Bean and bacon lasagna

Greetings again from my little shoebox of an apartment, which is made even smaller by the piles of moving boxes waiting for the end of May. I'm lucky we will have a bank holiday Monday coming up in a few weeks, which will be a perfect moving day. Sadly it will mean I won't have time for any birthday celebrations this year, but hopefully I can make up for that later in the summer. For now, I'm still busy trying to use up all the food I have stockpiled in my kitchen. Oh how I wish I would learn from this and not hoard food in the future. It's crazy, I will probably be able to go all of May without grocery shopping (apart from the occasional fresh fruit/veg and milk) and just use up stuff I have hoarded. I keep thinking I will have to be incredibly firm with the whole no-hoarding rule in the new kitchen though, as the Culinary Consultant is even worse at hoarding than I am. Maybe we should join hoarders anonymous or something. I will have to give up the luxury of being within walking distance of a handful of grocery stores though. Well, I will be giving up on the luxury of being within walking distance of anything but sheep, it seems. Maybe a cow or two also, but that's it. And I worry, that if I have managed to stockpile all this food into a kitchen the size of a stamp, what will happen when I have a proper kitchen with loads of cupboards? I can already see it in my head. Piles and piles of tins, beans and rice which are months if not years out of date. Does anyone have a good system to prevent this? Maybe hook everything up to a database with expiry dates, which would send emails when things are about to expire. "Warning, you have three kilograms of pasta which will expire in three days."

I have been wracking my brain to come up with ways to use up all the beans in my pantry. And to add insult to injury, I found another four packs of chickpeas hiding at the bottom of a bag stuffed into a corner. I have been throwing various things into the slow cooker over the last few weeks, mainly tinned tomatoes and beans. This time I just had to come up with something different. So after rooting through my pantry a bit more, I also found some lasagna that needed using up. Perfect, bean and bacon lasagna it is. This actually helped me get rid of not only the lasagna but also a pack of chickpeas, two tins of beans, two packs of tomato passata and some bacon and parsley that have been hiding in the back of my freezer. Now I think I'm down to only two tins of beans and three packs of chickpeas. And a freezer bursting at the seams of the various more-or-less disgusting slow cooker bean stews. Pork, beans, tomato and barley or how about chicken, pineapple, coconut milk, beans and quinoa. I still have loads of tinned tomatoes, so I see another few weird bean-and-tomato-and-whatever-else-I-can-find-in-the-house combinations.

Making lasagna from scratch has quite a few steps, but it's worth it in the end. Making your own Bechamel is really rewarding. I used this recipe from Delia on BBC Food. I guess this is as close I will ever come to supporting the Culinary Consultant's football team. Apparently after the last game, they are safe from being relegated, so crisis is averted for this season. I just can't wait for the same craziness to start again next season...

Bean and bacon lasagna (serves 6-8):
Bechamel sauce
1 l semi-skimmed milk
parsley
2 bay leaves
20 whole black peppercorns
2 slices onion (1/4 inch or 5mm thick)
80 g butter
40 g flour
salt and black pepper

In a saucepan slowly bring milk, parsley, bay leaves, peppers and onion to a boil to infuse the flavours. Strain the boiled milk into a jug and discard the flavourings. In a saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Using a wooden spoon, whisk the mixture until smooth. On medium heat, add milk a little at a time (a few tablespoons) and mix until completely smooth before adding more milk. After adding about half of the milk, you can start adding more milk at a time. Keep whisking so that no lumps form. Turn down the heat to low, and let cook for 5 minutes and season to taste (I added a bit of black pepper but no salt, the bacon in the lasagna will be salty enough for my taste).

