From ski to knee in three easy steps

Feeling better, I went to the ski club on Monday for lessons; I forgot how much I loved it and felt fine afterwards. Come Tuesday, I couldn't walk, missed a step what with the jelly leg syndrome I appeared to be experiencing and hurt my bleedin' knee. I missed yoga and lunch with Ann but remained philosophical; I had lots of stuff to do within the house so I'd catch up with that instead.

The phone rang: could you come collect Kelly from school please as she is ill. Will this never end?

I gave up, lay on the couch with her and watched re-runs of Friends and the Gilmore Girls.

I did make bread and roasted peppers for tea...

...apart from that, no news, so some old photies for your perusal instead...

From this.....


...to this!


That's Fraser, swinging his kilt!


From this...


...to this!

Where does the time go?

Ugly Food and Lovely Children

This is how I spent Saturday....

Yeah, unfortunately, they seem to have inherited my singing genes.

When enjoying a lovely meal, we are enticed first of all by the smell and the appearance and later on by the taste. So when does ugly food ever stand a chance? "MMmmm, Ahh", you sigh, when that delightful smell hits your nostrils and you close your eyes for a moment in anticipation, fork and knife grasped in your greedy wee fists; here it comes and it's placed in front of you but SCREEEECHHHH...the big pile of pulchritude you fancied finding on your plate ends up looking just like the messy mud pies you made as a kid down by the abandoned nuclear power station/fireworks factory/old mine shaft.

Do you eat it? Do you close your eyes and just dive on in? Does it change your potential enjoyment of the dish? It shouldn't really, should it? Food is our friend and we should respect it, regardless of how it looks.....

...and with that in mind, we come to Helen's Steak Pie with Homemade Puff Pastry with a vowel missing; it didn't so much puff as pff....

Without further ado, I'll share the image; best to get it over with I've made it really small so as not to offend thee too much....

Now, this steak pie with homemade puff pastry made my family wince a little. Having spent many hours lovingly preparing it for the little darlings wee jobbies, I failed to notice the appearance might be a little....unappetising. The pff pastry, albeit dodgy looking in the extreme, was absolutely delicious; the beef had been stewed for hours in homemade beef stock and a red wine reduction with a hint of herbs, baby carrots, onions, baby potatoes, sausages and a few bay leaves.

I could have ate it til it was coming out my ears it was that good. I do tend to like my own creations though, even when others are running for the hills. Once the family were persuaded to try it by that I mean I said bleedin' well eat it you ungrateful wretches or I'll be putting in a call to Maggie Murphy's Home for Wayward Weans then they enjoyed it although the pff pastry was given a body swerve by all bar my husband who knows a good thing when he gets told by me sees it. So don't always judge a dish by it's cover or a book/person/animal for that matter; beauty lies within...sometimes way, waaaay within, but nonetheless.

Homemade puff pastry, incidentally, is really not that hard however on occasion, I think I would say there are times to put away the pinny, hang up the rolling pin and buy from the professionals. This is most definitely one of those times.

The beef stew was simmered in hot stock for 2 hours. I then placed it in a pie dish and covered it with my special pff pastry and baked in the oven for 25 minutes. Since the pie had potatoes in it, I served the pie, the whole pie and nothing but the pie.

I should have gone with the Yorkshire puddings as planned..

Another not entirely pleasant looking dish....

...which tasted lovely.

Salmon patties on a bed of spinach, watercress and rocket, cucumber, tomatoes, a little olive oil dressing with balsamic vinegar and leftover goats cheese pasta. A strange combination, leftovers you see, but it went really well together!

The salmon patties are the same as the fishcakes without the flour dipping and roasted in the oven after a quick fry in a pan to seal the top.

Net Worth

The net was down all morning yesterday. That didn't bode well for my fidgety, cabin feverish brain. Having had flu no, really? You've had flu?? Why didn't you say something??, I've felt unable to concentrate on reading and I've not wanted to stray too far from the couch; my compulsion to give away the telly to the first passing stranger has become ever more pressing as watching the box this past week has been my ultimate source of non entertainment.

I have a love hate relationship with television, watching certain programmes and then switching off for days on end imposing a self-inflicted ban.

