Homemade Dog Biscuits

Hi, nice to see you again

Whenever I'm in the supermarket I always pick up those free magazines.  You know the ones, recipes and ideas and vouchers to make you spend more money in store.  I tend to flick through and cut out and keep any recipes I think might be worth trying.............and then file them away in a box to be forgotten about.

This is one I found recently but I can't remember which store it came from, sorry.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

It's a recipes using volumes rather than weights and I used this 1/4 cup measure.

Mix 4 measures of wholemeal flour and 1 measure oats in a bowl

In a separate bowl combine 1 measure of Xylytol free peanut butter with 2 measures of hot chicken stock. Xylytol is extremely poisonous to dogs so PLEASE read the label. I used Aldi's peanut butter. We had a roast chicken on Sunday so when I boiled up the carcass to make soup today I used the stock from that.  Don't use a stock cube as they are very salty and dogs shouldn't have salt.

Add the flour and oat mix to the liquid and stir well to make a paste.  I hate peanuts so found it rather unpleasant but Chico was intrigued by the smell and sat on my feet while I was making these.

Roll into little balls

about the diameter of a 20p piece and flatten with your thumb. I got 50 out of this mixture.

Bake in the oven Gas 4 for about 25 minutes and then leave to cool.

Keep in an airtight tin and give in moderation (according to the recipe).

They certainly got the Chico seal of approval which is good as he won't touch shop bought treats.

We're now en-route to Birmingham, via Turner's Garage to fill up with cheap diesel. It's been a strange old day weather-wise alternating between sunshine warm enough to not need a coat, to snow and sleet showers!  Typical April weather, but luckily we managed to get up Audlum Locks without getting wet.

Bye for now, please come back again soon.

Corned Beef & Potato Pie

It's amazing what you find when you wander through the back streets of towns. Banbury is pretty uninspiring and quite run down but we came across this row of shops tucked away behind one of the main streets. The smell of the wisteria was amazing.

While we were moored in the town centre we had a visit from the owner of "Milty" the 4th boat we built. We showed Milty at Crick Boat Show back in 2002 and became very good friends with Annie & Richard and actually shared the boat with them for several years before we got our own boat. We had many "lost afternoons" in the Malt Shovel in Shardlow, back in the days before it was modernised (and ruined?) and when it served amazing corned beef and potato pies which were Annie's favourite.

So, inspired by her visit, I made a pie for our dinner that night.  Although I'm good at making bread and cakes I've never managed to make decent pastry, in fact I can even make shop-bought pastry turn out like old boot leather!  I've tried every recipe going but without success, so this time I just winged it and grated cold butter into flour without weighing anything out and what do you know? It was perfect! Maybe it was the fact that I'd made it a couple of hours before I needed it and kept it in the fridge that made all the difference, or maybe it was just a fluke?

The filling was made by sautéing an onion in a teaspoon of olive oil for 10 minutes till soft and golden. I then added 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced, a veggie stock cube and a squirt of tomato ketchup, before covering with water and simmering for 15 minutes till the potatoes were soft. I drained the liquid off to use in gravy later and mashed the potatoes a bit and left it to cool. When it was time to cook the pie I added half a tin of corned beef chopped up into small dice and piled the mixture into the pastry lined tin and put a lid on it before baking it for 35 minutes at Gas 6.

I was really amazed how well it turned out. The pastry was perfectly cooked and didn't even have a soggy bottom, a first for me............

I hope it wasn't a fluke as Roger wants me to make it again soon.

Potato Cakes

One of my favourite breakfasts is toasted potato cakes but the ones sold in supermarkets are pretty tasteless so I make my own. They are easy to do and freeze well so I usually make up a big batch. You can also make just a couple by using up any leftover mashed potato.

Whether you use leftovers or make fresh mash specifically for the purpose the first thing you need to do is weigh them

You then need to add a quarter of that weight in self-raising flour. I had 696g of potato so added 175g flour. 

The main thing to remember is to use COLD mashed potatoes because adding flour to hot ones makes the potato cakes very doughy. If you added salt to the potato cooking water there is no need to add any more, if not you'll need to add half a teaspoonful now.

Mix the flour into the potato until it all comes together

I use floured silicone paper so the dough doesn't stick to the work top and press it out until it's the thickness of a pound coin. You could use a rolling pin but it isn't really necessary. I used to cut out circles of dough, re-rolling the trimmings to get the most out of the dough, but nowadays I just make large ones and score them into sections. The amount of dough I had was enough to make 2 large potato cakes.

