Join us on the 'Cook through a whole cookbook' challenge!

Kiwisaver_2

RedLass wrote: »

Everything is looking fantastic, especially those pies...! I'm looking forward to seeing how the Nigella recipes from other books turn out, I've not bought a new book in ages and this thread might help steer my purse...

I am very tempted to go shopping for Hairy Dieters.

Cambia

This is a great idea! I have loads of cookbooks that I read and lots of recipes I haven't cooked. If you have a smartphone and no cookbooks, try Foodily app for lots of free recipes

joedenise

Made another recipe from my book last night - it was a colcanon cottage pie. It was OK but not very exciting.

Would I make it again - only if I had some leftover cooked cabbage to use up and didn't want to do bubble and squeak.

Doing another recipe from the book tonight - cauliflower dansk with rice.

So to recap:

Book - Slimming World's Family Feasts on a Budget
Recipe - Colcanon cottage pie
Score - 7/10

Denise

Kiwisaver_2

I did Jamie's MoF Meatballs and Spaghetti last night which was rather too ambitious for a mid-week dinner and I should have known better. By the time it was all done I was stressed to the max and made a right mess of the kitchen. Camera kept getting steamed up as I tried to take a picture of them still in the pan.



Veridict: Was lovely and I would make again, just not on a work day. Would have been really good if meatballs were made in advance and frozen though.

jap200

Had to postpone last night's planned Save with Jamie meal for lack of time as I was helping youngest son to make a plant cell pizza - no that's not a typo. His science homework was to make a model of a plant or animal cell in any medium so he chose the medium of pizza!

Ended up doing home-made pizza for all of us as well - far too much effort for a school/work night really - just hope he gets a good mark for his homework - assuming it makes it there in one piece that is!

joedenise

jap200 wrote: »

Had to postpone last night's planned Save with Jamie meal for lack of time as I was helping youngest son to make a plant cell pizza - no that's not a typo. His science homework was to make a model of a plant or animal cell in any medium so he chose the medium of pizza!

Ended up doing home-made pizza for all of us as well - far too much effort for a school/work night really - just hope he gets a good mark for his homework - assuming it makes it there in one piece that is!

Sounds like fun:D Hope the pizza was good and that DS's pizza made it into school OK.

Denise

cooking-mama

:T Brilliant idea, working today then on a weeks annual leave...my cookbooks are seriously under used..ideal time for me to choose one and work my way through....gonna be hard picking one tho, lol.

joedenise

Made the cauliflower dansk last night from the Family Feasts book. Was really nice, even DH liked it and he's not keen on meals without meat! It made far more than we could eat last night and I've got a huge portion for lunch with some of the LO rice but don't think I'll be able to eat all of it as there is masses there.

Looking forward to the baked meatballs tomorrow night.

Denise

jap200

Save with Jamie p84: Chicken Stew & Dumplings

5 down 115 to go!

Jamie's (left) - Mine (right)


Recipe feedback
This is basically one of 4 options given for transforming 'humble chicken stew' made with a chicken carcas and 300g of chicken picked off the bones. I cheated a bit and used home-made chicken stock and chicken bits that were in my freezer from a previous roast chicken.
The stew is quite basic and simple to cook. I didn't have celeriac so used a large white turnip from my garden instead. The carrots and onion were also home-grown.
I also added some fresh thyme to the dumplings as I felt that they would otherwise be too bland - it's unusual for JO not to add herbs - he usually adds them to everything!

Taste test
The recipe for 4 gave generous servings for 5 people - served with peas.
Went down very well with everyone although DS aged 11 picked out the mushrooms and turnip and DS aged 13 picked out the turnip. I think that cerleriac might have tasted better than the turnip to be honest as (being homegrown) it was quite a powerfully flavoured turnip.
Overall rating = 8/10

Would I cook it again?
It's just a basic chicken stew made with leftovers - so yes I would, and the dumplings were a good addition and a change from mashed potato. It's the sort of thing I would just cobble together though, so I probably woudn't bother following the recipe to he honest.

I asked DS aged 13 to pick the next recipe and he has gone for one that looks particularly awful in the picture - "snake in the hole" on p146/7. It is basically toad in the hole but using a snake made of minced beef instead of sausages. But I'm going to give it a go! I'm also going to see if I can get my teens to cook the nice simple "Jools' sweet pea & prawn pasta shells" over the weekend.

jap200

joedenise wrote: »

Sounds like fun:D Hope the pizza was good and that DS's pizza made it into school OK.

Denise

Pizza made it there in one piece and teacher was so impressed that he sent me an email to tell me so! My son and his friends then ate it at lunchtime - as well as their packed lunches!

So here it is - a plant cell model made of pizza!




Sorry - off topic for the thread!