Quick questions on ANYTHING (see first post for Freezing, Reheating, Slow Cooker, +)

comping_cat

I have just 'hydrated' a pack of butter beans (left them soaking in water overnight) and now have a huge pan of beans - can i freeze what i dont need to use later on? Or do i have to cook them first?

halia

catowen, I'd cook them first. I often bulk soak and precook beans/pulses like this

Penelope_Penguin

catowen wrote: »

I have just 'hydrated' a pack of butter beans (left them soaking in water overnight) and now have a huge pan of beans - can i freeze what i dont need to use later on? Or do i have to cook them first?

If you cook them all first you can then freeze them in *meal-sized* portions. That way you save time and energy (yours and gas :rotfl: :rotfl: ) in the cooking and you can add them to meals from frozen - they'll be cooked in minutes.

HTH, Penny. x

halia

what can I do with loads of semi skimmed milk?

We had pancakes last night and I'm doing fish pie tommorrow.

We're on a diet so please no pudding recipies!

hollydays

freeze it?

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone.

Fairly new here but been a lurker forever!

Quick question. I have got my stardrops, put a capful in the squirty bottle and I am raring to go. About to go and clear out my spare room (baby on the way) its empty and I want to clean down everywhere. I must be nesting lol!

Sooo what can/can't I use it on?? I want to use it on wooden doors (painted), windowsills etc is there anything I need to know??

Savvy_Sue

Question: In an American cookery book, what sort of flour should I use if the recipe just says Flour?

Reason: I have Peg Bracken's "I Still Hate to Cook", and regularly cook her Immediate Chocolate Fudge Cake. So does DS1 when he's away, and he says his version comes out more fudgey than mine. I think that's because he uses plain flour (as I discovered when I put the remnants of last term's food away) and I use SR flour.

Or it could be our different ovens ...

Ingredients (from memory): cooking chocolate, marge, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla, salt. She says to add walnuts which I never do, sometimes I add dried fruit but the boys prefer it without.

comping_cat

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Question: In an American cookery book, what sort of flour should I use if the recipe just says Flour?

Reason: I have Peg Bracken's "I Still Hate to Cook", and regularly cook her Immediate Chocolate Fudge Cake. So does DS1 when he's away, and he says his version comes out more fudgey than mine. I think that's because he uses plain flour (as I discovered when I put the remnants of last term's food away) and I use SR flour.

Or it could be our different ovens ...

Ingredients (from memory): cooking chocolate, marge, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla, salt. She says to add walnuts which I never do, sometimes I add dried fruit but the boys prefer it without.

I would guess SR flour, as you dont have any baking powder as an ingredient listed, and all cake recipes that ask for plain flour (that ive seen) have some sort of raising ingredient as extra!!!

You could always make 2, one with plain, one SR and see how they turn out!! (can never have too much cake;) )

comping_cat

shelvis wrote: »

Hi everyone.

Fairly new here but been a lurker forever!

Quick question. I have got my stardrops, put a capful in the squirty bottle and I am raring to go. About to go and clear out my spare room (baby on the way) its empty and I want to clean down everywhere. I must be nesting lol!

Sooo what can/can't I use it on?? I want to use it on wooden doors (painted), windowsills etc is there anything I need to know??

I use diluted stardrops on everything, even my sons white polo shirts (great for mud and grass stains, normally a bit stronger solution tho). I wouldnt mix it with any other cleaner, and would be careful on any material/carpet (would do a test area first) but as far as i know, it can be used safely on most things.

Savvy_Sue

catowen wrote: »

I would guess SR flour, as you dont have any baking powder as an ingredient listed, and all cake recipes that ask for plain flour (that ive seen) have some sort of raising ingredient as extra!!!

You could always make 2, one with plain, one SR and see how they turn out!! (can never have too much cake;) )

Thanks for that, I thought SR too, because it's a cake, and because I think I've got a UK cookery book which says the default is SR flour. To my mind it's going to be more wrong to use SR if it's meant to be plain than the other way round, IYSWIM.

I usually make double quantities, cooked in one tin, because one goes so quickly, so cooking two might be a good plan! Not sure I 'need' another cake before he goes back, but that would eliminate the oven difference I wondered about - I think my oven is a bit on the hot side! And of course I wondered whether the fact that I always use double quantities would make mine less fudgey, but I thought it would have the opposite effect!

Anyway, a trial seems called for!