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SPRING TIME = SPRING CLEAN
Now that the clocks have gone forward that means one less hour in bed, and one less hour for me to be wrapped up in my chenille dressing gown. Spring has arrived and that also means a big cleanout of my ever expanding wardrobe.
Every year is the same. I stand staring at my wardrobe, wondering how I managed to acuminate so many items of clothing, most of which I haven’t even worn. I also have to admit, seen as were all here, that some have actually still got labels on from the shop.
Why do women, and lets face it, it is usually women that love to shop, find the need to buy items of clothing that they know even whilst they are paying for them at the till they will never ever wear. Same old story, ‘it was on sale’, ‘I’ll slim into it’ or ‘I thought it looked good in the changing rooms.
Changing rooms are lethal to a shopaholic like me. The mirrors and lighting make me look fabulous yet when I get home to my own drably light bedroom with my normal fat showing mirror the clothes never look as good.
So this Spring I’m going to clear out the wardrobe and make room. That room will not be, however, filled with new, unworn purchases. Come back next spring to see if I’ve managed to stick to that!
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BOLAGNIASE AND PASTA BAKE
Ingredients
1 large onion (finely sliced)
3 garlic cloves
500g beef mince
400g pasta sauce
bunch of spinach, chopped (wash well first and remove stems)
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tbs moroccan spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 packet 250g rigatoni pasta
3 tbs olive oil
Method
Preheat oven to 220C
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in pan and add onion and garlic, stirring until soft
add spice and nutmeg and cook for 1min
add mince meat and cook until browned
add pasta sauce and simmer uncovered for 30min
stir in chopped spinach and basil and simmer for another 10min
cook rigatoni pasta in a large pot of boiling water until tender and drain.
combine meatsauce and pasta and layer in a large baking dish
Top pasta/meat with lite tasty cheese or bechamel sauce (melt 30g butter in saucepan, add tbs plain flour, cook stirring until mixture bubbles, gradually add 2 cups milk, cook stirring until sauce boils and thicken, stir in 3/4 cup parmesan cheese).
Bake for about 15min or until browned lightly.
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SPRING CLEAN TIME
With spring just around the corner I though I would share some fantastic cleaning tips for you ladies around the house. They come from a fabulous new book from author Gisele Scanion and her book ‘The Goddess Experience“. Its packed full of invaluable and thrifty tips on everything from fashion to your home.
Caring for Cashmere
Theres nothing like the luxurious look and feel of a cashmere sweater. Cashmere is pricy, but take good care of it and it will reward you for years to come.
Washing Tips
1) Fill a sink with warm water and mix 1-2 capfuls of cashmere wash (available from large department stores),
2) Place your sweater in the water, do not rub. Leave it to soak for 30 minutes.
3) Move the garment through the water and let the suds bubble through the fibres.
4) Rinse by running cool, clear water through it and soak for another 30 minutes.
5) Squeeze out the water very gentley – and roll the sweater in a towel to take out excess moisture.
6) Dry flat away from direct heat or sunlight. When dry iron on ‘wool’ setting.
Storing Cashmere
Moths search out proteins in wool, (hair and skin particles), so never store wool or cashmere away without cleaning it first. Preferably handwash (see previous item) or dry clean it first – moths hate cleaning fluid. They also hate black tissue paper, so wrap each item in it – slip it into a cotton bag or pillowcase and place moth-repelling conkers, lavendar bags or cedar blocks in your drawers. (The latter are available from large department stores)
Tip: Rub moth-repellent cedar blocks with a small piece of sand-paper every six weeks or so to refresh their potent moth-repelling scent.
Tips for a beautiful home
Breathe life into old feather pillows
Pop your pillows into a bath of warm water and mild detergent – then step into the bath and tread on the pillows – rather as if you were treading grapes. Once the water and detergent has got through all the feathers – rinse in the same way with warm, clean water. Spin one at a time in the washing machine and allow to dry naturally in your airing cupboard or outside – weather permitting.
Dust-free glass surfaces
You can stop the build-up of lint and dust on glass surfaces, using the following method: add one tab
le spoon of liquid fabirc softener to about a litre of warm water then use a damp cloth – wrung out in the mixture – to clean glass surfaces. Not only will the fabric softener water clean the glass, it will help reduce static which will help prevent lint from gathering again.
