My Auntie Ann always maintains the key to a great Yorkshire Pudding is beating the eggs in last. That’s it. No other method, just get the air into the mixture by beating the eggs in last. Well, she is a Yorkshire lass, and my Yorkshires have never failed using this method.

Click the link below to watch my video and see the result! Do your Yorkshire Puddings rise like mine do?

Click here to view ‘Kitchen Blogging Yorkshire Puddings‘

Please sample some of our Recipes Free Of Charge, Click on the images below to Display, Download and Save or Print:

February 21—Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday/PancakeDay

Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fastnacht (German for “eve of fast”) and Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”), is the last day before Lent begins in the Christian calendar.  The pancakes eaten are very thin and made from flour, eggs and milk.  Various toppings can be eaten with them.

In the Cajun country of Louisiana, a rich chicken gumbo served over rice is the traditional Mardi Gras feast.  For the Pennsylvania Dutch, Shrove Tuesday means Fastnacht kuche, a special, deep-fried doughnut baked and eaten only on this day.  A similar deep-fried cake called Oliebollen is eaten in Holland, and jelly-filled buns called Paczki are made in Poland.

Maybe the best-known Shrove Tuesday food is pancakes, traditionally fried to use up all of the cooking fats which are forbidden during Lent.

My favourite topping on pancakes is freshly squeezed lemon juice and sugar.  What’s yours?

I have a few utensils in my kitchen that I use all the time, and others not so often.  But my favourite utensil I own is my stainless steel rings.

I use these rings for many different jobs.  I use them to make circular dishes, for example individual cheesecakes.  I also use these as cutters as they are a perfect size for biscuits or roundalls in pastry.  And I can use them to keep an egg separate in the frying pan.

They are so versatile that I use them often and I really love them.

So what is your favourite kitchen utensil?

My good friend, Barry Wells, has just launched a Video Challenge to inspire bloggers to create video posts on their blogs.

Everyone is welcome to join in with this challenge and I fully intend to create 4 videos, one for each week of the challenge, that reflect the topic of this blog.  My intention is to create four cookery videos where I will show you how to make four simple but tasty dishes.

For each video I will give you a break down of the costs of the ingredients so you can work them into your weekly budget if you decide to try the dishes out at home.

If there is anything you would like me to cover, or something you want to ask about that I can base any future videos or posts on, please leave a comment below and I will reply to your requests.

And if you want to join in the Video Challenge just click any of the highlighted links in this post and pop over to Barry’s Blog and let him know you’ll be joining in.  He is aiming for 100 participants and is already well under way at achieving that figure!

I look forward to seeing your vidoes!

Making your table attractive can turn an ordinary dinner time into a special occasion.  It will encourage your family to want to sit at the table to eat.  This improves family interaction and can help younger children to recognise meal times as an important part of family life, and encourage them to eat better.

A great way to make your table decorations look a little different is to place a plain tablecloth on the table first, then put a smaller cloth in a contrasting colour, or with a pattern on it, over the top, creating a diamond shape.

When choosing napkins try to get them colour co-ordinated for that extra special feel.

A white damask cloth with a smaller gingham check over the top, with dark green linen napkins

Growing your own vegetables has numerous benefits for you and your family.  The biggest benefit is the difference in nutrition you will get from freshly picked produce.  Shop bought fruit and vegetables have often travelled long distances and been stored in coolers for several days before it arrives on your dinner table, thus reducing the nutritional benefits.

Growing your own will also reduce your weekly food bills.  Instead of paying out over the counter each week, you can meet your needs by picking items fresh from your kitchen garden.

Kitchen gardens are easy to start.  You may think you can’t achieve one because you have a patio area with no beds to plant in.  All you need instead are large pots or containers.  These are particularly useful if you have limited mobility as there is less need to bend to low levels as you can place the pots on benches or tables for better access.

If you have a small garden you might want to think about taking on an allotment, or maybe asking a neighbour for an area in their garden in return for a share of the produce.  Many people don’t use all of their garden effectively and would welcome the opportunity to have someone to keep it for them.

Just think how nice it will be to go out and pick something you have grown with your own hands, cook it, and present it to your family.

Although we could list seasonal food selections by month it is more beneficial to a global readership to list the options by season.

Traditionally winter produce contains many of the staple root vegetables: winter potatoes, swede, carrots, parsnips, turnips, leeks, all are in plentiful supply during the winter months. In addition to these root vegetables are cabbages, cauliflowers, brussel sprouts, and a variety of squash, all adding variety to our winter vegetable options.

By the time spring comes around we are looking for the first crops of asparagus, artichoke, rocket, beets, a variety of greens, spinach, peas, the first lettuce, chard, and leeks.

As everyone knows through summer we get plenty of salad produce, bell and sweet peppers, eggplant, green beans, new potatoes and zucchini, amongst other produce.

And so to autumn, often when the last of the summer produce is running out, but autumn brings its own delights with pumpkins coming into season, the first of the green vegetables are available, kale, broccoli, sprouts, cabbage and the like, shelling beans, chicory and celery.

Although this is a short list any of these items can be grown in your own kitchen garden and harvested at the appropriate time to reduce your weekly food bills.

One great advantage of cooking your own meals instead of buying ready prepared food is that you can control what ingredients are used.

If you are health conscious or trying to control your weight it pays to create menus and cook the food yourself, using fresh ingredients and low fat options.

Typically, processed or ready made meals will contain ingredients that you may not want to include in your diet. Also a wide variety of additives are used in processed foods. These have been known to have detrimental effects on the health of some people.

In order to create more flavour in their meals processed food manufacturers often add far greater amounts of sugar, salt and fat than you would use when preparing the same dish at home.

Preparing your own food at home gives you total control over what you eat, giving your body a better chance of greater health.

In times of economic hardship people look for different ways to reduce their regular outgoings.

One sure way to reduce your weekly bills is to prepare fresh food for your family, instead of buying ready made meals and ingredients. If you are a savvy cook you will create meals from seasonal ingredients as these are always lower cost than imported, out of season produce.

Equally important are the nutritional advantages of preparing meals from fresh ingredients. Freshly picked products contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals than items that have travelled long distances and been stored in containers for long periods of time before being sold. Sometimes supermarket fresh produce is older than it appears so a good place to buy your fruit and vegetables are Local Farmers Markets. All the fresh produce at these markets will have been picked locally and recently so there are no long periods in cold stores or significant ‘food miles’ involved before you buy your items.

Find out where your local farmers markets are and pay them a visit to see what they have on offer.  It’s a great way to check to see which products are readily available season by season.