Monday Meal Planning

This week is going to be crazy busy. We are leaving for our summer holiday (back to the US for three weeks) on next Monday. I have to pack, which means going through everybody's clothes to see what we have and what is (still) needed, and making sure no one wears anything they want to bring after Thursday because Friday is the last laundry day before we go. I have to clean the house from top to bottom, not only because we are giving Larry's mum keys to the flat so she can keep an eye on it while we are gone and I don't want her thinking she needs to do anything, but also because we have a terrible damp/mould problem in our bathroom and the contractor is supposed to come sort it out while we are gone. We arranged it for then so it won't matter if they have to tear the bathroom apart and it is unusable for any amount of time. 

It's meal planning Monday and the meals this week are planned to use up what I have on hand as well as keeping leftovers to a minimum. So, tonight we are having grilled lamb chops that I marinated in some of my home made salad dressing. As a side, I am going to make a baked mashed potato casserole to use up some potatoes and bacon I have in the fridge. Basically it's twice baked potatoes, but in a dish. Just make some mashed potatoes, using your favourite recipe, add some cooked, crumbled bacon, sour cream, and some grated sharp cheddar cheese, spread into a greased baking dish and then top with some more grated cheese, bake until hot all the way through. You can add chopped green onion or anything else you want. We will have a green salad with this to use up the rest of the dressing. 

Tuesday is fish day and I have some tuna steaks in the freezer.  I am going make a spicy grilled tuna and serve it with spinach and fried potatoes, made using some boiled potatoes I have left over from making the baked potato salad last week. I have some strawberries (400 grams) I got on sale so I am going to slice them up and add some balsamic vinegar (@ 1/4 cup or 60 ml) mixed with honey (@  1.5 tablespoons) and a grinding of fresh black pepper. You can serve this with good vanilla ice cream or plain Greek yoghurt, it is delicious. I know it sounds weird but be brave and try it.

Wednesday I am making home made bagel dogs. I am going to make a few changes by skipping the seeds on the outside and putting a slice of smoked Bavarian cheese on top of the hot dog before I wrap it up in the bagel dough. We will have these with oven fries and sautéed green beans. 

Bagel dogs, recipe and photo courtesy of
Circle B Kitchen

Thursday we are having egg and chorizo wraps.  To make them I fry up some sliced chorizo sausage and diced onions add beaten eggs, 2 per person, and cook until the eggs are cooked through. Serve on tortillas/wraps with grated cheddar cheese and salsa. I am going to serve carrot sticks with these.

Friday will be whatever is left in the fridge/freezer.  Larry's mum is coming by to pick up keys and spend time with us before we go so I will try to make something nice but it will just be using up bits of this and that, most certainly involving eggs. I'll keep you posted on what it turns out to be.  

The weekend is going to be meals out because we won't be home at all. It is the nineteenth annual Dundee Blues Bonanza. It's three days of fabulous music with musicians coming from all over the world and not to be missed (by us anyway). Larry and I went last year and we had a great time. We hope to see some of the same acts as last year and maybe find some new ones to add to our list of favourites. Part of the fun is in seeing various friends every where we go. Last time there were people we knew at each of the venues and I would expect it to be the same this time. Last year we had to cut our Sunday fun short because Larry had to work on the Monday. This year we can dance into the wee hours because, while we do have to be up early for our ride to the airport, we can sleep all day on the plane if we need/want to. My plan is to have everything packed and ready to go except for the last minute things, like toiletries and meds, by Friday night so the weekend is free for fun. Wish me luck! 

Menu Monday

It's Menu Planning Monday again. Seems like we just did this last week . . . oh wait . . . we did . . .

We are having a pretty easy week, meal wise. Today we had croissants with ham and cheese omelettes on them. We had sliced apples and grapes as a side. Tuesday is fish night and we will be having fish cakes with mushy peas and chips. Wednesday we are having spaghetti and Italian meatballs that I had in the freezer with some garlic toast and salad. Thursday will be roast chicken with roasted balsamic sweet potatoes and a green salad. I plan to add some chunks of onion and carrot to the sweet potato recipe. Friday will be beans on toast. Sunday is Father's Day so my boys will be having dinner with their Dad which means Larry and I will just have leftovers.

Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes
photo and recipe courtesy of
Rufus' Food and Spirit Guide

Menu Planning Monday

It's menu planning Monday again. I love to try new recipes and this week has two new recipes and three tried and true favourites.

Monday:

Toad in the Hole (recipe found here, at the bottom of this previous post). Requested by Larry, who rarely asks for anything specific, so it is my great pleasure when he does mention a favourite meal. Today I will be using Cumberland sausages and serving it with a green salad on the side.  

Toad in the Hole

Tuesday:

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper- The first of our new recipes, made with smoked haddock poached in milk, served on whole grain toast with a rarebit sauce. We'll have some spinach on the side.

Wednesday:

Guinness Burgers- I have made these once before and they were a huge hit. I use  lean steak mince and will be using smoked Gouda for the cheese this time. We will have chips (oven fries) and a green salad with these.

Thursday: 

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes- another new recipe for us.  I plan to make half this recipe because it makes two pans. Since my chorizo is cured I will add it half way through the cooking time and I am going to put in some cherry tomatoes and green beans as well. I will be using lemon zest instead of orange because no one, except me, really eats oranges here but I always have lemons on hand. (Connor's idea of eating oranges is to suck the juice out and leave the rest.) This is a whole meal in one pan so I will just serve it with some nice French bread to soak up all the juices.

Friday:

"Gourmet" Baked Beans on Toast (recipe found here) An oldie but a goodie and one of mine and Larry's favourite quick meals.

Saturday:

Date night

Sunday: 

We will be having a takeaway tonight because Larry and I are going to the Perth Races with a crowd of people from our local. We went last year and had a great time and expect it to be even more fun this year. Last year it was rainy and cold and this year it looks like it will be a beautiful sunny day. All of the girls get together and we each bring something(s) to share and we end up with a very nice picnic lunch. I am bringing dessert. I haven't decided all what I am making but I know peanut butter cookies will be one of the things.

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper 

photo and recipe courtesy of 

Fish is the Dish

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes
photo and recipe courtesy of
Pick Yin

Guinness Bacon Cheeseburgers
photo and recipe courtesy of
Care's Kitchen

The Catch Up Recipes From Last Week

From Dinners, Dishes and Desserts, one of our meals last week was Roasted Garlic, Chicken and Red Onion Pizza. It was delicious!  The only changes I made from the original recipe was to use the olive oil from roasting the garlic, instead of butter, to make the roux for the white sauce and I didn't have any thyme so I used Italian seasoning instead. I also divided the Parmesan cheese and put about 2/3 in the sauce and sprinkled the rest on the top of the pizza. I put onions on only half the pizza as the boys don't really care for them and I put extra cheese on their half. The recipe says six servings but we got three, plus one extra piece, and Larry and I both had salad with it.

Recipe and photo courtesy
of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

The other recipe I owe you is for Mince Rolls. Interestingly, Mince Rolls are unique to Dundee. If you go any where else in Scotland and try to order one, the server will look at you like you are crazy.  I had my first ever Mince Roll at my local pub. The manager serves food during half time of the weekend football (soccer) matches and this is one of my favourite things he makes. Thank you, Paul, for the wonderful recipe!

Dundee Mince Rolls

1 pound lean steak mince

1 large onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

2 small potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup frozen peas

3 Oxo (bouillon/stock) cubes, crumbled

1 (UK) pint (20 ounces) cold water

Pepper to taste

I take the easy way out and prep the veggies in the food processor.  I chop them all into similar size (biggish) chunks then pulse until they are the size I want. I make them kind of small so the kids don't notice them as much. Paul often uses frozen mixed vegetables and that is just as good, no chopping involved.  Brown the mince over medium heat, add the onion and the crumbled stock cubes and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and cook for 15 minutes. Add the carrots, peas and potatoes.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  I like to put it in the crock pot/slow cooker after the meat and onion is browned and then add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on low all day or on high for about 4 hours.  If the meat is too juicy you can thicken it up with gravy mix or corn starch and cold water.  I don't usually need to thicken it.  Serve on rolls.  This makes enough for 8 rolls.

Dundee Mince Roll

Menu Planning Monday

It's Menu Planning Monday so here are the meals I have planned for the week.  I know I still owe you some recipes from last week and I will do a post tomorrow with those to play catch up.  

