I had an incredibly busy day today, filled with wrapping packages and addressing cards, etc. I knew that when it came time to making us some supper, it would have to be something quick and easy!
Quick and easy doesn't mean you have to totally rely on prepacked food or frozen dinners!
It is possible to throw together a delicious and simple meal with very little effort on your part! I cooked the rice for this in my microwave while I was wrapping gifts. I have a Pampered Chef Rice Cooker that makes the best rice!
It takes little or no time to slice some peppers, and dice some onions . . . likewise the smoked sausage. In truth you could also use bits of leftover ham, sliced hotdogs, or even cooked chicken! I dare say you could even add cooked prawns instead of the smoked sausage. Or both. It would kind of be like a paella then I think!
You brown off the smoked sausage and the peppers and onions, add a few other bits, throw in the rice and presto chango, dinner is served!
Some crusty bread and a salad on the side and your meal is complete! If you like things really spicy you can pass some hot sauce at the table. We find this to be seasoned just right for us!
*Spicy Sausage, Peppers & Rice*
Serves 4 - 6 (depending on appetites)1 1/2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the smoked sausage and brown on both sides. Scoop out and keep warm. Add the onions and peppers to the skillet. Cook, stirring, for aobut5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until it becomes quite fragrant. Add the tomato puree and 180ml (3/4 cup) of the chicken stock. Stir to combine and cook for about a minute or two. Stir in the paprika and hot sauce. Add the rice to the skillet, along with the smoked sausage, stirring to combine well. Stir in the remaining stock and heat through. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.
Throw together, all-in-one pan meals are the best for these hectic days! Note, for the smaller family it is also very easy to cut this recipe in half. Bon Appetite!
Thankfully I was always a good cook and quite adept at creating something very delicious out of not a lot! Tasty dishes such as this stone soup I am showing you today . . .
There
was a method to my madness . . . while they might not have gotten
excited about a bowl of cabbage soup, calling it Stone Soup immediately
made them want to tuck in!
I
am sure you are familiar with the story of the beggar who went to a poor village looking for a place to sleep and a bite to eat. The villagers were very suspicious however and were not that eager to help, but being as canny and smart as he was, he inspired them into helping him create a delicious stone soup that the whole village shared together at the end of the story. You can find the story here.
Its a wonderful story with a great moral to it, teaching children that if we can work together on things, then amazing things will begin to happen!
Things like delicious pots of soup that started with not a lot more than half a cabbage, an onion, a tin of tomatoes, some water and a vegetable stock pot.
Of course there are a few seasonings involved as well, which are never a problem in my house because I always have a well stocked herb drawer.
With a bit of crusty bread on the side this soup goes down a real treat! We have always loved it. It takes the humble cabbage and lifts it up into something quite, quite magnificent!
*Stone Soup*
Serves 4 generously
There was another meal that my children used to gobble up that I called Monkey in the Middle, which was simply stewed meat in the middle of a plate, surrounded by a ring of corn and then a ring of rice. The children loved that. It was simple and delicious and made all the more so for its name. Funny how that goes! Bon Appetit!
My husband doesn't quite understand our North American obsession with meatloaf. Its not something he grew up with.
On the other hand for we North Americans, meatloaf is somewhat of an institution. It is what I would call comfort food at its best!
Its not something which really photographs well, but hey ho. Don't just this book by its cover because it is absolutely delicious!
Brown food never photographs well. I have always struggled with it. That doesn't mean it doesn't taste good. I've never met a brownie I didn't like, brown or not. And brownies are notoriously hard to photograph!
This version of meatloaf is a bit different than the usual meatloaf. For this recipe, you season your meat and pat it out to a rectangle.
You then cover it with a type of onion stuffing mix. This is made from simmering onions in beef stock, and mixing that with dried bread crumbs.
A layer of grated strong cheddar cheese gets sprinkled over that. I favour a nice strong cheddar for the best and most flavour.
You roll the whole thing up like a jelly roll. A big, fat, meaty jelly roll. Or Swiss roll if you would rather . . .
It gets baked in the oven until golden brown. I always like to glaze my mealoaves for an extra special touch.
This one is no different. I glazed it with a mix of tomato ketchup and maple syrup, for a bit of sticky yum yum.
More cheese is melted on top and then it gets served cut into slices with whatever your favourite sides are. You could serve gravy with it, but we like tomato ketchup!
Chill any leftovers and then serve the next day, thinly sliced and popped into sandwiches for a tasty lunch! Scrummo!
*Stuffed Meatloaf*
Serves 6
80ml beef stock (1/3 cup)
150g bread cubes (about 1/4 inch) toasted (2 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp each onion, and garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme, rubbed
Mix the meat together with the egg, onion and garlic powders, salt, pepper and thyme. Pat out into a 14 inch by 8 inch rectangle on a piece of cling film. Cover with the bread crumb mixture. Sprinkle evenly with 120g of the cheese (1 cup). Starting from a short end, roll up tightly. Place seamside down into an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch loaf dish.