Lasagna
1/2 tbsp olive oil
8 strips of bacon
2 cloves of garlic (I used smoked garlic because I just loooove it)
2 tins (400 g each) beans (I used butter beans and borlotti beans)
1 pack (380 g) chickpeas
2 packs (390 g) tomato passata (mine had basil in it)
500 g lasagna
1/2 cup of grated cheese (I used mature cheddar)
Bechamel sauce as described above

Finely chop garlic, and cook for a minute or two in a pan with the oil. Add bacon and cook until cooked through. Finely chop the bacon and mix with with the cooked garlic. Preheat oven to 200 degres C. Assemble lasagna in an oven proof dish. Start with about a third of the bechamel sauce, then lasagna, top with one tin of beans and half of chickpeas. Add half of the bacon/garlic mixture. Add one pack of tomato passata and about a third of the cheese. Add another layer of lasagna, the other tin of beans and the rest of the chickpeas. Add the remaining bacon/garlic mix and the other pack of tomato passata. Top with one more layer of lasagna, and add the rest of the bechamel on top, along with the rest of the cheese. Bake for about an hour until golden and bubbly.

The verdict:
As so many times before, I apologize for the utterly terrible photos. The tiny apartment makes any kind of food photography challenging under the best of circumstances. As the apartment is currently full of moving boxes, I would say that's a far shot from the best of circumstances. Also, as usual I was cooking way too late in the evening to have any resemblance of daylight left when the food was done, and the alternatives were taking crappy pictures or taking no pictures at all. I will leave it up to you to decide which one you would prefer, but this is what I went with. However, to my utter joy the flavour of the food was nothing like the pictures. Unlike most of my recent bean concoctions which have ranged from almost acceptable to purely disgusting, this actually turned out really delicious. If you want to make it vegetarian, you can exclude the bacon, but I think it really brings a lovely flavour to the rather mild beans, along with the soft and full flavour of the smoked garlic. I fed this to the Culinary Consultant, and he also ate it without any complaints. Although to be fair, he eats pretty much anything without complaints. But still, I consider this creation quite a success, and after I have gotten over my trauma of eating nothing but beans for the better part of two months, I might even make this again. I think this goes to show that as long as you have tomato passata and bechamel, anything you put between sheets of lasagna will taste like proper lasagna. Oh and if you are looking for other somewhat non-traditional takes on lasagna, take a look at my accidental sea-food lasagna.

Card of the day:
I made this for a chocoholic friend, with a sentiment inside saying "if all else fails, there's always chocolate". I cut out two different sized squares from brown cardstock, and used vintage photo and walnut stain distress inks around the edges. I attached them using dimensionals to look like pieces of a chocolate bar. For the bottom of the card, I used a part of a real chocolate wrapper and some aluminium foil. I stamped the sentiment using Hobbycraft black pigment ink, cut it out with scissors and used ink blending foam and spun sugar distress ink around the edges. Matted with some white cardstock, again with vintage photo and walnut stain blended around the edges, and to finish, everything was adhered onto pink cardstock.

Blueberry buttermilk scones and moving boxes

Happy Mother's Day to all the mumsy people out there! Unfortunately I won't be able to cook my Mum a proper Mother's Day brunch, but hopefully I will get the chance to do that soon enough. Until then, Mum I want you to know I was thinking of you when I was eating these scones!

I'm hard at work using up stuff from my pantry in anticipation of the move. And after the move, there will be the Culinary Consultant's kitchen to clean out in anticipation of potential move number two. It seems likely I will spend the next few months carrying moving boxes from place A to place B and then from place B to place C. With the inevitable outcome that for the next few months, I will only have access to a fraction of my clothes, none of my kitchen stuff and no space for crafting. And the little baking and cooking I will be able to do, will be done amongst moving boxes. And could someone tell me how I managed to collect all this stuff, especially as I had decided I wouldn't buy any unnecessary things. The thought that will get me through this is that should everything go as planned, there is an entire craft room in the foreseeable future. Along with a huge kitchen, conservatory and garden. But it's still early days, and for now, all I can do is hope and keep my fingers crossed that everything is going as planned.

So this time on my list of things to use up was blueberries and buttermilk. And what else could that mean than blueberry scones. I have not had much success with scones in the past, apart from my easy cheese scones. But sweet scones usually end up in a complete mess, like the time when I forgot to turn on the oven and was wondering why the scones didn't bake at all. Well, this time I did remember to turn on the oven. I used this recipe from Martha Stewart. I made a few minor substitutions, like using the flour I happened to have around, and substituting dark sugar for caster sugar. I also thought making 12 scones out of this batch would make them too small to my taste, so I made 10.

