The Humble Housewife: April 2007

Thursday, April 26, 2007

More Hors d’œuvres

***EDIT: I can't believe I spelled Hors d’œuvres wrong in my title no less... well now you get the funny French letter too! Apologies!!!***

The husband and I decided to snack again last night. Probably because he was actually home for lunch and I made dinner at lunchtime!

Everyone loves Bruschetta right? We are no exception. Did you know that the term bruschetta actually just refers to the bread? The noun "bruschetta" is from the verb in the Roman dialect "bruscare," meaning "to roast over coals." In modern English we seem to think Bruschetta is the topping as you can see by the many jars of "bruschetta" in the supermarket (which by the way are awful!) You can really top this lovely toasted bread with anything. I like this particularly fresh recipe that has the tang of garlic and red onion with a hint of sweetness from the white balsamic vinegar. It's simple but really fresh on a summers day or as a BBQ appetiser.

Ingredients:

1 baguette / large ciabatta
1/2 cup olive oil
4-5 vine ripened tomatoes
4-5 large basil leaves, shredded
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
dash white balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper to season

Slice the bread diagonally and brush with olive oil. Put under the grill (or right on your BBQ for a smoky flavour) until lightly browned. Flip bread, brush other side with olive oil and grill until toasty.

Chop the tomatoes and onion and mix in a bowl with the basil chiffonade, garlic and balsamic vinegar. Garnish with more basil if desired and serve with bread.

You can if you wish top the bread for the guests. You could also sprinkle them with parmesan and put back under the grill for a warm option.

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The second snack is a lovely polenta with asparagus and parmesan. Very simple with subtle flavours, but the parmesan ties everything together. I searched up and down this island for polenta and finally found it at Harvey Nichols. Turns out I should have gone to a chicken feed store, as it appears our culinary challenged society has little use for this wonderful subtle grain other than to feed chickens. Sad!

Polenta is basically a cornmeal that dates back to Roman times. We use the Italian word for it, but it is very popular with many cultures under various names. It can be eaten as a porridge type substance, or allowed to set and sauteed or grilled and served with various accompaniments, which is what I've done here.

Ingredients:

1 cup polenta
4 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp salt
1 bunch asparagus
parmesan cheese shavings
pepper to season

Prepare polenta as directed. I used 1 cup of polenta to 4 cups of chicken stock and 1 tbsp salt and simmered gently for about 30 minutes. To solidify the polenta, pour into a 9x11" pan and cover with clingfilm/saran wrap so that a skin doesn't form. Refrigerate for about 2 hours or until firm.

Cut the solid polenta into whatever shapes you desire for your final dish. I used circles here, but in hindsight would have preferred a scalene triangle for the length of the asparagus, but whatever you like works.

Blanch the asparagus in salted water for three minutes. Refresh under cold running water until cool.

Place the polenta shapes on a grill tray and grill for about three minutes on each side until it begins to crisp.

Arrange the asparagus on top of the shapes and put a few parmesan shavings on top. Put back under the grill until cheese begins to bubble. Season with cracked pepper (it should be salted enough) and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil if desired.

This would also be delicious with pecorino cheese, but I can't get it where I am! :-(

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Monday Morning Baking

Yes, I know it's Tuesday night, but I've been busy! ;-)

I had a wonderful weekend at Crafteire and met some amazing ladies! Check out some of these blogs if you are interested in scrapbooking. These women are incredibly talented and I learned so much!

Jane Dean - I had the pleasure of taking a class with Jane and it was wonderful. You can see the layout we did here as well. She is a phenomental woman who taught so much despite being under the weather. She is also a contributor to Scrapbook Inspirations Magazine.

Kirsty Wiseman - Kirsty is also an incredible talent both with scrapbooks and photography. I had hoped to get my picture taken, but ended up being way too busy with cropping and classes! I did have the pleasure of sitting with her at lunch - what an inspiring woman!

Amber Jane - Amber is another wiz at scrapbooking. She is probably Ireland's foremost scrapper. I took a wonderful class with her using the Cherry Arte papers that she named. We created a fabulous layout and I learned some wonderful techniques.

Beckie - I took two classes with Beckie. She is incredible - I never would have thought of doing some of the things she came up with. We made a lovely mini-book and a fathers layout and fathers day card. An absolute pleasure to learn from her!

