Dining In

Making Tea the Traditional English Way

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:17:00 +0000

I have read recently that sales of tea cups and saucers are falling in favour of mugs. How do you make your tea? I know that some people make it in a mug with a teabag but in our house we make it in the traditional way.
Hubby is a tea making fanatic. I think it stems from his childhood where he and his school friends were eventually given precious free time on Thursday afternoons and went into town for afternoon tea. Not living at home, to them it was of great importance whose turn it was to be "mother" pour the tea from the pot. Now he insists that he makes the tea. Always. Every time.
He makes it in the traditional way. He always uses a teapot.
He boils the kettle.

He warms the tea pot with boiling water .Then empties the hot water out of it.

He boils the kettle again

and puts the tea in the pot and pours boiling water over it.

.
(He uses tea bags nowadays, but we used to use
loose tea and a tea strainer or tea ball).

teaball for loose tea

He puts a tea cosy on the teapot to keep it warm.

He allows the tea to brew (or "mash" as we say in Derbyshire) for around 5 minutes.

He pours a little milk into the cup. (there is controversy over this: some people insist on pouring the tea in first and then the milk which shows they are using high quality china but in my husband's opinion this spoils the drink)

He adds the tea.
He adds sugar and stirs.

He has a cup.

china cup and saucer

Glenda's Mug

I have a mug
and there is nothing quite like a nice cuppa!
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Meal Plan for the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:53:00 +0000

Here is the weekly meal plan:
Sunday roast chicken, mashed potato, roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, brocoli.
dessert: fresh pineapple and custard
Monday: chicken curry, brown rice
dessert: bananas and ice cream
Tuesday: Steak and ale pie, brussels sprouts, brocoli.
dessert: fresh pears
Wednesday: boiled ham hock with carrots, onions, turnip, celery
dessert:Rice pudding
Thursday: ham,sweet potato and pineapple casserole.
Dessert:Spotted dick and custard
Friday: Salmonwith pesto, new potatoes, peas, sweet corn, tomatoes and rocket.
Dessert:Apple pie and ice cream.

Light meals: home made soup with home made focaccia bread

recipe for the soup:
I have previously boiled the ham hock with root veg. for another meal. I use the stock from this and add whatever root vegetables I have chopped small, a handful of soup mix i.e. lentils, dried peas, pearl barley, tiny bits of pasta etc. and the remains i.e. the bone and any scraps of meat from the ham hock. I add a few sprigs of rosemary, thyme and sage , some pepper and a couple of bay leaves and boil then simmer for hours. Remove the ham bone and cut off any fat from the meat, shred the meat and put back into the pan. Lovely with home made bread.
Other light meals
Cooked ham and green salad
baked beans on toast
boiled eggs
cheese on toast
macaroni cheese
cheese and biscuits

Baking: Apple pie, shortcake, fruit cake.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Tea Cups and Saucers

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:47:00 +0000

This week I bought two cups and saucers for my husband. He likes to drink out of a china cup and broke one this week. I went onto Ebay and found two Royal Albert cups and saucers for 99p each in an auction. So I paid £1.98 + £3.50 postage and packing. They look new.I think they are new. They are very pretty and he loves them. He knows a lot about china as we used to sell Spode, Royal Doulton and Royal Worcester in days gone by. Now, although we sell ceramics in the form of coffee cups and mugs on our site we have no tea cups and saucers, so I was pleased to find these.

Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Recipe for Ham and Sweet Potatoes in Orange Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:37:00 +0000

This is a favourite of mine and it is lovely served with home made foccacia bread.

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
225g shallots or small onions peeled
450g cooked ham cut into cubes
450g sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
425ml chicken stock
2 teaspoons grated orange rind (can use a zester for speed)
340g fresh pineapple with skin removed and cut into chunks
1 level teaspoon cornflour
Juice of an orange
black pepper
340g fresh broccoli cut into florets

Heat oil in a flameproof casserole and cook onions for 5 minutes and then add the ham and sweet potatoes and cook for 2 more minutes
Mx in the stock, orange rind and pineapple and cover and simmer for 10 minutes

Blend the cornflour with the orange juice, add to the casserole and cook for 1 minute stirring until thickened. Season with pepper. Add the brocoli and cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with slices of foccacia bread.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

recipe bloghop

Darby and Joan

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Today we went food shopping. At 8a.m. this morning we were on the doorstep at opening time; me with a scarf draped round my face to try and hide it and hubby hopping along on one foot holding onto part of the trolley whilst I crept gingerly along holding the handle like grim death.
Hubby has had a kidney infection and a swollen foot and ankle and I have a broken rib and a bruised face from a fall. So, as we hopped and crept around, he couldn't balance long enough to reach things off the top shelf and I couldn't bend enough to place things in the trolley. But we managed. We got the giggles a bit at the checkout and the checkout assistant treated us as if we were a particularly demented and peculiar couple and I suppose we look positively ancient at the moment. I guess this is how we will be in old age..........and it was a nice feeling to have him shopping with me and good fun in its way.

But anyway, we now have enough food to last for two weeks and I am happy and cheerful about that as well because we were running out.
The man from Parcelforce, who arrives most days to collect larger parcels from us, caught site of my face (I have been keeping a low profile for days) and cracked jokes about battered wives and henpecked husbands and found our situation really funny.........which kind of cheered us up! and, of course, we are pleased we have been able to keep the show on the road business-wise and whoever has felt fittest at the time has done the most.
And, finally, my third reason to be cheerful is that our stationery order arrived from Viking and they had given me a free popcorn maker. This would be about the last thing on my list of wants but it will be fun for the granchildren, I guess.
So, I managed it. Three Reasons to be Cheerful to go on Michelle's bloghop.Better late than never.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

60 Years Ago

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:01:00 +0000

I am writing this on the 60th anniversary of the death of George V1, when Elizabeth 11 became Queen. I remember the day well. I was in bed ill with bronchites and my mum came upstairs with Mac, our Scottie. Mac had tried walking on the ice on our garden pond and fallen through it. My Mum brought up a shovel full of fire from the coal fire downstairs to put in my bedroom grate and Mac lay in front of it to warm himself. It was bliss and luxury to have a fire in my bedroom and it even melted the ice on the inside of the windows. When Mum told me the King had died, I was far more interested in Mac's well-being, of course.
At school for the Coronation (1953) we were all given a mug. I still have mine.

Rationing of tea ended in 1952 and sweet rationing ended in 1953. Everyone was given 1lb of sugar and 4oz of marg for Coronation month. Finally, meat came off the ration in 1954.

School dinners were great. We usually had "meat, spuds and greens" with fish on Fridays and a cheese dish in the middle of the week. There was always a cooked pudding such as jam sponge and custard, or spotted dick, or rice pudding. I suppose people today would consider them bland and boring.

Did you know, though that at that time food cost about one third of a family income? Maybe things aren't so bad today, after all.

Glenda

www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Simple Meals this Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:27:00 +0000

Meal Plan Monday. Here I am planning meals and this week I am making them as simple as possible. So
Monday - beef in beer casserole plus sweet corn, spinach and mashed potato. Rice pudding
Tuesday - salmon with pesto, leeks, new potatoes, peas and broccoli
Jelly, blancmange, bananas, ice cream
Wednesday - Ham hock, potatoes, carrots, onions, swede, celery.
Jelly, blancmange, bananas, ice cream.
Thursday - Ham, pineapple and sweet potato casserole
Baked apples with dried fruit
Friday - thick lentil country soup, crusty bread
Jam sponge and custard

Saturday - haddock, oven chips peas
Fresh fruit salad

Sunday - chicken stir fry with ginger,peppers, pineapple and garlic plus noodles
Poached Pears with ginger and almonds

Light meals - eggs, cheese, baked beans, bacon, tuna, salad, cottage cheese.
Baking - ginger biscuits, fruit scones, oat and raisin biscuits.

Glenda

www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Delia's Cook Book

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:28:00 +0000

I am showing another of my Charity Shop Cookery Books for Magpie Monday.

This Delia Smith cookbook is one I bought second hand after going to a friend's house for dinner. She told me this is where she found her pudding recipe, so when I saw the book on sale in the Sue Ryder shop I bought it.

This week I have been rather out of sorts as people who read this blog will know (well, actually, hardly able to move and dosed with pain killers.) My husband has taken over a lot of the cooking. The recipes in here are clear and simple for anyone to follow.

On Sunday he made this recipe. It is called Beef in Beer (its title applealed to him you see!!). Here is the recipe in my own words (made in a cast iron pot)
Beef in Beer
2lb chuck steak cut into 5cm squares
1 tablespoon olive oil
350g onions quartered and then separated into layers
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
15fl oz light ale
half teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic crushed
milled black pepper.
Heat oven to gas mark 1 or 140C
Heat oil in the cast iron casserole and sear the meat.Remove to a plate and toss the onions around in the casserole until brown at the edges. Return the meal to the casserole. Add the flour, turn heat down and stir the flour to soak up the juices. Gradually stir in the ale and simmer slowly after adding the thyme, bay leaf, garlic and pepper. Put on the lid and transfer to the oven for 2 and half hours.I have to admit it was rather nice.
Other recipes I have made from this book

chicken paprika

pavlova

orange cheese cake

spicy chicken

Plus lots more, including a lot of the baking recipes. It is one of my favourite cookery books and well worth the £2 that I paid for it.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Cracked Ribs (and no, it is NOT a recipe!)

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:33:00 +0000

I fell a couple of days ago. I bashed my face, broke my glasses and cracked my ribs. I now feel old. My side hurts like mad and I can only shuffle around. so why am I cheerful? Here are my three reasons:

The first is that a very kind lady stopped and picked me up. I was on the way to the doctor for a routine checkup anyway. She was so kind and mopped my face with a hanky and went right into the waiting room with me. There are far more good kind people in this world than the newspapers would have us believe.
The second is that my husband and family have been lovely. Peter has taken over all the wrapping of parcels etc. for our business and has been really nice to me. Our 10 year old grandson was staying the night anyway, the day I fell and showed what a lovely little fellow he can be when he tries. He even made his own bed and laid the table. In fact he was the perfect child! and my son and daughter have both phoned me for long, consoling chats. So I am a lucky woman indeed.
The third reason is that because at the moment I am very sore, have difficulty moving and am not very mobile, I realize how lucky I am normally to be so fit and active. I had just got back from a pre breakfast swim when it happened and was running to the doctors in my trainers! Lots of people are not nearly as lucky and would not be able to do that. So I will never take this all for granted again.

Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Meal Plan Monday - cooking and shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Meal Plan Monday. This is proving to be a very good idea for us. I plan very carefully, do one big shop and then a couple of big baking sessions and the rest of the week is a doddle.

Sunday :Morocan Turkeyand Chickpea stew with cous cous and salad (Recipe is here)

Morocon turkey and chickpea stew

Dessert - Baked Pears with Ginger and Almond

Monday Baked salmon with pesto, roast peppers, roast tomatoes, peas, sweet corn, baby new potatoes Dessert: home made rice pudding.
Tuesday Cheese Pudding ( breadcrumbs, with cheese, mustard made up from powder, egg, milk mixed and baked in the oven) with home made oven chips, baked beans, baked tomatoes.

cheese pudding

Dessert : bananas and custard
Wednesday: Cod, parsley sauce, new potatoes, carrots, spinach, peas.
Dessert: jelly, blancmange (made with skimmed milk) and ice cream.
Thursday: Home made Quiche, new potatoes, salad
Dessert: dried fruit salad - made with prunes, dried apple, apricots, figs
Friday: vegetarian bolognese sauce with pasta and green salad
Dessert: Home made rice pudding
Saturday: the rest of the bolognese sauce with meat balls and pasta
Home made apple pie
apple pie

Light meals:
baked beans, picklets, eggs, corned beef, cheese, cottage cheese with chives. Wholemeal bread.
Light desserts: yogurts, fruit fool - homemade with custard + creme fraiche + the cooked dried fruits, rest of the jelly, blanc mange and ice cream, rest of the apple pie.
Baking: shortbread biscuits,

Homemade shortcake biscuits made by hubby!

ginger biscuits, cocnut cake.
Breakfasts: always porridge with skimmed milk, wholemeal toast and marmalade
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

You Are What You Eat

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

For Magpie Monday I thought I would show you another cookery book I found. It was in perfect condition and looked unused an the original price was £8.97(reduced from £12.99). I paid £1.99 from the British heart Foundation. It is the official book to go with the television programme.

"You are what you eat"

Inside there are recipes for every month of the year together with all sorts of information about food, nutrition and health.
I cheat a little bit and try recipes from the wrong month (there are two days of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for each month).
Here is one I used this week. I will alter the wording a bit.

Moroccan Turkey and Chickpea Stew
The recipe says you should use chicken breasts but I use turkey leg meat. It is much cheaper and tastes just as nice. I cook it a bit longer than the book says. So this recipe is my version, really.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 sliced onions
three quarters of a pound of turkey leg meat cut up into bite sized pieces
About 10g of fresh corriander roughly chopped
About 10 grams fresh mint roughly chopped
1teaspoon hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
400g can chopped tomatoes
400g chickpeas in water (drained and rinsed)
75g dried apricots chopped
25g blanched almonds
1/2 vegetable stock cube

Put the oil, garlic, onions, turkey, herbs and spices in a large cast iron casserole (or saucepan) and toss well together. Place over medium heat and cook for 5 mins stiring now and again.
Add all the rest of the ingredients and refill the empty tomato tin with cold water and pour that in as well. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 45 mins until turkey is tender. Stir now and again.Serve with cous cous and salad.
Moroccan Turkey and Chickpea Stew

For dessert on the same day you should have (and we did!)

Baked pears with Ginger and Almond

You need

4 dessert pears, halved and cord

2 preserved stem ginger balls cut into small dice

15g flaked almonds

1 tablespoon stem ginger syrup

100ml cold water

Low fat fromage frais

Just preheat the over to 200C or Gas 6. Put the pears in a shallow dish, cut side up. Sprinkle with the stem giner and the almons and spoon the syrup over. Then add the water to the base of the dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes and take the foil away. Spoon the juices over. Return to oven, uncovered for 15 minutes or until the pears are tender and slightly browned. serve with the fromage frais.

This menu provides plenty of protein (also in chickpeas) and soluble fibre and also plenty of iron. the dessert contains plenty of vitamin C, potassium and fibre.

Nice recipes, nice book, nice price!

Glenda

www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

It is not Polite to ........Children's Table Manners

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:05:00 +0000

What do you teach children about dining with others. Here is my simple list:
(do you think this is enough or can you think of any other essentials?)

Use your knife and fork unless it is food you are meant to eat with your fingers, like sandwiches.
Don't make rude remarks about the food. It upsets people.
Remember to say "please" and "thank you"
Eat with your mouth closed and don't talk whilst chewing. It puts people off their food if they see what you are eating.
Don't eat too quickly and gobble your food. You are not a turkey!
Don't stretch across people to reach things, ask them to pass to you.
Pass things to other people.
When you have finished put your knife and fork together in the centre of your plate to show the plate can be taken away.
Do not try to leave the table until everyone has finished, unless a grown-up says you can.
Always say "Thank you" at the end of your meal

and, finally,

It is not polite to have a burping competition!!!

Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

What's on the box?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:43:00 +0000

I have many reasons to be cheerful and, as usual they are all to do with family, business and food and so I thought I would have a bit of a change this week and talk about television!
Three reasons to be cheerful in the form of three television programmes. (Well, that's different, anyway!)

