Spring; wherefore art thou?

Okay, I've had enough of this crummy weather now. I'm ready for Spring! I need some warmth and some sunshine. This weekend looked promising and we even went for a walk on Sunday and didn't freeze to death, but it's back to dreary today.

Reasons why I can't wait for Spring:

I can finally get my chicken coop finished, and move some chickens in!

Barbeques!

Camping trips to the seaside

Finish setting up my raised beds and gutter gardens

Picnics

Bike rides

Hurry up Spring!

Sweets for my Sweet: Peppermint Oreo Truffles

As it's coming up towards Valentines Day, I thought I'd share a couple of Valentines Day inspired recipes with you! If I'm honest, Adam and I have never really celebrated Valentines Day as a couple. Neither of us were really very interested in it. For some reason though, this year I'm looking forward to it. I think it's all the hearts and reds and pinks! I've actually planned a couple of things this year to celebrate. Nothing over the top, just a special meal at home and a couple of homemade bits and bobs but shh, don't tell him! ;)

If you're looking for something simple but still special, why not make the person you love these peppermint oreo truffles? They're ridiculously simple and if you take out time needed for cooling and chilling, then they're really quick to make. No baking, and only three ingredients! This recipe makes just enough oreo pops for a special treat which is good because they're so more-ish you'd have to have some serious willpower not to eat the lot all at once!

Peppermint Oreo Truffles

Ingredients:



1 packet oreo biscuits
80g cream cheese
200g white chocolate
2 candy canes, or 4 or 5 peppermint sweets



Method:

Line a baking tray or dinner plate with baking paper, and bring cream cheese to room temperature

Put oreos into food processor, and process until the biscuits resemble bread crumbs

Add cream cheese and process again until combined, the mixture should be starting to stick together

Roll into balls, and put on your lined tray/plate

Put into the fridge to firm up. I left mine for about an hour or so.

Put your candy canes/peppermint sweets into a sandwich bag and bash them with a rolling pin or similar until they break up into little bits

Melt white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, taking care not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water

Dip your rolled oreo pops into the melted chocolate one at a time, and set back on the baking paper lined tray

Once you've dipped them all, sprinkle peppermint pieces over the top and leave to cool





Once they've set, package them up in a pretty jar and give to someone you love!







And there you have it! Super easy, like I promised. I wondered if the oreo truffles would be pepperminty enough with just the bits on top, and wondered if I should have added some essence to the oreo/cream cheese mixture, but it turned out to be just the right amount of peppermint.

Let me know if you try these! And also, do you have anything special planned for Valentines Day?

Roxy and Izzy

I finally figured out how to record videos on my camera and couldn't resist making a silly little one of Roxy and Izzy. Love these two furry faces!

A favourite quote

A Christmas recap

Christmas actually ended up being lovely this year, suprisingly. We kept it quiet and low key and made sure we had a lot of things planned to keep us busy. We had Christmas dinner at my Mum's with my sisters.



We had my favourite ever tree this year too. When we first moved into our house three Christmases ago, we were poor from the move a month prior and too busy and stressed to think about it much so we ended up just buying a big tub of generic, matching baubles from B&Q. We used them again the following year as again we were too busy and stressed planning our wedding to think about it much then too.

This year I said "no more awful B&Q baubles!" and refused to put them on our tree. We always get a real tree, but this year I wanted one in a pot which we could replant so we ended up with a cute little tree.

We had acquired a few really nice baubles, and we bought a few more in December from various markets and from a last minute trip we took to Edinburgh for the weekend. My sisters and I also had a crafting day, where we made some decorations too which actually ended up being one of the highlights of Christmas.





Present wrapping helpers





My Aunt made me this chocolate house



Christmas sweetie stash



Kisses under the Christmas tree



Hope your Christmas was wonderful too!

2013

I have mixed feelings about welcoming in the new year. It feels strange to be welcoming in a new year that won't have my Dad in it. And yet, I am so thankful to be rid of 2012. 2012 was the worst year of my life. To me, a new year always feels so fresh and crisp and full of possibilities. I have high hopes for 2013, with a lot of personal and business goals to aspire to. I want to continue to lose weight and work towards becoming healthier. I want to go camping and for bike rides with Adam. I want to start another blog focusing only on Slimming World recipes. I also want to grow my photography business.

So here's to 2013, and all the promise it brings. Happy New Year!

One Year

Today we're celebrating our one year anniversary and nine year date-iversary. I love this man with all my heart.

And now, our first dance song!



Baby it's you! You're the one I love!

Merry Christmas

I'm wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful Christmas, and hoping 2013 brings a wonderful New Year...

A little snowman

I just got finished making this little fellow. Isn't he so cute? He's not perfect, in fact he's a little bit wonky in places but I love him. And for my first attempt making a... character, and only my third or fourth attempt at following a crochet pattern, I'm actually really pleased how he turned out! I'm already planning on making one for my Mum and my mother-in-law. A snowman family! If you'd like to make your own snowman, you can find the snowman crochet pattern here. (I followed the pattern as is, with the exception of the nose. I didn't understand it, so I crocheted a triangle, rolled it up and stuffed it and used that as a carrot).

Only two more sleeps until I can officially get in the Christmas spirit (no Christmas music/decorations before December in our house - it's bad luck) and start trimming and belting out Christmas songs non stop!

Sunday Morning Walks

Sunday morning walks have started becoming a bit of a ritual for our little family.I've been really enjoying them too. It feels so nice to get outside in the fresh, cold air and just walk and talk with my husband. We've been walking round a couple of different places, but this is my favourite, with the reservoir and the trees and then walking up onto the moors. I took my phone with me and snapped a few photos when we were there last Sunday. It's really beautiful.













