Cookery Challenge - 'Five on Friday'

Hello there, I'm just back from the WI (Women's Institute). I'm very pleased to have won 1st place with my Robin WYS Socks... photo on the side panel. The pattern is from Winwick Mum's tutorial on her blog here. Each month the WI have a competition, April was to knit a pair of socks. There's also a flower of the month too, you bring in a flower from the garden. The best are awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd. These two items each month gain you points that are totted up at the end of the year, for the March AGM. The competition for May is to knit a Helicopter in the Lincs & Notts air ambulance colours... watch this space ha ha. 

I've challenged myself to cook more the last few weeks. I've tried new things from 2 x cookery books, a youtube channel that I follow and a lady called Karen's blog. 

First: These are called 'Ears', I found these on a Youtube video by 'Bayley Made It' I subscribe to her channel, she used to do minimalism but now does a bit of that plus knitting, makes and buys etc. I took these for the shared supper at March's WI, this finishes off the evening whilst the raffle is called and you get chance to chat more over a cuppa or glass of wine. The competition is announced during the supper too. 

To make the Ears, you'll need a sheet of puff pastry. Sprinkle finely chopped onion, grated cheese and 2 slices of finely chopped bacon. Roll it tight on the long edge. Cut the rolled pastry in half, then each half cut in half... repeat until you have 16 ear shapes. Lay them on a baking sheet and cook as sausage rolls. These are perfect with soups or buffets.   

Second: Tonight's dinner was a Salmon loaf, very easy though I cooked 2 salmon fillets rather than tinned salmon. As the salmon was cooked, flaked and hot mixed with the hot mashed potatoes and all the other ingredients, I baked it for just 30 minutes. It was delicious, I'd definitely make it again. 

Third: Baked some bread with 750g bread flour, 2 x tsp salt, 25g marg or lard, 1 sachet fast action dried yeast, 3/4 pint water. 
Next time I'd only use 1 tsp salt as it was salty tasting. I used butter as I have low fat spread (not suitable for cooking). 
The method that I use is in the Kenwood big bowl mixer with the dough hook. Mix on slow for 2 mins, then 5 mins on a faster speed. Then flatten on a floured worktop, fold the ends in to make 3 layers. Place in greased or lined tin, cover and leave to rise - double in size. Conveniently the slow cooker had finished cooking our dinner of Spaghetti Bolognaise, so I took the crock pot out, put and small china dish inside and stood the covered loaf tin on the dish inside. The heat helped the rise without being too hot. It took an hour to rise and 35 mins to bake, 220*c approx.
Recipe from McDougalls Better Baking cook book. 

Fourth: I call this Strawberry Fluff, the recipe is here. It only has 2 ingredients, a red jelly packet and a small tin of evaporated milk. Nothing fancy as it's typically a wartime recipe (no I wasn't born then). 
Make up the jelly and chill, when nearly set, whisk the evaporated milk, then combine and whisk. Chill in the fridge and serve. 

Sorry we'd started this and the bread before I snapped the photo!

Fifth: Easter nests, or one big nest as bizarrely I didn't have any cup cases left. Since not eating eggs, I've cleared out lots from my cupboards, including the cup cases! So one big nest it is! Cadbury's chocolate bar 200g (a Easter present from a customer), cornflakes and a packet of mini eggs. Melt the chocolate and stir in cornflakes in batches, checking they are all coated in chocolate. Press down gently in the cake tin liner, adding the mini eggs. Place in the fridge until needed. 

So on a high note of winning first prize for my knitted socks, I wish you a lovely weekend. Let me know if you are inspired to try any of these recipes.
Cathy x

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May Cookery Book

Hello there, it's been a while since Penny at The Homemade Heart ran her Cookery Calendar Challenge. I'd fully intended to carry on with it regardless but... I didn't. Strangely I've missed the challenge of finding 2 meals to cook from a cookery book each month. So I thought I would dust off some of my forgotten cookery books again and see which ones inspire me to 'have a go' and which ones I'll be sending to the charity shop.

Whilst testing food on the Fodmap diet, I've been put me off baking and experimenting with new meals lately. With tomato seeming to be an issue still, I've decided to 'try' and embrace change. I may not be able to eat all that I want but I can eat more than I thought.

