Another Sunday, another Meals of the week post. The post where I catch you up with all of the things which I have cooked for myself over the previous week.  I may live on my own, but as you can see I eat very well.  

From my perspective I don't think there is any reason that a person living on their own should be resigned to eating takeaways or things from a frozen packet or tin!  I am determined to feed myself from scratch as much as possible and to do it in the tastiest way that I can. If I can also save a bit of change while I am doing it, so much the better!

I love doing posts like this however. I know that I, myself, on occasions need a bit of inspiration when it comes to meal planning and if I can help anyone to do that for themselves or their family that makes me very happy.

I happen to really enjoy looking back over the week and taking note of what I have eaten. In looking back this week I have to say that my most favorite meal of the whole week was the Country Baked Chicken that I enjoyed on Thursday. No surprise there, as I simply love LOVE chicken in any way shape or form!

In any case this is what I enjoyed for my main meals over this past week. I did have other things for my breakfast and lunch.  Normally I keep them pretty simple.  Salads or sandwiches, sometimes leftovers, cereal, toast, etc. 

I hope you will be inspired by the main meals I have eaten!

SUNDAY, October 22nd - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's

On Sunday's I usually go to my sister's for Sunday Dinner.  She usually cooks a roast of some sort and it is usually a beef roast.  This week was no different.  I thought, however, since many of you are smaller families, you might enjoy seeing my recipe for a CLASSIC POT ROAST FOR TWO.  

This tasty recipe is specifically designed with the smaller family in mind and yields a pot roast that is perfectly sized, tender and juicy with a lovely gravy, as well as roasted potatoes and carrots that cook along side of the roast.  I like to add something green to give the plate a snap of color. Yorkshire Puddings are always a nice addition as well.  When cooking for the smaller family, I cut my recipe in half and it works perfectly.

You end up with a lovely meal on the day and then a few leftovers to use for sandwiches or a casserole the day afterwards.

MONDAY. October 23rd. - Creamy Italian Sausage with Bow Ties

My sister and I had had a day of making Sausages last week. We made Sweet Italian Sausage (which we froze half in links and half in bulk), Cumberland Sausage (a British favorite), and Apple Sausage (which we all love.)  I decided to use some of the Sweet Italian that we had frozen in bulk to make Creamy Italian Sausage with Bow Ties.

This is a small batch recipe, which results in a rich and creamy tomato sauce filled with lots of lovely Italian sausage that gets tossed together in the pan with some farfalle pasta. (Bow Ties)  I used a bow tie pasta which has lovely zig zag edges and ridges which really helped to grab the sauce.  This was delicious with a salad on the side and some garlic bread.

TUESDAY, October 24th. - Vintage Menu Madness

On Tuesday I did my Vintage Menu Madness Meal. This week's menu had a Fisherman's theme with some lovely Pan Fried Fish, cooked to perfection in a skillet and served with lemon wedges.  There was also crisp and tasty Cottage Fried Potatoes. I cooked some peas/corn on the side and served it with buttered sliced bread as per the menu.

There was also a really delicious Perfection Salad, which I have always loved. For dessert there was Singed Angels Wings, which is toasted angel food cake wedges served with ice cream and a toffee sauce!  It was a really yummy meal!

WEDNESDAY, October 25th - Ground Beef and Barley Soup

Usually on Wednesdays I go out for supper with my father and his friend Hazel.  The place we normally go was closed this week and so they went for a Chinese meal and I stayed home.  I small batched a recipe for Ground Beef and Barley Soup, which was delicious!  It made three servings so I had one to enjoy on Wednesday and then two to freeze (individually) for another time.

It never hurts to have a few servings of soup in the freezer ready to thaw out at a moments notice for when you want or need a quick supper.  This freezes really well. It was deliciously loaded with lots of beef, barley, carrots, celery, onions, and a perfect blend of spices.  I will be making this again!  I served it with some crusty bread and I was totally satisfied. Oh yes, I had a cheeky bowl of  vanilla ice cream for dessert.

THURSDAY, October 26th - Country Baked Chicken

I had an appointment on Thursday morning to get  the oil changed on my my car and have it winterized.  I wanted something fairly quick when I got home, and lets say I felt it was a chicken day. I had had enough red meat for the week!  I made Country Baked Chicken and served it with some cheeky mashed potatoes for soaking up the gravy and some vegetables on the side.

In this recipe bone in skin on chicken breasts are crumbed and then oven roasted in a bit of stock, to tasty perfection. The meat always comes out tender and juicy. Chicken breasts can sometimes be dry, but they never are when you cook them this way, and the juices in the pan make a beautiful gravy.  

I know that it can be difficult to find bone in, skin on chicken breasts these days. What I do is when whole chickens come on offer I will buy several of them and then cut them up into individual portions. I double bag them and freeze them, ready to use when and as I need them.  The breasts I will freeze individually.  I freeze the drumsticks in groups of two, and do the same thing with the thighs. I usually pop the wings and back into a baggie to be used to make a delicious chicken soup.

