One thing that I always do when I am frying bacon, is to fry extra. It just makes sense. If I am going to to the trouble and the mess . . . why not fry the whole pack instead of just a few slices.
The extra gets carefully wrapped and sealed in a zip lock bag and then frozen so that I have already cooked bacon to hand anytime I may need it. Why pay premium prices for already cooked bacon in the shops when you don't need to.
Cooked bacon is so handy to have in the freezer. Ready for sprinkling on salads, or casseroles . . . the perfect addition to grilled cheese on toast . . . chopped and sprinkled over pizzas . . . or chopped and stirred into these moreishly scrumptious savoury scones!!!
Crunchy on the outside and so soft and flakey on the insides . . . all buttery and stogged full of strong cheddar cheese and . . . lovely bacon. As we all know . . . everything tastes better with bacon! (Peanut butter, cheese, chocolate . . . even jam. Try it some time. You'll see I am right!)
These tasty scones are the perfect addition to a soup meal . . . or with a hearty stew. Great for breakfast . . . on their own or with an egg, scrambled or otherwise. Try making your own breakfast sandwich using these. Just fry an egg (or two) and sandwich them between one of these lovely scones, after having split and toasted it.
Oh man . . . sooooo good! Your husband will love you even more than he does now. I guarantee! They do say the secret way to a man's heart is through the stomach . . .
*Cheese and Bacon Scones*
Makes 15 to 20, depending on how big you cut them
Printable Recipe
Scrumdiddlyumpitiously savoury. Perfect with some sliced ham or cheese, or both. You can vary the spiciness of them by adjusting the amount of cayenne used.
16 ounces (1 pound) plain flour (about 3 1/2 cups)
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp of cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp salt
1 ounce of cold butter, cubed (2 TBS)
4 ouces bacon, grilled and finely chopped with a sharp knife, or
in the food processor
4 ounces strong cheddar cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 medium free range egg
375ml of sour milk or buttermilk (1 2/3 cup)
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Dust a large baking sheet lightly with flour. Set aside.
Sift the flour, soda, cayenne pepper and salt into a large bowl. Drop in the butter and then rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the bacon and cheese.
Whisk together the egg and milk.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix to a soft dough with your hand by running it around the bowl. Try not to knead it as this will develop the gluten which will toughen the scones. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. (The dough will be quite sticky) Pat out with floured hands until you get a square 3/4 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut it into 15 to 20 squares. (Alternately you can cut them out with a sharp knife or a 2 inch round cutter) Place onto the floured baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each.
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- tinned albacore tuna
- mustard (I like Dijon)
- fresh lemon (the zest and the juice)
- some fresh or dried herbs
- 1 spring onion/scallion
- an egg yolk
- half a slice of bread
- seasoning
- tabasco sauce
- butter and light olive oil to shallow fry
Tuna Patties for Two
Ingredients
- 1 (5 to 6 ounce)(140-170grams) tin of albacore tuna
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp olive oil (use only if using water packed tuna)
- 1/2 slice of white bread torn into small pieces
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest (I use my fine microplane grater)
- 1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 TBS water or juice from tin of tuna
- 1 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (or 1/2 TBS dried)
- 1 TBS finely chopped green onion
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- salt and black pepper to taste
- Tabasco sauce to taste
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- 1/2 tsp butter
- Fresh lemon wedges
- tartar sauce
Instructions
- Drain your tuna well, reserving liquid. Flake the tuna into a bowl. Add the olive oil and 1/2 TBS of the tuna liquid. Mash well together.
- Add the bread, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, parsley, chives, hot sauce and seasoning. Mash well together and then taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary and then stir in the egg yolk.
- Divide the mixture in half and shape into two balls. Flatten each ball into a patty and place onto a plate. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Heat the olive oil and butter over medium high heat in a non-stick skillet. Once the butter begins to foam, add the tuna patties. Brown nicely on both sides, approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side.
- Serve hot with your lemon or tartar sauce.
We love crumpets in this house . . . grilled until toasty golden brown and then spread with lashings of butter.
Yesterday I had a craving for a BLT . . . you know . . . that internationally known favorite sandwich!!
