I hardly ever cook a roast dinner on Sundays. By the time we get back from church and I call my mom, I am too tired.
I had taken a roast out yesterday and I stuck it into the slow cooker while we were at church and the next thing you know potatoes were roasting, swede was boiling, I had the peas and carrots on and a delicious gravy was made.
I know I have shown you my yorkshire puds before, but the pictures were really pants and so I wanted to redo them. These photos are so much better than the original ones!
This is my late Father In Law's recipe. It is an excellent recipe which turns out light and crisp yorkshire puddings every time.
This is my late Father In Law's recipe. It is an excellent recipe which turns out light and crisp yorkshire puddings every time.
No matter if you cook them individually or in one big tin! Perfect!
He was a cook in the Canadian Military and a darn good one at that. He knew how to make killer Yorkshire puddings.
It's all in the technique. If you follow these recommendations, your puddings will always be great too!
Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Not sure why this works but it does.
Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Not sure why this works but it does.
Make your batter and then let it sit for one hour (at the very least). This helps the gluten to develop and makes for a very light and tall pudding.
The oil/dripping/fat in your baking tin has to be VERY hot. So hot that the puddings begin to cook as soon as you pour the batter into the pan.
The oil/dripping/fat in your baking tin has to be VERY hot. So hot that the puddings begin to cook as soon as you pour the batter into the pan.
For this reason you will want to mix the batter together in a beaker that you can easily pour from, and yes, heat that oil in the pan in the oven almost until it begins to smoke.
Really hot oil makes sure that your batters don't stick to the pan and ensures a really crisp finish.
Really hot oil makes sure that your batters don't stick to the pan and ensures a really crisp finish.
Nobody wants a soggy Yorkshire pud!
Just look at that crisp tall finish! It's the best! I start them in a very hot oven and then I slowly decrease the temperature for 10 degrees ever 5 minutes of the cooking time.
Just look at that crisp tall finish! It's the best! I start them in a very hot oven and then I slowly decrease the temperature for 10 degrees ever 5 minutes of the cooking time.
This helps to keep them crisp, yes . . . but also makes sure that they don't get burnt.
The initial high heat sears them and then the lowering of temperature at intervals helps keep em crisp and keeps em cooking without them burning.
A tall, light and crisp Yorkshire pudding is a thing of beauty. They're not hard to make or complicated . . . they just take time and these few extra little steps.
A tall, light and crisp Yorkshire pudding is a thing of beauty. They're not hard to make or complicated . . . they just take time and these few extra little steps.
Trust me when I say they are worth all of it. Totally and absolutely worth it.
*Yorkshire Puddings*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe
I wonder who it was that discovered that with just a little flour, milk and eggs you could create something that is so crispy, light and delicious! Sunday lunch just wouldn't be Sunday lunch without a couple of these on the plate. These turn out perfect every time, as long as you follow the directions to a "T." Not hard to do really as they are very simple.
2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups milk, at room temperature (308ml)
1 cup flour (140g)
a little oil or dripping
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning. Beat your eggs together in a large measuring jug until very light. Whisk in the milk. Sift the flour into a bowl along with the salt. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients all at once, pouring them into the well, and then whisk them in, slowly incorporating the dry mixture from the sides until you have a smooth batter. Now, this is the important bit . . . COVER IT AND LET IT SIT ON THE SIDEBOARD FOR ONE HOUR.
Preheat your oven to 230*C/450*F. Place a small amount of oil or dripping into each cup of a 12 cup muffin tin. Place the tin into the hot oven to heat up until the fat is hot and sizzling. remove from the oven and quickly divide the batter amongst each muffin cup, filling them about 2/3 full. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until well risen, browned and crispy, reducing the oven temperature by 10 degrees every five minutes. Serve hot with plenty of gravy!!
Now that's a tunnel of love, perfect for cradling some delicious gravy. Mmm mmm mmm . . . now that's what I call genius!
Bon Appetit!
*Yorkshire Puddings*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe
I wonder who it was that discovered that with just a little flour, milk and eggs you could create something that is so crispy, light and delicious! Sunday lunch just wouldn't be Sunday lunch without a couple of these on the plate. These turn out perfect every time, as long as you follow the directions to a "T." Not hard to do really as they are very simple.
2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups milk, at room temperature (308ml)
1 cup flour (140g)
a little oil or dripping
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning. Beat your eggs together in a large measuring jug until very light. Whisk in the milk. Sift the flour into a bowl along with the salt. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients all at once, pouring them into the well, and then whisk them in, slowly incorporating the dry mixture from the sides until you have a smooth batter. Now, this is the important bit . . . COVER IT AND LET IT SIT ON THE SIDEBOARD FOR ONE HOUR.
Preheat your oven to 230*C/450*F. Place a small amount of oil or dripping into each cup of a 12 cup muffin tin. Place the tin into the hot oven to heat up until the fat is hot and sizzling. remove from the oven and quickly divide the batter amongst each muffin cup, filling them about 2/3 full. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until well risen, browned and crispy, reducing the oven temperature by 10 degrees every five minutes. Serve hot with plenty of gravy!!
