Woohoo – I actually made my marmalade last week 🙂 Luckily Seville oranges do last quite a while if kept in a cool place. My husband  feels much happier now that the pantry is stocked with marmalade!
I’ve posted the recipe before, so if you want it, just look in my tags. 🙂
For want of repeating myself on regular intervals, I’ve made my regular greengage jam. Not so many greengages this year, but enough to make a good quantity of jam.
Eating them fresh is like eating little balls of nectar
and eating the jam, Â it’s extremely sweet and something very special!
Can’t wait till it cools:-)
Mmmm, blackberries.
It’s the beginning of the autumn fruiting season and we have some bramble in the garden that was meant to have been cut back, this now is bearing fruit. I managed to pick almost a punnet from it, leaving lots more to ripen. The blackberries down our road are still green but as you can see I found an apple tree with fruit on!
So entering into the spirit of the season, I had to make an apple and blackberry pie.
It looked quite rustic but with a scoop of vanilla ice cream it tasted fab! 
As you may well know I do enjoy frugal food! 🙂
Remember this, the stringy old rhubarb only fit for the compost heap!.
Well it’s now ready for the compost heap….
after a soaking in water with a spoon of  pectolaise to release the lovely juice.
With added sugar and yeast it is heading for the airing cupboard to be forgotten about for a few months until it’s ready to bottle.
I’ve never made rhubarb wine before so we’ll have to see how it comes out! 🙂
We’ve been enjoying our fruit harvest over the last few weeks 
and yes, the wonderful thing about it is all these luxurious fruits are free!
The small initial cost of buying the plants is minimal compared to the amount of fruit you get each year. So if you have to, or are choosing to live a frugal life these lovely plants are a must for your garden 🙂
I got this recipe from Lovely Greens on Pinterest I might be just in time to catch the end of your strawberries!
Rhubarb and strawberries from my garden.
I tried GF ready roll pasty this time and used one of our eggs for glazing.
It is so delicious 🙂
I thought I’d share our garden with you, it looks so lush and green. We are having quite a rainy summer here in the UK, this does mean less time watering for me! 
I’m feeling very blessed at the moment with the continual harvest 🙂
It always amazes me that this..
turns into this..
so that you can do this! 🙂
My first mince pies made this year. Two already eaten, as My Husband says he can smell mince pies from 50 yards!
I thought I’d add a little history.
A mince pie is a small British fruit-based mincemeat sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.
The early mince pie was known by several names, including mutton pie, shrid pie and Christmas pie. Typically its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Served around Christmas, the savoury Christmas pie (as it became known) was associated with supposed Catholic “idolatry” and during the English Civil War was frowned on by the Puritan authorities. Nevertheless, the tradition of eating Christmas pie in December continued through to the Victorian era, although by then its recipe had become sweeter and its size reduced markedly from the large oblong shape once observed. Today the mince pie remains a popular seasonal treat enjoyed by many across the United Kingdom.
Well there we are! 🙂
Just a little tip on how easy it is to make your own tomato soup.
I still have tomatoes in the fridge from late ripening so I decided to make some soup. Â You can make this out of shop bought tomatoes, especially if you manage to get them at reduced price.
Slice them all in half and lay on an oiled baking sheet with some herbs and perhaps garlic. I used rosemary and oregano. put in the oven on 180C Â for about 30mins. Quantity of tomatos is up to you as left over can be eaten the next day or frozen.
When they are nice and crinkley, whiz them up in a food processor….
Put into a pan with some chicken or veg. stock. The amount is up to you again as to how thick you like your soup.
Season to taste and serve! 🙂
An Artist's House 