June 2013 Blog

JC June 5 2013: Can’t believe it’s almost 2 years to the day that I last blogged. And once again it has been very quiet on this blog. That's what happens when (as friend's across the pond would say) life throws a curved ball.  Priorities change when loved ones are ill. You stop and think what's important in life. You treasure little moments along the way. Now I know for some baking is one way to work through stressful times but for others the mere thought of food and cooking a meal ......well just looses it's appeal. For me, a good cup of coffee, a cake, cookie or some chocolate  + watching re-runs of the Professionals from the 1970's, soothes an anxious heart and mind and gets me ready to face the day ahead. Others would say it is a waste of an hour.  All I know is that I relax.

This blog was a way of seeing cooking 'differences' from either side of the pond. Oh boy did we find a few interesting ones including the different sizes of philo pastry sheets.  So now, with baking having lost some of its appeal is there something else that us Midlanders and Midwesterners are good at. You bet!!!  In fact more than good at times. That is CRAFTING. Knitting; crocheting; and sewing. So here is my first sewing Blog.

Bags!!! Bags and more bags. I'm still searching for the 'perfect' bag. Stylish, practical and room for everything.  This is getting to be an on going challenge with all the new phones and tablets we're told we just must have to survive. It seems that I’m the only one travelling on our local trains whose eyes are not looking down at some digital thingy. Oh I've got one, well two actually, but once on the train I like to look out of the window; at the clouds, trees, sheep even weeds and wild flowers along the train track. So much more relaxing and stress free. Now back to the bag story. As I browsed our local shops (actually pausing for breath as I walked up the hill - but we'll keep that to ourselves) there it was in the window of our local shop which sells curtain fabric and all that's needed to make them and samples if you can afford to have them made for you. It was a lovely duck egg blue/green linen type fabric with white polka dots all over it. Wonderful. Yes a bag indeed was needing to be made. Two weeks later I bought 1/2 metre (that will tell you what side of the pond I am) of the fabric  and a week after that I found some bright green cotton with dark pink roses on for the lining.

 

So, there was much thinking and thinking and planning and internet searching for ideas of bag styles with over the body strap. Then I needed to work out various pockets to put my stuff in including the two digital devices!! This is certainly not the first bag I have made. I can remember three from my late teens; a crochet one in double knit wool in dark brown lined with deep rose pink silky fabric; a square crochet bag in a fine silky white fabric - I still have this one and one made from a pair of trousers (off white brushed cord ) given to me by my Aunt. There were my cousin's and destined for the jumble sale at the children's nursery where I worked back in the day as they say. For various reasons a bag was created, lined with brown tweed fabric left over from a skirt I'd made and topped with a fur collar from a coat purchased at the above jumble sale. The collar was cut to fit the bag over flap. Great.

There were two pages of notes all crossed out when measurements were checked and I though mmmm not big enough. More measuring and I decided on a 12" square with open pockets one side of the bag and a zipped one the other side. Zipped pockets on previous bags had been a bit of a fiddle so I checked on YouTube until I found instructions that I could understand. Or so I thought !!!!! Should have done the inside pocket first!! But thought I knew better.  After all I had been sewing most of my life – Ahhhh but then at age 10 sewing my first project at school .......Yep. I sewed the first shoulder for this simple blouse, then sewed right across the neck and on to the other shoulder!!!!!  And yes I had to undo the neck part.

And I had to undo the bag pocket as I had [thinking I knew best] sewn the pocket lining in with the actual pocket.  It was not until I had sewn in the zip and pushed the fabric through to the wrong side of the bag that I found I did not have a pocket!!!

 

Back to the YouTube instructions.  This time I sewed the zip to the pocket with the interfacing facing up then pushed it through to the wrong side of bag side, THEN put the pocket lining over the pocket fabric and sewed around the edges taking care not to try and get the machine needle through the metal zip!!  And hey presto! My first proper bag pocket. [below]

 

 

 

So this process was repeated for the inside pocket.

 The digital pockets were open [easier].

 

 

Here is the finished bag – with open pockets this side and, I made good use of the remainder of the blue wedding ribbon to line the bag strap/handle.

And the bright lining fabric.

