News & Updates from Handmade by Hilary

This week my husband and I celebrate the 15th birthday of our little furbaby Cassie. A gorgeous fluffy, cheeky little Lhasa Apso or as we often refer to her, a Lhasa Asbo!

From the day we got her when she was ten weeks old to today shes been our little bundle of love, shes run us ragged, cost us a fortune but we wouldnt be without her.

Sadly, old age has got the better of her, shes blind, deaf, incontinent, has to have a special homemade diet because of kidney problems, hasnt got many teeth and arthritis cripples her so she cant walk very far.

But, she still loves a cuddle, shes still a happy little girl and she still loves her food, what more could we want.

A few of the pics are from the day we first got her, the rest are more recent at home, in the garden and out on a walk in her new poochy stroller we bought so she can still get out and about to sniff and investigate everything in the big wide world.

For her birthday tea she had her favourite. Roast chicken. She was one happy pup :-)

At this time of year, it is not just my husband my dog and myself that I cook for, but I also cook for our little feathered friends that come to the garden every day.

For years now we have fed the birds (oh and squirrels, mice and hedgehogs – yes, they all have their own feeding station) and I dread to think of the countless pennies that have been spent on them, although to be fair every single penny has been worth it.

Two years ago, I decided to make my own suet balls using lard, seed and peanut butter.

Last year I decided to add crushed up digestive biscuits to give them that extra boost, after all who wants to diet in this weather so why cant the birds have a little treat too.

Our birds love them. Making the balls was actually too messy not to mention wasteful as it would go all over the floor when I was trying to mould them so I opted to make suet cupcakes instead which actually fit perfectly in the suet cages.

Our birds cant get enough of them and it actually saves us a bit of money. One block of lard usually costs about 60p and I generally buy store own brand peanut butter although this week I had to buy the expensive stuff as I couldnt get the cheaper version.

These suet cupcakes are therefore not just suet cupcakes, they are luxury suet cupcakes.

All in all, after adding the biscuits and seed they cost us about £1.10 to make a batch of 8 or 10 depending on how big I make them.

Together with the cupcakes we have peanuts, seed, sunflower hearts, kibbled peanuts, coconut suet shells and of course lots of water.

Our garden is like a nature reserve some days and it costs us a small fortune, but I wouldnt change it for the world.

In the UK its that time of year again where we need to start wrapping up warm and in our house in particular, comfort foods are craved, especially puddings.

So besides designing card kits and crafting another of my loves is cooking and baking and of course eating the end result.

I was craving one of my favourite puddings, apple crumble and in the cold months I just love it with custard.

So I decided to whip up a couple of crumbles for me and my husband, a traditional plain apple crumble and one with a caramel bottom.

No sooner were they out of the oven, two portions got covered with custard and devoured, not both by me I might add!

One will definitely have to go in the freezer or well eat the lot over a few days as we cant resist pudding and custard.

Looks like Ill be putting in extra steps to compensate for the extra calories Ive just eaten.