Rum truffle cake balls - a delicious treat made from leftovers

I was really struggling to give today's recipe an appropriate name but I hope rum truffle cake balls describes roughly what they are :-)  These are actually quite popular in Germany (they are called "Rumkugeln" there) and I first came across these in my uncle's bakery when I was a little girl.  Traditionally made from leftover cake, they are the perfect way to avoid food waste whilst making something delicious. 

Rum truffle cake balls

When my cake went dry very quickly the other day, I knew immediately what to do with it - turn it into these little treats!  You can use just rum flavouring if you want to keep the alcohol content down (and serve to kids) but with just 2 tablespoons of rum for the whole lot, you are not going to get drunk eating these :-)

They remind me of my uncle and of sleepovers at the bakery - happy times!

Sweet potato bake

Sweet potato bake

I've recently started doing hot yoga classes - sweaty stuff.  Doing exercises in a room heated to 37 C sure makes for a hungry tummy afterwards.  Yesterday, I prepared my dinner before going out to the class which was great because when I got back all I needed to do was put the dish in the oven and wait for 30 minutes. 

I made a sweet potato bake - slices of sweet potato with chorizo and vegetables in a creamy sauce, baked in the oven and served with homemade garlic bread (see the recipe here) and some salad.  You could also use "normal" potatoes for this dish or a mixture of both and serve it as a side dish rather than a main meal..  Simply chuck in any leftover vegetables, bits of ham or whatever you fancy or turn it into a vegetarian dish by leaving the chorizo (or any other meat) out.  Easy & tasty - my kind of meal!

Simple fish cakes using up leftovers

Gosh, where have the last two days gone?  I've been meaning to write a post and then never got round to it as there was too much going on.  We had a lovely anniversary dinner on Friday and I'll write more on those recipes later this week - just to tickle your taste buds: we had gyoza dumplings with a dipping sauce, followed by sesame chicken...yum!

Anyway, it's been a busy few days which has meant that food had to be quick, especially at lunchtime.  And what better way to use some simple ingredients from the larder and some leftovers than to make some fish cakes?   

Crab cakes using leftover mash

We had some leftover mash potato which needed using up and was ideal for these.  For the sweet potato version, I quickly boiled and mashed one large potato - they seem to cook so much faster than "normal" potatoes.  The rest is really easy:  take a tin of crab meat or tuna, mix with the mash and add the spices/seasoning you would like.  I went for spicy cakes, using cumin, turmeric and a bit of chilli as well as some grated ginger and finely chopped spring onions.  Job done!  You can add a little beaten egg to bind everything together but I don't think it's strictly necessary.  Form the cakes and bake in a moderately hot oven on a baking sheet for ca. 25 minutes.  One tin of fish and 200g potato made seven smallish fish cakes.

Tuna sweet potato cakes

The great thing with these is that you can just use what you have - chuck in a bit of leftover sweetcorn, chop up a little bell pepper...whatever you have to hand.  Oh, and you can fry them if you prefer.

Serve with a simple salad or this easy yogurt dipping sauce - plain yogurt, coriander/cilantro and a bit of salt.  Oh, and if you don't like fish, you can make  vegetarian cakes by simply omitting the fish and adding a few more veggies.

Right, off to take the dog out for his morning walk and then I need to prep a cake - we have a very dear friend visiting for a few days and I think that calls for a sweet treat :-)

Cheap & cheerful fridge cooking

I am slowly working my way through the handwritten cookbook I found the other day.  What a treasure trove it is turning out to be!  There are some wonderful ideas in there and one especially captured my imagination: what I would call a "French Toast Quiche" is the ideal meal to use up old bread and other bits and pieces from the fridge and cupboard.  

I made a portion of this for lunch today and loved it!  The bread makes a lovely crispy base, the topping tastes just like a quiche (all without the hassle of making pastry).  Another bonus: the ingredients can be varied according to what you have to hand and served with a simple side salad, this tasty dish won't break the bank either.  Perfect fridge cooking!

Back in the swing of things...

We caught up on some sleep over the weekend and I think we are pretty much back to normal now.  All of us apart from Keith who is still ever so excited to have us back and to be able to run around in "his" park.

I keep thinking about our trip and all the lovely little moments we experienced.  We met some great people and shared quite a few laughs.  One morning, whilst having the stunning breakfast at our favourite place, the Aska Lodge, we talked with the other guests about food in our respective countries (a subject always close to my heart/tummy).  There were quite a few raised eyebrows when we and another couple from the UK declared that there was nothing better than sharing a good joint with the family on a Sunday.  Oh, we laughed when we found out that they thought we'd been smoking drugs with all the family when we were in fact referring to a large piece of roast meat (usually beef, pork or lamb) which is called a joint here in the UK.  You can see how misunderstandings between cultures can happed :-)  It still makes me chuckle now!

Beef & Vegetable stir fry on rice...

One of the things I love doing with leftover Sunday roast (or joint :-)) is a stir fry.  It's another quick and tasty way to use up what we didn't manage to eat up.  Simply thinly slice the meat into bite size pieces and place in a bowl.  Pour over a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil and soya sauce and add some crushed garlic as well as fresh or dried ginger.  Stir thoroughly to cover all the meat and leave to marinate for at least half an hour (the longer the better really).  You can also add some chilli sauce (find a recipe here) or fresh chilli/dried chilli flakes to add some heat.

After marinating all you have to do is stir fry some vegetables in a wok or large pan (we used carrots, mangetout & peppers but anything goes, including leftover veg from the roast dinner), add the marinated meat including the liquid and once heated through, serve on rice or noodles.  Yummy!

Sunny suppers

The sun came out at the weekend and for the first time in what seems like months, I was able to do a bit of gardening.  Just a little weeding and mowing the lawn but oh, how lovely it was to be back out there!  I find it so calming and feeling the sun on my skin was beautiful.  I also had a look at my seed collection as I am itching to get started again with sowing vegetable seeds.  The nights are still frosty, so a bit more patience is needed...

Then yesterday I drew the winner of the giveaway and that made for a great start to the week - I just wish I had been able to give something to everyone, especially to those who go through the trouble of sending such lovely comments so regularly.  Well, there is always the next time and I am already plotting what goodies will go into the next giveaway.  I've got a couple of good ideas... :-)

Despite the recent sunshine, my body is still craving comfort food.  Light summer dishes are not on my menu just yet...again, more patience required.  As you have probably gathered by now, I love doing recipes in the oven and one of my favourites is potato gratin.  We have a great big bay tree in the garden, so I use the leaves from it in this supper dish although I dare say it would be just as nice without.

What a great dish!  It can be a side dish or turned into a meal in itself and it never ever disappoints :-)

Mhm, I can imagine it now, all creamy with lots of potato and vegetables and maybe even some ham thrown in for good measure - yum! As usual, I have amended the quantities of cream and cheese and have added more vegetables to make it slightly healthier without loosing its creamy luxurious taste.  I hope you will like this one as much as we do!

Little pillows of delight...and a deep question

Egg whites & sugar turned into little delights...

All weekend I've been thinking about a sentence I read in my Guardian newspaper's weekend magazine.  "If you knew you were going to die at eight tonight, would you want to have spent today doing what you are doing?".  When I first read this, it really touched me.  The more I am thinking about it though, the more I think it assumes people always have a choice.  Maybe it is the case for some but generally speaking?  And doesn't it mainly apply to a small fraction of our Western society (for lack of a better word)?  If I am sitting in a village in Zimbabwe, trying to feed my family or even on a low income in a city somewhere here, do I really have a choice about how I spend my day?  Hmmm...I'll continue pondering about this...

And how do I now find an elegant link to today's recipe?  Impossible, so please bear with me...
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I've always been a bit unsure what to do with leftover egg whites.  There seem to be quite a few recipes around that just ask for the yolks but then you end up with the whites hanging around with nowhere to go.  Well, there are some simple answers...

Did you know that you can freeze egg whites?  I have only just found out - the best way is to pop them in an ice cube tray to freeze in portions.  Just mark the tray clearly, so that you don't end up with a very strange G&T on a Saturday evening :-)

Anyway, another good thing to do is to make meringues.  These sweet little delights can be stored for ages and are delicious on their own, crushed on top of ice cream or as part of Eton Mess (think fresh fruit, cream and meringues...yummy).  I made plain and chocolate meringues and they are as light as a feather.  It took a little while to dry them in a low oven but I did that whilst preparing dinner, so it wasn't too bad at all.  And if you have anything else that benefits from a low oven heat, maybe you can make that at the same time?  All you need is some egg whites, sugar (granulated & icing) and a whisk but you can also add cocoa powder, colour etc.  Simply beat the egg whites until forming peaks and gradually beat in the sugar (I used 3 egg whites, 60g granulated & 60g icing sugar) - place dollops of this on a baking sheet and bake on a low heat (100c) for about 45 - 60 minutes or until completely dry.

From the garden into the pan (hopefully)...

