Am I a Morrisons Mum?

I was chuffed recently to be asked to try Morrisons this May Day weekend, by the BritMums team. I set off, armed with my vouchers ready to do our bank holiday weekend shop. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I managed to get for £80 - but was unable to photograph it as my camera phoned seemed to be broken - catastrophe! Turns out I had it on a wrong setting, but not until after my shop & first meal had been demolished. I came home with 8 bags of shopping - wowee! I got a great variety of fruit & veg, including pineapples (which was part of their 3 fruit/veg for £1.50 deal), avocados, celeriac (my fave vegetable! search for recipes in the search bar of the blog) amongst many others. Another 2 bags contained our meat, the best bargain was 2 packs of mince for £3.50. My kids all love a plate of mince & tatties!

The first meal I prepared was after a nice long walk we had along the clifftops near our home. Friends of ours have recently got a new dog, so we had a lovely afternoon playing in the park & a long walk home. Everyone was tired, so the kids lounged in front of the TV while I put a quick tea together - pizza pinwheels, sweet potato wedges & sweetcorn. This fed 3 children, including a strapping teenager, at a cost of around £3 for the meal.

Pizza Pinwheels (prices are for Morrisons stores) £1 per person

1 sheet ready to use puff pastry £1
Half a jar of chunky veg pizza topping 50p (Morrisons own, £1 per jar, the other half can be used for another meal)
Grated cheese 40p  (less than half a pack, £1 for the Market Place grated cheese pack)
1 large sweet potato 40p
1 tin sweetcorn & peppers 49p (Morrisons own)

Preheat the oven to 200c. Peel & chop the sweet potato into wedges, toss in olive oil & arrange on a baking tray. Pop into the oven for 25 minutes. Next, roll out the puff pastry and spread half a jar of  pizza sauce over the pastry. Sprinkle all over with cheese. Carefully, roll the pastry up, like a swiss roll! Cut carefully into 1 inch thick slices, and place onto a lightly oiled baking tray. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove & allow to cool slightly. These are yummy warm or cold. Serve with the sweetcorn & sweet potato wedges.

We finished this off with some cooling Limeade floats! 50p for a 2 litre bottle of limeade, and 80p for a large tub of vanilla ice cream = a lot of floats. The kids enjoyed these very much.

So far, I am very impressed with my Morrisons shop. More recipes to come in the next few days with more of the lovely ingredients I was able to buy.

Vichy Carrots

This dish get it's name from the brand name of sparkling water the original recipe uses for cooking these carrots. I personally just use a cheap bottle of sparkling water! This is my favourite way of cooking carrots.I love to sprinkle fresh parsley from my garden over them near the end of cooking for a fantastic flavour. These take longer to cook than just boiling our carrots, because we are simmering them slowly, but it is worth it for the end result.

Use your largest frying pan.

Serves 4

4 carrots, peeled & sliced about 1 cm thick
Sparkling water
Large knob of butter
Chopped fresh parsley
Salt & pepper

Lay the carrots in one layer in the largest frying pan that you have. Pour in enough sparkling water to just cover the carrots. Add the butter & season. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. . Scatter over the parsley, stir & serve.

Swede (turnip) Bake

Up here in Scotland we call them neeps or turnips, but I know the English call them swede and Americans call it rutabaga! No matter what you call it, it's a tasty vegetable, and a great replacement for potatoes in a lot of dishes. This dish is lovely with a roast dinner or maybe some sausages. I think this has more flavour than potatoes, and make it quite often to go alongside roast chicken. I didn't add cheese to mine, but you can sprinkle some on top if you fancy it.

Serves 4

Butter to grease
1 swede, peeled and sliced in 0.5 cm thick slices
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200 ml double cream
Cheese to top (optional)

Grease an oven proof dish with butter. Preheat oven to 200c.
Place a layer of swede slices in the bottom of the dish. Add a little garlic on top. Layer more swede on top, with more garlic. repeat until you have filled the dish or have used all the swede. Pour the cream over the whole dish. Add cheese on top if you are using. Pop in the oven for around 30/35 minutes. A knife should go through all the layers of swede easily.

