Food for a busy day

Happy International Women's Day!  I wonder if there is a men's day as well...if not, I think there should be! :-)  A friend of mine is organising a fundraising event for Oxfam nearby, so I will go over there at lunchtime with a batch of jam doughnut muffins.  I hope it will be really successful as she has put a lot of work into it.

I've started having a good sort out at home.  Unbelievable just how much stuff we have :-(  It's not all our fault though because we basically inherited a house full of stuff and then had to move the contents of my flat into it.  Bursting at the seams comes to mind and I can just see some stuff ending up on Freecycle where you give things away for free.  What a great invention that website is - if you haven't come across Freecycle before, why not have a look if there is one in your area?

So, it's busy busy at the moment and food will have to be quick today.  I will have one of my favourite things: red lentil stew.  Well, this can be a soup or a stew really and you can have it on its own, on top of rice or with roti flatbreads.  I use red lentils for this as they don't need soaking beforehand which makes it a lot quicker.  I love the warming curry flavours in this and the bits of sweetcorn and I usually top it with a dollop of plain yogurt (although the stew is not overly spicy - I just find it adds an extra dimension to it).  I can't wait to tuck in... :-)
Have a wonderful weekend!

Feeling jammy

A mixture of drawn out birthday celebrations and family stuff meant that I didn't get a chance to write a post until now.  A beautiful lunch was spent at one of my favourite restaurants in Swansea, Patrick's , lingering over the delicious food. 

I had a beautiful local goat's cheese with beetroot and homemade pickle - gorgeous!  My main course was plaice on a mussel, cockle and leek chowder...heavenly!  Mr Happy Larder's food choices were equally amazing with potted pork terrine followed by lamb three ways.  We were too stuffed for dessert but had coffee that came with a tiny chocolate brownie - just enough to hit that sweet spot. We don't go out for food that often these days but when we do, it feels really special and we love it.  I did have to restrain myself from taking photos of our food :-)

Definitely a lot simpler is today's recipe: jam cakes, also known as jammy dodgers.  Basically, they are shortbread-type biscuits sandwiched together with jam.  I used raspberry and strawberry jam and made large biscuits but you can make smaller ones too.  And I used a small biscuit cutter to cut out the middle.  They were so quick to make (less than half an hour including baking) and very tasty indeed.  I hope you like these as a treat!

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!

And the winner is...

Ta-dah!  It's Monday morning and as promised, I have drawn the winner of the Fragrant Freebie giveaway under the watchful eyes of Mr Happy Larder and Keith the dog. So, without further ado, the winner is: JANE!  Congratulations!  Your name came out of the hat - Keith was very excited about all the little bits of paper and wanted to help, so he ate the winning ticket as soon as I had taken it out :-) Could you please email me with your details (my address is in my profile), so I can send your prize to you as soon as possible.
 
Thank you to everyone for taking part and a big thank you also to Sue at Somerset Suds for providing the goodies!  There will be more giveaways coming up soon, so watch this space!!!

And after all that excitement, here is today's recipe...

Roti..busy puffing up...

I'll let you into a secret: I love eating with my hands! I don't get to do it very often but it is strangely liberating when I do.  We went on a camping safari in Africa last year and standing around the fire, grilling tortilla bread and sausages for breakfast is one of my fondest food memories. So simple, so basic, so delicious!  But whilst you might not want to throw away your cutlery just yet, how about making some bread to help scoop up that curry, stew,...?  Meet roti, the little flatbreads popular in India and Nepal and for good reason: these are so easy and quick to make, it's unbelievable!  I made some to have with our chicken curry last night and they were delicious!  So, next time you cannot be bothered to cook rice, have a go at making these and be prepared to be amazed.

It's Friday...It's Fragrant Freebie giveaway day...

A little while ago my lovely friend Sue quit her job and decided to start out on her own, making fabulous soaps, body butters etc.  Her company - Somerset Suds - is a great little venture, fully EU certified and her products are simply divine!  And what better way to let you sample some of her goodies than to organise the...

