Make It Yourself

I add some dry mustard to my cheese sauce as it seems to add to the flavor of the cheese. 

I used to make tons of things from scratch simply because you couldn't get the ingredients.
My mother made a very nice meatloaf, using the Peppridge Farm recipe. Of course you couldn't get P.F. dressing so I had to improvise with bread crumbs, herbs, etc.  I even made Graham crackers (can't remember where I found the recipe -- duh) which were nothing like the Nabisco ones but very nice because I used Muscovado sugar -- yum.  Made apple sauce a lot but, again, not like Mott's in taste or convenience. 

Has anyone tried making saltine crackers? I found this recipe online and was thinking of giving it a go, it looks fairly simple:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,161,156162-243200,00.html

my mac & cheese is identical to the recipe posted, but i toss in a few good handfuls of frozen peas.

Not that this is a home comfort, but it was a tasty meal for two that I just made and I thought others might like it.

Chicken with Creamy Bacon Penne

1 tbsp of olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
100g/4 oz of smoked lardons (chopped bacon, I just used regular bacon and chopped it myself)
4 tbsp of white wine
100g/4oz frozen petit pois
5 tbsp of double cream
220g penne pasta

1. Heat the oil in a deep non-stick frying pan add the chicken breasts and scatter with lardons.  Leave to cook over high heat for 4 minutes while you gather the other ingredients.  Cook penne pasta as indicated on package and drain before you add to the chicken later. 
2. Turn the chicken over in the pan, give the lardons a stir, then pour in the wine and let it bubble over high heat until it has virtually evaporated (the chicken took longer to cook than the recipe implied, and I ended up adding extra wine as needed).  Now add the peas, cream and penne, season and stir well.  Cover the pan and cook for 4 more minutes and cook for 4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked all the way through.  Serve straight away.

I think I made sure the chicken was cooked almost all the way through before I added the penne, the cream or the peas which took longer than this seem to imply.  Like I said, I just kept adding wine and turning the chicken until it was mostly cooked through and then added everything, cooked it for a further 4 or 5 minutes and served it.  We also added some mushrooms which were really good with it.  Just double everything if you want 4 chicken breasts.  I only used some pepper to season it, no extra salt and that was fine.

There's a GREAT post on Cheap, Healthy, Good this weekend with recipes to create your own spices mixes including ones that are hard to buy here, like Adobo, Mrs Dash, and Old Bay. Luckily their constituent ingredients are mostly easy to find!

There's a GREAT post on Cheap, Healthy, Good this weekend with recipes to create your own spices mixes including ones that are hard to buy here, like Adobo, Mrs Dash, and Old Bay. Luckily their constituent ingredients are mostly easy to find!

Oh that's great!

There's a GREAT post on Cheap, Healthy, Good this weekend with recipes to create your own spices mixes including ones that are hard to buy here, like Adobo, Mrs Dash, and Old Bay. Luckily their constituent ingredients are mostly easy to find!

Thanks, that's great! 

Has anyone made hush puppies? I've never made them before, but love them so much and would totally give them a go! 

Thanks, that's great! 

Has anyone made hush puppies? I've never made them before, but love them so much and would totally give them a go! 

I had to look that up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hushpuppy, because I thought, Jewlz can't be eating shoes, right? That's no good for the health at all! 

They look so bad, they're good.

 

I had to look that up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hushpuppy, because I thought, Jewlz can't be eating shoes, right? That's no good for the health at all! 

They look so bad, they're good.

 

Hehe!!! In the South (well, in Texas, anyway!) you would eat them with fried catfish or other seafood (fried shrimp, crawfish tails, etc.), usually with tartar sauce or American cocktail sauce (the tomatoey kind with horseradish). They are sinfully delicious and my favourite part of a good fish fry.  The remind me of being a kid because I always ate those instead of the fish!  Nearly everything in Texas is fried! 

I know this has a lot of "US Dishes", but from a different side of the spectrum I want to refer to this site that tries to mimic the food from the British Indian Restaurants.

Its actually quite easy once you get a proper pantry together

http://cr0.co.uk/curry/index.php

I know when I leave the UK I'm instantly craving a good curry, and frankly its very hard to find decent Indian restaurants here so I just make it at home! I make a killer Chicken Tikka Masala, and Chicken Rogan Josh :-)

I know this has a lot of "US Dishes", but from a different side of the spectrum I want to refer to this site that tries to mimic the food from the British Indian Restaurants.

Its actually quite easy once you get a proper pantry together

http://cr0.co.uk/curry/index.php

I know when I leave the UK I'm instantly craving a good curry, and frankly its very hard to find decent Indian restaurants here so I just make it at home! I make a killer Chicken Tikka Masala, and Chicken Rogan Josh :-)

Oh cool, that looks like a really useful site. Thanks! 

There's a book called The Curry Secret that also tells you how to make restaurant-style curries that is pretty good. I have it here at home.

http://www.thecurrysecret.co.uk/

I know applesauce has been mentioned on here before, but I made this recipe last night and it's great and really adaptable... I put in a bit more lemon juice because I like mine a bit tangier, but you could adjust sugar or lemon depending on how tart or sweet your apples are or how you like your sauce. It turned out great and is unbelievably good mixed with my morning porridge! You can cook it for a bit less time if you like yours chunky, or easily mash it up to a finer consistency.

3 pounds apples, peeled and roughly chopped or quartered
3-4 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cinnamon sticks
3 large pieces of lemon peel
up to 1/2 cup granulated or caster sugar
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
One cup of water

Just mix all of that up in a large pan, cover, and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. Voila! Just mash up with a potato masher for finer consistency. Freezes well.

 

I've read that the lemon juice actually brings out the sweetness of the apples.  I made applesauce loads last year--time to make it again!  Also, I've found it doesn't need any sugar at all to be honest--better for you that way, too and still plenty sweet.  I like to use all different types of apples in one batch.

I've been making a lot of apple butter this autumn. It's so good! Basically, you make applesauce (no sugar), and then add the sugar and cook it right down until it's dark brown and spreadable.