Eggs in Clouds

This is a really fun & cute idea for cooking eggs that kids will love! It is almost like a savoury breakfast meringue. You can chuck in all sorts to flavour it - spring onion, cooked chorizo, grated cheese, etc. In this version I just use some parmesan and served them with bacon & mushrooms for a hearty brunch. Use an electric hand whisk, if you have one, to save time. Beat the eggs until white & fluffy.

Allow 1 or 2 eggs per person.

Eggs
Parmesan (or any other ingredient you would like to add, such as spring onion, grated cheese etc)
Salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 200c.

Start by carefully separating the egg whites & yolks. Keep the yolks intact! Whisk the egg whites until they are thick, white & fluffy. Add a teaspoon of permesan per egg and carefully fold in into the mixture. Season & spoon onto a baking sheet. Divide the mixture into equal parts totalling the amount of eggs you used. Make a small well in the top of each mound, and carefully add back the yolk. Place into the oven on the middle shelf for 5 minutes. If you like runnier yolk, cook the whites for 3 minutes before adding the yolks & returning to the oven.

Aubergine Melts

Aubergines (or eggplants for my US readers!), I find, are the meatiest tasting vegetable out there. I can eat one of these and not feel like I am missing the meat part of my meal. I ate a whole one for my lunch, or you could have half with a couscous side dish. I couldn't entice any of my children to try it though! Not even the veg-loving one wanted to taste it. I loved it though, and will have it again soon.

Serves 1-2

1 whole aubergine
Olive oil
2 tablespoons pesto
1 ball of mozzarella, drained & sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
Basil leaves to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200c. Cut the aubergine in half and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Spread a tablespoon of pesto on each half, then top with sliced mozzarella and then finish with the cherry tomato halves. Pop back into the oven for anther 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted & tomatoes softened. Sprinkle with basil.

Caramelised Sprouts

I love my green veg, but was bored with just steamed or boiled brussel sprouts. This recipe brings out their amazing flavours and jazzes up a simple roast chicken dinner. I could eat these every day! The secret is the slow cooking of the sprouts.Fresh thyme is best, but you could use dried instead. Use the best quality stock and let it simmer right down into a sticky sauce.

Olive oil
Knob of butter
Sprig of fresh thyme, leaves chopped
2 shallots, finely diced
400g sprouts
150 ml chicken or veg stock

Heat up a frying pan to a medium heat and add the sprouts. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil & stir the sprouts until all coated. Let them cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When they are soft and starting to turn brown, add the shallots, thyme & butter. Stir through. When the shallots have softened, add the stock and allow to simmer gently. When the stock has reduced down to a sticky gravy, serve immediately.

Broc-a-leekie Soup

This is another amazing soup recipe from Clementines of Broughty Ferry! I really enjoyed this soup, so warm & filling - perfect for the wintry days we are still getting. This is great if you are vegetarian or a meat eater. I cant wait to make this one again.

1 leek sliced
1 head of broccoli, chopped (stalk too! no waste!)
1 medium potato, peeled & diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1.2 litres of vegetable stock

Fry the leek & garlic in some butter until softened, around 5 minutes. Add the broccoli, potato & stock, season & simmer for 15 minutes. Blitz with a hand blender and serve with a swirl of cream.

Red Nose Day Cookies - Cheese & Tomato!

Red Nose Day is 25 years old this year! In celebration of that, Sainsburys Family Bloggers network challenged me to make a Red Nose Day cookie. As I have given up sugar for lent (go me!), I decided to make a more interesting savoury cookie, using tomatoes for red noses. They turned out looking great and tasting amazing! They are so easy for kids to make too, my 4 year old had great fun helping me mix & flatten the cookies. He also devoured 2 for his lunch, with a big glass of milk. Yum!

Ingredients -

75g plain flour
Pinch of paprika or chives
20g soft butter
20g grated mature cheddar
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tablespoon passatta
3 cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 190c. Rub the flour, herbs or spices and butter together in a bowl, until all combined. Add the cheese, chopped onion & the passatta and mix until you have a dough like consistency. Add a drop more passatta if it is too dry. Shape into 6 equal sized balls, then flatten on greaseproof paper on a baking sheet. Place a slice of cherry tomato on top & gently squeeze in.
Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. remove & allow to cool & harden.

