October my heart

Oh am I glad it's October! If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed that I was struggling with Alessi's settling in days at school last month. And so was she. Having her routine change from one week to the next confused her no end and while I had initially thought that I would be able to get stuff done around these hours, it quickly became obvious that wasn't going to happen.
No matter. She's finally started her full hours and we've all settled in to the new routine without too many hiccups.*

And so now I find myself looking forward again.

My winter clothes have come down from the attic while my kimonos, strappy dresses, sandals and shorts went back up. I've been reunited with my favourite tartan scarf!

Along with my winter clothes came my box of winter projects. A crochet blanket that needs fixing, the fabric from my ill fated tweed coat (I will make that one day) and two of my favourite jumpers that were ruined by being stretched out of shape. One by Alessi, then a toddler and the other by the washing machine. I'm in the process of upcycling them in to cardigans. It's a slow process because I LOVE those jumpers and I'm afraid of ruining them for good, but I'll get there.

Last month I bought Alessi a book of things to make and do in autumn. The idea was to give us some ideas to fill the afternoons after her settling in mornings at school. As she was too angry/upset/tired/filled with murderous intent to do them then, we're only just making use of the book now. The first activity she picked was making baked apples which she LOVED. Seriously, it was like some kind of crack for kids. She ate hers and polished off mine because I'm a soft touch. I had to promise we'd make them again this week.
The book also comes with a weather chart which you can change daily. It's a lovely little book and I can't recommend it enough. Happily, we haven't had to change it for a little while. Sunny and golden appears to be the order of the day. And long may it last.

*I have yet to get her to school on time, I forgot her PE kit and the homework she's already getting is making me give the education system serious side eye, but apart from that, we're all settled.

Apple & Blackberry Crumble Recipe

I only ever seem to get the urge to bake around this time of year. When the days become shorter, darker and my body starts screaming at me to eat stodgy foods and hide under a blanket. Who am I to argue?
That said, I am no baker. TV chefs annoy the hell out of me. All of them insisting I use ingredients that add to my weekly food bill, will rarely get used again and then trying to palm off their recipes as easy and simple? Oh please. I miss Delia.

When I bake, and admittedly that isn't often, I use the most simple version of the recipe I can get away with. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does it's a thing of beauty. Well actually that's a lie. No one could ever describe my cooking as a thing of beauty, but it does taste good and that's the important thing.

So without further ado, here is my easy peasy recipe for the autumnal staple, apple and blackberry crumble. Enjoy.

You will need:

Crumble
Plain flour 120g
Margarine 60g
Sugar 60g

Fruit filling
Apples 300g
Blackberries 115g
Margarine 30g
Sugar 30g

STEP 1: Make The Crumble

Put your plain flour, margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl and rub it altogether with your fingers. Then cook it in the oven for 10 minutes. You don't have to do this bit, but it stops the crumble from going all soggy later when you sprinkle it over the fruit filling.

STEP 2: Make The Fruit Filling

Peel and cut your apples in to chunks. Big ones, little ones, s'up to you. Heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan and add the apples. Cook until tender then mix in the blackberries and cook for another couple of minutes.

STEP 3: Cook The Crumble

Pour the fruit filling into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle the crumble on top and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

See? Very basic. Very quick. Very do-able. And it's freezable too so you don't have to worry wasted leftovers. What's not to love?

Oh and as an aside, the blackberries in this recipe were picked with my darling daughter on one of the last hot summer days. I thought it would be a nice mummy/daughter bonding experience. She hated it. She cried. I was hot. She was hot. I got stung by nettles and the whole affair has probably taken five years off my life due to the stress involved. In short: it's ok to buy frozen blackberries.

Banoffee Pies

About six months ago it was my birthday. It landed on a week day, so I didn't go in. I have a strict "no work" policy when it comes to my birthday and I simply cannot understand why people would happily go in if they had the option of taking a day off to spoil themselves silly, but anyhow, I digress.

Because I took the day off I forgot all about the office rule of bringing cakes in for everyone. And as I said at the start of this post, that was about six months ago. Yup, that's right, I never got around to making any baked goods for the office girls and boys. Oops.

So last night I decided to do something about it and make some mini banoffee pies. I discovered the easiest recipe via a guest post by Talia Christine on Elsie Larson's blog A Beautiful Mess. Incidently, do any of you read this blog? If you don't then you should definitely check it out, the girl is so inspiring it makes my head spin. But I digress again.

They came out pretty well and even though I'm not much of a caramel fan, I've eaten enough of them to mean that there will be no baked treats making their way in to the office tomorrow. Once again, oops.

Bread and Butter Pudding

We have the best neighbours. They own a grocery shop and they regularly give us the bread that has just past it's sell by date for the chickens. Sometimes though, we have more than they can eat so we have to throw some out. This always seemed like such a waste until I remembered that just as old bananas are perfect for banana bread, slightly stale bread is perfect for bread and butter pudding! And seeing as the weather has been far from summery this past week or so it felt like the perfect time to make some stodgy, comfort food.

It tasted sooo good! It was also easy to make and cheap as chips too. I would highly recommend it. So if you fancy a go, here's what you will need..

Bread, enough to layer your pudding bowl with two layers

Butter

Icing sugar

2 x eggs, beaten

Milk, enough to cover both layers

Raisins

Nutmeg

1. Butter the bread and arrange in the bowl, butter side up. Sprinkle half the sugar and some raisins on the top.

2. Arrange another layer of buttered bread and again sprinkle with the remaining sugar and raisins.

3. Heat the milk until almost boiling and add the beaten egg. Stir it all up and add to the pudding. Leave for 10 minutes to let the bread soak up the milk/egg mixture.

4. Sprinkle with nutmeg, stick in the oven on gas mark 5 for 45 minutes and eat.

Also note how, unlike my banana bread (here and here), this isn't burnt! I put that down to the fact that I was drinking tea instead of wine this time. Drinking alcohol whilst baking = burnt stuff. Who woulda thunk it?