ScrapWest - I met several of the ladies from Scrapwest and their work is here for all to see. Amazing stuff... I feel so inspired!

Annamarie - Annamarie runs the Scrapbook Store in Ireland and is also extremely talented. I took a class with her that taught us to alter a little lunchpail. It was so cool to learn what could be done to make such a simple and elegant gift.

Jackie's Space - Jackie taught a wonderful class on stamping techniques. I was amazed how much could be done with one simple stamp. I was even more amazed when I visited Jackie's blog and saw all the beautiful things she does... is there anything this woman can't do???

Lainey - I got chatting to Lainey during a cute 3-d watering can make and take. She was telling me all about a crop in Dublin next month! I am SO there! :-) Look at her blog for some inspiring ideas from mini-books to layouts to cards. Beautiful!

Eva - Eva taught two classes that I am sad I did not have the foresight to take. They were very cool, but at least I'll know for next year! She is a wonderful friendly lady that made me feel right at eases as one of the first people I met there. Look at her blog for not only some great ideas, but quite witty writing as well!

There are loads more that you can blog hop to on their sites... I feel so lucky to have met these amazing talented women and can't wait until next year!

Anyways... enough scrapping, more cooking! These are aptly called "To Die For Blueberry Muffins." I am the first to admit my muffins aren't as aesthetically pleasing as our own muffin queen Laura from Eat Drink Live, but they tasted amazing and that's what counts right? ;-) I mean what wouldn't taste amazing with a streusel topping? I snagged this from Allrecipes.com and am very glad I did!!!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose/plain flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

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Friday, April 20, 2007

Fish and Quips: English Food Not a Joke?

I am joining in with the British Food posts for Becks and Posh Fish and Quips. The premise is to help Sam prove that English food is not a joke. So I have two English recipes here to share. The first one is not for Jews or people with heart problems! ;-) It's a sausage bake, which seems to be something that comes up quite frequently in my British cooking magazines. It's simple enough and I have to say tastes divine... if you can get past the fat content! The kids absolutely adored this... of course! I have to say I didn't think I would like it, but it was really nice with a creamy mash.

My second recipe is a classic Victoria Sandwich probably the quintessential British cake. And it's named for Queen Victoria now... not posh spice! ;-) It's a really simple cake to make and the recipe is one you can never forget since all the measurements are the same! I made this yesterday and half of it was gone before dinner with the rest dying a quick death following dinner! It's the perfect treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

Of course I had to soup this up by using mascarpone and vanilla instead of plain old cream or clotted cream. The result was heavenly!

Ingredients:

Small glug Olive oil
1 lb good quality butcher sausages (thyme flavoured work well)*
Enough slices streaky bacon to wrap around each sausage
4 pink lady apples, cored and cut into eighths
1 heaping tablespoon golden syrup**
grating nutmeg

Method:
Heat oven to 200C/400F

Wrap each sausage in a slice of bacon. Bake for twenty minutes in the olive oil.

After twenty minutes, add the apples, golden syrup and nutmeg and bake for a further ten minutes until apples are sticky and cooked through, but retain their shape.

Serve with a creamy mashed potato.

*If you are in the states, don't use American sausage, it's not the same. If you are in a city and have a European butcher, they should be able to help. Otherwise I recommend foodireland.com, we used them quite a bit for decent bacon, sausages, butter etc. when we lived there, especially at Christmas time - nothing like a real Irish breakfast on Christmas morning... also needed the sausage meat for the stuffing! Stay tuned! ;-)

** You could also use maple syrup - which would probably even add more flavour, but since this is about British food I had to use golden syrup! ;-)

Ingredients:

4 eggs
8 oz/220g self raising flour
8 oz/220g sugar
8 oz/220g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
small tub of mascarpone cheese or whipped cream
vanilla pod
good raspberry jam
powdered/icing sugar to garnish

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180C/35oF

Cream butter and sugar and beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour and fold into batter. Split batter between two eight inch cake tins that have been buttered and floured.

Bake for about twenty minutes or until risen and golden brown and a fork comes out clean.

