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Cheese and Onion Hand Pies
One thing I have missed since I moved here to England, besides friends and my Nana ,is Cheese and Onion Hand Pies or Pasties. I love them, so I had to make them myself and they were gorgeous – not as nice as my Nan’s but nothing would be !
Cheese and Onion Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 1 egg yolk
- 125g butter, cut into chunks
- 250g plain flour
- 50ml water or more if needed
- 1 good pinch of salt
For Filling
- 200g Cheddar Cheese
- 200g Peeled and finely diced potatoes
- One onion – finely chopped
- bit of olive oil
The How to Bit
- In a food processor or a large bowl, mix the flour with the salt and butter. Blend until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs and there are no chunks of butter left.
- Add the egg yolk and just enough water to make a non-sticky dough.
- Wrap and keep in the refrigerate until use or use immediately.
- Place the onion in a pan or skillet with a bit of olive oil and fry .
- Add the potatoes and fry until the onion is translucent
- Mix the potatoes and onions with the cheese in a bowl for the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C or 350 F
- Roll out your pastry and cut into an approx. 4-inch circle, I use a saucer as a guide for mine.
- Spoon a large dollop of the filling into the centre of the circles and fold the pastry over into a semi-circle – crimp the edges with a fork and wash the pastry with an egg wash to give it a nice colour when it cooks.
- Place the pies on a lined tray and cook for 25 – 35 mins or until golden brown
I have a Prinable Recipe for you HERE – these Chesse and Onion Hand Pies are great for back to school lunches, you could mix them up by adding ham, bacon, more veggies. or if you have left over pastry you could use left overs like curry or chili to make a spicy hand pie.
For more Back to school recipes checkout my Back to school Lunch ideas or my Easy Lunchbox treats
I am Pinnable – Week 4
Welcome to I am Pinnable – where you link up and I pin you on Pinterest and if you are featured I share you everywhere and follow you ( in a non-stalkery way !) it is really as simple as that !
All you have to do link up below and I will pin them to my new This Is Pinnable Board and each week I will feature the most clicked post and my personal favourite ! If you are featured I will share your post on all social media.
Get you posts noticed on Pinterest with I am Pinnable !
Thanks so much for linking up with me every Wednesday. Don’t forget to:
1) Join the This is Pinnable Board.
It means even,more exposure for your blog as you can get your posts in front of more people on Pinterest.
Simply follow the board (see details below) and email harropaj@gmail.com requesting an invitation.
Tweet: We can all be Pinnable – link up with I am Pinnable every Wednesday
Most Clicked Link
5 Free Back to School Printables by The Quiet Grove
2) Become a Co Host!
If you would like to co host I am Pinnable on your blog for a month, let us know at harropaj@gmail.com
Here are just a few requests for this linky:
- Follow me through one of my social media in the sidebar.
- Pin and comment on the post before yours – the more pins a post gets the better.I will pin the last post on another board of mine to make it fair.
- I will always visit every blog that links up and leave a comment 🙂
- Link up Pinnable things if you can- so food posts, craft posts , gardening posts ect and remember that great pictures get more pins !
- And I have a sweet little button for you if you are featured !
Menu Planning Monday – August 22nd
This post may contain affiliate links – I do get paid for these links if you click them
Hello Menu Planners old and new, it is my birthday today! As you can guess I am not going to be cooking on this Menu Planning Monday but I will have to cook for the rest of the week so don’t let that stops us planning a menu today.
Don’t forget to help you Menu Plan I have my Free Menu Planner printable available HERE and my new Freezer Inventory Printable HERE so you can always track what is in your freezer.
So here is this week’s Menu
Monday
It is my birthday and I am not cooking – no way ! If I was though I would most probably go for my daughter’s Prawn and Hoisin Stir Fry with Coconut Rice – Oh my ! it is good and even better Becca can cook it. And for after I would love a fruit filled Pavlova.
Tuesday
I do love a good Slow-cooker recipe and this one makes a wonderful Spaghetti Bolognese Sauce it is available HERE on my new website made to host all my recipes. You can check the whole thing out HERE I spent all day yesterday making it workable so feedback would be great.
