Full English breakfast

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We went out to meet the art group this morning, but after half an hour in the hot sun on our own we went up to the  local cafe. We both ordered full English breakfasts (you get a choice of ingredients, I had egg, tomato, hash browns, bacon, sausage, black pudding and mushrooms. That came with toast. We both had coffee and I had an orange juice. Not the healthiest food I know, but on the odd occasion its delicious (apologies to vegetarian friends). I appreciated not having to cook in this heat. After the meal we went and waited for our friends again but they never arrived. So we came home.

Chicken and lentil curry

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I cooked this tonight, lentil and chicken curry with tomatoes, ginger and garlic. ingredients

Two chicken breasts

A cup full of lentils

Chopped tomatoes

Spring onions

A sweet pepper

Two garlic cloves

Grated ginger.

First I boiled some red lentils for ten minutes, then fried some chicken pieces, a couple of spring onions, a sweet pepper and four large tomatoes. I added a small teaspoon of hot curry powder and the same of medium curry powder. I added a pinch of Fenugreek and then grated about an inch of ginger and two cloves of garlic into the frying mix. I’d cooked the lentils for a further twenty minutes then added it to the stir fried mix, covered it over for a few minutes more. It ended up being really tasty. 

Hubby cooking!?

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For most of his life he’s not been interested in cooking. He doesn’t like me to explain what to do. When he roasted a chicken once he added a whole big bulb of garlic. He can cook poached egg on toast, he does cook bread, he tries to cook bacon by frying it for a minute then microwaving it.

Today he wanted to make a loaf out of self raising flour. With no yeast. I explained that would be more like pastry, and that you use self raising mainly for making cakes. I told him he could use about eight ounces of flour, four ounces of butter, four ounces of sugar, but as we had none he could use a couple of heaped spoons of sweetener. This is a granular one you can cook with. A couple of eggs, and milk, not water, which he was going to use.

I went upstairs on the computer while he went out to get butter.

I was going to explain. He knew about Crumbling flour and butter together, then I told him to add sweetener, then the eggs and milk, then some de-stoned cherries if he wanted to.

I was upstairs, and it was terribly quiet. A friend rang so I came downstairs. Hubby was just about to put the cake in the oven. I looked around, he’d used about twelve ounces of flour (not weighed it out) three quarters of a tub of margarine. Two eggs a bit of milk and a teaspoon! of sweetener. To this mix he’d  added half a bowl of cherries and then kneaded the mix! I tried to explain you need the mix to be more liquid and that you gently stir in the milk to keep the cake light.

Well he tried. The cake is cooking, gas mark 4,initially for 45 minutes in the centre of the oven. I’m worried it will be a bit heavy when it comes out.

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Who’d think, cherries in coleslaw.

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With such a large crop,

bowls full to the top,

I tried-

To decide-

what to do with them?

Each cherry on a stem!

Salad with cherries

fills my belly.

Coleslaw with cabbage

with cherries added.

Now I’ll make jelly

with added cherry,

summer fruit,

so much loot.

Birds are merry

They have cheery

Cherries too!

🍒

 

Eggs… Pancakes?

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My hubby keeps buying eggs but we are not using them up. They are getting towards the end of their life so I will be making an omelette for tea or even pancakes with blueberries and lemon juice.

If I’m making pancakes, I will make a batter from eggs, milk, and flour. I tend to use self raising flour because the pancakes puff up. I’m not one of these thin, crepes, type of pancake people. My mom used to make pancakes in February for Shrove Tuesday. She would add snow water to the batter (yes it used to snow in February!)

So if you want to make them I will try and write a recipe.

First get 2 mugs full of flour. Plain or self raising, this is for a few people so reduce amounts in proportion for one. Put in a mixing bowl.

Then add two or three eggs depending on the size of your mug. (Make a little well in the flour and break the eggs into it.)

Mix together and slowly add around a mug of milk. Add it slowly and stir it in. Keep an eye on the consistency, you want it pourable, like double cream, (heavy cream in America I think?)

Once it’s mixed just put it aside to rest in the fridge  (I don’t know why?)

Then get a frying pan, coat the bottom with a small amount of oil, or a spray frying oil or butter. Heat the pan up quite hot and carefully pour the batter in. Tip the pan to spread the batter out till it covers the base of the pan. If there is still wet batter on the top you can pull the pancake away from the edges of the pan with a spatula and let the batter spill into the gap. Turn it over with a spatula when it’s gone golden brown and cook for a few more seconds on the other side. ( You don’t have to toss it).