Monday:

Buffalo Chicken Wraps with home made Blue Stilton Dressing

Apple slices

Photo courtesy of Eating Well

I didn't make the dressing called for  

in the recipe, I made my own Blue Stilton 

dressing (recipe below). To save

on calories, I will have my wrap 

as a salad, with lots of extra 

vegetables and skip the tortilla.

Tuesday
Crispy Baked Basa  with Tartar Sauce
Potato Salad
Green Salad 

Recipe and photo courtesy
Chef in Training

Wednesday:

Corn Dogs

Carrot Sticks

Chips (Fries)

Not really the healthiest of meals but a treat for my boys.  Corn dogs aren't known over here in Scotland and when I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it. I am following some of the tips and cutting the hot dogs in half, skipping the skewers and using honey in the batter instead of sugar.

Thursday:                                                               

Recipe and photo courtesy
Chocolate Broccoli

Spicy Thai Chicken with Basil

Rice

Sauteed Cabbage

Green Beans

Friday:

Crustless Quiche

Toasted Whole Wheat Soda Bread

Grapes

Saturday:

Larry and I have a wedding party to go to tonight so it is just something easy for the boys.  I have some cooked shredded chicken breast in the freezer and I am going to put some barbecue sauce on it and put it on rolls.

BBQ chicken on Rolls 

Crisps (potato chips)

Salad

Sunday:

The boys are eating at their Dad's tonight.  It will be an easy cooking night because I will just heat up some leftovers.  If there are no leftovers then we will have fried eggs with sharp cheddar cheese on rolls. 

The Blue Stilton Dressing recipe is a revamped recipe I found online.  I cut back on the mayonnaise and the cheese and I think it is just as good for less calories.  The trick is to use a good quality cheese for the sharpest flavour, which is what allows you to get by with less. Once you start making your own salad dressings, and discover how easy it is, you will never go back to the chemical laden store bought!

Blue Stilton Dressing

3/4 cup sour cream 

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon (scant) salt

1/4 teaspoon (generous) garlic powder

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup mayonnaise (I used Helmann's Light)

3 ounces (divided) of good quality Blue cheese, Stilton, or Gorgonzola, what ever you like.

In a medium mixing bowl beat together, sour cream, spices and Worcestershire sauce for about two minutes. Add the mayo and 2 ounces of the cheese, crumbled.  Mix for another two minutes or so, until the cheese is pretty well incorporate.  Add the last ounce of cheese, crumbled, and mix again until the dressing reaches your desired texture. We like some chunkiness. Chill in a covered container for at least 8 hours to blend the flavours.

Blue Stilton Dressing

Crock Pot Refried Beans and Enchilada Sauce

My laptop was in the shop yesterday . . . so not good. I could do almost everything on my phone but I couldn't write a blog post so yesterday's post had to wait until today. Fortunately the computer only needed a new jack for the power cord. And, the computer guy was nice enough to clean the fans while he had it open so now my computer doesn't sound like a jet taking off.  

Yesterday was a milestone day for my son, Cameron.  He had his last exam and is now officially done with secondary education.  He has been offered a place at the University of St Andrews for the term starting in October 2014. We all are very proud of him.  

Last night for dinner we had bean and cheese burritos baked in the oven, smothered with home made enchilada sauce. If you were to order these in a restaurant they would be called "Wet Burritos". They were delicious and so filling. I was stuffed with one and Larry and Connor managed one and a half each. You could put less filling in each and make more of them, but I try to limit the "bread" so I use more filling and only have one tortilla. I made eight, so that left one and a half for Cameron for his lunch today, one for Larry for his lunch today, and one and a half for Connor to have for his Sunday dinner because he doesn't care for mince rolls. I cut up some Granny Smith apples too and we all had more than enough to eat.

                                 

"Wet" Bean Burritos

To make the burritos:

8 flour tortillas

refried beans (recipe below)

grated cheese

enchilada sauce (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375f/190c

Heat the beans, put about 1/3-1/2 cup in each tortilla and top with grated cheese.  To roll, fold the two sides in, fold the bottom up to the middle and then bring the top down over that.  Like an envelope.  Line a pan with foil (to make clean up easier) spread some enchilada sauce over the bottom (about a cup) and then put the rolled burritos, seam side down, on top of the sauce. Top with more sauce, about a cup or so, and bake until bubbly, about15 minutes or so.  Top with grated cheese and continue heating until the cheese is melted.  Let rest about 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with diced onions, salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole.

