Easy fish pie

This is a quick and easy version of fish pie which is also a lighter version than a traditional fish pie can be. We had a mass of potatoes from our vegetable patch which we had dug up that afternoon. They just needed a good wash to get rid of the dirt, partly out of laziness we leave the skins on our potatoes when we make mash, but it is also where a lot of the goodness is. Sorry for the lack of exact measurements, if you make it yourself, use your appetite to guide you as to the size of your pie!

Easy fish pie (served 2 adults, 1 toddler)

1 small pack frozen fish pie mix

1/2 tub crème fraiche

2 tbsp frozen peas

New potatoes

Milk

Butter

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. In a microwave dish place the fish, cover with cling film, pierce and cook in the microwave according to the packet instructions.
2. Meanwhile, chop the potatoes into small pieces and place in a saucepan. Cover with boiling water and cook for about 10-15 minutes until they are soft. When cooked, drain and mash with a generous splosh of milk and knob of butter. You don't want the mash to be too runny, it should be easy to stir.
3. In another dish, cook the peas for 5 minutes. Drain.
4. Once the fish is cooked add the crème fraiche, peas and season well. Stir until everything is well mixed but take care not to break up the fish too much.
5. Place the mix in an oven dish (if different from the microwave dish for the fish). Spoon over the mashed potato starting at the outside, filling in the middle last. Spread evenly and use a fork to fluff up the potato.
6. Cook in the oven for a least 20 minutes, you could grill if you have one. The aim here is to get the potato to brown as well as finishing the cooking process.

Turkey burgers and salad

We don't have a barbeque but this summer hasn't given us the best weather so far for using one, so I don’t feel to sad about it! It doesn't stop us from cooking home made burgers though and these were a tasty alternative to using pork, lamb or beef burgers. We bought a packet of turkey thigh mince, which looked slightly darker than breast meat but was half the price. For something like burgers, it is a great meat to use as it shouldn't be as dry as breast meat could potentially be. As the weather is warmer I served this with a mixed side salad which used up any left over salads from the fridge.

Turkey burgers (served 2 adults and a toddler easily)

Small packet of turkey thigh mince

1/2 red onion

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp dried oregano

Seasoning

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Get your hands in and mix all of the ingredients (excluding the oil) together really well.
2. Put the oil into a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Shape the turkey mix into burger shapes, I choose to make 7 smaller burgers so that I could be sure they would cook through evenly and wouldn't take too long.
3. Leave the burgers cooking until they have browned on both sides. We cut through a couple of burgers to make sure that they were well cooked.

Buttermilk and lemon lamb

This was a really random idea but it worked out really nicely. We went out for the afternoon to go fruit picking and visit a friend for a cup of tea and I meant to start marinating the lamb before we went out but forgot, so our lamb had the minimum of marinating time but was really tasty anyway. Marinating meat is often something that I don't do as it needs me to think ahead, but it is well worth trying when you get organised. We served ours with some buttery new potatoes and a green salad, followed by strawberries and raspberries from our fruit picking ventures.

 Buttermilk and lemon lamb (served 2 adults)

250-300g Diced lamb shoulder

1 lemon

2 tbsp buttermilk

1 tsp dried oregano

Seasoning

1. Marinate the lamb at least 30 minutes before you cook but if you can even earlier. Cover and leave it in the fridge if you are going to marinate earlier. To make the marinade, put the lamb in a dish and add the zest of the lemon, along with the buttermilk, dried oregano and seasoning. Stir to make sure all of the lamb is coated.

2. Once the lamb has marinated, place it in a pan over a medium to high heat. If like our lamb did tonight it releases too much liquid, drain some of this off. Towards the end of the cooking time, squeeze the juice of the lemon into the lamb pan. Brown off the meat, make sure it cooks long enough to be cooked through.

Picture of the taggie as described in yesterday's post.

Taggie for a baby

We have had a recent addition to the family and due to work commitments, I wasn't able to visit him with my husband. Rather than go out and buy a present from the high street I decided to make something using the materials already in my house. It was also a good opportunity to get my sewing machine out as it's been a bit neglected for a while whilst I've been busy with work. I remembered having seen taggies when my son was a baby so had a vague idea in my head about what I wanted to create. One thing that I wanted to do was to make sure that there was a range of textures and colours so that curious little hands would have lots to explore. I also knew that I wanted it to be as secure as possible as curious little hands and mouths can be strong.  

It was a great opportunity to raid my ever growing collection of materials and I had a good selection of fleece fabric, colourful prints (which were samples I had got when I was looking for my sons curtain material) and ribbons from all kinds of places. Measurements aren't necessarily set in stone because being honest, I didn't measure mine that accurately and I've already given it to the recipient. I don't think it matters too much as it could depend on the fabric you have available or the final size that you want to make it. You need a selection of fabrics, bright colours or soft fleece is a good idea. Two buttons of a similar size, a selection of ribbons, needle, thread.

Homemade taggie

1. Cut 8 squares of fabric so that they are equal in size. Mine were about 15cm so that I could incorporate the pattern on the fabric. Remember to leave a seam allowance of about 1cm (add this to your measurement so that you get the final size).
   
2. Lay them out, right side up, to get the pieces in the order you want. Pin two pieces rights sides together and pin. Sew together (you could hand sew but it might not be as secure as using a machine). Repeat again with the remaining three pairs of fabric.
   
3. Pin, right side together, two of the sewn pairs. Repeat with the remaining strips of fabric. You should now have your two squares. Normally, with patchwork you need to press the seams as you go along, but as I used fleece fabric, I didn't press.
   
4. Lay the first piece of patchwork on a table with the right side facing up. Collect together a selection of ribbons, choose study ribbons in a range of colours. I was lucky enough to have a range of ribbons in different textures, colours and sizes. Cut them into strips ranging from 8cm to 10cm long. Arrange them around the edges until you are happy with the layout. Leave a gap on one side minimum 5cm long so that you can turn the taggie inside out.
   
5. Fold the ribbons, the folded side should be on the fabric with the ends sticking over the edge of the fabric. Carefully lay the second piece of patchwork fabric with the right side facing down. I pinned each ribbon in place carefully before I used a contrasting colour thread to tack the ribbons in place.
   
6. Now using a sewing machine, sew together the layers of fabric. Remember that you need to leave a gap of minimum 5cm which isn't sewn.
   
7. Carefully trim off any excess ribbon and fabric, including trimming the corners. Turn the taggie inside out, carefully pushing out the corners. Fold the raw edges in and pin the opening closed. Sew the hole closed using a similar colour thread and a slip stitch.
   
8. Pin together the taggie so that it doesn't move. Sew around the edge of the taggie, about 5mm in, securing the ribbons again.
   
9. I found two similar sized buttons to place on either side and used a contrasting embroidery thread to secure the buttons.
   

