Fall Y’all….

 

It’s here folks! It’s Monday and that means it’s time for the Fall Y’all Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon at her new giveaway blog.

 

If it’s not already clear to you there are giveaways going on all over the place and the place to find them is at Shannon’s latest blog.

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Welcome to my blog!!

I’m Elaine Aka Mummymac and I’m a blogger from Northern Ireland (which it appears is quite a rare thing) 😉

I’m also a stay at home mum and it also appears that is quite a rare thing too!

Enough about me ………….. on with the business……….

 

and so this is the giveaway with many thanks to the kind editor at Appletree Press I am giving away a copy of An Irish Country Kitchen by Mary Kinsella.

 

I recently purchased a copy of this book as my husband was taking an annual trip to the USA. He normally takes something of an Irish theme to his hostess and this year we decided on this lovely book. The book impressed me so much I decided to contact the people at Apple Tree Press who willingly donated a copy for this give-away.

Click on over the the Apple Tree website where you will find many books on an Irish theme, whether it be recipe books, history of Ireland or books of a more general nature they have quite a brochure.

And so to be in with a chance to win this book – here’s what you have to do.

Simply leave a comment to this post before Saturday 3 November at 10.00pm (GMT) and you will be automatically entered. I will make the drawing some time after this time using this handy random number generator and then post the results here and also at Shannon’s site.

NOTE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A BLOG TO ENTER.

This contest is open to participants from UK, IRELAND, USA & CANADA. (Because I’m kind that way).

Be sure to check out all the other giveaways going on over at Shannon’s all week.

 

** note to the regulars – I’m taking a few days off blogging, have a good week**

** If you have a copy of Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress on your shelf please check out my previous post**

 

Mummymac.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep Reading…

It’s Works-for-me-Wednesday over at Rocks and I have found this to work for me.

With my reading schedule when I finish a book, even though it’s late at night, I don’t sit back and feel as if I’ve accomplished something then go to bed.

I deliberately read the first 2 or 3 chapters of my next book on my schedule, that way I am more likely to pick it up the next day.

If I don’t start the next book asap I tend to have a few days off reading!!

This works for me.

Check out my current reading schedule here.

Mummymac.

Granny Annie’s Chocolate Cake.

As a child this is my birthday memory. Forget the presents, forget the parties. If you didn’t get one of these cakes it just wasn’t a birthday.

This is Birthday time of the year in our house with 1 just past in September and 2 coming up in November there is plenty of baking to be done. All our cakes are based on this recipe though my kids are going through the more complicated cake the better stage. Thankfully Daddymac is the arty type and he takes charge of piping and all the final details.

If you’re looking for a simple cake that is simply delicious here it is.

I’ve been asked for this recipe a few times lately so get baking girls 😉

Granny Annie’s Chocolate Cake.

8oz Caster Sugar

8oz Soft Margarine

7oz Self Raising Flour

1oz Cocoa

4 eggs

Cream the sugar and margarine and add the eggs, then gradually the flour and cocoa.

Pour into 2 tins and bake for 30 minutes at 180C.

Icing

3oz margarine

4oz icing sugar

1 Tablespoon of milk

100gms Bournville Chocolate melted.

Cream margarine and Icing Sugar, add milk and chocolate.

Sandwich cake with a little and use the rest for the top.

Decorate as necessary.

(Try not to eat it all yourself 😉 )

If you want a nice plain sponge just leave out the cocoa and add another oz of flour instead then sandwich together with jam, top with jam and coconut or use fresh cream to decorate if preferred.

Mummymac.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

This month’s recipe roundup is hosted by Melanie at Motherhood Apologia and the theme is freezer recipes.

You could say this theme is like a red rag to a bull as I double-up and freeze almost every meal I make. Some would call me organized but I think of myself more as lazy, wouldn’t you rather make a meal once than twice?

