Parsnip and Maple Soup

Ingredients

1 Tsp oil 
2 onions, finely chopped 

2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped 

1 'thumb' of root ginger

2 tsp whole grain mustard

750g parsnips, chopped 

2 large potatoes, chopped 

2 litres vegetable stock 

Garnish

pecans, chopped 

maple syrup 

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the onions until soft, but not coloured. Add the garlic, ginger and mustard. Cook for 1 further minute. Then add the potatoes, parsnips and stock. 

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Blend the soup until smooth. Check the seasoning.

Garnish with pecans, black pepper, and a little drizzle of maple syrup.

If you forget to add pecans to the shopping list, but have pumpkin seeds, add those instead.  

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

At the end of the month, the challenge is to declutter recipes and recipe books. This challenge is hanging over my head, and I must admit, I'm panicking a little.

I've decided as I have finished this week's declutter challenges I am going to work on the recipes and recipe books. It is going to take a great deal more than the 4 sessions allotted!

A small pile was picked up, dusted off and examined. One of the books I believe belongs to a friend and will be returned tomorrow. One has been saved, and four will go. The manual for the tumble dryer was mixed in with the pile. This will be added to the recycling box. Paper manuals are not needed as they are available on-line.

This leaves me with a Good Housekeeping 2014 magazine which has had loose recipes stuffed into it. I'm going to be have a quick sort through the recipes. I shall go through them again at the end of the month.

15 Minute Declutter: Mugs

This challenge is on the cards for next month, but last night the mood for mug-decluttering came over me. That was fine when it was just me, but when The Beloved got involved it turned into a bit more of a challenge. 

By the sink there is a shelf and hanging space for mugs. 18 can fit in that space. Surely 18 mugs is sufficient for three people! Apparently not!

There’s a set of  white mugs just like the one below. 

There’s 5 Doctor Who ones, and a couple of Sheepy ones, and a Crystal Gems one too. The Beloved added one patterned mug. I can understand that one as it’s bigger than the rest, and sometimes he needs more coffee. But he also added in five plain white mugs (heavy, clunky, thick). I was going to take them into the office for use there. His reasoning was that the rest of the mugs were mine, and he didn’t want to coffee-inate my mugs! At this point I reminded him of two very important things. The first being ‘all my worldly goods I thee endow’. The second was mugs washed in hot, soapy water come clean, and are uncontaminated by the the evils of coffee!

I have a migraine hangover, and thinking isn’t my things just now. I tried to reason with him, and gave up and said I would bribe him instead. A Snicker bar (chocolate, nougat and nuts) was handed over. He declared himself two thirds bribed as I hadn’t given him a full sized Snicker. It was only a 2/3 sized one from a multipack.

(sigh)

Who’du think it would be so difficult to get rid of mugs?!

Today, the mugs were washed, along with two cups!.  Ten mugs and two cups have made their way into the pile of items to be donated.  And I'm now looking forward to decluttering plates and bowls.

15 Minute Mission: Sinking (part 2) and Laundry

The sinking feeling has gone!  I was putting it off time and time again.  But, it's done.  The cupboard is clean, tidy, and some items have been decluttered.  It's looking so much better.

The other thing done today was keeping the laundry up to date. It's something I've been working on a while, and over the Christmas holidays I was able to totally empty the laundry basket.  There were no dirty clothes, and no clothes is the process of being cleaned/dried/put away.  Since then, I've been trying to wash and dry a load of laundry each day.  

As it's winter, the tumble dryer is in use as it's almost impossible to line-dry clothes at this time of year.  When the dryer has finished, and the clothes are still warm, they are folded and sorted.  This prevents creasing.  They are then put away. 

This is so very much better than the previous 'system'.  There was an overflowing laundry basket, clothes on the floor, and cries of "Eeek! I've run out of knickers/socks/t-shirts."

15 Minute Missions: Sinking!

The challenges for last Saturday and Sunday were to "declutter and organize under kitchen sink." and "declutter and organize pots and pans". That so didn't happen! To put it simply, it was neither was a 15 minute task.

The only things under the sink are pots, pans and roasting trays. The cupboards needed to be emptied, cleaned, the contents cleaned, decluttered and put away.

The cupboard has now been emptied. Round one of cleaning has taken place, and it's looking a bit better. The section where the roasting dishes are kept is oily-gunky. This is going to take more than one attempt at cleaning to get it properly clean. A start has been made on washing the contents. This will be finished tomorrow.

15 Minute Mission: Address Book

As the only task I've had in 'Pantry and Spices' has been to clean the drawer we keep spices, stock pots and nuts in, I'm casting my net wide to find other missions for this week.  Today's is Update and organize address book information. In my case, it's 'Create and organise'!

