15 Minute Declutter: Plates and Bowls

A February mission I was too impatient to wait for! The plates and bowls have been decluttered. There's a white everyday set, and also the Christmas Tree by Spode.

The remains of a four person set given as a wedding present is on it's way out the door. There's four dinner plates and two side plates. The bowls 'died' a number of years ago. Also the sparse remains of a blue and yellow set I bought about 15 years ago is leaving. One of the large bowls is remaining as it used as a serving dish.

This exercise has helped me understand white is the colour of choice (my choice) for serving dishes, plates and bowls. I like the Christmas Tree ones as well as they are only used for part of the year, and when the food is on the plate you see a white dish with a green border.

I am starting to gradually replace the white set. I'd like to add to the Christmas set, bringing it up to 8 settings, but that is a low priority. As for the large blue and yellow bowl - it's useful. However, I would prefer a white bowl or perhaps a Moroccan blue and white one. But for now, it stays.

15 Minute Declutter: Shower Room

This is a mission borrowed from June, but I'm sure the shower room will be ready for another declutter by the time that month comes around.

Everything was taken out of the room.  People were invited to select the items they liked and used, These items were washed and were neatly put back into the shower room. The rest was ditched. 

This is getting to be liberating. I want to do more, but at the same time I want to proceed at a good pace.  It is a marathon, or perhaps double marathon as it's 52 weeks, and not a sprint.  Part of the process is getting rid of 'stuff', but it's also about learning to maintain the decluttered, organised areas, not re-cluttering, and learning new patterns of behaviour.  

I want a warm, inviting house that's calm and free from clutter. At this rate, I'm going to get it.  It might not happen within 52 weeks.  If it doesn't, then I'll pick up from where I left off and keep going.

15 Minute Declutter: Glasses

I thought I was borrowing a task from February, but now I look for it, I can't see any instructions about decluttering drinking glasses. Well, anyhow, it was needing to be done, and it's done. We have gone from 'oodles' of wine glasses to half a dozen. They don't match, but they are the ones we use. I've tasked The Beloved to buy a set of six matching wine glasses as soon as he finds a set he likes. We have three other sets of glasses, pint glasses, hi-balls and tumblers.

With this large clear out of wine glasses, there's now enough space on the shelf for the cookery books too.  They will be stored away from dust.

In addition, folded newspaper has been added to the tops of the kitchen cupboards.  When it's time to clean up there again it will be so very simple, as easy as replacing a few bits of newspaper!

Recipe to Try: Goat's Cheese, Onion and Potato Bread

Ingredients

110g firm goat's cheese, cut into small cubes

4-5 spring onions, finely slices,

1 medium potato (approx 175g)

175 Sr flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp chopped thyme

1 egg

2 Tsp milk

2 tsp whole grain mustard

a little flour for dusting.

Method

Pre-heat oven to 190C.

Peel and coarsely grate the potato into a large bowl.  Sift in the flour (use Dove Farm gluten-free SR flour for a gf bread) and salt. Add the spring onions, thyme and two thirds of the cheese. With a palette knife, blend together. Mix the egg, milk and mustard in a small bowl. Add it to the potato and flour mixture and form a lose, rough dough.  

Transfer to a well-greased baking sheet and form it into a round of about 15cm. Press the rest of the cheese over the surface and dust lightly with a little flour.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Serve whilst still warm.

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes (final batch)

The recipe challenge was designed to be completed over 3 days. It has taken me twice as long, but it has not proved to be as painful as I had feared! The last few days I have been chiding myself for not doing any doing any decluttering. The Beloved laughed and asked about the recipe challenge. It was then I realised I'd been enjoying this so much it didn't feel like work. It has been liberating, exhilarating, and has given me a taste for trying new recipes again!

The recipe book above is written by Si and Dave, The Hairy Bikers, and is called 'Mums still knows best'.  It's one of the few recipe books to have survived the cull. One of the reasons is it's a collection of family favourites, recipes that have stood the test of time.

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

My 15 Minute Declutter today, and for quite a few days is to go through the recipes that have been hand written, photocopies or torn out of magazines. The decluttered ones end up in the recycling bin, and the rest are slowly being added to this blog. Currently the blog is nothing but recipes and decluttering!

Over the course of the weekend I tried three new recipes. The Warm Salmon and Potato Salad has proved to be wonderful. It was good when it had just been made. It looked really appetising when it was cold, and it was good when it was re-heated! This is definitely going to be a recipe we use again and again. And to think until this weekend it was languishing in a heap of recipes torn from a magazine. 

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That's all the loose recipes decluttered!  There's three to add to the blog.

Malteser Tray Bake

Ingredients

100g butter

200g milk chocolate

3 tbsp golden syrup

250g digestive biscuits, crushed

225g Maltesers

200g milk or white chocolate for topping.