Allow to cool. Once cooled remove from tins.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix in with the mascarpone. Spread a thick layer of mascarpone on top of the bottom layer of the cake. Then spread a thick layer of raspberry jam on the bottom of the top layer and sandwich together.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Cut into wedges to serve.

There you have it! Two lovely English recipes to prove that English food does not have to be a joke! Visit Becks and Posh to see lots of other great recipes. I might even post a few here in a couple of days.

I will be at Crafteire all this weekend, so might not be posting again until Monday. Hope you all have a lovely weekend! :-)

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Do you ever just want to skip dinner and snack?

I do! I love snacking! I love hors d'oevres or tapas style eating with lots of little nibbles to pick from. My husband was working late last night and I didn't feel like cooking another dinner, so I checked the fridge and decided to make us some appetizers instead.

First up is a lovely spinach and artichoke dip. This is great to serve if you have a few people over. Just slice a baguette or open some tortilla chips and let everyone dig in. I use fresh spinach and artichokes, but you could use one package of drained frozen spinach and a can of artichokes with no problem and just a small sacrifice in taste!

Ingredients:

1 package of fresh baby spinach
About 10 prepared artichoke hearts
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 package of cream cheese
sprinkle of Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Wash the spinach and saute in a little butter for a minute or two until just wilted. I find if you put a lid on your saute pan you will get a better texture, as the spinach steams and sautes. Allow to cool.

Cream the cream cheese with the mayonnaise. Add in garlic, parmesan, mozzarella and seasonings.

Roughly Chop the spinach and artichokes and fold into the creamy mixture. Spoon into a buttered oven dish and bake at 200C/400F for about 20 minutes or until bubbling and brown on top. Serve hot.

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Second up we have my capresi salad. This is such a common dish these days with variations on just about every restaurant menu, that I've tried to come up with a unique marinade. It's got a hint of sweetness to it which seems to bring out much more depth in the tomatoes and works so well with the mozzarella. This is by no means authentic, but I have had four different Italians ask me for the recipe, so that must say something! ;-)

If you can get buffalo mozzarella, do as it really is superior to the cows version. As for the tomatoes, I like vine ripened, as they have the best flavour. A lot of people go with Roma tomatoes for their shape, but they are actually pretty flavourless in comparison to fresh vine tomatoes. Fresh basil is also essential here, although in a pinch I've used dried. It's not the same at all though, so it will be a bit of a let down. Ok.. off my ingredient soap box now!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar
splash marsala wine
splash regular balsamic vinegar
2 large balls buffalo mozzarella
4 large vine ripened tomoatoes
About 4-5 large basil leaves
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Whisk the olive oil, vinegars and wine until a nice emulsion forms.

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella so there is an equal number of each. Place in a dish.

Stack basil leaves and roll up. Slice into a chiffonade with a sharp knife.

Pour the marinade over, sprinkle with basil and leave in the fridge until ready to serve. Don't leave longer than a couple of hours if using the softer buffalo cheese, as the texture will be compromised.

To serve arrange on a plate alternating tomatoes with cheese. Pour remaining marinade over the arrangement. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with extra basil if desired.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Creamy Italian Sausage and Mushroom Pasta

Ok, I've decided this will be my submission for Presto Pasta night this week. It's a really nice and simple recipe, but so yummy - so why not? ;-) Make sure you check out Ruth's website later on Friday for all the wonderful submissions!

Homeschoolingmamaof4 (= saint - I can't imagine being a mother of 4 much less taking on the incredible responsibility of educating them!!!) wanted to see my Italian sausage recipe. I hope she is satisfied. This is such an easy dish, but one of those that the kids and husband loved!!! My kids love sausages and they love mushrooms. I hadn't tried that lovely fennel tasting Italian sausage on them, but no problems... it was all mopped up. I served this with a simple garlic bread. This is a take on a Nigel Slater recipe(thank you for introducing me to him Val and Laura - for my American readers... he's sort of the British Alton Brown... but just sort of!!!) and a recipe from SavingDinner.com.

I've been looking for Italian sausage for awhile. Maybe Lorraine could have helped me out, but I found these babies at the Naas Farmer's Market this week and was incredibly impressed. I also bought a pack of their regular Irish sausages, which were to die for. All pork... very little fat or filler! Divine! If you have the opportunity to try their products, I highly recommend them!

