baking

I made this bun loaf. It’s delicious served in slices with butter.

Here’s the bun loaf recipe: It was one from my Mum’s sister, Auntie Millie.

Ingredients

375g flour

250g sugar

170g mixed dried fruit

1 egg

A little milk

½x5ml teaspoon mixed spice

2x20ml tablespoons marmalade

Method

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and creamy.

Add the egg and beat well.

Fold in the flour and then add the other ingredients.

Put into a well-greased loaf tin and bake at 180C for about 1½ hours.

And now for a rock cake recipe. This was from Auntie Millie’s friend, whom I called Auntie Wyn. (In those distant days, any adult was either Mr or Mrs , or Auntie or Uncle if they were friends of the family. Children calling adults by their first names was not done.)

Ingredients

250g SR flour

125g caster sugar

125g margarine

1 egg

Dried fruit to taste.

Method

Rub margarine into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. (Or use a mixer.)

Add sugar and dried fruit and mix well in.

Add the eggs. This is a very stiff mixture.

Break into pieces and bake on a baking tray at 180 o C for about 10 minutes.

They are delicious straight from the oven. Well. I suggest letting them cool a bit first!

You can find more of my family’s recipes for only 0.99 (£ or $) from today until March 6th in Viv’s Family Recipes.

This little book is not only a recipe book, but gives insight into how different things were in food preparation and cooking in the past. Some of the recipes date back to 1909, from my Grandmother. Many of these old recipes contain a lot of fat, and require long cooking.

I love to hear from you. Please add your comments into the comments box.

To join my newsletter, and find out more about me and my writing, click on this link. I promise I won’t spam you. I only send a letter 4 times a year, with the occasional one in between to tell you of new releases and stuff like that.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Food Column – Carol Taylor – A – Z of Food – ‘J’ for Jelly Beans, Jalapenos, Jack Fruit and Jerky all with a little Jus

Some interesting foods and recipes courtesy of Sally Cronin and Carol Taylor

Stuck for a present for someone you love?

What about a copy of Viv’s Family Recipes?

An excellent stocking filler for the cook in your life.

The recipes in this book date from the beginning of the 20th Century and cover the time up until the present day.

The very old ones come from a little book that Viv’s Grandmother had, in which she jotted down some recipes and her accounts, and dated them as 1909. Other recipes are from recipe books that belonged to Viv’s mother and aunt, many of which are mid 20th Century. It gives an interesting picture of how the foods we eat have changed over a century.

But this is not only a recipe book. Viv has put in comments that she remembers about the various people who supplied the recipes. There are also hints and tips about cleaning from early times as well as some of her grandmother’s old-fashioned ways of getting rid of coughs and colds.

Why not buy a copy for your favourite cook? They will be delighted with the historical information, and maybe wish to try out some of the old recipes that we no longer cook.

To buy, click here and the link will take you to Amazon where you are. Or click on the book cover in the side bar.

I would love to hear from you, especially if you choose to give the book as a present. Let me know how your loved one liked it. Or better still, post a review on Amazon.

Viv’s Family Recipes

Many years ago, I came by a small book that had belonged to my grandmother. In it were some recipes, and at the back, some of her accounts.

Then some years later, when I married, my mother gave me an exercise book in which she had written some of her recipes.

When her eldest sister died, who had no children, I acquired her recipe book.

My grandmother’s book had accounts dated 1909, many of my aunt’s would have been thirties and forties, and I suspect many of those my mother wrote down for me would have been fifties and sixties.

Added to recipes that I had acquired from friends, I thought this would make an interesting read for anyone interested in cooking, especially the kind of things our ancestors cooked.

I put together a book of these recipes that I called Viv’s Family Recipes. I added a few comments about the people who gave them as well, and in my Aunt’s book were some hints and tips for cleaning, which I added alongside some cures for ailments I remember from my Grandmother.

Viv’s Family Recipes is now on offer for the meagre price of $0.99, £0.99 until Thursday 21st November, so Hurry and get your copy. On Friday it will be back to its normal price.

Click here or on the cover in the side bar to take you to Amazon where you are.

Thank you for reading. If you would like to reblog this, I would be most grateful.

Historical Recipes FREE.

Do you enjoy cooking? Do you like history? Well, you will enjoy Viv’s Family Recipes.

This little book is a collection of recipes from the author’s family, collected over the 20th century from 1909 to the end. It gives an insight into how we ate and cooked throughout the last century, as well as a few comments about the people whom she got the recipes from.

The book  also contains a few hints and tips from long ago about cleaning, as well as cures for coughs and colds.

