Marinated Shrimp Salad

This marinated shrimp recipe is perfect. It hits all the right spots. It looks good, tastes good, and is easy to make. It’s great party food. I also made an ice bowl to go with it, so that I could leave it on the table for people to help themselves over a period of time and not worry about whether or not the shrimp would spoil in the heat.

Marinated Shrimp Salad

2 lbs cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium lemon cut into slices

1 cup pitted ripe olives drained

1/2 cup evoo

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1. In a large glass serving bowl combine the shrimp, onion, lemons and olives.

2. In a jar with a tight fitting lid, add the rest of the ingredients; shake well, and pour over the shrimp, then very carefully stir to coat.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaf before serving.

fruit bars

I’m slightly obsessive about food – borderline eating disorder type, I usually skip breakfast, regularly skip lunch – but will enjoy a nice dinner. Sweets, treats and all round junk food I will eat every now and again, but I am more likely to eat something savoury than sweet. These bars are lovely because they are packed full of fruit, which makes you feel good! Well not so guilty anyway!

Fruit Bars

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup dark raisins

1/3 cup  dried cranberries

1/3 cup dried apricots, snipped

1/3 cup water or brandy

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup  butter

2 eggs

1 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

icing sugar

1. In a saucepan mix together the brandy and all the dried fruit. Bring to a boil,  then remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes, when it has cooled drain the brandy from the fruit.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F (180˚C). In a medium bowl stir together the all-purpose flour and 1/3 brown sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Press the crumb mixture into an ungreased 8 inch baking pan. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

3. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl beat eggs, with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the 1 cup brown sugar, the 1/3 cup flour and vanilla until well combined. Stir in the fruit, and then pour the mixture over the baked crust spreading it out evenly.

4. Bake for about 40 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. AFTER 30 MINUTES cover with foil for the last 10 minutes to prevent it from over browning, cool on a wire rack. Once cooled cut it into bars and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

This recipe came out of one of my magazines – one of those stuck in the corner easy to miss types, unless you are like me and a recipe hoarder. This is an absolute gem, a diamond in the rough as they say, a kind of macaroni cheese with more.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

2 cups penne pasta

¾ lb boneless and skinless chicken breast, sliced

¼ cup scallions, sliced

1 tbsp evoo

1 package mushrooms, chopped

1 small tomato, seeds removed

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 ½ cups milk

4 oz Philadelphia cream cheese

½ cup grated cheese

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1. Cook the pasta as directed on the instructions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet then add the chicken and onions, stirring often cook for 6-8 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and no longer pink. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic, cook, stirring continuously for a few more minutes. Take off the heat and cover to keep warm.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Stir the flour into the milk and stir until well blended. Carefully pour the milk into the saucepan, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil; cook on a medium heat until thickened. Add cream cheese, grated cheese, salt and black pepper, cook until all the cheese has melted, and the sauce is well blended.

3. Drain the pasta, and put bake into the saucepan you cooked the pasta in, add chicken mixture and sauce: Toss to coat, top with parsley. Then serve with garlic bread.

Broccoli Rabe Pie - Errmm well not really!

Broccoli Rabe, what is that? I had no idea. It’s a herb related to the turnip and looks a bit like broccoli (I’m guessing that’s where the “broccoli” bit comes from), I had to google it. I’ve not seen it, but like most things that’s not to say, it’s not here in Germany, I just haven’t seen it. Why am I talking broccoli Rabe? This next recipe was inspired by Broccoli Rabe Pie…

America is great, my most favourite place on earth and I would go back given the chance. You can buy frozen pie crusts, and not worry about having to make pastry from scratch, I still make rubbish pastry. I’m speculating here, slightly bitter and angry about the past, and what I say next, will probably reflect that – mostly because I never measured up to what was expected of me. All of my “friends” were the perfect women – great cooks, perfect mothers and housewives etc… Pastry was never an issue for them. In truth I didn’t really have any friends, they were all my ex’s friends and took great pleasure in humiliating me – my issue is not that I’m unable to make pastry, and every thing to do with my body heat. I’ll not go into it again but if you have read my blog about quiche Lorraine you’ll know, that regardless of what I do my hands are always too warm.