 

 

And the bag again with my flower – a larger version of Lucy’s at Attic 24.  Thank you Lucy.

 

 

I was also busy doing Princess Catherine #2 for 2^nd granddaughter with net curtain for the veil from the same curtain shop as my bag. So May and June were crafting months!!

 

 

Well it is June 5 and this has been my first bag/sewing blog.  Boy, It does take time to do. It’s now a Word Document complete with photos ...... I have no idea if I can upload it like this.  Before I have copied and pasted text into the blog then uploaded photos.  So I will save a blog vs in case it all goes wrong.  Now to find the password to our blog!!!!!

Happy crafting girls!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS.  Found the password; Photos did not import with text so there had been a lot of fiddling around - so time consuming BUT..... my blog is done.  Got to save and publish [I  think]

 

 

 

JC: June 7 2011 : Red Liecester Cornbread with Mediterranean herbs and Lentil Loaf.

It’s been kinda quiet on the cooking front, due to the business of Christmas and a new year that bought with it some expected and some unexpected family needs that took over our lives; some for a short time others still ongoing. It is only now, 3 months after being made redundant and deciding that it seemed a good time to retire, that I am finding little bits of time to myself. Hence a few weeks back I was once again enjoying a coffee and watching the Barefoot Contessa on TV. Oh my what a lot of lovely food, but way too much salt, fat, cream, and oil for us Brits.

However the cheddar and dill cornbread looked good, so I took down the recipe and though it would be good to blog on my attempt to make it.

Well as usual I did not keep to the recipe. I halved the quantities as below:

1½ cups of self raising flour

½ cup cornmeal – vegetarian shop had none but the guy had made cornmeal muffins using polenta so that’s what I used

1/8 cup sugar – not sure why sugar was required in a savory dish but I did put it in!

1 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

4 oz butter [= 1 stick I think]

1 large egg, plus extra milk [hard to divide 3 eggs in half!]

1 cup of milk

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese – keep a handful for top of bread [I used left over red Leicester]

1 cup chopped dill [could not find fresh or dried dill so used 1 tbs of Mediterranean herbs]

Whisk egg and milk together and add melted butter. Pour into dry ingredients. Do not stir too much and let it stand. This went into a 6” x 12” dish and was baked for 25-30 mins at 350F [150C].

Considering the recipe is similar to a UK scone, this bread was so much lighter. Was that the baking powder or the polenta? I put baking powder into my scones but the result is not so light. I froze half the cornbread and have enjoyed eating the rest over several days with a variety of meals. Will definitely make this again. Maybe for Church lunch.

The lentil loaf was cooked a few days earlier and was not intended as a blog but looked so good it deserves a mention.

I used the recipe from a Woman’s Day magazine that did the classic meat loaf plus variations. So I did the classic with ground beef for my other half and the lentil one for myself – and yes once again with some variation to the original recipe including halving the ingredients!!! This made 5 small ‘cakes’ rather than loaves.

1 large egg

1 tbs oil – [not used]

½ a 15oz can lentils rinsed – [used 8oz of red lentils cooked as directed on package]

1 cup baby spinach chopped, about 2 oz –[used 4 cubes frozen, cooked as instructed]

½ jar roasted red peppers – [used frozen roasted mediterranean vegetables cooked as instructed – about 1 ½ cups]

1 oz feta cheese crumbled – [used mini baby bel one per ramkin dish]

3 oz of falafel mix or herb stuffing – [missed this out]

I drained the cooked lentils and mixed with the cooked spinach and roasted veggies. Add the beaten egg. The roasted veggies were flavoured so I did not add any extra seasoning. I greased 5 ramkin dishes – 3 ½ ” diameter and 2 ¼” deep. The mixture was quiet runny and as I was spooning it into the 3^rd dish realized that I had not added the cheese!!! So I quickly removed some of the mixture and placed a mini baby bel cheese in the middle of each dish and then added more mixture. They cooked at 350F [150C] for abut 20mins. It was a bit of guess work as the original was done in a 9x3 ½ loaf tin for 35 mins.

These were much better than expected. Can’t remember if I added any oats to the runny mixture or not. Panic set in when I realised I had not added the cheese. I kept one for the following day and 3 are in the freezer yet to be eaten.

