Becoming Domestic

My local butcher stocks really good quality meat but doesn’t supply chunks of stewing lamb as by the time he has taken all the cuts of meat from the animal there is very little left to cut into pieces worth selling. For some reason though the supermarket does sell stewing lamb and so when I saw a couple of packets in the reduced refrigerator section I decided to snap them up and find out whether we like traditional Lancashire Hot Pot (we do)…

Some recipes for this dish call for lamb kidney but being a hater of all things offal I gave these a miss and made a simple stew of lamb pieces, 2 sliced onions, 3 carrots chopped into mouth sized pieces, 2 parsnips (instead of turnip which some recipes called for) and finely sliced celery heart (including the flavoursome leaves).

The meat was browned by heating a little vegetable oil to a high temperature then added all the chopped veg and sauteed it all with the lid on for a little while, I added a teaspoon of cornflour to thicken the stew liquor, some thyme and a bay leaf, loads of black pepper and a little salt. I then added just enough water to cover the ingredients. About 3 potatoes were sliced thinly (skin left on) and arranged in a pretty overlapping circles pattern across the top.

I then went to collect the kiddies from school and when I was giving them their tea I brought the hot pot back up to a gentle simmer and the casserole dish was then baked with the lid on for about 1.5 hours at a low-medium heated oven, then 30 minutes before eating the lid was removed, the potatoes were brushed with oil and returned to the oven without the lid so the potatoes could go golden and crunchy on the top.

It was really nice. We had it without any extra vegetables as Bealers was in a hurry to go out to meet someone but I thought it would have been even better with a portion of freshly cooked purple sprouting brocolli.

Mmm-mm. Whilst sorting out my cupboard I found 3 full bags of red lentils which is a lot for someone who only knows one recipe calling for red lentils. As we are keen to use up store cupboard supplies in light of my recent thoughts on food prices increasing but me being determined not to let any more of our income go on the weekly food shop thought I’d better increase my lentil repetoire.

A quick search on ‘red lentil recipe’ came up trumps as one of the first recipes I found (on the BBC Recipe website) was for a quick, easy and tasty sounding dish, was gluten-free and I just so happened to have all the ingredients for (apart from the cream so I just omitted it). I added a bit more cayenne than it called for too (2 teaspoons instead of 1/2). It was delicious and what’s more the Meat Lovin’ Husband thought it was tasty too. We had it with a green salad with a lemon juice, olive oil, sun dried tomato paste dressing.

Ingredients
175g/6oz red lentils
350ml/12fl oz water
110g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
½ tsp cayenne pepper
a little lemon juice
1 large egg
3 tbsp single cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp butter

Method
1. preheat the oven 190C/375F/Gas 5.
2. Pick over the lentils for any sticks and stones. Rinse thoroughly and cook in a tightly covered pan with the water for 10-15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes in case you need to add more water. The mixture should cook to a stiff purée.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the grated cheese, chopped onion, parsley, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Season to taste.
4. In a separate bowl lightly beat the egg, stir in the cream and pour this mixture over the lentils.
5. Grease a 450g/1lb loaf tin with the tsp of butter and press in the mixture.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is golden brown and the mixture feels firm to the touch.
7. If you are serving this loaf hot, let it stand for 10 minutes in the tin before turning it out. Alternatively, serve cold with a salad.

I was a bit shocked to see that we had overspent by £175 on our Housekeeping account but it is not yet the end of the month. My initial reaction was to be cross with myself for not keeping on top of the spending, for not sticking to the budget and for not doing things like menu planning. I also assumed that the overspend was due in part to the fact we have had lots of friends and family come to stay recently and on these occasions we tend to cook some special meals and have more beer and wine than we do when are at home alone and had eaten out several times.

I chatted to Bealers about our overspend expecting him to be annoyed but in fact he wasn’t and instead he mentioned the fact that a friend of ours had written about rising food costs

When I read her blog post & comments from others where recent increases in food prices had been noticed by individuals but downplayed by the media I realised that our overspend was not a one off as I scanned our grocery receipts and looked for where the obvious luxuries had increased the food bill but couldn’t actually find any.