Michel Roux

The Roux Legacy comes to Good Food tonight at 8 pm. The Roux Brothers, Anton and Michel opened La Gavroche in 1967. They worked with Marks and Spencer to produce early and very tasty ready meals, they trained Marco Pierre White and Godeon Ramsey. Michel Roux junior, the son of Anton, is surely one of the most pleasant chefs on television and I just love his attention to detail. What a treat this programme should be!
Earlier this week there was a wonderful programme on about Pugin and that too was a real treat as we were taken inside his beautiful churches and shown how he designed Big ben. i looked at Big Ben and its tower through new eyes and realized how very beautiful it is.

My third reason is the third programme I am enjoying - Great Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo. It is so interesting and wonderful to be taken the length and breadth of the country and to visit towns en route and see what a difference the railways made.

So maybe my reasons are unusual and a bit odd , but I think we are so very lucky to be able to watch such wonderful stuff!

Glenda

www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Burns Supper

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000

25th January is the birthday of Robbie Burns and this is when traditional Burns Night Celebrations are held

Cheers!

.
A Burns Supper traditionally begins with the Selkirk Grace:
Some hae meat and cannae eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

The main course is, of course, the Haggis and this is brought in to the tune of the pipers. Many years ago the haggis was made of the liver, lungs and heart of a sheep, mixed with spice, seasoning and toasted oat meal and cooked in a sheep's stomach. Now it is made of best meats and is served in a synthetic skin. There is a recipe for haggis here.

Burns wrote an Address to the Haggis ( which is read out at Burns night as the haggis is brought in) just after the Jacobite Rebellion. He used haggis to demonstrate his love of Scotland's nationalism in a light hearted way. There are 9 verses.
To anyone attending a Burns Supper, we hope you enjoy the evening, and the Haggis.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

All in a Single Pot

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:26:00 +0000

Beacause I like cooking and catering, I bought the Reader's Digest "One Dish Meals the easy way". This is a post to link to Magpie Monday where people show what bargains they have got from charity shops. I love buying cookery books and this is one of my favourites. I bought it from The Red Cross and it cost me the princely sum of just £1.95! Inside is the original price sticker which says £21.95! When I got it, it was in mint condition but already it is looking worse for wear now!

Inside every single recipe is made in one dish. This is usually a cast iron casserole which you can move from hob to oven to table. There are recipes for soups, casseroles, meat meals, fish dishes,vegetarian dishes, pizzas,salads, microwave meals and ideas for simple holiday cooking e.g. for self catering holidays.
Here are my photos of some that I made.

Roast pork with apples and red cabbage

Plaice with lemon and rice all in a pot

chicken with wine and mushrooms

Ham, pineapple and sweet potato casserole.

Braised chicken casserole

I have done lots more of the recipes as well but, as you can see, I have really got my money's worth out of this book! Not bad for less than £2!

Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

The China Painter, the Footballers and the Dining Room Curtains.

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:31:00 +0000

Aren't grandchildren wonderful? At the weekend I took my little grandaughter to the museum and we had a lovely time looking at habitats and the animals that lived there. That was her part of the outing. then, for me, we went to look at the largest collection of Derby Crown china in the world.

We each said which was our favourite piece from each case. Then we saw a display showing how it was made from the making of the "clay" to the mould to the painting and firing.

"How on earth can anyone paint china so beautifully?" I mused aloud.

"Grandma", she said, her eyes shining ready to share a huge secret with me" I can!!! That is just what I did and just as good as that!!"

A few days previously she had taken herself into the laundry and on her own initiative mixed plaster of paris, filled a mould, waited for it to set, painted it and presented us with the finished plaque!

Oooooooh! I do so love my grandchildren and their confidence, enthusiasm and optimism!

My second reason to be cheerful is that last night when we took our grandchildren swimming they were so keen to ask Grandad's advice on tactics for their next football tournament and the eldest was so keen to discuss his GCSE options that it struck me what a wonderful relationship we have with them.

