Category: fEAsting

all things food related

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dear diary ~ changing seasons, changing menu

By the time you read this we might be well on our journey (hope so) – stocked up with a couple of home made meals for the first two days (we are self-catering). After months of salads and plates of cold food I am really looking forward to eating some old favourites more suited to this cooler and very wet weather. I don’t know about you but I feel like I went to bed one day in summer and have woken up in autumn; the change overnight was so sudden here. I wasn’t quite ready.

With a change of menu in mind – nothing beats a good nutroast and it is so easy to transport…as long as we don’t forget to get it out of the freezer and yes we have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. The worst ever time I recall was forgetting to get Sweetie’s first birthday sponge cake out of the freezer to take with us to decorate at my daughters 70 miles away – good old Co-op came to the rescue.

This nut roast recipe above that I often use is a firm favourite, easy to make and uses up any celery, carrots or mushrooms at the end of a week or like now when we are going away. I will put the recipe page up on the drop down recipes above for anyone interested. If you like nutroast do try it you won’t be disappointed.

Once cooked and sliced it is a good standby for the freezer providing a homemade ready meal that can be microwaved in minutes. I generally serve it with mashed or roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts or cabbage and roast parsnips, I also add in a couple of small Yorkshires too. The meal would not be complete without lashings of gravy (vegetarian of course) with a splash of Henderson’s relish added (coming from Sheffield what else would I use)? Another unusual quirk of mine is to serve it with a spoonful of apple sauce as you would for pork, I think it goes so well with the nutroast.

Saturday night was Shepherds Pie with brown lentils, topped with swede and potatoes mashed together, a sprinkling of parmesan and a scattering of cherry tomatoes cut in half to provide some colour.

I feel quite smug and organised when I prepare the veg ahead of time ‘Mise en Place’ style though more often than not this is not always possible but it certainly makes life easier if we are late home and making Shepherds Pie from scratch takes far too long when you are a little ravenous.

DH prepped the veg for a curry yesterday morning and made enough for our evening meal and for us to take with us to Cheltenham. I will pack a packet of Tilda wholegrain basmati rice that will cook in 2 minutes in the microwave (I did check there is a microwave!)

My autumn menu plans will feature a lot of the old favourites – roasted veg lasagne, stuffed courgettes, baked potatoes and a medley of vegetables in a creamy cheese sauce. And I have a new soup recipe to try – Cream of vegetable and herb soup with celeriac and parsnip.

DH has taken to stewing the plentiful punnets of plums and apricots I have been buying in Sainsbury’s – often at a reduced price. Accompanied with some creamy Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche it makes a lovely simple dessert or breakfast.

And a neighbour gave me a carrier bag full of eating apples. I think they must be Pink Lady or a similar variety because inside they are a most wonderful rose pink colour. DH cooked them and then froze them in individual little pots and the left overs went to make an Eve’s pudding.

We shared one last night….. just to try it out of course …and yes it did taste good even better as we don’t normally have a pudding – the other one is travelling with us.

As soon as we return from our few days away I have promised myself an irresistable chocolate and pear pudding while there is an abundance of pears in the shops.

When I received the final details for the little flat we are renting we found out the number is 58 – the same number as our first student house in Cheltenham though not the same road.

But how co-incidental is that?

Can’t wait now to see this exhibition, all our old haunts and all the changes.

Back soon x

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feasting ~ the Coronation celebration

Did your Coronation day go well?

Our Saturday morning began much like any other but an hour earlier than usual as we had to prepare for little Freddie coming at 9am. Once he steps over our threshold it is full on as he whizzes around from one game to another….and we try to keep up. Never having had a boy of my own I am not used to playing at diggers and Paw Patrol and I feel much more at home when he turns his attentions to the Sindy kitchen cafe that we still have from the 80’s that my two girls played with.

Being an important day, like Christmas and Easter day, I refrained from doing any washing – not that I haven’t still got a few loads to do from our Scotland visit but I do like to keep some days sacred. It doesn’t bother me that other people do theirs but I do like to keep the weekend free of those kind of chores if I can – it makes it more special like a Sunday dinner.

