Today Duncan has made some ice cream which I am sure we’ll enjoy later. We love making ice creams and it can be so simple if you have an ice cream maker. Although we have no idea why its called an ice cream maker because it really doesn’t do that, what it does do is churns it. Its like calling a food mixer a cake maker!

This is our favourite vanilla ice cream, we have tried the cooked traditional custard based ones however we feel these taste like frozen custard and doesn’t remind us of the vanilla ice cream we know and love.

We discovered this recipe from the book Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream & Dessert Book and we find that its quick and easy to make and has a lovely subtle flavour.

Ingredients

2 large free range eggs

1 cup of milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups Double Cream

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

* a cup is 8 floz

This makes 1 quart however in english we find it makes about 1 litre.

We half this recipe so that it fits in our ice cream maker.

1.) Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream, milk, and vanilla and whisk to blend.

2.) Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.

*If you’ve not got an ice cream maker then put the mixture into a container and fast freeze. Take out at regular intervals and whisk up until frozen. This method is trial and error and could take a while until you get a nice smooth ice cream, this is why we would recommend an ice cream maker.

Variations: To make a quick raspberry or strawberry ripple ice cream with this recipe, near the end of the churning process in your ice cream maker add some pureed raspberry or strawberry and churn once or twice then stop. Then follow your instructions for freezing.

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On another note, you might of been told by various publications that its not worth getting a cheap ice cream maker because they are useless. Well this is completely wrong as we bought a fairly cheap ice cream maker and its been fantastic. We couldn’t recommend it highly enough, the ice cream maker we have  is by Philips and I will let you know the model number when I look out the manual (as its not written on the side of the ice cream maker!).

We hope to come back and add a photo of the ice cream in the next day or so. No point in taking one now as its in the freezer.

Cost

For those of you that are interested, to make 1/2 a litre of this ice cream only cost us about £1.47. So as you can see this is a very good price as this ice cream would be comparable to a high quality ice cream.

For the last few weeks we have been slowly starting on our garden, we started with a great offer from our gardeners world magazine and got 2 Clematis plants. We then bought another Clematis and some other bulbs from another online shop. They were all recently delivered and we were very happy with our purchases.

We then needed to do a trip to our local garden centre to get some supplies so we could get these plants and bulbs planted. We budgeted a certain amount and of we went with a shopping list of what we needed. However we ended up having to go over our budgets just to get the basics we needed, even when choosing to go for some of the cheapest items e.g pots.

Note: We went to our only local garden centre, we had no other options to shop around as there is nowhere else anywhere within a reasonable traveling distance.

We couldn’t believe that some compost, a bag of grit, some pots of various sizes, some wooden canes, garden string, tomato fertiliser, one small garden tool and two fruit tree’s could come to so much. We wont reveal the costs here but all I will say is it was far more expensive that we had planned.

We had hoped to go for glazed pottery pots as this would brighten up the dull grey concrete garden spaces however we just couldn’t afford them so we searched for a cheaper alternative. We looked a terracotta pots but they were still pretty expensive and they only had them in small sizes and not big ones, in the end we ended up with plastic pots as they were the best we could afford with our budget. You would think you could get some cheap plastic pots? well you can get plastic pots but they certainly aren’t cheap. Yes they may be cheaper than the glazed pottery and terracotta pots but they were still pricey. It was scary just how much money went on plastic pots alone!

So yeah safe to say that trip down to our local garden centre was expensive, even with managing to get a few of the items we needed on offers. Everything we bought was to plant 3 clematis plants and 3 bags of different bulbs. We then treated ourself to 2 fruit tree’s as we had wanted them for a while, not many were left and we thought if we got them this year hopefully next year we’d get fruit.

So if your new to gardening and think a few basics like pots and compost wont cost you much, think again…well at least in our location of the world anyway. It makes us realise that starting our garden could take longer than we thought, all because of cost. Getting the bulbs or seeds might not cost you much but everything else you need will!

Anyway enough on how expensive gardening is as its not like we can do anything about it. We have now almost finished planting what we bought and all we need to do now is rescue a few plants we already had. Luckily we have some compost left over and will just have to freshen up the plants we have in their existing pots.

In the end we hope to replace all the cheap (well not really cheap but cheapest) plastic pots with nice glazed pottery pots or terracotta pots. I think we’ll probably do this before adding any other plants to the garden but we’ll see. We were hoping to plant some daffodils and tulips this year but after the cost of what we have just done we are thinking that will have to wait to next year. Again the bulbs may not cost too much but by the time you’ve got compost and pots the price hikes up.

What we have realised from all this is A) Gardening can be expensive, even if you try and go for the cheapest things and offers B) Gardening in pots is definately expensive C) Having grass and soil in a garden would mean gardening doesn’t cost as much.

Hopefully soon we’ll share a photo of the plants in pots that we have, don’t expect much though as right now most of them are very bare. However we want to take photos along the way so we can see how much things change.

Duncan and Rosie.

A second welcome to our blog, as we have given our blog a good summer clean. We now have a new theme and its been cleaned up a little. Hopefully from now on this place will be kept more up to date.

As you can probably see this blog was originally started in 2007 and then after a while we stopped. Life got in the way and so sadly this blog got neglected, well hopefully not anymore. From now on we hope to at least do a few posts a month, hopefully a little more but only time will tell.

Life has changed quite a lot since we started this blog, we still live in the same county but in a different town. We are now in a great disabled bungalow so its finally suitable for me (Rosie) as I am now severely disabled.

For the last two years life has thrown us a whole new set of challenges, when my long term illness took a turn for the worse. After spending nearly 2 years bed bound, Duncan having to give up his job and become a full time carer to me (Rosie) I am now finally able to spend some time out of bed and in my specialist wheelchair.

So as you can see life has changed a lot for the both of us, however we still have a passion for home cooked food and have just started to learn gardening.

We look forward to sharing our food experiences and recipes with you, along with our trial and errors of gardening.

Duncan and Rosie

When we found out how easy it was to make our own mayonnaise we started to wonder how easy it was to make our own dressings. I don’t know about you but I always find it we buy some we always have loads left over and it never gets used up. It ends up very expensive for the amount you actually use, this way you can make it when you need it and make the quantity that you need. No more waste and a lovely home made salad dressing!

Ingredients

1/4 level tsp. salt
1/8 level tsp. pepper
1/4 level tsp. dry mustard
1/4 level tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vinegar (we use white vinegar)
2 tbsps. oil (we use olive oil)

Put the salt, pepper, mustard and sugar in a bowl, add the vinegar and stir well until well blended. Beat in the oil gradually with a fork. Use at once – the oil separates out on standing, so if necessary whip the dressing immediately before use. It can be stored in a screw top jar and will keep several days in a cool place – not a refrigerator. Shake before serving.

Note: The proportion of oil to vinegar varies with individual taste, but use vinegar soaringly. Malt, wine, tarragon or any other vinegar may be used. Olive oil is generally used, but vegetable oils from cotton seeds or soya beans are equally suitable, as well as being lighter and less expensive.

Variations of French Salad Dressings

To the above dressing add any of the following:

A clove of garlic, crushed
1-2 tsps. chopped chives
A little crumbled blue cheese
2 tsps. thin cream

Replace the vinegar with lemon juice. Blend well, when in season use freshly chopped mint, parsley, rosemary etc., with wine vinegar. Dried herbs can also be used, marinaded in the vinegar an hour before required. Blend in the oil just before use.

We always used to buy mayonnaise but then we decided one day to make it ourself, ever since we have never bought a jar from the shops again. Its easy and quick to make and tastes so much better. Go on, have a go and I am sure you’ll be impressed.

Ingredients

3 egg yolks
1 level tsp. dry mustard
1/2 level tsp. salt
1 level tsp. pepper
1 level tsp. sugar
1/2 pint (approx.) oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice

Put the egg yolks into a basin with the seasonings and sugar. Mix thoroughly, then add the oil drop by drop, stirring briskly with a wooden spoon the whole time or using a whisk, until the sauce is thick and smooth. If it becomes too thick. add a little of the lemon juice. When all the oil has been added, add the lemon juice gradually and mix thoroughly.

Note: If the sauce curdles during the making, put another egg yolk into a basin and add the sauce gradually, stirring briskly or whisking.

This is taken from Duncan’s Mother’s cook book and its often the pastry we make as its easy and always works. Its perfect for pies and many other things too .

Ingredients

8oz plain flour
1/2 level tsp. salt
2 oz lard or vegetable equivalent
2 oz butter or margarine
2 tbsps. cold water (approx.)

Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl. Cut the fat into small pieces and rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles fresh breadcrumbs. Add the water, a little at a time, stirring with a round-bladed knife until the mixture begins to stick together. With one hand, collect it together and knead lightly for a few seconds to give a firm smooth dough.

The pastry can be used straight away but it is better allowed ‘rest’ for 15 minutes. It can also be wrapped in polythene and kept in the refrigerator for a day or two.

When required, sprinkle a little flour on the work surface and roll out the dough evenly, turning occasionally. The usual thickness is about 1/8 inch, don’t pull or stretch it. Use as required. The usual oven temperature is hot, 218 Centigrade (Gas Mark 7).

I would say that my husband got me addicted to cheese scones as he has more of a savoury tooth, I on the other hand am more a sweet kind of girl. These are perfect on there own but great with things like soup, yes seriously it may sound strange but its really good. Go on try it, you know you want too!

Ingredients

450g (16 oz) self-raising flour
pinch of salt
100g (4 oz) butter, diced
200g (8 oz) Cheese, grated
300ml fresh milk and extra for brushing

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 100g (4 oz) of the cheese.

Add the milk and mix to form a soft dough, then knead quickly until smooth.

Roll out onto a floured work surface until 1cm (1/2 inch) thick. Make them into squares or round shapes and brush the tops with milk. Transfer to baking sheets.

Bake at 230 Centigrade (Gas mark 8 ) for 7-10 minutes, until well risen and almost golden brown.

Immediately put the remaining cheese on the top of the scones and put back in the oven for several minutes until its golden brown and looks ready to eat.

Makes: 10 – 12 depending on what size you make them.

I always think of dumplings as a winter food. They bring on the feeling of cold winter nights when my mother used to present stews and soups with dumplings.

This recipe is based on a Scottish recipe with a few adaptations of our our own of course.

Ingredients for Mince:

a little oil
1 onion, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, diced
500g Mince Beef
About 1 cup of stock (beef)
Dash of soy sauce
1 bayleaf
salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Dumplings

4oz Self-raising flower
2oz suet
Pinch of salt
Cold water (5Tbsp approx)

Fry the onion and carrot in the oil for a few minutes. Add the mince, water, seasoning and soy sauce. Add the Bayleaf. Bring to the boil and turn down to simmer.

For the dumplings: Mix the flour, suet and salt with the water. Make into a pliable dough. Divide into either 8 small dumplings or 4 bigger ones.

Place the dumplings in the simmering pan of mince for about 20 minutes occasionally turning.

Once cooked serve with Mash and the green veg of your choice.

Serves: 3 to 4

Welcome to our food blog where we plan to share with you some of the food we make, we hope you will enjoy it and even concider joining in and having a go with one or more of the meals we make.

When we cook we like to use as much local fresh produce as possible, we are committed to reducing food miles and ensure all meat/fish is from sustainable sources and animal welfare is paramount.

We feel very lucky to live here in the North East of Scotland as we are surrounded by great local producers and we have tasted some of the best meat, fish, cheese and fudge amongst other things.

Our name’s are Duncan and Rosie and we are husband and wife, we live with our lovely cats and a dog named Harley. As well as cooking we have a passion for photography, we also enjoy going out as we are surrounded by the beauty of Scotland and its a pleasure to breath in that fresh air. We are also animal lovers and are committed to doing all we can for them when we can.

We hope you will enjoy it here and feel free to comment as we always love to hear from our visitors .