Pristine garden chairs
How come white plastic garden furniture always looks so pristine outside gastropubs? The answer is toothpaste, my friends. Apply a few big squirts of whitening toothpaste to a scrubbing brush – and scrub hard. Finally buff away with a soft cloth.
Lastly, how to remove…
Marks from wallpaper: Remove light stains from wallpaper by rubbing with a piece of stale white bread.
Scratches on a wooden table: Crack open a fresh walnut, rub the nut on the scratch and watch the nuts oil fade the mark.
Grease from the inside of a microwave: Boil up half a lemon in a bowl of water in your microwave for a few minutes. The lemon steam will vaporise the grease and neutralise smells, wipe the interior with a damp cloth.
Extracts taken from The Goddess Experience published by HarperCollins at £10
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CLASSIC HOME COOKED FOOD
Ingredients 
2 lb boneless chuck 1 1/2 thick
4 thick bacon slices
2 large yellow onions
2 large cloves of garlic
3 tbsp flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine, beer, more broth
2 parsley sprigs
2 tsp fresh tyme or 1/2 ts. dried
6 large carrots
2 large baking potatoes
8 oz frozen pearl onions
1 chopped parsley for garnish
1 cooked egg noodles or rice
Directions
Trim of all fat from beef chuck. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Pat meat
dry with toweling. Cut bacon into 1/4 wide strips. Cut large onions
into 1/4 inch wide wedges. Mince garlic. Cook bacon in a heavy
bottomed 4 1/2 quart dutch oven, until crisp. Remove pieces with
sloted spoon. Pour bacon fat into a bowl. Return 1 tbsp fat to pan.
Heat over medium-high heat. Add enough beef cubes to cover bottom of
pan. Cook, turning cubes with tongs, until browned on all sides. As
beef cubes brown remove from pan and add uncooked beef until all
pieces are done. Add bacon fat as needed to keep meat from sticking.
Remove all meat from pan. Add 1 tbsp bacon fat. Add onion wedges and
cook until onion wilts and is golden brown. Add garlic and cook and
stir for one minute. Return meat to pan. Add salt, pepper, and
flour. Cook and stirover medium heat to brown the flour slightly,
about three minutes. Pour broth and wine, if used, into pan so meat
is barely covered. Stir well to scrape browned bits from bottom of
pan. Stir in parsley and thyme. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat
to very low. Cover pan and let simmer for until meat is almost
tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Shortly before meat is tender, peel
carrots, and potatoes. Cut into pieces. Stir into meat mixture.
Continue cooking until carrots and potatoes are tender but not mushy,
about 20 minutes. Heat any remaining bacon fat in a large skillet,
add pearl onions and cook, stirring, until onions are golden on all
sides. Stir onions into stew. Cook five minutes. Sprinkle stew with
crisp bacon pieces and chopped parsley. Serve over cooked noodles or
rice.
Servings: 6 servings
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GARDENING TIPS FOR MARCH
March is the time for splashes of colour, such as celandines, daffodils and primulas, which attract the first insects emerging from their winter sleep for a pollen feast. Wild daffodils are smaller and less showy but perfect partners for a wildlife haven. The patches of warmer weather are the start of great activity in the garden. You will find that many plants and animals are beginning their breeding cycles. Frogs are busy in ponds and toads will start to lay eggs a little later.
Mammals are waking up from hibernation and badger and fox cubs are developing in their earths underground. As the birds are starting to build their nests, the untidy parts of the garden will provide all sorts of grass stems, bark pieces, dead leaves and moss. So why not brush the dog outside to provide some hair for the lining of nests. The blackbird in your garden may be the first to build.
Gardening tips for the month
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Weed and mulch borders.
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Clip heathers and lavender.
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Divide pond marginal plants.
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Sow half-hardy annuals such as french marigold, petunia and nicotiana.
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Carry out the first grass cut of the season.
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Prune the rest of the summer flowering shrubs such as spirea and japonica.
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Begin slug control using upturned citrus shells.
