We or He is back.

WE ARE BACK

All Dusted Down

(sort of)

Gerry will be taking over and restarting this blog as from this weekend or earlier.

Its been a hectic few years and now he has time on his hands to publish some stuff.

So watch this sort of space.

cooking tips #5

Cooking Tips

(Cheap and Easy)

Number 5

Pork Schnitzel

 Cheap easy meat dish, that can be eaten hot, cold, with salads, spuds, rice, well anything. 

Introduction

This is an occasional blog post to hopefully give you readers, simple, tested cooking ideas. I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs. Most of these posts will not be full recipes but just to show you how to do the basics right. I have tried different techniques by TV and Book Chefs that promised the perfect so and so, sadly most of them do not work. Below I will show the ones that worked. All these tips have been used a minimum of 10 times with constant results. I hope you find these useful. So here goes........

Ingredients

• Pork lions (as many as you want, one lion makes two Schnitzels)
• Ready made breadcrumbs (I use Paxo Golden Breadcrumbs)
• Plain flour
• Eggs beaten (number depends on how many Schnitzels you are making)
• Vegetable oil for frying

Equipment

• Meat hammer
• Deep sided frying pan

Lets Cook

First of all we need to prepare the pork lions. We usually get ours from Asda when they are on the 3 for £10 meat pack deal. So for one of the packs you get 6 pork lions, so that's about 55p per loin and that makes 2 Schnitzels. In this example we using just 4 loins.

Pork loins ready to prepare.

First thing to do is remove and trim any fat off the loins and cut each loin into two pieces lengthways. Although pork loins do not have much fat, we remove any left over as it does not like being 'whacked' with the meat hammer as it goes all 'stringy'. Also it becomes 'tough' when fried.

Fat trimmed and cut into two.

Next we need to 'whack' the loins with the good old meat hammer. This does two things. First to make the meat thin enough to allow it to fry quickly and therefore cook properly. You need to get the meat under 5mm in thickness. Second when the meat is 'whacked' makes the meat, how can I say, un-tough when you eat it, as it is cooked relatively quickly. 

So using the meat hammer, 'whack' each side until you get the desired thickness. You don't have to mad. Just gentle to medium hits work. Best to do it on a good quality wooden chopping board and not your work top. So now you should have something like this......

After the meat hammer.

So next we need to make our 'production line'. This consists of the meat on a plate, next the flour on a plate, followed by whisked egg on a plate and finally, you guessed it, the breadcrumbs on a plate. Like so.....

The production line.

So guess what you need to do next, well....

First cover the piece of meat in flour, by lightly tapping down on both sides and then gently shake off excess. 

Flouring.

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Next dip the floured meat in egg on both sides. Again gently shake off any excess.

Egging.

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Lastly before frying, lets dip in the breadcrumbs on each side.

Bread crumbing.

Now that is one done, repeat for all the meat you need to prepare. If you run out of any of the flour, egg, breadcrumbs, just add more to the plates.

All prepared, ready for frying.

Just a note, its messy work so, you will need to wash your hands a few times.

Well its time to fry. To start with fill a deep sided frying pan with about 5cms of vegetable oil. This needs to be heated first to just above a medium heat. Once ready gently put in two of the prepared pieces. Let fry for a three or four minutes. Then turn over and do the same. The whole process should not take more than eight minutes at the most. Two things you need to worry about is, first make sure the oil is not to hot or cold and second that the breadcrumbs to not over cook and burn. 

Frying.

Once done take out and drain on kitchen paper. Continue with the next two and so on. If you are doing a large batch then if the oil becomes a dirty black then replace the old oil with new. Then continue.

Cooked.

Cooked. One cut in half.

That is it. The beauty of this recipe. Is that it can be eaten straight away hot or it is great cold for example when packed in tin foil for a picnic. If you having a BBQ and make this before, it makes a great alternative for people who are fed up with the normal BBQ fare. It can be eaten with any 'side' you like (salad, chips, mash, rice, gravy, dips). Also it makes a great filling for a sandwich. We just love it.

I hope you will try and enjoy. 

Cooked and written by Gerry.

Things To Do Before I’m …..

Got invited, well few days back now to have ago at a Meme by my lovely twitter friend Alison from her blog post HERE. I had a look and put it on the back burner. Now here I am going to sort of write my own. As I got quite a short memory span, going to re-read her post and write this post.

Reading Alison's post and the post she got invited to have a go from another blogger 'I May Not Be Your Mom But I'll Be Your Friend', the post is HERE. The idea seems to originate from a post by 'Two point Four Children' and it can be found HERE. The reasons for all the links, is to give you an idea of different ideas people have for the goals they wish to achieve. 

