Just a quick post from me this week as work has been really full on, and I am going to still be working all weekend
I did, however, want to share a link that I came across this week which I think that some Weekend Cooks might be interested in.
Did you know that there is an archive of over 10000 recipe books to be found over at Internet Archive. Maybe you would like to read Escoffier's A Guide to Modern Cookery, published in 1907. Or perhaps you would like to read Betty Crockers' Cookbook for Girls and Boys from 1975. Or perhaps you are interested in a specific ingredient like mushrooms. A quick search reveals there are 62 different books about mushrooms available. Some of these are duplicates, but there still should be some variety in there.
Perhaps you are interested in a particular era? There is a cookbook called Original recipes of good things to eatby Order of the Eastern Star. Logan Square Chapter No. 560 (Chicago, Ill.) published in 1919 which might be of interest. I have a quote that I have been saving for a long time about a WWII cake. I have searched on and off for a recipe but haven't found the one. There seem to be quite a lot of books on wartime food, going back as far as the civil war, so chances are, I might find what I am looking for there.
There are also some books full of handy hints. For example, maybe I should read A thousand ways to please a husband with Bettina's best recipes published in 1917 to get some more tips for having a happy spouse and therefore a happy house!
In some cases the books are available to read from within the archive. Other times there are links to other organisations, but it does look like there are lots of interesting books to look at when time permits.
think this is a fitting place to round out National Caookbook Month. At the beginning of the month I had a vague plan as to what I was going to post about. A new cookbook, a favourite cookbook, an Aussie author. And yet that isn't what I ended up posting about at all. Oh well, there's always next year.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Steak with mushroom and broccolinI
Sunday - Steak, baked potato, sweetcorn
Monday - Asian Omelettes with Sticky Pork
Tuesday - Grilled Steak with Cheese open sandwich
Wednesday - Takeaway
Thursday - Zucchine, Parmesan and Tomato Risott
Friday - Chicken Curry and Rice
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that there is a monthly cookbook recipe club run by Jamie Oliver (or his people at least). In the comments to that post a friend mentioned that there is actually an Australian based monthly cookbook club on Facebook which has the interesting name of Lambs' Ears Cookbook Club. The idea is that each month there will be a nominated cookbook that everyone cooks out of and then shares their photos.
This month, it's not so much a single cookbook but rather any book from the Australian Women's Weekly range. This means that there are hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks to choose from.
The Australian Women's Weekly used to be a weekly magazine filled with celebrity news, articles, food and garden and had a profound influence in Australian households including for social issues and the spread of ideas. In 1982 it was changed from a weekly magazine to a monthly edition, filled with all of the same things, just more of it.
One of the most important aspects of the magazine has been the food section. According to Wikipedia, there was a survey done in 1999 which suggested that more than 90% of people bought the magazine for the recipes. It was certainly the reason why I would keep magazines, although I don't think I have bought one of the magazines for 30 years or more. When you do find one, for example in a doctor's waiting room, it is the food section that I turn to most regularly.
A spin-off of the magazines was the cookbooks. The first cook booklet came out in 1948 with the first proper cookbook coming out in the 1970s. All of the recipes are tested in the AWW Test kitchen and it is something that is taken for granted. If cook an AWW recipe then chances are high that it will turn out as expected.
Since that first cookbook in 1970, there have been hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks published as part of the range. If you need a book for specific cuisines there will be one, for food intolerances, for a specific appliance, for celebrations, for budget busting. Pretty much for everything!
I did buy a lot of these back in the early 90s but I have misplaced them along the way. I do have a few though that I thought I would mention today. I have also posted about some of these before as well.
I'll start with what is possibly the most well known, the Children's Birthday Cake book, which I have posted about here previously. These are the cakes that everyone wanted to have as a kid. There was a swimming pool cake where the water was blue jelly, trains, numbers, a Dolly Varden cake (where you have a doll with a skirt made of cake.
A couple of years ago, one of our lolly (as in candy) companies brought out a version and I made my then 23 years sold a green flamingo cake!!
