Sweet apples, Wassail style.

Posted on January 12, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged apples, Cinnamon, clotted cream, Cookery, Dessert, Food, fruit juice, Ingredients, sucralose, Sugar, Tasty, Whipped cream, Whisky2 Comments

I decided to stew four apples that were starting to soften. I wanted to use them up and also half a tub of clotted cream.

Ingredients :

Four medium sized eating apples

A couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener (or sugar to taste).

A level teaspoon of cinnamon powder.

A single measure of whisky, or you could substitute a small amount of lemon or orange juice.

About three or four tablespoons of water to stop the apples burning onto the pan.

A tablespoonful of clotted cream or whipped cream.

I roughly cored and chopped the apples and left the skin on. I put them in a pan with a little boiling water to stop the apple flesh burning. I cooked the apples for about 15 to 20 minutes till they softened. Stirring and mashing them until they were a chunky pulp.

I added a couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener to make the apples less sharp. Then I added a single measure of whisky and a level teaspoonful of cinnamon and cooked the mix for a couple minutes more. You could substitute fruit juice for the whisky and leave out the cinnamon if you don’t like it.

Serve hot in a bowl with the clotted cream or whipped cream dolloped on top.

This reminds me of the Wassails we usually go on in January. They are to celebrate the local apple trees and wish for a good crop of apples the following autumn.

Sweet treats

Posted on January 9, 2022January 9, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Colourful, Desserts, Drawing, Felt pens, Food, Prompt, Sketching, sweet treat, Wayne Thiebaud2 Comments

Our #bandofsketchers prompt today was sweet treat in honour of artist Wayne Thiebaud who died recently and who created art based on this theme (he did some beautiful work). Mine is Sweet treats. A bit dodgy because of my shaking arm and I was drawing on the back of a page where ink had bled through. Cup cakes in paper cases with icing and cherries on top…

Tasty beans?

Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baked beans, chopped, Cooking, cooking oil, Food, medium curry powder, Onion, oven chips, Recipe, reduced sugar, Tasty, turmeric, vegetarian sausagesLeave a comment

I like baked beans but I’ve started eating sugar free ones and I wanted to spice them up a bit.

I heated a bit of oil in a saucepan then added a small amount of medium curry powder and turmeric powder and heated it gently.

I had chopped up a small onion into medium sized pieces. I microwaved it for a minute to soften it slightly, then added the heated onion to the pan and cooked it gently for a few more minutes to soften and brown the onion (sweated?).

Then I added the sugar free baked beans into the pan and increased the heat slightly. I simmered the mixture for a few minutes until it was thoroughly heated.

We had the beans with some vegetarian sausages and some reduced fat oven chips. Tasty! No photo of the meal as its already been eaten!

I don’t put salt in because it dissolves and gets absorbed into the food. I put it on if needed when I serve food. Its on the surface and you can taste it more.

Guess what we had for tea.

Posted on January 4, 2022January 5, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blancmange, Blueberries, Cream, Dessert, Food, Jelly, less calories, Sweet, Tasty, too much food, TrifleLeave a comment

Yes, another trifle. I used sugar free jelly, but I added blueberries. Of course there was fat in it, but I made strawberry blancmange with semiskimmed milk and a sweetener instead of sugar. I used half the amount of whipped cream than I usually do. So I guess it was reasonably healthy, especially compared with other festive treats, such as stollen, mince pies and Christmas pudding (which I sadly indulged in too!).

Fishcakes

Posted on January 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Brie, Cucumber, Evening meal, fish cakes, Food, Haddock, hummus, mashed potato, Taste, TomatoLeave a comment

Evening meal. I decided to eat some fishcakes made of haddock and mashed potatoes in breadcrumbs. But what to have with them? I raided the fridge and chopped up two small tomatoes, some cucumber, a bit of hummus that is going out of date and a bit of brie that I let melt on top of the fishcakes. I’m not sure how healthy it was but it was certainly tasty. I wish I’d got some lettuce and some spring onions to go with it. I could have had a hunk of bread but decided against it. Does this count as a balanced meal?

Racist behaviour?

