2015 Cookbook challenge

stewby

Attempting two new recipes today... both from online.

First one is an asian style pork (in the slow cooker).

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/8224/pork-chops-for-the-slow-cooker.aspx

Just two pork chops (got them for free from my parents as they got a heap of yellow labels) so have halved the ingredients. Plan is to give one pork chop to OH and one to my dad to see what they both think.


The other recipe is for me... plan is only for one chicken breast though. My plan is to make smaller portions of stuff to trial it and if it is a success then make it properly next time. I am very aware of my bad cooking so don't want to waste food (we can't really afford to).


Second recipe is Chicken in a White Wine Sauce (again from the website).

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/9656/chicken-in-white-wine-sauce.aspx

The reason why I use so many recipes from online is that my cookbooks are all a bit specific and therefore don't have a lot of budget-friendly recipes. For example... I have a lot of masterchef australia cookbooks, a zumbo cookbook (croquembouche and macarons might not be diet friendly). I will explore the cookbooks more thoroughly at some point but in the mean time, I am going to use the internet.

viv0147

Hi everyone as a 67 year old Male who lives alone I intend to follow this thread with interest I only started cooking meals for myself about 15 years ago at the time I couldn't boil an egg well as the years have gone by my interest in cooking particularly batch cooking has come a long way from the start. So I will enjoy reading the recipes and adapting them for myself I doubt I will be able to contribute but you never know I will certainly test some recipes though! So happy cooking everyone.

sparkychris

Ok..... Two recipes in the oven as I type! Thoughts I'd kick off with some easy ones!

From "good housekeeping easy to make complete cookbook" I've done sticky chicken thighs... Basically, sweet chilli sauce, garlic and honey mixed up and brushed onto chicken portions. Bought a whole chicken today and jointed it with help from Gordon ramsay and YouTube. Used the thighs, drumsticks and wings and put the breasts in the freezer for a future recipe!

Also have from "Lorraine Pascale home cooking made easy" I have 'red cabbage with pairs and garlic'
Have deviated from the recipe as I don't have pears but I have apples, I don't have soft brown sugar but I have honey and I don't have allspice so I left it out!
And I didn't have a red onion so I used a normal one.
And I used garlic infused oil instead of garlic. I saved the garlic I had left for the chicken.

I didn't measure anything in each recipe. Life's too short!

Ta daaaaaaaa!!!!

scholt

sparkychris wrote: »

Ok..... Two recipes in the oven as I type! Thoughts I'd kick off with some easy ones!

From "good housekeeping easy to make complete cookbook" I've done sticky chicken thighs... Basically, sweet chilli sauce, garlic and honey mixed up and brushed onto chicken portions. Bought a whole chicken today and jointed it with help from Gordon ramsay and YouTube. Used the thighs, drumsticks and wings and put the breasts in the freezer for a future recipe!

Also have from "Lorraine Pascale home cooking made easy" I have 'red cabbage with pairs and garlic'
Have deviated from the recipe as I don't have pears but I have apples, I don't have soft brown sugar but I have honey and I don't have allspice so I left it out!
And I didn't have a red onion so I used a normal one.
And I used garlic infused oil instead of garlic. I saved the garlic I had left for the chicken.

I didn't measure anything in each recipe. Life's too short!

Ta daaaaaaaa!!!!

How did they taste - sound fab!

sparkychris

scholt wrote: »

How did they taste - sound fab!

Lush! Really pleased with myself! Just a simple one to start the ball rolling. OH is at work so she'll have her share in a Tupperware box for work tomorrow.

:beer:

I have put little tags on the pages of the books as a thumbs up. If I don't like them, they get a different colour tag!

bargainlover08

We had the cottage pie from the first Hairy Bikers diet book for dinner. It was really tasty and easy to make. Plenty of leftovers to freeze. I would recommend that recipe.

lindens

I've started!
I used two recipes out of 2 different books yesterday - well proud of myself!

The first was out of an old James Martin book "Eating In" and was one I had made before, a rustic tomato soup. That's work lunches for a couple of days.
The second was out of a weightwatchers book and was sauteed spicy potatoes. It went down well too.

S-Iam

Lindens - Those recipes sound lovely. Enjoy.
Please may I join in too. What a great idea. I too have, at a guess, over 50 cookbooks, so it would be lovely to use them more than I do. A new recipe a week sounds like a do able and enjoyable challenge.

StressedSteph

Great idea for a thread.

I go through phases of being super adventurous and doing really inventive menu planning.

I think I often give up as there is always someone in my family of four that has a moan about the new dish. Considering I have often spent around two hours making a dish it is extremely annoying when someone moans :mad:.

BUT I will not let that put me off.... I will dig out my cookbooks again and get meal planning.

Its great that people are posting their recipes and their verdicts, hopefully that will give us all some more ideas.

xx

carlamarie_2

StressedSteph wrote: »

I think I often give up as there is always someone in my family of four that has a moan about the new dish. Considering I have often spent around two hours making a dish it is extremely annoying when someone moans :mad:.

xx

I know that feeling too well!!!!
I have two kids that are very fussy with their food, although as they get older they are more willing to at least try new things! Youngest son, however, will eat just about everything. Except sprouts, he's not big on those
I have trained the hubby to eat what he's given! He pretty much ruled his parents home and they cooked what he requested regardless of the cost :eek: obviously I don't stand for that!

IM going to join in on this challenge if no one minds!
I have few, maybe 12-15 books but my online bookmarks is much bigger.
I'm cooking three new dishes this week;
Slow cooker beef stroganoff
Carbonara
Risotto
Also on my menu plan this week is chinese beef one pot which is a regular here, the recipe originally came from bbc good food website.