I did have a packet of crumpets however. If you know me at all, you know I am the type of person that would never let a thing such as having no bread stop them from going for it.
Of course these are BLT's that you need to eat with a knife and fork. Not traditional, but they were so good.
And topped with fresh baby lettuce leaves, sliced ripe tomatoes and crispy fried bacon . . . sooo delicious. So tasty. So easy and quick to make.
FAB-UUUU-LOUS!
*Crumpet BLT's*
Sometimes I go all "Elvis" on them and enjoy them with peanut butter, honey and bacon . . . you haven't lived until you have tried that! Seriously!
I think my favourite comfort supper of all, especially on a cold and rainy day, has got to be tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich.
The soup all rich and full of ripe tomato flavours . . .
The Sandwich all crisp and buttery and filled with oodles of meltingly rich cheddar cheese . . .
I got to thinking about that at work today . . . the rain pelting down on the windows was so miserable and I was longing for comfort . . . and then I had the thought . . .
what if you combined the two . . .
You know . . . like onion soup . . .
the rich tomato soup laying beneath a toasted crouton covered in lucious cheese, all melted and bubbling on top.
The idea of it was all I could think about the whole morning through.
I could hardly wait to get home so that I could make it.
It was gorgeously scrumptious, comforting and . . . very . . . very . . . moreish.
*Cheese Crusted Tomato Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
Tomato soup and grilled cheese has to be the epitome of soulful comfort food. I have combine the two here in a delightfully delicious combination. This has real wow factor.
For the soup:
2 TBS butter
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
24 ounces chicken stock
3 ounces tomato paste
1 400g tin of chopped tomatos
1 heaped TBS dried basil
salt and black pepper to taste
For the Cheese Crouton:
2 large crusty rolls
6 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
chopped fresh parsley to garnish
First make the soup. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute until very fragrant. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, tomatoes and dried basil. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to taste. It is at this point where you can blitz it with a stick blender and make it really smooth if that is what you like, or you can blitz it just a little bit so that it is still a bit chunky.
Heat the grill to high. Cut the ends off of each of your rolls and then cut the middles into two thick slices. Toast them on both sides under the grill.
Place four heavy soup bowls on an oven tray. You want bowls that will be safe under the grill. Ladle the hot soup into the bowls, dividing it equally amongst the four dishes. Float a slice of toasted bread on top of each, then sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese evenly over top, again dividing it equally amongst the four dishes.
Slide the tray with the filled soup bowls under the grill and grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Remove from the grill and serve immediately with a garnish of chopped fresh parsley on top of each. Enjoy!
Note - Warn your eaters that the bowls will be hot!
Well, its Sunday and you know what that means. A recap of all the meals I cooked or ate over the previous week. My Meals of the Week. I am really enjoying gathering these meals together each week. It helps me to plan my meals for the week ahead and helps me to keep a note of exactly what and how I am eating.
It is all to tempting when you are a person who lives all on your own to eat out of cans, takeaways or frozen meals. My mother lived on her own from the age of 53 until she passed away at the age of 87. She always cooked for herself. She never ate out unless it was with other people. Occasionally she would treat herself to a TV dinner buying them when they were on special. She liked the turkey one. No surprise there as I love turkey also, just not in a TV dinner.
Mom always enjoyed feeding herself healthy meals for the most part. She also enjoyed a glass of red wine every night and a small dish of ice cream. Oh how I miss her.
I am taking a leaf from her book, and making sure that I eat a decent meal every day of the week, and I am enjoying bringing you along for the ride. Hopefully you will be inspired to do the same and maybe even get some new ideas from what I am cooking for your own meals!
Here is what I cooked myself over the past week. (Where I have eaten out, I have provided a similar option so that you can cook it yourself.) Let me know what you think!
SUNDAY, May 14th - Mother's Day
This was Mother's day and I was treated to a dinner out by my daughter Eileen and Son In Law Tim. Tim's mother was also there. We went to Angie's, which is a restaurant very close to me, and we both had the turkey dinner, small eaters size.
Of course it was not like my own Homemade Turkey Dinner (this one is sized for two people), but it was very good. Eileen had the meatloaf and Tim had his usual fish and chips. For dessert Jean (Tim's mom) and I split a slice of Turtle Cheesecake. Oh my but it was some good!