Posted on January 2, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged chef, Cooking, customers, fake customers, Food, mean, racist?, Thai food, unkind13 Comments

We spent the evening in the local Thai restaurant. The food is always good, but I do wonder at the behaviour of some of the customers!

While we were there we overheard a phone order for a takeaway. After explaining that it would need to be collected the owner took an order for about eight dishes including rice and a mixed starter. It sounded like a big meal, but she was happy to cook for the customer. That was about 7pm with the collection due at 8pm. No one came, so I chatted with the owner and she said it happens quite frequently! By 8.30pm she decided to call them, but no one was answering so all she could do was leave a message letting them know the food was ready.

We were finishing off our meal just before 9pm when someone else rang to ask if she was still open. They arrived a few minutes later but after looking at the menu asked for chips and cola! When she explained it was a Thai restaurant they decided to walk out without paying for the drinks!

What bothers me is that a hard worker and restaurant owner, who is already struggling because of the covid situation is being messed about by so called customers. I think it’s appalling to treat someone like that. No doubt there will be complaints on social media. But cooking for customers requires respect on both sides. I’d go so far as saying this almost looks like racist behaviour. I felt very sorry for her and the treatment she experienced.

Oil painting?

Posted on December 28, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Colours, Flavour, Food, Ingredients, Luck, Oil painting, Painting, Sharing, Taste, TrifleLeave a comment

Someone just put a comment on my Instagram account saying this combination of photos looks like an oil painting? It made me think about cooking. If something looks nice and colourful it should also be tasty. A collection of colours, textures, and the vessel the food is in all must have an effect on the psychology of how you taste and feel about a meal or a snack. I’m lucky to have enough to eat and a good choice of ingredients. I wish more people could have the chance to share.

Port trifle

Posted on December 28, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blancmange, Chocolate, Cream, Dessert, Food, Port, raspberry flavour, strawberry flavour, Tasty, Trifle, vanillaLeave a comment

Trifle time, I always make trifle at this time of year. I used raspberry jelly, trifle sponges and fresh black cherries. I added a bit of port to the jelly liquid (reduced the amount of boiling water by the same amount). Then a layer of strawberry blancmange and whipped cream on top. Blancmange is like flavoured custard. I used to be able to get chocolate, raspberry, vanilla and strawberry blancmange powder made by a company called pierce and duff, but over the last couple of years I’ve only been able to get the strawberry one in a plastic packet. It seems a shame, but I’m obviously an old fashioned cook. Anyway I have just had a portion of this delicious dessert. X

Mince pies and stollen

Posted on December 26, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Christmas, Cooking, Covid, Dinner, Food, left overs, Life, Mince pie, Safety, stollen, TimeLeave a comment

It was just me and my hubby together for Christmas, but that means no pressure to get all the trimmings done! I haven’t made a trifle yet, I will probably do so for New year’s day. We had a £3.80 chicken for our Christmas Dinner (a medium turkey crown in sainsburys was £27.90!) We had a few beers and I made pigs in blankets to go with the chicken. I also roasted all the veg including the sprouts. There are plenty of left overs for sandwiches today and I don’t have to think about turning a turkey into a stew and a curry later in the week. The one thing I miss though was having a party with my sister, but I’d rather make sure we are all safe.

Sprouts popping!

Posted on December 25, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chicken, Christmas Dinner, Cooking, Dinner, Food, Fun, green vegetables, Humour, Life, Sprouts, VegetablesLeave a comment

A sprout tree, that’s what my hubby bought for Christmas Dinner. I wasn’t sure how to cut the sprouts off this knobbly stick. I don’t have sharp knives so they are hard to cut off. When I tried the springiness in the branch they were on I suddenly had a sprout popping up the air! It flew up and landed on the floor, rolled sideways, and ended up under the fridge freezer. Cue some scrabbling with a spoon to get it back out! It happened again with the next one so I realised I needed to hold the sprout with one hand and cut it off with the other. I didn’t want to use the whole sprout tree today, ten ot twelve sprouts are enough, but the branch was too long. I could not cut it in half so hubby snapped it across his knee after I’d tried to cut through it.

I part cooked them in the microwave and now I’m toasting them with out Christmas chicken (the turkeys for sale were four times more expensive).

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Food