Oat and Dark Choc Chip Cookies

It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow in the UK. Now, to me, it’s one of those annoying, commercialised events where you feel obliged to give something so as not to seem like a terrible daughter and there’s no shortage of mass produced tat available for purchase this weekend. To be honest, it’s way easier to pop to the high street (or the nearest petrol station) and buy a bunch of over priced flowers or a twee little knick-knack and that’s usually exactly what I end up doing, but this year it’s different.

We recently discovered these fantastic oaty chocolatey cookies which are both simple to make and easy on the pocket. We’ve already munched our way through a fair few batches (all the while telling ourselves that oats are really good for you), so it seemed like a good idea to bake some for our mums. The recipe comes from an excellent cook book that I picked up for a fiver in The Works – it’s called The Busy Mum’s Cookbook and contains a wealth of yummy things.

To make these cookies you will need:

100g or 4oz butter

150g or 5oz light brown muscovado sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g or 5oz jumbo oats

pinch salt

75g or 3oz plain flour, sifted

200g or 7oz dark choc chips

1. Prehat your oven to 190c/fan 170c/gas 5. In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until it’s pale and creamy. Next beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Fold in the oats, salt and flour then stir in th choc chips.

2. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet (I get about 9 to a sheet and do two batches). Bake for around 12-15 minutes until pale golden, then remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. They can then be stored in an airtight container.

To make them more gifty, I popped them into a cellophane bag and tied it with ribbon before putting them into a pretty cardboard box with a lid. I reckon the cookies cost about a pound per batch and the box was three quid.

Perhaps the best thing about this make is that the ingredients are easy to come by so it’s not too late to whip up a batch for your mum today!

Easy Smartie Biscuits

M made these simple little cookies a few years ago when she was at pre school. She brought one home along with the recipe which the teacher had cleverly stuck in the bag. I always think if these things are straightforward enough for a bunch of three and four year olds, then they’re probably okay for me to have a go at too.

So, if you’d care to give them a try, you’ll need:

6oz SR flour

4oz light muscovado sugar

4oz softened butter

1tbsp golden syrup

2 tubes Smarties or similar

Basically you cream the sugar and butter til light and fluffy, then stir in half of the flour before then adding the Smarties and the remaining flour to form a soft dough. You can then use your hands to form the dough into 24 little balls which you then ‘plop’ onto a greased baking tray and stick in a oven which has been pre-heated to 180c/gas 4/fan 160c. Cooking time is betwen about 7 and 10 minutes.

When they’re golden on top, remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheet to firm up a little, before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

And that’s it. Job done.

Thrifty Thursday: The Humble Packed Lunch

With M back at school this week I was keen to sit down and blog – feels like ages since the last post, but somehow I just couldn’t get around to it during half term week. Anyway, I’m back on track now.

This clearly isn't one I made earlier...

So, it’s all about the humble packed lunch today (or ‘pack up’ as it’s called here in Yorkshire – what do you call it where you live?). M takes one to school and I’m sure it works out a whole lot cheaper (and dare I say nicer) than school dinners. G usually takes one to work too. He used to be one of those people who spent £££ each week buying meal deals from Boot’s or yummy things from Pret until it dawned on him just how much he was spending. I’ve never sat down and worked out how much M’s lunch costs, but I’m going to guess at around £1 per day (school dinners cost more than twice that and she doesn’t like them anyway!).

M’s average lunchbox usually consists of:

Some form of bread and filling (I believe they’re called sandwiches)

Bread types include wraps, bagels, pittas, sliced wholemeal, bread rolls.

Fillings include cream cheese & ham, turkey & cranberry sauce, tuna mayo, cheese and chutney, egg mayo & cress (stinky though)

Fruit

Pretty sure we all know what fruit is, but ideas include pot of grapes, clementines, small apples, dried fruit such as raisins or cranberries, pot of blueberries and strawberries.

Some type of ‘sweet’

Favourites here include cereal bars, chocolate biscuits (e.g Kit Kat or the like), fromage frais, homemade (occasionally) cake

Some type of  savoury ‘thing’

This nearly always involves a Babybel. You know, those overpriced, bland little flat cheese balls with the red wax jacket. M LOVES them.  Alternatives to this include a pot of humous and some carrot sticks, small pot of crisps (from a larger bag), couple of cheese crackers (the Cheddar type ones), breadsticks.

Bottle of Brita filtered water (posh, eh?)

I really do think there’s a lot to be said for taking a packed lunch when you go about your daily business. Aside from the financial benefits, there’s something kind of wholesome and satisfying about tucking into a homemade lunch.

