Martha Mondays - Lemon Souffles

For, I think the first time since beginning the Martha Mondays projects I did the project on Monday. 

I was looking forward to the souffles as they have been on my list of things to cook for ages and after buying ramekins I was all set. 

The recipe is pretty easy.  I did manage to get a bit in a muddle when I halved the recipe and I was doing it in a hurry.  This is the second time that I have cooked from the January issue this week (chicken paillairds on Saturday which were wonderful) but each time I have wished that there was some guide at the top of the recipe saying roughly how long it will take (both preparing and cooking).  I always skim through the recipe and see that I need a couple of minutes here and a couple of minutes there, and then all of a sudden I've been in the kitchen for half an hour!

Enough of my rant - but if you are looking Martha Stewart people - please take note, it would help me so much.

The verdict was surprising.  Dad liked it (which was a shock) but mum and I thought they were too eggy and not that lemony.  All three of us had never tried souffle before.  I only ate the top of mine as I wasn't keen on the texture.  I don't know if I will make souffles again but I may give a cheese one a try, maybe.

Thanks for a great choice of project Brette, I'm pleased that I got to cook something completely new.

Martha Mondays - Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes

It was my pick for Martha Mondays and I chose Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes.  This was new to me as we have the crepe variety at home and had never tried making buttermilk pancakes.  I couldn't find Bosc or Bartlett pears and went for the Comice variety.  They were fine.  I didn't have a clue how to core an apple with the peeler so cut the pear into rounds and then used an icing tip to remove the middle.  They looked quite good.  Mum requested that we take the peel off the pears so I did.  They marinated in the maple syrup and cinnamon as I made the batter.  This was easy to make. 

We don't have an electric griddle so mum and I worked together using two frying pans and made four at a time.  They weren't the prettiest of pancakes, as they fell apart when we tried to flip them but I didn't mind. 

(I will be keen to see how everyone else's turned out and will want tips on getting them into rounds for next time!) We loved them.  I served them at the kitchen table on New Year's Day.  We had maple syrup on them which we usually never have in the house and both mum, dad and I really enjoyed them. 

I hope everyone else enjoyed the recipe. 

Martha Mondays - Vinegar Glossed Chicken

December has been a difficult month.  My grandad continues to be in hospital following another fall as soon as he came out of hospital.  And in general the month has been pretty chaotic juggling work, parties, Christmas chores and everything else that seems to happen just when you could do with a break. 

But, I found time to do the Vinegar Glossed Chicken.  I am keen to start trying more of the flavoured oils and vinegars and found the red wine vinegar with ease in the supermarket.  I changed the recipe only slightly in that I did skinless chicken breast instead of skinned chicken.  I never eat meat which has the bone in it, and we never buy chicken with the skin on. 

The recipe was easy to make and it was enjoyed (I served it with Muse in the Kitchen's garlic rice).  I wish there had been more 'sauce' on the chicken and I would be tempted to use more sauce next time.  I see this as work in progress.  I will definently try it again and might cook it with some onion next time. 

I'm sorry but there is no photo this time as my camera on my phone is not working (another thing to get sorted out)!

I hope to do a post before Christmas, but if not, then I wish you a very wonderful Christmas full of fun, warmth and holiday spirit.

Martha Mondays - Apple Tart

This weeks project was chosen by AquaSunday from the November issue of Living. I had looked at the tart and was keen to try it - I was glad to have the excuse to make it.

As 'Jazz' apples were on offer in the supermarket (2 for 1) I bought those, and got prepared and made the applesauce on Saturday night. Today (Sunday) I baked. I had planned to make it and then bake it later, but in the end decided that it was easier to get it done and then reheat some later. The recipe was easy to follow, although I didn't need 2 tablespoons of butter or all that apricot jam but it didn't matter.

The tart is lovely, the apples turned out a little dry but this could have been due to the type of apple and we had the tart with cream so it didn't matter at all. I think I might adapt this and add some sultanas and cinnamon for a Christmas treat.

Thanks for a great Martha Monday project - I think I will go and have another slice now!

