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Hot Cross Buns
Perfect mashed potatoes
Pancake Day
Victoria sponge cake

Make yogurt the easy tasty way

30/12/2016

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Like yogurt? Like really fresh yogurt? If so why not make your own?

We had a yogurt maker for many years but stopped using it sometime ago. It was cheap enough to operate but the yogurt always had an unpleasant gloopy sort of texture to it; well it did to me.

Having seen adverts for the Easi-Yo yogurt-maker on QVC I was tempted but never got around to purchasing the kit.

Then a little before Christmas I spotted one of the makers in Wilko; it had a variety of flavoured sachets of the powder to make the yogurt also available and so I thought what the hell.

Essentially the Easi-Yo yogurt-maker works like a flask.

They are available in a range of colours but I purchased a white one which also has some red on it. They are made out of durable plastic.

Inside there is a loose stand and a pot to make the yogurt.

You simply add the amount of water, usually 500 mils, to the inner pot before adding the yogurt powder to this.

Screw on the lid of this inner pot then give it a really good shake. Add a little more water to the recommended fill line and re-shake.

Now boil a kettle full of water to add to the outer flask. Make sure it is above the inner stand but not too high. That way when you add the inner pot full of the yogurt mixture the hot water will cover at least half of this.

​Replace the Easi-Yo yogurt maker lid and leave to stand for between 8 to 12 hours, or overnight.


Once your yogurt is ready take the inner container out and put in the fridge to chill before eating.

Hints and tips


Our first attempt was still fairly runny after the 12 hours. So we had a re-think. It says use room temperature water to make the yogurt but our tap water was very cold as it was winter and drawn from outside.

So for the second attempt I added a little of the boiling water, only a spoonful or two, when topping the mixture up and it worked.

The product does have some information leaflets which may also help. But as a rule of thumb the yogurt will take a longer time to set in colder weather and a shorter time when it is warm.

Leave the yogurt too long and it will become almost sour cream, which you may or may not want.
If the yogurt is not at this stage it will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Easi-Yo also sell small pots suitable for storing the product but you may find them or similar cheaper elsewhere.

Each sachet of the yogurt costs around £2.75 in the UK. So it is not cheap but it does contain tasty ingredients which are good for you.

You only add water so the other costs are minimal.

Better value multi-packs of the yogurts are sometimes available at QVC or other outlets.

Overall though if you like yogurt that tastes good and is good for you they represent great value.


https://uk.easiyo.com/

UPDATE: During the coronavirus pandemic this yogurt may be a good option. You do not add milk, just water. The Easi-Yo makers have been redesigned and are now more compact.

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How to make perfect mashed potatoes

29/12/2016

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As everyone knows, making Homemade Mashed Potatoes is easy isn't it?

Well it can be but it is also all too easy to end up with watery, runny potatoes or a pile of mash that is full of lumps. Getting your homemade mashed potatoes perfect each time is not difficult as long as you follow a few tried and tested tips With that in mind here is a simple 1-2-3 for getting perfect, homemade mashed potatoes every time.

You will need:
  • Large pan with lid
  • Colander or drainer
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Butter or margarine
  • Milk or cream
  • Potato masher or large fork or Whisk
Take Care:
  • -not to overcook the potatoes.
  • -nor to under cook them.
  • -aim to have similar sized chunks of potato for even cooking
  • -thoroughly drain the cooked potatoes, or else the mash may be sloppy and wet
How to make perfect mashed potatoes

Preparation
  • Try to only use Potatoes that are still fresh and firm, with no green patches showing through their skins.
  • Do not peel them too deep as you will lose many of the potatoes best benefits by doing so.
  • Peel the potatoes, removing any "eyes".
  • Use roughly one large potato per person.
  • Cut the potatoes into evenly sized, rough shaped chunks or wedges. If these chunks vary in size the smallest chunks will be ready before the larger chunks.
  • Wash or rinse the potatoes thoroughly in cold water.

Getting Started
Homemade mashed potatoes usually take about 20 minutes to cook. With the preparation time and time allowed for the process of mashing allow around 25 minutes in total.

Keep this time in mind, so that you can make sure that the rest of your meal is ready at the same time. Mashed potatoes can be kept warm in the oven for a short time but, keep them warm for too long, and they will become dry and end up with a hard covering.

