Toffee ice cream

Home made ice cream with no ice cream maker needed, and soft scoop to boot :-) easy to do honest ;-) 

Whip up a 300 ml tub of double or whipping cream, it needs to be soft but holding its shape. Then empty in a tin of condensed milk caramel. It's the tins right next to the condensed milk in the shops. Just whisk it through the cream until completely combined. Put into a freezable container with a lid and place in freezer for 8 hours or overnight. It is that simple. You can add choc chips or ripple through chocolate sauce or other delights to. 

Peanut butter cookies

Not the most attractive looking cookies I grant you. I don't like peanut butter but I loved these, go figure that one out! A spot of baking with my youngest son was on the agenda tonight and we made these simple but addictive cookies. There is no flour in these so don't go thinking it's been left out by accident. A friend gave me a recipe for these a few years back and I promptly lost it after making but I found one similar and think it's the same so here goes. Preheat an oven to gas mark 4 or 180/350 and prepare 2 baking sheets. In a bowl put 

1 cup of smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar

I teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1 egg

 Used my mixer and mixed until thoroughly combined. I used a small scoop but you could roll into walnut sized  balls and place on tray leaving room to spread. With a fork flatten slightly and make a cross hatch pattern on the top. Bake in oven for 11-14 minutes. They will be just starting to colour and very soft when you take them out. Leave on baking sheets for 5-10 minutes until firmer then transfer to a wire rack to go completely cool before putting in an airtight container or into awaiting mouth. We ended up with 16 of these. 

Very quick and simple make and brilliantly textured. Crisp on outside but not hard and crunchy. And dense with a slight chew in the middle. Well worth a go. I used smooth peanut butter but I don't see why crunchy wouldn't work as long as you didn't mind bits of peanut in your cookies. 

Sewing for Ever

Meet my eldest Granddaughter :o)  She's been on my blog before and is growing up so fast and beautifully. With my interest in sewing returning lately I came across a you tube video >>>>here<<<<

on the channel A fate so twisted for making a ruffled skirt. 3 tiers of wonderful girlishness.

 

I found this fabric in my local fabric land and fell in love with it. Only thing I did different was did the ruffling by hand as no ruffle foot here that fitted my machine. 

I'm glad Ever and her Mum love the skirt.  we have another colour combination planned soon.  A big thanks to the lovely Renee on a fate so twisted for the free tutorial on her channel :o) Made it so easy to follow

A quick photo of day I started it and 2 tiers into the ruffling

And a quick finished but not yet displayed on a pretty model. Love this material, it just takes me back to the 80's somehow 

Oreo/chocolate ice cream

I don't make ice cream often.  When I do I do not want to be faffing about with putting ice cream machine bowls in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours before hand.  I am just not that organised most of the time.  So when I do make ice cream it is a version like this or one involving cooked meringue. This one made 3 500ml tubs and starts with a base of

450ml double/whipping cream whipped to firm peaks

1 tin of condensed cream whipped into the whipped cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

This in itself would be lovely just frozen in a container for 6-8 hours or overnight.  But Luke wanted oreo ice cream so we added extras to it

We melted and cooled 250-300g of dark chocolate and let it cool so it wouldn't melt the cream. We did this before we even whipped the cream. 

And chopped half of a pack or Oreo cookies.  We made 3 tubs of ice cream but only one had Oreos in it.

we stirred in the chocolate when it was evenly mixed in and 2 of the tubs were portioned out and labelled Oreos got stirred into the rest and a few reserved for the top.  

So simple yet so effective.  OH and son are very happy and I have bribery in the freezer for days I need brownie points ;o)

Don't like chocolate how about lime and coconut? Stir together 

1 tin condensed milk

1 tin coconut milk

zest and juice of 3 limes

stir together thoroughly place in an airtight container and freeze as above.  

Chicken, sweetcorn and noodle soup

The weather today has been very wet and gray.  I had the dentist this morning which left me feeling a bit sorry for myself. So comfort food was needed tonight,  As a child I had a love for packets of Knorr Chicken noodle soup.  I think I may even still have a pack in the cupboard.  But I also found a recipe for chicken and sweetcorn soup in the Chinese takeaway style which I like.  So I made a compromise and made. chicken, sweetcorn and noodle soup.  It's not as 'gloopy' as the takeaway version but it could be with using more cornflour.  