Now, as you can see, I’m not exactly overflowing with exciting lunchbox ideas, so PLEASE let me know yours and pass on the thrifty love!

Homemade Tomato Pasta Sauce

If you ever find yourself nearing the kid’s teatime but with no idea what they’re going to eat, then this simple, storecupboard tomato sauce is a lifesaver. It contains very basic ingredients and is salt free, so perfect for les enfants.

You’ll need:

Glug of olive oil

Clove of garlic

420g can of chopped tomatoes

Pinch dried mixed herbs

1 tsp sugar

1tsp cornflour (mixed with a little water to form a runny liquid)

Heat the oil in a small saucepan, then lightly sizzle the garlic until it’s just turning golden. Then chuck in the toms, add the sugar and herbs and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and whizz with a hand blender until you have a smooth sauce. Finally stir in the liquid cornflour and return to a low heat for ten minutes or so. Et voila. A lovely, thick, tasty sauce which is great with pasta but also works well with rice or cous cous. You can use it as a pizza sauce too! I find this recipe makes two double portions, so I tend to use half and freeze the remainder.

Enjoy.

Part-time Veggies

I used to be vegetarian. In fact, I didn’t eat meat for several years, more or less throughout my twenties. For me, it was a statement thing, showing other people that I had an opinion about animal welfare. It certainly wasn’t that I didn’t like meat and eventually the lure of a juicy burger or a tasty bacon sandwich became too much to bear and I fell off the veggie wagon.

These days, we eat meat regularly, but we try to have at least one (but more often a couple) of days each week when we don’t have meat for our main meal. This is mainly to do with the health aspect, but it also has the advantage of often being cheaper and sometimes actually tastier. If you already have meat-free days, then I’d love to hear some of your veggie meal ideas, if not then I urge you to give it a go. There’s a wealth of good veggie cookbooks out there as well as the ever increasing online resources. Here are a few dinners that we regularly eat:

Chick Pea Spicy – devised by G, this is a dish based around cous cous flavoured with veg stock and incorporates a variety of vegetables plus chick peas. We serve it with harissa and minty yoghurt (and sometimes pitta breads).

Halloumi and Potato Tray Bake – pinched from the fab Crumbs blog.

Chilli Bean Risotto

Vegetable Curry

Quorn Stir Fry with Noodles – use Quorn pieces instead of chicken and a pack of stir fry veg.

Quorn mince chilli or bolognese – same as the minced beef versions, but with Quorn mince

I find that so long as these dishes taste good, we don’t miss the meat!

Simple Chocolate Fudge Frosting

I made a chocoalte sponge cake earlier today for G’s birthday tomorrow. I was about to ice it with buttercream when I came across a recipe for chocolate fudge icing in Delia’s Complete Cookery Course and I thought I’d give it a go.

You’ll need:

75ml evaporated milk

75g granulated sugar

110g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces

40g butter

2 drops vanilla essence

Place the sugar and the evap milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Then bring to the boil before reducing the heat and simmering gently (this time without stirring) for 6 mins.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Finally stir in the butter and add the vanilla essence.

Pour into a container, allow to cool, then cover and chill for a couple of hours until it becomes a thick, spreadable frosting.

I had a quick taste and it’s yummy. This is enough to cover and fill an 18-20cm round cake.

Thrifty Thursday: Homemade Apple & Pear Chutney

I set about making this last weekend with the aim of allowing it to mature for the next few weeks and be ready in time for Christmas. It’s pretty straightforward, here’s the recipe:

500g apples

500g pears

4cm piece root ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

100g dried apricots, quartered

150g sultanas

400g demerera sugar

500ml cider vinegar

1tbsp wholegrain mustard

1tsp ground cinnamon

Peel and core the apples and pears, then chop into bite-size chunks. Place in a large pan along with the ginger, apricots, sultanas, sugar, vinegar and cinnamon. Add the mustard and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook on a gentle simmer for around 2 hours, until you have a thick syrupy texture. A good test is to drag the back of a wooden spoon across the top of the mixture. If it leaves a line which doesn’t instantly fill with vinegar, then it’s ready. You can then spoon into warm, sterilised jars (wash in hot soapy water and then place in a low oven for about half an hour to sterilise), right to the top. I found this quantity is enough to fill about three medium sized jars. Finally, seal, label and add a pretty top if you like!

Thrifty Thursday: Batch cooking

It’s Thrifty Thursday again (hell, that comes round quickly) and today’s post is a foodie one, aimed at not only saving you money, but also time.