So, two good dishes to do again, neither very costly. An important part of food planning with the rising cost of food.

JC 25 August 2010 : Three Bean Stew update.

At last I got around to making this stew. I shopped for ingredients on the Saturday morning then cooked the meal Saturday evening and left it to stand overnight. It made a lovely quick Sunday lunch. I used a can of black eyed beans and a can of corn plus the other ingredients. The cut courgettes looked colourful against the red of the canned tomatoes. I did not have any fresh chillies so used a small sprinkling from a packet of chilli flakes. Also had to google ‘cilantro’ as I had no idea what that was. When I found out I still did not have any [Italian type of parsley] so went without. I did the full amount so had the stew on the Sunday and Monday with boiled rice as I did not cook the wild rice fritters. Still plenty left over so have frozen 4 portions. This is a recipe I would certainly do again and have already passed the recipe to a vegetarian friend.

Well........... there was a photo to go with the blog - but it uploads on its side!!!! not sure why so have left it out.

JC: 21 July 2010. Wild Rice Fritters, Three Bean Stew and Pumpkin Bread

For various reason I decided to cook each of the above on separate occasions. Three bean stew is still to be cooked, but the fritters and pumpkin bread have been cooked, eaten and enjoyed – though not without problems/disasters!!!

Pumpkin Bread vs 2 – I could not find any canned pumpkin puree at my local supermarket despite the fact that I have got it from there for an earlier recipe. So in my ‘UK wisdom’ I though if I pureed a can of peaches that would be ok. However, when I checked with JK across the pond the answer was NO, too moist. So sweet potatoes were used instead.

The 1^st version taught me that a; I really should use the measuring cups and not think ‘I know better’. And b; that I really should wear my reading glasses when looking at ½ cup measurements. ¼ can easily look like ¾ which resulted in a loaf that looked more like bread pudding. Tasted ok though.

2^nd version was great. I did increase the cranberry and walnuts to ½ cup of each. It cooked in about the 50mins stated and made the kitchen smell wonderful. I’ve sliced some to eat and some to freeze. Nice with a cup of tea.

Wild Rice Fritters. – A great success. I did half the recipe and ate half hot that evening and took the rest [3] into work the following day to eat cold with a hummus dip. I got gram flour [used for onion bhajis] rather than wholewheat – just because it was on the self. Glad I did as it made the fritters nice ‘n yellow. I did get some wild rice from Waitrose – the quick cook version – but did not use it for the fritters as JK sent some of the ‘real thing’ across the pond. Waitrose sell a Canadian wild rice – 500 grms for £5.75 – somewhat more costly than regular rice. I though I would be able to get the black wild rice at my local health food shop – but even they only had Canadian ‘Red’ wild rice.

Cooking went well. I had four keeping warm in the oven and 3 sizzling in the pan when there was a great record on the radio. Mmm I thought. This would be good to line dance to. So I kind of danced up the kitchen only to be met with the microwave blinking at me to ‘open door’!!! ‘Oh bother’ I said [just as Winnie the Pooh said as he fell out of the tree]. I knew exactly what was in the microwave – the corn that should have been in the fritters. Oh well I thought, the corn can be placed on the plate by my salmon with the wild rice fritters at the side. And very nice they were. Forgot to take pictures – too occupied with the missing corn!

North/South American origins theme

JK: My idea was to select recipes that would include ingredients common to Native Americans, particularly from the Northeast Woodlands: corn, beans, squash, and wild rice. Cranberries and tomatoes are also native to the Americas (though tomatoes originated in south or central America.)

I found a book at the library with an interesting wild rice recipe.

Wild Rice and Corn Fritters - ingredients, besides wild rice, include: whole wheat flour, corn kernels, green onions, an egg, and beer. (Also includes freshly grated Parmesan cheese, but I left that out.)








Three Sisters Stew - *Based* on the online recipe found here. (scroll down a bit) My daughter doesn't care for bell peppers, so I left them out. Instead of pinto beans (in the photo), I used (small, green) Fordhook Lima beans. It's not yet fresh corn season, so I used frozen kernels. We have an Anaheim pepper (chili) plant, so I used one that was about 5 inches long. I scraped the seeds out, but could have left them in -- not very 'hot.' Instead of pumpkin, I used several small zucchini (courgettes), sliced in half lengthwise and then in about 1/2 inch "half moons."

