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One of my absolute favourite dishes of all time has been macaroni and cheese. This is the ultimate in comfort food to me. I have tried many, many different recipes. I love it done the old fashioned way which is pure and unadulterated, nothing but cooked macaroni, milk, chunks of cheese and lots of butter. Seasoned with salt and pepper and baked until the milk is almost absorbed by the macaroni and there are gooey patches of delicious cheese scattered throughout . . . it is simple, old fashioned, and really, really good. I love the boxed ones. I know a sacrilege to some, but lets face it, they can be quite comforting as well and make a great lunch in a pinch. I have a distinct preference for Presidents Choice White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese mix, which I can only get in Canada and I can't wait until next year when I can go over and stock up on the stuff. I love to add a tin of chopped tomatoes when I am making the boxed stuff, or some Heinz chili sauce. This takes it beyond ...

I have a confession to make. I am one of those obnoxious people that walk around the grocery shops, tut tutting and taking note of things that look delicious, all the while telling myself that I could quite easily make them at home . . . not only cheaper but somehow tastier too. I know, it's annoying isn't it! But I have to say that 99% of the time it works for me. I just basically take note of the ingredients on the package, leaving out any artificial flavours and chemicals of course . . . and then I come home and try to replicate it as best as I can. Now I know I'm not the only one who does this . . . am I? Come on fess up!!! This is one of my recent successes. I saw these tasty looking little cakelettes in Tesco one day . . . one of their finest desserts line . . . and I thought to myself . . . scrummy, but I don't want to pay what they're asking and so . . . I came home and made it myself. It wasn't all that hard. Scrummy Hazelnut frangipane cake ba...

Shortbread is one of those most delicious of things that it can easily become quite addictive . . . buttery and short textured, with just the right amount of sweetness so as not to be cloying, it quite readily accepts additional flavours . . . without them clashing . . . Tasty things like candied ginger . . . glace cherries . . . toasted nuts . . . chocolate chips . . . . ahhh . . . Chocolate Chips!!! Most certainly inspired, these are absolutely fabulous. I am wondering now why I didn't think to add some toasted pecans and then mini marshmallows . . . I guess it would have been Rocky Road Shortbread then . . . And even more addictively scrummy . . . but never mind . . . there's always the next time. ☺ You may want to keep these under lock and key . . . if they last even that long. They'll be so incredibly popular that they are bound to disappear in the blink of an eye! What a shame . . . you'll just have to make them again, I guess . . . and again . . . and again ....

  I don't know about you, but I find that it's getting harder and harder to stretch my food budget these days.  Food just seems to be costing more and more and sizes are getting smaller.  (Don't get me started on that scam!!) I am always looking for ways to make a little bit go further, but at the same time keeping things to the same standard of deliciousness and nutritiousness that we are used to.   Pasta is a great meal stretcher.  I know it's not Todd's favourite thing to eat, but he does like the idea of saving money, and so he tolerates it.  Myself . . . I adore pasta, and so these types of meals are my absolute favourites! Meals which take a little bit of protein, some vegetable and some pasta, combined in a tasteful way.   Simple recipes which make good use of simple ingredients in a delicious way. I have no idea why this is called Irish Supper.  I am not even sure if this is actually Irish!  Certainly there would be cabbages and sausa...

A good friend of mine had a knee replacement done about a week and a half ago.  We were going to visit her today to see how she is doing and help break the monotony of being largely immobile and so I decided I wanted to bring her some little treat.    At first I was going to bake her some muffins and then I thought . . . maybe muffins would be too much . . . or they would get all squished in the car, or not be at their best by the time we got there.  I love muffins best when they are fresh out of the oven. That's when I decided to bake her some cookies.  Not kid cookies.  Grown up cookies.   Cookies meant for dunking.   Out of the ordinary cookies.  Not a chocolate chip in sight.  (Although I am a big fan of those myself!)   I decided to make these lovely almond crescents.  They're buttery and crisp  and stogged full of almonds. . . with a crunchy sugar coating of granulated sugar, which bakes on whilst they are in the o...

It is hard to believe that I had never really eaten lamb before I moved over here to the UK. It is a meat that I have come to love very much and I have to say that here in the UK we have beautiful lamb . . . some of the best in the world. More often than not we have lamb chops, cutlets or steaks, and occasionally I will treat us to a shoulder or a leg. All are very, very good. Last weekend I cooked some lamb shanks for the first time and I was very pleased with the results. They were tender and full of flavour and we both really enjoyed them! The shank is cut from the shoulder area of the animal and is actually very lean, with very little fat marbling or cut into it. Lamb can be quite a fatty meat, so this was surprising. Because it is so lean, it truly lends itself perfectly to braising in a liquid. A long slow braising in the oven may require more patience than frying a few chops in a pan or roasting a leg, but your patience will be more than rewarded with fork tender meat and a...

We had company for supper on Saturday night and I prepared a hearty wholesome meal for us all, Beef Stew and Dumplings .  I served it with fluffy and buttery mashed potatoes and it went down a real treat.  I made extra so that I could have leftovers, because .  .  . as everyone knows things like Beef Stew always taste even better a day or two later on.  Not sure why that is, I only know it is.   Trust me on this. I am a person that has never minded eating leftovers.   I love them.  I do know that some people are not too fussed on having leftovers however, but it seems such a waste to throw good food away so I am going to give you some really great ideas today to use a leftover such as Beef Stew.  Bear in mind that this would work with any type of leftover stew really, chicken, lamb, etc.  They are both really easy. If you always have a sheet of puff pastry in the freezer, ready to roll and use, you have the makings of a very e...