Method

Melt the butter, chocolate and syrup. Add the crushed biscuits and Maltesers. Mix together then pour into a greased baking tin and chill until set.

Melt the additional chocolate and pour over the top. Decorate by placing a Malteser on top of each square before the chocolate sets.

Variation

Mini marshmallows can also be added.

Lemon and Coconut Slice

Ingredients

Base

80g butter

250g condensed milk

250g digestive biscuits, crushed

250g desiccated coconut

1 lemon

Topping

240g icing sugar

30g butter, melted

3 Tsp lemon juice

extra desiccated coconut for decoration

Method

Base: Melt the butter, add the condensed milk, crushed biscuits, coconut, the juice of the lemon (reserve 3Tsp for the topping), and the zest of the lemon. Press into a Swiss roll tin lined with baking parchment.

Topping: Mix together the icing sugar, lemon juice and melted butter. Spread over the base.  Sprinkle a little coconut over the topping before it sets.

Variations

Use gluten-free digestives for a gluten-free lemon slice.

Pineapple Delight

Ingredients

Base

250g digestive biscuits

2 dessert sp golden syrup

50g butter

Middle

80g butter

140g icing sugar

1 egg

Topping

1 can crushed pineapple (450g)

290ml double cream

chocolate curls

Method

Base: Put the butter and syrup in a saucepan. Crush the digestive biscuits. When the butter had melted add the crushed biscuits to the butter and syrup. Spread the mixture over a greased Swiss roll tin.

Middle: Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Spread over the biscuit base.

Topping: Drain the pineapple and spread over the tray. Whip the cream and add to the top of the pineapple. Decorate with chocolate curls.

If you are unable to find crushed pineapple, use pineapple chunks cut into smaller pieces.

Variations
For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free digestive biscuits.

A tasty alternative is to use ginger biscuits instead of digestives.

Paradise Slice

Ingredients

Base

100g butter

60g sugar

90g plain flour

1 egg, beaten

Topping

100g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs, beaten

25g ground almonds

25g glace cherries

25g sultanas

25g raisins

40g plain flour

Method

To make the base, rub together the flour and butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg and mix into a dough. Roll out the pastry to line the base of a Swiss roll tin.

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

For the topping, cream the butter and sugar, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon on top of the pastry base.;

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden, and the centre of the cake is springy. Remove from the oven and dust with caster sugar.

Fruit Loaf

Ingredients

3 cups dried fruit

1.5 cups water

1.5 cups sugar

170g butter

3 tsp mixed spice

3 cups SR flour 

3 eggs

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170C. Line 3 loaf tins.

Into a saucepan put the dried fruit, water, sugar, butter and mixed spice. Bring to the boil and then hold at a rolling simmer fo 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Mix well the flour (I use Dove Farm Gluten-free SR Flour), eggs and fruit mixture. Divide between the 3 loaf tins and bake for about an hour.

Luscious Lemon Cake

Ingredients

170g butter

225g sugar

3 eggs

300g SR flour

100ml milk

zest of 2 lemons

Syrup

juice of 2 lemons

4.5 Tsp icing sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Grease two loaf tins and line with baking parchment.

Combine all ingredients of the cake and mix until light and fluffy. Divide between the loaf tines. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Make the syrup by combing the icing sugar and the juice of the lemon. Whilst the cakes are very hot, spoon the syrup over the cake and allow them to soak up the syrup.

Variations

To make the lemon cake gluten-free use Dove Farm Self-Raising Flour.

Mars Bar Crunch

Ingredients

75g butter

3 Mars Bars (~180g)

2 Tsp golden syrup

3 cups Rice Krispies

200g chocolate

Method

Cut the Mars Bars into small pieces. Melt butter, golden syrup and Mars Bars together. Add Rice Krispies and mix well.

Press the mixture into buttered tray. Cover with melted chocolate. Leave to set. Cut into squares.

Variations

Neither Mars Bars nor Rice Krispies are gluten-free. Snicker Crunch can be made by substituting Snickers for the Mars Bars, and Nature's Path Crispy Rice for Rice Crispies.  These are both gluten-free.

Kate's Cheesecake

Ingredients

Base

350g gluten-free digestive biscuits

75g butter

Cheesecake filling

150g Philadelphia cheese

1 large egg

50g castor sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp lemon juice

Topping

275ml soured cream

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

2 Tsp castor sugar

Method

Crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter. Press into a lined sandwich tin., on the base and up the sides. Chill for 10 minutes in the freezer.

Pre-heat oven at 180C.

Mix all of the ingredients for the cheesecake filling. Smooth on top of the biscuit base and bake for 20 minutes.

Mix the ingredients and smooth on top of the cheesecake layer. Bake for 5 minutes.

Chill.

Notes
The amount of cheesecake to base seemed rather imbalanced. I have adapted the recipe and the new recipe is here.