Now that's a tunnel of love, perfect for cradling some delicious gravy. Mmm mmm mmm . . . now that's what I call genius!
Bon Appetit!
On the surface this gingerbread might look quite unremarkable . . . but this is one case where you would be mistaken in thinking this gingerbread isn't great! The recipe is copied out in my handwriting and sitting my blue binder on a page which is splattered with years of use. I cannot tell you who Mrs Keller is, but I can tell you that she makes excellent gingerbread!
I made these tacos today and was going to wait until Monday to show them to you, but they were so fabulously delicious that I just had to show them to you today! I just know that if you love tacos and you love chicken you will want to be making these for your family tonight!
Eat great and feel well all week long with the Intragram star everyone is talking about! I was recently sent a cookery book to review, entitled Elly Pear's FAST DAYS & FEAST DAYS, by Elly Curshen, foodie and proprieter of the hugely popular Pear Cafe! Having opened this cafe in March of 2006, running a supper club and pop ups, she soon found her weight creeping up and so she tried out the 5:2 philosophy of eating, which great results. In this new cookbook Elly shares some of her favourite, most exciting recipes fo reating well and enjoying food on both fast days and feast days.
I saw this recipe on my friend Mary's blog, Bunny's Warm Oven, the other day. It looked really delicious, but I am not fond of bone in chicken. Sorry . . . just not a fan. I decided to adapt it to use the boneless skinless chicken thighs which I had in the refrigerator, with excellent results!
One of the nicest things about having a food blog is getting to try different things and then tell my readers about them. Recently I was went some of these tasty snack mixes from Jumble Bee to try out. Their Terrific Train Mix and their Tempting Tropical Mix.
First off I love the packaging . . . bright and colourful and I love the little see through window at the front so you can get a little peek at what is inside. Also . . .
They are fitted with reseal tape, and it works. Bonus!
As a Diabetic I need to have snacks to hand in case I start to have an episode and these are a really handy size to keep in the purse or the glove compartment of the car. We opened the Tempting Tropical Mix in the car the other day on our way home from a meeting. I was late getting my lunch so a few bits of this went down a real treat and stopped me from feeling all dizzy, etc.
Jumble Bee Tempting Tropical Mix - A tasty mix of Raisins, Dried Papaya, Dried Pineapple, Banana Chips, Brazil Nuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Cashew Nuts and Dried Coconut.
This was my favourite because it's so sweet and well varied in flavours and textures. Unlike some fruit, seed and nut mixes, this has a really nice proportion of dried fruit to nuts. Neither one overpowering the other, and the banana chips are crunchy.
Jumblebee Terrific Trail Mix - Raisins, Dried Papaya, Dried Coconut, Pumpkin Seeds, Cashew Nuts, Brazil Nuts, Dried Banana and Almonds.
Once again this is a great mix of fruits, nuts and seeds. I quite enjoyed this combination, and its also perfectly portable and easy to close up with again . . . a tape strip that you just fold the bag back and stick shut.
Everyone likes to have a nibble or snack when they’re feeling peckish, and these new grazing mixes from Jumble Bee are just buzzing with wholesome natural goodness. Whether you decide to stow one in your handbag for on the go cravings, or in your desk drawer to combat mid afternoon munchies, these snack packs are ideal. They even make a healthy tasty treat to pop in your little one’s lunch box. It's nice to have a healthy option to choose!
With eight different flavours available, you can choose from Blissful Banana Chips, Fabulous Fruit and Nut Mix, Juicy Jumbo Raisins and Sultanas, Juicy Jumbo Raisins and Almonds, Juicy Jumbo Raisins and Cashews, Tempting Tropical Mix and Magnificent Mixed Nuts.
Nab your snack pack today for £1.49, available from Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Ocado.
My sister shared this recipe with me on facebook the other day. Lassy Buns. Delicious scone type/baking powder biscuit type of buns made with the goodness of molasses, cinnamon and a bit of cloves. This is a down East recipe and the type of bread which might be offered at baked bean suppers!
We love broccoli in this house (Shut up Todd! You know you do!) We also love rice! When you throw both of them together and add cheese, well . . . we are in Cheesy Broccoli Rice heaven! This is so easy and so quick to make!
It goes together in very short order. Your family will absolutely adore it. What is it about the combination of broccoli and cheese that just has people begging for more?? I am not sure, but it's very popular!
And in all honesty this is so simple to make, you won't mind putting it onto your supper menu fairly often. I think I make it about once a week. You can use brown rice if you wish, but do take into consideration that if you use brown rice the cook time will be quite a bit longer. It is substantially healthier though with brown rice.
I like to use a low fat cheddar also. It works perfectly well in this. Using a full head of broccoli ensures that the broccoli and rice ratio is about half and half, but nobody minds.
The broccoli is cooked until crispy tender prior to stirring it into the cheese/rice mixture, and then served. It stays a brilliant green and has a lovely consistency that goes well with the rice. Altogether this makes a perfect side dish.
It goes well with chicken or fish. In fact I have been known to sit down and just sit down and eat a bowl of this all on it's own. Know what I like best about it? Besides the fact that it is super easy and super tasty??? I know exactly what is in it. Nothing artificial. Just plain good, natural ingredients.
