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Meals of The Week, April 2nd - April 8th

Name: Crunchy Tuna Salad Baguette
Prep time: 8 min
Total time: 8 min
Ingredients: 1 (5 oz) can of solid albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked; 1/4 cup (50g) real mayonnaise; 1 TBS dill pickle relish; 1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped; 1 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped; 1 tsp dried dill; 1 TBS lemon juice; 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1/8 tsp fine ground black pepper; 1 good quality demi-baguette; softened butter; potato chips to serve (ready salted are nice, but so are cheese and onion!)

Sunday, 9 April 2023

Here I am with another meals of the week post, this one covering Sunday April 2nd to Saturday April 8th. I have to say I am most appreciative of the feedback that I get from these posts. It is clear that you are being inspired from what I am cooking and eating and that makes me very happy!

Whether you are a singleton, or a couple empty nesters, or even a couple who just live on their own, its always nice to have some idea of what other people in the same situation do when it comes to preparing meals.

My mother was on her own for about 30 years prior to my sister moving in with her and my mother cooked herself a supper every day. They might have been simple things, but they were always nutritious and balanced.

She loved to shop at M&M. She would buy their boxes of marinated chicken breasts and steaks and fish and quite often that is what she would have along with some type of starch and some vegetables, or even just a salad. Not all that inspiring to a person who likes to and enjoys cooking, but she was very happy with them.

Sometimes, if the local McDonalds was having an offer on Big Macs or some such, she would pick up a few and freeze them to enjoy every now and then. Again, not something I would choose to do, but she loved Big Macs!

She also used to love the Hungry Man Frozen Dinners and would buy them when they were on offer as well. She was especially fond of the turkey and stuffing one. I confess that every so often I like to indulge in a frozen dinner, but it is always on impulse and I am always disappointed when I get them because they always fail to measure up to the photograph on the box.

I have not yet resorted to buying Big Macs and freezing them! LOL Except for the occasional meal out I do cook for myself every day. I will sometimes cook a bit extra and freeze that in single serve portions ready to enjoy on a day when I can't be asked to cook, or I am in a rush and don't have time to cook.

In any case here is what I cooked/enjoyed over this past week. This is only a reflection of what I had for my main meals of the day. Lunches (my evening meal) and breakfasts are a lot simpler and usually don't require much effort. I usually eat my main meal (if I am eating at home) at lunch time.

For my breakfast I will have a muffin, or a bowl of cereal, maybe some toast, and occasionally I will enjoy some cold pizza from the night before. In the evenings I will enjoy a sandwich, or a salad, or a bowl of soup. Sometimes another bowl of cereal. It all depends on if I am hungry or not and how hungry I am.

And without further adieu, here we go!

SUNDAY APRIL 2ND - Air Fryer Roast Chicken

Sunday supper at my sisters. My sister did a lovely roast chicken in her air fryer, and we enjoyed that along with some oven roasted tender stem broccoli, potatoes and sweet potatoes. It was a small chicken, which fit into the air fryer perfectly. The chicken turns out with extra crispy skin and is lovely and moist, very tender and juicy.

My sister always cooks a lovely supper.

MONDAY APRIL 3RD - Creamy Curried Sweet Potato Soup

I wasn't overly hungry when it came to supper time on Monday. I cooked up a small batch of Curried Sweet Potato Soup. This was lovely. I garnished it with an additional drizzle of coconut milk and some toasted coconut flakes. I enjoyed with some warmed up Naan Bread. I make a lovely Yeast Free Naan from scratch that is really easy to make. It goes wonderfully with soups like this or with curries.

TUESDAY APRIL 4TH - Cheesy Ranch Chicken & Bacon Foil Packs

I had a really busy day on Tuesday with hospital appointments up country, etc. I prepped these delicious foil pack chicken dinners in the morning, ready to take out of the fridge and pop into the oven when I got home. Foil pack dinners are a real favorite here because they take very little effort, are a simple meal in one and there is very little to clean up when done.