As we played the Peppa Pig Monolpoly game for the umpteenth time this year (it is a big favourite and well worth the £8 I paid at Christmas to amuse all the grandchildren) we had the TV on to try and see some of the Coronation – what a shame about the rain – it was dry outside here. I love the whole pageantry and spectacle and enjoyed the bits I saw – it was so British and for some a once in a life time event – it is what we do well – I would have been terrified myself on show with the whole world looking on. I am sure Charles will be good king – I hope he gets chance to continue with his favourite pastimes of gardening and painting now his role will be much more demanding. Kate as always looked so natural and poised as if she had been born into the role.

I did manage at last to get the seeds sown the day before – now fingers crossed they germinate quickly. I have trays of cosmos and zinnias in different varieties and also calendula and petunia and I started off the courgettes and basil. I never have much luck with the basil but you never know.

Just before lunch the sun came out and Freddie and I went into the garden – whilst I checked and watered the seed trays he watered the outdoor tubs with a little watering can (not that they needed water but he does like to be helpful). The garden is looking much more passable now but there is still more than a few afternoon’s work to be done – but that will be another time.

After lunch and the Royal Family had made their appearance on the balcony we had a walk to the village and that is when it did rain here and we had to shelter in the local Co-op with our ice-creams until the worst had passed.

Once home DH entertained Freddie whilst I made the filling for the individual quiche bases I had baked blind the day before and popped them in the oven. I sprinkled the top with a little parmesan cheese and added half a cherry tomato for colour. (Neither were in the recipe)

We then decorated the tray bake sponge cake I had also baked previously. I can’t think of any child that doesn’t like to bake and decorate and Freddie did his half with chocolate and sprinkles and much serious concentration whilst I spread the cherry curd on the top of mine and then coated this with coconut. The cherry curd is quite tart which I prefer to using jam and goes so well with the sweetness of the coconut.

I had decided against making a trifle or any scones in the end and instead made a simple fresh fruit salad – well DH did all the chopping – both green and black grapes, oranges, apple and strawberries.

Meanwhile, Freddie helped me lay the table and we went out to gather a few fresh flowers from the garden for the little jug – he chose forget me nots, wallflower, grape hyacinths and some dandelions and then arranged them to his satisfaction! All I did was cut some of the long stalks down.

He carried all the dishes of salads to the table and then suddenly remembered that when we had the Easter family tea he had made little place cards with his cousins Little L and Sweetie and wanted to make some more – there was no time to make new ones but luckily I had kept the ones they had made at Easter so he was happy to use those. So we had an Easter Coronation table but Freddie was happy with that!!

Finally, mummy and daddy arrived and we all sat down to tea and admired his handiwork. We all agreed the individual Coronation quiches were delicious, I served them with shredded little gem lettuce, homemade coleslaw, beetroot, cherry tomatoes and new potatoes topped with butter. I will definitely be making the recipe again – as you know I substituted watercress in place of the spinach and added a few chopped spring onions. The tarragon flavour certainly came through and wasn’t overpowering -I didn’t have fresh which might have been better so I was careful not to go overboard with the dried.

After mummy and daddy and a very tired little Freddie had gone home we just collapsed on the sofa and watched a few of the highlights of the procession that we had missed. I did wonder if behind the palace facade last night when the media presence had all packed up and gone if the Royals were all having a really good knees up and letting their hair down.

Today we will be recovering and if the weather holds going for a walk.

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feasting ~ Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everyone – the church bells are ringing out in the village here to proclaim that the Lord is risen indeed. The sky is thick with cloud but no sign of rain and I am hoping the sun will shine through mid-morning as it did yesterday.

I should be in the kitchen doing the preparations for our Easter family feast tonight rather than typing on my blog but there is not a lot left to do. I have the Easter hunt to set up in the garden in readiness for Little L, Sweetie and Freddie this afternoon and the cake to assemble – I at least remembered to take it out of the freezer last night but I did forget I need to do some jelly – granny’s jelly is always a favourite especially if I do it in the old glass jelly mould. I keep thinking I will make a blancmange as the grandchildren have never seen or tasted one – old fashioned puddings these days like semolina, rice pudding and blancmange are never on the menu, not even at school. Many schools now just serve a yoghurt or something like flapjack as a pudding.