Enchilada Sauce (I doubled it so I could freeze some for another time)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons self raising flour (I don't know why self raising but that is what the original recipe called for so I use it.)

1/4 cup chilli powder, I used half mild and half hot, but we like spicy

8 ounces tomato sauce

1 1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

14 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of salt if desired

In a saucepan, heat oil, flour and chilli powder until the colour changes to light brown.  Whisk in the rest of the ingredients and cook, while whisking over medium heat, until thickened.  

Enchilada Sauce

Crock Pot "Refried" Beans

1 package (1 pound or 500 grams) of dried pinto beans, washed and soaked overnight.  

8 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1/4 cup cumin

2 large vegetable stock cubes (to make 4 cups of stock)

1-3 seeded jalapeños, cut in chunks.  Use rubber gloves while you are doing this to protect your skin from the oils.

1 large white onion, peeled and cut in big chunks

1 large red onion, peeled and cut in big chunks

1 tablespoon mild chilli powder

Water

Put the beans along with everything else, except the water, into a crock pot. Add enough water to cover the beans and vegetables. Cook on high for two hours and then put on low until you are ready to serve, at least three hours or, if you are going to be gone all day, cook on low for 8 or more hours.  Use a stick blender to purée the beans and vegetables right in the crock pot or else transfer it to a food processor in batches to do the same.  If you want more texture to your beans you can dice the onions and peppers small before you put them in the crock pot and then use a potato masher to achieve the desired consistency.  This made enough for 8 very full burritos and about 2 cups to freeze for a side dish the next time we have tacos. 

Crock Pot Refried Beans

Enjoy!!!

Steak and Guinness Pie, Beer Bread and Snickerdoodle Blondies

Today is a grey, wet and dreary day. Or, as they say here in Scotland, it's dreich, pronounced dreek but with a very wet k sound from the back of your throat, like loch. So, we are having some lovely comfort food for tea.  Steak and Guinness Pie, Steamed Carrots and Beer Bread.  Dessert for the boys is Snickerdoodle Blondies with ice cream.  

Steak and Guinness Pie

Steak and Guinness Pie

Oil or butter for browning the steak and onions

750 grams (1.5 lbs) steak cut in chunks, cut off any large bits of fat

1/4 cup seasoned flour I used garlic and chilli seasoning in a grinder which has salt in it too.

2 medium onions, diced

3 beef Oxo (bouillon) cubes

500 ml boiling water

1 can Guinness or any strong flavoured beer

2 teaspoons thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 package all ready rolled puff pastry or your own recipe

corn starch and water or Bisto granules if desired to thicken gravy

egg wash for pastry

Dredge meat in the seasoned flour and brown in the oil or butter in a hot pan. Don't over crowd the pan or you will steam the meat instead of brown it.  I did mine in three batches.  Remove browned meat to slow cooker/crock pot. Brown the onions, adding more butter or oil if needed, then add to the meat. Pour the boiling water into the pan and add the Oxo cubes. Using a spoon or a scraper to get up all the lovely crispy brown bits, dissolve the Oxo in the water.  Pour over the meat and onions in the crock pot.  Add the beer and seasonings.  I added more chilli and garlic seasoning as well but you could add plain black pepper if that is more to your taste.  We like spicy.  Cook on high heat until the meat is fork tender, about five hours.  I start mine on high for about two hours and then put it on low to continue cooking for the rest of the day. When the meat is tender, thicken the gravy with cornstarch and water, or Bisto granules, if needed. 

There are two ways to finish off your pie.  I pour the hot beef and gravy into a baking dish and cover with pastry.  You can either put one big top on, cutting vents to release steam, or individual rounds of pastry, one for each person. Following the directions on the pastry package, brush with the egg wash and bake the pie in the oven until the pastry is done.  Or, if you want an easier way, cut the pastry into serving size pieces, brush with the egg wash and, again following the directions on the package, bake on a tray until done. Portion the beef and gravy onto plates and top with the baked pastry.  You may wonder why I used small rounds of pastry instead of covering the whole top of the pie. as most would.  Well, there are millions of calories in puff pastry and that is my way of cutting the calories down while still enjoying the pie.

Beer Bread

Beer Bread

375 grams (13 ounces) self-raising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

330 ml (12 ounces) strong flavoured beer of choice 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Generously butter bottom and sides of a bread pan.

Mix flour and sugar together, add beer and mix until combined. I used a honey ale this time but often I use Guinness.   Pour into buttered pan and let rest for about 30 minutes.  Bake in preheated oven (375f/180c) until browned on top and tester comes out clean. About 50 minutes.  Once you have taken the bread out of the oven, brush with the melted butter while still in the pan. Leave in the pan on the cooling rack for about 10 minutes then remove from the pan and allow to finish cooling. Serve warm with honey butter for a real treat.

Snickerdoodles are just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar before baking. I'm all for bars over cookies however and decided to try making Snickerdoodle Blondies.  The recipe and photo come from Lisa at My Own Sweet Thyme. They turned out great and we all loved them.  Very sweet though so if/when I make them again I might cut the brown sugar down just a bit.

Fast Day Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken

The original recipe for this came from LaaLoosh.  After reading the reviews, which I always do, I decided to make some changes.  Here is my version of the recipe which you can compare to the original and decide how you want to go.  We really enjoyed this.

Photo credit to LaaLoosh

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken (5 servings with 250 calories per serving, if you eat only one thigh then it will be 150 calories)

1 can Guinness or any beer that has a deep flavour

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons French mixed herbs (mine has rosemary, thyme, savoury, marjoram and basil)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (depends on your tolerance for spice, we really like it)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I didn't add much salt because I planned to thicken the broth with gravy  mix which has a lot of salt in it.)

1/4 cup dried minced onion

10 chicken thighs, skin removed

Mix all the ingredients, except the chicken, in the crock pot.  After mixing add the chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Remove the chicken from the crock and add some boiling water (I added about 2 cups) and enough chicken gravy mix to thicken.  If you prefer, you can use chicken stock and corn starch to make the gravy.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.  Add the chicken back to the gravy until you are ready to serve.  Optional: remove the bones from the thighs before you return them to the gravy.  I do this because I have Mr. Picky (my son) who hates bones in his chicken.  I served it over mashed potatoes with green beans on the side.  As yesterday was a fast day for me, I had mine over sautéed cabbage instead of mashed potatoes.  Delicious!

Thursday, Fast 10

Today is fast day 10 which should go by pretty quickly as I have a busy day planned.  Tonight we are just having a chicken stir fry for tea, with the non-dieters having Chinese noodles and me having extra veg instead. 

Yesterday's tea was a great recipe I got from my Mom.  We had chilli on Monday and the usual "planned-overs" are chilli dogs but this time I made Chilli Dog Casserole.  The recipe is here on my Mom's blog.  The recipe calls for 30 ounces of canned chilli but, like my Mom, we don't eat a lot of processed food.  So, I took the leftover chilli from Monday and, because I make it really thick, added water and tomato paste (double concentrated puree) to make it up to the right amount and to make it saucier.  My hot dogs come in a pack of ten but the wraps I used (I used a package of Indian Chapatis because they are much less expensive than tortillas here in Scotland) come in a pack of eight so I just threw the extra two hot dogs in the dish as is and then sent them with Larry for his lunch today.  I have to say this was a fabulous meal!  All four of us loved it and the boys wanted to know why I hadn't made this heaven in a dish for them before yesterday.  All I can say in my defence is, I forgot about the recipe and just recently remembered it.

Chilli Dog Casserole (photo courtesy of WeFarm)

A bit of advice for my friends who are struggling to convert recipes from Imperial to Metric or vice versa . . . invest in a good kitchen scale.  They really aren't expensive and make all the difference.  Make sure it can be switched from one form of measurement to the other and then you won't have to try and convert a recipe.  I also use this On line Conversion site.  It is difficult to work out the difference/equivalences between US and UK cups/pints/etcetera when you are as maths impaired as me so this page takes the stress off.

