Baked Egg and Potato Wraps

I've been umming and arring over typing this recipe up...on one hand it was delicious..on the other it does not win any beauty prizes! In the end I obviously have if you are reading this far but may I suggest you tweak to your own liking? My boyfriend enjoyed it but wanted meat to make it complete, Saying that I do think a sneaky bit of ham would be most pleasant but for me it was tasty on its own... I think they would make a tasty breakfast wrap too, maybe folded more into a parcel shape to be more transportable. Definitely going to explore that option more as I ate my second one cold the next day and was equally tasty hot or cold!

Overall this dish mostly consisted of leftovers and bargains - I picked up a lot of eggs reduced to 25p and as a result have been making lots of egg-citing recipes! I think August might be an egg free month....! The wraps had been loitering in the fridge far too long but still passable when baked, and the potatoes were left from the previous night. I always like to cook a few extra to help form the next meal, saves time especially on a busy evening!

Talking of busy life right now seems busy but good busy. Its been a hellish few months in all honesty with family, friend and work issues but it all seems to be smoothing over at last, and I hope normality is on the horizon! My blog as a result has been just about simpering along, mainly as I needed to focus my energy elsewhere, plus its also given me some breathing space, I have been blogging so long I think get lost along the way at times, I love making recipes and that's all I want to do and share with you all along the way, and hopefully I will ease back in the blogging saddle.

Serves 2-4 depending on hunger

Ingredients:

4 wholemeal wraps

500g leftover cooked potatoes, diced

75g good quality mayonaise (I love Waitrose's one with extra virgin olive oil)

2 boiled large free range eggs, diced up

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

80g grated extra mature cheddar + 1 tbsp

1/2 tsp Italian herb mix or dried mixed herbs

4 tbsp ready made tomato based sauce (I used a special edition balsamic ketchup)

Pre-heat the oven. Line a 26cm tray bake/ roasting tin and pre-heat oven to 200o.

Combine the eggs, potato, mayo, cheese and mustard.

Lay out the wrap, spoon a quarter into the middle, fold up the bottom, tuck over the mixture and roll tightly, place in the baking tin, tucking in the ends and repeat with the remaining three. 

Spoon over the tomato sauce, sprinkle with the cheese and herbs, bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Serve with a lightly dressed salad.

Whilst the wraps were not intended for breakfast originally, the leftovers did indeed become my breakfast and this dish would work easily for breakfast, brunch or dinner so I am sneaking in to

Belleau Kitchen's Simply Eggcellent #5 - how do you like your eggs in the morning? round-up:

Also as they used up my reduced eggs, the last of a jar of mayo, abandoned wraps and leftover potato I have put them in Fuss Free Flavours Credit Crunch Munch round-up too, held by Fab Food 4 All this month:

Disclaimer: Happy Eggs sent me a voucher to cover the cost of the Eggs, though the supermarket over charged me and then refunded me more than I had originally paid, so they are super free-free range eggs if that makes sense!

Crispy Omelette Spaghetti

Sorry for the lack of blogging! After my kitchen disaster on Mother's Day involving my left index finger and my chef's knife, cooking, and typing is a bit more challenging than usual! Its healing nicely, the dressing was changed yesterday but its still having to be dressed, and all cooking involves CSI gloves! Its made our menu planning also a bit of a challenge as stuff I cook, my boyfriend doesn't know and so we have been having lots of quick, simple dinners. Also it blew out my food budgeting, we have spent roughly a third more than normal and April will be frugal month!

Making the most of our leftovers started today! Over the past few months we have pushing the traditional English breakfast boundaries and exploring other continents and cuisines.. my love of cooking everything and anything, a fabulous friend and her cooking skills and my boyfriend coming around to the idea of not having cheerios in his bowl for breakfast has resulted in some pretty epic breakfasts! Our overall favourite to date involved fried eggs, avocado and Filipino style fried rice but we are also very open to new breakfasts too!

This morning we had leftover cooked spaghetti, from last nights dinner (Creamy sausage and squash spaghetti) and I wondered if we could peruse another new breakfast with it! After a rummage in the fridge, I decided to make an omelette style mixture, add a little garlic as to be honest our breakfasts would not feel right without it nowadays and overall it was a resounding success! Its definitely a new base recipe to add to memory!