*Cheesy Broccoli Rice*
Serves 4 - 6
If your family doesn't label this recipe as a winner/winner, I would be most surprised!
Bon Appetit!
I threw together this delicious salad at the weekend, using some fruit which I had left in the refrigerator, a bit of pasta and some leftover chicken and a few other odds and sodds. Spring has me craving salad. This was light and flavourful and yet hearty enough to make a meal. The lemon and poppyseed dressing is a dressing that goes well on a lot of salads, but it especially went well on this.
I threw this delightful dish together at the end of the week last week. I had a broccoli crown in the refrigerator that really needed using up and I was wanting to eat something healthy. I also had a couple of leeks that were almost past their best and so I wanted to use them as well.
I baked these lovely Plum Muffins the other day, using some South African Plums I got on offer from the shops. I can't wait to bake them again when the plums on our own plum tree are ripe! (More than a few months off) It really was a beautiful muffin recipe, one of the best I have ever baked. I got it from the new cookery book entitled, Grow Your Own Cake, recipes from plot to plate, by Holly Farrell.
Sometimes you just crave a cookie. I do at any rate . . . and I am a diabetic, so cookies aren't really something I like to keep in the house. They have a habit of getting into my mouth and that's not a good thing. I try hard to be good . . . but sometimes it is just really, really hard to be good.
17th Century Honey Cake. There are not many 17th century cake recipes out there, but every once in a while you come across one that you just have to bake!
This is a delicious loaf cake recipe that I baked a week or so ago and am only now just getting to show you. I have adapted the recipe from a National Trust Cookery book, entitled, "Good Old-Fashioned Cakes," by Jane Pettigrew.
It is said that this recipe dates back to the 17th century, so its a very old recipe indeed!
Honey is one of the first sweeteners known to mankind.
Honey is one of the first sweeteners known to mankind.
A daily dose of honey is said to be very good for you, boosting the body's supply of anti-oxidents which help to protect us from age-related diseases.
I'm all for good health! Honey in a cake? Yes, please!
This is one of those cakes which seems to get better tasting with each day that passes. I love cakes like that. Cakes that age well.
It is also a cake which just begs to be enjoyed along with a cup of tea.
I enjoy it with Lemon and Ginger tea myself, but you can pick whatever tea it is that you like drinking. I am betting an English Breakfast tea would go down a real treat!
The cake itself is delicately flavoured with honey and almond.
The cake itself is delicately flavoured with honey and almond.
After baking, a drizzle of honey and lemon is applied to the warm cake, that soaks in, increasing it's moistness.
Then once it is cooled, it is iced with a lemon cream cheese icing. Mmm . . . cream cheese icing.
Say what??? A dense rich cake.
Say what??? A dense rich cake.
A lemon and honey drizzle icing and then a cream cheese frosting???
Do I need to say more???? Get baking! You know you want to!
or 1 2-pound loaf cake
This
tender and delicious cake is said to date back to the 17th century.
Honey is said to boost the immune system and guard against age related
disease.
For the cake:
175g of butter, softened (3/4 cup)
175g of caster sugar (scant cup)
3 large free range eggs, beaten
175g of self raising flour.sifted (1 1/4 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
1 TBS clear liquid honey
few drops almond extract
for the glaze:
1 dessert spoon clear liquid honey
the juice of one lemon
To ice:
150g of cream cheese (5 ounces)
the juice of half a lemon
175g of icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F gas mark 4. Butter and line either a 7 inch round deep cake tin or a 2 pound loaf tin.
Beat
the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the
eggs, one at a time. Sift together the self raising flour and the
baking powder.
Bake for
1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cover the top with a double sheet of baking paper
about half an hour into the baking time to prevent it from over
browning.
Beat together the cream cheese, lemon juice and icing
sugar and spread over the cooled cake.
*Honey Cake*
Makes one 7 inch round cakeStir this into the creamed mixture and beat well to
combine. Beat in the honey and almond. Scrap the batter into the
prepared pan, smoothing the top over.
When done a toothpick inserted in the centre should come out
clean. Remove from the oven.
Stir together the glaze ingredients and
then spoon this mixture over top of the cake allowing it to soak in.
Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing from the
tin.
Cut into slices or wedges to
serve. Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy! This is a real winner of a cake. Moist, delicious, historical and oh so scrumptious! You can't lose!
Enjoy! This is a real winner of a cake. Moist, delicious, historical and oh so scrumptious! You can't lose!
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A week ago I was supposed to go to a Pot Luck lunch/meeting with the other Senior Missionaries. It ended up that for reasons of health I was not able to go, however I had already made this delicious salad to take. However some of the younger missionaries came over to borrow our BBQ for an activity they were having that day and so I gave the salad to them to have with their Hot Dogs and Burgers. They were pretty happy about that!
One thing I really love about chicken breasts is their complete versatility and ability to take on other flavours easily. They are like a blank canvas for an abundance flavours, textures and ingredients . . . so long as you don't dry them out. Over-cooked, they are quite tasteless and not very pleasant to eat at all.
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