I make no apologies to all the carb haters out there. I LOVE potatoes. The potato is by far my favourite vegetable. You can take away my pies and cakes, but don't you even dare touch my potatoes! They're not going anywhere!
I love them any way I can get them. Any how. Any time. Breakfast, lunch or dinner . . . snacktime. I do not think there is a potato that I have met that I didn't instantly fall in love with. Word of truth.
And just when I think they can NOT get any better . . . they do. By way of this decadently deliciously creamy and sinful potato casserole. You may well end up hating me for showing this to you . . . but it just had to be done.
I just can't keep something this delicious all to myself . . . as much as I may want to. It begs to be shared. It boasts of a wonderfully tender and flavourful base of potatoes, cooked until tender in cream and stock, along with onions and garlic . . . baked until golden brown . . . but that's not all . . .
Another creamy mixture is created using thawed hashbrown pattied crumbled together and cooked with yet more cream and stock . . . with Parmesan cheese . . . and chives . . . and then this is spread over top, sprinkled with MORE Parmesan and then baked until the whole thing is tinged with crisp golden potatoes and cheese on top . . . rich and creamy beneath . . . and altogether decadently sinfully wonderful to eat. I'd go so far as to call this dangerous. Don't say I didn't warn you.
*Decadent as Sin Potatoes*
Serves 4 to 5
Melt 1 TBS of the butter in a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Once it begins to foam add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it has begun to soften, without browning it. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add 225ml of the cream and 120ml of the chicken broth, the cubed potatoes, the nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a very slow simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, just until the potatoes are slightly translu and the mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, smoothing over the top. Place into the heated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until bubbling and just golden brown on the surface.
Return to the oven and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes prior to serving. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped chives and serve.
I served these with some corn and glazed pork chops. The Toddster was a happy man. He loves potatoes too. When I get it right, I get it really right. You can thank me in the morning. ☺
It is no secret . . . my mother makes the best baking powder biscuits in the world! There is no denying it.
Light, flakey and oh so scrummy . . . with soups, with stews, and on their own . . .
Served up warm with butter and honey . . . or some preserves . . . my . . . my . . . my. You just can't beat them!
There's no surprises here. They're really quite simple, nothing too out of the ordinary, but there are a few tricks to the success of them.
First, light handling. Don't be rough with them. A light touch is the secret behind the flakiness . . . too much handiwork and you get a tough biscuit.
If you want straight sided, tall biscuits . . . pat them out fairly thick, 1/2 inch will do and then cut them with a sharp tap down with the biscuit cutter . . . carefully lift the cutter straight up again. Don't twist, or you'll get lopsided.
Oh they'll still taste delicious, but aesthetically speaking . . . straight sided look oh so much better.
Yep . . . my mom does make the best baking powder biscuits in the world . . . and now you can too!
*Mom's Baking Powder Biscuits*
Makes about 36
Printable Recipe
My mom makes the best baking powder biscuits in the world. Now you can too.
17 ounces plain flour (4 cups)
8 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TBS granulated sugar
8 ounces white shortening (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs
12 fluid ounces milk (1 1/2 cups)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. You will need several large baking sheets. No need to grease them.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Drop in the shortening and cut it in with two round bladed knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat together the milk and eggs until well combined. Add to the dry mixture and stir with a fork until you have a soft dough. You may not need all the liquid. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times. Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out with a sharp 2 inch round cutter, giving the cutter a sharp tap straight down and up without twisting. (Twisting will give you lop sided biscuits.) Place onto the baking sheets, leaving some space in between the biscuits for crispy all around biscuits, or close together for soft sided biscuits.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until well risen and browned. Serve warm. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and reheated in the microwave for a few seconds. These also freeze really well.
I got a lovely hamper the other day as a gift from A Taste of Ireland, The Irish Shop at Ocado. Ireland is the latest country to have its national cuisine and food products highlighted in a dedicated section on the Ocado website. The "Irish Shop" at Ocado will for the first time see an exciting range of well-known and loved Irish brands available online. Popular brands such as Barry's Tea, Ballymaloe Country Relish, Clonakilty Blackpudding, Flahavan's, Kerry Gold and Cashel Blue Cheese will be available via the Ocado Website. The range also includes lesser-known but award-winning brands such as Keoghs Crisps and Potatoes, the Foods of Athenry and Carr's Seafood all who won Great Taste Awards in 2013.
There was really a lovely selection in the basket of teas . . . breakfast and gold blend from Barry's Tea, a lovely jar of Fruitfield Old Time Irish Marmalade . . .
Two beautiful Ballymaloe relishes, some Bewley's Gold Roast Coffee, The Foods of Athenry Hi-Fibre Wheaten Brown Soda Bread mix . . .