Lamb with cambozola

Like I said in my previous post I haven't written an entry for ages, as work has been really busy. This has involved raiding the freezer on many occasions for meals when we've both been home late or have run out of energy to cook at the end of a busy day. I was trying to get him to take things steady the other weekend and this also meant that he needed to step back on the cooking front. This doesn't mean that we would be eating ready meals but it made us think carefully about what we wanted to cook. This is a meal that we've not eaten for a long time but it was really yummy and we ate the final lamb chops from the lamb we bought off the farm. My quantities don't have to be exact as we tend to buy ready sized packets from the supermarket, so it you like it with more cheese, add more cheese, or want the sauce more runny add a little more milk. We serve ours with potatoes and steamed green beans, it's a really simple meal that looks quite glamorous.

Lamb with cambozola

1 tbsp oil (I use sunflower)

Seasoning

4 lamb chops

175g Cambozola cheese

2 tbsp milk

1. Brush the lamp chops with oil and season well on both sides. Fry in a pan until both sides a cooked - cook to your preference, we like ours to be well done.
   
2. Meanwhile, slice the cheese, we include some of the rind but you can leave this out if you prefer. Add to the saucepan with one tablespoon of milk. Place this over a medium heat, once the cheese has started to melt you can see if it is a consistency you are happy with. If you prefer a more runny sauce add the next tablespoon of milk. If you still want more, add more milk.
   
3. Once the lamb has cooked, leave it a few minutes to rest before serving, add the sauce.
   

My alfredo sauce

I was first introduced to alfredo sauce on a camping trip in America, anyone that knows me that the America part sounds about right but not the camping. Whilst camping isn't my first choice of holiday, it was cheap, the campsites were good and the weather was good too. I saw lots of north east USA and ate some interesting food along the way. The trip leader made alfredo one night on the camping stove and whilst it came out of a jar it sparked my interest in this sauce, as it wasn't something I had come across before in the UK. Whether what I have made here is a true alfredo sauce I haven't got a clue but it was yummy and really easy to make, it was the first time my little boy was quiet all day long, he was so busy trying to eat it as quickly as he could.

On another note, I've not written a blog post for ages, May was a horrible month for both my husband and I at work, we didn't stop all month long and it's taken us June to recover! Unfortunately my husband has developed an inner ear infection and so I'm now trying to get him better and this has included cooking some food to help him feel better. There are a couple of other recipes that I need to get written up that I have cooked on purpose which are probably more to his taste but are good food for families. The quantities in this are all approximate, the joy of a meal like this is that you can adapt it to your tastes.

Chicken alfredo

2-3 tbsp Mascarpone cheese (3/4 of a standard supermarket packet)

50g grated parmesan cheese

Cooked chicken meat (I roasted a chicken to use the remaining meat for a meal later in the week and we used 1 and a half of the chicken breasts)

Salt and pepper

175g tagliatelle

Served two plus toddler (we also steamed some mangetout peas and had a mini garlic bread)

1. Bring a saucepan of water to boiling point, then add the pasta, cook according to the packet instructions.
   
2. In another pan mix together the mascarpone and parmesan. Over a medium heat, mix the two together, reduce the heat and add the chicken. If you have any herbs or flavourings you would like to add to the sauce, this is the best opportunity. Season the sauce well.
   
3. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, return to the saucepan and add the chicken/sauce mix. Stir well making sure all the pasta is well coated. Serve immediately, grating some more parmesan onto the pasta if you like.
   

A little reminder of Tennessee

Last summer we raided our savings to go and visit a great friend of mine who lives in Tennessee, USA. This was a major trip for us, it was our sons first ever time on an airplane and my husbands first time in America. He was a little nervous about the type of food we would be eating, despite my constant reassurances that my friend is a really good cook who knows lots about eating and living healthy. Anyway, once we were there, my friends amazing cooking didn't disappoint and night after night she produced wonderful food that was so tasty. One accompaniment to a meal was a salad/salsa similar to this, and we all thought it was yummy. I've been meaning to recreate it for ages and have finally got round to it and I'm happy to say that it was a real success.

This does take a little effort and timing to prepare if you're planning on using dried beans but you could use a can of beans that are ready to use (always check the instructions on the side of the can.) This easily fed the two of us for dinner tonight but if I was going to do this again for more people it would feed 5-6 people with other salads/sides.

I did have some salmon that I had cooked and tried to make fish cakes, they weren't such a success so if I'm going to recreate these another time, I really need to look at a cookery book first for both inspiration and some much needed help!

Bean, tomato and sweetcorn salsa

40g (dry weight) black beans

160g sweetcorn

3 tomatoes

1 lime

1 tbsp chopped coriander

1. If using dried beans, prepare them according to the packet instructions. This meant soaking for 12 hours (or overnight, which saw me in my pyjama's getting these ready!) before cooking in fresh cold water for 45 minutes.
   
2. Allow them to cool, or if using a can, open and drain. Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and chop roughly.
   
3. In a bowl add the black beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes. If using fresh coriander chop this up and add this to the bowl, but I use frozen which is already chopped.
   
4. Zest the lime and then add the juice. Give everything a really good stir and it's ready to serve. This will be happy waiting in a fridge until you need it, if you're trying to prepare ahead.
   

Making the most of local arts

Work is really busy at the moment, so we are relying quite heavily on our stock of freezer meals. However, when I feel as though there might be a bit of time for cooking, I relish the opportunity to cook a meal completely using fresh ingredients. Friday last week was one of those opportunities, I finished work in the morning and took my son to a local arts centre, New Brewery Arts in Cirencester for lunch. This is a regular lunch date that I share with my son and it's fair to say that we both love it. Normally we have a bowl of delicious home-made soup and a child's sandwich. This has recently been joined by a shortbread star which is my son's favourite pudding treat. I love the food that they serve, the bread is from a local bakery and they always have a fabulous range of home-made meals and cakes on offer. Afterwards, we'll go and look at the current exhibition that is showing, at the moment, this is a tactile ceramic exhibition which is so much fun, especially as you can touch everything! My particular favourite is the noise making ceramic pots, including the readymade sticks to beat them with.

Anyway, I digress from what I actually cooked on Friday night! This is a meal that will need your attention from start to finish but it can be prepared and on the table in 30 minutes (it is easier with a little help if you can get it!) Children love little meat balls and this sauce is a great way of including a couple of vegetables to make it really colourful. I can understand why parents try to hide vegetables in tomato sauces but this isn't the reason why I use a mini food processor to finely chop the onion and carrot, it's simply a really convenient way to get finely chopped vegetables. This easily fed two adults and our son on Friday night but if you wanted to feed more people, you could increase the amount of meatballs or you could add more vegetables to the sauce or cook some garlic bread to go with the dish. We served ours with a small pack of cooked gnocchi.