I admittedly used a cheat item for the topping - ready fried crispy onions! They give such a lovely savoury note to dishes and are soooo tasty! A definite cupboard cheat ingredient! B gave this breakfast a 7 out of 10 - nothing will beat the fried rice but it was a good 7! 

Serves Two
Easy

225g cooked spaghetti
2 large eggs
25g grated cheddar
2 spring onions, finely sliced
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
knob butter
1 large clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp crispy onions

Optional - hot sauce to serve

Method

Heat the butter in a non stick frying pan, add the white part of the spring onion, tomatoes and garlic, Saute for 2 minutes, turning regularly. Slice up the spaghetti roughly and add to the pan, breaking up with a wooden spatula.Fry for about 3 minutes or until lightly golden coloured.

Beat the eggs and cheese together, season with a little salt and pepper. Make the spaghetti mixture into a layer of sorts in the pan, and pour over the eggy mixture evenly. Allow to cook for at least a minute, then gently fold the mixture in on itself, slowly, allowing it to cook through and brown a little for a few minutes.

Spoon into warmed bowls, in the empty pan warm the crispy onions and green part of the spring onions for 30 seconds before sprinkling over the spaghetti mixture.

Banana, Sultana and Chia Drop Scones

Ever since we watched, well repeatedly watched the trailer for the next Minions movie we seem obsessed with the word bananas, said in a Minion dialect to the point we seem to entirely communicate with Minion language. This should be somewhat embarrassing for two thirty-something's but alas, we do not care! It can surely only get worse when the film does get released... Fortunately we are rather fond of bananas but even at the rate we eat them there are often a few 'deaded' ones come the weekend and as much as I adore making banana bread, it takes time, however these pancakes takes minutes in comparison!

 

For many years I have been making drop scones aka mini pancakes and had fairly stuck rigid to the recipe, after all there is the if its not broke why fix it theory... but then my friend C made me some of her mothers recipe banana pancakes, stupidly I mislaid the recipe but decided to play around and made these Banana ones, with a nutritional boost of chia seeds and a handful of sultanas to make them a little more complete, and satisfying too! I have admitted now to her I mislaid it - after I let her try mine, luckily she enjoyed my version too!

 

We have been enjoying the drop scones with all sorts of different toppings over three weekends of experimenting! B's favourite undoubtingly was to smother them with Nutella! Though I am rather fond of my homemade Spiced Kiwi and Apple Jam, which I really must get around to blogging about!

These jumbo sized ones came about after Bruce spotted some biggish ones in ASDA and wanted to buy them-  I quickly tutted and plotted to surprise him with these frying pan sized ones instead!! Needless to say he was pretty impressed!! Also size is purely optional - the mixture makes about 12 palm sized ones. 

Makes 12 Drop scones
Easy

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 large egg
150g self raising flour
150ml milk
1 tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
25g sultanas
1 heaped tsp sugar
pinch salt

Butter/ spray oil (I like lately the Lurpak spray but its quite pricey!)

Method

Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt and sugar into a bowl. Break the egg into the middle, use a fork to beat together, adding the milk slowly to form a batter.

Stir in the mashed banana, sultanas and chia to form a thick-ish batter.

Heat a thick based frying pan with a good spray of oil/ butter or a knob of butter - if you don't have one just use a general one but be careful with the heat as they can burn quickly!

Use a large spoon to add the batter to the pan, smoothing over lightly if needed. Flip when little bubbles start appearing and cook for a further minute.

Remove to a warm plate, cover with kitchen paper to keep them warm, and repeat with the remaining batter, greasing a little in between batches.

 

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Here is one of the batches - these were cooked in my lighter based pan and as you can see they got tanned quicker so be cautious! They were still of course all eaten! I have found turning the heat down after the first batch helps to keep the temperature in range - I do use a hideous ancient electric hob which has questionable thermometer levels at the best of time so cooking is always a challenge!

This was my second favourite topping - mocha spread! I have about 1/4 left in the prized jar which is brilliant as I am the only one who loves it, and I am eeking it out slowly as I doubt I will be able to find it again! As you will also notice my drop scones are not exactly perfectly round - there is really no need to aim for perfection, just enjoy them!

 

 

Overall I adore these drop scones so much! The thicker the better really and don't worry if you have a lumps of banana - they are all the better for it! I think if anything we purposely over buying bananas now to ensure we have deaded ones to make these at the weekend!

 

As my drop scones used up some super manky bananas I am sending them over to this months Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary's No waste Food Challenge - see if you can spot the 2nd banana in the picture!!

 

 

And as they saved money by not throwing away the bananas, plus they made a very tasty and cheap breakfast I have also sent these in to this months Credit Crunch Munch - also held by a very busy Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for February, which was set up by Camilla of Fab Food 4 All and Helen of Fuss Free Flavours to promote making tasty dishes from cheaper cuts, leftovers and more!

 

 

 

 

 

*This post is no endorsement of Minions, we just are huge fans!*

Three Ways with Smoked Salmon

Up until about 18 months, perhaps two years ago I really didn't 'get' smoked fish, just could  not understand what the fuss was about. I recall laying out prettily a packet of smoked salmon at a garden party for my auntie when I was probably about ten years old and nibbling it - eurgh what are these people eating!! I guess its like olives - I adore them now but back then noooooooo way!!

Fortunately time has passed, and my taste-bud's have matured - and I am finding myself rather partial now to smoked salmon! It started with trying out smoked mackerel at a restaurant, as it came as part of a seafood starter platter thingy and then progressed onto smoked trout a food forum friend sent me, then finally smoked salmon!

A few weeks back 'The Handpicked Foodstore' sent me a rather delicious packet of their MacGilvray Smoked Salmon and it vanished very quickly! It was buttery soft, carried a gentle smoky flavour and made mine and B's meals that bit more special! Something like this is a rare treat for us, I am a budget queen but its nice to have something like this once in a while!

Lovely layers of Smoked Salmon!

 A honestly perfect way to eat breakfast - Buttered white toast, topped with creamy scrambled eggs and a scattering of smoked salmon strips! Heaven!

We had dinner guests last week, and as typical one of them was running late so I knocked up some quick canapes whilst wating - simply a tub of Divo ricotta cheese, a sprinkling of Divo Parmigianno Reggano seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice, atop a ritz cracker (so classy!) and a twist of smoked salmon and a sliver of cucumber! This dish however was hit and miss - me and the boyfriend really enjoyed it but my dad and brother were not so fond of the creamy filling. Ah well, more for us!

Last but not least - Stir-fried noodles with peppers and mushrooms, with the last few pieces of the smoked salmon. Unfortunately someone knocked at the door, then my phone kept ringing and by the time I ate it, it was lukewarm....was tasty at least still!

Many thanks to The Handpicked Foodstore who supplied me the Smoked Salmon, and to DIVO Italiano for the Ricotta and Parmigiano Reggiano

Breakfast Club - The Pastry Round Up

Erm where exactly did October go? I was all geared up excited to be hosting my first blogger event and boom we are nearly November! The nights are that bit cooler, the mornings that bit darker despite the clocks going back, and any hope of a late summer have well and truly vanished somewhat like the heavy mist that surrounded my home last week! Out has come the beloved snuggie and evenings spent on the sofa with the scent of smelly candles floating in the air... Must remember to buy hot chocolate to make the evenings complete!

I've had some delicious recipes sent in for the Breakfast club, firstly is these rather dinky looking Mini Quiche Lorraines, made by Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. Somehow everything is that just that little bit better in bitesize form, and these mini delights make no exception! I've never considered quiche for breakfast before but being a huge egg eater I can see these coming up on my breakfast table soon!

 

Next up are these sublime looking Apricot & chocolate pastries, filled with jam and chocolate, made by Sarah from The Garden Deli. I was so happy to choose pastry as my theme this month and Sarah has done a great job with her pastries!

Last but not least is the rather heavenly looking Fig tarte tatin from Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. I’m yet to make a tarte tatin but I am sure this is delicious! Figs are bang in season right now and I just love their squishiness. http://fussfreeflavours.com/2012/10/recipe-fig-apple-tarte-tartin/

Many thanks to Helen for letting me host, and also a huge thanks also to Helen, Sarah and Karen for baking their goods and sending them over to my round up!

Here was my entry that started it all - Bacon and Egg pastries

Bacon, Cheese and Egg Pastries for Breakfast Club

Welcome to October's Breakfast Club!