Now re-reading again the posts I have linked to, it seems you now need to reveal your age. This is where I will go a bit different now. As a married couple, Gerry and I. We try to keep everything on the Internet as a joint thing. It is very hard as Facebook, Google+ and a few others do not allow this. Everything has to be individual. This annoys us. Any I digress. But as I at 56 and Gerry at 48, we are going to say things we would like both to do in two years time from today.  This is a joint list.

So here goes.(Get to use bullet points too)

1. Try to complete 100% Burnout Paradise on the Xbox360, we stuck on 94%, plus the online achievements.
2. Visit Scotland, the Highlands for a long touring holiday.
3. Re-visit 'The Langdale' in Cumbria and have Cumberland sausage and red cabbage in the local pub.
4. Get our passports renewed.
5. Win, borrow, beg or steal enough money to visit Florida.
6. Get a 6 burner cooker (that's more Gerry's) but I will benefit in more lovely food.
7. Least get some of our respected families together for a day, will need a wedding for that (Sarah or Kayleigh)
8. Put a Christmas tree up.
9. Finish decorating this place, been two years and counting. If it carries on, will be like the Forth Rail Bridge, once we finish will have to start again.
10. Sit together and watch Lost season 1 and 2. Still on the shelf and still with shrink wrap around them.
11. Learn how to grow herbs, like Jamie etc have in their TV kitchens, I am sure they are just put there.
12. Take Grace to one of the Wednesday night summer firework displays on the beach.
13. Go to Great Yarmouth races, both lived here for years and never been. its a 15 minute bus ride.
14. Buy a banana tree. Not a real one, but to hang our bananas on.
15. Have a proper night sleep when Grace is sleeping over. She three but we both up every hour checking on her. Very silly. We worry to much.
16. Give cockles and mussels another go and try to like them. We live in a seaside town, they have the seafood stalls on the market with the little pots of them and toothpicks. Just at the moment don't like them.
17. De-clutter, this will never happen. Have tried it loads of times. Just move a load of cr*p from box to a new box.
18. Do not buy any more Goldfish, got five left, had eight. Bought for Grace. She really don't care. So when the last one goes to the great fish shop in the sky. That is it.
19. Be rich enough to put £1 coins in the 'Christmas' pig, just once.
20. See Kayleigh qualify as a nurse. Think that is about two years time. That one is up to her.

At the moment can't tag no one as I have to look around the blogs I read and blogger friends on twitter to see who has not been invited. Will update when I have some people.

If you feel the need to write a post like this please link it to Two Point Four Children's page

written by Phyllis and Gerry

cooking tips #4

Cooking Tips

(Cheap and Easy)

Number 4

Leftover Chicken or Turkey Curry

 Cheap with store cupboard stuff.

Makes a change from chicken and chips, chicken sandwiches

or to stop you throwing a half eaten roast bird away. 

Cooking time 40 minutes.

Introduction

This is an occasional blog post to hopefully give you readers, simple, tested cooking ideas. I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs. Most of these posts will not be full recipes but just to show you how to do the basics right. I have tried different techniques by TV and Book Chefs that promised the perfect so and so, sadly most of them do not work. Below I will show the ones that worked. All these tips have been used a minimum of 10 times with constant results. I hope you find these useful. So here goes........

Ingredients

• Teaspoon olive oil (or vegetable oil) 
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
• 3 Tablespoons of Mild curry powder. If using Hot curry powder you might want to reduce the number of tablespoons.
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 cube chicken stock, you know OXO etc
• 1 can of water, this means when you use the tomatoes, fill the tin with water
• 450g of leftover chicken or turkey, if you got less then put in what you have left. Just cut it into smallish pieces. 

Ingredients

 Equipment

• Large saucepan or deep sided frying pan (as in photos)

 Lets Cook

Heat the oil in the pan to a medium heat and add the chopped onions, let them sweat for a few minutes. Once becoming soft then add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes more. 

Sweating down

 Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, crushed stock cube and curry powder, then mix in well.

Stuff added, now mix with spoon

Now fill the empty tomato tin with cold water and pour in and mix again.

Next add the chopped chicken or turkey and stir in. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes. 

boiling, now about to be turned down to a simmer

After 30 minutes the 'sauce' should have thickened up a lot. It is now ready to serve with rice or whatever you fancy.

With rice, trust me its lovely

Notes

If you have leftover chicken or turkey and do not fancy this the next day then just cook this. Let it cool, put in containers and freeze for a later date. That is a great way to save money and waste.

With a half of a chicken left after a roast, this recipe will provide 2 more meals for 2 people at a cost of less than £1 per person. 

Written by Gerry.

cooking tips #3

Cooking Tips

(Cheap and Easy)

Number 3

Perfect Roast Potatoes

  Crispy and fluffy every time.

Introduction

This is an occasional blog post to hopefully give you readers, simple, tested cooking ideas. I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs. Most of these posts will not be full recipes but just to show you how to do the basics right. I have tried different techniques by TV and Book Chefs that promised the perfect so and so, sadly most of them do not work. Below I will show the ones that worked. All these tips have been used a minimum of 10 times with constant results. I hope you find these useful. So here goes........

 Ingredients

• Potatoes. Any type will work but the bigger the better. Not new potatoes though.
• Salt 
• Vegetable oil

Equipment

• Large saucepan
• Deep sided roasting pan
• Collender

Prepare and cook time 

• 30 to 1 hour depends on amount of potatoes and size

 Lets Cook

First of all. Peel the potatoes all about the same size or cut in half to make same size and place in cold water until ready.

Peeled spuds, nearly all the same size in cold water.

Full the kettle up to maximum level and boil the water. Empty the cold water out and put the peeled potatoes into the saucepan. Sprinkle with some salt. While the kettle is boiling, Heat your oven to 200C, 400F, Gas 6. Then get your roasting pan and pour about 1cm of vegetable oil in and place on the shelf just one down from the top shelf of the oven. When the water has boiled, pour over the potatoes so they are covered. Bring to boil on the hob and then simmer until they are 'parboiled'. In this case if the outside of the potatoes feel soft when you push a knife end in and feels harder nearer the inside. Once that is done, drain the potatoes into a collender. Let all the water drain out.

Potatoes, Parboiled and drained.

Return to the empty saucepan and place the lid on. Now gently shake holding the lid. Have a look and if the potatoes look 'rough' on the outside, then that is enough, if not shake a bit more. 

Potatoes shaken and ready for roasting.

Once happy. Take the now hot roasting pan out the oven and then with a tablespoon place the potatoes in the oil. Once done, spoon the oil over the potatoes to cover them.

Potatoes in with hot oil and oil spooned over.

 Then return to oven. Now keep an eye on them, when the they look like they are turning more yellow on the top. Take them out and with a spoon turn them over. Your should see on the underneath them looking a light brown. Then spoon over some of the oil on the turned potatoes.

Potatoes Half way. Turned over and spooned with oil, now back in oven.

 Again check after a little while and when they look light brown on both sides they are done. Remove from oil and on to a plate. You hopefully should have crispy and fluffy roast potatoes. No need for duck or goose fat.

All done ready to serve.

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 Please comment. Would love your feedback.

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Written by Gerry, version 2.0.Photos added

cooking tips #2

Cooking Tips

(Cheap and Easy)

Number 2

Perfect Yorkshire Puddings
(Makes 6)

 You will get a rise every time.

Introduction

This is an occasional blog post to hopefully give you readers, simple, tested cooking ideas. I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs. Most of these posts will not be full recipes but just to show you how to do the basics right. I have tried different techniques by TV and Book Chefs that promised the perfect so and so, sadly most of them do not work. Below I will show the ones that worked. All these tips have been used a minimum of 10 times with constant results. I hope you find these useful. So here goes........

Ingredients

• 50g plain flour sieved
• 1 egg, room temperature (take them out of the fridge an hour our so before)
• Whole milk, semi-skimmed works, but NOT skimmed.
• Vegetable oil
• Salt to season (optional)

Equipment

• Sieve
• large bowl
• Measuring Jug
• Electric whisk, or strong wrists and a wooden spoon
• 6 segment non-stick metal muffin type tin
• Kitchen scales 

Big note if you want 12 Yorkshire puddings for a larger family, just DOUBLE all ingredients etc.

 Prepare and cook time 

• 20 to 30 minutes 

Lets Cook

You can make the mix up before hand if you like or make it just before you want to use it. If you make it up a few hours early don't put it in the fridge, just give it a whisk before you use it.

Anyway lets start. First, in a bowl sieve the flour to you get to 50g or just over. Set to one side. now crack both egg in the measuring jug. (Quick tip if you crack the egg on the work surface rather then the edge of the jug, you will not get any shell in the mix). Pour in the milk to it reaches the 150ml level. Add some salt, a little the first time, as you make it more and more you can learn how much you need for your own taste. Pour in the flour and use a electric whisk to mix to a smooth sort of single cream texture. If not electric whisk the pour mixture in a another largish bowl then add flower and mix by hand.

Egg, plain flour, milk all mixed.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas 6. Now pour into the muffin type tin a little oil in each compartment, just a enough to coat. give the tin a little swirl so that each compartment is coated.

Oil in, ready to go in oven.

 Put the tray on the top shelf of the oven and this important leave until the oil is smoking hot. Give the Yorkshire mix a quick mix. Take the very hot tray out and pour equal amounts of the mix into each compartment, about third to half way up. 

