At lunchtime I stopped work at the computer, had lunch (just a trio of crumpets) and started to bake. I had soaked the fruit for the tea loaf overnight, so that was OK, and I decided to make use of the oven by making a small bread pudding. The tea loaf went well. I used chopped dried apricots to replace some of the dried fruit. It made a moist loaf that was very sweet despite me reducing the quantity of sugar. The bread pudding tasted good, but I used the wrong dish and it was spread a bit thin. However, it did let me use the last of the loaf of cheap white bread I had left.
My sister came round for tea and we had vegetarian sausages with Toad in the Hole, roasted vegetables (carrots, parsnip, cauliflower and leek) with tea loaf and coffee after.
In plant terms we had:
Mixed dried fruit
Apricots
Coffee
Carrots
Parsnips
Leeks
Cauliflower
We also had spices – Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Mixed Spice not really enough to count.
I’m not sure if the vegetarian stuff in the sausages counts as a plant-based portion. It’s some sort of laboratory grown fungus as I understand it, so it should.
Rolling total for Day 1 is about 12. Not bad.
It would have been more, but distracted by a major loss of internet, odd jobs, cookery (Julia was forcing me to make Toad in the Hole – first time in 15 years I’ve made it, bound to be a disaster, it didn’t occur o me that the occasional rich aromas I was getting (spice and apple) signified the destruction of a pot of red cabbage with apples and onions. Despite using the tiniest of flames my loss of memory/lack of awareness resulted in a pan of red cabbage that was mainly welded to the bottom of the pan. Such a shame, and a worrying step along the road to mental decline.
Then we ate a lot of the cake before I remembered the photos, and the camera battery ran out. Plus the kitchen lights turned the photos yellow. Not my greatest day.
At least you are trying, Simon! That is the important part.
I am relatively good at soups and stews within a narrow range.
🙂 I find I tend to settle with a few things and repeat them for months, then go on to something else until we get fed up with them.
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Ooohhh tea loaf, that sounds lovely. I bought a fruit cake from Marks today….£2.80 I kid you not. I’m going to look into tea loaf with dried apricots.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tea-loaf
I admit I don’t do a lot of zesting. I have an ineffective grater and crippled hands. I squeezed some lemon juice in last time and still didn’t notice it. Also cut 50g of sugar out and it was still very sweet. However, it is luxurious, full of fruit, tasty and keeps well.
I might go for Yorkshire tea 😋
I used Yorkshire Tea the first time, Earl Grey the second. If I’m honest I didn’t really notice the difference. 🙂
I am a failure at Toad in the Hole. I can make batter, I can cook sausages but somehow the batter won’t rise even though the temperature of the oven is correct. My sausages look as though someone has gone off with the duvet and left them a rather threadbare sheet. Your tea loaf looks delicious and all the fruit well spaced.
It’s a good recipe, but despite reducing the sugar, the fruit makes it very sweet. My batter wasn’t great, but it was acceptable. The pan was hot, the oil was sizzling, the oven was hot. It actually coloured up a bit too much, but somehow didn’t rise. The batter was a bit thick and didn’t run well, and I didn’t really let it stand enough (the recipe said turn the oven on them start teh sausages and mix the batter. Next time I will try another recipe or make thinner batter and let it stand. 🙂
If burning food in a pan is a sign of mental decline, I must be going to reach rock bottom pretty soon.
🙂 Tricky one to judge. I’ve been burning things all my life, but this was a spectacular example of stupidity. When you type for a couple of hours as you wonder what that delicious smell is, gradually turning to wondering what is burning, and only remember when you hear the sizzle as you walk into the kitchen . . . Let’s just say, it fell short of being my finest moment by some margin.
Cake sounds yummy though
It is. Too good if anything. It goes so fast . . .
Well, you all ate, and I bet it was tasty enough. The only time I Have had toad in the hole was when I was in England. Never seen it on a menu here, but maybe it is somewhere. Back then I ate meat, and I thought toad in the hole was delicious.
This was with vegetarian sausages as my sister hasn’t eaten meat for about 50 years. You can also add veg to teh dish. I recommend it to you a tasty economical winter dish. With the added excitement/lottery of seeing how the batter will rise.
I once made Toad in the Hole – the only time I’ve ever produced batter. Your pigeon looks amused
We seem to fascinate the pigeons, who strut around and watch us at the window.