Over the past few years, whilst I’ve occasionally remembered on time and participated in several blogging challenges, this is my very first actual hosting of one, and also finally submitting a recipe for the Breakfast Club! Exciting! Please don’t let me down! Flood my inbox with your wonderful breakfast recipes pretty please!

I have spent all month since meeting the lovely Breakfast Club founder Helen for lunch, by the river on a decidedly lovely British September day (and I do believe our three days of summer judging by the weather now), deciding what to make for it after also volunteering to host it, and have since swayed from my beloved and ‘safe’ porridge oats right up to thinking of variations on savoury rice (surprisingly good breakfast..), and everything in between…

But what came with overwhelming urges..…was pastry…yeah yeah all that butter ‘oh not for me darling haha’ yeah you know you love its dirty air filled buttery layers really’ and yes I can *just* do up my bridesmaid dress so don't panic my lovely bride to be L, and just about breathe, decided to make bacon and egg pastries for my weekend breakfast. Yep, judging my sums of two good breakfast things + one naughty thing is equal to mmmmm why hello gym! You know you want it so why deny yourself such pleasures?

On the day I made these, despite working very hard er yeah aka out late for dinner the night before, I woke up at stupid o clock and after fighting the pillows long enough. crept silently like a slightly drunken mouse into the kitchen, for fear of waking my flatmate and proceeded to make not only these delicious pastries, but with the leftover pastry a batch of olive and pesto swirls to use up fridge scraps…not sure why upon reflection but seemed like a great idea except olives are really only palatable gone noon…we live and learn! Either way they were excellent for rousing a friend from his slightly worse for wear state in payment for looking over my car (oops just remembered must buy oil!) and its continuing ailments. Anyone want an 7 year old elderly but loved fiat?

Anyway back to the good stuff, these Bacon, Cheese and Egg Pastries are to open the Breakfast club show and I am very much looking forward to seeing what you guys n gals come up with! Grab your pastry and join the Breakfast Club!

Makes two
Easy
2 free range large eggs
1 inch block mature cheddar, grated (I happened to use up some soya cheese..worked fine!)
Egg spray* (I buy it from Lakelands but if not just use a little beaten egg)
2 rashers smoked Bacon sliced into cm chunks
half block frozen Puff pastry thawed - about 200g
Black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 220, and line a baking tray with parchment paper or equivalent

Roll out half the pastry to make two approx 15cm x 15cm squares

Dry fry your bacon, and allow to cool slightly

Spray or glaze the pastry edges. Dot the bacon to form a ring about 1 inch in, very very gently crack the egg into the middle. Sprinkle over most of the cheese and season with black pepper. Now carefully pull together opposite corners and pinch together. Glaze the tops with egg and repeat with other two sides, glaze all over with the eggwash and sprinkle over remaining cheese.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden, puffed up and cooked through.

Oh my these were rather delicious, warm from the oven, filled with airy love, just cooked egg and smokey bacon mmm mmm mmm. Sorry an extra mmm here.

Best served warm from the oven but the remaining one had a quick zap the next morning in the microwave to no ill effects.

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting

than tea & toast or coffee & cereal!

To take part, simply make a breakfast along the line of that months theme *PASTRY* and post it.

• Mention Breakfast Club in your post and use the logo
• Link to the host’s blog and to this page
• You are welcome to send in old recipes, but please add the information above and republish
• Entries can be sent to other events, but please respect their rules
• If you tweet please tweet using #blogbreakfastclub
• If you do not have a blog send a photo and details to the month’s host
• Please email me your entry url, picture and blog details by the 25th October to anneskitchen1 AT yahoo.co.uk and I will do the round-up on the 31st.

Fruity Banana Breakfast bars (AKA Flapjacks in disguise!)

I adore any recipes containing oats in some form, and I am also a huge fan of dried fruits (except for apricots which the thought of sends shivers down my spine!) and in the past have often spent a small fortune on shop bought cereal bars, despite having a cupboard full of porridge oats and various fruits and nuts...

..Today became unexpectedly free of plans, and whilst my first thought was shopping, my bank balance told me sternly otherwise. Then I thought maybe a nice afternoon movie and lounge on the settee....but then logic kicked in - the cake tin was empty as of last night and so I decided to refill it instead. The sofa can wait for me!