Bake uncovered, for 55 minutes. Whisk together the maple syrup and the ketchup. Brush over top, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Return to the oven and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until glazed and the cheese has melted. Let stand for a few minutes before cutting into slices to serve.
I love comfort food meals like this. I served it with scalloped potatoes and mixed vegetables, but mash would go equally as well, or yes . . . mac and cheese. Bon Appetit!
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 Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I am not sure where the tradition of making fudge at Christmas began, but I know that we always had a pan of fudge in our home for the Christmas holidays, the whole time I was growing up.
Normally it would be my mother's peanut butter fudge. What a treat that was! She didn't have a recipe for it. She made it off the top of her head.
She always used the same aluminum pot for it and filled it up according to the size of that pot with the ingredients needed for the fudge. It turned out perfect every time and so delicious.
One year I watched her making it and wrote down every thing she did, and composed my own measurements for it. Somehow though, while it is still very good, it never quite tastes as good as the memory of hers tastes!
Food memories have a tendancy to be like that!
My ex husband loved chocolate fudge and I had his mother's recipe for that. Sometimes it turned out, other times it didn't.
This chocolate fudge here today ALWAYS turns out. It is fool proof.
Not only is it foolproof, but it is creamy and delicious and uses things you probably have in your kitchen right now.
Well, if you are like me at any rate!
It has walnuts in it and chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. I am sure I probably got the recipe from a tin of the milk years and years ago.
Whatever . . . I can attest to the fact that is is truly no fail and always delicious. You can of course leave out the nuts.
For the holidays I like to make it a little bit extra special and I shape it into a wreath, which is very easily done.
You just shape it in a lined cake tin, around a small unopened tin of food that you have wrapped in cling film, and decorate with glace cherries to look like holly.
Its a doddle and looks so pretty.
You can pop it into a pretty tin lined with tissue paper for gift giving. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy getting this for Christmas!
Its so creamy and delicious and so easy to make. It's a win/win thing all around!
*Foolproof Chocolate Fudge*
Makes 1 pound
Have ready a 8 or 9 inch square pan, which you have lined with
greaseproof paper, wax paper or plastic cling film. Alternately if you
are making a wreath, line an 8 or 9 inch round tin. For the wreath,
wrap a small sized tin with plastic cling film and place into the centre
of the round tin.
My husband really likes this. Funny, he is not fond of chocolate cakes or cookies, but chocolate candy or fudge he loves! Especially if there are some toasted nuts and candied cherries involved! Happy Holidays!
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 Thanks so much for
visiting. Do come again!
I am here today with a delicious cookie that will be a fabulous addition to your Christmas baking list. These Gingerbread Biscotti would not only be great on your cookie trays, but perfect for cookie exchanges.
They also make for a wonderful gift in a basket, with some nice coffee mugs, hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, etc. all tied up with a bow!
Biscotti are one of my favourite cookies for baking! They are as simple as making up a dough, shaping it into logs and then baking the logs.
Once the logs are baked (see above) you cut them crosswise into sices and bake again . . . the second baking gives them that characteristic crunch that we all love. Perfect for dunking!
I wish they had smell-aputer! Because the smell of these baking will rock your world to heaven and back again!
Seriously, they smell fabulous, when baking and afterwards!
I wish I could bottle the fragrance up and sell it. I'd be a millionaire I am sure. Pure heavenly bliss!
Just you wait and see. These smell like Christmas, pure and simple!
Crisp and gingerbready with a bit of a snap, these are great on their own with just the icing sugar dust gilding the top . . . but . . .
With just a tiny bit more effort you can have a glorious drizzle icing that looks like icicles gilding the top. I sprinkled on some white non pareils as well, for an additional snowy effect! Very pretty!
These smell heavenly when they are baking. Oh boy. Delicious and crisp and everything a good biscotti should be!
Preheat the oven to 180*C350*F/ gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.
Sift together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and black pepper. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and molasses. Stir in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough, mixing all together well.
Using lightly floured hands divide the dough into halves and shape each half into a 12 inches by 2 inches log on each baking sheet. Dust generously with icing sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove from the baking sheets to a cutting board and cut across into 3/4 inch slices. Place the slices, cut side down, onto the baking sheets and bake for a further 10 minutes or so until crisp. Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container for up to 1 week. They can also be frozen for about a month.
Optional: Glaze and decorate with a simple white icing glaze and some white non-pareils. Simply whisk together 260g icing sugar (2 cups) with a few drops vanilla and just enough milk to give you a smooth drizzle. Dip the upper edges into the icing and then into the non-pareils. Let sit until the icing has set and dried completely before storing.
I am going to have to bake another batch because the first batch I made is gone, gone, gone. These are that good, and we are that naughty! Happy holidays and Bon Appetit!
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 Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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