Broccoli And Spinach Pie  

1 pie crust

¾ lb broccoli
¾ lb spinach
3 eggs lightly beaten
2/3 cup cottage cheese
½ cup mixed shredded cheese
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cloves minced garlic

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C) Check the instructions for your pie crust, does it need prebaking? If so now is the time to do it.
2. Cook the broccoli and the spinach for 5 minutes or until just tender; drain well, cool slightly and finely chop.
3. In a large bowl stir in the eggs, cottage cheese, pepper, garlic and shredded cheese. Stir in the broccoli and spinach. Pour egg mixture into your pastry shell. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the knife comes out clean. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Instead of using broccoli and spinach, you could use 1 ½ lbs of broccoli Rabe and follow the original recipe.

Posh Sandwiches!!!

Sometimes a good sandwich is the name of the game. As a child a sandwich meant two slices of buttered bread with ONE slice of ham, sandwich spread, which if you’ve never had it before it’s gag worthy (personal opinion) a slice of cheese, marmite or jam, not altogether of course…. How boring!?! It wasn’t until years later – in subway that I became enlightened to the way of a REAL sandwich, and that it can be spruced up into something brilliant, and a worthy meal on it’s own. I didn’t even know that sandwiches were acceptable as a meal for dinner. This next recipe is tasty, crisp and fresh, perfect for a hot summers day when you’re starving and salad isn’t going to be quite enough, but the thought of a hot heavy meal, just doesn’t appeal either. Put simply it’s a rather posh sandwich.

 Chicken on Crusty Ciabatta

1 skinless chicken breast

¼ cup evoo

1 tbsp lime juice

1 finely chopped spring onion

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/8 tsp pepper

¼ cup crumbled Roquefort (or other blue cheese)

2 Ciabatta rolls split and toasted

1 cup arugula leaves

Olives with pimentos to top

1. Carefully cut the chicken breast in half, Place the chicken breast halves into a large sealable freezer bag.
2. In a small bowl mix together the evoo, lime, spring onion, Italian seasoning and black pepper. Set aside half the marinade, and pour the rest into the freezer bag, place the chicken into the fridge for about an hour turning every so often. Drain the chicken and discard the marinade.
3. Grill the chicken for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.
4. In another bowl mix together the blue cheese and remaining marinade, smear the bottoms of the rolls with the blue cheese and marinade mixture, then put the arugula on followed by the chicken and olives.

Chocolate chunky cookies - for kids?

I love chocolate chip cookies, (they’re about the only thing I can bake) I used to make these with my daughter quite regularly – sometimes swapping the type of chocolate we used. They are really easy to make, great for getting the kids involved. Especially the bit when you have to smash up the chocolate, with a rolling pin, all good fun. By adding some flavouring you can easily change the taste slightly, orange and chocolate work really well together, I would sometimes add a few drops of orange flavouring to the cookie dough, a healthier option would be to add a little orange zest perhaps.

 Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 eggs, beaten
200g butter
300g flour
150g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
½ bicarbonate of soda
300g chocolate
1 tsp Vanilla essence

 1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Break the chocolate into squares, place them in a freezer bag, put it on a solid surface and with a rolling pin give it a good bash, until it’s broken up into small chunks.

 2. In a bowl, beat the butter with all the sugar until creamy and smooth, gradually beat in the egg.

 3. Beat in the flour, salt, bicarb of soda and vanilla, now stir in the chocolate chunks.

 4. Spoon mounds of the cookie dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are golden, take out of the oven and leave for 5 minutes to harden before transferring to a wire rack, to cool.

Chocolate thumb prints

If you want an easy recipe and don’t mind messy fingers, slightly time consuming, possibly a little fiddly, cookie, recipe, then this is perfect. I am one of those people where my mental visual effect is much better than the final result. I do have a mild case of OCD, which makes me hyper critical of everything I do. My opinion is that these could have been aesthetically beautiful, instead I got quirky but tasty. Just a few hints with this one, first there is a chance the thumbprint (you’ll get what I mean later if you don’t already know) will rise during the baking process, if this is the case, gently press down again on the indentation before they have a chance to cool and set – you have to put the caramel into the indentations, before they are totally cool, but if you leave the raised indentations to long you can’t fix it and won’t be able to fill them. Secondly, be careful with the caramel, it really burns if you accidently touch it, and lastly, you can easily split this recipe in half and do two batches, one with and one without nuts – if you are doing a batch without due to a nut allergy, I suggest making the ones without first and making sure they are cooled and sealed away before you start the nutty ones – those pesky nuts get everywhere.