The computer by default, is my friend in my time of need. I get to read all my favourite blogs and watch endless stupid but highly amusing youtube clips as sent to me by various friends, cousins and strangers and write drivel in the hope that someone, somewhere, finds it vaguely interesting. So, with the net down, I was down. There are only so many paper hamsters one can cut out and colour with the kids... I paced the carpet, wondering what on earth I was going to do to amuse myself and then I realised: I must be better. Not fully, operationally working better but better nonetheless.

I applied a little mascara, a little rouge to hide the grey pallor and gingerly took my first steps outside for 10 days bar the docs which doesn't count. The kids came, picking up other children along the way I'm the pied piper of Glasgow and dropping them at the park while Brian and I slowly wandered round the loch. It was a beautiful day, sunny and clear, with a hint of autumn crispness in the air. The bright reflections from the water and the brilliant colours of the leaves all cheered me up no end as did the very small glass of wine Ann insisted I have when we dropped off the boys. Look, her husband's a doctor, he said it would make me feel better, who am I to argue.

Brian was given a shopping list for the week's menu and came home having gotten everything except grapes and with a cost of only £31.28. I made roast chicken for everyone and a superfood salad for myself. I am determined to be back to full working health in a few days and thought I'd kick start it with this:

Superfood Salad

Handful Spinach, Watercress and Rocket
1 orange, peeled and segmented
Teaspoon pine nuts, freshly toasted
Sprinkling golden linseeds
Cucumber slices
Baby tomatoes
1 small yellow pepper
Thin slices apple

Arrange lovingly on a plate, once salad leaves are dressed.

Dressing:
1 part olive oil, half part honey, drizzle balsamic, sprinkling herbs, squeeze of orange, pinch salt and pepper. Mix well and toss salad leaves in.

Delicious and very, very good for you me. Smoked chicken, spicy/crispy chicken or goats/feta cheese would be lovely with this if looking to add a bit of protein.

This weeks menu:
Roast Chicken
Beef Stew with Yorkshire Pudding
Salmon Patties
Sausage and Mash with onion gravy
Roasted Vegetables on Toasted Homemade Bread
Chicken & Rice Soup / Chicken Noodle Soup
Lentil and Vegetable Soup
Curried Stir Fry with Spiced Potatoes
Baked Potatoes with tuna and superfood salad
Leftover Pie!

Scones
Mini fruit loaves
Buns

Helen's Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Today's lunch:

Lahmacun bread brushed with a mix of butter and olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and topped with ingredients of choice:

• cherry tomatoes, fresh thyme, a sprinkling of Parmesan once out of oven
  
• roasted garlic, thyme and Parmesan
• goats cheese and thyme
• goats cheese, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and chutney
• salami and chorizo
• grated cheese
• roasted garlic and extra sea salt
  

Add any ingredients that take your fancy, making sure they can take 10 minutes in reasonably hot oven. These are also delicious for breakfast; you can add a tablespoon of sugar to the batter or not and/or topped with (after baking the buttered bread on it's own):

• Nutella and banana
• jam
• fruit coulis
• brown sugar mixed with cinnamon (bake this one in the oven)
• cream cheese and smoked salmon

The goats cheese and chutney was amazing!

Last night, we had chicken stew with dumplings, the quickest, easiest dinner which looks like you've been slaving over a hot stove for hours. We were so happy at dinner last night, sat round the table chatting away, eating up every last bit, pressing the baby potatoes and dumplings into the last of the gravy, finished off with steaming mugs of tea. After the Scotch broth for lunch, the comfort food had certainly done it's job.

Helen's Quick and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Place into a pan the following:
A half bag of baby potatoes (around 3-5 per person)
One onion, chopped large
A few shallots, whole or halved
A carrot, chopped large
2 garlic cloves
Some sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary
Half a tin plum tomatoes or a few fresh tomatoes
Any other root veg you have in the house, chopped large

Add to this a pint or enough to cover of light chicken gravy, home made or granules mixed with chicken stock. If using fresh tomatoes, add a good squeeze of tomato puree to the gravy. Add a little dash of white wine if you happen to have some open. The teabag-looking item was a bouquet garni packet I had left so I popped it in for that little bit of extra aromatic flavouring.

