Bakewell Muffins

So, I've been trying to bake again lately and came across a yummy sounding recipe for cupcakes using almond essence after wanting to make my own bakewell tart/slice tasting cake. The recipe made 12 muffins and are very very tasty!!!

Ingredients:

150g / 5oz butter/margarine
150g / 5oz sugar (the recipe called for caster sugar but I used granular as it's all I had)
175g 6oz self raising flour
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp almond essence
raspberry jam
icing sugar for the top (optional but much tastier with)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180.C
Beat butter and sugar together and sift in (or not, if you're lazy like me) flour.
Add beaten eggs and almond essence and beat until creamy.
Add half the mixture to the paper muffin cases (or whatever tin etc you want to use).
Add a teaspoon of jam on top of each.
Cover with the remaining cake mixture.
Bake for 30 mins. (The recipe said 20 mins but they were small cupcakes so I did 30 and they were perfectly done in this time).
Once they've cooled down on a wire rack, make up the icing sugar as per pack instructions (or just chuck some in a pot and add warm water, more icing sugar, more icing sugar etc until it looks right if you're still lazy like me).

The original recipe can be found here.

Next I will be trying out some gingerbread sponge cake :oD Yum! Fingers crossed they turn out as yummy as these cupcakes!!

Spending wise, I don't think I've bought anything of note. Seeds for veg etc which I think I've already mentioned in an earlier post. Ummm... Nothing really. Oh a naughty little buy was an old Hugo In 3 Months Italian book. Published back before decimalisation came in. I couldn't refuse, and it was for charity so... I didn't feel too guilty. I think it was £2. Oh, and I bought a Sizzix Bigz Flower die for £3 at the same time which will come in really handy when I make my own flowers again. They had 2 more with it but I decided to leave them there for someone else to grab a bargain, as I didn't really need them.

I'm going into town tomorrow to meet a friend so I will buy some more plant pots to re pot my little babies :oD they're growing so well :oD I'm so happy :oD I even planted some more potatoes today which had sprouted in the potato bag. I have some lovely leafage growing from the ones I found in the cupboard a while ago. I still have some more to plant so I will pick up a couple more potato growing bags from Poundland too and get them growing when I get home.

I've been reading a frugal ladies blog and it seems that being single is a great way to save money.... I thought about getting rid of the other half, but decided it would cost me a fortune in public transport (I don't drive, but he does) so I decided to keep hold of him instead :-p hehe, poor guy, he's not getting rid of me that easily :-p

Been busy stitching away but have been having the urge to tidy up the craft room... Fingers crossed the urge is still there once I've sent this project off!!

When I get down to 8.5 stone I will be getting a tattoo... I'll prob show it to you once it's done :oD I'll be using some of the money my Dad left me when he died last year. I was 3lbs below 9 stone the other day then went on a feeding frenzy so I've gone back up a lb or two. Need to get back into exercising again!! I'm determined (somewhat) to get my tattoo this summer so I can show it off lol. It'll be number 10 and I already have 2 more planned after! Sigh... But hey, I think of it as artwork you can take to the grave with you, an expression of who you are and the journey you're on. Plus it won't get put in a drawer never to be used, won't get lost, broke or stolen and it won't take up space hanging around your house. Not a bad way to spend some money if you have some money put aside for it.

Hugs to all xx

Grow Your Own

Yesterday I decided it would be the perfect day to get out in the garden and get some food planted; so I walked into town and picked up some cheap seed pack from 99p Stores and Poundland. They're doing multipacks of 4-6 and 8 in Poundland of different seeds so I thought why not? Mike picked me up from town after he finished work and we went to B&Q and bought some compost. We now have planted salad leaves, chillis, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, beetroot and more. We used a combination of regular plant pots and old ice cream tubs, margarine tubs and cut down plastic milk bottles - all with holes made in the bottom with a metal skewer for drainage. These all sit nicely on our kitchen window sil. I also topped up the potatoes with more compost. I'm hoping they'll yield loads of yummy potatoes as these were grown from the shop bought ones I found in the cupboard after who knows how long and they had sprouted like crazy, and I mean crazy! The apple tree is blossoming, the pear tree too. The plum tree has just started as well. I've seen a tiny little fruit coming on one of my Poundland plants I bought last year. We're not too sure yet what it is, but we think it might be a blueberry or a blackcurrant. Oh, Ayse wanted a raspberry plant so I bought her one from Wilkinson's. They had some in Poundland but they were just the sticks and didn't look too good. The one in W's was £3 but had leaves and looked really healthy so I decided that would be better. Just need to get some more rhubarb (the ones I grew before went into a tub without drainage holes and they've been submerged for the past 6 months or so!) and some more strawberry plants (nextdoor's cat decided to pull them up a year or 2 ago when she was a kitten by running over them loads of times!). Fingers crossed we'll have lots of lovely yummy food straight from our garden soon. Just wish we had a veggie patch rather than tubs. Oh well, you just gotta make the most of what you already have eh?

Finished the cross stitch today, for the magazine, and that's all packaged up and ready to send later. Did my second crochet square the other night too! Must, must, must take photos of the 2 to put up here!!!

Hmmmm anything else? Oh yes, tomorrow is a big day... My dreadies turn one year old tomorrow!!! i'm celebrating by dying the top half red! Lol. I was originally only going to dye one then realised I'd end up wasting loads of dye, so was gunna do a few... Then I kept seeing the root bulbs which remain in my hair after old hair gets shed and it really doesn't look good! Little white dots everywhere :o( so I decided to try and cover them with dye too - hence all the top ones. Bonus is it will cover the grey too :-p I'm not bothered about the greys, I'm 32 which is quite a respectable age to flash the grey strands, but hey, if it gets in the way when I dye my hair, I'm not gunna complain lol! I might even give you a before and after photo of my birthday babies tomorrow :-p

A Summer Frugal Tip...
Get that washing out on the line to dry! No need to use a tumble drier in this lovely weather when mother nature can dry it for you for free!

Hugs to all xxx