From today, 5th February, until 20th Feb, Viv’s Family Recipes is FREE on Amazon.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get this interesting book absolutely free. Just click on the book cover.

if you buy this book, please leave a review on Amazon. Reviews are important to authors. That’s the way most of us get our books in the public eye.

Thank you for reading, and if you have, for buying this book. Leave a comment in the box. I’d love to hear from you.

How to Joint a Chicken

1. Use a fresh chicken that has not been frozen if you want to freeze the joints.
2. Remove the string that is trussing the chicken, if there is any.

3. Remove any feathers that have been left on the bird.
4. Cut off the end of the wings. They have very little, if any, meat, and so are going to be removed after cooking, anyway.

5. Remove the legs. To do this, cut the skin , then bend the leg backwards. This breaks the joint allowing you to see where to cut.

6. If you want, you can separate the thighs from the drumsticks. this depends on preference, or the size of the chicken. With a small chicken, you might want to leave them whole

7. Remove the wings, taking some of the breast with it. To locate the joint, use your finger. It’s easier to find with some of the breast there Wings have very little meat on them. and this makes them a bit more substantial.

8. To remove the breast, feel for the breastbone with your finger, then, with a sharp, pointed knife, cut straight down until you meet the main carcass.

9. Then, using the point of your knife, gently loosen the meat from the carcass, keeping as close to the bones as possible.

 

10. Do the same on the other side.
11. Don’t throw away the carcass. There is still quite a lot of meat on it if you search. I cut as much off as I can, then freeze the bits. The next chicken I joint, I add the bits to the bag. Remember to date the first lot, though, so you know when to eat them by. You can use these in stir fries.

 
12. Don’t forget to freeze all the joints immediately. Freeze the carcass as well and use it to make stock for casseroles, gravies and soup.

Here are the joints you will now have in front of you, including the carcass that I’ve cut in half for freezing/

 

To find out some recipes as to how to use these joints, why not buy Viv’s Family Recipes? Click on the picture on the side bar and you will be taken to Amazon in your own country or follow the link above.

I love hearing from you, so please add a comment.

Special offer

Don’t forget to get your copy of Viv’s Family Recipes at the special price of 0.99(£ or $). The offer ends today.

Click the book cover or this link. The link will take you to its page on Amazon. In your country.

http://mybook.to/FamilyRecipes

Book Offer

Starting tomorrow, 17th November, Viv’s Family Recipes will be on sale for only £0.99 or $0.99.  This offer will last only until 23rd November, so be quick and don’t miss it.

The recipes in this book are from Viv’s family and friends. It is not only a recipe book for today, but also gives insight into how people cooked and ate in years gone by. The recipes date from 1909 to the present day.

There are also little anecdotes telling of the people whom the book mentions.

 

Get your copy by clicking on this link.

http://mybook.to/FamilyRecipes.

A Recipe from Viv’s Family Recipes

I thought I’d do something different today. Instead of writing about writing, I decided to give you a recipe from the recipe book I published. Most of the recipes are family ones, some very old, dating back to 1909. You may not want to cook some of these as they are very high in fat and stodge, but are nonetheless interesting.

This recipe was one of my favourites that my grandmother used to cook. She used what she called ‘sweet herbs’. I’m not sure what they were, but substituting Herbes de Provence works well. I suspect the ‘sweet herbs’ were similar in composition.

Anyway, here’s the recipe.

 

Savoury Pancake filling
(Grandma’s recipe)

Ingredients

125g large open capped mushrooms

2 small onions

2 tomatoes

½ x1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence

Method

Fry the onion a little and add the mushrooms and tomatoes.

Continue cooking until all vegetables are done, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot on pancakes, rolled up.

 

This makes an interesting first course or light lunch.

 

You can buy this book by clicking on the cover in the sidebar.

Please leave a comment in the comments box.

 

 

Update on my writing

 

Well, yesterday I heard that Viv’s Family Recipes is now available in a paperback edition. You can buy it from Amazon. http://www.amazo.com/ http://amazon.co.uk/ or your local amazon site.

 

I sent the manuscript of Elemental Worlds off to the editor, so things are beginning to move on that one. I think it’s the best one yet. No ideas as to when it will be availabe though. I’ll keep you in touch. We need to agree a cover, too. As soon as we pick one, I’ll reveal it to you all for comments.

On February 10th you can get The Wolf Pack free from Creativia, and on February 14th, Viv’s Family Recipes is also free. Take advantage of these offers and many more from 1st to 14th February. You can see the books at Sahara Foley’s website. http://saharafoley.com/creativia-publishing-free-books-from-february-1st-thru-the-14th-2017-creativia/