... Fragrant Freebie giveaway!

The prize...natural soaps made by Somerset Suds

Here is the deal - simply add a comment to this post and your name will go into the draw to win a set of beautiful bath products (see picture on the right).  Don't they look amazing? 


Entry is open to anyone, so please share this with your friends, other bloggers etc - the more, the merrier!  I will draw the winner at 8am on Monday, 4th March (UK time), so you have all weekend to post a comment and be in with a chance.  Looking forward to hearing from you and good luck! :-)

And if you would like to find out more about these and all the other of Sue's fabulous products at Somerset Suds, please have a look at https://www.facebook.com/SomersetSudsLtd or send an email to somersetsuds@live.co.uk

Back with more recipes next week...

Have a lovely weekend!

Nearly there...it's crunch time

YAY - only one more day to the Fragrant Freebie Giveaway!  Don't forget to visit The Happy Larder tomorrow to take part in the giveaway!  Nearly there...

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Just a short post today as I've been gallivanting, visiting a very good friend overnight.  We hadn't seen each other for ages and it was just lovely to catch up in person.  Plenty of cups of tea were consumed and we had our fair share of biscuits too whilst chatting.  Which brings me to today's recipe: gingernut biscuits.  I do love anything with ginger in it and biscuits with tea are one of my favourite indulgences.  These are crunchy and have a bit of spice to them - delicious!

What's your favourite biscuit?

Of eggs and ethics...

I'm on the train to go and see a very good friend of mine.  thanks to the wonders of modern technology I can post from on the road, so to speak :-) No cooking or baking for me for a day or so...

I've been using a lot of eggs lately.  All this baking and cooking means that I use boxes of those little portable protein bombs.  Like most people, I buy my eggs at the local shop or supermarket and I always buy free range and, if possible, organic ones.  Or at least I think that's what I am buying since that's what it says on the box and I have to trust the rules, ethics etc that regulate the industry.

Well, and you can probably guess where this is going...there is a large investigation going on in Germany at the moment into the possible malpractice by some of mislabeling eggs as organic when in fact the strict rules for organic food (including the living conditions of the hens) weren't adhered to.
As a consumer there comes the point when you have to trust that what is in your shopping basket is what you think it is.  With that trust slowly being eroded, where will we go from here?

I feel sorry for the vast majority of farmers who stick to the rules and whose reputation gets tarnished by a small number of "bad eggs in the basket".  I am furious at the people (ie "the bad eggs") who are misleading consumers to enhance their profits.  And I am sad that for some people this will mean turning their backs on doing the right thing, no longer buying free range.

Easy midweek meal

Gosh - where has this morning gone?  I meant to write my post first thing as usual but then got side-tracked by dropping off cakes at the community centre, taking the dog for his long walk, household chores... Anyway, here I am :-)  And no deep questions today, promised!  That was a bit morbid for a Monday, wasn't it? :-)  Something altogether more cheerful is today's recipe:

Chorizo chicken...

I stumbled across this Nigella Lawson one the other day and I think you might like this: chorizo chicken.   I have adapted it slightly to be less fatty but I think this is a brilliant tray bake sort of meal that can be put together in no time and tastes delicious.  What can be easier than chucking a lot of raw ingredients into a roasting tin with some seasoning and roasting it all in the oven?

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.

Counting Down...

Only one more week until 1st March and the Fragrant Freebie Giveaway...don't forget to mark your diaries and let your blogger friends know...entry will be open to all and I have some really lovely goodies for the winners!

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Cinnamon Rock Cakes...

Since it's almost the weekend, I think we need a little treat, don't you?  Picture this:  slightly warm cinnamon rock cakes, a hot mug of tea or coffee and the Sunday newspapers.  Ok, maybe you won't have time for the papers but these little fellas on the right will only take half an hour from start to finish. And I hope that the smell of cinnamon and freshly baked goodies will put a smile on your face even after the busiest of weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend!