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andygb

kirstyreanne wrote: »

If you google a website called curry frenzy you can buy spices ready mixed for your favourite curry. They come with full instructions & the 3 I've had - korma, pathia & madras have all been scrummy.

HTH

Thanks Kirsty, that looks a good site.
I have been visiting this one for a while:

http://www.realcurryrecipes.co.uk/

They tell you how to do absolutely everything, and the videos are superb. You have to turn up the sound and play them fullscreen, and you can almost smell the spices as they are cooking the dishes.

Linda32

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

My Husband nurtures my cooking and after 4 years I am making food I never dreamed I was capable off... and it tastes wonderful!!!

Yay you!

Same here In the last year or so, I've started cooking from scratch, I sort of did before, like only buying fish and maybe Linda MaCartney Sausages, (we're not veggie, it just that they are quite nice)

Now I do various things in bulk and have them in the freezer. Its the same sort of thing that you can buy in the freezer ready meal section.

I smile now when I see Cous Cous in a "mix" in a box, 2 portions for about 85p :rotfl:

Kitcaboodle

I mostly cook from scratch. Slightly less than usual at the moment as DS is only 4 months old. I am more of a baker than a cook & I think that having to buy store-bought cakes and biscuits for the first few months of his life is one of the reasons I haven't shifted any of the baby weight!

In the early days, any time when he wasn't feeding and I had some free time was spent sleeping! As soon as he started sleeping for longer I started baking again and there is nothing I've found in Tesco that comes close to my home-made cakes, brownies and cookies!

When he's older and I can spend longer in the kitchen, I'll be cooking more exciting stuff from scratch than just pasta or soups as well. I want to have a go at curries and to cook with potatoes from scratch rather than using frozen processed ones - but I just don't have the time at the moment, he's grumbling in his cot as I type this and I'll need to go pick him up in a sec. I only really get to cook at the moment when DH is home to watch him and I know I won't be interrupted!

I have plans to not buy any store bought cakes or biscuits and to tell DS that he can have whatever he wants, as long as he cooks it himself. This kid is NOT going to be one of those who goes off to Uni not even knowing how to boil an egg!

misscousinitt

99% of the time I cook from scratch. I use the odd spoon of curry paste and have the odd tin of soup for lunch.

My closest friends also share a love of cooking from scratch - so I am lucky - but we all do things differently eg recipes for spag bol!

I get dis-heartened when people say they had a ready meal. My MIL uses ready meals 2-3 times a week - but now she is semi-retired she is set to have a go at more meals from scratch - already converted her to fresh veg and improved her method for roast potatoes! (She admits her cooking is not too good sometimes). - Though buying her a new cooker with a fan oven has improved things! LOL

kippers

Justamum wrote: »

How do you make that? Do you just add some grated courgette to a normal bread recipe? I always make my own bread and add ground up seeds (to hide them from DD2 who can spot a tiny speck of seed a mile off :rotfl:) but this sounds really nice (and a good way to get extra veg into them too)

Courgette bread:

560g white bread flour
450g grated courgette (not skinned)
1 sachet of dried yeast
8 fluid oz water
1 tblsp olive oil

1) Grate courgettes then put in a clean teatowel and squeeze out the excess moisture

2) Dissolve the yeast in half the water, mix with the flour and courgettes. Add olive oil and remaining water to make a smooth, but fairly firm dough. Then knead for 10 mins

3) Leave to prove until doubled in size then knead again.

4)Shape into a cylinder, place on a greased tray, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for approx 45mins

5) Brush with olive oil or egg yolk and bake for 30-45 mins at 220 degrees



I actually just bunged all ingredients into my bread maker (after sqeezing the water from the courgettes)on a dough setting and then made 8 rolls which i left to rise then put in the oven gas 5 for 16 mins....much easier.

I found that the dough was sticky so I added more flour but you could just use a little less water.


Hope you enjoy the bread.

MrsRogers

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

My MIL can't cook much, it's mainly from a bag or it's a chicken roast... but is constantly on at me that I should make things from scratch and cook properly!

I couldn't work it out... she's had my food and knows I cook (very well)... then she started to complain that I make lasagne from scratch (2 1/2 hours cooking time on the meat sauce) and tells me I should try using a Jar!!!!

