IRISH TEA BRACK 

Not only is this a delicious quick bread to enjoy with a hot cup of tea but it is made with a beautiful fruit mixture that has been soaked overnight in cold leftover tea. These soaking plumps up the dried fruit beautifully so that you end up with a loaf that is loaded with moist bits of raisins, sultanas. currants, etc. Moist, delicious and fat free.  Yes. Fat free.  No fat is used in the making of this loaf. You can feel utterly justified in cutting it into thin slices and then spreading it with copious amounts of butter to enjoy.  

This tasty bread is a delicious nod to Irish thrift and their ability to not waste anything at all. Not even a cup of tea.

CLASSIC ENGLISH SCONES 

 

Serve cold (never warm) with butter, cream, jam and hot cups of tea.

 

FAT RASCALS

Fruity buns, with brown crusts, originally hailing from the Cleveland area between County Durham and Yorkshire, thought to date back to the mid 19th century.  They are like a thick pastry, thin scone. Studded generously with dried currants and dusted with a layer of caster sugar.

Delicious served as is with a lovely hot cup of tea.

TRADITIONAL CORNISH SPLITS

Before they ever included scones, these lovely light yeasted buns were the original stars of a Cream Tea.  Light as air, only slightly sweetened, like soft yeasted pillows of deliciousness. Perfect for splitting and spreading with soft butter and jam, and topped with lashings of clotted cream. Just a slight dusting of icing sugar garnishing the tops. 

I have never had anyone turn down one of these. The only drawback is that once they are filled, they must be eaten on the day.  Not a problem!

A VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE

A bit of cake always takes center stage on the typical British tea table.  Usually, a Victoria Sponge or Sandwich cake as it often called. This is the epitome of a beautiful tea table. Two layers of a butter sponge cake, sandwiched together with copious amounts of sweet jam. Usually raspberry or strawberry. No icing is needed. Instead, the cake is dusted with a liberal amount of either caster or confectioner's sugar.  I prefer the caster sugar myself. Both are very nice.

This is a very easy cake to make.  

A TRADTIONAL BATTENBURG CAKE

A firm favorite on the traditional English tea table, this is a very pretty two colored sponge cake, put together in a pink and white checkerboard pattern. I think you may actually be quite surprised as how very easy it is to make one of these delicious cakes!

Sandwiched together with some jam and a bit of buttercream, these cakes are wrapped in a unique layer of thinly rolled out marzipan, which is also dusted with sugar.  Very nice.  Very elegant.  I have also done a Chocolate Hazelnut version, which is delicious. You can find that here. 

COFFEE CAKE

I just adore this cake recipe which I adapted from a WI cookbook. You cannot beat the Women's Institute for baking tasty things to enjoy with a hot cuppa and this cake is one of the best! This delicious coffee flavored cake comes with their approval so you just know it is great.

With two layers of a moist ad buttery coffee layered sponge, filled with a lush coffee cream and decorated with the same. I have added toasted walnuts and a dusting of icing sugar to dress it up.

Not just delicious, but also beautiful. I have never had anyone turn down a slice of this cake.

 

BUTTERFLY CAKES

GINGER CRUNCHIES

These crisp moreish biscuits/cookies/bars are one of my favorite Teatime Treats.  And no small wonder, with their crisp, crumbly ginger flavored cookie base and sweet ginger glaze topping, they always go down well.

I adore the flavor of ginger, and this is a bar that highlights it really well! I like to decorate the tops of the bars with small bits of preserved stem ginger. This is a British ingredient which consists of knobs of gingerroot which have been poached in a syrup until crispy tender and then preserved in a jar, covered by the same. I do have a recipe where you can make your own, very easily I might add, here. It's not totally necessary, however. You can also decorate the tops with bits of candied gingerroot. Also, very nice.

PETTICOAT TAILS

A petticoat tail is a variety of British Shortbread biscuits, baked in a large buttery round that has been scored and pricked prior to baking so as to make these delightful cookies easy to cut when done.  Crisp and buttery, they were called petticoat tails due to the ruffled edges.

 

You can leave them plain or flavor them with a bit of peppermint for a special touch.  I have also made Polka Dot Petticoat Tails, which are dimpled with small bits of jam prior to baking. All very nice.

Again, these are simply dusted with some caster sugar to finish them off. Not totally necessary, but it adds a nice hint of sparkle.

Hello!  Happy Sunday and welcome to my weekly Meals of the Week Post!  On Sundays I like to share with you, my dear readers, all of the deliciousness I have enjoyed over the past seven days for my main meals of the week!

This is one of my favorite posts to do every week and by all accounts it is one of your favorites as well. I love taking the time at the end of the week to go over what I have enjoyed eating as my main meals and plan my meals for the week ahead accordingly.

As a Senior living on my own and on a limited budget, planning is really important to me. Making my food dollar stretch as much as I can, as well as limiting waste are two things I take great care to implement when I am planning my meals.  

I also don't want my meal planning and cooking to become boring. I love to cook and I love to eat and I try to make my menus as varied as I can from week to week, and I like to take you along with me, hopefully so that you will be likewise inspired to want to cook economical and interesting meals for yourself and your family.

Admittedly a lot of my recipes these days are tailored for only one or two people, but all can easily be doubled or even tripled to feed more. If you have any questions as to how to do that don't hesitate to get in touch! I am only too happy to help.

These are only my main meals.  I usually have a protein powder smoothie for my breakfast each day or very occasionally I will have toast or (blush) leftover pizza if there is any in the house.  

Normally I will eat my main meal at noon or in the early afternoon as eating heavy later in the day no longer works well with my digestion.  Unless I am eating out, then I will go along with the rest of the people I am enjoying my meal with and eat my main meal when they eat theirs.  Otherwise, here at home, its usually early afternoon.

For my supper I will have a salad, or fruit, sometimes I will have a bowl of cereal or sometimes toast.  Whatever it is I feel like having.  Sometimes I will have yogurt with my fruit.  Or I will have granola and yogurt with a bit of date syrup drizzled over top if I am feeling particularly indulgent.

And that's it. That is how I mostly eat during the week. I don't like to eat a lot of processed foods and I don't like ready meals. I have occasionally picked one up but have always been quite disappointed in them, so mostly I cook for myself, and I like to share that experience with you!  

So without waffling on any longer, here are my Meals of the Week for the past seven days. I hope that there is something here which will inspire you to want to try and to cook for yourself also!  

SUNDAY September 7th - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's

On Sunday I had dinner at my sisters with the family. I always enjoy getting together with Cindy, Dad and Dan.  She cooked a lovely supper again. Shake and Bake Chicken Wings (which we all love), mashed potatoes with butter and chives, and fresh corn with garlic and basil. You can find the recipe for the corn here. It was fabulously delicious. Her potatoes were simply mashed with plenty of butter, milk and minced fresh chives from the garden.  Banana Bread for dessert.

If you are looking for a recipe to cook chicken wings from scratch, I have one here for Crispy Chicken Wings.  They are coated in flour with seasonings and baked until crispy coated.  Juicy and delicious. I do think the wings are my favorite part of the chicken!

Of course, the best part of these meals is enjoying them together!

MONDAY, September 8th - Easy Curried Orange Chicken

On this day I decided to cook a Vintage Chicken Recipe from one of my cookbooks.  BH&G Cooking for Two. I chose the recipe for Easy Curried Orange Chicken and it was fabulously delicious.  Tender and juicy with just the right amount of orange flavor. That sauce was fabulous. It wasn't overly spiced with curry and I think if you don't like curry you could leave it out and rub your chicken with any other spice rub.  I can't think of one which wouldn't go.

I enjoyed this with some steamed basmati rice and cooked carrots and broccoli. It was really very good. The recipe makes two servings but could easily be doubled. I took the extra serving to my next door neighbor who really enjoyed it!

TUESDAY, September 10th - Four Can Chili 

I had a very busy day on Tuesday with one appointment right after another. What with fitting work in, I didn't have a lot of time to fit in cooking a full meal.  Thankfully this recipe for Four Can Chili is something which I have up my sleeve and reserved for days like that!  You just throw everything in the slow cooker early in the day and then when you are ready to eat, dinner is served!

And it is delicious as well! It does make four servings, but I freeze three of them in single serving sized containers to take out and enjoy another time. I enjoyed a hearty bowl of this, piping hot with some cheese scattered over top and a crusty roll on the side instead of crackers. It went down a real treat.  If you have never tried it, chopped fresh onion is very delicious sprinkled on top. It adds a chef's kiss of additional spark!

WEDNESDAY, September 11th - Supper out with Dad

My sister and I went out to dinner with our dad and Hazel on Wednesday night. We did not want him driving himself, and so we drove him and stayed for dinner.  I had the Turkey Club Platter for something different, minus the chips, etc.  I just had the Turkey Club sandwich.  It was really good and very filling.

Cindy had a Cheeseburger with deep fried mushrooms, Dad had Chicken Strips and chips, and Hazel had the turkey dinner.

For my turkey sandwich, I am sharing my Turkey Club Platter recipe. It is a delicious sandwich with layers of sliced turkey, crisp bacon, sliced tomatoes, cheese, mayonnaise and lettuce.  Very yummy. Nobody had room for dessert.

THURSDAY, September 12th - Butternut Squash & Goats Cheese Lasagna

I had not made this in a very long time. This really is delicious.  So rich and flavor filled. With plenty of texture. It is one of my favorite meatless lasagna's. 

FRIDAY September 12th - Lunch out with Cindy

We had been supposed to go out for lunch with our cousin Sheri on Thursday, but that fell through, so we went out for lunch on Friday instead, while my father was at the Mall with his friend Maryann. Sheri was still not well.  We went to our favorite Indian place and enjoyed a delicious meal of Chicken Biryani, Vegetable Samosas and Parotta bread.  (See above photo) We were stuffed!  The name of the restaurant is The Chrismaria Family Restaurant and it has fabulous food. It was quite busy when we were there, which was nice to see.

In its place I am sharing my own recipe for a delicious Chicken Biryani. I love this stuff. This is a delicious Indian dish for four, cooked in one pan.  You can save 1/3 of it to make a salad the day after.  (See below.)  Adapted from Good Food, The Family Meal Planner.  With chicken and rice, spices, raisins, etc. Very good.

SATURDAY, September 13th - Open Faced Pub Cheese Burgers

What you have here is a parmesan toasted slice of buttery sour dough bread, topped with an all-beef patty, which has been topped with Pub Cheese and sauteed onions. The burger is briefly covered after you add the cheese and onions to the top so that the cheese can melt.