We have had an unseasonably warm October in our little part of the world, so we have been spending time cleaning up the garden ready for Winter.
I love to admire the outside bare beauty of our countryside this time of year.
Our wonderful holly trees are abundant with berries turning from orange to red, perfect for our little birds & Christmas decorating.
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These were the last of our pears, now they are in some chutney I made & also the fruit bowl.
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Garden Chutney.
We emptied the greenhouse of the last of the tomatoes & picked the last pears, rhubarb & apples to make chutney for Christmas.
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The first batch was made with tomatoes & rhubarb.
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The rhubarb always makes a smooth chutney ideal for sandwiches.
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The second batch was made with tomatoes, apples & pears.
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I do love the jewel colours this combination made.
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This made a colourful chunky chutney to go with cold meat.
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The jars cooling ready for the pantry shelves.
It feels so good to use up everything in the garden & to not waste a thing.
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Fruit Chutney Recipe.
2 medium onions
3 lb of mixed fruit { pears, apples, rhubarb,tomatoes, plums }
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of spice
1 teaspoon of dry mustard
1 lb of brown sugar
4 oz of chopped dried dates
1 pint of malt vinegar
Chop up the fruit & onion & place in a jam pan with everything else.
Bring to the boil & then simmer until the chutney goes thick, around 3/4 of an hour.
Keep stirring so it does not stick to the pan.
I always test by dragging my wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan to see if it is thick enough.
Pot in to clean jars & top with plastic coated lids or old glass kilner lids.
This recipe gets better the longer you leave it.
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The hens enjoying the twins sunflower heads.
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A little rabbit enjoying food in the ground with little robin red breast next to him.
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I made some pinwheels again & tried cheese & chutney from last year this time.
It is such a good way to use up last years canned goods & find nice combinations for Christmas.
We will have all eight children here with partners too this Christmas so I will have to find easy things to cook.
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Our dear friends & the twins Godparents had a three week trip to New England.
They brought us back some wonderful gifts, the calendar brought back fond memories of our trip to Old Sturbridge Village 12 years ago.
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I harvested our hydrangea's, they dry so quick in our kitchen with the warm wood stove.
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We still have an abundance of apples in the garden so I made a pudding with them & also some plums from the freezer.
One tree is still laden with beautiful apples which turn red as the season changes.
It was delicious served warm with cream.
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Thank you dear friends for all your kind words, I really enjoy your comments.
Fondly Michelle
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