Despite the almost never ending downpour, the black skies & the constant cold, my thoughts are unwittingly turning to the summer. This was of course encouraged by the arrival earlier this week of the latest Lakeland catalogue with it's enticing photos of picnics and BBQs.
BBQs have never appealed to me. As a child they carried so much excited anticipation but the reality seemed to be waiting far too long for food that was burnt. They appealed even less when I became a mother & lived in fear of one child unsteady on his legs & the other child who viewed the world as his own personal racing track, careering into hot coals. I now actively loathe them. Where I live I seem to be the only household who doesn't feel the need to have a BBQ every weekend. Instead I tend to have laundry that stinks of BBQs & lighter fluid -YUCK!
Picnics? Oh picnics I love - loads of forward planning needed, but no nasty smells, no burnt food and the only danger I have to watch out for are wasps. And as a parent of someone following the diet you get very adept at quickly knocking up packed lunches at a moments notice. Let's face it, every time your child leaves the house, they have to have enough food and drink to meet every eventuality, including traffic jams and train stoppages, because there is no other way of safely feeding your child. So knocking up a picnic is merely an extension of this.
Anyway back to the thoughts of summer time...
Jam. That's what I have been thinking of - Jam!
4 or 5 years ago I bought myself a jam maker - fabulous machine that makes jam - all you have to do is add chopped fruit, sugar & a little water. It sorts out the temperature, so you don't have to experience 3rd degree burns getting the jam up to the setting point. It has made a HUGE difference to the boys.
A diet safe jam is a thing of great rarity. Not only are so few fruits safe to consume on the diet but commercial jams tend to add lots of things that aren't diet friendly. And when you make jam yourself, the jam sugar has pectin (usually derived from apples - a diet no-no). I had only found one safe jam. It was apricot flavour, cost a packet and was hard to source. So the boys mainly stuck to organic honey on their toast.
Since the arrival of the jam machine the boys are now having strawberry, pineapple and apricot jams and it has allowed me to vastly expand my baking repertoire.
As jam is on my mind, and the Lakeland catalogue has been looking beguilingly at me, I've ordered the jam jar lids (5 years of jam making and I have boxes of empty jars in the shed waiting sterilising and filling) & labels and if a couple of other non jam related things accidentally fell in to the shopping basket before I checked out, I can't really be blamed can I?
I am mentally planning out the Farmers Markets that I will be visiting for the fruit and looking forward to the week that my house smells of candyfloss - the delightful smell of strawberry jam on the boil.
Roll on Summer - I am ready for you :)
BBQs have never appealed to me. As a child they carried so much excited anticipation but the reality seemed to be waiting far too long for food that was burnt. They appealed even less when I became a mother & lived in fear of one child unsteady on his legs & the other child who viewed the world as his own personal racing track, careering into hot coals. I now actively loathe them. Where I live I seem to be the only household who doesn't feel the need to have a BBQ every weekend. Instead I tend to have laundry that stinks of BBQs & lighter fluid -YUCK!
Picnics? Oh picnics I love - loads of forward planning needed, but no nasty smells, no burnt food and the only danger I have to watch out for are wasps. And as a parent of someone following the diet you get very adept at quickly knocking up packed lunches at a moments notice. Let's face it, every time your child leaves the house, they have to have enough food and drink to meet every eventuality, including traffic jams and train stoppages, because there is no other way of safely feeding your child. So knocking up a picnic is merely an extension of this.
Anyway back to the thoughts of summer time...
Jam. That's what I have been thinking of - Jam!
4 or 5 years ago I bought myself a jam maker - fabulous machine that makes jam - all you have to do is add chopped fruit, sugar & a little water. It sorts out the temperature, so you don't have to experience 3rd degree burns getting the jam up to the setting point. It has made a HUGE difference to the boys.
A diet safe jam is a thing of great rarity. Not only are so few fruits safe to consume on the diet but commercial jams tend to add lots of things that aren't diet friendly. And when you make jam yourself, the jam sugar has pectin (usually derived from apples - a diet no-no). I had only found one safe jam. It was apricot flavour, cost a packet and was hard to source. So the boys mainly stuck to organic honey on their toast.
Since the arrival of the jam machine the boys are now having strawberry, pineapple and apricot jams and it has allowed me to vastly expand my baking repertoire.
As jam is on my mind, and the Lakeland catalogue has been looking beguilingly at me, I've ordered the jam jar lids (5 years of jam making and I have boxes of empty jars in the shed waiting sterilising and filling) & labels and if a couple of other non jam related things accidentally fell in to the shopping basket before I checked out, I can't really be blamed can I?
I am mentally planning out the Farmers Markets that I will be visiting for the fruit and looking forward to the week that my house smells of candyfloss - the delightful smell of strawberry jam on the boil.
Roll on Summer - I am ready for you :)
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