Not Just Sausage Rolls

 

Three rolls made in the sausage roll maker that I confessed to buying yesterday, thank goodness I had enough cash left over this month to be able to get it.  Only there are no sausages or sausage meat inside these ones,  inside one there is pate and inside the other two is apple from a tin of apple pie filling that I had in the cupboard.  Yes, the sausage roll maker makes four, but they are so good the other one containing some pate didn't even last long enough to be photographed.

They are a doddle to make using this ready rolled puff or shortcrust pastry.  I have tried both now, this one that I bought yesterday and one of my other shortcrust pastry rolls from the freezer thawed out.  You get three pieces from each ready rolled roll that fit into the maker (two at a time obviously 😁) so one of my sets of four 'sausage rolls' was a puff pastry bottom and a shortcrust pastry top ... it worked perfectly with no discernible difference between to two types of pastry,  I think the lid pressing down stops the puff pastry from rising but makes it super crispy at the same time.

As each roll is sealed by the machine while it cooks drippy fillings can't escape until you bite into your roll, so these would be brilliant for school lunches or picnics etc ... or simply sitting on the sofa watching scary movies like I did yesterday.

Up to now we have tried:

Linda McCartney Sausage and Sage and Onion stuffing x 4

Pate x 2

Tinned Apple Pie Filling x 2

And for lunch today I am going to try making some potato, cheese and onion rolls.  The world is my oyster and if it can be cooked in ten minutes, fits neatly into the indentations and sounds like it might be tasty wrapped in pastry it will be being tried.  I see a lot of leftovers being turned into very tasty little sausage roll shaped pies over the course of this No Spend Challenge.

Of course one of my main reasons for buying this ... as well as an addiction to sausage rolls and all things pastry ... was to save on having to put my oven on.  My Remoska can cook some pastry items, so it already saves me a fortune with not turning on the oven but but it does seem to cook pastry slightly erratically, so this little gadget is the perfect accompaniment to the Remoska to save me money on the electric bill.  I can use them covering most dishes and leaving my oven switched off except for larger batch cooking sessions or cakes.

And I intend to make up a big batch of homemade pastry and have the right sized pieces stored in the freezer ready for use to make this even more economical.  And I know I have at least three boxes of these sausages in the freezer, which tasted wonderful when thawed and added to some sage and onion stuffing before being trialled as my very first batch in the sausage roll maker.

Winner, winner sausage roll ... and other things ... dinner.  😄

Sue xx

Menu Planning ... and All the Food is in the Kitchen

 

So I finally got round to it ... not bad just three weeks into the new year and the Challenge ... oh well hopefully from now on in a bid to keep myself on track I will be writing my menu for the week each Monday.  Note that it is in pencil so I can chop and change if the food or the mood dictates.  😀

But my plan is to try and use the food in the order that it needs to be used and there are a few things in my cupboard as well as in the fridge with a January 2022 date on.  Isn't it strange that even late in the year last year, 2022 seemed so far away and now here it is!!

The job I gave myself yesterday was to get all of the food into the kitchen, if you ask me it's the sign of a real hoarder if they have boxes of crisps in the bedroom ... and now I don't.  All the crisps that were in the kitchen were used up over the last two weeks and now there's space for the new ones to fill the gaps.

There's also room in the larder cupboard for all the homemade marmalades to be stacked at the back ...

... which leaves the little green chest with just my Beryl Ware and a few other bits and bobs in.

Do I need my Beryl Ware I was asking myself as I moved the marmalades. No I don't need them I decided, but I do love them and that's enough for me ... for now.  💖

Sue xx

Hidden ... and Not So Hidden

 

Living in a small space means that some things just cannot be hidden.  When I'm making full use of the sunshine through the French doors even though the rain is pouring down outside, the washing is there for anyone to see ... lucky then that's it's usually just me.  😀

Somethings are not exactly what they seem, and storage is found and used in many ways.  The little green chest holds my collection of Beryl Ware pottery, the red flour-bin is full of packets of desiccated coconut, ground almonds and sweeties.

And hidden in the basket are crisps, ready to bake bread rolls and my potato bag.

You never know what you are going to find hidden away!!

In full line of vision the other day ... just after Alan assembled it ... was Ginger, trying the bottom shelf of the new office shelves for size.  He loves to watch the world go by on Alan's window sills and now it seems he loves to watch Alan work from his brand new vantage point.

Sue xx

Behind Closed Doors

 

So many of you wanted a quick look behind the closed doors of the kitchen, that I guess I should show you a quick peek before we move on to the living room.

Here we go, I'll try and take you in the order that you can see them in this top photo.

