Note - One potato mashed can be stirred into the bread crumbs along with the onion and then you have Bread, Sage & Onion Stuffing. This is as my mother always made it.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (small batch)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) plain all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (95g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) light muscovado sugar, firmly packed
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 (125g) cups old fashioned rolled oats, not instant
- 1 cup (150g) raisins
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy and well mixed together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Gently stir in the flour mixture, mixing it together only until no flour is visible in the mix. (Over mixing develops the gluten in the flour and makes cookies tough.) Gently stir in the oats and the raisins.
- Drop the cookie dough onto the baking sheets in heaping tablespoonfuls at least 2 inches apart from each other, leaving room to spread.
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit on the baking sheets for several minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store tightly covered.
Something which I have started doing here in The English Kitchen over this past month is sharing my Meals of the Week with you at the beginning of every week. I share all of the main meals that I have cooked or shared with family over the previous week, along with links to recipes, etc.
For me, it is good to be able to look back and see how I have eaten, and maybe where I could do better. Having this as a goal at the end of each week also inspires me to want to cook better meals for myself so that I can share them with you.
I like to think that is also helps in your meal planning, whether you are a family or a single person living on your own. A bit of inspiration always goes a long way, especially when it comes to meal planning.
Sometimes when you are living on your own, such as I do, the temptation can be to want to open a can or heat up a tv dinner. Occasionally I will do just that, but most of the time I like to cook from scratch. Not only are my homemade meals much healthier, but they are more often than not much lower in salt, fat and sugar. Homemade is always best.
I do enjoy two meals out a week. I am very fortunate in that I live near family and so most Sundays I will share a Sunday dinner with my sister, her husband and my father, and on Wednesday nights my father and his friends like to get together at a local eatery for a meal. I usually tag along and sometimes I even get my sister to come with us!!
My breakfasts and lunch's are normally quite simple although I did treat myself to some homemade Copycat Waffle House Waffles one day this week. Most mornings I will enjoy some homemade granola along with some Greek yogurt, or toast.
Lunches will sometimes be leftovers from the night before if there are any, or a sandwich, or sometimes a frozen mini pizza, or even a salad. I love salad lunches!! They are my favorite things to eat for lunch!
Here is what I ate over the previous week for my main meals. I hope that you will be inspired to want to try some of the recipes perhaps, or at the very least to want to cook some good food for yourself! Just because you are on your own there is no need to think you aren't worth the effort.
You totally are!
SUNDAY APRIL 23rd - Roast Beef Dinner at my sisters
Most Sundays I enjoy a family dinner at my sister's home with my sister, her husband and my father. I really enjoy these family times that we get to spend with each other. Roast beef was on special last week and so my sister cooked a pot roast again.
My sister makes the best gravy. You can make great gravy from scratch, even if you don't have any drippings. You can find my recipe for that here.
We had roasted carrots, potatoes and roasted tender stem cauliflower with it, or caulilini as it is also called. It is so delicious. Its not something either of us had tried until this year and now we can't get enough of it!
We had lemon pie for dessert, leftover from my place on Saturday night. All of it was so yummy, but the best part of course was being together!!
MONDAY APRIL 24th - Loaded Baked Potato Casserole for two
I had some leftover baked potatoes that I had baked on Saturday night for the family dinner and so I used them to make a delicious smaller sized version of an old casserole that I really enjoy.
All of the flavors that you love to enjoy with a baked potato are included in this easy, all-in-one bake. Cubed potatoes, cheese, bacon, sour cream, spring onions. Its so delicious. I could make a meal of this and nothing else.
I had some leftover roast chicken in the freezer, so I just warmed some of that up along with some steamed green beans. This was a simple and tasty meal.
TUESDAY APRIL 25th - Steak & Eggs
I had gone to the store to pick up some buttermilk and spied a nice looking steak that was marked down because it was on its sell by date.
I snapped it up and made myself some tasty Steak & Eggs for my supper. It is a breakfast dish I know, but a pretty hearty one. I am a gal that enjoys having breakfast for my supper!
This was really really good. I added a cheeky baked hashbrown patty on the side, otherwise it would have been a totally low carb dinner for those who are low-carbing it!
