No bread in the house?

How about making drop scones? - also can be called pikelets, girdle cakes or Scotch pancakes

4 oz SR flour
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1/8 pt milk

1. Whizz all ingredients together.
2. Heat pan until very hot.
3. Add spoonfuls of the mixture, encouraging them to make circles.
4. When bubbles appear underneath the surface turn over.
5. Serve with butter or jam, syrup, honey.

Or 

Spicy Corn Muffins

140g fine corn meal

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp ghee (or oil, I used coconut)

70g grated cheese

chilli powder and salt, to taste

1 egg

225ml natural yoghurt

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander (or 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped)

Makes 10 (5 in Yorkshire pudding tins)

1. Preheat oven to 200/425/7.
2. Grease muffin tins (I used Yorkshire pudding tins) and put tin in oven to heat
3. Put dry ingredients in bowl add rest of ingredients and mix until smooth.
4. Pour into muffin tins
5. Bake for 20 mins.

OR
Cornmeal Pancakes

http://glutenfreemommy.com/cornmeal-pancakes/

I bought some strawberries in the market this week - and then couldn't think what to do with them. Then remembered that when the children were small I used to make ice cream.  So here's the recipe:

Fruit Ice Cream

300ml  double cream (shape cream will do)
100ml caster sugar
2 egg whites
10ml lemon juice
3ml vanilla essence
225g strawberries or similar

1. Whip cream
2. Whip egg whites with sugar
3. Add other ingredients
4. Add fruit
5. Put into freezer.  

To make plain ice cream put in more sugar and use the egg yolks as well, here's the method:

1. Mix eggs and sugar
2. Whip cream
3. Mix these two together
4. Whip egg whites, add salt, lemon juice vanilla.
5. Put all ingredients togethr.
6. Freeze

In order to make the ice cream I needed some cream, so despatched other half to buy some on his travels this morning.  I asked for 300ml, but as the cream came in cartons containing 297ml, he bought two!  That's the difference between his cooking and mine - his is very precise, he buys the right ingredients and follows the recipe to the letter, whereas I just wing it.

So now I have a carton of cream going spare - and two egg yolks.  That sounds like the bread and butter pudding recipe is called for, along with the two white bread rolls which were put in the freezer when we were going on holiday and I was clearing out the fridge.

Here's the link to the recipe for my b&b pudding:  http://edvisgardening.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/bread

A young friend came to stay for the weekend and made us some soda bread one morning! yum yum!  So will find a recipe on here to try one day when we run out of bread - and actually have an oven, which we don't at present.

Here's one recipe from the ever helpful BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishsodabread_67445):

Ingredients

• 170g/6oz self-raising wholemeal flour
• 170g/6oz plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 290ml/½ pint buttermilk (or could use yoghurt)

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.
2. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. (Depending upon the absorbency of the flour, you may need to add a little milk if the dough seems too stiff but it should not be too wet or sticky.)
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.
   Watch technique1:58 mins
5. Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet.
6. Cut a cross on the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
   
   
   
   
   And here's one with accompanying home-made beans on toast from Tom Kerridge: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10260001/Tom-Kerridges-proper-baked-beans-on-soda-bread-toast-recipe.html
   
   

...and while I'm at it, here's a good recipe for scones, for those days when there's no bread in the house:

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz self raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 55g/2oz butter
• 25g/1oz caster sugar
• 150ml/5fl oz milk
• 1 free-range egg, beaten, to glaze (alternatively use a little milk)

Preparation method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter.
3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with the beaten egg. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with butter and good jam and maybe some clotted cream

Pudding time ...

Nostalgia Pudding 
(from Jocelyn Dimbleby)

8 oz butter
12 oz apricot jam
4 tbsp lemon juice
10 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz SR
5 oz caster sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp bicarb
4 oz chocolate

1. Measure out dry ingredients - breadcrumbs, sr, sugar, bicarb.
2. Melt butter and jam in saucepan.
3. Add lemon juice, pour over dry ingredients,
4. Add eggs, mix.
5. Add chocolate.
6. Put into dishes
7. Serves 14

Apple & Apricot Crumble

Med sq round cooked apple
6 apricots, chopped
2 ozs demerara sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 oz butter
4 oz margarine
5 oz white flour
3 oz wholemeal flour
6 oz demerara sugar
cook at 180 for 30-40 mins
serves about 6


APRICOT BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

18 thin slices white bread, crusts removed
5 oz butter
10 oz chopped apricots
20 fl oz double cream
32 fl oz milk
8 big eggs (or 4 egg yolks and 4 eggs)
4.5 oz caster sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 170/190 (5). Spread butter onto bread and cut each slice into 4 triangles. Arrange 9 slices of bread over base of tin. Sprinkle over the apricots, then arrange remaining bread triangles on top.
2. Mix cream, milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar together and sieve. Pour over bread and leave to soak 5 mins.
3. Put dish into roasting tin and pour hot water half way up the sides.
4. Bake in high oven for about 30 mins, until top is golden and custard is lightly set but soft in centre.
5. Remove from tin, cool about 15 mins.
6. Serve with cream or ice cream
7. Serves 18