Firstly a lovely vegan couple that I've watched for quite a while now, doing another of their budget vegan food shops. They are so close to the magic 1000 subscribers at last, so if you enjoy the video please think about subscribing to the channel, it costs you nothing but does really help them
I watched Farmhouse on Boone this morning, such a relaxing way to start the day this video and a cup of coffee ... and such a beautiful house with it's lovely muted colours.
A little video from Carolyn, who is great for giving me ideas to help with rationing.
A bit of a nosey into two hotels in London, the newest and the oldest ... and wow, what a difference in price. I do love a look around a hotel room and what better way to do it without having to spend on an overnight stay away from home.
I hope you enjoy these, just something to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee over.
Make yourself a coffee or top up that teacup, maybe grab a biscuit or an extra slice of toast, and then sit and relax with just a few of the YouTubers that have entertained me this week.
Farmhouse on Boone is currently one of my favourite YouTube channels, she has such a nice calm way about her while she is getting on with the day to day baking and homemaking. Her beautiful home is very easy on the eye too.
I don't even knit but I love watching Rationbook Rebecca and her lovely way with words. Her showing us the latest books that she's added to her collection was just the icing on a lovely relaxing cake.
And finally ... a couple I used to watch a lot of in the past, Kirsten and Joerg. Wow, their channel has grown enormously in the past couple of years. They holiday and tour beautiful places all over the UK and take us the viewers along with them.
And you know me, I love a good cottage.
I hope you are having a good weekend, and that on this, the first weekend of September we all get some good weather.
Three Rivers Homestead - Jessica is currently doing her #everybitcountschallenge.
I used to love preserving our produce for the Winter months, but I never reached the volume that Jessica does ... well there are only two of us and lots more of this lovely family.
And the lovely Grackle is all grown up, married and sharing some of the things she enjoyed on her honeymoon. It's been like watching a daughter grow up and find the love of her life.
A couple living in a tiny space in Brooklyn, New York.
I'm not sure if some of the things they have done would suit me, but they have lovely taste and so much of this apartment I would love. They also have even less space than me, my small home is just over 336 square feet and theirs is just 300.
I hope you enjoy some of these YouTube videos as much as I have over the past week or so. My current favourite is watching Farmhouse on Boone while I wake up in the mornings with a nice cup of coffee, watching while she makes her sourdough bread or organise her food for the day is a lovely peaceful start to my day.
Little glimpses into other peoples lives is very nice isn't it, and I would much rather this than all the 'celebrity news' and gossip that is bandied around.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back soon to let you know what we've been up to on ours.
You're not really supposed to take a harvest from newly transplanted rhubarb during it's first year, but I had no option. Like something out of The Day of the Triffids it sprawled over most of the woodchip area of the garden getting bigger and bigger by the day.
I pulled most of the stems leaving just a couple behind for the plant and after a good wash and a chop cooked it all up. I ended up with enough for a rhubarb and custard tart, two containers that are now in the fridge that can be turned into crumbles in the blink of an eye, and the excess juice from the cooking I poured into the little jug. This was drunk over the course of a couple of days mixed with sparkling water and was beautifully refreshing.
Literally a week later and the plant is almost as big as it was before ... I'll have to watch it doesn't eat one of the dogs!!
In my ongoing ultra processed foods discovery journey I had my occasional breakfast of Aldi dupe weetabix with almond milk. Although I didn't have the cereal box to check the ingredients of the Wheat Bisks I could look it up on the Aldi website. This is what I found -
I find it so relaxing watching someone else cooking or cleaning, and it's been nice to take it easy with a cup of coffee first thing in the morning and watch from my armchair.
Next a massive haul for Freakin Frugal, thank goodness there's some food that can be rescued before it ends up in landfill.
I hope you enjoyed a couple of those, I'm always on the lookout for more channels to watch so if there's one that you love do let me know in the comments below.
It's the Scarecrow Festival here in our little northern town, so it will be quite busy around town and the carparks will all be full. The theme this year is Films. On the canal one of the narrowboats near to our house is now the Titanic, I do hope history isn't repeated. 😉
While in the Pizza shop, Laurel and Hardy seem to be tucking into a lovely Italian meal.