The next AWWC book I have on my shelf is simply called Cook. The subtitle is How to Cook Absolutely Everything and it's probably a fair call. It is nearly 700 pages of recipes, tips and tricks, techniques and more. I have made a couple of things out of this book since I bought it at least 10 years ago but flicking through the pages today has made me realise that I need to take a closer look at this book. I have previously shared a recipe for Triple Choc Brownies.
If I had to confess which AWWC cookbooks we cook from the most it would be these two Pressure Cooker and Slow Cooker books. I picked the first one up on a whim from Kmart and there were so many recipes we wanted to cook from it, so I quickly ordered the second one. These books are unusual in that for every recipe there are two variations. One is where the recipe is cooked in a slow cooker and the other where it is cooked in the pressure cooker. So far we have mainly cooked the pressure cooker recipes. We have cooked poached pears, pork ribs, chicken curry and more.
Our go to recipe out of this book is Steak and Pepper Dumpling Pie, although we never make it with dumplings. We have served it with mash potato, with soda bread, with a pastry lid and turned into an actual pie. We have also served it up to dinner guests and it has gone down a treat. It's just so tasty and versatile.
I do also own a book called Bake but that must still be in a box somewhere as I can't find it on my shelves right now.
I have already requested next month's book from the library so hopefully it comes in time for me to participate in the cookbook club.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Steak and Pepper casserole, mash, veggies
Sunday - Pork chops mash, beans and gravu
Monday - Pasta bake with chicken and green veg
Tuesday - Burgers
Wednesday - Out for dinner
Thursday - One pot Honey Soy chicken stir fry
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.
I continue my celebration of National Cookbook Month with a vintage Weekend Cooking post. This, however, isn't an actual cookboob, but rather the story uses recipes as spy code!
It's 1946 and the war is over. It's time for everyone to go home and start to heal. And yet, as much as it was the end of the war, it was also the beginning of the Cold War. Germany has been divided into sectors amongst the Allies and the tensions that shaped the world for decades were building. The rebuilding of cities and countries across Europe has to start, rehousing of displaced persons needs to begin, and the search is on for the Nazi's who disappeared into the general population at the end of the war, with the assistance of some of the population who still were believers.
For teacher Edith Graham this is also the chance for a new beginning. She has spent the war at home looking after her mother. Now, she's been recruited by the British Control Commission to go Germany. Her job while she is there is to set up schooling in the ruins that is the city of Lubeck. The city is full of people living in the amongst the rubble, with barely enough food or clothes, scrounging the ruins for an existence with little time for schooling.
But Edith is not only there for the recovery effort. She has also been recruited to provide information to the British government. They are keen to located her former lover Kurt von Stavenow who was a doctor that they believe was involved in the medical "research" during the War. Edith and Kurt were close in the years before the war and she can't believe that the Kurt that she knew could possibly be the same man. After all, she had spent time with him and his aristocratic wife, Elisabeth, in Prussia before the war, and now Edith is tasked with finding either of them.
Von Stavenow is the kind of man that has caught the attention of lots of interested parties. The US and the Russians are both interested in what they can learn from him in the name of science. And even in the British government there are those are that are interested in the same thing. And then there are the parties that want to see people like him face justice for what they did during the war.
With all of these different agendas at play, it's hard for Edith to know who to trust. Everyone wants the information that Edith has collected, not least of all her friend Dori who is still in London. In order to pass information back Edith and Dori come up with a code that is centred around sharing recipes. And then there is Edith's American friend Adeline who pops up with alarming regularity. How is she involved?
In addition to Edith's female friends who all bring interesting voices, there are other characters like her driver Jack, the young refugee Luka who appoints himself as Edith's protector, and her occasional romantic interest Harry. Even within those closest to her, Edith has to question if they have their own agendas.
This book is very unusual. There are plenty of historical novels out there which talk about the female spy experience during war time, but I don't think I have ever read one in this kind of post war setting. The book also had a Cold War thriller feeling where it was hard for Edith to know who in her life she can trust, where there was danger and betrayal at every turn. And the ending. Oh my goodness I did not see that coming.
Celia Rees has written a lot of young adult historical fiction novels, but this is her first for adults. Based on this book I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
Using the idea of recipe as code was a very clever touch. There were plenty of examples of delicious sounding recipes mentioned, but this was also in the immediate aftermath of the war. There were shortages everywhere, and so there were also several recipes that I would be happy to never have to eat.
When I was reading the book I was trying to come up with how I was going to include a recipe for this post. There were a couple of recipes in the book that I have made before and shared on the blog including Lebkuchen (recipe here) and Apfelkuchen (recipe here) but the one that I decided to post is Bienenstich or Beesting Cake. I made it a while ago using this recipe from the Queen website. It's an unusual cake as it is made from brioche dough rather than cake but the combination with the custard was delicious.
Beesting Cake
Custard 2 cups (500ml) full cream milk 4 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste 6 large egg yolks (approx. 110g) ½ cup (110g) caster sugar 1/3 cup (50g) corn flour 45g butter, room temperature
Brioche ½ cup (125ml) lukewarm milk ¼ cup (55g) caster sugar 1 ½ tsp dried yeast 2 cups (300g) plain flour 50g unsalted butter, softened 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste 2 large egg yolks 1 large egg
Topping 70g unsalted butter ¼ cup (55g) caster sugar 2 tbsp honey 1 tbsp thickened cream 1 cup (120g) flaked almonds For the Custard
1. Place milk, and Vanilla Bean Paste in a large saucepan over a low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Combine egg yolks, sugar and corn flour in a large bowl and whisk to form a thick paste. Add a few tablespoons of warm milk mixture to thin out the mixture if necessary.
3. Slowly add half a cup of milk at a time to the egg mixture while whisking. Continue until all the milk has been added. Pour mixture back into saucepan over a low heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Once mixture starts to boil, keep mixing for 1 minute and then remove from the heat and pour into a clean bowl.
4. Place a piece of cling wrap directly over the pastry cream and allow to cool for 30 minutes before whisking through butter. Allow to cool completely, before refrigerating until chilled.
For the Brioche
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment, combine milk, sugar and yeast and allow to sit until foamy. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low for 1 minute, before increasing the speed and mixing for a further 5 minutes. Place cling over mixer bowl and allow dough to rise for 1 hour or until almost doubled.
2. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm round cake tin. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured bench and knead for 4 minutes, adding more flour if needed. Press into the base of prepared tin, ensuring dough covers the base of the tin. Allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Method - Topping
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced). Prepare topping at the start of the second rise. Place all ingredients excluding flaked almonds in a medium saucepan over a low to medium heat until butter melts and mixture starts to simmer, cook for 1 minute until slightly thickened, do not brown. Remove from the heat and add flaked almonds, stirring well to combine. Set aside to cool.
2. Spoon almond topping over risen dough, do not worry about spreading the almond mixture as it will flatten out during baking. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in tin, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Slice cake in half and spread custard over the base of the cake. Place top half on top of custard.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This
week the theme is Favourite Words. I thought that I would tie this theme into the fact that it is National Cookbook Month so I have been focussing on cookbooks during this month as part of Weekend Cooking. I am therefore choosing words like bake, cake, kitchen and associated words as my words!
I recently joined a Facebook group which is a monthly cookbook group. This month they are cooking from any Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks. These are just two of the AWWC cookbooks I have. I posted about the Birthday Cakes one here.
Nadiya Hussein come to prominence as a result of winning Great British Bake Off and has gone from strength to strenght. I have shared recipes from Nadiya Bakes here and from Bake Australia Great here.
Donna Hay is one of Australia's best known celebrity cooks! I have shared several of her recipes over the years. Marian Keyes is a really well known author. She shared how baking helped her with mental health issues. Here's my review.
I currently have Beatrix Bakes out of the library!
Moving now to the word kitchen because this is where all the bakes and cakes happen! My review of Kitchen Counter Cooking School can be found here.
During this month I am focussing on cookbooks as part of National Cookbook Month. I did think that it might be a good opportunity for me to finally finish reading The Language of Love by Annabel Abbs. You would be right in assuming that this isn't actually a cookbook. It is, however, the story of Eliza Acton, who is creditted with writing the first modern cookbook for home cooks. It first caught my attention because of this gorgeous cover. Unfortunately it didn't keep my attention all that well because I started reading it six months ago and had to start reading it again this week.
When we meet Eliza, she is in London to meet with a publisher to try and get her book of poetry published. Unfortunately, the publisher is not interested at all, telling her to write gothic novels or a a cookbook. Only problem is, Eliza can't cook!
