Yes folks its that time of the year\ again.
We were so pleased with how the winter special deals went last year that Im running them again this winter.
So.
From Sept 30th all winter to March 31st 2012. The priceof Mara's Cottage will be only 15 euros a night. That includes your electricity, gas, and a reasonable supply of logs for the fire.
The caravan goes down to only 10 euros a night. Again that covers electricity and Gas. It has a good fuctioning heater and is cosy enough so Im told.
Im also starting the evening meals again too. three courses, wine and coffee, 7.50 per person
Booking for Octover already!!
Frugal living in the Portuguese countryside,Eco-tourism, Agri tourism, recipes,family life, self sufficency, eco living, vegetable growing, tips and self help ideas for country living.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Funniest thing Ive seen for ages...
Just walked the dogs in the forest, its a lovely cool but sunny morning, almost autumnal...
Just down the lane the blackberries are just finishing, they have been laden this year...
I came round a bend in the track to see Beesa in the bushes. Wondering what she was upto I aproached quietly, she was eating blackberries straight off the bush... to see her trying to curl back her lips to nip off the berries without catching her mouth on the brambles.... was hysterical....makes me smile again now just thinking of it.... so sad I didnt have a camera...
Just down the lane the blackberries are just finishing, they have been laden this year...
I came round a bend in the track to see Beesa in the bushes. Wondering what she was upto I aproached quietly, she was eating blackberries straight off the bush... to see her trying to curl back her lips to nip off the berries without catching her mouth on the brambles.... was hysterical....makes me smile again now just thinking of it.... so sad I didnt have a camera...
Monday, 29 August 2011
Peach Compote Recipe -Frugal Cheat
Im making quite a lot of this at the moment, a neighbour has given me all her fallen peaches, and while they are the small egg size peaches, they taste heavenly. Sadly most are bruised and not great to eat fresh, so Im making compote and we'll have wonderful peach pies during winter.
I am having to peel my peaches as they are bruised and thin skinned, but remove the skin whichever way you find easiest, dropping into water like tomatoes would be easy if your peaches were sound ones.
stone them and cut away bruised bits.
When you have done them all add a good couple of handfuls of sultanas. And then... heres the cheat bit... a peeled finely diced marrow.... Marrow is so bland it more or less has no flavour of its own, and can be used to bulk out almost anything like this. It takes on the stronger flavours of the fruit and no one will ever know...
I also at this point have been adding a big dollop of cheap whiskey, only because I have it , a guest left half a bottle behind in the cottage and we dont drink whiskey... (I usually put red wine in this recipe)
Before you add the booze, whichever you use, weigh the fruit alltogther . You will need two thirds of that weight in sugar, put to one side for later.
So simmer all your fruit and booze together till its all soft and well fallen and the juice has made it liquid... now add the sugar. Stir well and turn up the heat so it bubbles well for about 15 or 20 mins...
Put while hot into hot sterile jars , cover with small paper discs as for jam and screw on lids tight. It will keep in a cool cupboard all winter... great for pies, turnovers.... on pancakes... or icecream... yummy
I am having to peel my peaches as they are bruised and thin skinned, but remove the skin whichever way you find easiest, dropping into water like tomatoes would be easy if your peaches were sound ones.
stone them and cut away bruised bits.
When you have done them all add a good couple of handfuls of sultanas. And then... heres the cheat bit... a peeled finely diced marrow.... Marrow is so bland it more or less has no flavour of its own, and can be used to bulk out almost anything like this. It takes on the stronger flavours of the fruit and no one will ever know...
I also at this point have been adding a big dollop of cheap whiskey, only because I have it , a guest left half a bottle behind in the cottage and we dont drink whiskey... (I usually put red wine in this recipe)
Before you add the booze, whichever you use, weigh the fruit alltogther . You will need two thirds of that weight in sugar, put to one side for later.
So simmer all your fruit and booze together till its all soft and well fallen and the juice has made it liquid... now add the sugar. Stir well and turn up the heat so it bubbles well for about 15 or 20 mins...
Put while hot into hot sterile jars , cover with small paper discs as for jam and screw on lids tight. It will keep in a cool cupboard all winter... great for pies, turnovers.... on pancakes... or icecream... yummy
Friday, 26 August 2011
Harvesting Squash.
Well we wont go hungry this winter. So far I have harvested, 38 Butternut squashes, 32 Spagetti pumpkins, 5 Uchikiri, 11 Harlequin Pumpkins and have 5 very large normal pumkins to come. The Butter nuts are sprouting more shoots and have a few smaller squashes to come yet. They always push out a smaller crop if I manage to pick them in time. I have around a dozen marrows too, some I will use as chutney bulking stuff, others will keep in a cool place for months yet, and be used as roast veggies cut into large chunks and sprinkled with herbs... ymmmy..
Wood- Warm and Cosy this wintertime..
Well, its that time of year again, the big race is on to collect, cut, split and stack enough dry wood to see us and hopefully cottage guests through the winter. We've worked hard over the summer, to collect plenty, and Rick has spent a vast part of his days lately cutting and splitting the dry stuff, Ive been dillegently doing my part by stacking it all neatly in the barn. We now have two rows, right across the barn stacked to head height. With a pile ready for stacking that should make another row... and Rick is busy splitting a pile outside the barn that hopefully will be another row... Four... isnt enough. but we have lots of scrap scattered around the place yet to collect, tons of pine braches, but they are right down the bottom on the orchard... anyone who has been to our place knows how steep the road between our house and that orchard is.... but, if I want to be warm and cosy this winter, it has to be done. Not only does it keep us warm but cooks our food and dries the washing too...Its a vital part of what we do here... but such hard work... I just keep thinking of how lovely and warm we will be this winter... and all for free....
Two rows in the barn and more to stack
 |
| Two Rows in the barn. |
Two rows in the barn and more to stack
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| Rick working Hard |
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Frugal Living, Quick & Simple Pasta sauce etc..
For Pasta sauces, tomato sauces and my purees, I do exactly the same as for the pie fillings, .
For pasta sauce, I chop all my excess veg, courgettes, peppers, green beans, aubergines etc... make sure the veg is all cut to similar sizes , add plenty of chopped onion, and garlic, and tons of tomatoes... I dont add any liquid... it will all simmer away in its own juices, and when all is soft and tender, season , I tend to add a little sugar...
Meanwhile wash and sterilise jars in boiling water as in last post for pie fillings, fill hot jars with piping hot sauce, making sure to leave a good gap at the top, fill this gap with olive oil... it makes a good airtight seal. Screw on lids and leave to cool.
This method works just as well for tomato sauce, I just chop the toms, add lashings of onions and garlic and herbs, obviously basil works well, so does oregano.. I dont add any liquid, they cook well in their own juices...
For tomato puree, just chop the toms onions and garlic add a small amount of good oil and a good splodge of balsamic vinegar to a roasting dish, pile in the toms, a large heaped tin will roast down to a small amount, roast gently for ages... Im lucky I have a wood stove, when almost all the liquid have evaporated, and whats left is nice and thick and gloopy... add a little salt and a pinch of sugar. and blitz with a hand blender. reheat till piping hot... and put in hot jars as above... add your olive oil to seal tops and away you go... great to add on almost anything you want a concentrated tomatoey taste too...
I plan on making homemade tomato pasta this winter... just by adding a spoonful to the flour while Im making it
For pasta sauce, I chop all my excess veg, courgettes, peppers, green beans, aubergines etc... make sure the veg is all cut to similar sizes , add plenty of chopped onion, and garlic, and tons of tomatoes... I dont add any liquid... it will all simmer away in its own juices, and when all is soft and tender, season , I tend to add a little sugar...