If food and other household essentials are to take a bigger part of our monthly income we decided to take the following action steps to ensure that we are still able to live within our means and not nibble away at our savings.

1. Be stricter with our weekly food shop and prepare meal plans in advance
2. Cook simple, low cost meals (shepherd’s pie, vegetable pasta sauces, risotto, omlettes, soups) instead of fancy meals with exotic ingredients (Thai vegetable green curry, pizzas with pepperoni & mozerella)
3. Use online grocery shopping as less tempted by ‘off list’ things and can also tally up the total before getting to the checkout
4. Eat less meat (especially as we buy organic meat which is more expensive than tasteless factory farmed meat) and buy fewer gluten-free cakey treats
5. Buy zero pre-prepared food. Hard as we buy very little but do usually have veggie sausages etc in the freezer
6. Use the food in the freezer, cupboards at the end of the month instead of buying more food (eg. use the bread machine to use the packets of bread flour instead of buying loaves costing £1.10)
7. Have an emptier fridge so we can see at a glance what it contains rather than having things going off at the back
8. Buy fewer convenience foods for the children (don’t buy many anyway but had got into the habit of buying small juice cartons for lunch boxes but the kids take a bottle of water to school anyway)
9. Buy in bulk for things we use a lot of where possible (eg. potatoes, carrots, beer, meat) at the beginning of the month having worked out approximatly how much we’ll need and try to use no more (just like people used to do in days gone by according to Mrs Beeton’s book of household management)
10. Plant and grow plenty of vegetables we use a lot of or ones that can be used for lots of different recipes (eg. tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, parsnips)
11. Explore the ‘Value’ range at the supermarket - already buy Value butter and this week discovered that the kids don’t care about the Value bourbons in the biscuit tin or the Value fromage frais in the packed lunches.

• Rice flakes
• Millet flakes
• Toasted coconut flakes
• Raisins
• Mixed nuts (brazil, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts)
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Chopped dried apricots
• Chopped dried dates

Mix together & enjoy with milk!

I love vegetables, Bealers isn’t so keen, he loves pasta & bread but I can’t eat gluten, I could eat rice every day and never get sick of it, he can’t abide the stuff, I rate fish and shellfish highly but Bealers doesn’t!

On top of all these likes/dislikes we’re trying to be healthier and more thrifty with our food budget so what meals does that leave on the list of things we both like and won’t blow the budget (and are easy to make!). Luckily we are both meat eaters so are at least compatible on that.

• Pork & cider casserole with mash/rice/baked potatoes
• Hungarian beef goulash with rice
• Chilli with corn tortillas, grated cheese, avocado, salsa and greek yoghurt
• Curry of all kinds (rice for her, naan bread for him)
• Roast dinners
• Omlettes of all kinds
• Fish, chips & mushy peas
• Spicy beanburgers and salad
• Wheat free lasagne
• Thai red curry with veg and tofu
• Jacket potatoes with homemade coleslaw & cheese or houmous & salad
• Lamb/pork chops with new potatoes salad/veg
• Fried breakfasts (bacon, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans and mushrooms)

Not a huge list there. A lovely new years resolution designed by Bealers was to use our plentiful supply of recipe books and try to cook something new from one of them every week of the year so we discover new dishes which we both enjoy. So far he has stuck to his plan and last week we had a very tasty supper from the latest Jamie Oliver book ‘At Home’ with chicken thighs, new potatoes and tomatoes all roasted together in a big oven proof tray.
When Bealers is away or out for the evening I always treat myself to one of my personal favourites:

• Rataouille with rice or a jacket potato or just on its own with grated cheese
• Chick pea and spinach curry
• Risotto either plain, ‘green’ (peas, courgettes, brocolli) with loads of white wine and parmeasan
• Fisherman’s pie
• Bacon, spinach & avocado salad
• Fresh soup

This recipe for Christmas Chutney is taken from ‘Delia Smith’s Christmas’. I made it for the first time tonight and have included it because it was really easy & quick to make. I can’t, however, vouch for how tasty it is as it needs about a month to mature in the jar before eating. It smells nice though and has lots of tasty ingredients in it. It took me about 10 minutes to weigh and whiz up the dried fruits and onions, a pleasant hour of simmering then about 2 minutes to spoon into 5 large jam jars.