Ingredients:

good glug olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 lb Italian Sausage (I used Jane Russell Organic)
1 lb dry pasta of your choice
1 medium red onion, diced
8 oz chestnut / baby portabella mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 green pepper, diced
1 glass white wine
1/2 cup double cream
handful shredded basil
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Boil large pot of salted water and cook your pasta to the package directions.

Saute the onion and green pepper in the olive oil in a large skillet for about two minutes or until onion is translucent. Add sausage, removed from casing. When sausage fat begins to render, add mushrooms.

Add white wine and scrape any of the fond (sticky bits) from the bottom of the pan. Allow to reduce by half. Add cream and heat through.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to sausage with the basil chiffonade. Serve with grated Parmesan.

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Beautiful Belgium...

Some of you may know that I used to live in Belgium. I went to high school there. My mother's job had us moving around a lot and Belgium seems to be where I grew up. Of course being a teenager at the time I didn't appreciate being immersed with culture and culinary delights! Looking back now though I am very grateful to have had such an opportunity.

Belgium is a wonderful country. I lived in Antwerp... which I personally think is much better than Brussels! The people are nice, the scenery is nice and the food... oh the food! I think you could go into the worst restaurant in Belgium and get the meal of your life! At this time of the year asparagus is huge there. All the restaurants are serving it whether in soup, main dishes or perhaps most famously the way I have done below.

This is asparagus the Flemish way. They use white asparagus which is often hard to get outside of continental Europe. Imagine my surprise to find it at Naas Farmers Market last week. It was pretty good, but I think it might have been harvested a bit too early, as the ends were quite bitter. White asparagus has a longer cooking time than green and is usually better boiled than steamed, pillows of chopped boiled eggs make this a substantial lunch or starter. This is a lovely Spring dish that will wow guests and it's quite simple to boot!

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of white asparagus (1kg)
4 hard boiled eggs
1 cup melted butter*
handful flat leaf parsley
lemon
salt and pepper to finish

Method:
Break the tough ends off the asparagus and using a vegetable peeler, peel off some shavings towards the bottom of the stalks. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and toss in the asparagus. You will need to cook them for about fifteen minutes or until tender.

Chop up your hard boiled eggs and parsley. Squeeze the lemon into the melted butter and add eggs and parsley.

Arrange asparagus on a platter and pour the sauce over top. Season with salt and pepper

*I know it sounds like a lot, but most of it ends up left on the plate... unless like me you love to mop up the sauce with a nice crusty baguette! ;-)

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Palmiers and Menu Plan

It's menu planning Monday! Woohoo! I have been meaning to get in on this for sometime now. I try and do a weekly menu plan as it helps me with the grocery shop... so here goes!

Monday
Lunch: Flemish Asparagus
Dinner: Italian Sausage Pasta

Tuesday
Lunch: Quesadillas
Dinner: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Potato and Broccoli

Wednesday
Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Dinner: Artichoke and Ham Fettuccine

Thursday
Lunch: Beans and Toast
Dinner: Meatballs and Rice

Friday:
Lunch: Roast Chicken
Dinner: Chicken soup and sandwiches

Saturday and Sunday: Dad's on his own as I'll be at Crafteire!!! Ok, maybe I'll make him a spaghetti bolognaise or Shepherds pie or something...

Now for a recipe... I first saw this on The Barefoot Contessa years ago. Like Lisa, I am a big fan of hers and am so happy that she is on here as well... albeit at noon when the kids are at their freakiest! This is the easiest thing EVER and oh so good! We did a Christmas cookie exchange at work my last year in the states and I made these. Everyone raved about them and I just chuckled because they were so ridiculously easy!!! So here goes...

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry
sugar

Method:
Unroll the puff pastry and sprinkle with sugar... lots of sugar! Press the sugar into the sheet. Turn the sheet over and do the same to the other side.

Roll one half of the sheet into the middle and do the same with the other half. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces and place on a baking tray.

Bake for fifteen minutes at 200C/400F until golden brown. Remove baking tray and flip palmiers. Bake another five minutes until golden on the other side.

How's that for an easy but elegant snack? Great if you're having people over for coffee!

