Burgers!

I've been awful at posting recipes lately and for that I apologise!
So here's an easy one we made at the weekend for you to try....


Turkey Burgers

1 pack (500g) minced turkey
breadcrumbs
garlic salt


In a large bowl place the minced turkey, (you could also use minced up chicken to make this recipe)
To this add a sprinkle of garlic salt and a good handful or two of breadcrumbs. The mixture should be really thick after youadd the crumbs and these help bind the mix together.


(Do you notice how I don't measure anything much except maybe the meat, but that's only as it comes in a weighed pack from the farm shop!)

Mix really well with your hands to get the meat really well combined with the garlic salt and breadcrumb.

When thoroughy mixed, form into patties and gently fry in a moderately hot pan until cooked through. I use a tupperware type burger press thingy that my Mum gave me, but you can just squish the burgers together with your hands. My mixe gave 8 good sized burgers.

We served these with creamed mash and lot of veggies, but you can serve how you like.

The mix works best and holds together better if the meat is cold, so if you aren't planning to make the burgers to eat straight away, leave the mix in the fridge until you're ready to do so.

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post, but the familly had hoovered up the burgers before I could get a snap :0)

Where did our manners go?

Where did all our manners go? That was the question I asked myself at work this morning. I was making my way through a building, carrying all my equipment for my job as I usually do, when I came to the exit door. A very smartly dressed lady, I would say in her late 40's was coming behind me. I pushed the door open and held it open as I stood to the side to let her past in front of me. She marched through the door, didn't even glance in my direction and walked off. Not an acknowledgement nor a simple thank-you. To top it all off, she then let the door close on me as I was coming behind her. Grrr!!! I was furious!

A simple smile and or a thanks would have done, but no, I was treated like an invisible person. Was it because I was in uniform? Possibly. Was it because I was younger than her and she thought I'd have no manners either? Possibly. I will never know.

On the same subject, is it just me or do shop staff nowadays have no manners either? No please or thank you when taking your money, change and receipts dumped in a heap in your hand. I could go on and on!

What experiences have you had in regard to basic manners or the lack of them? I wonder sometimes if I'm just unlucky and get the rude people all the time. Leave a response to let me know what you think!

Thank you for taking the time to read my rant today :0)

Manners cost absolutely nothing to carry and they make life a little nicer.

A soother for bites and stings

As we have really glorious weather at the moment, I thought I'd share a tip with you that I collected at at the game fair last week. A really easy remedy to help soothe bites and stings.
Firstly when you next do your grocery shopping, pick up a bottle of cider apple vinegar. Then go for a walk when you get home and find a nice patch of elderflowers. Pick a large handful of the flower heads. I chose ones that were well in flower and left any that were drooping of turning in colour.

Take the bottle of cider apple vinegar and pour a little of it out, then start to push the elderflowers into the bottle. Push in as many as you can to fill your bottle almost to the top.

When completed, screw the cap back on and leave to stand. To apply just use a small piece of cotton wool or a tissue to dab the affected area with the vinegar solution.

This will keep indefinitely as it "pickles" the elderflowers.

Fruits of my labours!!!

I'm really starting to see the rewards of my hard work in the garden and greenhouse this year.

I've posted some pictures up so you can see what's going on so far!

My first tomatoes staring to form on the plants. They might be small so far, but I'm hoping that they will be really flavoursome tomatoes later in the season.
Alpine strawberries, these were grown from seed last year and overwintered in the greenhouse. They are small but have so much flavour. I'm hoping to get runners from them for new plants next season.

3 cucumbers forming on the greenhouse plant. I lost one cucumber earlier this year. It went all squashy at one end so I thought it best to remove it to prevent damage to the plant. It seems to have worked ok with no ill effects.
Plenty of pea pods forming on the garden plants. I've sown these in succession this year so hopefully I'll have a continuous supply rather than a glut.My first ever raspberry! There are plenty of berries forming on the cane but this one for some reason is ripening quicker than the rest. I'll have to dig out my netting to prevent the birds from snacking on them before I do. I also have a new cane coming up on this plant, so I'll split that off next year.



Also on my agenda today, I've strained off the elderflower concoction into demi-johns to ferment out. I've also just bottled one without any added yeast to see what it does. It will be an interesting experiment. If it ends up undrinkable, I'm sure my composter will enjoy it!


Next on my to do list this evening is to haul out my material stash and get cracking on some bags, now that I have my gorgeous labels to sew into them. I really could do with gardening too this evening but I don't think there's going to be enough hours today :0)

Elderflower Champagne

I'm having a go at making Elderflower Champagne. My little one discovered that we had elderflowers growing in a lane near our house. We've been here for 4 years and didn't realise until now!!

So here's a shot of the brew in progress:The reipe I used came from the BBC website and it appears to be pretty easy to make. I'll let you know in a few days how it's going. Currently it smells very fragrant, time will tell!

I wasn't sure what was classed as a head of elderflower, so I have loads in, what's the bet I have too many, or can you have too many in something like this???

Last day of my staycation

*sniff* it's all over, I'm now on the last few hours before I return to real life and the horrible four letter word that is work.

We spent the last day of our staycation at the medieval and game fair at Shanes Castle.







We had a very wet start to the day, but by early morning the weather had settled down to be a dry day. There were plenty of things to see and do at the game fair. One of the activities we tried was archery. I really enjoyed this but have a bruised arm for my trouble!

Do you sense a recurring theme for my staycation this week? We've beento a fair few castles and monuments! Very educational I have to admit, but equally as enjoyable!




This is a picture of an old torpedo testing platform, which lies just off the Antrim lough shore on Lough Neagh.
The old platform is now a protected breeding ground for wildlife.

So thta's it for now. I'll be back to normal next week with all my usual boring bits!

I'm all personalised!

My personalised labels for my sewing have arrived!! I'm so excited, I'm like a dog with two tails :0)


So here it is,
Finally I managed to get a decent shot of my labels to show you!

Just have to get my bum in gear now and start making lots of lovely things to sew my labels into!