Roasted vegetable pasta with chorizo & feta

Good morning!  Brrrr - it's cold today!  But the sky is blue and I think it is going to be another beautiful sunny day.  I did a little bit of tidying in the garden yesterday and am getting excited about planning my vegetable garden for this year.  When I say vegetable garden, I mean my one raised bed and containers - small but I think just right for a beginner like me.  I grew dwarf peppers last year (indoors) but this time, I am going for the larger ones.  And I will definitely grow more cherry tomatoes - I love those!  Both would go perfectly in today's recipe...roasted vegetable pasta.

This dish is a great "fridge cleaner" - you can use up leftover vegetables, slightly bruised tomatoes,...

For this version, I used chorizo sausage and feta cheese together with roasted vegetables but anything goes really.  I roasted peppers, red onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes in the oven with a good drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper and some Italian herbs for about 20 minutes at 180c (fan oven).  Whilst they were sizzling, I cooked some dry pasta according to the packet instructions and set that aside.  Once the vegetables were done, a few bits of chorizo sausage went into my wok (no need for any oil) and fried for a couple of minutes before I mixed in the cooked pasta and vegetables, heating everything through.  And just before serving I added a bit of crumbled feta cheese.  Quick and easy and ever so tasty!

I love how you can just amend it to whatever you like and have to hand - you may not have feta but want to grate some hard cheese over the top.  Or maybe you want to keep it vegetarian and leave out the sausage, giving extra flavour by adding a couple of spoons of pesto.  I think this makes a lovely lunch or quick dinner for during the week.

Real (wo)men do eat quiche

Quiche made from leftovers...Leek & Feta Cheese

When do you normally do your food shopping?  Several times a week?  Just before the weekend?  If the latter is the case like it usually is for me, then by today you are probably beginning to run low on a few things in the fridge, the cheese is slowly coming to its end and making meals sometimes has to get quite creative until the next shop.  This is where my friend, the quiche, steps in - the perfect solution to avoiding food waste.

I love making quiche - it's just such a good way to use up leftovers and with a bit of salad or vegetables on the side, it's a great meal. And anything goes - whether it's broccoli & Stilton, leek & feta cheese, mixed peppers, ham or a bit of everything...have a look what's in your fridge and that's what it'll be :-)

I hope that this one will appeal to everyone in the family -  I do also have a recipe for a more meaty quiche with a mince beef filling, so watch this space - another post & photos will follow soon.  Because, after all, real men (and women) do eat quiche!

PS:  I have added a note to the Swiss Roll recipe following a reader's comment. Thank you to pigsmightfly!

The Spice of Life

It's still quite early here - I am starting my day with a cup of tea, the dog asleep by my feet.

I actually managed to snap a photo of Keith the dog in the sunshine yesterday. He simply loves running through the heather in the park - just for the fun of it and I swear I can see him smile doing it :-)  He definitely appreciates the small things - a bit of sunshine, flowers in bloom...quite a good philosophy, don't you think?

Chicken curry

One of the things that makes me smile is having a nice meal that is quickly prepared and tasty.  Do you like curry?  I love it but all too often I find that it can be quite greasy.  This version may not be authentic by Indian standards but has all the lovely spices with only a minimum of oil and just a dash of cream to finish off - it is really quite delicious, even if I say so myself :-)  And the nice thing is that you can use leftover roast chicken for this or make it vegetarian by using up all those forgotten vegetables in the fridge.  Maybe a cold beer on the side...

What makes you smile?

Of snow and spice...and all things nice

Snow gentleman

I met this gentleman on the right during this morning's dog walk- he did make me smile, looking all official with his tie.  Someone obviously had a lot of fun there...I really enjoy walking in the snow when it's for pleasure and Keith the dog was also very happy that it hadn't melted - he loves chasing snowballs.

Where's my snowball?

With it still being so wintery here, I feel another soup recipe is in order - and this is one comes with a twist.  It brings the humble potato to life with a hint of curry and coconut milk.  You can even use leftover mash for this recipe to make it an extra speedy lunch.  The addition of crunchy vegetables gives the dish extra texture and the spice is lovely and warming on a winter's day...although this can be enjoyed at any time of the year.   It could also easily be adapted by adding thin strips of cooked chicken or cooked king prawns at the end of cooking if you don't want it to be vegetarian.

Potato soup...

