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I Heart Cookbooks. A Girl Called Jack Review

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Most of you will know that I’m a little obsessed with cookbooks. I will sit down with a cookbook and devour it as if it were a novel. My shelves are creaking slightly with the weight of my obsession.

I have books from all sorts of celebrity chefs..as well as all old classics such as the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book which is around 30yrs old and some of Mary Berrys first books. I’m going to review all of my favourite ones on here.

Quite often I will receive a book as a present and I will read it from front to back, drooling over pics and marvelling at the ideas but I may not actually cook from it for quite some time. Last week I bought a book and I had quite the opposite reaction.

Well I say I bought the book but I actually bought the Kindle version.. Which I kinda regret now. I’ve had the book about 10 days and I’ve made 4 recipes from it. One of those recipes I’ve made 4 times. So obviously I love the book. Which I didn’t expect to. I expected it to be good and for it help me create cheap meals but I didn’t really think I would love the food itself and the simplicity of the recipes.

Now of course I want to buy the paperback book as well…

Anyway..the book is A Girl Called Jack written of course by Jack Monroe the author of the blog of the same name. It boasts 100 delicious budget recipes and from what I’ve read and created so far that’s about right.

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I bought mine for the bargain £6 on Amazon but I would happily have paid double that as its worth it.

So far we have made:

The Famous 9p burger which consists of carrots,kidney beans and cumin – maybe you wouldn’t look at that combo and think yum but try it and you will certainly be surprised.

The Soda Bread – now the fact that I’ve made this 4 times in 10 days will tell you how much I like this easy peasy bread recipe. Incredibly simple and light on ingredients but delicious when fresh and lovely toasted the day after. 5 stars from me!

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The Tomato Soup – this was so popular with my toddler that she demanded seconds on the two occasions I made it. On my second attempt I made double the amount and it was equally good the next day.

The Chickpea and Peach Curry – this is incredibly good. Fruity, spicy and cheap 😀 I wasn’t sure how good it would be but I will definitely be making it again.

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It went down a storm with myself, Andrew and Izzy who loved the chunks of peach.

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Recipes I’m looking forward to trying:

Garlic, herb and lemon bread
White chocolate tea loaf
Chicken satay
Sausage and Beam Cassoulet
Diet Coke Chicken..

I could go on…..

If you are looking for a new cookbook I recommend this. If you need to save money on your meals or if you just like good food then you need this in your kitchen.

Cooking In The Kitchen.. Having fun – Puff Pastry

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Sometimes when cooking with children it’s not about what you actually cook its just about the experience..the mess..the textures.

Last week when Izzy asked to cook I was tired and we didn’t have many ingredients to bake cakes or bread so I was a bit stuck.

I scrabbled about in the fridge for ideas and found a roll of readymade puff pastry, a lump of mature cheddar and some tomato relish.

Bingo.

We made cheese and tomato puffs..we also had some pastry leftover so we made some brown sugar strips and a cheeky Nutella puff or two.

Izzy loved cutting out the shapes and sprinkling on the cheese and a dollop of relish ..

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Topping with a bit more pastry…

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And brushing on some beaten egg..

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They looked so good..

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Finding a bit of relish.. What a surprise..

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And of course munching them all..

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Fun to make and easy to eat – perfect toddler food. I was surprised by how much Izzy could do by herself. Lately I’m asking her to do little kitchen tasks like buttering bread and she really enjoys it and its clearly helping her feel more confident when cooking.

COOKING WITH KIDS

Cooking In The Kitchen..Having Fun – Rice Krispie Cakes with a Gooey surprise

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I’m sure not many of you need to know a recipe for Rice Krispie cakes but you never know ..also I thought it would be fun to share it with you.

Izzy is really getting into spending time in the kitchen and I am keen to encourage this .. Mainly as it means I also get to be in the kitchen!

Today she wanted to cook but we were running short on time and I was running extremely low on energy so I thought why not Rice Krispie cakes? Easy peasy.

I must have made these a hundred times been but this was my favourite time.