Fast day 8 and catch up from yesterday

Sunday was, by special request, meat loaf night.  So that made yesterday spaghetti bolognese night.  My sister is married to an Italian and that is a tradition she  has given to me, making spaghetti bolognese with chopped up leftover meat loaf.  I make my sauce in the crock pot/slow cooker and I let it go all day so the flat smelled delicious!  I also made some meat balls to go in the sauce and some French bread that I turned into garlic bread.  Of course, since life is never easy I had to make a white Alfredo type sauce for the boy who eats nothing that looks like it grew from the ground.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to put up, sorry about that.

Italian Style Meat Loaf

500 grams of bulk Italian sausage, hot or sweet, your choice, we use hot
500 grams lean ground beef mince
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon basil
1 Tablespoon oregano
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion or 1 small chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and press into loaf pan.  Bake at 350/170 until internal temperature reaches 165f.  I almost always use a digital meat thermometer rather than time when cooking meat, but you can expect it to take about an hour.  I usually bake potatoes at the same time to go with this and we had corn, which is one of the few "vegetables" picky boy will eat.  I made peach cobbler for dessert and that made enough for the boys to have dessert every night they eat with us this week.

I can't find Italian sausage here so I make my own.  We really like it and I use it to make patties for sandwiches as well.

500 grams or 1 pound ground/minced pork
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seed
1 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
14 - 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

I put all the seasoning ingredients in a resealable plastic bag and mix them together well.  Then I put the pork in and seal it up and squeeze the bag around until the seasonings are evenly distributed through the meat.  I usually make this up a couple of days before needing it to make sure the flavours are well blended.  If pork is on sale you can make this in any quantity you want and freeze it in appropriate sized portions. 

I don't know if any one actually needs a recipe for meat balls but just in case . . . here is a basic recipe you can tweak to suit your family.

Italian style Meat Balls (six large meatballs at 184 calories each)

1.5 pounds/750 grams extra lean minced beef

1 egg

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoon basil

1 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Mix gently, not too much, and then form into six large meatballs, fry in a little bit of olive oil to brown and finish cooking them off in your sauce.  I put them in the crock pot/slow cooker with my meat loaf bolognese sauce to cook all day.  

"Alfredo Sauce"  is in quotes because it tastes like Alfredo but uses much less butter and has a lot less calories.  We really like it and you can use low fat/calorie ingredients to suit your taste/diet.  Since serving size is so individual, I just use a couple of tablespoons but my son probably uses 1/2 cup I have figured the calorie count for the whole recipe.

Alfredo style sauce (1031 calories for the recipe)

3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons plain flour
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) semi skimmed (2%) milk, more as needed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup (50 grams) grated parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
100 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (about 3.5 ounces or so)
freshly grated black pepper to taste
a pinch of nutmeg

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add flour to make a roux.   Slowly add the milk, whisking the entire time, stir until thick.  Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.  Add more milk if you decide it is too thick for your tastes.

The French Bread recipe, and the photo, came from here.  I haven't had time to search this blog properly but it looks like there are lots of great recipes.  The bread turned out wonderful and, after I cut the end off so I could make sure it wasn't poisonous  I made it into garlic bread to go with the spaghetti last night.  Every one loved it.

This post is already full of recipes so I won't post my bolognese sauce recipe.  I figure every body probably already has one they love to make or buy.  If you do want a recipe that is full of fresh veg and made in the slow cooker, let me know in the comments and I will do a later post on it.

Today is fasting day eight, and I am making a classic British dish called Toad in the Hole.  Don't ask me why it's called that, I have absolutely no idea, maybe one of my readers can enlighten us.  My recipe makes six servings, one each for Larry and I and two for each of the boys.  I will serve it up with green beans for all and left over peach cobbler for the boys.

Toad in the Hole  (six servings at 283 calories per serving)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

6 sausages, I used Morrison's Best Pork, Smoked Bacon and Cheddar

170 grams/6 ounces plain flour

3 eggs

185 ml/6 ounces semi-skimmed (2%) milk

Brown sausages under the grill or on top of the stove.  Place oil in a (9x13) baking dish and put into a cold oven.  Turn oven on to 400f/200c.  While the oven and dish is pre-heating, make the batter.  Either use a blender or a stick blender to mix flour, milk and egg until smooth.  Remove the hot pan from the oven, put the sausages in the bottom and pour the batter over them.  Bake about 35 minutes or until the centre is puffy and browned.  Don't be worried if the batter falls a bit after you take it out of the oven, it is supposed to do that.

Toad in the Hole