Some of my favourite finds

Well as well as making good food I enjoy shopping and at the moment one of my favourite colors for bedding is purple. I just love purple bedding, purple duvets and purple comforter covers and even purple bedspreads and pillows .
You could say I have an obsession with purple bedding.
I found this paisley purple comforter cover at this link PURPLE BEDDING

I found this cream bedding like a lily bouquet. I could just imagine this with purple pillows and a purple pashima throw to make it so sensual and warm for Winter, just like my casseroles.
The link is at PATCHWORK QUILTS

Another of my finds is this cute patchwork quilt handbag. it would match my new red cardigan, my green pants, I could team with leggings and a tunic top and add to my casual look with jeans. It is so adaptable.

I found this at HAND BAGS IN PATCHWORK

Now this find is so beautiful. A large pashima shawl wrap that I can use on me over my latest dress or jacket and also use as a throw.

I found this at PASHIMA SHAWLS and THROWS

Thanks for coming by and I hope like me you are enjoying lots of casseroles this Winter

Crazycupcakes

Baked Potatoes

This is what I usually cook at the same time as a casserole, baked potatoes.
I select the potatoes I need. I wash or scrub them , remove any nasty looking bits with a knife. leave the skin on.
Pierce each potato with the knife a few times.
Cut a piece of foil for each potato.
Place one potato on a piece of foil.
I now add a drop of olive oil to the potato and cover it , use a brush or your hands.
Sprinkle with some salt.
Wrap the foil around the potato.
Put the potatoes on a tray or on the shelf around the casserole.
Large potatoes will take about 1 hour smaller 40 minutes.
Put in for the last hour of casserole cooking , high in the oven.
They are done when soft.
Enjoy

Chicken Casserole Recipe

Suet Dumplings

This is a really nice recipe for a chicken casserole with an old fashioned favourite, suet dumplings.

Casserole Ingredients

olive oil for frying

3 large chicken breasts(cut into chunks) or (8 chicken thighs )

2 tablespoons of plain flour

3 carrots peeled and sliced

3 leeks washed and sliced

1 turnip peeled and diced

1 teaspoon of dried thyme( or mixed herbs)

1 can of Guinness or 1/3 pint Madeira or port

1 pint of chicken stock homemade or from a stock cube

Any fresh herbs as a garnish when serving

salt and pepper

Method

Prepare all the vegetables

Put the flour into a plastic bag

Put the chicken into the plastic bag with the flour and toss until well covered with flour

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.

Fry the chicken in batches until golden brown and place into a casserole dish

Let the frying pan cool

Put all the vegetables, herbs and salt and pepper into the casserole

Add some chicken stock to the frying pan so it deglazes the pan and collects all the tasty juices.

Add this to the casserole.

Add the Guinness,Madeira or port to the casserole.

Add more stock so it comes to the top of the casserole. See the photo.

Cover with foil and cook at 180C--300F--gas 4/5 for 1 hour.

Dumplings

4oz self-raising flour

2 oz suet

olive oil for frying

1 small onion diced fine

1 garlic clove diced fine

2oz mushrooms button or chestnut chopped fine

cold water

Method

Put the flour and suet into a bowl and mix.

Put some olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat

Fry the garlic, onion and mushrooms together.

Add this to the flour and suet and mix.

Add the cold water a bit at a time.

Mix after each addition.

The dough needs to be firm.

Put some flour on your hands and onto the work surface.

Shape into 4 balls

Remove the casserole after 1 hour of cooking.

Place the dumplings on top of the casserole .

Cook for 20 to 30 minutes on top of the casserole without the lid.

Remove and serve.

Serve with baked potatoes

Hope you enjoy this Chicken casserole with herb dumplings.

Crazycupcakes

Roasted Tomato Soup

This is my latest soup recipe for cold winter days roasted tomato soup.

Make this soup when you are cooking a casserole. The tomatoes are roasted in a slow oven to get an intense flavour.

