Hello June

Hello Hello 

Despite my New Year best intentions my blogging has been slow. 

My poor blog has taken the brunt of lots of aspects of #HAFLife. 

So let’s have a catch up!

FEBRUARY 

The beginning of February saw Mr S’s Father’s 70th birthday celebrations. 

Friday 13th was lucky for us as we got our fantastic Allotment Plot 11A and the clearing & planning started. #HAFLottie

  
At the end of the month we had my friends book themed baby shower. 

MARCH 

My friend had her gorgeous little baby boy, he is a total heartbreaker. I adore him. 

The Allotment saw lots of progress. We cleared all the weeds, redesigned the beds, built a fence, sorted all the rubbish and generally tidied the plot. 

It also saw the start of our growing trials and trepidations. The learning curve began. 

We struggled with space and light starting off our seedlings which resulted in leggy unsavalvageable plants which we had to replant. Along the way we have learnt lots of lessons for next year. 

  
It was the middle Nieces birthday so we had a little party day for her at ours as she loves the animals. R also planted 3 Giant Pumpkin Seeds 1 for her and each of her sisters. 

APRIL

A Birthday month.. We have lots of family birthdays in April including my own.

For my own we had a lovely day out in Dedham & Flatford with The Dog in toe, having a wonderful Cream Tea at La Maison Talbooth with good enough weather to sit outside. 

  
Another April Birthday is my Great Aunt, she was 90 this year. We had a lovely family celebration and I turned my hand to some flower arranging. 

MAY

We saw May in with May Day Celebrations at Kentwell Hall enjoying traditional Tudor May Merry Making!! 

It also saw the first of our allotment Harvest! with the Rhubarb which we enjoyed not only stewed but in the marvelous discovery of ‘Rhubarb Champagne’.

The #HAFLottie started to get exciting too as the fruit bushes came to life and we started to plant our seedlings now little plug plants out. 

  
In more #HAFLife we had a spontaneous family date night at the drive in cinema at Alexandera Palace The Dog really was happy to be with us and he was very interested in the big people on the screen. 

Finally the Craft Room was painted and the process of reorganisation & clearing out has started.

For the second Bank Holiday my #postcircle #goose buddy aka the little grey girl knitter & blogger came to stay. It was Fab as always to catch up with her and we popped along to the Cambridge Beer Festival. 

On the Sunday we had a day “mucking about on the river” with my Brother, His Girlfriend & of course Our Bestest Boy! 

  
And to finish off the month Our Nieces popped over and we planted their Giant Pumpkin Plants; started off in March.

JUNE

Mr S took a week off and we had an Ikea trip for *squeel* craft room furniture & organisation. Followed by 5 days away; 1 in The Lake District & 4 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. 

  

The Sunshine and Showers have been miserable for me but GREAT for the garden & #HAF Lottie (minus the stupidly high winds). 

The #HAFLottie is really coming to life everything is now in with some successes and some less so, but we will see as time goes on. 

We have had spinach and strawberries this month, with the peas, gooseberries, redcurrant’s & blackcurrants not far behind. 

In 2 weeks we have had 6kg of Strawberries which is making us very popular with family. 

  

And some how we find ourselves at the end of June the longest day past and still no sign of the summer sun staying. 

I’ve not been crafting much although I’m really into my porcelain pottery at the moment. Im just finding my feet with it and can’t wait each week for my class. 

  

My time consuming passion this year has been the #HAFLottie which I look forward to sharing its seasonal progression. 

I’m still 4 weekly menu planning using my Filofax and we are now on the start of the Summer Menus. This has been one of the best changes, most time effective and money saving, I can’t recommend it enough. 

I haven’t been as active within the social media side of life but there is deffinatly lots of #HAFLife going on @HundredAcreFarm. 

  

I do miss catching up with you all! I mostly can be caught hanging around on Instagram these days; Serotiny_Haf So I hope to see you there… 

Let’s not leave it another 6 months. 

Sx

 

Meal Planning Monday: Winter Menu, Week 4

So this is the last week in my Winter Menu Meal Plan Rotation.

