It was DS1's birthday today. I was up at 6.30 making his cake before doing 3 loads of laundry and hanging it out on the line. It's been a lovely hot, sunny day so it was all bone dry when I bought it in about 5pm.
With the cake baked and cooling, I nipped round to Aldi for a couple of bits and then to the post office, before going into town with DS1, DS2 and DD2 to have birthday drinks (tea for me and DD and and J2Os for the boys) and the boys also had a slice of cake each.
Back home the cake was iced and decorated using chocolate buttons and some of the daleks that I'd used on the cupcakes. The cake was a choc chip marble traybake recipe from an old Mary Berry book that I adapted to make a ring cake, the middle of the cake filled with milk and white chocolate buttons. I didn't have a cake frill so made one using folded tin foil.
I buy my choc buttons from Aldi at 33p for a 70g packet. It's delicious chocolate and a fraction of the price of Cadbury's.
Dinner tonight at the birthday boy's request was burgers, chips and salad...and very nice too.And then we cut into the cake and here you can see the end result after we'd all had a big piece...it certainly looks like the daleks exterminated part of it.
I also sorted through the lovely bouquet DH bought me for my birthday. Most of the flowers were past saving but I did manage to make up this little bunch from those that weren't falling apart.
The jug looks like it was made to hold my pretty pink roses and peonies. It was my grandmother's, part of a graduated set of 3. They are all chipped like crazy and one has the handle off, but then they are nearly 100 years old, and they still look lovely with a few flowers in.
Tomorrow is my slimming club and I'm quite prepared for a gain this week with all the cake and stuff I've eaten. It was totally worth it though.
My freezer is a little less empty today thanks to DD3's BF who went to the cash and carry in Folkestone this morning, saw a great deal on fresh chicken drumsticks and bought some for me. The original price for 2kg of drumsticks was £5.99 but they were on BOGOF giving me 4kg of lovely, meaty drumsticks for under £6, or approx £1.50 per kg. So I now have 4 bags each containing 8 drumsticks (2 drummers per person) and 1 bag of 6. The 6 will probably be cooked and stripped of the meat to be used in a pie or stew.
In other news, we had a lovely meal out at the local Brewer's Fayre. It was a bit more expensive than Wetherspoons but we've yet to have a bad meal there. It served as joint celebration for DS1's birthday tomorrow and for DS2 finishing university. I'm still doing burgers and chips and making a birthday cake tomorrow, and as DS1 has the day off work we'll probably meet up with DD2 (who has Mondays off work) and DS2 and go into town for coffee during the day. I'd already made him cupcakes to share with his friends last week (and had to sample a couple myself of course). I bought some Dalek cupcake wraps reduced to 50p in Lakeland in Canterbury a few weeks ago, and as comic book/sci fi freaks they were perfect for him and his friends.
With all the eating out, birthday cake tomorrow and cupcakes, I'm sure to have gained weight this week but luckily I was below my target last week so hopefully it won't be too bad. It's now 9 months since I reached my target and so far I haven't exceeded the 3lb above/3lb below target range in either direction. This is the longest I have ever maintained my weight, but the potential for pigginess is always there and requires constant vigilance. The better mobility alone is worth it though, I would hate to gain it all back again so I always eat extra-healthily for a few days after a small gain.
I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and are ready for the week ahead. Love, Helen x
My freezer is just about empty of raw meat at the moment. In fact right now, apart from some veg, fruit, bread and milk, it only contains 3 packs (each containing 16 rashers) of smoked back bacon that's on offer at £2 a pack in Morrisons, and a pack of 20 beef meatballs I bought yellow stickered in Asda. I have deliberatly run it down with the intention of stocking up at Farm Foods and using one of their discount vouchers that come through the door about once a month. The vouchers are usually for £2.50 off a £25 shop, £5 off £50 and £10 off £100. I usually only spend about £25 but think I might need to stretch it to £50 this time to really fill my meat bag in the freezer.
I might not have much actual meat in the freezer but I do have several pre-prepared meals that I made while using up the contents.
There are 2 small and 1 large meatloaves that I made using 2 x 450g packs of minced beef and 2 x 525g packs of minced pork all mixed together with 2 packs of prepared sage and onion stuffing mix, a couple of chopped onions, seasoning and 2 beaten eggs. The small meatloaves will serve myself, DH and my 2 grown sons for 2 meals, and the large one will be saved for when we have the other kids over for dinner.
I also made a huge pot of Hoppin' John in the slow cooker (blackeye peas that I had already cooked and frozen, tinned tomatoes, smoked sausage from the fridge and rice). We had some for dinner the night I made it and the remainder has been frozen to make 2 more dinners. As an accompaniement I made 2 big trays of chilli cheese cornbread, and again froze enough for at least 2 more meals.
At the same time I also made 2 cheese and lentil bakes, one eaten, the other frozen, and in my second slow cooker a huge pot of tomato pasta sauce (enough to make at least 3 meals for 4 people).
This week there was cream galore yellow-stickered in Morrisons. I resisted temptation until it was reduced right down to 9p a pot then bought 2 pots. I also bought a pack of grated Low Low Cheese (reduced fat cheese that actually melts properly) for 75p. Pastry making is not one of my strengths so using a pack of Aldi chilled shortcrust pastry (99p), 4 rashers from a bacon pack (50p), a couple of chopped onions (20p), and 4 Aldi large Free range eggs (89p for 6, so about 60p for 4) plus salt and black pepper, I made one large and one smaller quiches. We've had the large one tonight between 4, there's a slice left for someone's lunch tomorrow, and the smaller quiche is frozen for another time.