Bank Vole Clethionomys glareolus
Bank voles are common, but unusual in gardens. They have a glossy, chestnut brown coat and a short furry tail. Generally they are found in woods, hedgerows or long grass. They usually prefer dense cover and thick undergrowth, where they can look for berries, nuts, fruit, green plants and fungi. If you look for hazelnuts that are empty, but for a hole edged with teeth marks, they could be the remnants of the bank vole’s meal. Sometimes you can spot them during the day, but they will avoid disturbed areas of the garden and head for hidden underground tunnels.
Provide a small mammal feeding table near a hedgerow to encourage them.
Just as birds visit a table, so can mice and voles. Use a board 50cm. square and some wire netting to create a cage over it. The netting must have holes no more than 2.5cm across to keep out enemies such as cats and rats. You could provide peanut butter, chocolate, dried fruit and breakfast cereal, as part of a mixed diet. Then place the cage 50cm. high and include some small branches to give the animals somewhere to play. Set up the table so that it can be easily seen, but not too close to your vegetable patch. Use a torch with a red filter at first, but the animals will soon get used to ordinary light. Voles may even use the mouse table in daylight.
Tasks for the month
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Continue supplying bird food.
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Stop trimming hedges early in March, now that birds are nesting.
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Add to available nesting material with wool and hair.
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Make a note of the Spring signs.
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If you have created a pond in the garden, watch how quickly new creatures come along.
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Continue your wildlife diary.
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Whats new this season?
Theres plenty of home grown produce around to nourish the soul this month. For roasting, choose squash and pumpkins, carrots, celeriac, parsnips, turnips, swede, beetroot and artichokes. All these make great soups as well, so make double the amount and then make into soup for a cold winters day.
Healthy greens are plentiful to go with all those hearty comfort foods – Brussels tops, cabbage, spring and winter greens, kale and chard. Its the start of the British leek season, too. Roast them, slow cook in butter or steam…
Cultivated and wild mushrooms are plentiful too, weather permiting.
Early autumn fruits include apples, Blenheim Orange and Egremont Russet. There should still be late raspberries around, too. The exotic quince is ready to be poached in a sugary syrup for tarts, and makes a delicious jam. In the hedgerow you’ll find sloes on blackthorn bushes for home-made sloe gin. Macerate in half the sloes weight of sugar, top up with gin and leave in a cool dark place in a sterillised Kilner jar, shaking occasionally for four to six weeks. Strain then bottle, ready for a xmas tipple.
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Sausage Carbonara
After watching Jamie Oliver throughout his time in America I thought I’d add one of his gorgeous, budget friendly recipes from his Jamies website for sausage carbonara.
With a sharp knife, slit the sausage skins lengthways and pop all the meat out. Using wet hands, roll little balls of sausagemeat about the size of large marbles and place them to one side.
Heat a large frying pan and add a good splash of olive oil. Gently fry the sausage meatballs until golden brown all over, then add the pancetta and continue cooking for a couple of minutes, until it’s golden. While this is cooking, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the linguine, and cook according to the packet instructions.
In a large bowl, whip up the egg yolks, cream, half the Parmesan, the lemon zest and parsley. When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water, and immediately toss it quickly with the egg mixture back in the pasta pan. Add the hot sausage meatballs and toss everything together. The egg will cook delicately from the heat of the linguine, just enough for it to thicken and not scramble. The sauce should be smooth and silky. If the pasta becomes a little claggy, add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water to loosen it slightly. Sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan, season if necessary, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve. Eat immediately!
Ingredients
• 4 good-quality organic Italian sausages
• olive oil
• 4 slices of thickly cut pancetta, chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g dried linguine
• 4 large free-range or organic egg yolks
• 100ml double cream
• 100g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• zest of 1 lemon
• a sprig of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• extra virgin olive oil
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Winter Gardening
Seen as winter is just round the corner thought I’d have a look at BBC gardening website and see what number one gardener and now television presenter Alan Tichmarsh has to say on our gardens come this time of year, whether it be what to look after now, what to expect in your garden or even what to prepare for your garden once the cold weather has thawd. See what he has to say.
“Once the dormant season is well and truly upon us, this is the time to take stock of the year’s successes and failures, and to get on with planning for next year. It is also a great time to start construction jobs so that the new features will be ready for the start of next year’s season. It’s also time to enjoy displays of evergreens, winter flowers and attractive barks.
