One thing which I have always enjoyed cooking since coming over to the UK are the old tradition recipes.  Recipes which have their roots deep in British tradition and which have been around for a very long time . . .  recipes which are a part of the fabric of this beautiful country's history and culture.

I have to confess that, aside from feeding the Missionaries, I haven't been doing a great deal of cooking lately.  I've been quite tired and not really feeling all that well.  No appetite.  We are having the Elders for tea tonight and I am making them a curry, but for Todd's lunch I  cooked him delicious Bagel Hole Eggs!  Like Egg in the hole, but with a bagel instead of bread.  ☺

 I've seen a lot of "hasselback" type of dishes on Pinterest these past few weeks.   Hasselback Potatoes have long been popular . . .  baking type of potatoes, sliced crosswise every quarter of an inch almost all the way through but staying intact on the bottm, and brushed with an herby garlic butter and baked until the potato edges are all tender on the insides and crisp and buttery at the edges.  They are now doing it with meats.  I've seen a LOT of chicken dishes done this way lately.  When I picked up two turkey breast tenderloin fillets at the shop the other day, I immediately had in mind to cook them in the Hasselback manner!

I had bought my husband some prawns to cook him for Valentines day, however I totally forgot to cook them for him.  (Good thing they were frozen, or they would be pretty manky by now!)  Anyways, I finally got around to cooking them for him and made him a tasty curry with them.  I can't eat prawns, as I am allergic, but he loves them, so this was a real treat for him as I only ever very rarely have them on his menu, preferring instead to cook things we can both eat.

 Miso is not something which I had ever tasted in my life before this past weekend.  I have read about it and always wanted to try it . . .  but it wasn't until I saw a recipe for a Miso Baked Cod in a recent issue of Delicious magazine that I was actually prompted to buy some, and I have to say . . .  with all honesty I have fallen in love.

One of my favourite soups has to be broccoli and cheese soup.  I just love it.  I love broccoli anyways, and when you combine it with cheese, well  . . . that is just a match made in heaven.  This delicious casserole today had very similar ingredients as broccoli cheese soup, except it's not soup, it's a fabulous casserole that will have your family scrambling for seconds!

 There are certain foods from your childhood that stand out and never get old . .  dishes which evoke the sweetest memories and most tender thoughts.  These squares do that for me.  Aunt Orabelle's Date Squares.  Aunt Orabelle was one of my mother's Aunts, sister to my Grandmother.  She lived up on the South Mountain back home in an old farm house, with a lino floor . . .  and she had a blind horse in the field next to her house that we loved to feed carrots and apples to.  She made the best donuts . . .  and yes, date squares!

 Usually at the weekend I try to do us some sort of breakfast treat . . .  something which is a bit out of the ordinary cereal that we have on weekday mornings.  We are not really heavy eaters so we never do the bacon and eggs thing for breakfast . . .  that's usually a dinner deal for us.  We do like pancakes, or french toast, muffins, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast . . . and when I saw this on Pinterest the other day . . .  Coconut Toast . . .  I knew that I wanted to make it.  It just sounded good, very good.

It's the end of the week and time to get rid of a few bits in the refrigerator before I do my grocery shop for the next week.  The bits I have leftover that are not large enough to be or make a meal on their own, but put together with other things can make a really tasty meal indeed!

We had the elders over for supper the other night and I made a huge pot of my spaghetti bolognese for them to enjoy.  I don't think I am bragging when I say that I make a really great bolognese.  I've had over 35 years to practice and hone my recipe until I now have it down pat and feel confident in saying to you this is the best. 

This is the cake that I always used to bake for the Mr when I worked and cooked at the Manor down South.  It was his Birthday cake of choice and I dutifully baked one for him every year.  And small wonder, as it is a most delicious cake!  From it's moist and flavourful crumb, to it's fudgy chocolate frosting, it pleases on all levels.

I am a real salad lover.  I could eat them 365 days of the year, for lunch and supper.   Todd is not so fussed, but I am slowly converting him into a salad lover, one salad at a time.   It's nice to have great tools when it comes to making salads and I was recently sent a couple of brilliant tools by the people at ICTC (The Intercontinental Cooking and Tableware Company) to use in my salad making, and I have been really pleased with them I have to say.

 

I didn't think I was going to have time to do anything heart shaped this Valentines Day as my days have been so busy, but I did have a chance today to do these little Lemon & Berry Hand Pies for my Todd.  He does love a jam tart and he really enjoyed these!

When made well, a homemade pizza can easily rival that of any pizzeria, and what's more if you follow these simple "Make Ahead" tips from the people at Cirio, you can have a pizza to be proud of on the table well before any delivery brand!