We have an elderly friend that I like to bake things for from time to time.   We usually go to visit her a couple of times a week and  I usually bring her something I have baked on one of those occasions.  I get to enjoy the pleasure of baking something and she gets to enjoy the pleasure of eating what I have baked.   As a diabetic I am not really supposed to be eating a lot of baked goods, so it works really well for me as I love to bake. Its a win/win situation really!

I am sharing a super easy, quick and delicious supper with you today for Fish Friday, something which the children will love.  Big kids too.  In truth the whole family will love it!


It's also very economical, and makes a great use of store cupboard ingredients. I love store cupboard meals, don't you?



I bet you have everything in your house to make these right now!  Or maybe not. I always have fish sticks in the freezer.  I like the cod ones.  They are really handy to have on hand, even if all you are going to make is a fish finger butty.




I also keep packs of ready cooked rice in the cupboards, for those times when I need rice at the last minute.  Sometimes I have the flavoured packs but mostly I just have plain and brown basamati.  We also feed our dog rice (along with poached chicken and vegetables) every day.  She loves it.   And she thrives on it along with a multi-vitamin just for pooches.


But I digress . . .  I also keep packs of frozen vegetables in the freezer.  Usually green beans, broccoli and cauliflower, petit pois and then some  mixed vegetables.  They are the closest thing to fresh picked.  I only buy fresh veg from the shops if I am going to cook them right on the day.   They seem to always go off within a few days of me bringing them home. (Other than root vegetables, they seem to be alright.)


In any case, I hope you will try this tasty dish.  I am sure you will love it.




Bake for about 30 minutes until heated through and golden.   Serve hot.



Simple.  Delicious. Quick.  Easy and nutritious. Economical and family pleasing.  You can't ask for better than that!

Bon Appetit!

Oh, I do so love  a good Caesar Salad, but more often than not, unless I make it myself, I am always always disappointed.   Limp lettuce.  Stale croutons.  Too much dressing.  I don't understand why most restaurants get it so wrong, when it is such a simple thing.    I refuse to pay a small fortune (and they charge a small fortune) for something which is so poorly executed, but no matter.  I just make my own at home, and then I am always, always happy with it.

When I was much younger and still at school, many moons ago, I collected a series of Better Homes and Gardens Cookery books.   It was like a mini encyclopedia of cookery.  I used them a lot in my younger years and I still dig them out from time to time.  Just because the recipes are old, it doesn't mean that they aren't still useful or delicious.  Recipes like this RickShaw Rice which I garnered from the Speedy Skillet Meals book!

I am late coming to the overnight oats party.   I discovered the delights of them just the other day and I am in love!     This recipe is a riff on one I found on Crunchy Creamy Sweet.  I made it exactly as described the first night and I have been playing with it ever since.

With instantly recognisable Pizza Express names such as Sloppy Giuseppe and American Hot, the people at Pizza Express have developed  a new range of pasta dishes that have been inspired by flavours of their famous restaurant pizzas!!



Pollo Ad Astra Totelloni -  One of PizzaExpress' best-selling pizzas, the Pollo Ad Astra, has been transformed into a pasta dish combining chicken with a pepperdew pepper filling inside free range egg pasta tortelloni.

American Hot Ravioli - Capturing the famous flavours of the American Hot Pizza, these beautiful ravioli are stuffed with a pepperoni and hot pepper filling, all encased in a free rang egg pasta.



Sloppy Giuseppe Tortelloni -  Free range egg pasta tortellini encases a sloppy Giuseppe filling combining spic hot beef and pepper.

Margherita  Tortelloni - Sometimes there's nothing better than the simple yet satisfying taste of mozzarella and tomato, which have been combined perfectly in small Tortellini, to create delightful bites of cheesy goodness.

I was sent a pack of each of these to try out and this is what I thought . . .  as Todd doesn't like Pasta at all, his opinion didn't count.  ☺

Of the four my favourite was the Margherita  Tortelloni followed closely by the Pollo Ad Astra.  The Margherita was simple and well flavoured.   I loved the flavour of the Peppadew peppers with the  chicken in the Pollo Ad Astra.  I love Peppadews, so no surprise there!  I also enjoyed the American Hot, but then I like pepperoni and hot peppers.   My least favourite was the Sloppy Giuseppe, but I am not overly fond of beef fillings anyways, and spicy beef has to be one of my most unliked things to eat.  So, for me it wasn't a favourite but if you like spicy beef, you might really enjoy it.