Key jobs for winter
If it’s a mild winter, continue to cut the lawn, so long as it’s growing, but raise the height of the mower blades
Prevent containers planted with winter bedding or all-year-round shrubs from freezing solid by wrapping them with bubblewrap or taking them into shelter
Get rid of slimy patches on the patio and paving by scrubbing with a broom or blasting with a pressure washer
Remember to feed indoor plants occasionally
Order seed catalogues and plan what you’re going to grow in the spring
Winter Themes
Evergreens
Evergreens are the backbone of the garden, providing form and colour all year. They come in a wide range of colours in addition to green, such as bronze, yellow, gold, and silver, all of which bring something to the party.
Attractive barks
With the leaves gone, it’s now the bark of deciduous trees and shrubs that attracts attention. Dogwoods, such as Cornus alba, and willows, such as Salix alba, are popular choices. Cut back hard each spring, they produce masses of colourful stems that look good all winter.
Winter flowers
Winter bedding, such as Universal pansies and winter heathers, provides the main stay of colour in containers and mixed borders. There’s also plenty of wonderful winter-flowering shrubs, some of which have a beautiful perfume. Ones to try include mahonias, winter jasmine, witch hazel, shrubby honeysuckle and wintersweet.”
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Bolognaise and pasta bake
Ingredients
1 large onion (finely sliced)
3 garlic cloves
500g beef mince
400g pasta sauce
bunch of spinach, chopped (wash well first and remove stems)
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tbs moroccan spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 packet 250g rigatoni pasta
3 tbs olive oil
Method
Preheat oven to 220C
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in pan and add onion and garlic, stirring until soft
add spice and nutmeg and cook for 1min
add mince meat and cook until browned
add pasta sauce and simmer uncovered for 30min
stir in chopped spinach and basil and simmer for another 10min
cook rigatoni pasta in a large pot of boiling water until tender and drain.
combine meatsauce and pasta and layer in a large baking dish
Top pasta/meat with lite tasty cheese or bechamel sauce (melt 30g butter in saucepan, add tbs plain flour, cook stirring until mixture bubbles, gradually add 2 cups milk, cook stirring until sauce boils and thicken, stir in 3/4 cup parmesan cheese).
Bake for about 15min or until browned lightly.
Comfort Food – Bangers and Mash
Ingredients
For the Yorkshire pudding
1 tbsp dripping
100g plain flour
3 Eggs
200ml Milk
8 beef Sausages, best butcher’s
For the horseradish mash
1 pinch salt and black pepper
1kg Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 dash of Milk
1 cube Butter
5 tbsp creamed horseradish
For the onion gravy
1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Olive oil
3 red Onions, peeled, halved and then, sliced
1 whole cloves Garlic, (optional), chopped
4 sage leaves, chopped
300ml sweet marsala, or Madeira wine
1 tsp Dijon Mustard, or wholegrain mustard
1 pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/gas 7.
2. First make the Yorkshire pudding. Heat the lard in a large shallow, round roasting tray in the oven until very hot.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, eggs and milk to form a smooth, lump-free batter. Pour the batter into the hot roasting tray and roast until well-risen, around 20-30 minutes. Remove the Yorkshire pudding, keeping it in the tray, and set aside.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 180ºC/gas 4.
5. Place the sausages in a greased oven tray and bake them for 30 minutes until cooked through, turning now and then so that they colour evenly. Half-way through the sausage’s baking time, return the Yorkshire pudding to the oven and heat through for 15 minutes until hot and crisp.
6. Meanwhile, cook the cubed potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, add in the milk and butter and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Beat with a hand whisk until smooth and creamy. Stir through the creamed horseradish.
7. To make the onion gravy, gently heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the onions and begin to fry gently. After five minutes, add the chopped sage and garlic. On a gentle heat, add in the Marsala wine and turn up the heat so that everything begins to bubble.
8. Sniff the pan and see if alcohol smell has evaporated. If it has, turn the heat down. Stir the mustard into the pan and cook for a final 5 minutes.
9. To serve, turn out the crisped Yorkshire pudding from its tin. Place on a plate, fill with a generous serve of mash, stick several sausages into the mash pile and cover the bangers and mash with lashings of the onion gravy!!
Enjoy ladies and gents!
