We had a Missionary Meeting in Manchester on Monday for all of the Senior Couples. We were asked to bring pot luck. I thought about making something hot to take, but was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep it warm until we got there. I also thought about making Deviled Eggs, but then I was concerned that they wouldn't travel well, so in the end I decided to make my Spaghetti Salad!
One of my favourite salads is Tabouleh. I first ate it at a party my brother was having. I fell in love with it . . . it's that beautiful colaberation of flavours . . . lemon, mint, parsley, spring onions, tomatoes . . cucumbers . . . and then the bulgar wheat. It's a perfect combination of flavours and textures! Chewy, crunchy, tart, herby. I love it all!
In my quest to cook things diabetic friendly, I cooked this Banana Coconut Bread the other day and was very pleased with how it turned out! High in fibre and low in both fat and sugar. Yay! That makes me happy. Although you still wouldn't want to binge on something like this of course. All baked goods should be occasional treats (which I am now saving for weekends) and not daily thing.
I can remember making this easy casserole back in the 1970's when I was a very young new bride and thinking it was the penultimate in sophistication.
First there was the name, which sounds exotic. Then there was the broccoli. I don't know about you, but growing up in the 60's, in Nova Scotia, Canada . . . in a small town . . . broccoli wasn't something we ever saw.
To me Broccoli was an exotic vegetable.
To me, back then . . . this was dinner party or date night fare! You had meat, a vegetable and a scrummy sauce, all blanketed beneath cheese and buttered cracker crumbs.
To me, back then . . . this was dinner party or date night fare! You had meat, a vegetable and a scrummy sauce, all blanketed beneath cheese and buttered cracker crumbs.
What was not to like! It was easy and delicious! And I thought, quite impressive!
Nobody thought anything much about using condensed tinned soups back then. They were ineverybody's most people's cupboards.
Nobody thought anything much about using condensed tinned soups back then. They were in
My kids used to love this. (It was a great way to get them to eat their broccoli . . . well this and then there was melting cheeze whiz and pouring it over top, but we won't go there.)
I still make this from time to time and we still enjoy it. Only difference is now I am more than likely to make my sauce from scratch.
I still make this from time to time and we still enjoy it. Only difference is now I am more than likely to make my sauce from scratch.
It's healthier and there are no chemicals or preservatives.
I am also more than likely to use Purple Sprouting Broccoli or Tender Stem Broccoli because I am lucky enough to live in a time and age when those types of things are readily available.
It tastes rich and it is delicious and it provides just enough nostalgia to make me feel all warm and comfy inside.
It tastes rich and it is delicious and it provides just enough nostalgia to make me feel all warm and comfy inside.
I like to serve this with small baked jacket potatoes (for the fibre) and a vegetable. Yesterday it was green beans.
This
hearkens back to the early days of my cooking life, when I thought this
was the ultimate in sophistication. Maybe it was pretty sophisticated
in comparison to my mother's cooking, but it is rather dated now. That
doesn't mean it doesn't still taste delicious. Only difference now is
I make my own sauce instead of using tinned soup. Super simple and
super tasty.
You will need:
2 cups of cooked chicken, cut into chunks
4 cups of broccoli florets, cooked
2 ounces grated cheddar cheese (I like to use strong)
a couple handfuls of crushed cracker crumbs
*Back to the 70's Chicken Divan*
Serves 4
butter to dot
For the Sauce:
180ml of chicken broth (3/4 cup)
pinch dried thyme
pinch dried sage
pinch dried parsley
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch paprika
salt and black pepper to taste
180ml of milk (3/4 cup)
35g of plain flour (1/4 cup)
First
make the sauce. Blitze all of the ingredients together in a blender
until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, in a saucepan over medium heat
until the mixture boils and begins to thicken. Cook for several minutes
over low heat. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Set aside
until needed.
Preheat the oven to 420*C/425*F/gas mark
7. Butter a 10 inch glass pie dish. Stir together the broccoli and
the chicken pieces. Place into the pie dish. Spread the sauce over top
evenly. Top with the cheese and then the cracker crumbs. Dot with
butter.
Bake for 20 minutes, until hot and bubbling,
heated through, the cheese melts and the top is golden brown. Let
stand for five minutes, then spoon out to serve. Baked potatoes and a
vegetable go very well with this.
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There is a possibility that I might be a coeliac. At least that is what the specialist said the other day. I have all of the symptoms, but have been treated for having IBS for about 5 years now. The symptoms are very similar.
I did a reckie around the grocery store today and there is not a heck of a lot for coeliac's. There's a bit, but what is there is very expensive.
I picked up some gluten free self rising flour and a box of cereal, but seriously . . . they wanted almost £3 for a loaf of bread. (That's like almost $4.51 American or $6.01 Canadian.) I don't know how people cope. It's outrageous! I really hope I am not.
I thought I might try baking a Gluten Free cake or some such. I looked at one recipe and it would have cost me a virtual fortune by the time I baked the one I was looking at.
