Christmas Eve Comfort Food – Christmas Carollers’ Casserole: Elizabethan Spiced Beef Stew Christmas Eve is often a very busy time, with last-minute present wrapping, and even buying in some cases, plus all the preparations for the big day with mounds of potatoes to peel, sprouts to trim and “pigs in blankets” to make. For us,…
Lunch
Beat the Winter Blues: Pumpkin, Walnut & Poppy Seed Muffins with Cheddar Cheese
Beat the Winter Blues: Pumpkin, Walnut & Poppy Seed Muffins with Cheddar Cheese One of the things I love most about autumn and winter is the wonderful choice of seasonal vegetables that are on offer; brassicas and cabbages of all sizes and hues – with red being a particular favourite of mine. Potatoes, parsnips, kale…
Frugal Family Fare: Roast Chicken & Ham Pie with a Suet Dumpling Crust
Frugal Family Fare: Roast Chicken & Ham Pie with a Suet Dumpling Crust Who doesn’t love a pie, well we all do in my house and especially when it’s as easy to make as this one is…..it’s essentially a Sunday Roast pie made with the left overs from a few weeks ago, but, it’s also…
Paleo 5:2 Diet Recipe for Pepper Steak with Pan-fried Onions, Tomatoes and Spinach
Paleo 5:2 Diet Recipe for Pepper Steak with Pan-fried Onions, Tomatoes and Spinach Although I enjoy my meat-free days and we do eat a lot of fish too, both of us (my husband in particular) hanker after a big juicy, red steak now and then, and so when I received a sample hamper from the…
Meal Planning Monday and Cheesy Stuffed Supper Spuds (Baked Jacket Potatoes) Recipe
Meal Planning Monday and Cheesy Stuffed Supper Spuds (Baked Jacket Potatoes) Recipe Today’s recipe comes with a meal plan, of sorts, as I need to get organised this week with so much on my agenda; there will be still be 2 “fast” days to fit in for the 5:2 diet. Malcolm and I are doing…
Pumpkin, Kale and Walnut Galette with Pancetta and Onion Jam
Pumpkin, Kale and Walnut Galette with Pancetta and Onion Jam I love receiving hampers of food, and recently a wonderful hamper arrived for me courtesy of Applewood Cheese, filled to the brim with delicious ingredients, as well as some Applewood spreadable cheese. As you may have guessed, I am taking part on a recipe challenge, hence my hamper full…
High Tea with Ham and Eggs and Marmalade Glazed Ham/Gammon Recipe
High Tea with Ham and Eggs and Marmalade Glazed Ham/Gammon Recipe Although it is almost winter and our wonderful, blazing autumn fades with every scarlet and russet leaf that drops, my chickens are still laying well and every day finds me walking back to the house with a small basket of eggs……some still warm with black, white…
Spanish Seafood & Chorizo Skewers and Spicy Pepper Stir-Fry Recipes with La Plancha
Spanish Seafood & Chorizo Skewers and Spicy Pepper Stir-Fry Recipes with La Plancha Just a little while ago, at the end of summer and beginning of autumn, my daughter came to see us in France for a little holiday, and we managed to grab the late summer sunshine whilst we still had it! One of the…
Lest we Forget: Remembrance Sunday and The Wartime Kitchen Recipes
Lest we Forget: Remembrance Sunday and The Wartime Kitchen Recipes Today is a reflective day for me, a day to remember all those who have died in both World Wars as well as other and continuing conflicts, both home and abroad. It IS a sad and sombre day, but it is a day to recognise just how…
Sous Vide Poached Eggs: Posh Bacon & Eggs, Smoked Haddock & Eggs and Basic Poached Eggs
Sous Vide Poached Eggs: Posh Bacon & Eggs, Smoked Haddock & Eggs and Basic Poached Eggs Several months ago I was sent a Sous Vide Supreme water bath machine to trial and review; in return for my wonderful machine, and I have loved using it on many occasions, I committed to creating several recipes and…
British Sausage Week: Bangin’ Bonfire Bacon & Banger Burgers & Sausage Casserole Recipes
British Sausage Week: Bangin’ Bonfire Bacon & Banger Burgers & Sausage Casserole Recipes Hooray! It’s British Sausage Week and just in time for Guy Fawkes night, (Bonfire Night , Firework Night) which is on the 5th November, tomorrow – no Bonfire night is complete unless it has a few bangers on the menu. I LOVE…
Recipes, Notes & Reviews from my Kitchen: Hot Baked Tatties for an easy Autumn Lunch
Recipes, Notes & Reviews from my Kitchen: Hot Baked Tatties for an easy Autumn Lunch I have been on my travels recently, I have been down to Spain and the Basque country, as well as London, The Potteries in Staffordshire and beyond…….there will be many more posts (and recipes) about my travels over the next…
Cauliflower – The Dieter’s Friend! Faux Mashed Potatoes – Cauliflower Mash Recipe
Cauliflower – The Dieter’s Friend! Faux Mashed Potatoes – Cauliflower Mash Recipe I love cauliflower, but my husband (and dad) are not that bothered by this most healthy of vegetables. Cauliflowers are part of the Brassica family and it has been claimed as the world’s healthiest vegetable: Nutrients in Cauliflower 1.00 cup raw (107.00 grams) Nutrient%Daily…
Bottling Tomatoes using the Water Bath Method: Step-by-Step Tutorial with Images & Recipe
It doesn’t matter now often you use your tomatoes in cooking and for salads etc, there always seems to be an excess of them, and this simple water bath method of bottling tomatoes is a great way to save them for the winter months ahead. Not so many years ago, and as recently as when…
Potage and Pulses for October: Spiced Red Lentil Soup with Frazzled Onions Recipe
Potage and Pulses for October: Spiced Red Lentil Soup with Frazzled Onions Recipe We are now almost in the midst of October……..so, well into autumn now, and winter and the sparkling festive season are just a few weeks away. The nights have drawn in and the clocks will be going back an hour next week,…