Author: Mum Scottish
Basic Meringue Recipe – Great For Meringue Nests
Being able to make meringue nests is one of the jobs I wish I had learned years ago.
Now that I know how to do it, making all sorts of meringues is now quite easy. For this recipe you can use a piping bag, or if you don’t have one, just pop your meringue mix onto your making paper and use the back of a spoon to form peaks.
This will take around 30 – 45 minutes to dry in the over if the nests are small, but one large pavlova size meringue will take up to an hour and a half to dry out in the oven, and then it has to be left to cool.
The vinegar is in all my meringue recipes and will be forever more. It helps to stabilise it, and the chances of it collapsing are greatly reduced, although meringues are by their nature, crumbly and light.
Basic Meringe Recipe – Useful For Meringue Nests
Ingredients
Method
- Put the oven on to approximately 130 C or Gas 1 - 2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Separate the egg yolk from the egg whites and put them into a mixer bowl. Whisk them for a few minutes until they form stiff peaks.
- Add the sugar slowly, about 50g at a time and whisk again for a few minutes each time, until the sugar is all added.
- Add the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence and continue to mix for up to 8 minutes, until the mix is smooth and glossy.
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Put your meringue mix into a piping bag with the nozzle of your choice. Starting from the middle, work out by going round in circles to create the meringue nest shape on your baking paper.
- Pop your meringues into the oven for approximately 30 - 45 minutes. Let the meringues cool down in the oven if it's possible.
Shortcrust Pastry Recipe
For almost every other pastry, I buy it in the shops as ready make blocks and sheets, but for the shortcrust pastry version, I usually make it as it is just so simple and quick to make.
It can also be frozen once it’s made for another day, so for example, if you were going to make 4 x 4″ flan case base size portions, I would use half this quantity.
What I often do is make the full batch and freeze half of the dough for another day. This batch size will make up to 8 x 4″ flan case size bases.
Ingredients
Method
- Put flour and butter into a bowl and either rub the butter into the flour, or mix it in the food processor until it is a breadcrumb consistency. Make sure that all the lumps of butter are rubbed in.
- Add a couple of pinches of salt and caster sugar, and mix with the breadcrumb consistency ingredients.
- Add a little water at a time and either mix by hand, or in the mixer / processor until the dough forms a ball. Stop when the dough has bound together. I add a tablespoon at a time until the ball begins to form.
- Wrap the dough up with cling film and refrigerate for approximately half an hour before using it.
Roasting Bag: Chicken Breasts in Chicken Tonight Country French White Wine Sauce …With Cream & Chives
This is a speedy way to have a home cooked meal in a sauce.
Roasting bags are one of my favourite things to cook with, as the food really just never goes wrong.
I have made this recipe with 1 jar, which just gives the meat and vegetables a very nice coating with this level of ingredients.
This worked perfectly for us, but I suspect I might add 2 jars at my next attempt at using a jar of sauce for a roasting bag.
Roasting Bag: Chicken Breasts in Chicken Tonight Country French White Wine Sauce …With Cream & Chives
Ingredients
Method
- Set oven to 180C . To make this dish easier, I used a dish to mix the chicken breasts, potatoes and carrots in while I coat them all with the jar of chicken tonight.
- Pop all the ingredients into the roasting bag and seal it well.
- Lay your chicken out so that each piece is separate and on the floor of your roasting tray. If they are piled on top of each other, they will not cook properly. This is why you need a large roasting bag. If you only have smaller ones, split your ingredients into smaller batches.
- Cook in the oven for an hour, or until the chicken breasts are fully cooked. This could be more or less, depending on how large your chicken breasts are.
- Just take out of the bag and serve. Easy Peasy.
We’re all going to die !!!!!
Long term readers of my blog will know that I have adopted children, one of whom has full-blown foetal alcohol syndrome and is in a dedicated special school, where he is now settled after a few years of sad instability at the hands of the education department staff.
He is now 12 years old and heading towards the teen years very fast.
He has also just begun to learn how to join simple words from some simple letters. Read cat sat on the mat, but not so advanced yet. Just the cat is a huge deal.
For 12 and a half years, he has rarely watched TV, and on the rare occasions he has, it hasn’t been sustained, but more of a one-off.
Imagine my surprise when he came through to see me last night. He’d been in the family room while I was in the lounge, reading in peace.
“Mum, the news is bad.”
“What’s on the news?”
“Well, the army has killed two of their own people. Cigarettes are now banned forever so dad has to stop smoking or he’ll be in jail, and Saharan sand is smothering everybody and we’re all going to die.”
Then, off he pops, happy as Larry, to listen to more gore from the news while I go and put on the kettle.
