Natalie

First day of school

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Yesterday was J's first day of school, with this smart new uniform and new mummy made bag he scooted happily along the path to big boy school. It seems these last four years have gone by in the blink of an eye. He sat with his little legs crossed on the carpet under his teachers nose waiting for new adventures and ready to learn.

Natalie

Treasure

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 08:37:00 +0000

I found this original oil painting at our local car boot yesterday, painted by a local lady who has now passed away. Hung in my bedroom where the best of the morning light can catch it

Natalie

Blackberry cordial

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 22:20:00 +0000

Finding a new blackberry spot is always very exciting to me, with a promise of picking blackberries with a friend I remembered a place not far from where we live, quiet and isolated. It was perfect.

The children played in the trees and in the tall grass while we picked and filled our baskets. After a snack and coffee we headed home with cordial making in our heads. The boys poured and stirred while I measured.

The result, a thick sweet liquid which somehow captures early autumn. We have drunken it with ice cold water and also hot on a cool evening. Both are equally divine

To make the cordial

For each pound of fruit add half a pint of water
Heat gently for 30 minutes
Strain the blackberry liquid through a fine sieve, then add the sugar (golden caster, half a pound for each pint of liquid) stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle in 1 tea spoon citric acid per pint
Pour into sterilised bottles

Natalie

Home Grown

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 06:34:00 +0000

Our first bowl full of home grown veggies, a bowl full of happiness.

Jasper and I started planting our precious little seeds in April wondering what would come of them, some have been successful and some not so. Our beets are little balls of rock and I should of used stronger sticks on the peas but all in all I am so pleased with what we have grown. The courgettes are crazy so we are having buttered courgette everyday and the peas barely make it in the house as the boys love to pick them and eat them straight away. This is my favourite part of growing a few veggies ourselves, involving Asa and Jasper, they help me pull up the carrots, snip the rainbow chard, click off the French beans and pull up the potatoes.

Natalie

Malteser cake

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 07:20:00 +0000

I have collected many recipes for chocolate cakes over the years, they always go down well with my boys. Here, my latest version is adapted from a cupcake recipe in The Hummingbird Cake days book

150g melted butter

75ml milk

75ml buttermilk or plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
240g self raising
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
330g caster sugar

150ml warm water

1. Put all ingredients into your bowl and mix until smooth

2. Divide mixture into two 8 inch lined cake tins

3. Bake at 180c for 25-30 mins, check the cake is cooked through by inserting a cocktail stick, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked

4. Cool

Topping

200g Milk or dark chocolate, whatever you prefer

240ml elmlea double cream, I use this when baking as it lasts much longer than ordinary cream

200g Horlicks

50g full-fat cream cheese (Philadelphia)

35g caster sugar

Maltesers to decorate.

1. Put all ingredients into bowl and mix until smooth

2. place one cake onto your cake plate and smooth a little of the topping on top, place the next cake on top. Smooth the rest of the topping all over the cake and then decorate with maltesers

The other great thing about this recipe is that children can help too as it is an all in one method. My boys made this cake all themselves, all I did was smooth the topping down.

Natalie

Cotswold Water Park

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 10:19:00 +0000

We discovered a new water park a few weeks ago, I have driven past it many times but never thought to visit, well we were missing out. Cotswold water park is a wonderful wetland of 150 lakes created through gravel extraction, it has an inland beach and bird watching sites.

We spent our day at the lake beach and on the pedalos
Natalie

Burnt

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 23:12:00 +0000

This burnt tractor has been sat in the fields near where we live for a week now, nothing sinister, just an accidental fire but everyday my boys have asked to go and look at it. We sit and stare at it discussing what happened and why. They are transfixed by it.

Today I stood and photographed it, walked over the once melted and now hard and cold road edge where the fire happened and tried to capture it. The beauty of it.

Natalie

Gooseberry and Elderflower preserve

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 12:53:00 +0000

I came across this recipe on Delia's website, a great idea to mix this classic combination in a preserve which can last the whole year.

We are very lucky here to have a farm shop with it's own pick your own fruits. We collected our gooseberries after school and I was able to whip this up the next day when both boys were at school.

Recipe taken from Delia's website

Ingredients:

900g Gooseberries
4 tablespoons elderflower cordial
900g granulated sugar
2 small plates placed in the fridge

Method

First of all take a large, heavy saucepan and smear the base with a little butter as this will help prevent the preserve sticking at a high temperature. Then top and tail the gooseberries into the pan and add 5fl oz (150 ml) water. Next bring up to simmering point and simmer very gently until the fruit is tender – this will take about 15 minutes.

After that add the sugar and stir well, then, keeping the heat low, wait for the sugar to dissolve completely (about 15 minutes), testing the liquid with a wooden spoon to make sure that there are no little granules of sugar left. Now turn the heat up to its very highest setting and let the preserve boil rapidly for 8 minutes, then take it off the heat to test for a set.

Spoon a little of the preserve on to one of the cold saucers from the fridge, and let it cool back in the fridge. You can tell – when it has cooled – if you have a 'set' by pushing the mixture with your little finger: if it has a really crinkly skin, it is set. If it is not set, boil for 5 more minutes and repeat until the preserve is set.

When set, stir in the elderflower cordial and allow it to settle for 15 minutes before pouring it into warmed sterilised jars. Seal with waxed discs, put the lids on and label when cold.

Natalie

Poppies

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 10:39:00 +0000

On our way to a wonderful little pub on Sunday we drove past many beautiful fields, oat, wheat, rapeseed, and then a flash of red.

So beautiful, we spent a time watching the beauty of the poppy flowers moving in the wind. I hope these small moments are teaching the boys to appreciate the little things in life and that they are fleeting

I picked one single poppy to take home with us, it wilted within 8 hours

Taking part in Lou's nature in the home

Natalie

Easy ice-cream

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:14:00 +0000

Last year I posted my easy strawberry ice cream recipe, I wanted to share it again but with a slight twist

Ingredients:

500g Frozen fruit (we use one of the following strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, gooseberries or apples)

125g cream or yogurt (the twist for a healthier version)

75g icing sugar or caster sugar

Put all three ingredients into your food processor and blitz for 3-4 minutes until all fruit is smooth

I have started mixing my fruit too, I take my scales to the freezer and take a handful of the fruits I think will work together until I have 500g.

The alpine strawberries in our garden are ripening so I am putting them on top of the boys ice-cream until we have picked them all

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do

Natalie

June - Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 22:40:00 +0000

June brings with it the promise of so many things, everything is growing and the days are long and more often than not warm, cycling to collect the boys from school I noticed most days I am just wearing a t-shirt without one of my trusty M&S vests!

My vegetables are growing so fast with all this warm and wet weather, the peas now have sticks to grow up and the courgette plants have doubled in size

The blue bells in June were beautiful, I found white and pink ones too.

We learned about the planets in June, creating our own to hang in the boys rooms

My parents had Asa and Japser for the weekend, while they were in Lego Land Barry and I enjoyed some much needed sleep and much needed time just the two of us

We spent the day at Stratford park, scooting, picnicing, swimming and walking through the woods

Asa is a little snail life saver, he moves them out of harms way on foot paths and into the bushes

Natalie

Elderflowers & Gooseberries

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:20:00 +0000

Everywhere I look at the moment there are Elderflower bushes, as I cycle along the country roads I am hit by the heady scent of their flowers, it is intoxicating. This weekend the boys and I plan to forage a big basket full ready for cordial making.

In June there is another treat in store for us down at our local farm shop, the very first of the pick your own harvest is ready, the Gooseberries! After school on Friday we headed down to pick as many as we could carry, I have a recipe I want to try, if it goes well I will share it here!

Jasper was a great picker and picked as many as I did, Asa and Barry on the other hand sneaked in to check on how the strawberries were doing and both came out with red stains on their t-shirts, there really is no stopping them sometimes

Natalie

Peach Melba tray bake - Recipe corner

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 10:59:00 +0000

For a birthday treat my Mum made these for me, they are a heavenly mix of sweet peaches, tart raspberries and a soft texture of almonds in the sponge. I have to admit I do love tray bakes, they are easy to prepare and even easier to cut up for transporting.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do here

You will need:

250g pack unsalted butter

300g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

200g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

2 just-ripe peaches, stoned, halved, then each half cut into 3

100g raspberries

handful flaked almonds

1 tbsp icing sugar, to finish

Line a traybake tin or small roasting tin, about 20 x 30cm. Heat oven to 180C. Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan, cool for 5 mins, add the sugar, vanilla and eggs, then beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, almonds and ¼ tsp salt

Tip the mix into the tin, then lay the peach slices evenly on top – that way each square of cake will have a bite of fruit. Scatter the raspberries and almonds over, then bake for 1 hr-1 hour 10 minutes, covering with foil after 40 minutes. Test with a skewer: the middle should have just a tiny hint of squidginess, which will firm up once the cake cools. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then lift out onto a cooling rack. Once cold, dredge with icing sugar, then cut into squares.

Natalie

Easy tarts

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:21:00 +0000

This is our favourite dessert right now, easy and good for you

Ingredients:

You will need some premade tart cases, I use the M&S ones. (I normally get a few packs in when I am in the city)
Any yogurt in your fridge, I use Yeo Valley
Jam
Fruit

Method:

Place a tea spoon a your favourite jam on the bottom of the tart case, pour in 2 tablespoons full of yogurt. Decorate with any spare fruit you have, its a great way to get children to help at this point

Enjoy

Natalie

Growing your own

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:22:00 +0000

This year Barry and I decided to get back to growing a few vegetables ourselves, not wanting to put too much pressure on ourselves. I volunteered for the outside plants, carrots, peas, beans, courgettes and beats have all been panted. Barry is in charge of the green house. He has toms, foxgloves (not edible, I know) and lettuce growing.

We had an adult dinner this evening with both boys tucked up in bed tired from their weekly swimming lesson. Ricotta and mushroom pizza with home grown lettuce, so yummy.

Lettuce can be grown indoors too if you don't have a green house, any pot, old coffee jar, or tray will do. Simply fill with soil and sprinkle your seeds in, we like these best. Water regularly. Cut and come again varieties are great.

One cropped drop into a bucket or your sink full of ice cold water, swill then spin, we use a salad spinner and can't recommend it highly enough

Natalie

Green leaves was all my joy - Nature in the home

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:35:00 +0000

A branch had fallen off a local tree in the winds, beautiful soft fresh leaves held tightly onto hard brittle branches. I carried the branch home and decorated the house with these beauties in glass jars and pots

Joining in with Lou's Nature in the Home series

Natalie

Good for you Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:16:00 +0000

I am a lover of brownies, not just any brownies but the home made kind with their soft gooey centre and their slight brittle crunch which holds them all together. To discover a new recipe which is quite unlike any I have used before was a real treat and I have to say the finished blocks of chocolate joy were just that.

This recipe has "healthy" at it's heart, a great simple recipe with some lovely ingredients

I have tweaked the original recipe which I found here. While making them with my sons we tasted the mixture before pouring it into the tin and we decoded we needed a little honey to suit our taste, adjust to suit yours

Ingredients

115g ground almonds

1/4 teaspoon bi-carb

100 g dark chocolate, in chunks (we used green and blacks 70%)

10 pitted dates

3 free range eggs

57g olive oil

1 tbsp natural vanilla extract

1 tbsp runny honey

Place the gound almonds and bi-carb in your food processor, add the chocolate chunks and blitz until they look like sand. Drop in the dates and blitz again till all mixed and chopped finely. Pour in the eggs and vanilla extract and honey. Blitz until all combined and pour into a 6-8 inch baking tin. Bake at 180c for 20 minutes or until firm on the surface.

If you do bake them I would love to hear how they went down in your house

Take care, Natalie xx

Needle felting

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:59:00 +0000

On Tuesday evening I attended a needle felting class at Prema Arts in Uley, a 2 hour class with the lovely Sophie

Having never needle felted before I had no idea what to expect and also held out not much hope of producing anything much at all

Well, after 20 minutes we were all beavering away pushing our sharp felting needles into the soft lambs wool, shaping, twisting and pushing the fibres together.

I am so pleased with the end result, my own little dog. I can't think of a name for him though, any ideas?

Take care, Natalie xx

The blossom project

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:41:00 +0000

I have a deep love of the blossom tree, it is in part their delicate petals so fleeting and the confetti which covers every surrounding surface

Over the past week Jasper and I have been searching for blossoms to photograph, a little project which we have really enjoyed together, he the spotter and me the photographer. He has made me stop in the most unlikely of places and I have had to climb perilously on occasion to capture the pure beauty of nature in all her glory. I am so pleased with the images, they will forever remind me of my little man and I spending time enjoying trees

Take care, Natalie

My blogging view

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:17:00 +0000

Laura over at Circle of pine trees asked if fellow bloggers would show their blogging view, here is mine. I normally blog sat on my squashy sofa in the lounge, the view is of the mill houses and our hedge where 2 black birds have been living these past few years, they bring food back for their chicks and sometimes if we are lucky they will bath in the little nature pond we have built at the front of our cottage. The male only has one eye but is still the prettiest black bird I have ever seen

An afternoon stroll

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:40:00 +0000

Rachel (my dear sister) came up to visit today, she brought with her the bounciest of dogs Humphrey, I do love that boy already! Once Asa was home from school we took the children and the dogs for a walk. There is a beautiful walk from our house which stretches around my dream home, a white and blue lake side house, huge so plenty of room for lots of family and friends to visit and then the lake or lakes I should say, heaven just heaven. A girl can dream!

Take care, Natalie xx

A little posy

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:52:00 +0000

A simple posy picked on my way home from the school drop off. Dainty and soft.

This is my little contribution to Lou's Nature in the Home series

Take care, Natalie xx

Taking pleasure in the small things

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:45:00 +0000

The 10 minute walk back from dropping Asa and Jasper off to school was the perfect time this week to capture some of the beautiful new signs that spring is truly here

The apple tree blossoms fruity scent, shards of blue poking through the soft grass, black heads with white bards standing tall, dainty blue and white bells behind the sinister nettle, flashes of sunshine and the deep blue purple petals, Oh nature how you spoil us

Take care, Natalie xx

Precious things

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:55:00 +0000

On Wednesday mornings my son rushes into my bedroom to tell me today is the day of forest school, his little face looking so perfect with his smile beaming, it is one of his favourite things to do at school, that and open the book assembly

After picking up Japser from Kindergarten today we were asked if we would like to come too, Jasper and I could not say "yes please" quick enough

The sun was so bright as we all walked down to the woodland area, all the children excited to see what they were going to do today.

Asa decided to collect a few precious things, here they are, precious things found by my precious boy

Taking part in this weeks Nature in the home from Lou of Little Green Shed

Take care, Natalie xx

Primroses and Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (natalie thistlewood-cox) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0000

The name primrose actually derives from the Latin prima rosa meaning 'first rose' of the year. They are one of the first signs that spring is here.

We are lucky enough to have many primroses growing on our garden, I think because we are very close to a woodland and a meadow we seem to get more every year. No matter how long I look at them I never tire of the soft yellow hues and soft bumpy leaves.

On the 19th April which is in England is Primrose day I spent a little time photographing these beauties. I did sneak in an extra daff photo, how could I not they are so pretty too

Take care, Natalie xx