wots4supper

Hens, glorious hens

2011-02-17T12:08:00.000Z

My family are now the proud owner of 14 extra fabulous, glorious ex-battery hens - slightly bald in places (oven ready as some people indelicately describe them), but wonderful none the less! We've had them for almost 2 weeks and they started laying from day 1. At the moment they seem to be taking it in turns so that we're not oversupplied but I know that given a few degrees increase in temperature, some blue skies and more daylight they'll all begin to lay with gusto!

Talking about shopping

2010-10-19T13:11:00.002+01:00

In my normal slightly absent minded way, I’ve forgotten to highlight our latest new, exciting development on wots4supper and that’s our new shopping ideas page. We love it and hope you will too, basically we've pulled together some sites that we love and let’s face it – waste time looking at! We think they're really good and are sure you'll like them with Christmas just around the corner.

Christmas confessions......

2010-10-19T09:52:00.002+01:00

Am I the only one who HATES it when the supermarkets change their ‘seasonal aisle’ to Santa’s Christmas Food Grotto? In fact I’ve been a bit late to post this as our supermarket has been all decked out with their Christmas nuts for about 5 weeks....how do they judge when to put things out? Do they wait until they see 75% of the population with a tan and think ‘Ha... can’t have them too happy and relaxed after their summer hols, lets increase the pressure and get more money out of them ....time for the Christmas lines!’

I studiously avoid going down said aisle as it a) makes me feel cross that I’m being manipulated by the supermarkets into thinking about Christmas in September and b) makes me manic as I think I’m going to forget something, and I have too much choice ....'should we have Roses or Quality Street or Heroes' c) I worry that their going to run out of stuff by the time I buy it (which they have on occasion because I’ve purposefully left it late – I can tell you that increased the worry the next year). They obviously have very clever marketing departments that know how to push the buttons of most shoppers, either that or I’m super gullible and their perfect customer!

I always leave it late to buy Advent calendars – I can’t really see the relevance of Bratz dolls and chocolate treats to the nativity but hey I’m sure there’s a connection there somewhere. One year I left it so late we ended up with a ‘Proper’ Advent calendar, that just had pictures of the three kings, lambs and shepherds behind the doors. As parents we thought it was wonderful and it gave us a little flash back to the good old days but we had a job to persuade the kids, even at the ages of 18, 16 and 12!

I have this year broken my cardinal rule and ventured into the Christmas Food vortex in September, but only to buy a couple of boxes of Turkish Delight. A favourite of mine and my youngest. We have however already polished off one of the boxes I bought, so I can see a return visit for some more before they sell out....supermarket Christmas sale 1- Indignant Grumpy shopper 0

Empty Nesters

2010-10-08T10:34:00.002+01:00

I know that I'm the last of this current years Empty Nester's, and actually my nest isn't quite empty. I still have one little chick, although being a teenager and having just reached 6 foot I just know he'll cringe if he finds out I've referred to him as a small fluffy cuddly thing....

My 2 eldest are about to disappear for the new term at Uni, and although their particular uni starts very late the time in the lead up has been very well spent preparing for Freshers Week. The curse of the new Student Mum! Our first born is entering her last year at Uni now so we're quite familiar with the whole routine of last minute dashing around to buy those student necessities - I think a new pair of winter boots came high on the list of priorities and I'm not talking sensible thermal wellie-like affairs. These boots will be impossible to walk on in the snow and the ice.....but what do I know? The big difference for us all is that she is very kindly taking her next in line sibling with her.....with strict instructions to keep a subtle eye on him but nor to embarrass him in public.

We've been going through food and meals and what to eat, and what not to eat too much of and hoping that at least some of it has sunk in. He's at an advantage because he's in catered accommodation which means access to breakfast and cooked suppers 5 nights out of 7. He has the express intention of going to his sisters to make sure he has 7 out of 7, but I know she has other ideas. Just wondering how I preside over sibling bickering from 200 miles away....

