Freebie Roundup

So, since moving to America I've discovered couponing. This isn't something that would work in England for the simple reason that all coupons there say "cannot be used in conjunction with any other coupon or offer", whereas here in America I have discovered that isn't the case!

But, while delving into the science of couponing, I've also discovered the vast amount of free samples available over here. I only started both 1 week ago so my free samples haven't started arriving yet (apart from 2, the herbs book and vegan recipe book in the picture), but I've been able to find coupons and offers that have given me free products over the past week :) That is what this roundup is for, because I'm still amazed and so very new at this that I had to share the excitement :)



Some things aren't shown in the picture because I forgot them and didn't want to re-take it, but here is my list of free stuff for the past week:

2 x 1 gallon carton milk (only one in picture, we used the other already)
1 x Quaker Life cereals
2 x Country Crock pumpkin spice butter
2 x Country Crock butter
2 x Birds Eye Voila frozen steam-fresh meals
2 x Kraft macaroni cheese
4 x Aquafresh toothpaste (travel size)
1 x Aussie conditioner (this wasn't free but it was only 20c after coupons so it was as good as free!)
1 x 50 pack Arm&Hammer laundry detergent tablets
1 x Vegan recipe book
1 x Herbs At A Glance book
4 x feminine hygiene packs
2 x Nonni Biscotti
2 x Feta cheese (one totally free, the other only a few cents)

So yes, I'll go more in depth with all of this later in the week. Does anyone else do couponing and have tips/advice? :)

I'm Alive!

Phew! Well, it has been a long time since I updated my blog and I want to say sorry for having such a long break between posts. Moving country happened really fast - my visa interview happened suddenly and then with packing and flying and unpacking, things have been pretty hectic to say the least lol!

But, now I think I'm finally settled, or at least settled enough to be able to get back on track with my blogging. So, hello to my followers, I've missed you guys :) and hello to any new followers, welcome to my little corner of the internet!

Even though I haven't sat down to blog since I've moved to America, I have a good pile or recipes that I'm planning to post over the next few weeks. Now hubby and I don't have to do long-distance meals together I even get to use him as a guinea pig for some of the new ones ;)

I'll update with a post on my move a little later but for now I leave you with a long overdue "Hello again!" and will get stuck in on catching up with what I've missed around here.

Getting Closer!

Sorry for the absence of posts from me lately, things have been progressing with my visa application and it's been taking up a lot of my time to get things organised. We finally have an interview date though! Yey! Unfortunately it's not before our first anniversary, so that's not so good :/ but we'll still make the most of the day with synchronising a romantic meal with webcams and synchronising pressing play on a movie we will both rent to watch at the same time :)

Now that the interview date has been set, I have a little more time to be posting things on here because now we actually have a date to work towards. No more limbo! Not being able to plan ahead was horrible but now, I can plan :) ...and I'm sure it will sink in sometime later today just how much I need to get done lol!

So, posts coming soon. I have a great ice cream recipe I want to share with you all and a delicious soup, as well as a lovely pasta dish and some book reviews.

Berry Muffins

Well this recipe is being posted much later than I had planned! Things have been really busy here and my online time got squashed down to zero for a few weeks. But, better late than never, right? :) These muffins are definitely worth waiting for.

I love Dorset Cereals. They are, however, a bit on the pricey side for my budget right now so I just treat myself to a box every so often. This time though I bought a box with a purpose, because Sainsbury's had given away a free recipe card for some berry muffins made from Dorset Cereals - the Berries and Cherries muesli.

I tried them out for the Mad Tea Party blog hop last month and wow are they delicious!

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes
Makes: 12

Ingredients:
200 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
100 g Dorset Cereals Berries & Cherries Muesli
225 ml plain yogurt
1 egg, beaten
90 g light brown soft sugar
75 ml semi-skimmed milk
75 ml vegetable oil
100 g berries, fresh or frozen (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)



1. Place 12 muffin cases in a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the muesli and yogurt together. I will add here, somehow I completely missed out the part with the muesli and yogurt here - I added them separately at the end of step 3 and my muffins still came out fine :)

3. Add the egg, sugar, milk and oil to the flour mixture and stir to combine.



4. Stir in the muesli mixture (or just add both in separately like I did!) until just combined, then gently stir in the berries (I used frozen raspberries and blackberries).





5. Divide the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.





6. Leave to cool and then enjoy!



I think when I make them again, and I will make them again, I'll add about 50 g more frozen berries because as yummy as they were, I think they can handle it :)

But, hands down, these were some of the tastiest muffins that I've ever had!