MONDAY, May 15th - Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Crispy Baked Potato Wedges
I just wanted something simple for my supper on Monday so I made myself a tasty Grilled Cheese Sandwich and some crispy baked potato wedges, and some coleslaw on the side.
I set aside half of the potato wedges to serve on another day and enjoyed the ones I did on the day very much. That is the good thing about them. You can reheat them very easily. It was a delicious dinner for sure!
TUESDAY, May 16th - 5-Minute Steak Dinner for One
I had been to the grocery store and was lucky enough one day a couple of weeks ago and scored two nice strip loin steaks marked down as they were on their sell-by date. I froze them.
On Tuesday I thawed one of them out to make a recipe that I had seen on Food 52 for a delicious steak dinner for one, which had a fabulous sounding sauce to serve with it. Of course it had green beans in the recipe as well, and I just heated up the leftover potato wedges from the day before. DELICIOUS!
WEDNESDAY May 17th - Dinner out with Dad
Wednesday nights I usually go out for dinner with my father and his friends. Dad wanted to treat me this week as I had taken him to the Doctors up country on Monday for his check up.
Dad and I both had the fish and chips. Hazel had the clams and chips. Dad had apple pie with whipped cream for dessert, Hazel had her usual Chocolate Fudge Sundae and I had a small bowl of ice cream. I usually get the kiddies cone without the cone. It is soft serve ice cream. The fish and chips were okay this week, the fish was a bit over cooked, but they were very busy with a large birthday party in attendance.
If you are wanting a delicious way to cook fish that is always perfectly cooked and never day, why not try out my recipe for Baked Haddock with a Buttery Cracker Topping. This is quite simply one of the most delicious ways to cook fish and it always turned out perfectly.
THURSDAY, May 18th - Cacio e Pepe
On Thursday I was in the mood for pasta and so I made myself some Cacio e Pepe. It was a dish that I had wanted to try out for a very long time. I downsized it to feed two people. I had the leftovers for breakfast on Friday.
Does anyone else out there enjoy leftovers for breakfast? I love having leftover pizza or mac and cheese for breakfast. Cacio e Pepe is a simple pasta dish that uses only the pasta, some of the pasta cooking water, some cheese, olive oil and plenty of pepper. I have seen some people add butter also. It is simple and its delicious. I enjoyed this along with a tossed salad. (I was wishing I had garlic bread, lol)
FRIDAY, May 19th - Tuna Burger
On Friday I really felt like having a Tuna Burger. I have been making Tuna Burgers since I was a teenager. They are really simple to make and incredibly delicious. I always enjoy them with a bit of cheese melted on top, served in a toasted bun with some lettuce and tomato. Lemon Mayonnaise is also very nice spread on the bun, or even tartar sauce.
You could serve these with potato chips on the side if you wished, or salad, even coleslaw. I always find them to be very filling so am happy with just the burger.
SATURDAY, May 20th - Chicken Tikka Masala
When I lived in the UK, Saturday nights were usually the nights that people enjoyed a nice curry supper or a Chinese. This week I was craving curry and so I made a small batch of my favorite Chicken Tikka Masala. My sister stopped by after I had cooked it and she said, it smells fantastic in here, what are you cooking? This recipe is from one of my favorite chef's Tamasin Day-Lewis and is a simple to make and incredibly tasty version of the UK's favorite curry. Not too spicy, creamy and delicious!
I enjoyed with some steamed basmati rice and some mango chutney on the side. I was wishing for some Peshwari Naan bread. Oh how I miss Peshwari Naan. It is my favorite of all the Naan Breads. It has a filling of coconut, raisins and almonds. I will have to try the recipe linked and see how it compares. Watch this space.
And those were my meals of the week for this past week. As you can see I ate very well. I even managed to eat fish twice!
I organized my larder on Thursday. It was in a right mess. If you can't see what you have you can't use it. I moved all of my cans and jars out to the attached garage to my house. It stays a pretty level temperature in there. Not too hot. Not too cold. And its dark. Now I can see everything and I am sure to use it up. I think I have a bazillion cans of tomatoes and creamed corn. DUH! I won't need to buy any of that for a while!
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