Chocolate & Caramel Thumbprints

1 egg, yolk and white separated into separate bowls, cover and chill until needed

½ cup softened butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

¼ tsp salt

16 vanilla caramels

3 tbsp whipping cream

1 ¼ cup finely chopped pecans

½ cup chocolate pieces

1 tsp shortening

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds, add sugar and beat well, until creamed, beat in egg yolk, milk and vanilla.
2. In another bowl mix together, the flour, cocoa and salt then add to the butter mixture and beat until combined, wrap the dough in cling-film and put in the fridge for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). In a small pan melt the caramels with the whipping cream, over a low heat until you have a smooth mixture, then set aside.
4. Beat the egg white slightly, shape the dough into about 36, 1” balls, roll in the egg white and then the pecans to coat. Place the balls about an inch apart on a baking tray, then using your thumb make an indentation in the centre of each cookie.
5. Bake until the edges are firm, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately (and carefully) spoon the caramel mixture into the centre of the cookies, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.
6. Melt the chocolate and the shortening until the mixture is smooth, then drizzle over the tops of the cookies, leave them to stand until the chocolate has set.

Banana Cake...

Right I will eat most things, one way or another, and to be perfectly honest now that I am cooking a wide and varied array of food I eat even more things than before, something’s I just simply like one way though and not another, for example banana bread or in the case of this recipe it’s a cake, I’ve included it because Glen, enjoyed and so did our friends and my son, me on the other hand, not so much. I’m not really sure if I really didn’t like it or if it was just some latent feeling of yuck? Not very descriptive I realise, it’s quite hard to describe – I sometimes wonder if it’s a psychosomatic feeling? It’s like if something smells odd, if I’ve decided its gone off, even if it hasn’t, it doesn’t matter how many people have said to the contrary that it’s fine – it will smell and look off and ultimately taste off. I don’t like really ripe bananas – I don’t like that really sweet woody taste, that said I don’t like ones with green on them either, you get that sweet taste and then that fuzzy felt texture and bitter taste – for me a perfect banana is one with only yellow bits no green bits and hardly any brown bits, ideally no brown bits at all. I hate mushy banana regardless of ripeness, unless it’s in a milk shake. Anyway whether it’s the mashed banana, subliminally telling me not to like the banana bread or not, that’s just silly!

Banana Cake

2 beaten eggs

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup mashed banana
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Let the eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, meanwhile grease and flour, two 9” baking pans.
2. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). In a large mixing bowl, combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Add banana, buttermilk, shortening and vanilla. Beat with the electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Then add the eggs; beat for 2 minutes. Spread the batter evenly into the two pans.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove the cakes from the pans and cool thoroughly…. Then frost with desired frosting.

Dad's icky.......... Fried Rice...... Ammended

Fried rice with lamb – it’s one of those, I’ll give it a try but I don’t know if I’ll like it type recipe. I am not a huge fried rice fan, and it stems back to childhood – one of those really disgusting meals your parents would make – that make you gag….. I gagged a lot. My Dad would make this really awful fried rice, thing (literally pulling a face at the thought) rubbery rice, solid, black, from being burnt, peas (wondering about my aversion to peas now?) We would usually be served this culinary feast after a Sunday roast chicken dinner, my mum would cook it beautifully, then my Dad would come along and put it in his, fried rice killing it – Yuck!

I can’t begin to imagine what he did with it, but the end result was foul – crispy, dry, chewy stab your gums, chicken, with burnt icky peas. Worse than ALL that was the egg – usually added to early, resulting in over cooked egg with that glassy type of texture you get – hmmmm…… Now wondering if this is why I am so fussy about my eggs? Wow one dish has made me an awfully fussy eater – or one cook’s interpretation of fried rice has. This is my interpretation and to be fair it’s not too bad for fried rice.

Fried Rice With Lamb
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
300g lamb strips
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 julienned medium carrot
½ cup frozen peas
2 spring onions
A few broccoli florets
1 leek, sliced
1 cup snow peas, give or take
1 pouch of cooked rice
2 tbsp soy sauce

1. In a small bowl, mix together the eggs and a teaspoon of soy sauce.
2. Pour 1 tsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil) into a large skillet, or a wok if you have one. Place over a medium heat, when it’s hot, add the egg and the garlic; stir to scramble. Once the egg is set, take it out of the skillet or wok, making sure that you break up any big pieces. Take your skillet off the heat.
3. Pour the remaining oil into the skillet, and return to a medium heat. Stir fry the lamb, when it’s cooked remove from the pan and keep warm. Then add all your vegetables and stir-fry until crisp tender.
4. Finally add your cooked rice, lamb and soy sauce. Cook and stir for a few minutes until heated through and then add the egg and stir for 1 more minute.