Happily, we have had to drive around town twice today so we have managed to see most of the scarecrows and we can avoid the crowds tomorrow and Sunday.
Last week I potted these Cosmos 'Purity' into larger pots. Three of the little pots sharing one much larger one to hopefully make a nice display of pure white flowers in a few weeks.
I also sowed a couple of rows of radish seeds into one of the shadier beds, hopefully we can have a few more homegrown radish before the temperatures get too high and they all bolt. You can let them bolt, go to seed and then eat the pods, but I'm not that keen on the fiery little pods to be honest, although the flowers are very pretty.
You're not really supposed to pick from a newly planted rhubarb plant, but this one is growing so well and starting to cover so much of the chippings area of the garden that I am going to risk it this weekend. Homegrown rhubarb with some coconut yoghurt sounds like a lovely dessert ... or maybe breakfast.
And now for your delight and delectation ... some Weekend Watching.
There was a lot of interest in my new book, so I thought I would share this short YouTube video with Dr Chris van Tulleken talking about it and ultra processed foods. It gave me a better understanding of just what UPF was before I started reading the book.
We are off to a park in Lancaster today with the dogs, we've been out and about quite a bit just recently making the most of this lovely weather. I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Yesterday I finally got my cucumber plants out into their final places, two in this bed near the shed and the other in a pot so I can stand it in full sun and see what difference it makes. Quite a lot I should imagine as cucumbers love to be warm. Unfortunately, the areas I have for growing vegetables in our little garden are mostly shady except for at certain times of the day, but like so many gardeners I'm doing my best with what I have.
The one in the pot is now here as the this side of the lodge gets the sun for most of the day until early evening, so it should have a head start over the ones that get the evening sun and lots of shade. As you can see in this photo, I think this last couple of weeks of hot sun has been a bit hard on the tomato plants. Thank goodness there are a couple of smaller tomato plants in pots on that top shelf waiting to go into larger pots in the next week or so.
All the time I was working in the garden the fat-ball holder was being visited by lots of little birds, they're very brave at the moment as I was literally only a couple of feet away most of the time. Possibly they're braver because we have stopped putting out all other food that seems to attract the larger birds and have just been using up our supply of fat-balls instead.
Here's a bit of Weekend Watching in case you want a bit of sitting in the house out of the sun for a change ... and aren't in the mood for the FA Cup Final.
First some gardening inspiration from Tanya at Lovely Greens. I used to use the terracotta plant pot method of the Olla's she is showcasing in this video in my polytunnel ... I would love a Polycrub!!
Next a channel I only discovered this week and I've been watching quite a few videos from, We Cook Vegan. Some of the ideas are brilliant, if a bit samey but it's been good for some new inspiration. The only thing I don't like is the almost permanent titles of 'Better than meat'. If you like meat I doubt you would find them better than meat, but hey ho!!
And finally, a lovely little apartment to drool over. I do like small space living ... both doing it myself and watching how other people do it. This space is smaller than mine by about 60 square foot and I love the way that it's laid out.
Here's a lovely little cottage in almost original condition that's just come on the market in our little town ... am I drooling over it - yes, am I tempted to buy it - yes. I must remain firm and not view it.
Tomorrow we are heading to Morecambe for the annual Vegan Fair, and of course it will give the dogs a lovely walk along the seafront and might even take my mind off Church Cottage. 😄
I hope you have a lovely weekend, what are your plans?
Not my photo, but an image shared on Facebook on one of our local groups.
It has the photographers name so I thought it would be okay to share it, isn't it beautiful.
Here is this weeks little round up of some of the YouTube videos I've been watching.
A new to me channel with this very likeable guy shopping for £1 for a days meals. He's just started the series and will be shopping at each of the UK larger supermarkets for one day each week. Here are his first two shops. First Aldi ...