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1.5 litres chicken stock ( using stock cubes is fine)

3 spring onions sliced, with green parts to

1 tin creamed sweetcorn

1 tablespoon cornflour

noodles

1 or 2 eggs

teaspoon of Thai fish sauce

I fond these noodles on my shopping travels a while ago from Lidl at 39p for 250g pack, they are ideal soup size.  However you could use any noodles or even broken spaghetti pieces or small pasta shapes.

Bring the stock to the boil in a big pot. place in your chicken and lower the stock to a simmer and leave to all gently simmer for 20 minutes. 

Remove the chicken to a plate or bowl and shred it with 2 forks.  Empty the creamed sweetcorn into the stock along with the spring onion and season to taste.

Mix the cornflour into a little water and add to the stock while stirring.  Stir in 100g roughly of noodles/pasta, and put the chicken back to the stock.  Give it a good stir and simmer for 15 more minutes with an occasional stir.  

At end of simmering time whisk up the egg with the fish sauce and stir the soup while dribbling slowly the egg to give the egg drop effect 

I love the eggy strands, just like I used to add to those Knorr packet soups years ago.

This went down well, even with the sweetcorn hater in the house. Decided I had better blog the recipe before I lose the recipe.  

Duffle or waffnut?

I just checked my email, and King Arthur flour announced tomorrow is National waffle day. I love waffles. Some days however, like today when wisdom teeth are causing me hassles, I don't have the drive to leap out into the kitchen and make them.  I was reminded about these though.  I made these back in May when I saw them done online.  Not sure where but thought I would share. They were sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

To start you need as many plain glazed donuts as your heart desires.  Krispy Kremes were mentioned, I chose 4 for a £1 at my local supermarket though. 

A preheated waffle machine, This is mine, it is about 20 years old and it's looking it, she however works beautifully for our needs.

When your waffle machine is ready and heated around medium on mine, simply place suitable amount of donuts in machine and squish down.  Follow your machines guidelines, these took around a minute or 2 until the green light let me know they were ready

They came out smelling and looking fantastic, the glaze had caramelised leaving sugar strands as I pulled them off the hot plates. Insides were warm, soft, compact  and densely fluffy with classic donut flavour.  The outsides had a light crunchy caramel coating. 

I've also in the past used my waffle machine to bake cookies and toast sandwiches,  I have also seen people make french toast in them too.  If you have a waffle machine in your cupboard collecting dust, why not drag it out and show it some love.  And remember why you bought one in the first place

Roasted mushrooms

I am the biggest mushroom lover I know and that is saying something as my OH loves them almost as much. Anything with the word mushroom in the recipe title and you usually get my full attention.  I was cruising the internet last week looking for not a lot really but found a version of roasted mushrooms.  Then I googled Roasted mushrooms, all good things popped up.  Being I have been doing slimming world plan since May I then adapted what I read and was very happy with the results. For this I used 

Button mushrooms ( chestnut or white)

Frylight ( 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil if preferred)

and seasoning 

Preheat oven to gas mark 6-7. Start by trimming the stalks off the mushrooms so they are level with the cap and place in a bowl. I found a double one and had to show you the cuteness.  Spray a baking tray with frylight and put to one side

spray the mushrooms in the bowl with frylight/olive oil, toss around and season and toss around again, then when each one has a coating place them cut side down on the baking tray.  Place in oven for 25-30 minutes, then take them out turn them over and place back in oven for another 10 minutes.

Although the look leathery and shriveled they should still have moisture in them and taste concentrated. You could of course play with the flavouring using herbs, spices, garlic or garlic frylight perhaps? The possibilities are endless.  

Cheese soufflé

Cheese souffle used to scare me, or rather souffle in general did. why? I don't know. But I gave it a go and you know what? Apart from trashing the kitchen it went to plan and tasted brilliant.  

Going in they looked ok

Came out looking monsterous.  Although a little dark on top they tasted great, One flowed like a volcano but still tasted ok 

Insides were light and fluffly.  my recipe to come I just wanted to share my excitement of beating my fear of souffles.

Fakeaway craze in slowcooker

Oh boy when people started talking about fakeaway being as good as a doner kebab done in a slowcooker I actually rolled my eyes. no way was this going to be anywhere near as good right? wrong!!!! it took 2 attempts but I was praised highly and it's been requested again for our home made take away family film nights.  A lot of people have shown interest so I thought I would share.  The first attempt I made was to dry so was pleased when this worked. 

Start with

• 500grams lamb mince
  1 teaspoon salt
  1.5 teaspoon onion powder or granules
  1.5 teaspoon garlic powder
  0.5 teaspoon pepper
• (I added in 0.5 tsp of smoked paprika and 0.25 teaspoon of chilli powder as my lot are heat wimps and wouldn't of liked 1.5 teaspoons of cayenne but feel free to adapt.
• 1 teaspoon oregano or
  1 teaspoon mixed herbs

Put the whole lot in a food processor or mixer or squidge lots with hands until you have a sticky mass that holds together really well.  Shape into a log or lump and wrap in foil,  put a few foil balls in bottom of slowcooker and add a splash of water.  

poke 3 or 4 holes in bottom of foil meat package and put it holes down on top of foil balls.  

mine cooked on high for 3 hours but your slow cooker may cook differently. left to rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly and serving

• 
  

looks not to lovely right

looks bit bigger than regular slices but texture and taste are great

I stir fried with very little heat a pack of mushrooms, 2 chunky cut peppers and a red onion sprinkled with lots of oregano

salad is mostly just fresh cut but the softer red or white cabbage is achieved I discovered is finely cut with red onion and carrot, then salt and lots of lemon juice sprinkled over and stirred through thoroughly.  Left in the fridge for an hour or so and then sprinkled with parsley.  Was spot on.  All I was missing was garlic mayo and jalapeno chillis.  next time maybe ;o) 

slowcooker sausage with onion gravy

I was pondering on some sausages I bought last week.  So I went a searching the internet for a recipe and decided on one from netmums  I changed it a little but not to much 

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tbsp olive oil

8 sausages ( we had 9 lamb and meat butchers sausages)

3 onions (in half then in thick, half moon slices), sliced

2.5 tbsp plain flour

500ml beef stock (or chicken)

3 tbsp chutney (or pickle - any type we used Christmas chutney leftover from Christmas)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp black pepper ( I used much less but to taste)

250g of small potatoes or cut into bitesize chunks 

250g chestnut or button mushrooms halved or sliced chunky

Set the slow cooker to HIGH

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the sausages and quickly brown on all sides, then transfer to the slow cooker

Add the onions to the frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not brown - stir in the flour and cook gently for 1-2 minutes

Make sure you scrape all the flour from the bottom of the pan

Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the stock - bring to the boil, stirring continuously, until thickened

Stir in the chutney, Worcestershire sauce and pepper

Transfer to the slow cooker with potatoes 

Turn the slow cooker down to LOW, put the lid on and cook on LOW for 5-8 hours I cooked on high for 4 hours  adding the mushrooms around an hour before serving 

Serve with vegetables and mash

it's not the prettiest dish but it was a great everyday good tasting dish :o) Next time I will brown the sausages more and maybe add some more vegetables in the slowcooker.

Deliberating

2015 already.  I sit here typing at just gone midnight on January 1st.  I have my 2 beautiful granddaughters here on a sleepover and am thinking about new years resolutions as you do. 

 Yes I want to lose a shed load of weight, get fit, be prepared for Christmas next year, learn new skills and become amazing. All sound wonderful things don't they? But it got me thinking as to why our resolutions go out the window by mid January? I think we are all to hard on ourselves.

 My resolution is to be easier on myself and enjoy life more.  I don't spend half as much time on myself as I should. I have some lovely make up, hardly wear it.  I love to cook and create food that makes people smile, but find myself only cooking for the rushed evening meal, or not bothering to take photos and sharing. I love to read, I struggled to read 52 books this year.  I love to learn new arts and crafts but hardly dabble in new areas.  Love to papercut but I am to busy doing things for others.  Love to knit and am so out of the habit. 

So I hereby announce my new years resolution as I am going to take more time for me and enjoy more in life. I am no longer going to complain about things I don't do I am going to do them :o) I might need a kick up the rear now and again but let us hope this doesn't happen. 

When I started this blog I did say it wasn't just going to be for baking/cooking so lets see if I can blog more because I do enjoy it. But I think I do limit myself thinking I must come up for a new recipe before I blog.  Maybe I can share what other things I have gotten up to as well. 

But for now I will sign off and wish you a happy, safe and healthy new year.  Remember to be kind to others and yourselves 

Jules xx