Nippy Neep Soup

A local greengrocers, Clementine of Broughty Ferry, do a great service called "Soup in a Bag". Each week they provide a paper bag filled with all you need to make a scrumptious soup, with the ingredients being local produce. This week, the soup I tried was called Nippy Neep. We had it for lunch today, and it was amazing! You get enough ingredients to make a large pot, enough to feed my hungry family of 5 with some warm crusty bread. I have my soup bag, plus a large fruit & veg box, delivered by Alfie's situated on Keptie Street in Arbroath. Anyone local to Arbroath can have their soup bags delivered, or can pop into the shop to collect theirs.

It's funny to realise that in England, a "neep" is a swede. Up here in Bonnie Scotland, a "neep" is a turnip. It can get very confusing! In case you are confuddled, its the large purpley thing that has yellow flesh!

1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled & finely chopped
Half a small red or green chilli, chopped & deseeded.
1 large neep (swede for the English, a turnip for the Scottish) peeled & chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 teaspoon each of garam masala, tumeric and ground cumin
1 litre of vegetable stock
Olive oil

Heat some olive oil in a large pot. Gently fry the onions, ginger & garlic for a few minutes. Add the carrots & allow to soften for a few more minutes. Add the spices, and stir and coat the vegetables. Add the diced neep and add 1 litre of stock. Bring to a simmer & cover for 25 minutes. Blend completely & serve.

Broccoli, courgette & basil soup.

I made this soup yesterday, and it was wonderful! So fresh & green, and it felt healthy to eat. This made enough for about 4/5 people, even though I scoffed 2 bowls myself because it was so tasty. I like that has only a few ingredients, yet combine for maximum flavour. Use the stalk of the broccoli too, it is fine to eat and the soup is all blended at the end. The recipe & ingredients were supplied by Clementine of Broughty Ferry.

I onion or shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets & stalk diced
1  courgette, chopped
1 litre veg stock
Teaspoon mixed herbs
Handful fresh basil leaves
Oil for frying

Fry the onion and garlic in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Once softened (but not coloured, usually about 5 minutes) add the herbs & stir. Add the courgette & broccoli and stir to mix everything through. Pour in the hot vegetable stock and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, covered. Once the broccoli is cooked through, add the basil and blend until smooth. Serve with a drizzle of cream or yogurt if desired.

Oeufs En Cocotte

I stumbled across a Nigella recipe for a tasty breakfast. I get bored with breakfasts very quickly, so I love it when I find something new to try. We always have eggs in the house, so was able to rustle this up as soon as I saw this recipe. You will need a ramekin for each person.

Grease the ramekin with butter.
Preheat the oven to 189 c,
Allow 1-2 eggs per person. Crack them into the ramekin. Season & top with a tablespoon of cream.
Put the ramekins into a deep baking dish & pour in hot water to make a bain marie.
Pop the whole thing into the oven for around 10 minutes, a little earlier if you want a runny yolk.

Red Cabbage with Balsamic and Cranberries

This is one of the side dishes I am planning on having with our Christmas dinner this year. We don't really eat turkey, so we are having a gammon instead and probably a roast chicken. I think this dish will go lovely with those meats. I have a few other dishes too, but this is one I can prepare beforehand, and the flavours will develop in the fridge. I will prepare some more side dishes tomorrow (Christmas Eve) so that leaves the bare minimum for the actual day.This recipe is perfect for freezing too.

3 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions , halved and thinly sliced
2 whole cloves
1 medium red cabbage , quartered, cored and thinly sliced
200ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100g brown sugar
200g fresh or frozen cranberries

 Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and fry, stirring every now and then, for about 10 mins, until they start to caramelise. Stir in the cloves, then add the cabbage and continue cooking, stirring more frequently this time, until the cabbage starts to soften. 
Pour in the stock, add the vinegar and sugar, then cover and cook for 10 mins. 
Stir in the cranberries and cook for 10 mins more. Cool and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight. Reheat until very hot before serving.