I always use the same recipe which is:

200g of Milk Chocolate
125g of butter
6 tbsp of Golden syrup
200g Rice Krispies
*Mini marshmallows (optional)

Melt your chocolate, butter and syrup together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water – best to avoid letting your child do this part. Then let your little one mix the Krispies in gradually until they are all coated.

We decided for fun to add in some marshmallows so we put a dollop of Krispie mix into the cake case followed by a marshmallow and some more Krispies and a marshmallow.. Repeat until all your mix has gone. It makes about 24. Leave to chill until hardened.

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It’s worth noting that these are extremely addictive. If you tell yourself you will only eat one then you are only lying to yourself.

Making life easier – Preparation

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I knew that being a mum of two would be hard but well it’s really hard. I often feel like I’m not coping as well as I should be although deep down I know that I’m probably doing just fine. I love having my two girls around me but I do feel like I don’t get anything else done. Both girls are always clean and well fed and some days I feel that’s about all I achieve.

I’m probably putting too much pressure on myself but I get frustrated when I don’t make decent home cooked meals and have to rely on ready prepared items from my fridge or freezer. Cooking decent meals is my thing and very stupidly I feel a bit lost when I don’t do it.

I have decided to do something about it.

Every week I’m going to spend 2-3 hours on meal preparation for the week ahead. I will chop vegetables, marinade meat, measure out items and generally get organised so that I can toss some ingredients in the slow cooker or oven and feel better about the food we eat. I figure that if I feed Chloe and put her down for her afternoon nap ( generally her longest sleep of the day) Izzy can play with her Dad or they can go to the park and I can get my organised head on.

My hot cooked meal plans include:

Casseroles
Curries
Stew
Bolognese
Soup
Pie fillings

So I will chop and prepare my vegetables and meat ready for quick assembly and bag/box them up with the stock/seasonings they need.

I am also aiming to batch cook one dish a week so perhaps on week one it will be bolognese sauce – I will cook 5 meal sized portions of sauce and freeze all but one. I will use that one the same day and have 4 easy to defrost and cook meal ideas for the following weeks if I run short of time or can’t do meal preparation that week for one reason or another. These could be made into pasta bakes, lasagne or jacket potato toppings.

I’m going to wash and prepare all my salad items so they are easy to assemble for lunches and if I get enough time I’m also hoping to make large amounts of waffles, muffins etc to freeze for delicious easy breakfasts. Izzy loves to help me in the kitchen so I will get her involved with the baking side.

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I’m still hoping at some point to get back into cooking meals on a whim and spending a few hours in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove making indulgent dishes but I do know its not always possible. For example last night when my other half was in work I put Izzy to bed but Chloe decided to attach herself to my boob from 6.30 until 11pm so nothing else got done. I have to accept that this is the way it may be for a while and just find ways to work around it rather than worry myself over trivial matters.

I will be sharing my preparation tips and meal ideas with you over the next few weeks. Any ideas you have are gratefully received.

Cooking in the kitchen.. Having fun – Valentines treats

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Last year sometime myself and Izzy watched an episode of Zingzillas.. In each episode they create a new song which they sing at the end and in this particular episode they sung about cooking in the kitchen. The lyrics go something like “Cooking in the kitchen ..having fun” da di da and for some reason this sentence stuck and quite often when I ask Izzy what she wants to do that day she will say Cook in kitchen? Having fun? Which of course is mega cute. Anyway on the weekend we decided to do a little baking in our pyjamas ( I was still unwell) while Chloe and Dad watched the rugby and we copied an idea which I used to make a long time ago from my Be-Ro book to make stained glass Valentines hearts.

You will need:

225g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
1/2 lemon – grated zest and juice
1 medium egg -beaten
Boiled sweets
Heart shaped cutters

Preheat oven to gas mark 4. Grease and line your baking trays with baking paper.

Mix flour and sugar and rub in the butter, add lemon zest and juice and most of your egg.

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You may not need all the egg just use enough to make a stiff dough.

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Roll out your dough and using a heart shaped cutter cut out as many large hearts as you can.