Go to my Soup blog ROASTED TOMATO SOUP RECIPE
Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Beef and Guinness Casserole

This is my first recipe of the new year. An old favourite recipe for beef casserole recipe but with Guinness and mushrooms but with a twist of a hot ingredient.
Ingredients
1 can of Guinness
3 large onions diced
2 garlic cloves diced
4 cups of bite sized diced beef. I used what we call shoulder steak
30 mushrooms cut in half
1 1/2 tablespoons of horseradish sauce. Mine was a good quality one from the supermarket.
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of thyme
olive oil for frying
4 tablespoons of plain flour to toss the cut beef in
Method
1. Prepare all ingredients and get out a frying pan and a casserole dish with a lid.
2. Heat some olive oil fry the garlic and onions. Not too hot or the garlic will burn. Fry for about 5 mins and put the garlic and onions into the casserole dish.
3. Toss the beef in flour inside a plastic bag.
4. Fry the beef in small batches to brown the meat. Put each batch into the casserole dish.
5. Fry the mushroomsfor about 5 mins. Add more olive oil as the oil is used up and add to the casserole.
6. Lower the heat of the frying pan. Add some Guinness to the frying pan to soak up all the pan juices. Add to the casserole. Stir the casserole.
7. Add the thyme, salt, pepper and horseradish sauce and mix well with the other casserole ingredients.
8. Add Guinness to the casserole, so it covers the ingredients. If any is left this can be added as the casserole cooks to get the gravy to the correct consistency. It will thicken with the flour.
9. Cover the casserole with foil.
10. Put on the lid. Cook at gas 5--190C--375F for 2 1/2 hours, check after 1 hour add more Guinness. Repeat later.
Serve
Bake some potatoes at the same time.
Roast some leeks and parsnips at the same time.
Remember to put in a pudding such as a bread and butter pudding, baked apples, rice pudding, baked plums at the same time to use the heat whilst the oven is on.
Eat and enjoy

The archives on the right have lots more casserole recipes that are tried and tested by myself.
Thanks for reading
Crazycupcakes

New Year Recipes

Happy new Year to everyone who comes by the blog. This is really the time I love casseroles and I start to stock up the freezer. With the credit crunch I think casseroles are so economical and if you stock the freezer lots of cash is saved on fuel. Slow cookers are a good way to save money as well in making casseroles.
In the UK our emphasis is now on local food and I think casseroles really use local products. So less food miles and better value for money.
As soon as I get going I will publish any new recipes for casseroles up to now I've just gone for soup and salads.
My first soup recipe of the new year is at this link
MUSHROOM AND CELERY SOUP RECIPE
and my first salad of the new year is at this link
WINTER SALAD WITH TUNA, WALDORF SALAD, SATSUMA AND MAPLE SYRUP SALAD AND TOMATO
Thanks for reading
Crazycupcakes

Bread and Butter Pudding

The first layer inside a buttered dish

The second layer of apples and sugar, sprinkle with ground cinnamon and cloves.

Layer up the bread and butter pudding with a buttered bread layer and apple layer.

This is then covered with the egg , milk and vanilla mixture.

Below the cooked bread and butter pudding.

The last layer of bread and butter has sugar sprinkled on it which goes brown and crispy, heavenly.

This is a great pudding to cook in the oven with a casserole. It takes about 1 hour for the size I do. This is about 8 portions. It freezes well in portions and can be reheated quickly in a microwave.This is the recipe for my version.

Ingredients

2 large bramley apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

8 slices of bread( mine was a firm type of bread but experiment to see what you like) keep the crusts on

butter to spread on the bread

white sugar to sprinkle on the apple layers

ground cinnamon and ground cloves to sprinkle on the apples--2 teaspoons of each

1 1/2 pints of milk(maybe more or less depending on the size of yours dish)

4 eggs beaten

Method

1. Butter a rectangular shallow dish( see mine above)

2. Butter the slices of bread

3. Layer the bread first, then apples, sprinkle sugar and spices on the bread. Continue to layer the bread and apples.

4. In a bowl break the eggs into it and beat with a fork

5. Add the milk to the eggs

6. Pour the milk/eggs over all the layers of apples and bread.

7. I then let it all soak in and press it down with a fork.

8. Put it into the oven above the casserole and cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at gas 4/5--350F--180C. I put it into the oven for the last hour the casserole is cooking and I leave it to cook whilst we have our main meal. It is then usually perfect.

The pudding is cooked when it feels firm and the egg mixture has gone solid.

I use a glass dish so that I can see the base of the pudding.

9. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream

Variations

1. Make with half milk and half double or single cream

2. Layer with dried apricots , the moist type or soak the dry ones first.

3. layer with fruits of the forest, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries etc

4. Add vanilla essence to the milk.

5. Add fresh vanilla pods to the milk.

6. Layer with strawberry , raspberry or another type of fruit jam.

7. Layer with marmalade and lots of spices in the milk such as cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamon.

8. Add the zest of an orange or lemon and layer with marmalade

9. Add chopped stem ginger.

10. Layer with chunks of dark chocolate.

11. Add some cocoa powder to the milk and layer with chocolate.

12. Spread the bread with butter and chocolate hazel nut spread.

13. Soak sultanas, raisins and currants in water and layer with the bread and spices .

14. Soak the fruit above in sherry, rum or whiskey

15. Layer the bread with candied peel and orange and lemon zest.

16. Layer the bread with dessicated coconut and glace cherries.

17.. Layer with dates and chopped walnuts. This is also good with stem ginger added.

18. Layer with rum and raisins.

19. Warm the milk first with crushed cardamons for a perfume like aroma.

20. Add maple syrup for flavouring.

21. Add honey with apples in the layers.

22. Layer with some orange or lemon curd and zest of the fruits.

23. Layer with moist prunes

24. Layer with dried figs.

I have tried most of these combinations and variations of the bread and butter pudding recipe and love them all.

Hope you enjoy this winter comfort food which is very economical to feed a family and will have them coming back for more.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Baked Apples with Blackberries

This recipe for Baked Apples with Blackberries is one of those sweets to cook with your casserole in the oven at the same time.

Line a dish with foil, add chopped baking apples or eaters, sprinkle with brown sugar, add sultanas, sprinkle with cinnamon and add some water to the dish. Put in the oven for the last hour of the casserole cooking.

Serve with fresh blackberries and vanilla ice cream.

This is so good, a real comfort food for Autumn.

Has any one any other ideas for sweets that are so easy?

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes

Chicken Cacciatore Casserole

This is fresh rosemary which I used in the Chicken Cacciatore Casserole recipe. it is easy to grow in a pot or in a garden plot. It is so aromatic.

Check out this link ROSEMARY

Oyster and shitaki Mushrooms for the Chicken Cacciatore Casserole recipe.

Chicken being tossed in flour, salt. pepper and rosemary.

Chicken Cacciatore Casserole recipe ready to cook.

Chicken Cacciatore Casserole ready to eat.

I have found out that Cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian. If you see 'alla cacciatora' it means a meal made in this hunter style using tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs,peppers , wine with chicken and rabbit . This is my latest version of this Chicken Cacciatore Casserole recipe which I have been making for years. I think it is a good idea to get a basic recipe and then adapt it to what you have in and what is good value at the time.
Ingredients to serve 4 to 6
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 onions diced

1 chicken stock cube or homemade chicken stock

2 chicken breasts off the bone and cut into bite sized chunks

1 box of shitake mushrooms cut into halves--125gm--3 cups

1 box of oyster mushrooms cut into halves --125gm--3 cups

sunflower oil or olive oil

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

plain flour about 2 tablespoons

salt and pepper

dried or fresh rosemary

Method

1. Put the salt, pepper, flour , rosemary and chopped chicken into a plastic bag and coat the chicken.

2. Heat some oil in frying pan and fry the chicken in small batches until it is lightly browned, place in a casserole dish.

3. Add onions ,garlic,mushrooms, the tinned tomatoes to the casserole.

4. Add chicken stock to cover the casserole(see the photograph)

5. Cook the casserole in the oven for 1 1/2 hours at gas 4, 180C 350F

6. Serve with fresh herbs, salad rice, fresh pasta and steamed green vegetables.
Variations

Use a chicken cut into joints but cook longer

Use fresh tomatoes

Use the cheaper varieties of mushrooms

Use fresh rabbit

Add red peppers

Add shallots as well as onions

Use white wine or red wine as half the stock

Add tomato puree to thicken the sauce

Garnish with fresh basil

Serve with a grated hard cheese such as parmesan
This is a light casserole which you can also cook on the hob in a thick based pan.

Thanks for reading

Crazycupcakes