You can make as many or as few as you like. If you don't want to cook in foil, you could also do in a small covered casserole dish. This one has both sweet and white potatoes on the bottom, also broccoli florets, tossed with a bit of oil and seasoned with ranch dressing mix, topped with chicken, which is also seasoned in the same way and then topped with cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Quite simply delicious!

WEDNESDAY APRIL 5TH - Supper out with Dad and Cindy

I always go out for supper with my father and his friends on Wednesday Evenings. This week my sister joined us. We go to a local eatery called The Big Scoop.

The special this week was a Toasted Western Sandwich with fries. I make a really great Oven Baked Western Sandwich with Oven Baked Hash Browns. It is sized perfectly for just two people and always goes down a real treat. You can't beat cheap, easy and delicious meals like this one!

THURSDAY APRIL 6TH - The Best Oven Baked Pork Chops Ever

You can't beat a pork chop supper! I had picked up some nice thick bone-in chops for a bargain price because they were at their sell by date. Not a problem. Bring them home and freeze them right away for a tasty supper later on. I cooked one of them on Thursday.

These were big chops. Large enough to feed two people. Breaded and baked, dotted with butter, then drizzled with a delicious honey mustard glaze, this was really REALLY delicious. I served with the half of the box of scalloped potatoes that I had not cooked the week before and some yellow wax beans. Tender, juicy and delicious!

FRIDAY APRIL 7TH - Tuna Melt Casserole

I had not made this delicious Tuna Casserole in a very long time. I cut the recipe in half because here is only me. Fat rigatoni pasta mixed with tuna and broccoli florets in a lush cheese sauce, topped with sliced tomatoes and more cheese and baked until bubbly and delicious!

I enjoyed this with a side salad and some crusty bread!

SATURDAY APRIL 8TH - Buttermilk Chicken

This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy chicken. You can use either chicken breasts or chicken tenders. The chicken always comes out tender and delicious. I think its because of the acidic qualities of the buttermilk.

The chicken is coated in buttermilk and rolled in flour and baked in a dish with melted butter until golden brown on both sides. A mix of condensed soup and buttermilk is poured over top and then they are baked for a while longer. You get tender juicy chicken pieces with a lush gravy/sauce.

I did cook the full recipe. I served one helping with some rice and mixed vegetables and then froze the remainder in single serving sized baggies for me to enjoy another time.

And those were my meals of the week for April 2nd to 8th! As you can see I ate very well and even have a few things in the freezer for future meals!

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

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You get tender juicy pieces of chicken in a lush buttermilk sauce/gravy.

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Hershey's Perfect One Bowl Chocolate Cake (small batch)

Thursday, 23 March 2023

The recipe I am sharing with you today comes from an old cookbook of mine, The Hershey's 1934 Cookbook. When we were living in Meaford Ontario about 30 years ago now, there was a shop at the edge of town that was filled with nothing but books.

I used to spend hours in it perusing them. You could often get brand new copies of very old books at a very decent price.

I had copied the recipe into my Big Blue Binder when I moved over to the UK, which is why I still have the recipe. The book got left behind when I moved back to Canada. One day I may replace it. I don't know. It all depends on if I think the use of it warrants the purchase.

This is an excellent chocolate cake however. It is one I made in its full form for my family many times through the years. It always turns out moist and delicious.

I hate the way chocolate anything photographs. It is almost impossible to get a really good photograph of a chocolate cake. At least that has been my experience. But trust me when I say that this cake is a lot more delicious than it looks!

It goes together very quickly and easily. You can cook this small batch version in one 9-inch round cake tin, or two smaller six inch round layer tins. I chose to do it in the larger pan and then cut it in half through the middle and sandwich it in layers with some vanilla frosting.

You can also bake it as 12 cupcakes. The choice is yours. I like a layer cake myself.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE HERSHEY'S ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE

Simple baking cupboard ingredients.

1 cup (200g) granulated sugar (In the UK use caster sugar)
9/10 cup (115g) all purpose flour
6 TBS (42g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large free range egg
1/2 cup (120ml) milk
1/4 cup (60ml) light olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120ml) boiling water
Icing as per your wishes

I am not sure how to measure 9/10 of a cup. Just measure out a cup and remove 2 TBS. That will work perfectly. I bake by weight myself.

