Leftover stew & Wedding fever

Have you ever just wanted half a can of something and popped the rest in the fridge and forgot about it?  Or had some leftovers and thought, "that could be useful" and put it to the back to be found 6 months later.  Or have a pack of 5 sausages and only wanted 3?  The other day, I popped open the fridge to find the following:

1/2 can of beans.

2 random sausages

1/2 leftover chorizo sausage

1/2 of a massive onion, stinking out the fridge.

A pack of frozen char-grilled veggies

Lunchbox of chopped tomatoes

Lunchboxes of pulses and leftover chopped veggies.

I hate wasting food.  I mean c'mon!  As a foodie (and I don't care, I LOVE that word), putting wasted rotting food into my compost bin makes me a little sad.  Yes, it's not technically going to waste and it will make some pretty flowers, but it's not in my belly.  Which is where it should have gone.

Sweet Potato Tiger Slices

This weekend, Kris and I went to the church we're hoping to get married in next year.  It's a beautiful little village church.  My family are recorded to have been living in the village since the 1100's, and records of them live in the church in loads of different ways.

The lady showing us around asked for my family name - when I told her she excitedly took me to the trunk near the vestry, where one of my ancestors had engraved his name and the year 1640.

That's insane!

Food, Fork & Gone?! An Update....

Homemade wholewheat pizzas

For personal reasons, I've been away from my blog.

The end of last year bought many shocks. The Big One, being that the woman who taught me how to cook since I was old enough to walk, my gorgeous Auntie Dee, was diagnosed with cancer.  I used to sit on her counter-top as we cooked together.  She planted the seed that made me love cooking and see it as a joy instead of a chore and most importantly she always let me lick the spoon.  In fact, I was allowed to lick the bowl too, and best of all I was always allowed first taste of whatever we'd made.  It was usually cake or chocolate related.  The best kinds of recipes.

She's one of the inspirational women who I look up too, and I'm surrounded by strong women who kick butt in my little world.... So I had my gut feeling that everything was going to be all okay.

"12 days of Christmas" Warm Spiced Popcorn

The weather outside is frightful, well, it is here anyway, but there's no fire that's delightful.  Just a lot of ice and thick jumpers!  The past four days have seen us scraping a thick hard frost off our windscreens and being wrapped up in multiple layers.  Scarfs so thick they look like neck braces and shoes so packed with socks you look like you have gout.  It's blissful, there is something serene about waking up to a world sheeted with white.

It's also my main point: It's Freezing.  Time for major food warmth.  Soups, casseroles and roasts are on the menu, and for dessert, hot fruit and cups of tea.  'Tis the season to be cosy after all.

One thing I really super love about Christmas is all the films.  All the classic's and new and old alike.  I can probably get through multiple film days, and in fact I am!  I have one tonight (Elf & Cake night round a friends), one on Saturday night, a special with my my bestie on Sunday, a few in the week as well that should be lots of fun.  I'll enjoy each and every single one of them too, I'm proper excited.  Though I'm just excited in general at the moment.

So what snack should go with these magically movie days?

Duh. Popcorn.

Christmas Foodie Heaven

Scrooges can't deny it any longer, Christmas is coming, and with it, a ton of festive cheer.  No matter what your reason behind the season, there is a definite tinge of the holidays coming up.  Excitement is every where, I just came back from a week in York, and it goes all out there.  Nothing better than walking down a street, exactly the same as it was hundreds of years ago, all dressed up fancy for Christmas.

So you may be wondering why, instead of the fancy feast of food I promised you taken with my new camera set up, I've got a nice big selection of Harrods stuff there instead.

Quite simple, Some lovely fellows at Harrods sent me a delicious Christmas Hamper to sample, and in return, I'll give a few words on how it was.  Well it arrived, and the joy it has given already is well worth it's weight in the words I'm about to write.

Spicy Mango Squash Soup

 

I give to you: The most orange soup you'll ever make!  Here are the main ingredients on a scale of orangeyness:

-Butternut squash (My eyes!  The orange!)

-Carrots (like the epitome of orangeness)

-Sweet potato (sweet mother of orange!)

-Mango (er... yellow)

-Onion (...orangey white...no?  No...)

But it does not contain actual orange.

Really, I promise!

Though it did nearly have pumpkin in it.  But the pumpkin selection at le market was poor.  Plus, we aren't trying to promote a phone network here, just some damn tasty soup!

SO...

My apologies for the absence.  I have been very poor and living out of my pantry & freezer (fun to start with, gets boring very quickly), and I'm happy to say that payday has since arrived and I have been feasting like a king since then.