The first cupboard is the boiler cupboard, and although you are not supposed to store things in a cupboard containing a combi-boiler I couldn't resist using a bit of the space for my 'tool box'.  Two baskets of sort of household-y tool bits ... hammers, nails, screwdrivers etc.  And a few hooks might have appeared on the side of the cupboard for bits, oh and a cork board on the door ... I blame the Aldi centre aisles for that one!!

The cupboard below holds the consumer unit ... the electric fuse box and cut-off point for the annexe, so the joiner cleverly made me a shelf that sits around it, giving me both shelf space and access in emergencies.  I found a bin that fitted neatly in here and the joiner then altered the shelf to sit behind it when the door is closed, making good use of every last inch of space.

The rest of this cupboard is a mix of cleaning supplies and dog food etc.

Gosh I've shown you the two prettiest interiors first haven't I. 😄

As we come along, here are the shelves and a bit of a close up for you on what is on them.

Below the shelves and the kitchen sink is this cupboard.  Once again the joiner managed to give me a shelf that he cut neatly around the pipes, making full use of all space.  My Remoska and Nutribullet, two of my most used items sit on the lower shelf ready for action.

A step to the left and we have the inside of the double wall cupboard, not really organised properly as such, but it holds the daily crockery and an over abundance of jugs!!

The baskets on the top shelf are all currently empty but I think they will be useful for helping me reach things off the top shelf once I've worked out what will live in them.

The top drawer holds cutlery and spices.

Middle drawer holds pans, measures and funnels.

And the bottom one has my bowls and baking trays.

The shallow drawer below the oven contains some baking sheets and my pizza sheet.

And the hob above the oven looks like this.

And finally one of my most requested peeks behind closed doors ...

The Larder.

Formerly known as the 'Jam Cupboard' this is officially a Welsh Bread and Cheese Cupboard and one of only two large pieces of furniture that came with me from Wales.  It is proving absolutely perfect for storing all my food.

The top half is mostly jars of dried goods, although for now there are lots of bits in baskets that will be used up and probably not replaced in there as well

And the bottom cupboard holds all the tins and a large basket of pasta and rice.

And there you have it, the kitchen is not the largest of spaces at approximately 6ft wide and 12ft long but I'm managing very nicely and most things are now unpacked and in approximately the right places.

Time to close all these doors and head up to the living room methinks.

Sue xx

Well We are In ...

 

This was my kitchen on Saturday morning, moving in day ... not finished and with the wrong sized worktop having been ordered it won't be completely finished until the next order turns up.  I have a temporary oven ... which I won't be using but it does mean that all the electrical parts have been tested etc so at least we know my oven should work when it arrives.  By tonight I will at least have a usable sink and my washing machine can be used, taking the pressure off Alan's.  I'm not happy, but I do know it will be worth it in the end I just have to grit my teeth and actually get to the end.

Just out of interest would you use an oven that has been used by lots of other people, especially when you don't eat meat and have no idea of what might have been cooked in there in the past?

Luckily I have my nice new Remoska to tide me over and my microwave once I fetch it from the flat.

I love the colour scheme of the kitchen, and seeing the Smeg alongside the units it no longer looks humungous and out of place in it's setting.  So all is not lost 😀

The whittling down of the kitchen appliances and accessories will be ongoing as I place things into their final resting places,  I really do not want the few cupboards that I have to be crammed with stuff that I could actually live without quite happily.

So we are currently in that chaos that is moving into a new place, you know the one, where everything we need is somewhere else and usually inaccessible.  but you know eventually you will get there, it's just that something in your brain says it should be happening NOW, RIGHT AWAY ... and I'm getting remarkably good at ignoring that.  😄

 But bit by bit we are getting things straightened out and today while Alan worked up in his office struggling with the hit and miss Wi-Fi ... which it turned out was due to EE having us on a phone tariff instead of a dongle tariff, for the last year ... I managed to get both our televisions tuned in and connected to the Freeview boxes, changed some addresses and generally emptied boxes and found things that we really needed, simple things like soap dishes, dish cloths, phone chargers, the dogs new ID discs.

Now I need to sit back and reax for a while, waking up at 5am each morning due to my aching back means I am missing out on my usual 8 hours of sleep a night ... and boy do you want to keep away from me when I get this tired, even I get scared of my own company!!

Sue xx

The One Where It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

My back was pretty bad yesterday so Alan went round to oversee the kitchen fitters, wait in for our sofas to be delivered and work from the comfort of his new kitchen, with the table and bench now in place he had as much comfort there as he has here at the flat.  He stole the dongle so he had internet connection and it worked out pretty well.