Variations:
You can do lots with these. I like to spread pesto on the pastry and then sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and roll the same way. I've also added sundried tomatoes to that combination... delish! You really can do anything that takes your fancy to make savory ones. Spread your favourite sauce and add toppings, roll up, bake and serve. A lovely hors d'oevre!

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

A new look and a new recipe!

Hi everyone! What a weekend... spent most of it in Mullingar hospital with my baby! :-(

Thanks to everyone who commented on the new look. It's a lot less busy and really clean I think. So I'm glad you guys like it! Again a very special thanks to Heather at GoofyGirl Designs! I am experimenting with trying to take better pictures and get the photos to integrate into the new site better. Please send any and all photography tips this way! And don't tell me to buy a new camera! I'm broke! :-( It's a 4.1 MP Sony Cyber-shot. I like it because I sort of know how it works!

Ok, for today's recipe, another pasta dish! Had some prawns/shrimp in the freezer for awhile and if asparagus is at the shops or market I buy it, so this was a quick and easy supper for two. Normally I would make this with linguine or tagliatelle but all I had was fusilli or whole grain spaghetti, which I usually save for the kids. It was great with the fusilli, but I think it would look more elegant with the linguine. Might submit this one for Presto Pasta Night next week!

Ingredients:

16 large shelled and deveined prawns*
1 bunch of asparagus
6 cloves of garlic, finely shopped
8 oz dry pasta of your choice
large knob butter
olive oil
1/2 cup double cream
large handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to season
Parmesan to garnish

Method:
Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta to package directions.

Break off and discard rough woody ends of asparagus and chop into one inch pieces on a diagonal. Leave the tips whole. Blanch the stalks in a pot of boiling water for two minutes. Add tips and boil for another two minutes. Refresh under cold running water. They should be bright green and have a good bite.

Put butter and a good glug of olive oil in a saute pan and heat over a low heat until butter melts. Add garlic and cook for a minute or two until soft, but not brown (nothing worse than that bitter taste!)

Add the prawns and saute a minute on both sides until just cooked. Add asparagus and heat through. Pour in cream and heat through. Season to taste.

Add cooked pasta and parsley and gently toss. Garnish with lemon and parmesan shavings.

*You can use pre-cooked prawns, just add them at the very end and heat through. If you prefer, feel free to leave the tail on as well.

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Presto Pasta

I've been a longtime fan of Ruth at Once Upon a Feast and have been contemplating sending in a Presto Pasta Night submission for awhile. There are some amazing recipes that come up and I've always felt a bit intimidated. But this time I think I have a winner - this was an amazing recipe, once I will certainly be repeating.

I am a seafood whore! Love it - can't get enough of it - and pasta? Well, don't get me started... Ruth says it's the third great comfort food... I beg to differ! ;-) If I'm feeling sick or miserable a bowl of buttered noodles will do it every time! So needless to say when I found this recipe for crab spaghetti I had to make it!

I got the crab at Doran's fishmongers in Howth. It was lovely, but had not been picked over for shell enough. I had at it a few times and got quite a bit out, but apparently not enough! We were enjoying this lovely dish with a nice dry Riesling when the husband suddenly starts screaming. He got a piece of crab shell stuck up behind his tooth. I spent the rest of the night listening to him whine about his sore tooth! Men! :-) So be warned!!!

I have a terrible habit of wanting to alter any recipe that comes my way. I was SURE this one would be better with wine and was just about to pour some in when I thought no - I'm going to follow the instructions! I am so glad I did as the lemon at the end gives it a similar taste and it was much fresher without the wine. The recipe came from The Annual Italian Edition of Delicious Magazine. It's by chef Giorgio Alessia who owns the Lanterna Ristorante in Scraborough in the UK.

Ingredients:

400g dried spaghetti (I used a bag of fresh to save time)
Knob of butter
1 small onion, diced (I used red)
250g fresh cooked crab meat
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
200ml fish stock
100ml whipping cream
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Lemon wedges to serve

Cook the spaghetti in large pot until al dente

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Cook the onion for about five minutes. Add the garlic, crab and stock and allow to simmer until the stock reduces by two thirds. Stir in the cream and heat through.

Drain the pasta and add to the crab with the parsley and gently toss everything together. Divide between four plates and garnish with lemon wedges.

Enjoy!