Make sure you use unsweetened cocoa powder, not hot chocolate mix or chocolate milk powder. Just the cocoa powder. Here where I live I used Fry's cocoa powder because we don't have the Hershey's.

For the frosting today I used some ready made frosting (Betty Crocker) that I had in the cupboard that needed using up. For this size cake it used half the pot. You can just make your favorite buttercream frosting if you wish, vanilla or chocolate. Either would be delicious.

HOW TO MAKE HERSHEY'S ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE

Its very quick and easy to make with the aid of a electric hand mixer.

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch round cake tin and lightly dust it with flour. Set aside.

Whisk the sugar, flour, baking soda, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg, milk, oil and vanilla together and add to the dry ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric hand whisk.

Slowly whisk in the boiling water and continue to whisk to combine. The batter will be very thin. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the pan for five minutes and them tip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Ice as desired.

For a really good basic vanilla butter cream frosting. Beat together 1/2 cup (120g) of softened butter, 2 cups of icing sugar (260g), 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 TBS of milk until smooth, creamy, and fluffy.

This is enough to frost and fill this cake or 12 cupcakes.

I really hope you won't let these pathetic photographs put you off from baking this simple but lovely cake. It truly is delicious.

Moist with a beautiful crumb and a rich chocolate flavor. Its a long time favorite! Proof positive that it is the simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure.

Some other chocolate cakes that I have shared in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:

BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE - This is my all time favorite chocolate cake. It is a large double layer cake however, moist and delicious with a rich chocolate frosting. I need to figure out how to downsize this one methinks!

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE - Another small batch recipe this one bakes in a loaf tin. It comes with a lush brown sugar fudge frosting ad cuts into 6 perfect slices. Mayonnaise works like magic to make it nice and moist. Don't worry, you cannot tell that there is any mayonnaise in it at all.

Yield: 6 - 8

Author: Marie Rayner

Hershey's Perfect One Bowl Chocolate Cake (small batch)

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 45 Min

A simple delicious and moist chocolate cake. Frost as per your own tastes.

Ingredients

1 cup (200g) granulated sugar (In the UK use caster sugar)
9/10 cup (115g) all purpose flour
6 TBS (42g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bakin gsoda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large free range egg
1/2 cup (120ml) milk
1/4 cup (60ml) light olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120ml) boiling water
Icing as per your wishes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch round cake tin and lightly dust it with flour. Set aside.
Whisk the sugar, flour, baking soda, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg, milk, oil and vanilla together and add to the dry ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric hand whisk.
Slowly whisk in the boiling water and continue to whisk to combine. The batter will be very thin. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the pan for five minutes and them tip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Ice as desired.

Did you make this recipe?

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Crunchy Tuna Salad Baguette

Monday, 20 March 2023

I have always had a great fondness for Tuna Salad Sandwiches. Tuna wasn't something that my mother used to buy to make us sandwiches with. She had a thing for canned Salmon. If we were going to have a fish sandwich at all, it was with canned Salmon.

Then in Grade Eight I happened to taste my first Tuna Salad Sandwich. A friend of mine had them in her lunch and she didn't fancy them and so I said I would try them. I fell in love then and there.

I did manage to convince my mother to buy tuna once in a while after that, but it always remained a very rare treat. Salmon being her preference. When my mother passed away my sister had to get rid of countless tins of out of date salmon that my mother had stored.

Whenever they were on offer my mother would pick up a couple tins, whether she needed it or not, and of course in, her later years, they just did not ever get used.

Don't get me wrong. I do like tinned salmon every now and then. I use it to make Salmon Patties and Salmon loaf. Both are favorites of mine.

I also love a good French Canadian Salmon Pie. That is something which is high on my list of things I love to eat.

I am just not particularly fond of it in sandwiches. If I am going to have fish in a sandwich like that, for me, it has to be tuna.

This recipe which I am sharing today was inspired by one I found on the New York Times recipe site and is attributed to Naz Deravlan. The recipe was for a delicious sounding tuna salad sandwich using dill pickles and a tasty mix of herbs.