Eliza returns home to her family disappointed, but that soon after that is the least of her problems. Her father has lost all of the family's money and has to flee to France. Eliza, being a spinster daughter with no marriage prospects, and her mother have to move to Tonbridge and run a boarding house. A far cry from the life of luxury that the family has previously led.
Eliza is only able to take a few personal items with her when they move, which include her poetry books, and at the last minute, some cookbooks from the chef.
Eliza is determined to learn to cook, and to write a cookbook, a better cookbook than those that are currently available:
"I've been studyng cookery writers and I can do better. Some of them are barely literate. The measurements are imprecise, the wording is inelegant. They lack clarity and the recipes themselves are unappetising." I glance at Mother - she is wringing her hands, her lips and jaws working soundlessly.
"I shan't be a cook. I shall be a cookery writer. It is perfectly seemly."
In the kitchen, Eliza is ably assisted by Ann Kirby, who comes to work in the kitchen. Ann has to work hard to overcome her beginnings. Her father is a drunkard and her mother is in a lunatic asylum, but Anne does have one advantage. She can read and right, and she has an inate ability to cook.
Together they work hard to feed the houseguests but to also test the recipes for the cookbook. But each of them have secrets, and there is also an inbalance between them. Can these two women truly become friends?
I mentioned above that Eliza Acton is creditted with the first modern cookbook. It is her that we have to thank for recipes as we know about them, with a precise list of of ingredients, timings, and handy hints and tips.
"When Mr Longman wrote to me with his terms, he divulged a little more about the mysterious Lady, auhtor of the successful but deeply frustrating A new System of Domestic Cookery by a Lady. The Lady (a Mrs Maria Rundell) has been dead some years. But before dying she sold half a million copies of her cookery book, a fact underlined twice by Mr Longan in his letter. As if to say that is what he expects from my modest efforts. Half a million readers!
I scan Mrs Rundell's recipe a third time, with a flutter of irritation. Why didn't the wretched woman arrange the ingredients in a simple list? It would be easier, I think, to list the ingredients in a simple list. It would be easier, I think, to list them myself rather than reading and re-reading the recipe over and over.
I shall write my recipes differently. I shall list the ingredients separately - and with precise measurements. Yes - with the most minute exactness! Surely women have enough tojuggleintheirheads without having to memoriselists of ingredients as they work? And it is women I shall write for."
I did find this to be an interesting read. The story is told using the alternate viewpoints of both Eliza and Anne. As a result we get to see two very different lives, both framed in the various rules that apply to them through society. Anne struggles with keeping the secret of her mother's lunacy, just in case people think it is in her blood, as well. Eliza has secrets of her own. And she wants more. Even an unexpected offer of marriage can not derail her from her dreams.
One of the things I liked about this book was that the chapter titles, which are mostly recipe names or at the otherwise food related. It took me a little while to realise that the chapter titles were not really tied into the events in the chapter. Some of them sounded delicious! Pear Meringue with Bon Chretian Pear or Orange Blossom Macaroons anyone? Others not so much!
While the later cookbook Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management is probably more well known, there is plenty of evidence that many of her recipes were actually taken/inspired from Eliza Acton's earlier cookbook. What Mrs Beeton did differently was to put the list of ingredients at the top of a recipe, instead of at the bottom like Eliza did.
This book has also been published under the title of Miss Eliza's English Kitchen: a novel of Victorian cookery and friendship.
What reading this book has inspired me to do is to take a look at the one Eliza Acton cookbook that is available to download at my library.
Rating 4/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Eggs on toast
Sunday - Steak, egg and chips
Monday - Butter chicken pizza
Tuesday - Roast pork gravy rolls
Wednesday - Presssure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise
Thursday - Chicken Pesto Pasta
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home pageMiss Eliza's English kitchen: a novel of Victorian cookery and friendship
Did you know that Jamie Oliver has a Cookbook Club that runs as a group on Facebook? I only found out this week and it feels like it is something I should have known about.
I am not sure how much I will participate in the group as there are some very good cooks amongst them who present their dishes so beautifully as opposed to someone like myself who serves dinner on a plate or more likely splodge the dinner on the plate. I do, however, like the idea of the group, so I might at least take a look at the cookbooks that are chosen.
