Saturday night's dinner

                Saturday I was busy with a sewing project and other chores on my to-do list.  Since I’d not written it on my “Chores List”,  I’d forgotten to get something (meat)  out of the freezer for dinner on Saturday night.  I was half-way avoiding the kitchen, as I was feeling stymied about what to cook for dinner.  Mixed with the bafflement was guilt, as The Maverick had been up since 2.00 am to start his 4.45 am shift.  After finishing at the baggage hall at the airport, he had come home, eaten a quick lunch and then changed clothes to spend a few hours painting a couple of sheds for some friends.  This meant that I knew, he would be hungry as well as tired. 

            I apologised to The Maverick when he returned home from painting.  Meanwhile, I found the quickest thing to defrost in the freezer—bacon.  I checked the cupboard and found three staple ingredients I keep there; tinned chopped tomatoes, tinned sweet corn and thinned kidney beans. 

            The fridge held a two-pint container of yogurt that was closing in on its use-by date.  The fastest way to use a large amount of yogurt is to use it as a substitute of buttermilk and bake with it.  Cornbread—been thinking about it was a couple of weeks.  So, what goes with cornbread?  Bean soup…bacon and beans….chilli soup…okay…now I had an idea.

Cornbread was quickly stirred up and slid into a hot oven.  Now for the impromptu dish. 

I chopped up the bacon, letting it cook in my largest skillet.  Then I chopped up: purple/red onion, green onions (spring onions), four cloves of garlic, bell pepper.  When the bacon was browned, I chucked in the chopped ingredients and stirred it.  (The smell made my mouth water!)  When the onion was translucent, I stirred in the tomatoes, beans and corn.  This dish was feeling very Tex-Mex…so what to add?  I found some sweet paprika (smoked) and gave a big sprinkle. 

I let the “stew” simmer until the cornbread was done. 

I found myself thankful for:  a husband who will eat most things and is not demanding of a meat-and-three-veggies meal every night; standardised staples in my pantry that can be used in a multitude of ways; enough cooking experience to go from near panic to inspiration. 

I wish you could smell and taste it—but a photo will have to do.  I’d already cut the cornbread and put it on plates.  The bowls are ready for filling.  And like any normal, hungry person—I grab my camera for a photo! 

I wanted a photo for the blog.  

I hope your dinner is good!

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith

Lady Helene   

Sewing class progress

          Today is sunny, which I know will please "Floss".  Over twenty-give years ago on this date, another woman was in labour and giving birth to my youngest step-daughter.  I am grateful that "Floss's" Mom has not been selfish, but willingly shared "Floss" with me.  Happy Birthday Wonderful Girl!
        So, today is the last day of our sewing class.  I shall miss the ladies and learning new skills to improve my sewing.  I must admit, the two-and-a-half hours go speedily each week.  
       The new schedule for classes that begin the middle of January come out today as well.  Great anticipation fills my little heart; as I want to see what comes next!  If possible, I may want to take two classes if I can.  

On the hanger

       Please forgive my vanity in thinking that you might want to see the final product of this class.

       This is a very simple frock; the skills learned in it's making are foundational on which to build.  It's rather like a musician learning to play scales and read music before he/she plays a song, or writes a symphony.  

       What I really like is that the dress actually fits better than most others I've made, because the dress is made to fit my exact measurements.

      Week before last, as I was basting in the sleeves, I showed the instructor my work.  As she inspected, she remarked: "Hurry and get a car!  I want you on my team."  That is so encouraging!

A satisfying fit. 

         There is a hunch that I will be wearing this dress a lot because it is so comfortable and feels flattering. 

        Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,
"Lady Helene"

Gingerbread Village

This autumn, a young man named David came to vist our Church.  His story of escape from Sudan as a young man reminded me of the amazing power of grace, empowerment and redemption.  

David is now in England, obtaining a Masters Degree with the hope of returning to the new nation of South Sudan and working with the government of build a strong infrastructure.  Currently he and friends minister to over 900 children from his home village, which is almost inaccessable.  

My heart was tugged--what could I do to help him?  

The ageless question from thousands of years previous came softly to my mind; "What is that in your hand?"  Like Moses, God puts things into our hands to enable us to affect others positively for the kingdom.  Christmas was coming.  Gingerbread houses...a beautiful thing to make and a lovely way to decorate for Christmas.  My step-daughters had told me I could easily sell lots of them.  So, the plan unfolded in my mind.  Bake a gingerbread village of 10 houses and sell them.  And my current progress? --two houses now assembled, decorated and delivered; with four orders outstanding.  So I'm praying the Lord will help me complete the 10.  

