If we go out for a meal and I see creamy garlic mushrooms on the starter menu then that is definitely what I will be ordering. Served with a freshly baked baguette…. oh YUM!
If you are like me and also a huge lover of the creamy garlic mushrooms then you’re going to love this recipe!
Ingredients:
250g mushrooms – I used chestnut mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
200ml double cream
2 shallots finely chopped
1 large garlic glove minced
100ml chicken stock
30g grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
salt & pepper to season
Method:
Chop the onion, mince the garlic and slice the mushrooms.
Melt the butter in a pan on a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pan. Stir through the pan until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms to the butter/onion mixture.
Fry the mushrooms until golden brown. Add the chicken stock and keep stirring.
Pour in the cream and add the parsley. Stir and add the grated parmesan cheese to the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Reduce the heat. Let the mushrooms simmer in the pan until the parmesan cheese is melted and bubbly. This will take approx 3 minutes.
Serve and enjoy! We served ours with part baked baguettes which were perfect to soak up that delicious sauce!
If you try this recipe, I would love to know what you thought! Please share your makes on Instagram and tag me @notsofarmerswife as I would love to see them!
Pancake day, a day that basically revolves around food, now, that is MY kind of day!
Declaration: This blog does include affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the links & make a purchase. I do only share product that I love myself.
Traditionally, pancake day is the feast day before the start of lent on Ash Wednesday….. and a feast is just what we did!
I am a huge lover of a creative platter/graze board, whether it be a cheese board, meat board or any other graze board there is out there….. well, now I introduce you to the pancake graze board platter, filled with 37 pancakes with 6 different flavours, heart cut shaped strawberries, crispy bacon, raspberries, blueberries and chocolate dipped strawberries. Well, they didn’t dedicate this feast day for it to be wasted did they, I can’t let the side down.
Considering the pancake platter was just for two people, I don’t think we did a bad effort of finishing it off, do you? Only 5 pancakes left out of 37 between two people? No wonder we could barely move after! I saved the 5 left over pancakes for breakfast the next morning, so nothing got wasted, which is always what I like to see!
When I said to Ben that I wanted to make the American style pancakes this year he wasn’t best pleased. He is a bit of a traditionist (or stuck in his own ways) and likes to have the crepe style pancakes with the usual maple syrup etc. I knew I was going to have to up my game with the American pancakes to keep him happy!
Considering he ate approximately 17 pancakes, I don’t think he was that disappointed, do you? We have come to an agreement that we will have American pancakes one year then crepe pancakes the following year. That seems like a fair deal to me!
American Pancake Recipe:
125g Plain Flour
2 TBSP Caster Sugar
2 TSP Baking Powder
1 TSP Salt
1 Egg
235ml Milk
1 TBSP Veg Oil
Top tip – make your pancake batter in advance. The resting period for your batter allows the gluten in the flour to relax and the starch grains to swell. This means that when you add your batter to your pan, your pancakes are more likely to come out light and fluffy! If you are short on time, try to allow 20 minutes for the mixture to rest before frying.
However, with me upping my game this year, I doubled the recipe so we had enough mixture for a few varieties of pancakes so the actual recipe I used for 37 pancakes was:
250g Plain Flour
4 TBSP Caster Sugar
4 TSP Baking Powder
2 TSP Salt
2 Eggs
470ml Milk
2 TBSP Veg Oil
Method:
1) In a large, non stick frying pan, add a few sprays of fry light or butter, over a medium heat. If you are using butter, make sure butter is melted before adding the batter mixture to the pan.
2) Using a ladle, add small circles of the pancake batter to the pan, approx. 8cm wide – making sure they are far enough apart so the batter is not touching and remember that the batter will spread during cooking.
3) Cook the pancakes on the first side for approx. 1-2 minute on the medium heat, or until you see tiny bubbles start to appear and pop on the surface.
4) If you are wanting to add some extra flavour to your pancake, then this is the time.
The pancakes flavours I made were:
Plain – Served with crispy bacon
Raspberry and white choc chip
White choc chip
Brown choc chip
Blueberry
Raspberry
For example, if you are wanting to add blueberries to your pancakes, add your desired amount of berries to the batter before flipping to cook the 2nd side. To our pancakes, I added 5 blueberries to each pancake!
5) Once your toppings have been added to the batter mixture, flip them over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
6) Repeat the process until the batter is used up.
But how do you keep them warm before serving?
In our frying pan, which is a fairly decent sized frying pan, I could only fit 4 pancakes at a time and the last thing you want to serve is cold pancakes!