At some point, years ago, I had a physical book with people's names, addresses, and phone numbers.  This has long gone.  Information is now spread out over various location, my phone, the Beloved's phone, Amazon, etc.  It's not a problem for me, but if others wanted to access the information they might have problems. 

I'm going to have to come back to this one and add information in chunks.  It will take time to create.  It might be a good idea to print it out and keep it beside important documents.

Week 3: Pantry and Spices

Monday: Read Week #3: Pantry. Done.

Tuesday: Declutter and organize bake-ware. This was done last week when the task was to declutter plastic containers. They had already been decluttered, but I took the chance to give the cupboard a clean out and a re-organisation. There's the same amount of stuff in the cupboard, but it looks a great deal more organised.

Wednesday: Declutter and organize canned food. This was done in mid-December.

Thursday: Declutter and organize spices. Done.

Friday: Declutter pantry or cupboard shelves. Again, this was done in mid-December. Everything was taken out, cleaned, re-organised.

Saturday: Fill out pantry inventory. I really don't feel the need for this. The pantry is shallow, and I can see everything at a glance. We go through it on a very regular basis, and we know what is there. We check the pantry, fridge and freezer, make a menu, and then shop to fill in the gaps.

Sunday: Declutter kitchen cabinet shelves. The only cabinets left are the ones containing dishes and glasses, and they will be tackled in February. These is an area we didn't do last year, and it definitely needs to be done. We have too many dishes and glasses.

What's happened?!

A post each and every day for the New Year, and then nothing! This is fairly typical of my life. I get stuck into a new project, and then struck by a bit of lurgy, and I end up retreating to my bunker. The good news is that the bunker is being maintained in a good state of order.

My aims were to lay my clothing out for the next day, make my bed each morning, to wash the dishes each evening, and to have a clean, tidy kitchen. This has happened pretty much every day this year. There was one evening when the dishes were not done, but that was a grand total of three plates and three glasses, and it was remedied the next morning.

A number of websites/blogs have been extolling the virtues of laying out your clothes the night before. I'm pretty much a morning person, and I don't have problems deciding what to wear etc, but I decided to give it a try.

For 11 evenings I dutifully laid out my clothes before I went to bed. It worked fine. Yesterday I decided to switch it around, and made the conscious decision not to select clothing. This morning I ran into a little problem, the black tailored trousers I wanted to wear were in the washing basket. A quick re-think was needed.

I am now fully dressed, and appropriately dressed. However, I am going to continue to select my clothing the night before. It's simpler.

15 Minute Declutter: Baking Cupboard

The baking cupboard has now been decluttered, cleaned and tidied. Baking ingredients are in their original packaging or clip top containers. I have two different styles of clip tops, glass Kilner jars and plastic Lock and Lock. My preference is for the glass jars. Over the next few months I will buy more glass jars and use for things like dark brown sugar, and drinking chocolate. Later still, I'll buy some large jars for white sugar, gluten-free SR flour, gluten-free plain flour, gluten-free oats, and icing sugar.

Recipe to retry: Cranberry Seed Bars

Ingredients

100g sunflower seeds

100g sesame seeds

100g pumkin seeds

200g semi-dried cranberries

100g gluten-free porridge oats

2 Tsp soft brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tin of condensed milk (400g)

150g butter

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a 24cm square baking tin with baking parchment.

Gently heat the condensed milk and butter until well blended and hot. Stir the seeds and fruit into the condensed milk mixture. Spoon the mixture into the tin and pack down lightly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 20 minutes until slightly golden. Cool and then cut into 16 bars.

Review
It is delicious. However, it's too soft and doesn't hold together well. Definitely more oats are needed.

Recipe to try: Maple-glazed Pecans

Ingredients
500g pecans
75g melted butter
4 Tsp maple syrup
1 Tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Method
Pre-heat oven to 190C.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl an large bowl, and toss to combine.  Spread the nit mixture in a single layer n a rimmed baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until browned, stirring frequently to ensure even browning.  Allow to cool.  Store in an air-tight container.

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Tuppence's original recipe also included 1/4 to 1/2tsp of cayenne pepper.  As I react against peppers I have omitted it.

Chocolate Bombs

This is a firm family favourite.

Ingredients

100g digestive biscuits (Graham Crackers in the US)

2 tablespoons  (rounded) drinking chocolate

3 tablespoons (rounded) desiccated coconut

half a tin of condensed milk

50g of melted butter

chocolate vermicelli or coconut

Method

Place the butter and condensed milk in a saucepan and heat until the butter melts into the condensed milk.  Crush the digestive biscuits. Add the biscuit crumbs, drinking chocolate,  and desiccated coconut.  Mix well, and then leave to solidify.  

