Cwtch 22

Done. ✅ Roast potatoes ready for Xmas day. Will freeze them, defrost in the morning, then quick to cook. They go even crispier. It’s such a good timesaver. Thanks to for this great idea.

Pumpkin soup and bagels. I roasted the pumpkin first, so much easier to just scoop it out. The bagels aren’t traditional, boiled then baked ones. This was a quick flour and yoghurt recipe. Not as light in texture as a traditional one, but they were very tasty. Especially when dipped in the soup. 🎃 ❤

Thankyou This was so quick and delicious. Sweet potatoes, onions, tin of tomatoes, cannellini beans, barbecue sauce, salt and pepper, and smoked paprika. It’s an almost b**g it all in and job done type of cook. Sweet potatoes makes it posh cowboy beans!

Shortbread with a xmas theme. Not too sparkly….yet. Stamped with a cutter dipped in cocoa. Recipe from

Getting my mince pies done early, from a fantastic recipe and tips from .birtwhistle and mincemeat made from the Delia Smith Christmas cookbook. The mincemeat has been in the fridge since it was made, (quite a while ago!) so I added some chunky apple sauce to it, as it had “set”. They’re in the freezer now. Don’t know how long they’ll stay in there. .birtwhistle

Quick pickled onions. A job that normally takes ages. Slice onions, as thin or as chunky as you like. Put them in your jar, to the top. Mix together, equal amounts of warm (previously boiled) water and apple cider vinegar, add some honey or sugar to your taste. I added 2 dessert spoons of honey. Leave in the fridge till the next day. Voila!
To make them a bit more “exotic”, add some peppercorns.

Crushed Potato Pie. This was similar to a quiche, but mashed potatoes for the base, like pastry. Baked first, then tomatoes, spinach, onions and mozzarella topped with a mix of milk, cream cheese and spices. Back in to bake. Very tasty. But must remember next time to oil the pan first. Recipe from

Definitely my favourite. Orzo. The recipe is Orzotto with pancetta and peas from . It’s pasta, but cooked like risotto rice. I used vege bacon, and added borlotti beans (for protein). The wild garlic butter was frozen from earlier on in the year. Grano padana cheese grated on top. 😋

Tagine. That was originally going to be Aubergine Parmigiana! Went shopping, got the aubergine, then changed my mind! I only added 1 extra ingredient…paneer. Served with couscous, 😋 that I added some of the Tagine sauce to. No idea where the recipe was originally from, but plenty of them online.

Minestrone tonight. recipe. Good warming, wintery food….as the temperature seems to have gone down a few degrees. The recipe has cannellini beans, cavolo nero, carrots, courgettes, onions and I added green beans too. For the pasta I used orzo, which I love, and use a lot. Was going to make a soda bread but forgot to get buttermilk, and didn’t have any milk to make some, (fridge broke down yesterday😠) so I had a peshwari naan with mine….and I preferred it!

Fudgy brownies…but with a topping. Butter, syrup, light brown sugar and cornflakes. Spread on top of cooled brownies and in the fridge to set. They didn’t last long! .birtwhistle

A jar of Ted Lasso biscuits. If you know, you know!

Not a very attractive meal tonight, but boy is it tasty. This is Cabbage Hotpot. A recipe I’ve made just a few times over the years!
Onions and white cabbage are caramelised, which makes it beautifully sweet, and a thick sauce is made in it, with flour, stock, vinegar and Demerara sugar. Lots of black pepper, and a generous sprinkling of turmeric. I added a handful of peas, and some cooked vege chicken pieces. (Chicken could be used instead.) Sliced potatoes on top. I bought ready done slices today for speed. I served it with the freshest green beans from a friends allotment. Can’t wait till later….even better cold!

Miso Corn Orzo. Recipe from .tv Orzo looks like rice, but it’s pasta. The recipe is corn on the cob, which is stripped, rather than tinned sweetcorn. It gave a much fresher taste to the meal. Also miso paste, butter, salt, and chives. I added peas, and black pepper. A sq**rt of lemon before serving. We also had garlic bread with it. I have previously done a couple of orzo recipes, which were more involved and lots of ingredients, this was super quick, easy and very tasty. 👍🏼 Bosh.