Martha Mondays - Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

It was my turn for the pick for Martha Mondays and I chose a dish that I had wanted to do for ages. I don't know why I don't just cook it when I see it in the magazine, but I always feel there needs to be a good reason for me to cook instead of bake.

The ingredients were easy to find, unlike my last pick for Martha Mondays which required a lot of different ingredients.

The recipe was easy to follow and was quicker than the 45 minutes it gives as a guide. I had never cooked bacon without oil and I was amazed that it produced crispy tasty bacon very quickly. Although I see many Martha recipes with chicken stock in the UK it is quite rare to use it. But it worked wonderfully. I ended up with a sort of gravy and it was delicious.

Mum and I had this for our dinner after wrapping a ton of Christmas presents and we couldn't fault it. I thought it was perfect. I can't wait to see how everyone elses turned out!

Martha Mondays - Texas Red Chili

It was Megan's turn to choose the Martha Monday project and I was pleased that she choose the chilli as it meant that a meal would be cooked instead of part of a meal. I had liked the idea of the chilli but looked at getting dried chillies and had decided to leave it. I was pleased that I got to make it in the end.

I managed to get the ingredients. Although I substituted beef chuck (still don't know what it is) for stewing beef and the chillies for Kashmiri chillies as this was all the supermarket had.

The recipe was easy to make and I made it on Saturday and we ate it on Sunday.

We liked it, although thought the beef was a bit tough, which was my fault. I would make the sauce again but probably do this with mince as we usually do when we have chilli.

Thanks for a good Martha Monday project.

Martha Mondays - Pork & Chive Pot-Stickers

This week's project was chosen by Brette, the founder of Martha Mondays. There were two tasks to choose from but due to time restraints I chose the pot stickers. These were completely new to me and I watched Martha and Lucinda on the show to see how to do them.

I made a special trip to the Asian supermarket to pick up wonton wrappers but mine were square and not circular like Marthas. I wasn't fussed. I knew I wouldn't have time to locate circular ones anywhere.

The recipe was simple and apart from omitting the sherry I had everything else I needed apart from sesame oil. I could only find toasted sesame oil but this has been a revelation and I love it.

I made the pot-stickers on Friday night and then cooked up a few which we really liked - the photos were taken on Friday night.



I did have trouble cooking them in a tablespoon of oil as they just stuck to the pan and I ended up chucking those ones out. Instead I used a lot more oil and it was easier to stop them sticking. I then placed them on kitchen towel to absorb some of the oil. The rest we had with a 'Chinese' dinner on Saturday night - pot-stickers, sweet and sour chicken and Muse In The Kitchen's garlic rice - so good.



We all agreed that they were very tasted. I will make these again. To keep them from sticking I laid them on a plate covered in semolina - it seemed to work. Next time I will try to be more like Martha and make them a bit neater and try to keep the air bubbles out.

Thanks Brette - I would never have tried them without Martha Mondays!

Martha Mondays - Sticky Toffee Pudding

Oh Boy! Sticky toffee pudding! Chosen by Lorraine of Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop, I was in heaven just reading the name, knowing that I would be able to come off my Special K diet for this treat. It was strange as although it is known as an English pudding and as someone who lives in England I have never tried it and neither had many of my friends. It is on dessert menus a lot but it has never taken my fancy.

This was a great recipe as apart from buying butter and cream, I didn't have to stock up on anything else which I have had to do with other Martha Monday recipes.

The recipe was easy to make, and I halved it as there are only three of us.

Things fell apart (literally) when I tapped out the still warm cake as directed. I had greased and floured the pan well and the cake was fully cooked so although I thought it crazy to take a warm cake out of the pan I proceeded.





Expletives rolled around my kitchen as the cake fell apart, I had planned to serve it at dinner as a special treat for us. But I continued and 'stuck' the cake back together.

The toffee sauce was lovely and I poured this all over. It was wonderful.



I managed to get one reasonable portion out of the cake, but the rest is a bit of a mess. I had some left over and so put this in a jug to be poured over the cake - true joy!



We however loved it despite the way it looked (a good lesson here I think) and dad even had seconds. I will have my second portion whilst watching the X Factor tonight.