And this is where the Not Wasting A Scrap comes in, because there was a tiny ball of pastry trimmings left over after making the quiches. I thought of making a jam turnover with it but then remembered there was a small bowl containing leftover lamb mince and lentils in the fridge. Tipped into an individual pie dish, topped with the thinly rolled out pastry and baked at the same time as the quiches it made a lovely little pie. DS1 had the pie for dinner when he got in from work last night and said it was delicious.There was also a little of the cream/eggs/cheese mix left from filling the pastry cases so I baked it in a muffin tin and ate the crustless mini quiches with salad for my lunch.
With the weather lovely and sunny at the moment we're getting out more, sometimes taking an evening walk too, and with the ready made dishes in the freezer it means I don't have to stress about what to have for dinner or cook during the hot afternoons.
In fact, after a heavy spending month with the wedding, several birthdays and other expenses, I'm considering trying to eke out what I do have for as long as possible. We're going for a week's holiday with Shearing Coaches to Whitby at the end of July (last minute deal £259 each for 8 days/7 nights half board including all coach travel from Dover and several outings), and I would like to spend as little as possible until then. I think we'll be eating a lot of that bacon in things like macaroni cheese, bacon roly poly etc. And I also have some packets of lentil curry (courtesy of Approved Foods), dried vegetarian sausage mix, tinned beans, tuna etc. It will be interesting to see just how far I can make all that stretch.
The exception to this frugality is lunch out at Wetherspoons tomorrow to celebrate DS1's birthday which is on Monday. This is the card I've made him.
The figure of Batman is layered to make it stand out which you can see better in the second picture. I hope he likes it.
I think that's it for now. Anyone else using up what they have in and/or cooking for the freezer. I'd be interested to hear ideas for freezer meals. Enjoy your weekend everyone. Love, Helen xx
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We're having the quiet, relaxed weekend we wanted, and have received some lovely pressies from the kids.
We came downstairs this morning to find our youngest son had put up decorations and printed off amusing posters for us.
We had cards and pressies sent from our oldest daughter in Basingstoke. Love my bag and DH got money.
We met up with DD2 and her new husband and DS2 for coffee, and were given more pressies (Amazon vouchers and a Dorothy Perkins voucher for me) and now we're chilling out watching TV before our pizza and chips dinner, followed by raspberry and chocolate slice (bought, not made...I wasn't going to cook today).
It's been a lovely laid back weekend with thanks to all my lovely kids for our cards and pressies.
And a very Happy Fathers' Day to all dads out there.
As well as being Father's Day tomorrow it's also my 58th birthday. Neither DH or I are really going to celebrate. Since the hen night in mid-May one or both of us has had an event on every single weekend, so instead it's very much our usual Sunday routine with pressies and cards thrown in to the mix....church, then out for coffee and then back home for a lazy afternoon and evening. DS1 and DD3 are both working, DD1 lives in Basingstoke now but has
already sent cards and pressies to be opened on the day, DD2 will
probably pop round for an hour and tell us all about the honeymoon, and
DS2 might meet us for that coffee in town. Dinner will be frozen pizza, spicy potato wedges and maybe cake or or an ice cream dessert. A decidely low key event, but just what we both want after such a hectic month.
We might not be celebrating, but DH surprised me on Friday by turning up at the front door after work with a huge bouquet of pink roses. Totally unexpected and such a lovely gesture. He can still be such a soppy sod at times. He gave them to me on Friday as he had arranged to have them made up by the floristry department at the college where he works, and he somehow got them home on the bus without them getting squashed. I think the floristry students did an amazing job; they are so pretty.
I'm sure we'll have a belated birthday/Father's Day celebratory lunch out at some time in the future but for now we're happy to kick back and not have to be anywhere at any specific time for once.
So, an early Happy Father's Day to all dads out there.
Since DD2 is still on honeymoon and DD3 had a busy weekend and is saving her fundraising energies towards amassing the £1800 she needs to qualify to run the London marathon in 2016, I walked this year's Race for Life in Folkestone on my own.
The weather was kind and for me it was an emotional occasion as next month marks 10 years since my mum died after a 2 year struggle with oral cancer. I also ran for Karl, DD3's boyfriend who had an aggresive skin cancer as a child and has been cancer free for about 13 years now, but still needs regular check ups, and who will likely never be a father due to the treatment. There were so many stories told of sadness and hope, and I was proud to do my tiny bit.
Despite being a year older (58 next weekend), and having a slightly dodgy hip, I shaved a full five minutes off last year's walking time and managed the 5km (just over 3 miles) course in 48 minutes. What's more, this year I raised £100 for this wonderful cause. It's such a lovely, lively, friendly event. My legs do ache rather this afternoon, but it was so very worth it.
Here are a few pics of me before (all raring to go), and after with this year's participation medals, and a few pics of some of all the lovely ladies in pink who turned out on a Sunday morning to support the cause.
My thoughts and love go to all those who have suffered or know someone who has suffered from this disease. God be willing I'll still be able to participate next year and hope to raise even more money to fight the good fight.
I'm still feeling a bit shell-shocked and tired after the excitement of the weekend so just a few more pics. The last one is from yesterday morning at Gatwick while the happy couple were waiting for their flight to Las Vegas.
Oh, and as a footnote...I lost 1 lb this week despite the celebrations. I think I was so busy and active I didn't eat much and worked off the wine and food on the wedding day.