The pre-fab factory is open

I've baked two batches now..which produces between two and three houses.  I'm still figuring out how thick to roll it for the best result.  Getting the roof too thick makes it too heavy for the rest of the little building.  

Oh, and because I had dough left over, I was able to bake one gingerbread man fo the Maverick.  

Jelly beans and smarties!

       All the houses are the same size, but obviously, each one is going to end up unique because of the goodies I put on the outside.  
       Believe it or not, I spent about fifteen to twenty minutes sorting sultanas (raisins made from white grapes) from candied citrus peel and regular raisins.  And sections of chocolate make great windows and doors.  
       I do try to put on a variety of sweets to get different textures, flavours and colours.  

       I found a couple of small tins of tube-shaped biscuits/cookies, to look a bit like logs.  Crispy, light and a nice foil to the intense spice of the ginger. 
 

Fruit jellies and tube-shaped luxery biscuits.

       When royal icing gets thick and heavy, it will slide and look like snow hanging/falling off the house.  It dries pretty hard, and makes it looklike the house is in a snow-laden country. 

Funny, but I get excited to see what each house will look like once it is finished, because I never know when I start.  

Well, I wanted to make a quick post, as more days have passed than I would like between posts.  

The other benefit is that I get to use the oven to warm up the flat a little more than when using the central heating.  

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.  Now that I've made this posting, I'm going to work on more Christmas presents.  

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,
"Lady Helene"   

More from the kitchen...

       Life has been a little busy since the first of November...and it's about to get busier.  

Many a year have I walked with My Jesus.  Over and again the principle I've experienced is, the more time I spend with Jesus, meditating on His word, the more I seem to accomplish and the less tired I am in body and mind.  

2011 Christmas Ginger Bread House

On 17th November, St. Mary's Langley held thier annual Christmas Fayre.  Last year I contributed a Gingerbread house.  People were surprised by it, and there were lots of compliments.  The children wanted to eat it.  People paid to "Guess the weight."  The winner, a lovely retired grandmother, gave the edible house away to a young Mum with five children.  Her generosity touched my heart.  

With last year's gingerbread being a hit, I was asked if I would be willing to make gingerbread men this year.  I dug out the recipe, which I found on the internet.  http://www.gingerbread-house-heaven.com/gingerbread-recipe.html 

A Gingerbread Man Army

For a gingerbread house, most people use a paper template and use a dinner knife to cut out the gingerbread.  For gingerbread men a cutter is needed.  I had a tiny one, and I didn't think I wanted to do that much work.  By searching on the internet, I found what I wanted at Robert Dyas http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/  The desired item is a six inch long gingerbread man cutter.  My Darling Husband, aka "The Maverick," was kind enough to go into town and buy it for me whilst I was at work.  A big thank you goes to him.  The batch of dough made 48 gingerbread men, plus scraps.   

I am going to have to find an icing recipe I can use with liquid food colouring, as the liquid makes the royal icing runny.  It also takes longer to set.  Even adding more icing/powdered surgar doesn't make the continuity of the icing stiff enough.  But everyone at the Fayre was very happy with the result and they nearly sold out!  

Notice the steam coming off the loaf?  Its just out of the oven

For my birthday, "The Maverick" kindly went down to the local chippy and bought me fish and chips.  We had discussed going out for dinner, but I was tired after my sewing class and didn't feel like going back out again.  Especially since I had an infection in both ears.  Thankfully it wasn't an inner ear infection.    But on Tuesday, I decided I would cook something a bit different for dinner.  Ingredients:  Fish and potatoes.  Result:  A tuna Loaf with Roast potatoes.   It was a nice twist on a familiar meal.  The recipe is in a Good Housekeeping Cookbook.  If anyone wants the recipe, send me an e-mail and I'll send it.  

We nine with the birthday (fruit) cake.

Early in November, "Jon-David" came over with his family to help us celebrate birthdays: "The Maverick's" is 22 October, mine 19th November.  So on 6th November, I cooked a nice chicken dinner, share with "The Aussie Family"  and "The Colnbrook Crew".   From the expressions on our faces here, we had a grand time.  When "Techphil", "Jon-David" and "The Maverick" get together, teasing and laugther are guarenteed to happen.  And so it was on 6th November.

Okay...this blog isn't going in chronological order.  I'd originally intended to post a couple of photos for the night, with little or no text.  But, hey, once I get started, I just can't help myself!  :-)

Cake before cutting

However, 6th November is related to the next photo.  "Jon-David" brought over a big bag of apples from his dad.  They were lovely, large cooking apples.  I immediately made a crumble--even though we still had birthday cake. 