Thanks for a wonderful Martha Monday project - the most successful in the Singer household so far!!!

Martha Mondays - Apple Brown Betty

This weeks task was chosen by Abby from abbysweets.blogspot.com. I was excited. I love apple crumble (although mum's version is so floury that we have many other names for it!!!) but this sounded really interesting and was completely new to me.

I did this for dessert on Saturday night whilst we watched Stictly Come Dancing and it followed on from roast pork for dinner so I thought I was on to a winner.

It was easy to make and I followed the recipe to the tee. Even the oven instructions were right.

I had given strict instructions to mum and dad to prepare themselves and that they had to eat some of it before adding extra sugar or cream (which always happens in the Singer household). They agreed. Although dad then ate trifle and didn't try any pudding (I'm still annoyed), mum and I were game - we both agreed that it had the winning ingredients - bread and apple for mum - and apple and cinnamon for me.

We both decided that it was a bit bland - mum blamed the apples of which she suggests using cooking apples and I wished I had used the demerara. Usually I find the Martha puddings to be so sweet. We both added cream and sugar.

I will try this recipe again and change it slightly. Thanks Abby for a good Martha Mondays project. I look forward to next week!



My photo doesn't show the dessert in a great way (if anyone knows of a way to show good looking crumble please let me know).

Martha Mondays - Mollases Spice Cake

It was my turn to choose the Martha Mondays project and I had had it worked out for weeks - the Mollases Spice Cake from the October 2007 issue of Living. Ever since I had seen the cake I had wanted an excuse to make it but there was never a good enough reason to use every spice known to man (I know, I exaggerate - slightly) and then cream cheese, sour cream and brown sugar glaze.

But the time had come. I printed out the recipe and ingredients from the internet and headed to the supermarket. I had most of the ingredients although ground mace still is nowhere to be found, and I ended up using blade mace and mashing it through a sieve, but everything else I managed to find.

As I had Friday off from work I put everything on the counter and got to work. Just one problem - the Singer household had only 1 cup of brown sugar so I used caster sugar as well. (Martha I know would never have run out).

The cake was easy to make, besides using up three different bowls. I often wonder what would happen if I just dumped in the flour and spices in one go, but I persisted. The cake for me took an hour to cook, but my cake pan was slightly smaller in size and deeper.

We all liked the cake. I did the cream cheese frosting in a separate bowl so we could add as much or as little as we liked. I wouldn't add the butter to the cream cheese again as I don't think it needed it. And I didn't make the brown glaze as we had no brown sugar.





To anyone who makes the cake, I'm sorry that it had so many ingredients and probably wasn't a good idea if you were on a diet. I hope other people liked the cake. I will certainly make it again and am thinking of trying it as cupcakes for Christmas.

Martha Mondays - Apple-Honey Challah

Well after being so late last week with the pom poms I am extra early in posting this weeks (next weeks) Martha Mondays task.

This was a joint task with my mum as we were both home to do it whilst doing other chores (mainly gardening). It turned out that it was lucky that neither of us needed to go out for a long period of time as this recipe took for ever!

We started at about 1.15pm and got it out of the oven at about 5.30pm.

Despite my dislike of honey, I embraced the recipe and bought all the right ingredients including Granny Smith apples which I don't really like (I'm more a pink lady girl!)

The problem for me was that it took too long, three times I had to take it to the airing cupboard, I found the instructions hard to follow (why preheat the oven 45 minute before it can go in the oven? - I disobeyed this).

We didn't like it either. I wasn't sure if you ate it as it was, had it with stewed fruit or something/cream/butter. Mum suggests that we through it to the birds and I agree. The pigeons I am sure will love it.

I will leave on a positive though, and say that despite us not liking it, it was good to try something new. I had never made Challah before (and probably won't again) but at least I can say that I have now made it.

Ready to (finally) go in the oven.


Just before being cut.


The leftovers - quite a bit - but the birds will be happy tomorrow!



Pru

Martha Mondays - Grilled Vanilla Peaches

This is the first Martha Monday and I was excited. Grilled vanilla peaches looked wonderful from the magazine and I like peaches (and ice cream) so it was a winning recipe from the beginning.