What I really liked about it was not the herbs so much as the use of potato chips to give some added crunch! I have often enjoyed potato chips on the side of my tuna sandwiches, but not in my tuna sandwich. It sounded really delicious!

The original recipe made four sandwiches. I adapted it to make only one demi baguette sandwich which would feed to regular eaters. A man might be able to eat the whole lot in one go however.

Having said that, as well, you don't want to be adding any potato chips to the sandwich until just before you go to eat the sandwich as they will go soggy. You have been warned.

But eaten right away, this sandwich is a gorgeous mix of delicious tuna salad and potato chip crunch. In a lovely chewy sour dough baguette, it was heavenly with just the right amount of crunch and tastiness!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE A CRUNCHY TUNA SALAD BAGUETTE

Simple ingredients. Make sure you use the best you can afford. In a sandwich like this, it really matters.

1 (5 oz) can of solid albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
1/4 cup (50g) real mayonnaise
1 TBS dill pickle relish
1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped
1 tsp dried dill
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp fine ground black pepper
1 good quality demi-baguette
softened butter
potato chips to serve (ready salted are nice, but so are cheese and onion!)

An old Italian Nonna in a grocery store in London, Ontario, told me over 40 years ago that anything but Albacore Tuna was garbage. I heeded her advice and have only been eating white albacore tuna ever since. It really does have the nicest flavor.

When it comes to mayonnaise, if I am not using homemade I always use Hellman's and that is not a plug for their product. It has the nicest flavor and is quite simply always my mayonnaise of choice. I hear Duke's is also very good if you can get it.

If you have fresh dill, by all means use that. I did not so I used dry. Fresh lemon juice really adds a nice flavor, and here is where I would definitely use extra virgin olive oil. This an occasion when the flavor of it will really shine through.

I used dill pickle relish because I think it has a bit of a sweeter flavor than regular dill pickles. If you don't have dill pickle relish then use regular sweet hot dog relish. I can promise you it will taste really good.

Use a good quality fresh baguette. It also really matters, and when it comes to potato chips, use the freshest crunchiest ones you can find. A kettle chip is really nice. Ready Salted are ideal, but I think cheese and onion are also very nice as are salt and vinegar. At the end of the day, just use your favorite flavor. I wouldn't be using ketchup or BBQ though. To me that just sounds wrong!

HOW TO MAKE CRUNCHY TUNA SALAD BAGUETTE

Nothing could be easier. I don't like to chop my veggies too awfully small. Neither do you want them left too large. Somewhere in the middle is ideal!

Flake the well drained tuna into a bowl with a fork and mash it well together.

Add the mayonnaise, pickle relish, chopped celery, spring onion, dill weed lemon juice and oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Split your baguette in half horizontally. Butter both cut sides with softened butter.

Pile the tuna salad onto the bottom half of the buttered baguette, spreading it out evenly. Top off with your potato chips and then the baguette top. Squash down a tiny bit, and cut in half.

Serve immediately.

The amount of mayonnaise I have suggested is only that, a suggestion. I would add half the amount first with everything else and then see if you need any more. You don't want your sandwich to be too sloppy.

If you are a singleton, you can remove the chips from one half of the baguette, wrap it tightly and store it in the refrigerator for the next day. That is what I did. Yes, I did eat the chips I removed. No, I did not add any more the next day. I just ate it plain.

This was a really, REALLY good sandwich. It had never dawned on me before to add a layer of potato chips to my tuna salad sandwich and I don't know why. The two together were sublimely delicious.

I highly recommend!

Some other tuna sandwich recipes which you might really enjoy that I have posted on here are:

THE CLASSIC TUNA MELT - A favorite toasted sandwich composed of a tasty tuna filling and plenty of melted cheese, sandwiched between buttery toasted bread. I also have an Air Fryer Tuna Melt that is really nice.

PIZZA TUNA BURGERS - Something I learned how to make in Grade 9 Home Economics. They were really good then and they are really good now! A delicious tuna mixture is spooned on top of halved English Muffins and topped with cheese and pimento stuffed olives before grilling. Great for lunch with veggie sticks or for supper with a hot cup of Tomato soup!

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner