Nice bit of Crumpet!

Have you been watching the Hairy Bikers - The Mum knows best series? I have, and have really enjoyed it! Nothing posh, no fancy pretentious recipes just homemade no nonsense cooking!
This recipe comes from the series and its something that really caught my eye. Homemade crumpets, now every time I cook something like this my kids ask the same question.... WHY? Why would you do this when you can just go to the shops and buy them???!

This is why... fresh tasty crumpets, straight from the skillet, slathered with cold butter and eaten at the kitchen counter because that where we were standing when they were ready to eat, thats why!!!

These little beauties will be made again and again.... and I'm sure with a bit more practice they'll have more bubbles on top too! In fact, I have a tent full of teenagers who I'm sure would love another batch of these for breakfast.... I'm off to make some more....

Coffee Kisses

This entry was written in the February half term but then it got lost in the draft copy wonderland that is my laptop.
Thought I'd post it now. They were lovely and she deserves to get credit for them. Only thing is, I hope she doesn't make them again soon. We ate the whole batch in one afternoon... scary how addictive we found them!

Its half term this week, which usually means the kids take over the kitchen...now in years gone past they have all been in there, cook books marked and flour scattered. However its all a bit quiet these days, one of them works full time the other is a student and spends most of the time in the bathroom or sleeping which leaves my 14yr old all alone in the kitchen. :-(

This half term she decided that she would use the Bero cook book. This little book brings back so many memories for me, it was the book I used in home economics (well that’s what we called it back in our day!!!!) I was given a copy back in 1982 and have used it weekly ever since. Its falling to pieces, pages have stuck together and some of the recipes can’t be read, but I’ll stick it and mend it and keep it forever…however I was so pleased to receive a new copy in the post by my very good friend Chris. She sent me a 40th edition copy and Jo loves it, its not sticky for one, but has all the same recipes in. She sat in the living room with a packet of mini post it notes and labelled all the recipes she intends to make over the week. First on her list were coffee kisses, these were one of the first things I made at school (the very first being the dreaded mincemeat stuffed apples…. (Who in their right mind thinks this would be a great first recipe for children? My horrible H.E. teacher that’s who!!!)

Just the smell brought back memories of my cookery lessons, the light in the class room, the smell of the electric oven, the taste of that first bite….oh it was too much to resist, I ate 6 of them with a strong cup of coffee…the were blissfully delicious! Paul couldn’t stop eating them either. Not sure we will have any left to share amongst guests, visitors or grandparents….oh well there is always the large Madaleine, or heart shaped chocolate biscuits to offer!

Jo-Jo's Coffee Kisses

This is how much I love you....

I don't fry food very often, I buy take away food even less, but as a show of love for my family today I made Jamie O's pop corn chicken and skinny fries again!

This is the second time I have made it and my kids absolutely adored it! It does make the house smell very oily and the cooker now looks like the local chippy but it was sooooo good!!!

What with the free range happy chicken from Rod my lovely butcher I am guaranteed no nasty bits, organic flour, cayenne pepper and seasoning its the absolute best. I might just invest in a deep fat fryer or is that asking for trouble?

This is how much I love you....

I don't deep fry very often, I buy take away food even less, but to show my family how much I love them this valentines day I made them Jamie O's Popcorn Chicken and skinny fries! The first time I made this was back in September, when I got his new book for my birthday (Jamie's America) and the kids absolutely loved it and have been begging me ever since to make it again!!

The house smells very oily and the cooker looks like the local chippy but it was definitely worth it, every one said how much nicer it was than KFC....yay, they love me!!!

What with the free range happy chicken from my lovely local butcher, organic plain flour, cayenne pepper and seasoning, what’s not to like!

I cut the chips in my food processor and fried them in the cayenne pepper oil, they were crispy crunchy and very very tasty!!!

Clean plates all round - Thanks Jamie!!!

Dr. Who fan's are going to love this...

I know I rave on about my Pampered Chef Stoneware  all the time but its fab...whether your making a simple snack of French bread pizza or a family size lasagne, it stands up to the job. However, did you know...if you carefully and with a slow rhythmm run the mini serving spatula down the length of the medium bar pan, it sound uncannily like Dr. Who’s Tardis landing??? No, seriously it does, Paul was in the hall, I was in the kitchen clearing the remains of the flapjacks out of the medium bar pan, with said implement and WOW….it was that life like Paul popped his head round the door expecting to see the police box!!! Try it and let me know if yours makes the same noise!

Here I split a part baked baguette, topped with a simple homemade tomato sauce, grated our favourite cheddar cheese and sprinkled it with roughly torn wafer thin ham...no need to stop at the kebab shop on the way home from the pub. Not when its this easy to make a late night snack. Cooking it on a medium bar pan  crisps up the outside of the bread but leaves the middle fluffy and soft. No warping, no hot spots and because it stays warm for up to 30 minutes, you can leave your second piece in the pan to keep warm, while you nom down the first...Delish!

Cornish Pasties in a well seasoned Classic Deep Dish Baker 

For the recipe click here or go to Marie's English Kitchen blog

Lemon & Garlic Roast Chicken. I will never cook a chicken in anything other than my Deep Dish Baker

My absolute favourite piece of stoneware has got to be my rectangular Baker. Big enough to cope with the hungry lot I feed and it makes the most wonderful lasange, crispy not burnt on the edges and cooked right through to the middle. Try Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghettii Sauce its the best!

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

Pampered Chef Pizza

First make the super quick pizza dough (printable recipe here). I always double the quantity and save one in the freezer for another day.

Roll dough straight onto your pizza stone using a baker roll

Here's my spare one for the freezer. I rolled it straight on to my rectangular stone 

Open freeze it directly on the stone, when frozen insert the long spreader between stone and pizza and lift frozen dough from stone. Wrap in greaseproof or pop in a freezer bag, date and label before storing back in the freezer!

I made my hidden vegetable sauce and spread it over the dough (printable recipe here)

Added grated cheese

My kids were being boring and wanted it plain but this is the time to heap on the toppings!

Cook it in the oven on 200c for 20 - 25 mintues or until the topping is bubbling and golden.

The Pampered Chef pizza stone cooks the dough to perfection, it was crispy right through to the middle...no soggy bottoms in this house!!!

Make double sauce, it freezes well and can be served with your spare pizza base OR heated and stirred through pasta

Pampered Chef Monster Puds!!!!

One of the kids favourite meals is sausage mash and onion gravy. I always have a stash of gravy in the freezer so its an easy meal for them to put together themselves. This was their last effort...look at the size of those puds!!!

The sausages (which were not small chipolatas) were lost on the plate with this monster pud towering above it. I think Jo has mastered the art of the pampered chef pudding, don't you?

Recipe
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Mix and place in your pampered chef 6 cup muffin stoneware pan
Cook in a hot oven for 30-35mins!

Weekend family food...no good for us IPD'rs

Spagetti carbonara...Jo's favourite!

Mini rolo tartlets

Sultana sponge with a crunchy sugar topping

Pampered Chef Tear & Share Bread

The basic recipe for this bread was demonstrated at Sarah's January cluster meeting. (This is the once a month training session for pampered chef consultants ).
At a cooking show this recipe demonstrates the 20cm saute pan among other things, but here I did it in the 25cm because we were greedy!!


First I melted a large knob of butter along with a small diced onion and a large clove of garlic, I allowed this to cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes for the onions to take on some colour. I then threw in some chopped chives.
Then I added 2 packs of Pillsbury dinner rolls, the ones from the chiller which I had cut in half. Turning them to coating with the onion-y garlic butter. The smell was amazing!!!

Before placing in the pre heated oven I sprinkled it with grated cheese then cooked for the required amount of time (check the back of the carton for cooking details.)

Absolutely amazing..soft, buttery with a great flavour from the garlic, onions and cheese. This would be great with chilli added...but that will have to wait until the kids are not around.

We filled them with parma ham...delicious!

Sausage & Tomato Pastry Pizza

With the run up to Christmas I am rushed off my feet, cooking tea at home is proving to be a chore at the moment so I am opting for simple cheats that fill them up, use up all the leftovers in the fridge and freezer which will give me space in the coming days...ready rolled puff pastry, homemade tomato sauce and thinly sliced cold sausage I found in the fridge (left overs from breakfast). This went down a treat

Brocolli Ham and Cheese Squares

Bex is the Mac 'n' Cheese queen and makes a mean cheese sauce from scratch, there is always leftovers in the fridge which they use to make these simple lunch time treats. Its also a great way to get them to eat broccoli as it is so finely chopped they get the goodness without the big tree crunchy bits!!! [Their words not mine!]

Unroll the puff pastry squares, cut into squares, score a frame for the filling and top with finely chopped broccoli, diced ham which has been mixed into the cheese sauce. There are no quantities for this recipe its just all done by eye!

Bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbling on top. Great served cold in a lunch box too!

DIY Breakfast!

First 'we' unrolled the dough, then placed Cadbury's chocolate squares at the wide part of the triangle...

Then we rolled them up and lightly brushed them with milk (note the Pampered chef silicone pastry brush...no more bristles in my pastry...and its super easy to clean AND dry...which my old one wasn't!)

Result!!! Freshly baked chocolate croissants for breakfast. I couldn't get a snap of the croissants broken open to show the chocolate gooey-ness inside as they were snaffled up too quickly!

Since making these the kids have discovered that if they spread the inside with chocolate spread it is even easier too make as the spread covers a wider area and doesn't need long to melt!

Beccy made this....

As this...

So I made this....waste not want not!!!!

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup (L'hamraak Garagh)

I made this as part of my Moroccan Menu. This is IPD friendly for phase 3 only. The recipe can be found here

Lunch Box Goodies

This basic recipe is a must for any busy Mum. I make huge batches of these, freezing most of them uncooked until I need them. I then pop them into a 180 Fan oven for 14 minutes allowing to cool on the pan before transfering to a cooling rack.

Basic Recipe

24oz Butter

24oz Sugar (white, light brown, demerara)

6 tablespoons Golden Syrup (original flavour or new maple flavour)

36oz Self Raising Flour

Flavour of your choice * see below

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar,
2. Add golden syrup and mix well
3. Add flour and mix to bind adding flavour as you go.
4. Roll into small balls, place on a greased baking sheet and either bake at 180c for 12 minutes or open freeze,* then bag & label once frozen
5. Allow to cool on baking sheet allowing to firm up slightly.
6. Transfer to cooling rack until cold.

* To cook from frozen place on baking sheet, (allow for spreading), cook for 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Flavour choices are endless but here are a few of our favourites!

• Chocolate chips, white, milk or plain
• White chocolate and raspberry
• Dried cranberry & white chocolate
• Orange zest & Plain chocolate (tastes like jaffa cakes)
• Ginger (either ground or candied)
• Orange zest and sultana
• Lemon zest
• Nuts & Raisin (various combinations on this one)
• Brazil & Plain chocolate chips made with maple golden syrup is out of this world

The flavours are endless, do tell me if you make this recipe with any different ones.

Kids wanted pasta with garlic sausage...

so I made it for them....



kids wholemeal pasta from Asda. Now I don't usually favour one supermarket over the rest as I think you should shop as local as possible and cut out the big nasties but you gotta love Asda for their child size wholemeal pasta!

78p per bag....BARGAIN!!

Beccy's Cookie Cake

Beccy makes this 'Original nestles toll house chocolate chip pan cake' recipe at the drop of a hat. she first tasted it in our local pizza hut and came home asking me to find a recipe for it so she could recreated it as and when she fancied it. I search the Internet and found this on Nosh with me This link will take you to the recipe. Beccy says its exactly the same as the Pizza hut one and its quick and easy to make too.

I'm so proud of my 13 year old!

When I nipped out to Morrison's I left Jo with her head in the fridge....when I got back she had cooked herself this....

Ready for the oven

She said I could post it here on the condition that she gets credit for it!

"No palming it off as your own" were her exact words...cheek of it, as if I would!

Microwave Meringue

How amazing are these? I got this recipe from the lady who runs the adult cookery club at work. Beccy made these last week and there were very simple to make.

1. Take one large egg white only,
2. Add 9 oz of icing sugar and mix until it forms a fudge like dough.
3. Divide the mixture into nine and roll each portion into a ball.
4. Place 3 balls at a time into the microwave and cook on high for 50 seconds.
5. Remove and set aside to set while you cook the rest.
6. Once the meringues have hardened you can serve piled high with fruit and cream.

Jo-Jo's Rolo Chocolate Tarts

Simply pop a Rolo into each sweet pastry lined mini muffin tin and bake for 10 minutes in a medium oven... top with a white chocolate button while the rolo is still warm and then allow to cool.

...they turn out like little chocolate tarts. No photos of the finished cooked tarts as her and her friends scoffed them all up!
Note: If you pop the rolo chocolate in upside down, they cook a little better, the toffee doesn't spurt out and the white chocolate drop sits better on the melted rolo... just a tip ;-)

Please note fresh thinly rolled homemade pastry takes 10 minutes in a 200c preheated fan oven, shop bought pastry takes a little longer 15 minutes depending on thickness.