I plan to give four jars away as Christmas presents and to keep one for ourselves to eat with cheese and ham.

Christmas Chutney

This is so-named because it is made with dried fruits, which I always associate with Christmas: prunes, dates and apricots. It’s dark, spicy and delicious with cold cuts, pork pies or hot sausages – and it goes splendidly with matured Cheddar.

Makes a 1 litre jar
Ingredients

• 12 oz (350 g) pitted ready-to-eat prunes
• 10 oz (275 g) pitted dates
• 10 oz (275 g) ready-to-eat dried apricots
• 1 lb (450 g) onions, peeled
• 1 pint (570 ml) cider vinegar
• 2 oz (50 g) sea salt
• 1 level dessertspoon grated fresh root ginger or 1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 oz (75 g) allspice berries
• 1 lb (450 g) demerara sugar

You will also need a 1 litre jar and a small piece of muslin or gauze.

The dried fruits and the onions need to be chopped very small, and this can be done in a food processor, or with an old-fashioned mincer, or else with a sharp knife and lots of patience!

When they’re all dealt with, put the vinegar in a large saucepan with the salt and the ginger, then tie the allspice berries up in a small piece of muslin, or gauze, very securely so they can’t escape and add these to the pan. Bring everything up to the boil, then stir in the chopped dried fruits and onions together with the sugar. Leave it all to simmer very gently without a lid for about 1½ hours, or until the chutney has thickened. Stir it from time to time during the cooking period. When it’s ready, you will be able to draw a spoon across the surface of the chutney and make a trail that doesn’t immediately fill up with surplus vinegar.

In the meantime, the jar should be washed thoroughly in warm soapy water, rinsed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Spoon the cooked chutney into the warmed jar, seal well with waxed discs and tight lids, and label as soon as it’s cold. Keep this chutney for 1 month to mature before eating.

We had a really good harvest of pumpkins. We planted just four small plants in the spring and by mid-October had ten lovely big orange fruits. Most we have given away as gifts to friends who visited from London but some we kept, made lanterns with and also some nice tasty treats.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

A top treat after scooping out the indards of a pumpkin to make a spooky Halloween lantern or having made another pumpkin recipe. I saved all the seeds from two lanterns and two lots of pumpkin soup before I shoved the oven tray covered with fat juicy seeds into roast while I was cooking some fish at the same time.

1. Wash & dry pumpkin seeds, having pulled them out of the sinewy orange pulp.
2. Leave until you have enough to roast
3. Spread over a large roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil, season with a good sprinkle of salt.
4. Roast on a high heat for approx 10 minutes but keep checking they haven’t been burnt.
5. Remove from oven
6. Store in an air tight container

Easy Creamy French Pumpkin Soup

My french mother-in-law always brings us a pumpkin when she visits with my dad. She showed me the following recipe one year and I’ve been making it ever since as it is ’souper’ easy.

1. Fry a sliced clove of garlic in butter in a large sauce pan
2. Add diced, peeled pumpkin flesh (not the stringy stuff though)
3. Cover with milk (sometimes if I have a bit of left over chicken stock I use this too)
4. Boil for about 10-15 minutes
5. Blend in the pan with a hand blender
6. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

I’ve just realised that I’ve stumbled upon a new improved way of feeding my children which has been mighty successful.

Instead of cooking a classic dinner such as spaghetti bolgnaise, fish fingers and mash etc with vegetables and then battling with them to eat up and finally, defeated hoovering most of the left overs up myself. I now don’t know what I’m putting on the table until a few minutes before and just raid the fridge for ‘grazing items’ bearing in mind that a good meal will have representation from the major food groups (carbohydrates, protein and of course the all important fruit n veg).

It seems to me that both children are now eating far more fresh fruit and vegetables than before as they prefer raw snacks and as there is a wide choice of things to pick from both are eating their fill of things they enjoy but occasionally tempted to try something they would not have previously entertained eating. They are also rarely eating processed food.