Roll into balls, and then coat in chocolate vermicelli or coconut.

Recipe to try: Pear and Walnut Cake

Ingredients

150g SR flour

150g butter

150g sugar

3 eggs

Topping

100g butter

100g brown sugar

70g walnuts

2 poached pears

Method

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Peel, core, and poach two pears.  Mix together flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Whisk until light and fluffy.

Thinly slice poached pears. Spoon half the cake mix into the 23cm cake tin.  Add the pears in layers, and cover with the remaining cake mix.    

After baking for 20 minutes, prepare topping by placing butter and brown sugar in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Fold in walnuts.

When the cake has been baking for 30 minutes, spread the topping over the cake and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, or until done.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, before removing cake from pan. 

Week 2: Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Last year, these challenges were a huge deal of work, and I needed to split it over two weeks. As a result of the work done last year, it is incredibly simple to do these challenges. Last year, eliminated the junk drawer. It's contents were decluttered, and the items that were kept (eg light bulbs, candles, keys for windows...) were given permanent homes in other parts of the house.

The last two days are a combined challenge for me as the cupboard under the sink is where the pots, pans and cooking (as opposed to baking) sheets and dishes are kept.

Monday's challenge: read Organized Home Challenge #2: Kitchen Cabinets. Done

Tuesday's challenge: declutter and organize cutlery drawer. Cutlery was been washed and dried, as has the drawer and the cutlery container.

Wednesday's challenge: declutter and organize kitchen junk drawer. None!

Thursday's challenge: declutter and organize cling film, parchment, foil and bags. Absolutely nothing needed to be done.

Friday's challenge: declutter food storage containers. Again, absolutely nothing needed to be done. This time it was because it had been done in mid-December. The containers we use as 'take away' containers. There were two styles, but I decided to ditch the less robust style. These are fantastic. I often cook extra portions and freeze the leftovers for lunches.

Saturday's challenge: declutter and organize under kitchen sink.

Sunday's challenge: declutter and organize pots and pans.

Banana Bread Muffins

Ingredients

285g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

110g butter

225g caster sugar

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas, mashed

85ml milk

100g walnut pieces

100g chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Mix all of the ingredients until light and fluffy.  Spoon into muffin cases.  Bake until cooked all the way through and the top is golden brown.

I found this was enough to make 14 muffins, although I've no idea how long they were baking for as I was in the kitchen pottering around and forgot to check the time!

15 Minute Declutter: Linen Cupboard

The towels were decluttered earlier in the week. And now the duvet covers, pillow cases and sheets have been done too.  My aim is to have my linens arranged in nice neat packages that contain everything needed to change the bedding.

I've realised I don't have enough fitted sheets to do this, and some of my linens need to be replaced. This is going to be a job for February.  I'll buy some new fitted sheets and a new duvet set.

When I open a cupboard or drawer and it's tidy, there's a little moment of peace.  It's wonderful.

15 Minute Mission: Christmas Decorations Away

It was a 45 minute mission rather than 15, but the Christmas decorations have been taken down.  The ornaments have been packed away carefully, and stowed in large, clear plastic boxes. I am going to buy another one.  This can be stacked on top of the existing two, and it will be for gift bags, wrapping paper, and sundry gift things.

The 6th of January is Epiphany, when the Wise Men arrived to see the infant Christ.  The Nativity set have been moved, and the Wise Men are entering from the East.  They will be popped back in their boxes at Candlemass, on the 2nd of February, and ready to reappear on the fourth Sunday in Advent.

Repurposed Christmas cards

To go with the new gift bag, some gift labels. These one have been made from last year's Christmas cards.

The problems I had in the summer with my hands and wrist have returned.  The gift bags and labels have given me a crafty outlet whilst i am unable to knit, crochet or hand sew.

15 Minute Declutter: In the office

Today's declutter was in the office. A load of Christmas decorations were sorted and uncluttered. The storage room is looking a great deal better. The Christmas tree has yet to be put away, but that's tomorrow's task.

15 Minute Declutter: Towels

It's 23 years since we married. One of my memories was my Mam's friends looking at the stacks of towels we had received as wedding gifts and exclaiming over them. They were commenting on how beautiful they looked in comparison to their old, worn out towels. Their wedding towels had all been received about 25-30 years ago.

Last summer I bought new, beautiful, big, white bath sheets and dainty hand towel as our towels were looking so old and weary. Today, I finally got round to decluttering the ones we don't use. They will gain a second life at the local animal shelter for drying/rubbing down dogs. The old towels we are keeping will be used for mucky jobs around the house, like dyeing hair etc.

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I ran out of 15 minute challenges this week, so I've 'borrowed' one from the future.