Blueberry buttermilk scones (makes 10-12):
2 cups flour (the original recipe said 1 1/2 cup all purpose and 1/2 cup cake flour, I used 3/4 cup brown wheat and 1 1/4 all purpose)
3 tbsp granulated sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
115 g butter (cold)
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(1 egg for the egg wash plus sugar for sprinkling on top)

The howto:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (375 degrees F). Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and use your fingers to mix it in until the dough is the consistency of course sand (or use a pastry cutter). Add blueberries. In another bowl, mix buttermilk, egg and vanilla and add to the dough. Don't over mix. Very quickly knead once or twice to incorporate all ingredients, form into a disc and cut into 10 or 12 pieces. If you want to, you can brush the scones with egg wash and sprinkle sugar on top (I didn't as I was short of eggs, which is very unusual in this house). Bake for 20 minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.

The verdict:
These scones have a really great crumbly texture. I thought that the brown flour might make them less crumbly but I think it worked really well, and the scones didn't taste healthy at all. However, I like my scones really sweet, so I would possibly add a bit more sugar next time. This might also be a consequence of switching caster sugar for brown sugar, but I do like the caramel-y flavour of dark sugar. The buttermilk keeps the scones wonderfully moist. My blueberries were absolutely gigantic, and they made lovely juicy little surprises in the scones. This will definitely be my go-to recipe for scones, and I will keep the brown flour as a permanent part of the recipe.

Card of the day:
Obviously the card of the day had to be a Mother's day card. Well, two in fact, one for my Mum and one for my Grandma. The first one, I stamped flowers and swirls using Tim Holtz distress inks, then embossed with a swirly embossing folder. The butterflies are also stamped using distress ink and fussy cut using scissors. I cut the form for the sentiment using scissors and stamped swirls and "Happy Mother's Day" in Finnish. I sponged ink onto the edges of the card and the sentiment and finished with a bit of bakery's twine.

The second card is for my Gradma and is a combination of water coloured flowers and distress ink applied using ink blending foam through a paper doily.

 

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Artisan no-knead bread, success finally

Woohoo, I have finally mastered the artisan no-knead bread. This recipe pops up everywhere and all the comments to all blogposts just rave about how easy and failsafe it is. Well, so far I haven't really had too much success, although I have to admit the first time I tried it I didn't have a Le Creuset to make it in. I just baked it like a regular loaf of bread, and it wasn't bad even if it didn't quite blow my mind. Then there was the disaster in the picture below. Not only did the bread not rise at all, the cheese stuck to my Le Creuset really badly. After that cheese incident I decided I would definitely use parchment paper in the future.

And now finally, I have conquered the no-knead bread. I'm not quite sure still what went wrong in the past, I think my dough might have been a bit too runny. But this time the bread finally looked like bread, nice and round with a perfect nice domed top. And surprisingly, this batch was made using brown and whole wheat flour, so I thought it would end up hard and dense, but it didn't. Admittedly after a few days, it was only nice after toasting, but it's still one of the most successful breads I have made without using any white flour. I did end up adding about a tablespoon of gluten to the dough and I think that helped a lot with the texture.

There are two really good blog posts about how to make this bread here and here. There is a huge list of questions and answers, alternative ways to bake the bread if you don't have a Le Creuset, and many options on flavouring choices. There are  also much more detailed instructions for how to make the bread over on Simply So Good, so I warmly recommend you hop over there to have a look. It's a really great blog in general, so be prepared to be lost in browsing for a while. 

No knead artisan bread (makes one loaf):
3 cups of all-purpose flour (I used two cups brown wheat and one whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups cool tap water 
1 tbsp wheat gluten (optional)

The howto:
Mix all ingredient until a rather soggy dough forms. Let stand 12-18 hours (or a bit less or a bit more, mine usually hangs around for about 24 hours before being baked). Preheat oven to 225 degrees C (450 F) and pre-heat your enamel pot for half an hour. During that time, shape the bread into a round loaf with well floured hands and place on a parchment paper to proof until the pot has heated up. Place in pot and bake with the lid on for 30 minutes, take the lid off and bake for another 15 minutes. 