WEDNESDAY APRIL 26th - Fish and Chips with my dad and his friends
On Wednesday nights I always go out for supper with my dad and his lady friends. We usually have fish and chips and this week was no different. We are a family that loves our fish and chips! Not that healthy for you, I know, but always delicious. I usually get the hand cut chips and of course there is tartar sauce. No mushy peas here in Canada however. I miss them.
I do have a lovely recipe for a Garlic Herbed Cod and Chips that you might enjoy. Perfectly cooked cod loins with a tasty garlic and herb coating, roasted in the oven along side some home cut oven chips with the skins on. No frying in this one.
THURSDAY APRIL 27th - Street Cart Chicken and Rice
This is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken. I froze 3 servings of the chicken and the rice in individual servings for another time (minus the lettuce and tomatoes.) I also did not freeze the sauce. This might look like a lot of work, but it really isn't. I can promise you that it is worth every bit of effort and incredibly delicious.
You might not be able to freeze the sauce or the other bits, but things like this are great to have in the freezer. I just break it down into individual servings in small square freezer containers, ready to take out and heat up as and when. Its easy to add the fresh bits and the sauce on the day.
FRIDAY APRIL 28th - Macaroni Cheese & Tomato Bake
This is a recipe that I just love. I had not made it in a while because the original recipe serves four people. On this day I decided to cut the recipe in half and make just two servings.
Oh, how delicious it is. Macaroni is stirred together with a quick and easy tomato sauce and spread in the bottom of the baking dish. A lush layer of cheesy bechamel is spread over top and it is topped with buttery cracker crumbs prior to baking for a deliciously satisfying meal for two.
All you need on the side is some crusty bread and perhaps a salad. That is how I enjoyed it at any rate!
SATURDAY APRIL 29th - Skillet Beans and Weiners
This is one of those quick and easy suppers that I just love. I love hot dogs and beans anyways, and when they are combined together in a delicious and easy skillet supper like this one, I am one very happy camper. Its not something that I eat very often, but something that I really enjoy when I do.
We used to have beans and weiners a lot when I was a child on Saturday nights. Sometimes my mom would buy a huge can of tinned spaghetti and we would have weiners with that. Not only were these economical meals, but they were delicious as well. Maybe not the healthiest, but when you are watching the pennies, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!
A little bit of what you love to eat now and then never did anybody any harm.
I enjoyed with some crusty bread leftover from Friday night and some packaged scalloped potatoes. This was a real treat.
So here we are, right on the cusp of the lovely month of May. Temperatures are warming now and appetites are wanting lighter, fresher foods. Not so much comfort foods. I am looking forward to the warmer sunnier days, salads and such. How about you?
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
- 3 stale donuts (either cake or yeast) (cake will give you a softer finish)
- 1 large free range egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- pinch salt
- 3 tsp your favorite jam (today I used cherry)
- 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- few drops almond extract (goes wonderfully with fruit)
- 2 or 3 TBS flaked almonds
- sugar to sprinkle
- boiling water
Donut & Jam Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 3 stale donuts (either cake or yeast)
- 1 large free range egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- pinch salt
- 3 tsp your favorite jam (I used cherry)
- 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- few drops almond extract
- 2 or 3 TBS flaked almonds
- sugar to sprinkle
- boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. You will need a small casserole dish large enough to hold the doughnuts, halved snugly together, and a larger casserole dish large enough to hold the smaller dish. Butter the small one.
- Whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and almond together in a bowl.
- Warm the milk over medium heat in a small saucepan just until there are bubbles around the edges. (You can also do this in the microwave, about 1 1/2 minutes.)
- Slowly whisk the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture until well amalgamated.
- Cut the donuts in half through the middle horizontally. Sandwich each donut back together with a tsp of jam in the middle and then cut into two crosswise. Place the donut arches into the smaller of the casserole dishes, fitting them in next to each other. Mine fit into my dish in two rows of three halves.
- Pour the egg custard over top. Place the filled casserole dish into the larger casserole dish and pour in boiling water making sure that it comes halfway up the side of the smaller dish.
- Sprinkle the flaked almonds over top and then sprinkle with a bit of granulated sugar.
- Pop the whole lot into the preheated oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the custard is set. (A knife inserted near the center should come out clean.)
- Sprinkle with some icing sugar and serve warm.
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