Category: recipes

Food and drink, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – chocolate caramel crackers

Ellie

These are super yummy!! And a real treat which I like to make around Christmas!

I posted the recipe a while ago on the blog and shall do a track back to it here

What are your favourite Christmas Treats??

Put a comment below or hop on over to Facebook or Instagram to share any of your favourite Christmas Treats!!

Food and drink, recipes

Scrumptious Saturday: pumpkin muffins

Ellie

We grew a heap of pumpkins this year as I use them for forest school usually, for Montessori activities, for the mud kitchen etc but with the current circumstances, Forest school was cancelled this year for the Halloween special….

So we have been thinking of ways of using pumpkins!! Luckily our Piglets LOVE them and have eaten a good few of them!!

But we have also made pumpkin muffins and the kids loved them!!!

Method

  • STEP 1Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases. Mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and both sugars together in a large bowl. Break up any lumps of brown sugar by rubbing them between your fingers.
  • STEP 2Whisk the purée and eggs together in a jug, then add to the dry ingredients with the melted butter. Whisk for 1-2 mins with an electric hand whisk until just combined.
  • STEP 3Bake for 15 mins until golden and risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep for three days in an airtight container.

We added dark chocolate chips for added yum!! And also tried a few with cream cheese icing like you would use on a carrot cake!! Yum!!!!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Pear Clafoutis

Ellie

A while ago a dear friend sent me a recipe for pear clafoutis and I thought I’d share it with you!

We have made this a fair few times and substituted different fruits in at different times of year or supplemented dwindling pear supplies with blackberries or apples etc etc!!

It’s quite simply delightful!!!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Ketchup in the slow cooker!!

Ellie

The Fourth in our series of recipes! And a great slow cooker ketchup that tastes better the Heinz stuff in our opinion and does not have half the ingredients!

You will need:

  • 1.6 litres of pureed tomatoes
  • 120ml of water
  • 125g sugar
  • 180ml of white vinegar
  • 1tsp onion granules
  • 1/2tsp of garlic granules
  • 2 tsps of salt
  • 1 tsp of English mustard
  • 1/4 tsp of pepper

Method:

  • Blitz the tomatoes in the blender
  • add all the ingredients into the slow cooker
  • Cook on high for 10-12 hours, until it has reduced by half
  • Blend again with a hand blender
  • Push the mixture through a fine sieve and bottle.
  • You can water bath can this to make it last longer!
  • if you like a bit of a kick, you can also add chillies to make it a chilli ketchup!

We would love to see your efforts!! Please hop on over to Facebook or Instagram to show us!!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Apple Jelly or Chilli Jelly

Ellie

As the apples are harvested it can sometimes be very daunting as to how many there are around here! It increases each year as we have around 50 trees (albeit a mix of plums, pears and apples) that we planted in November 2014!

We stew some apple for pies and crumbles, we juice loads for apple juice (which we water bath can for longevity) and cider…. and then there is jellies and sauces!!

You will need:

  • apples
  • jam sugar

Method:

  • If you would like to make apple puree sauce as well as jelly then core, peel and chop your apples, otherwise rough chop your apples
  • Put them in a large pan with water and boil until it has all turned to mush
  • Pass the mixture through a jelly bag, i.e. load it up and leave it to drip, do NOT squeeze the jelly bag or the liquid will not be clear.
  • Wash out the pan and return the dripped through apple mixture to pan. Using approximately one pound of sugar per pint of liquid add your sugar.
  • Bring the mixture gradually to the boil stirring until the sugar has dissolved and then stirring occasionally until the mixture reaches jam temperature.
  • Pour your apple liquid into hot sterilised jars and seal.
  • If you would like to make chilli jelly dice your chillies and add them to your hot sterilised jars just before you pour in the liquid.
  • If you would like to make puree sauce, push the contents of the jelly bag through a sieve, add a little sugar to your taste, reheat and jar in hot sterilised jars.

Come and show us your efforts with apples over on Facebook or Instagram!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Chocolate Courgette cake

Ellie

The third in the series of recipe posts and this is one of our favourites!

You will need:

  • 375g flour
  • 75g of cocoa powder
  • 2 tsps of baking powder
  • 1/2tsp of seasalt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 120ml of oil
  • 120g of butter
  • 340g of light brown sugar
  • 2tsps of vanilla essence or extract
  • 1 pack of chocolate chips
  • 400g of grated courgette

Method:

  • Preheat Oven to 180
  • Cream together the butter and sugar and add the vanilla
  • Add the oil and eggs and beat
  • Add in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix well
  • Add in the courgette, seasalt and mix well again
  • Add in the chocolate chips
  • Pour the mixture into one large cake tin or two loaf tins, greased and lined
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

We would love to see your efforts!! Please hop on over to Facebook or Instagram to show us!!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Courgette and Feta Fritters

Ellie

The next in our series of recipe posts from the recipes we use regularly around here at the smallholding, preserving our harvests for scrummy treats through the year!

Today is the turn of Courgette and Feta Fritters

You will need:

  • 600g grated courgette
  • 100g self raising flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 spring onions
  • 150g feta
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2tsp of dill/mint/coriander (optional to add all 3, or just one or two)
  • oil for frying

Method

  • Add the salt to the grated courgette and leave for 10 minutes
  • Using your hands try to squeeze as much liquid out as possible
  • Add the flour, eggs, and mix well
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well again
  • put a frying pan with a small amount of oil in the bottom over a medium to high heat and spoon in tablespoons of mixture to make individual little patties, flipping them half way through cooking to brown both sides lightly.
  • These taste amazing hot or cold and freeze really well so if you batch cook a load you can add them to lunches as and when!

We would love to see your efforts!! Please hop on over to Facebook or Instagram to show us!!

Food and drink, Fruit and vegetables, recipes

Scrumptious Saturdays – Beetroot and Horseradish Chutney

Ellie

I have decided to share a few of the recipes I have collected, tweaked maybe perfected for our tastes here on the holding preserving our harvests and allowing us delicious treats through the year, whether they be canned, jarred or frozen!

I am going to start with Beetroot and Horseradish chutney as a request from a friend who came recently to camp out in our fields as a quiet alternative to a camp site. (and yes we are thinking of using our 28 days allowances now each year for weekends of campers!)

Beetroot and Horseradish chutney

You will need:

  • 750g of raw beetroot, trimmed peeled and finely diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 dessert apple, diced
  • 2 tbsp of freshly grated horseradish (top tip if you freeze it before grating it wont sting your eyes, plus you can grate a heap and freeze it for future use)
  • 200g sugar
  • 300ml of white wine vinegar
  • 2tsp salt

Method

  • Put all the ingredients into the pan ( I use a large heavy based pan or Maslin pan)
  • Bring the pan slowly to the boil stirring until the sugar dissolves
  • Cook gently then for 1-1.5 hours stirring occasionally
  • Once the chutney is done, you will know by performing the channel test (use a spoon, drag it along the bottom of the pan to create a channel and if no liquid refills it fast then you are good to go)
  • Jar up into hot sterilised jars, put on lids and allow to sit in a dark cupboard for 2 months before using.

I hope you will enjoy joining me on this culinary journey and would love it if you shared your efforts over on the Facebook page in the comments or over on Instagram!