Pork meatballs, tomato sauce and gnocchi

Pork meatballs

250g Pork mince

50g breadcrumbs

50g grated parmesan

Salt & pepper

1 tbsp chopped fresh sage (use less if using dried sage)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Tomato sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

1 large carrot

Tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp oregano

200g spinach

1. In a large bowl mix together all of the ingredients for the pork meatballs. I use a fork to help me get this started but it is best to get stuck in with hands.
   
2. In a large frying pan, pour 1 tbsp vegetable oil and place on a medium heat. Make your pork mix into small meatballs, you can make them whatever size you prefer, but I tend to keep them small so that they cook through relatively quickly, about the size of a walnut is good. Place them in the frying pan, try not to turn them too early, they need to brown so that they don't stick to the pan.
   
3. Chop the onion and carrot finely (this is where I used my mini food processor). Once the meatballs are starting to look cooked add 1 tbsp vegetable oil and the carrot and onion. Let this cook for a few minutes until the carrot and onion start to soften.
   
4. Find a large saucepan and fill the kettle and set it to boil (this is for the gnocchi).
   
5. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano to the frying pan containing the meatballs. Make sure the heat is medium or lower as you don't want to burn anything. Keep stirring the sauce.
   
6. Cook the gnocchi according to the packet instructions.
   
7. Add the spinach to the frying pan and if you have a lid, put the lid on. Give the spinach a few minutes to steam and then stir into the sauce. Drain the gnocchi once it is cooked and add to the frying pan. Give everything one last stir to make sure the gnocchi is coated and serve.
   

Cookery books are brilliant for inspiration

This is from a book I bought a long time ago called The Essential Baking Cookbook" published by Murdoch Books. I am terrible for buying books, I always joke that I don't drink and I don't smoke but my addiction is buying books. Just borrowing them from the library isn't enough and one of my dreams has always been to have my own library. Anyway, as a result I have a reasonable collection of cookery books and quite a few of them are about baking. This particular one was bought from a book club that visited where I was working at the time. It has turned out to be a really good book as there are several recipes that I use regularly, including my breakfast blueberry muffins which are adapted from this book. I think it is important to have books as they can inspire you to try new things. Don't get me wrong, I don't think a book will ever inspire me to eat more mussels or squid (sorry seafood lovers) but the recipes can give good ideas which you can either use as they are written or adapt to suit your needs more.

As I've mentioned previously baking is the 'thing' my son and I share. He can play cars and tractors for hours with Daddy but baking is our special time where we work together and enjoy sharing. He's learning some great skills that I hope he will be able to use one day. Actually, whilst we were making these at the weekend my husband even said to our son that he ought to learn to cook so that he can get himself a decent wife when he's older. Apparently if he can cook her a good meal he will! I'm not sure how far I believe that philosophy but I do believe in getting our son involved, he's much more likely to eat something he's been included in preparing and it gives him the confidence to try out new things. He loved helping to rub the butter into the flour and stir in the cheese but admittedly got a bit carried away with combining the wet ingredients, so some of the later scones were a little bit tougher! A recent equipment purchase I made was a set of different size scone cutters, so ours varied in size. We visit a really great local art centre that makes really good quality food and when you buy their soup it comes with sliced bread and a mini cheese scone, now I can recreate those mini cheese scones.

Cheese scones

Makes 6

Prep time :15 minutes

Total cooking time: 15 minutes

125g self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp dry mustard

Pinch of salt

15g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

15g grated parmesan

45g finely grated cheddar

125ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 220C and lightly grease a baking tray. Sift flour, baking powder and mustard and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips.
   
2. Stir in the parmesan and 30g of the cheddar then make a well in the centre and add most of the milk.
   
3. Use a flat-bladed life, use a cutting action to bring the dough together. Work the dough as little as possible. Use remaining milk if necessary.
   
4. With floured hands, gently gather the dough together and pat into a smooth ball on a floured surface. Use cutters to cut out shapes to the size you want. Gently bring the remaining dough together and cut out more shapes.
   
5. Place shapes together on the baking tray and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Move the scones away from each other so that they don't stick together whilst baking.
   
6. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops are golden. Best enjoyed warm
   

Cod with lentils and bacon

I'm sure that there are fancier ways of cooking this that you would get if you visited a good restaurant. Well, restaurant visits are few and far between in this household so I guess that's one reason why this meal is a tasty change. I have to admit though that it did fox our little boy, he's normally quite adventurous and did try a few bites of this, but he was tired and really didn't want to try it tonight. I'm sure though that I'll serve it again another night and he'll try it again. We didn't make a fuss of him about it, merely encouraged him and when he was clearly not interested left him alone. He has to wait until we've finished our main course before he's allowed to leave the table and tonight I let him have pudding (sliced mango and a strawberry fromage frais) as he did try his main course.  

I'm still trying to use dried beans and pulses more but at the moment my biggest enemy is forgetting to put the beans in to soak the night before I intend on using them. However, the lentils I used for this dish are great, they need cooking for 15-20 minutes and then they're ready. I've got them in a jar because it looks nicer, but it means that I've lost the packet, so when I say they're green lentils, check your own packet first for preparation guidelines just in case! I had time this afternoon to pre-cook the lentils before assembling the dish but the recipe card that originally inspired this dish used ready prepared puy lentils. You could use a tin or pouch of lentils and it would cut down on preparation time but the end result would be just as tasty.

Cod with lentils and bacon (served 2 adults)

Cooking time: 30 minutes 

2 long sweet peppers

80g cooked green lentils

2 skinless boneless cod loins (another white fish would work equally as well)

1 mozzarella ball

3 slices of thinly sliced smoked bacon (this was all I had left after the weekend)

2 tomatoes (or baby tomatoes)

1 lemon

1 tbsp olive oil

Black pepper

1. Preheat an oven to 200C. Slice each pepper down the middle, keeping the stalk intact and remove the pith and seeds. Place in a large/medium oven dish and cover with the lentils.
   
2. Lay the cod on top of the lentils. Slice the lemon into quarters and place into the oven dish along with the tomatoes. If you're using full sized tomatoes, slice them into quarters, if using baby tomatoes put them in whole.
   
3. Thinly slice the mozzarella and place all over the dish, including the fish. Drizzle the olive oil over the whole dish and ground some black pepper.
   
4. Drape the bacon over fish and put in the oven to cook for about 30 minutes. If the bacon is cooking too quickly, lower the heat. I prefer crispy bacon so don't put tin foil over the top.
   

Tired after a party, it's so nice to come home to a warming stew

This is a really yummy meal, in my husband's words "the sauce is really tasty". I had bought some stewing beef on a freezer trip to our local butcher and because I knew that the meat would be good quality I wanted to keep it simple to let the flavour come through. I also knew that I would be going to a birthday party in the afternoon with my nearly 3 year old son and didn't want to be having to prepare and cook food when I got home. As it's the weekend, I was able to quickly prepare this after lunch and leave it in the bottom oven of the Aga cooking whilst we enjoyed a bouncy castle, party games and birthday cake. I also used it as an opportunity to make a portion for the freezer. We've both been really busy with work lately and the next month is just as busy, so having 'freezer meals' ready to go in the oven is proving a real blessing.  