Bring to the boil and drop in chunks of chicken breast or thigh meat; chicken breasts into four, thighs into two. Stir, put on the lid, boil once more and then simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Prepare dumplings by placing into a bowl the following:
100g/4oz self raising flour
2oz mature cheddar cheese
1oz Parmesan (if you don't want to use this, add another ounce of cheddar instead).
Quarter teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp mustard powder
Handful of either thyme or chopped parsley
Sprinkle salt and pepper

Mix and add a beaten egg and enough water to make a sticky dough. Don't mix too much, you want it lumpy. Form into little dumplings and pour over a little oil, rubbing gently to coat each ball. Place in fridge until five minutes before needed.

Put oven on to 200 degrees Celsius/gas mark 5.

Pour stew into an oven proof dish and top with dumplings. Bake in hot oven for around 15 minutes or until dumplings golden brown or a little darker on top, depending on taste.

The dumplings will expand and stick together which is just perfect; half are soaking up the gravy, the half sticking above the top are golden and crispy. Apply three greedy, hungry wee weans, one hungry big man and try to get to the table before they polish it off, leaving you a loan potato and a carrot.
____________________________
I've had several phone calls, emails and texts asking me how I am; it's lovely that my friends take the time to do that but I find myself saying "I'm fine" even though I still feel poorly. Is it a mum thing, a Scottish thing or a woman thing that after 7 days of illness, I feel frustrated with my inability to get better quickly and I feel like such a fraud. Come on, flu, go already!

I want to walk up a hill, go shopping and take the kids swimming desperately. It's their holiday week; not that they've complained, I don't think they can quite believe their luck what with the jammies on for as long as they want, mum on tap, vid games, computer and dvds galore. It's been a nice week, considering.

Tomorrow, we plan to hit the cinema to see 'Up'; I'm hoping my coughing has subsided by then as I really want to see it and can't if all I'll end up doing is disturbing everyone around me. Tomorrow is another day, I could leap out of bed, restored and well! Karmic thoughts, people, karmic thoughts.

Food for Sickies

Every nation will have certain foods that they give to the sick and hungover; within every nation, there will of course, be variations and from city to city, it changes once again. Within those cities and towns, each family will tweak and add to each recipe, adding a little nutmeg here, some spring onions there.

In the west, a version of chicken soup tends to be favoured or at least some kind of broth. It's tasty, full of nutrients and hydrates the body and soul. It's the first thing I crave when ill, knowing that a little will go a long way to making me feel better.

When the main cook is ill, though, does she get her soup? What does she or he get fed in her time of need? Over the years, I've only been floored with illness a few times and I tend to lose my appetite. After a few days however, I need to eat and have been content in the past with a chippy fish and chips or similar, Chinese food, curry or scrambled eggs. Since the kids came along, all that changed as they too need to eat proper food regardless so, thanks to a well stocked freezer, we usually manage fine.

This week, I croaked out instructions to Brian; he made some classic dishes for the weak and bed ridden including vegetable and lentil soup, homemade bread and scrambled eggs which he was rather proud off: it was very good. His face at first when I suggested he make some bread though..... It was a meal fit for a king, very simple yet wonderful and I felt instantly better.

Other traditional dishes for the Glaswegian sick include Scotch Broth, which I'm making today, chicken noodle soup for the kids, mince and tatties for those in recovery, steak pie for the first day well and curry, a new tradition and a great one because of the ginger, the garlic...both super foods for getting you better and the spices give you that buzz; taste buds aren't always great when you've had the flu or similar so this is one dish you can be sure of getting a kick from.

Do you remember that huge vegetable curry I made just as I fell ill no connection, I promise! Well, that was my first proper meal with a little rice and paratha which Brian made, checking in with me every now and then to make sure it was being done right. It was and it was great.

When I started to feel a little better, I helped Brian make the bread for the Lahmacun, having already had the lightly spiced lamb mince in the freezer from the last batch I'd made. I don't think the photograph does it too much justice, what with the...um...burnt looking bits but believe me, it tasted wonderful; this is so easy, tasty and simple. Perfect in fact, for this week. See recipe below.

