Crazy Days Challenge - Day 42 - Cooking the Books Challenge - SOOZE'S CHOICE

Sooze's Choice was :

Book 27 = Super Easy One Pound Meals by Miguel Barclay

Page 36 = Sweet & Hot Aubergine

I sort of had the ingredients ... unfortunately not the star of the show which should have been Aubergine.  So I made do with a piece of red pepper instead.  Also I had to substitute the spring onions for some more red onion rings.  And obviously I don't use honey so I used Agave instead.

I think it looks pretty similar!!

I didn't like the taste though, much too sweet for me.  It didn't help that I think I over seasoned it and once you put too much seasoning in, it's hard to get it out with such small proportions.

If I made this again I would adapt it for sure.   I would definitely try it with the aubergine, not use any liquid sweetener and no salt and pepper until the very end.

Tomorrow it is Bumblebee's choice of Book 8  Page 9.

Sue xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 41 - Cooking the Books Challenge - MARLENE'S CHOICE

Marlene's choice was -

Book 7 = Vegan on the Go

Page 8 - which wasn't a recipe page!!

So I decided to go to the 8th recipe in the book = Sweetcorn Frittatas

I was so sure I had a tin of sweetcorn, but after lots of rummaging, no there wasn't, perhaps it's at the Van with everything else that I keep thinking I have here!!

So ... there was only one thing for it 🤣

Yup ... I sorted through the bag of frozen mixed vegetables for all the sweetcorn.  I managed to find 75g of the little yellow jewels, so I made it up to the required 100g with peas.  I also didn't have a courgette, so I used a grated carrot.

They were really easy to make and cooked brilliantly.  I cooked three together in the pan and then put them on a tray in the oven to keep warm while I cooked the last two.

Gosh they were good, and were so filling. 

 I'll be making these again for sure and I'm pretty sure that any grated vegetables would  work and rather than using any cornflour next time I'll just use all gram flour which is healthier and more protein dense.

Coming next ... it's Sooze's choice of  Book 27, Page 36.

Sue xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 40 - Cooking the Books Challenge - JUDITH'S CHOICE

Judith's Choice was:

 Book 1 = A Year in 120 Recipes by Jack Monroe

Page 70 = Autumn Puddings

I only had half the amount of fruit needed, so I simply halved all the other ingredients too.  I also had no white bread or any spare white sugar, so I used what I had.

It's a very easy recipe to follow, so simple.  Well I mean it's just fruit and bread really with a bit of sugar and a dash of water ... what could go wrong!!

Any of you who have made Summer Puddings before will notice immediately what I have done wrong on this photo.

Yup ... I forgot to line the pudding basin with clingfilm!!

And I didn't even think about this until I woke up this morning, it was literally the first thing on my mind 😄

I decided to have this for breakfast, well it's fruit and bread ... breakfast food disguised as a dessert.  Using my trusty flexible spatula inching carefully lower and lower down the pudding bowl I managed to ease it out in one piece.

Phew ... who needs cling film 🤣🤣

Gosh this was tasty.  

Far tastier than just soggy bread and fruit should be.  I'll definitely be making this one again.  It looked so good that Alan, even though he had just eaten two fried eggs on toast asked if he could have a small portion too.

We'll have the rest for dessert tonight with a dollop of ice-cream ... just so it doesn't seem too much like we're eating breakfast again 😃

Today I will be making Marlene's choice of Book 7, Page 8 ... see you tomorrow with the grand reveal.

Sue xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 39 - Cooking the Books Challenge - JOY'S CHOICE

So ... Alan made the choice of comment.

I found the book, the page and the dish as chosen by Joy.

Joy's Choice:

The book = BOSH!

Page 35 =  Quick Puttenesca Spaghetti

I assembled what ingredients I could, there was going to be a bit of adding of this and that as I cooked it, but these are the basics ... with lots of spaghetti but then we like a lot of spaghetti  😄

The vinegar is there to add the tanginess that would have been missing from me not having the olives or the capers, and I also added a dash of Tamari when I was cooking the sauce to help get the flavour right.  We didn't have any broccoli so I added some green beans ... broccoli would have been much better or even maybe just some frozen peas as these would have mellowed the flavour slightly whereas the green beans just sat there going chewy.

