ElleAyJay: It's beginning to smell a lot like ...

I'm finally enjoying a bit of free time, something that has been in very short supply for at least a year. Mind you, I'm finding my days very easy to fill and not always with the things that have been mounting up on my 'to do' list for longer than I care to remember.

One thing that really wasn't on my 'to do' list was to clear out my freezer. However, last week I read an article about a woman who challenged herself to feed her family for a month from what she already had in her freezer and kitchen cupboards, supplementing it with fresh essentials limited to a budget of £50.

Firstly, I am pretty sure that her freezer is a lot larger than mine, and secondly that her cupboards were fuller than mine. However, it did get me thinking about exactly what was filling the top drawer of my freezer and when I last cooked amaranth or camarague red rice. Anyway, a quick delve into the freezer revealed 2 bags of cranberries and this was followed swiftly by a flick through a few recipe books. Actually, I immediately grabbed Delia's Winter Collection - the one that resulted in a national cranberry shortage in the UK and sure to contain something I could make using cranberries.

The first bag and a half of berries was swiftly turned into Spiced Cranberry Chutney. I was down to my penultimate jar of chutney from last year so it seemed about time I made some more. I tend to make chutney in vast quantities and then get a bit bored working my way through the resulting jars, so vowed I'd make small batches from now on. This recipe resulted in three jars, one of which I instantly gave away, so I'm already on track. The resulting concoction of cranberries, coriander, cloves and orange simmering on the stove created a distinctly autumnal atmosphere (desperately trying not to use the 'c' word here!)

The question was what to do with the remaining cranberries. However, a few pages on in the recipe book revealed a recipe for Christmas (darn it, I used the 'c' word!) Mincemeat with Cranberries. It seemed to make a lot of mincemeat and, seeing as I'm opting out of the festivities this year, it seemed a bit excessive. I therefore halved the quantities and merged the volume of cranberries and apple, using whatever I had of each.

Since I absolutely love all things 'festive' and regular readers will know that I begin making 'festive' decorations as early as January, I was rather surprised to realise that I have never made mincemeat before. Incredible when I realised just how easy it was to do (and how pretty). Whilst the chutney was simmering away I threw all the mincemeat ingredients into a bowl to 'mingle' and that's were it stayed for the next 20 hours or so before being popped into the oven, yet again filling the house with the smells of you-know-what.