Wednesday
It should be shopping day so Pizza and Home-made Spicy wedges will be the order of the day – I have written out my recipe for Spicy Wedges and made it printable – HERE
Thursday
I am working on Thursday so again I am relying on my trusty slow cooker – if you haven’t got one I highly recommend mine which is a Breville 5.5 Ltr available here it is truly a Godsend for anyone that is working or needs to save time in the evening. I am going to cook my ever reliable Tummy Warming Beef Stew as beef pieces are on Special in Aldi. Shopping the specials saves money which is why menu planning is so important to a busy, working family.
Friday
I love this bacon and chorizo gratin recipe it is so tasty and not too difficult to throw together, you can find the recipe HERE
Saturday
Well, it might be the last summer barbeque we have so I am going to make these amazing pork and apple skewers. If you are looking for alternative recipes you can see them HERE
Sunday
Again I am using an Aldi Special for dinner – the Spatchcock Chicken is on special so I will serve it with seasonal vegetables and for after I am going to make this luscious chocolate cheesecake- the best part it is LOW FAT – yep low fat cheesecake 🙂 the recipe is HERE
I hope you like my Menu Planning series – I hope to be able to offer you more ways of saving money and new recipes each week, if you do like it don’t forget to sign up to the newsletter where sometimes I offer readers first glimpse at new recipes or printables. And if you are looking for more menu ideas don’t forget to check out I am an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Monday link up
Does the Kon Mari Method Work ? – Frequently asked Questions on Friday
I was asked this recently – I did a post over a year ago called How the Kon Mari Method helped me clean up my closet I went into the details of how and why I was cleaning up and of course lots of lovely shots of my cupboards after they were done – but truthfully did it last, are my cupboards the same or does chaos reign again ?
DOES THE KON MARI METHOD WORK ?
I can’t be the only one that watches make-overs and organisational things and wonder how long with that really last ? In fact, I know I am not because a lot of the comments on my pictures especially on Facebook were ” How long will it look like that ?” Or “it will be a mess in no time” – I have such lovely friends and family, truth is though I kind of wonder that myself !!
So I am going to demonstrate below exactly if the Kon Mari worked.
I have taken pictures this morning (and no tidying was done beforehand I promise) and you can decide for yourself.
So here is the first example
Kon Mari in the wardrobe
As you can see – some clothes have been added – some are now gone to the great wardrobe in the sky but yes I kept it up – everything is organised in colour. I actually only have 4 main colours in my wardrobe these are my go to colours – Black , White, Red and Blue with varying shades, boring but works for me and my colouring. As for the organising once it was sorted and I had decided what brings me joy and what does not, I introduce the one in one out policy if I got something new something had to go – I am not a crazy clothes shopper in truth so it wasn’t too hard. Also, I hang things up the way the came out, I know exactly which section they came from and that’s where they go back.
So Kon Mari Method won that one !
Kon Mari in the Drawers
So next we have my dresser drawers – did it work ? Well Yes and No, at first I had all my short sleeved tops in one drawer and long in another and it would invariably end up messy after a few weeks that happened until I put them one drawer !
I realised too much space was not working for the vertical storage method once they were packed in and I had perfected my folding technique it worked like a charm ! Also, I freed up another drawer which now holds my nightwear.
So Eventually – Kon Marie won this one.
Kon Mari on the Shelves
Yes, I am happy to say my shelves are still tidy – well done Marie Kondo for turning a messy soul like me into a fairly organised person.
I also took her methods and used them in my underwear drawers – this did require some storage though so I picked up these drawer organisers from Amazon ( yes this is an affiliate link)
And this is how my drawers look now – trust me they were a mess before
Lastly, I should tell you where the Kon Mare Method doesn’t work – A Teenager’s room.
I organised her drawers and wardrobe not long after mine but she still uses the Floordrobe method of looking after her clothes !! It would break Marie’s heart as it does mine, but you really can’t win with teenagers !
If you are looking to tidy up your life and wish to read Marie Kondo’s book it is available here and if you are a teenage or messy person you might like Sarah Knight’s bestseller – The life-changing art of not giving a F!*K
Happy reading, have a great weekend and if you want more organising techniques or tips check out my other posts Here or follow me on Pinterest to see Organising Ideas
I am Pinnable – Week 3
Welcome to I am Pinnable – where you link up and I pin you on Pinterest and if you are featured I share you everywhere and follow you ( in a non-stalkery way !) it is really as simple as that !
All you have to do link up below and I will pin them to my new This Is Pinnable Board and each week I will feature the most clicked post and my personal favourite ! If you are featured I will share your post on all social media.