Yesterday, on feeling a little better, Brian took the kids to the park and I prepared a simple meal of what we call American Mac n' Cheese, because we add a mix of breadcrumbs and grated cheddar to the top of the homemade cheese sauce and bake it in the oven. I have no idea if this is accurate to how it is made in the US or not, I think we saw it in an American film once and the kids wanted to try it, hence the name.

Brian's bread, garlic'd

We'll be living off leftovers and making do for a few more days yet as the flu which has moved to my chest consumes me with coughing; I was so exhausted after making the mac and cheese last night that I had to lie down for an hour; how pathetic is that....but then I painted a wall afterwards and spent the rest of the night hyperventilating with no way to hide what I'd done when Brian came back from Aikido to find me comatose on the couch but it looks great today.

Lahmacun
For the dough:
150g bread flour
100g plain flour
1 teaspoon easy blend yeast
Half teaspoon salt
125ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine the flour yeast and salt and add water and oil- mix and form a dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes and place in an oiled bowl, turn over once and cover with clingfilm. Leave it somewhere warm to rise, approx. 1 hour.

Once it has approx. doubled in size, punch the air out of it and divide into 8 pieces. Roll into circles of approx. 12 cm each and leave them on an oiled baking sheet (I put down parchment paper first) with tea towels over them to stop them drying out, for about 20 minutes.

Lamb Topping:
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
250g lamb or minced lamb, very finely chopped in food processor
pinch of cayenne pepper, ground allspice
Half teaspoon cumin
*optional-half chilli pepper, seeds removed
3 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped plus more for serving
lemon juice
Melted butter

Fry onion and garlic together in the oil until soft but not coloured; sprinkle in some salt to help keep it from browning. Add the minced lamb along with the spices and then stir in tomato puree. Stir well and cook for 10-15 minutes until the lamb is browned and cooked through. Add the lemon juice (about half to 1 whole lemon) and season with salt and pepper.

Use the melted butter to coat the bread rounds, making sure you completely get the edges (so they stay quite soft). Place a large tablespoon or so of mince onto the bread and spread out with the back of a spoon. When complete, place in oven at 220 degrees Celsius/gas mark 7 for approx. 10 minutes. Keep your eye on it so that the mince doesn't burn although the top will catch slightly. Turn the baking tray(s) if need be.

If it is going to be a few minutes before they are taken to the table, drape them with a tea towel to stop the crusts getting hard. These are delicious as is but I like to sprinkle with some extra parsley and another squeeze of lemon juice and either serve alongside a green salad with a good goats cheese or with goats cheese dotted on top of the lahmacun. You can add this a minute or so before taking out of oven so that the goats cheese melts if you like. Really, really delicious.

I have to say, I wouldn't waste my time making this paltry amount of lamb topping as it freezes beautifully; I'd usually make 4 times the amount and freeze it in 250g batches. You could do the same with the bread, freezing it at the point you'd place it in the oven or make the entire lahmacun as normal and freeze from cooked; I can vouch for them defrosting beautifully and warming up splendidly in a hot oven for 5 minutes. Apply to face.

Mmm, cake...

Still ill but recovering. I thought I'd share some cakes with you....

Kids Tea Party


Chocolate Cake...that's Nutella Icing (I think)!


Guess who had that first slice...?

Swine Flu? Oink.

I know we're all in the same place with this;



But since I have flu...bad, bad flu with all the symptoms paracetamoled up to the eyeballs right now and I've been in contact with someone who has had said flu, it's a distinct possibility but, as I have found out, flu is flu, regardless of what you call it...a rose by any other name n'all that....

Since I may fall off this chair any moment, I'll finish by saying, thank goodness I cooked a large curry and my freezer is filled with little meals as there will be no cooking until I recover. Poor kids are on holiday from tomorrow too. Kelly curled up on the sofa with me; wish us good karma, my bloggy friends.

United Breaks Guitars, Calories and other Other Life Factors

Mood: Content; yoga, coffee, lunch with Ann and Val; great start to the day.



Dave sais:
"In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise".

Apparently United Airlines shares dropped for a while. This is a class response to extremely poor customer service; if only we could all sing, write songs and dance our complaints, the world would be a much happier, better place! I commend you, Sons of Maxwell!