Anyway, they're both armed with student cook book ,and every kitchen utensil know to man (pizza cutter was high on his list - I use a knife!) and a large stash of vitamin tablets which I hope will see them through to Christmas break!

Happy cooking

We're back!

2010-09-08T12:50:00.001+01:00

Huge apologies for not posting on here for such a long time....I'm trying to think of believable excuses but shall we just put it down to lack of creativeness....Actually we've been so busy upgrading the website and making it FREE that I've been completely neglectful of our blog. It has absolutely nothing to do with my holiday of a lifetime (I practically ate my way around Brisbane, Singapore and Phuket) as wots4supper was uppermost in my mind when I was stuffing my face.

This is just going to be a quick blog for now but I have no doubt that I'll have loads to share with all the wonderful, Autumnal fruit and veggies that are about.

I have finally managed to persuade my hubby to watch a cookery show with me, without compaining or wingeing. He doesn't cook and has no interest in learning and is the most uninterested viewer of cookery shows. The Great British Bakeoff has tapped in to his love of puddings (and mine too). If you've missed it, try to catch next weeks - they're in Cornwall with the final 4 competitors. Who knows I might even make a pudding at the weekend!

Mum's away....

2010-05-17T21:36:00.000+01:00

At the moment the big topic of conversation around our supper table is what the men in the house are going to eat next week when I'm away...My two sons (18 and 13) had a trial run last week when I went out for the evening and my hubby was away on a business trip. I'd left them all that they needed to make tuna fish and pasta but the 18 year old decided that spaghetti wasn't quite what they needed, so sent his younger brother off to the local shop for...(I'm not sure I can admit to this having come into my house and then been eaten with relish, as only teenagers and students can) okay...they had Pot Noodles. Nothing wrong with Pot Noodles, they have their place but that isn't ordinarily in my kitchen! The thing that really made me laugh was when my eldest son said 'but we didn't have any proper pasta', 'There's spaghetti in the cupboard'. His reply ....' alright it might be proper pasta but it's annoying to cook!' He said it with such conviction that I think I actually laughed my socks off! I love teenagers - no really I do, they can be hilarious and brutally honest but they are also really good fun.
So next week is going to be an interesting challenge for them all, the only thing my husband cooks is pancakes (which he does very well), the eldest son did 3 years of food tech - which apparently means he can cook anything and know it's nutritional value, and the youngest would happily exist on a diet of honey on toast and pot noodles (given a chance). This is where wots4supper comes in to its own - I know that I can't give them anything that needs any last minute preparation or complicated cooking, so I shall put together a special 'mums away' week of meals for them and just keep my fingers crossed the local shop's run out of Pot Noodles!
Don't forget to have a look at our Facebook page - and maybe post us a comment.
Happy cooking!

The growing season is here!

2010-05-10T10:31:00.000+01:00

Those of you who are gardeners as well as cooks will share my frustration in the weather I'm sure! I've managed to get out and plant a few seeds in my poly tunnels and the veggie beds are starting to spring into life, but it's so chilly at the moment that the last place I want to be is outside! We are still harvesting vegetables from last year though, by some miracle my chard seems to have come through the winter and the purple sprouting broccoli has been saved again from the pigeons. I bought some patriotic bunting from our local Co-op which is now adorning the brasicca cage!!They're a bit clever our local pigeons, they'd worked out that when the netting was lower they could sit on it and happily tuck in to the delicious young broccoli. I wish my teenagers were quite so keen on it...

I'm also taking advantage of a delicious glut of rhubarb in my veggie plot, and i made a delicious (even though I do say so myself) rhubarb and ginger cheesecake - very simple but really yummy.

4oz ginger-nuts, crushed
4oz digestive biscuits, crushed
4oz melted butter

1lb stewed rhubarb (cooked and cooled in its own juices with a good helping of caster sugar)
250g creamed cheese
8fl oz double cream
2 tbsp sweet ginger sauce
3oz caster sugar

First of all, make the base by melting the butter and mixing in the crushed biscuit crumbs. Press down firmly in to a flan tin and pop in to the fridge to set.

Then whisk the double cream until soft peaks from and beat in the cream cheese (you can keep whisking if you want). Mix in the sugar, ginger sauce and the stewed rhubarb - I always mix in the rhubarb a couple of tablespoons at a time and taste as I go. You want to get a good hit of that rhubarb tanginess but with a hint of ginger and its heat coming through.

If you have any rhubarb left over you can always sieve it and make it into a sauce to serve with the cheesecake or just spoon it over as it is.

Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather and I'm sure like us you can't wait for the summer to arrive!

Happy cooking

The w4s team

2010-03-04T10:05:00.000Z

I thought I'd just share this recipe with you all - I came across it 2 weeks ago in my quest for the perfect rice krispie snack! I hasten to add it's perfect in my eyes when I'm not on a diet or a health kick. The only drawback is everybody loves it so much they eat it immediately!

So you need:

3 Mars bars,
3 oz butter,
2 tbsps of golden syrup
Enough rice krispies to be coated nicely with the melted chocolate mix(roughly about 5-6 oz)

Melt the mars bars, butter and syrup together.
Pour over your rice krispies - if you're really lucky you can hear them crackle!
Put the mix into a deep dish lined with greaseproof paper, and press down.
Place to one side until cool. By this I mean hide them!!
When it's cooled down then cut into squares or rectangles. You can also melt some milk chocolate and pour over the top of the mix to create a wonderful chocolate topping. I don't do this but only because I feel I have to draw the calorie line somewhere!

You could of course adapt this and make little Easter baskets (we're always trying to be relevant and seasonal) out of shredded wheat and I'm positive there must be something you could make out of wheatos. The field of cereals and melted chocolate knows no bounds!!! If you're feeling really daring you could melt marshmallows - wait for the sugar rush.

Hope you like the recipe and enjoy the snacks - this may well be something that you've done for ages and is a bit old hat but shame on you for not sharing it!!

2010-02-23T13:27:00.000Z

I know, I know - it's been an age since I last posted and I did say that one of my New Year's resolutions would be to blog more frequently...... whoops, failed at that one!
We have been pretty busy with various things, not least getting all our Spring recipes up....Yay...and that coupled with the fact I personally turn in to a bit of a prickly hedgehog in Winter and like to hibernate has meant the blog hasn't got the attention it deserved!! Sorry.
I was wondering, however, last night as I whizzed up some breadcrumbs from some stale bread that perhaps that is how people with too much time on their hands could be defined; they make their own breadcrumbs - I never feel as if I have too much time on my hands, in fact the opposite seems to be the case but somehow I found the time to make breadcrumbs! They were to coat some salmon fishcakes that I'd made - using some hot smoked salmon I'd bought in error and some ready cooked salmon fillets that were coming to the end of their life, so to speak (because technically the salmon had already reached the end of its life, although in its filleted and cooked state it was just about to. Does that make sense? Maybe I can blame my rambling on Spring fever, which I'm convincing myself has surely got to be just around the corner. Along with simnel cake (which I love but have taken the decision not to make this year - the first time in a few years - as a) we've literally only just finished the Christmas cake, which was only iced on January 2nd and b)my thighs need a break from all that fruit cake and marzipan).
Annette and I were having one of our lovely food chats today, which invariably involves lots of laughter and decisions to try x,y and z recipes (mine was the mackerel with soy and lime dressing from Raymond Blanc)- I've got to watch last weeks for the chocolate cup apparently. Raymond Blanc's programme is wonderful; he makes his food look gorgeous, and simple to prepare and that coupled with his French accent and his cheeky sense of humour makes it a little bit of TV heaven!
Until next time, Happy Cooking and I promise not to leave it so long......