The thing that I like is that they are choosing different cookbooks from around the world. This is the list of the cookbooks that have been chosen so far:
Vietnamese: Simple Vietnamese to Cook from Home by Uyen Luu
Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine by Zoe Adjonyoh
Chasing Smoke: Cooking over Fire Around the Levant by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich
Take One Fish: The New School of Scale-to-Tail Cooking and Eating by Josh Niland
East: 120 Easy and Delicious Asian-inspired Vegetarian and Vegan recipes by Meera Sohda
Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk
Mississippi Vegan: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Boy's Heart by Timothy Pakron
Sambal Sheok: The Malaysian Cookbook by Mandy Yin
Thali:A Joyful Celebration of Indian Home Cooking by Maunika Gowardhan
Nistisima: The Secret to Delicious Vegan Cooking from the Mediterranean and Beyond by Georgina Hayden
All Day Baking: Savoury not Sweet by Michael James and Pippa James
Cuidad de Mexico: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Mexico City by Edson Diaz-Fuentes
Dominique's Kitchen: Easy Everyday Asian-Inspired Food by Dominque Woolf
Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect by Olia Hercules
Big Has Home: Recipes from North London to North Cyprus by Hasan Semay
The cookbooks are chosen early each month and there are some tester recipes shared so that people can try some recipes out while they are waiting for the book. Many of these books sound very tempting, I am very very tempted by the Josh Niland book. He is an Australian chef who does very interesting things with fish and has been on Masterchef Australia several times. I am also tempted by the Festive German Bakes book, and the cover for Cuidad de Mexico is just so colourful I might see if I can find that one too!
Now I am not naive enough to fail to recognise that there is some clever marketing at play here. For example, Dominique's Kitchen is written by the winner of one of Jamie Oliver's competitions, and Big Has was employed at Fifteen, which was Jamie Oliver's social enterprise, many years ago. But I like that there are a variety of regions, food preferences and stories being told through the pages of these selections.
Which brings us to this month.
This month's collection is In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmother From the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen. That subtitle just made me want to pick up this book straight away. Luckily, my new library system had it so I was able to request it and pick it up straight away.
The book is organised so that we start in the north of Africa in Eritrea and then work our way south via Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique to South Africa and then to two islands located in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar and Comoros.
In each country, we meet one or more bibis (grandmothers) who shares her story by answering several questions such as do your children and grandchildren cook, what does home mean to you, how do you define community, and what was your favourite meal growing up. Not all the grandmothers still live in Africa. Several of them now live in the US, but they still feel the ties to their homelands. Very often the recipes they share are for relatively simple dishes, the food that they served to their own families and so there is a mix of everyday, dessert and celebration recipes.
One thing that the recipes show is the impact of trade and colonisation on the food of a region. For example, did you know that pasta is quite common in Somalian cooking thanks to the Italian colonisation of southern Somalia. Similarly there is a recipe for lasagne from Tanzania, whereas in Mozambique there is a Portuguese influence. This east coast of Africa also played a pivotal role in the spice trade, and you can definitely see the evidence in some of these dishes, including with some Middle Eastern flavours
You may recall that husband was born and bred in South Africa (of Dutch descent) so it was inevitable that the first chapter that we would look at would be that chapter. Here, we meet Ma Khanyisa, who lives in Cape Town in South Africa. She has lived in Melbourne but has now returned home. Ma Khanyisa shares a recipe for Imifino which is Wild Greens with Corn Porridge. The recipes in the South African chapter include Chakalaka, a spciy vegetable relish, Denningvleis which is Sweet and Sour Braised Lamb with Tamarind, a flavour that comes from the Cape Malay community. There are also recipes for Chakalaka and Cheddar Braaibroodjies which are grilled cheese sandwiches and Malva Pudding Cake. The chapter finished with a recipe for Iced Rooibos Tea with Orange, Cloves and Cinnamon.
My husband was very excited to see a recipe for Malva Pudding Cake. I tried it when I visited South Africa a few years ago and thought it was really good, soI think this is going to be the recipe that I try first out of this book.