There was just one problem - grilling in England is broiling in America. It isn't warm enough to use the barbecue over here, and I wasn't about to get it out from the shed, set it up just for some peaches. Sorry Martha (and Lucinda), but I adapted this recipe!

Ingredients
These were fine. I had the basic ingredients and the supermarket had peaches. They also had vanilla extract which I had run out of - at £4 a bottle its not cheap.

Method
This was also fine. I halved the recipe as it served eight and there are only three of us so I did four peaches. I found it a bit messy cutting the peaches and stoning them when they had been peeled.





As I didn't have the barbecue out I figured that I would grill (broil them). They were due to take 15 minutes on a hot barbecue. I had the grill on hot, but after 25 minutes they still weren't done. By this stage I was hot, and ready for my ice cream.



I threw them on the griddle instead. They bubbled up nicely, the liquid turned more syrupy and I spooned them on to the ice cream.



Result
Mum, dad and I all liked them. They were tasty and I could certainly taste the vanilla. They were really quite good. If the weather in London heats up enough I will haul the barbecue out and do them properly.



I was pleased with the first of the Martha Monday challenges.

Weekly Report

I meant to post on Monday, its now Wednesday and the week has slipped away from me (again).

The past week also flew by, trying to get birthday cards, Father's Day cards and gifts (I buy from both me and Violet the dog), looking at presents on Etsy and trying to figure out something to do with mum for her upkeeping 60th birthday.

The problem was, at work, the internet was down. From Tuesday morning until Monday morning. I love the internet, and as soon as you can't have something you just want it more. Which meant that I was spending my evenings trying to get things done without mum coming in and working out my plans.

So:

- Cards - purchased. except my card to mum.

- Presents - not purchased. The Father's Day gift is done. Quite boring - Boots things -but the offer on L'Oreal products was too much to pass up.

- Etsy - I have bookmarked items including a gorgeous pair of earring for a friends birthday even though it isn't until October.

- Mum's birthday - was all sorted out and then dad kicked up a stink about being left out and so mum has cancelled her WHOLE birthday!!! This isn't a whim either, she is more stubborn than me which is saying something. It's such a shame as well - I had the whole thing planned.

First, the train ride to Brighton (it wouldn't take too long and I planned on getting some goodies to take with us and for us to pick up a coffee before getting the train).

Then treatments at Champneys http://www.champneys.com/. I thought the Collagen Enriched Anti Ageing Facial and Luxury Manicure sounded pretty good.

Then on to Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/brighton . The antipasti description had me hooked, and I was salivating just thinking about it.

It sounded pretty good. A bit of shopping in The Lanes. So far it is on hold, but I am ever hopeful of changing her mind. The thing is, it is meant to be a surprise trip out, and if I tell her what it is then there really is no fun in it!

The weekend went past quickly, Saturday was busy making cakes for a summer fete. In total we did Nigella's chocolate fudge cake (x2), lemon cake, coffee and walnut cake, Martha Stewart's peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. It was all hands to the stove, we started at 6.30am with tray after tray of cookies and were finished by lunchtime. I was pleased to hear that the two chocolate cakes had been sold for £25 and in total the fete raised over £600 pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

I had a barbeque in the afternoon and prepared a fruit salad and strawberry galette. There was so much food though, the desserts weren't eaten so were pretty much wasted. I brought them home but the galette had got a bit soggy and the fruit ended up being made into coulis to have with ice cream.

I always aspire to be like Martha Stewart, or one of these people from other blogs that I look at, who I know would never dream of taking a shop bought dessert, but I do sometimes wonder if all my efforts for the barbeque were wasted.

This week has started better. A friends birthday is today, and we bought a massage voucher and earrings. Also, had lunch today and am out with her tonight for dinner. We are also holding drinks tomorrow (I hope the weather stays good so that we can sip our drinks in the sunshine).

My goals for the rest of the week are:

- get the skirting board fixed in my room.
- sort out the TV in my room.
- order items from Etsy - add to the list for other birthdays coming up.
- buy stamps (always running out).
- try and sort out plans for my two days off next week and see if I can get mum to come out.


Pru