The gift that keeps on giving

My husband is the king of roast dinners in our house and on Sunday he made us a gorgeous roast beef with all the trimmings including Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, different vegetables and gravy.  De-li-cious!  So delicious in fact that I forgot to take a picture of it for the blog before diving in.  I'm afraid you are going to have to wait until next time for photographic evidence :-)

I have, however, taken photos of the dinner I made last night using the leftovers:  bubble & squeak cakes with cold cuts.  I had promised to show a few recipes using leftover mash or potatoes in my post a couple of days ago.  You can make these marvelous little cakes whenever you have some leftover potatoes and vegetables and they go with pretty much anything.  If you like, you can add fresh herbs or spices to change the flavour according to what you want to serve with them but the idea is to keep it simple and to use up the bits and pieces you have in your fridge or larder.

...to this!

From this...

Of snowballs and sausages

Keith eating snow

It's still bitterly cold here but Keith the dog is loving it.  Being a young dog, this is his first proper winter and watching him romp around and waiting for us to throw snowballs for him has been priceless.  It also means he gets to eat crunchy snow - lots of it.

Venison sausages

Luckily, we have been having food with more sustenance than snow, keeping us warm inside.  Spare a thought though for the homeless or the elderly who are not so lucky.  I read a lovely story about the Swansea City footballer Angel Rangel and his wife who drove around the city on Friday night, looking for homeless people to give food to that they had collected from a sandwich shop.  The shop owner was going to throw the leftovers away at the end of the day but instead donated these to Angel and his wife to distribute to needy people. They found a shelter for the homeless where the food was very welcome.  A heartwarming story not only about kindness but also about a better way of dealing with potential food waste.

As I said, we have been lucky to have food to keep us happy and warm and we are very grateful for it!
This yummy dish of venison sausages in red onion gravy is another easy recipe that can be prepared in advance and is ideal for a cold winter's day.  Keep any leftover mash to top a fish pie or make into fish cakes, bubble & squeak cakes etc.  Recipes for all of these will follow in the next few posts but for now, please click below to find the recipe for the sausage dish.  I hope you will like it!

Impress with French pastry

It's January - the festive season is long behind us and the resolutions for the New Year have been backed up by buying lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Maybe the "buy one, get one free" offer on apples seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the year but now they are sitting in the fruit bowl, getting slightly past their best. 

Well, I have just the recipe for you: a French Apple Tart.  Slightly decadent for January but how about a special treat for family or friends after a Sunday walk, run, play-about- in-the-snow?  You'll have burnt off those calories beforehand and it'll also help use up those old apples...

Apple Tart...

Crumbs...what do I do with that leftover bread?

There it is - a chunk of leftover, slightly stale bread that we somehow never got round to eating whilst still fresh and lovely.  So, what to do with it other than stuffing for roast chicken? I began to look in cook books and on the internet and found exactly what I'd hoped - a cake!  Someone had posted a recipe for their German grandmother's cherry & vanilla breadcrumb cake - I am assuming that this recipe came into being during the years of rationing either during or after the war when food waste was not an issue (I will touch on this again in a little while).

Anyway, I took my sad looking chunk of bread, chucked it into the food processor to make rough crumbs and then put those into the oven to dry for a little before returning them to the food processor for another whiz.  The result was a fine, almost flour-like consistency...Now, you see where I am going with this, don't you?  The breadcrumbs are used to replace some of the flour in the recipe! 
 
I was still a bit skeptical but must admit that I am very pleased with the fluffy & moist result that you can see in the picture below.  The translated version of the recipe will soon appear under the recipes tab but for the German-speaking readers amongst you, please click here for a link to the original.

New Year, new post

Happy New Year!  As you can tell, one of my resolutions was to finally post on my blog which has been shamefully neglected over the last few weeks!

Christmas was spent with family and was peaceful and happy.  We had agreed not to give sibling presents and had asked Father Christmas not to overdo it and that worked very well.  It was all about spending time with loved ones, sharing meals etc - perfect!  I had made a Christmas cake with my own decorations for the family and was quite proud at how it came out.

 New Year's Eve was low key for us - until the dog got scared by the fireworks and we ended up staying up until 2am after all.  Luckily, he calmed down eventually, bless him.

I love the start of a new year!  It's a good time to put plans into action and whilst a lot of resolutions eventually fall by the wayside, I think they do help to focus the mind on what we'd like to achieve.  I want to continue making food from scratch and have already begun doing so - a large bread dough is currently rising and I have mixed my first-ever sourdough starter (he's called Sergei - might as well name him as he hopefully will be part of our lives for a long time). :-)  We have also continued with our quest not to waste food and I made some bubble & squeak cakes for lunch on 1st January - served with cold ham and lettuce it made for a very satisfying meal.  I guess food will again feature quite prominently on my blog this year...