Rice Moussaka tonight. This is one of those recipes that I’ve made numerous times. Been making it for about 30 years, so not sure how many times I’ve made it. It’s tomatoey mince (veggie) and rice, layered, topped with cheese. The rice is mixed with a cheesy white sauce, with lots of black pepper. It’s even better the next day, cold! The recipe was from an old dairy diary cookbook that you could buy from the milkman. Yes….a man used to bring milk to your house!!

Macaroni cheese with garlic and onion bread. Not macaroni shaped bits of pasta though. This is rigatoni, much chunkier pieces, which hold more sauce. The bread is sliced and spread with garlic butter and filled with cooked onion. The garlic butter was made with wild garlic mixed with butter, that had been frozen earlier on in the year. Topped with small chunks of bread and cheese, then grilled to make it crispy. Just perfect for a cold, blustery, summer’s day!

Cornbread muffins and pea soup. The muffins make a nice change from bread, and flavoured with sweetcorn, that was fried in wild garlic butter. Cheese added to the mix, and topped with crispy, dried onions. The pea soup is the easiest to make. Fry onions in olive oil and some more wild garlic butter. Add a bag of frozen peas, and stock to just cover it. When cooked, I added a small tin of processed peas. Whizzed it up, then added another tin of peas and left them whole for texture. Season well. My favourite soup! (For the muffins.)

First had this in Bruges, sat outside a beautiful flower bedecked cafe. Had this one listening to the rain! Made soda bread yesterday using a recipe. Slathered the bread with cream cheese, added sliced strawberries, drizzled with honey and a sprinkle of poppy seeds. Same again tomorrow… I made 2 loaves!

Bought this great book for £1 at a charity shop a few days ago. Some great recipes in there. Made bean tagine with harissa and coriander, and harissa couscous. So good. Used borlotti beans in this, and added spinach as extra. I served it with a pear and apple spiced chutney. Will definitely be making this again.

🤔 It’s a….what have I got in the fridge pasta bake tonight. I only bought some mince. I fried onions, then added red wine, mushrooms, courgette, and a rather wrinkly pepper. 🫑 Then tinned tomatoes, adzuki beans, a mahoosive bag of spinach, which obviously disappeared to almost nothing! Lots of black pepper, mixed herbs, stock cubes (not dissolved in water), tomato puree, (some brown sugar to take the puree bitterness away) and let it bubble away gently while the pasta cooked. Added the pasta with some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce. Grated cheese on top and grilled so it melted. Obviously I made loads. Just can’t seem to cook for less than about 5 people.

Moussaka tonight. But not with aubergines, as is traditionally done. I find them too slimy in this, so swopped for roasted, slices of potatoes. I used mince instead of meat. The béchamel sauce that’s poured on the top, thickens and soufflés a bit. Topped then with grated Manchego cheese from Served it with a salad. Was delicious. Plenty left for tomorrow! Recipe from

So quick to do. So quick in fact that I started it, then realised it was almost done, so came back to finish it later on. Mushroom tagliatelle. Onions, mushrooms, tiny diced courgette and garlic, all fried together. Then added spinach, loads, but it disappeared 🤷‍♀️ and some peas. Added white wine, lots of black pepper, then finally crème fraiche. Cooked the tagliatelle, added it to the sauce, with some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce. Was very delicious, and will be doing this again, when I’m pushed for time. (Or just being lazy!)

It’s a “what have I got in my cupboard” bake today. The soda bread is recipe. It’s got cheese and caramelised onions in. Sooo good. The scones have cheese and I added smoked paprika. The recipe is I always use his recipe for sweet scones too.

Ginger traybake with ginger, cinnamon buttercream. Recipe from I chopped the end off to use in a trifle tomorrow. It’ll go great with the raspberries.