Make sure that you have a large enough pan to accommodate the potatoes, without water boiling or splashing over the sides. Cover the potatoes with cold water.

I like to season the water with a little salt but it is up to you. Homemade mashed potatoes will need some salt, at one stage or another, for them to be tasty. If you are cutting back on salt try a low sodium version or sea salt.

Cooking the potatoes
  • Cover the pan with a lid and bring the potatoes to the boil.
  • You will be as well keeping your eyes on the pan at this stage.
  • Once the potatoes have boiled turn the heat down low, so that your potatoes simmer.
  • Leave the pan covered, but so that some air escapes.
  • After almost 20 minutes check whether the potatoes are soft, by pricking them with a fork.
  • Although you do not want hard potatoes, neither do you want ones that are too soft.

Getting ready to mash the potatoes
  • Thoroughly drain the potatoes, making sure that you do not burn yourself on the steam.
  • If available use a colander to drain the potatoes
  • You can either return the potatoes to the pan or place in a large dish for mashing.
  • Sprinkle fresh, black pepper, and salt if required, onto the potatoes.
  • Add a large chunk of butter or margarine. Adjust the amounts to taste.
  • Either add a cup of milk or cream to the potatoes. It is better to only add a little, as you can always add more if necessary, but cannot take away the liquid if you add too much!
  • If preferred boil the milk before adding to the potatoes

Mashing the potatoes
It is really up to you and how confident you feel. My Mum only ever used a large table fork to mash potatoes and she always made perfect mash. This does need a strong arm though.
  • These days most cooks use a potato masher or a hand whisk. Whisking will quickly and easily leave your mashed potatoes lump free but may also leave them a little sticky and dry tasting.
  • Potatoes that have been mashed with a potato masher usually have a better consistency but will require more work on your part.
  • With trial and error you will soon find the right amounts of such things as milk and butter and the best way for you to make perfect homemade mashed potatoes.

To serve
Serve as soon as possible, so that your mashed potatoes are true perfection. Add a little garnish if preferred. The mash can be scooped onto the plate, squeezed through a muslin bag to make swirls or simply swirled with a fork. Again the choice is yours.

The right potatoes for the job
There are many varieties of potato. Some are just right for baking in the oven, others are more suitable for frying as chips. A few of the best varieties for making great, homemade mashed potatoes are:-
  • Rooster
  • Saxon
  • Wilja
  • Nadine
If none of the above are available try to buy a floury potato. Ask your vegetable retailer for their advice, if necessary.

Nadine potatoes are a variety of potato which has a cream skin and cream flesh. It also has a firm, waxy texture. Nadine is suitable for:
  • Potato Wedges
  • Roasting
  • Boiling

Variations on plain mash
  • Try serving mashed sweet potato as an alternative or alongside traditional mashed potatoes. Reduce the cooking time and liquid added as sweet potatoes have more moisture.
  • Use cream instead if milk
  • Use low fat spread alternatives, instead of butter. Try low fat margarine, vegetable spread or soft cream cheese.
  • Add grated cheese to the top of the mashed potatoes and briefly cook under the grill
  • Add garlic or garlic butter.
  • Add other vegetables such as boiled turnip or swede.
  • Experiment by adding a variety of herbs and spices. Just set a small amount of the mashed potato on one side to use for these experiments. This way, if you do not like the results you have not wasted time, money, food and effort.

Additional information:
Once you have mastered making perfect basic, homemade mashed potatoes, you can experiment and use your flair.

More:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/perfect-mashed-potatoes
http://www.thekitchn.com/5-mistakes-to-avoid-when-making-mashed-potatoes-212271

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Easy to make flapjack

27/12/2016

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This is an easy Flapjack recipe that will give you at least 12 bars of flapjack in no time at all. I usually double up the amount of ingredients and use a larger baking tray. It is up to you. It does store quite well in a cake or biscuit tin, that is if it is not consumed as soon as you have finished cooking. It certainly wafts pleasant aromas around the kitchen, that is you like sweet food.

Ingredients
For a 71/2 inch shallow baking tray you will need:
4ounces of butter or margarine. You can use a mixture of both
4 level tablespoons of Golden Syrup or as we often call it in the UK treacle. The pale coloured kind.