So on 'my' continuing mission, these are the voyages of my celebration of food, its continuing mission to feed my family, to seek out new ingredients and enjoy long forgotten ones. To boldly go where I've not been for a very long time.

Unlike Star Trek, I won't be exploring the galaxy, instead I'll explore the pantry and bookshelf. I'll be using the above cookbook which the teens bought me last year for Mother's Day. I should point out that though it says Grandma's Cookbook, I am not a Grandma. It is a lovely book but I confess, I've only chosen one recipe to cook this time. I've found a few others that I'd like but as yet I've not made them.

Banana and Poppy Seed Muffins

To get me started I chose a recipe from the breakfast section - Banana and Poppy Seed Muffin. I made mine with gluten free flour, a mixed blend from Doves flour. I have some in the pantry still and I've become accustomed to the texture, though it can be grainy and dry, it's not sticky like regular flour can be. People who don't eat cake will often say that it's the stickiness around their teeth that they dislike.

Apart from pastry, I prefer the non-stickiness of gluten free baking. I appreciate that Coeliacs and other restricted diets don't have a choice and have to stick with a gluten free diet. People sometimes chose - 'opting' for certain diets such as gluten free, vegetarian or vegan which unfortunately can be contentious in restaurants or social gatherings etc but we are free to chose and that's got to be good. 

I'm not sure if these are classed as healthy muffins, the fat is an oil. I'm assuming the more liquid the fat, the healthier it is. Baking for dairy free friends last summer, I substituted butter in some cakes for dairy free fat. I suppose you can swap things around however you need to. They taste delicious in a small dish with natural yoghurt and would equally be nice with a soft cheese icing - such as the topping on a carrot cake.

You do need 3 well ripened bananas, which the recipe requires you to mash first before adding to the rest of the ingredients. Did I do this... no. I simply broke the banana into chunks and tossed them and all the other ingredients in my Braun Multipractic Food Processor. Placing the bowl on the scales, I weighed everything with the blade in place. Then attaching it on the base, processed everything until smooth.

Delia Smith (love her cookery books) would probably be screaming nooo! as she advises lots of air to be incorporated in cakes. As long as it mixes well and preferably doesn't curdle, all will be well. I tend to favour the all-in-one method and always make pastry in my Braun mixer too.

Bacon and Mushroom Quiche

These quiches weren't in the book but I simply fancied cooking them for dinner. Maybe they aren't the sort of thing that Grandmas cook, I'm not sure? Anyway I love making quiche and though I always make variations upon quiche lorraine, I'm constantly improving them all the time. I resent paying for small tasteless things from the supermarkets. I've tried baking the pastry blind and using beans (clay ones) on the base, in the past. This time was ok, no leaks but my pastry base was a bit raw! Any advice would be appreciated.

My quiches are baked in large 12" tins, I always bake two as it's convenient for tomorrow's dinner. These are made with regular flour, in a preheated oven with the tins placed on top of metal trays to make the bases hot. I painted egg yoke on after 15 mins but then sprinkled grated cheese on before the other ingredients.

The fillings are:- (shared between both) - Grated cheese, cooked streaky bacon cut small, a drained tin of mushrooms, black pepper, herbs, double cream and 4 eggs plus 2 extra yokes whisked together. The pastry was shortcrust using 1 lb plain flour, 8 oz fat (I used half cookeen and butter) and cold water to bind into a dough. We cooked the quiche for tonight's dinner, one with chips and a salad, tomorrow we'll eat the other one with a jacket potato and salad.

QT would like to thank you for reading about his life during May. He received a surprising amount of lovely comments which he felt he should respond to purr-sonally. He's quite the little superstar, though as a Maine Coon cat he is slightly larger than your average sized domestic cat. He is quite long and stands tall on his long legs. He's been taking your advice this week, including more rest time in his busy retirement schedule of  'plenty of sleep.'
We love him to bits and think he's worth it.

What do you like to cook that you won't purchase ready made?
Do you have a recipe that you are hoping to improve on?
Do you do batch baking and if so what?

Bye for now
Cathy x