Sprinkle with sweetener or sugar and lemon juice when it’s on your plate. Add fruit to taste. When you’ve done one heat the pan again. You might not need to add oil as there should still be some left behind.

Continue till you have used all the mix. You can vary the thickness depending on how hungry you are!

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Salmon and garlicky pasta (with or without salmon)

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not neat, but tasty..

Ingredients,

About a table spoon of cooking oil,

Salmon fillet (or not for vegetarian)

1/2 aubergine, diced into small cubes,

1 courgette / zucchini, grated finely

1 sweet pepper cut into small squares

1/2 a can of chopped tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, crushed,

Spiral pasta, 2 handfulls

Method

Heat the oil in the pan, add the aubergine cubes, add the sweet pepper pieces, brown gently then add the grated courgette. Add the tinned tomatoes, mix and cook for a few minutes. Add the crushed garlic and the salmon on top of the mix, cook for a few minutes then turn the fish over. Lower the heat from medium low to low and gently simmer for about 5 minutes.

In the meantime put two handfuls of pasta (I had multi coloured spiral pasta in) with boiling water and cook on a medium heat till softened.

Drain and then add the pasta to the other pan. Serve the fish on top of the pasta and vegetables.

(I grate the courgette because it cooks quicker and makes the sauce feel thicker). You could add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Home made bread

Made a couple of years ago… Now flour is never on the shelves in the supermarket, or if there is there is no yeast!

I think the photo shows we had brie with it, on burleigh ware plates.

It had a very good rise, probably because my hubby used flour and yeast separately. The problem with ready mixed bread making kits is that they don’t always rise well and you have to get the amount if moisture and temperature right so that it is soft enough to rise but not too squidgy. But you can always add extra flour if it’s too wet. The dough needs kneading to stretch it and get the gluten in it working. Obviously this doesn’t work with gluten free flour.

Anyway, looking forward to baking again.

X

Comfort food

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Apologies to vegetarian and vegan readers please do not read further. Also anyone whose religion does not allow eating pork. I apologise and do not wish to cause offence.

————————————————————- We had sausage egg and chips for tea tonight. It cheered me up.

It did remind me of the Monty Pythons Flying Circus sketch about a man asking what he can order in a cafe and the list goes from egg and chips through various permutations to spam egg and chips, spam egg and beans u to and including ‘spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam…… And spam’.

I howl with laughter when I see it.

I can remember being sent to the shops by my mum and saying ‘plumrose chopped ham with pork’ over and over so I would remember the convoluted name. I know it was before I was seven. I’m sure it was after we got a black and white TV. I can remember seeing adverts for it. Perhaps I have got the two mixed up…..

Trying to make banana cake without all the ingredients.

I give you (please take some).
Home made banana cake with toffees melted on the top.
Ingredients.
Half self raising flour, half plain flour, about 8oz with a bit of yeast. (what I had in the cupboard).
Some granulated sweetener, about a tablespoon full.
4 oz approx of butter
Two eggs
A small mug of milk.
A bit of orange juice.
Two sliced bananas.
Toffees melted on top for the last twenty minutes.

Method
I added the flours together with the yeast, added the sweetener, then added the butter and broke it up until it was crumbly. Then I added the eggs, mixed in milk. It was still a bit dry so I added a bit of orange juice, till it was quite soft. A bit like wet mashed potatoes.
I then chopped the bananas up and mixed them in. I left it for a while to see if it rose (it didn’t!)
Cooked gas mark four for an hour and ten minutes. About forty minutes in I noticed it was rising but split in the top. So I got some toffees we had at Christmas and placed them on top. The mess is where they melted.
Not pretty but tastes OK. Served the first bit with some ice cream while it was hot. Not bad!

Bread making, USK S-O-T challenge.

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Making not made! I found some rye flour and half a pack of yeast in the cupboard. Hubby and I both worked on it. Really tough to knead. We added porridge oats because it was too squidgy and I’d run out of flour. It’s taking time to rise but hopefully it will be OK… X

Update, cooked OK its a bit doughy in the middle. Not bad. Had some hot with butter.

I did the drawing as today’s challenge was something you’ve made for the urban sketchers new challenge. It’s black ink pen in my A5 cartridge paper sketchbook.

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