3ounces of sugar, granulated or brown sugar works well.
8ounces of rolled oats. I buy the large unbranded packs which are cheaper and less processed on the whole.
1/4level teaspoon of salt, adjust as suits.

The ingredients can be prepared easily in ten to 15 minutes and the cooking time is around 30 minutes. I use a fan assisted oven which is an absolute pain. It can mean baking burns around the edges unless I keep a close eye on it. For me the cooking time is half. You will know best what your oven is capable of.

The text book cooking time is 30 minutes with an oven setting of 335 degrees F or Gas Mark 3

Method
  • Place the fat, ie butter or margarine or both, and syrup in a pan and set over a low heat to melt.​
  • Use a large pan and you can add the other ingredients to the melted fat and syrup.
  • If you use a small pan place the other ingredients in a large bowl and combine that way.
  • Whilst the above is melting grease your baking tray or tin.
  • Once the fat has melted combine the liquid with the oats, salt and sugar.
  • Mix well so that all the oats are covered with the sweet liquid.
  • Turn the mixture into a baking tin and gently press down.
  • Cook in your oven until the flapjack is golden brown.
  • Remove from the oven and whilst the flapjack is still hot cut it into bars or squares.
  • If you do not do this until the mixture is cold it will break and be too crisp to cut properly.
  • Leave to cool for around 5 minutes and then gently lift and snap apart the bars.
  • Cool the flapjack slices on a wire.
You can add chocolate chips, raisins, currants or any number of things to the oats to add variety. Cover with melted cooking chocolate for an extra special treat.

This recipe is great for children as it is fairly easy, but not without adult supervision. Of course it is great for children too as they love to eat it in record time.

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Classic Victoria sponge cake

26/12/2016

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History of the Victoria Sponge Cake
The clue is in the name of this cake. The Victoria in question is Queen Victoria who reigned as Queen of Great Britain, and the British Empire, for the best part of the nineteenth century. In fact she reigned from 1837 until 1901. Isn't it funny how the longest reigning British monarchs tend to be females?

Queen Victoria's reign was a golden age for some and there were many innovations. The Victoria sponge cake was invented as a sweet treat to accompany tea-time which was a new concept at this time. Anna, the Duchess of Bedford was one of Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting. She had this role for around ten years. During this time she found that, in the late afternoon, she would have a "sinking feeling" In other words she would feel very hungry.

This was said to be due to the timing of lunch and dinner.

The Duchess invented tea-time initially as just a time of the day when her servants would sneak her a few edible treats, to last her until the evening meal. Around 4pm they would provide the Duchess with a pot of tea and some bread snacks. In due course the Duchess expanded her tea parties so that they included guests, small cakes and petite sandwiches. By 1885 Queen Victoria was holding such parties herself and her guests were expected to wear formal dress. The Queen's sweet tooth soon guaranteed that the small cakes that were served became her favourite.

Fittingly these small cakes were called Victoria sponge cakes, and still are to this day.

​
The details below will make a cake that has ten to twelve average servings. Before you begin take out:
  • Two round sandwich cake tins, around 20cms across.
  • Enough greaseproof paper or baking parchment to line these tins.
  • A small amount of lard, fat or margarine to grease the bake ware.
  • A packet of icing sugar or caster sugar, for lightly dusting the finished cake.
You will also need:
  • A sieve or sugar shaker, which is optional.
  • Jam and cream for the filling.
  • A large mixing bowl.
  • A large spoon or spatula.
  • A hand-mixer or large fork.
The ingredients for the cake are:
  • 175g or 4 ounces of caster sugar
  • 3 medium or large eggs, preferably Free Range as these make for a tastier cake
  • 175g or four ounces of self-raising flour
  • 175g or 4 ounces of unsalted butter or margarine. It does not have to be butter but this does give the cake a richer flavour.
​Getting started:
Pre-heat the oven to either 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Whilst the oven is warming line two 18cm or 7inch cake tins with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

You can use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together if preferred. However, the traditional method is to use a large fork and plenty of elbow grease.

Once the butter and sugar are creamed, add the eggs. These need to be beaten in. However, add a little at a time to make sure that the mixture does not curdle. If there are any signs that it is doing so, add a little of the flour.

