Can I just share with you that it has been 6 weeks since we have been on a non-processed diet!!!

[Blossomhill]

I am so proud of myself. I know that may sound weird saying that and blowing my own trumpet but I honestly never ever cooked. Everything was either ready made or from the freezer.
Well in the past 6 weeks I have made loads of home-made healthy foods. This week I have made a carrot and a banana cake, vegtable lasagne, chicken nuggets, sausage stir fry and fish cakes. The food is so much more filling and tastes so much fresher.
I have had to change my life a bit as you do need to be prepared and there is lots of washing up (even though we now have a dishwasher there are lots of pots and pans etc). Also the initial outlay of stuff was quite expensive, such as herbs and spices, flour, new cake tins, trays etc but now I have everything it is actually working out cheaper.
I plan everything 4 days in advance and then do a shop. The reason I do it every 4 days is that things can go off quickly so that is just about the right amount of time to keep things fresh! Also gives me more time for new ideas!
1 thing I will say is that the book I use loads is "The dinner lady" and has been such a hit with all of us. I have cooked most of my stuff from there and am very impressed!!!
Hope u don't mind me sharing this with you.
Oh, oh and the biggy is my dd who has communication difficulties and finds concentration very hard has really benefitted from it. She is so much calmer and communicates better. Even the school have noticed big improvements. My sons ezcema has also cleared up so we have all benefitted

Thanks, blossomhill. I don't mind books with meat recipes so long as there are enough non-meat ones to make it worth the purchase price.

just read in our local paper today that a new organic farm shop and cafe has opened nearby, and the Dinner Lady opened it! As soon as we get our car back dh and I are taking the girls there, they even have animals (presumably destined to be sausages, but we'll gloss over that for now )

Moondog - oh yes please. I must put you on my msn list!!!!
I think the main reason it is taking me so long is that i am just not used to getting everything ready and prepared. With practice hopefully I should hopefully get quicker!!!!
ionesmum - I know what you mean about the sausages!!!! The veggie bean burgers are delicious so worth buying just for that. Loads of pudding recipies too.

Yes, was just going to say, you will get quicker bh. When I started doing things like fish pie and veggie lasagne, it took ages, but I'm much faster now.

Plus, if you make up double or trip amounts - the freezer gets stocked out with easy meals - bliss.

I can recommend moondog's chickpea and spinach curry thingy - v good.

Thanks, Blossomhill! I am inspired...

BTW Blossomhill, do you find processed food you previously enjoyed tastes bland and insipid now? I did that the other day, really fancied a ready meal (one of my favourites), gave the kids their tea, dh & I had the ready meal... and it was really disappointing.

Biggest eye opener about having cut down on the processed foods... my tastebuds seem to have changed.

Does everyone here agree that it is cheaper then too ??????

just seen this thread and just wanted to recommend the Dinner lady book as well... I own over 100 cook books but this one is just so great for everyday cooking... short ingredient lists and fairly quick and easy to make... my kids love the food and it is a great book to help with food and meal planning -- think it is only 8 quid on amazon... really suggest people buy it as food is great for kids and adults..

As an avid cookery book collector, I've got to get that Dinner lady one. Is she the woman that won an Observer award..Jeanette Orrery?

Blossomhill,some of my favourites are...

Roast chicken (put two lemon halves in the body cavity,in the oven for 90 mins and that's it! Easiest thing in the world. Surround with vegetables (eg part boiled carrots,potatoes,turnips,parsnips) which you roill in the fat from the chicken as it cooks and better still. I defy anyone to dislike a roast parsnip. Delicious.

Fresh sardines. I like to gut them myself but the fishmonger will do it for you.Just put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and they're done.
Bread and salad-that's it!

Dhal (lentil curry. Fry up onions,garlic and some curry paste,add red lentils,tin of tomatoes,tin of coconut milk and cook gently for 30 mins)

Any meat curry can be done like above. Just substitute beef,pork,chicken or lamb. The longer ahead you do it,the better it is.

Spare ribs. Mix tomato sauce,honey,mustard and soy in a bowl until it's the consistency of yoghurt.Add crushed garlic and ginger. Throw raw spare ribs in. Turn them in the marinade every 20 minutes or so (I usually leave them for 2 hours). Put them in a medium oven to roast,turning occasionally. Ready in about 30 minutes.

Chop up smoked salmon (you can get cheap packets of offcuts). Add to cooked pasta with creme fraiche,capers and chopped up freash dill.

Tomato sauce. Onion,garlic,tomato puree,tinned tomatoes,chopped up olives,dried thyme. Make up a huge batch,freeze in family sized portions and serve with fresh Parmesan to grate over.

Forget sliced processed (reformed) ham! Yuck! Costs a packet too. Our butcher sells cooked ham hocks for £1 50. They are enormous,tasty and can be used in so many ways. Sliced for sandwiches or baked potatoes,chopped up for pasta or rice accompaniments,and finally the large bone used in pea and ham soup.

Bearing in mind the current interest in omega 3 fish oils, I am pleased that one of dd and ds's favourite lunches is brown rice topped with mackeral tinned in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. I love it too!

Whenever I see something processed (even if it does look tasty,I imagine how many chopped up animals are in a portion.
So a slice of ham could represent four pigs,a chicken nugget ten poor mangled battery hens and so on.
Bllleeeeaaarghh!!!!

Yes nutcracker. The things I mention are very cheap. I would insist on a free range chicken though.

Nice one, BH. You will get quicker and quicker, and you'll find your own shortcuts too. I usually have a big cooking day once a week and make a couple of lasagnas, veg bakes or similar then freeze them for the nights when I'm toooooo tired - as Puff suggested. I also make bread - usually 2 loaves and 12 rolls - then freeze half. That way you do get some nights off! I love the sound of the Aussie pie, my DS would love that.

(I don't like roast parsnip)

Hunker!!

You would like mine!

I have a moment, so will tell you why I don't like (and never will like) roast parsnip. It's a sorry tale.

When I was about 2.5 (before we moved house when I was 3 at any rate), I saved the tastiest-looking roast potato (my absolute favourite, then and now) till last. I ate all the other things on my plate (I'm a good girl). So imagine my disappointment when I discovered it wasn't a beautiful crispy, crunchy potato, but an evil parsnip, masquerading as same. I've never been able to forgive all parsnip-kind for that cruel trick.

Yes,can see where your deep seated aversion stems from. My worst parsnip experience? Ordering a plate of roasted vegetables with goats cheese in a groovy Islington pub about 10 years ago.
When it arrived and I dug in,I realised that it was a plate of lukewarm boiled vegetables with a bit of cheese thrown over them that had been shown the grill for..ooh..twenty seconds I'd say.

Bluuuuurghh!!!Still feel queasy thinking about it.

Oh, ick!

Is the Dinner Lady the one from his show?

name and shame that pub moondog, name and shame

I had a similar experience wiht roasted pumpkin in, oh what's that one in Primrose HIll, not the Engineer that other one

Ok,suzy! It was the one opposite Screen on the Green. Slug&Lettuce back in 1995.
Boiled pumpkin experince. Bleeuuurgh!

oh I remember they had to change their name back to the original pub or something like that as they had stripped away too much of the original pub's identity

Which one do I mean, the .. come on someone, a gastro pub in Primrose Hill that wasn't the Engineer about 5 years ago????

blatant naughty hi-jack and a bump for Davors, she knows NW1 like the back of her hand

I ordered the Dinner Lady book because of the recommendation here..it has just arrived and I am really pleased with it as it is just the sort of cookery book I have been after (and what I thought Jamies Dinner book was going to be like). What I find funny about it is the way they have the recipes for 4 people or 94! Looking forward to trying some of them out!

Wasn't the dinner lady the woman who took back her school's dinners from external contractors about 2 years ago and did everything freshly for the same money? Might have been in Nottingham? She won quite a few awards and there was a bit of coverage. I'll deffo get her book rather than JO's now though. Still think JO is hot stuff for what he did.

I also like making new recipes and have had a subscription to bbc good food mag for a couple of years - great articles/ campaigns and i cut out recipes and stick them in a book (a bit sad i know) and have cooked loads, much to hubbies delight - my daughter is now starting to enjoy them - we had 'goulash in a dash' on sunday - yummy!