Meanwhile wash and sterilise jars in boiling water as in last post for pie fillings, fill hot jars with piping hot sauce, making sure to leave a good gap at the top, fill this gap with olive oil... it makes a good airtight seal. Screw on lids and leave to cool.
This method works just as well for tomato sauce, I just chop the toms, add lashings of onions and garlic and herbs, obviously basil works well, so does oregano.. I dont add any liquid, they cook well in their own juices...
For tomato puree, just chop the toms onions and garlic add a small amount of good oil and a good splodge of balsamic vinegar to a roasting dish, pile in the toms, a large heaped tin will roast down to a small amount, roast gently for ages... Im lucky I have a wood stove, when almost all the liquid have evaporated, and whats left is nice and thick and gloopy... add a little salt and a pinch of sugar. and blitz with a hand blender. reheat till piping hot... and put in hot jars as above... add your olive oil to seal tops and away you go... great to add on almost anything you want a concentrated tomatoey taste too...
I plan on making homemade tomato pasta this winter... just by adding a spoonful to the flour while Im making it
Frugal Living. Quick & Simple pie fillings.
We have a glut of fruit at the moment, and although I am fast running out of jars now, this is the way I make my sweet pie fillings to keep for winter.
All I do is , wash and clean the fruit, at the moment its black berries or peaches.
The blackberries are put in the preserving pan, any large heavy pan will do, with just a small amount of water, to one kilo of fruit I add around 200 ml of liquid.. gently warm the fruit till the juice runs... simmer away till fruit is soft and fallen. Add equal amounts of sugar to fruit... bring to a rolling boil as in making jam... but dont expect it to thicken like jam.
For the peaches I just peel, and pit them, cut into chunks as it will cook down to a pulp. (half the water though) I also add the odd clove and a handful of dried fruit... and cook as for the berries, when all has fallen to a soft pulp, add the sugar, and rolling boil..
Meanwhile, scrub jars well, I then fill my washing up bowl with boiling water, slip in the jars and lids, and leave to sterilise for a few minutes, then with tongs I pick one at a time out, fill with red hot fruit , and put a paper circle on inside to seal against the air, then screw on lids tight. Mine always keeps for all winter...
Perfect for a quick pie filling, fruit turnovers, or just on pancakes ... yummy...
All I do is , wash and clean the fruit, at the moment its black berries or peaches.
The blackberries are put in the preserving pan, any large heavy pan will do, with just a small amount of water, to one kilo of fruit I add around 200 ml of liquid.. gently warm the fruit till the juice runs... simmer away till fruit is soft and fallen. Add equal amounts of sugar to fruit... bring to a rolling boil as in making jam... but dont expect it to thicken like jam.
For the peaches I just peel, and pit them, cut into chunks as it will cook down to a pulp. (half the water though) I also add the odd clove and a handful of dried fruit... and cook as for the berries, when all has fallen to a soft pulp, add the sugar, and rolling boil..
Meanwhile, scrub jars well, I then fill my washing up bowl with boiling water, slip in the jars and lids, and leave to sterilise for a few minutes, then with tongs I pick one at a time out, fill with red hot fruit , and put a paper circle on inside to seal against the air, then screw on lids tight. Mine always keeps for all winter...
Perfect for a quick pie filling, fruit turnovers, or just on pancakes ... yummy...
Monday, 22 August 2011
Natures Bounty...
Well , I thought the garden was winding down a bit... and I suppose in some ways it is... but I seem to have spent all my time since my last post, either picking, preserving bottling freezing... or eating the produce we have...
Its a lovely time of the year, we are almost completely living off our garden produce. We've tons of tomatoes, I pick a washing up bowl full every other day almost... Im making tons of roasted tomato puree, and tomato passata, and pasta sauces, luckily the basil is doing well too so we eat tomato onion and basil salad with most meals...