Easy Cranberry Sauce

This is the first year that I have tried to make my cranberry sauce. I looked a few recipes, and came up with this easy recipe to try out. It can keep in the fridge for 4 days, and it is also fine to freeze. I like to make as much as I can ahead of time, for the Christmas meal, so this was cooked this afternoon & is now all ready for Christmas. I will have more recipes popping up in the next couple of days, so be sure to check back for more!

250g fresh or frozen cranberries
100g light brown sugar
100ml fresh orange juice
1 star anise

Heat the orange juice, sugar & star anise in a pan until bubbling. Stir in the cranberries & cook until they are soft but still mostly holding their shape. This will be about 5 minutes if using frozen, a bit longer for fresh. Decant to a jar or large ramekin, and allow to cool. Fish out the star anise, and keep in the fridge until it is needed. It can be frozen at this point too.

Curried cauliflower & coconut soup

I love soups just now, especially after a nursery run in below zero temperatures! It is quite literally freezing up here, snow yesterday and freezing icy rain today. I don't drive, so we have had some miserable walks the last few days. Ah well, its water not bullets (though it almost felt like it!). Coming home to a bubbling pot of soup is fantastic, and just what I needed to warm up. I created this recipe because I had half a head of cauliflower to use up and I hate waste! This takes only half an hour to whip up, and tastes great.

Half a head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 onion, diced
250 ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin of coconut milk
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
Butter & olive oil for frying.

Saute the onion in some butter & a dot of olive oil. When softened (about 5 minutes) ad the curry powder. Fry this for about a minute then add the cauliflower & stir. Heat for about 4 minutes, then add the stock & coconut milk. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, season & then blend. Serve with a few spring onions snips or chives.

Braised Cabbage

I saw this recipe recommended on a recipe thread, and just had to try it. Who knew cabbage could be so tasty? My kids all LOVED it. I even ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I served mine as a side dish to roast guinea fowl and celeriac fondant. Can't wait to have it again!

1 whole white cabbage
250ml (or thereabouts) cream
Salt & pepper
25g butter

Remove the outer layer of leaves.  Cut the cabbage in half, through the stalk. Cut those in half, and then in half again. You should have 8 wedges with a piece of stalk at the bottom. Heat a frying pan and melt the butter. Add the cabbage wedges and cook until brown on one side. Flip and brown the other side. Pour over the cream and then place a lid on & lower the heat. Allow to cook gently for about 20/30 minutes, it will be nice & soft.

Celeriac Fondant

I am a huge Masterchef fan, and sometimes I am just itching to try some of the recipes. Quite often, contestants make potato fondants, which didn't really excite me. One day though, one made a celeriac fondant that DID excite me! I had a guinea fowl that I wanted to roast, and felt like it needed something a little different to go with it, celeriacs are in season just now, and are so tasty. This method of cooking it brought out an amazing flavour, it is now one of my favourite dishes. I reduced the stock right down after the fondant was cooked, and used it as a gravy - delicious! We had guinea fowl, braised cabbage along with the celeriac fondant.

1 celeriac
Enough stock to almost cover the fondants in the pan (i use chicken stock)
1 crushed garlic clove
salt
pepper
25g butter plus a drizzle of olive oil

Cut the celeriac into 2 cm deep rectangles (or circles if you prefer, use a cookie cutter). Heat the oil & butter in a large pan, then brown the celeriac wedges on both sides until golden. Pour in the stock, add the garlic & seasonings and then allow to simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes. the celeriac should be cooked through. Remove the celeriac to a warm plate and reduce the stock down until you are left with less than half the amount. Pour over the celeriac.

Eggs in Purgatory

I saw this dish on Nigella's Nigelissima on TV recently. They looked easy to make, budget friendly and very tasty - and all round winner for me! They took about 5/10 minutes max to make so perfect at lunch time. I made this just for myself, if you want to feed more just times the ingredients by how many people you are serving. Serve with a big chunk of bread to mop up the juices.