I am looking forward to starting out veggie gardening again - after last year's dismal harvest, we are going to invest in a greenhouse.  That way I am hoping to keep the critters out and have my plants grow nicely.  Also, they are unlikely to drown!  The weather has been shocking in 2012 - apparently the wettest on record!  We were lucky enough not to experience any flooding (spare a thought for those who did!) but in terms of gardening and growing food it really wasn't great.  But, after the initial "I'll never bother growing anything ever again", with the new year out comes the ever optimistic veggie gardener who thinks that it cannot possibly be quite so bad again this year.  And so I am already planning what seeds to get, how to organise the greenhouse etc...

Other resolutions?  After successfully completing my knitted winter hat, I will try and make some more things.

 Featuring high on my wish list is a black corduroy skirt...note that I have never attempted to make a skirt, so it'll be interesting to see the outcome...  My lovely husband also gave me a taster wood turning course for Christmas as well as the chisel I have always wanted, so I will try my hand at making a bowl or platter.  I can't wait to get started on this new project but will have to be patient as the course won't be for at least another couple of months yet.

So, with all these resolutions and projects, I hope that 2013 will be a happy, fulfilling and healthy year and wish the same for everyone out there, wherever you are!

Pond update & Leftovers of a different kind...

An update from the pond (given the title of my blog): The pond has been frozen over for the last few days but we have been able to spot the frogs under the ice. I have no idea how they manage to live under there but they seem to be doing nicely :-) Lots of birds in the garden as well - one of my favourites is the little wren that comes down to the path by the pond to check what's on offer.

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In my last post I wrote about food waste and using up leftovers. But this is about other types of "leftovers"... Having just moved house I found far too much clutter lurking in the back of wardrobes and in boxes; stuff I hadn't looked at in at least a couple of years and obviously hadn't missed either. And then those things that I had bought and then hardly ever used (luckily, not too many of those but still...) - those things could still be useful to someone else. This is where "Freecycle" comes in. On the attached link you can find information regarding the UK network of Freecycle and also similar ones across the globe. Basically, you advertise what you are trying to give away on your local Freecycle website (and the important bit is give away, so it has to be free and no money should change hands) and people interested contact you to arrange picking the item up. So my "leftovers" can go to a new home rather than landfill. Brilliant!

Now, I guess the idea is not to amass so much stuff in the first place. I am now trying not to buy things I don't absolutely need (and let's face it - how many of us in Western Europe actually need more things?), despite advertising campaigns and society wanting me to continue buying. One exception for me are books - always worth having! One of my favourite books is "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau (free download via the link) - it amazes me that someone in 1845 could write about simple living and the madness of having too many possessions. Very inspiring, still very relevant and definitely worth a read!

Waste not want not...or "Why I love leftovers"

For a lot of people living and working in cities like London the day starts with a takeaway "designer" coffee and lunch could be sushi in a pretty plastic box with all the trimmings. My day often looked like that and more often than not I felt guilty for creating so much rubbish and not using up the perfectly good food we had in our fridge at home. Commuting almost 3 hours per day was my excuse but maybe I was just lazy. Fact is that life was not only an environmental nightmare, it was also costing me a fortune. Fastforward a couple of months and I am sitting here in Wales. Things have changed! These days, tea and coffee is drunk out of proper mugs at home and lunch is more often than not made out of leftovers. It is absolutely amazing what you can create out of those things lurking in the fridge or cupboard. Take today, for example... on the lunch menu is a Kirsten version of frittata... a sort of omelette or tortilla. There were some eggs that needed using up, an open packet of ham, a few mushrooms, half an onion... ta-da! Lunch is sorted! Yes, I have more time now but I wish I had had the inspiration then to make the (little) effort it takes to make my own lunches etc. Better late than never, I suppose.

Behind all this is more than just my "old" wastefulness. A report published last year by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) called "Global Food Losses and Food Waste" makes shocking reading. It found that "roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted", fruit and vegetables being amongst those food items most wasted. Now, if like me, you are trying to grow your own veg and fruit (I have only just started doing this last year), you know how much love and effort goes into growing food. Can you imagine then just taking all of it and throwing it away? No, thought not! So why do we do it with supermarket food? I guess somewhere along the line the relationship with that food has broken down and those packets of tomatoes or tubs of yoghurt are no longer close to our hearts. A lot of the waste appears to happen at source or in the supermarkets themselves but surely, we as individuals can play our role in reducing the waste - for the good of the planet and our wallets. So, let's get creative and see what "meals for free" we can create from the foods that would have ended up in the bin!