For the recipes that are shared by the bibi's the photos were all taken in situ, so the food is served as it would be in their homes.
This is a lovely cookbook, one that I don't believe that I would necessarily have come across if I hadn't stumbled across it as part of the cookbook club!
I have shared this post as part of National Cookbook Month.
Weekly meals
Saturday -
Sunday - Pork Mince Pie
Monday -
Tuesday - Baked Prawn Nasi Goreng
Wednesday -
Thursday - Family dinner
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month.
When I look at the photos I do see that they are very similar. This is because I am currently still very much enjoying making chiffon cakes (also known as angel food cakes). They are so light and fun to make.
Coffee Cream Cake - Whilst this isn't called a chiffon cake, it is a very similar technique, so I am going with it. I am also very conscious that these two photos look very similar! I will say that on both occasions I served this as dessert when we had dinner guests and on both occasions they were very impressed. Recipe can be found here.
Coffee Meringue Shards - I did put a coffee meringue shard in for my picture, but I am still getting used to the new oven so they weren't quite as good as the first time I made them. After I made the first batch I did attempt to make a half batch which is when I learned that only one egg in the mixer is too small an amount to make it whip properly.
Spicy Apple and Ginger Self Saucing Pudding - A couple of years ago, during lockdown, we self saucing puddings quite regulary. I don't remember making one last winter at all,so I thought it was time to make it ago. I have posted the recipe for this before!
National Cook Book Month
October is National Cook Book month. My plan is to post about cookbooks or books about cookbooks during all of October and I would like to invite you to join me. You could choose to post about a favourite cookbook, a new one, an old one, one from a specific country. There are so many options!
I've made this little logo for my own entertainment really. One of these days I will work on my logo making skills! Been on the to do list for a while now!
I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen, hosted at Sherry's Pickings.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Lasagne
Sunday - Leftover lasagne
Monday - Zucchini, tomato and parmesan risotto
Tuesday - Pork chops mash and broccoli
Wednesday - French style chicken casserole
Thursday - Pizzadilla
Friday -
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Did you know that October is National Cookbook month? Or at least it is in the US, and I am jumping on the band wagon. I stumbled across it recently when it wsa mentioned by Wendy from A Day in the Life of the Farm.
I thought that this week I would share my latest cookbook acquisitions over the last few months.
Air Fryer/Air Fryer Healthy
We recently acquired an Air Fryer which is exciting, but then we realised that we didn't have the first clue what to make in it, except for fried chicken. So based on some recommendations from an air fryer group on Facebook we rushed out and bought these two books. Ask me how many recipes we have made out of these books? That's right. None!! We have been using it to cook our working-from-home lunches during the week, but we do need to explore more. I did attempt to do a medley of roast vegetables, which were really inedible.
If you have any favourite air fryer recipes I would love to hear about them!
Keto BBQ by Myron Mixon - Back in May, I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book when BethFishReads did a giveaway. Now that we are coming into BBQ season, we have had a look through. My husband is very keen to try some of the spice rubs.
Time to Eat by Nadiya Hussain - After doing a joint review of Nadiya Hussain's Nadiya Bakes back in August, I knew that I was going to have to buy moreof her cookbooks. There are a number of recipes that I know I want to try. I also think that I might buy another one of her books soon.
Chocolate by Kirsten Tiballs
Kristen Tiballs is a very success chocolate and patisserie chef based here in Melbourne. She has appeared on Masterchef Australia many times, and won internations awards. I have borrowed this one from the library to see what I can find to try to make, or techniques to learn or just to look at the amazing looking baking all the way through it!
I have already put a holding post in place for the end of September next year, and maybe I will ask all of you to share about favourite, new, or old cookbooks!
Weekend Meals
Saturday -
Sunday - Pulled Pork
Monday - Pumpkin, Coconut & Chickpea Curry with Curry Leaf Tarka & Naan Tuesday - Grilled Spiced Lanb with Cucumber & Tomato Salad & Bombay Potatoes Wednesday- Southern Indian Roasted Chicken with Indian Slaw, Dill Rice & Toasted Almonds Wednesday - Pumpkin, Coconut & Chickpea Curry with Curry Leaf Tarka & Naan Thursday - Fried chicken
Friday - Pub meal at home
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
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