Better late than never - March Meal Plan

Well it's better late than ever, I've posted the March Meal Plan. Click here to see it.

I will try to get on the ball more and get the plans updated on time!!!

Happy Home Cooking!

Meyer Lemon Pudding

One of my newest obsessions is Pinterest! By far the best addition to the internet ever!!! I actually wondered the other day what I did before it existed. Not only is it a rich source of inspiration for recipes but I've built and decorated about 5 dream homes and I have the most amazing virtual wardrobe, plus an organised home-school lesson plan ideas. 

Anyhow I digress! While doing my daily trip to Pinterest land I saw this beautiful picture of a Meyer lemon pudding. So I just had to make it. With my new found desire to make everything from scratch pudding just seemed like a sure thing. Plus my sweet little hens have been lying well so using eggs didn't seem like a waste.

I have to say that it was wonderful and my sweet boys were addicted. They actually couldn't wait for it cool and we had to taste while it was still warm and it was delicious. To please my picky 5 year old is not easy!!!

So Meyer lemons. I'll be honest I've learnt a lot about them this past weekend. They are a species that originates in China and is supposed to be a cross between a lemon and an orange, strange feeling there's a joke in there somewhere!!!! Anyhow I know that they are a winter harvested fruit and we're kinda in that spring season now. I honestly didn't go looking for them and just did the half lemon/half orange switch which worked well.

One of the things that amazed me when I moved to Louisiana was the ability to grow 'tropical' type fruit. Lets face it Northern Ireland is far from tropical. So I'm thinking a Meyer lemon tree maybe moving into my back yard.

Meyer Lemon Pudding

Ingredients:

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

2 ½ cups whole milk

3 extra large egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 T finely grated Meyer lemon zest (or 1 T lemon zest & 1 T orange zest)

¼ tsp kosher salt

½ cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (or ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice & ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice)

2 T unsalted butter at room temperature

Directions:

1.    In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch.

2.    Add the milk, egg yolks, zest and salt and whisk until smooth.

3.    Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently at first and constantly toward the end, until thickened.

4.    Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the citrus juice and butter.

5.    Place a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl and pour the mixture through the strainer.

6.    Divide the mixture into 6 serving dishes and let cool at room temperature.

7.    Refrigerate, loosely covered (tightly covered will trap too much moisture, making a watery pudding) for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

8.    Serve chilled by itself or with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Source recipe

Happy Home Cooking!

Homemade Bread!

Well on my journey to stop paying other people to make things that I can make myself (and yes I understand some people have extremely busy lives and can't) I have gone down the homemade bread road. For the last few months I've been experimenting with some recipes to see which one will fit our family. To say I have fallen in love is an understatement. This bread is moist and is still wonderful after 2 days, I don't know about any longer because it only made it that long because I specifically kept some to see. Although we have found that to make sandwiches that won't be eaten right away it doesn't seem to hold up.

I have to admit that I have been a mindless food purchaser and not really paid attention to labels and from time to time I would get a notion to but it was never a long lived thing, convenience seemed to win over. I recently took a look at the store bought bread we have used for years and saw all sorts of weird named ingredients. Now I know that they need it to preserve the bread so it has a shelf life but when you make fresh bread and see how long it lasts its a little scary how well these preservatives work! 

The trick for me is going to be timing and staying on top of the bread supply. Recently I haven't been too good at getting up early so bread for lunch has been a little late. I have horrible time management skills and really need to work on discipling myself and working to a schedule. Some recent changes around here will really go along way to helping me achieve this goal. I think a few more attempts and I will have my timing down perfect for the lunch time loaf of bread.

The original recipe this is adapted from is the Food Networks Alton Brown from Good Eats, Very Basic Bread Recipe. I love his show, well some of it, not the silly parts. I love the way he goes into the science behind cooking. It really is a science when you break it down. It also helps you to understand why you do the things you do at a specific stage in the cooking process. Anyhow I have changed the method Mr Brown used because it required some prepping the night before and I didn't feel the yeast was activating as much as I would have liked. So I got Julia Child's french bread recipe which is delicious. I took some of the method she used and applied it to Alton's recipe. Anyhow the results was amazing. The bread rose better and had a much better shape but still retained the taste.

My ingredients list is simple and this makes it cheaper than a store bought loaf. I love the fact that it is honey not sugar. Yeast needs sugar or honey to do it's thing but I much prefer the ability to use honey instead of sugar because its much less refined.