The finished dish, it was tasty, not something I have ever had before as I tend  not to go for 'tangy' sauces.  I usually go for a more mellow, sweeter tomato based sauce.  So this was a real treat to be made to go outside of the box.  Like going to someone else's house and eating what you are given and really enjoying the change from the norm.

And yes, I cooked a bit too much spaghetti so the chickens had a pretty tasty snack this morning.

🐔🐔🐔

Because so many of you were lovely enough to give me choices yesterday, I have decided to use them all ... yes even yours Margie, you little latecomer you, sneaking in at the end!!  I will work my way down the list of comments in the order they arrived.

So today I am making Judith's choice from Book 1, Page 70 ... and it's something completely different.  Back tomorrow with the photos.

Sue xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 38 - A Proper Challenge

So ... as you can see I have a pretty well stocked food cupboard.

I have 35 mostly vegan cookbooks on my kitchen shelf ... I'll show you a photo of that tomorrow after this Challenge ... we won't use any of my other books on any other bookshelves for the purpose of this Challenge it will just get too complicated.

What I want you to do is pick a number from 1 to 35, which will give me a book and then pick a page number.  I've just had a look in a few of them and the majority go up to an average of 175 pages, So keeping below that number would probably be good.

As long as the recipe is suitable for me, i.e. one that can be adapted if it contains any of the foods I am actually allergic to and  I have most of the ingredients in my cupboards ...  I will cook it and post about it.

This post will go live at 6am, and if there is more than one comment when I come onto the computer later ... because believe me I do not go live at 6am ... I will get Alan to shout out a number and pick one comment to use for the Challenge that way.

Wish me luck.

But more importantly Challenge Me!!

Sue xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 999 - Challenging Myself to Give a F*ck

So ... I've still not finished cleaning out the fridge!!

Yesterday in a bid to make the job easier, or so it would seem, I ate and ate and ate ... the Very Hungry Caterpillar had nothing on me.  If it looked tasty and contained no animal products it ended up in my stomach.  

Talk about comfort eating ... no please do, talk about it amongst yourselves while I go and raid the fridge again!!

I love eating the last of anything and being able to recycle or burn the packaging.  This cheese packet helped start last nights fire, (yay one less thing in the fridge on a shelf I haven't done yet) while the cheese and most of the pickles in the jar went in my tummy.  Annoyingly I couldn't fit all the pickles from the jar onto my buns, and believe me I tried!!

So my only Challenge to myself today is to finish the Lockdown Spring Clean of the Fridge ... such a major job needs CAPITALS ... and to try my hardest not to eat all the remaining food that it contains.

Hungry Sue and Her Caterpillar Friend  xx

Crazy Days Challenge - Day 36 - A Lesson in Procrastination

I've been cleaning out the fridge ... since Monday!!

It needed a good clean, I've obviously wiped it out lots and lots of times in the six years we've had it.  Washed individual shelves in soapy water as and when they've needed it etc, but never the whole fridge ... over the course of three yes THREE days.

I did the door in one fell swoop, well taking a break for lunch while the three removable door shelves dried on top of the Aga ... luckily not melting 😄

I put everything back in the shelves and closed the door.

Monday saw me doing the top shelf.  

Moving everything down to shelves things fitted on, checking dates and sniffing jars as I did.  Even asking Alan to taste the two bottles of cider that were at the back ... he had thrown away the one that had been in the fridge door on Sunday night after valiantly trying to drink it.  

Not all homebrew is good homebrew!!

A quick taste and  'nope, throw them away too'  was the response.  Two years they have been cluttering up my fridge!!

So many !!!!!!s

The inside area was wiped out and the shelf left to completely dry on top of the Aga after a good wash, dry and polish with a clean tea towel.

Then it was put back inside and everything that was good was replaced.

I did the next two shelves in one manic fell swoop on Tuesday.

And then good intentions were gone, and a phone call was the perfect excuse to down tools and give up for the day.

I took a day off on Wednesday, the workload was so great 😉

Will I get the remaining two shelves and two drawers done today?  Who knows, there is lots of time ... and of course the longer I leave it the more we will have eaten and the less there will be on the shelves and in the drawers to have to move around.

This has been  Sue's Lesson in Procrastination During Lockdown.

Sue xx