As we were organised we managed to get to the supermarket relatively early for us and so when we got home had time to prepare some cheese scones. We mainly made these to enjoy with some shop bought tomato soup for lunch, but had a few left over and we really enjoyed eating them with the beef stew and using them to soak up the sauce. It does have alcohol in and if you are a non-drinker you could choose to leave it out. I don't drink alcohol but I do like to cook with it as I think it adds to the meal, particularly a stew such as this.  

Beef stew

Serves 4 (or 2 people and portion for 2 in the freezer) plus our toddler

1 tsp vegetable oil

20g butter

400g (less or more is ok) stewing beef

Ground black pepper

1 tbsp plain flour

1 large glass red wine

1 beef stock cube

1 onion

3 large carrots

300g baby new potatoes

2 dried bay leaves

Dried thyme

1 tbsp tomato paste

Splash Worcestershire sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 140C. Over a medium heat melt the butter and oil together. Add the meat and increase the heat. Meanwhile peel and chop the onion and carrot.
   
2. Once the meat has browned add the flour and black pepper and stir in. Next add the red wine. Turn down the heat to medium and cook the alcohol off. You can tell that this has happened when you smell the steam and can't smell the alcohol. Meanwhile set a nearly full kettle to boil.
   
3. Add all the remaining ingredients and enough boiling water to just cover everything. Stir gently and bring to the boil.
   
4. Once it has reached boiling, cover and place in the oven. I left mine cooking for over 4 hours in a low temperature oven, but if you are short(er) on time 1 to 2 hours would be ok.
   

Honey mustard chicken

There are some things in my fridge that I buy, use once or twice and then forget to finish using it, curry paste and mustard are two that often thwart me. Now that I'm thinking more about what I buy and throw away, I'm trying to be more creative with the contents of our cupboards and fridge. So as well as cooking curry from scratch more often, I thought I'd try out a recipe using the wholegrain mustard sitting in the fridge. My husband isn't the biggest fan of mustard in any shape or form and whilst our son is adventurous I was worried that too strong a taste would put him off. This was also a good opportunity to cook with a cheaper cut of chicken, namely, thighs. I think that they work out about half the price of a chicken breast but are much tastier. There is a bit more fat and bits that you might want to cut off but it is de-skinned and de-boned but the end result is juicier once cooked.

Honey mustard chicken (feeds 2 adults and 1 toddler)

5 Chicken thighs (or whatever is in the packet of chicken)

1 tbsp oil (I used sunflower)

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tsp honey

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Place the chicken onto a baking tray. Mix together the oil, mustard and honey in a bowl.
   
2. Brush or spoon the mix onto the chicken. If you prefer a stronger taste, make more mix or use more to cover a piece of chicken.
   
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
   

I cooked ours this evening with potato wedges and parsnip wedges roasted in the oven. My mum gave me a magic mat for Christmas which is really useful as you don't need to have oil and the potatoes/meat/whatever doesn't stick to the tray.

Quick I need a salad

This is such a quick and easy salad but livens up a dull carrot completely. I bought a huge bag of carrots in the supermarket and knew that to make the most of this economy I needed to be creative in my cooking that week. I also had a friend coming over for lunch and had decided to cook some baked potatoes (my go-to lunch option for visitors it seems) but wanted more than just cheese, ham and home made chutney to go with them. Grated carrot is always nice and can be a lovely addition to a salad. My downfall at this stage was that I didn't have any green leaves so I wanted to make my carrot into more of a salad in its own right. A quick root through my store cupboard and this is what I came up with. It is better if it can be left to chill for a while in the fridge, overnight and the flavours really blend together well. Simply stir all the ingredients together into a dish and enjoy

Carrot salad

2/3 medium carrots (grated)

1-2 tbsp raisins

2 tsps poppy seeds

Juice of 1/2 orange

Nothing beats a mum's recipe for pancakes

I know Shrove Tuesday has been and gone, but I started writing this before then but have only just got around to finishing it.

My childhood memories of my mum's pancakes make my mouth water just thinking about it! The best bit is that the recipe couldn't be easier. 1, 3, 5 is the basic ratio I use and can be easily scaled up to feed more people. There have been countless times when I've been living away from home and on realising it's pancake day, have rung home to my mum to ask her for the recipe. Now I am more organised and have the recipe written down, but I still like to have that sticky note from my mum nearby to make sure I've got the quantities right. I am also trying to make pancakes more often than once a year as they are so simple and are a good treat.

We have a special pancake pan and I have to admit that it does make it easier to make pancakes but it isn't a necessity. My favourite way to eat them is with lemon juice and sugar, which unbelievably to me, my husband hadn't tried before he met me! It never fails to amaze me how different families eat differently and have their own tastes and preferences. Another way I love to eat them is with a thin layer of nutella (chocolate/hazlenut spread) and then roll them up. Understandably our son just likes to eat them with anything, he loved pancake day this year.

I doubled the quantities for pancake day so that we made 6 pancakes. Remember that the first pancake will not be your best as the pan is still getting hot (particularly if you're impatient like me) and the last one will be dependent on what mix you have left. I add a knob of butter before each pancake. The joy of this ratio is that as long as you use the same tool for measuring the flour and milk, you only really need a spoon to measure. I make my mix in a jug so that it's easy to pour the mix into the pan. Finally, I try to make it ahead of time so that the mix has time to rest.

Pancakes (makes 3)

1 medium egg

3 tbsp plain flour

5 tbsp milk

Butter

1. Whisk the egg, flour and milk in a jug. Mix well to get out any lumps.
   
2. Heat the pan over a hot heat, once hot, add a knob of butter. Pour in the mix and twist the pan to spread out mix to cover the pan. Flip when starting to brown.
   
3. Once cooked on both sides, add toppings of choice and enjoy!
   

Homemade fish fingers

I'd always read people's recipes for homemade fish fingers with suspicion. For some reason I was convinced that it would be complicated or beyond my capabilities. However, in my quest to try out new things and to use up what is in my cupboards, I decided that the day had come when I would try to make my own version of fish fingers. Knowing that my little man would be in nursery for the day so that I could get on with some school work during half term, I knew that it wouldn't be beyond to try making my own fish fingers. I surprised myself at how easy it was, and whilst I may adapt it in the future or it may turn out differently the next time I make it, it was a good dinner that I'm happy to share. I cooked some homemade potato wedges, carrots and spinach to go with our fish. I mixed and matched the fish to try and keep the costs down, I was really surprised at the cost of fresh fish in the supermarket and next time I decide to make this, I plan on looking in the frozen aisle to see if there are any cheaper options.