Get you posts noticed on Pinterest with I am Pinnable !
Thanks so much for linking up with me every Wednesday. Don’t forget to:
1) Join the This is Pinnable Board.
It means even more exposure for your blog as you can get your posts in front of more people on Pinterest.
Simply follow the board (see details below) and email harropaj@gmail.com requesting an invitation.
Most Clicked Link
And My Personal Favourite
Roasted Peach Frozen Coconut Yoghurt byChemistry CachetCreative Camp Cookies by the Syncopated Mama
Roasted Peach Frozen Coconut Yoghurt byChemistry CachetCreative Camp Cookies by the Syncopated Mama
2) Become a Co Host!
If you would like to co host I am Pinnable on your blog for a month, let us know at harropaj@gmail.com
Here are just a few requests for this linky:
- Follow me through one of my social media in the sidebar.
- Pin and comment on the post before yours – the more pins a post gets the better.I will pin the last post on another board of mine to make it fair.
- I will always visit every blog that links up and leave a comment 🙂
- Link up Pinnable things if you can- so food posts, craft posts , gardening posts ect and remember that great pictures get more pins !
- And I have a sweet little button for you if you are featured !
Menu planning Monday – August 15th
Welcome Back to Menu Planning Monday or Hi! if you are new here, Menu planning is a fabulous way to save money and be organised and I love it so I am here with recipes, ideas and printables to help you menu plan too.
To get ready for Menu Planning Monday I like to clean out my fridge – if you want to find out more about how I organise my fridge check out my post HERE . I clean out my fridge as I go shopping on Wednesdays and I like to know what we need, so using my Freezer Inventory -available here, I double check what we have and write down what meals I can make with what is in the fridge and freezer first.
Then to make up the rest of my Menu –
- I use family favourites recipes
- Check what is in special at the supermarket and find recipes that use them
- I usually try at least one new recipe a week
So here is this weeks Menu –
MONDAY –
We are having Chorizo and Garden Veg Pasta, why because we have Chorizo and Veg from the garden and it is easy , unfortunately my darling daughter seems to have passed on a head cold to me and I really am not in the mood for anything too difficult which is why quick and easy recipes like Chrozio Pasta are on the menu tonight.
TUESDAY-
I am working on Tuesday , so it a Slowcooker recipe – Spicy Pork Casserole. If you want to make life easier I suggest investing in a slow cooker – you can dump in the ingredients in the morning and come home to a perfectly cooked dinner in the evening so worth the investment.
WEDNESDAY –
It is shopping day and therefore Pizza night if you want to make your own stuffed crust Pizza I have a LINK HERE if you want to buy one from the shop I will not judge !
THURSDAY – I am making Cottage Pie with Sweet Potato, Sweet Potatoes are surprising low fat and nutritious, they have vitamin A, C and B6 and are full of fibre, The printable recipe is HERE
FRIDAY – yes I know another pie but my family love fish pie and I have fish in the freezer to be used up so Fantastic Fish Pie it is ! I am going to do them in individual pots and serve them with green beans.
SATURDAY – I am going out – yes I know it doesn’t happen often ! So No meal plan needed.
SUNDAY Beef and Guinness Casserole followed by Plum Galette and Custard because Plums are on special in Aldi and so is Beef Pieces this week.
Don’t forget you can print out your own Menu Planner and get planning you menu and saving money today. And if you want more menu ideas check out I am an Organizing Junkie which has a link up every Monday.
Tips for organising your fridge on a tiny budget – Frequently asked Questions on a Friday
I really do get asked about my fridge a lot – why did I organise it ? How did I organise it with no money and why do I label things ? I hope to answer some of those questions for you today with
Tips for Organising your fridge on a tiny budget
An Organized Fridge can save you money and save your sanity ! Click to Tweet
I love an organised space and I adore some of the spaces I see on Pinterest but I am, like most people, on a tiny budget. That means I can’t spend £11.99 ( it ended up at 21 euros ) on gorgeous fridge storage like this from Amazon even if I wanted too.
1. Search your local Euro, Pound, Dollar, Yen store for storage.I found these cute little baskets in my local hardware shop 3 euros for 5 of them and I brought lots of them in green and blue – I have used them all over my Kitchen. They are cleanable in the dishwasher which is a bonus.
2. If you are willing to wait awhile for things to arrive you can find bargains on Ali Express ( no I am not paid to say this )
I found these cute little Storage draws for a couple of euros,as long as you are willing to wait a month or two to get them, they are handy for snacks.
