2015 Cookbook challenge

penny_less

Mrs_Veg_Plot wrote: »

Hi penny_less, I have also used book 1 more than book 2, book 3 is a new purchase which I have not used at all yet. I am going to do their Ham and parsley sauce this week with the last of the Christmas ham from the freezer.

I loved the first book and a lot of the recipes have become favourites- the korma, for example. Book 2 seemed very meat heavy and as I am vege I prefer recipes that can be adapted for both vege and meat eating for the rest of the family.

Book 3 seems a bit more rounded, so hopefully will be a bit more useful....when I actually try something, which brings me onto last nights dinner......

The good news is I cooked something different, the bad news is it wasn't from a cookbook, it was from BBC Good Food - butternut squash and sage soup. I made it with 1/2 butternut squash and 1/2 sweet potato as I had some that needed using up. It was really nice and will do again.

So, a partial success- I tried a new recipe, but will try harder to use my cookbooks next time!

scholt

Morning all!
I made my second new recipe last night - Broccoli and Rice casserole from Smitten Kitchen.
I used plain white rice instead of wild rice as I don't really like it - although I understand it'd be much better for me.
I thought it was lovely. My family rejected it as being too cheesy/creamy *sigh*. I did put less cheese than suggested because as I was grating I realised what at insane amount 8oz was - mine was more like 5. Great comfort food. The dog and I had a feast lol



This recipe was from the website rather than the book - although I do love the book. http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/03/broccoli-cheddar-and-wild-rice-casserole/

KDF

barneydee wrote: »

Hi kdf
I think my favourite chef has to be Nigel Slater I have several of his books, I used to be a big fan of Jamie Oliver, but I have not enjoyed his last few books I think the last good one he did was ministry of food. I think I must have all of Nigella's books. A lot of my books are themed by countries I have lots of Chinese cookery books, Indian , Italian & so forth I love reading cookery books to get ideas. Just lately my cooking has gone to pot as only cooking for me & oh & he is very fussy.
Tonight we have prawns so will be using my old favourite Ken hom the first book he brought out years ago from the bbc & the first cook book I ever brought
Deex

I've never quite clicked with Nigel Slater but did enjoy one of his programmes I watched over Christmas....maybe I should browse some of his recipes on the web. I've also got quite a few Nigella ones....I love getting her Christmas one out at the start of Christmas prep. Her Christmas Rocky Road is a tradition with us and my son loves the bashing up of ingredients

KDF

scholt wrote: »

I made my first new recipe yesterday. Helped *cough* by my daughters - we went for Crust less Almond and Plum Tar from 'Top with Cinnamon' by Izy Hosack - a Christmas present.
I had all the ingredients except plums which I picked up reduced to 79p in the Co-Op.


The tart tasted great - a lovely almondy gooey mouthful.
However it contained no flour but oats that had been run through the food processor instead. Because of this is stuck terribly to the greaseproof paper (should I have greased my greaseproof?) so I ended up serving it in odd chunks rather than slices. Not the best start LOL but onwards and upwards.

Here's the recipe http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2743904/Izy-makes-Crustless-plum-almond-tart.html

Looks delicious....another one to save! :rotfl::rotfl:

KDF

Hello to all the new joiners, Penny-less, your new soup sounds lovely!

JoJoC

I did a new recipe last night, although it was from online which is cheating a bit!!

I bought a 2.5kg leg of lamb in Tesco just after Christmas for £6 (was £15) so took it out the freezer and cooked it last night. I've never cooked lamb before so had to go online for the recipe. Did Jamie Oliver's best ever lamb with roasties, veg and gravy. It was lovely.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

I also be trying three new recipies this week from my my Hairy Bikers books. Today I'll be making slow cooker pheasant with white wine and bacon sauce but that is from an online recipe. Monday will be HB gammon and parsley sauce and Friday with be corned beef hash with poached egg. Will let you know how it goes.

MessyBetty

Hi there are some lovely recipes being cooked up, well last night I chose 2 cookbooks and had a look through I shall be making parsnip, ham and apple soup from a weight watchers book, I will report back.

On another note I'm so cross with myself I bought a ham reduced and it has a use by date of yesterday, if I had sliced it and froze it last night I would be alright with using it but I didn't. Just after a little advice really would you still use it? Thanks in advance for your advice, happy cooking everyone.

Callie22

MessyBetty wrote: »

Hi there are some lovely recipes being cooked up, well last night I chose 2 cookbooks and had a look through I shall be making parsnip, ham and apple soup from a weight watchers book, I will report back.

On another note I'm so cross with myself I bought a ham reduced and it has a use by date of yesterday, if I had sliced it and froze it last night I would be alright with using it but I didn't. Just after a little advice really would you still use it? Thanks in advance for your advice, happy cooking everyone.

If it smells ok and it's been kept cool then yes I would - just give it a decent boil in the soup and I'm sure it will be fine.

MessyBetty

Thank you Callie22 I will give it a go.