Win a bibT Wipe Clean T-Shirt – Closing Date 4th May 2014
bibT recently sent me a wipe clean t-shirt to review. I have a very young nephew and thought it would make a lovely present for him, and I was right.
The bibT has a very soft t-shirt base which I found hard to imagine until I had one in my hands. The cotton is 100% organic supersoft and I can tell you that it feels really nice to the touch.
There are adjustable neck poppers and the bib part reaches from the neck to bottom of the t-shirt. I initially wondered if the bit under the neck piece would be scratchy, but it’s the soft t-shirt material, so it looks fine to me.
I haven’t washed the one I have, but I’m told it is washable at 40 degrees. It certainly looks much better than having a bib permanently wrapped around a childs neck. If these had been around when my kids were young, I suspect I’d have been persuaded to get a few for going out and about.
There are several different designs and come in long and short sleeves. Sizes are available to fit any child up the age of around 4.
As a gift, I’d be impressed as mine arrived in lovely tissue, wrapped with ribbon.
I’ve got one to giveaway to my readers too. You can have your own choice of which design from the bibT website. As well as being functional day to day, I think these make for fabulous presents.
The Rules
- Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
- 1 Winner will win a bibT from http://www.bibt.co.uk
- The prize will be sent to you from bibT directly..
- The Scottish Mum Blog is not responsible for your prize and cannot be held liable in any way for non delivery or non receipt at your end.
- Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, a new winner will be drawn.
- The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
- Scottish Mum Blog and bibT reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
- Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
- You may tweet daily. Each tweet counts as a rafflecopter entry, only if you enter it into the rafflecopter widget daily.
Win Maw Broon’s Cooking With Bairns – Closes 30th April 2014 at Midnight
I have two of these and I’ve just found out that the sister in law who I would have given it to for Christmas bought it after seeing my version.
Rather than just give it away to someone I don’t know, I thought someone who reads my blog might get the good of it.
Enjoy.
The giveaway runs from the first of April until the 30th April at midnight.
Good luck.
The Rules
– Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
– 1 Winner will win a cookbook titled Maw Broon’s Cooking With Bairns.
– The prize will be sent to you from Scottish Mum Blog.
– The Scottish Mum Blog is not responsible for your prize and cannot be held liable in any way for non delivery or non receipt at your end.
– Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, a new winner will be drawn.
– The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
– Scottish Mum Blog reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
– Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
– You may tweet daily. Each tweet counts as a rafflecopter entry, only if you enter it into the rafflecopter widget daily.
Mothers Day With McCains Special Roast Potatoes
Mothers Day food yesterday was courtesy of McCains to try their new roasties.
The NEW Special Roast Potatoes are made from the very best King Edward potatoes cut into generous chunks and basted in sumptuous beef dripping. They are really really good. I put on both bags and by the end of mealtime, there were none left at all. That’s always a good sign.
McCains sent along lots of lovely ingredients to go along with the roast potatoes, and we had carrots, sage and onion stuffing, chicken, green beans, broccoli and cabbage.
The broccoli and cabbage is in the fridge for another day, as there was too much for one meal, even if there were 6 of us eating.
There was a Knorr Flavour Pot in Mixed Herbs which we’ve also not tried before, and as I like my vegetables roasted, I use roasting bags to keep them moist and not get burned. I used two separate bags, one for the green beans and one for the carrots. In them, I halved the flavour pot and added a few tablespoons of water before shaking the mix around to coat the vegetables.
The chicken went into the oven first (also in roasting bags) and just over half an hour from the end, I popped the roast potatoes in a tray covered in tin foil to start cooking. The vegetables were last to go in, with 20 minutes cooking time at the end.
Silent Sunday – 30th March 2014
Happy Mothers Day: Sunday 30th March 2014
I used to think of Mothers Day being a little like Christmas for Mums. Now I’ve grown up, I appreciate every little thing that anyone does for me on any day, and hope I will be pampered just a little bit on that one day a year we are meant to get a break. It doesn’t always happen, and I have been known to buy my gift and get it wrapped so that the kids can give me something I really want.
So, what is Mothering Sunday really?
Mothering Sunday is when children usually give a gift to their parents, even if it is just breakfast in bed, or a big hug to say they appreciate them.
Mothers Day is usually the fourth Sunday of Lent and means it can end up on different days each year.
Traditionally, it was known as the day during Lent, where fasting rules begin to relax. Like so many other holidays, it’s said to be inspired by stories in the bible.
Historians believe Mothering Sunday came about from the 16th Century habits of visiting a mother yearly, where young women in service and apprentices were allowed to go and visit their parents for that weekend.
In our modern world, it is more used as a means to honour our mothers and showing our appreciation for them by buying gifts, or spending time with them.
More formally known as Mothering Sunday, it’s held on the forth Sunday of Lent. We can work it out to three weeks before Easter Sunday and is usually around the end of March or the beginning of April.