My kitchen doesn't look that much different from the last photo I showed you, but now all the electrics and the plumbing have been sorted out and the units are properly fixed.  They will be back to finish off today ... and tomorrow if needs be.

After tea we took the dogs round to the annexe so I could have a peek at the kitchen progress and check on my new sofa, which had also been delivered in the afternoon.  Gosh it really feels like it's all go at the moment!!

The living room ... wow what a mess, and I couldn't really see the sofa properly as after checking it over and the legs being attached by the delivery guys, it was left in it's plastic covering to protect it from any dust.  But the colour is glorious and it will really be a feature that fits in well with the name of my new home.

Then we went into Alan's house so I could see his new sofa which had also been delivered yesterday, although it was bought from a different company to mine. His has an electric recliner at each end and a fixed centre seat, it's really comfortable and Alan admitted to perhaps falling asleep on it for ten minutes at lunch time ... so it's been well and truly christened 😄

As Alan's place is now fully decorated, carpeted, curtained and cleaned we will be moving into our new places this weekend  ... at last!!  But there is no rush to do everything all at once as I have my rented flat until mid-August and have booked for an end of tenancy clean for late July.

The decluttering continues and these chairs were put up on Facebook Marketplace yesterday.  Sadly I will have no room for them now.  It's time to be brutal as I would like for this to be the last time I have to declutter.  To move into my new space with just the things I need and love would be brilliant.

Less than 350sq ft of living space doesn't give you much space for clutter if you want to live a good and simple life.

Sue xx

Moving Along Nicely

 

This was one of our two storage units this morning after we had removed two truck loads of our things and taken them to the house.  I say we in the broadest sense of the word ... the royal we ... as while I perch on whatever surface I can find poor Alan does all the lifting and shifting, with me offering advice over what we should be taking first ... and Alan occasionally doing as he's told 😄

Locking up after another successful trip.

My new bed arrived this morning and the guys assembled it for me.  It looks lovely in the room and is the perfect size, I'm so glad I went for the four foot option.  We went back an hour ago to check on things and I managed to stash all those white storage bags in the spaces under the bed with a little bit of room to spare.

The most exciting thing today was the delivery of the kitchen.  Currently some of it is stacked in the living room in the exact space the sofa will be sat by tomorrow night ... hopefully!!

The other units are already in place, and a bemused Suky checked them all out while Alan took Mavis for a walk along the canal, it was too warm for Suky to go, she's like me in that respect ... the hot days really take it out of her.  The kitchen will be properly fitted tomorrow and the guys have the keys ready for a 9am start.

Ginger says hi, he doesn't know it yet but his new cat-flap is in place in Alan's back door and soon he will once again have the freedom to roam and stake his claim to a whole new territory.

Back soon  😃

Sue xx

White, White, White and Green

 

The turquoise on the kitchen wall has gone, almost hidden under two coats of white paint.  

Everywhere else had just had the first coat of white done when I took these photos on Monday night.  But I've not been able to get back to the annexe since as I am currently completely out of action with a bad back.  Struggling to get in the car on Monday to go and see the start of the decorating was a bad idea as Alan had to make an emergency stop at one of the roundabouts on the way to the house and the resulting jolt has put me back by about two days ... OUCH!!

Oh, and the blue of the bedroom had also had two coats and was very well hidden.  

It was good to go and see it all, and I can't wait to get back when I am able to because by tonight all the painting should be done.

And they might even have my bedroom feature wall wallpapered.

It took a lot of choosing to finally get to this Laura Ashley design, but I'm happy with my final choice, and luckily with my ceiling being so low and the room so small I only needed two rolls.  One of which will hardly be used so I have lots of ideas for the remainder of it.  😃

Debby asked about the oil recommended by our joiner and it turned out it was Linseed Oil that he recommended for the raw wood of the new doors.

As you can see from this test strip that Alan did on the edge of the door it darkens the wood slightly and also brings out the grain nicely, as well as protecting it from fingerprints and minor stains.  It should also help the doors fit in more with my lovely old pieces of furniture that will be at the annexe in the very near future.

And talking of old pieces ... I have two lovely pieces of furniture currently cluttering up the hallway here at the flat, one large and one small.  I'll try and get a photo of them and give you a little peak at my bargains of the year.  I love them  💖

Sue xx

Kitchen Progress ... and a Sneak Peek

This is my kitchen as it is right now.

 Dave our brilliant handyman did the final jobs in there yesterday, he took off the tiles and then carefully removed the old cupboard carcass that was still around the boiler.  

The guy that bought the units off me didn't want to risk taking the larder style cupboard that the boiler and consumer unit were in apart as the central heating room thermostat had been attached to the outside of the cupboard, and anyway the shelves and back of the cupboard had been hacked about so much to go around the pipes it wasn't in very good condition at all.