The verdict:
Like I said, I have finally conquered the no-knead bread. I think there has been various reasons for my failures in the past. A few times I think I have left the dough a bit too runny, it's supposed to be rather soft but you should still be able to make a round loaf out of it. A few times I haven't been able to shape the dough at all, and just ended pouring it into the pot in the form of a big blob. If that happens, try adding just a touch more flour the next time. It's a live and learn type of thing. And trust me, you will get there. 

Usually when I bake bread, I like to use at least a third or so white flour, as usually heavier flours tend to result in a more dense bread, at least in my hands. Which is why I was really surprised that this bread turned out nice, soft and chewy. After a few days, it did become a bit dry and crumbly, but I used it to make a few oven-sandwiches (smother bread with mayo, add some tuna and grated cheese, and bake in the oven until the cheese has melted and is nice and golden brown). I'm so happy I finally managed to bake this bread properly, as it has really been nagging at me. Why does everyone else come up with these beautiful perfectly domed loaves and I only manage to produce horrible pancakes. This one loaf could obviously be a fluke, so I will have to try again soon to see if I can manage to repeat my success.

Card of the day:
The card of the day is a simple birthday card. I stamped the Tim Holtz hand written script using Distress Clear Embossing ink and Hobbycraft black ink with the Tim Holtz Heart n soul stamp and then heat embossed using clear powder onto ivory cardstock. I used ink blending foam and distress inks for the background, the colours are Wild honey, Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Peeled paint and Fired brick. The sentiment is from the Hobbycraft clear sentiments set, stamped using Hobbycraft black pigment ink. I added a layer of purple glittery paper for the background (I don't know the brand as I got it from a friend) and also used ink blending foam and Dusty Concord Distress ink around the edges of the sentiment. Finally I attached it all onto a white card.

Heart attack breakfast

Well, this one is for all my Finnish friends who are hung over from celebrating Vappu, and could use something really substantial for breakfast. Of course, today most of them will be out in the parks, having champagne brunch picnics. But soon, my friends, soon. The hangover is out to get you.

First, to torture you, a random true  story. A few days ago I had the type of day that makes you believe in the good of people. When I was grocery shopping the other day, I lost my gym membership card. It's always in the same compartment with my phone in my backpack (you know that little handy pouch thing on the shoulder strap of the backpack so that you can reach your phone all the time). I got out my phone to check my grocery list. I got my phone out of it's little pouch, and didn't notice that the velcro didn't close properly, and the little pouch-y thing was hanging upside down in my shopping trolley. So somewhere along my trek through the grocery store I dropped my card without realising. I thought I would have to go to the gym today admitting I was unable to take responsibility of my card and needed a new one. But on my way to the gym I dropped by the grocery store, and someone had found my card and handed it in to the lost and found! I was so happy, that really made my day. Ok, random life moment part of the blog is over and done with, so let's get on to the main course now.

To continue with my theme of health food after my mayonnaise extravaganza the other day, I thought I would blog about a breakfast which is guaranteed to clog your arteries faster than you can say chorizo. I realise this is a bit on the heavy side for a breakfast, but in the weekends, I like to replace breakfast and lunch with a nice brunch that will get me all through the day to dinner. And this most certainly is one of those. The little sausages are Mini Chorizos from Morrisons. The culinary consultant loves his chorizo and I thought the little sausages were so cute, although I'm personally not a huge fan of sausage. And let me apologise profusely for the even more horrible than usual photos, as I was taking pictures in suboptimal lighting with my phone. At least soon all my cooking will be done in the same house where my camera is, so hopefully the photos will be a little less horrible.

"Yes please, I would love a heart attack" omelette (serves 3-4):
1-2 tbsp 
1 red onion
5-6 mushrooms
7 mini chorizos (or other sausage)
6 eggs
1 tomato
3 tbsp grated cheddar
salt and pepper for seasoning

The howto:
Slice the onion, mushrooms and tomato. Crack the eggs into a bowl, and lightly whisk with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a big skillet and add the onion, mushrooms and chorizos. Cook for a few minutes, keep turning the sausages so that they cook on all sides. When the onion is starting to soften, add the eggs, and add the tomato slices on top. Sprinkle cheese on top, and let cook over medium heat until the eggs set (about 30 minutes). Serve immediately.