I made a really quick, easy, vegetable curry tonight and by using couscous instead of rice, low fat margarine instead of butter, I managed to cut down the calories of this already low fat meal to 205 calories per good sized portion. Yup. 205 calories. That's the equivalent of two small cookies or a packet of potato crisps (chips). If the marg had affected the taste, I'd have been a little disappointed but it didn't, not one little bit. Obviously, you need to keep an eye on frying with margarine as it sticks easily. As with any dish of this sort, varying the vegetables won't make one iota of a difference or if you prefer less tomatoes or a bit more sugar, then go ahead.

Easy Vegetable Curry
1 red onion
Leftover ginger (5 inches)
2 cloves garlic
1 green chili
1 cinammon stick
2 cardamom pods
1 clove
Teaspoon each ground cumin, coriander, fenugreek
Sea Salt
Ground black pepper
1 teaspoon light margarine
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin cherry tomatoes
2 peppers
Leftover veg from last night's roasted vegetables
10g caster sugar

Total cost £2.40
Total calories 385
Total cooked weight 1360g Medium portion 240g 42 pence 100 calories approx.

10g margarine
200g Couscous
Chicken Stock Cube

Total cost 40p
Total calories 372
Total cooked weight 600g
Medium portion 150g 10 pence 93 calories

Tablespoon low fat yoghurt 12 calories

Squeeze lemon or lime juice, grinding black pepper

Total calories per dinner !205! Total cost per dinner !55 pence!

Blend together the red onion, ginger, garlic, chili, pinch sea salt, black pepper, ground cumin, coriander and fenugreek along with the cardamom, cinammon stick and clove, ground up with the pestle and mortar.

Fry gently with the margarine, stirring regularly to avoid sticking.

Add the turmeric and stir.

Then add the tinned tomatoes.


Bring to the boil...

...and add vegetables of choice; I added a green and yellow pepper and three mushrooms left in the fridge, halved.

I also added the leftover veg from the roasted dish the night before. I've added in the calories!

Bring to the boil and simmer. After around 10-20 minutes, depending on how much time you have, taste the dish and season; add the sugar at this point. Remember, if it tastes a bit bitter to you, add more salt, not sugar. Stir, put on lid and simmer once more.

To make couscous, heat margarine over a low heat and add couscous.

Stir for a minute and then add chicken or vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 300g of boiling water. The easy way to cook couscous is to place the same amount of weight to water ratio i.e. 4 ounces couscous, 4 fluid ounces water but I find I prefer it a bit more juice to my grain. You can always add more water later of course. Leave to soak up the water, around 3 minutes and then turn on the heat for a minute, stir it around and then remove. Stir with a fork, fluff up and taste. Add more water if you desire but if you do, leave it once more to soak up. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. For the kids, I also added chopped cucumber.

Place around a quarter of this on your plate and top with curry.

Add a tablespoon low fat yoghurt and a squeeze of citrus to taste.

Apply fork to face and stuff down yer gob. You'll be glad you did, especially when you realise you can have a big, fat treat for your supper. Or not, in my case, but that's only because my extra pounds want to leave home soon.

Beef Olives

This weekend was Kelly's birthday; she just turned 10. How many mums before me have looked around and instead of seeing their wee child, they see instead a tall, beautiful, capable person stand in front of them and ask themselves "when did this happen??". It makes me proud and a little sad at the same time.

The weekend was busy with parties, cooking, hosting and hanging out with the extended family and Kelly's friends . It was wonderful.

I made Beef Olives for dinner on Sunday evening. They are a traditional British meal although the French do a version too, as do many countries, I'm sure, known as paupiettes de boeuf. There are a few different recipes out there but traditionally, beef olives are stuffed with sausage meat. You can buy sliced sausage over here, either square or round; the easiest way to make sausage stuffed beef olives is to buy as many sliced sausage as you do slices of beef and place it in the middle of each slice of beef, skin removed; the sausage meat will already be seasoned and salted and there is little need to add further ingredients, if you're looking to do it quickly. Alternatively, normal shaped sausages can be used with the skin removed. You won't be sorry!

Beef Olives don't exactly look pretty but they taste divine!