Some Nood Peppermint Tea, a nice big bag of Flahavan's Irish Organic Porridge Oats . . .
Helen's Brilliant Scone Mix (Gluten Free) and Helen's Linseed Crunch with Cranberry and Almond (wheat free cereal topping) . . . and a nice big bag of Keogh's Dubliner Irish Cheese and Onion Potato Crisps . . .
All lovely and much appreciated. The crisps disappeared on the first day. Naughty me.
Ocado's Irish Shop can be found at www.ocado.com/irish
Many thanks to the Ocado Irish Shop for the lovely basket. We are enjoying it very much! Yes, I do get sent the nicest things. ☺
Today's recipe is for a quick and easy casserole that your family is really going to love!
With a package of fresh cheese ravioli from the chiller cabinet at the grocery shop and a few fresh ingredients you can create a really delicious casserole, which I like to call Deep Dish Ravioli Pizza.
I simply cooked the ravioli according to the package directions and then layered it in a pie pan in two layers, spreading half of the jar of pasta sauce over the bottom layer and again on the top.
I combined three cheeses . . . grated mozzarella, grated strong cheddar and freshly grated Parmesan . . . and I sprinkled them over the top of the final layer of sauce . . .
On top of the cheese I sprinkled on some of our favourite pizza toppings . . . chopped peppers, onions, black and green olives and crumbled crispy bacon. You could use whatever toppings you wanted to.
I baked it for about 20 minutes, until the cheese was nicely melted and the whole thing was bubbling away. It was delicious, and in no small part due to the deliciousness of this fabulous Organico Tomato and Basil Sauce. Absolutely scrummy!
*Deep Dish Ravioli Pizza*
Serves 4
This is a simple and different way to create something which is not only quick and easy but quite delicious, using store cupboard ingredients! It's ravioli and yet it's pizza!
1 pound of fresh ravioli from the chiller section
(I used tomato and mozzarella, but you can use whatever
type is your favourite type)
340g jar of marinara type pasta sauce (about 1 1/2 cups)
111g of mozzarella cheese grated (about 1 cup)
60g of grated cheddar cheese, strong(about 1/2 cup)
45g of finely grated Parmesan Cheese (about 1/4 cup)
Pizza toppings as desired (think chopped red onions, chopped black and/or green olives,
chopped peppers, chopped bacon/pepperoni, etc.)
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a 9 inch pie dish. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil and then cook the ravioli according to the package directions. Drain well when cooked. Layer half of the ravioli into the baking dish. Top with half of the tomato sauce, covering it completely. Layer on the remaining ravioli. Scatter the cheeses on top beginning with the Parmesan and ending with the cheddar. Scatter your desired pizza toppings over top and then bang the dish into the preheated oven and bake until the mixture is bubbling at the edges and the cheese has all melted. Cut into wedges to serve. I would serve a hearty vegetable type of salad with this if serving as part of a main meal.
Yes. I confess. I like hot dogs . . . frankfurters . . . weiners . . . whatever you want to call them. I have a great fondness for them.
I don't really care what they are made from . . . I only know I like them and that's enough for me.
Friday nights were hot dog nights when I was a girl. Our mum made the best hot dogs. She would butter the buns and toast them in her electric grill until they were all toasty and crisp.
Then she would split the hot dogs down the centre almost all the way through and grill them in the electric grill as well. Oh boy. They were so good.
That would be our Friday night supper . . . two of those, with lots of fried onions and relish and mustard . . . each one wrapped in a piece of paper kitchen toweling. Those and a bowl of ice cream. Heaven.
Sometimes on Saturday evenings we would have a real treat of Weiners and Chips for supper. My mom would make us lovely homemade chips and fry the frankfurters as well.
They were soooo delicious . . . the franks would get all wrinkly once they started to cool a bit . . . a nice plate of a couple of those and some home made chips, with lots of ketchup for dunking. Bliss.
Sometimes my mother made Weiner Rolls. She would make short crust pastry and roll it out thin. Then she would cut it into rectangles large enough to cover one weiner.
Each rectangle would be spread with French's mustard and a weiner would be placed in the centre. She then would roll the pastry up around it, sealing it all in.
They would be baked until the pastry was crisp and golden. Oh did we ever enjoy nights when those were on the menu. Soooooo tasty.
I love all those things still. My whole family is crazy about those things, although we don't indulge ourselves very often as they aren't all that healthy or good for you, but once in a while.
I just got to have one. That's why when I saw this recipe from Rachel Ray for Mac and Dog Casserole I just had to print it out and make it. It's not typically British, for sure . . . but it is delicious.
Macaroni and cheese with a rich and cheesy sauce . . . flavoured lightly with ketchup and mustard. I used Heinz Ketchup (there are no other kinds!) and instead of mustard I used some of the Newman's Own Hot Dog Sauce I was recently sent. (We sure are enjoying that stuff! It's fabulous!)
What a delicious cheese sauce . . . and it went so well with the sliced and browned hot dogs . . . Even the died-blue pasta hater in the house had several helpings.
So yeah . . . maybe not the healthiest of entrees . . . and maybe not gourmet either. A once in a blue moon treat that went down really well in this house. I am sure it would go down pretty well in your house too!
I hope you'll try it. This is a winner, full stop. If it bothers you that it's not so healthy . . . just serve it with a salad. That will help to sooth your conscience!
*Mac and Cheese Dog Casserole*
Serves 4 to 6
Adapted from a recipe from Rachael Ray. It's awfully, awfully good.
1 pound macaroni
salt
2 TBS olive oil, divided
1 package of hot dogs, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 TBS butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 TBS plain flour
120ml chicken broth or beer (1/2 cup)
450mlof milk (2 cups)
pepper
2 TBS Newman's Own Hot Dog Sauce
(alternately you can use a spicy mustard)
2 heaped TBS of tomato ketchup
360g of greated sharp cheddar cheese (3 cups)
Cook the macaroni in a pot of lightly salted boiling water according to the package directions just to al dente. Drain well and set aside. While the macaroni is cooking heat 1 TBS of the olive oil in a pan and add the hot dogs. Brown on all sides and then remove to a paper towel lined plate. Add the remaining oil and butter. When the butter melts and begins to foam add the onions and cook, without colouring, until softened. Add the flour, stir in well and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the stock and milk. Bring to the bubble and then season with salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in the hot dog sauce and ketchup. Lower the heat, whisk in 2/3 of the cheese, stirring to melt. Remove from the heat. Stir in the hotdogs. Pour this mixture into a casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese.
Bang into a preheated 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 5 oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the casserole is bubbling and the cheese is golden. Serve hot.
Look at what I got in the post just recently. You all know how much I love, LOVE chocolate. It's not something that I bake with very often because the Toddster is not fond of chocolate baked anything. Just chocolate candy, which I try not to have a lot of in the house, because if it is in the house, it gets in my mouth.
Choc Shot is a very viable and healthy alternative to having oodles of chocolate in the house to satisfy those chocolate cravings. It has 85% less fat than regular chocolate candy bars and half the calories, at only 14 calories a teaspoon.
It's a lovely thick liquid, smooth and creamy and has a beautiful dark chocolatey indulgent flavour. You can use it in drinks, or drizzle it over things, or spread it on things, or even dunk fruit into it.
Here are a few more ideas for using it:
1. If a chocolate fix is the only way to banish your Monday morning blues, switch a Pain au Chocolat for Choc Shot on toast and save up to 150calories!
2. Make up delicious Chocolate Porridge Bars, made with Choc Shot, freeze and eat one for breakfast . . . a great way to enjoy porridge oats cold rather than hot this summer.
3. When elevenses take hold at work, instead of reaching for a chocolate bar or biscuit, make Choc Shot your new desk buddy. Try filling raspberries with a Choc Shot squeeze to create a treat that is just 6 calories a bite!
4. For an afternoon pick me up in the office, stir a squeeze of Choc Shot into your coffee to create a lower cal Mocha. Or make a silky smooth hot chocolate with your favourite milk.
5. For a tasty summer swap, knock up a batch of delicious Choc Shot Frozen Yoghurt, with only two ingredients . . . Choc Shot and Yoghurt. Eating thsi instead of chocolate ice cream will reduce your calories from 93 down to 38 a serving.
6. If you are looking to slim-down your Saturday night supper, serve up a Choc Shot Fondu, either hot or cold, with summer berries, kiwi and chopped bananas to dip. Simple, impressive and light.
7. Need an energy boost before hitting the gym? Forget sugar stuffed bars and drinks and whizz up a healthier Choc Shot Banana Smoothie.
8. Drizzle Choc Shot over a bowl of plain popcorn for a healthier dessert or snack.
9. Alternatively go for the direct approach and enjoy straight from the spoon or the bottle . . . the perfect late night or after dinner delight!
Sweetened with the magic ingredient, Sweet Freedom, a natural sugar alternative made 100% from fruit (apples, grapes and carob extracts) it is the perfect choice for the health conscious. As well as being completely natural, it has a low GL making it a good choice for dieters and diabetics, and is dairy, bluten and GM free as well as being suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Personally I have been enjoying it just by the teaspoon. (Works for me and Todd doesn't know what it is so he's not helping himself either. There is nothing worse than going to get something from your chocolate stash and finding out the husband has helped himself and it's gone. :-( So annoying!) It's creamy and delicious and very chocolatey, with an almost dark chocolate flavour, which I really enjoy.