Hot oil, and mixture put in, be quick, then back in oven.

 Now return back to oven straight away. Leave for a minimum of 20 minutes, yes that's right do not open the door. If you got a glass oven front, watch them rise. Take out when they look right and serve.

All done, crispy outside, fluffy inside. Cheaper, better than shop bought. ENJOY.

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 Please comment. Would love your feedback.

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Written by Gerry, version 2.0.

cooking tips #1

Cooking Tips

(Cheap and Easy)

Number 1

Slow Roast Pork Shoulder

 Try this and say goodbye to tough pork forever.

Introduction

This is an occasional blog post to hopefully give you readers, simple, tested cooking ideas. I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs. Most of these posts will not be full recipes but just to show you how to do the basics right. I have tried different techniques by TV and Book Chefs that promised the perfect so and so, sadly most of them do not work. Below I will show the ones that worked. All these tips have been used a minimum of 10 times with constant results. I hope you find these useful. So here goes........

Ingredients and hints on buying.

• Rolled Pork Shoulder (2 to 3kg) its a cheap cut, we pay £5 from local butchers for a 2kg one and that feeds 4 or two meals (cold pork and chips with leftovers). Check when buying and ask the butcher to score the skin. You can do it yourself but you need a very sharp knife, most are pre-scored anyway. If frozen then defrost fully before cooking. Slow roasting works great for cheap cuts of meat. If buying from a Supermarket please ignore the cooking instructions on the supermarket packet it came in. Try this and say goodbye to tough pork forever.

Equipment

• Roasting Tin big enough for pork and water.
• Baking Foil (Wilkinsons is quite cheap and good quality)
• Meat Thermometer (optional, but good to have) see below

Prepare and Cooking time

• Four and half hours tops

Lets cook.

Pre-heat the oven at 150C, 300F, Gas 2. Place joint in roasting tin. Now measure out 600ml (just over a pint) of tap water. Pour in the base of roasting tin. Cover joint with baking foil (shiny side up). Place in centre of oven and cook for three, yes three hours. Now after that remove from oven and take off foil. Check with meat thermometer that the temperature inside is 77C or 170F. If you don't have one then get a sharp knife, like a steak knife and push through the side of the joint and if there is little resistance then it is nearly done. Now pour out the remaining water in to a heat proof bowl. If you have a separator the non fat part can be used as a base for gravy. Anyway now turn up the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas 6 and put back in for another hour and a half or until it is very tender (no resistance to the knife test) and the skin is very crisp, yes that's your crackling.. At this point you could sort out the other parts for your dinner, its up to you how you want to serve it with. When its cooked take out and like all meats let it rest for a minimum 15 minutes before carving.

That is it, simple. Trust me it is. A little note, did you notice there is no salt used on the skin. With this you don't need it. The crackling is crisp and tastes salt free, lovely.

Written by Gerry, version 1.0. Photos soon when I cook it next.

First Post

The First Post.

A Brief History of Time Waisted (or not)

There will be two people writing this blog. Me and the husband. We will place a note on the bottom of a post of who wrote it, so you know who to have a go at.

Best give a bit of in site of our history. As they say write what you know about first. We all have slightly tangled lives.

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A brief history of me.

Well I (Phyllis) have been married three times. Divorced first husband, second husband sadly passed away. Now with my third husband. I have one now really grown up son from my first marriage. Who I do not see as he is working away. My second husband sadly passed away, and from that marriage have a lovely daughter (now all grown up) but gladly lives locally. So get to see her a lot when her job permits.

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A brief history of him.

The husband (Gerry) is also on his third marriage, in his case divorced two times before. Now stuck with me. He has three children and one grandchild. The daughter and grandchild from his first marriage, and yes its his grandchild but she is mine also. Then two sons from the second marriage. They both in their late teens and sadly never hardly see them as they are in their late teens (you know what they are like, if you got teen boys).

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A brief history of us.

Well after all that we met and married in 2008. All our passed lives then interconnected to produce this one. Sadly both of our parents have passed on. So its just us and the children of varying ages and the grandchild, of which who know us on twitter is Grace.

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Post Script

This is version 1.5 of about us. As just learning how to work this blogger properly this time. Not going to rush in without a thought like last time. So most posts are going to be a work in progress until at least April 2012. Just getting the bones together, before I can put some meat on and then hopefully the skin.

Also this blog will NEVER be sponsored, by any company to promote their products with freebies etc. If anyone want us to review anything than that's fine. You must realise that any review might be good, indifferent, or bad. It is in your hands. So if you want to take a chance and get a real review. Well we are here......... 

Written by Phyllis and Gerry