     With so much going on, the bag of apples sat in the corner, waiting patiently until I could pay them attention.  This past Sunday I had to cook the other apples before they went off.  So I peeled them and got out another recipe.  I used two big ones for this cake:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-sour-cream-streusel-cake/detail.aspx   

After cutting.

Instead of putting the apple in the middle, I made it like an upside down cake.  

If it seems like I'm doing more baking, then you would be right.  And why?  Because although we keep the heat turned down, baking is a great reason to fire up the oven and stay warm in the kitchen.  :-)  And my husband likes it when I bake.  Tomorrow Flapjack is on the docket.  http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/kitchen.php?recipe=62 

This evening I prepared two cottage pies for tomorrow's Alpha Course.  I have applesauce from Sunday's cooking; that will be used in a cake for tomorrow night's dessert.  

So, now that's I've stimulated your appetites, I'll sign off for now.  

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,
"Lady Helene"   

Freshly baked bread and coffee...

Last night our flat was filled with the wafting scent of bread—honey, wheat bread specifically.  My Midnight Man was prowling and behaving like a small child on seemingly long road trip.  “Are we there yet?...  Is the bread baked yet?...What do you mean you just turned on the oven?...”  That lovely smell of sweet nuttiness and yeast was tantalising, I must confess.  The stronger the scent became, the more I wanted coffee to go with it. 

I once heard that if an estate agent (real estate agent) is having a difficult time selling a house, they will often tell the sellers to put on a pot of coffee and make some bread.  Much easier these days with bread machines.  Those two smells—bread and coffee—evoke strong feelings of comfort and home. 

When our last loaf of store-bought bread finished, I said to M. Midnight Man “I’ll make some bread.”  Then I made American Baking Soda biscuits instead.  Those lasted one day....  Monday got by, no bread.  Yesterday I thought, “Soda bread is fast, easy and made without yeast.  I’ll do some of that.”  However, once I got to the kitchen, I changed my mind; I wanted to make yeast bread.  I was looking for my Granny’s fast bread recipe, but found this Honey Wheat bread instead. 

I have a beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer that I truly enjoy using.  It makes stirring up cookies, cakes and meringues simple and fast.  I’d never used it to make yeast bread before.  It was time to try it. 

Now a lot of bread recipes say to add the water to the flour.  I, on the other hand find it easier to slowly add the flour into the water.  I find it mixes in better, taking on a cake-like texture to begin with, then slowly stiffening as I work in the flour.  I don’t like the feel of trying to work water into flour, as it feels like I’m making flour paste—which has a texture like wallpaper paste.  Cooking really is about finding personal preferences and approaches to get the desires result.

The recipe I used is one my Mom cut out from a flyer that came in with the gas bill.  It’s called

Whole Wheat Batter bread.

4 ½ cups whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

4 Tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs

2 packages active dry yeast (about 2-3 Tablespoons dry yeast)

2 Tablespoons softened butter (I substituted cooking oil for the butter.)

2 Cups warm water (120°-130°F)

1)        Mix 1 ½ cups white flour, honey, salt and yeast in a large bowl; add butter and water.

2)    Beat two minutes at medium speed.

3)    Add eggs and ½ cup white flour.  Beat two minutes at high speed.

4)    Stir in whole wheat flour to make a soft dough.

5)    Cover, let rise until double.

6)    Stir down and turn into two well-greased 1 ½ quart casseroles.

7)    Cover, let rise until double.

8)    Bake in 375°F oven 35 minutes or until done.

Having read the instructions I did a few things differently.

1)                  Pour 1/3 cup of boiling water into glass measuring jug. 

2)                  Add the honey until well dissolved into water.

3)                  Add butter and stir till melted.

4)                  Pour in 1 2/3 cup cool water into measuring jug.

5)                  Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl.

6)                  Add in yeast and stir well.

7)                  Slowly start adding flour, white first, then whole meal. 

8)                  Let rise.

The bread came out of the oven about 9:35 pm.  I waited until My Midnight Man had been out of the shower a few minutes before announcing that for which he waited was finished.  It was cool enough to cut and eat. 

I’d checked that the bread sounded hollow when thumped on the bottom, the indication it was done.  Yet, the inside was sticky.  The texture of the bread showed it was indeed done, and the bread didn’t sink in the middle, as will happen when the bread hasn’t baked through.  The bread toasts very nicely, because the honey causes more caramelization than the simple starch in the bread.  So, now for some lovely toast with our eggs and baked beans for breakfast!