Recipe review club

[GlumyGloomer]

I love trying out new recipes, and thought it would be fun to have a thread where we try stuff out and report back. Source must be cited and link provided if online. Photos encouraged.

Tonight I'll be making asian aubergine wedges, from Nadiya Hussain's Time to Eat book.
I like the taste of aubergine but have grave doubts about the texture. Still, I'm being brave and giving this a go.
Worth noting that I leave the chilli out of everything so that the dd's can eat it (I add at the table).

Anyone fancy joining me? (Waits for tumbleweed...)

@Imicola - glad the toddler liked it. It’s my daughter’s current favourite - had it the other week outside beneath Autumnal trees, which seemed fitting.

I’ve got a fair dews soup recipes if you’d like more.

I made this for lunch today, with chicken instead of egg as I had some to use up. The family weren't convinced (they like thick soups) but I liked it. Didn't blend at all though because of the chicken.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/curried-sweetcorn-soup

Love that one too, @GlumyGloomer

@LaLaLandIsNoFun yes please, soup inspiration very much needed!

⁸The brownie cookie things were quite disappointing... they just taste like brownies but with a different texture at the bottom, not worth the faff.

@GlumyGloomer ill probably also try and do with without alcohol! My recipe says you can use tea, but I have no idea how long it lasts in that case. I may do that one last. Im doing 2x thiswww.google.com/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/make-mature-christmas-cake/amp and one of these www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/nov/07/benjamina-ebuehi-recipe-for-date-and-chocolate-christmas-cake

Oops link fail
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/make-mature-christmas-cake/amp

tasty.co/recipe?0=%2Fhomemade-alphabet-soup&slug=homemade-alphabet-soup&canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ftasty.co

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/soups/slow-cooked-root-vegetable-soup

Here you go @Imicola

If any of the links don’t work let me know - they are saved in my AnyList app

Mushroom lasagna, in the slow cooker today. Dispite only putting in half the black pepper (NH likes it way more than me) it was still a bit much. Also it definitely needed a longer cooking time as the pasta was a bit too al dente. Otherwise it was lovely.
Flicking through my Time to Eat book I realised I've now tried most of the savory recipes which are likely to appeal to the family. It's a good book, and one I'll be holding onto. Some of the recipes are way too complicated at the moment but I look forwards to trying them as the kids get older.

Preserved lemons part 2: revenge of the preserved lemons!
I made Imicola's tagine, and I washed the lemons and scooped out the pulp. It was much better than the last recipe I did, and quite different from my usual cooking. Still don't think I'll be buying any more preserved lemons for a while. I have 2 left in the freezer, and I'm thinking of trying NH's preserved lemon tray bake. It's sort of like a lemon drizzle cake, using preserved lemons and condensed milk.

Hi everyone, some lovely ideas on here!

Made Delia's Christmas cake yesterday with DS1, although used a lot slightly more brandy than she recommends, it was a bit dry last year.

I have my new Good Housekeeping recipe book to look through, will be back soon with more ideas!

Hi @ClaraTheImpossibleGirl (waves)
Sounds good, I totally missed the stir up Sunday memo until it was too late to change my shopping order, so I'm making mine in December.

I also made lasagne, a new version for me with jamon, spinach & ricotta.
I had 1/2 pack of passata, 1/2 pack ricotta, & 1/2 carton of cream left over.

It tasted lovely, but the passata was mixed with the cream & it was a ghastly pink colour - a bit like Germolene !
I added some ricotta to my prawn & veg stir-fry lunch thinking it would make it creamy; it was awful.

I like the idea of a slow cooker lasagne! Does anyone have a good slow cooker recipe book? I wad given one once but the recipes were uninspiring!
@GlumyGloomer glad the tagine improved the lemons! The cake sounds interesting, anything with condensed milk has to be a winner.
I made lentil shepherd pie tonight, which I thought was pretty good, but toddler wouldn't touch it. I realise we have inadvertently helped her get into a bad habit of fussiness, so will have to try and do something. Argh.
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lentilshepherdspiewi_93532

@Georgyporky germolene coloured lasagne! Oh dear, sounds like a flaw!

