The cozy months are upon us. Whilst not a huge fan of Autumn and Winter there are some things I love about them such as the colours created during the Autumn months and the cozy evenings wrapped in a blanket drinking hot chocolate or sipping one of my flavoured gin’s.
This week I made some blackberry vodka and greengage gin. They will now sit in my cupboard for a month with a weekly shake up to make sure sugar is mixed in. Then will decant into bottles.
We had a lovely time celebrating my eldest daughter’s Birthday and a delicious afternoon tea at our local garden centre’s cafe. There were finger sandwiches, Eton mess, scones, jam and cream and little squares of rocky road, flapjack and brownie. We could not manage to eat all of the cake but bought some home with us for the following day 😊
Last week I gave you a traditional Autumn Meal Planner freebie, this week I created a shabby chic autumn Planner for my Etsy Store. I love the soft pastel shades and will be printing and using this one for my meal planning this week.
With the announcement of the energy prices going up I thought I should think about how I can change the way I do everyday things to save energy and hopefully cut down on costs. Therefore I have bought an air fryer which is much cheaper to run than the oven. This is the one I bought
I will be using my slow cooker more too. I have also bought a large drying rack to use rather than the tumble dryer which I usually resort to in the winter months as outside line drying is almost impossible.
The air fryer I have bought will be fine for when there is just myself and my eldest daughter at home but already I feel it is a little small for a larger amount of cooking despite them calling it a family sized air fryer. If you are thinking about investing in one then definitely buy a larger one if you are cooking for more than 2 people.
Watch out for some recipes using the air fryer in the coming weeks. I can say that our jacket potatoes were lovely. I microwaved them for about 10 mins then rubbed them with oil and sprinkled a little salt onto their skins and then popped them into the air fryer for about 35 mins on 180 degrees. They were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the centre and if you are like me and enjoy eating the skin, these were the best skins I have ever made.
My crocheting project for this week has been creating a granny square. I think I have it done and am fairly happy with its look. Now to get it all written up and get some of my friends to pattern test for me. I also need to come up with a name for my square, so any suggestions will be gratefully received. Here is my first finished square. I have tweaked it a little but it looks fairly similar.
Anyhow I should be off now so enjoy your week until next time we catch up.
Stepping Into Sixty and Out Of The Comfort Zone 