Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday

It's Pancake Day today.

The British tend to make thin crepe style pancakes and serve them for dessert with lemon and sugar.

I like American style pancakes (served with maple syrup) so I used a recipe via the BBC for Fluffy American Pancakes  and served them for breakfast.

Another easy recipe is via Jamie Oliver's Food Tube:

Jamie Oliver's Super Easy Pancakes featuring Poppy and Daisy



Did you make pancakes today?

Food rationing was introduced in Britain 70 years ago

I'm watching a fascinating programme on the Yesterday channel, called "Ration Book Britain" marking the 70th anniversary of food rationing. It's amazing how people managed despite such strict rationing!

Ration Book Britain Recipes

Ration Book Britain: In Pictures

[links via uktv.co.uk]

Jamie's Family Christmas - Channel 4 special

Tonight was the first two episodes of a new five-part series called Jamie's Family Christmas with Jamie Oliver sharing his secrets for preparing Christmas food with tips to make it easy and fun, and most importantly, stress-free. And what a delightful series it is too! So often I get bored by cookery shows or I'm too overwhelmed with all the fussy details to even consider tying a recipe they recommend but Jamie's series is like a breath of fresh air. I learned a lot and enjoyed watching as well. My husband and 18-year-old son watched too. The bonus is that you get to see his lovely family (Jamie's wife, Jools, and their three daughters, Poppy, Daisy and sweet baby Petal plus Jamie's Nan and Jamie's sister and Mum and Dad) It's a real old-fashioned kind of Christmas special. I can't get over how comfortable all the members of his family are in front of the camera. And very natural as well. They are all stars! There was a very funny scene during a moment in their kitchen (the show is filmed at their home in Essex) when Jools handed Petal to Jamie and he swung her around and she looked very happy - until Jools took her away from Jamie! She cried and cried. Jools handed her back to Jamie and she instantly stopped crying. Jamie looked so pleased. Such a proud dad. I loved it. And another sweet moment was when Jamie was showing his daughters, Poppy and Daisy how to make American pancakes. It was just such a charming scene to watch. Jamie's Family Christmas is an excellent series! I think it's one of the best cookery shows I've seen on TV. And there's still three more parts to be shown this week (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening). If you missed the shows tonight, be sure and watch the rest of the series.

The National Trust: You Tube Channel

This is cool. Thanks to twitter, I found out that The National Trust has a You Tube channel: The National Trust charity's Channel The latest video: Learn how to make a seasonal fruit crumble with the National Trust's chef Richard. You can follow The National Trust on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nationaltrust And here's another interesting tidbit of news about The National Trust: New Monopoly set gives everyone the chance to own a stately pile The National Trust has launched its very own Monopoly set – becoming the first ever charity version of the game to be created - on sale from Thursday 1 October.

Comfort foods: What's your favourite?

Recipe swap: comfort food It's time for all of us to exchange tips, ideas, and recipes to banish melancholy and spare the budget. What's yours? (link via Word of Mouth blog in the Guardian) These are some of my favourites: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes Shepherd's Pie (substitute lamb with beef to make Cottage Pie) Spaghetti and meatballs Lasagne plus garlic bread and a salad Hamburger, french fries and a chocolate malt Scones with jam and clotted cream plus a pot of tea Chicken soup Scrambled eggs and toast Cinnamon rolls A Bacon Sandwich

Apple Pie

What are your favourite comfort foods? If you decide to post a list on your blog, be sure and post a link to it in my comments.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week 25th - 31st Jan

Farmhouse Breakfast Week 25th - 31st January 2009 Farmhouse Breakfast Week is an annual campaign that emphasises the importance of eating a healthy breakfast every day. 'Think Breakfast' is the theme of this year's celebration to encourage everyone to wake up to breakfast as part of a healthy balanced diet and active lifestyle. Farhmouse Breakfast Week I usually have a toasted crumpet or yogurt for my breakfast. My husband likes to have porridge or beans on toast for his breakfast. Our youngest son likes to have porridge or waffles, and our eldest is away at university but when he's home, he always has cereal. On the weekends, I usually make boiled eggs and toast "soldiers" or scrambled eggs. How do you start your day? Full breakfast, just a snack or do you skip breakfast? If you are looking for breakfast ideas (and how to make them): How To Make A Traditional Full English Breakfast How To Make Eggy Bread How To Make Scrambled Eggs On Toast How To Make Boiled Egg And Soldiers How To Make Poached Eggs How To Make The Perfect Bowl Of Porridge How To Make American Pancakes (links via videojug.com)

Simple but effective idea for a Halloween treat

This is a neat idea for Halloween: Use frosting to pipe the bone shapes on gingerbread cookies to look like Ginger-skeletons! (link via My Paper Crane blog)

Handy Halloween Links

It's nearly Halloween (Oct. 31) so here are some handy links to help you prepare for the fun: Video: How To Carve a Pumpkin How to make Toffee apples Party Games and Recipes! Make Your Own Costume - Simple Costume Instructions Halloween Crafts & Activities (for young children) Halloween Crafts - Free projects/ideas Halloween Hang-Ups Free knitting pattern for The Curly Purly Pumpkin Jean Greenhowe's Halloween Ghosties - free pattern

Free cookbooks for all 11-year-olds in England

All 11-year-olds in England will be able to receive a free cookbook under a programme aimed at tackling obesity. Head teachers will be able to order the booklet, which has recipes for favourites such as spaghetti bolognese, roast chicken and jacket potatoes. Ministers are also announcing that £151m will be spent building food technology areas in schools. The initiatives are designed to pave the way for compulsory cooking lessons for all 11- to 14-year olds by 2011. (link via BBC News) The Real Meals cookbook, which contains 32 classic recipes and sauces and is endorsed by top chef Phil Vickery, was chosen after the public was asked to nominate the basic dishes every child should learn how to cook. Here is a list of the individual recipes contained in Real Meals. I think it's a good idea to encourage children to learn how to cook and providing free cookbooks is certainly a great way to start them on the path to learning! Hopefully, the cookery lessons will also help tackle the obesity problem in children. What do you think of the list of recipes in the cookbook? Which recipes would you recommend as the basic dishes that every child should know how to cook?

National Parks Week (UK) 28 July to 3 August 2008

National Parks Week 28 July to 3 August 2008, is a celebration of the UK’s 14 National Parks. National Parks Week 2008 is celebrating the year of Food and Farming and National Parks all over the UK are backing the movement by helping to reconnect people to the landscape that produces their food and by promoting local produce. Eat your way around the National Parks with a collection of local recipes. The official website also has a gallery of photographs from each National Park.

Wasteful Brits throwing away £10bn worth of food

The news that Britons are throwing away £10bn worth of food that could be eaten each year, is shocking and quite disgusting considering how many people in the world are actually starving to death. (link via guardian.co.uk) I think people should learn how to use left-overs! The "Love Food, Hate Waste" campaign provides lots of recipes to use up left-overs. There is even a clever chart with a list of foods so you can pick the food that needs using up and find recipes using that particular food.