Take One Jar.....

Peppadews in this case, small peppers the size of the bigger cherry tomatoes, piquante, preserved in vinegar and with a slight but tangible zing. Bought on a whim by the hubster, and sitting unopened and undiscovered for the last few months. Until this week. Have you ever tried them? I hadn't even heard of them, I must be honest! But now I urge you to pick some up, as a just in case, a lovely store cupboard ingredient that I'm sure I will come to use often. 

I used them this week, in place of the usual bell peppers, which I had forgotten to buy in. We were having Campfire Stew, made in the slow cooker, and it wasn't until I was about to prepare it that I discovered the lack of peppers in the veg drawer. Not good at 630am! But I remembered the peppadews, and so in they went!

The recipe for Campfire Stew is a simple one, and easily tweakable, as I discovered. There is a Slimming World version, this is not it, but I'm sure those amongst you in the know may be able to work out where this version stands in the diet stakes. I just know it tasted delicious, and the empty plates at the tea table were proof enough that the tweaking worked well.

I cooked this in my slow cooker, on low for about 9 hours. I haven't found a similar recipe for oven cooking, so I'm not sure how long or on what temperature, though I'm sure it can be done. But if you have access to a slow cooker, this is certainly the cooking method oof choice! 

Campfire Stew. Serves 4, generously.

1 pork or gammon joint, smoked or unsmoked.
1 tin of baked beans
1 tin/carton of chopped tomatoes
1 large carrot, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
A generous handful chopped mushrooms
1 large red pepper (or 6-7 pepperdews,)
1 teaspoon chili powder (I omitted this as I had used pepperdews which have a spicy flavour)
2 tablespoons paprika

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker ensuring they are mixed well. Leave on low for 6 hours plus, as long as you can really, which will give better results. And no peeking under that lid!
Just before serving, remove the gammon/pork joint and break it apart, as you would for pulled pork. Stir the pulled pork/gammon back into the sauce. Serve. We served it with mash. Or you could add potatoes to the stew. 

Definitely a new family favourite, and a new favourite store cupboard ingredient. I might use it in pasta sauce next time!

Store Cupboard Fritters

These are inspired by Jamie Oliver from his book Jamie's Italy , he writes about being served these fritters made from spaghetti with  pork in a broth. The first time I made these I pretty much followed the recipe, but today I've winged it a bit. I love that these are made with pasta, something my children eat a lot of, but served in a different way. I've adapted the recipe to what I had available,  my very favourite type of cooking. 
These are really simple and quick to make. I broke up a handful of dried spaghetti and cooked in some boiling water with just a sprinkle of stock powder. Then i whisked 2 eggs together in a bowl, and added a handful of cheese (Jamie uses parmesan, I've used just normal cheddar)
I added chopped ham and some cooked frozen sweetcorn and peas, a teaspoon of mixed herbs and the cooked pasta.
I dropped spoonfuls of the mixture into a frying pan and fried until cooked golden brown on both sides.
We served with ketchup to dip it into, eating  with our hands!
If you wish you can omit the stock,  and add whatever is hiding in your fridge instead of the ham and veg I used: leftover chicken, peppers, mushrooms. ..whatever takes your fancy.

The using up veggies 5-a-day pasta sauce....with some help from Jack!

I've been a bit inspired this week by Jack Monroe (you can read her blog here ) who's currently undertaking a challenge to live under the poverty line....good luck to her! In her blog this week she explains how she makes her stock cubes go further, and I was so impressed I had to make it one of my saving money tips :) Basically it involves breaking all your stock cubes up and putting the powder into a jar. That way when you come to make stock you can use less than a cube's worth. It's also a great tip for if, like me, you use stock cubes to season a chicken before roasting because you don't need to use the full one. So my veg cubes are now mashed up in a spice jar on the rack all reafy to use. 
In my slow cooker today I've been making pasta sauce. It was a bit of a fling it in and hope concoction, but a quick taste test and it's delicious! I am a big fan of making your own sauces rather than resorting to jars, you know what's in it if you've made it yourself for a start, and it's really not as hard as it might seem.
My sauce today consists of: an onion, a couple of past their best carrots, a left over pepper, some mushrooms a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of ketchup. I added a sprinkle of stock cube powder -remembering that it is for the children so keeping it to a minimum - and a can and a half of boiling water. I decided to cook it in the slow cooker but it could easily be simmered on the hob too, until the veggies are cooked through and it has reduced a bit. Give it a whizz with a blender and it's done.
I portion it up into freezer bags once cool, freeze flat and it's quicker to defrost. This is a great standby to have if you have little time for a meal. By the time you've boiled up some pasta it can be defrosted and warmed through in the microwave.
Spaghetti and sausages with ours tonight!