Chrsitmas time already

2009-12-21T07:47:00.001Z

Again another delay in posting the blog...I think we all know what one of my New Years' resolutions is going be! I will try harder and blog regularly.

Such a lot has been going on in the last few weeks...so I'll begin at the beginning. Annette and I had another company day out, this time to the BBC Good Food show. We went together a couple of years ago when we were at the beginning of our wots4supper planning when we thought that the launch of our site was imminent. It's a useful place to make contacts and also to do a bit of culinary shopping! This time we came back with some delicious curry pastes and pickles for Indian Meals - one of the things we always do when we've tasted something like that (a ready made paste/sauce) is try and unravel the spices and ingredients that have been used, we're always looking for new ideas and recipes and this helps us research new ones!

At the moment I'm looking out of my study at an incredibly snowy scene. In our part of the country the snow has decided it's not going anywhere - which is fun but (and now I'm starting to sound my age) ever so slightly disruptive! Isn't it funny though how with the cold weather you just want lots of filling, warming dishes - comfort food.

I am so looking forward to Christmas dinner, all the turkey and stufffing, little chipolatas with their bacon jackets, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes too if you're my Mum, all those veggies - although to be honest I can take or leave the brussel sprouts. This year I've grown my own and am feeling ever so slightly smug about it, however I'm taking them to my in-laws and am hoping for a little Christmas miracle - that the sprouts won't have any form of bugs in them! I've been saving myself for my annual Christmas pudathon. I LOVE IT! It is just as good gently fried the next day in butter with a sprinkling of icing sugar. I try not to have puddings in the run up to Christmas just so I can overindulge, I know binge pudding eating is probably not good for me but I can't help it. Then of course there's all the other food that we gorge ourselves on, turkish delight, chocolates, mince pies - sometimes I feel like I could eat enough for the year in one week. I do also love the fact that the clementines are at their best , when you peel your first one in the run up to Christmas doesn't it just transport you back to the days when you found one rolling around in the bottom of your stocking? Who can resist a pomegranate? I know there are lots of recipes now with them in salads etc but my greatest pomegranate memory is sitting next to my brother who painstakingly deseeded his onto a plate and ate them one by one with a pin (health and safety nightmare - my brother and pins), I had scoffed mine already, with a good helping of the bitter pith but it was still delicious. Funny how there are so many memories caught up with food...I can see another blog topic coming up for the New Year.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

The wots4supper team.

2009-11-16T08:04:00.000Z

It is such a long time since we last posted on our blog, but so much has happened to keep us busy and away from blogging.

I just heard on the radio that a survey concluded that mums get stuck in a rut of nine meals, and off the top of my head I'll try to remember them...spag bol, cottage/shepherds pie, pizza, curry, roast dinner, another pasta dish, meat and two veg ( I assume a variation on the roast and two veg..,casserole or stew, sausage and chips/mash.. Don't think there's anything new there then! That's just why we're here to provide people with recipes easily, and to show them it's not hard to cook different meals from scratch. I did notice there wasn't any fish in there.... not that I've become the fish police or anything. Also, and here's just a little thought to mull over...it doesn't take much thought and not a huge array of extra ingredients to turn that casserole or stew in to a delicious tagine, with lamb and apricots, gently spiced with a Moroccan influence. (We've got such a dish in the menu this week!)

I love this time of year, not least because it brings everybody back home, and I find it a great delight sitting round the table with my family, having a meal and discussing what's happening. Topics range from the ridiculous, to the political, we also do the odd bit of teenage myth de-bunking ( the last was how long it takes alcohol to leave the body and when it's safe to drive after you had a beer or two - we decided never, especially when you're 17 and only just passed your test, his friends - not him). The best thing about eating together is that you keep up a connection with your kids and they with one another, and you laugh a lot!

We've come across some wonderful new dressings and essences, the range of flavours are brilliant and they are amazingly versatile - you can use them on salads, to marinade meat or as a topping for ice-cream! If you want to take a look, the web address is www.suzannesvinegars.co.uk.

