

So thanks very much for all the great ideas I'm going to be so super organised this yr ! I'm really excited now :xmastree: :rudolf: :santa2: :snow_laug :xmassmile :snow_grin

Icemaiden

peanutpie05 wrote:

Hi, not sure if I can help ... but I make my own cakes each year and would make a few suggestions to anyone looking to make a cake this year.

This is based on the assumption that people will be making a traditional rich fruit cake.

> Although some recipes say to include chopped nuts ... you dont have to (personally I don't like it)

> Don't skimp with the glace cherries (if you like them) and keep the peices large ... that way it gives the cake a really succulent texture

> As an optional extra you could add small cubes of marzipan to the cake mix .... yum!

> I personally dont bother with putting booze in the cake mix (you cant really taste it after it's cooked (waste of money). BUT do be generous with 'feeding' the cake with booze in the month or so after it is made ... really makes the cake fragrant (hic!)

> Get yourself a good quality cake tin (or you can hire one from a professional shop). I've used cheap tins over the years and wasted such a lot of money because they've gone straight in the bin. Fixed base IS best (you should never have a problem with the cake coming out if the tin is lined properly). I've got one of the 'invicta' tins which are excellent quality and a 7" tin only cost me £8.50 ... it will last me many more years.> Speaking of lining. Do double line with greasproof on the inside of the cake and also line the outside of the tin in double thickness brown paper tied with string (no sellotape!!!!). Also, I like to place a cirlce (or two) of greaseproof over the top of the cake to stop the top burning

> Don't be tempted to increase the temperature and reduce the length of time the cake is cooked for ... it will burn! Rich fruit cakes take a long time to cook ... and they are better for it.

Obviously - this is just how I like to do my cakes and everyone has different preferences ... but maybe a few ideas you can take from it??

HTH, and if you have any more q's ...let me know ...

xxpp05

On my way to town popped into tesco and they have a 7inch square cake tin for £4.97, double coated, quite deep, 10year guarantee. Does this sound ok? or would you go for a better quality one?

Anyway also whislt there noticed the Croft Indulgence Port, which by the way is beautiful, was reduced from £8.99 to £5.99 so bought 4 bottles, a saving of £12.00:j 1 x Mums hamper, 2 x general crimbo drinking, 1 x now;)

Thanks in advance.
Ice.