Winter Warmer? How about Chicken and Dumplings?????

Chicken and dumplings is a delicious filling winter warmer, the only really awkward bit I found with this recipe was making sure the dumplings didn’t get submerged in the cooking liquid. It’s funny, I made this recipe in April 2010 approximately, and I remember thinking at the time, that it was going to be quite complicated “culinary taxing” but looking back I realise it wasn’t really that hard to do!

Chicken And Dumplings

2 ½ - 3lbs Chicken
3 cups water
1 medium onion cut into wedges
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp dried sage
¼ tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup cold water
¼ cup flour

1. In a dutch oven combine the chicken, water, onion, salt, sage, pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes, add the vegetables and return to a boil, reduce the heat again, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is no longer pink. Discard the bay leaf, and place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
2. Meanwhile prepare the dumplings. In a medium bowl combine 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt, cut in 2 tbsp shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add ½ cup buttermilk, stir in until just moistened. Spoon the batter into six mounds on top of the chicken, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat again, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through, check with a toothpick, it should come out clean. Transfer the chicken, dumplings and vegetables to the serving plate and keep warm.
3. Now make your gravy, pour 2 cups of your cooking liquid into a large measuring cup, skim the fat and discard. Then pour into a saucepan. Mix ½ cup of cold water with flour then add to the cooking liquid, stir continuously until thickened. Serve gravy over the chicken and dumplings.

Hungry For Goulash?

I spent years and years – buying pre-prepared, packaged food, (well the ex did, I wasn’t allowed to shop, some lame excuse about my “trolley rage”) rubbish food that is full of MSG’s – whatever that is, not good that’s for sure – artificial flavours, colours and preservatives, all the junk you don’t want. Why – when I am clearly aware this is not a good thing, who on earth knows? To be fair I lost interest in cooking – Monday, Mcdonalds – Tuesday, Spaghetti with scrambled egg and tomato sauce, YUCKY….. Wednesday, Pizza – Thursday, pork schnitzel with a packaged potato or noodle salad – Friday, bread rolls – Saturday something random, usually pork, Sunday, “roast” pork with potatoes and veg out of a jar and powdered gravy. BORING!!!!!

So when I started this cooking adventure, one of things I wanted to try most was goulash, mostly because I had never made my own from scratch and it was about time I did, besides how do you know if homemade is better if you don’t try and make your own?

Magyar Gulyás (Hungary) Hungarian Goulash

1kg goulash meat (it’s cut into equal cubes)

2 large onions, sliced

6-8 large potatoes, cubed

50g mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, minced

Warm stock or water

1 tbsp mild paprika

1 tsp paprika

2 tbsp tomato puree

15g butter

1tsp caraway seeds

Salt

1. Heat a thick pan, add the fat, when it’s hot, add the meat and brown, then put the onions, mushrooms, garlic, tomato puree, mild paprika in the pan with the meat. Once the onions and mushrooms have softened cover with the water or stock. Cover and gently cook until the meat is tender.
2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water, and then add to the goulash once the meat is tender. Just before serving, melt the butter and stir in the paprika, then add to the goulash and salt to taste. Serve with crusty bread.

The Joys Of Having A Teenage Son

On Thursday night, I got a distressed telephone call from my son, he turns 16 this year, saying that he didn’t want to live with his father anymore, and he wanted to come and live with us. This is all very well and good, but I am not about to rock the boat, so I made some extra phone calls to find out what was really going on. After a long conversation with his father, I discover that he had be grounded, all telephone and internet privileges removed, because he had bunked off school AGAIN!! Fair enough, I would have dealt with it in the same way. The problem was getting my 16 year old son back in the car with his Dad. He was at some woman’s house, I have decided I don’t like her very much. Anyway, I said that if he went home with his Dad, he could come here for the weekend and we would try and sort out the “issues.” In the end nothing got sorted, I did try to help him, but he is a typical teenager, who is NEVER wrong. I did make a banana cake with him though….. Recipe to follow in a later blog..