I'm looking forward to our walk next Sunday!

Wellies

Treated myself to some new wellies. Can't wait to get these bad boys dirty. Puddles - get ready!

Rocky Road

Okay so it seems kind of silly to share a recipe for Rocky Road, as it's probably the most simple thing in the world to make. You don't even have to bake anything! Just melt the chocolate and stir in whatever you fancy.

That being said, I made my youngest sister Beth some Rocky Road for her 18th birthday (don't worry, I bought her a proper present too!) and documented it, so I thought it would be fun just to share. For the record, my sister said this was the best Rocky Road she had ever had! I think she knows flattery will get her everywhere with me...



My sisters extra special birthday Rocky Road included:

Shortbread biscuits

Bourbon biscuits

Mini oreos

Marhsmallows

White chocolate buttons

Twix

Maltesers

Please note: Normally she wouldn't get anything quite as fancy, but it was her 18th so I decided to spoil her!



Chopped bourbon biscuits. I chopped the bigger biscuits (twix, bourbons, shortbread) and the marshmallows and I bashed the maltesers up a bit but I left the mini oreos whole.



Melting chocolate



Waiting to be stirred. My mouth is watering so much looking at this photo. I could just dive in!



Cooling



The finished product



All packaged up in a cute tin with birthday card and ready to go!

Now we're heading towards you-know-what, this would be a great to make for a homemade Christmas present! Put it in a Christmassy tin instead, or package a couple of pieces in a cellophane bag and tie it with a pretty ribbon to pass out to family, friends or coworkers.

Blanket

I'd been wanting to learn how to crochet for ages, and in particular I'd been wanting to make my own blanket. I'm so pleased that I managed to learn how to do it! I'd been trying to teach myself for ages but never quite grasped it, then last year I worked with a girl called Sarah who crocheted and she kindly taught me.

It was really easy to make, so simple and worked up quickly. I didn't use any particular online instructions, but you can find them easily by a quick google! I made it pink to go in my spare room/office.



It's not massive, just a lap blanket and it was done up until a few days ago, when I decided to add a couple more rounds to it to make it slightly bigger. But I love it and I'm excited to snugglee up under it this winter.



I've already crocheted a couple more things too - a tiny bobble hat for an egg and one baby shoe!

Fat Ball Bird Feeders

Now that October is here, the cold weather is starting to draw in, the garden is winding down (although I still have some kale and other bits to continue to feed myself with!), and we start spending more time indoors again. One thing I love to do in the winter is to make fat ball feeders for the bird, and hang them around my garden. I'm sure the birds love them too! This is a great little project to do with little ones as well, as if you have the patience you don't even need to melt the fat, you can just soften it by beating it with a wooden spoon and stirring the ingrdients in. They're absolutely so easy to make



You will need:

Block of lard or solid vegetable oil

Whatever else you have on hand! Raisins, coconut, nuts, seeds, oats, biscuit or cracker crumbs, bacon rind

Netting/mesh

Wool or string

Method:

Gather your ingredients for the fat ball, if using biscuit or cracker crumbs either bash them by hand or add them to a food processor and process until crumbs

Melt the lard/vegetable oil until it is a liquid (or soften it by beating with a wooden spoon), leave to cool slightly

Add the other ingredients. I usually make these when I have some stale crackers or baking, or old cheap biscuits that aren't being eaten. I add this first and stir together, then add in the other ingredients a bit at a time. You don't want the mixture to be too dry - it needs to stick together to form the balls.

If you melted the oil, let it cool until almost set. If not, you can start straight away. Using your hands (or if you don't want to get them dirty an ice cream scoop works well) form balls with the mixture about the size of golf balls. Transfer to a piece of kitchen roll or baking paper and let cool until completely set.

Cut squares out of the netting/mesh and wrap a ball in the centre of each one. I used pea and bean mesh that I bought in the summer to grow my plants up. If you don't have any, using a needle you can thread wool or string through the centre of the balls whilst still soft and hang them up this way.

Hang them around the garden, then watch the birds come!

Bye Tree...

They're cutting my tree down!



I'm so sad; I love this tree, I think it's beautiful and it drops leaves in gorgeous shades of red, brown and gold all over my garden. But we need to make room so Adam can have a garage/store in the garden.

I'll be sad to see the tree go, but I have to look at the positives; no longer using my dining room as storage, which means that I can finally get a new dining table and a chalkboard wall!

And at least I have this cute little face with me to cheer me up:



It's been a bit quiet over here of late, my laptop broke and so I am photoshop-less! But I just ordered a new copy which I hope to get soon, so I can get back to a semi-regular posting schedule.

Happy Birthday, blog!

Wow, I started this blog four years ago today! (I can't really say I've been writing this blog for four years as my posts have been sporadic at best ;)

Seems like just two minutes ago that I was writing my first (terrible!) post.

Here's to the next four years! May it be filled with happy stories, recipes and good news. Cheers!

This pup...

This pup is this naughtiest puppy ever - but she's also this sweetest, most playful, and funniest which more than makes up for it. She brings me such joy every day.

Sweet Memories

Over the past few weeks, I've been updating this blog with some of the old posts from other blogs I've kept over time. I've been thinking more and more about how precious my diaries and journal entries are, both my online ones and my ones in my actual old school pen-and-paper diary and I want to protect them as much as possible. They mean so much to me, especially the ones that I wrote whilst I was travelling.

So I've been copying and pasting them over here. I've lost the comments on them but I don't care. If you're interested in reading through them, you can do so here.

I apologise in advance for how terrible they are ;)

Peaches and Peas

Two of my favourite things about summer: peaches, and fresh peas still in their pods.