The french beans have been wonderful, they are almost done now, but we've been eating them most days too as I have so many in the freezer I just cant freeze any more. The latest crop of peas is just starting, we've had a couple of meals from them to ring the changes from beans... there wont be enough to freeze, which is great as there just isnt the room... but I have plenty in there from our early crop anyway... the pt beans are cropping now and Im picking again a washing up bowl full every few days and no room to freeze them...
The aubergines and peppers are slowing down a bit, which is great as we are having to eat them as they come and its testing my creative cooking skills a bit at the mo... how many times can you serve up a mix of beans, toms, aubergines peppers, courgettes... without going .... ohh no not again...
The Jar situation is becoming quite critical too.... I have a few jam sized jars left for the peach preserve I plan to make this week, but the large kilo jars I use for pasta sauce etc and preserving figs in syrup are in very short supply. Sadly Ive had a few with damaged lids but I think I may have to buy some more...
My freezer is just crammed, Rick took everything out and rearranged it last night to fit in some magnificent huge honey figs our neigbour gave us... a large carrier bag ful... these are the biggest figs Ive ever seen... and so sweet... I have another large bag coming in a few days and nowhere to put them, I have a excellent recipe for bottling them in honey/tea syrup but need some jars badly.
We have done really well for fruit this year, peaches in syrup, peach preserve, blackberry and apple jam, blackberries in syrup, frozen blackberries, frozen mini grapes, frozen apples sliced... black currants...
And more peaches to come....
phew...
Its a lovely time of the year, we are almost completely living off our garden produce. We've tons of tomatoes, I pick a washing up bowl full every other day almost... Im making tons of roasted tomato puree, and tomato passata, and pasta sauces, luckily the basil is doing well too so we eat tomato onion and basil salad with most meals...
The french beans have been wonderful, they are almost done now, but we've been eating them most days too as I have so many in the freezer I just cant freeze any more. The latest crop of peas is just starting, we've had a couple of meals from them to ring the changes from beans... there wont be enough to freeze, which is great as there just isnt the room... but I have plenty in there from our early crop anyway... the pt beans are cropping now and Im picking again a washing up bowl full every few days and no room to freeze them...
The aubergines and peppers are slowing down a bit, which is great as we are having to eat them as they come and its testing my creative cooking skills a bit at the mo... how many times can you serve up a mix of beans, toms, aubergines peppers, courgettes... without going .... ohh no not again...
The Jar situation is becoming quite critical too.... I have a few jam sized jars left for the peach preserve I plan to make this week, but the large kilo jars I use for pasta sauce etc and preserving figs in syrup are in very short supply. Sadly Ive had a few with damaged lids but I think I may have to buy some more...
My freezer is just crammed, Rick took everything out and rearranged it last night to fit in some magnificent huge honey figs our neigbour gave us... a large carrier bag ful... these are the biggest figs Ive ever seen... and so sweet... I have another large bag coming in a few days and nowhere to put them, I have a excellent recipe for bottling them in honey/tea syrup but need some jars badly.
We have done really well for fruit this year, peaches in syrup, peach preserve, blackberry and apple jam, blackberries in syrup, frozen blackberries, frozen mini grapes, frozen apples sliced... black currants...
And more peaches to come....
phew...
Friday, 12 August 2011
Another Quick Update
hehehe Im updating this again very quickly because certain people are nagging me.... Yes Betty... I mean you!
I do realise, Ive neglected this blog most of the summer. But its precisely this time of the year where I barely get time to draw breath let alone get my thoughts together to write this blog... Sorry.
So... well Rick is back, the working in the UK thing just didnt work out for us, he didnt earn enough to warrant the heartache it caused us both being apart. (Everybody say AHHHH) luckily the cottage and caravan have both paid their way the last month, plus with more bookings to come, its enabled us to live and start to put a tiny bit by for the winter.
Rick is off to Germany the last week of August to run a Softball training clinic over there, and hopefully again to Madrid in late Sept... so thats looking promising too...