Day After Veggies

If you are anything like me, portion control can be a bit hit and miss. So I often end up with left over veggies. In the old days I may have just thrown them out, or given them to the dog. But that is a dreadful waste and it's something I try and avoid doing now. Though I still haven't quite got to grips with how much mash to make!

One of my earliest memories as a child is Sunday breakfast, we used to shop for it on Saturday on the way to my grandma's house and we sometimes were rewarded with potato cakes or oatcakes from the market to go with our eggs and bacon on Sunday. Now I would love to share the recipe for oatcakes with you, but I am assured that it's a secret recipe! (Though you can now buy the mix online and make them yourselves in your own home) But I can share my potato cakes recipe with you. There are other recipes out there, in various cookbooks. I will hold my hands up here and admit I haven't looked at them, so I have no idea how much my recipe resembles others...though I suspect it doesn't a jot!

This is a left over recipe, although you could, if so inclined, make it from fresh. But the whole point of it really is to use up what you have. This is often a Monday or Tuesday lunch or tea, following on from having mash for tea on Saturday or Sunday. And I don't stop at the mashed potatoes either, any left over veg can be added in to the mix.... mummy tip here - it's a great way of getting extra veggies into your little ones if they are a little bit reluctant.

I haven't specified quantities here. This is because I want you, like me, to go with what you have, not to make up fresh. The whole point is to use up what you have left over at the end of a meal.

For this recipe you need mashed potato. Obviously. Any kind of potato will do as long as it's a mashing variety. We use cheap as chips (no pun intended) normal every day white potatoes. But the choice is yours. I haven't used sweet potato but if you do then please let me know how that one goes!
You also need flour. Any kind of flour, I use plain, but self raising works just as well. Again I haven't fiddled with using other varieties like wholemeal or wholegrain. I'm not sure these would work in this situation, but if you have them in, give it a try, it won't hurt.
You can add any other variety of veggies that were left over from the day before too...broccoli is a favourite here, the ones in the pictures have mashed carrot in, you could add swede, sweetcorn, peas, cabbage....petty much anything, though I would personally avoid things like courgette unless you make sure they are really dry. You can even add grated cheese, mustard... whatever your imagination (and your fridge) tells you to. Of course you can just leave them as plain potato too.


On a floured surface, make a pile of the mash and/or veggies and add a cup of flour, mixing it in well. Keep adding flour until you get a dough like consistency, that doesn't stick to your hands, without cracking, a bit like a scone dough. . Now you can roll it out, although I prefer to flatten it out with the heel and palm of my hand Not for any other reason than it saves on washing the rolling pin unnecessarily. You are after a depth not more than the width of your thumb, if you prefer thin pancakes then make them thinner! Cut them out with a biscuit cutter. Again the choice is yours And it depends who you're serving them to. My children like shapes, and I make them smaller than I would if they were just for the adults.

 

The next step is to fry them over a medium heat, in a decent non stick frying pan, with or without a little oil, depending on your pan and your personal choice. Fry until golden on both sides.

 



These can be served immediately, or covered and chilled in the fridge (eat within 24 hrs) or frozen and used in about a month. You can cook them from frozen though I prefer to defrost first. If you don't want to eat these for a couple of days, I would suggest not making them straight away. Covered in a suitable container in the fridge, the mash and veg will last 2-3 days, much longer than the made up potato cakes do in the fridge.

Serve with baked beans, eggs, as part of a fry up, or on their own with butter and/or cheese on... not the healthiest food but one that disappears quickly and a good way of ensuring that left over veggies aren't wasted.

Meet Herman

Those of you who know me in real life already know how much I love Herman. He's been a part of our family for a couple of years now, and I couldn't be without him. In case you're wondering, Herman is a rather smelly, bubbly batter who lives in the corner of my kitchen, and gives me all kinds of goodies, like cakes and bread. Here he is in all his glory:

Ok, he's not a stunner, nor does he smell particularly nice, unless you like the smell of an old brewery. But he makes wonderful cakes. He is a sourdough starter. You may have come across a starter, or sponge, for sourdough breads before, well this is the sweet version, mainly for use in cakes, although I have made lovely bread with it too. The legend behind Herman is quite lovely. it is a friendship cake, a bit like the old friendly chain letters we used to do as kids. You are given a portion of Herman starter by someone, you care for it for 9 days, stirring, feeding, talking if you feel the need... then on the 9th day you split it into 4, keep a portion for yourself and pass the other 3 on to your friends and family, with instructions on how to look after him. On the 10th day, you bake your portion, into a lovely fruity sourdough cake. I didn't give away 3 portions, when my dad gave me my starter. I kept one for myself to bake with and one to keep going....and I'm so glad I did!