Add the rest of the flour by sifting it into the mixture. Fold the flour in using a large metal spoon. Traditionally folding flour into such a mixture needs a stirring motion with a large metal spoon or spatula. The stirring motion should be in the shape of a figure 8.

To see if the mixture is ready, lift a little onto the spoon and see how it drops into the bowl. When it is ready it has a dropping consistency.

If the mixture is too stiff add a little milk. Take care not to add too much though. Add a teaspoonful at a time.

This mixture then needs dividing as equally as possible between the two baking tins. Gently spread the surface of each with a flat bladed knife or a spatula. If preferred you can make one large, deep cake and slice it in half horizontally.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for between 20 to 25 minutes. Avoid opening the oven door unnecessarily or the cakes may fall flat, instead of rising.

Check that the cakes are cooked fully by inserting a skewer or long needle. If the skewer has some cake mixture stuck to it, the cake is not quite ready.

Allow the cakes to cool slightly for around 5 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire cooling tray. Whilst the cakes are cooling tackle the filling.

The cake filling: For a classic Victoria you will need strawberry jam and cream. More often than not a butter cream is used rather than a rich cream. However, the choice is yours. Once you have perfected making the basic cake, experiment with flavours and fillings.

Ingredients for a simple butter cream:
  • 85g of softened butter.
  • 175g of sifted icing sugar.
  • A few drops vanilla essence.

Adjust the above amounts according to taste.

How to make a simple butter cream:
Beat the butter until it has a soft and creamy consistency. Add the icing sugar a little at a time. As you add a little icing sugar beat the mixture well. It is a good idea to add the icing sugar in three separate lots. The beating will prevent the butter cream from becoming lumpy. Add a few drops of vanilla essence if desired, to enhance the flavour, and mix thoroughly by stirring.

Sandwiching the cakes together.
The usual method is to spread the jam on the underside of one cake and the cream on the underside of the other. The side of the cake that has the best appearance is the top or the bottom surface of the cake. When you have spread the jam and the cream onto the cakes, lightly press the two cakes together. Do not use too much pressure or the cake may look uneven and the filling will seep out of the sides.

Final touches
Place a pretty paper doily onto an attractive plate. Centre the finished cake on this plate. Use a sieve or sugar shaker to sprinkle a dusting of icing sugar or caster sugar over the cake.

More;
http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/great-british-bake-off-recipes/victoria-sandwich
​
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/may/16/how-bake-perfect-victoria-sponge-cake
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Economical wartime recipe Woolton Pie

26/12/2016

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Modern version of this pie
World War Two had been going for two years and rations were tight in 1941. This led to many UK householders growing what vegetables they could. Small gardens were utilised, large ornamental flower gardens were given over to vegetables and many people began to grow produce on council allotments.

To this day many people still grow an assortment of flowers and vegetables on allotments in the UK. They are harder to come by these days but still available.

Housewives in the UK needed every bit of cooking ingenuity to create tasty, healthy meals out of the meager rations allowed in war-time. What is it they say about necessity being the Mother of Invention? It proved just that. New recipes were created and more than 60 years later some are being used once again.Finances are tight again and value for money is paramount. Forget expensive frozen ready meals an cook for good health and wealth instead. choose homemade meals for value and taste.

​How to make a war time classic - Woolton Pie


Ingredients
  • 1lb of potatoes-King Edwards
  • 2lbs of carrots
  • 1/2lb mushrooms
  • 1 small leek
  • 2ounce of margarine or chicken fat
  • 2 spring onions
  • To season salt, pepper, nutmeg and parsley
  • Bunch of herbs made from small bay leaf, 1 small sprig of thyme, parsley and celery

Method
The recipe then says wash and peel the potatoes and carrots cutting them into slices the thickness of a penny. This is an old penny though which has not been in circulation for many years. I would say slim slices are what they mean.

Dry the washed sliced vegetables in a clean tea towel. Heat a little chicken fat in a frying pan and add the vegetable slices.

Next treat the mushrooms as above. Finely chop the onion and leek. Add all of this to the frying pan. Mix together and add the seasoning above or your own choices if preferred. Make sure you only lightly fry the vegetables.