I don’t know how it works in your house, but chez nous the kids have their tea separately to me and G and the cooking of it is my domain. Now, I can’t pretend that they have wholesome, homemade food every night of the week – we’re no strangers to fish fingers, oven chips and baked beans – but I feel like a much better mother if they have something ‘proper’ at least every other day.

Batch cooking doesn’t have to mean spending hours in the kitchen (although setting aside a morning or afternoon is certainly one way to do it). I find it’s easiest to just make extra of whatever you happen to be cooking. Now, obviously some recipes lend themselves to this more than others and you have to be able to freeze or at least refrigerate whatever extra you’re making. Yesterday’s tea for the girls was chicken casserole. A brilliant, hearty meal made with inexpensive ingredients and ideal for freezing. What’s not to love?  This is how I made it, although really it’s little more than a load of things chucked in a casserole pot and left in the oven.

To make four meals for two children (a 6 year old with a bird-like appetite and a greedy toddler in our case), you will need:

8 chicken thighs, rolled in flour

A little olive oil

2 or 3 large carrots

2 onions

2 sticks celery

1 large potato

1 sweet potato

cup frozen peas

1.5l chicken stock (reduced salt ideally)

Squirt tomato puree

All I do is brown the floured thighs in a little olive oil and then throw in the chopped vegetables (except the peas) and add the stock and the puree. Bring the pan to the boil and then transfer to a casserole dish, put the lid on and pop in a low-ish 0ven. Leave for 2 or 3 hours (remember to add the peas about half an hour from the end). Sorry if this is a bit vague, but it really is a doddle.

I think batch cooking is great on so many levels. You can buy large quantities of ingredients and take advantage of economies of scale. You save on fuel costs as the cooking is done in one go. You decrease the amount of time spent in the kitchen and ensure that your family has tasty, healthy, homemade food. Here are a few more meals that are ideal for cooking in bulk:

Bolognese sauce (minced beef type) – use with pasta, turn into a chilli, put on a baked potato

Vegetable curry (or any curry really, but veg is the thriftiest!)

Macaroni cheese (freezes surprisingly well) – this is a good one for me, as M loves it and K hates it. I freeze it in single portions.

Soup

Fish pie filling

Plain tomato sauce

Any kind of stew/casserole/hotpot

The other thing is to get used to freezing or saving leftovers. To be totally honest, we don’t often have leftovers in our house, but on the odd occasion that we’ve (unintentionally) made too much of something, it usually finds its way into G’s lunchbox the following day.

I hope that’s given you some food for thought (that was terrible, sorry). Happy cooking!

Jewellery Box Cake!

This is the cake I’ve been slaving over for M’s birthday today. Instructions to follow next week. Happy birthday M!

Foodie Friday: Chilli Bean Risotto

I’m typing this from my kitchen counter (standing up I might add) whilst I cook last night’s dinner – the deliciously simple chilli bean risotto. I thought it would make good fodder for my Friday post. Do you see what I did there?

Anyway, this is a great supper dish which I’ve been making since I was a student almost twenty years ago (that can’t be right, twenty years – what!!). I was veggie back then (natch) but found this dish satisfying. It’s about the only veggie dish that I still cook today. I think that it originally came from a BBC Vegetarian magazine but I may be wrong. Whatever, it’s been adapted down the years so probably bears little resemblance to the original recipe.

So, here’s what you need:

Glug of olive oil and a smidge of butter

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

Approx (and this is very rough) 125g risotto rice

Squirt of tomato puree

Large glug red wine

420g tin kidney beans in chilli sauce

500ml veg or chicken stock

Fresh coriander

Firstly heat the oil and butter over a medium heat in a heavy-based saucepan. When melted, add the chopped onion and saute for a few minutes until soft. Next, stir in the risotto rice and heat for a minute or so until it starts to turn translucent. Add the tomato paste and wine and stir until the wine has evaporated. Then add around 100ml of hot stock. The heat should be medium high at this stage to get things going. You can add the chilli beans now too. Once it starts to bubble, reduce to a low-medium heat and put a lid on the pan. You can now proceed as with any risotto, adding more liquid as necessary and stirring occasionally to release the starch and give a creamy texture. I’d say it takes around 30 minutes to cook properly, but if you’re in a rush, you could perhaps speed it up a tad. When all or most of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is al dente, you’re good to go. Just stir in some chopped fresh coriander and serve with a dollop of sour cream. Oh, and let me know what you think if you try it.