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

My Favourite Links

Favourite Food Links

Anthony Bourdain
BBC Good Food
Emeril Legasse
Food Ireland - If you're in North American, you can order real Irish food here.
Gordon Ramsay
Great Food.ie
Group Recipes
Innkeeper Recipes and Cookbooks
Jamie Oliver
Rachel Ray
Slow Food Ireland
Sulmeat - My online butcher, fantastic quality meat delivered to your door!
The US Food Network
UKTV Food

Other Favourite Websites

Benefit Makeup - I'm hooked, click at your own risk!
Crafteire - Irish scrapbooking convention in April
Craftzone - Another scrapbooking convention in September (my birthday present!)
Fly Lady - Keeping my house relatively sane
Hobby Horse Toys - Beautiful hand made hobby horses
Irish Farmers Markets
Lemonade Stand Game - Watch out you could get hooked!
MagicMum Message Boards - An Irish parenting board
Rehab Bingo - good fun and all the money goes to charity!
The Onion - Best newspaper ever!
The Organic Center - Irish group promoting organics
StrawberryNET.com - Brand name make-up, cosmetics and perfume at significant discounts

Click here to join

Favourite Food Links

Anthony Bourdain
BBC Good Food
Emeril Legasse
Food Ireland - If you're in North American, you can order real Irish food here.
Gordon Ramsay
Great Food.ie
Group Recipes
Innkeeper Recipes and Cookbooks
Jamie Oliver
Rachel Ray
Slow Food Ireland
Sulmeat - My online butcher, fantastic quality meat delivered to your door!
The US Food Network
UKTV Food

Other Favourite Websites
Benefit Makeup - I'm hooked, click at your own risk!
Crafteire - Irish scrapbooking convention in April
Craftzone - Another scrapbooking convention in September (my birthday present!)
Fly Lady - Keeping my house relatively sane
Hobby Horse Toys - Beautiful hand made hobby horses
Irish Farmers Markets
Lemonade Stand Game - Watch out you could get hooked!
MagicMum Message Boards - An Irish parenting board
Rehab Bingo - good fun and all the money goes to charity!
The Onion - Best newspaper ever!
The Organic Center - Irish group promoting organics
StrawberryNET.com - Brand name make-up, cosmetics and perfume at significant discounts

Frequently Asked Questions

This is part of the new design as well. I will answer some common questions I get via email and if you have anything to add - please send me a note! For conversion info, scroll down.

Where are you from?
I was born in Dublin, Ireland, but lived in Midland, Michigan in the US for four years before moving to Antwerp, Belgium for a further five years and then back to the US (Chicago, Rochester, NY and Midland again) until I moved back to Ireland in February 2005. I consider myself from Michigan, even though my passport says differently!

What's your story?
I met my husband at music school where he was studying piano and I was studying opera. After meeting one another we both went on to other things. He ended up working in the restaurant business as a fine dining manager and I went into financial customer service at a Fortune 500 company. We decided to move back to Ireland two years ago. We were to run a restaurant in Mayo, but due to circumstances beyond our control the deal fell through after we had moved here! We had sold everything to get here and as such, couldn't exactly go back, so we figured we'd give it a go! We have two daughters - Ciara is two and Ella is almost four. This makes my food adventures quite intriguing as they have very different tastes, but I love finding things that work for them both.

How did you start cooking?
When I think about this I come to two conclusions. When I was a teenager I dabbled in vegetarianism for about three years. Both my parents were working at the time, and although they were very good about still getting us homecooked meals, they just didn't have time to do a separate vegetarian meal, especially when they knew it was likely to be just a phase. As a result I did a lot of my own cooking. And for the record it was the smell of bacon frying that brough me back to the dark side! :)

The second reason stems out of sheer necessity! When I moved in with my husband his fridge consisted of frozen ravioli and power bars... that would never do! Luckily my Mom is a good cook and had instilled some basics in me. I started off small with chicken curries and the like until I discovered Paul's grandmother's copy of The Joy of Cooking and then the Food Network! That really got me started. I discovered that I had a pretty decent palate and was fairly good at creating my own dishes. Since then I have taken many culinary and food safety classes and learned how to bake as well, albeit poorly! When I lived in Michigan the second time around I did some catering and really enjoyed it and am starting it again over here! I love hosting cocktail parties and entertaining tapas style!

