Being Mrs C

An insight into the things in life that make me smile

Scone based pizza

T make the scone base: Ingredients: 200g self-raising flour Pinch salt 50g grated cheese 50g butter 1/2 beaten egg About 160ml skimmed milk Method: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Place flour in mixing bowl and add pinch of salt Add the butter to the bowl and rub into the flour with your fingertips Mix in the grated cheese Make a well in the centre and add the 1/2 beaten egg. Mix Add sufficient milk to form a soft dough. Mix with a knife. This volume of ingredients will either make one large pizza or two smaller ones. Shape by hand or roll out as desired. To complete the pizza: Spread tomato ... read more

Slow Cooking

I've been busy not only in the kitchen here, but also over at Mummy Reviews where I've reviewed a slow cooker that we were lucky enough to be sent along with some of the new Schwartz Slow Cookers recipe mix range.  My review can be found here. To show people just how easy dinner preparation can be I created this little video as part of my review. Some dodgy camera work, but still worth a watch if you haven't yet been won over by the slow cooker revolution that seems to be going on at the moment with all the mums I know! ... read more

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

I've realised recently that we're actually quite traditional when it comes to food here and most meals do contain a meat element. In fact, Mr C doesn't generally think that a main course is a main course unless there is meat in it. I have therefore watched with fascination the latest River Cottage series, Veg Everyday. Hugh F-W is not a man that you usually think of as a vegetarian, but that's exactly what he challenged himself to do for a summer, to see what it would be like to eat veg everyday and cut meat out of his diet. The television programmes have been interesting, but ... read more

Damson Gin

It's over two years now since we moved to this house, and I'm ashamed to say that for the last two years we've just ignored the potential harvest from the two damson trees in our garden. This year was different though! Firstly I made the effort to go and pick the damsons before they all became mush in the grass, and after washing them I put them in plastic bags in the freezer until I had a bit more time to get organised. We love damson gin, but have been finding it increasingly difficult to buy without going to farmers' markets and shops. A quick request on a few internet ... read more

River Cottage Baby Frittata

It has been non-stop here over the last week or so. A family holiday in Norfolk (pictures will follow just as soon as I get round to it), catching up with various friends that we haven't seen in months, and Mr C with a week off work in an attempt to get various jobs done around the house and garden. Finding time to go online just keeps getting knocked off the end of each day's to do list! There has also been the arrival of many new books (both new new and old) and various new recipes have been discovered. The first of these comes from the very new River Cottage Baby and Toddler ... read more

First home brew success

It all started about 18 months ago when I was lucky enough to "win" some bits of home brew kit on Freecycle. What I didn't realise at the times was that I was two weeks pregnant at the time, so it's taken us a while to get round to our first proper batch of home brew.  I admit that it did start as a kit, but I'm not feeling too guilty about that. I'll leave it to Mr C to provide words on his blog at some point (and I will let you know when he does) but I can provide picture evidence and I'm also pleased to report back that it tastes delicious and no sign of ... read more

Beef stew with carrots

There has been a bit of a break in cookbook challenge entries lately - mainly because there's very little point trying out new things when no one is able to eat anything other than hot toast. Luckily we're over that phase now so this week has seen me pour through all my cookbooks as I wrote the weekly shopping list. It may have taken nearly three hours to cook, but tonight's beef and carrot stew from Apples for Jam: Recipes for Life was melt in the mouth perfect. I served it with a simple mashed potatoes which were a perfect accompaniment. The carrots provides a lovely sweet edge ... read more

Making the perfect cuppa

This afternoon I enjoyed tea and cake with a friend that I've made on a discussion forum. We'd not met before, so there was a small element of anticipation before she arrived. Not helped by having seen this wonderful film on Rattling On's blog. I was rather worried that my tea making may not be up to scratch, especially since I didn't know the six golden rules. Luckily I seemed to pass muster though. ... read more

First attempts at jam making

I spent this afternoon doing something that I've been wanting to try for ages - making jam. It's one of those things that is somewhat difficult to do with a small baby in the house, demanding lots of attention, so I was lucky enough to tag along when a friend was making a batch to be sold at a community event next week. Two hours of baby-free time where I was able to concentrate on just one thing instead of worrying about whether or not bottles were sterilised, the washing ready to be taken out of the machine, LMC due to go down for a nap etc etc. Adult time. I thoroughly enjoyed the ... read more

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