I initially had in the back of my mind a recipe I had seen for banana and date bars. This was most likely due to the fact that earlier in the week I had picked up a bargainous kilo box of Tunisian dates for two whole pounds, so I have more than a few to spare (!), along with several ripe bananas begging to be eaten in the fruit bowl. Why do they always decide to ripen at once, so inconvenient haha! However upon reading the recipe, I just wasn't feeling the love and did a little searching and went to  my old favourite - the bbc good food website! After finding a suitable recipe and noting its very forgiving to adjustments given the fact I didn't have some of the ingredients, I promptly baked a batch.

And the result?

I vow never to buy shop bought bars again! Why have I waited so long to make my own?

My version really was quite different in the end but worked perfectly. They are slightly soft without falling apart, perfectly sweet and yet not to sweet, and full of sticky fruit and oaty goodness. I plan to leave a few in the cake tin, and freeze the rest, to stop me eating them all. Will let you know if it works! (NB: They freeze beautifully! I individually wrapped them in foil, then placed in a freezer bag)

From the original recipe I halved the butter and replaced it with mashed banana, so you can tell yourself these are low fat too.....!

Cuts into twelve bars of loveliness

Pre-heat oven to 160o

Either line and grease a square cake pan (mine was a 20cm one) or even easier dust off your abandoned silicon one. It really works a treat here.

Ingredients:

50g unsalted butter
1 ripe medium banana, mashed
70g dark brown sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
140g rolled oats (mine have added wheatgerm and stuff!)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g coconut powder (or descicated)
3 tbsp mixed seeds (I buy 'omega mix' which has linseeds, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower and possibly more in)
100g of dried mixed fruits (or nuts) - mine consisted of the following:
-30g craisins
-20g sultanas
-40g chopped stoned dates
-5 glace cherries

Gently melt together the butter, sugar and golden syrup until all nice and liquid and the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the banana.

Combine the remaining ingredients and fold into the syrupy mixture - a silicon spatula is most helpful here until all nicely mixed. Press into your pan of choice and bake for a little over 30 minutes or until lightly golden - there should still be a little give when pressed.

Leave to stand for five minutes and then using a sharp knife gently cut into desired shapes and allow to cool for a further 15 minutes or so before removing to a cooling rack.

Caramelized Apples with Wholemeal Drop Scones

I was getting ready to post this up last week, and then life typically got in the way and I ended up being rather poorly and stuck in hospital this past week, staring longingly through the window at the glorious sunshine, in between napping anyway! Am sure now I am home it will rain all week!

But enough of the bad stuff, and onto the good stuff! Before going into hospital I finally got around to cooking something from the River Cottage Everyday book, that I was gifted forever back, and loving drop scones so frequently, thought would try out their wholemeal version and pretend to myself its a little healthier! Obviously you can't be good all the time, and whilst they were cooking in the pan I quickly made some caramelised apple slices to go on top!

I'm really not into cereal for breakfast, and these made a welcome breakfast on a lazy morning! I obviously couldn't eat them all in one sitting, and quickly reheated them in toaster over the next two days, so are ideal even if you are just cooking for one, like me. I found them much more filling than the regular ones I make which can only be a good thing!

The apples were made by simply melting a knob of butter with some muscovado sugar, then gently pan frying the slices for around 10 minutes until cooked but not falling apart. Then sprinkled with cinnamon. I think it might have been a granny smith apple...I inherited it as my flatmate was going away at the time! The inspiration for these also came from the same book but pretty much made up as I went along! They were so good and I will definitely make them again!

Makes 20-30 (I halved the mix and got around 18)

250g self raising wholemeal flour
pinch baking powder
pinch sea salt
25g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
275ml milk approx
50g melted butter
a little sunflower oil

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, stir in sugar. Make a well and add eggs and half the milk, Gently whisk to a thickish paste, slowly incorporating the melted butter and remaining milk until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Heat a large flat or griddle pan, oil a piece of kitchen paper and carefully grease the pan. Add a tablespoon of batter to form a small dics. When bubbles appear, gently flip over and cook for a further minute or until they lift away without resistance. Keep warm in a tea towel whilst cooking the remaining scones. Re-grease pan as needed.


Serve topped with a splodge of yoghurt and the apple!