Becoming Domestic

This recipe for Christmas Chutney is taken from ‘Delia Smith’s Christmas’. I made it for the first time tonight and have included it because it was really easy & quick to make. I can’t, however, vouch for how tasty it is as it needs about a month to mature in the jar before eating. It smells nice though and has lots of tasty ingredients in it. It took me about 10 minutes to weigh and whiz up the dried fruits and onions, a pleasant hour of simmering then about 2 minutes to spoon into 5 large jam jars.

I plan to give four jars away as Christmas presents and to keep one for ourselves to eat with cheese and ham.

Christmas Chutney

This is so-named because it is made with dried fruits, which I always associate with Christmas: prunes, dates and apricots. It’s dark, spicy and delicious with cold cuts, pork pies or hot sausages – and it goes splendidly with matured Cheddar.

Makes a 1 litre jar
Ingredients

• 12 oz (350 g) pitted ready-to-eat prunes
• 10 oz (275 g) pitted dates
• 10 oz (275 g) ready-to-eat dried apricots
• 1 lb (450 g) onions, peeled
• 1 pint (570 ml) cider vinegar
• 2 oz (50 g) sea salt
• 1 level dessertspoon grated fresh root ginger or 1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 oz (75 g) allspice berries
• 1 lb (450 g) demerara sugar

You will also need a 1 litre jar and a small piece of muslin or gauze.

The dried fruits and the onions need to be chopped very small, and this can be done in a food processor, or with an old-fashioned mincer, or else with a sharp knife and lots of patience!

When they’re all dealt with, put the vinegar in a large saucepan with the salt and the ginger, then tie the allspice berries up in a small piece of muslin, or gauze, very securely so they can’t escape and add these to the pan. Bring everything up to the boil, then stir in the chopped dried fruits and onions together with the sugar. Leave it all to simmer very gently without a lid for about 1½ hours, or until the chutney has thickened. Stir it from time to time during the cooking period. When it’s ready, you will be able to draw a spoon across the surface of the chutney and make a trail that doesn’t immediately fill up with surplus vinegar.

In the meantime, the jar should be washed thoroughly in warm soapy water, rinsed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Spoon the cooked chutney into the warmed jar, seal well with waxed discs and tight lids, and label as soon as it’s cold. Keep this chutney for 1 month to mature before eating.

This week I realised I have managed to gather everything I will need for the expected new addition to our family due sometime in January.

The icing on the cake was being the winning bidder on eBay for a fantastic Graco travel system/pram/pushchair/car seat (*with* senior & junior cupholders!) which is a bit of a dream come true for me as I was limited to chunky, basic twin pushchairs when expecting the twins five years ago - all my friends with solo babies were choosing lovely prams with extra added sophistication. The purchase was especially gratifying as I ‘won’ it for £17 instead of the r.r.p of £180. Definitely my kind of pram.

As I have mentioned before we have been aiming to spend as little as possible on this newbie given that so much of the kit needed to make life comfortable with a pregnant bump or a new baby is required for such a short amount of time it makes little sense spend loads buying it all brand new from the many shops selling expensive baby gear.

When we had our twins 5 years ago we spent an aboslute fortune on kitting out a nursery, a double pram, two single buggies, huge packs of disposable nappies each week, toys etc etc. I was working in the City and Bealers had a successful software business so we didn’t even flinch at the fact that within a year over £10k had been squandered on two very small beings. Yikes! It would take a long time to save that kind of money and surely there are much more fun things to buy than baby related paraphenalia?

At the begining of this pregnancy I made a list of all the things I thought we would need this time round for a baby. This was obviously much easier having gained the knowledge of what baby things we found useful last time with both kids.

I also sent a slightly grovelly message round to friends with children asking them to think of us if they were passing on any baby things to charity as we’d gladly take them off their hands. So many people have been so kind with huge bags of lovely barely used baby booty now neatly stacked up ready for action in the spare room.

Despite the desire to keep things frugal and thrifty I have still totted up a grand total of £550.

Admitedly, we did decide to buy fewthings new which I hadn’t anticipated which made the total higher than it needed to be. For example I bought a brand new Amby Nature Nest baby hammock (£180) for the young ‘un to sleep despite being given a lovely moses basket. The hammock will hopefully double up as a travel cot too when we travel to see friends & relatives. I also spent what seemed like a lot of money on six new nursing tops + two bras (about £100) as I couldn’t find the ones I wanted on eBay - I figured the amount of use/washing they get subjected to over the course of the year or so they are in action it would be wise to buy new, well fitting, well made garments.