FRIDAY, October 27th - Colcannon Fish Cakes

I love fish cakes. You used to be able to buy them frozen, but they are something which we don't see very often these days. It doesn't matter because homemade ones are infinitely tastier.  I like to use a mix of smoked and regular haddock if I can get it. This week I only had the regular.

This gets cooked and then flaked and mixed in with some mashed potatoes, cooked cabbage and a delicious combination of seasonings, lemon, cooked potato, grainy mustard, dill and spring onions. This mixture is shaped into patties, coated in egg and bread crumbs and then fried to crispy golden brown perfection!

Delicious served just as is with a salad on the side for the light eater. If you are a hearty eater you might want to add a cooked vegetable as well, but really, these are very tastily satisfying!!

SATURDAY, October 28th - Hot Dogs and Easy Boston Baked Beans

My sister and Dan wanted to have a golfing day and so I volunteered to have my father over for supper. He likes things to be very simple.  I made Easy Boston Baked Beans which I served him with some grilled weiner/hotdogs in butter toasted top cut New England style buns and a cheeky pot of store potato salad.  For dessert we had sugar free jello with whipped squirty cream on top.

He was very happy with all of this. He is always saying to me that he doesn't want anything fancy. He loves beans and weiners.  I seldom get to cook for him myself and so I could not just open a tin of baked beans.  I had to fancy them up a bit. 

I am really excited to share this lovely cake recipe with you today.  It is totally delicious and incredibly impressive to look at. Its from a recipe clipping that I had in my big blue binder and I think it is a recipe that I got in the U.K.  as the measurements were all  in metric.

I can't tell you which magazine I got it from however.  I wish that I could. I know it would have been from at least 4 years ago now, and it wasn't Delicious or BBC Good Food.  I know that for sure.  I hope you will forgive me for being so poor in my sourcing of the recipe! And if any of you knows which magazine I got it from, please let me know so that I can credit it accordingly!

 

But that is not all that sets this delicious cake apart.  It is the candied apple crisps that decorate the top that really set it off and apart as being something special. 

These are not at all difficult to make.  But I do recommend that you make them the day before you want to make and serve the cake.  That way you can get them out of the way and have them ready to pop right on the top.

 

You will need a couple of nicely sized eating apples to make them.  I like red ones, but any apple which is sweet and that you enjoy eating out of hand will do.

One Pink Lady apple does the job wonderfully.  You will need to wash it really well to get any wax or pesticides off and then cut it into 1/4 inch thick slices crosswise.

These get laid out on some parchment paper on a baking sheet and then brushed with a mix of lemon juice (to help them keep their color) and honey (to sweeten and get them all crispy sweet).

You then bake them in a moderate oven )350*F/180*) for half an hour, turning them and brushing them periodically with the lemon/honey mixture.  At that point they should be lovely and crisp.

You can even make more than you need to have for the cake as they make a lovely snack!  They keep very well stored in an airtight container. You can pay a premium price for these in the  shops!  

 

You do need a nice deep tin, 8-inches in diameter to bake the cake in. I use the cake tin that I always bake my Christmas Cakes in.  It is about 4 inches deep.

You can butter it and dust it with flour, or you can butter it and line it with baking parchment. Its your choice. I usually line my tins.  It is very easily done.

HOW TO LINE A CAKE TIN

1.  Cut out a long strip of baking parchment paper that is as deep as the tin and as long as the circumference of the tin, plus 2 inches.  Fold over one long edge by 1/2 inch and then make cuts into the fold over at 1/2 inch intervals.

2.  Cut another piece of baking parchment sized to fit in the bottom of the baking tin. I usually use the baking tin as a pattern and draw around it on the paper with a pencil, cutting out the resulting circle.

3.  Butter your tin really well.  Place the long strip of baking parchment into the tin, cut and folded edge down. The cuts will make it so that the paper fits around the edge of your tin perfectly without creasing.  The butter will hold it in place. Because you have cut it 2 inches longer than needed, it will overlap enough to keep all of the batter contained.

4.  Place the round of baking parchment on top of the cut edges of the paper in the bottom of the tin. This will protect the bottom and keep the paper around the edges in place as well.

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE AUTUMN APPLE CAKE WITH A TOFFEE GLAZE

Some very simple every day ingredients as seen above.  (This is exclusive of the apple crisps.)

For the Apple Cake:

• ½ cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened (plus extra to butter the tin)
• 2 ¼ cups (315g) self-rising flour (See notes)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp each ground cloves and ground allspice
• 1 cup (200g) dark soft brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp golden syrup (can use corn syrup or maple syrup)
• 3 medium free-range eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ pound (226.7g) coarsely grated pink lady apples, skin on
• ½ cup (120ml) apple juice

For the Toffee Glaze:

• 3 ½ fluid ounces (100ml) heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (80g) soft dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 TBS golden syrup (can use corn syrup)

 

I just used two pink lady apples which were a fairly good size.  These were grated on the large holes of a box grater.  Don't worry about them starting to brown a bit as they will be cooked right into the cake. You can peel them if you want, but its not really necessary.

I know golden syrup can be somewhat difficult to find, but you can use light corn syrup, or even maple syrup in its place.  I think you could also use agave syrup.