What's with the title?
It's supposed to be ironic - as I'm anything but humble and I'm a horrific housewife. I mean really... do humble folks blog? ;-) I guess I struggle a lot with being a housewife, as previously I was the main breadwinner. It's been a huge adjustment for me and one I keep working on, so I guess the title is there to inspire me a bit and make me laugh!

What are your favourite cook books?
The Joy of Cooking would have to be up there as would Larousse Gastronomique, but not so much as a cookbooks - more as a reference books. They have extensive info on just about any ingredient and gives a good starting point for recipes. If I had to give up all my cooking books and gadgets, I would fight to the death to keep Larousse! I love Anthony Bourdain's "Les Halles" Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking. It's a well written, witty book with lots of great techniques and classic French recipes. I am a big fan of Gordon Ramsay and have had great success with his books Gordon Ramsay's Secrets and Kitchen Heaven: Over 100 Brand-new Recipes.

Do you read any cooking magazines?
Ugh... just ask my coffee table! YES! I especially like BBC Good Food, Delicious, and Intermezzo.

How often do you cook?
Every single day, three times a day! I'm a housewife... I really have no excuse not to! :-) If we do eat out for dinner I'll make sure we get at least a home cooked lunch and breakfast!

What's your favourite food?
ooh... that's a tough one! I love seafood, so probably something with crab or lobster... although I'm also a bit of a pork fiend... and I do like game... oh dear! Any of the above! :-) As far as dessert goes Gordon Ramsay's Chocolate Fondant hands down. It's incredible, easy to make and simply devoon!

What's your favourite thing to cook?
Tapas! I love making hors d'oevres and tapas type things. I used to cater a lot of parties where we did this. Drinks and hors d'oevres, what could be better?

Can you convert your recipe to US or metric measures for me?
You will notice if you've been around here awhile that I use both metric and US/cup measurements. I must receive about five emails a week asking me to convert a recipe to the alternate method. I just don't have the time to keep doing this, especially when it is so easy to do it yourself with google. I don't recommend converting grams into cup measures, but rather dry weight ounces. You could then pour it into a cup and write down the measurement for future reference. There is a HUGE difference between fluid ounces used for cup measurements and dry ounces. To convert grams or milileters to ounces / fluid ounces, use Google. For example, just type in "Convert 250g to ounces" and hit search and you will have your answer.

Remember that a US cup measure if 8 fluid ounces. If you are in Europe, just use a pyrex jug and fill to the eight ounce level! 3/4 cup is 6 ounces and so on down.

450g is roughly 1lb and 1kg is 2.2lb.

You can download a nifty desktop tool to do most of your kitchen conversions for you here.

Will you link to my blog?
If your blog is relelvant to mine and interesting to me I may add it to my blog roll. It is considered bad form to request a link via email, but especially via comments, but if you have a relevant blog, feel free to email me and I will take a look. If it's interesting I might add it to my feed reader for a few weeks and if I still like it I might add you to the blogroll. 95% of the blogs on my blog roll are blogs I read actively, even if I don't always comment.

Will you review stuff for me?
Yep - check out the FAQ on my review blog for more details.

Can I post your recipe on my blog?
Sure, if you've tried it and want to share it with your readers. I would also appreciate it if you could do the honourable thing and link back to me. Please do not hotlink to my photos though.

I've tagged you for a meme, when will you reply?
I'll be honest, I hate memes. Unless it's something really new and different I am very unlikely to respond. Please don't take this personally, as I am flattered you mentioned me, it's just not my thing. The big exception would be foodie memes!

Do you have a comment policy?
I feel strongly that commenting should be free and open, as it's part of what makes blogging such a unique medium. Even if I completely disagree with you, I won't be deleting comments, unless they are racist, inappropriate, offensive to regular readers or libelous. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from coarse language... something I have to remind myself of too! :)

The Humble Housewife Recipe Index

Here is the index to all the recipes I have posted. I will continue to update this as I add recipes. Hopefully it will make things a little easier!

Beverages

Appetizers / Starters / Hors D'Oeuvres

Soups and Stocks

Healthy Eating

Breakfast Dishes

Breads

Main Courses

Lunch Dishes

Pasta and Rice Dishes