Toad in the hole with Bramley Gravy for Yorkshire Pudding Day!

How's that for a bit of neat assimilation of two "food days"?

Sunday was Yorkshire Pudding Day - which just happened to fall within Bramley Apple Week - so, we had some Bramley Apple Gravy with our Toad in the Hole.  Very nice it was, too!

Yorkshire Pudding Day is the brainchild of Florence Sandeman of Recipes4us.co.uk.

You can read all about the day and why she felt the humble Yorkie required its own day, here.  She makes a good argument for the homely dish - which dates back to the 1700's, apparently.

I think that if I'd have been born in the 1700's and lived until now, I still wouldn't have cracked the conundrum of making a good Yorkshire Pudding.  I do think that there are some things that are just beyond a person's capabilities, because of an inherent imbalance between their own ability and what is required to achieve the goal.  Such is the situation with me and Yorkshire Pudding - which is why dear hubby got the job of making this Toad in the Hole.

I have to admit to railroading him somewhat into making the Bramley gravy, as he knew we were in Bramley Apple Week and he had a slight reservation over his Toad in the Hole being sufficiently interesting enough for a Sunday dinner.  When I found the recipe on BBC Good Food, I thought it sounded just perfect - as indeed, it was.

I won't go into the recipe for Toad in the Hole here again - you can just click on the link and be taken to it.

However, the Bramley Apple gravy was so good - and would be perfect for a pork chop dish, never mind sausages - that I've included the recipe (such as it is) below :


BRAMLEY APPLE GRAVY 

Ingredients :


Olive oil
2 onions, sliced
level tsp dried Sage
1 large Bramley Apple, peeled, cored and diced
500ml pork or chicken stock
1 tsp mushroom ketchup.

Method :

1.  Heat the olive oil in a suitable sized saucepan and add the onions.  Cook until dark golden brown and caramelised, which should take around 20-25 minutes on a medium heat.


2.  Add the dried sage and the apple cubes and continue to cook until the apple has taken on a little colour - around 2-3 minutes.


3.  Add the stock and mushroom ketchup and cook, reducing, until the apple has begun to break down.


4.  Using a hand blender, blitz to remove any hint of lumps from the gravy.


5.  Season to taste.


6.  Serve.
 

A new risotto through to meatballs and Yorkshire Pudding day - the meal plan

I have made a new resolution.

Yes, I know it's not the right day for new resolutions, but I figure it's better late than never.

My new resolution is to knuckle down to telling you all about what's on the menu plan for the coming week, on a Tuesday - the beginning of that week.  Now obviously, it's not going to happen that way every week, because my life just doesn't allow things to be that organised.  However, the intention is there - and it's a good place to start.

So, here's what's on the list :

Tues : Pizza (spot the cop-out!)

Weds : Bramley apple, black pudding & bacon risotto

Thurs : Turkey & chorizo meatballs with pesto spaghetti

Fri : Minced beef, mashed potato & vegetables

Sat : Spicy chicken wraps, mexican hash browns & coleslaw

Sun : Toad in the hole with vegetables

Mon : Chilli-con-healthy with soda bread rolls.

Yes, tonight's dinner of Pizza is a total cop-out - but sometimes you just want to have a break from all the preparation and the washing up.  As much as I enjoy creating dishes, cooking them and most importantly, eating them, sometimes you just have to have a day off.

We're back in harness again on Wednesday, or more to the point, hubby is back in harness.  He's cooking a new risotto, one which we dreamt up in honour of Bramley Apple Week.  We devised the ingredients and contemplated the cooking method and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, came up with this recipe for Bramley apple, black pudding & bacon risotto.  I think it sounds completely delicious, but you'll just have to wait for the blog post to find out whether it was or not!

Thursday is another of our dreamt up recipes, which evolved from wondering what to do with two chicken breasts - and wound up with turkey mince and two chorizo sausages that are lurking in the fridge.  The obvious answer was to make them into meatballs and serve them with pesto coated spaghetti.  Simple - except we've still got the two chicken breasts hiding out in the freezer.

Now I do try to schedule in at least a couple of meals that son & heir is guaranteed to like, per week.  Poor soul, as a bit of a picky teenager (one of the worst times for food likes & dislikes, I think), he is often faced with his worst nightmare where food is concerned but will generally give it a go.  This is why I try to schedule in a couple of his favourites.  This week, the first of these is good old minced beef, mashed potato and vegetables.  He would, of course, prefer to abandon the vegetables part of the meal altogether, but my insistence on his not being 99% carnivorous, 1% mashed potato-ist, ensures that at least a few veggies disappear down his gullet occasionally.

The next son & heir friendly meal is the Spicy Chicken Wraps.  These consist of shop-bought chicken in a spicy coating which is oven baked then sliced and put in a wrap along with some lettuce, salsa and sour cream.  Hubby has had an idea where the current favourite of hash browns are concerned and is intending on Mexican-ing them up with the addition of a sprinkling of chilli powder, cumin and salt.  I shall be abstaining from this delicacy and going for the coleslaw option.

Sunday, believe it or not, is Yorkshire Pudding Day.  Now I'm not guaranteeing that we stay with this plan, but currently we're intending on having a Toad in the Hole, which hubby has agreed to make as his Yorkshire is a whole lot more reliable than ever mine has been.  There is an outside possibility that we might flip this to one side in favour of a different incarnation of Yorkshire Pudding meal, but at the moment, the Toad is a goer.

Monday brings the re-submission of the Chilli con healthy from last week.  Because of a sudden yearning for a Doner Kebab, this got bumped from last week's menu list - but not before I'd bought all the ingredients for it.  I'm looking forward to it, as although it has an anxiety inducing name, the method is exactly how we'd produce a chilli - except the spicing is slightly different.  Should not only be interesting, but nice!

I've a number of extra cooking projects in mind, too.  Because of Bramley Apple Week, I'm intending on making an apple cake - maybe the Dorset Apple Slab, which I've been intending to make ever since we arrived in Dorset and found out about it!  I've also got a recipe for Maple Apple Muffins formulating in the back of my head.  We'll see whether it makes it to daylight or not!

National Dairy Week is supposed to kick off on the 3rd February (Friday).  Currently, I can't see that anyone (the Dairy Council, National Cheese Board - always makes me smile, that one) is doing very much in relation to that, but I've got ideas for a Greek Yoghurt and Passion Fruit dessert, plus some yummy Cheese Scones, at the very least!

Oh - and don't forget, Valentine's Day is trotting into view!  I've got some recipes up my sleeve with this in mind, but maybe it's too early to reveal, just yet.

I just have to share something, before I go, which is that Sainsbury's (following on from their featuring Rhubarb & Ginger on their Family Finance Blog) have invited me to be a member of the Sainsbury’s Finance Family Blogger Network!

 

The network is an informal network of family friendly bloggers that they think share Sainsbury’s values.  Apparently, this will mean I'll have an entry to their Best Family Blog Award and an opportunity to guest blog on their Finance blog, Money Matters.

I'm currently quite ridiculously excited by this - and am very much looking forward to finding out more!

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Parsimonious Meal Planning

Amalfi Lemons

Well, last week's meal plan got thrown into total disarray owing to Alfie the Amalfi Lemon Coloured Skoda (in horsey terminology) throwing a shoe on the way home.  As we were driving along, I heard an ominous "POP!" followed by a clip-clip-clip-clip noise as the wheels turned.  Looking in the door mirrors at the problem area didn't show up any problems and as we were so close to home, I continued on.

However, having inspected the source of the noise, discovered a dirty great chunk of aluminium piercing the rear tyre.  *sigh* 

Alfie the Skoda - see the similarity in colour?

Having dropped off the dawgies, we got back in the car and went directly to Kwik Fit, where they relieved us of £50-odd and replaced the same tyre that they replaced only three or four months ago.  *bigger sigh*

All of which has made a tight situation even tighter - so "austerity measures" are in effect, this week.

Last week's Jambalaya, the pork dish and the beef stew all got thrown out in favour of a trip to the chippy (chip butties for hubby, a saveloy, sausage in batter & pea fritter for me plus saveloys & chips for son & heir), chicken curry and high tea (which utilised all the leftovers from Boxing Day that were still in the freezer).

In the meantime, hubby appears to have been struck down with some dreadful lurgy or another and is completely off his feed - which is jolly helpful from an economy point of view, but not very good for him!  I've been tempting him back into eating with tins of Heinz Cream of Chicken Soup and little temptilicious tasties like scones, but it is something of an uphill battle.  Fingers crossed, he'll be feeling better soon, poor chap!

So, what's on the menu list for this week, now we're watching the pennies even more than usual?

Well, it looks like this :

Tues : Seared haddock, pea & watercress puree with oven chips

Wed : Minced beef, mashed potato, broccoli, carrots & peas

Thur : Steak pie, carrot & swede mash, broccoli & peas

Fri : Sausage Pie, baked beans & oven chips

Sat : Spiced chicken legs, baked sweet potatoes & salad

Sun : Toad in the hole, carrot & swede mash, broccoli & peas

Mon : Pasta Bolognese.

You'll note that we're going to be indulging in quite a few occasions of broccoli, swede, carrots and peas!  This is largely because they are infinitely affordable, keep well (especially the peas, which are frozen) and in the case of the swede, because Asda delivered twice the amount I was asking for!

Thin, haddock postage stamps - is what it should say!

So, to kick off with last night's Seared Haddock - this was only my second go at cooking fish in this way.  Yes, I know.  Where have I been?  Avoiding cooking fish, that's where I've been.  For a long time I didn't enjoy the taste of fish, but things change - and I've got a bit more confident in attempting techniques that are new to me.

I thought a piece of plain fish might be useful for hubby's complaint, too - although by the time I'd finished cooking it to blue blazes (to make sure there was nothing that might affect his tummy adversely), I suspect he'd have been better off with a piece of fish flavoured cardboard.  *sigh*  Oh well.

Anyway, the larger pieces of fish (oh, and don't get me started on that gnarly subject, either.  I'll save that for the blog post!) cooked fairly well even though I was completely cack-handed at turning them in the pan.  Son & heir enjoyed his dinner, as did I, so with better sized pieces of fish I'd even give this another go.

Tonight is plain old minced beef with mashed potato and vegetables.  Funnily enough, this is one of my favourite dinners.  Neither hubby nor I are eating mashed potato any more, so I've been getting ready-made chiller cabinet mash, which son & heir reports is thoroughly palatable.

Thursday's steak pies are another cop-out, in that they are shop-bought individual pies.  Well, they claim to contain 80% beef which - if true - will make a change from 40-50% which is the norm.  Yes, I could have bought the beef and made the pies - but for £2.50 for a pack of 4?  I don't think so.

Friday brings a return to home prepared and cooked meals, with the Sausage Pie from www.goodfoodchannel.co.uk website.  It's a Tamasin Day-Lewis recipe, so is suitably quirky, involving sausage meat, sage and prunes!   I might even risk the censure of the family and make my own pastry.

However, I won't hear a word against the Spiced chicken legs that are on the menu for Saturday, as they also come from the same site - but the recipe belongs to the exalted and god-like form of Galton Blackiston, who can do no wrong in my eyes.

Don't argue with a man holding shellfish!

It is actually an incredibly simple recipe (and we like those!) involving marinading the chicken in a collection of almost-barbecue type ingredients overnight.  I'm aiming to buy chicken legs as our local butcher has them at 65p each - but I have a secret chicken breast lurking in the freezer if hubby is still poorly by then.  I know a chicken breast will go down far better with him, than ever a leg would!

I think some baked sweet potatoes will go well with the spicy marinade for the chicken - and together with a bit of salad, should get some good vitamins & minerals into those who need them!

Mind you - it'll probably snow if I go down the salad route!

However, I've planned for that - because Sunday's Toad in the hole should be just the job, whatever the weather's doing.  I just need to be brave about heating the oil before adding the batter.  Be brave, Jenny, be brave!

Pasta bolognese should round the week off nicely.  We always like a bolognese - and it's another good way of using up small amounts of vegetables that are lurking with no home to go to.

The meat involved in this week's menu list totals, a bag of frozen fish, two packs of beef mince, a pack of four individual pies, some chicken legs and two packs of sausages.  Reckon they shouldn't break the bank.

The veggie list involves : a bag of watercress, a bag of frozen peas, a pot of mashed potato, 1kg carrots, 400g broccoli, swede (3, according to Asda!) and some salad bits.  Could be worse.

Add in a bag of frozen oven chips at £1, plus a tin of baked beans and the tomato involvement in the bolognese - and I reckon we'll cope.

I doubt there'll be much extra-curricular cooking going on this week - but that leaves room for a mad flurry of the same, come next week!

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Toad in the hole - at last!

Those of you who have been following along from the beginning on Rhubarb & Ginger will recall what a torrid time I've always had, with yorkshire pudding.  Don't ask me why, but I just seem to be incapable of producing a yorkshire pudding batter that will rise satisfactorily.

Hence, when hubby started yearning for a Toad in the Hole, my heart sank.  Two or three times I've attempted this retro classic and not one of them has finished satisfactorily.  On one spectacular occasion, the batter refused to rise and set like some malevolent swamp around the poor sausages.  The best I've ever achieved consisted of a risen edge with swamp-like centre.  Either way, it's not good.

So, knowing hubby's good track record with all things floury (he's not known as the "Artisan Bagel Baker" for nothing), I suggested he might like to have a crack at producing a Hole suitable for several toads.

Probably because he's had first hand experience of my spectacular difficulties with yorkshire pudding in general, he thought this was a good idea.  Hence, last Friday, there he was in the kitchen surrounded by bags of flour, bottles of milk and a small mountain of chipolata sausages.

He made use of an allrecipes.co.uk recipe from the interestingly named "stablespy".  This recipe gave a bog-standard yorkshire pudding batter and dealt with the whole process like as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

Well, it appears that - to hubby - making a Toad in the Hole indeed IS the easiest thing in the world!  Hurrah!

As you can see from the photographs, his touch with all things floury does extend to making yorkshire pudding batter.  The toad is beautifully risen, browned evenly and delicious.  The chipolatas (they were on special offer) weren't burned (mine always burn on their ends) and everything was flipping gorgeous.

So, in honour of the occasion, here's the recipe that did the job.  Unfortunately, I can't let you have use of hubby to cook it for you, as he's busy.  Yes, incredibly busy.  Far too busy to come and do your cooking.  ::: nods :::  Yup.

TOAD IN THE HOLE  (serves 4)

Ingredients :

8 pork sausages (or a whole shedload of chipolatas)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
225g plain flour
4 eggs
250ml milk (we used whole milk)
salt and pepper to taste.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 200deg C/Gas Mark 6.

2.  Pour the oil into the bottom of a deep baking dish and arrange the sausages over it in a single layer.  Bake for 10 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

3.  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs and half the milk until smooth.  Gradually mix in the rest of the milk until a smooth batter is achieved.  Season with salt & pepper.

4.  Remove the sausages from the oven and pour the batter over them until the sausages are three-quarters covered.  Return to the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the centre is risen and browned.

5.  Serve.

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Keeping the planning straight in the face of many changes!

It all boils down to this .....

For once, there's a fairly good reason why this meal planning post is a tad delayed.

I put the plan together on Monday evening, as usual.  Then, that evening, I watched "The Food Hospital" on Channel 4 (all about using food as medicine), which reminded me that I was going to try to find the website which gave the Inflammation Factor for various foodstuffs.

Versus this!

Having done so, I quickly realised that a great number of the foodstuffs that I had been eating were right up there on the scale of "foods that are really bad for people with inflammatory conditions".  If you consider that both Polymyalgia Rheumatica (inflammation of the blood vessels) and Arthritis (inflammation of the joints) are both conditions that have contributed towards my current disability, then perhaps I needed to do something about it.

Hence, my diet has changed fairly radically - and the menu plan had to be changed along with it. Interestingly, it didn't have to be changed all that much.  I had planned to have Macaroni Cheese on one evening, which has had to be ditched, but otherwise everything else has stayed (pretty much) the same.  It's more a case of changing what I had for breakfast and lunch, rather than the dinner meal.  In brief, the dietary changes involve the loss of a great deal of carbohydrate and the input of foodstuffs with positive scores for inflammation such as mackerel (+465), chilli (+498), green leafy veg etc.

I've got to say, that although I am missing our oaty bread (-49 for 1 ounce), I am absolutely cock-a-hoop about increasing my vegetable consumption.  I absolutely adore veggies of all kinds, so to be "forced" to eat more of them is so far up my street that it's not even funny.

You may notice a change in the types of dishes I'm blogging about, but it will be interesting to see how that change manifests itself - if at all!

No doubt I'll bore you all to tears with talk of "Inflammation Factor" scores (breakfast today - mackerel & horseradish on toast - scored +350, for instance).

So, it's probably a good thing that I didn't do all of this until Monday evening - which was after we'd been to Macdonalds to cheer up a very glum Son & heir.  (It worked, he was much more cheerful after a "Big Tasty" burger).

Here's the plan for this week :

Tues : Macdonalds - Big Tasty burgers all round!

Weds : Prawn Patia, Saag Bhajee & white rice

Thurs : son - pizza, adults - Bacon & brussels sprout risotto

Fri : Chicken & Tenderstem® casserole with cheddar dumplings

Sat : Toad in the hole with carrots, swede & Tenderstem® broccoli

Sun : Roast gammon ham with baked Mozzarella gnocchi

Mon : BBQ glazed pork steaks with baked sweet potatoes and peas.

There now, doesn't really sound like "diet" food does it?  I would say that's because it really isn't "diet" food.  For instance, with the chicken casserole with cheddar dumplings - I will have more of the vegetables than the chicken and dumplings.  So dishes that might score a potential negative score, I'll just have more of the positive scoring elements.  Easy!

I was looking forward to making the Prawn Patia (which is an Anjum Anand recipe) and had sourced an alternative Spinach Bhajee recipe from a curry recipe book that we'd had for donkey's years.

