Chicken supper

Hello all. 

Just a quick peek at tonight’s supper. Milanese chicken with Spaghetti and Tomato Ragu

I love cooking. I love food and I cook from scratch at least 5/6 days a week. This is one of our favourites. I use my air fryer a lot and it came up trumps with the chicken. I also do a lot of batch cooking for the freezer, so there’s always a meal I can pull out on a busy day.  

I love anything Italian and this is so tasty and doesn’t take long. What’s your favourite meal?

See you soon P x

A new start

Hello to anyone who has just found me. I blogged years ago but I lapsed.  So at the moment I'm floundering around trying to remember the key elements of fonts, photos and all the other paraphernalia involved in posting - bear with me is all I ask.

I dabble in writing poetry and quotes, in various forms, nothing grand but I find it relaxing.  I also enjoy journalling and I have a couple of Instagram accounts, so it goes without saying that photography also features in my interests.

I love cooking and enjoy trying out new recipes. I’ve been cobbling together lots of recipes over the years from friends, family and colleagues so that maybe one day I might write a book about the memories they evoke.

Thanks for reading this and I’ll be back soon. P

Springing forward...

Looking forward to Spring now after a dreary and bitterly cold few weeks/months. My favourite season has always been Autumn but I'm beginning to relish the thought of some warmer weather - March is only three and a bit weeks away now so onwards and upwards.

Talking of which, it was a year ago in March that I was here last - how time flies! As per usual I really do intend being here more often, well at least weekly to begin with. 

I've been enjoying crafting this last year - more so than ever before. 

I'm still paper crafting and making journals and more recently have been practicing the art of Modern Calligraphy using a dip pen and ink. When I say practicing - I mean practicing and they say that it does make for perfect.  We'll see!  I've been writing a bit of poetry too, as well as some quotes - I do love a quote.

I still enjoy my cooking.  I've been doing a lot of batch cooking for the freezer recently. I find it so handy always being able to put my hands on a ready made meal if we've been out for the day or been busy in the garden.

So that was a quick update on the comings and goings in my life.  More to come.

"Today's dreams are tomorrow's creations" 

See you soon and take care

 P x

Savouring Memories

Six years ago I wrote a post here about my collection of recipes handed down, shared and cooked by my grandparents, parents, friends, relatives  and colleagues - all with their own unique memories. My sister Helen came up with an idea a few years later about writing a book about recipes from the past.  Well it sounded a good idea at the time and my sisters and I got excited at the prospect of possibly publishing a book that could be handed down to future generations, but it didn't happen - life often gets in the way of good ideas and so it was forgotten about, abandoned.

However, it has always been there in the background for me and as a maker of Journals over the years I decided to turn this idea into a Journal for myself not only about the recipes but incorporating  kitchens of the past and the gadgets, utensils and kitchen paraphernalia that housewives have used over the years, me included (I have always been a sucker for new gadgets which often lay at the back of a cupboard for years before they see the light of day again).

So, armed with all my old recipes and cooking ephemera and a huge amount of research I set about making the Journal. The cover was from an old hardback book that I gutted (sorry book lovers but it was found in a charity shop and destined for book heaven anyway). I covered the front and back covers and then joined it together with rings.  I generally make my own signatures and sew them into a cover but for this purpose it was easier using rings as I was, and am still able to add other items as I go along.

I found photos of old cooking utensils and copied lots of my old cookery books and food advertising that go back for 70 plus years, to the time of my grandmothers' kitchens.

I've been busy making tucks and pockets, banners and labels in order to facilitate all my ephemera. 

Inside the actual journal I am adding a further three mini journals/signature that I have made, to cater for the many scraps of paper/recipes that I have collected since I married 48 year ago. This has evoked so many happy memories - like the shoe shop receipt for my daughter's first pair of Clarke's shoes aged 4 year old in 1977 - with a recipe hastily written on the reverse. The shoes by the way cost a mere £4.49!