The verdict:
This is an easy breakfast, it only takes a few minutes of preparation, and the omelette will practically cook itself while you get back in bed for that extra half hour of dozing off (but if you do that, remember to set an alarm clock so that you don't end up setting your house on fire). If you like hearty breakfasts, this is definitely for you. If you are a dry toast and half a grapefruit type of person, maybe you should skip this. This certainly kept me going all day until dinner. Actually, it would probably make a good lunch too, or maybe a quick and easy dinner. It will certainly please any carnivorous males if you happen to have any of those around.

Card of the day:
Talking about carnivorous males, I tried to create a male themed card. Sure, it's easy enough to make cute cards for children, or pretty flower or shoe themed cards for your mum, aunt or best friend. But the men... Football? Beer? Well at least the culinary consultant loves all sorts of mechanical machine thingys, so I thought the Chronology Cogs background stamp would work. I stamped using Tim Holtz distress ink Walnut Stain, and embossed using Ranger Fine Detail clear embossing powder. I used distress inks for the borders. On another cream card I stamped the clock and cogs from another Chronology stamp set and the compass is a Tim Holtz stamp, all stamped using Walnut Stain and cut them out using scissors. I really like the compass stamp, and the cogs are really fun, I can see lots of opportunities with them.

Rhubarb buttermilk pound cake

Back home people are off to celebrate Vappu (Walpurgis Night). In Finland Vappu is one of the major holidays. People gather on the 30th of April and first of May for picnics in the parks and drink oodles of champagne (or any other alcoholic beverage, at least later in the evening). Particularly students tend to party hardy on Vappu. It's also pretty much tradition that the weather is very unpredictable during this outdoor event. I have distinct memories of icy wind and sleet and of trying to grab a bottle with fingers numb from the pain. When I was a child the family Vappu tradition was to go and see the huge bonfire in one of the villages close to where I lived. We would get balloons (you know those nice foil balloons, not the boring regular ones) and we would eat sausages and potato salad and a special donut type Vappu pastry called Tippaleipä (funnel cake). Which I will make some day. But not today. Today I will settle for a nice rhubarb bundt cake and think of all my friends who are partying and enjoying the day off tomorrow. I will, however, be enjoying a morning without a hangover, which might be the envy of some. But unfortunately I will still have to go to work.

This cake is not my fault. This cake is what happens when your best friend moves to another country, and donates the contents of her fridge and freezer to you. And I have a very small freezer, so I had to use up most of the things she gave me. I threw a mixed lot of pork, tomato passata, beans, sugarsnaps, dried mushrooms, barley and chickpeas in a slow cooker. I love my slow cooker, you can throw anything in there, and it comes out an undefined mushy consistency and you just eat it without asking too many questions. All sorts of sins have been hidden in a slow cooked tomato passata based stew. As I will also be moving in exactly one month, I really have to work hard to empty out my kitchen. Especially as I'm moving into a house with a kitchen even more stocked to the brim than mine. And that kitchen also needs to be emptied before the upcoming Big Move. But more about that later.

What this rant is really about is a bag of frozen rhubarb. When I was growing up, we had a rhubarb plant growing in our garden. And I wasn't too appreciative of rhubarb in those days. It was quite a substantial plant, and produced more rhubarb than we consumed, so my mum was happy to give some away to anybody who asked. These days, I would be so happy to have that rhubarb plant at hand. But for now I have to stick to store bought rhubarb, and it tends to be quite expensive except in high season, so any rhubarb outside of that short timespan is precious. So of course I had to use it right up. The other day I picked up a jar of buttermilk from the grocery store with no specific plan in mind. Seems like there was a bigger plan in action that day, as that buttermilk turned out to be a perfect companion with my gift of rhubarb. And the spoils from my friend's freezer also contained lemons (who knew you could freeze lemons, but apparently you can!) So I threw rhubarb and buttermilk into google, and out came this. I didn't make any big alterations to the recipe, except I only made 2/3 of the original recipe, hence the somewhat whacky measures for some things and I didn't change the amounts of some ingredients like the lemon zest, baking powder or lemon oil (yes, I'm inconsistent and you should not do what I did but use the original recipe instead unless you are a crazy kitchen rebel). The amount of ingredients listed below are what I used, for the full sized cake, see the original recipe.

