Friday 25 March 2016

Brunch Tart



Ingredients:
250g ready made puff pastry
2 handfuls of grated cheese
100g bacon lardons (or finely chopped bacon pieces)
5/6 spring onions
3 eggs
a little milk for glazing
4/5 mushrooms, sliced (Optional)


Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200C.
  2. Roll out the pastry to an even thickness to line a baking tray.
  3. Place on the baking tray and sprinkle on a 2/3rds of the grated cheese, covering the pastry but leaving 1-2cm clear around the edge.
  4. Place the bacon lardons and spring onions (and mushrooms if using) into a pan with a little oil & fry until the bacon is cooked.
  5. Add the bacon & spring onions to the top of the grated cheese.
  6. Crack 3 whole eggs onto the top of the tart, spread fairly evenly apart.
  7. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
  8. With a pastry brush, brush the edges with milk to glaze.
  9. Place in the oven for 10-20 mins or until golden.
Eat warm for a special yummy brunch.

Friday 18 March 2016

Slow Cooked Sausage & Bean Casserole


Ingredients:


15 sausages
3 onions, chopped finely
4 carrots, sliced
1 tbsp sage
1 tbsp mixed herbs
1 tin of black eyed beans
1 tin of kidney beans
1 tin of sweetcorn (or frozen)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 vegetable OXO cube
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp cornflour mixed in a little cold water
200ml boiling water




Method:

  1. Place the sausages in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. Add the chopped onions, carrots, herbs and mix well.
  3. Next add the tins of beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes again mixing well.
  4. Next sprinkle the OXO cube on top, add the tomato puree and cornflour, before lastly the boiling water and mix very well together.
  5. Place the slow cooker on high for 1 hour, then low for 5-6 hours.

Serve with rice, pasta or mashed potatoes

NB This recipe serves about 12 people, but I always cook large quantities and then freeze for another day.





Thursday 17 March 2016

Toddler Booster Seat


We needed an alternative solution for our toddler at the dinner table, he was still comfortable in his high chair and a bit too small to sit on a normal chair. But we needed the highchair vacating for baby number two. So my solution was to create a wipe-down-able booster seat to attach to a chair....it took me 3 attempts to get it right but here is the finished product (the fabric matched our tablecloth!).







If anyone is interested in having one made I could do a few for friends for a fee ;)

Monday 14 March 2016

Back to the Garden

So, now spring is showing signs of springing I've been trying to get out to do some tidying up especially since the horrible wet weather hampered my attempts to clear some plants in the autumn. I want to grow a bit more this year so I have put in a new raised bed, with the help of my hubby who constructed it for me.



On these photos you can see still how wet the bottom of our garden is, it's a bit of a quagmire but can you see all the new raspberry shoots in the bed I put in last summer?

I can't wait to fill my beds with fine home grown produce.

:)

Friday 11 March 2016

Rhubarb Krummel Kucken


Krummel Kucken is a German recipe, which my mum & grandma frequently made for dessert and I always remember it being particularly yummy. I thought I might find the recipe online but they were all rather complicated, so in the end I searched out my grandma's old recipe book and found it - a much simpler recipe, so here goes...

Ingredients:
250g butter
500g self raising flour
200g sugar
400g rhubarb
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg, beaten


Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180C.
  2. With your fingers, rub the margarine into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.
  3. Add sugar & mix in well.
  4. Add the beaten egg and vanilla essence and mix in well - but don't press together too much - it should resemble crumble topping at this stage.
  5. Chop the rhubarb into inch long sections.
  6. Place just over half of the crumble mix into the bottom of a large baking tray (I used my grill pan) and compact into the bottom of the tin.
  7. On top lay the rhubarb and sprinkle the rest of the crumble on top (not compressing this time).
  8. Bake in the oven for 40-45 mins or until golden brown on top.

Serve warm or cold with cream, custard or ice cream.

NB Can also make with halved apricots or plums placed skin down or berries (gooseberries are particularly tasty) or any other fruit for that matter, but the bitter/sour fruits ie rhubarb & gooseberries seem to make the nicest krummel kucken.



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