Soup ... and Egg and Bacon Breakfast Muffins

The huge pan of soup I made at the start of the week has done sterling work keeping us fed every lunchtime.

After dishing us up a bowlful each at lunchtime on Monday, I cooled off two single and two double portions for the freezer, and some was put into a clean pan and popped into the fridge once it was cold.  Today we have just eaten the last of this particular batch, a smaller bowlful each this time, followed by a sandwich. 

Tomorrow while I am away at my sons, Alan can have some of last weeks Broccoli soup for a change with some of Stilton crumbled in ... his favourite.

A new favourite of his are these egg and bacon breakfast 'muffins'.

Easy to do and they cook in the time it takes you to feed dogs and drink your first coffee of the morning ... about 20 - 25 minutes.

Simply oil a muffin tray and line each section with a slice of bacon, add some chopped tomatoes, and/or mushrooms if you have them ...

... pour in some beaten eggs and cook in a medium hot oven until the egg is set as much as you like it.

You can just crack an egg into each cup of the muffin tray if you like the white and yolk separate from each other, but our eggs were quite big so he divided two eggs between four cups.

And then try and remember if you are going to do a blog post about them to catch him before he eats the first two  ;-)

Sue xx

A Neat Cook ... and Bashed Biscuits

I've turned into a neat cook.  

I like to measure out all the ingredients and have them ready to throw into the pan as and when I need them, this saves so much time spinning around in the kitchen making myself dizzy while I rummage through cupboards for ingredients while my onions burn or my garlic singes.  It also means that I have time to put on my thinking cap and work out what I can use in place of any ingredients that I might not have.

This time I was following this recipe as I wanted to use up our last homegrown cauliflower.  It was absolutely delicious and these amounts gave us a large portion each for one night served with rice, a smaller portion for the next night again with rice for me, and with rice and a pork chop for Alan, and one also a small tub full for the freezer which will make either a lunch for one or an addition to a Buddha bowl for both of us.

Delicious ... I added peas to ours because I didn't have any fresh coriander to add that very necessary splash of green.   :-)

Pudding was a simple favourite of ours, a layer of fruit in a glass, a layer of chilled Oatly custard and then a packet each of crushed Biscoff biscuits for a crunchy topping.  We ate them before I took a photo, but this is how it all started off.

Sue xx 

The Lingering Aroma of Vinegar

Yesterday I picked all the tomatoes that had ripened while we were away over the weekend and used them to make this recipe.

I didn't have exactly what the recipe called for but it was near enough.  Red wine vinegar instead of white, mixed pickling spices instead of all the two teaspoons of this, two teaspoons of that, dried chilli flakes instead of the four chillies ... and then I added a couple more onions and a tin of chopped tomatoes as it all seemed too liquidy.  

If this is tasty and I make it again I will definitely reduce the amount of vinegar I use.  It took almost FOUR HOURS of boiling to reduce the chutney enough for bottling.

  If you want to see the recipe click on the picture and it should enlarge.

But what we have got now is five jars of very rich tasting chutney stashed away ready for Winter use, and a house that still smells of vinegar!!

The stores cupboard filling up nicely, and the freezer is looking much healthier again too :-)

Sue xx

Getting the Gooseberry Harvest In

We only planted our Gooseberry bushes, last year.  Well they were twigs really, cuttings taken from our neighbour Mary's garden and looking like dead things all Winter, so we were chuffed to little mint balls when they produced lovely strong shoots and branches early this Spring.  Every time we passed them on the way to the paddock we glimpsed the development of the fruit and kept our fingers crossed that they would grow to an edible size.

Well they did ... and more importantly we beat the birds to actually harvesting them for ourselves. 

Not the biggest harvest in the world but I was determined to do them justice.

So I stewed them briefly with some sugar, put them in the bottom of two glasses and left them in the fridge to chill for a while.  Then later when we were ready to eat them they were topped with Oatly vanilla custard and a packet each of crushed Biscoff biscuits.

Absolutely delicious.