As an example tonight for tea I opened the fridge and grabbed the following and a delicious spread was provided by the time they washed their hands and sat down:

• Half a corn on the cob each (microwaved) with a big knob of butter next to it
• Half a pitta each
• Cherry tomatoes for Edie
• Sugar snap peas for Mo
• A wedge of Edam cheese
• A slice of ham
• A glass of milk
• Chopped apple for Mo / orange for Eden
• A fromage frais

Yum!

So now I try to have a load of fresh salady items in the fridge (carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber) and a fruit bowl full of fruit (apples, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes), a few different cheeses (cream cheese, cheddar, Edam), some meats (ham is a favourite, so is beef, tins of tuna in oil), a few bready/cereal options (pitta, sliced white, tortillas, crackers, rice cakes) fruit juices, milk, yoghurts. My son also loves dried fruits such as apricots, banana chips, prunes, cranberries.

One of my kids loves rice, noodles and potatoes but the other hates them so as a result I never cooked a kids meal with these things in. I do however cook extra rice or potatoes in the evening if I am cooking them for myself and Bealers, pop the leftovers in the fridge and have a very delighted child when they are presented with a small, cold bowl of beloved carbs to munch on.

This morning saw another flash of foodie inspiration. It was Day 4 of kids being ready to leave the house for school by 8.20am. Yesterday I was charging around the house at 8.19 looking for hairbands, flannels to wipe faces, shouting for them to get their shoes on etc so I told them today would be different. They were to get dressed BEFORE they went downstairs (a first) I told them this was because they are now Big Children and I know they won’t spill cereal on their school uniform. They were then to brush teeth and then they would be allowed to watch TV but only until 8am when we would all do final last minute bits & bobs before leaving the house (ie. not gawping at the telly until the moment we were due to leave the house and then announcing they needed a wee).

It worked like a dream and as an added bonus they were sitting at the kitchen table chatting to me pleasantly and looking at their reading books (what angels!) while I merrily made their daddy’s lunchtime sandwich. I asked them if they’d like some bread or fruit. They both ended up eating half an apple (one chopped in half to share as , some milk and some nice warm crusty baguette. I was pleased as am not convinced that they’ll last until lunchtime without a snack at school.

Mealtime grazing seems to be the way forward for the younger members this family especially now that they are having hot school dinners of a traditional nature (shepherds pie, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken neopolitan, vegetable korma this week).

At the beginning of this year I finally self-diagnosed myself as having Coeliac Disease after 20 years of tummy troubles and knowing that something in my diet must be causing the agonising distended stomach and cramps. It took a long time of gradual realisation, piecing together facts about Coeliac Disease before I finally took the plunge and cut out wheat, oats and barley from my diet.

Luckily I was never a huge bread, pastry or cakes eater but I do miss pasta, sandwiches, biscuits, yorkshire puddings, dumplings, crumble and puff pastry. A large proportion of the Great British diet involves wheat we love ‘tea time foods’.

I’m writing this post as it occurred to me that like myself there might be many people who have something bothering them in the digestion department and have never heard of Coeliac Disease and have no idea how simple it is to cure or who might suspect they need to remove gluten from their diet but are worried that it will mean a bland diet which is awkward to incorporate into family life.

It was about five years ago when a friend and I lost weight using the Atkins Diet that I realised I had been feeling well for the first time since my teens. It suddenly occurred to me that the culprit(s) to my chronic (but not serious enough to warrant visiting a doctor) abdominal complaints must have been one of the carbohydrate foods abandoned during the spell of Atkins compliance.

A couple of years later I became plagued by itchy, ulcerated rash patches on my legs which never seemed to heal. I blamed the fact that I wore leather boots all year round and didn’t take much notice. One day I decided to have soya milk on my cereal instead of cows milk in case it was dairy products causing the rash but instead had a hugely violent reaction which consisted of time off work, all over itchy hives, visits to the doctor and other symptoms (I don’t think I made the connection that the soya milk had caused it I was diagnosed as having a strange virus).