My third reason is that at last I have my new curtains up in the kitchen and here they are:

They are linen with flowers embroidered on them and I absolutely love them.
I feel I am a very, very lucky woman.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Bakewell and its Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:11:00 +0000

We visited Bakewell, ate in our favourite Bakewell pub, the Wheatsheaf,

They had a superb offer on of 2 meals for £10 and I had an excellent vegetable curry whilst Peter had beef stew served in a Yorkshire pudding. It was very good indeed and there is always a nice atmosphere there.
We wandered about. We found no fewer than three Bakewell pudding shops. The first was called the "Bakewell Pudding Factory, Pudding Parlour and Shop"

the second

"The Bakewell Tart"

and , finally, we came across the "Original Bakewell Pudding Shop"

My husband, whose love of all things pudding orientated is legendary just had to buy one of course! The origin of the Bakewell Pudding is probably quite well-known, but I will tell you here in case you don't know.
In the mid 19th century a cook at the White Horse Inn (now the Rutland Arms) was supposed to be making a strawberry tart and was supposed to stir an egg mixture into pastry and put strawberry jam on top. Instead, he put the jam on the pastry and poured the egg mixture on top. It was a triumph.!
The recipe is kept a secret and the puddings are exported all over the world. One recipe, though not the secret original, is here:
Bakewell Pudding recipe
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Toasting the Apple Trees - Wassailing

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Tomorrow is Apple Wassailing Day in many parts of the country. Traditionally Twelth Night (either 5/6th January; or 16/17th January by the old calendar) is the night when wassailing took place. It still does in many parts of the country such as Somerset and also in parts of Derbyshire.

This is the night when groups of people drink the health of the apple trees in order to ensure that the next harvest will be a good one. They pour part of the Wassail cup over the tree roots and place toast soaked in cider in the branches of the tree, sing to the tree and pass round a Wassail cup.
The word Wassail comes from Anglo Saxon when "Waes hal" was an every day greeting meaning literally " Be whole" or "Be hale".
There is a recipe for a Wassail drink here.

Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.

Live like a King for very Little

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:43:00 +0000

This is the last two days of the weekly meal plan recipes. Meal plan for Sunday is Chicken Madras. see the recipe page of this blog.

Dessert is simply baked apples and dried fruit. You core the apples and stuff with dried fruit, score round the centre of the apple so it can expand without bursting and microwave for a few minutes. You can add ice cream and nuts if you want.

It is fun to cook home made pizza and so much nicer than bought pizza. see the recipe section of this blog. This would be the ideal day to have it.

home made pizza with roasted peppers

So as well as lunches and desserts during the week there will be cheese, coleslaw, macaroni cheese, pizza, soup, biscuits, fresh fruit salad, fresh fruit. To this you can add eggs, baked beans on toast etc.

The final day of the 7 day plan is baked salmon fillet, vegetables and potatoes. You could save some of the cooked salmon to add to creamy pasta sauce..........

Glenda

www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk.

Meal Plan for Sunday and Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:18:00 +0000

Carrying on with the week's meal plan which I have been writing about . Take the legs and wings off a chicken and use them for chicken madras for Monday.
Roast the rest of the chicken and serve with roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, sprouts (plentiful this year) peas and carrots.A traditional roast dinner in fact. Add stuffing if you want. Make some gravy. Just have yogurt for dessert.

Make soup with the chicken carcass buy simmering it with herbs and an onion for ages. Then remove the carcass and cut off any nice pieces of meat, add lentils and chopped root vegetables e.g. onion, potato, carrot, swede, celery. Add seasoning to taste and cook for about 30 minutes, add chopped red pepper. then, if you want pour off some of the stock and save it for future cooking and liquidise so you have a thick soup. Add fresh parsley. Freeze some of this as well as having some today. Lovely with crusty bread.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Today is an Easy Cook Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:59:00 +0000

Today will be an easy day on the meal plan because to make the chilli con carne you simply defrost the minced steak mixture from the freezer which you cooked earlier and add tinned tomatoes, baked beans and chilli powder to taste and cook in a hot oven at first and then turn it down for a while. You serve it with baked potatoes and for dessert have fresh fruit salad.

I find that if I buy a few apples, bananas, kiwi fruits and oranges then I have the basis for serveral desserts (baked apples, baked bananas, bananas and custard, pancake fillings and fruit salad - not to mention just being enjoyed in their natural state). To make the fruit salad I just prepared them, add a little caster sugar and leave for a couple of hours so the sugar draws out the fruit and then I add a little fresh orange juice.If you make plenty of this it is nice for extras for lunch and packed lunches and it will keep in the fridge.