Then there's memories of the Peanut butter and other cookies and jotted down on an American friend's scribble pad. I only knew her for 18 month before she returned home to the USA and now sadly lost touch.

This has been such an exciting venture for me and evoked so many happy memories. Each scrap of paper/recipe/photo has a story to tell. It certainly kept me busy during the dark dreary winter months and delighted I have something to show for it. I'll be hand-writing and using my old vintage typewriter on occasions for making my Journal entries.

And who remembers the days of Hostess trollies, fondue sets and pressure cookers let alone the electric carving knife, wall can openers, choppers, mandolin slicers  - to name but a few, although I'm sure many of these are still found in households today. And then of course there was the introduction of the deep freezer into our homes in the late 1960s which then was a revolution but one we couldn't be without today!

So, the adventure carries on. This is definitely a work-in-progress and each day I'm finding and adding new ideas all the time. Whilst I can't take credit for Helen's original idea, it certainly gave me food for thought (no pun intended!)

Be back again soon P x

Waste not - want not...

Christmas morning I got up quite early, like you do, to switch my oven on in readiness for putting the turkey in to roast. I have never had a problem with my cooker and bearing in mind that my oven takes only five minutes to heat up to temperature (you know what's coming don't you) well it didn't. An hour later it was barely tepid and the thermostat hadn't risen above 50 degrees. It was completely kaput.  I do have a smaller upper oven but do you think the turkey would fit in - no. By this time I could have got into a stew - sorry about the pun - but no I chose to rise above it.  So the turkey, wrapped up in foil and a joint of pork was carted around to my daughter's kitchen by the hubster so that she could roast it for me and bring it along when they all came for lunch later. I was able to roast my potatoes and beef etc in the  small oven so all was not lost and a merry time was had by all. 

However I'm thinking I may have a tad over estimated on the amount of meat and poultry I needed for my Christmas entertaining - well we do don't we! Rather have too much than not enough. That being so, today I'm sorting the leftovers into various portions for different uses.

first there was the turkey and pork to divide up into appropriate sized 

portions for making curries, and sauces for pasta etc.

Five good portions for two  all ready to freeze

then there was the cold roast beef to mince and freeze for making

 cottage pies and Bolognaise sauces.

Lastly there was the turkey stock to make (my mother bless her, would be so proud of me). She had been known to take my turkey carcass home with her after spending Christmas lunch with us, for making her own stock back in the days when I didn't bother.

So now joy of joys I now have a wonderful aroma of turkey wafting around my kitchen which I did not have on Christmas morning and I've got three pints of turkey stock to add to my homemade soups for my trouble

Bye for now - off to put my curry on

P x

A blast from the past

Yesterday I wanted to make a meat loaf with some pork mince I had in the freezer, so started to look for a recipe. I normally make one with beef so I roughly knew the ingredients but knew I had a recipe somewhere. Well, I was now on a mission to find one and an hour later with nothing found I went to a cupboard out in the garage and there in the deep dark depths of a long forgotten drawer FULL to capacity with old recipe books - I found this one covered in dust and in a very sorry state, dating back to 1980.

does anyone remember these M&S cook books? I used to collect them on a regular basis back in the day.

I served it with mustard mash (as all the tv cooks seem to do it this way) and fresh runner beans and gravy, as opposed to the barbecue sauce.  Mmmm it really was nice but I forgot to take a picture. So today we had the cold leftovers sliced with salad and this was equally as good.

Now my hubster is a serious hoarder, he won't throw anything away - storing stuff in the garage, loft space, boxes, cupboards - you name it, its there (although he hasn't realised yet that I am apt to sneak stuff out of the house in the direction of the local charity shop from time to time) - but that's neither here nor there. So bringing in this cook book was no mean feat I can tell you. I mean it was a case of Pot calling the kettle black! Anyway this book has got so many lovely recipes that I haven't cooked in years that I haven't the heart to put it outside again and it's now going to take pride of place on my kitchen shelf. 