Week 4:Fridge and Freezer

Monday: Read Organized Home Challenge #4: Fridge & Freezer. Done.

Tuesday: Declutter old food from refrigerator. Done - there was a bottle of salad dressing that had been in the fridge just a little bit too long, and half a glass of fruit juice.

Wednesday: Thorough cleaning of refrigerator. Done.

Thursday: Declutter front and top of refrigerator. Done.

Friday: Declutter freezer. This was done before Christmas, and is still looking mighty fine.

Saturday: Fill out freezer inventory. Not needed.

Sunday: Declutter top of kitchen cabinets. Can't be done until The Beloved is home. Even standing on the kitchen step ladders I can't reach the top of cabinets. However, I know there's two wine glasses and a load of dust to be decluttered. (The Beloved cleaned the top of the cabinets after dinner and disposed of the wine glasses.)

As this was such a simple set of tasks, I threw in 'deep clean the microwave'. It seemed to fit in with the theme.

Lemon and Garlic Vegetables

Ingredients

1 courgette

2 Tsp oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 red onion

1 thin leek

50g mangetout

1/2 lemon

Method

Slice the onion. Finely dice the onion. Slice the leek diagonally, and cut the courgette into ribbons.

Stir fry the onion and garlic in the oil for 2 minutes. Add the leek and continue for a further 2 minutes. Add the mangetout and cook for 1 more minute and then the courgette. Squeeze lemon juice over the vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Variations

Change the vegetables, but consider how long they need to cook. Suitable vegetables are ribbons of carrot, bean sprouts, sliced mushrooms, slices peppers, spring onions cut on the diagonal, etc.

Auntie June's Kitchen

My Mam is a prolific baker. She is known where ever she goes for the bakes goods and sweets she takes along. All of the family, and friends, have their favourites.

A little while back I had the notion of collecting Mam's best beloved recipes together in one place. This will be the collection point, and the tag for her recipes will be Auntie June's Kitchen. Whilst she is 'Mam' to two people, 'Grandma' to four, she is 'Auntie June' to at least 50 people.

At the top of the right hand column of the blog there's two links. The first the index for the recipes on this blog, and the second gives a list of all my Mam's recipes.

The recipe below is my brother's favourite, Bombs! Apparently other people call them Chocolate Truffles, but in my family, they are Bombs.

Ingredients

100g digestive biscuits (Graham Crackers in the US)

2 tablespoons (rounded) drinking chocolate

3 tablespoons (rounded) desiccated coconut

200g sweetened 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.

Variations

I make a gluten-free version by using gluten-free digestive biscuits.

A more sophisticated version of can be made by adding 30g of finely chopped candied peel to the mixture. Then dipping the balls in melted dark chocolate, and decorating with a tiny bit of candied peel.

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

Another round of decluttering recipe books and recipes torn from magazines happened this morning. None of the books have made the cut, but I came across several recipes from my Mam. She is a great baker, and one of my goals is collect the recipes for the family's favourite bakes. I'll add them bit by bit to this blog.

It was great coming across recipes I haven't used in years, like Banana 'Ice Cream'. They will start to reappear on my menus.

During the declutter I came across two other books I believed to belong to L. But when we met for a cuppa she had no knowledge of the books. However, two of the Manx Yarnies were happy to take the books. It feels good when unneeded items leave the house, especially when you know that the items are going to people who want them.

Banana 'Ice Cream'

Ingredients
3 large very ripe bananas
3 Tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup soya milk
5 tsp sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla

Method
Cover a baking sheet in cling film. Slice bananas and place on the baking sheet. Freeze for at least 3 hours.

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

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This fake ice cream actually tastes and feels like real ice cream. Other fruits can be substituted. Although care should be taken with fresh pineapple, kiwi and mango.  There's a chemical in them that causes problems when making 'ice cream'.

Warm Salmon and Potato Salad

Ingredients

750g new potatoes, quartered

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1Tsp oil

200g cherry tomatoes

4 salmon fillets

Dressing

juice of 1 lemon

1 Tsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 Tsp sugar

50ml oil

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C. Put potatoes and onion wedges into a medium roasting tin, add oil and stir to coat. Spread vegetables out and roast for 35min, or until just tender.

Remove the tin from the oven, stir in the cherry tomatoes and lay the salmon fillets on top of the vegetables. Season well and return to the oven for a further 12min, or until the fish is opaque and cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, honey, olive oil, a splash of water and plenty of seasoning until combined.

Serve on a bed of salad leaves. Pour the dressing over the salmon and vegetables.

Review

This is good! Very good. It shall become one of the regulars.

The original recipe had honey in the dressing. I really did try to use honey in the dressing, but as I was squeezing the container all I could smell were bee farts. Turning away in disgust at the smell, I decided on using a bit of sugar instead of honey (and put the substitution in the ingredients). Next time I might try maple syrup instead, but just a little bit.