There are other types of stuffing though, just as tasty like the recipe on this page. It is utterly delicious stuffed with haggis, a treat I allow us to have on occasion. It doesn't actually cost that much, even though good beef is best used because you buy thin slices and batter each slice a bit more.

The first time I ever cooked anything like this was when I was 17; I had my very first 'dinner party' for friends who were 10 years older than me and was out to impress. I came across a recipe in Keith Floyd's cookbook called 'Paupiettes of Beef with Lemon Stuffing'. Having not a scooby what I was doing, I took his advice and phoned the butcher, ordering everything on the list.

Unbeknown to me, the list contained the ingredients for a large amount of homemade beef stock which used many slices of the best braising steak, amongst other things. I cheerily skipped into the butchers, basket on arm and asked for my order; the bill came to over £100. I did a double take and fainted inside my head, went pale and paid the butcher. I couldn't believe what I had done. To put it into perspective, it was more than a week's wages and I had rent and bills to pay. I decided to make the best of it and cook it to the best of my ability.

I have to say, it turned out splendidly although the state of the kitchen was a sight to behold. Every surface was covered in pots, pans and plates and it took me an entire day to clean up. It was a brilliant night though and I lived off the 'beef stock' for a week.

Beef Olives (or paupiettes de boeuf)

Oven to 190 degrees Celsius
A thin topside of beef per 'olive' although I used 21 day matured Aberdeen Angus this time.
Stuffing of choice, usually sausage meat (see this recipe). I used a rice stuffing (see below).
A little seasoned flour
Good beef stock, enough to cover the olives, 3/4 pint should be more than enough
A dash of red wine
A little hot oil

Place each slice of beef individually in a plastic bag and bash it! Not too hard now! Place a small amount of stuffing in the middle of the slice and roll as tightly as possible. Tie with string or use these new elastic strings you can buy which makes the job much easier. Repeat until all beef olives are complete and coat lightly in the seasoned flour. Fry in some hot oil until browned and place into an oven proof dish.

Pour a dash of red wine into the pan to get all the extra bits of meat, flour and flavours. Let it bubble for a minute and add in the beef stock, stirring once and removing as soon as it gets to boiling point. Pour over the beef. Cover with two layers of foil and place in the oven. Turn the heat down to 150 degrees Celsius after 15 minutes and cook for 2 hours but you can leave it a little longer if you prefer.

I think the best thing to serve this with is mashed potato although I used Flora light (low fat margarine) this time rather than full fat butter. Mmmm mmm!

Mmm, yeah, still not pretty but still tastes...and smells wonderful

Rice Stuffing

Boil some basmati rice (or any rice) as per instructions. Meanwhile, fry a finely chopped onion and garlic with some chopped mushrooms and bacon or chorizo and any fresh herbs you have lying around; I used thyme and rosemary. Add a good dash of black pepper and some salt. Add any other ingredient you like, to taste. Once the rice is cooked, drain and add to vegetables. Stir fry for a minute and remove from heat. Keep heat low whilst doing this as the rice may stick and burn.

I made some cupcakes for the kids coming back from school today....

Thanks to the lovely Anne McW, I have discovered something wonderful: Nutella can be melted in the microwave! Do you have any idea what this means? I no longer have to mix Nutella with butter icing or faff about with it, trying to top muffins or stuff scones with the stuff. I can simply melt the Nutella and pour. Pour over any surface I require. Evil chuckle.

The wonderful roasted vegetables we had tonight with the Wiltshire Ham and poached eggs.

I was going to just do potato (and sweet potato) wedges but decided to add in some peppers, mushrooms, courgettes, carrots and tomatoes. I tossed everything in olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, fresh thyme, rosemary and lavender. The smell was amazing, I highly recommend this dish. I made entirely too much but the rest will be tossed into my vegetable curry.

Sundays in My City

Sundays in My City, started by Unknown Mami.

The last few Sundays were atmospheric here in Scotland;

Campsie hills

View from my window

Bridge to the North



Sunset from my window, taken especially for Sundays in my City

Salmon Dance

I'm more than half way through the work I am doing in the bedrooms so why oh why oh why does the place look ten times worse? It seems to me that that is why so many people leave jobs unfinished; small improvements are made whilst the rest of the house falls about around your ears, all other family members oblivious to the clean washing having fallen over onto the floor hey, has that wee lad just walked over my freakin underwear in the socks he has been wearing all day...?!?! and the dishes piling up at the sink.

