Picture the possibilites...

I have run my own Pampered Chef business for the past 18 months now and I love it!

Flexible, Fun and Financially rewarding, I choose my own hours and its such a social way to earn a living. I'm getting to cook and pass on my experience and recipes at every turn. Could it get any better?

Oh I think so...

The opportunities for promotion are endless. On the 1st October, I promoted to director with no office politics just my own hard work. I now have a team of 10 and its fantastic... they are fantastic... as they all fit their businesses in with other jobs or around families or sometimes both!!!! Because it’s their own business they are as keen and as willing as I am! So I have no staffing issues , which makes the role of a director so much more enjoyable than being an employer!

Would you like to know more about joining a company whose sales are 10% up on last year? Come and join my fab team of consultants who all choose their own working hours and can never be made redundant. Contact me to find out more...you don't even have to be in my area, I have consultants from all over England and Wales, so contact me today!

Alternatively, call this number: 01344 823630 and listen to a pre-recorded message first. I'm waiting to hear from you!

Take a minute to visit my website www.pamperedchef.biz/tulipskitchen

Hot and Sour Shiitake Soup

I tackled my fear of soup making a couple of years back, took the stock pot by the handles and became pretty dab had at smooth thick comfort food type soups. Spicy pumpkin with smoked salmon, broccoli and stilton, Broccoli ham and cheese, beef and spicy tomato to name but a few!

The other day I saw this hot and sour shiitake soup on Simon Rimmer’s Dinners programme and was hooked…it looked fresh and tasty and the difference to my normal soups was it was a clear broth type of soup with things floating in it!!! I adapted it to what I had in the fridge but followed the basic recipe with great results.

I only had about 25g of shiitake mushrooms so used regular ones, then added strips of roast chicken and right at the end I added a handful of bean sprouts as I didn’t have any beanshoots.

The first bowl we had I didn’t add the egg. The second I did and it was a little more filling but didn't look quite as good.

Great tasting soup, love the lumps and floaty bits and the broth was great, hot from the ginger, sour from the white wine vinegar and the homemade chicken stock made all the difference! Fear over....I'm off to source some other watery soup with floaty bits recipes !!!

Printabe recipe

Look at my Christmas Tree!

Mini Cinnamon Christmas Tree Rolls


Makes 24

375g ready rolled puff pastry or 2 packets chilled fresh ready to bake croissant dough (to make 12 croissants in total – sometimes there are only 4 in a packet!)
25g butter, melted

55g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

170g mixed dried fruit (raisins, currants etc as you like)

To Decorate:
1 small tub of red/yellow/green glace cherries

Icing:
115g icing sugar mixed with 2-3 tsp boiling water

Method:

1. Oven 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

2. Unroll the pastry or croissant dough and lay it out in a long strip or sheet .

3. Brush with melted butter. Mix cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle evenly over pastry,

4. Add mixed fruit in an even layer then roll up the pastry

4. Cut evenly into 24 mini logs. Arrange them on their sides on a flat stone like a Christmas Tree, but do not arrange them too close together:

5. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, lowering the oven temperature near the end if need be. Cook until golden brown. When the ‘tree’ is cooked and cooled, arrange the glace cherries over the branches and drizzle over the icing as you like.

Mini Pastry Shells...

Ready to be blind baked then filled with an assortment of fillings.
Click here for recipe choices

The morning after the night before...

"Goofy Gus"

The girls had a cowboy and Indian themed party last night. I served hot steak sandwiches with caramelised onions and mushrooms for the meat eaters and Mediterranean roast vegetables with goat’s cheese for the vegetarians. No pictures I’m afraid as I wasn’t quick enough with the camera!

I do have photos of our breakfast though...as the older ones got up and went off to work, the younger ones slept in, we got up and made this…. [That’s the royal ‘we’ he played taxi driver while I got to work in the kitchen!]

Inspired by Jamie O's Scrapple [Jamie's America]

I turned it into a great low carb breakfast, with strong flavours and an undercurrent of heat!

• Finely dice half a small onion, 2 slices of smoked bacon and 8 oz sausage meat,
• Crush a teaspoon of fennel seeds in pestle and mortar
• Add to mixture with a teaspoon of flaked chilli and a teaspoon of fresh rosemary
• Heat a little oil and fry, turning frequently.
• Once its browning nicely, make a space and crack 2 eggs into the pan.
• Pop under a hot grill to finish cooking the tops of the eggs!

Breaking News

January host -

• Double guest sales points
• Double hospitality points
• Double guest order points
• Double Show bookings points
• Double half-rice items
• Double closing points
• Up to a 30% discount
• 10% discount for a full year!

January Guest

• £40 order - FREE cookbooks
• 20% savings on Stoneware!
• Great food

I'm taking bookings now....if happy to travel or will find you a team member in your area!

Buttery Bread Machine Rolls

Made these bread rolls in my rectangular baker, cooked them to perfection!

The recipe can be found here. I made a few adjustments though, with the sugar and eggs, it made it more like a weak brioche so no eggs, no sugar and they suited us fine!

Mini Quiche for Mum's 78th Birthday Tea

Salmon Quiche on the left

and

Sausage and cheese on the right

Recipes can be found on my Pampered Chef Website

Mini Victoria Sponge Sandwiches

Made in the deluxe mini muffin pan  A simple mix, cooked for 15 minutes

6oz sugar,
6oz butter,
6oz Self Raising Flour
3 medium free range eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Mix all ingredients together in the classic batter bowl using a small mix and scraper.
Scoop mixture into deluxe mini muffin pan using small scoop and cook for 15 minutes or until cooked [gently press the middle, if it springs back up, their done!]

Place on a stackable cooling rack until cool.
Meanwhile, whip double cream in a small metal bowl, which has been chilled in the fridge, [this will make whipping easier]
Slice in half and fill with a teaspoon of strawberry jam.
Fill the accent decorator with the whipped cream and swirl cream on top of jam.
Sandwich together and then dust with icing sugar.

If you would like purchase any of the kitchen products used in this recipe, please click on any of the highlighted words to take you directly to my pampered chef website

Jamie's Pop Corn Chicken

I have made this twice now and it is amazing!  The original recipe calls for aligator tail but my butcher tends to run out of those pretty quickly so I opted for chicken!  The kids declared it better than KFC - praise indeed!

Can't post the recipe, but I can tell you its on page 111 of Jamie's America