Now onto my latest recipe, we enjoy a good stir fry and I made this lamb one after having left over lamb…

Stir Fry Lamb With Carrots And Leeks

450g Lamb cut into strips

2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks cut into rings
1 carrots cut into this strips
2 cloves garlic minced
85ml lamb or veg stock
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce

1. Heat the oil in a hot wok, then add the meat and cook for 3-4 minutes, whilst constantly stirring, with a slotted spoon remove the meat and keep warm.
2. Place the leeks, carrots and garlic in the wok and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then remove and set to one side, discard the oil.
3. Place stock, sugar and soy sauce in the wok, add the meat and stir fry for 2 more minutes.
4. Serve on a bed of rice with the vegetables.

Spaghetti And Tuna Supper

This recipe is really nice. It looks quite disgusting as you are making it, tyr hard when you are, not to think about your bowl evacuation – after a really long night on the booze! And you should be fine….

Seriously though despite the way it looks, it really is a simple supper, served with a side salad and hot garlic bread, it really is comfort on a plate.

Spaghetti Al Tonno

200g tuna

60g sardines

1 tsp garlic powder

250ml olive oil

60g parsley, roughly chopped

150g crème fraîche

Salt and pepper to taste

450g spaghetti

2 tbsp butter

Black olives and parsley to garnish

1. In a large bowl, or food processor blend the tuna sardines, garlic powder, 225ml olive oil and the parsley into a smooth creamy mixture.
2. Add the crème fraîche and mix well and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook the spaghetti, with the rest of the olive oil, until just done.
4. Drain the spaghetti, return to the pot and warm on a medium heat, add the butter and mix well, then add the tuna sauce.
5. Serve with the olive and parsley garnish, with crispy bread.

Trout Swiss Style

Well if you like trout, then this is one for you, it’s traditionally a Swiss dish. It was made equally by the rich and the farming homes. Trout used to be cheap around the around the lakes, and were bigger than those found in the brooks – I’m a fountain of useless information…….

 Lake Geneva Trout Fillets

2 large trout, filleted but not skinned

100g shallots, finely diced

50g mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, sliced

50g butter

150ml sour cream

100ml white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

4tsp chopped parsley

2tsp salt

Pepper

1tsp garlic powder 

1. First preheat your oven to 180˚C, 350˚F, gas 4. Grease a shallow oven proof dish with the butter, then place a thick layer of the shallots in the bottom, sprinkle with a little salt. Next season your trout with salt and pepper, the lemon juice and garlic powder, put them in the dish on top of the shallots, next layer with the mushrooms followed by the tomatoes and parsley.
2. Pour the wine over the top, cover with baking paper and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and carefully pour the cooking fluid into a pan, add the cream and cook for a few minutes. Then put it over the trout again. Serve with buttered potatoes and a crispy green salad.

Meat Juice

There’s nothing wrong with a store bought marinade – in fact – lots are really good, but there’s also nothing wrong with the bragging rights of making your own either! Here are two which we enjoyed and I have used at BBQ’s

 Homemade Marinade

½ cup steakhouse sauce

½ cup BBQ sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp Italian herbs
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ cup brown sugar

1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, to make a smooth sauce like consistency, roll your meat in the sauce/marinade and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, turning every now and again.

BBQ Marinade

2 bottles BBQ sauce
¼ cup lemon juice
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ cup steak sauce
2 tbsp onion
1 can cola

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, until the mixture is really smooth and then pour into freezer bags.
2. Add the meat and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  

Another Pasta Bake

Another Pasta bake – Tuna And Mushroom Pasta Bake this time. I can’t remember which recipe book I got this from, you realise I am going to have to searching for it now! Anyway we did in enjoy the original recipe, but preferred my tweaked version. This is great for leftovers so if you have a busy day ahead of you and cooking is going to be difficult, make this for dinner the day before, and you’ll have plenty for leftovers…. two, for the price, of one. Purrrrfect!

 Tuna And Mushroom Pasta Bake

½ package of noodles, cooked to al dente

2 cans tuna
250g mushrooms
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 & 1/3 cups milk
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup crushed Ritz Crackers
3 tbsp melted butter

1. In a large bowl, mix together the cooked noodles, tuna and mushrooms. Then in a separate bowl, combine the soup, milk, salt and pepper; pour over your noodle mixture and give it a good stir to combine all the ingredients together. Transfer your mixture into a greased casserole bowl. Then combine your crackers and butter, then sprinkle over the noodle mixture. (You could sprinkle a little cheese on top if you liked as well)
2. Bake uncovered at 350˚F (180˚C) for 30 minutes, or until golden on top and piping hot all the way through!

