Tag Archives: Dairy Diary

Preparing for Christmas

What a mixed week last week was! It was a mixture of feeling extremely festive and extremely stressed!

We have been flooded with orders on the week that Nick, the divisional manager, decided to take a golfing holiday!

We sold the entire cookbook reprint before it had even arrived but luckily we have a second delivery on its way very soon. It’s great that the books are so popular. As a Christmas special we are also offering a lovely free Dairy Diary pen with each giftpack sold (yes I have kept a few for the pen pot on my desk!)

On a festive note, tomorrow of course, we can open the first window of our advent calendar! I still get embarrassingly excited about such Christmas traditions. We have a very traditional Christmas dinner in our household and as Christmas orders need to be made soon I have started planning Christmas lunch and how much I may cheat this year.

For many complex reasons, last year we enjoyed a completely shop-bought lunch. It was tasty but nothing in comparison to proper home-cooked fayre. One side dish which will definitely be on the menu is the Treacle-Glazed Red Cabbage from the 2004 Dairy Diary (click here for recipe). It’s always really popular with everyone reaching for second helpings. I think I will also bake the Honey roast parsnips from last year’s diary (see below). Of course, everyone’s Christmas lunch varies and today Jamie Oliver tweeted a picture of Christmas tree-shaped pizza, consumed for Christmas lunch! Each to their own.

Honey Roast Parsnips

 

Christmas isn’t Christmas without roast parsnips. The honey in this recipe adds a little extra sweetness and turns the humble parsnip into something very special.

 

Honey Roast Parnips

Honey Roast Parsnips

Serves 4
Time 35 mins
Suitable for vegetarians

 

Olive oil 2 tbsp
Unsalted butter 50g (2oz)
Parsnips 900g (2lb), peeled and quartered lengthways
Clear honey 2 tbsp

1 Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. Heat oil and butter in a roasting tin on top of the stove. Add parsnips and fry until golden on all sides.

2 Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, turning occasionally.

3 Pour honey over roast parsnips and coat evenly. Season and return to the oven for 5 more minutes, or until tender.

Cook’s tip
Small or medium sized parsnips give the best flavour and texture.

A Dairy Diary recipe.

 

Christmas countdown

It’s the last week in November and the Christmas countdown has begun. Today I opened my brand new Dairy Diary for the first time and added next year’s holiday dates – two booked already, how fantastic!

It may just be my obsessively organisational nature but there is something lovely about opening a new diary and filling in all your details – with your best writing pen and handwriting of course! Then two weeks’ later the book is full of lots of scribbled notes in several different pens!

It’s been a very industrious and Christmassy weekend, with craft projects and ‘Stir-up Sunday’ – traditionally, the day when Christmas puddings are made – with the whole family joining in to ‘stir-up’ the mixture. We made delicious Calypso puddings from the 2010 Dairy Diary, refreshingly different with pineapple and mango as well as prunes and apricots.

 

Home-made Christmas card

Isaac's Christmas card

Working on the 2011 Dairy Diary, with its card-making feature, has inspired me to make cards for loved ones this year. I’m afraid time as a working mum doesn’t allow for all my cards to be home-made but the special people in our lives will get mummy-commissioned cards made by my son, who will be two in December. First we found all the buttons cut from my clothes over the past ten years (some in frightening colours and patterns!) and sorted them into colours. I drew a triangle on a ready-made card and Isaac spread the triangle with glue and covered it with buttons, placing an extra one underneath for the ‘trunk’.

He thoroughly enjoyed himself with gluing and sticking and they looked surprisingly good. The most effective card is a shocking pink with black buttons (especially for Auntie Claire according to Isaac!). Let’s hope Auntie Claire isn’t reading this…….

 

Calypso puddings

These delicious Calypso puddings from the 2010 Dairy Diary are refreshingly different with pineapple and mango as well as prunes and apricots. Perfect for Christmas Day.

Calypso puddings

Calypso puddings

Makes 8
Time 3½ hours
348 calories per serving
4g fat of which 0.9g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Soft, pitted Agen prunes 200g (7oz), roughly chopped
Lemon and orange 1 of each, grated zest and juice
White or dark rum 4 tbsp
Soft dark brown sugar 50g (2oz)
Eggs 3, beaten
Ready-to-eat dried apricots 110g (4oz), roughly chopped
Raisins and sultanas 150g (5oz) each
Freshly prepared mango and pineapple flesh 110g (4oz) of each, cut into 1cm (½in) cubes
Maraschino cherries 110g (4oz), drained and quartered
Wholemeal breadcrumbs 200g (7oz)
Pineapple slices 4, cut into wedges to serve, optional
Holly sprigs to decorate, optional

1 Grease 8 x 200ml (7fl oz) pudding moulds with butter and base line with baking paper. Cut 8 larger rounds from baking paper and foil for covering.

2 Put all ingredients except pineapple slices into a large bowl. Mix well, spoon into moulds and smooth tops. Place larger paper rounds on top and cover securely with foil.

3 Steam puddings for 2 hours and then for 45 minutes to reheat. When ready to serve, turn puddings out, decorate with holly sprigs and serve with pineapple slices, if using.

TIP
Puddings can be prepared 6-8 weeks before Christmas and then reheated on the day.

Recipe taken from the 2010 Dairy Diary.

Autumn and Apples

Last night, we enjoyed some delicious home-made toffee apples at our local firework display.

Fresh, hand-picked apples coated in a crunch sweet toffee – delicious and every dentist’s nightmare!

Baked home-grown appleWhat a naughty but very nice way to use up a glut of home-grown apples. I always inherit bags full of garden-grown apples from my parents. They grow eating apples, which are perfect packed with raisins and cinnamon and microwaved for a couple of minutes until soft and steaming. Of course, all the family love stewed apple served with piping hot custard too.

My Grandad was always a big fan of cheese and apple sandwiches, an unusually tasty combination which has been seen in the Dairy Diary in years gone by. I personally, love it made with Camembert and slices of Cox apple on a seeded roll.

For a surfeit of home-grown cooking apples why not try Autumn chutney from next year’s Dairy Diary?

Autumn Chutney

A perfect way to make use of home-grown apples and pears. And very satisfying to make.

Makes approx. 1.5kg
Time 3–4 hours
43 calories per tablespoon
0G fat of which 0G is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians

Autumn Chutney

Autumn Chutney

Bramley cooking apples 500g (1lb 2oz), peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Conference pears 6 large, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Plums 8 large, stoned and quartered
Blackberries 600g (1lb 5oz)
Ginger 50g (2oz), peeled and finely chopped
Red and green chilli 1cm (½in) piece of each, deseeded and finely chopped
Onions 600g (1lb 5oz), peeled and roughly chopped
Granulated sugar 750g (1lb 11oz)
Distilled white wine vinegar, 5% acidity 450ml (16fl oz)

 

1 Put all ingredients into a large stainless steel preserving pan. Heat gently, stirring frequently until the mixture comes to the boil.

2 Reduce heat and cook for 3–4 hours (stirring often) until it is reduced by about two-thirds, or when a wooden spoon drawn across the centre leaves a path that is slow to close up.

3 Allow chutney to cool, then spoon into clean jars. Cover with acid resistant lids or waxed discs and cellophane covers.

4 Store in a cool, dark cupboard for at least 1 month before using. Serve with bread, cheese, spring onions and radishes or cherry tomatoes.

Cook’s tip
Cooking time varies according to size of pan – a wide shallow pan cooks quicker than a narrower, deep one.

Recipe taken from 2010 Dairy Diary.

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