Gosh he gets some good food doesn't he. How can the supermarkets even think of throwing all this perfectly good food away. I wish dumpster diving was legal in this country, not that I could climb into a skip or dumpster these days!! There are some UK skip divers, but they have to be very careful as most supermarket skips are on private and gated land owned by the supermarkets.
And finally here are some Meals of the Week from 'What's for Tea'. I've been watching her videos while eating my way through the challenge food that I had last week ... and trying not to drool too much. 😄
I hope you find some of those interesting, I tend to watch either over my first coffee of the day or while I'm sitting enjoying my lunch. It's nice to switch off from work for a while with something completely different.
Hope you have a great weekend whatever you're planning to do.
We are heading off for a couple of hours to the gender reveal party in Haslingden, to see what our new great grandchild will be ... oh how lovely was it back in the day when the sex of your baby was a surprise!!
What do you guess girl or boy??
To help you out ... in no way whatsoever really ... I have three grandsons, one granddaughter, one great grandson and one great granddaughter ... so who's next?
Suky is a clean dog, she hates getting wet, hates going out in any weather other than sunshine or wind and has never ever played in mud.
Until the day of my aunties funeral last week that is.
Alan took the dogs out for a second quick walk before we left for Manchester, to give them the opportunity to stretch their legs, get some fresh air and do their usual business. Suky decided that that day was THE day. She got the Zoomies and raced through muddy puddles and ended up rubbing her entire body in the mud at the side of the canal.
You can't tell much from the photo but her undercarriage was a muddy mess and her ears were full of mud. Alan knocked on my door and gave Mavis to me and took Suky into his house for a bath.
If looks could kill. 😄
Yes, she also hates baths!!
She always looks darker after a bath as it shows off all her underlying black fur, her dad was a black Pug.
Mavis enjoyed a cuddle with her Dad while he got his breath back, and you can almost read her thoughts can't you ... 'Just look how clean and dry I am compared to that mad Pug'.
Mavis is looking a lot older now, but she's loving life, well they both are, even if one shows it by acting completely out of character and the other by chilling out more than she ever did before.
And now for a little bit of Weekend Watching, here are just some of the videos that I have enjoyed this week.
A tour of a lovely and very normal ... ie, not titivated to the high nines ... English country cottage.
Isn't it nice to just see a home that is not all minimal, but is lived in and loved by those who live in it. And I LOVE that the dogs have a bell to ring for when they want to go out ... please don't mention it to mine. 😄
Although the music can get a bit monotonous on this channel, some of the food ideas are brilliant for cheap and easy to make meals.
And finally, a new channel to me and one that I've really been enjoying watching this week is Acre Homestead, and her massive freezer filling cookathons. It's always nice to sit and watch someone else cooking while you eat your lunch.
It may look a bit gloomy, but it's just early in the morning, the world is barely awake but it's nice to be out walking the tow path with only the sounds of the birds singing as my soundtrack. The crunch of my feet on the soggy gravel barely disturbing anyone.
I love narrowboats and we always get a few different ones to wander past. It's hard not to look into the windows as you pass, but you can look in the direction of the boats when the curtains are closed without feeling too guilty.
I was desperate to plant some seeds the other day, although I know it's still a smidge too early for me here in Lancashire. So I quieted the urge by planting two Courgette seeds in a pot. They sit on my windowsill with their plant pot encased in a reused polythene bag. Their own tiny greenhouse.
The hope of things to come. 💚
Some Weekend Watching, just a few of my favourites from this week.
Freakin Frugal. Frugal Daddy in the dumpster again. I find it so sad that supermarkets throw so much perfectly good food away, and even more sad that animals have lost their lives only for their flesh to end up in landfill. Happily they rescue a tiny portion of it, and share it with neighbours and others.
Never Too Small. An apartment with the same square footage as my little lodge. It's always interesting to see such different layouts to mine and what people have done with them.
What's for Tea. Meals of the week from Cheryl in Scotland ... why are other people meals so much more interesting to look at than your own?
If the rain stays away today I'll be sorting out my tiny garden ready for a Summer of food growing. Just a little bit in the raised beds and lots of pots, but just a little bit is better than none.