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Then using a smaller heart cutter cut out a segment from each heart. Place your large hearts and small hearts on a baking tray and cook for approx 5 minutes.

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Remove from oven and place a boiled sweet in the middle of each large heart and bake for a further 5-7 minutes until the sweet has melted. Remove from oven and leave to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.

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For the smaller hearts simply dust with icing sugar and munch away.

You could also use a skewer to place a small hole at top of the large hearts so you can hang with a ribbon. Do this prior to baking.

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Would make a cute gift from your children to their Dads to say Happy Valentines and they taste pretty good too!

COOKING WITH KIDS

The Baking Boom

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Five years ago would anyone have predicted that baking would be so cool in 2013?

Shows like the Great British Bake Off have rekindled the nations love for cake, bread and all things biscuity. I love it. I’ve always loved baking ..ever since I baked my first rock buns with my mum when I was ..well pretty small.

I love the fact that at most times of days you can flick through the TV channels and find a cake related programme. It makes lazy afternoons on the sofa so much more appealing although I always end up with the urge to make cake and an increasing jealousy for all of the beautiful cake tins, display stands and the very many cool retro bits to pretty up your kitchen. I mean obviously I NEED these Tala pastry cutters or this cocoa shaker ..Christmas is coming after all. HINT HINT.

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I think I’ve probably made more cake in the past year than I have in my entire life. Here are a few of them:

Chocolate Mint Cake:

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I made the Chocolate mint cake for the Great Bloggers Bake Off.

Rock cakes:

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I make rock cakes quite regularly now, they are fairly simple and give me a little taste of my childhood.

Pineapple upside down cake:

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I love Pineapple upside down cake. It’s one of my very favourite cakes.

Have you always love baking or are you a new convert after the contagious excitement of The Bake Off etc?

I miss cooking

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Firstly let me apologise for the lack of foodie content on the blog lately. I know a lot of your subscribe just for the foodie stuff and well I’m sorry. I miss cooking, I miss hours in my kitchen. If I get a day when I feel like cooking I go overboard but those days are few and far between lately.
Between the morning sickness which has decided to reappear..the extreme tiredness and just the general crappiness of this pregnancy I just have no energy or inclination to do anything.

If I do cook then I rarely feel like eating it. I can’t believe that in my pregnancy with Izzy at this stage I was making hoards of lasagnes/shepherds pie and curries to freeze for that first manic month of having a newborn. This time around I can’t see that happening. I may have to stock up on takeaway menus instead.

Why does this feel like such a big deal? I feel as though I’ve lost my identity a bit. Cooking is such a huge part of who I am.

For my foodie readers I’m planning to share a few of my favourite recipes with you that I haven’t made recently so you can look forward to that over the next few weeks and maybe it will inspire me to get back in the kitchen.

To everyone else ..sorry for yet another moan. Any tips to brighten my mood?

Cooking in the kitchen – No food involved. Candle making.

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A butcher, a baker and candlestick maker … Well 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!

Does anyone else get really annoyed when their (sometimes expensive) candle runs out of wick but still has a ton of wax left in the jar? What a waste right? I love candles. I’m a little obsessed. If anyone is ever stuck for a gift idea for me they know they can buy candles and I will never be disappointed. Ever. Last year we decided to start saving the leftover wax with the aim of at some point making our own. This was more my OH’s idea than mine-he’s pretty creative but I was definitely on board so a few nights ago when Izzy was safely tucked up in bed we got to work.

I’m sure there are many more detailed instructions on the Internet if you wish to look and this may even be the completely wrong way to do it but this is what we did. And it worked.

You will need:

A heavy bottomed large pan
A load of leftover candle wax
Wick ( we bought a meter off eBay for £1.70)
Some old candle jars or cups – I used cappuccino cups and some plastic tubs to mould my larger ones
A silicone spatula to stir
A jug
A funnel
Some knives
Some Sellotape

Chop your wax up into small chunks, try to make sure you get rid of any leftover bits of wick or the metal discs at the bottom. Place into a large pan and place over a low heat, stirring often.
Whilst your wax is melting measure and cut your wicks to size and using a little tape at bottom of cup/jar stick the wick down and tie the top of wick to a knife placed across the top of jar/cup -try to keep the wick in the center.