3. Label Fridge Storage – trust me on this one.
I label things because I live with teenagers,they wouldn’t know where something was if you put it in front of them ! And would put it back wherever they could if I didn’t have a dedicated space for them. This advice goes for a lot of men and kids – if people can find things they are more willing to make their own snacks and sandwiches too.
4. Have a sandwich making centre – I have this box I picked up from Aldi when it was in the shop it wasn’t expensive,it’s BPA free and holds all my sandwich making things – like cheese, cold meats, spreads. If I am making lunches I just grab out this box and some bread and I have the basis for some easy sandwiches or wraps.
5.Store your leftovers in clear plastic takeout containers , you can usually pick up a pack of 5 for a euro place them on the shelf that is eye-line when you open the fridge and then more people are likely to eat them.
6. Take a Freezer inventory and place it on your Fridge that way you always know what is in your freezer section I have designed a free printable Freezer inventory for you – just print it off and take 10 minutes and log everything in your freezer – it make meal planning a dream and you always know what you need to pick up in the shop. DOWNLOAD HERE and it is free.
I will leave you with a video of my fridge – no giggling at my videoing skills people ! Okay you can laugh a little but I promise to get better so follow me on on Facebook or Twitter for more videos and post on getting Organised and if you are looking for more Organisational post click HERE
Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully you liked this post.
I am Pinnable Link Party
Welcome to I am Pinnable – where you link up and I pin you on Pinterest – it is really as simple as that !
The Principle is the same you link up below and I will pin them to my new This Is Pinnable Board and each week I will feature the most clicked post and my personal favourite ! If you are featured I will share your post on all social media.
Thanks so much for linking up with me every Wednesday. Don’t forget to:
1) Join the This is Pinnable Board.
That means even more exposure for your blog as you can get your posts in front of more people on Pinterest.
Simply follow the board (see details below) and email harropaj@gmail.com requesting an invitation.
Most Clicked Link
2) Become a Co Host!
If you would like to co host I am Pinnable on your blog for a month, let us know at harropaj@gmail.com
Here are just a few requests for this linky:
- Follow me through one of my social media in the sidebar.
- Pin and comment on the post before yours – the more pins a post gets the better.I will pin the last post on another board of mine to make it fair.
- I will always visit every blog that links up and leave a comment 🙂
- Link up Pinnable things if you can- so food posts, craft posts , gardening posts ect and remember that great pictures get more pins !
- And I have a button for you if you are featured !
Easy Cinnamon Rolls
EASY CINNAMON ROLLS
As promised, here is my Easy Cinnamon Roll recipe – it may look complicated but honestly these are so simple and if you make them the night before you can throw them in the oven in the morning to make a lovely breakfast or brunch
Ingredients
For the dough :
- 250g (9oz)plain flour
- 1tsp salt
- 1tsp caster sugar
- 1tsp easy bake yeast
- 25g (1oz) butter, diced
- 100-120ml (3-4 fl oz) warmed milk
- 1 egg, beaten
For the filling :
- 125g (4½ oz) mixed currants, sultanas and raisins
- 50g (2oz) unrefined light brown sugar
- 3tsp Cinnamon
- 15g (½ oz) butter
- Icing sugar to glaze
The how to bit :
- Grease an 18cm/7″ square shallow cake tin. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large bowl. Rub in 25g (1oz) butter
- In a bowl, mix together the milk and egg. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and stir in the liquid. Bring the mixture together with a round bladed knife and knead for 10 mins on a lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the mixture is sticky add a little more flour.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 30 x 23cm/12 x 9-inch rectangle.
- Prepare the filling: mix the dried fruit with the soft light brown sugar. Melt the remaining butter and brush over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon and then scatter the fruit mixture over the buttered dough, leaving a 2.5cm/1 inch border around the edge of the dough.
- Starting at the long side of the dough, roll it up like a Swiss roll. Pinch the edges together to seal and then cut into 12 slices.
- Place the rolls cut edges uppermost in the tin. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 1 hr or until doubled in size or even prepare them the night before if you prefer.
- Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF, gas mark 5). Bake for 30 mins or until risen and golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Then smother with icing ! Serve with fresh coffee and lashing of tea.
The Printable Recipe is HERE
If you like this recipe feel free to share it and you can find more recipes HERE
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