Turkey & Gammon Pie.

Ever wondered what to do with the yummy left-overs that you have at Christmas. We seemed to have a lot of surplus food this year, many people do tend to over cook on the off chance that relatives may come round. I wanted to use my turkey and gammon up but not just have them on  a plate with meat and veg. 

So I rustled up this scrummy pie. I made them in takeaway tubs- as I am going to freeze them and get them out when I fancy them (I tried to make them look as appealing as possible in the picture).

1. I fried half an onion, with a big spoon of butter for a few minutes. 

2. I then boiled the kettle with a chicken stock cube, and In a jug I mixed this stock cube and 200ml of boiling water thoroughly. I then added half of it to the browning onion.  

3. After I done this I added two tea spoons of flour, and then add a tea spoon of ordinary gravy granules to thicken up the paste. Then I added the rest of the water and if you needed more water you add a one more tea spoon of flour and one more off gravy granules making a thick sauce paste. 

4. Once this is done you can add some frozen peas, and your chopped gammon and turkey. Mix thoroughly for a few minutes.

5. Then pour into containers. You can then either use ready roll shortcrust or puff pastry, or you can make your own. Bake this for 30 minutes on 180 degrees. 

And there you have it a perfect pie to eat up now for a yummy tea or to pop in the freezer for a convenient meal on the go. 

Nutella Cookies

At this time of year you are always bombarded by chocolate, mince pies and sausage rolls. I always love to have some kind of treat at hand during the Christmas holidays. So when I got home from work today-  And YES I am still at work (sad face). As I am sure everyone seems to be off already apart from me I made these little goodies and they are very scrumptious. 

Ingredients 

- A teaspoon of Vanilla extract.

- Pinch of salt.

- Bag of Chocolate Chips.

- 115g of room temperature butter. 

- 150g of light brown sugar.

- 100g of granulated sugar.

- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.

- About half a tub of Nutella.

- 300g of Plain Flour. 

Step One

Preheat the Oven to 180c. And then line two baking trays with paper.

Step Two

Add you butter to a mixer, and on high mix this for a few minutes till its very soft and creamy. Then add both the sugar and light brown sugar. Mix all 3 ingredients till all is light, fluffy and creamy. 

Step Three

Once the butter and sugar is soft and creamy, add 1 egg and mix. Scrape the side of the bowl to make sure that the mixture is mixed evenly. Then add the egg yolk and mix, for a minute. Also scrape the bowl again to make sure all mixture is mixed evenly. 

Step Four

Add in Four big heaped teaspoons of Nutella and mix this in with the other mixture. Mix in till the mixture turns into a nice hazlenutty colour. 

Step Five

Sift the flour in with the mixture, bit by bit making sure you scrape the side of the bowl. So all mixture is mixed. Then add in a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Then last of all add in the chocolate chips and mix. The mixture will smell lovely and you should defiantly smell the nutella. If you cant you can add more. 

Step Six

Roll the dough into small balls, and with a fork swill nutella onto the top of the cookie ball. Make sure you spread out the cookie balls as the mixture will spread. And then bake the cookies anywhere between 12-15 minutes checking regularly on the process. Bake until a gorgeous golden brown colour.

These amazing cookies smell so good, they are a delicious hazelnut treat over the Christmas period. That everyone will love, they will go down a treat.  

Do you have the winter blues?

Its cold and miserable outside, for most people when you leave for work its dark and for most when you get home its dark #depressing. For those who love your garden like me its a nightmare you can only do work at the weekend which sucks... I genuinely think when you get home from work you have less energy that what you would if its dark. I don't know if its just me but all I want to do when I get back in from work in the winter, is put my pj's on and eat my dinner and lots of sweets and stare at the twinkly tree.

And as I sit hear and typing this my nails are chipped and I'm sitting under a blanket feeling pretty sorry for myself (gulp). And as soon as its hit November on the news you hear Winter Blues pop up. 