I would have spend almost £6 on ground almonds alone, not to mention half a dozen large eggs and all the other bits in it. I can't afford that . . . as lovely as it looked. Then there is the sugar . . .
I found this recipe in a gluten free baking book by Hannah Miles. (Remember she was first runner up in Master Chef 2007 and her cakes are lovely. It's called The Gluten-Free Baker.
It has a lot of sugar in it (1 1/2 cups altogether plus 1 TBS), so I was only able to have a tiny taste, but I can tell you from the tiny taste I had . . . they are totally gorgeous!!
She baked hers in tiny loaf tins. I chose to bake mine in muffin tins because I was too lazy to cut out baking paper to fit into the loaf tins . . . and if I did muffin cakes then I could use my cupcake papers.
The cakes are really moist and lemony flavoured.
A lot of the moistness comes from the amaretto syrup drizzle you spoon over the hot cakes when they come out of the oven. It soaks all down into the cakes . . .
Once totally cooled you spoon a lemon drizzle icing over top and scatter on toasted flaked almonds. Altogether very scrumptious indeed.
I would think these would please any coeliac . . . at least any coeliac who wasn't diabetic at any rate!
*Lemon Amaretto Cakes*
Gluten Free
Makes six individual cakesthe juice of one lemon
For the icing drizzle:
160g of icing sugar, sifted into a bowl (1 cup confectioner's sugar)
the juice of one lemon
toasted flaked almonds to top
Grease
a six cup muffin tin and line with paper liners. Preheat the oven to
180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Place the muffin tin on a tray.
Cream
the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat
in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk together the flour and almonds. Fold
this into the creamed mixture along with the yogurt and lemon zest.
Divide the cake batter amongst the prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cakes are firm to the touch and golden brown.
Whisk
together the ingredients for the amaretto drizzle until the sugar is
dissolved. Spoon this over the hot cakes, a bit at a time, when they
come out of the oven. It will be completely absorbed.
Allow them to
cool in the pan. Once they are completely cooled, whisk together the
icing sugar and lemon juice to make a spoonable drizzle icing. If you
need to add a bit of water you can. Spoon this over the top of each
cake and scatter with some flaked toasted almonds while the icing is
still wet. Allow to set.
Did you make mud pies when you were a little girl? I did. I can remember sitting by the ditch at the end of our garden with my little bowl and spoon and making mud pies.
I still make mud pies, but these days they are quite edible, delicious. In fact, they are stogged full of lovely chunks of milk chocolate, sweet sticky sultanas and crunchy toasted walnuts!
Very
reminiscent of the mud pies of childhood. These are not made of mud
but are delicious drop scones, stogged full of milk chocolate, toasted
walnuts and sultana raisins! Break out the cold milk, these are
scrumptious!
280g of plain flour (2 cups)
90g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup, firmly packed)
40g sifted cocoa powder (1/3 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
86g of unsalted butter, chilled (6 TBS)
120ml of milk (1/2 cup)
1 large free range egg
1 tsp vanilla
10 ounces of milk chocolate, broken into bits
75g of sultana raisins (1/2 cup)
55g toasted walnut pieces (1/2 cup)
Icing sugar to dust (optional)
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. LIine a large baking sheet with baking paper and butter the paper. Set aside.
Sift
the flour into a bowl along with the cocoa powder and baking powder.
Stir in the salt and brown sugar. Drop in the butter and rub it in
with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat
together the milk, egg and vanilla. Add all at once to the dry
mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in the chocolate bits, raisins and
nuts. Drop by 1/3 cups, leaving 3 inches in between, onto the prepared
baking sheet.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or
until a skewer inserted into the centre of a scone comes out clean.
Remove to a wire rack and allwo to cool on the baking sheet for five
minutes, before scooping off onto a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or
cool, dusted with icing sugar if desired. Tasty tasty!
Little unappealing lumps of mud and twigs . . . grass and gravel . . . inedible of course to anyone but my imaginary family who really loved them!
I still make mud pies, but these days they are quite edible, delicious. In fact, they are stogged full of lovely chunks of milk chocolate, sweet sticky sultanas and crunchy toasted walnuts!
Deliciousness personified!
They aren't pies really, but a lovely drop scone! So lovely to make and to eat.
I adore scones, and when they are as easy as these are, I love them even more.
Dusted with a sweet drift of icing sugar . . . covering all of their tasty lumps and bumps.
I don't know anything that a light dusting of icing sugar doesn't pretty up. Well, baked goods that it. I doubt it would do much for mac and cheese.
I really wanted to bake something today that wasn't low fat or low sugar. I knew I wouldn't be able eat them myself.
But, then again, I often don't eat what I bake. My husband does or I give it away. I simply get a pleasure out of baking things for others. I do have a tiny taste, but that's all basically.
And my husband . . . well, he is not overly fond of chocolate things. But I really wanted to bake these today.
They were begging me to be baked and so I did. He had one and said it was pretty good as far as chocolate things go . . . I took it as a compliment.
