The Red Folder

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Red Folder Recipe- Baklava

I think I have found it, the ultimate Baklava recipe

Where I used to live in London there was a thriving greek community and from a corner shop, the owners’ mum would sell tiny, aromatic and sweet, diamond filo pastry mouthfuls of heaven, straight from the baking tin.  I discovered later that the men used to sit at the back drinking black coffee and smoking waiting for the tray to come out of the oven as eagerly as I did.  I used to beg for the recipe and she would always shake her head no and say that if she told me I would not buy from her!  Of course, I know how to make Baklava but I could never capture that taste from London E17.P1110768 (2)

If I see Baklava in a cafe I will always try a piece, I do this with lemon tarts too, but that is another recipe.  Then a friend of a friend of a friend said, “try this”, and handed me a photocopy of a handwritten  list of ingredients and instructions. It is the closest thing I have made so far, so I popped it in the red folder and marked it E17 Baklava.  It is  toothache-sweet, and uses more sugar than I would use in three months, so I usually make a hybrid of the school cookbook version and the E17.  I leave you both here.  Be warned cut into small pieces, but you will keep going back to the tin. Continue reading “The Red Folder” →

The Red Folder

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How to make healthy garlic mayonnaise

This is a seriously easy to make aioli, I found it in the revive cookbook.  There is no getting away with the fat content, but you can get rid of the sugar, stabilisers, egg  and any other additives you find in the shop bought stuff.  This will keep in the fridge for a month. You can thin it down with warm water to make a dressing. Continue reading “The Red Folder” →

The Red Folder

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How to make healthy Tomato Sauce

There are just some things that beg for a good tomato ketchup. Popular brands contain lots of sugar, so when tomatoes are cheap, I make my own, working with the vinegar makes my eyes water and the children complain but it is easy to make.  I use Heinz ketchup at home and this sauce is very close to this flavor.  I pour my sauce into the brand bottle and do not tell the children, as they would reject it on principle.  They have not caught me  yet!  Gary Rhodes put this together.

P1110821A healthier alternative to anything I have found to buy.  For example the brand I have just picked up contains 25.5g of sugar per 100ml, if you use all the sugar in this recipe then you reduce that to 16g and 8g per 100ml if you half sugar, half honey, as I do.

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Jokes and Ditties

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P1110846 (2) I hate you alphabetically speaking, you’re not OK.

My mum used to sing the song, maybe to me, maybe to my babies, I am not sure.  I do remember bouncing my daughter up and down, singing it to her, and then later, my daughter and I sang it to my son.  Later still we all sang this together in the car on long journeys.  We sing it to each other still, the words have altered slightly over the years.  Play the original then scroll down and read to the music to see how we now sing it.  Feel free to do a soft shoe shuffle during the instrumental section. Continue reading “Jokes and Ditties” →

The Red Folder

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cropped-p1110784.jpgRed Folder recipe – Almond Danish

Breakfast Baked Goods – how very dare you, my name is Danish, and I am the king of pastry.

Yes, you too can make Danish Pastry without the dreary butter layers that need rolling and turning and putting in a bag with refrigeration after each roll. This is so fantastically easy and makes such a professional pastry, people do not believe I have just made them.  You do need a food processor and have to start the day before, but I just make the mix quickly after dinner is over with. When the children know I am making them, they fist pump and are happy to do the dishes, while I perform the magic!  It really is no trouble, there is a rise time of an hour and a half, all good things come to those that wait.

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Half eaten, you can see the light pastry and the soft almond filling.

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Campfire story

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cropped-p1110791.jpgSnails are amazing they breathe with lungs, just like we do.

Never, ever put correction fluid on a snail’s shell.

My daughter was idly firing facts at me this morning, as I was trying to find something under my sink. A ping pong conversation started with my daughter saying.

“Strawberries,”….. muffled sounds as I reached in further……” not proper fruits, but bananas and pumpkins are.”

I replied, “What?” and so the conversation continued.

“Yeah, polar bears actually have black skin, and they are covered in translucent, hollow hairs.”

“Oh”

“It is believed Einstein died a virgin.”

“Pardon….Ummm, have you seen the cloth  I clean the floor with?”

