Fruit and nut case

Good evening. Another wet day, but not to worry, plenty to do indoors. I must say, it's a pleasure spending time in my living room now with it's much improved layout. I can shuffle backwards and forwards from sewing machine to computer on my wheelie chair. It's got a feeling of much more space, I am not cramped up on one table. More sewing today, no pics of that because there is nothing finished yet. 

Let's talk about healthy food. I bought a lot of fruit on yellow stickers and the easiest and quickest way to eat it is to make smoothies. Yesterday was banana, melon, and grapes, with added yogurt, also yellow sticker at 39p.

Today was mango, apple, and nectarine, plus added yogurt again. There was also a little pot of red berry juice in the pack. 

It was gorgeous. Now what do you do when it sticks to the blender? Lick it off of course.

Someone asked about the exotic fruit. �1 per pack of three, yellow sticker price, 10p. Here it is, the first one is cut open. It's the size of a satsuma with a smooth orange skin.

No idea how to eat it, so I scooped it out with a teaspoon. No pips in it. Tasted very sweet and not particularly fruity. There is nothing to say on the packet what it is.

I ran out of my favourite peanut butter a few weeks ago and can't bring myself to pay the silly prices for an upgrade. My idea is to make some in the food processor. Here we go, one bag of KP nuts, 360 grm, bought from the cash and carry for �1. Nothing else added.

After a couple of minutes it looks the right texture.

I transferred it into a margarine tub and put it in the fridge. Taste wise it would have been a whole lot better if I had washed the salt off first. Oooops, I forgot. Never mind, it will get eaten, and now I know it works I will be making more, with plain unsalted peanuts, or washed salted ones.

Tonights dinner was experimental. As I had messed up the mixer I thought I might as well use it again. A few peanuts are fine in this made up recipe. A can of chick peas, drained and rinsed. One medium size onion, a few radishes and a few button mushrooms, the last limp spring onions, and some chopped walnuts. I added pepper, garlic powder, and turmeric. Chop and mix it up, leaving it a bit coarse. Then add two eggs to bind it. It seemed a bit too wet so I added two spoons of porridge oats. 

Make some scone size patties with it and grill on a low gas for 20 minutes turning them over once.

I had seven for dinner with wholegrain mustard, iceberg lettuce and lentil sprout mix. It was smashing, very filling, and best of all, I know exactly what went in them. Enough mix left for tomorrow. I have noticed that vegetarian food in the freezer and chiller cabinet has gone up in price, so I will be buying less of it and making my own more often.

That's all for tonight folks. Thank you for popping in.
Toodle pip

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If you need a new table, make one.

That's better, totally refreshed after my day off. Now I'm back in the swing of things. The skip was taken away yesterday, I didn't expect it to still be here after I came back, but it was. Luckily I had a look in it before it went off on the back of a lorry. I found four bags of children's clothes and towels. They have all been washed today, and folded ready for giving away. The older tatty towels have gone to a friend who has dogs that like to jump in mucky ponds. The better towels will be given to a charity shop, and I have plans for the clothes. They will go with the toys to an organisation that provides women and children with a safe place to live, after a relationship breakdown.   

It's been a glorious day, all the washing dried beautifully. There seems to be a lot of spiders about, all busy spinning their webs. It seems pretty heartless to destroy all their hard work by walking past them, so I have been trying to walk around them. Isn't it amazing how perfect their webs are, it's fascinating to watch them. And how do they find places to hook them up to.

There is a web hanging from this guttering, coming down at an angle to a bush, just outside my back door. I have been ducking underneath it to avoid pulling it down. There must be a good six feet between the two anchorage points. How do they do that?

My garden work table was in need of a refurbishment. It's very handy to have this just outside the back door, for mucky jobs that can't be done in the kitchen, and to save my back by not having to bend down.

It's been here for six years and is showing signs of rotting. Oh dear.

I removed the top, and found some suitable pieces of wood from my stash and nailed the boards to two batons, then nailed it to the two sides. A couple of narrow pieces for each end, some extra nails at all the joins to strengthen it, and Bob's your Uncle. Job well done, a table that's good for another few years. 

After I had finished outside and put everything away, guess what I found in the kitchen. It appeared to be a spider suspended in mid air in the middle of the room. But no, on closer inspection I saw it had attached it's web to the ceiling, and across to the cupboard under the sink. Sorry spider, but I'm going to have to put you outside. There's no way I can be dodging round that one as I cook my dinner.

I'm off to Tesco now, I have a voucher for �3 off, might as well use it before it's out of date. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.

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My froggy family

Good evening. I did the usual craft club meet this morning. I hadn't got round to preparing something to work on, it was a last minute decision. I still have some fleece offcuts left, so I quickly pieced together another cat mat with just two colours, black and purple, then cut a piece of old curtain lining to sew them onto. We were making preparations for the display in the church at the weekend, our exhibits have to be delivered on Friday afternoon so they can set it up. I shall be there to help, as I have to take my art pieces for another display. 

My friend sent me an email with this photo, she took it last week, that's Bella the Labradoodle sat on my knee. She is gorgeous, endless energy, and gets so excited when she has a visitor. She loves cuddles, and playing, and treats. 

Here is another bag photo to add to our collection. I forgot I had given one to Carol. Here she is posing with it. She is standing in the garden of a stately home, but I've forgotten which one, she did say. It will come to me in a minute. I am pleased she is finding a use for the bag. 

Someone asked about my new strimmer, I bought an electric one. I already had an extension cable for the mower, and I didn't want to mess about with petrol. I've been tidying the garden tonight, it's nice to be able to work a bit later in the evening. I have no idea how many frogs I have. I don't have a pond but they do in the neighbours garden at the back of mine, so I suppose the frogs come from there. I spotted five tonight. This one is in the runner bean bed.

This one is in the long grass in the middle of the lawn. I keep a section of it long so the cats can lie in it in the sun. I sometimes have to rescue a frog from there and re locate it if a cat finds one. Mayze was looking at this one. 

Two more in the broad bean bed.

There was one in the potato bed but it hopped off before I could get a picture. It was getting dark by that time. Fascinating what goes on in the garden in the evening.
Toodle pip

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