As the weekend approaches you could also make a large cassserole of macoroni cheese. This is nice with coleslaw which I told you about yesterday.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Day Three Meal Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:44:00 +0000

This is the third day of the meal plan I started telling you about. Using the mashed potato from yesterday I added a tin of pink salmon and a beaten egg together with a good handfull of chopped parsley. I added about a tablespoon of flour or enough to stop the mixture being sloppy. After stirring well I made fish cake shapes using my hands and then rolled them in flour and fried them in olive oil. These were served with vegetables.
Pudding was sliced bananas and custard.

coleslaw

I also made coleslaw for snacks and light meals. I just shredded some pale green cabbage and finely chopped or grated a small amount of onion, carrot and apple and added low fat mayonnaise. It is nice with cheese, cold meats, baked potatoes etc.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Gym, Eating out in Bakewell and Chatting on Skype

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:39:00 +0000

Reasons to be cheerful this week are

I have been to the gym every day since it opened after Christmas. I am there at 6.30 in the morning and sometimes I go swimming as well as have a session in the gym. I enjoy going and there are about half a dozen women there that I am now friendly with so that makes it more fun. I have also cut out on desserts and cut down on sugar in my tea so am sure I will lose all the extra pounds I put on at Christmas soon.
Hubby and I finished work early one day and went over to Bakewell for lunch. We had lunch at the Wheatsheaf and it was a very nice meal and excellent value.
My son is back from Budapest and phoned to let me know how he had gone on and we had a nice chat. Also my sister and my brother Skyped me on Sunday morning so that I spent two hours chatting away to them on Skype which was lovely (they live in Australia). I got to hear all the latest family news and gossip.

All of this has left me with a smile on my face and feeling very happy. Hope you had a good week too.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Day Two of the Meal Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:04:00 +0000

For today's meal please see our meal planning posts. Today is cottage pie made with the steak mince prepared yesterday and topped with mashed potato. You make furrows in the top of the potato and add a little grated cheese so that when cooked in a hot oven the potato will brown. I served this with vegetables and gravy and saved enough mashed potato to make salmon fish cakes the next day.

Dessert was easy, also, because there was the pancake mixture from yesterday and I simply added lemon and castor sugar to the pancake.

Because the dinner was so easy to cook I made ginger biscuits for tea. See the recipe on the recipe page of this blog. They are delicious and simple to make.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk

Eating Well on a Budget means Planning Well

noreply@blogger.com (Sheffy) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:17:00 +0000

Eating well and not spending a fortune is important to most people at the moment. Yesterday I wrote a meal planning post. This is the first day of the meal plan.
You prepare the minced steak as in the recipe for spaghetti bolognese (I always buy steak mince because it contains less fat than ordinary mince and I would make do with less meat rather than buy ordinary mince, but that is just my personal choice as hubby and I have cholesterol problems.)
If you are following the meal plan you cook enough for both the cottage pie and the chilli con carne as well as the bogonese sauce and remove enough for the bolognese when it is time to add the wine and tomatoes. If you are batch cooking like this and have a family, you may wish to use a large cast iron casserole which can be used on the hob as well as in the oven. The meat etc. for the chilli can be frozen till you need it.

For the pancakes I use this recipe for 2 pancakes, so double it if necessary and save half for the dessert tomorrow.

Quick pancake recipe
butter or margarine
4 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 pint milk

Filling
1 cooking apple cored and chopped cooked over a gentle heat with a little sugar and a few raisins or currants. Add a couple of pinches of cinnamon.

sift flour and salt into a large bowl
make a well in the centre and break an egg into it
stir and then beat adding the milk gradually
beat really well
melt butter or margarine to cover the base of the pancake pan
pour in the batter and leave over a gentle heat until set
loosen the edges and then flip over and cook the other side.
Add the filling and fold.
Glenda
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk