Getting my Batch on 👩‍🍳

Hi there everyone 😀

I’ve been following The Batch Lady, aka Suzanne Mullholland, on Facebook for a fair while now … certainly since before any of her cook books were actually released in print and she was doing cooking demonstrations on This Morning.

It’s not just about the recipes, though there have always been lots of free ones available on line, it’s about the batching mentality. About thinking ahead and getting organised. About taking the effort out of thinking about what to have for tea and having to start cooking from scratch at the end of a busy day.

It’s about how easy it is to cook up a big pot of minced beef and turn it into a cottage pie for tea, a chilli for tomorrow night and a spaghetti bolognaise for the freezer. Or to take a whole chicken and turn it into a chicken dinner, a chicken curry and enchiladas … getting the most for your money and avoiding any waste.

It’s also about how you can ‘batch’ other parts of your life … just to generally make things easier and to help keep on top of general day to day life stuff.

I can’t lie … I also love just seeing what Suzanne gets up in her daily life on the farm … how she is trying to build healthy habits into her daily routine and how she is making time for self care and personal wellbeing.

I think you can probably tell that I’m a bit of a fan 😜

Anyway Suzanne’s latest cook book Grab and Cook was released earlier this year and this sounded like it could be right up my street …

I pre-ordered it from Amazon and eagerly awaited delivery. I was not disappointed. At first glance there were quite a few recipes I fancied trying, which was great. I mean … how often do we buy a cook book and only ever end up cooking one or two things from it?

Not so with this one … I’ve already tried 12 of the recipes … some have become real favourites … and there are still plenty more I fancy having a go at.

The first recipe we tried was from the Weeknight section … Crunchy Tomato, Cod & Pea Parcels. It literally took me five minutes to make up four parcels for the freezer. When it came to having them for tea we cooked them from frozen and had them with crushed new potatoes and asparagus … so we literally just threw everything in the oven together. The parcels did take about 10 minutes longer to cook than expected, but they were absolutely delicious and we’ve had them several times since …

Also from the Weeknights section of the book we’ve tried both the Pizza and the Goats Cheese & Sundried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts … again both really quick and easy to prepare for the freezer and very tasty. These need to be defrosted before cooking, but simple enough to just get out of the freezer in the morning. I did use cocktail sticks to just hold everything together whilst cooking … but otherwise cooked exactly as the recipe calls for. 

The Salmon & Noodle Parcels is another one we’ve tried from the Weeknight section. The first time did as per the recipe … parcelling everything up and freezing, then cooking in the oven from frozen. I wasn’t overkeen on the pak choi, so what we do now is just freeze the salmon portions in the marinade then when we come to cook we just make up our own stir fry veg and noodles. We then pan fry the salmon fillet and just serve it on top …

The last we’ve tried from this section so far is the Chicken Shawarma Traybake. We made up one for tea and one for the freezer, which took no time at all. It just got thrown into a tray and bunged in the oven. We had it with flatbreads, some microwave rice and tzatziki. It was very tasty but could definitely take more spice for us.

I still really want to try the Beef Ragu, the Pizza Pasta Sauce , the Romanesco Pasta and the Baked Honey & Mustard Pork Chops … so still plenty to go at.

When we had weekend guests at the lodge we had a go at two scrummy breakfasts from the Breakfast & Brunch section. Both were great as they could be prepared ahead and out in the freezer so was quite simple to put together at breakfast time.

First off we tried the Ham & Croissant Bake. I just threw all the ingredients into two freezer bags and in the freezer they went. I took the bags out the night before we were having them and they defrosted in the fridge overnight …

All that I needed to do in the morning was pop the oven on … tip the mixture into a baking dish … and stick it in the oven. 30 minutes later it was looking … and tasting … very good …

I did add mushrooms to mine … as we eat mushrooms with pretty much everything … and this worked out absolutely fine.

The other breakfast we opted for with our guests was the Brioche Cinnamon French Toast Sticks. Again I prepared ahead and froze. I was concerned that the brioche would go a bit soggy but it didn’t. I open froze on a tray before bagging up.

These can be cooked from frozen and didn’t take long to prepare at all … just have to be careful to keep an eye on them as they cook pretty quickly. We had ours with berries, Greek yoghurt and honey. Absolutely delicious 😋 

The other thing we’ve tried from this section is the Chilli Cheese & Chutney Naan Toasties. We’ve had them twice and both times we’ve had them for lunch and then popped another portion in the freezer. We had ours served with poached eggs as I’m not a fan of fried. Very tasty and … like with a lot of the other recipes … there is scope to change things around a bit … either add different spices or switch the fillings to suit what you fancy …

We will definitely be using all three of these recipes again and there are a fair few more in this section that we will definitely be giving a go.

There are lots of recipes that I want to try in the Light Bites & Lunches section of the book. It’s full of lovely bits and pieces that would be great for a ‘pick and mix’ lunch or buffet. So far we have only tried the Herby Cheese & Prosciutto Pinwheels.

Again the recipe was easy to follow and preparation didn’t take long. I open froze again before bagging and we’ve still got a load of these in the freezer. They cook from frozen and are great as a snack or a nice lunch with salad …

There is then a Fakeaway section in the book … full of lovely looking meals. So far we’ve just tried the Honey Sesame Chicken … which we cooked in the slow cooker. I decided to add mushrooms and some matchstick carrots and this was really tasty. I didn’t take a photo of this one and we’ve only had it the once. I didn’t ’double bubble’ on this one as I wanted to be sure we liked it first. I will definitely be doing it again.

We’ve also only tried the one recipe so far from the Family & Friends section … the Tarragon Chicken with Dumplings. I slow cooked a huge batch of this, with added mushrooms, and made enough to have it six times for the two of us. I didn’t batch the dumplings though … so when we’ve had it again we’ve opted for either a puff pastry pie top or a Yorkie pudding …

The last recipe we’ve tried is from the Easy Bakes section and this didn’t turn out too well … though it did get eaten.

I made the Chocolate Malt Slice and it just didn’t set. There just didn’t seem to be enough liquid at all. I did mention my experience on The Batch Lady Facebook group and it seems that a number of people have had the same problem.

Having tried the Caramel Crunch Speculoos Traybake from a previous book I was really disappointed … as this always turns out really well and sets just right … as you can see …

I might give it another go … adding more condensed milk to see if that helps.

And that’s it so far. I love the book … would definitely recommend it … and am looking forward to trying a fair few more of the recipes.

As I said at the beginning … it’s not just about the recipes in the book … it’s about applying the batching process to other recipes and other parts of life in general.

For me … it helps to be organised and it’s good to know that, when we don’t really fancy cooking from scratch at teatime, there is something nice and home made just sitting there in the freezer.

I think it’s the most used cookbook I’ve ever had … thank you Batch Lady 😀

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Random Ramblings :: The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating

Hi there everyone 😀

As promised I'm back to let you know how we got on with our first Gousto box and the four recipes that we chose, starting with ...

Lemony Chicken & Crushed Potato Colcannon

This is what the box provided us with ...

This one took no time at all to prepare, the recipe was easy to follow and it was absolutely delicious. We will definitely be having it again, though probably with larger chicken portions.

I did thicken the sauce with a teaspoon of cornflour and I did add a portion of carrots, but other than that we cooked exactly as the recipe. It was a real success and a great start ...

Next up was the ...

Creamy Chicken Potato-Topped Pie

For this one I opted to add in additional leeks and carrots, mushrooms and a half tin of sweetcorn. I also added extra potatoes for the mash and a portion of cauliflower as an additional vegetable.

I opted to make two individual pies and, to be fair, with the extra veg, there would have been enough for three people ... though we did manage to polish them off ...

Again ... I can't fault the recipe, the quality of the ingredients provided or the flavour. It was another real success and will definitely be made again.

We were on a bit of a roll and were looking forward to the third of our four dishes ...

Oven-Baked Cheesy Portobello Mushroom Risotto

Again, with this one I added more vegetables ... an extra leek, more fresh mushrooms and a pack of dried shitake mushrooms ... and a pack of bacon. We also had a small baguette on the side.

It was a new experience for us ... we normally do our risottos on the hob, but it was lovely sticking it in the oven, getting the kitchen tidy and then just sitting back and waiting.

It was absolutely lovely. Really creamy and full of flavour. The cheesy topped portobello mushroom was a really nice touch too.

So, there was just one more to go ...

Baked Creamy Chorizo & Leek Pasta with Rocket

This was the one I was least enthusiastic about from a portion size point of view. There didn't seem to be much pasta for two. I added mushrooms, another leek, half a red pepper and prawns. Then included a baguette and a portion of green beans on the side. We used double rocket with the risotto.

This one was OK. Very flavoursome, but a bit watery for me. Whilst it was lovely being able to bung it in the oven and, again, get tidy and just wait for it to cook ... I think if I did it again I would probably do it on the hob and thicken it before serving.

I don't think there would have been enough of this dish for two without all of the added bits, but then I do know we have a bit of an issue with portion size, so for normal eaters it may have been fine.

So there you have it ... our first four dishes. All pretty successful. All definitely added to the repertoire to have again.

Do you want to know my overall thoughts on Gousto? Well here you go ...

• The menu selection is great, lots to choose from
• Not having a specified delivery time before the day of delivery is a bit of a pain
• There is a lot of packaging, though a fair amount can be recycled
• The quality of the ingredients was great
• Portion sizes were probably normal, but some were on the small side for us
• Recipe instructions were clear and easy to follow
• All of the meals tried so far have been tasty and full of flavour
• The eat by dates for the meals are quite short ... not sure if you could freeze the meat or not
• At full price it works out pretty expensive
• The recipes we've tried so far all seem to have left us with a tidy kitchen before we sit down to eat

So far so good. We will definitely carry on with the next three weeks with the 30% discount, though of course this makes it even more expensive than just buying the ingredients yourself.

By the looks of things the majority of the food delivery companies offer the same kind of discounts so may be that when this discount runs out we try another one ... or we may just add a stack of new favourites to our recipe list and go back to doing it all ourselves. I will keep you posted 😀

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Random Ramblings :: Trying Something New

Hi there everyone 😀

I’ve been contemplating trying out a meal delivery box for a while really ... but had always thought it a bit unnecessary. Both Martin and I enjoy cooking and have a real wide range of favourite meals in our repertoire that we like to cook from scratch.

Saying that ... every now and again we struggle for inspiration and choosing another seven meals we fancy for the coming week can be a bit tedious.

A few weeks ago the timing just fell right and an ad with a 50% discount code for the first week, followed by 30% for the rest of the month, appeared on my Facebook timeline for Gousto. I clicked through just to have look and easily saw four recipes that I liked the look of and decided to give it a go.

I timed our delivery for a Friday ... on the basis that we have our weekly shopping delivery on the Sunday. This would give us time to have a good look at what was provided and, if the portion sizes looked small, I could add extra veg or sides to our normal shopping delivery.

Whilst you can't opt for a delivery time ahead of the delivery day, which is a bit frustrating, we did receive a text on the Friday morning specifying a two hour delivery slot, which is trackable.

Friday came and there was much excitement. We had our text telling us our delivery would arrive between 8.10am and 10.10am and our big red box arrived well on time.

We couldn't wait to get the box open and see what was inside ... it was only at this point that I really thought about the amount of packaging involved ... though a fair amount is recyclable ...

The box was really well packed, with recipe cards for each of the meals that we'd chosen and all of the fresh ingredients looking really nice and fresh ...