Homemade fish fingers (fed 2 adults and 1 toddler)

1 fillet haddock

1 salmon fillet

1 egg

2 tbsp plain flour

3 tbsp polenta

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Slice the fish up into thick slices about 1 to 2 cm across.
   
2. You need 3 separate dishes with raised sides. In one dish, break the egg and whisk it together well. In another place the flour. In the third place the polenta, paprika and salt and pepper . Keep the flour and polenta close to hand in case you need to add more whilst coating the fish. (I kept my husband nearby with clean hands to help out too!)
   
3. Coat each piece of fish well, first in the flour, then the egg and finally the polenta mix. Place on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake for 20 minutes maximum. Check the fish as it could take slightly less or more time depending on how your oven works.
   

Make your own noodles

This was such a simple and quick lunch that warmed us up on a damp cold day. I was inspired by the BBC Good Food magazine which had arrived at the weekend. There is always lots of recipes that we want to cook when we get this magazine and I think it's really helpful to read other peoples recipes. It gives you something new to try but also inspires you to cook food that is similar or like with this recipe you adapt it to include what you have in your cupboard. The joy of this lunch for me today was that it didn't take any time to either prepare or cook. We started late this morning as I knew it was going to be icy and I didn't want to rush to the supermarket early and get caught in either work traffic or icy conditions. It meant that we got back from the supermarket late and I would need something quick and easy to prepare.

Quick noodles

1 strip fine egg noodles

1 tsp vegetable stock granules

500ml boiling water

Handful peas

3 spring onions

Chopped garlic, ginger, chilli pepper 

1. Start the kettle boiling. In a medium saucepan place the peas and stock granules. Once the kettle has boiled, pour 500 ml water into the saucepan and get it boiling.
   
2. Allow the peas to cook for 5 minutes before adding the noodles.
   
3. Whilst the noodles are cooking wash the spring onions before slicing them finely. I have ready chopped garlic, ginger and chilli in the freezer but if you were using them fresh, chop them up quickly and as much/little as you like.
   
4. Once the noodles have cooked, don't drain them. Add the chopped spring onions and garlic, ginger and chilli and stir through thoroughly.
   

As I was giving this to my son I made sure that he didn't get too much chilli as it would be a bit strong for him. I enjoyed having a bit more chilli and on a damp day when you're watching the snow melt, it was the perfect lunch. 5 minutes to prepare, 5 minutes to cook, didn't last much longer once we'd started eating!

Blue cheese, leek and bacon pasta

Sometimes, you know you're going to be coming home tired or too late to be able to put together anything more than a simple meal. Having recipes like this one ready to hand are so useful to be help get a quick and tasty meal on the table, it also doesn't have to break the bank balance. This more than ever is proving to be important for our family as the cost of living continues to rise. I've not calculated the exact cost of this meal but I didn't use the whole packet of bacon, so I estimate that this cost around £4. Whilst it was only designed to feed the three of us, it would be quite easy to increase the number of mouths fed by this meal without increasing the cost dramatically.

Blue cheese, leek and bacon pasta (served 2 plus toddler)

6 slices streaky bacon

250g pasta

1 packet blue cheese (I choose the cheapest but anything like dolcelatte would be fine)

3 leeks

1 to 2 tbsp milk

1 tbsp oil

1. Put the bacon on a tray and cook in the oven (or under the grill if you have one) until it is crispy. This takes about 20 minutes in our oven as I like really crispy bacon.
   
2. Meanwhile, get the kettle full of water and set it to boil whilst you weigh out the pasta. Wash and slice the leeks. Pour the olive oil into a pan or frying pan and place on a medium heat. Add the leeks and start to soften them gently.
   
3. Whilst the leeks are cooking, chop up the blue cheese roughly. Once the leeks have softened, add the blue cheese and keep stirring until it melts. Add the milk.
   
4. Drain the pasta and remove the bacon from the oven. Stir the pasta and leek blue cheese mixture together.
   

Food for poorly people

Ill health to a certain extent is part and parcel of parenthood. My hope is that with a good diet and reasonably good hygiene (as well as not being a morning person, I'm not the best at tidying) that we avoid most of the bugs and germs that small children so generously share. Unfortunately, even this doesn't always stop us catching something and this week was no exception, with the whole family having a winter sickness bug. Unfortunately, it meant that all of the food I had planned to cook and had managed to do the shopping for, didn't get cooked.

Fortunately the meats that I was planning on using were frozen so we can use them another day. It did mean that I had a fridge full of vegetables that needed using up. By the weekend, we were feeling better but still not really enjoying meals, so I wanted to cook something that was simple for lunch but used up some of the vegetables in the fridge. The benefit that I see in this kind of meal is that it is full of good vitamins and minerals, has lots of vegetables for fibre, beans and bacon for some protein and is simple to be digested. Best of all, it's all thrown into one pan and is ready in about 30 minutes (if you're quick at chopping.)

Vegetable, bacon and bean soup (feeds 5 - 6 adults)

1 packet smoked bacon lardons

1 large onion

3 celery sticks

3 or 4 medium carrots

2 leeks

3 heaped tbsp vegetable stock granules

1 tin black eyed beans

Boiling water

Tbsp dried oregano 

1. Place a saucepan over a medium to high heat and add the bacon (you can add a tablespoon of oil but I was trying to avoid too much fat in this meal.) Meanwhile chop the onion roughly. Once the bacon is looking cooked, add the onion to the pan and turn the heat down to medium to start softening the onion.
   
2. Roughly chop all of the remaining vegetables, drain and rinse the beans and get the kettle boiling.
   
3. Once the onion has softened, add the vegetables, stock granules and enough boiling water to cover the vegetables well (you can add more water later if you want.) Stir in the oregano and a generous seasoning of black pepper. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes until all the vegetables have softened.  
   

I made a lot more than we needed today, but I split the leftovers into two portions and have put them into the freezer. I plan on pulling them out for a quick and easy meal but to make it go further, I will add more stock and some small pasta shapes for a filling meal.

Barbados cream

Where this name comes from, I don't know, but it is a dessert that I grew up with and that was what it was called in our house. I always looked forward to eating it and I was always disappointed when it was finished. My mum used to make it in individual ramekin dishes which I think was designed to stop us arguing over who got more as we all enjoyed it. Anyway, it is a really simple pudding which is so quick to make, I made it today quickly when I got in from work and it was ready for our son to have as a pudding. It is really important that you give it some time to settle as the sugar needs time to melt into the creamy yoghurt mix. How much cream and yoghurt you use can vary, as long as they are about equal, you can make as much or as little as you want.