Well, in comparison.  I'm hardly Bill gates in the funds department...

...but 3 weeks of rice, wholemeal spaghetti, canned pulses and packs of Quinoa/pearl barley and frozen leftovers have left me feeling exasperated with dinner times.  Like literally just grateful for something different.   I've been dying for a big old slab of cheese, or some meats, veggies that aren't in the reduced section, just anything that didn't come from a jar in my little pantry.

So what delights have I made since glorious payday arrived?  Well, mostly soup.  Hardly banquet-esque, but I've not been feeling well.  So soups it has been!  I love a good chicken soup when I've got the sniffles as much as the next person, but if I'm a big fan of making soups that make people go "What?!  WHAT?!  What did you just put in there?!".

Winter Spice Rice & The Community

Good morning!

I am a blogger.  If you are reading this, then there is a high chance you are too.  If not (hello mum!) then you're probably a friend of mine, or someone I know through other blogs.  However I know you, you're here and you're reading this blog.

I swear to god, I have a point.

I'm not sure how many of you know of the recent twitter dispute that happened between a highly regarded Michelin star chef and an amateur blogger. I won't name names, or link up, most of you probably saw it in the news.  I think it's unfair to saddle either with more negative press.

An amateur blogger, not unlike myself, wrote a review (that was fairly nice) about a meal he'd had at a restaurant.  The only thing he'd written negatively was the starter.   The chef, seeing this, went to twitter and started a tirade of abuse at him which over the last day turned into a full scale war of words in which everyone stuck their oar in.

I don't know, and couldn't be bothered to read, any further into it, so I'm not well researched, but I'm guessing there is two sides to the story, and both are probably in the wrong.

What I did see on the news article, was a little comment about how annoying and pretentious all food bloggers were, thinking they 'were all that' when they were nothing.  Underneath, quite a few people were joining in and agreeing.

Food bloggers were suddenly put under the limelight as being "pretentious know it all's" and "think they know better whilst they hide behind there computer screens", or even "That they aren't even professional writers, yet they think they know everything, passing judgment on people like that".

The bittersweet irony in that unprofessionally written comment, making a judgement on a whole group of people, whilst sitting comfortably behind a screen.

Apple Treacle Tart

I have a wee confession to make.  I have never watched the Great British Bake Off.

You'd think it would be right up my alley, 12 'homebakers' having a good old fashioned bake off, along with technical challenges and lots of dough.  But we were in the process of moving and decorating when it started, and by the time I found I had actual time to watch TV, the final had rolled around.

By chance, last week, when channel flicking, I came across the GBBO Masterclass, where they explained in detail how the actual celebrity judges made the technical challenges themselves, with all their tips/tricks into getting it right.

I was hypnotised.  Paul Hollywood is one of my favourite bakers, because his methods are similar to mine. "use your hands for everything".  Plus who doesn't love Mary berry and her brilliant cakes and treats?

During this awesome magical evening I watched Mary make her Treacle tart and even as the title popped up I thought "I will be making a tart this weekend".  I MUST!

Which requires a small flashback, I'm afraid.

Toad in the Hole.

Ahh winter is among us.  Waking up in the morning now requires more clothing than a trip to the arctic.  First foot out of bed, then slippers, then dressing gown, then blanket, followed by a nice warm shower and cup of tea.  Winter has wrapped itself around us, not that here in England you can really tell the difference.  It just means we can put the heating on and enjoy the rain splattered view from beneath our many layers.

It also means that when I wake up the morning, it's pitch black.  Which is fun, because it still feels like night time, so trying to get my weary sleep drowned body into the day is like being ripped from the womb.

But there are SO many awesome sides to winter.  The cosy nights in, wrapped in blankets, with a steaming hot cup of something yummy, the excuse to go out and buy more scarves (is that just me?), the countdown to Christmas, waiting for the first snow (or sleet, whatever comes first), and the extreme preparation going outside takes.

Best of all?  Winter foods.

Oh come on!  You all know what I mean.

Lemon Drizzle Crumble Cookies

Corr blimey, this last few weeks has been hectic.  Not as hectic as some (I send out many congratulations to some of my fellow bloggers who just became mums.  You guys know who you are!) but it's been busy enough to leave it waaaay to late to cook, take decent pictures on my rubbish camera (of which only takes good photos when the light in my kitchen is natural) and post about it.

Seriously, can't wait till Kris brings home his decent photo taking equipment.

So these cookies.

They were actually a project for kid friendly baking as I've been babysitting my friends little 3 year old a lot lately.  I actually put the question out to some of my friends "What do I do to keep her occupied?!"  And every answer that came back was "Bake with her!"