“If you are in a room with 25 other people, there is a fifty percent chance that you will share your birthday with one of them”

“How many people?    Have you seen that green cloth?”  I asked again, she ignored me and continued.

“The average person walks the equivalent of five times around the world in a lifetime.”

“Where are you getting this stuff from?  How can a pumpkin be a fruit, that’s messed up my five a day.”

“From this site I follow. Garden snails have up to 14,175 teeth!”

I am too slow to answer.

stop shouting, he can’t hear you.

 

“Sharks have no swim bladder so they have to keep moving or they will die.”

At last I catch up. “What do you mean snails have teeth?”  I had given up looking for the cloth and was channeling sponge, trying to catch any piece of information.  I was thinking that if only one of these facts went in, I could have an enlightened conversation at some point in the future.  Would you like another strawberry?  You know or course; they are not a fruit, botanically speaking. Continue reading “Campfire story” →

The Red Folder

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Best ever no meat cannelloni

Basically, you can stuff your pasta with anything using this recipe and it will taste yummy.  Just remember to have 1. A protein. I am using Tofu here, but cottage cheese, ricotta, raw egg mixed into  breadcrumbs are all good alternatives.  2. Add a crunch.  Lentils for me this time, but pinenuts, nuts, raw celery or seeds will work.  3. Choose a veggie.  In this recipe, I will use mushrooms but you can swap it out with spinach, pumpkin, beetroot (with feta) these are only a few options, go wild.  For the tomato sauce either used a good quality jar brand pasta sauce or make you own quick cheat sauce.  See below. Continue reading “The Red Folder” →

Jokes and Ditties

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cropped-p1100192.jpgHe just keeps on running

I wrote this for my son when he was six, the rest of the family were trying to eek out the last of the Saturday morning sleep in and he had got up to get ready for his first football game.  He is a good little long distance runner now, so still running but without quite so much mess.  I leave it here now, to remind him to be patient if he ever has a little runner of his own.

STOP RUNNING EVERYWHERE!

 

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He opened his eyes and jumped out of bed, off down the hall he eagerly sped

Into the bathroom to visit the loo, did the thing there that all of us do

Out through the door with a speeding of pace, oops, back again quickly to wash hands and face

He must wash his hands as he’d been to the loo, it does waste some time, but you really should do.

Back through the door to the kitchen he raced, grabbing a bowl, not a second to waste

He needed a spoon and some milk from the fridge, allowed honey on Weet-bix but only a smidge

The doors were all  banging as he opened and shut, from out of the bedroom he heard a loud tut

                   SLOW DOWN DAVID

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Campfire Story

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MY CHILDREN THINK I AM WEIRD.

My children are always complaining that I am weird and not like other mums.  I am always under strict instructions to be normal when their friends visit our house.  I do not know how to be anyone other than myself, so was asking my son for clarification over a game of table tennis the other night.  He said, put the boxing gloves down and use the bat instead and I will tell you.  Basically he thinks that I am immature, talk too much, forget things all the time and am old.  Pretty standard I would have thought.  It soon became apparent that there are many things that annoy and embarrass my children.  Here are just 10 of them.

10 reasons my children think I am crazy and annoying and the reasons I gave for doing them. Continue reading “Campfire Story” →

The Red Folder

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cropped-p1110674.jpgRed Folder Recipe – Teacakes

Move over Mallow Puffs, Tunnock’s Teacakes were here first!  A spectacular little cake for a special occasion.

MARSHMALLOW TEACAKES

Chocolate, soft marshmallow and vanilla biscuit, this teacake deserves a plate, small fork and fifteen minutes of your unadulterated time.  I will confess that it is messy and makes my arm burn with the 10-15 mins whisking by hand, but that is all forgotten and forgiven in the eating.

I have been making a version of this for years, a young Chef shared both a teacake and a jaffa cake recipe with me once.  I came upon the below recipe in Peyton and Byrne’s British Baking book.  I had borrowed it from the Library looking for a good fig roll recipe, so to find this was a gift.  I pass it on now.  This version is a wobbly replica of the silky smooth domes, wrapped in red foil I loved as a kid.  Enjoy.

P1110709 (2) Continue reading “The Red Folder” →