Bits and bobs

I'm going to start today off with a wee story in true Calamity Jayne styles.  Last week we took pleasure in getting one of those 'make your own cheese' kits.  We love cheese, and eat a lot of it, so thought it would be great to be able to make our own.  On Saturday we decided to give it a whirl and make some ricotta - the easiest one.  It really is simple!  Was quite fun, almost like doing chemistry!  And it worked!  It was very satisfying. Until ...

... in my infinite wisdom, I decided to attempt to make gnocchi with it.  I have never made gnocchi before.  Normally it is made with potato, but I found a Jamie recipe using ricotta and parmesan.  I got to work making it, and even though it felt too weak to hold up in boiling water, I persevered.  The recipe said to sit them in semolina flour for two hours to bind the semolina to the ricotta and protect it in the water.  I did this.  It said to leave it in the fridge for two hours to firm it up.  I did this.

When it was time to make dinner, I started on a passatta (onions, garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper) to go with the gnocchi.  My kitchen was smelling wonderful. 
I put the water on to boil.  I added salt.  I added the gnocchi - slowly lowering it in with a spoon and ... it instantly separated.  I was left with a pot of water and cheese.  So not only did I ruin our dinner, I ruined our first attempt at making cheese!  We hadn't even had a chance to try it!
Oh well, there's always next weekend ... :)

Anywho, onto some recipes that actually worked!  Let's see. I've made toasties, ginger crunch, sultana cake, a twist on curried sausages, muesli slice, and lamingtons. 

First up the toasties.  I know it's just a sandwich, but it's a really good one!  We have these for dinner occasionally, just for something a bit different. 
Spread cream cheese on a slice of bread.  Top with crushed pineapple (drained) and grated cheese, add a slice or two of ham.  On the other piece of bread, spread some honey mustard.  Sandwich together and heat in your grill press.  So good!
Another good one is using ham, apples, cheese and honey mustard. You just cook the apples up first so they are soft.

The curried sausages was really one of those 'make it up as you go' meals.  I had sausage meat out but hadn't decided on what to make.  I kind of kept adding to it as I went along and I think it turned out quite tasty.

Curried Sausages

500g sausage meat
2tsp curry powder
3tsp brown sugar
3tsp wholemeal flour
1 onion
1/2 - 2/3C passatta (the leftover from the gnocchi incident)
2Tbsp butter
3Tbsp cream cheese
1/4C mozzarella
salt and pepper
sprinkle of parmesan
Potatoes
Peas and corn

Start off by slicing potatoes about 5mm thick.  Place in a pot and bring to the boil for a few minutes then drain.
Combine curry, sugar and flour in a bowl.  Using wet hands, break off pieces of sausage meat about tablespoon size, and roll in the spice mix.  Place in a greased dish.
Slice onion and sprinkle half over the sausage balls.  Place blobs of butter and cream cheese around the top.  Scatter some peas and corn over this.
Top with passatta.
Layer potatoes over top, season with salt and pepper and dot more butter and cream cheese around.  Sprinkle remaining onion on top.
Layer the rest of the potatoes on top, seasoning again and adding more butter and cream cheese.  Scatter mozzarella and parmesan over top.
Bake in oven at 180C for about an hour, until golden and cooked through.

As for the ginger crunch, this was a good old Edmonds recipe. Tried and true.  I assume that everyone has one of these and I don't need to give these recipes - if you don't have an Edmonds at home - shame on you!  Every home needs one of these and I insist that you stop what you are doing and go and purchase one!

The sultana cake is also from the Edmonds, only I changed a bit of it.  I discovered that I only had 1C of sultanas instead of two, so I used a combination of cranberries and raisins for the other cup needed and it was delicious.

Sultana Cake

2C sultanas (or 1C sultanas, 1/4C cranberries, 3/4C raisins)
250g butter
2C sugar
3 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp lemon essence
3C flour
1 1/2tsp baking powder

Put fruit in a saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Drain thoroughly.  Add butter (chop it in pieces first) and essence.  I like to put the lid on to keep the heat in and help it melt faster.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until well combined.  Add fruit mix and mix well.
Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold together.
Spoon mix into a greased and lined square cake tin.  Bake at 160C for about an hour (I always check after 30mins and then every 15mins after that).  I like to bring it out when it's not quite cooked through in the centre, the cake is moist all over then.  Sometimes when you cook it the whole way through, it goes a bit dry.  Cake should spring back when touched.  I have made this so many times now that I can normally tell by just looking at it.
Leave in tin for 10mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

If you remember last blog I made a whole lot of sponge cake for the freezer?  Well I used some of that this weekend to make some lamingtons.  Another first for me!  My sponge was a brownish colour because I had added a tsp of cocoa powder to the batter, just to see how it would turn out.  I sliced it into 4cm squares.  I made some icing - 25g butter, 1/2tsp vanilla, 2tsp cocoa and 1tsp milo (I ran out of cocoa!) about 5Tbsp of hot water and about 1 1/2C icing sugar.  I made my icing quite thick.  Instead of dipping the sponge into it, I spread it on each side - made very little mess this way too.  Lastly, roll it in coconut and hey presto!  Lamingtons are born.

I would also like to point out that sponge is super easy to make so don't be afraid to try it.  I remember the first time I tried to make it, I was so worried it would flop!  I'm happy to say, I am yet to have a sponge go wrong.

Lastly, I made some muesli slice.  My children are always eating and I'm always trying to come up with new things to make for them.  I made this recipe up as I went along.  I have made similar ones in the past.  There is no right or wrong to this, you just put in what you like really.  As long as you have the liquid mix to bind it, you're set.
Here's what I did:

Muesli Slice

(all rough estimates)
1 1/2C rolled oats
1/3C coconut
6 dried apricots chopped into small pieces
1/4C dried cranberries
A sprinkle of chocolate drops
1/3C cornflakes
25g butter
2Tbsp golden syrup
3Tbsp maple syrup
3tsp brown sugar

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl.  This is just a guideline, you can add nuts, seeds, other fruits or cereals ...
In a small saucepan, put remaining ingredients and heat until melted.  Stir and then increase heat slightly and keep heating until it is kind of frothy looking.
Pour into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Press into a slice tin or square cake tin depending on how much you are making and how thick you want them.
Bake at 180C for about 15 mins or until golden.  Leave to cool in tin.

There you go, that should keep you going for a while :) Rug up nice and warm and make some of this yummy comfort food to eat by the fire.  Happy cooking!

Almost time!

Well the update on the cook book is that it is finally done!  I just have to do one last edit and then I can submit it!  Yay for me!  I will keep you all posted on further progress.

Now for the latest in my kitchen.  Let's see...  I've made biscuits, huevos rancheros, vege pasta bake, cheese straws and macaroon cake.  I'll start with the baking and then move onto the meals. 

First up, the biscuits.  I saw this recipe on Facebook and thought "Brilliant!  One batch of cookies that makes 100 - that should keep the cupboard well stocked."  Now I must have made mine a bit bigger than theirs, as I only managed to get 75, but still that's a fair amount.  I was able to freeze half so that they lasted for two weeks. 
Basically, this is a plain biscuit recipe that you add your own flavour to.  I made some with choc chips, some with cinnamon, coconut and oats, some with raisins and cinnamon, some with jam, some with cocoa and hazelnuts, and one last batch with 100s and 1000s, choc chips and apricot jam. 
I found them to be a little drier than my usual cookie recipes, but not bad.

Biscuits

500g butter
1/2 C sugar
5 C Self Raising Flour
1 tin condensed milk

Cream butter, sugar and condensed milk.  Slowly add flour.  And ... that's it!  Just add whatever flavours you desire.  Make one batch or separate into several.
You could try peanut brownies - cocoa and peanuts, white chocolate and cranberries, ginger...

The macaroon cake I made was just from the Edmonds.  I've never made it before, but a friend gave me some eggs for baking so I thought I'd give it a go.  Very glad I did!  If you're not a fan of coconut then you probably won't like this though.  It tastes like a stodgier lamington if that makes sense.

Macaroon Cake

125g butter
1/2 C sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 Tbsp milk

Macaroon
3 egg whites
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C coconut

Cream butter and sugar until light fluffy.  Add egg yolks and vanilla, beating well.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the creamed mixture alternatively with the milk.
Spread mixture into a greased and lined 20cm square cake tin.  Spread with macaroon mixture.  Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.  Leave in tin for 10mins before turning onto wire rack.

Macaroon
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold in sugar and coconut.

I was telling my girlfriend how my kids are constantly eating - they're grazers, and that it wasn't always easy coming up with new things to make for them, and she suggested cheese straws - again from the Edmonds (good old favourites!).  I'm so glad she did - they are super simple and super tasty!