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Once your wax has completely melted, being very careful pour into your jug and then use a funnel to fill your jar/cup. Leave to set – don’t push your finger in or jiggle about. Try to leave it overnight to set.

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Tada you have made your very own candles. They smell delicious…a rather mixed scent!

I’ll still be buying candles .. I’m addicted but I will definitely be doing this again.

Foodie baby. Recipe challenge week 5

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A few weeks ago I realised that I was feeding Izzy a lot of ready made baby foods. Ok so I had an excuse as we had been away and it just wasn’t possible to prepare food for Izzy at festivals otherwise but since being home I have been determined to change her diet and introduce new foods and textures.

In the last few weeks we have tried lots of new foods with various levels of success.

Firstly:

Drop Scones

You can find the recipe here
I adjusted the sugar levels slightly as was a little too much for my liking but otherwise I kept it the same.

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Izzy had these for breakfast served slightly warm spread with unsalted butter and she loved them! She also had some the following day served cold as a snack.

We ate them too with lots of maple syrup and they were so good.

Cheese and tomato slice

Puff pastry
Cheese
Tomatoes
Peppers
Passata

I used puff pastry sheets cut into squares, I then scored a 2cm border around the square and poked a fork in the middle a few times just to break the surface not to go through completely. I then put a little passata in the middle and spread it with a knife, sprinkled with cheese and added some chopped cherry tomatoes and peppers. For mine and Andrews I added red onion and freshly ground pepper. I baked in the oven until puffed up and the underneath was cooked completely.

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Izzy really enjoyed this immediately which I didn’t expect as I thought the texture would be too different for her but it was a success and we enjoyed them also served with a light salad.

Best served warm straight from the oven but obviously check it has cooled enough for your child especially the tomatoes!

You could add almost anything to these.

Omelette/scrambled egg combo

Eggs
Spinach (baby leaf)
Tomatoes
Full fat milk
Cheese
Butter

Chop spinach and tomatoes into very small pieces and saute until soft in the butter. Beat eggs with some full fat milk (Ingredient amounts depend on how many of you are eating) and pour over your spinach and tomatoes then sprinkle with grated cheese. Leave egg mixture set and then used a fork scramble it up and ensure egg is fully cooked before dishing up.

Izzy absolutely loves this and her dad does too.

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I realise these recipes probably don’t seem very exciting to us adults but to a baby discovering new food it’s a whole new world of flavours.

I have also noticed that on the days Izzy has protein rich dishes such as omelettes or chicken curry which she also loves that she seems to sleep longer and is more settled. Yay.

The recipe challenge week 3. Campsite cooking

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Ok so for the third week of my recipe challenge I was at the absolutely amazing and fantastic Camp Bestival. I was undeterred from my challenge and although my recipe is far from unique and maybe just a slight variant on dishes I have cooked previously I think the fact that I cooked it on an old gas camping stove just outside my tent gains me extra points yes?

Omelette/frittata camping combo:

8/9 cooked boiled potatoes ( I took mine already cooked to the festival in a Tupperware box)
3 eggs
2 inch chunk of chorizo diced
1/2 large red onion
50g of cheese
Sichuan peppercorns & smoked sea salt ( entirely optional but also entirely yummy)
Large frying pan ( if camping line with foil to ease washing up. Yes lazy.)
Spray oil

I lined my pan with foil and sprayed some olive oil 1cal spray on top, I use this when camping as easier and less likely to leak. Cook the chorizo, onions and potatoes until soft and tender, in a small cup beat 3 eggs and pour over the cooked mixture and season. When the egg has almost set sprinkle over some chopped cheese ( I used mature cheddar) and a little more pepper and serve when completely set. Cut into slices and serve with rocket leaves.

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Hope you enjoy and remember camping cooking doesn’t have to be just baked beans and bacon.