Here is the master list of things we wanted to get prior to Junior’s arrival, where we got it from and how much money things would have been had we bought it all new from a mid-range shop (e.g Mothercare)

• GIVEN: Moses basket (Thanks Kurt & Mandy! would have been £60)
  
• GIVEN: Changing table (thanks Sam! would have been £50)
• GIVEN: [Many thanks to Nat, Jonesy, Katie and Beki! ] Cardies, jackets, socks, hats, mittens, bibs, vests & baby grow, nursing pads,boob soothers, cream x 2, blankets (would have been £100)
• GIVEN: (Many thanks to Katie) Luxury nursing pillow (’My Brest Friend’ would have been £50)
• GIVEN: (Many thanks to Katie & Beki): 2 x Pumps (would have been £50)
• GIVEN: Tommy Tippee steriliser + bottles (huge thanks to Natalie would have been £50)
• GIVEN: Monitor (thank you Jules would have been £20)
• Given via Freecycle: Reusable, washable nappies x 20 (would have been £200)
• Bought 2nd Hand: Baby swing chair [£5 NCT nearly new sale would have been £40 new]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Baby play mats [£7 NCT nearly new sale] would have been £20 new
  
• Bought 2nd Hand: Nappy soak bucket (£3 NCT nearly new sale would have been £10 new]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Bump wedge [£3 NCT nearly new sale would have been £10]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Pram [eBay £17 Graco travel system incl. infant car seat/carrier would have been £180]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Bundle of maternity clothes (eBay £9 would have been £100)

• HIRED: TENS machine (£25 hire from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: Nursing shawl wrap (£30 from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: reast milk freezing bags (£10 from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: : Nursing long sleeved and t-shirt tops (6 x tops £69 from Jojomamanbebe)
• Bought new: : Pack of two fitted moses basket/pram sheets (Matalan £3)
• Bought new: : Nappy change mat (£7 Matalan)
• Bought new: Gym/birth ball (birth-ease eBay £14.99)

• Bought new: Wrap around sling (http://www.closebabycarrier.com [£49.50]

• Bought new: Nursing bras x 2 [£50]
• Bought new: Amby nature nest hammock + pack of 2 x fitted sheets [£180]
• Bought new: Maternity sweaters x 2 + black leggings, jeans etc Mothercare and Next clearance warehouse [£60]

£545 = Total Spend

Of which were unnecessary brand new luxuries: £267= £180 Amby nature Nest + sling £50 + changing mat £7 + Shawl £30

£278 = Actual cost of thrift pregnancy/newborn babe

£1500 = Estimated spend if everything on the above list had been bought from new

The next step will be to ensure that everything we have gathered for our little chick is either passed back to its previous owners if they have further use for it, advertised on Freecycle or, in the case of the expensive things we bought brand new, sold as 2nd hand on eBay.

We had a really good harvest of pumpkins. We planted just four small plants in the spring and by mid-October had ten lovely big orange fruits. Most we have given away as gifts to friends who visited from London but some we kept, made lanterns with and also some nice tasty treats.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

A top treat after scooping out the indards of a pumpkin to make a spooky Halloween lantern or having made another pumpkin recipe. I saved all the seeds from two lanterns and two lots of pumpkin soup before I shoved the oven tray covered with fat juicy seeds into roast while I was cooking some fish at the same time.

1. Wash & dry pumpkin seeds, having pulled them out of the sinewy orange pulp.
2. Leave until you have enough to roast
3. Spread over a large roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil, season with a good sprinkle of salt.
4. Roast on a high heat for approx 10 minutes but keep checking they haven’t been burnt.
5. Remove from oven
6. Store in an air tight container

Easy Creamy French Pumpkin Soup

My french mother-in-law always brings us a pumpkin when she visits with my dad. She showed me the following recipe one year and I’ve been making it ever since as it is ’souper’ easy.

1. Fry a sliced clove of garlic in butter in a large sauce pan
2. Add diced, peeled pumpkin flesh (not the stringy stuff though)
3. Cover with milk (sometimes if I have a bit of left over chicken stock I use this too)
4. Boil for about 10-15 minutes
5. Blend in the pan with a hand blender
6. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.