A good deal

We like a mango in our daily smoothie.

So when I saw them for half-price in

 the supermarket, I bought 24!

I peeled them, mixed them in the food

 processor and then put them in the freezer

(in jam jars).

And voilà, 24€ saved!

Mulled wine

The house smells wonderful!

It's a new recipe so we hope it tastes just

 as good as it smells.

 

 

Smoothie

Apple-banana-pear-strawberry-kiwi-mango-tomato-orange/lemon juice smoothie.

I make one of these almost every day with

 whatever is in the fridge.

Friday cheesecake

The boys bought a really fun baking book for

 my husband's birthday. 

There are so many good recipes 

(with nice pictures, I need pictures)

 that we are planning to try a new 

cake every weekend. 

This cheesecake with crumble topping 

was worth the try, we all loved it!

Friday night

A kitchen invasion. They baked a streusel cake with apple filling, which turned out to be really delicious.

The kids enjoy the weekends with their brothers 

and their girl friends so much.

Apple sauce and berry jam

Today has been a busy day in our home. 

We made apple sauce, red currant and elderberry jam.

We cleaned and prepared the red currant berries

in summer and put them in the freezer. 

We had never done it this way, 

but it worked out really well.

 

 
It was hard work (it takes a lot of apples to

fill a glass with apple sauce).

Stoneware dish and cake molds

I found these at the supermarket. It was the cute 

french tags that caught my attention.

They are really heavy and beautiful. 

I bought an extra cream cake mold my second son's girlfriend (who is going to college next month).

30°C

It's really hot here in Luxembourg.

 The kids come home every 10 minutes telling

 me how thirsty they are.

And in the evening I take out all the fruit and

use it for our daily smoothies.

Smoothies

I always use the kids' dance time to run my errands.

We're having smoothies tonight!

An abundance of red currants

The red green currants have started to appear.

We might leave them to the birds this year, because we still have so much jam and syrup left from last year. 

Strawberry season

The strawberry season has started in our
corner of the world.

I bought these, but we are hoping for a good 

strawberry season in our garden too! 

We just have to be a little more patient. 


 

The first rhubarb pie of the year

I baked two this weekend.

White hot chocolate

In Johannesburg and in Cape Town bakery/café

Vovo Telo was one of our favorites.

Especially the kids liked their white hot chocolate.

We have tried to find this white chocolate in every supermarket we visited, but without success.

And no luck here in Luxembourg either.

Until I had the brilliant idea to check on Amazon UK. 

To make a long story short...we received two cans

yesterday and I am happy to announce that 

we have found it! The kids are excited. 

I must confess that I tried a cup or two and it's yummy.

Old fashioned Dutch apple pie

Bonne Maman

I couldn't resist this Bonne Maman inspired glass jar.

Monday morning

There we go again.

More apples

Today was all about apples.

 We love apple sauce, it is just so much work.

 The apples on our trees weren't the best this year

so that I couldn't use my apple peeler.

I peeled every apple by hand and I

had to take out lots of bad spots.

Add a tablespoon of water, a little lemon juice and

some honey and cook till the apples are soft. Mix

 them in the blender and fill in glass jars.

So easy (if it weren't for the peeling)!

 

Elderberry syrup, jam and apple sauce

Homemade elderberry syrup, apple sauce

and elderberry/plum jam.

We found a lot of elderberry bushes near the

apartment where we stayed in Holland. 

We picked as many berries as we could,

then cleaned and put them in the freezer part

of the refrigerator in plastic bags.

They thawed on our way home in the car

and we made syrup the next day.

This should get us through the winter!

Tarte aux mirabelles

My son came home this morning with a bowl

full of mirabelle plums from a very sweet neighbor.

Mirabelle plum pies are so good!

Berry picking II

Red currants.

Tons of red currants.

This is an old fruit press. 
My husband remembers his grandmother 
and mother using it to make red currant 
marmalade.

 

 

The result!

We are tired but it is a wonderful feeling

to see all those filled glasses.