I was going to type the recipe out but I guess if you tap on the picture it should enlarge. Enjoy.

Bye for nowx

Our weekend

I've recently enrolled at a local watercolour class, so off I went on Friday afternoon with my half finished painting under my arm to join my colleagues for a fulfilling couple of hours painting, losing myself in the total relaxation that art brings me.

Then it was off for the food shopping - ingredients for a dessert I was making for Saturday evening - more about that later.

Saturday morning saw us over at the stables where we took our grand daughter A for her weekly horse-riding lessons.

Beautiful day but muddy wasn't the word - it was horrendous as we walked through the woods in our wellies following the group of riders. Back to our son's house for a lunch - Italian flatbread sandwiches and steaming cups of tea. We then went back home to start preparing the dessert for the Burn's night dinner we were going to at our friends' house that evening. We often have 'theme' evenings with these friends and enjoy pulling it together with typical music, clothes, food and props to complete the said theme.

Our starter was Scottish smoked salmon

Followed by Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with an Angus steak

which was sooooo tasty

Dessert was my contribution - Scottish Cranachan 

made with sweet raspberries folded into cream

flavoured with honey and whiskey and 

layered with  toasted almonds and oatmeal

It was delicious I have to say

Sunday - well what can I say - it rained from morning through 'till evening and in any case it was nice just to have a lazy, put-your-feet-up kind of afternoon in the knowledge that the evening's viewing in front of the fire -  Countryfile, Call the Midwife and Mr Selfridge would finish the day of very nicely.

How was your weekend?

I'd just like to say thank you all so much for your lovely comments on  my recent posts - all very much appreciated.

See you soon x

Leftovers

I normally cook a Sunday roast most weekends and very often use the leftovers to make either a Shepherds/Cottage pie, depending on whether its lamb or beef. Chicken is normally turned into a pasta and chicken bake or something similar. Today however, I've made some Rissoles. I haven't made these for a long time. In fact I used to have a Jimmy Young Cook book back in the 70s which was very popular at the time, all the recipes coming from members of the public and cobbled together to produce a selection of everyday meals - my rissoles being one of them. This book hasn't been around for years and like many other obsolete items in our house is probably in the dark depths of my loft - another story.

By courtesy of Google

My sisters and I are in the throes of putting together a cook book of all the meals we can remember from our childhood that our mum used to make us as well as our own favourite recipes we've cooked or baked over the years. This, we intend passing onto our own children, to be passed on and on and on. More about this another time when finally published/printed.........

Anyway my sister happened to still have her Jimmy Young book and I was delighted to find the old recipe for rissoles and I took a photo of the recipe on my phone.

So here it is...

Savoury Rissoles

12 ozs leftover minced cooked meat
2 tomatoes
1 onion chopped (I blitzed the tomatoes and onions together in food processor to make them finer)
1 tablespoon dry sage and onion stuffing mix
2 standard eggs, separated
3ozs fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon gravy browning
salt and pepper

Method

Mix the minced meat with the tomatoes, onion, stuffing mix and gravy powder. If the mixture is too dry add a little water, then bind together with the two yolks and one egg white. Season to taste. Roll with floured hands into little sausage shapes then dip in the egg white and roll in the breadcrumbs. Fry in a little oil until golden brown. Serve with creamed potatoes and peas or mushrooms.

I halved the quantities for the two of us but I found the mixture very moist so added a bit of flour. I didn't have any gravy browning so that might have helped. Definitely wouldn't use all the egg and probably next time would add more stuffing mix. Trial and error comes to mind.

So here they are (not quite the sausage shapes intended) just about to go in the fridge to firm up before cooking tonight. 

See you soon x

Fishing around the freezer

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments recently and apologise for not replying at this time. I love getting them, they make my day.