Today, I take a deep breathe and get on with it all. My husband has taken the day off to help me. The girls rooms are as complete as they are going to be for now; another few shelves, some flowers to draw onto the tree decoration, a few cushions to make but all that can wait. It's the wee lad's turn and boy, is he excited!

We had our salmon last night, the kids opting for fishcakes and Brian and I having ours pan-fried. It was incredibly delicious (and so simple) and I could have eaten the whole meal again. I didn't but I could have.

Salmon Fishcakes
2 salmon fillets
Lemon juice
Pepper
Salt
Olive Oil (or butter if you prefer)
Maris Piper potatoes, approx. 2 lbs, cooked until soft and mashed with low fat margarine (or butter on occasion). Don't add milk.
Flour for coating
Oil for cooking

Put the oven on to 200 degrees Celsius. Place salmon into tin foil and drizzle over a little olive oil, some white pepper or black if you prefer and squeeze a little lemon juice in there too; I cut off a slice and place it on top of the fish. Wrap foil loosely but tightly and place in oven for around 10-12 minutes. The fish should flake easily when cooked. Cut from the middle with a fork to check.

Remove salmon from salmon skin and put into mashed potato pot. Pour over any excess liquid. Mix together well and taste; add a little salt or pepper if you want to. You can also add spring onions or spinach or whatever takes your fancy. I like to keep it simple for the kids.

At this point, you can place the fishcake mix into the fridge for later but, as long as you cooked the mash first and you can handle the mix which should be cool to warm then do so. Make fishcake pattie shapes with your hands and dip them in plain old flour; no need for egg dip or seasoning.

Heat some oil (I used vegetable) in a frying pan and place fishcakes into hot pan. Cook until brown and very carefully lift fishcake and turn to cook on other side. What I like about this method is hardly any oil is soaked up into the fishcake as the flour seems to act as a barrier and you are left with unadulterated fish and potato in the inside but a lovely, browned crisp on the outside.

Place fishcakes on kitchen towel. If the mix had been in the fridge and hasn't had time to reach room temperature, then you would place them in the oven at this point for around five minutes to make sure they are heated through. These were served with broccoli, green beans and thin slices of cucumber...oh, and some tomato sauce!

Pan-fried Salmon with Crushed Potatoes
A salmon fillet per person
Sesame oil
Soy Sauce
Sesame seeds (or linseeds)
Baby potatoes
Margarine
Sea salt

Boil potatoes in salt water until soft. Drain, then dry potatoes over the heat for a moment (in pan!) and then add a good dollop of margarine, a generous pinch of sea salt and gently break up potatoes and mix in marg and salt with a fork. So simple but really delicious and marg tastes just as good as butter in this recipe.

Toast some sesame seeds or linseeds in a dry pan with no added oil. These pop like crazy so once they start, remove from heat and pour onto a plate.

Pour a drizzle of sesame oil into a frying pan and heat. Place salmon fillets, face down into the pan and let them sizzle away until golden brown and almost cooked. Turn over and cook on the skin side; if you like to eat the crispy skin then salt it first. Turn the salmon onto it's side and then the other until cooked through and all the salmon fillet is browned. Place on a warm plate. Drizzle around the plate a little sesame oil and soy sauce.

I don't think the picture does it justice; Brian took it for me using his mobile phone camera as my phone has went awol. Pesky kids.

Put on plate a good helping of the potatoes and the veg of choice. After the salmon came out of the pan, I left it to rest for a minute and stir-fried some peppers with no added oil. It picks up all the flavours still lingering. For Brian, who doesn't like peppers, I had kept aside some of the kids broccoli and green beans and heated them up in the same pan; they went a bit crispy and crunchy and were, I am told, delicious. Finally, sprinkle over the seeds of choice.

Anne had invited a few of us round last night to have a glass of wine and some lovely nibbles; mini lamb koftas, prawn bites on blinis, mini pitta bread stuffed with coronation chicken and salad, sausage rolls, chicken tikka bites, lovely dips, crisps and poppadoms. Mmmmmm! It was a wonderful night.