Week 4:

As I’ve explained we will work on this 4 Weekly Meal Rotation from November 2014 – March 2015 and then switch to a Spring Menu.

It really has helped keep us on budget and made the shopping so much easier as I have all the ingredients on the back of my laminated menu cards ready to go.

I stopped going into the supermarket and now use the online delivery this stops me impulse buying, enables me to check the cost of my shopping as I go, as well as the added bonus of saving time and energy on top of money.
To save further; Tesco also have £1 delivery slots on orders over £25 so I always use these slots.

I’ve been looking into ‘couponning’ and an app called ‘Shopitize’ but I am as yet to find these helpful in anyway… Do any of you use them or have any tips?
My problem with them all is we do not eat the things they have coupons for. We are gluten free so that cuts out all the regular breads and biscuits, we have a milkman (which works out cheaper) so never use the milk coupon and the rest are brands and products we would not use due to even with a small discount they aren’t cheaper than the alternatives.

On the topic of Gluten Free/Coeliac Disease.
All my Menu plans are based on being gluten free; so are more expensive anyway than the average persons would be.

An example:

Tesco Penne Pasta

Tesco Gluten Free Pasta

Admittedly Pasta you can get on Prescription but most people still have to pay for their Prescription (£8.05 each item in England, although Doctors tend to do multiples of one item for food allergies). This was just an example of a common food used as a cheap option in lots of thrifty recipes.

Obviously making homemade is cheaper but do any allergy sufferers have any tips for money saving?

Sx

Meal Planning Monday: An Extra Week

This week should be the 4th week in my winter meal plan but last week, some of the meals were replaced with quick omelettes or toast nights as Mr S worked late lots and I wasn’t feeling like dinner some nights.

So I have found we are nearly fully stocked for Winter Menu Plan Week 3 meaning that this week I will add a few extras but stick mainly to this.

Sx

Meal Planning Monday: Winter Menu: Week 3

It’s Week 3 in my Winter Menu Meal Plan.

Tuesday’s Aubergine Tagine makes extra for the freezer and Thursdays Sweet Potato Eggah makes extra for Saturday nights meal but once again the Menu Plan is Gluten Free and the main meals; dinners work out at roughly £20, I say roughly as the shops are forever changing the prices.

Sx

Meal Planning Monday: Winter Menu: Week 2

As I explained last week I now have weekly laminated set meal plans which I will repeat for the months November – March.

For 4 Weeks I will share my Winter Menu Plans & In March I will share my next Spring Menu Plans.

So here is Week 2.

Winter Menu Plan: Week 2

So until next week.

Sx

Meal Planning Monday: Winter Menu: Week 1

Over the past few months I have developed 4 weeks of meal plans.

This is to help me when I am not feeling good to keep focused and also so we can budget our food bill.

Each weeks shopping is budgeted to £20 give or take price fluctuations.

Each week has a full week of meals and on the reverse has the ingredients needed for easy shopping.

I have laminated these meal plans so that I can have them in my Filofax so they are with me at any time.

I also write these menus on a black board in the kitchen and a white board in the Craft Room. Which reminds me what is for dinner where ever I am.

I will share with you for the next 4 weeks my Winter meal plans.
Once I have completed 4 weeks I will repeat my meal plans so I won’t bore you repeating my posts. I intend to do these 4 weekly meal plans seasonally so for one we don’t get bored of the plans and secondly we will start to eat more seasonally.

My first meal plans I will use from November-March.

Week 1: Winter Meal Plan

Most but not all of the recipes are from A Girl Called Jacks Book

Although I have changed them to be gluten free and adapted some to our taste.

I would be interested in hearing anyone else’s meal planning & food budgeting ways.

Sx

My First Week Detox: I Quit Sugar.

My Name is Serotiny & I am a Sugar addict.

I REALLY am.

The main Sugary downfalls in my diet are Baking and Chocolate.
I tend to drink lots of tea (another unhealthy habit though I do drink a variety of teas not just black) and with this have cake, biscuits, chocolate etc. I use sugary foods to boast my energy and my mood.

