Recipe binder: pizza

Over the last year or so we've slowly scaled back our pizza night from take away to shop bought, to pizza base and just added stuff (so half home made) to completely home made. A friend lent me Lorraine Pascale's cook book and I came across this pizza base recipe and decided to give it a go after hubby kept asking for stuffed crust pizzas. It's actually really simple and yummier than anything from a shop.

What you need;

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fast acting yeast powder
• 125-140ml warm water
• 30ml olive oil

What do to;

• Mix the flour and yeast powder together in a bowl, make a well in the middle
• Mix with olive oil and warm water together
• Pour into the well
• Mix together until you have a soft - but not sticky - dough
• Knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface (or 5 mins in an electronic kneading)
• Gather into a ball
• Roll out on a lightly floured baking tray
• Add tomato purée and cheese and other toppings
• Roll the edges over and press them down if you're doing a stuffed crust
• Cook for 15 minutes, gas mark 7

Ideas for toppings;

• Meaty - sausage, bacon/turkey bacon, ham, chorizo, chicken pieces, meatballs
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Sweetcorn
• Peppers
• Courgette
• Aubergine
• Seasoning - BBQ, chorizo

What are your favourite pizza toppings? And are you a stuffed crust or flat base fan?

Recipe Binder: Quiche

This summer I have absolutely been loving quiche as a quick, light meal option. When Bubbah was little my mum taught me how to make one from scratch and since then I can't stand shop bought ones. Hubby is also a massive fan of my quiche and will quite often request one. You can have a variety of fillings once you've made up the base, which also makes this a brilliant versatile recipe. This recipe makes one quiche which can be cut into four big portions or eight smaller ones.

You will need

• 250g plain flour
• 125g butter
• 300ml single cream
• 3 eggs
• filling of choice
• cheese

What to do

• Rub together the flour and butter in a bowl until it is like breadcrumbs
• Either roll out or (if you're a bit of a quick cook like me) press into flan dish
• Poke with a fork (or the pastry can go a bit soggy in the oven)
• Mix together the cream and eggs, season with pepper if you like
• Layer your filling on the pastry
• Pour the cream and egg mix on top
• Cover with grated cheese
• Cook for 25-30 mins on gas mark 6

Filling ideas

• Bacon
• Tomatoes
• Mushrooms
• Spinach
• Sweetcorn
• Chorizo

One of my favourite things about this recipe is that you can freeze whatever you don't eat. Frozen quiche slices take about four minutes at most to heat through in the microwave, or slightly longer 15/20 minutes in the oven. Quite often I make myself quiche Lorraine and Hubby has a veggie one. I serve up our dinner slices and freeze the rest for a quick dinner another night. Great served with new potatoes, potato salad, wedges, salad or coleslaw.

Meal Planning Monday; 26th August 2013

Happy bank holiday! I've had a lovely day today with my morning spent baby free food shopping and lunch with my mum followed by a nice family afternoon walk in the woods after Bubbah finally had his nap. While hubby is cocooned off with his dad watching football I'm curled up in the living room with some cloudy lemonade, hot chocolate (I couldn't choose!) and Benefits Britain 1949.

Quick side note; has anyone been watching Benefits Britain 1949? I've genuinely been fascinated, humbled and annoyed with every episode. I think Channel 4 has genuinely struck a decent balance between making a point and providing something interesting. Let me know what you think!

This week is a quiet week, getting things back to normal as school terms start and all the summer programmes Bubbah and I have been enjoying over the last few months finish up. A trip to the children's centre for one last play session and a library visit are in order, but otherwise a quiet week with lots of cooking/baking included.

A pretty basic meal plan this week as it's the week before pay day but yummy nonetheless...

• Monday - peppercorn kievs with cheesy potato and bacon bake (all from the reduces/whoopsie aisle when I went shopping this morning) and cauliflower. Also found some choux buns in said aisle so we had those as a treat.
• Tuesday - I'm out all day so hubby will be having curry from a batch I made last week (recipe to follow) and I'll have tuna pasta bake when I get back
• Wednesday - I'm out again so hubby will have veggie fingers with sweet potato wedges
• Thursday - I'll be making quiche Lorraine for me and Bubbah and tomato and mushroom quiche for hubby which I'll serve with sweet potato wedges
• Friday - a friend lent me one of Lorraine Pascale's books and I've been making stuffed crust pizzas using the pizza base recipe in it with a meaty one for me and a veg loaded one for hubby.
• Saturday - lasagne
• Sunday - toad in the hole with roasties, veg and stuffing.

And that's our week. For more meal plan inspiration head on over to Mrs M.

Unexpected hiatus; my return

Oops, naughty me for disappearing for so long! I can honestly say there's no reason other than being busy with life/summer! Bubbah and I have been taking great advantage of the gorgeous weather and spending as much time as possible out and about.

 Things have been a bit more difficult recently so we've had to do some belt tightening. Thankfully our children's centre has had a lovely summer programme of free play sessions which Bubbah has loved as it meant he's been able to squidge his hands in paint and smear it all over the paper, which was a new experience for him!

 Belt tightening has meant I've made a few new found friends in charity shops and bargain shops (think home bargains, b&m bargains etc) resulting in me being super organised and having all of Bubbah's Christmas and birthday presents, as well as all of my nieces and nephew's Christmas presents, my nephew's birthday present and numerous friend/family Christmas presents sorted. My little present stash area is overflowing but I feel a lot less stressed knowing most of it is sorted.

 It's been lovely thinking back to last summer and just how much Bubbah has changed. He's now walking, talking (loads) and making animal noises to his hearts content. He's also developed a kissy face which looks like he's sucking a lemon and that is what I'm greeted with every morning when he wakes up - any time from half 5 to half 7 - and I go in to his bedroom.

I've got myself more organised (for once) so I should be on here more often and plan to be joining in with Mrs M's meal planning Monday's once more. I've also got a few new recipes up my sleeve so keep your eyes peeled!