Hello, signing in a bit late to the (dinner) party but excited to read the thread for ideas! Thank you glumy!

I am not an accomplished cook. I am very scatty in the kitchen and don’t try new things very often as with limited energy it often doesn’t seem worth it due to the limited tastes of my older DCs who are autistic. However I realised they often don’t even eat the boring stuff either so we are trying to just make more interesting things and getting them to try a little bit. As a result we are only now building up more of a stock of ingredients.

The other day I made pulled pork in the slow cooker for the first time. It was lovely! I used a recipe from one of the Eat Well For Less books so it was pretty simple. I’ll have to get mustard powder instead next time though as there is gluten in the English mustard so DH (coeliac) couldn’t eat it. 🤦‍♀️ Oh well at least I have leftovers in the freezer!

I might try some more interesting meals just for myself and the 3yo at lunchtimes, when I have time/energy.

I am absolutely crap at baking as well. I just borrowed a book called Mummy and Me baking in the hope of learning some basics! 😳

Hi @SingToTheSky, welcome
It's really hard to balance assorted dietary requirements. We've had a few meals where my eldest will just fill up on cheese, and that's without any SEN. Didn't know that about mustard, it's really a minefield huh? I always have the problem of using 2 tsp out of a 300g jar, and then it's months before another use for mustard comes up. I tend to just use the powder now to save on waste.

We have the same issue with many ingredients! I’m hoping with recipe books and making a concerted effort to try more, we will use more ingredients up. Otherwise I would just get put off loads of recipes which had ingredients I didn’t want to buy for just one thing.

I also decided to write the date on stuff like that (where it’s “once open use within x weeks” type stuff) - otherwise due to anxiety I’d be more likely to throw it out if I didn’t know if it was safe (I’m autistic too and have a lot of anxiety issues around germs etc)

@SingToTheSky Up thread there's website link which is like an encyclopedia of ingredients, and lists alternatives you can use. I think Georgy posted it. I find I have to get a new set of spices for certain cook books, it is a bit of an investment.
I do the same thing with jars in the fridge! Some stuff you can freeze in ice cube trays. I also only buy frozen 'fresh' herbs these days, it's just more convenient.

Jamie Oliver's Greek pie.

Amazing

@Georgyporky pink lasagna does sound a bit off putting. Do you use fresh sheets of pasta, or dried? I've been put off recipes by not being able to find fresh. Apparently you can parboil the dried sheets but I worry they would just break up. I love lasagna but don't make it often as I find it a faff. Same with mousaka.
@Imicola my 4 year old won't embrace lentils either, although last time I did get some into her via star chart bribery. I'm making a big batch of veggie shepherds pie later in the week, everyone else eats it so hopefully she'll manage.

Hi @spidermomma, sounds interesting, what's in it?

It's feta cheese. Spinach. Chicken and green pesto in filo pastry

He has a complicated one but I do the 5 ingredient recipie Greek pie

The 5 ingredients by Jamie Oliver has loads.

Everyone loves a Greek pie in my house haha mmmmmm xx

I use the BBC Greek pie recipe a lot!

Does anyone know if I can swap almond flour in a recipe for ordinary flour?! I have a nice carrot cake recipe to try but it states almond flour when I've swapped before the cake turns out a bit heavy although that may just be my rubbish baking

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl yea their pretty much the same recipe but jamie Oliver's doesn't have tomatoes

I've been trying to find this thread again for ages! Placemarking

Serious thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4087032-christmas-cheese?msgid=102088064#102088064

I got cheese envy and had to edit my Christmas food order aft reading

Hello @neverenoughchelseaboots, glad you found us again

Me too! I tried those aubergine balls from the very beginning of the thread from a screenshot I took abs they are ace!

Now our regular veggie meatball replacement. Going to work my way through the other suggestions now.