“Wedgitables”

The potato gratin recipe inspired this one, even without the five-a-day, I want to say nonsense; but I realise it’s not – being burned into our brains at every turn, I know we must eat veggies, my own body tells me it needs “wedgitables,” thing is I get so bored of plopping ‘just’ veggies on my plate and slopping sauce or butter and salt and pepper, over the top, I needed something different. So I decided to do something else, this is what I came up with.

Mixed Cheesy “Wedgitables”

¼ cabbage
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 leek thinly sliced
1- ½ cup mixed frozen vegetables
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. shred the cabbage, peel and chop carrots and leek, place in boiling water and cook until soft, then add frozen vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes.

2. Drain all the vegetables, place in a medium sized bowl, stir in the cheese and salt and pepper.

3. Place in a 180˚C (350˚F) oven and bake until the cheese is nicely melted!

Peppered Roast Beef

I would seriously recommend giving this one a miss unless you like the heat from black pepper, or consider reducing the amount of pepper used – it really is tasty assuming you like black pepper of course – I suppose you could have a glass of water next to you? Good luck if you do have a go……. Mwahahahahahaha!!!!!

Peppered Roast Beef

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp black pepper
2 minced garlic cloves
½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp salt
Beef joint

1. In a small bowl, mix the oil, pepper garlic, thyme and salt. Rub the mixture all over the beef, gently but firmly massaging the beef as you go. Place the beef into a roasting tin.
2. Bake at 350˚F (180˚C) until it reaches desired doneness.

Beckey’s Lobster Cakes – Not to pretentious naming this after myself – Ahahaha – not one of my most inspirational moments – Oh well we are all entitled to a few dodgy moments in life – ok so I’ll be honest I have a few dodgy moments a day, but a day – life, what’s the difference? These are really good and I am very proud of them, inspired by store bought originally. I wrote down the ingredients, then put them altogether and made my own. A friend of mine used this recipe to make her own and said she loved them, the only criticism, if you can call it that was that it needed a few dashes of hot sauce to zing them up a bit, add it or don’t or split the mixture in half and add it to one half to see which you prefer… I would just like to say a big thank you to my friend for suggesting it….. :o)

Beckey's Lobster Cakes

1/2 lb flaked pollock

1/2 lb flaked lobster or snow crab
milk to cover pollock - to be retained
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 large beaten eggs
3 slices of whole wheat bread - crumbed
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tsp tomato paste

1. In a frying pan or skillet, poach the pollock in the milk, bay leaves and fennel. Bring to a boil - reduce heat and simmer until fish starts to flake.

2. Flake the lobster, in a large bowl, mix the lobster, eggs, bread, garlic salt, lemon and tomato paste.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F, remove the pollock from the pan, flake and add to the lobster mixture, sieve and retain the milk, add about a 1/4 cup to the lobster mixture, so you have a firm but moist consistency.

4. Make the patties to a desired size. Place on a greased baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn and bake for 10 more minutes.

What's in a regional recipe? Bauernfrühstück.... Farmers breakfast

As with most recipes, this is a regional thing, and I’m sure there’ll be a long standing debate, with the Germans as to whose came first, just as I’m equally sure that depending on where you are from in Germany will depend on what ingredients go in it. I spent 18 years of my life living near Mönchengladbach, in Nordrhein-Westfalen and this is theirs, it’s a variation on an omelette or a Spanish tortilla.

From what I am lead to believe, I gather this is something that dates back to the war, when rationing is rife – however I have also read that it dates back further than that, unfortunately when I tried to google, to check my facts, it seems either no one knows or it gets lost in translation? From what I have managed to read about this recipe, it was cheap to make, but also a last resort (going back further than the war now) because people thought that potatoes, were only good for animal consumption. Whatever the case maybe, I would be interested if anyone does know the answer. This is mine.

Bauernfrühstück

Quick, easy and cheap to make....... German recipe

3 potatoes, diced

1 leeks thinly sliced
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 onion coarsely chopped
4 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tsp mixed dried herbs

1. Peel and chop potatoes into bite sized pieces, place in a saucepan of boiling water, with the leeks. Boil for about 10 - 15 minutes or until potatoes are just cooked.

2. Dry fry the bacon until they start to crisp, remove some of the excess fat and then add the onion.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add salt and pepper and herbs.

4. When the potatoes and leeks are done add to the bacon mixture fry for about 5 minutes, then add the egg, keep frying until eggs are cooked to desired doneness.