Rainbow Cake

Rainbow Cake

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Vegetable crisps - guilt free

Mixed Beetroot Crisps

These are so good. I made a batch intending to share them with husband when he got home. They didn't last untill evening I'm afraid.
 
 
I had been given a variety of coloured of beets by my mother in law, a dedicated gardener, that then sat in the bottom of my fridge getting wrinkly. Any root veg would work though; potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots. It makes great use of any odd spare veg.
 
I peeled them and sliced them thinly using my mandoline, managing not to lose any digits. Patted them dry, and sprinkled with salt, then laid them on a plate (NOT touching!) and microwaved for 3 mins full power, turn them over then a further 3 half power. Remove the crispy ones, and keep zapping for 30 sec intervals untill they're all done. Allow to cool, then either gobble them all up and deny their existence, or keep them to share.
 
Incidentally I first used some of that bake o glide as a liner, thinking myself v clever, but one of them actually caught fire. Bad idea.
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, 10 September 2013

Welcome to my blog.

I love cooking, and pre children would lavish time and love on intricate dishes. But then I had children, and a husband,  all of whom eat a lot, three times a day, every day. I started to hate cooking. Having to cook over twenty different meals a week for, occasionally, extremely ungrateful recipients,  was starting to feel like drudgery. I was beginning to go down the 'pasta with a different jar of sauce every night' route, when I looked upon that black box that took up so much counter space in my crappy little kitchen and wondered if indeed it could do more than reheat coffee and nuke frozen stuff.
I discovered it could, in fact it could quarter the time I spent in the kitchen, halve the amount of washing up, and also do away the syndrome of "cremated dinner" that seems to happen so often when you are distracted by small children. Nothing like a carefully made risotto burnt black in the pan to make you weep and reach for the baked beans. Again.

I also found that meals cooked in the microwave are much, much healthier. You can't really use fat in the microwave, so it is naturally lower fat, and because it cooks so much more quickly, preserves far more nutrients and colour in say, vegetables, than steaming for example.

I don't say that I exclusively use the microwave, that would be as ridiculous as only cooking with kettle, and some things are just better in the oven, cake for example, or grilled bacon. But it can, used to its potential,  make your life so so much easier! And reduce your bottom. Can't beat that really, can you?!