The garden is starting to wind down a bit now, all thats left to come is tons more beans... french ones and runners and portuguese ones too... we are eating as many as possible, giving them away and making them into veggie pasta sauces, as the freezer is more or less packed to the gills... Ive saved enough room in there for the late peas, some more apples, and some more aubergines...
We will soon have our second crop of peas, yummy.... the basil is still going strong, as are the tomatoes, kilos and kilos... and the peppers and aubergines too...
In the freezer we have, chestnuts from last year, jerusalam artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, french beans, sliced runners, sliced portuguese beans, podded pt beans, sliced yellow american beans, leeks, toms, aubergines, peppers, corn, tons of it, coriander, basil and sage, parsnips, apples, blackberries, and grapes, figs. Probably much more I cant think of right now...
We still have three sacks of potatoes in storage, I managed to produce 7 Galia melons... they were fantastic... so sweet...
All the winter squash is ripening up nicely, Ive tons of marrows to be used as bulk for chutney, im madly processing the toms into roasted tomato puree, tomato sauce, with basil, or with onions and garlic... pasta sauce with veggies.... Ive sundried a huge jar full too.... made 12 litres of Fennel liquer...
I have a massive crop of wild blackberries all around us, Ive frozen some, and made eight jars of blackberry and apple jam, but have a huge batch to make within a day or two. Then will come chutney... the beets are all pickled and put away...
So we are still working like mad to get everything done and make sure none goes to waste... we planted 3 doz caulis and 3 doz cabbage today too...
At least its cooled down today, the weather has been soooooo hot, 38 degrees and more the last few days, today is only 32 and feels wonderful, we actually have breeze...thank heavens for that pool....
I do realise, Ive neglected this blog most of the summer. But its precisely this time of the year where I barely get time to draw breath let alone get my thoughts together to write this blog... Sorry.
So... well Rick is back, the working in the UK thing just didnt work out for us, he didnt earn enough to warrant the heartache it caused us both being apart. (Everybody say AHHHH) luckily the cottage and caravan have both paid their way the last month, plus with more bookings to come, its enabled us to live and start to put a tiny bit by for the winter.
Rick is off to Germany the last week of August to run a Softball training clinic over there, and hopefully again to Madrid in late Sept... so thats looking promising too...
The garden is starting to wind down a bit now, all thats left to come is tons more beans... french ones and runners and portuguese ones too... we are eating as many as possible, giving them away and making them into veggie pasta sauces, as the freezer is more or less packed to the gills... Ive saved enough room in there for the late peas, some more apples, and some more aubergines...
We will soon have our second crop of peas, yummy.... the basil is still going strong, as are the tomatoes, kilos and kilos... and the peppers and aubergines too...
In the freezer we have, chestnuts from last year, jerusalam artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, french beans, sliced runners, sliced portuguese beans, podded pt beans, sliced yellow american beans, leeks, toms, aubergines, peppers, corn, tons of it, coriander, basil and sage, parsnips, apples, blackberries, and grapes, figs. Probably much more I cant think of right now...
We still have three sacks of potatoes in storage, I managed to produce 7 Galia melons... they were fantastic... so sweet...
All the winter squash is ripening up nicely, Ive tons of marrows to be used as bulk for chutney, im madly processing the toms into roasted tomato puree, tomato sauce, with basil, or with onions and garlic... pasta sauce with veggies.... Ive sundried a huge jar full too.... made 12 litres of Fennel liquer...
I have a massive crop of wild blackberries all around us, Ive frozen some, and made eight jars of blackberry and apple jam, but have a huge batch to make within a day or two. Then will come chutney... the beets are all pickled and put away...
So we are still working like mad to get everything done and make sure none goes to waste... we planted 3 doz caulis and 3 doz cabbage today too...
At least its cooled down today, the weather has been soooooo hot, 38 degrees and more the last few days, today is only 32 and feels wonderful, we actually have breeze...thank heavens for that pool....
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