Sunday, March 27, 2011

A Saturday walk.

We went on a local walk on Saturday. It wasn't overly sunny, but it was mild and pleasant.

Also, in the woods the wild garlic has come up, so it all smelled very fragrant - and made me hungry!

(Again, I'm posting from my phone, do I'm not sure what order the photos will be in...)





Sunday, March 20, 2011

Food processor!


The day has come. After many months of coveting and pining and then considering and researching, I am now the proud owner of a food processor.













The first recipe I made with it was "Yeasted Coffee Cake" from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It was kind of a bread/cake hybrid, which required cutting butter into flour - something that I hate doing by hand.





I forgot to take a picture of the finished article. It turned out looking nice, with a streusel topping, but I actually didn't like the end result that much. I think I wanted it to be more cakey than bready, especially with that kind of topping - but I think that's just how the recipe is.

I do have a picture of the quiche - which you've all already seen. I made the crust for that using the food processor. And that turned out really nicely. I've also made pesto, an apple pie, pizza dough and bagels all using the processor.

Next up will be some kind of recipe that requires a lot of slicing - I haven't used the discs yet. But I do love it - it's great!

Monday, March 14, 2011

My first quiche.

Bacon, onion and mushroom.


Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Pancakes!

When Team Vallentine decided to celebrate Pancake Day, we immediately had an issue about whose pancakes we would make. In the UK, traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes are basically like crepes, and are only served with sugar and lemon. I, on the other hand was hoping to use this opportunity for a full breakfast for dinner.

We debated.

Then the true American spirit won out.

We'd have both.

Mark made his (a Delia Smith recipe - I guess you could call her the UK's Julia Child) and I made mine (Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything), and I of course included bacon and scrambled eggs on the side. We were a true International House of Pancakes.

It was yummy! I don't know why we were so late to this party, but now we've arrived, I think we're going to stick around... I'm already looking forward to next year!

(Third to blog! Phew.)


(P.S. I posted this from my phone, since that's what I used to take most of the pictures - but for some reason I can't change the order, even from my laptop, so they're not in the best order. Need to work on how to do this better from the phone...)