I took round some wine, toasted almonds and hearthbread, made with garlic and thyme, one half also dotted with rosemary and tomatoes and sprinkled with a little bit of Parmesan, once cooked. All of the bread was drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. It looked lovely however, when I make these, I always make two. The one we were keeping was tasty but I felt the garlic had caught far too much and gave off a bitter taste. The next time I cook this, I'm going to add the garlic/oil mix ten minutes before the end as I think it will taste better.

On a completely random note, I leave you with a photograph of the kids, taken just before bed the other night, set up by Fraser. I think I know who lost my camera......

Kelly drew a cow, cut it out and stuck it on her notice board; the collar round it's neck reads "MOOlan". I thought that was funny you may not but I'm sharing anyway.

October Menu

In getting down with the weight loss groove, I've picked meals for the next two weeks which are as friendly as I can make them without crying myself to sleep every night; some meals are low in fat, some will be served without the usual accompaniments or without the use of butter, some will simply be small in quantity as well as, on the whole, suitable for all the family. The proof of course is in the pudding who said pudding?!, that's just rude, considering so we shall see if weight loss, a la Helen works. Without further ado, the menu of choice:

Dinners:
Pan-fried salmon with sesame seeds and a Chinese style dressing, lightly crushed baby potatoes and stir fried vegetables. Salmon fishcakes for the little 'uns and broccoli for all.

Beef olives stuffed with savoury rice and served with roasted root vegetables with thyme.
Extra mash for the kids.

Free-range chicken roulade stuffed with savoury onion and mushroom and boiled rice.

Wiltshire ham served with poached eggs and sweet potato/potato oven wedges.

Honey roast salmon salad topped with linseeds.

Lahmacun (using leftover minced lamb sauce from freezer) and homemade bread.

Vegetable curry, boiled rice and raita (with puffy bread for kids).

Spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, Parmesan and basil.
Carbonara for kids and Brian.

Tomato, garlic and thyme hearthbread with Italian meats & baked tomatoes.

Honey roast salmon, stir fried with peppers, onions and rice (me).
Macaroni cheese (them...!).

Fritatta with salad.

Baked Potatoes, tuna mayo, cheese, salad.

Chicken stew with whole new baby potatoes

Omelette with cous cous and green salad

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Cinnamon buns (The only breakfast treat I shall have and since the last batch were frozen, I will have one per week as a treat with toast the rest of the time)
Toast with Jam/Marmalade
Fruit
Cereal
French Toast
Nutella Bread

Lunches:
Sandwiches
Soup
Crisps
Homemade bread
Oatcakes
Italian Meats
Fruit
Raisins

Kelly's birthday is this weekend so there will be cakes and party food and I will allow myself a sliver only. The shopping bill this week came to £88.22 so £44.11 per week. This leaves just under £12 for sundries. The party food is separate to this; I always allow an extra budget for these although some items already appear on this shopping list, e.g. bread, chicken, cucumber and crisps. The extra food will be no more than £10.

There are some items which should never be scrimped on, in my opinion, meat and coffee being two of them. As you can see from the receipt above, I saved £1.35 on the coffee. I bought my favourite brand 'illy' and a strong, fairtrade packet to try. I also purchased three cartons of Tropicana orange juice, breadsticks because the kids like them, they last for ages and they were on sale, some store cupboard items like stock cubes, handwash, wine on sale to take to Anne's on Thursday night; let's face it, I'd have paid full price for it but hey, who am I to argue with a cheaper price.

Lucy and I went to see 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' at the cinema after school. We shared a bag of cinema popcorn bought from Asda of course....you didn't think I'd pay full price didcha? and then went to the restuarant on the boat afterwards for good old fish and chips. Yes, I know I'm looking to say au revoir to 14 pounds but this had been planned and, although it sounds like an excuse, I start tomorrow. I heartily enjoyed my half of salt and vinegar drenched, bone achingly good fish and chips with ne'ery a scowl. The pickled onions were good too. T'was lovely and all the more so for knowing it was a treat. We sat outside as the sun, incredibly, was shining and drank it down with a gallon or in reality, the tiniest, totiest, weeist can of diet coke you ever did see.