There were a couple of effective ice packs keeping any meat or fish cool and an envelope pack of bits and pieces to accompany each recipe ...

We unpacked the whole of the box and checked off all of the ingredients against the recipe cards ... we were pleased to find that everything was as it should be.

We had ordered Lemony Chicken & Crushed Potato Colcannon ...

Oven-Baked Cheesy Portobello Mushroom Risotto ...

Creamy Chicken Potato-Topped Pie ...

And ... Baked Creamy Chorizo & Leek Pasta with Rocket ...

Whilst we could see that the portion sizes would not be what we are normally used to, they were reasonable and we could easily see how we could add a bit of bulk by adding extra veg here and there, which we tagged on to our supermarket grocery order.

So ... four meals sorted, so only three for us to have to think about ourselves. The meal planning and shopping list felt nice and easy.

Just as a bit of a tester from a value point of view we decided to cost the ingredients by putting them into the Tesco shopping site to do a bit of a price comparison. The total cost with Tesco came out at £19.25. We'd paid £17.50.

It wasn't a total like for like comparison as I didn't include the store cupboard ingredients ... as we already have all of those so, if needing to buy those, that would account for a bit more.

Also some of the fresh ingredients came in higher quantities from Tesco ... so would yield a bit more.

My initial verdict on cost is that, for us, it definitely wouldn't be worth paying the full price for the box of  £35.00, though we were very happy with the value with the 50% discount.

I'll leave it there for now, but I promise I will come back and let you know how we got on ... what the meals were like and what, if anything we added.

Please note ... I am not affiliated to Gousto in any way and this is a totally independent review of my own personal thoughts on the box ... though if any of you are interested in trying a box I believe I am able to share a discount code with you that, if taken up, provides me with a £15 credit towards my next box.

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Is Chicken Soup really good for the Soul?

Hi there everyone

It is absolutely freezing here today. I have the heating on full pelt and am spending the day trying to keep warm. I thought it would be a good time to share this recipe which is a real Winter warmer. ...

Have you read that book ... Chicken Soup is good for the Soul? I must confess I haven't, but the phrase seems to stick in my mind for some reason.

It was a Monday morning a week or so ago and I seemed to have accumulated a, not so random, selection of pretty manky vegetables ... bendy celery, slimy leeks and a random parsnip left over from our roast dinner.

Trying to be a bit more mindful of waste I didn’t really want to chuck them out.

Whilst not looking as though they would have much use as a veg on the side of a dinner, they were exactly the right thing for my favourite chicken soup recipe.

It’s in an old Weight Watchers cook book and I remember serving it to someone once and telling them it was a Weight Watchers one and then them telling me, at a later date, that they’d been looking for it in the supermarket and couldn’t find it. High praise indeed.

Anyway, we are now more fans of Slimming World, (actually, maybe fans isn’t the word Martin would use), but it’s very easily adapted. Just don’t fry the veg in margarine, swap it for butter flavoured daylight.




I added an onion and soon turned the manky pile into a nice pan full of chopped bits and pieces and got them frying off.

The only drawback of this recipe is that I can’t make it in the soup maker. This is because once the veg has softened, you add the stock and then throw a chicken portion in to cook while the soup is bubbling away. It should be a full boned portion really, but I only had a boneless breast so used that instead.










Once it’s bubbled away for 30 minutes, you take out the chicken portion, shred it and put most of it back in ...
... before the messy task of blending takes place. I tend to do this in my big blender, rather than using my stick blender, so I always tend to end up slopping it all over the place ... no such problem with the soup maker.

After it’s blended you add it back to the pan and put the rest of the shredded chicken in with some freshly chopped parsley. I didn’t have any of that so just threw some dried in.

Oh, in the recipe you should also stir through some creme fraiche at the end, but I like to keep it ‘free’ so leave this out and it is no poorer for it. It still ends up luxuriously thick and creamy and the chicken flavour really does come through.

It’s one of the only soups I really like eating that doesn’t have to be accompanied by a slab of bread on the side, though if I’m being really naughty a chunk of fresh bread is always a bonus.

So, in about 40 minutes we went from this ...

... to this ...

So is it good for the soul? I think so, especially when it means you make something tasty and full of goodness out of stuff that would otherwise just hang around until it really was only fit for the bin.

I think it has to be my favourite soup so far 🍜🍜🍜

Just Loving Autumn #2 - Butternut Squash Soup, with a hint of Bacon

Hi there everyone

I've got another of my real 🍁Autumn favourites🍁 for you this week ... home made soup.

We had a soup maker for Christmas a couple of years ago and, after spending a while wondering whether we would ever use it, it has definitely ended up earning its keep.

It has been languishing at the back of the cupboard over the Summer months but the onset of  🍁Autumn🍁 has seen it back in full force, working overtime.

One of the most popular posts on my blog ever, is one of my favorite soup recipes, so I'm guessing you guys are loving it too. If you've not tried it yet you can find the recipe for Dad's Tomato Soup here.

Over the last few weeks I've been experimenting with another favourite, butternut squash, and I think I've now got another recipe worth sharing.

Butternut squash is a real winner as a soup ingredient. It always turns out thick, smooth and creamy and it has a real taste of 🍁Autumn🍁, reminiscent of Halloween and bonfire nights. That extra bit of smokiness from the bacon, really just finishes it off nicely.

Ingredients
Serves 4

4 slices lean smoked bacon, cut into small chunks
Half a decent sized butternut squash, cubed
1 medium size sweet potato, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 pint vegetable stock

Our soup maker is a Morphy Richards Saute and Soup and I always start this soup off by searing off the bacon for about 3 minutes.

Then I just throw in the rest of the vegetables, sprinkle with the ginger and continue to sear for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

It's then time to add the stock and switch over to the soup making function.

21 minutes later and here you go ... The smoothest, creamiest, 🍁autumnal🍁 bowl full of goodness you could wish for with just a hint of smokiness from the bacon and just the right amount of heat from the ginger. It really is 🍁Autumn🍁 in a bowl ...

Not got a soup maker? Don't worry, you can still easily make this soup on the hob. Just saute the bacon, add the vegetables and ginger and saute until the veg starts to go softer, add the stock and simmer until all of the veg is fully cooked through. Then blend to the consistency you like.

Enjoy 😋

Just Loving Autumn #1 - Slow Cooker Dinners

Hi there everyone

I just love Autumn and thought it would be good to share some of the things that make it one of my favourite seasons of the year.

We haven't turned the clocks back yet, but we are already getting used to drawing the blinds and cosying up with lots of candles, a good film and a slow cooker dinner. Whilst we do use our slow cooker all year round, it's in the Autumn when its use starts to really ramp up.

We used it twice this last weekend and, as it's been so long since I've shared a recipe, I thought you might like this fab Chinese style pulled pork with vegetables, which just happens to be very Slimming World friendly ...

Ingredients
When it comes to quantities of pork
just go with what feels right for you ...

Pork shoulder joint
1 large onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 orange pepper, sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
2 tbsps light brown sugar
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsps grated ginger
2 tsps Chinese five spice
500g passata
3 tbsps light soy sauce
4 tbsps dark soy sauce
2 tbsps Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp cornflour


Method

Place onions, peppers, carrot and water chestnuts in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Mix together the sugar, black pepper, garlic and ginger and rub this all over the pork joint.

Place the pork joint on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker and surround with the mushrooms. 

Sprinkle with the Chinese five spice powder and mix together the passata, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and cornflour and pour over the pork.

Slow cook for 6-8 hours.

Remove the pork from the slow cooker, check fully cooked, shred up and add back into the slow cooker and mix thoroughly.

Serve with rice and enjoy in front of the TV watching a good film ...

Find out more about what we love about Autumn and see what we got up to whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight over the coming weeks 😀