I love old things, old beautiful, well used things.
There is a happy knowledge of love when something has been treasured. There is not much that is old in this top photo, although I aged it to give a nice tone. In fact the little round lidded box is the only truly old thing there, picked up from a charity shop ... seemingly in February 2019 according to this blog post.
Something that I do treasure and that is in everyday use, and will be until the day it falls apart, is my lovely patchwork quilt. All through Winter it stays on my bed on top of the duvet to add an extra layer of insulation. And in Summer it is similarly on hand, ready to go on top of the summer-weight duvet that I switch to, in case of a cooler night. I like cold rooms and cosy beds to sleep in.
After all my sorting and decluttering of recent years, it's nice that the things that I have around me now are going to be the things that stay around me for as long as possible.
Yes, exactly this. 💗
Just one Weekend Watching this week, and one that fits in nicely with this post.
Rationbook Rebecca describes what she is up to so perfectly here:
Memories of my grandparents' farm and a love of personal freedom have encouraged me to attempt at turning my little home into a micro-holding; that may also have the potential to financially sustain me.
My house is a semi-detached with 5%-acre back garden so the whole property is approximately 1/10 acre in the middle of England.
I'm not an activist but a silent rebel! I hope to encourage others to grow their own, live contentedly with less and enjoy life more.
It's not a bad thing to do or way to live is it.
She seems to be a gentle soul living a very calm and quiet life and has come out of recent health worries even more inspired to carry on. Her wartime rationing challenge was a really good watch and I'm really surprised she has not got more subscribers than she has ... she really deserves them. Anyway have a watch a see what you think.
It's lovely to have some colour in the house and the garden at the moment.
Inside it's daffodils smiling cheerfully at me from the shelf, and out in the garden along with the daffodils and snowdrops it's lots of little primulas that have reappeared after sleeping the Winter away.
Usually I don't like the smell of daffs in the house ... to me they are fusty and musty smelling ... but for once my complete lack of any form of a sense of smell is working in my favour. 😁
The Fast 800 diet is going well, I'm feeling better in myself and the scales were showing a lower number the other day, so that is hopeful. I'm sleeping really deeply and really well, but I do find that I'm hungry a lot and I find that hard. Oh, I so nearly had a chocolate bar last night, but I went and cleaned my teeth instead ... it seemed to work.
I'm doing a mixture of recipes from the book and things that I already have in that I want to use up, but making sure that I stay around the 800 calories a day mark. For instance this morning for my breakfast I made the Cheese and Spinach Mini Muffins from the Fast 800 Easy cookbook, but one day in the week I did have two Weetabix with almond milk. It's all about balance.
These muffins were quick and easy to make, and very tasty.
Although as they stuck to my muffin tin liners quite a bit, I had these three with my cup of coffee and then shared a fourth with Mavis, who managed admirably.
If you would like to read more about the diet you can click on this link:
I am currently doing the Fast 800 and combining it with TRE (time restricted eating) which really suits me. I am easily doing 14/10 without even having to think about it too much.
Now on a completely different topic, how about a bit of Weekend Watching. I watched the following two videos while having my breakfast this morning ... and yes they are all about food!!
Atomic Shrimp's channel seems to have grown massively over the last few months, with over 910k subscribers he has a brilliant following. My favourites out of all of his challenges are unsurprisingly the limited spending ones, and this latest one and his last one saw him trying to recreate the £1 per day meals challenge, but this time allowing for inflation with £1.37 to spend.
This second video is Chelsea from Little Mountain Ranch who is currently cooking recipes both from her own family archives ready to launch a cookbook of her own, and also from some very old books that her husband has just bought her. She has such a lovely sunny disposition and a brilliant way of life that it's a joy to sit and watch her videos.
As I ended my last post with 'Now what did I do with two tins of salmon mixed with red onion and mayonnaise ...?' It seems only fair that I quickly show you.
As you saw last time I added a spoonful to the pasta dish that I made whilst I was prepping the salmon, then I made sandwiches to take to Mum's for our lunch. Two rounds of bread each with just the salmon on it, spread very thinly for Mum as that is the way she likes it and a bit thicker for me and Alan, Mum supplied some lentil crisps to go with the butties.
