TARRAGON & THYME

For tea tonight - should have been served with lamb, but have ended up cooking a piece of ham and serving that with the Bubble N Squeak as the cats launched an online attack on the remnants of the lamb from yesterday when OH turned hi back for a split second!  The Ham was on the cards to be cooked in any event for OHs pack up but just means the ham will be served warm for a change.  I am not wasting all those lovely vegetables. I think it was on Saturday on James' Martins Home Comforts cooking programme that there was a segment by the Food Historian Ivan Day about Bubble N Squeak and its origins which was very interesting as the meal originally consisted of left over cabbage and finely   cut left over meat brought together in a pan and turned into a large cake!  Not a potato in sight! Mine has mashed potato, Brussel sprouts, some peas, some carrots, cauliflower all mixed up in it and then using my Tupperware beefburger formers made into Bubble N S...

Ever made some special recipe and bought in items you don't normally have to make it such things as wine, coconut cream, herbs, ginger, chilli and end up with too much. Why not freeze them and other suitable ingredients down in individual ice cube trays and then if you need a touch of this or a touch of that you have it already and just need to pop it out of the ice cube tray or if you have decanted into a polythene bag out the bag. Items such as wine can be added to casseroles and stews and to gravy and/or sauces to give extra flavour and what better than popping fresh herbs in the midst of winter out of the freezer. All helps to pep your meals up and stops wastage.

I have grown up with the mantra of three things being very important basics in our lives. And they are the three basic rules for survival through good and difficult times and should not be compromised at any cost. These have come down from my grandparents then to my father and then to myself. Basically it is keep a roof over your head for shelter, food in your stomach, and third warmth. Anything else is a bonus. Currently the credit crunch is hitting every household and every person in the country quite harshly, it’s nice to be able to make economies, not waste anything and get something for virtually nothing. We are all having to make adjustments and any opportunity to save means we have the wherewithal to buy something else that we may otherwise have to go without. My way of dealing with this is to make things rather than to buy them already made. I do job lots of things and squirrel them away in the freezer or I bottle fruits in syrups make my own k...