I wanted to share him quite early in my blogging journey, as it is something that I think will feature quite often, especially since I cook with the batter at least every couple of weeks. I don't follow the instructions on his care to the letter anymore, because I now know when he needs freshening up. You can make some delicious cakes with the batter. I even make bread and gorgeous American style pancakes too. All these recipes I will share in future blog posts. But here's a sneak preview:

Herman Cakes

Herman Muffins

Herman Bread

 

Intrigued??
The basic cake is a very easy one to make, the instructions I follow use American cup measurements, and although I am a pounds and ounces kind of girl usually, for some things I do make an exception. It works for me here because it's no faff, just scoop, add, stir. it's also much easier to make a smaller amount if necessary, just by halving the number of cups... although I guess you might question the need to make less cake, and not more when you have tasted it!

Anyone who lives near enough to me can have some of my starter, I always have a couple of portions at least on the go, and you only need one portion - roughly a cup measurement - to start you on your journey.
But for those not able to wait for the gift of a portion, you can easily make your own starter.
Herman the German Friendship Cake is a great resource for recipes, a spare copy of the care instructions to give out to your friends, or just for sharing your Herman journey with other people. People like to share, and you can see what other people make with their batter. Quite inspiring really.
I'll put a link up on the sidebar of my blog so you can visit it for the instructions... and check back here again for my Herman recipes!

A New Venture!

I'd like to just say thank you for reading this new blog, and I hope you will enjoy reading it as I am sure I will enjoy sharing with you some of the recipes I serve up to my family. I was asked to share some of my recipes by friends on Facebook, (I think I must just add here that I must come across as a bit of a food obsessed mum as pretty much most of the photos I post up are of my children, or food, or my children eating food!) I do enjoy cooking, baking, making and sharing, and I also like coming up with my own ideas for my cakes and makes. If other people can get some enjoyment out of sharing these recipes, then that would be great... hence the idea for this blog.

For those who don't know me 'in real life' I am a mum to 3 awesome babies, one of whom I am currently breastfeeding, and we have just started baby led weaning, so a lot of my food ideas are child friendly. I do hope to include more 'adult' recipes here too, but even then I may well add a family friendly element.

Food should be fun as well as nutritious. It can be a bit naughty too sometimes, all things in moderation, but it should definitely be tasty no matter how healthy or otherwise it is. But we live in a busy world and people don't always have much time for baking or cooking, and it's so tempting to use the quick easy option. I hope that some of my recipes will inspire people not to always reach for the freezer door for the packet of chicken nuggets, and definitely to enjoy making a bit of magic in the kitchen...with the kids or without!

My first recipe is for a quick breakfast for the children (although I must admit to enjoying them as well!)

Chocolate and Banana Pancakes.

 

These are a quick make, you'll need about 15 minutes to make up the batter and cook the pancakes, I make these on a school day with time to spare. You can make your live easier by using cup measures, which are easily available in all supermarkets. I am not one for using American measures, I am a pounds and ounces girl at heart. However in the morning when I want to be quick, the cup measures come out...so much easier than weighing at 7 o'clock in the morning!

 

You need: 3/4 cup flour, either self raising or plain, whatever you have to hand.

                  3/4 cup milk, again full fat or semi skimmed, it doesn't matter.

                  1 egg

                  1 banana, the riper the better

                  2 tsp cocoa powder

 

This batter makes enough for my 3 children with usually at least 1 left over for the cook. It will make pancakes just a bit thicker than traditional pancakes, by which I mean the ones we serve on Shrove Tuesday with lemon and sugar. But you can make them more like American pancakes by adding a bit more flour. They are an ideal Baby led Weaning (BLW) food. Easy to hold for little hands, and soft enough to suck. Obviously be aware that they contain milk, eggs and gluten when trying them out on babies... they are suitable for babies over 6 mths old.

 

Heat your frying pan/on a medium heat.

Mash the banana in a bowl with a fork until it is soft and resembles a puree. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour and cocoa powder and whisk well with the fork or a small whisk. Add the milk a bit at a time to make sure you get as many of the lumps of flour out as you can. Note you will still have a few little lumps, this will be banana not flour though.

 

Pour spoonfuls into the frying pan and swirl the pan around to get the mixture as evenly spread as you can. You can make these as big or as small as you like, but try to get them as thin as you can and they will cook more quickly. Watch for bubbles forming on the surface and then turn. It will literally take a couple of minutes maximum so try not to walk away from the cooker! Set out on a plate and cover with a clean tea towel if you are planning to keep them warm, or, serve immediately.

 



Serve with fruit to boost their five-a-day, and a swirl of pancake or ice cream syrup just to make them smile :)

Play about with the flavours. Omit the cocoa and add blueberries or raisins to the batter for example. Equally delicious (and gone as quickly!)

If you try It out please let me know how you get on, especially if you do try different combinations of flavours, I would be very interested to hear all about it!