Then it clicked... she picks on me because I make her feel inadequate! With her my Husband never ate veg or sauce with tomato in and she gave in... we me he eats anything and raves about it!

Now she's realised I don't bake much... so she's getting at me about that! Telling me the hows and why's (just because my FIL needs dessert DAILY!!!)

Why should I bake often... my son and I don't eat sweets food much, and my husband doesn't mind just having them once a week!!

BUT the truth is she BUYS her sweets in... but tells me to bake them!

Pah! I give up!

This is my MIL too.. Only difference is my MIL is actually a trained chef who seems to have lost her way.

Whenever we go to visit it is always nice meat cooked beautifully but then she will serve it with pre packed mash or frozen roasties :eek: I just dont get it. Then she tries to encourage me to buy the stuff too... No thank you I would rather peel home grown potatos and cook them properly :rotfl:

My fab mum on the other hand has cooked EVERYTHING from scratch for as long as I can remember, has taught myself and my 3 brothers and non of us would have it any other way. My brothers actually do all the cooking in their homes as their wives cant cook!!!:j:j

Once I had Christmas dinner at my MIL and once was enough NEVER again.. it ruined my Christmas

minerva_windsong

adelight wrote: »

Amongst my age group (19/20) I think it's hugely dependent on what you ate as a kid as when you first leave home you eat and cook what you;re used to. I grew up eating a huge variety of tasty HM food, there was never a shop bought cake in the house, even though both my parents worked full time, they or me/my sister would make dinner.
I remember having friends round as a kid and my mum would have to specially buy frozen supermarket pizza because my two best little buddies didn't like our HM ones! Maybe ours just had too much flavour for them :P

I agree with this - when I went to uni there was definitely a divide between those of us who (like me) had grown up in houses with home cooked meals, the only frozen stuff was batch cooked and there were no processed snacks in the house, and those who lived off ready meals and takeaways. Admittedly I did buy in things like soup and spaghetti in cans and jars of pasta sauce, but I also made my own soups and sauces more often than not, and dinner was nearly always cooked from scratch somehow even if it was just pasta with Loyd Grossman sauce or noodles with pre-chopped stir fry veg and packet sauce (a ready meal was a big treat to me and apart from when my boyfriend sent me a care package of food when I was doing finals I maybe had one a term). I'm all for an easy cheat on occasion - we all have those days when we get in the door and think, "Oh I can't be bothered to faff, I just want something quick" - but I prefer the satisfaction of eating a meal and thinking, "I made that!"

Justamum

kippers wrote: »

Courgette bread:

Thanks for that - I've printed it off now and will make it soon.

I've been to a market near here where there is someone selling homemade bread, and they have a courgette one. The trouble is their small loaves all cost £2.50 :eek::eek::eek:

AnnaMonkey

Hello all!

I think i mostly cook from scratch, but i'm not averse to cheating when i'm short of time either the odd dolmio sauce never did any harm! plus i do quite like the pizza express ready made pizzas, and some of the M&S things (hear hear to the Moussaka!!) and Waitrose are quite nice! But i don't do microwave meals.

i think there's a difference between ready meals (to me that means complete and microwaveable) and shortcuts/cheats (tinned soup, jarred sauces etc). But i also live in a 1 bed flat with no personal outside space (so no growning my own veg) and my kitchen is quite small - i don't have even have a freezer. i have a fridge with one freezer shelf. Add on working full time and sometimes a little help is needed!

Defo agree that it's the way you were brought up though, both my parents cooked pretty much the way i do now, from scratch and sometimes with a little added help.

One thing I do have to say though, my kievs win over supermarket, and even restaurant ones! i tried stuffing with boursin, with a polenta crust last monday ... yummy.

kippers

Justamum wrote: »

Thanks for that - I've printed it off now and will make it soon.

I've been to a market near here where there is someone selling homemade bread, and they have a courgette one. The trouble is their small loaves all cost £2.50 :eek::eek::eek:

How much?:eek::eek::eek::eek::shocked: Thats really expensive!...We must save loads more money than we realise when we cook from scratch. I hope your courgette bread turns out ok. We all love it