Marie Cookpad

  Just because we are on lockdown and unable to get out doesn't mean that our meals have to be boring.  I do have limited fresh vegetables at the moment, consisting mainly of potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots.  That is all about to change on Friday however!  Yay!   Yes, with some diligence and determination I was finally able to get in touch with someone from our city indoor market who is making deliveries, and at a fair price.  On Friday afternoon I will have cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, apples, oranges and a few other bits. I am so very grateful for that. And they will deliver it all right to my door and leave it on the step.   In the meantime I was able to make Todd and I a sausage and vegetable bake today, using what I do have at the moment.  It was delicious.   It is perfectly sized for two people, but you can very easily double the amounts to serve more.  There are potatoes, sweet potato, carrots and onion, plus...

  I had taken some sausages out of the freezer to cook for our supper last night, thinking I was going to cook them with some onions, apples and apple juice, only to discover today that I had no apple juice. I really should have checked before I took the sausages out . . .    I have had this Mary Berry Cookbook, called Mary Berry Absolute Favourites, based on the television series of the same name, and I am ashamed to say I haven't used it.   I just love Mary Berry, don't you?  I really miss seeing her on the GBBO. To me, its just not the same without her.  I love all of her television shows as well. She seems like a genuinely nice person.  This book contains over 100 brand new, simple and satisfying recipes from one of her latest cooking series, and I really have no excuse for not having used it before, as the recipes in it all seem sound and quite delicious!   I was drawn to the bright colours of this dish!   I also liked that I was ea...

Sometimes I like to treat Todd to a pub fare meal on a weeknight.  Pubs here in the UK are somewhat similar to Diners in North America, in that they usually serve nice comfy meals, home style. They also serve alcohol.  Some do the meal thing really well and others not so well. It is hit and  miss really.  Some just re-heat frozen food.   They offer a variety of things on the menu, but most will offer meat pies and chips, roast dinners, fish and chips, curries, etc. and most will also have Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips.  You will normally be asked if you want a ring of pineapple with it or peas.   A gammon steak is like a thick slice of uncooked ham or green ham. It can be smoked or unsmoked, and, unlike ham you MUST cook it before you eat it, like bacon in a way, but quite different in flavour and consistency.  It comes from the leg of a pig whereas bacon comes from the belly.   Todd will sometimes order the Gammon, Egg & Chips, but I hav...

  So today is my birthday and I wanted to enjoy one of my favourite foods.  Steak.  I could quite happily be a vegetarian, except for the fact that every now and then I enjoy eating a good steak.     When I was a much younger woman, in another lifetime, I used to love being treated to a meal out at Ponderosa or Bonanza, both chain steak houses in North America. You could get a decent steak cooked to your idea perfection . . .    Along with your favourite sides, be they fat steak cut chips, or baked potatoes, fried onions, grilled mushrooms, onion rings  . . .  there was also a salad bar that came free with every meal.   The salad bars were crazy delicious.  The trick was to NOT fill up on the salad bar before you got your meal!   At that time I would have shuddered at the thought of eating Stilton cheese, let alone enjoying it melted on top of a juicy steak.  Boy oh boy  . . .   I was missing out on a delici...