Cheese Straws

1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp mustard powder
pinch of cayenne
75g butter
3/4 C grated cheese
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.  Rub in butter until it resembles bread crumbs.  Mix through the grated cheese - I added a little parmesan too.
Add egg and mix together to form a stiff dough.  I used a spoon to start and then my hands to knead it until it was all together.  Roll it out on a floured board.  You want it quite thin.  I also added a sprinkle of parmesan over the entire dough.
Cut into straws or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.  Place on greased tray.  Bake at 190C for 10 mins or until golden.  Transfer to cooling rack.  Store in airtight container.  Serve by themselves or with dips.

The vege pasta bake is actually one I was going to share last time, but forgot - see I told you I'd remember!  I made it again this week with a few different ingredients.  It's one of those recipes that can be adapted to what you have in your cupboards at the time.
I definitely recommend using the Delmaine chickpeas in curry sauce though, it adds so much flavour.  I have used this both times and the whole family loves it - even my son who was disappointed to hear that we were having veges for dinner - until he saw what it was.

Vege Pasta Bake

butter
onion
chickpeas in curry sauce
carrots
courgettes
corn
you can also use peas, broccoli, cauli, bok choy, I added leftover roast potatoes too and some leftover spaghetti.
1 - 1 1/2 C pasta

Cheese Sauce
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp butter
1 C milk
grated cheese
breadcrumbs

Put on a large pot of water to boil.  Add salt and pasta and cook until almost ready.  Drain.

In a large frying pan, heat a decent blob of butter until it melts.  Add onion and cook until softened.  Add whatever veges you are using - chopped.  Fry for a few minutes.
Add chickpeas and mix through.   Once heated, add pasta and mix again.  Add cheese sauce and stir through again.  Pour into a greased casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and extra cheese.  Bake at 180C for about 30mins until bubbling on top.

Cheese Sauce
Melt butter.  Add flour and stir for a  minute.  Add milk slowly, while stirring.  Keep heating and stirring until it begins to thicken - don't have temperature too high.  Remove from heat and add about 1/4 - 1/2 C cheese.

It tastes better than it looks!

Huevos Rancheros is something I had never made before, but as I said, I had been given eggs and this was a good way to use them.  I followed the recipe in Rachel Allens cook book, adding a few extra ingredients as I wanted it to stretch :)  We actually ended up having leftovers that we reheated for breakfast the next morning - A-maze-ing!  Even better the next day.  From what I gather it is usually a breakfast dish anyways, but I thought it was great as a main meal, served on toast.

The amount I made was for four adults - two eggs each.

Huevos Rancheros

streaky bacon
25g butter
2 red capsicum chopped
2 red onion diced finely
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 carrot chopped
1 courgette chopped
pinch of cayenne
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes, plus some extra fresh ones chopped
about 1 tsp sugar
8 eggs
cheese

I used two frying pans and split the recipe in two, but if you have a giant pan or you're making less then one should be fine.

Heat pan and add bacon until crisp.  Remove and leave on a paper towel to drain fat.
Add butter to the pan and once melted, add the onions, peppers, garlic, carrots, courgette, cayenne, cumin and salt and pepper.  Cook for about 8-10 minutes.
Add tomatoes and sugar and cook until liquid has reduced a little.
Make some holes in the mix and crack eggs directly into each one.  Season with salt and pepper and then cover with a lid.  Cook until just set - keep checking as it is best when yolk is still a bit runny.  Sprinkle grated cheese and cover again for a few minutes until melted. 
Serve on toast.

So there you have it.  Some delicious meals to get your mouth watering.  I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did.  It's always so satisfying to make a new recipe and have it work out.  Have a great week and Happy Cooking!

Better late than never!

My apologies.  I have once again been slack on writing for you.  Busy days editing the cookbook, taking all the pictures, going over the design.  Not to mention setting up another business :) I like to be busy!

I have to say, I am fighting back the urge to pour a glass of wine - yes I know it's only 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon, but in my defence, it's hot!  And, it's just been one of those days.  Any of you parents out there will probably understand what I mean.  In a bid to be healthy (trying to lose that extra baggage I somehow acquired over the summer holidays) I decided to take my lovely children for a walk today.  A rather long walk.  I wanted to stop off in a store and have a quick look for something - this was my mistake.  I should have known it would not end well.  Let's just say I left the store without what I intended on buying, with two screaming children.  One in particular, kept it up for 20 minutes straight.  Not a word of a lie.  (The other managed to sleep peacefully through it - go figure).  Whoever came up with that saying "Ignore the bad behaviour, praise the good", obviously never had children!

Anywho, I digress.  What you really want to know about is the food!  I've made so many things lately I don't even know where to begin!  Some of them, I made up as I was going and intended on writing this soon after, which alas, did not happen, so I may be a little sketchy on the ingredients.

I'll start off with the Lemon Cupcakes I just made.  Yes, I came home from a long walk and core exercise (thanks Tegan and Mum), to make cupcakes - this may be why I have that excess we were discussing earlier!
This is a recipe I used to make years ago.  I think it's an Alison Holst one from memory.  I have changed it a smidge, but not heaps.

Lemon Cupcakes

Grated zest of 1 large lemon
3/4 C sugar
juice of 1 large lemon
1/4 C oil
1 egg
1 C vanilla yoghurt
pinch of salt
2 C Self raising flour

Preheat oven to 190C
Sift flour into a large bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine sugar and zest.  Mix.  Add the remaining ingredients one at a time and mix each time.
Pour the wet into the flour and fold together, until combined.
Spoon heaped Tablespoons of mix into trays lined with cupcake cases - I managed to get 12 regular cupcakes and 12 mini's out of this recipe.
Pop in oven for 10-12 mins, until starting to brown.
When cold, dust with icing sugar.

I also made some date scones yesterday, using the Edmonds cookbook.  Surprisingly I have never used that one before.  It's actually pretty good :)  A few too many ingredients I think though, so I may work on a new recipe.  Watch this space!

Let's see, I've also made several dinners that were A-maze-ing! 

The first one is a mince and potato dish.  I cut my potato into small cubes, and in a large frying pan with a bit of butter, I cooked them until nice and golden, seasoning with salt and pepper.
In another pan, I cooked up some onion slices with garlic, added mince and browned it.  Seasoned with salt and pepper, and added a decent splash of soy sauce.  To this I added some edamame beans, and just before serving, some fresh chopped tomatoes - I used cherry tomatoes.
To serve, heap potatoes on plate and top with mince mix.  Grate a little cheese on top. 
Delicious!

Sausage and Egg Pie (without the pastry)

Now I make a mean sausage and egg pie with pastry, but decided to do one without for once - yea ok, I forgot to get some and couldn't be bothered making it, but it turned out fab anyways!

Those of you who are my age and went to Ashburton Intermediate, may recognise the first part of this recipe, as it's the same ingredients as "Mock Chicken Legs" that we did back then!

500g sausage meat
1 cube chicken stock (1tsp)
1/4 C tomato sauce
4Tbsp wholemeal flour
Pinch of mixed herbs

Eggs
Peas
Cheese
Hash browns

Ok so the first lot of ingredients you mix together - get in there with your hands, the best mixing tools there are!
Press into the bottom of a greased pie dish or casserole dish.
Sprinkle a wee bit of cheese over top and then some frozen peas.
In a separate bowl, beat enough eggs to cover the sausage meat - I used about 5/6 eggs.  Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mix over top of the peas.  Sprinkle a smidge more cheese.   Top with hash browns and another sprinkle of cheese.
Pop in the oven at 180C for at least an hour, it may take a bit longer, depending on how thick the layer of egg is that you use.
It should be nice and golden on top.

I was going to share a coffee cake recipe with you, but decided to put it in the cookbook, but I'll show you a sneak peek of what it looks like :)  Sooooo good!

Ooh, I almost forgot my Chicken Salad!

Chicken breasts - baking paper, season with five spice, salt and pepper, fold over paper and bash until thin.  Heat a frying pan with a little oil.  When hot, cook chicken until crispy on each side.  Set aside.

Cook up some pasta - I used macaroni - however much you need.  I made this as an entire meal so I used quite a lot.  I also added a couple of eggs and broccoli florets to the pot.

Drain pasta and pop into your bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil and toss to coat.  Chop eggs and add with broccoli.
Drain a can of corn kernels and add those with some chopped capsicum and cherry tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add a couple of Tablespoons of mayo and mix through.

Slice up the chicken and add to the bowl.  Toss together.

Devine!

I know there have been more recipes, but I can't seem to think of them right now.  So I'll leave it at that, and hopefully they'll come back to me for next time!  Have a great rest of the week guys!  Happy cooking!

Back to normal

Hello my beautiful people!  I have finally finished writing out my cookbook!  It really doesn't take that long considering they are my own recipes that I already had :) though, some are new ones I wrote especially for the book.  Now I just have to finish making everything so that we can get photos.  Big job!  Ahhh well, it's gotta be done.  What a shame that I have to have so much good food in my cupboards ... :)

Anywho, now that I'm not so focused on finishing that, I can concentrate on writing for you!  Amongst all of the preparations for the book, I have still managed to come up with some recipes to share on here with you lot.

Let's see, I made Apricot Jam/Sauce (I'll explain that one shortly), chicken spring rolls and a chicken salad.

In true Calamity Jayne styles, I have been having some nightmares in the kitchen!  For my book I am including my tan square - you know, the one that others struggle to make - and guess what?  Yup, the caramel decided not to play the game.  I knew while I was mixing it that it wasn't going to set.  So I think another thing that needs to be emphasised for that recipe is that when you are heating the caramel, DO NOT rush and have heat up too high.  It needs to be on a really low heat (how I normally do it, but was trying to get it done faster) for the caramel to stay nice and thick.
Also my Rocky Road decided to not go nice and smooth like it normally does, and was more like a fudge, but I persevered and got it all mixed in anyways.  Fingers crossed it tastes the same!

The other Calamity Jayne mishap, that actually turned out pretty good, is my Apricot Jam.  We have an apricot tree here at home, so of course, we have heaps of apricots.  I decided that I wanted to make some jam with them, and I was going to be different and make it an Apricot and Cinnamon Jam.  I thought I'd attempt my own recipe.  I know the Edmonds used Apricot kernels in it, but I couldn't get them to open up, so I flagged that idea.  Not sure if that is the root of my problem or if perhaps I needed more sugar, but as you can probably guess, my jam didn't set.  However, my "jam" tastes amazing!  It's great as a sauce on yoghurt or with crumble, we even used it as a dipping sauce for the spring rolls I made, and it still tastes great on toast - just a little runnier than normal.  But hey!  Honey can be runny so why can't my jam?? :)

For those of you who would still like to attempt it, here is my recipe :)

Apricot and Cinnamon Jam

12 Apricots, halved and stoned
1C sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1/2C water

Chop apricot halves into half again and put in saucepan with cinnamon stick and water.  Heat until pulpy.
Add sugar and heat until dissolved.  Bring to the boil.
Strain (this is possibly my other problem but I like it smooth!). 
Put back in saucepan and boil 15 minutes. 
Remove cinnamon.
Pour into sterilized jars.

Chicken Spring Rolls

Not as hard as you'd think, honestly.  A little time consuming, but simple.

Chicken tenderloins - about 8 or so
spring roll papers
2Tbsp Mirin
2Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 clove garlic crushed
1tsp ginger grated/crushed
Splash of fish sauce
Extra soy sauce
carrots, bok choy, bean sprouts, onion
Vermicelli (rice noodles)
Oil

Cut chicken into small chunks, 1cm (ish).
In a bowl combine mirin, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.  Put chicken in here and toss to coat.
Heat oil in pan and cook chicken, until cooked through.  Set aside.
Finely slice veges - carrots into matchsticks etc, fry off the veges (except bean sprouts).  Drain any excess liquid.
Put vermicelli in boiling water in a bowl for a few minutes.  Drain and then add to veges to toss. 
Add chicken back to the pan.  Pour in another few tablespoons of soy sauce and a splash of fish sauce.
Lay out on a tray to cool down - if you try to make them when the ingredients is too hot then you will get soggy spring rolls.
Once ready to go, open spring roll papers and put under a slightly dampened tea towel so they don't dry out.
Lay one on board in diamond shape, place three or four bean sprouts on corner edge closest to you then top with 1-2 Tablespoons of other filling ingredients.  Fold corner over the filling, roll once and then fold in the two sides careful to not leave air bubbles.  Continue rolling.  Seal edge with a little water.
When you have made them, heat oil in pan - doesn't need to be deep, but the bottom covered.  Carefully add rolls to the pan a few at a time.  Let them brown on each side.
Remove and sit on paper towels to absorb some of the oil. 
Serve with sweet chilli sauce, or apricot sauce :)

Chicken Salad

Two chicken breasts
4 rashers of streaky bacon
garam marsala
salt and pepper
lettuce
tomatoes
cheese
carrot
capsicum
olive oil
citrus vinaigrette

Lay chicken on large sheet of baking paper.  Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with garam marsala.  Fold baking paper over and bash with rolling pin.
Heat pan and add chicken.  Add bacon to pan, draped over top of chicken or just in the bottom of the pan.
Let the meat brown and crisp.
Prepare salad.  Wash and spin lettuce, chop tomatoes and capsicum.  Grate some cheese and carrot.  Season and drizzle with olive oil and vinaigrette.  Toss to combine.
When chicken is cooked and browned, remove from pan and slice. 
Serve salad into bowls and top with chicken and bacon.
Enjoy!