If you don't have any self rising flour, I tell you on the recipe how to make your own. It is really very easy to do.

 I found a handy chart on substituting different sizes of eggs in recipes here. You may want to bookmark this.

• one large egg = any other sized egg will work 
• two large eggs = three small, two medium, two extra-large, or two jumbo eggs 
• three large eggs = four small, three medium, three extra-large eggs, or two jumbo eggs 
• four large eggs = five small, five medium, four extra-large, or three jumbo eggs 
• five large eggs = seven small, six medium, five extra-large eggs, or five jumbo eggs

 

HOW TO MAKE AUTUMN APPLE CAKE WITH A TOFFEE GLAZE

The cake is very easy to make as is the toffee glaze.   You can leave off the toffee glaze if you wish and just frost it with a buttercream or a penuche frosting, but I really recommend making the glaze if you can! 

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter one deep 8-inch round cake tin and dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside. Alternately you can butter the tin and line it with baking parchment.

Using an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the golden syrup and the eggs, one at a time. (The mixture might look curdled, but that's fine.)

Sift the flour, soda and spices together. Whisk into the creamed mixture. Stir in the apple juice and the grated apples. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes or until nicely risen, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The top should also spring back when lightly touched.

Place the tin on a wire rack and then leave in the tin to cool completely, before tipping out onto a serving plate. Peel the paper off and discard.

 

Put all the ingredients for the toffee glaze into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until everything has melted together and is completely amalgamated.

Increase the heat slightly and simmer until the mixture has nicely thickened, giving it an occasional stir. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't catch.

Remove from the heat and place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper on top to help prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Leave to cool completely.

Spoon the glaze over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides, and then decorate with the apple crisps. cut into wedges to serve.

 

This really is a delicious cake, with a beautiful moist and tender crumb.  That glaze is sweet and finger licking good.  The apple crisps really decorate the whole thing beautifully.

If you are wanting a cake that is delicious and impressive, this is the cake to bake!  You really will not regret it. Trust me! 

Some other apple cake recipes in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:

APPLE AND GINGER CAKE - This delicious cake is a bit unusual in that it bakes in the bread machine.  Handy to do if you don't have an oven! This is a somewhat sturdy cake, meant to be enjoyed with a hot cup of tea.  It is nicely spiced and speckled throughout with lovely bits of preserved ginger. This is a moreish cake that will be enjoyed by all.

WARM APPLE PUDDING CAKE - Moist and delicious with a warm calvados sauce to spoon over top.  Serve warm or at room temperature.   Store any leftover in the refrigerator. 

Yield: 8 servings

Author: Marie Rayner

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Autumn Apple Cake with a Toffee Glaze

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 55 MinTotal time: 1 H & 10 M

A delicious moist apple cake with lovely flavors and a moreish toffee glaze. The optional apple crisps make a unique and very pretty garnish.

Ingredients

For the Apple Crisps:

• 1 pink lady apple, very thinly sliced
• Lemon juice
• Liquid honey

For the Apple Cake:

• ½ cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened (plus extra to butter the tin)
• 2 ¼ cups (315g) self-rising flour (See notes)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp each ground cloves and ground allspice
• 1 cup (200g) dark soft brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp golden syrup (can use corn syrup or maple syrup)
• 3 medium free-range eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ pound (226.7g) coarsely grated pink lady apple, skin on
• ½ cup (120ml) apple juice

For the Toffee Glaze:

• 3 ½ fluid ounces (100ml) heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (80g) soft dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 TBS golden syrup (can use corn syrup)

Instructions

To make the optional apple crisps:

1. Make the apple decorations the day before you want to make the cake.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment.
4. Place the apple slices on the baking sheet, brushing each one with some lemon juice and a bit of honey. (The lemon juice helps to them to keep their color.)
5. Bake for 30 minutes, turning them halfway through the bake time. At the end of that time they should be crisp and light golden.
6. Scoop off onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Store in a tightly covered container until you need them.

To make the cake and glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter one deep 8-inch round cake tin and dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside. Alternately you can butter the tin and line it with baking parchment.
2. Using an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the golden syrup and the eggs, one at a time. (The mixture might look curdled, but that's fine.)
3. Sift the flour, soda and spices together. Whisk into the creamed mixture. Stir in the apple juice and the grated apples. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes or until nicely risen, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The top should also spring back when lightly touched.
5. Place the tin on a wire rack and then leave in the tin to cool completely, before tipping out onto a serving plate. Peel the paper off and discard.
6. Put all the ingredients for the toffee glaze into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until everything has melted together and is completely amalgamated.
7. Increase the heat slightly and simmer until the mixture has nicely thickened, giving it an occasional stir. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't catch.
8. Remove from the heat and place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper on top to help prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Leave to cool completely.
9. Spoon the glaze over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides, and then decorate with the apple crisps. cut into wedges to serve.

Notes

You can easily make your own self-rising flour. For each cup of flour (140g) add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt. Whisk together well. I make this up 3 or 4 cups at a time. It always gets used up.

Did you make this recipe?

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