All of them were well filled and very simple to cook.  We ate each of them, quite simply buttered and dusted with some Parmesan cheese so as not to adulterate the flavours of any of them with anything else.  Unfortnately I did not get any photographs as I accidentally deleted them from my camera.  oops!!  (It happens from time to time and I am really annoyed when it does!)

The range  can be found at a Waitrose near you or through Waitrose.com.

Many thanks to Pizza Express for sending me these new filled pastas to try.

Note - Although I was sent the pasta free of charge for review, I was not required to write a positive review.  Any opinions are entirely my own.



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I've been in the process of downsizing my book collection for a number of weeks now, this involves going through all of my books and making the agonizing (for me) decision of which ones to keep and which ones to give away.   The ones I give away go to the charity shop.  Of course most of them are cookery books . . .  and that makes it even more difficult to decide, and it takes a lot of effort on my part and yes, sacrifice.  I have decided though that if there are not more than one or two recipes in a book that I would actually cook, no matter how beautiful it is, it has to go.

 

I confess to having a certain fondness for Brownies.   Little fudgy bites of chocolate gooey-ness that I have a difficult time to resist.  The Toddster could take them or leave them.  (He's not human!) I don't make them very often as a result of that because if I do, then I am the only one in the house that will eat them, and I don't need to be eating them!   I do often bake them if we are having company.

I have a special friend who is celebrating a birthday today and I wanted to bake her something special to help mark the day and celebrate it in a special way.

I just adore beetroots.   I picked up a couple of nice bunches when we were in town the other day at the Green Grocers . . . a bunch of regular ruby coloured ones  and a beautiful bunch of golden globes.  Call them heirloom if you must . . . but . . . they're beetroot and they're tasty, and they're pretty to look at.

As most of you will know, I worked and cooked on a beautiful Manor Estate down in Kent for a number of years.   This was a wonderful experience for me and I learned a lot while I was working there.  I got to cook with the finest equipment and ingredients in one of the most beautiful environments anyone could ever want to work in.



From simple every day meals, to beautiful luncheons with the ladies, to silverservice dinner parties and everything in between, I did it all, and never had any complaints from either my employers or the guests, especially the guests.  It was a job I really loved.   I have been asked for many years would I do a booklet about my experiences there and I have finally finished Volume one of my experiences as a Manor chef.  There was far too much to put into one cook-booklet alone!

 


In this one you will find the menus and recipes for the very first Dinner Party which  I cooked for them,along with their Thanksgiving Menu, several ladies luncheons,  every day suppers, a special brunch, a Birthday Dinner for the Mr, and a lot of other bits and bobs, including the roll recipe which I used for every party, some favourite nibbles, etc.  49 pages of recipes and antedotes, including photographs of the Manor Grounds, a few of the rooms, table settings, etc.  I think this is a booklet everyone will enjoy . . .  a small peek into how the other half lives.




Some of the secrets to success are right here, and it's available to you now for the same low price as all of my others at only £5. ($6.58/American Dollars or $8.59 Canadian Dollars)  This will be delivered to your e-mail as a downloadable PDF file, ready to print or store on your computer as you desire within 24 hours of your payment clearing. If ordering please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader enabled, and that my e-mail address is in your safe folder! Also as the file is rather large make sure you have enough room to receive it!

To buy now please click on the link below.  I also have other cookbooklet titles available to do click on the Cookbooklet Tab at the top of the page!

Drain the potatoes and refresh under cold water.  Peel and then cut the potatoes into thick slices.   Put them in a bowl and drizzle with some sherry vinegar.

Arrange the salad leaves on a large serving dish, leaving a space in the centre for the potatoes.   Sprinkle with the herbs, spring onions and chives.  Season with salt and drizzle with a bit more sherry vinegar.   Put the potatoes in the centre and arrange the egg quarters around them.

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and oil for the vinaigrette.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the potato salad.   Sprinkle with a few extra herbs and the radish slices and serve.



We seriously made short work of this in no time . . . it was unctuously delicious.   Creamy new potatoes, crisp and peppery radishes, herby salad leaves . . . and a dressing with punch.   Glorious! 

The world’s largest Original Newspaper archive, Historic - Newspapers.co.uk has launched a new range of Vintage Recipe Cookbooks, showcasing recipes & cookery ideas throughout history.

These newspaper books are perfect for any food lover, or for those who want a slice of history with a more niche focus. The contents include landmark food news, such as the implementation of rationing, recipes and popular food options from selected decades as well the appearance of famous celebrity faces who are still followed today.

This isn't a supper dish for the faint of heart. It is loaded with fat and calories.  Every once in a blue moon, however,  it's nice to treat yourself to something special like a Croque Madame.