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I am dead chuffed to report that my blog has been nominated for a Best Blog from Abroad award on  The Kitchn.   I wasn't going to say anything, but then I thought I should be happy about that and anyone who was nominated would be asking people to vote for them, so here's my begging bowl being put out there.  If you like what you see here, please vote for me!  Thank you so very much.  Not quite the Academy Awards, but it will have to do!

It's no secret.  I love, LOVE potatoes.  Low carb doesn't work for me.  I cannot live without potatoes.  It's as simple as that.  They are my favourite vegetable.   I love them any way I can get them . . . boiled, mashed, steamed, fried . . . but my favourite of all is BAKED!  I just adore baked, or jacket potatoes as they are sometimes called.  In fact my very first meal here in the UK back in 2000 was a jacket potato topped with cheese at a little cafe in Euston station whilst we were waiting to catch our train up here to Chester.   So as you can imagine I was thrilled when the Bannisters' Farm people asked me if I would like to try some of their frozen potato products.  I am no stranger to the 4 ready baked potatoes packet.  I've been buying them regularly since I first spied them in the shops a couple of years ago.  I just adore them.   You can have one baked and on the table in 6 minutes, which is pretty handy, but i...

We hold a special fondness in this house for anything with jam in it.  We both love jam and one can often find us  on lazy days having nothing but bread and jam for our supper.   We are happy with that.     "I wish I was a poet like the men that write in books The poems that we have to learn on valleys, hills an' brooks; I'd write of things that children like an' know an' understand, An' when the kids recited them the folks would call them grand. If I'd been born a Whittier, instead of what I am, I'd write a poem now about a piece of bread an' jam." ~Edgar Guest I know, the recipe below says Raspberry Jam Bars, and you can certainly cut them into bars if you wish . . .  but . . . if you cut them with a little round cutter, they become tartlettes. I think tartlettes look much tastier than squares, don't you? Perfect little buttery bites, filled with crunchy oats and toasted almonds, and sweet raspberry jam. A delicious two bite snack, p...

  I confess.  I love chocolate and it doesn't matter what kind of chocolate it is.  Dark, milk . . .   in cakes and cookies . . .  good candy bars, good chocolates . . . pies and puddings.   The only kind I am not fond of is chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream.  I'm not even really fussy on hot chocolate drinks.  I don't know why that is. It is a mystery to me too. The Toddster of course, he doesn't like chocolate in any form other than chocolate candies or hot chocolate.   I know!  It just ain't human, but I'm not complaining as that always means more brownies for me!!   Chocolate Baked goods are notoriously difficult to get a good photograph of.  I don't know why that is.   I apologize for a lack of tasty photos of these fabulously delicious muffins.   No matter how I tried, they just did not want to come out right.  Nevermind . . . You will just have to take my word for it that they are...

Happy Valentines Day to all you lovers out there. I thought it would be fun to show you what my Valentines menu will be for today.  Yes, I do like to spoil my honey on this special day of the year.  There are those who would rather be taken out for a meal, but I am not one of them.  Nothing beats anything I can cook for myself, seriously.  I am not being bold in saying that.   I am not able to afford to go to a really good restaurant, so I make do at home and in all truth we have a much nicer meal than we could buy out.    We would rather spend any extra cash on going to a film or something like that. So here you go . . . my Valentines Menu for February 14th, 2014. Breakfast will be Sweetheart's French Vanilla Eggy Bread.   Heart shaped French Toast, served with crisp bacon and real Maple syrup.  I don't think he will complain!    *Sweetheart's French Vanilla Eggy Bread* Serves 4  Printable Recipe This is a real favourit...

  A few weeks back the people from Barber's 1833 Vintage Cheddar sent me a pack which included everything in it to make Spinach and Cheese Souffles.   I love it when that happens.   I made the soufflees the very next day.  I just could not wait to make them.  Everything was so fresh and looked so good. I am a very experienced cook as you know.   As I was making them I queried a part of the recipe, which didn't quite look right and I almost  went with my gut feelings and did it the way I thought it should be done . . . but then I thought  to myself, no . . . you need to do this the way "their" recipe says to do it and so that is what I did. What I ended up with was some very tasty failures as soufflees. They were more like omelettes, and they took twice as long as the recipe stated to bake . . . they were not soufflees.  We ate them anyways, and they were good, but not near what they should have been.   I should have gone with...

    If there is one thing that the Toddster really loves, it's a good pork chop.  I think out of all the meat on earth he could choose . . . a chop would win for him.   I admit to not being opposed to eating a nice, tender and juicy pork chop myself.  I prefer the ones on the bone over the boneless ones, with a nice band of fat on the edge.  These are tastier and more tender than the others.  Trust me on this.        These are delightfully moist and spicy . . . and sticky sweet . . . being flavoured with a five spice and honey rub which they marinate in for several hours.   Then they are baked on top of a bed of delicious butternut squash and sweet potatoes.  The two together are bliss.  Seriously scrummy.   *Honey and Five Spice Chops* Serves 4 Printable Recipe  These are moist and sticky and spicy and oh so good.   Seriously scrumdiddlyumptious!  Plan ahead as...

(My Easy Bread ) One of the consequences of there only being two of us in this house and eating most of the time is the fact that we have a difficult time using up a loaf of bread before it goes stale.   I really like good bread and a good loaf of bread can be somewhat expensive, so I don't like for any of it to go to waste.  It only makes sense to have a few things up your sleeves that you can do with it . . . like bread pudding and such.   I hate waste, don't you? This is a cookery book I have had for a while, by Tamasin Day-Lewis. It's a jewel.  It's filled with lots of lovely recipes for dishes that are not only economical but also delicious.  Recipes such as this Bread Soup, which she admits to originally pinching from Anna Del Conte. I love cooking and the beautiful chemistry that happens when you throw ingredients together.  Sometimes it is so amazing.  Who would ever think that with a few ingredients such as olive oil, stale bread, ...