I consume about 500g plus of Milk Chocolate a day, added to that I could have biscuits and cakes, and that’s all with out the added sugars in my healthy cereal, mayonnaise, even the odd mixer drink etc.

I dread to calculate how much sugar this was in my diet, I just know eating as much as I did was never going to have a good out come at some point in my life.

To look at me you wouldn’t believe I ate all this, which is a regular look I get from people or the one of hate/envy. I remain around a size 6-8 what ever I seem to eat, I have done the whole of my teens & adult life thus far.

But regardless of body shape and size it’s about what’s going on with my inner self, the finer biomechanics of my body.

So here is introducing I Quit Sugar to my life:

Sarah Wilson’s 8 week Detox programme and life style change.

I purchased this and her latest book “I Quit Sugar For Life” from Amazon a few weeks ago.
But I have been waiting for the right week to prepare myself and start it.

This last week was week 1. As Sarah suggests in the book I will be documenting my changes and developments, and I intend to do this in a little note book and by sharing my experience here with you.

I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has tried the “I Quit Sugar” detox and how this has all worked out for them?

Week 1: Monday 12th May 2014

“CUT BACK ON SUGARS & REFINED CARBOHYDRATES.”

“* Start making food swaps this week For Example instead of Jam on Toast for Breakfast swap to a sugar free alternative such as Avocado on Toast.”

My Weeks meal plan.

So as I said my main area of sugar consumption is chocolate, cakes and biscuits.
I don’t regularly drink added sugar drinks or have sugar in my tea etc.
So my first week I’ve cut out all chocolate, cakes, biscuits & crisps.

I’ve also started to whittle down foods in the cupboard with added sugar or foods such as dried fruits that contain high levels or fructose, my cereal etc. As I really want to stick to the program but I don’t want to waste food either.

It’s amazing how many things have added sugar.
As the week has gone on I’m finding it really hard, I’m doubting my reasons for doing this and have begun the wrong thinking process of “well I will just cut down the amount of chocolate etc I eat rather than do this”.

But despite all this I have kept going. At the same time positively I’ve been eating a proper full Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and have cut down on my black tea consumption.

I will say I’ve noticed a pattern developing in my chocolate/sugar consumption. With the hardest times being after meals. I seem to always crave something after a savoury meal.
So I’ve followed one of Sarah’s book suggestions and have been having Natural Plain Yogurt with Cinnamon. I’d love to tell you this helps but it doesn’t yet, I could still inhale a 250g bar of chocolate. I’ve also tried snacking on nuts which are high in fats and suggested by Sarah again they aren’t really helping.

But onwards to Week 2 …

Sx

Meal Planning Monday

Another week another meal plan, one thing I’ve noticed about our weeks recently is we have been having ‘take away’ lots – which is not in budget, though we try to stick to ‘take aways’ or easy food that are with in our eating plans i.e. Paleo and Gluten Free so by ‘take aways’ I don’t mean your pizza kind I mean M&S microwave meals and such like mostly.
Unfortunately it’s been caused by a lack of energy and Mr S’s late nights.
So obviously in light of this I need to correct this in the following weeks.

Meal Planning Monday: Week 3 Recap

Main Meals

Monday: Take Away.

Tuesday: Squash & Cauliflower Risotto.

Wednesday: Cottage Pie with Vegetable Topping.

Thursday: Sausages, Vegetable Mash.

Friday: Peppers Stuffed with Tomato Mince and an Egg on Top.

Saturday: Take Away (Instead of Jamie Oliver Chicken Fajitas & Gluten Free Tortilla’s)

Sunday: Jamie Oliver Chicken Fajitas & Gluten Free Tortilla’s. (Instead of Roast Lamb)

Lunch

Mr S: Chicken.
Myself: Soup.

Baking

I did no baking again so still no Stollen or Apple Pie.

So this week we mostly stuck to Plan though a couple of Take Aways snuck in. Hopefully next week will improve more.

Meal Planning Monday: Week 4

Main Meal

Monday: Chicken Curry with Coconut Spinach.

Tuesday: Peppers Stuffed With Mince Topped with Egg.

Wednesday: Chicken Curry & Cauliflower Rice.

Thursday: Sausage & Vegetable Mash.

Friday: Away.

Saturday: Away.

Sunday: Away.

Lunch

Mr S: Chicken.
Myself: Salmon Pâté & GF Crackers.

Baking

I intend to do none this week as we are going away Friday and I do not want to over stretch myself energy wise as I will be super cleaning the house for my parents to stay while we are away.

Hopefully NO TAKE AWAYS !

Sx

Meal Planning Monday

Welcome to another week here @Hundred Acre Farm.

To recap how last weeks meal plan went.

Meal Planning Monday: Week 2

Main Meals

Monday: My Parents.

Tuesday: Turkey Curry & Cauliflower Rice.

Wednesday: Spicy Lamb Meatballs & Vegetables.

Thursday: Take Away. (Instead of Roast Peppers)

Friday: Roasted Peppers stuffed with mince. (Instead of Jamie Oliver Chicken Fajitas & Gluten Free Tortilla’s.

Saturday: Take Away. (Instead of Squash Cauliflower Risotto)

Sunday: Left Over Take Away (Instead of Lamb Chops & Vegetables)

Lunch

I did some Lunches this week.

Mr S:
Chicken & Vegetables.
Myself:
Lentil & Bacon Soup.

Baking

No Baking was done.

Quiet a disappointing home cooking week with my drained energy levels again. So here is hoping for this week.

Meal Planning Monday: Week 3

Main Meals
Monday: Take Away.

Tuesday: Squash & Cauliflower Risotto.

Wednesday: Cottage Pie with Vegetable Topping.

Thursday: Sausages, Vegetable Mash.

Friday: Peppers Stuffed with Tomato Mince and an Egg on Top.

Saturday: Jamie Oliver Chicken Fajitas & Gluten Free Tortilla’s.

Sunday: Lamb Roast.

Lunch

Mr S: Chicken.
Myself: Pate & Crackers or Soup.

Baking

I really want to bake this Stolen I keep mentioning.
AND I have a slight craving for Apple Pie and Cream.

We will see.

S

Meal Planning Monday

I’m still going solo with Meal Planning Monday as I hadn’t much time last week to look into linking up.

My Grandmother passed away which lead to gratefully received family meals at my parents rather than cooking how I had intended.

Let me recap on Week 1.

Main Meals

Monday: Jamie Oliver’s American Chilli & Gluten Free Pasta

Tuesday: Mustard Pork Chop & Dauphinoise Potato’s .

Wednesday: My Parents for dinner.

Thursday: My Parents for dinner.

Friday: Mr S’s Parents for dinner.

Saturday My Parents for dinner.

Sunday: We had Wednesday’s intended Beef Stir Fry.

No lunches were made nor any baking happened.

Now on to this weeks meals.

Meal Planning Monday: Week 2

I am intending to use Week 1’s menu as I now have the ingredients which need using.

Main Meals

Monday: My Parents.

Tuesday: Turkey Curry & Cauliflower Rice.

Wednesday: Spicy Lamb Meatballs & Vegetables.

Thursday: Roast Peppers stuffed with Mince.

Friday: Jamie Oliver Chicken Fajitas & Gluten Free Tortilla’s.

Saturday: Cauliflower Rice Squash Risotto.

Sunday: Lamb Chops & Vegetables.

Lunch

Mr S:
Chicken & Vegetables.
Myself:
Tuna Mayo & GF Pasta.
GF Crackers Cheese & Grapes.
Prawns Mayo & GF Pasta.

Baking

Stollen; I didn’t get round to baking it at Christmas so as I’ve got the ingredients I’m going to give it a whirl.

Protein Flapjacks for Mr S.

I have some catching up in the house to do and my energy is low so we will see how far I get with baking this week.

S