I always buy fresh meat, poultry and fish and then freeze for another day. Vegetables are normally fresh but occasionally buy frozen peas or runner beans when they're not in season. Well today I've been having a tidy-up in my freezer as I like to leave some space for the run up to Christmas, mindful of the fact that some of this food will have to be eaten by its use-by date. Anyway I found a few packs of fish where only one or two odd pieces were remaining so decided to make a fish pie using Cod, Haddock and Salmon which I sliced and diced.

 

Made some parsely sauce (packet)  and added to the mix

Topped it with freshly mashed potato and

 

Tah-dah - here it is waiting to go in the oven (for about 30 minutes)

I just wish I'd had some parsley for the top!

Sometimes the simplest of ingredients make the best of meals -

and all from the odds and ends floating around my freezer.

 

Do you have a favourite quickie meal?

 



Time for comfort food...

Well it's that time of the year again when the old stews and casseroles come to the fore and in these days (mine anyway) of rushing around - school runs, food shopping, coffee with friends and blogging as well as spending 15/20 hours a week studying, there's not a lot of time left for anything else.

So my trusty Slow Cooker comes to the rescue. I use it regularly, at least twice every week and it comes into its own with the casseroles. 

I don't really stick to a particular recipe but generally make my beef casseroles with the following:


500 g stewing steak - diced
A few carrots, sliced
Turnip, chopped
Some chopped swede
4/5 mushrooms sliced
Large onion, sliced
Bay Leaf
Mixed Herbs
Dash of Worcester sauce
Beef Stock Pot
Enough water to cover the meat and veg
Squeeze of tomato puree
Salt and pepper
Gravy granules to thicken at the end of cooking

Sometimes I squeeze in some HP Brown Sauce with Guinness - very tasty

I don't fry off the meat first but I throw it all in and add the boiling stock over the meat and this just browns it quickly. I normally switch on about 20 minutes beforehand and then turn up to High and there it stays for four or five hours - or more.  If I'm going to be out all day, then I leave it on Low. This recipe made enough for two good servings and then I froze the rest.

I bought these Soup/Stew freezer bags from Lakeland and they are excellent for fitting into a freezer if you haven't much room for a plastic or china dish. You just take them out to thaw and then re-heat in the microwave or tip into a saucepan.

Today we had Beef and vegetable pies for our dinner using bought puff pastry and the de-frosted casserole mix, served with mashed potato and Brussels sprouts and a touch of English mustard on the side..

A big welcome to my new followers Greenthumb, Macha, Karen and Tammy - it's lovely to have you on board.

Have a good weekend

 



Auntie Rosa's Chicken Crunch recipe

A couple of weeks ago my sisters and I visited our much loved Auntie and Uncle (my late mum's brother Jack and his wife). They live near Lymington on the edge of the New Forest in a gorgeous bungalow with a wonderful garden.

 

The sort of garden that I'd love - with little hidey holes and paths leading to secret places

 

and ponds,  and seats tucked away in corners

 and apple trees you can sit under when it's too sunny

 

 

a garden filled with all kinds of insects -  bees, dragon flies and

butterflies - this beautiful one was hovering around us all afternoon

 

 

 

Ooh it was heaven - well a girl can dream can't she!

 

 

Anyway back to the title of my blog. Auntie Rosa is an excellent cook and over the years we have revelled in the delights of her cakes and bakes, with many a recipe hastily written out before departing for home. This is her Chicken Crunch which will serve 4 large helpings.

 

1 lb cooked chicken - chopped

3 sticks of celery

1 large onion

2 tins of condensed mushroom soup (not diluted)

2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 bags of crisps - crumbled

1 - 2 ozs flaked almonds

2 ozs grated cheese

 

Mix the chicken, celery and onion with the mushroom soup and add the lemon juice and mayonnaise.

Place in a dish and sprinkle over the crisps, almonds and cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes at 200c.

 

It really is tasty - enjoy!

 

 

See you soon

 



PS - you wait until you see her coconut and chocolate

picnic slices - mmm they're divine. That's for another time.