Check me out...

I'm a veritable little housewife:

Bread

Ahhh, home made bread.
12 oz strong white flour
12 oz strong wholemeal flour
2 tbsp organic raw cane sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp natural yeast
3/4pt tepid water

Throw it in the mixer for 20 mins, bung it in a large Pullman bread pan (not one of those poxy little loaf tins that are really for cakes or tea breads, but a high 5 inch sided bread tin) and let it prove for an hour. Shove in the oven for 30 minutes at 175 deg C and BINGO! The above.

Fresh Vegetable Stock

What can an MSG free wifey do without OXO?? no Knorr to gnaw on. Sweet horror!
Not at all... lets just get old Mrs. Beeton's cookbook out from 1950 and see what we can come up with. Ahh haaaaaa!!! Brown foundation sauce!
The above vegetable stock was made thus:
1 Onion, sliced WITHOUT removing the skins
1 very large carrot - (of rupturing size)
3 sticks of celery
4 sprouts (had them in the fridge, might as well thunk I)
white pepper
2 tbsp salt
tsp of parsley
tsp of sage
tsp of marjoram
tsp of dill

Boil to death for about an hour and a half, or 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, strain, shove in bottle. The result = the above. The darkness depends on the onion peel. No peel, no colour. How funky is that? Its all coming back to me. I remember wrapping eggs with onion skins and they made a swirly brown pattern when they were cooked. The more onion skins, the darker the colour... so beef gravy (add dripping from joint only to this brew) will still be brown.

Home made Baked Beans in tomato sauce

Ok, not the most visually appealing of photos, and it does look EXACTLY like what you would pour out of a can, but these baked beans are the mutts nuts. I have honestly been missing out my entire life. I BEG you to try this recipe even if you HATE beans. BEGGING YOU!!!!!

Baked beans from a tin contain yukkies and sexy additives including MSG my arch enemy. These monkeys are completely free from ALL shite.

1 x 500g packet of canellinni beans
soak overnight and then cook in pressure cooker in plain water for 10 minutes. set aside.

for the tomato sauce:
7 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic (whole)
2 cans organic chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp salt
200mls of stock (above) or water

Heat oil and fry onions gently until golden and see through - 4 or 5 mins
Add garlic and fry for a further 4 or 5 mins.
Add the tins of tomatoes, bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 15 mins or so. Don't let it burn, keep an eye on it and stir a lot. Add the stock & salt and bring back to the boil.

Completely blitz this mixture to death in a liquidizer or with a hand blender until completely smooth and creamy. Add all the sauce to all the beans.

This makes the equivalent of 6 cans of baked beans, but if you had to buy them in a shop would be millionaire prices as they are TO DIE FOR! Then portion them into food bags - 400g in each (a cans worth) and freeze - that's if you haven't already eaten the whole batch already!!!

Today has been good. The hypno went well, and things are ok. Have screaming PMT and a bladder and kidney scan tomorrow which I am not looking forward to, so stress levels quite high, but am managing to stay MSG free, day 4 has come to a close and I am off to bub-byes.

Evening all.