But you know how these things work out. The two Buckley Elders, Singsam and Judd . . . they happened by this afternoon, checking up on me after my experience from yesterday,
So I was able to sit them down with cold glasses of milk and one each of these. And they REALLY enjoyed them.
So much so that they took the remainder of them home with them. I love it when that happens.
*Mud Pies*
Makes 8 or 9
I don't know why, but chocolate things are really difficult to photograph and come out looking tasty, but I did try my best. I hope you'll give them a go!
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Bonfire Night, falling on 5th November each year, celebrates the foiling of Guy Fawkes’ Gunpowder plot as we all know. Traditionally marked with blazing bonfires and fantastic fireworks, it’s the perfect excuse for a feast for friends and family as you wrap up warm and head outside for an evening of rockets and sparklers.
I was recently sent samples from The Berry Company of three of their delicious range of juices.
Superberries: A blended juice drink made with Red Berry Juices from concentrate. The mix combines Pomegranate, Aronia, Cranberry and Grape juice concentrates.
Blueberry: A blueberry juice blend made with fruits from concentrates, sweetened with natural flavours and natural sugars.
Acai Berry: An Acai juice drink blend made with fruits from concentrates, sweetened with natural sugars and natural flavourings. This amazing berry is packed full of taste and goodness; proving that not everything that is good for you tastes like medicine.
I found all to be very delicious. They were very fruity with no aftertaste or artificial tastes. I would buy these.
All of the Berry Company drinks are Gluten and Dairy free, with no artificial colourings, sweeteners or additives and no GMO's. They come in both 330ml cartons for on the go, and 1 litre bottles for keeping the refrigerator stocked. They make the perfect breakfast drink.
To find out more about these and their other drinks do check out The Berry Company website.
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Charlie Bigham's, makers of delicious dishes for two, have launched brand new recipes for their signature Cottage Pie and Shepherd's Pie dishes as they look to serve up the most delicious versions possible of these two British Classics.
I have long been a fan of Charlie Bigham's meat pies, having first tried them when we lived down South, and so I have been keen to try these new dishes!
Charlie and his team have been busying themselves away over the stove to create some sumptuous flavours, including the richest red wine and thyme tomato ragu the chefs have ever made.
This is the ragu they use in the new Cottage pie, which features tender, slow-cooked British beef, topped with creamy mashed potato, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and Cheddar Cheese.
Charlie's Shepherds Pie now has an even more tomatoe-y ragu wih an extra sprinkling of thyme to give it that rich, deep flavour. Originally the Shepherds Pie was made with a beef and lamb combination, but following customer feedback, it is now all lamb based and is succulent and full of flavour.
I like the idea that at Charlie Bigham's they are not afraid to take customer feedback on board and make changes to enhance their existing recipes making them even more delicious!
One thing I love about the Charlie Bigham's products is that they can be ready in minutes and provide a homely supper which is just as good as homemade and from scratch. In fact they taste like homemade and that's not bad.
These new improved pies are now available to buy in stores nationwide via Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Booths, Budgens and Ocado, RRP £7.00
For more information do check out the Charlie Bigham's website.
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I've been experimenting here and there, trying to come up with lower fat and sugar versions of some of our favourite treats, thinking that Todd could benefit from them as well, even though he doesn't have to watch his sugar intake, he does have to watch his cholesterol.
I confess I am a real pasta lover. Todd, not so much . . . but I adore pasta in any way shape or form. I do confess that more often than not I eat pasta shapes. I also really love Gnocchi, and I have used it alot. I was recently given the opportunity to try some pasta from a Company called Dell' UGO and I was sent three different types to test. Two filled and one gnocchi. I cooked them all at the weekend and here is what I thought!
I love recipes like this which are so very simple that you can throw them together at the drop of a hat, and yet they end up tasting like you have taken a great effort to put them together. I guess it is the simplest things in life which bring me the most pleasure. I don't think cooking has to be complicated in order to taste good. I don't really enjoy jumping through a bazillion hoops to get to where I want to be and that goes for cooking too! I did enough of that when I was working. Now simple and tasty will do it for me.
I wanted to bake some cookies to take to church for the young Missionaries this week. I thought they might really enjoy a change from the usual chocolate chip ones and so I baked htem some Caramel Apple Oaties. These are like all that is good about autumn stogged into a delicious cookie!
I've been experimenting a lot with my baking since my Type2 Diabetes diagnosis, and I have to say in all truth a lot of my experiments have been quite disappointing . . . it seems that when you take the sugar and fat out of things . . . and pile in fibre, the results have been largely nothing to write home about. One exception has been these lovely wholemean pumpkin pie rolls!
There is nothing the Toddster enjoys more than a good British banger. They are not something we eat really often, but when we do we tend to opt for a quality banger . . . something which is meaty and well flavoured . . . without a lot of fillers and ingredients that are questionable, and if they are wheat, gluten and dairy free, so much the better! I like knowing exactly what is in my sausage!
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