Pumpkin Bread - I used a recipe from Native North American Foods & Recipes. I followed the recipe faithfully, but... I should have realized that 300 degrees is NOT enough heat to bake a "quick bread." It had been baking an hour when I finally looked in a regular cook book. Oops! 350 degrees! I moved the temperature up and cooked it about 25 mins longer. I was surprised that it ended up cooked throughout and not dry at all.

1. I shared extra wild rice fritters with my neighbors (also known as my daughter2 & family.) Fritters were well received & I'm to fix them again.

2. I would do the 3 Sisters Stew again, but I'd like to use pinto beans, but daughter1 says she liked the limas. Neither of us are big fans of corn. (Shhh! We live in Iowa - don't tell anyone.) But, we think hominy would be OK instead of yellow kernels.

3. I used dried cranberries in the pumpkin bread. Just a 1/2 cup as the recipe called for, but next time I would double that amount. AND... I'd use the regular cook book recipe.

But, over all the meal was a success.

Pasta with Green Lentils and Tomatoes

D: I made this dish for friends when they joined me for an evening meal. I also made some changes to the original recipe.

The lentils were cooked with two stock cubes, one vegetable and one ham. This added a great deal of flavour to the dish. I cooked the lentils as per the instructions on the recipe even though the lentil packet gave a slightly shorter cooking time. They were a little mushy but this added to the texture of the dish.

In place of a regular (yellow/white) onion I used a red one to add a hint of sweetness to the dish

Basil is one of my favourite herbs so I added fresh basil just before serving the dish.

Pasta twists are always in my cupboard so that was the pasta I used for this dish. On the table I placed grated mature cheddar cheese so that people could add as much or as little as they wanted to their meal.

My friends thought the dish was delicious and both asked for the recipe. There was one portion left over so I had it for lunch the next day with grated cheese but no pasta.

Pasta with Green Lentils and Tomatoes

JK's Post

See JC's previous post for the recipe. Although starting with the same recipe, we got different results!

1. I used whole wheat spaghetti.

2. I haven't cooked many lentils, so I thought the
suggested cooking time was correct. But, I think they should have been cooked longer. Since I bought a 1 lb (16 oz) bag, I have plenty to practice on!

3. Instead of butter, I used Earth Balance (vegan) Buttery stick.

4. I used chopped fresh Roma tomatoes.













Here's the finished dish. It was tasty. We (2 of us) had plenty of leftovers. To those I added more fresh tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil.

I'd try this recipe again and cook the lentils longer. I'd also do as JC suggested and use canned tomatoes (flavored with olive oil and garlic or basil.) I think fresh basil would be great, too.

Pasta with green lentil & tomatoes

Taken from Cheap and Easy by Rose Elliot : 1988

[I bought the book in January 1990]

Pasta with Green Lentils and Tomatoes - Serves 3-4

12 oz of spaghetti [or any variety of pasta]
1/2oz of butter [or similar]

For the sauce

4oz green lentils
Water
1/2oz butter [or similar]
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried basil
8oz fresh tomatoes [or 14oz can and leave some juice out]
Salt and pepper seasoning

To serve

Grated cheese or blobs/slices of soft cheese

First make the sauce. Put the lentils into a large saucepan with the water and boil gently until tender – around 45 mins. Drain. Meanwhile melt the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion until tender. Add the garlic, dried basil, tomatoes and drained lentils. Season as required. Cook pasta as directed after the lentils have been cooking approximately 30 mins.
Drain and place in a warm bowl. Pour the hot lentil and tomato sauce over pasta and serve with cheese of your choice.

JC : 12/04/2010 - update after the cooking:

I decided to cook this dish on Easter Monday. I had thought it would be ready in 45 mins but actually needed to allow 1hr 15min with preparation etc. All went well with the lentils, but I did not start the onion and tomatoes soon enough. As I used a whole can, 400gms of tomatoes, I needed the liquid to reduce somewhat but found the instructions for cooking the sauce lacking!!!!! No time was mentioned. Next time I will start the sauce sooner and let it simmer. It seemed to lack flavor while cooking so I added extra salt, pepper. I did not include any cheese this time but put a BIG dollop of Greek yogurt on top.