Had to bake something while I was waiting for all the roasties to cook. This is a giant cookie with a hazelnut chocolate filling. Just one word…. YUM!

1st lot of Xmas day roasties done. So much quicker on the day. They’re parboiled, roughed up 🥊 in the pan, then I shake semolina over them, this helps give those lovely crunchy edges. I’m going to freeze them this year, as xmas is a week away. 😱Take them out the night before. When they’re cooked again, they go super crispy. I may have tested just a couple….someone’s got to!

Mini Christmas cakes for mini people….well, one of them is! I baked a 9’ round cake, but it wasn’t deep enough to decorate. So I cut out 4 rounds, decorated and packed those, and used the leftovers to make mini Christmas puds. I mixed the crumbled cake with melted plain chocolate. Rolled them into balls and decorated with melted white chocolate and sprinkles. Great little homemade gifts.

Peanut butter cookies. These are chewy cookies, and the recipe is from I didn’t have white chocolate as the recipe said, so added plain chocolate. Jane’s recipes are great. I make a lot of them, particularly the cookies. I always double the recipe and freeze most of them, uncooked. That way it’s fresh cookies every few days. As you can see….I managed to cook 2 batches….1 slightly overdone!!

A cheeky little squash, made into
a squash and chickpea curry. Served with peshwari naan bread… which I almost cremated!

Scruffy lasagne tonight. Added extras were peppers, which I fried with the onions, and broccoli. I then used the broccoli water to soften the chopped up lasagne sheets. These were added to the “meat” mix. It was just the sort of comfort food you need when going back out into the cold, to get to choir. (Also eating before I go is a good idea….it could all be gone when I get back!)

What started off looking like sand, definitely doesn’t taste like it! Pumpkin pie spiced pumpkin seeds. Butter, sugar, honey and spice to coat the seeds. Baked till they’re brown. The smell is divine. Taste good too.

Pizza pockets (named that by my son!). Squares of puff pastry. Spread the centre with tomato purée. (I flavoured it with garlic pepper and mixed herbs.). Sprinkled grated mozzarella on top then folded edges of pastry together. Brush with beaten egg and plonk a tomato slice on top. Baked for about 10-15mins. Best eaten when the mozzarella is still hot and almost burns your mouth!!

Malaysian Peanut Satay tonight. So fried the onions in wild garlic butter that was picked, mixed with butter, then frozen a few months ago. So a Malaysian/Welsh Satay!

Easy, quick garlic bread. Could also use as a pizza base. Equal amounts of self raising flour and plain yoghurt. I used Greek yoghurt, because that what I had here. 2 cups of each, mix together with a knife, gently knead till smooth, then roll out, in as near to a circle as you can get! 🥴 Melt butter and add garlic and fresh rosemary. Brush over the dough. Bake for approx 15 mins. Perfect to go with roasted veg pasta….that’s tea sorted.

Savoury day today. Cornbread muffins with cheese and sweetcorn, and sage and onion shortbread.

It’s scare away vampires time! Garlic, roasted with olive oil and pepper. Smells insanely good. So much easier to use when you’re cooking. Easy peasy way to make garlic bread too. 🍞 🥖 I freeze it in small pots, but always got one in the fridge….. waiting.

It’s a ….. “ooh, look what I found in the freezer” moment!
Not sure if the scones are plain or cheese. 🤔 Oh well, someone will eat them. 🍪

Foraged food from plant to jar. Dandelion honey. Made using only dandelion flowers, lemon, sugar and water. I only picked flowers that were in a highly flower populated field, making sure lots were still left for the bees to make their honey too.

Glamorgan sausage rolls. I used Caerphilly cheese,(closest thing to Glamorgan, which isn’t made any more), and some mature Cheddar for an added bite. I made a batch a few days ago, with the intention of freezing some….. hence the next batch!

A great yeast free pizza recipe. Cheese bacon scone pizza. It’s got peppers and spring onions. I added mushrooms as extra. The bacon is vege. A really good smokey flavour.