Rhubarb buttermilk bundt cake:
150 g butter at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
zest of one lemon (somewhat increased from the original recipe, but hey, I like lemon)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and 3/4 cups brown because that's what I had on hand)
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon oil (like the original recipe, I didn't have any so I used lemon extract)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups rhubarb cut into small pieces

Glaze
juice from 1 lemon
1 tbsp very soft butter
1.5-2 cups icing sugar

The howto:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (original recipe says 175 degrees C/350 degrees F) and butter a bundt cake tin. Using an electric whisk, cream the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and keep whisking. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add the lemon oil to the butter and sugar cream, and then the buttermilk and flour in small, alternating, batches. Don't over mix. Finally, gently fold in the rhubarb (which according to the original recipe should first be tossed with a few tbsp flour). Transfer batter into the bundt pan and bake for about 30 minutes, then rotate your tin in the oven and bake for another approximately 20-25 minutes. Let cool for about 30 minutes. While the cake is cooling, mix the ingredients for the glaze. After cooling the cake, remove from tin and drizzle the glaze on top.

The verdict:
I'm not traditionally a big fan of bundt cakes. But this one has both rhubarb and buttermilk, so I thought there is probably not too much risk that it would turn out dry. And I was indeed right! This is the most decadently moist bundt cake I have ever had. It was absolute perfection. I hate recipes that say the cake was even better the next day, because who has time to wait. But I have to be blunt, this cake really was even better the next day when the moisture had seeped all through the cake and it had cooled completely. Not saying it was bad right after baking either, but it was just somehow more balanced the next day. So this is definitely something you can make ahead of time. 

I had one little technical difficulty with this cake. I had a really hard time removing the cake from the pan, as you can see from the pictures. But this was completely my own fault as I couldn't be bothered to butter the cake tin. I thought the non-stick coating would be enough to prevent it from sticking. Well, it wasn't. But that just gave me an excuse to drizzle the glaze on extra thickly. And everyone knows the glaze is always the best part anyways. I was actually going to add white chocolate drops into the cake as well, and I think they would have complemented the rhubarb really nicely, but at the same time, I like it that the cake wasn't too sweet and the rhubarb flavour came through really strongly. But I might try it some other time with the chocolate added in. And this cake batter would probably work really well for any sort of berry or fruit cake. I can imagine strawberries would be great, or maybe peaches or even pineapple. 

Card of the day:
As Vappu is the start of spring, I thought today's card should be something spring-y. Flowers, butterflies and pretty colours. I used Tim Holtz Distess inks Spun Sugar, Broken China and Bundled sage to stamp flowers and swirly patterns onto cream cardstock. I then embossed with a swirly embossing folder (using the rolling pin method, as I don't think I can buy my much awaited Big Shot until I have a craft room where I can actually put said thing). I cut out the scalloped ovals using scissors (I have this smart system where I have printed different shapes onto paper, and then using a permanent marker, traced the shapes onto a transparent sheet, cut that out and then used a pencil to trace the outline onto cardstock and then cut that out. Easy and convenient, right?). I stamped parts of the swirly stamp onto my scalloped ovals, embossed using clear embossing powder and then used ink blending foam to ink the edges of the scalloped ovals. I used Antique Linen distress ink to stamp the Hero Arts Flourish Background onto an oval of cream cardstock, and then Vintage Photo or Chipped Sapphire distress ink to stamp the butterfly. I used the foam to blend some distress inks around the edges of the butterfly ovals as well as the background. Finished with ribbons and bows, and matted with coloured cardstock before attaching to white cardstock. If these cards don't epitomise spring, I don't know what will.

