The recipe looked lovely and, as its been a good few years since I have made one I decided to give it a go.

To be fair, in the past I have only ever made my Grandma Harriet’s Christmas Cake and this recipe was quite different to that…

… Dried figs, prunes and apricots as well as the usual sultanas and raisins were all soaked for 3 days in orange juice and a nut liqueur before adding to the spiced cake mixture today… it smelled amazing:-

It might be the last time I use my late Mum’s mixing bowl, however, as I noticed a crack in it. Well it is over 50 years old!

The recipe called for a larger cake tin than I own, so rather than go out and buy another I decided to put any left over mixture in a loaf tin. But there was still some mixture left, so after filling my house with the lovely smell of baking for four hours while the larger cakes cooked I then poured the last of the mix into the loaf tin and cooked that too

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The result was amazing and I now have three cakes to cover with almond paste and icing. The two smaller ones will make nice presents for people I think!!!

6 Large lemons

1 750ml bottle of vodka

2 1/4 cups of water

3 cups sugar

Wash and dry the lemons and with a vegetable peeler, remove the rind only, leaving the pith intact.

Place the lemon peel in a kilner jar with a rubber seal lid.

Add the alcohol making sure the peel is covered.

Store in a cool, dark place shaking the jar once a day to agitate the lemon peel.

On the 13th day bring the water to boil in a saucepan add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved – allow to cool.

When the syrup is cool strain the mixture from the jars into the saucepan and stir for about one minute. Transfer back to the jars and store in a cool dark place for 3 weeks, shaking to agitate the liquid twice a day.

After three weeks transfer the limoncello to smaller bottles and store them in the freezer. Serve straight from the freezer!

There are two of my bottles ready for the freezer – ignore the jar behind them that’s a fruit compote – my son is coming for dinner tonight and we are having roast pork – in the absence of apple sauce I thought I would make this to serve with the meat – it is gorgeous……

And so, I might add is the limoncello – I just had to try a small glass – mmmmm enjoy!!!!

Ade had said that when he was a school boy he used to visit a friend’s house and the friend’s Mum taught them both to make a cake where the fruit had been soaked in tea for a couple of hours. He thought it was lovely at the time and earlier this week he had bought a Yorkshire tea cake for £2 which he thoroughly enjoyed too.

I had never cooked a cake with the fruit soaked in tea – brandy or rum yes – but never tea! But I said I would try to find the recipe for him.

This morning my friend Google found the very recipe and so I thought I would try it out just to make sure it worked.

I soaked 500 grams of dried fruit in 400 mls of freshly brewed tea (2 tea bags).

Then I stirred in 200grams muscovado sugar, 1 egg whisked with a little vanilla essence and 250 grams of self raising flour.

Turned it into a loaf tin – be warned this makes a 2lb loaf, my tin is only half the size so i made two! Also the tin should be greased and lined but I like to use non stick foil for these things.

Bake at 175C Gas mark 4 for 1.5 hours or if cooked in two smaller tin 45 minutes each.

What a result!

They look and smell gorgeous….

Are perfectly cooked…..

and taste amazing – all that plump fruit – beautiful eaten warm with butter on…

Gotta go now and put the kettle on – I know what will go down well with this – a nice cup of tea!!!

It all started as a way to use up leftovers from Sunday dinner roast in a way that my family would be happy to eat.

I just layered all the leftovers in a pie dish – poured the gravy over and then put a shortcust top on it.

The trouble is – its too nice and nobody wants the roast dinner now they want to go straight to the pie! And the word is getting out – I am getting requests for pies.

So today I have made three the small one has already been baked and delivered to an elderly neighbour whose name begins with M of course and was last seen thoroughly enjoying every morsel.

One is for dinner for my daughter and I tonight…

with yorkshire puds of course..

And one for tomorrow because my partner does not like missing out on these!!!

This year, however we had loads and decided to ‘go for it’

First we dipped them into boiling water to loosen the skins.

Then we boiled them with tomato juice and garlic and herbs..

Then we packed them into very clean jars with lemon juice..

Ready to put into the canner. Of course its really a huge pressure cooker but it can hold so many jars in one go that its preferable to using a small one and taking all day. Easily prepared by smearing a little petroleum jelly around the seals.

Then we loaded the jars in

First  layer..

then another one on top…

Until it was full!

Then on with the lid and get it up to 10lbs pressure

Note the easy to read dial!!!

After ten minutes at 10lbs they were ready and after the pressure had gone down it was time to get them out. Bit of  problem here – how do it without burning oneself?

Oh yes – get up higher – that helps..

And even then its all quite hazardous..

But it was all worth it and we have a stock of canned tomatoes – it probably cost much more than buying but at least there is the satisfaction of knowing they were our own home grown ones.

I’m fortunate, my daughter and I went through this a few months ago and now after a severe defrosting we actually have things we like in there, except the runner beans in my daughter’s case.

My partner, however is going through the final stages of clearing the freezer prior to blasting it with the hairdryer and making room for more goodies.

Last night he cooked a beautiful steak and kidney pud for me – it was delicious! But this morning he said that we would have to have fish in a bag this week as it was one of things that had to go. He made it sound horrible and I suppose it isn’t very enthralling at the best of times. I said I’d take the offending packet of four cod portions in parsley sauce and try to make them interesting for supper on Monday evening.

I’m hoping its worked but the proof of the pudding etc…….

I put the frozen blocks of fish in sauce in a dish and put a layer of broad beans, peas and sweetcorn over them. Then I mashed some potato with butter and cheese and forked it over the top, covered it with grated cheese and italian herbs and decorated with home grown tomato. It looks good doesn’t it?…….

I’ll let you know what it tastes like!!! But at least its not fish in a bag!!!!

Ever since I learned to cook I have always liked making up my own recipes from Sunday Dinner Pie to Ginger and Citrus chicken. My partner and my children love the culinary delights that come from my penchant for using up leftovers.

The other day I came across three slices of brown bread in a bag – obviously not going to be used as the new loaf had already been opened.

I decided to knock up a bread and butter pud – it was delicious – so delicious it was eaten before I got to take a photo – and here by request is the recipe:-

3 large slices of bread, buttered and spread with lime marmalade

2 tablespoons of sugar

Handful of sultanas

2 eggs

few drops of vanilla essence

half a pint of skimmed milk (or full cream or semi)

Grease a pie dish well – or in my case line it with non stick foil (what a great invention)

Cut the bread into pieces and arrange in layers in the dish. Each layer is sprinkled with a little sugar and some sultanas.

Mix the eggs,milk and essence together and pour carefully over the layered bread.

Most people cook it straight away but I left mine to soak for a while.

Cook at 180 degrees for 45 minutes – if its a fan oven shorten the time

The result – a lovely, light and tangy pud with a crusty sugared top!

Gorgeous.

Enjoy!