It seemed like it was such a good kitchen at first didn't it, but behind closed doors this six year old kitchen had taken somewhat of a battering and I am pleased that it's all gone now.

Now we are all clear and ready for the decorators, who are moving in armed with brushes and rollers on Monday of next week.  Everything in the annexe will be given a fresh coat of white paint, silk on the walls, matt on the ceilings and satin wood paint on all the woodwork.  It's going to be all sparkly white and fresh as a daisy.  Just in time for me to sit in it and dream of my new kitchen which has just been finalised with the kitchen designer.

We have taken the design this way and that, complicated things and then took them right back to basics.  It is a small space and no matter what I do there will not be much storage space, although with the new and finalised design I will have a decent amount of worktop space for baking and cooking.

Would you like a sneak peek ...

... would you?

This is a computer generated image of the kitchen.

And at last I have all the plans, measurements and quotes filed away, and now this morning it is all being ordered.  Although it's hard to tell from these images the cupboard doors are all a nice muted Sage Green and the worktop ... which is also being used as a splashback ... is a pale oak effect.

Looking at it from the other angle.

The Smeg fridge-freezer will now sit at the righthand side as you stand in front of the kitchen, putting it at the left as was the original plan, lost me over 10cm of kitchen space due to the deep doors needing space to open fully so you can slide out the drawers and shelves.  This complete redesign has given me more worktop space and room for a set of three drawers.

My Welsh Bread and Cheese Cupboard more commonly known by us as the Jam Cupboard, will now be on the opposite wall next to a radiator cover which will have a small curved table top on it, ideal for a morning coffee or an hour blogging at my laptop.

So that's the plan and the sneak peek that I promised you would get.

Today's exciting development is the installation of new oak internal doors to replace the rickety bi-fold doors that led to the bathroom and bedroom.  I'll take a photo of them tonight and show you tomorrow, it's going to make such a difference to the look of the place. 

It's nice to see all the things we have both planned starting to happen, getting the tradesmen in and organised has been the hardest part but we are so grateful that our brilliant handyman has been working along steadily for the last month getting everything ready so that now the trades are finally becoming available they have all the prep work already taken care of.

And finally, thanks for all the great toast comments yesterday, it would seem that we are all a bunch of toast addicts  😁

Sue xx

Double-Bedding, Saving Money, Spending Money ... but Saving Money Too

 

I got a bit fed up with all the dog beds lying around the place and the dogs rarely using them, so last week I put the flat grey dog bed inside the brown furry dog bed ... now this double bedding situation is making the dogs retire to their bed at every opportunity.

Obviously double-bedding is the way forward in canine comfort 🐕🐶

In an effort to save money and give myself as much comfort as the dogs have in their bed I decided to give my walking boots a good overhaul the other day.  I went to Timpson and bought new laces, new insoles and a spray can of weatherproofing stuff. 

 After a good wash ... that's why they are allowed on the worktop ... and a good dry on the bench in the sunshine padded out with newspaper I set to spraying, inserting and lacing.

Ironically with all the dry weather we have been having recently they were as dusty as hell after the first doggy walk, but they were also really, really comfortable.

After not finding anything in the shops that I wanted to spend my remaining £40 birthday money on I decided to add to it and treat myself to a nice new Remoska for my new home.   

Now the last time I bought a Remoska was HERE, wow did I really first purchase it back in 2012!!  It has always been in regular use although not by me anymore as Alan has used it for lots of meat, and I just can't bring myself to share it anymore with it's meaty splatters on the lid.  So we decided that he would get 'custody' of the old Remoska and I will have my nice new one.  

In the six years since we bought the old one it has gone up by £40 but they are still worth every penny, they save so much on electricity bills that they have usually paid for themselves within the first year.  BUT for this purchase I had three different vouchers!!

I put in the order, inserted all the voucher codes one after the other to claim my free Remoska cookbook, my 20% off that Lakeland had sent me directly in their little monthly brochure and the £10 off a £60 spend that had been on the leaflet in my magazine, and they all worked.  The next day I had a polite email from Lakeland telling me that I shouldn't have been able to use both the £10 off and the 20% at the same time but as the website had allowed it through they would honour it.

So I have actually got my nice new Remoska for exactly the same price that I paid for the original one over six years ago and a free cookbook too, which last time cost me an additional £9.99.

Does a little happy dance  💃💃💃

Yesterday as I needed to measure my Welsh Bread and Cheese cupboard for the kitchen designer I took my large box to the storage lockup that we have until we move again and added it to all the other boxes that are waiting for us there.  I can't wait until she can be unpacked and put into good use.

Sue xx