You can cook the potato cakes in a flat bottomed frying pan or on a griddle iron but I use my chapati pan.

Whatever type of pan you decide to use you need to pre-heat it until you can just hold your hand about an inch above the surface and feel the heat.

Cook the potato cake in the dry pan, don't add and fat, for about 5 minutes and then carefully turn over. I slide it onto a plate and then tip the uncooked side back onto the pan and give it another 5 minutes.

Cool the finished cake on a cooling rack and then cut into individual portions. They freeze really well and are lovely served toasted with a bit of butter or fried and served with bacon and egg.

Enjoy!

Baking Day

We don't eat a lot of bread, usually only one or two loaves a week at the most, but I do bake it all myself. Today I decided to experiment and make a cinnamon & sultana loaf for toasting.
I made the main dough in the usual way. You can see how I do it HERE.

I left the dough to rise for the first time as usual

 
I used half to make a normal cob loaf but rolled the other half out on a floured surface into a rectangle about half an inch thick. I then brushed this with melted butter mixed with a teaspoon of cinnamon.

I scattered sultanas all over it and rolled it up like a swiss roll, brushed some of the cinnamon butter over the top and sprinkled it with a bit of sugar.

I left them to rise again until doubled in size and then baked them side by side at Gas 8 for 25 mins

The cinnamon & sultana bread was very nice but it could have done with being a bit sweeter so next time I think I'll add sprinkle sugar over the dough before I roll it up.

It was also really nice toasted later.

Stuffed Breast of Lamb

We always have a roast on Sunday and my favourite is lamb.  For a change this week I bought a boneless breast and stuffed it with a sweetcorn & herb stuffing. It was delicious.

Stuffed Breast of Lamb - serves 2 with leftovers
1 boneless breast of lamb (all major supermarkets sell them or you can order one from your butchers)
1 onion, chopped small and sauteed in a little olive oil
1/2 small tin of sweetcorn
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dried oregano or thyme
1 beaten egg
1 carrot, halved lengthwise

The lamb usually comes wrapped in bands of elastic cooking string.

Remove these bands and keep to one side for later. Unroll the breast and lay skin side down on a chopping board.

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together and spread over the lamb leaving a gap to one end.

Starting from the right, re-roll the lamb and secure with the elastic string bands.

Because breast of lamb is quite fatty it needs to be kept off the base of the roasting tin, so make a trivet from two halves of a carrot and place the joint on top.

Heat the oven to Gas 9 and cook for 15 minutes.  Then turn the oven down to Gas 3, cover the joint with foil and cook for 2 hours until tender.

Leave to rest for 15 minutes and serve in slices with roasties & veg. You can make gravy from the pan juices
but be sure to skim off any excess fat first.

I made the leftovers into rissoles which we had for lunch today.

Enjoy!

A bit of a fruit cake

Ginger has been recommended as an anti nausea aid during my chemo so I've been adding it to practically everything and it seems to be working.

My latest "ginger creation" was these little ginger & sultana cakes that I rustled up this morning. They must be good as there are hardly any left!

Little Ginger & Sultana cakes - makes 12

4oz soft butter
4oz brown sugar
5oz SR flour
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon ginger powder
2 tablespoons milk
8 oz sultanas

Whisk everything except the sultanas together in a large bowl.
Stir in the sultanas.
Drop mixture into 12 paper cases in a muffin tin & bake at Gas 4 for approx 25-30 mins.

Simple & delicious.

Enjoy!

Meat Free Monday

I can't believe how fast the weeks are going, it doesn't seem like 2 minutes since I did last week's Meat Free Monday feature.

I've been making our bread for the past 7 years and it's so easy to do by hand that I can't imagine using a bread machine. When you live on a boat you always have to watch electricity consumption so I'd have to use the machine while we were cruising or take the power from the batteries. I know people who live in houses who put the machine on a timer to come on in the early hours so they have fresh bread for breakfast and I can see the advantage in doing that, but we turn the inverter off overnight to save power so even that's out of the question.  One of my friends says that she couldn't be bothered to stand and knead the dough for 10 minutes, but for me that's the best bit.  10 minutes physically working the dough i.e. bashing the hell out of it, is a wonderful work-out for the bingo wings and it's a good stress reliever too!

Quite often I split the dough and make one small loaf plus one large pizza, so this week I'm giving you 2 recipes for the price of 1.

I hope you'll give them a try and would love to see photos of anything you make.

Basic White Bread - also pizza base, makes 1 large loaf or 1 small loaf plus 1 large pizza

450g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 sachet dried yeast
25ml light olive oil
350ml tepid water (just feels warm, but not hot)

Weigh the flour into a large bowl and add the sugar and salt. Mix well and then add the yeast.  DO NOT add yeast before mixing as it shouldn't come into direct contact with the salt as this stops it working. I was originally told to think of the effect of salt on slugs to help me remember and I've never forgotten yet.

Add the oil and then slowly add the tepid water, mixing at the same time with a spatula or tablespoon. You probably won't need all the water so don't go mad at first.  Every bag of flour uses different amounts of water and you'd be surprised at the difference between brands too. Asda flour uses far more than Tesco flour so be careful, you can always add more but you can't take it out. Eventually it comes together into a sticky ball that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.

Now for the fun bit.  Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes.  Put the timer on, turn the radio up and just go for it.  Kneading is easy, all you do is push and squeeze the dough with the ball of your hand. Keep dusting the work surface lightly with flour but don't use too much or you'll alter the texture of the bread.  A lot of recipes say use 500g flour to start, but I've found over the years that by using 450g and adding extra to stop it sticking, it works out perfectly every time.

As the 10 minutes pass, you'll feel a difference in the texture of the dough. It becomes much less sticky so you don't need to keep dusting with flour. It also becomes springy and doughy and will form a nice ball.

Wash out the mixing bowl in hot water (to pre-heat it ready for proving) and oil well. Put the dough ball in, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour or until it's doubled in size. If it's a sunny day, I leave it on the bed in the sunshine. This works even in winter, it doesn't have to be anywhere hot, just warm enough to activate the yeast.

After 1 hour it should have doubled in size, if not, leave it for another 10 - 15 mins.

When it's doubled in size tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface again and GENTLY knock the air out of it.  That doesn't mean knead it again, just poke it with your fingers and it will deflate.

Cut the dough in half to make a small loaf and a pizza base

Put the piece for the loaf in a lightly oiled tin and either slash the top with a sharp knife of cut with scissors to give a nice crusty finish to your loaf.

Cover with a tea towel or loose cling film and leave in a warm place for another hour until double in size again.

To make the pizza base, oil a baking tray and roll the dough very thinly onto it. It doesn't have to be a perfect shape but it's best if you can make it an even thickness all round.  The thinner the base the crispier the pizza, so if you wanted a deeper, chewier crust (like a deep-pan pizza) just roll the dough out thicker.

At this stage you can either leave the dough to rise for another hour along with the loaf, OR you can carry on and finish the pizza now. The double rising isn't important in pizza but it does improve the flavour of the base immensely. It also means you can cook both items at the same time and save gas.

Garlic Mushroom, Chilli & Sweetcorn Pizza - serves 2-4

1/2 jar pasta sauce (I used Lloyd Grossman Sweet Red Pepper)
1/2 small tin sweetcorn
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and chopped (optional)
4 large mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 shallot or small onion, finely chopped
dried herbs, oregano,  thyme or mixed herbs
100g grated cheese. I used Cheddar but you could use Mozzarella or any other cheese

Heat 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in a small pan and gently sauté the finely chopped chilli, shallot and mushrooms, with the lid on, for about 10 mins. until cooked.  This will produce quite a lot of liquid but don't worry.  Add salt and black pepper to taste, then turn up the heat and cook for another 5 mins. without the lid to reduce the juices and concentrate the flavour. Keep an eye on it at this stage so it doesn't burn.

When the juices have gone, leave the mushroom mix to cool while you finish the pizza.

The jar of sauce that I used had a lot of oil on the top so I poured that away.

Spread about 1/2 the jar of sauce over the pizza base. It doesn't want to be too thick or the base will be soggy.

Add the mushroom mix and sweetcorn, making sure they are evenly distributed so you get some of everything in every bite. Add a sprinkling of dried herbs of your choice. I used oregano.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake the loaf and the pizza in a pre-heated oven Gas 8 for 25 minutes.  To check the loaf is cooked, take it out of the tin and knock it on the bottom. It should sound hollow. If not, put it back in the oven for 5 mins.

The pizza will probably take a bit longer. This one took 35 mins. You can tell if it's done by gently lifting one of the edges to see if it's cooked underneath.

Enjoy!