​Lightly grease a pie dish and add the whole mixture to it. Place the bundle of herbs in the middle of the pie. Moisten with a little giblet stock. Most of us would never use the giblets of a chicken for stock these days and many purchased chickens have them already removed. You could use a store bought vegetable or chicken stock though. Allow the mixture to cool.

Pastry Ingredients
  • Flour
  • Beef suet or chicken fat
  • Margarine
Cover the Wolton Pie mixture with a pastry crust made from half beef suet, or chicken fat, and margarine.

Bake in the oven for 11/2 hours. Check your oven guide for the best cooking times, for a vegetable bake of this kind.

Eat and enjoy!

​
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/woolton.html
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How to make traditional rice pudding

26/12/2016

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There are many variations on a traditional rice pudding, but this 1-2-3 is for a basic recipe. Once you know this recipe you can replace full fat milk with semi skimmed milk, use a jasmine infused rice and more.

Home-made Rice Pudding can be a little time consuming but it is well worth the effort.

In fact there is very little effort needed and most of the time is due to the cooking time. So, let's get cooking!

​Ingredients
  • To Serve 4 People: 50g or 2 ounces of Dessert Rice
  • 600mls or one pint of whole milk.
  • 25g or one ounce of sugar
  • 14g or 1/2 an ounce of Butter-optional.
  • Ground Nutmeg-optional.
  • Grease for the ovenproof dish.
Adjust the amounts for more, or less, servings.

Preparation
  • Preheat the oven to: 170C / 325F / Gas Mark 3.
  • If your oven is fan assisted adjust the temperature according to the manufacturer's instructions.
  • Grease a one litre or two pint oven proof dish. Pyrex dishes are ideal.
  • Rinse the rice thoroughly under cool water and drain.
  • Add the Rice, Sugar and Milk to the greased, ovenproof dish.
  • Stir this mixture carefully, adding the knob of butter, if desired.
  • Although this is not necessary, the butter will make the rice pudding taste more creamy.
  • Sprinkle the top of the pudding with nutmeg if desired.
  • This will add a great traditional taste to the pudding but it is optional.
  • Place the ovenproof dish and its contents in the centre of the oven

Baking
Stir the rice pudding mixture after 30 minutes. You may also want to turn the dish around, back to front, in the oven so that it cooks evenly. Cooking time in total is 11/2 to 2 hours or until the surface of the pudding is a nice golden brown and the pudding is creamy

Alternative cooking methods
On the hob:-
Place the rice and milk in a large saucepan and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Simmer for around 40 minutes or until the rice is cooked. If the mixture seems to be drying out add a little more milk. Add the sugar and nutmeg just before serving.

​
In the microwave:-
For a 650w microwave:-
Place the rice and milk in a very large microwaveable dish. A three pint bowl should be large enough. Cook on full power for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove when cooked and add the sugar and nutmeg before serving. Stir well and leave to cool for a couple of minutes before actually serving.

​Do not leave either of these dishes cooking completely unattended in case they boil over.

Both of these recipes cut the cooking time. They make a tasty rice pudding but are not, in my opinion, as tasty as the traditional, oven recipe.
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How to make carrot cake

25/12/2016

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For those of you who are unsure just what carrot cake is: Carrot Cake is a lovely, rich, moist, sweet cake that tastes nothing like carrots.

What's it all about?
However, carrots are used in this recipe, along with a host of other ingredients. This gives Carrot Cake a unique texture and flavour. Get the amounts wrong though and you could end up with a soggy mess.

Carrot cake can be made in round bun cases, small individual squares or as a large round or square cake. It can be shop bought and, though generally these are good, there is nothing to beat good home made carrot cake when you fancy a sweet treat.

The ingredients can vary a little and there is some leeway for those who do not like, for example, nuts such as pecans. These can be replaced with walnuts or simply omitted.

To my mind Carrot Cake is delicious and it looks as good as it tastes.