Coeliac Disease is a permanent intolerance to gluten, a protein found in many grains but especially wheat, outs, barley and rye. The intolerance can be severe or mild and can produce a multitude of symptoms ranging from diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, headaches, stomach pains, bloatedness, depression, lethargy, breathlessness. Left untreated (ie. continuing to eat gluten) it can lead to long term health problems such as anaemia, osteoporosis, gut lymphoma (cancer) and problems surrounding fertility and pregnancy.

In a person with coeliac the villi (microscopic projections) of the small intestine become flattened instead of standing up and providing a huge surface area of food-absorbing gut wall.

Most of the websites and books relating to coeliacs will tell you that the first step is to visit your doctor. I did this and told them of my suspicion that I was ‘allergic’ to wheat but was curtly told ‘Well wheat is a very bloating food’. Soon after that I became pregnant and the option of samples of my gut being sent away for testing was not appealing. instead I decided to cut out all products containing gluten and to read more information about Coeliac Disease. I very quickly became convinced that I had made the correct diagnosis as have not had an ‘attack’ (which consisted of my having to go to bed with very bad stomach aches). The information ‘out there’ will tell you NOT to give up gluten prior to visiting the doctor as you can not have an accurate diagnosis without continuing to include gluten in the diet for at least 6 weeks prior to tissue samples being taken. Personally the thought of going back to the pain of eating wheat for 6 weeks is enough to make me satisfied that I can live without an ‘official’ diagnosis. There is a theory that you should get a professional opinion as it may be something (more serious?) causing similar symptoms….

During my period of laywoman’s research I’ve also learnt that sufferers often have a tell-tale raised, blistery rash on their limbs, soya allergies are related that it is genetically inherited (my mother has had crippling stomach disorders which have never been explained for as long as I can remember, she failed to thrive as a child has always been underweight, is always lacking in energy and feeling low and also my young son who is so like me in very many other ways will always have a bout of mild diarrhea after eating pure wheat breakfast cereals).

Luckily I really love eating rice and potato which now form the basis of my cereal intake. I eat rice crispies, cornflakes, eggs, gluten free toast or yoghurt for breakfast, I always have avocado on the shopping list as these are a great alternative to a sandwich when we’re out and about (I pack a little tub of salad dressing to pour in the well and eat with a spoon), I make extra rice or potatoes so I can have a rice/potato salad for lunch. We don’t ever eat pasta (but the kids do) as I don’t like the gluten-free alternatives or pies and when I make fish and chips I use a coating of seasoned cornflour and bashed up rice crispies to coat the fish (using raw egg to stick). For sweet treats I have chocolate, macaroons, rice crispie cakes, yoghurt, fruit and am always on the look out for nice wheat-free recipes.

Coeliac Storecupboard Basics (taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_coeliac2.shtml)

• Bicarbonate of soda
• Buckwheat flour
• Coffee
• Cornflour
• Cornmeal
• Cream of tartar
• Dried and fresh yeast
• Dried fruit
• Dried pulses, lentils and beans
• Dijon mustard
• Food colouring
• Garlic purée
• Gluten-free baking powder
• Gluten-free pasta
• Golden syrup
• Gram flour
• Icing sugar
• Jam
• Jelly
• Marmalade
• Milk powder
• Millet flakes
• Mint sauce
• Nuts, including ground almonds
• Oils
• Polenta
• Pure vanilla extract
• Rice
• Rice bran, rice flakes
• Rice flour
• Rice noodles
• Rice paper wrappers
• Seeds
• Soya flour
• Sugar
• Tamari soy sauce
• Tapioca flour
• Tea
• Tomato purée
• Vinegars
• Whole spices

We made homemade potato crisps which were very nice and tasty - they tasted almost exactly the same as a shop bough packet of kettle chips. We flavoured them with salt and pepper. It was quite a lot of effort for a smallish plate which was devoured in seconds but at least the kids now know how the things are made.

We thinly sliced unpeeled potatoes by using the vegetable peeler *around* the cirumference of the potato to give us a nice round shape crisp rather than peeling shaped, fried them in a deep pan in olive oil in batches (to prevent the whole lot from sticking together) and removed them with a slotted spoon before they became too golden, left each batch to drain on kitchen roll and then seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper.