Friday 8 November 2013

30 Ways to save £1--- DAY 8 + Pumpkin & Pepper Chutney

This morning I made the last chutney of the season. Nearly 7 jars of Pumpkin and pepper chutney.
It's a lovely colour and always tastes good. Several years ago someone asked me how I made chutneys of various colours because when they made some it always looked the same. I said that I used white vinegar when I made a chutney in which I wanted to show the colour of the veg. They said " but it costs more than malt vinegar". So I guess you pay your money and choose your colour!
 Here is my recipe which, as usual, is a variation on one from a recipe book.

Pumpkin And Pepper Chutney
2 and a half pound prepared pumpkin after peeling, de-seeding and cut into small pieces.
1lb cooking apples,peeled,cored and chopped
12oz onions, chopped
2 red peppers, de-seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoon ground ginger
 1 teaspoon  black pepper
2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 and a quarter pints of white vinegar
1lb gran sugar

Put everything except the sugar in a large pan and mix well
Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often until everything is very soft
( I use a potato masher to squish everything)
Stir in the sugar until dissolved and then continue to simmer and stir frquently until it is thick and there is no liquid on the surface.
Pot into sterilised jars and cover and label.
NOTE - this is quite a dry chutney and you have to watch that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

I then used some more of the pumpkin to make some soup.

DAY 8 of the 30 Ways to Save £1 was
8. Swap an expensive hobby for a cheaper one

My main hobby has always been reading, and always using library books for free. A few years ago I started to  collect WWII books about the home front and usually get these secondhand.
When we had small children and before we moved here our main leisure pastime was being Scout and Cub Leaders. This takes a lot of time but doesn't really cost much and our children always joined in with Cub things whenever possible. We also had 1 or  2 allotments and grew as much as we could. Once we moved to the smallholding keeping livestock and looking after the land took all our time and our hobby of producing our own food became our way of life. Him Outside didn't read a lot until about 10 years ago but now reads as much as me. I also like card making which could easily cost a fortune. If you bought regular magazines - there are several papercraft ones- and then bought all the things needed to make the cards in them it would be a very expensive hobby. Thank goodness I often find bits and pieces at car boot sales. My only regular expenditure for this hobby is £12 a year for the Craft Creations Magazine and then I send in cards I've made for their Readers Gallery and often win a £10 voucher to use on craft things from their catalogue.

Some people we knew had a yacht and told us it was like pouring money into a hole in the sea!

Him Outside is so glad to have his tractor back, the hydraulics are working better than they ever have done and he can lift heavy stuff in the front bucket with no trouble at all. He rang to tell them at the engineers that it was working really well and they were so pleased to get a Thank you.
Today he has done the shuttering and filled it with rubble ready for the base of the replacement mens toilets for the campsite.

Nearly forgot to say WELCOME  to follower number 92 -- Practically Penniless. I love to read her blog as she is home schooling which is something we did, but only for 6 months, when we moved house twice quite quickly. The children all wanted to get back to school ASAP!

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