The next day I made the buns you see in the top photo for our lunch.
For my tea I decided to use a bit more of the salmon, yes it was getting very fishy!!
A third of my tub of mash, a good helping of the salmon mix and lots of pepper and I had four little fishcakes. I decided against making any breadcrumbs and instead just dredged them in flour.
A nice simple tea on a bed of iceberg lettuce and drizzled with mayo.
The next night it was a bowl of pasta, this time without any tomato based sauce but with lots of peas.
And then the next day it was a simple lunch of the rest of the mashed potatoes and the last of the salmon mix. Oh I do love a plate of mashed potatoes with lots of butter.
So, two tins of salmon, a huge dollop of mayonnaise and half a finely diced red onion and I got five different meals. One of them serving three people, one serving two people and the rest just for me.
What would you have done with two tins of salmon?
Now for a little bit of Weekend Watching.
First Frugal Daddy diving in the dumpster and rescuing food just before the refuse collectors come and take it all to landfill.
How sad would it have been for all those chickens to have lost their lives only for their breast meat to go to landfill. It's shocking and horrifying in equal measures. Well rescued Frugal Daddy.
Now step away if you have any sort of cat phobia!!
I've just spotted in my diary that I have actually shopped six times in the first half of February. Just how is the shortest month of the year going to be the month that I shop the most, it's ridiculous!!
The bread and tomatoes were bought on Wednesday ready to be turned into corned beef and tomato sandwiches for Alan and Mum and cheese and tomato for me. We each had a flapjack from my food stash for dessert.
Total spent - £2.10
The little jar of jam was in my handbag and was what I brought home from the afternoon tea, I wasn't going to waste that nice jam on horribly dry gluten free scones!!
Then yesterday Alan asked if I wanted to go to Aldi with him ... of course I said yes. 😄
I mostly shopped for the Foodbank but the items above went into the trolley for me. It's funny but ever since we were talking about sausage rolls when we went for the afternoon tea I have been fancying some. I could of course have made them myself with the ready rolled pastry in my fridge and the Linda McCartney sausages from my freezer ...but I was in Aldi, theirs are some of the best and they are one of the rare items that have never increased in price. They have been £1.19 for around three years now, so when I spied them in the freezer next to the pizzas I just had to buy a box.
I also decided to buy some sparkling water and fresh orange juice because just the evening before I had been stood looking for something to drink other than coffee, tap water or wine, and I had found nothing.
I did remember to keep the receipt, again it's another very faded one Is Aldi too poor to buy fresh ink for their tills?
I spent a total of £9.96 on these six items for me, and quite a bit more on the Foodbank ... but that doesn't come out of my challenge budget, hence me not showing the rest of the receipt.
A couple of the YouTube videos that I have enjoyed this week.
Firstly Madeleine Olivia and her ongoing decluttering.
It's a bit long and there's quite a lot of waffle but some good ideas, and it does spur me on to keep sorting out the nitty gritty of what I have left. What I am always astounded by though is her talk of all her work tiring her out so much.
She's an influencer, she films her actual day to day life and occasionally food videos ... and has other people working for her to get these edited and put onto YouTube and various other platforms. I may be being over-critical but we all live our lives and just get on with it. Spending a portion of nearly every video that she has put out recently, saying how tiring she is finding it all just seems a bit much when she is earning a LOT of money just for filming herself living. What is clever though, and something I thoroughly approve of, is that this video does seem to be addressing most of the criticism aimed at her on Tattle Life.
It's a pretty despicable website with people really being keyboard warriors, and being very negative and sometimes extremely nasty about people online or in the media.
A Scottish lady with an accent that's very different from Alan's, she simply shows us the meals that they've had over the previous week. She has a huge following of people that love to pick up new meal ideas. A new meals video comes out every Sunday, a shopping haul on Friday and sometimes there is a recipe video too ... and yes Mince and Tatties is one of Alan's favourite meals.