The modern version of mothers day is no longer basked in religious connotations. It’s a celebration of motherhood that is revered by families UK and world wide. People all over our little country visit their mothers and bring gifts and food to their mothers and their grandmothers.
HOW TO CELEBRATE
As it is a day to honour the women in our lives that have given up so much to be our mentors and guides, we should try to make a special effort to show our appreciation, love and affection for our maternal relatives. The women can be our mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, foster mothers, adoptive mothers, mothers in law and many more.
An important part of mothers day is not the gift, but the time we spend with our treasured relatives. If people can afford it, they usually take their mother figures flowers, chocolates and gifts, before whisking them off for a meal to celebrate the occasion. Those who cannot visit their nearest and dearest tend to send gifts and cards to remember them by.
Be sure to book early if you are going out for a meal, as places can be hard to come by at short notice.
Kids, if you’re listening, hint hint, I’d quite like not to cook this year.
Mothers Day With Maw Broon’s
We received a lovely parcel from the Maw Broon’s Home & Kitchen Range. The first thing we saw when we opened the wrapping was a lovely large jute bag that will come in handy.
We’re just bag fans here and some new ones are badly needed. We use them when we go to the beach, for dog bowl carrying & for picnic stuff when we go on holidays.
Ours are rarely used for the purpose of actual shopping, but maybe we’ll need to change that if we head off to the continent with our Maw Broon’s bag on hand.
Most people seem to like us Scots when we’re abroad for some reason, and they do like to copy the accent, or try to at least.
With Mothers Day on the horizon, buying anything for my own mother is almost impossible as she never wants anything. I think I’ve mentioned how frustrating I find that in blog posts before.
There are lots of goodies in here that I just know she’s going to like. The Fudge and the Caramel Shortcake are likely to be the most popular items from the bag, and as I already have the Cooking with Bairns book, it’ll be squirreled away for a Xmas present when the time of year comes around.
I don’t think I’ll be able to keep hold of the Caramel Shortcake though. As soon as the kids come home from school, it will be snapped up pronto.
Tea is always a welcome addition to our house so the lovely teacosy is ideal and I suspect the box of teabags will be in Scottish bellies very soon.
Maw Broon, along with Oor Wullie was part of our childhood up here. The annuals were a yearly Christmas present for everyone I knew growing up, and I do the same for my boys.
It’s lovely to see Maw Broon come out of her shell. Wonder where Maggie and Daphne are?
Getting Organised: How to Get to School on Time
Sponsored Guest Post
For many parents, the weekday mornings are an absolute nightmare. Most days, being able to get to school on time is nothing short of a miracle, especially when there’s more than one child to worry about.
Some parents may look at the laidback ones wondering ‘how do they do it?’ while others will be so stressed out by the whole ordeal that they need a couple of hours each day to get over it (in their dreams!).
The key to getting to school on time, and stress-free, is organisation. If you’re organised, very little can go wrong. Your kids will be out the door on time, and you’ll feel a lot less hassled than if you hadn’t planned things in advance.
Here are some great ways of making sure that you’re organised, so that your family can get into some good habits and make the school run as painless as possible.
- Get the school uniform ready the night before. From the t shirt, jumper and pinafore right down to the socks and underwear, if it’s all laid out and ready to go, getting ready in the morning will be a doddle. Choose crease-free school uniform from George and you won’t have to worry about ironing it, either.
- Prep packed lunches the night before, too. Better still, opt for school dinners if that’s an option!
- Put everything in the car that can be put in there before you go to bed. Book bags and PE kits won’t be needed in the morning, and if they’re already in the car, they can’t be forgotten!
- Keep a timetable on the kitchen wall so that you know what after school club or class the kids have on what days. If there’s specific kit they need, such as their football boots or their swimming kit, you will be able to ensure this is ready and won’t be left at home.
- If you have paperwork to fill in, do it the night before (or as soon as you get it). Make sure it’s back in their bag, ready to go.
- Keep the TV off until the kids are completely ready for school and make sure they understand that, sometimes, they will have to leave before the end of the programme. Bribe them with the option of recording it – the joys of Sky+!
- Make sure that you’re completely ready before getting the kids up. Don’t worry about looking amazing either; not unless you have to run straight off to work. You can always sort yourself out when you get back home.
- Avoid open-ended questions if you can help it. Rather than asking what they want for breakfast and being met with a sea of options, give them an either/or. The same applies for how they want their hair, what to wear, etc.
Getting through the school gates on time isn’t easy, but it’s completely doable by applying a little bit of forward thinking and planning.
Get super-organised, get up and get gone for a stress-free start to the day.
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Quick, creamy, and packed with zing this is my kind of lunch Thanks for the easy, nourishing recipe, Scottish Mum.