This will be my post for this week's Hearth & Soul Blog Hop :) Be sure to check out the other recipes on there this week and follow my blog for more tasty treats!

Welcome to my English Tea Party!

...and everyone is invited :)

Today is the Mad Tea Party blog hop, hosted by A Fanciful Twist. I hope you enjoy my Tea Party and also stop by the others taking part and have a lot of fun along the way!

All of the guests are arriving for this very important date...







Some arriving in style!



And here comes the Royal Knight - you can't have an English Tea Party without some Royalty now, can you?



Come in, come in and make yourself comfortable. There is plenty of food to go around!





We have finger sandwiches of tuna and cucumber or egg and cress...



Hand made pork and apple pie from the local butcher...



Then traditional fruit scones from the local farm shop with strawberry and rhubarb preserve or quince and rose petal jelly, perfect for the ladies at the party, and of course some clotted cream!



Are the scones too sweet for you? Not to worry, we have a lovely hand made fruit tea bread that will do just the trick!



If you have room for more why not try the home made fairy cakes - made by fairies, of course!



Or perhaps you would like some home made berry muffins? I'll be showing everyone how to make these next week too!



Now, we can't have a good tea party without... TEA! The Royal Knight has been kind enough to bring a special selection, which one shall we choose?



...are you sure that this is tea, Sir?



It seems to be moving...





...no, it's opening!







Beautiful blooming Jasmine Fairy tea. Now that truly IS tea fit for this magical Tea Party!



Thank you for coming to my English Tea Party, I hope you enjoyed yourself :) Stay a while and chat but make sure to visit the other tea parties along the way too for some more Mad Tea Party fun!

Apple Butter Pie

It wasn't very long ago that I discovered apple butter. For those of you who aren't sure what it is, think along the lines of a condensed apple sauce with added spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Really tasty stuff :)

I'm not a pie maker, or at least haven't been until now! I went to a friend's Pampered Chef party (which is a relatively new thing in England so I hadn't been to one before) and of the things I bought there, one was a super cool looking pie dish :)

...Never in my life have I been so excited about a pie dish lol!

So I had a look online and found an apple butter pie recipe that looked good and gave it a try in my new awesome, super cool pie dish!


(Just to share the awesomeness)

The recipe I used came from Baking Bites and even though it was very tasty and enjoyable, it didn't quite live up to my expectations so I'll probably experiment with it a bit another time. I enjoyed the pie and I'd make it again, but I think the one thing for me that needed changing is the consistency - but apparently (so my husband, who is American, tells me) this has the exact same consistency as traditional American pumpkin pie and so he loved it just as it was!

So this may be a case of me just not being used to that kind of pie filling yet. American pie and English pie seem quite different! When I do tinker with the recipe though I'll be sure to post the results :)

I will apologise in advance for any blurry photos, I still haven't been able to get my camera fixed :(

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 50-60 minutes (depending on oven)

Ingredients:
Sweet pie pastry to fit your pie dish
16 oz applle butter
12 oz evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract



1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Mix together the apple butter and evaporated milk. I stirred them together with a spoon but you can use a food processor if you prefer.



3. Add in the vanilla extract and eggs then stir well to thoroughly combine all of the ingredients. Again you can use a food processor if you prefer.



4. Roll out your pie pastry and line the pie dish. A trick I know, to stop the edges shrinking, is don't cut off the excess pastry until AFTER it is cooked. This allows for some shrinkage and then you can get a nice neat edge :)



5. Pour in the filling and bake the pie in the oven for 50-60 minutes. I have a fan assisted over so it only took 50 minutes.



6. Bring the pie out of the oven and use a sharp knife to cut away the excess pastry. Be careful not to touch the pie dish (this was a failing point of my new dish actually, as it has "handles" that got in the way a bit so my edge wasn't as neat as I'd have liked).





7. Enjoy a nice slice of pie! :)



This will be my post for this week's Hearth & Soul Blog Hop and it's their 1st anniversary :) Be sure to check out the other recipes on there this week and to follow my blog for more tasty treats!

Mad Tea Party Invitation!

Last year I took part in my first blog party (for Halloween), hosted by A Fanciful Twist. It was a lot of fun so I was excited to see that she is doing a Mad Tea Party this month :)

It's happening on Saturday, June 25th and it's really easy to take part - just click the link below to get the full details of how to join in on the fun!

A Fanciful Twist's Mad Tea Party



Hope to see you there :)