We don't always have puddings, but I really enjoy them. My husband has a more savoury appetite than I do, he always jokes that it is a family thing. I guess it's true, in a restaurant his family are more likely to order a starter then a main whereas my family will order main and then a dessert. I try to pick from restaurant menus really carefully for a variety of reasons. My main one now though, is going out to a restaurant is such a treat, I want to be able to enjoy everything I eat and not come out feeling so full that I just want to fall asleep and digest!

Barbados cream

Small pot double cream (250-300g)

Small pot Greek style yoghurt (250 - 300g)

Dark muscovado sugar

 
 

1. Pour the cream into a bowl and whisk until it is whipped and forms stiff peaks. It is important that it reaches this stage as the yoghurt will make it runny again.
   
2. Stir in the Greek yoghurt until a you get a smooth consistency. Add the yoghurt in small amounts so that it doesn't become too runny by adding too much yoghurt.
   
3. In a shallow dish (or a few individual ramekin dishes) sprinkle a covering of sugar. Spoon the yoghurt and cream mix on top and spread it out so that the sugar is covered. Sprinkle another layer of sugar on the top.
   
4. Put into the fridge for 1 to 2 hours to allow the sugar to melt.
   

Snacks are the way forward in this house

My husband loves snacks, little nibbly bits that you can easily pop into your mouth and then move on to another flavour. I wouldn't say he had a favourite snack, he just likes snacks. Our son is following in his footsteps, this has been the first year that he has understood who Father Christmas is and when asked what he would like as a present would normally answer with 'snacks'! My husband is also becoming quite skilled in the kitchen and is happy cooking for us as a family. This snack though is one of his specialities and we all enjoy the results. Ours tend to get eaten with slices of cheese but they could be used for all kinds of toppings and even broken up into croutons.

Easy Bruschetta

1 or 2 day old baguette

A little olive oil

Salt & pepper (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
   
2. Thinly slice the bread and spread the pieces out onto a large oven tray. Drizzle over the olive oil. If you are using seasoning sprinkle this over now.
   
3. Put in the oven for 15 minutes, half way through turn the pieces over so that both sides brown evenly. Keep an eye on them as they burn very quickly.
   
4. They will keep for about a week or more in an air tight container, if they don't get eaten first!
   

Baked camembert

It does seem a bit of a cheek writing this up as a recipe, but it is very easy and delicious, not to say a life saver if people pop by unexpectedly and you want to give them something to eat.

I have a best friend who lives in Tennessee, USA and we were very lucky (and raided our savings) to go and visit her and her family last summer in the Great Smokey Mountains where they live. Whilst there I persuaded my husband that a trip to the Old Mill at Pigeon Forge was a necessity, he didn't believe me as all of the information he had read about Pigeon Forge suggested that there might not be much history to be found. Well, I won, and we drove the Old Mill, had a lovely Southern style lunch, I had fried cat fish, and then looked around the rest of the complex. We visited the pottery, from which I had on a visit years earlier bought an apple baker which I love to look at and use. Now with our own kitchen (and space in a suitcase!) I knew I would want to bring home another special reminder from this lovely store. We found a brie baking dish, I'm sure that this is something I could have found back in the UK but I love the pottery from this store and it is the most wonderful reminder of our trip. Now whenever I make this dish I think of that wonderful time with our friends and treasure my friendship even more.

Baked camembert

1 round camembert (it needs to fit into the size of dish you plan to use)

Optional - sprig of rosemary, or thyme, black pepper

Baguette

1. Preheat an oven to 160C. Remove all packaging from the cheese, place it whole into your dish. Your dish needs to be just a bit larger than your cheese in case it explodes (as ours did tonight!) If you are using herbs, make a small incision into the top of the cheese and poke the herb stalk in.
   
2. Place the dish into the oven. Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour. You need to check on the cheese every 15 minutes, just to make sure that it isn't burning or needing more time. Whilst it's cooking slice some of the baguette ready for dipping.
   
3. When the cheese goey inside, remove from the oven and use a sharp knife to slice off the top of the cheese (discard this bit for the compost bin) and bring to the table.  
   

We like to eat our molten cheese with a fresh baguette. At the moment though, as our son is small, we take the cheese out with a teaspoon so that it has a chance to cool down before reaching little mouths. If you do decide to use herbs with this, I would recommend using more robust herbs (think thicker stalks) as they will survive the cooking process better.

Chicken quesadillas

I have been fortunate to travel around the world and have managed to work and live in a few places for an extended period of time. One of these has been in America, I was enticed by the snazzy posters whilst walking around a recruitment fair at university and before I knew it I was off to spend a summer living in the woods with hundreds of boys at a summer camp north of New York. Whilst I was there I met amazing people, so much that I went back to the same camp two more times and am still in touch with my first ever co-counsellor who now lives in Tennessee USA. The local town was probably quite typical of a small town, it had a big supermarket and a cinema, enough to keep us happy most of the time. There was also a good laundrette where I spent many an hour. Down the pavement was a bar, which I will admit to having visited in the evenings quite a few times but would also go there to eat whilst waiting for my washing. It was here that I was introduced to quesadillas, which is quite sad as it would probably have been better to have discovered them somewhere a little more authentic but they were good.

 

Move on a quite a few years and I spotted quesadilla's on one of those handy recipe cards that you can find in supermarkets. I decided to introduce my husband to them and as a quick weekend lunch, they can be very easy and tasty. They aren't as good as you might get in a restaurant, but this dish is really easy and kid friendly, they'll get into a good mess which they enjoy and if old enough can help prepare the ingredients and construct their own quesadilla. If you have a normal cooker I would recommend cooking them one at a time in a frying pan. We have a mat that can be placed straight onto the simmer plate of our Aga and cook ours directly on this heat. Which is also very good for making yummy cheese toasties if you have an Aga.

 

I knew that there was going to be chicken left over from the previous night, and when visiting our greengrocer in Cirencester this morning found yummy avocados. I know they're not in season but they were a good deal and didn't travel that far and with a red pepper and some grated cheddar cheese made for a simply satisfying lunch.

 

Chicken quesadillas (feeds 4 with a side salad)

8 tortilla's

Approx 250g cooked chicken breast

1/2 red pepper

2 - 3 baby avocados

250g cheddar cheese

 

1. Prepare all of the contents first. Grate the cheese, chop up the avocado into chunks (deseed and peel avocado), deseed and chop the pepper into thin slices. Shred the chicken into chunks.
   
2. Heat the frying pan over a medium/high heat. Put one tortilla into the frying pan and add your ingredients, then cover with a second tortilla. Leave until the tortilla touching the frying pan starts to go brown, then try to flip it! This is normally where it goes wrong in our household but it's good fun! Cook on the other side until the cheese has melted.
   
3. Slide the toasted quesadilla onto a plate and chop into quarters.
   
4.  
   

I would add some salad if there are only adults eating this meal. This is by no means the only contents of a quesadilla and it's probably not the traditional way of cooking them, but it gets eaten very quickly in this house!