No matter how long I spend in the garden at the moment (and it has to be in short bursts of an hour) it is never enough during April when everything is bursting forth in the sunshine and the lighter days. Yesterday I pruned one of the Buddleias it must now be over 35 years old and showing its age – like me! But I will persevere with it otherwise it will leave a big hole and the removal of the giant cherry tree did that last year.

There is not a lot of colour in the garden yet – the tulips are still only in bud and the daffodils faded. There are a few primula dotted around and thank goodness for the strong blue of the grape hyacinth to cheer up the borders until everything gets going.

Well I think I had better get a move on I need to run around with the duster and vac again just to freshen up.

Have a lovely day x

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dear diary ~ Easter upon us already

Hello again, you can always guarantee that when I find my way back to write here I am between a busy period that has just ended and one that is about to begin! It is my lull before the storm.

I was still in Scotland in my last post and we will be venturing up there again soon – but Easter will be spent at home with the family (not sure even now who will be coming or when but there will no doubt be a house full on at least two days). I hope the weather is good or good enough for an Easter egg hunt in the garden with the grandchildren – I have got my Easter tree on display now and the whole house has been cleaned in readiness for our visitors. Sadly, I never found the time to make my own Easter cards and had to resort to buying a pack from Sainsbury’s.

Yesterday we had to go shopping – mainly to get in extra food and as expected the supermarket was busy. I would have preferred to have gone on Tuesday of this week but we made a flying visit up to see mum 90 miles away in North Yorkshire. It was not a good move as we haven’t done a trip there and back in one day since my back problem began almost a year ago now and I have discovered that it is too much of a journey to do in one day as my back pain was quite severe by the time we arrived home. To make matters worse when we got to the outskirts of our village there was an incident involving many police cars and the road was blocked by them so we had to drive a few miles round to get home by another route.

DH had his tooth removed and all seemed well for a day or two but then an infection took hold and he had to have antibiotics which always upset him and leave him with gut problems. This time we took no chances and I got him some pro-biotics to take at the same time. My sister also had a tooth out recently and she is on her 4th lot of antibiotics – talking to friends it seems quite common these days that antibiotics are required after an extraction.

We have had little Freddie quite a bit recently to give his mum a break. His new baby brother or sister is expected in May and due to less than perfect maternity care so far the pregnancy has not gone that well and I am so worried for this baby – on each visit to the many consultants and midwives (and there have been many) she leaves feeling more confused and upset as they each have opposing opinions and cannot agree on a course of action, leaving my daughter not knowing what is going to happen. In all this they seem to be ignoring the fact that she is short of iron which is leaving her breathless and tired. They can’t even retest at the moment as due to brexit there is a shortage of the chemical they use to do the ferritin tests.

The weather here has been so unpredictable, one day sunny and the next rain so it has been difficult to plan anything. On the wet days I have continued with a bit of re-organisation and decluttering and on the dry days I have been in the garden. I can only do short spells before my back starts to ache and at that point I don’t push it any further, so it is a slow job. We are just on the edge of the Pennines here over 700 feet above sea level and due to the extreme spells of cold weather we have lost quite a few plants this winter. I will have to deal with these one by one and think hard about what to replace them with that might be more hardy.

Today we have little Freddie again to entertain us and I am hoping he will help me make the nut roast for our dinner on Easter Sunday and maybe some chocolate cornflake nests to put the mini eggs in. I will probably just make sandwiches for Sunday teatime or maybe homemade soup – I already have a plain victoria sponge cake in the freezer for afters – I splashed out and bought a small pot of double cream and a pot of mixed berry compote for the filling. Of course there will be jelly and ice-cream for the little ones with chocolate sprinkles – just in case they haven’t had enough chocolate by then!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and some much needed warm and sunny weather. x