In the event, the Patia was fairly successful but the Spinach wasn't.  At all.  Anyway, I'll leave the explanation of that for the blog posting or I'll be repeating myself - and considering I'm taking Cod Liver Oil capsules at the moment, that's the last thing I want to be doing!

Hubby had a mad rush of blood to the head on Thursday and, instead of making a Bacon, Mushroom & Sundried Tomato risotto, he opted for a Bacon & Brussels Sprout risotto!  This from the man who professes to abhor Brussels Sprouts!  Is it any wonder I get confused?

I'm afraid that again, this is one which will have to wait until its own blog post to be explained fully.  However, the fact that it is getting its own blog post should tell you that I thought it was remarkably successful.

This evening (Friday), we've just had the Chicken & Tenderstem® Broccoli Casserole with Cheddar Dumplings and it was really lovely.  Well done Jo Pratt for putting together such a yummy casserole dish.  If you're curious ahead of the blog post, you can find its original format on the Tenderstem website here.  You won't be surprised to hear that I tinkered about with the recipe a little bit!


Tomorrow is hubby's first go at a Toad in the Hole.  He's bought some lovely chipolata sausages to have in the Toad, as he has a theory as to the length of time a sausage takes to cook -v- the depth of the Yorkshire pudding batter.  We've even bought a new roasting pan especially for the Toad, such is our dedication to getting it right.


I'm looking forward to this one, as I am completely useless at making Yorkshire Pudding. It will be interesting to see how hubby gets on with it - and fingers crossed that he gets a lovely crispy, risen Toad in the hole.


As I said in my last blog post, I am opting for easier dinners on a Sunday for the foreseeable future.  As such, this Sunday I shall be pot-roasting a gorgeous piece of Gammon, which we'll be having with Baked Gnocchi with Spinach, Tomato and Mozzarella (instead of Mascarpone).  Both are simple "assemble, cook and serve" dishes which should go well together.  Hopefully, I'll be capable of getting from the kitchen to the living room this time!

I'm really looking forward to Monday's dinner.  Not because of the pork, although the BBQ glaze sounds really delicious - and I absolutely adore pork - but because of the baked sweet potatoes.  I'll be making chilli cream to go in them again and just know they'll be utterly gorgeous.


Now, as far as additional bits of cooking are concerned, in the pipeline for this week I have a recipe for a lovely Cream of Celery Soup, using some truly gorgeous Fenland Celery that was sent to me to try.  I find it completely bizarre that you can't get Cream of Celery soup any longer and wonder what the majority of the celery crop gets used for!  It probably gets sent abroad because us Brits are useless at finding uses for it - like so many of our fine produce.


Aside from that, I'm just waiting for Son & heir's birthday cake to be finished, whereupon I'll be making an Avocado Pound Cake.  Hopefully this will happen before the beginning of December, as I want to enter the Avocado Brotherhood's "Blog an Avo" competition!


Oh, and of course, I'm trying to find suitable things to have for breakfast.  Breakfast seems to be the hardest meal to fulfil without using carbohydrates.  After all, we get so used to eating cereal and toast!

Jonty is hopeful of a taste!

So far this week, I've had tinned mackerel & horseradish on one slice of toast - which as I said above, worked out to be a positive IF score even with the one slice of toast.  I also had a fresh orange, which bumped the score up a bit.  A spectacular success was the cherry tomato, parsley and chilli omelette (see above), followed by a Kiwi Fruit, which went down extremely well - although timing helps with that one. I tend to have my breakfast when I return home from taking Son & heir to school - which makes eating things like mackerel and chilli a lot easier.  I couldn't eat any of that, having just got out of bed!  Even a cup of tea is often a challenge, first thing in the morning.

If anyone has any bright ideas as to savoury or fruity (particularly citrus - but not grapefruit) items that don't include carbohydrates that can be eaten for breakfast, I'm all ears!

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Adaptable meal planning to include a birthday

It's son & heir's 13th birthday on Halloween - the 31st October.  Yes, he's a Halloween baby - and we brought him home from the hospital on Guy Fawkes' Night.  There's two dates I'll never forget!

As a consequence, this week's meal planning is going to have to be adaptable in the extreme owing to the rate at which our plans have changed.  So far, I think we're onto Plan E or F - all of which might change, depending on when his friends are available.

However, we have a plan at the moment - and I'm hoping it'll hold!

Here's how it's looking :

Tues : Posh Porks, carrots, tenderstem broccoli & white rice

Weds : Leek & Bacon Bake, celeriac mash, carrots & peas

Thurs : Minced Beef & Onion Pie, carrots, swede & green beans

Fri : Chicken & Cheesy Dumpling casserole

Sat : Toad in the hole, chips & baked beans

Sun : Roast Chicken, chipolatas, roast potatoes & parsnips, carrots, broccoli,

Sage & Onion Stuffing, bread sauce & Yorkshire puddings

Mon : Coronation Chicken Wraps with chips.

Tonight's Posh Porks (which you may recall was scheduled for last week, but never made it) may very well be under threat already, as we forgot to take the pork out of the freezer this morning.  So we may opt for Fish & Chips tonight and move it on to tomorrow.  However, all that is actually okay as it is good to have a dinner "in hand" so to speak (and a relatively easy dinner too) just in case plans change.

However, let's assume that plans don't change, the pork defrosts in time and the plan continues, with Wednesday offering a reprise of another dish I first cooked before I was writing Rhubarb & Ginger.  It involves cutting the leeks into little logs and laying them into a baking dish.  Add bacon, creme fraiche, breadcrumbs and cheese and bake.  I can remember that we all very much enjoyed this the last time around, so see no reason why it shouldn't go down well again.

I was planning on using up the other half of the celeriac (a good source of Vit. K) with some mashing potatoes for celeriac mash and pairing it with some carrots (for Vit. A and beta-carotene) and peas (Vit. C).  Simple, but very nice with it - and has the added benefit of getting lots of lovely vegetables into a reluctant teenager.  If only he knew how good for him all these lovely vegetables were - and began to look at them in a different light - it would make my meal planning a whole different affair!

Artist's impression : Beef & Onion Pie

Thursday brings a new venture for hubby.  He's going to have a go at making rough puff pastry - and converting it into a Minced Beef & Onion Pie.  He's never made a pie from scratch before, so we'll both be interested in the results!  We're pairing his pie with the ever-popular carrot, some swede and green beans.  Goodness, but the boys won't be getting scurvy this week!

Friday's casserole is a recipe I discovered when I was learning more about the lovely Tenderstem Broccoli and was browsing the website dedicated to it.   You can find the original recipe here - and plenty more!

I like the sound of the casserole part with its chicken, shallots, bacon & carrots.  The boys like the sound of the herby cheddar dumplings.  We all love Tenderstem Broccoli, so sounds like a deal, to me!

My last effort - let's hope it's better than this!

Now we're getting into delicate territory from the Plan's point of view, come Saturday.  Son & heir plus a pal, are supposed to be spending the day at a local tourist attraction.  Because of his new-found age and responsibility (yes, I am crossing my fingers as I say that) he's going to be allowed to go without parental accompaniment.  Needless to say, we'll be on the end of the telephone ready to bail him out should anything untoward occur, so of necessity, Saturday's dinner needs to be simple.

So maybe hubby's first go at making Toad in the Hole isn't such a great idea for that night?  *chuckle*  Pray for calm seas and a following wind - we'll get through it somehow.

Sunday is demonstrating all the tell-tale signs of a day in which the parents of the birthday boy are going to be needing to de-stress.  Probably in an armchair with regular applications of coffee, tea and as we go through to the evening, a light alcoholic beverage.  So I'm gong to be making a no-holds-barred, full blown, going for it kind of roast dinner.  I must need my head examining, but I'm told that the key to successful production is in the preparation, so I'll be doing all I can before kick-off is announced.

At last, on Monday (and the day upon which poor old birthday boy has to return to school) the long-awaited birthday will dawn.  He's already said that he doesn't want to receive any birthday presents until he returns home from school, but we'll see how long that resolve lasts!

I did ask him what he wanted for dinner on his birthday and didn't get much response.  As a result, we're having my interpretation of his favourite dinner of the moment - Coronation Chicken Wraps.   I know, in the past, he's said that he could eat these until he was sick - and we'll prevent him from getting that far - but hopefully, they'll be well received.  Add to that a huge slice of chocolate birthday cake (ssssshhhh! Don't tell!) and - fingers crossed - we're sorted for the week.

Oh!  One quick note before I go - last night's Full English Breakfast (eaten at dinnertime) was divine.  Top marks to hubby for a superb dinner - and yes, I did make it through the lot.  Just.

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Chicken breasts and Shin of Beef

We’ve not long come back from doing the main food shopping for the week and I find myself unaccountably pleased at our purchases made from the local butcher.