​Getting Started
  • Grate the Carrots and put to one side.
  • Pre-heat your oven to 160C or 140c for fan assisted ovens or set to mark 3 for gas ovens.
  • Grease a large oven proof dish or roasting tin(about 28 by 25cms in size)and line with greaseproof or baking paper.
  • Place the nuts onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for around 8 minutes. Less, maybe, but never for longer.
  • Put the orange zest into a bowl with the sultanas. There should be about two tablespoons of zest. Set this to one side and leave for about 20 minutes.
To Make
  • Into a large bowl, sift the flour and add the mixed spice and bicarbonate soda.
  • Add half of the nuts and all of the coconut
  • Place the eggs, sugar and oil into a large bowl and whisk until the sugar begins to dissolve.
  • To the egg mixture add the sultanas with their orange juice, the grated carrots and the flour mixture


When thoroughly mixed together pour this mixture into the baking tin or dish

Ingredients
For a large cake that will slice into 18 pieces you will need:-
  • 175G OF SULTANAS(OPTIONAL)
  • 300G OF SELF-RAISING FLOUR
  • 3 LARGE EGGS
  • 250G OF LIGHT SOFT BROWN SUGAR
  • 300G OF PEELED CARROTS (WEIGHT AFTER PEELING)
  • 100G OF SOFTENED BUTTER
  • 100G OF ICING SUGAR
  • 300G OF FULL FAT, SOFT, CREAM CHEESE.
  • 150G OF ROUGHLY CHOPPED PECANS, OR WALNUTS IF PREFERRED.
  • THE ZEST AND JUICE OF ONE LARGE ORANGE
  • 2 LEVEL TEASPOONS OF MIXED SPICE
  • 11/2 LEVEL TEASPOONS OF BICARBONATE OF SODA
  • 75G OF DESSICATED COCONUT
  • 220ML OF SUNFLOWER OIL
  • ONE TABLESPOON OF LEMON JUICE
  • A FEW DROPS OF VANILLA EXTRACT(OPTIONAL)
​Cooking time
  • Place the carrot cake on the middle tray of your oven
  • Bake for roughly one hour
Final touches
  • Leave the cake to cool in the dish or tin for about 10 minutes
  • Lift the cake out onto a cooling rack or wire.
  • Beat together the icing sugar and butter
  • When softened add the lemon juice, vanilla and cheese.
  • Beat a little more but not too much.
  • Spread this mixture over the cooled cake, either roughly making peaks or spread it smooth.
  • Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top of the cake
Additional requirements and Utensils
  • Quite a few different mixing bowls to hand
  • Sieve
  • Grater
  • Baking or greaseproof paper
  • Whisk which can be a hand whisk. If one is not available a large fork.
  • Cooling rack
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Winter warming economical stew

25/12/2016

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There are many recipes online which will show you how to make an economical winter-warming stew but this one is mine.

I bought a pack of diced beef from Iceland which retailed at £2.

This will easily serve four persons or a stew for two over successive days.
Stew is one of those cooked foods that just gets better with age. Remember to re-heat thoroughly and do not keep too long though. Like all cooked foods it can go off!

Along with the diced beef I bought a pack of potatoes for £1.49 but only used half for the stew. A vegetable stew pack that contained a few carrots, small turnip, one onion and a decent sized trimmed leek was purchased for a £1.

A quick cost then shows the basic ingredients cost me £3.74 roughly. Much cheaper than buying a handful of ready meals, more nutritious and better value for money.

So we have our ingredients let's make a pan of tasty stew:
  • Brown the meat in a pan with a little oil. You are not cooking the meat at this stage but simply browning it. This should only take a couple of minutes.
  • While it is browning prepare potatoes and the other vegetables.
  • Peel and cut the potatoes and turnip into chunks, the carrots and onion into slices and the leek into long slices. Remember to rinse with cold water when peeled.
  • Put all the vegetables into a large pan of cold water, add seasoning if liked such as salt and bring to the boil.
  • While this pan is boiling transfer the browned meat into a casserole dish and cook on a medium heat in the oven adding meat or vegetable stock.
  • When the pan of vegetables has boiled turn it down to simmer.
  • After 10 minutes add the meat, stock and any gravy from the casserole to the pan of veg.
  • Stir well and simmer for ten more minutes.
  • Add gravy granules or stock and cornflour to season and thicken the liquid as required.

This basic stew is very easy to prepare, cook and serve. Add other veg such as frozen peas a few minutes before serving.

Once you have mastered this very basic easy stew try adding dumplings or varying the ingredients.

Tips:
  • Invest in a very large stew pan, with a lid, so you can cut down on the number of burners in use on your cooker.
  • Our stew served two day one, two more day two and provided supper as a type of big soup when it had more peas added.
  • When I was a child in 50's Britain my mum would add lentils and pearl barley to soups and stews. This helps bulk the stew up but also adds nourishment at a cheap cost. It certainly makes stew go much further.
  • Parsnips and swede are also suitable for use in this dish.

Now you have mastered the basics check out Jamie Oliver's range of stews here.

Also
http://www.food.com/recipe/economical-beef-stew-407090
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Dolmades the easy way

25/12/2016

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Stuffed vine leaves

Like Greek food? We love it. It is many years since we visited the Greek Islands but these days you can enjoy quintessential Greek Food if you live elsewhere. A Greek Salad is easy to make as long as you can buy Feta cheese. You can skip the cheese if preferred. Hubby and I always managed to share a Greek Salad which is served to tourists on the Greek Islands as a starter. He does not like cheese and I did not like olives, but I do now.

One dish often served as a starter is stuffed vine leaves. At a hotel where we stayed on the island of Lefkas we would watch the owner reach up through the trellis to select leaves for the night's dinner menu.

Dolmades means stuffed, by the way, and may refer to stuffed peppers or mushrooms. If you want quick and easy ready-made stuffed vine leaves they are available from many supermarkets.

​Asda in the U.K. sells a ring pull tin of stuffed vine leaves for around £1.45. The ones we buy are called Tamtad and are a product of Turkey. They are packed into the tin with oil. When drained the contents weigh 340g. Usually there are around 9 in each tin. When you compare this to the cost of dolmades as a starter in Greece they represent good value. Of course they are probably cheaper to make. The ingredients are :Grape Leaves , Onions , Water , Rice , Refined Sunflower Oil , Salt , Citric Acid , Mint , Dill , Spices.

If you fancy going Greek have the stuffed vine leaves for a starter, a Greek salad for your main course and Total Greek yogurt with honey for dessert. Wash it down with a glass or two of retsina or ouzo. Follow with a small cup of strong black coffee; a traditional Greek meal at a reasonable cost.

To capture the spirit of the Mediterranean make sure your salad vegetables are fresh as can be and be liberal with the virgin olive oil.


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Perfect microwave scrambled eggs

24/12/2016

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In the UK many years ago there was a concerted effort to ensure that the public ate eggs. Advertising slogans such as Go To Work on an Egg are still firmly stuck in this blogger's brain. A cheap and versatile food stuff eggs are also good nutritionally. Like all things there are pros and cons but if money is tight buying a half dozen eggs can be prudent.

One quick, easy and satisfying way to eat eggs is to scramble them.

In the past cooking scrambled eggs invariably left too much mess stuck to the pan which could take ages to clean off.

Enter the microwave. Cook your scrambled eggs in a dish in the microwave and cleaning up afterwards will be easy. Cooking scrambled eggs is a doddle but for those of you who are novice cooks read on. Remember to ensure that the dish you use is suitable for microwave cooking,

For one person:
  • Take two eggs.
  • Crack the shells breaking the eggs into a bowl.
  • It does not matter if the yokes break, which is a bonus.
  • Add a little butter or margarine, a splash of milk and a dash of salt and pepper.
  • You can adjust the above to taste.
  • Briskly whisk with a fork. This can be done lightly.
  • Put the dish in the microwave.
  • Cooking time will depend on your microwave.
  • We usually put the eggs on full power for 21/2 minutes.
  • Then take the eggs out and give them a rough stir before cooking for a further minute.
  • Again adjust this to your needs, with experience.
​​The above should result in light and fluffy scrambled eggs. If you put the dish into water to soak, whilst you eat, it will be easy to clean later.

You can add various ingredients to the eggs. We like to add some grated cheese. Add too much and they will be rich creamy but very cheesy eggs. Finely chopped onions be they cooking or Spring, chopped tomato or ham also make for tasty scrambled eggs. Sometimes we skip the butter and add a dollop of cheese spread or one or two cheese triangles instead.

The choice of course is yours. Bear in mind that you are only using a brief cooking time. This has a bearing on what you add. However if you want cheesy scrambled egg on toast you will find that they are cheap, easy and quick to cook. Make scrambled eggs when you have some ingredients which you want to use up also.

Serving suggestions:
Serve the eggs on their own, on toast, with chips or with bacon, sausages and beans.
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