I've been on a soup kick lately and have been more or less using the same 'techniques' with each soup but altering what I put in it. Basically, boiling or roasting some vegetables and then making a broth and blending the vegetables with the broth. Super easy, super cheap, super fun. Super. Anywho, my favorite so far has been with Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Squash (I'm vegan, sue me).

So, what ya do is get some posh veggies from your farmers market. They should be cheapish since they're in season. I make it with equal parts broccoli and cauliflower and 1 smaller sized squash per two heads of broccoli or cauliflower. Break up the broccoli and cauliflower pieces. Peel the squash and cut it up in pieces that are a bit smaller than the broccoli and cauliflower. Wash e'rythang. Season as you want (I just added salt, thyme, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and dill) and toss around in a large salad bowl. Throw um evenly spread out on a sheet pan and into the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the broccoli and cauliflower are kinda crispy but not burnt around the edges and the squash is tender.

While the veggies are roastin, make some broth. I like thick soups so I only used about 3/4 cups broth to maybe 4 cups of vegetables. For my broth I just used half of one of those veggie buellione cubes, 1/4 cup of white wine per 2 quarts water give or take, and an ear of corn (adds a bit of sweetness, beets work well too). When your kitchen smells like corn, yer broth's ready. Remove the corn, throw all your roasted veggies in the blender, add the broth a little at a time and puree until you've got the texture to your liking. Tada. The soup will look pale greenish yellow (not that appetizing but still delicious) and you're ready to go. Garnishing with some toasted cashews, sunflower seeds, and corn kernels will have it looking nicer. Pretty killer with a proper, thick, firm, slice of toasted sourdough or even rye bread. If you're a vegan or are looking for a tasty alternative to real butter, Earth Balance is the bee's knees.

Eggs are alright to eat past the best before date aren't they? Got some that ran out on the 20th & I hate wasting food.

That curry won't be happening btw. ASDA didn't have ghee ffs :D. So didn't buy the lamb & just bought everything that won't go off. Will make it next week hopefully.

I've noticed your food pics and ideas on here before and you've clearly got the best taste in food on the forum, I love lamb curry and it not always easy to get, so it's usually best made at home.

I wouldn't suggest using eggs that have passed their sell by date in theory, but the acid test for most food is the look and the smell, if they look and smell ok then you're probably going to be ok. As you probably know, use by dates are largely an idea just to get people to buy more, as people get concerned about dates and chuck before they've finished the product. Some foods the date is fairly accurate and others you can go well past it.

I didn't eat those eggs btw :D. Still in fridge :eek:. But I reckon they're OK only been 10 days. Going ASDA tomorrow will attempt to get the ghee for the curry again for this weekend. Next week I'm gonna make a massive pot of this, piss easy to make, cheap as chips and reviews are shit hot:

Lancashire hotpot | BBC Good Food

Perfect for this time of year imo.

Gonna try this one out for Monday Night Football (Bears vs Packers). Put it in the Crock before I leave for work, then have the place all smelled up, and dinner ready when I get home.

Whoever wrote this forgot about the noodles though. Probably assumed they're a given.

Had this for tea today.

Indian Spiced Potatoes/Bombay Potatoes

Preparation time: 25 mins

- Cube some potatoes & boil in salted water until they start to go soft (but not mushy)
- Fry some ghee in a big pot
- Add 2 chopped garlic cloves and half tsp of salt
- When the garlic has browned, add spices*
- When that's all mixed in and hot, add the potatoes
- Get them covered in this mixture
- Fry on high temperature so they go crispy (may need to add more ghee)

That's it. I can confirm it is absolutely delicious.

*Spices = 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp turmeric

I've started my Christmas baking! Will try and post some pics.

I made a poached quince with whiskey sauce and toasted almonds for myself tonight. I was feeling fancy, but it only cost me about 4$.

Never had quince, never heard of quince, but they were on sale at safeway for like 5/2$ and they smelled nice so I bought some. Had to learn the hard way that they are ****ING TERRIBLE EATEN RAW JESUS CHRIST IT WAS SO BAD.

Lesson learned, after some research I found that they take about a half hour (or until they turn red) of being poached before being palatable. Whoops.

Stuff (for one person):

1 quince
Peels from a small lemon and equal amount peels from an orange
1 small stick of cinnamon
A couple cloves, a bit of shredded ginger, allspice seeds
whiskey
brown sugar
a couple peeled and crushed almonds

What to do:

You peel the fruit, core the fruit, and cut it into 6ths. Put the spices in a cheesecloth or tea diffuser and when the water is boiling plop um in there with the cinnamon stick, orange and lemon peels. Reduce to a mild simmer and let it sit for a bit until you can really smell everything and then throw in your fruit. The more fragrant the fruit is the less sugar you'll need. Throw the sugar on top of the fruit, throw in an equal amount amount of whiskey over the sugar and let it simmer until it's tender. It may or may not turn a slight reddish color but if it's tender you're good to go.

Right, so plate your quince, remove the cheese cloth/diffusers/cinnamon sticks and bring your simmer up to a boil and reduce the liquid until you've got the consistency you want while heating up a pan for the almonds. When you've got the right consistency, throw your almonds in the pan with a little brown sugar and stir until gold brown. Throw um next to yer quince all pretty like and drizzle your delicious sauce all over it.

Baked "KFC" Chicken

Had this last night. The recipe I found didn't include how much chicken, so I used three good sized boneless skinless breasts and I omitted the salt, and it came out perfect. Actually better than KFC.

Ingredients:
3 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Season all
3/4 tsp Pepper
1 c Flour
2 tsp Paprika

Prep/Cooking:
1. Place thawed chicken breast tenderloin strips in a bowl of milk. Let soak for 20-30 min.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in pre-heated oven.

2. Spread melted butter around the bottom of the pan. Lightly spray the pan, if needed, to make sure that there are no dry spots.

3. Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix. You can either shake the chicken in the bag, until coated, or dip each piece in the bowl until coated. Place each piece of chicken in the pan.

4. Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through.

Source:
Baked KFC chicken Recipe | Just A Pinch Recipes

Christmas baking part 1:

Vanilla Bean Shortbread cookies

http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/a...b773b141-1.jpg

Peanut Butter Reindeer cookies

http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps25fc66e1.jpg

Shortbread Snowflake cookeis

http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/a...aa593f4c-1.jpg