Not the shin I bought - but shin nonetheless

Apart from the fact that he couldn’t supply us with a rabbit (although he did recommend a place that could – we’ll pop in there on Friday), we picked up another five chicken breasts for £5, together with 600g of Shin of Beef for a beef stew tomorrow, which cost us the princely sum of £2.something (neither of us can quite remember how many pence the “something” represents), but either way, it’s a fabulous price for some “real” beef.  I say “real” beef, because somehow beef bought from a supermarket just doesn’t feel “real”.  You have no idea how old it is, nor do you know which bit of the cow you’ve got.  I also wonder, sometimes, whether it’s been previously frozen and they’re just not saying.

It’s silly, I know, but I got all nervous about going to the butcher.  Just in case the prices turn out to be horrendously more expensive than the supermarket, or I get asked questions that I’ve no answer to and so wind up looking like a fool.  Lord knows, I should be used to looking like a fool – it happens that often, but it never sits comfortably with me.  However, all was well and we had a nice little chat with him while he was serving us – all about ~shrug~ cutting the grass.

I think all that is why I feel so happy about it.  I’ve always wanted to find a local butcher that I could go to and feel comfortable about asking questions, plus I could have a little chat with, just like two human beings.  I remember my Nanna would shop like that – and it’s so much nicer than the impersonal drifting around your local supermarket.  Mind you, having said that, we’re such a regular feature at our supermarket that the Security staff (who keep the keys for the disabled buggies) are chatting, we’ve established our favourite checkout lady who recognises us every week, I exchange a few words with some of the shelf-fillers, plus some of the other shoppers are just as regular as we are – and have started saying hello back to me when I acknowledge them.  It all helps to make you feel at home in a place, I find.

Not perfect : but getting there!

Anyway, beside all that, last week was momentous on two counts.  Firstly, I made a Toad in the Hole – and you all know what troubles I’ve had over Yorkshire Pudding.  Well, it wasn’t perfect, but it was by far the best Toad that I’ve ever made.  The ends of the sausages got a bit frizzled, but with the @FoodieFellow (the Guerilla Griller) tip to reduce the temperature, the next one could well be that perfect toad.

Looks nice - but what could it be?

The other momentous occasion was that I devised my own recipe from scratch – without using someone else’s recipe as a base and adapting it to my own requirements.  I won’t say too much about it here, as it’ll spoil the blog post about it.  Everyone enjoyed the meal, although there were things that could have been improved upon and which I’ll take into account the next time.  Just the sheer fact that there’s likely to be a next time, is quite a significant improvement in my cooking.

I see that time is marching on towards lunchtime, so it’s time to go and make some Ramen noodles – which are my current passion.  I love that I can use up veggies and that they take seconds to cook (or warm up, in some instances), yet I get a lovely bowl of warming soup piled high with yummy noodles.  I even had to buy some chopsticks so that I could do it properly.  Yes, I do get it all down my front, but isn’t that part of the fun of eating noodles?

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Tuesday preview of the week to come

Gosh, where did the last week go?  We don't try to have the days fly past - but they do - and seemingly quicker and quicker as I get older!  Makes me wonder if perhaps one reaches an age where the days begin to slow down, or if they just continue to disappear at the rate of knots.  

So. I've yet to post about the Pot Roast Chicken, which is largely because it forms the bulk of the post I have written for the Bournemouth Echo's "Taste" supplement, so I'll post to here once they have released it.  Suffice to say it was something of a revelation, but you'll just have to wait to discover why.

For the coming week, I was primarily concerned with price.  We're still feeling the pinch from the disruption to our cash flow and consequently we're pedalling hard to catch up.  Spending over the budget on food is definitely not on the agenda at the moment.  In fact, the closer I can get the Tuesday shopping to £40, the happier I'll be.  Today's shopping came to £45, so we almost hit the target.

£5.25 per 1kg
The thing is, they aren't even
nice!

You won't find any recipes involving king prawns, or beef, or lamb or any loveliness like that - in fact, you won't find any frozen chicken involved in our menu either.  Have you seen the price it has suddenly shot up to?  We were shocked - and our Chicken Curry was abandoned which led to a spur of the moment choice which I'm sure the boys will be happy with, but leaves a bit to be desired where both nutrition and gastronomy are concerned.  In fact, all the meals where Hubby is cooking, appear to be "straight from the freezer" meals which are certainly cheap, but that's about where it finishes.  I understand why we have chosen these meals and I know that we have little choice in the matter right now, but it is disappointing when you're trying to steer clear of processed meats and high fat foods.  I can only think that we're going to have to buy a whole fresh chicken and joint it up - which bizarrely, was cheaper!

So, the week to come is looking like this :

Home made chicken pie, with illicit yorkies and, right to left
at back - swede & carrot mash, plus broccoli and peas.

Tuesday : home made Chicken Pie with mashed carrot & swede, plus peas and broccoli.

