I am a sucker for pancakes and especially when they are this simple to make and as easy as only three ingredients!
Ingredients:
One banana – mashed
30g oats
2 eggs whisked
If you would like to add a little extra flavour to your pancakes then add a pinch of cinnamon too… or even choc chips!
Method:
Add two whisked eggs to your mashed banana and then add the oats and combine together. If you do add cinnamon or choc chips also add them at this stage!
Heat a little bit of butter in a pan, on a medium heat. Add the pancake mixture and cook on each side on the medium head for approx 2 mins per side. Make sure the heat isn’t too high so they don’t burn. This mixture made me 4 pancakes.
I served mine with strawberries, raspberries and honey but be as adventurous as you wish with your toppings!
If you do try this recipe, please let me know what you think. Tag me on Instagram @notsofarmerswife as I would love to see yours!
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?
A tasty and easy meal that is ideal for a busy mid-week meal!
Ingredients you need:
-Spaghetti
-Red Pesto (Approx. 3-4 TBSP)
-x1 Purple Onion
-x1 Chilli (more or less depending on how you handle the spice!)
-x1 Bell Pepper
-x1 Garlic Clove
-Spinach
-Olive Oil
-Prawns
-Sun Dried Tomatoes
Step 1:
Add the spaghetti to a pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt to season and bring to boil. Cook for approx 8-10 minutes, or until it is cooked to your liking. Finely slice the onion, bell pepper, garlic & chilli. I did remove the seeds from the chilli for our dish, but this is personal preference, so if you like a little bit of spice, leave them in there!
In a large pan, add a drizzle of olive oil on a medium heat. I like to use the garlic or chilli flavoured oils. For this dish I did use the garlic flavoured olive oil, but if you don’t have that, then standard olive oil will work just fine.
Fry the onions, bell pepper, garlic & chilli until softened.
Step 2:
Add your desired amount of sundried tomatoes to the onion/pepper pan (I added around 10 sundried tomatoes to my dish), also add one TPS of the sun dried tomato oil to the pan.
When the ingredients in the pan are softened and the pasta is nearly cooked, add the spinach to the onion/peppers. Mix together until the spinach has wilted.
Once the spinach has wilted, add the prawns to the pan. Season with salt & pepper.
Today, I am using the Pesto Rosso jar, which I believe, I bought from Aldi.
There are some delicious recipes out there to make your own pesto sauce, but sometimes with busy lifestyles we just don’t have the time to be mixing and blitzing so this is the easier and quicker option for me during a busy week.
Step 3:
When the spaghetti pasta is cooked, drain but leave a small amount of the pasta water in there with the spaghetti.
Add 3-4 TBSP of red pesto sauce to the spaghetti and mix together.
Once the pesto is well mixed in with the spaghetti, add the spaghetti to the prawn pan and mix together.
Serve and enjoy!
I need to try this recipe with chorizo, I think that would be delicious!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this recipe if you try it.
Steph
x
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!
Standard chips will never be good enough now. These babies have taken my love for chips to a whole new level!
And they are so easy to do!
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:
Cooked chips
One green pepper – cut into bite size chunks
One red chilli – finely sliced
One onion – cut into bite size chunks
Olive oil (to fry) – I tend to either use garlic infused or chilli infused olive oil to add a touch of extra flavour.
Seasoning:
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1/2 tsp garlic granules
Sprinkle of salt & pepper
Mix seasoning ingredients and set aside for now.
The type of chips I use for the recipe depend on my schedule, if I am in a little bit of a rush or I want a super quick snack then I will use frozen chips as it is much easier to just chuck them in the oven rather than making homemade chips. Either way, frozen chips or homemade chips are equally as delicious with this recipe!
Method:
Heat oil in good sized frying pan and fry the onion, pepper and chilli for 3 minutes.
Add cooked chips to the frying pan. I like my chips to be fairly soft in this dish, so I add a extra splash of infused oil, but that is personal preference.
Sprinkle the seasoning ingredients over the chips, onion, pepper & chilli and mix together.
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.
What is a Sunday roast without a great big delicious Yorkshire pudding?
If I mention to Ben that we are having a roast, he always asks if Yorkshire puddings are involved. They are his favourite.
Growing up, I always remember my Nannas Yorkshire puddings. They always turned out huge. One time I remember her taking a photo of her successful Yorkshire puddings, printing the photo off and showing it off to everyone, she was so pleased with herself. Well, I’ve basically turned into my Nanna!
This recipe I am about to share with you never fails for me….. as long as you remember to leave the oven alone once you have put the Yorkshire pudding mixture into the oven. As tempting as it is, never, ever open that oven door unless you’re ready to take the puddings out of the oven. This is the key to ensure they rise and shine!
Ingredients:
x4 eggs
120g plain flour
200ml milk
Salt & pepper to season
Vegetable oil for cooking
Step one:
Mix together 200ml of milk with 4 eggs and whisk.
Step two:
Gradually add 120g of plain flour into the milk and egg mixture.
Add a little bit of flour at a time and mix together until you have a batter. I find if I add the flour gradually to the milk & egg mixture then I am less likely to get big lumps of flour and it is then easier to mix together.
Step 3:
Season the batter mixture with salt and pepper to your taste. I usually only add a little sprinkle of each to the batter.
Once you have done the above steps, you can then put this mixture to one side in the fridge and leave it until you are ready to cook your Yorkshire puddings. Just remember to give it another good whisk just before you pour this mixture into the Yorkshire pudding tray to make sure no lumps have formed while it has been sitting in the fridge.
Step 4:
Prepare your Yorkshire pudding tray.
I once got told never to wash my Yorkshire pudding tray, just to wipe it clean with some kitchen role when you’re finished with it. I have stuck to that rule ever since and I have never had the problem of a stuck Yorkshire pudding.
Add a drop of vegetable oil to the bottom of your Yorkshire pudding tray and place the tray into the preheated oven at 200 degrees to heat the oil.
I tend to put my oiled Yorkshire pudding tray into the oven around 15 minutes before I add the mixture to make sure the oil is at a very high temperature.
Step 5:
When you are confident that your oil is at a very high temperature, you are then ready to add the Yorkshire pudding mixture to the hot oil.
This is the time you need to get your skates on and be quick!
Very quickly but very carefully, remove the hot oiled Yorkshire pudding tray from the oven and add the Yorkshire pudding mixture as quick as you can.
If you move at speed then the hot oil tray doesn’t loose as much heat and you are more likely to succeed in well risen, unstuck Yorkshire puddings.
Place the Yorkshire puddings in the oven at 200 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes until they have puffed up and browned.
When you have removed the puddings from the oven serve immediately and enjoy!
Did you know – you can also freeze these Yorkshire puddings once they have cooled down after cooking for up to one month!
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 