After I had finished grilling our crispy bacon, I changed the oven setting to fan at 50 degrees and popped the pancakes in there until I had finished making all of the pancakes. This temperature works perfectly for me as I find it keeps the pancakes nice and warm but does not over cook the pancakes.
Served with……..
When Ben seen the pancake platter, he was a little unsure on the mixture of sweet and savoury – but that’s how the Americans do it, isn’t it? As well as fruit in the pancakes, I also sprinkled some raspberries, blueberries and strawberries on the board….. along with moreish chocolate dipped strawberries – YUM! I did a little research on American pancakes and it appeared that crispy bacon and maple syrup is a must, so on top of the plain pancakes I stacked the grilled crispy bacon. I also made sure there was a selection of sauces available too, so we had a variety of the Sweet Freedom to hand at the table. If you haven’t tried their sauces, you need to, they are delicious. Consider Ben was unsure on the sweet/savoury mixture, I didn’t see him complaining once he tucked in!
I may not be able to wait two years before we have this platter again. Can we make pancake day once a month? or week?
I am a huge fan of a fake away. They are cheaper, healthier and surprisingly don’t take that long to do, specially this recipe…… and very tasty! This recipe was a huge hit in our house, Ben loved it.
We served our fake away KFC chicken with a side salad, a serving of chips and a great big pot of the southern style gravy mix I bought from B&M.
It is priced at £1.00 in B&M for the box, which makes 1.6LTR of gravy!
Bargain and delicious!
The ingredients you will need for the chicken:
200g Golden Bread Crumbs
1 TSP Oregano
1 TSP Basil
1 TSP Paprika
1 TSP Garlic Granules
1 TSP Chilli Powder
1 TSP Thyme
Salt & Pepper
x2 Eggs
x8 Chicken Thighs (this recipe will be delicious with any type of chicken if you do not have thighs).
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once you have all of your ingredients together and your oven is warming up you’re ready to get started!
Step 1: Start by mixing together the bread crumbs with all of the spices.
Until you have a mixture like this.
Step 2: Crack two eggs into a bowl & beat together.
Step 3: You are now ready to dip the chicken thighs into the eggs, making sure they are completely coated and then transfer over to the spice bread crumb mixture, again, making sure the chicken thighs are completely coated in the delicious crumbs! Repeat this process until all of your chicken thighs are covered.
Step 4: At this point, your oven should of reached temprature (unless you’re a quick mover!) and your chicken is ready to go.
Cook the chicken for approx 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.
And it is as simple as that.
A delicious and easy fake away KFC!
Quick and easy meals are my favourite, and this one will not disappoint your taste buds or your busy schedule.
Declaration:
This blog does include affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the links & make a purchase.
Ingredients:
One onion
One pepper
One chilli (do not include this if spice isn’t for you)
One tsp Garlic granules
Salt & pepper
One tsp Ground ginger
Rice (I use packet rice, but any cooked rice is fine)
Peas
Two eggs
Soy sauce
Method:
Step one:
With a splash of oil in a frying pan. (I have used garlic infused oil for a little extra flavour!) fry your onion, chilli & pepper until they become slightly soft.
Step two: Season the ingredients in the frying pan with salt, pepper, garlic granules and ground ginger and mix.
Step three:
Add rice to the frying pan. As I previously mentioned, I use packet rice, simply because I can not master the skill of cooking rice. However, if you have mastered this skill, then use approx 250g of cooked rice and mix together.
Step four:
Once you have mixed in the rice, add a good handful of peas and mix together.
Step five: Once you have mixed together the rice and peas with the other ingredients, push the contents of the frying pan to one side of the pan to make space for your eggs.
Add two eggs to the frying pan, pop the yolk and scramble the eggs. Once the scrambled egg mixture is cooked, stir in with the other ingredients in the pan, making sure the egg is completely separated and mixed in well.
Step six: When everything is mixed together, it is now time to add the soy sauce.
Add a generous amount to the frying pan and mix well.
Serve and enjoy!
We have served ours with marinaded pork, topped with finely sliced spring onion. Occasionally, we do serve this dish with a meat like chicken, beef or prawns. If you would like to serve your egg fried rice with a meat then I would include this in my first step with the onion, pepper and chilli.
Once you have all of your ingredients together and your oven is warming up you’re ready to get started!
With a splash of oil in a 
Once the scrambled egg mixture is cooked, stir in with the other ingredients in the pan, making sure the egg is completely separated and mixed in well.
STEPHANIE 