Scottish Caramel Shortbread Tray Bake

Hello honeys
I hope you're well and staying warm. The winds have gotten so chilly and the garden is full of leaves.  Each time hubby goes out to clean them up, next morning.... yep. there's more :)  Our furbaby Jade adores this time of year because she loves to play with the leaves :)

With the colder weather, Autumn brings a change to my kitchen too.  Hubby works really hard and I like to make sure he has a warming meal ready for him when he gets home at night. 

Salads, although still appearing occasionally as a side dish, mostly disappear in favour of lovely warm casseroles & roasts with potatoes & tons of steamed veggies, as well as traditional Scottish dinners such as Mince & Tatties or Stovies.  I'll write out a recipe for both of these for you honeys, if anyone would like it.

Yesterday I was hit by the baking bug and made another family favourite.  Now I've seen this yummy treat online being called millionaire shortbread but as a child growing up in the West of Scotland it was always referred to as simply "caramel shortbread."

It was a staple, served with custard, as part of school lunches at both Primary and Secondary schools.  

The main difference between what is now called Millionaire Shortbread and the much loved school dessert of days gone by is the topping. Where Millionaire Shortbread has a top layer of chocolate, the version served to us in mid 70s "dinner schools" had instead a layer of chocolate sprinkles.

Anyone over a certain age in Scotland will smile if reminded of caramel shortbread, although maybe not so much when reminded of the "school custard" which had the uncanny ability to grow a "skin" over the top before you got your tray to your table :)  So, do you want to make some yummy caramel shortbread too?  Let's go honeys....

Delicious 3 ingredient Tomato & Salmon Fusilli...

Hi Honeys,
I hope everyone is well and not suffering too badly with the change in the weather.  The remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo hit us yesterday and what a windy day it was!

To cheer myself up and to have something lovely and warm ready for hubby getting home from work, I decided to do what I do best. I thought I'd whip up a yummy bowl of pasta, but what type? what to serve it with? Time for another kitchen experiment, and oh my, was it delicious! Hubby even took some to work with him today for lunch :)

It really was yummy honeys, and best of all the ingredients are probably sitting in your pantry as we speak :) Let's get started then....

Delicious Apple & Cinnamon Tray Bake

Hi Honeys :)
As I write this our home smells gloriously of cinnamon & baked apples & it's just fabulous :)  I thought I'd share the recipe for the most delicious tray bake. It's super easy to make, looks (and smells) amazing when it's done and it tastes so, so, soooooo good!

There is something about autumn that just yells apples & gorgeous cinnamon to me :) Hubby adores anything with cinnamon so this is a favourite of his.  Why not serve it with whipped cream or even an old childhood favourite with lovely warm homemade custard :)

Let's head to the kitchen, grab our pinnies and get baking :)

What To Do With Unwanted VHS tapes

Hello honeys,
I'm so sorry I've been missing for a few days. Hubby has had a weeks hols from work and we've been de-cluttering our home. We've been working on the back bedroom, and since it doesn't get used very often it had become a "catch-all" for clutter.

This room is our guest room and so we've made it a project to make it far more functional than just being a room with a bed in it. This room has a decent sized cupboard in it. It's not a walk in closet by any means but it's a two door cupboard (closet) that is the depth of a wardrobe? This wonderful cupboard was though unfortunately full of boxes. We had no idea what was stored in them since they'd been there since our last house move!

What we found was... VHS tapes! Lots & lots of VHS tapes. Well, who uses VHS in our modern age? The answer surprised me :)

Pasta Bake in a Jar -pros & cons

Hello honeys,
I'm undecided still about the subject of todays post.  How does everyone feel about ready made pasta sauces?  Now I do tend to use a jar of bolognaise sauce as one ingredient when making my own Beefaroni, Hubby's favourite Lasagne and Beef Bolognaise Bake (along with tomatoes, onions & herbs) but this is something different. 

This jar of sauce is supposed to be, literally, dinner in a jar. All you need to add is some of your favourite pasta and a little grated cheese as a topping. 

Blogtember Challenge Day 30: Blogtember: A Month in Review

Hi honeys :)
It's the final instalment of the Blogtember Challenge! Oh no!! I'm so going to miss waking up and checking to see what the latest prompt is, writing & posting my own post for the day and then going to twitter to search for the #BlogtemberChallenge to see what everyone else has written.

Day 30: A farewell coffee date. Take some time to breath, sip a warm drink, and share with your new blogging buddies. If you'd like a prompt: how did the Blog-tember challenge go for you? Any surprises? What was your favorite prompt, or what would you like to see included next time?

The Blogtember Challenge has been the first time I've taken part in such an extended link up, lasting as it has for a whole month.  There has been such an amazing sense of community, of openness & friendliness among fellow bloggers taking part. Thank you so much and sending heaps of hugs to the lovely Bailey Jean for organizing Blogtember.  It's been a wonderful experience and I wouldn't hesitate to join another similar link up.

In the Day 28 post (which you can read here honeys) I wrote about the highs and low points of the month, choosing my favourite posts.  So I sort of feel like this post, the month in review, has already been partially written. I would like to add a few things however.

Thanks to this challenge I've learned a few things about myself, and I've also re-discovered a few others I'd forgotten, and it was nice to be reminded :)

1. I love blogging :) I really do! I love having this outlet for thoughts, feelings and creativity.  I love that it's helping me to document (and look back on) the work we're doing in our home, I love that I'm always making notes to myself about prospective blog posts :)

2. I've discovered that I actually enjoy having a target to meet.  The prompts were all there, posted by our lovely Bailey Jean to follow each day, and we all had 24 hours to post on that days topic.  I really wasn't sure at the beginning how I'd cope with having a post to write, edit & illustrate with a graphic every day, and a target of when it had to be posted, but you know what? I loved it :)

3. Again, I wasn't just writing (which I really enjoy) I was writing "to order" with the topic chosen for me. This in itself was unusual for me.  When I've written before, I've started with a blank page, put my hands on the keys (or picked up a pen/pencil) and stuff comes out :) This challenge has boosted my confidence, does that sound odd?  It's shown me that I can write for others, not just for myself and I'm so grateful for that.

Going forward, I think this experience will be a huge benefit to my blog. I've learned how to manage my time a little better, in order to get a post written, edited & published on time. It's made me realize too how important this little blog has become to me.  Even if no one else ever reads it, it's my voice in the world, when the world has moved on without me these past few years.

If you've read any of my waffle dear ones, thank you so much for keeping me company, it means more than I can say. Sending heaps of hugs & wishes for a fabulous weekend honeys (what? Thursday is nearly the weekend isn't it? :) xx

Blogtember Challenge Day 29: Favourite Blogging Resources

Hello again honeys :)
Still playing catch up with the last couple of posts in the Blogtember Series.  We've reached the penultimate post and I feel equally excited to have gotten this far in the writing challenge & sad that it's almost over. 

Day 29: What are your go-to blogging resources? What would you recommend to a beginner?

Well, this is awkward :) Being a beginner myself & positively still having so, so much to learn, I'm not sure what I can bring to the table on this prompt. So, I'll share what I've found immensely useful so far, in the hope that it can help someone out there.

Blogtember Challenge Day 28: Highs & Lows of Blogtember Month

Hello again honeys
It's been a busy, busy few days so I'm playing catch up with the Blogtember Challenge.  Now this will be a pleasure to write, the highs part anyway :)  So, here we go,  Day 28: What were your highs and lows for this month?

Let's start with the high spots of the past month shall we?