A Christmas baking day

I spent most of the day baking - well, when I get up feeling good having had a great night's sleep, I have to make the most of it!

Having prepared the fruit for the Christmas cake and added to the mincemeat the other day, it was about time I got round to actually baking.  First thing this morning I made bread dough and a load of pastry - I always do pastry in my food processor now, so much easier.  I do a big quantity too, so there's some to freeze for another day.  

After leaving it to rest in the fridge for an hour, I then made mince pies, with a cinnamon crumble topping instead of pastry.  I made 2 dozen to freeze, plus a pudding-for-2 size as there was enough mincemeat and crumble left.  The remaining pastry, enough for a pastry top and bottom pie or 2 open tarts, went in the freezer (oops, just realised.....although I did write 'pastry' on the bag, I should have put 'sweet pastry', in case I forget and use it for something savoury).

The Christmas cake mixture made one large and 2 individual size cakes, which husband will be pleased about as he'll be able to eat the little ones before Christmas!

The loaf is a quick sourdough using an overnight starter and is 1/3 rye, 1/3 wholemeal and 1/3 white.

I've only part cooked the mince pies before freezing them, they'll be going in the oven again when I take them out at Christmas.  The big cake is a bit cracked, I think the oven was still too hot after cooking the bread, should have waited a bit for it to cool down, and covered it with foil sooner.  Husband won't mind though, it won't affect the taste.  It won't have marzipan and icing on as he doesn't like it.

I've also made a steamed pudding for dinner tonight, it's bacon leek and sweetcorn, I've not followed a recipe, just winged it.  Doing it in the slow cooker, which I've never tried before, but saw a mention of on a blog the other day.  Hope it works out ok!  No photo as it's still cooking.

Christmas cake fruit and mincemeat

This morning I've finally got round to mixing and soaking the fruit for the Christmas cake, and improving the mincemeat.  Normally I make my own mincemeat, and would have made the cake by now....this year we've had so much health stuff going on I just haven't done it.  Better late than never, though.  

I haven't made mincemeat, I just bought a large jar.  It doesn't look terribly appetising though, so I've decanted it into a bowl and added extra dried fruit, the zest of an orange and lemon and some sherry, it'll sit covered until tomorrow, when I make the mince pies.

For the Christmas cake fruit, I've added dried raisins, cranberries, prunes and apricots to a bowl - that's what husband likes and what I've got.  I like mixed peel and cherries in a rich fruit cake, husband doesn't and he eats more cake than I do, so I just put in what he likes as I'll most likely only have 1 or 2 small slices of the cake.  I also like nuts in a cake, again he doesn't, so I haven't used any.  The zest of an orange and lemon went in, along with their juice, a big slug of the raspberry and honey whisky I made last year, and a capful of a hazelnut vodka liqueur given to us by a Polish friend a while back....only a capful as it's so strong it blows your head off!  Mixed spice and cinnamon added as well.  I'll keep stirring it every few hours and let it stand for a couple of days before making the cake.  

The kitchen smells like Christmas already.  I put on a Christmas CD whilst I was doing it, just for the atmosphere!  I'm not a huge fan of Christmas really, neither of us is, but one of the things I do really like is Christmas songs....old fashioned like White Christmas, pop ones like Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody, and carols like O Come all ye Faithful.

Quick & easy cauliflower soup

I made a soup this morning that I've made several times before, it's really easy but is quite delicious.

To make 4 large bowlfuls:-

1/2 bag frozen cauli (1kg bag so 500g)
1/2 bag frozen broccoli
1 litre stock (veg, chicken or bacon)
Sage and parsley
Plenty of pepper, maybe a little salt depending on how salty your stock is
Some grated cheese of your choice

Simply put the cauli and broccoli (no need to defrost) in a large pan with the stock, herbs and pepper, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the veggies are soft.  Take off the heat and cool for a while.  

Use a stick blender to whizz it up (don't do it whilst it's boiling hot - if you're a bit careless like me, you run the risk of being splashed with boiling hot soup).  When smooth, put back on the heat and stir in a couple of good handfuls of grated cheese.....blue cheese is good, or today I used some leftover Cheddar with caramelised onion, having run out of blue cheese.  You could also use cream cheese or Philadelphia type soft cheese.  Don't boil it, it might split, just reheat gently.  Swirl a little cream on top when you serve it up, if you like.  Add croutons for a bit of crunch.  

If you like a really thick soup, you could add a handful of oats when cooking it, or split red lentils, or even a sprinkle of instant mash flakes.

Bacon stock (I save and freeze the stock from cooking gammons) makes this soup taste wonderful, but you can of course use any stock.  

A successful kitchen day yesterday

Yesterday's kitchen day was successful and I made good use of the oven.  I cooked sausages, 2 giant Yorkshires for dinner last night, along with several smaller ones to freeze, mash made with potato, some leftover swede and half a butternut squash, all mashed together and topped with cheese.  I also made a light fruit cake and whilst the oven was on, cooked 2 jacket potatoes for today's dinner.

The chilli and the beef & veg soup both made 4 double portions each, all of which are frozen except for one of the chilli portions.  Husband's hospital appointment is mid afternoon and will take an hour, meaning we won't get home until almost dinnertime.  So we'll have the chilli with the jacket spuds I baked yesterday, all reheated in the microwave, I'll top it with some crème fraiche to cool it down a little, I seem to have made it spicier than usual.  Which means I'll probably have gut trouble during the night or tomorrow morning, but hey ho.

We had half of the mash in our big Yorkshires with sausages and green veggies yesterday for dinner.  The remaining mash we'll have with soup for lunch today.  When we were kids Mum used to give us Heinz tomato soup poured over mashed potato with a sprinkle of grated cheese on top, it was one of my favourite dinners (and obviously quick and cheap for Mum).

I didn't get round to doing all the apple prep yesterday, I really ought to go and do it now, or else the apples will end up having to be chucked on the compost heap as they're deteriorating rapidly.

A batch cooking and baking day

After several weeks when I've not felt much like cooking at all, due to my ongoing gut issues, I'm now back into it and am having a batch cooking and baking day.

I took a 500g pack of beef steak mince out of the freezer last night, along with 8 Cumberland sausages.  I shall make enough batter for 2 large Yorkshire puds, and several small ones to freeze.  We'll have 2 sausages each with a load of veg and gravy in the large Yorkies for dinner tonight, the other 4 sausages will be cooked and frozen, we'll probably have a sausage sandwich at the weekend.

Using 200g of the mince, I'm going to make a big pot of beef and veg soup, I'll add pearl barley to bulk it out and flavour it with Marmite and herbs.  I estimate it'll make about 8 portions, we'll have some for dinner tomorrow night (I'll make dumplings to go in it) and the rest will be frozen, having dumplings or mash with it each time, to make it filling enough for dinner rather than a lunch soup.

With the other 300g mince, I'll make chilli, using both kidney and baked beans to stretch it, plus plenty of finely chopped carrot and onion.  I chop them up using my food processor, my arthritic knuckles don't like lots of chopping nowadays.  It'll be portioned up and frozen, probably 3, possibly 4 meals for the two of us, to be served with brown rice or a jacket potato and a green veg.

Husband wants some cake, so I'll make a light fruit cake, or maybe an apple cake.....we have apples to use up fairly quickly.  Our homegrown apples this year are not storing well at all, they're going soft and brown very rapidly, I wonder if it's because we've had so much rain this year?

If I have time, I'll have to process more of the remaining apples to freeze, I don't really want to have to chuck them away.

Tasteless GF rolls and roasting veg for soup

Last week when we were away on hols, I decided to try some GF rolls, I had 2 different ones, both seeded.....2 Genius and 2 Morrisons own make.  I didn't like either of them much.....well, it wasn't that I didn't like them, more that they were so unmemorable that they were a waste of time.  Both of them were too soft with no bite, not chewy at all, almost a melt in the mouth consistency.  And no taste - if it wasn't for the seeds in them, there would literally be zero taste.  Of course, they're more expensive than non-GF bread as well, in my opinion definitely a waste of money and I won't be bothering with them again.

I only bought them to give GF bread a try because of all my gut issues, and the irony is I still had gut ache after eating them on one occasion, although that could have been the filling, of course (can't remember what, off hand).

Today for dinner I'm going to do pork loin steaks roasted with sliced apple and a drizzle of honey and grainy mustard.  I'll do a big tray of roasted root veggies to go with it - carrots, parsnips, swede, red onion and one of our homegrown butternut squashes, sprinkled with paprika and sage.  The remainder of the roasted veg (there'll be loads left over) I will add to stock and whizz up to make soup for lunch tomorrow.  Roasting the veg first makes a lovely tasting soup.

Starting cooking again and a great bargain

I'm still having stomach issues, with virtually everything I eat.  Have been having plain simply cooked meat, fish and veg, no spicy stuff, low carbs, higher carbs (a little pasta or brown rice), little or no wheat or gluten, high fibre, low fibre, cutting down on dairy....it's all the same result.  Although sometimes I can eat something one day and it will be absolutely fine, yet if I eat the same thing the next day I'll have terrible gut trouble.  No rhyme or reason to it and it's very frustrating.  Hence why I've still not been posting any meals.....not much one can say about plain poached chicken with green veg and a little brown rice!  I'm now feeling that since it doesn't seem to matter what I eat, I may as well eat whatever I want.  So I might start showing an interest in cooking again.

A few weeks ago my stand mixer gave up the ghost....it had given good service, I'd had it for several years and used it weekly mainly for mixing and kneading bread dough.  I've been on the lookout for a vintage Kenwood Chef and finally found one on our local neighbourhood buying and selling site.  A 901 model (from 1976), in full working order, with all tools including mincing attachment, plus the coffee grinder attachment that was still in the box and had never been used!  All for the princely sum of.....£20.  The lady (it had belonged to her mother who had recently died) said she was open to offers.....I was more than happy to just give her the £20, which she was donating to Children in Need anyway.  So now I can get back to breadmaking....my own semi-sourdough bread doesn't upset my stomach nearly as much as commercial bread, but I find it very difficult doing the kneading by hand as I have weak wrists and arthritic knuckles.  So I'm calling this a 60th birthday present to myself 😁