Clean out your closets veg pie

I read a blog post somewhere a while ago how people tend to stock up on food, and end up with tens if not hundreds of pounds worth of unused food in their house. And in the worst case, you end up stocking so much that the food goes bad before you have a chance (i.e. get organised enough) to eat it. This is one thing me and my significant other disagree very strongly on. He thinks a lot of food is still good to eat past it's due date. I think you should use up food before the due date, not necessarily because it would be dangerous to eat after that (just use your eyes and nose, that will guide you right) but because food loses it's flavour and nutritional value so you should use it up as soon as possible. 

I have a really bad habit of hoarding food. I have no idea where this need comes from, it's not like I ever had to go hungry in my life. And I live less than a five minute walk from not one, not two, but five grocery stores and several restaurants, both fast and slow food. Because my kitchen is tiny, my hoarding instinct leads to bad storage problems. So I have decided I really need to decrease the amount of stored food I have hanging around. For some crazy reason I have even ended up with two gigantic containers of baking powder. No idea how I will be able to use them all up before they are out of date. What I really should do is go through all my stashes of food and make a list of what I have. But at least I'll start by trying to use up some things from my fridge which need using up really badly. Like spinach, asparagus and a large amount of tomatoes. Some leftover sundried tomatoes. A pack of feta cheese that has been hanging around for so long I started to consider it a permanent fixture. I even decided to use gluten free flour in the crust because in some crazy fit I bought some, but obviously have never gotten around to use them. Obviously regular flour would also work.

I always feel so guilty if I have to throw away food because it has gone bad. I used to be so good and plan all my meals and only shop what I needed. Lately I have been so busy (i.e. lazy) that I have eaten crap and any healthy food I have had lying around has gone bad. That will have to change. So I will set myself a challenge for the month of May. I am not allowed to buy anything from the grocery store apart from fruit, veg and lean meat. And try to use at least one or two ingredients from my pantry every time I cook. I had a good start the other day. I had a craving for cookies, so I used my newly found amazing oat cookie recipe and added some orange peel and candied ginger from my stash. Good for using up food, bad for trying to eat healthily. Especially since I ended up having four cookies that day. And another four the next. 

I was in a bit of a bad mental state while cooking this, so I just mixed together some ingredients to make the crust. Therefore I don't have any measures, as I didn't use any. I just went by feel, until I got something that resembled a homogenous dough. You could either do the same and just go by feel, or alternatively use a pie crust you like. Or try my quinoa pie crust if you are looking for something a bit different and lower carb.

Leftover vegetarian pie:
For the base:
2 grated carrots
2 tbsp greek yoghurt
gluten free flour (maybe around 3/4 cup?)
oats (maybe around 1 cup?)

Filling:
2 cups spinach
8-10 stalks asparagus
10-15 cherry tomatoes
5-10 sundried tomato halves
200 g feta
200 g mozzarella

2 eggs
2 cloves smoked garlic
3-4 tbsp milk
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried oregano

The howto:
 Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. For the base, mix together all ingredients, adding flour and oats until you have a smooth dough. It's not the type of dough you can roll out using a rolling pin, I just dumped the whole lump of dough in my silicon pie mould, and tapped it out using my hand. Chop the asparagus  an sundried tomatoes roughly, finely chop the smoked garlic. If you can't find smoked garlic (it's amazing stuff, I have found some in both ASDA and Morrison's but haven't seen any in Tesco) you can obviously use regular garlic instead. Add spinach onto the crust, and then add asparagus and both types of tomatoes. Crumble feta on top. Mix together the chopped garlic, milk, eggs and spices. Pour onto the pie. Slice the mozzarella and top the whole pie with mozzarella slices. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the mozzarella has turned golden. 

The verdict:
This pie can easily be adapted to contain any leftover veg you have. I could imagine olives would be great in it, as would courgette or aubergine. Or add some beans if you have a can that need to be used up. Replace mozzarella with any other type of cheese you happen to have lying around. Use whatever flour you have for the crust, maybe something that has been around for a bit too long and won't be perfect for bread anymore. It will still be good for the pie crust.

