Crazy Cook-athon

So it's the new year, time to curb the gluttony and spending. I discovered a copy of Jamie's Ministry of Food that was languishing on the bookshelf and it inspired me to do some old school batch cooking. What became a challenge to fill the freezer with with healthy goodness for January become a marathon cooking sessions.

I went shopping at 2pm and had begun cooking earlier in the day. I think all in all I was cooking for about 6 hours but I have a freezer full off:

Chicken and Veg Soup - inspired by Jamie's Spring Veg Soup but I needed to use it leftover roast chicken and veggies.

Jamie's Meatballs - I did swapped the Jacob Cream Crackers for Multigrain Ryvita's, hopefully it will work ok :-S

Beef Kofta's - inspired by Jamie's Burger recipe.

Jamie's Chilli Con Carne - with Heston's addition of star anise.

Jamie's Spag Bol.

Chilli (left) and Spag Bol (right)

Cottage Pie - inspired by Jamie's Minced Beef Pie, I starting flagging at the thought of making pastry as well already had too much washing up!

Jamie's Lasagna - but I made a white sauce (the first time ever!) instead of using crème fraîche as I didn't have any.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fruit Muffins - made with lots of blueberries. I hope they will rise a bit more next time but they taste yummy.

Done!

Pre-Christmas Dinner

I know I have been a bit quiet for a week or two on the blog but I am going to blame all the snow we had over the festive period.... oh and the fact I have been too busy eating and drinking!

Before Christmas we decided to have a friends pre-Christmas 'full trimmings but pork Christmas' dinner. On the day we all woke to a winter wonderland which nearly scuppered our plans! But through tube delays, a foot or two of snow and buses not turning up we all made it.

My friends Hayley and Chris hosted and we all brought a different course, see the earlier pate post!

The table was beautifully laid 'a la Hayley' and we started with mulled wine, a snowball fight, snowman (and snowrabbit) making. We then got stuck into the chicken and orange pate, followed by the best butternut squash soup I have ever made. We broke up the first starter and main course with some champagne and secret santa pressies! Chris then did us proud with dinner serving five different cuts of pig! Followed by Debbie's yummy pudding selection and Louise brought the cheese. We played Kranium and the boys cheated making it feel like a perfect Christmas day!

Spicey Parsnip Soup

My Dad's homegrown parsnips fresh from the garden ready to be made into yummy spicey parsnip soup.