Well what is the winter blues I hear you ask and is it an actual thing? Well as I sit hear in my fluffy pj's and delving into a box of quality streets I am beginning to think its a real thing. So after doing a little while of digging I have found that it is scientifically a real thing. Many scientists believe its the way your body reacts to daylight, I get that really emphases the point I made earlier. The medial term for the Winter blues as I like to call it is SAD which is (Seasonal Affective Disorder). 

So the best thing I think you can do to beat the dreaded winter blues, is I know as hard as it can be try and get outside as much as you can whilst its light. If your work all day perhaps a ten minute stroll at lunch time will do the job. I think what I am going to try and do over the winter season as make an evening maybe once a week or once ever two weeks is have a little bit of a pamper evening. Get a Face Mask do my nails because I am a big fan of having lovely nails, I don't know what it is about having lovely nails but it does tend to make me feel a lot better. Also try and not over do yourself with sweets, I know I can hardly talk scoffing my sweets. Few more different fruits and veg over the winter will not hard anyone. Breakfast idea to beat the winter blues porridge and berries, pancakes and sweets. 

Stay happy and keep smiling over the chilly months. 

Addicted to salt..

I am every bit of a salt addict, I know I am and I am fully aware that I should not be. Some people are so dependent on certain foods/vitamins but I believe that I am dependent on salt if I don't have some I find myself eager to find some. I put salt on toast, beans, roast dinners I put salt on foods before I even try them which really is quite rude. If someone came round my house and put salt on something I cook before trying it I would be slightly mystified but yet I still do it when I go round other peoples. 

Recently, I have been to the doctors the reason I went to them is that I was feeling incredibly exhausted and just generally I had no energy and they done a blood test and they said that I have high blood pressure and one thing that can cause high blood pressure is a high salt intake. The Doctors were highly surprised that I had high blood pressure as I am young and healthy, and I did mention the amount of salt that I eat but they almost thought that it was a joke. I don't think they believed me when I told them about the sheer amount of salt I eat. 

I know I have to cut down and to be fair I don't know where to start I think first of all I am going to start with not adding any extra salt to my foods and using lots of different herbs and spices to mix things up a little bit. Trying to make foods more flavoursome and trying to stick to my guns to not using it, I am putting the salt way out of my reach.  

Fool Proof Mince Pies...

So one of my favourite things about Christmas is the food, I love mince pies, gingerbread men and anything remotely Christmasy. So today I made some yummy mince pies. I used a basic shortcrust pastry recipes which means you need 225g of plain flour and a 100g of flour and just a pinch of salt. 

You sift the flour into a mixing bowl or food mixed. I used a food mixer and it is just more easier, and it just does a much better job than when you do it yourself. You add the butter and a pinch of salt and then mix till the dough turns into bread crumbs. I had to add a few tea spoons of water as well. The dough will take some kneading so it gets into a nice ball. And then place it in the fridge for about 15 mins. 

Whilst the pastry is chilling put the oven at 200c fan, to preheat. Once the pastry is chilled roll it out so it is about 3mm think. I rolled it out a little bit too thick you can see from the picture I probably would have been able to make more if I hadn't of rolled it out so thick. Make sure you put plenty of flour on the surface that your rolling it out onto as you do not want the pastry sticking. Cut as many circles you need for your cupcake tin, I did not have any circle cutters. I had to use a protein shaker lid but ironically they fitted perfectly. 

You just gently place them in the tin and smooth round the edges. Fill them up with plenty of mincemeat. Then cut out stars or lids to go on top. You can then either use milk or an egg wash to coat the top. 

This recipe makes about 7 depending on how many you want you could double or triple the recipe. As its just me that likes them this quantity is for me is perfect.  And although they are a little bit thick, and I probably could have got a few more if I had rolled them out a little bit flatter. I do think that they look scrumptious.  

New to blogging...

I love writing, and reading and all things creative. I have tried blogging before and to be honest I could not stick to it, I don't know why but I couldn't find the things to say or I was worried on how I was going to be perceived. 

But I am going to use this little space on the internet to share my rambalings, my love of all things cute and anything edible. I am going to share my love for food, animals, gardening, arts and crafts and anything all round amazing.