I promise to blog sooner next time, Christmas is coming and the preparations will soon be in full swing, but just for the time being I'm still avoiding the seasonal aisle!

Our first radio interview

2009-10-18T17:58:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay in posting this blog but we have been mind-whirlingly busy this week. Not only have we been firming up our sping recipes, but we've had a little brush with our local radio station! Annette and I battled the traffic into Cambridge and had a very nice chat with Jeremy Sallis. He made us feel at our ease and asked us all the right questions. It's great when things go to plan ( well kind of to plan). It was nice to be able to talk to him all about wots4supper and tell him what we're up to. Annette, I have to say, is a born saleswomen, and got all the right bits in at all the right times.

We managed to fit in a latte before the interview, in a very nice French cafe across the road from the studios (yep - it wasn't just a phone interview, we were actually there, in person). It felt kind of strange to be sitting in a French cafe having a latte in a quintessentially British town - the world is a very small place. I suppose that's why we have so many different influences on our food these days, and how cooking and recipes have changed from when we were younger. I don't think I'd even seen a fresh lime until one appeared in the top of my bottle of lager (more years ago than I care to mention), and now I wouldn't dream of being without one in my veggie drawer.

We like the idea that the tide is turning back to British food and recipes, and how important it's becoming to know where our food comes from and how it's produced. It goes without saying that food that is fresh and in season tastes better than food that's flown thousands of miles (can I make an exception for my limes, which I can't live without, oh and fresh ginger).

We were discussing some of our recipes recently and liver and bacon popped in to the conversation, which I distinctly remember eating as a child and I have to say quite liking (I'm not just saying that because my mum might read this). We wondered if people do still eat liver and bacon? I'm pretty sure that's one thing I couldn't get past my lot, although when it's cooked well it's lovely (honest Mum).

Company Outings!

2009-10-09T11:49:00.001+01:00

In the interests of market research we had a bit of light relief half way through the week, and went on our first company outing.....to the movies! We saw 'Julie and Julia', which is very relevant in so many ways! Firstly, it was about Julia Childs - a very famous US chef/cook, who spent some time in Paris with her diplomat husband, and secondly about Julia Powell, a writer and blogger who set herself a task to cook all of the recipes in Julia Childs' definitive French Cookery book, in the space of a year. Now, I don't think we'd say it would necessarily be of interest of those of you who don't like rom-coms, but it did have some glorious food sequences and some enlightening tips on Cordon Bleu cookery. I was inspired to cook enough to cook Coq au Vin, watch out for it on our menus.

Of course an important aspect of cookery is the equipment, and in particular pans! We use Gastrolux pans, they really are fantastic - you barely need any oil or fat , and when you've finished they wash up easily and come up like new. It's quite a heavy pan, so very good for toning those muscles, you won't see any bingo wings on us!!As with most things that are brilliant, they are a bit of an investment - but will last for along time. We got our first one from a very nice man called Dan, who had a stall at The Good Food Show (another company outing), he runs a business called www.kitchenfanatics.co.uk - a great web-site with lots of cool kitchen gadgets and equipment.

Pumpkins and squashes seem to be everywhere at the moment, and although they make excellent lanterns, they also make delicious soup and other dishes too. Roasted with other Autumn veg or used in a risotto - watch out for them in your w4s recipes coming up, they're always delicious.

This week at w4s HQ

2009-09-28T11:28:00.000+01:00

We heard about a brilliant new web site on the radio the other week www.vegswap.co.uk. A great idea if you've been growing your own veggies - if you have a surplus then you register on vegswap and see if anybody close by has anything that you'd like to swap with them (don't talk about runner beans and courgettes in my house). This probably appeals to those of us who can remember Saturday Swap-Shop, it's a grown-up, veg growers version! We're going to try to feature new relevant websites in the blog when we come across them, so if you've any that you think will be relevant send us an email.

Annette and I are very lucky to have a fantastic fruit farm in the village - they grow delicious plums, apples and pears. The apples my family are into at the moment are called Red Devil, a heritage variety. They're so sweet and crispy - I can't understand why they aren't more widely grown.

We've a bit of local media exposure this week, a photographer's coming out to take photos of us in the kitchen. Keep an eye out for it if you live locally, of course we've got our outfits sorted - company T-shirts, just deciding on the shoes!!

My bedtime reading has been a few old cookbooks that belonged to my Granny, amongst them Mrs Beeton. There are some really interesting recipes and ingredients, one that stuck in my mind was cow-heel soup! Yum, yum....

If there is ever a jam shortage I'll be OK - as I'm going to call 2009 the year of the preserves! My cupboard's bursting with damson, plum and blackberry jam. I haven't held back on the chutney making either, red onion, apple and cider and then spicy damson chutney. Annettes youngest loves the red onion one (I'll give her the fiver soon)! I'm toying with the idea of rosehip syrup, who knows it may go quite well with the cow-heel soup.

2009-09-23T10:40:00.000+01:00

So here we are - a week and a bit into our website launch. We're busy finishing off our next seasons recipes and weekly plans - it takes a surprising amount of time, but we feel it's important to get the recipes just right and the combination of recipes correct too. It's been a bit odd finalising winter meals when we're going through an Indian summer! We've spent the day cooking and tasting a whole host of fish recipes - you've got a delicious 'Haddock Chowder' to look forward to and we're sure our 'Salmon Fishcake Recipe' is a winner, and if you're fed up with the way you normally have tuna and pasta - just wait until you've tried our 'Special Tuna Pasta Bake'. There's so many Omega 3's going round our systems we're debating whether MENSA's an option!

We're still working with our web developers to make sure the site looks and behaves just as we want. If you've got any feedback just contact us by email, and we'll get on to it as soon as poss.

We're still enjoying the weather, there's been a lot of blackberry picking going on at the weekends - with crumbles, puddings and tarts!!

We're live!

2009-09-14T13:26:00.000+01:00

At last we're live and on the t'internet!! If you've come across us on the web and not through the site - come and see us at www.wots4supper.co.uk. We're sure you'll like the recipes and our menu planning, and if there's something you don't like just let us know.

Don't forget, when you've used a recipe please rate it. There's a lot of functionality linked to the site, scalable recipes, personalised shopping list and of course you can change the recipes around as you like!

Annette and I are busy working away at various elements, trying to get the site known - please feel free to tell as many people as you can!

In between all this I've got Damson chutney to make Annettte's overseeing house renovations - but wots4supper is our priority, we really hope it'll make your life just that little bit easier and make cooking that evening family meal a real pleasure!

Counting down!

2009-09-08T12:14:00.000+01:00

We're pretty sure that we're sooooo close to launching wots4supper, we're counting down on one hand!

The children have all gone back to school, except for the eldest (who has the longest university holidays in the world) and the youngest, who can't understand why she's the only one who isn't back in the classroom! Long may it last.

Annette's been busy camping her way through the school holidays, and who knows we might even introduce some w4s camping recipes!

Jo had her 'staycation', but had her fair share of sweltering heat when the middle son 'accidentally' locked her in the polytunnel. Thank heavens for mobile phones!

Don't forget to let us know if you've any recipe suggestions, just visit us on wots4supper.co.uk., we're always interested to hear what are peoples' favourites are.

2009-08-18T09:42:00.000+01:00

Hello!!

How exciting is this? Our first ever post after months and months and months of planning, debating, planning, meeting, discussing and planning!

Annette and I have spent an age working out our menus, collating all our recipes and talking to web-designers. We're sure it'll all be worthwhile and we hope you enjoy the recipes and the cooking as much as we do!

We'll post again soon!

Jo and Annette