I made the mushroom soup on Thursday and Friday evening in my Morphy Richards small slow cooker. I have two of these, a small one which is great for 4 people and a large one which can cook for about 8. Both of these were bought at the same car boot sale that we visit in Cheshire but were bought on separate days. I paid less than £5 for each of them. The small one was £4 and the large one £3.
Mushroom Soup
Two small red onions
8 large flat mushrooms
Chicken stock
Thyme
Chopped garlic
Salt & Pepper
On Thursday evening I made the chicken stock from the chicken carcass from the roast chicken we had on Tuesday. I simply placed the chicken along with the pan juices into the slow cooker and covered with water. I used the low setting on the slow cooker and cooked for about 8 hours. When it was cold I took the carcass out and stripped the remaining meat from it and put this in the stock.
To make the soup on Friday evening I cut up some red onions that I had in my pantry (bought reduced). I chopped up two packs of the mushrooms that I bought from Tesco on Thursday and put them all in with the stock. I keep Waitrose frozen chopped garlic in my freezer so added about two small teaspoons of this to the pot. I then cooked the soup on the medium setting for about 6 hours and added some dried thyme from my herb rack and added salt and pepper towards the end of the cooking time. I then used a hand held blender to blend into a thick soup. We ate half of the pot for Saturday lunch and it was delicious. The remainder was put into the fridge for later in the week.
Sunday Finds
We did well with the weather today and brought back a wide selection of finds from the car boot sale where it was sunny and pleasant to spend time out in the fresh air walking round the field where the car boot sale is held.
I was pleased to find two adorable snowflake design tea light holders each containing two jars of preserve. The burgundy one had two jars of pickle - caramelised onion chutney and spiced beetroot relish, and the ivory one had two jars of preserve - strawberry jam and orange marmalade. Both of these together cost £1. The best before date is July 2015 so nearly a year off and plenty time to eat them. I also bought a cute tin with toffees inside from the same family and this was just 50p - this will be a present for my niece and nephew when they come to visit next weekend. All of the food items were new and unopened and I guess were unwanted gifts.
I bought a brand new tagine slow cooker which has a small 1.5 litre capacity. It can also be used as a slow cooker, this is because it has two lids, a funnel shaped tagine lid and a flat lid. This was brand new in the box complete with instructions and just £2.50. From the same lady I bought a lovely Marks & Spencer Percy Pig pot piggy bank complete with sweets for just 50p. This will be a little stocking filler for my nephew at Christmas. I also bought a small hard back book for him for 50p as another stocking filler.
I found a selection of toiletries and make up for myself ranging in price from 20p for the Nails ins nail varnish to 50p for a Boots No7 eye shadow to £2 for 2 bottles of Avon Advance Techniques hair conditioner & 1 fast dry nail varnish spray. There was also a brand new tube of hair removal cream - great for smooth summer legs for 20p. I bought a Body Shop Gift Set for £1 which contained 4 mini>items. I love Bonb Cosmetics bath bombs as they dissolve so easily in a warm bath, smell divine and leave your skin soft and silky after you have got out of the bath. I found a gift bag containing a bath bomb and a soap for 50p. My favourite 50p find was the retro style Vaseline lips tin holder as I have a number of the small tins which I can pop inside the holder and use for carrying round in my handbag.
I bought a selection of DVDs from 20p to 50p each and the full boxed set of the series Prime Suspect starring one of my favourite actors - Helen Mirren, for £4. Plenty to watch over the next few weeks and when I get bored of them I pass them on to family or charity.
I have always been a fan of the Royal Worcester Jamie Oliver mugs and have one already with "Bossy Boots" written on it. I found another today which has "Drama Queen" written on it so snapped this up for £3. My list goes on and on and if I were to include David's bargains then I would be writing a full book as today's post so in brief: Manola Blahnik shoe horn which was sold as part of the designer collection at Habitat £3, black leather Prada shoulder bag £2 (yes £2!!) in need of a little spit & polish, French cotton scented candle in 1970s style stemmed glass £1, Samsonite holdall with pull handle & wheels( used once on a return trip from New York and looks like new) £5, Dualit two slot chrome toaster (gently used) £15 ....... there is more but too much to list. We had to go back to the car three times as we were unable to carry everything.
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