The chicken for this pie is the other half of the pot roast chicken.  I thought it would be interesting to see how the leftover chicken reacted to a) being cold and b) being heated again by being put in a pie.  I can confirm that, as cold chicken, it was deliciously moist and would have been completely divine in a Coronation Chicken, or a humungous chicken salad.  Once heated and put in the pie, it had none of the "leftovers" taste of roast chicken, but was deliciously flavoured by the stock it had been cooked in - which I used to make the gravy for the pie.  So that is all good!

I absolutely love mashed carrot & swede - particularly when the carrots are sweet.  Mashed with a little butter and a lot of black pepper, it is just so rewarding to eat.  Because of the pastry involved in the pie, I wasn't going to bother with any other form of carbohydrate so no potatoes, however some leftover pre-made Yorkshire Puddings just happened to creep in.  ~Looks hard at hubby~  The carrot & swede, plus broccoli and peas were ample, but the yorkies were nice to have anyway. The only point I felt needed work was the gravy within the pie, which became much more liquid as the pie cooked.  I'll have to make sure the gravy is a lot thicker, next time!

Note "real meat" sign
What else would they be?
~shudder~

Wednesday : Meatballs with parsnip, carrot, peas & broccoli in a giant Yorkshire Pudding.

Yes, it's yorkshire pudding again.  Don't ask me how, but we've wound up with the stuff on the menu twice - and with the extra-curricular yorkies in Tuesday's dinner making three times, I suspect we'll just have to avoid it for a while hereafter!

The meatballs are the pre-prepared Swedish Meatballs, which are on special offer at the moment, at £1 a pack.  The vegetables are all the leftovers from other meals, so we didn't have to buy any specifically for this meal.  For all that they smell disgusting, the Swedish Meatballs hold a place in my heart as they were the only thing that my little dog Ginny would eat, following some surgery many years ago.  They brought her back from the dead, and for that I will always be grateful to them.  However, I wouldn't want to experience them on the menu too often - there had to be a reason why dogs like them so much!

Thursday : Fish in breadcrumbs, potato waffles and peas.

Call this a D.I.Y. fish & chips.  Well, it uses up the six waffles we've got lurking in the fridge!

Picture from Good Food Channel
Bet mine won't look like that!

Friday : Sausages with Pasta Ratatouille Bake.

Now this is a new one.  No, not the sausages - they're old friends.  Incidentally, we've discovered that we can no longer stomach Asda sausages and have defected to Sainsbury's.  Sainsbury's common-or-garden sausages aren't the best by a long chalk, but they're still streets ahead of the hard, tasting of bicarb and not a lot else, miserable offerings from Asda.

The Pasta Ratatouille Bake is one of the Good Food Channel's recipes.  It involves lovely things like fresh tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans and oodles of parmesan cheese - so we'll be getting some of our five-a-day.  Here's hoping it turns out as nice as it sounds!

Saturday : Kabanos Pasta & Garlic Bread.

This one is an interesting recipe that I really don't know how it will come out.  The Kabanos are Polish sausages somewhere inbetween Chorizo and Kielbasa.  I've bought the authentic Polish versions of them (our Asda stocks a number of authentic Polish ingredients) and, as the recipe includes tomatoes, garlic, chilli flakes with single cream and parmesan, it will be a bit of a leap of faith!

Incidentally, in case you're wondering about the Parmesan - knowing that it is normally quite pricey - we've discovered that Asda sell a small block for some £2.25 which will usually last around four to five servings.  If you divide that into the price - it doesn't turn out too bad.  Well, not when you consider the return you get in flavour!

Sunday : Toad in the hole, carrots, swede, green beans and peas.

Yes, here comes the old yorkshire pudding again.  *sigh*  I really must try not to do this again in future!  Still, this one will be home-made - and if you knew how hard I have tried to make a decent yorkshire pudding that rises how it's supposed to, tastes good and doesn't languish like a thick coating of latex, you'd be wishing me good luck with it!

I'm quite determined that ONE DAY, I'll be able to produce a yorkshire pudding that a Yorkshire housewife would be proud of.  I've even bought a new roasting tin, especially for the job.

Monday : Chicken Portions with vegetable rice.

These are the spur-of-the-moment fallback position from the Chicken Curry that didn't happen owing to price.  I can't actually remember which flavours Hubby picked up - but they are the "in breadcrumbs, munched up and stuck back together again" chicken portions, rather than pieces of "real" chicken.  While they are okay, I'll be secretly looking forward to the vegetable rice.  But ssshhhhh - don't tell anyone!  *chuckle*