The shallow pan with hot water in it at the bottom of the oven will help to get a soft crust and keep the bread moist while it cooks. But I cannot impress on you the importance of being careful when you open the oven door, water and hot oven equals lots and lots of hot burning steam, I KNOW!!!!!! Facial like I've never experienced nor care to again!!!!

I've made the bread at night and it's been perfect for sandwiches the next day. Although it didn't seem to hold up for my husband when he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the morning and went to eat it at lunchtime.

By the way this is delicious with the Home Made Butter from January. In fact makes a peasant food like bread and butter feel like a luxury! I'll not even mention how delicious the BLT sandwich is either!!!

So give it a go you never know you could get addicted like me!!!!

Home Made Bread

Ingredients:

1 lb/16 oz bread flour, plus extra for shaping

1 tsp instant rapid rise yeast

2 tsp honey

10 oz of lukewarm water

1/2 tsp salt

2 quart hot water

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, lukewarm water and honey. Let stand for five minutes.

2. Stir together flour and salt in the bowl of a mixer. 

3. Using the dough hook attachment, add the yeast mixture to the bowl.
4. Knead the mixture on low for 2 - 3 minutes until the mixture comes together.

5. Cover the dough in the bowl with a tea towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

6. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 - 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky but shouldn't be too sticky to handle.

7. Add half of the hot water to a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven. DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON.

8. Place the dough in the mixer bowl in the oven on the rack directly above the hot water. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 2 hours.

9. Once the dough has risen turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour and press the dough out with your knuckles.

10. Grease the loaf pan with butter and sprinkle with flour.

11. Mold the dough into a shape about the size of the loaf pan and set it inside. Cover and allow to rest for about 30 minutes till 1 hour until it has risen.

12. Turn your oven on to 400 degrees F. Add more water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. REMEMBER BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL OPENING THE OVEN DOOR FROM THIS POINT ON - STEAM!!!!!

13. Place you bread in the oven and allow to cook for 35 - 40 minutes. Once the bread has reached an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. (If you are like me at least give it a few minutes so you don't burn yourself!).

Happy Home Cooking!!!

Turning a new leaf...

I know I have been absent from the blog for awhile and I apologize. My life is non stop on the best of days but recently it's been back to back sickness around here. It really has got me frustrated.

You know I'm all about home cooking and pretty much from scratch too. Being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome was the beginning of a change for me. However pregnancy, breast feeding and motherhood have side tracked me a little. I do wonder what I used to do with all my free time before the boys.

I have replaced a huge amount of the processed prepackaged food but recently I've been wondering if I have gone far enough and if our diet is healthy enough. Before the beginning of the sickness period I had danced with the idea of the Low Glycemic Load Diet. There's just one problem, I'm from Northern Ireland and carbs are in our genetic make up, it was like trying to learn to write with my left hand after always being right handed. So in the middle of that horrible stomach virus and the aftermath where ALL I wanted was a cup of tea and a slice of toast I had a rethink. After all potatoes, pasta, bread, rice, etc have been part of my diet all my life. What changed 10 years ago was my activity levels. Who knew having a car was bad for your health!!! So I decided that as much as I hate exercise, that is the direction of my path to reduce the weight. After all look at how gorgeous Nigella Lawson is and she loves to cook real fun food.

I have recently become more aware of what is in our food. I mean Hamburger Helper and the like are no brainers, you know that they are full of preservatives. But then I looked at our bread label, and the shredded cheese bag and suddenly I realized my naivety. Did you know that they use a ton of stuff in the cheese to keep it shredded and don't get me started on the bread. Needless to say that I am now buying blocks of cheese and dusted off the wonderful cheese grater that our niece gave us as a wedding present. 

I feel like I'm on a journey right now with regard to food. I guess that I have been ignorant and mindless about my food for years. I remember the day when I discovered you could make mayonnaise, it was from the little cafe below my office in London that made the best bacon butty. I asked them which brand of mayonnaise they used and they told me they made it fresh every day. I was amazed and awe stuck and you could taste the difference. And yes I've been working on the perfect mayonnaise recipe. 

So hopefully I can get you all caught up with the Home Cooking Mama kitchen. The one thing my journey is showing me is that from scratch is so much better. And yes I know not everyone has the time and I understand that, I will always try to keep that in mind when I'm posting recipes. 

For now I'm going to sign off and go have dessert - homemade Meyer Lemon Pudding. The boys have been driving me nuts since I put it in the fridge to set, so I guess I'll put us all out of our misery!!! I'll share the recipe later in the week!

Happy Home Cooking!