Chicken and chips family style

What child wouldn't enjoy having 'chicken and chips' for their dinner? In fact how many adults would turn that meal down? OK, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but most people have meals that they would enjoy from a takeaway or restaurant that could be seen as an indulgence. Having grown up in the countryside, I've never had takeaways regularly as no one would deliver that far out of town. I don't think this has done me any harm, we ate takeaways as children, but they were always a treat that was savoured and was fitted in if convenient. Now, I live closer to town but takeaways are still a treat that we really don't have very often.

 
 

A few years ago when I started to get more interested in the food I was eating, I was reading more literature about food, where it comes from, how it's made, what gets put into it and started making choices and changes. A few of the things that I've chosen to remove from my diet are carbonated drinks and fast food. Now, years down the line if I drink cola it tastes foul, like burnt caramel and if I eat fast food it might taste good for about 5 minutes but 15 minutes down the line I feel sick from all of the grease going into my body.

 
 

We're in January, the month where the news recently reported the most divorce cases are started, the television is filled with programs trying to help people lose weight and get fit. Recipe books and magazines are full of tips and tricks for cooking the food you enjoy but with less of the calories or fat or salt content. Adverts bombard you with slimming products and clubs all promoting the idea that a new year means a new you. My biggest piece of advice is that you need to forget about 'dieting' and think more about living healthily. It is easier than all of those programs and adverts suggest and you need to look at it as a permanent part of life. It can be done with the whole family. In fact, it's probably easier and more supportive if everyone is eating the same things.

 
 

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make, is that it's ok to have your favourite things, but you might need to have them less frequently if they're calorie or fat indulgent. I still eat chocolate, we have pizza occasionally, my husband enjoys a glass of wine each evening, but this is balanced by the rest of our diet. The chips recipe is adapted from BBC Good Food magazine, but the whole meal concept was dished up for dinner tonight. Best of all, it's really simple, yes it has a less common ingredient polenta, but we all need to think outside of our comfort zone some times.

 
 

Chicken and chips

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Chicken pieces (if they have skin on, you can choose not to eat the skin or could take it off before cooking)

3 or 4 medium potatoes

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp polenta

Salt & pepper

Bag spinach

 
 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. On a large tray pour the oil. Heat this in the oven for a few minutes. Whilst this is happening, use 1/2 tsp of the smoked paprika to sprinkle over the chicken with a little salt and pepper. Put this in the oven.
   
2. As soon as the chicken is in the oven, slice the potatoes into chip style pieces, leave the skin on. In a bowl mix together the remaining smoked paprika, polenta and a little more salt and pepper. Then get the potatoes in the bowl and give it a good mix. I'd recommend hands, and this is where my 2 and 1/2 year old joined in with cooking tonight.
   
3. Tip this mix onto the tray with the chicken and place back in the oven. The chips need about 40 minutes and should be shaken half way through. The most important thing is that the chicken is cooked through thoroughly - skewer and the juices should run clear.
   
4. 5 minutes before serving the chicken and chips, empty the packet of spinach into a saucepan with a lid and place on a high heat and cover with the lid. Give it a shake/stir whilst it's wilting so that the bottom pieces don't burn.
   

Jambalaya

I'm starting to notice how many recipes I could potentially write which contain sausages! We do eat other meats and part of the reason I plan our meals is so that I make sure we have a variety and eat fish at least once a week. However, I will not deny that we enjoy eating sausages and that they do feature frequently on our meal plans. I have been very lucky and probably spoilt as I've grown up eating tasty sausages from our local butchers. Now that I'm buying food for my own family I make sure that I buy sausages from the butcher as well as minced beef. It may seem like a luxury when the cost of goods is rising and the rise in salary isn't matching it, but I would more rather buy a little less of a higher quality good when it comes to sausages and beef. I do buy meat from the supermarket, but for my personal taste, I prefer these two items from the Butcher. Jesse Smiths is our local butcher, we use the shop in Cirencester but my parents have been going to the shop in Northleach since before I was born. They are also the company that we bought our delicious turkey from this winter.

 
 

Anyway, I tend to buy in bulk from the butchers, and if I time my visit right and go when they're quiet, they even split what I've bought into separate bags ready for the freezer. I've got quite a few bags of sausages at the moment, so they were the inspiration behind this meal tonight. I used chipolatas tonight but you could easily use large sausages, just reduce the number that you include, I normally cook 3 large sausages per adult.

 
 

Sausage jambalaya (fed 2 adults plus toddler easily)

8 Chipolatas

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium/large chorizo sausage

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1/2 cup rice (this isn't an American measure but how we measure rice in my family. I use a cup not mug, I guess when I make this it is probably about the same as the packet instructions for two people. So if you're doing this for yourself and your not sure if your cup is the same size as mine, follow the rice packet instructions and adapt it to two people if necessary.)

 
 

1. Preheat the oven to 200C, put the sausages onto a tray with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cook the sausages for about 25 minutes or until they're golden brown.
   
2. Meanwhile, deseed and roughly chop the peppers into 1-2cm sized chunks, if you want to use different colour peppers it's fine, these are the colours I had today when I cooked. Chop the chorizo into slices roughly 1/2 to 1cm thick. I used ready chopped chorizo and it was a mistake as the flavour was totally different.
   
3. In an oven ready dish pour the second tablespoon of olive oil and add the chorizo and chopped peppers. Fry this over a medium heat until the peppers have started to soften and all of the tasty juices have been released from the chorizo.
   
4. Once the sausages are cooked and cool enough to handle chop into chunks. Leave the oven on but reduce the temperature down to 180C. Add this along with the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and rice. I also add half a can of water at this stage. Give it all a good stir, put a lid on the dish (this is really important to help the keep the juices in and help cook the vegetables) and put it in the oven.
   
5. Cook for 40 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
   

 

You could swap the sausages for chicken or prawns. If using chicken, I would probably use chicken pieces and brown them off first before adding the chorizo. If using prawns (unfrozen), I would put them in for the last 5-10 minutes cooking time so that they are just cooked through before serving.

Cod wrapped in bacon

Meal planning is a valuable skill to practise as it really helps you buy only what you need from the supermarket and it has helped us learn to use leftovers much better. I also love shopping with a list, it means that when I'm overwhelmed with the tempting choices that the supermarket puts in front of you, it is easier to make better decisions. I am also learning to pay more attention to the pricing of products to make sure that I am getting the best value for money from the products I'm buying. This does take extra time, but it is making me a much wiser consumer as I found that the larger 'value' packs aren't always the best value for money when you look at the price per gram or kilogram. When my son was in nappies, there were times when I bought two smaller bags of nappies rather than one large pack as the price per nappy was cheaper.