So there you go, some tasty recipes with stories included :) you're welcome!
Have a great rest of the week and Happy cooking!

Exciting times!

I have an announcement to make!  I have decided, after some prompting, to have a go at writing my own cookbook.  It really does make sense.  I love to cook and share my recipes with others, so why not?!  I will be putting some of my recipes I've shared on here in it, as well as some new ones that I have been working on.  So you will have to bear with me not posting quite as often for the next month or so.

That aside, I do have some yummy recipes for you today. First up, something I just made - and silly old me didn't take a photo, but it was honestly so good, I had to jump straight on here to share with you!  I saw Jamie do this the other night, so thought I'd give it a go with what I had here.
Now, it does use one of the dearer cheeses, but believe me, it is Oh So Worth It!!!

Strawberry and Haloumi Salad

1 punnet of strawberries
lettuce
fresh basil leaves
haloumi cheese
balsamic vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

Slice haloumi reasonably thick - about 5mm
Put into a preheated frying pan and cook until golden on each side
Meanwhile, slice strawberries into bite size chunks and put in a bowl.  Break the lettuce up - I used one of those frilly lettuces and some iceberg lettuce too.  Add this to the bowl, along with basil leaves.
Season with salt and pepper, then drizzle with balsamic vinegar.  Toss gently.
To dish up, layer some lettuce and strawberries on the plate, place a couple of haloumi slices on top then add more lettuce and strawberries.
Drizzle with a touch more balsamic, Olive oil, and lemon juice.

*The haloumi has enough flavour that you only need a few slices per person.

Absolutely stunning flavours - I highly recommend this one.


After Christmas, we had lots of leftover turkey, so I used that to make a turkey pie (and some yummy stock too).  This recipe can also be used for leftover chicken.

Turkey Pie

Flaky Puff Pastry
turkey, shredded
bacon
leftover roast veges (if any)
leftover gravy (if any)
onion or if in season, leek
thyme
chicken stock
cranberry sauce

Heat a pan with a knob of butter and a splash of olive oil.  Add bacon and thyme, let it cook until it has a nice colour.
Add onions with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook until softened.
Add turkey and any leftover stuffing and veges you have.
Pour in about 1-2C chicken stock depending on how much meat you have.  Bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down and add a splash of cream (optional, though it does add a lovely silkiness to the dish)
Taste, and season if needed.
Strain and keep the liquid for later.
Lay one sheet of pastry on your baking tray and put the filling in the centre.  Lay the other sheet over top. Fold the edges up over itself and crimp with a fork to help keep it sealed.  Poke some holes in it.

Brush a little cream or egg wash over.
Put in oven at 180C for around 30-40 minutes, or until golden and puffy.
Reheat the liquid and use as gravy to serve with the dish.
Delish!

We are lucky to have bought a house with fruit trees already established.  One of those trees is an apricot tree.  Something I absolutely love is apricot pie.  Here is how you make it.

Apricot pie

Sweet short pastry
apricots
flour
cinnamon
sugar
butter

Firstly, cut apricots and remove seeds.  Cut into small chunks and place in a saucepan.  Add a splash of water with about 1Tbsp sugar.  Bring to the boil, and stew until softened.
Add about 1/2 tsp cinnamon and heat through.
Roll out pastry and line your baking dish with it, leaving some for the lid.
Place a few blobs of butter around the dish. 
Sprinkle 1Tbsp of flour into fruit and mix.  Add to the dish.
For the lid, I like to make stripes or shapes.  This time I did stripes.  Roll pastry into a rectangle and cut into strips.  Place them in a criss cross across the top.
Sprinkle with a bit of demerera sugar.
Bake at 180C until pastry is golden and crisp.  Leave to cool a few minutes before slicing.  Serve with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

So there you go, a bit of a mixed bag this time, but that's how I roll.  I may try to have a theme next time!  It's my daughters birthday on Thursday so I have birthday food to make!  If you're lucky I'll share the cake with you :)

Have a great week!  Happy cooking!