1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 or 2 eggs (depending on your appetite)
Olive oil
1 garlic clove
Pinch of chilli powder or flakes
 parmesan

Heat a small frying pan, and heat the olive oil. Add the garlic & chilli and heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and allow to come to a simmer. Crack in your egg(s) sprinkle on some parmesan, cover & allow the eggs to poach. You want the egg whites cooked but the yolk runny, so keep an eye on it. Either eat from the pan (ala Nigella) or transfer to a plate. Top with a little more parmesan, then tuck in with your hunk of bread.

Roasted Honeyed Celeriac

Celeriac is back in the supermarkets! It must be back in season - I just love it and have been waiting months for it. I used it as a side dish for our roast dinner this week. I love it cooked all different ways, but this has to be one of my favourites. We had it with herby roast chicken, sweetcorn, sweet & sour carrots and gravy. The others also had potatoes, but not me, the other veg was enough!

1 celeriac
a thick slice of butter
a little olive oil
2 tbsp honey
8 sprigs thyme
4 tsp honey

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil. Peel the celeriac and remove the tops. Slice the flesh into thick chips. Drop them into the water and leave for 10 minutes till almost tender.
Drain them, then put them into a roasting tin or baking dish with a thick slice of butter and a spoonful of olive oil or beef dripping. Season with salt and black pepper, the thyme leaves pulled from their stalks, and the honey. Toss gently then roast for 35-40 minutes until the celeriac is crisp and pale gold.

Very Tasty Veg Stew

This is a recipe that I saw Nigel Slater make, though of course I adapted it slightly to suit our tastes and fridge contents! The key to this recipe is cooking the veg in stages, rather than bunging it all in to make a mushy stew. The veg keep their individual flavours & textures, which makes it sing. This would also make a lovely pasta sauce, or a filling for a pie. Top with mash or pastry, or even grated cheese. This makes enough for 5 hearty appetites! It is also a perfect recipe for those following the 5:2 fasting diet - 1 large portion comes in at 150 calories. You get a lot of food & nutrients for your calories with this!

olive oil
a large aubergine, halved and thinly sliced
2, halved and sliced courgettes
2 peppers, (orange and red) peppers
2 onions, peeled and roughly sliced
2 garlic peeled and crushed
marjoram, parsley and thyme
3 medium, quartered tomatoes
12 or so cherry tomatoes
500ml jar or pack tomato passata or crushed tomatoes
3 bay leaves
basil leaves

Heat a shallow layer of olive oil in a large, low sided pan and brown the aubergine on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Fry each of the other vegetables separately in the order above, adding more oil as necessary, until each is pale gold. Remove as each one is ready and set aside.
When you reach the onions, cook in the same way along with the garlic but when cooked, don’t remove from the pan. Add the herbs, along with the tomatoes and allow to cook a little before transferring the cooked peppers back into pan. Add the passata and leave to simmer, with the lid on. When the sauce is reduced a little transfer the aubergine and courgettes back in to the pan along with the bay leaves and season. Taste – leave to simmer for a few more minutes. Stir gently with a handful of torn basil leaves and serve.

Mushroom Soup

I am loving the series of MasterChef Australia that is on TV at the moment. I have already tried the melting moments that Julia made in an episode. Whilst browsing, I saw this recipe by Wade, for mushrooms soup. So simple and it was an amazing flavour! Luckily I made enough to have some tomorrow too :) I can see this being made quite often for a quick lunch. I dropped a couple of dried porcini mushrooms on top as a garnish.

Makes enough for 4 hearty bowls

125g butter, cubed 
1 onion, finely sliced 
1 garlic clove, finely sliced 
600g button mushrooms, finely sliced 
4 parsley stalks 
1L chicken stock 
2 tablespoons dry sherry

Parsley leaves and/or porcini mushrooms to garnish.

Melt the butter in a pan, and cook the onions & garlic until soft but not coloured, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and parsley stalks and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the sherry & reduce for 5 minutes. Add the stock and simmer for 15/20 minutes. Season & taste. Blitz the soup and serve.