It's easy to use and comes in a handy squeeze bottle. (Personally if I was the makers of Choc Shot, I'd be making small individual portion sizes you could buy in a box so you could just carry a few in your handbag. That would be so handy. )
If you would like to know more about them to check out the Choc Shot Webpage. There are more recipes and a lot of other information.
Like them on Facebook
Follow them on Twitter
This is a truly innovative and exciting new product. Many thanks to the Choc Shot people for sending me some to try out!
One of the things I love most about Spring . . . next to the sunny days, flowers, rhubarb, bumbley bees and blue skies . . . is fresh asparagus!!
I could eat it every night of the week and never get tired of it. I know you can get it all year round, but I prefer to only eat English Asparagus . . . in season. Nothing tastes better in all the earth.
It hasn't spent weeks being Shipped and held in warehouses before it reaches the shop shelves. In most cases it's only just been picked within a few days or so. The flavour is incredible!
Of course it would be even better if I had Asparagus growing in my back garden, but alas . . . I don't and so I buy it at the shops.
I just adore it roasted until it is crispy tender . . . the flavour is beautiful, and when you toss it with a tasty lemon, honey and mustard vinaigrette, some toasted almonds and flaked Parmesan Cheese, you have something very special indeed!
*Roasted Aspagarus Salad with Parmesan and a Lemon Vinaigrette*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
A stunning springtime favourite with a delicious honey lemon vinaigrette dressing, shaved Parmesan cheese and crunchy toasted almonds!
For the vinaigrette:
2 lemons, halved crosswise
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 shallot, peeled and finely minced
125ml extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup)
1 to 2 TBS liquid honey
fine seasalt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad:
2 pounds of fresh aspagarus, trimmed of woody ends and
the points on the stems trimmed off
(They have a tendancy to be bitter at times)
50ml of extra virgin olive oil (1/4 cup)
1 1/2 ounces flaked almonds, toasted
7 ounces of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shaved
Heat your oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Toss the trimmed asparagus together with the olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet. Place into the heated oven and roast for about 12 minutes, until crispy tender.
While the asparagus is roasting make the dressing. Juice the lemons into a bowl, making sure you don't have any pips. Whisk in the shallots, honey and Dijon mustard. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the mixture is emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Divide the roasted Asparagus between six serving plates in a decorative way. Drizzle each with some of the vinaigrette, drizzling some on the plate as well. Sprinkle with the nuts and shaved Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Enjoy a long weekend Easter lunch with Newman's Own, The English Provender Co. and Very Lazy!
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Enjoy a long weekend Easter lunch with Newman's Own, The English Provender Co. and Very Lazy!
Cook up a feast for friends and family this Easter with a range of recipe ideas from Newman's Own, The English Provender Co. and Very Lazy. Pick our your favourite dish or try the whole menu for a seasonal Easter Feast to kick off Spring in style.
The fresh French-inspired fig and goat's cheese salad using Newman's Own Light French Dressing is perfect to start!
*French Fig, Ham and Goats Cheese Salad with Almonds*
Serves 2
A delicious starter from the people at Newman's Own perfect for your Easter lunch. Serves 2
20g of whole almonds, chopped (I toast these first as
it really helps to bring out the flavour of them best) (2 TBS)
it really helps to bring out the flavour of them best) (2 TBS)
The fillet of Lamb served with a Very Lazy Chilli salsa is a great twist on the traditional dinner.
*Fillet of Lamb with Mint, Garlic and Chili Salsa*
served with lemon cucumber yogurt and caramelized onion couscous(Approximately 2/3 pound in weight each)
For the Salsa:
For the couscous:
Meanwhile, place the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil in a small pan and cook the chilli and garlic for 5 minutes. Leave to cool and then stir in the fresh mint.
Finally make the yogurt sauce by combining everything together.
Finish off your meal with this beautiful piece de resistance from The English Provender Co, a delicious sweet St Clement's Cake using their Luxury Lemon Curd.
*St Clement's Cake*
Makes 8 generous slices300g pack of full fat cream cheese (1 1/4 cups)
Cream the butter, sugar, ginger paste and lemon zest together in a large bowl until pale and well combined. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour after each addition if the mixture begins to curdle. Sift over any remaining flour and fold it in with a large metal spoon. Divide the mixture between the two tins, leveling the surface of each with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 to 25 minues, until risen and golden and firm to the couch. Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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