It's all about making the most of everything we have from now on, and this use of our small crop was definitely the way to make the most of this years gooseberry harvest.

Sue xx

Lettuce Soup

Lots of you were spot on yesterday when you asked if I was going to make soup with the lettuces I picked.  It's a simple soup .... as most soup recipes are, I don't go for fancy, I go for tasty.

To the 'bolted' lettuces I added the ingredients in the photo above.  Split red lentils, a couple of dessert spoonfuls of the bouillon powder and a good squirt of garlic paste.  I found this almost used up tube nestled in the door shelf of the fridge when I was cleaning it out on Monday.  I don't know how long it's been opened for but I was determined to use it up.

They were simply all popped in a pan with lots of boiling water, brought back to the boil and then simmered in the oven for an hour while I got on with other things.

The kitchen smelt lovely and when the soup came out of the oven it looked luscious.

Once whizzed up I had a litre of soup for very little money or effort .....

.... the only thing was it looked just like the six piles of sick I had cleaned up thirty minutes earlier, deposited all over the house by Mavis, exactly the same colour just not as lumpy :-(

I had toast for lunch!!

Sue xx

Spreading the Sweetness

I found a tin of this in the cupboards when I was reorganising them the other day.  

The kitchen briefly looked like a bomb had fallen, alright, alright I admit .....  not so briefly.   I actually gave up halfway through and came and sat at the computer armed with coffee and biscuits so I couldn't see the almighty mess I had made where once there had been calm and organisation.

After a break I garnered my energy and finished the job in hand, but the tin of caramel stayed out of the cupboard.  Usually I have this in store to make my Cheats Banoffee Pie.  Simply a ready made pastry case, a layer of this easy caramel poured in, a couple of sliced up bananas scattered around and then a few ginormous dollops of whipped cream on top, maybe with a bit of grated dark chocolate too, hardly a recipe but most certainly a dessert that makes everyone go oooh   :-)

But now I don't eat cream (mild lactose intolerance) and Lovely Hubby is being so very good and not eating many sweet desserts so what could I do with the tin of caramel.

And then I remembered a recipe I had read in this book.

Yep ... there it was  :-)

So one tin of overly sweet goo-iness was turned into eight jars of very tasty jam.  

Yes, it is very sweet but it's packed with apples, lots of apples and you only need a smidge of it on your toast to set your taste buds into ecstatic overdrive, and also a way of making one tin of something go a very long way with free apples from the trees outside.  One tip I will pass on, in the recipe it says to stir the caramel sauce into the apples, stirring proved a virtually impossible way of dispersing the caramel properly throughout the apples ... I resorted to a balloon whisk which did the job very well. 

Any Banoffee Pie desserts will now be purchased as a very special 'treat' when out and and about, that way at least there is a modicum of portion control involved!!

It is yummy ..... and eight seven jars of it have now been added to the stash in the larder cupboard.

 

Well we had to open one to sample the goods didn't we  ;-)

And as you no doubt spotted on the jar labels, I changed the name of it slightly .... well can you imagine writing Caramelised Apple Jam eight times ......

Sue xx

Spinning Water Meter

Yesterday the large water tank was lowered carefully into the huge hole by the fence and settled on it's bed of just delivered concrete.  As the concrete started to slowly set the tank had to be weighed down by half filling it with water.  It really is the only way to do it, as it settled down in the hole bedding itself into the concrete it sat on, even more fresh concrete could be poured around it.

After having the outdoor tap with the hosepipe attached running  from 9,30am until 4pm, it was just about full enough.  As it's a storage tank that hold 8,000 litres of water I'm glad our water meter is situated out on the main road so I couldn't go and watch as those precious pennies ticked over.

The most infuriating thing was that for the entire time the water poured from the tap to the tank the rain was torrential, if only we had had a giant funnel to stick in the top hole and catch some of it.

Oh well, it will be usable water once the electric pump is attached and we can actually get at it. 

While the water flowed outside the house, inside I kept myself busy sorting through the food cupboards, making a pile of food to take to the food bank and some that just had to go in the bin as it was out of date. While they were empty I gave them all a good clean with my homemade cleaner.

I got the recipe from Elaine at Mortgage Free in Three.

 I decided to write the ingredients on the bottle so it's handy for when I need to make up the next batch.  It works a treat and the vinegary smell soon vanishes, leaving everything squeaky clean and lovely and fresh.

It's simply:

2 fl oz Washing Up Liquid

4 fl oz bottled Lemon Juice

8 fl oz White Vinegar

and

10fl oz Water

 Just mix together in a jug and then pour into a spray bottle.

So much healthier to use around the house than buying a bottle of commercial stuff that's full of nasty chemicals and artificial whiffs. 

Sue xx 

Scotch Eggs and Plants .... and No Underpants in Sight

We took a ride out to Trelawnyd yesterday, dropping off emergency supplies to Blogging Buddy John Gray, nothing to do with our shared love of poultry or dogs ....

... just some much needed nourishment in the form of Scotch Eggs.  

John's are the ones wrapped in clingfilm ready to be popped into the little cool bag that I left dangling on his door knob,  (I could have made that sound soooo much ruder .... but I didn't, why compete with the master!!)   Lovely Hubby's are the other three little ones, he sampled one straight out of the oven to 'check' they were alright, mine are the big ones made with vegetarian sausages which made them much bigger, which was very handy for identification purposes.

Knowing that John was on night shifts this weekend we timed the visit so as not to wake him unnecessarily, and so that if we did it would be around waking up time anyway.  It worked, as we pulled up Albert was sat on the window side of  the closed curtains upstairs watching us intently and the house was drowsily silent, the sounds of geese and chickens chunnering over the wall was the only noise to be heard.  We left the emergency supplies and quietly drove off.

We had decided to head for the garden centre that John had mentioned in an earlier post just outside the village, the plan was to have a coffee and a browse but we missed the cafe as it was obviously a bit late in the afternoon, so what was a girl to do?   Extra browsing of course, which resulted in three gorgeous plants for the new flower bed that we will have once the front wall has been completed.  We have decided on a white theme and so to start it off we purchased two Hydrangeas and the beautiful Cosmos on the right of the picture.

Picture courtesy of Google Images.

Oh and the recipe for Scotch Eggs which I have been inundated with requests for ... it's very simple.

Lightly hard boil your eggs.  (I used Pekin Bantam eggs, which explains the diminutive size of the finished article, and which kept the overall calories down for John).  Once cooked and cooled slightly peel the shell off.

Take some sausage meat, or do as I did and skin some sausages, I guess a full sized egg would need the meat from two sausages, mine took one and a half. Flatten out the sausage meat into a disc shape and wrap it around the egg.

Roll the now covered egg in seasoned flour (salt, pepper and some dried herbs stirred  into 2 tbs flour).

Roll this in some beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs.

You can then deep fry them, or do as I did and pop them into the oven for around 30 minutes, turning over at the halfway point.  

You can eat them hot straight out of the oven or allow them to cool and have them whenever you fancy a healthy and tasty snack .... or alternatively deliver them to a very appreciative, half asleep shift worker who will sit in his garden and eat them in his underpants.

Sue xx

Damson Gin, Jellies and Jams

Lovely Hubby's eyes lit up when he came home from work last week, on the worktop were sat three containers containing his favourite (up to now) homemade concoction ....damsons soaking in sugar and gin.  Well actually the square ex-sweetie jar contains damsons soaking in whisky.  I had one litre sized bottle of gin and an almost full bottle of whisky so I used that too.

We get a lot of bottles of whisky bought us, something to do with my man being Scottish I guess, he also gets given rum, something to do with being in the Royal Navy for so long, but my man is a Port drinker through and through so we try to find alternative uses for the whiskys and rum or pass them on as gifts to people that would appreciate them more than us.  He even sold a very expensive bottle of whisky at a car boot sale once and got enough to be able to buy himself a very drinkable bottle of Port, the man that bought it was thrilled to get a £30 bottle of whiskey for £18.

So his two favourite drinks are Port and Damson Gin, and when he's not drinking the Damson Gin he's busy spreading the Damson Gin Jam on his toast .... we're not alcoholics .... really we're not ... hic!!

We have one bottle remaining of last years batch, it never goes off it just keeps getting better and better ... I wonder how long it will last   ;-)

If you would like the recipes here's the post from last year when I make Damson Gin and Damson Gin Jelly and here's one from way back in 2010 when I made this luscious drink for the first time and turned the soaked fruits into Damson Gin Jam. ... even the damson stones were eaten in this one, waste not want not has always been my motto!!

Sue xx

Getting On With Life (Hissy Fit Solutions) ..... and Basil Pesto

Sometimes having a hissy fit is just what you need, every now and then it certainly is for me.  The fact that you lovely lot were there for me with practical encouragement and words of wisdom helped greatly .... THANK YOU,  and today I am just getting on with things which I find is the best hissy fit solution of all.

My other hissy fit solutions are -

Treat Yourself

 Make Something

 Sort Something Out

Take Action

and  Do Something you've been putting off for ages.

So last night it was a tasty tea, and almost a full bottle of wine over the course of the evening ... hic!!

Today it was making the Basil Pesto

I sorted through some more books and things to take to the charity shop next time I'm in town.

I took action and sorted out the dogs for next week to make life a little easier for me and them.  The Jack Russells will be going to the kennels from Monday until Friday so they don't get totally stressed with the conservatory roof being off.  Suky the Pug is laid back enough for it not to bother her and Charley is going to the vets on Tuesday to be spayed so she need s to be at home, but will hopefully be a little subdued after her operation.

And I finally got round to tackling the ironing ... which means I have clothes in the wardrobe I can wear again!!

Hopefully that's things sorted for a while and me back on the straight and narrow, I firmly believe in doing something when necessary and not wallowing for too long!!

*** *** *** *** *** 

Making Something - Basil Pesto

Big Basil the basil plant from the kitchen windowsill was finally past his best, he's been cut right down to soil level on numerous occasions and sprouted right on back, but now he was ready to be used for the final time and give me back some much needed daylight through the window.

All his leaves were pulled off, his stems were thrown to the chickens and the spent compost from the pot was tipped into the compost bin behind Chicken World, ready to be transformed by the magic of warmth and worms back into usable compost once more.

I whizzed up the leaves with an equal amount in weight of nuts, in my case Cashew nuts, I didn't have any Pine nuts which are used in traditional Basil Pesto, I was also lacking o

in the Garlic department, but a good squeeze from my tube of garlic paste did the trick.  I trickled in Olive Oil until it was the right consistency and added some Sea Salt and freshly ground Back Pepper, then I tasted it and wondered why it didn't taste right at all ......

..... DUH!!  

I had forgotten to add an equal weight of Parmesan Style Cheese.

So I did.

Et Voila!!

Cubes of Basil Pesto to pop into the freezer.  Once these were fully frozen they were tipped from the ice cube trays into a lidded plastic box.  Now they are ready for action, I use them to make a simple pasta sauce literally just stirred into hot cooked pasta and then sprinkled with more Parmesan.  Dotted on pizzas or into quiches and pies they add a wonderful fresh taste,  and I add them to anything I want to give a garlicky, herby hit to.

The thing to remember when making it is to simply have pretty equal measures of Basil (or other green leaves), Nuts and Parmesan (or similar) cheese, then add oil to get to your desired consistency and salt and pepper to taste.

Sue xx

Cold Weather Stodge

Yesterday was freezing, and although I've been eating lots of salads recently and really enjoying them I was in the mood last night for some 'cold weather stodge'.

It worked out really well as I had a bag of spinach leaves that need using up, some out of date goats cheese, a bag of carrots in the fridge and to wrap it all up in ... a pack of ready made pastry that I got a couple of weeks back on a 'yellow stickered' reduction, so two weeks out of date.  So this was a brilliant use it up before I need to throw it all away meal .... as if I would thrown food away ;-)

Simple recipe for those of you who like recipes.

Spinach and Goats Cheese Pasties

Wilt your spinach in a pan.

Drain in a sieve and then squeeze all the excess moisture out.

While this cools grate the carrot and then mix into spinach.

Roll out your pastry to the shape and thickness you want.

Top with slices of goats cheese (or any cheese you have to hand).

Brush around half of the outside edge of pastry and fold over, crimp to seal.

Brush with beaten egg or milk.

Make a couple of slits to allow steam to escape.

Cook for around 30 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

(I started mine off on the floor of the Aga top oven to stop me getting a soggy bottom and then placed on the shelf in the mid position for the final 20 minutes.)

Ta Da ..... Goats Cheese and Spinach Pasties.

Served with a quickly cobbled together salad, I just couldn't go a whole meal without any salad now could I.  Mum phoned half way through me eating this and after half an hours chat it had gone cold on me  ....... and guess what, it was even more delicious cold!!  Thanks Mum :-)

And proof that I'm still here after a night of pyromania with the wood burner.

Thank you for all the warnings, but I am sensible and do check the wood stacked around the wood burner.  The wood at the back heats up more quickly than that at the front so that is always used first.  Everything is always checked carefully before we retire for the night and we do have regularly checked, fully functioning smoke detectors AND a Jack Russell who beats any smoke detector in letting us know immediately if there is a chance of any smoldering .... she would have made a perfect fire detection dog.  She doesn't even like the toast being in the toaster for more than enough time to lightly brown it, and comes and sits by our side as if to say 'your toast's done' before it even pops up!!

Does that set your mind at rest Mum ;-)

Sue xx

Damson Gin and Damson Gin Jelly

I have no idea how long my Damsons have been steeping in the bottle of Gin that I poured over them but I know it has to be well over eight months .... and boy oh boy can you taste it.

 

It is gorgeous!!

 



 

On pouring through a sieve and then through some muslin it filled four of my bottles right to the top with just enough left over to give me a nice little chefs perk :-)

 

Damson Gin

 

450g Damsons

170g Sugar

750ml Gin

 

Wash and prick your Damsons (a fiddly job which you don't have to do if you freeze the Damsons for a while first and then thaw them to use for the recipe).

 

Put the fruit in a large container and add the sugar and gin.  Cover with a lid and shake once a day for at least two weeks or until all the sugar has dissolved.  Taste after 4 - 6 weeks and add some more sugar if required.  Leave for as long as possible.  The longer you leave it the stronger it gets.

 

You can use any kind of sugar and any kind of Gin, I always use the supermarkets cheapest basic or own brand label.  This is also delicious using Brandy or Vodka .... I know .... hic  ;-)

 

 

 

Then in my usual 'waste not, want not' fashion I tipped all the Damsons into a pan covered with a couple of pints of water and brought it to the boil.  I simmered it for about half an hour and then after a fruitless search for my Jelly Bag Stand rigged up this.  Pouring the water and fruit through the bag and leaving it all to drain overnight.

 

Measuring out the liquid I had one pint of luscious Damson juice so I added one pound of my preserving sugar to the liquid I simmered it slowly until all the sugar had dissolved and then brought it all to the boil.

 

For each pint of liquid add one pound of sugar, or in metric for each 500mls of liquid add 500grams of sugar.

 

It was kept at a rolling boil for about 10 minutes and then tested on a cold plate for a set.

 I did try using my Jam Thermometer .,... but it would seem the mercury has left home!!  Another breakage during the move I think.  :-(

 

Then I bottled it all into hot sterilised jars, and left it to cool.  It didn't set!!  So the next morning I tipped it all back into a pan realising that I had forgotten to add the lemon juice, rectified this by adding two tablespoons from a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge and then boiled it all again for another ten or so minutes and then re potted it.

 

 

This time it has a better set although to my mind not quite firm enough.  But a jelly is usually a bit softer than a jam so it's not too bad.

 

We had it on toast for breakfast yesterday and it was declared a complete success flavour wise for Lovely Hubby.

 

Sue xx