Anyway shopping tips over for today as I've gone completely off my first point which was menu planning. One of my favourite benefits of menu planning is that I don't have the awful thought of 'what are we going to eat tonight?' I know that if there is something I really want to cook and eat, I can build it into the food for the weekend as the majority of my planning focuses on weekday meals. We tend to look at weekend meals as being an opportunity to try out a new recipe. We still try to plan our food for the weekend though as if we have to do a food shop we want it to be as quick as possible so that we can spend more time together as a family rather than in a supermarket. Even though I'm still on holidays this week, I still needed to think carefully about the meals as we had a guest last night and my husband is going to be home late on Thursday night. This paid dividends today though as I've managed to hurt my back and can't really do anything in the kitchen. As my lovely husband is now very practised at looking at the meals I have planned, found my magic planning book, saw what was on the menu and started cooking. This meal is really simple and tasty, our son loved the cod and bacon combination. My husband cooked some boiled potatoes and steamed carrots and sprouts to go with the cod.

Cod wrapped in bacon (fed 2 adults and a toddler)

1 lemon

2 pieces of cod

12 slices thin streaky bacon (or pancetta)

1. Preheat an oven to 200°C. Slice the lemon into thin rounds and use this to line the bottom of an oven dish. I do this so that the fish doesn't stick to the bottom of the dish and can help avoid using oil.
   
2. Place the fish on the lemon slices (skin side down if it has skin on) and wrap the bacon over the top. You can just drape it if you are short on time or aren't keen on handling the fish too much.
   
3. Put in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, keep an eye on the fish more than the bacon as you want it cooked not overcooked.
   

   
    

Visiting isn’t over yet

Whilst most people now seem to be heading back to work after the holidays, I am lucky enough that I don't go back until 9^th January. Unfortunately I have lots and lots of work to catch up on, and now that the little man is in nursery again, I need to get going. However, that does mean that I need to think of feeding myself at lunch time and today was another opportunity to use up some food and leftovers from the fridge. The recipe below fed me but the quantities could easily be increased, for example, if my son had been at home with me I would have used 2 eggs rather than one. It does show how easy and quick a frittata type meal can be created from the most random of ingredients.

Potato and ham frittata

2 left over baked potatoes (one was really small!)

½ green pepper

3 slices ham

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons finely grated cheese (I used parmesan)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 knob butter

Seasoning

1. Slice the potatoes reasonably thinly, add these to a frying pan over a medium heat containing the oil and butter (it is important to include the butter to help the potatoes go nice and crispy).
   
2. Whilst the potatoes start to brown, thinly slice the green pepper and add this to the frying pan. Then slice and add the ham.
   
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg lightly, then mix in the grated cheese, milk and seasoning (I used black pepper only as both the cheese and ham will have salt in them.) Add this to the frying pan.
   
4. Let the mix start to set, when it is starting to look set around the edges, put it under the grill on in a hot oven for 5 minutes to finish cooking the egg.
   

Also my father-in-law is coming to stay for the night so he can leave early to go to a conference nearby. It means that I need to cook a meal for us, and because it isn't just my husband, son and I, it does need a little more thought and consideration. It also means that my son will have to eat earlier by himself and then the adults will eat once he has gone to bed. So rather than cooking two meals I wanted to cook something that I could give to my son earlier and then have it as a main meal later. We had slow roasted one of the lamb joints on Sunday and so I had lots of tender yummy lamb left to use. I normally make a shepherd's pie which is a recipe I will write up another day but fancied something different this time. Having looked at lots of different ideas and books I decided to cook a lamb ragu. This is a dish that is normally made with beef but I thought the full flavour of the lamb would be a good alternative plus I am aiming for another freezer meal out of the leftovers from this meal!

Lamb Ragu

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 onion

4 carrots

500g cooked lamb (I didn't weigh our leftovers and you could always make this with minced lamb, just make sure that the meat is cooked through.)

Lamb stock cube

1 glass red wine

500g passatta

2 tbsp tomato paste

250ml water

Herbs (I used dried thyme and a couple of bay leaves)

Salt and pepper

Soft goat's cheese (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 160/170°C
   
2. Finely dice the onion and carrot (I used a mini food processor for ease and speed), put this into a medium/large casserole dish with the olive oil and finely chopped garlic. Over a low/medium heat start to sweat the vegetables.
   
3. Whilst the vegetables soften, dice up the meat and add this to the casserole dish. Once this has cooked through a little crumble the stock cube in. Then add the red wine, turn the heat up a little and let the alcohol cook through.
   
4. Add everything else except the goat's cheese, give it a good stir and then make sure it is bubbling before putting it in the oven.
   
5. Leave to cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours (or longer if you can). We served ours with frilly tagliatelle and crumbled over some of the goats cheese on our plates.

Ratatouille

We had friends over for lunch today, a rare treat as they live a long way away and they dropped in to visit whilst they were on their way home from spending the holidays with family. It was very exciting as we don't get to see each other very often, especially now we both have children. There were a few things that I needed to consider when feeding our friends. One of our friends needs a gluten free diet, not something I'm familiar with but was a fair challenge. Also their daughter is 16 months old and so whilst she is likely to be well into eating normal family meals, she may not be as adventurous as our son. I also wanted to spend as much time with them as possible rather than being tied up in the kitchen. Finally when they leave us they will have a 2 or 3 hour drive depending on traffic so a heavy meal needed to be avoided.

Taking all of this into consideration, I decided baked potatoes would be a good option and the Aga would be a massive help. I know baked potatoes are easy but with the Aga, I don't even have to think about turning the cooker on and waiting for it to get to the right temperature, an hour in the Aga gives a cooked potato with crispy skin. What to put with the baked potato? Cheese seemed boring whilst baked beans aren't everyone's idea of a good grown up meal. So I decided to cook some ratatouille, not something I've cooked before but a simple easy dish that I knew would be quite happy cooking for a couple of hours in the bottom oven. The recipe feeds 6, there were in fact 4 adults and I put the remaining ratatouille in the freezer for another day. We also had lots of cheese left over from Christmas which was enjoyed along with crackers and home-made plum chutney.

Ratatouille Feeds 6 (plus toddler and 1 year old)

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1 red and 1 green pepper

2 courgettes

1 aubergine

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato puree

Salt and pepper

Oregano

Bay leaf (or 2)

1. Put the olive oil in a casserole dish (or other suitable dish that has a lid), roughly chop the onion and celery (I chopped the celery smaller than the onion) and put in the dish. Start to soften this over a medium heat.
   
2. Whilst the onion and celery are softening, start to roughly chop all of the other vegetables into about 2cm large chunks, the more rustic the better. Once the onion and celery have softened (5-10 minutes) add all of the chopped vegetables, both tins of tomatoes, the tomato puree and seasonings. Give it all a good stir, turn up the heat until it is bubbling gently.
   
3. Put on the lid and put into an oven about 160-170°C for 2 – 2 ½ hours.