Anyway as I refuse to sit all night and type in a host of recipes I freeze I have chosen just one which was given to me by a friend.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

(Give to me by a Farmers wife – so it is authentic 😉 )

This is a good soup to freeze as if you don’t like your soup thick you can add more water to it when you are re-heating it. Personally I’m a thick person 😉

1 cup of soup mix
2 stock cubes
6-8 carrots
6-8 stocks of celery
6-8 small leeks or 4 large leeks
parsley

And that’s all she gave me!! – She didn’t tell me what to do!! She obviously didn’t know I’m the type who follows a recipe to a T.

Regardless I just chop it all up, stick it all in the saucepan, cover it with water and simmer it as low and long as you can.

Hope it works!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of this months recipes.

Mummymac

A sad lad..

So Daddymacs off to USA for the conference and we’re already looking forward to his return 🙂

We have a busy week ahead with things to do and people to see. Have car, must travel and all that.

Don’t worry about him either, he’s had his fix. What an anorak!! – I guess that’s ok – I knew that when I married him.

We’ve been enjoying tracking his flight on here.

Is anyone else filling shoe boxes for operation Christmas Child?

Hope you all have a great weekend. I will when our boxes are finished 🙂
Mummymac.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed…

Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting another Blog Give-away.

I’m just warning you because to fully take part it seems you need to have a lot of spare time on your hands!

Last time there were over 500 participants and therefore more than 500 chances to win goodies.

It’s coming up on 29 October so if you have a blog go check out the rules and consider holding a give-away this time.

I’m planning on another gift that will appeal to many, so be sure to check back on 29 October.

Mummymac

It’s A Boy…

If any of you are interested in seeing the cutest baby who was born this morning, head over to Susanna’s and send loads of comments of congratulations her way.

Mummymac

Book Giveaway..

There’s another book Giveaway going on over at Biblical Womanhood. Crystal is giving away a copy of Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God.

The publishers say this about the book:

Have you struggled to reconcile God’s vision of virtuous womanhood with worldly myths that marginalize and mock the role of the homemaker? Do you wrestle with cultural messages that demean the homemaker’s calling and exalt instead the emotionally androgynous power-woman — the wife whose worth is measured only by the degree of her ambition, the shape of her body, or her money-making skills? Such is the image of the “desperate housewife” that the modern media, culture, and feminism are promoting with great energy.

In a delightfully fresh and honest way, this book addresses these issues head-on and provides fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker. Hear a former “Christian” feminist share how she went from a die-hard homemaker-in-training to a dedicated career woman and then back again — after God gripped her heart. See the hollow counterfeit of whitewashed feminism and “me-ology” destroyed. And consider the beautiful picture painted in Scripture of the truly fulfilled homemaker who glories in the hopeful calling God created for her.

Pull up a chair, dust off the cookie crumbs, and join Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald as they lay aside stereotypes like the “Stepford wife” and dispel such myths as the 1950s “perfect homemaker.” Laughter and tears will flow, and hopefully you will be infused with a renewed vision for victory as a wife and mother. Discover what it means to be a passionate housewife “desperate” for God alone!

I’m sure this would be a good resource, click over to Biblical Womanhood and leave a comment for your chance to win.

Mummymac.

Works for YOU Wednesday.

Shannon who you all know by now hosts Works-for-me-Wednesday has gone mad. 😯

Just because her house is having a makeover she has decided to give her Wednesday carnival the same treatment. So this week instead of leaving a tip to share with others the idea is we have to ask others for a tip.

Something that works for you instead of me?

Are you confused…..? So I thought well what am I going to ask all of Blogosphere?

What do I need to know that only they can tell me? And I just couldn’t come up with anything until… well…

now.

So……

I would like to know, what is your all time favourite (yes that’s how we spell it here) one-pot recipe?

I know, I know there are loads of tested and tried recipe sites all over the Blogosphere never mind the net, but I’m the type of girl who likes to get a recipe from someone I know and trust and….. well…..you guys are the next best thing 🙂

So go for it, leave me a comment with your favourite recipe, you know, the one you don’t even need the book out for now, you know it so well.

In return any I try I’ll post about and link back to your blog, hows that for a deal?

I’ve got the pan on…….

Don’t forget to head over to Shannon’s to see if you can help out any of the other bloggers who are looking for advice instead of giving it out this week.

Mummymac.