I liked the flavour combination with the soft flavour of asparagus nicely coming through, but with the tomatoes and the salty feta bringing in a lot of flavour. I also like that the asparagus won't cook too much, but will still have a nice texture. The oregano and garlic go really well with the feta. The mozzarella is definitely a luxury, the pie would work perfectly well without it if you want to make a healthier option. I had an opened pack of mozzarella lying around, and since the crust is all nice and fat free, so I thought what the heck, lets just go for it. I don't think the pie tastes too healthy, and even the Culinary Consultant had some of it, despite the lack of anything animal in it.

Card of the day:
Today's card is a simple thank you card. I embossed the background with a swirly embossing folder, and sponged some Tim Holtz Chipped Sapphire distress ink onto the edges using Ranger Ink blending foam. I stamped a big flower from the Hero Arts Layered Flowers set using black HobbyCraft pigment ink. I used Tim Holtz distress inks to colour the flower using a watercolour brush, and sprayed Perfect Pearl mist onto the flower. I added a blue ribbon, and attached the whole thing on craft cardstock. I rounded all corners by using the corner of a distress ink pad as a template and cut using scissors. It's a small and simple card, but I think it turned out rather nice. Next time I will layer the flower a bit more by cutting the middle out of a second piece of card and attaching it with dimensionals to bring a bit more texture to the card. 

Orange and harissa glazed mackerel

I know it's been ages since my last blog post. I have to admit, I am still all wrapped up in other things, and feel like I'm too busy to cook. Which obviously is an illusion, as I eat something every day, so I do cook something. But it's mostly my usual carrots-tomatoes-sweet peppers-salmon/chicken salad. And then I come home at night and eat the most incredible crap. I have been using my current life situation as an excuse to live such an unhealthy life, and I have put on tons of weight. But that has to change soon. I'm all out of excuses now. I have spent the last few months first worrying about finding a new job, then applying for jobs, then doing assessment exercises, and then going to interviews. And finally, this week I have signed a new contract and resigned from my current job. I still have a move possibly coming up, but other than that, it's back to routines for me. 

I don't have any new exciting recipes yet, although hopefully I will get around to cooking something really soon. To be honest, I do have a funny little concoction going in the slow cooker, but that is no culinary wonder, it's just a mix of stuff I have had hanging around in my kitchen and really needed to use up. Back in the good old days, when I was still motivated to cook and try new things, I made this orange glazed mackerel. I am in such a fish rut, all I eat is salmon. I really need to make this agan, it was rather good. The recipe is from BBC Good Food and I have modified it slightly. It's really quick and easy, and the orange and harissa gives it a great flavour of sweet and spicy.

Orange and harissa glazed mackerel (serves 2):
1 mackerel 
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp virgin coconut oil
1 small orange, juice and zest
1-2 tsp harissa paste
50 g pine nuts, toasted (if you can be bothered, I couldn't)
chopped corianer

Fillet the mackerel, and sprinkle with the paprika. Mix orange juice, zest and harissa paste in a small bowl. Heat a frying pan with the coconut oil, and add fish. Cook the fish for a few minutes on both sides. Add the glaze and let bubble until sticky. Sprinkle with pine nuts and coriander right before serving. 

The verdict:
I really liked this recipe, it was very different from what I would usually make. The flavours go really well together and the sweetness from the orange juice and zest compliment the harissa really well. I really like mackerel, but if you buy smoked mackerel it has so much added salt. Preparing your fish from scratch yourself will help you keep it much healthier, and although it seems like a lot of work to fillet the fish, it really isn't. Yes, it's a bit yucky, but it's totally worth it!

Card of the day:

Today the card of the day is a colourful birthday card for a friend. I used Tim Holtz distress embossing ink to randomly stamp two Hobbycraft Mini Clear Stamps (Daisy and Thistle) onto Hobbycraft ivory cardstock. I then heat embossed using Ranger Super Fine Detail clear embossing powder and cut the figure into five strips. I applied Tim Holtz distress inks wild honey, worn lipstick, dusty concord, broken china and peeled paint using a foam applicator for the background to bring out the stamped images. I attached it all onto black card stock and used two ribbons, a wider clear and a smaller white with silver borders for the detail and the bow. I attached it all onto Craft UK kraft cardstock and sprayed with a perfect pearl mist. Super easy and colourful card which was very easy to make. I will certainly use this technique in the future as well.