There was enough sauce and pasta to reheat next day and one portion to freeze. This portion was defrosted and used yesterday when I used it to cook some ‘chicken style vegetarian Quorn’ for my lunch.


Would I do this recipe again. Yes especially as I can freeze some for an easy supper dish at a later date. However, I would do a few things different: cook the lentils in a veggie stock cube, use canned tomatoes that have herbs and garlic already added, use good flavored cheese to sprinkle on top, or low fat cream cheese.

I’m looking forward to trying this sauce with wild rice and baked potatoes.

Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping

JK: A bit of a delay in the Midwesterners post, but here we are. This recipe is from pages 194-195 of:

Moskowitz, Isa Chandra, and Terry Hope Romero. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

M is the one who made the meal. I thoroughly enjoyed it. M says that she thought it was a bit bland and would have added more cayenne to the Cashew Ricotta/Pumpkin mix. My suggestion would be to add a bit more sage to the bread crumbs. But over all, this was very good. We sent some home with DD3 and her DBF said it was "very good." Well, he didn't say "very," but I can't use that word in public. He liked it. We haven't told him yet that it was Vegan.

M is planning on making this casserole for the Vegan alternative on Thanksgiving Day - although turkey eaters will be able to have some, too. :-)

JC: Pumpkin Baked Pasta with caramelized onions and sage crumb topping : I had to read the recipe several times to grasp what exactly I was going to end up with and how to bring it all together. I got all of the ingredients though was not sure if the tofu was the type to crumble as I could not open the packet. It cost £1.57p for approximately 10oz of organic tofu from our local supermarket. I did not have time to visit the two health shops nearby where there might have been more tofu options. The same supermarket also had the canned pumpkin puree. I searched the canned veggies, but could not find it so went to the ‘help desk’. I told the lady that ‘Google’ said they stocked it. MMmmmmm she said but may be not at this branch!!. She rang the stores to find out more and YES they did stock it – but in the canned fruit section not the vegetable section. At £1.19p another value item.

So with the recipe on the table, a bunch of containers around the kitchen I set to work. Everything blitzed OK but it did not turn creamy. On checking with DL I think I should have blitz for much longer as she ended up with a smooth creamy ‘ricotta’ whereas mine was creamy but not smooth. The sage crumbs melt wonderful as they were swirled gently around the frying pan.

With the pasta cooked, I mixed it all together and turned it into the baking dish and spread the sage crumbs over the top. Whilst it was baking, I attacked the many containers, blitzers etc that I had used. That was the ‘negative’ side of this dish, but once out of the oven and on the plate – It looked and tasted WONDERFUL. I reheated a portion today in the microwave and added the ½ can of pumkin puree that was left. It tasted just as good. I would certainly do this again, may be for a Church lunch. Half the recipe, as I did was certainly enough for 4 if served with a salad and garlic bread.

JK's Bakewell Tart

Finally loading my photos for the Bakewell Tart.
Interesting. Tasty.

But, I also found the baking time to be not nearly enough. After 40 minutes, it was still "googy-er than I thought it should be. The crust was getting too brown, so I decided to take it out of the oven at that point.

We don't have Bakewell Tarts here in the Midwest - so I had no idea what it was supposed to be like.


We only have deserts (pies, cakes, cookies) for special occasions, like Thanksgiving and birthdays. And I don't eat many "sweets" - unless it's chocolate - so... I found this to be VERY sweet.

Making this recipe gave me the opportunity to use the food processor that's been stored in the hall closet for several years. :-)

JC: The film 'Juile and Julia' is coming to a cinema near me soon :-)

JS: Bakewell Tart UK : 5 days on and there is NO tart leftJ. I got all the ingredients, but forgot the baking beans. Possibly, because I had never heard of them before. In the good old days we used dried peas or beans, or simply pricked the pastry base with a fork.

