Country Cooking

Barry’s Tea Brack

Preparation time: overnight

Cooking time: 90mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients: 
8 fl.oz. strong Barry’s Tea
6 oz brown sugar
1lb mixed, dried fruit
1 egg (lightly beaten)
9 oz. plain flour
½ level teaspoon breadsoda

Directions:
Put tea, sugar and dried fruit in a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.

Grease a 2lb loaf tin. 

Add the lightly beaten egg to the fruit mixture. 

Sieve the flour and breadsoda together and fold into the mixture. 

Turn into the prepared tin and bake for 1  and 1/2 – 1 and 3/4 hours at 350oF (180oC) or Mark 4. 

Cool on a wire tray and server sliced with butter.

- See more at: http://www.loveirishfood.ie/recipes/barrys-tea-brack/#sthash.JaVfHkHx.dpuf

MUSELI BARS

Makes approx. 28 little bars/squares

350g (12oz/3 ½ cups) rolled oats

30g (1 oz./ ½ cup)   shredded coconuts

50g (1 ¾ oz./ ½ cups) flaked almonds

45g  (1 ¾ oz. / ½ cup) wheatgerm

30g (1 oz./ ¼ cups) sesame seeds

35g (1 ¼ oz./ ¼ cups) sunflower seeds

55g (2oz/ 1/3 cup) copped dried apricots (I didn’t have so just left out)

185 ml (6fl oz./ ¾ cups) honey (I only had Manuka honey so used that)

55g (2 oz./ ¼ cups) soft brown sugar

125 ml (4fl oz./ ½ cup) vegetable oil (I used coconut oil instead)

* I added 4 tablespoons of flaxseed & goji berries also

Preheat over to 130oC (250oF/Gas 1) and lightly grease and line a 35x25cm (14 x10 inch) tin.

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowel, minus the sugar, and mix lightly together.

Put the honey, sugar and oil into a small pan and stir over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Pour this over the dry ingredients in the bowl and stir until everything is well combined, mixing with your hands if necessary.

Press the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes or until golden.

Cut into bars while still warm.

Enjoy!

SCONES

This recipe comes from the post 'The Smell of Home' which you can read here

INGREDIENTS

4 cups white flour

1/2 heaping teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 heaping teaspoon sugar

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  2 cups buttermilk

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 200°.

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add buttermilk.

Mix together by hand until thoroughly combined (be careful not to overwork the dough, as this causes toughness). At this point add in some raisins if desired. (I would if I was you!) 

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and form into a large rectangle about 1 inch thick.

Using a rolling pin and extra flour as needed, roll rectangle into a ¾ inch thickness.

Using a scone cutter (or in my case a glass!) class out as many scones as you can. Keeping them good and thick.

Lightly flour a large sheet pan and arrange the scones in rows just barely touching.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the tray, and bake for 5- 10 more minutes. (Depends on your oven, fan etc..) 

Then plug in the kettle, get out the real butter and jam and sit back and enjoy the smells of home until the scones are ready!

I always make two batches of scones when baking: one batch as above and one batch dairy free. I do this my simply substituting almond milk for butter milk and sunflower butter for real butter. In my eyes theres an obvious winner, but my son knows no different and loves them. Scones are also so handy to put in the freezer and pull out as needed.

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This morning I am sharing my love for making soups and a great little recipe. 

I am always trying new recipes for the girls and I. My girls will drink a bowl of soup through a wide straw and I just adore the idea of them getting a meal packed full of goodness. I am in my cooking mood today and plan to batch cook for my ladies to get myself organised as returning to work is on the horizon.

I have made this particular soup a few times and its a big hit each time.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

1 medium Onion 

8 medium Carrots chopped

Teaspoon of ginger 

500mls of Stock

Peel and chop the onion. Splash of olive oil in a pot,cook onions for 5minutes until soft but not browned. Carrots and ginger are peeled and chopped.

Add the carrots,ginger and stock and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 20minutes.

Blend to smooth soup consistency.

Yummy! Enjoy!

PS. These are the stock cubes I use, available in Boots.

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Today I made a new dish for the girls, it is Spaghetti Bolognese with loads of vegetables. It went down a treat with my crew, not a spoon left in each of their bowls. I normally make Spaghetti Bolognese with carrots, celery and vine tomatoes but today I used Aubergines and mushrooms for a change.

I batch cook for my children and freeze in Advent containers then label them using my label maker. From the below recipe I received 15 dinners. I take my inspiration from the Annabel Karmel book 'New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner'.

Here are the ingredients;

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1/4 garlic clove, peeled and crushed.

Vegetable oil for frying

450g of lean minced beef

2 tablespoons tomato purée

1 can of tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon of mixed dry herbs

2 tablespoons of plain flour

450mls of chicken stock

1 aubergine peeled and sliced small

100g of mushrooms, washed, peeled and chopped small

300g of brown spaghetti

Method;

Sauté the onions and garlic in oil until soft. Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the can of tomatoes, tomato purée, herbs, flour and stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 45 minutes. Fry the aubergine and mushrooms until soft then drain any excess oil. Add them to the sauce. Cook the brown spaghetti as on instructions. Then add to the sauce. Put each dinner portion in container, label, let cool and put in freezer.