Mini Emergency Lighting Kit

This is my mini emergency kit, perfect for our caravan. Being from 1969, she is lacking on the 'mod-cons' so this is perfect (and has come in very handy!) Am going to make one for the house too!

In the kit:

An old jam jar

Batteries

Tea Lights

Lighter

Easy to put together and so handy!

Its a wrap!

I spotted that Tesco had upped their range of meat free/vegan items! Yay! I haven't tried these before so thought I would give them a go. They say 'Vegetarian' on the packed but I couldn't find anything non-vegan in the list of ingredients:

This isn't a home cooked, from scratch sort of meal but I thought I would blog about it. As it makes such a great sharing fun meal for all the family! Wraps.

You can pretty much throw in what ever you like. I Sliced up, onion, peppers, mushrooms, spring onions and leeks. I fried them all up, and then fried up the...erm... I don't really want to call it 'duck' as its not a duck...Stuff! The shredded stuff! Two big dishes, one with hot and one with cold.

Apples, tomatoes, spring onions and humus! I also had a few different sauces, sweet chilli was yummy with this.

We where all stuffed, the kids thought it was lots of fun and there is some left over for lunches tomorrow. Easy, low prep meal for the whole family! YUM

Old School No-Chick and Leek Pie

I've called it 'Old School' as its not like the other pies on my blog. It just has a top of pastry! Am not going to lie, am on my second helping as I type and I think its my favorite pie so far! 

Ingredients:

Pastry, you can use a brought puff or make your own, click here for how I made mine. 

1x butternut squash

1x large sweet potato

2x red onions

300g soya pieces

1.5x leeks

1x veggy stock cube

Black pepper, rosymary, thyme, chilli and garlic flakes (I used a tiny amount of the flakes, so don't panic if you don't have any!)

Fry the onions and leeks.

Add the butternut and potato, having cut into small cubes. Fry till just starting to brown and soften.

Add herbs and flakes, along with black pepper to your stock cube. I added about 1 pint of boiling water to the stock cube. 

 Add stock to the butternut, leeks, onions and potato. 

Cover and bring to a gentle boil.

Make your pastry, if making your own. You can make it at any point as it can sit in the fridge till your ready.

Fry the soya pieces, till perfect and golden.

Add the soya to the main mix and into a deep pie dish. This is my Nana's 1960's dish which did have a lid....that has long since gone. You can use this pie mix how ever you would like, competently encasing it in pastry or like me, just the top. 

 

I layered my made pastry, about 3 times, very thinly. I used my Granny's cutter, which I noticed looks a lot like a leaf! (As you know am a hoarder and lover of passed on hand-me-downs.) Then very crudely made flowers.

I love making my own pastry, it doesn't puff lots but it tastes so nice! 

I would say this would feed up to about 6, but my husband and I did have large second helpings! 

So many 4!

It really worked very well with mash. A very simple mash, of white potatoes, mashed down with a tiny amount of butter, soya milk and about half a teaspoon of mustard. (I guess the amount of mustard, as long as the seeds a spread evenly though the mash.) Then along side some frozen green veg and cauliflower. YUM! 

Our Second Vegan Christmas

Christmas 2016

We have a few family traditions, one is that each of our three mini people have a box with their name on. Each year we buy one decoration for the tree for them and it goes in their box. They put their decorations on the tree. The box is kept safe till, it waits by the elf doors on the night before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, they wake up to the box being filled with things to make Christmas Eve relaxing and snuggley. Each year the Elves bring them new Christmas Pj's, a mug, and something crafty. They get a very big treat of hot chocolate in their new mug! 

The Christmas Eve Box

This year they got a craft box too, this kept them busy for hours!

Then when we take down the tree, their decorations go back in the box. When our mini people are older and leaving home, they will have a box full of their decorations ready to start their own tree! *Am going to cry, a lot I think....

Father Christmas popped over early to see the children in the lead up to Christmas! As we live by the sea, he had to borrow a rib to get to the island! They where very excited to see him arrive and it was lovely to get a mini gift from him for being such good little boys and girls in the run up to the main event!

After asking on my facebook page what my followers traditions for Christmas where, we have adopted one. Reading 'The Night Before Christmas' on Christmas Eve! As you know, am a hoarder and this is my book from the 1980's! Am going to read it to our little family every Christmas Eve from now on, a lovely little tradition.

I think its so important, to teach the mini people to be kind and giving. So with that in mind we all made Gingerbread Men, popped them in bags and then set out on Christmas Eve to deliver them to our neighbors. (They where vegan ones, I will share how I make them, when I get a moment!)

Our neighbors have been so forgiving this year, having this big while dirty box sat on our drive. They have been helpful, lending me a drill, giving me gifts for her. (She is part way through being done up, at the moment her outside is looking pretty shabby! Not the shabby chic sort of look, more like, dirty old 'shed' look. If you want to read about Daisy, click here.) Our road really went to town with the Christmas lights! When we delivered the Gingerbread Men, we waited till it had just got dark so we could go see all the lights too! Its easy to just snuggle at home, and not leave the house! I think Christmas walks are really lovely and the mini's loved seeing all the lights. We filled Daisy with fairy lights, just over the few days for Christmas, it was lovely pulling into the drive, seeing her all lit up!

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This is only our second Christmas with a plant-based/vegan diet, the first, it felt so huge not to fall back to cooking an animal. This year, I didn't even think about it. I haven't ever put any presser on my self, I have thought of it like this - If I fancy something I will have it, so far I haven't fancied anything. The longer I go without the more I think its weird to eat meat. Why would I want a dead body of a once living beautiful being on my Christmas lunch table? I was born a meat eater and I come from a family of meat eaters, county folk. So was my husband, so where our children. I don't think I have got our Vegan Christmas lunch perfect yet, but am getting close. My husband said it was the best roast he has ever had! 

 I have been cooking Christmas lunch for years. I once cooked it without an oven and just a microwave and a one ring camping stove! (I haven't owned a microwave for years.) One I will never forget was cooking my dying friend his last Christmas lunch, taken in draws in the back of a truck to his house (over an hours drive away.) So Christmas lunch means a lot to me, I work hard to make all the extra timmings, stuffing etc, it can take days to make. While I've been finding my feet with making a Vegan Christmas meal, I have brought pre-made things like stuffing and I was so shocked at how little prep time there was. I made the pie on the day, I didn't have to cook through the night. I was really relaxed! 

I made a Christmas pie this year, as in the run up to Christmas my husband told me he wasn't really loving nut roasts!!! Oh no I thought!! Well, this pie was amazing!

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I didn't go 'all out' as it where for our Christmas table, it was very relaxed! If you have been following my blog for a while, you will know that am a hoarder and mega into retro vintage hand-me-downs. The main china we use day to day, is my Nana's 1960's set and few bits had got broken, so I had packed it away and brought new. Wow, the new stuff is in worse condition that the plates from the 1960/70's! So this Christmas, I was looking at some new sets, thinking how nice it would be to have a really pretty table for Christmas. Tesco had lots of sets on offer and one had court my eye. While I was shopping, I went to put it in the trolley. I was like, what am I doing!! Why on earth would I spend money on this new set, when I love the old retro stuff. Am currently collecting J&G Meakin 'Poppy' for our 1969 Caravan but I've fallen in love with their coffee pots.....I may have brought another one....

This is pretty much my husband right now.....

So I put down the pretty set and matched off to hunt down the internet for more Meakin! 

I also put back the big candle stick holders, which would have made beautiful table decorations/center pieces. After remembering that I have three small children, who would not think 'what a beautiful table mummy,' more like, 'look mummy fire.....' So I used the lanterns we use in Daisy, they have fairy lights inside, so they are safe from catching things alight! Also on the table was the beautiful serving dish which was a homemade gift for our wedding. A few bits of the J&G Meakin 'Poppy' I have so far managed to collect and fun new Christmas bowls and cups for the mini people!

The Food!

A large cooked whole cauliflower, cooked with spices and seeds.

Stuffing, cooked in a muffin tin to make stuffing cups.

 Cauliflower butternut cheese, click here for my no-cheese sauce just pour over cooked cauliflower and sprinkle on breadcrumbs and vegan cheese. 

Parsnips cooked in my Pear Honey.

My Christmas pie, (we took it with us for boxing day and got lots of compliments) click here for how to make it. I baked it in one large tin this time, not muffin tins, also I didn't use brought puff for the top but made my own. (Click here for how to make my short-crust pastry.)

With roast potatoes, sweet potatoes mash with swede and green vegetables. 

It was blinking yummy!! I eat so much, but didn't feel that over full horribleness or needed to take a nap. That's just one of the amazing things about plantbased food! 

Winter Camping

We are going to be camping for New Years Eve! Am so excited and a little worried. 

Three children under the age of 6. Our first trip out in May was the coldest I have ever been in my life, and even though this time we will have electric and a heater, am worried!

When we first brought Daisy, with no electric and no intention of putting anything in, I never thought we would be caravanning in Jan/Dec!! My mind has been changed, yes its cold, but the van was lovely and warm. We where snuggled up, wow the electric blanket was amazing. 

Daisy all ready the day before, beds all made and looking so snuggly!

I knew we would be arriving to the site quite late, due to my husband having to work New Years Eve. So I pre-made all our beds, with electric blanket in place and ready to go! I dressed all three mini people, in their new warm Christmas Pj's, (I was also in mine...No one noticed!) and we drove four hours into the night! We drove straight passed the campsite! We joined the Retro Caravan Club, back about Fed 2016. Their last event, was a New Year brake. New Year's always expensive and there is no way we could get a babysitter for it. My husband and I, have mostly spent it, in pjs and going to bed early. Well we did for 2016/2017 too, but this time it was in a field, with loads of our good friends we have made this year. The kids had the most amazing time, there where still all going strong after 10.30 but we where both knackered so took them to bed about 11pm. (They had got to that over tired stage where they are acting like crazy people!)

The party was held in the barn, and it was packed! 

In the barn with us all, where lots of lovely Classic cars too! 

We started our New Year, 2017, snuggled up in Daisy. She may have a huge to do list still to go, but it was so lovely to wake up, warm, with my family and knowing we where making real memories for them! It rained most of New Years day, so we made use of the barn, and got the kids running laps. We had a late start to the day (First lay in passed 7am in, well, as long as I can remember!!) so by the time, they had a morning of crafts and then a play in the barn it was almost time for bed!

Its amazing how much great food (with a little planning) you can make on just to two ring hob! 

Every time the whistle blows on our kettle, I get a flood of wonderful memories of caravanning as a child. It really is one of my all time best sounds to hear. 

Our first morning, we had a huge vegan fry up, our second we had bagels followed by a corn flakes. Now having a little mini fridge fitted into Daisy's wardrobe, it makes it a lot easier to store food. I do love to be without electric and mod-conds but I have got very used, very quickly to having a fridge! 

 For our last day, we where recommended Coventry Transport Museum WOW, it was not only free, but fab!! The mini people loved it, and there was so much for them to do and see. We both wished they had slowed down a little so we could look a little closer at it all though! (We missed a section as a lift was broken and the minis where warn out so we didn't go look for another way around.)

There where lots of things which court my eye. There where quite a few cars I would loved to have, but this one, now this one was my favorite! I must be getting to that time of life, where am walking passed sports cars, and falling in love with something like this! (I must have been stuck, in that time of life for about the last 15-20 yrs, as I love them!) Something like this would look so amazing pulling our Daisy!!

Am putting this place on some sort of list 'Places I must Return too' There was so much to see, and do. I would go just with Hubby, but they had everything so geared to all enjoying it, it really made it a great day out! From us, to our 6yr old, 4yr old and 2 yr old, there was so much to see! Did I say, its FREE!!

We would walk around and turn a corner to our children shouting 'WOW!!!" Everything, from Fire Trucks, a Caravan, Bus, Tank, Cars after Cars, and so many Bikes. I was really impressed with how much they had fit in, and how well thought out the layout was. 

It was such a beautiful day, the mini people had such a great time running about. As long as you have a good winter coat, gloves and wellies, you can play out in the fields for ages. Daisy was warm and cozy when we got back, put the kettle on and its pretty close to heaven! 

Whats so lovely about the Retro Caravan Club, its a bit like time travel. In our section of the field where so many different shaped, amazing vans. Looking at other parts, where just white boxes. I know people love their van no matter how old it is, or new, but looking around at all these old vans, knowing how much they are loved, is a pretty amazing feeling! 

Not only are all our vans different, we are all different, different ages, backgrounds but we all feel like part of a family. I really feel like I have made life long friends. We arrived in the dark, and we had a small team of people, not only helping us over the phone to find the campsite. Also hooking up our electric, helping site Daisy, without even having to ask for help. 

With three young children, excited to at last be out of the car, getting set up can be stressful but knowing there are such lovely friends waiting for you to arrive, is priceless! 

We heading home, after a fab weekend away with wonderful friends, knowing we had started our New Year in an unforgettable way! 

We belong to the Retro Caravan Club, for more information about them,

please see their website: retrocaravanclub.co.uk

We stayed at Victoria Farm, we would stay again, friendly staff and lovely views! 

If you would like more information check out their website: victoria-farm.org

We visited Coventry transport Museum, it was an brilliant free day out for all the family.

Please see their website for more information: www.transport-museum.com

Wishing all my lovely readers a very Happy New Year, may your 2017 be magic!  

Want to read all about doing up Daisy? Click here!