I divided the pastry mix into four so I could blitz it in my small multiquick gadget. The result was like very fine breadcrumbs. Great I thought, my pastry might just be like my Step Mom’s – ‘melt in the mouth kind’. After chilling and rolling out I had more than enough to fit my 8.5” tart plate. Should have made jam tarts, but instead cut the spare pastry into ‘pastry straws’ to eat straight out of the oven.

The filling mixed according to plan/recipe, but the cooking did not. After the said 20mins, the centre of the pie was still pale and runny, so I turned the oven down to 300F, moved the pie to a lower shelf and there it stayed for another 25 mins!!!. Now it was evenly risen and nicely browned. However when cutting it still hot from the oven, the centre was damp and runny, but tasted great. We had it cold the following day, then heated it gently in the microwave and served it with icecream the day after. As for the pastry straws – they got binned. Despite my hopes of pastry similar to my step Mom’s … it was not. Possibly because of the longer cook time though the straws only got 20 mins of cooking. The fact that it had sugar in did not help. But it was certainly not melt in the mouth short crust pastry.

Would I do this again? Yes for special occasions. It was light, tasty and not too sweet. With the amount of eggs and ground almonds it was more expensive than I would normally use. I’d also buy the pastry case or buy frozen short crust pastry for the base. For a more economical bakewell tart I would use my circa 1962 school cookery book recipe: For the short crust pastry – 4 oz flour, 2oz butter or margarine, egg yolk or water to bind. Filling – 2 oz butter or margarine, 3 oz sugar, 3 oz cake crumbs, 3 oz ground almonds, 2 large eggs. I have also done mini bakewell tarts for my girl’s lunch boxes using a light sponge mix and almond essence.

D's Bakewell Tart

D:I have been a fan of Simon Rimmer and his cooking for about three years now. When Bakewell Tart was decided as the British recipe and I found Simon’s recipe for the dish in his book ‘Rebel Cook’ it just had to be made.

For research purposes I had a slice of Bakewell Tart with my coffee in M&S yesterday which was very moist and tasty. However just like the Mr Kipling shop bought individual Bakewell Tarts, the one in M&S had icing on it. Simon’s recipe is made without icing so as I am a huge fan of icing/frosting, I was hoping that the tart tasted just as nice without.

There are many variations of the Bakewell Tart recipe. Just this morning I saw the Hairy Bikers use eight eggs in the filling as part of their TV show ‘Hairy Bakers’. They even visited Bakewell in Derbyshire from where the tart takes its name.

The ingredients this time were easier to find but I had to by a tart tin and some baking beans. For those of you who don’t know what baking beans are, they are ceramic balls that you line the pastry case with when you bake it blind. I eventually found some baking beans in TK Maxx of all places so it’s not just for designer clothes! They even had Root Beer the other week.

With all the ingredients at the ready the pressure was on to make a really good Bakewell Tart to take to friends for dinner. I had my back up dessert plan at the ready too - McFlurries at MacDonalds!!!

As usual I found the recipe easy to follow, as I have other Simon Rimmer recipes. The pastry was made by hand as I do not have a food processor. There’s nowhere to put one in my kitchen! You can’t even swing a cat in there! With this in mind I decided to do things the old fashioned way and make the whole recipe by hand. Creaming the butter and the sugar was hard work!

I found that I had some left over pastry so I used that to make some jam tarts. They were good with a cup of tea after I’d finished baking.

When the filling was cooking I found that I had to cook it for about 28 minutes not the 20 minutes that the recipe called for. The middle seemed to take a while to set and it wasn’t golden after the initial 20 minutes hence the longer cooking time.

The next challenge was how to transport the Bakewell Tart in my car! Luckily it survived the car journey in the foot well wrapped in foil, still in the tin.

It was a successful dessert to a roast chicken dinner. Empty plates and lots of positive comments. The adults enjoyed the subtle almond flavour and the lemon zest. The children still wanted icing and a glace cherry as well, just like the Mr Kipling ones. Although I love icing in this case I think it would have made the tart too sweet.

Cold Spanakopitas

D: A friend came to lunch yesterday and we had the spanakopitas cold. They were even more delicious I think than when they are hot. This is possibly because I enjoy pasties, pies and quiches cold.

I have taken one of the spanakopitas out of the freezer for lunch tomorrow and I am hoping it will defrost without being soggy. Will let you know.