Fish Pie

I am in the process of cleaning out my freezer.  Had this fish, there were five fillets in the bag.

I placed them in a pan and covered them in milk, added salt and pepper, and some grated nutmeg.  Simmered them for around 10 to 15 minutes.  I removed the milk and made a white sauce with the milk.  I added a couple tablespoons of dried parsley and some frozen peas in the sauce.  Then flaked the fish and added that to it.

I had enough mixture for a casserole for our supper, and two small portions for hubby's lunch.

Covered each dish with mashed potatoes.  Popped it into the oven at 350oF for 45 minutes.

I have a mini crockpot that hubby uses for work.  We have had it a few years and is worth it's weight in gold!!  Hubby plugs it in when he gets into work and his lunch is all ready at lunch time.

I forgot to take a photo of the cooked fish pie, but it was really good.

Mini Crockpot and Baby Quilt.

Wanted to say thank you and welcome to all my new followers.  I would like to also say thank you to all my followers both old and new for all your comments.  I love reading them all.

Back in February 2013 I picked up a mini Crockpot for my dh.  I posted about it here.  Two years later and it is still in use.  It's one of those good buys that I would recommend.

It's just big enough to hold a can of Chunky Soup (dh's favourite) or leftover's.  He turns it on when he gets to work and it's piping hot when lunch time comes around.  It fits into his lunch box just fine and it makes a big change from sandwiches and salad.  He does not have access to a lunch room.

I finally got the binding sewn on the baby quilt.

 It is 40 inches wide by 44 inches long.

 The fabric is Riley Blake "Little Red Riding Hood."  The pattern is my own. Please ignore the stitching, I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it!

The backing with the bright pink and green binding is so cheerful

Little one is due in May.  I want to also thank my own personal "Vanna White" for holding the quilt up so I can take some photos!

A couple of follow ups to posts/stories...

Back in January I went to see the surgeon about my hand.  I posted about it here.  Her advise back then was to take it easy with my hand and baby it.  At the time I said that was easier said than done, but I have tried the best I can and a couple of months down the road I can say it isn't as sore, but it will never be right.

It's going to be a case of having to live with it.  Sanding and painting the baseboards last week made it sore.  It's going to be tested to the limit over the next couple of weeks as I am working so all the typing will aggravate it no doubt.  I don't splint it every night now, and only splint it now when it's really bothering me.

I have a lump on the bottom of my middle finger next to the palm on my right hand, it is a Ganglion Cyst.  I am going to go and get that drained next month as every time I grip something it rubs against the lump and it hurts like crazy.  Other than that I won't be having anything else done with my hand (s) and will just have to live with them.

Remember this post about the trouble I was having with a magazine subscription?  Well I finally got it all sorted out.  It involved me having to call back another couple of times, despite the "Organ Grinder" (aka the supervisor) promising me she would definitely call me back by the Monday at the latest!!!  She gave me my refund, after they charged me again for the subscription and added an extra four months onto our year subscription.  I still think that their customer service stinks but at least its all over with now.

I posted here about buying dh the mini crock-pot that he could take to work.  He took it yesterday with a can of chunky soup in it and he said it worked great.  It takes around an hour and a half to warm through.  The only problem dh has is that he is working between two buildings which are in different streets so he can't plug it in until he knows for sure which building he will be in at lunch time.  I made a pot of vegetable soup yesterday, so put that in his crock pot today.

So there you are.  Otherwise I am hibernating due to the cold weather and nothing exciting is happening around here, which is the way I like it!!!

How about you anything exciting happening in your neck of the woods?

Oh, I was talking to my mother yesterday and they cut their grass for the first time!!!!  At this point I would love to see anything that resembled bloody grass, as everything is covered in the white stuff here!!!

Isn't this the cutest......

I picked up this mini crockpot for dh for work.  He does not have access to a lunch room, but does have an office, so I thought this would made a nice change from sandwiches every day.  I got if from Home Hardware and it cost $19.99 + 13% taxes.

I'll let you know if he likes it next week.

On sale at Home Hardware this week are these cleaning products on for $8.47 for the three pack which is a good price.  They are on page 6 of the flyer.

This week's "Home of the Week," is different. A rather expensive different to my mind at $1.9 million, but I am guessing all those exotic finishes push up the price.The house has obviously been on the market since last Fall so I am guessing I'm not the only one that thinks its too pricey?  Do like the floors on the main floor; otherwise not my cup of tea.

With this week's "Condo of the Week," you are right downtown Toronto in the thick of things.  Though it's actually a townhouse instead of a condo, but you do pay monthly maintenance fees.  At $1 million it's pretty pricey, but I'd rather pay that than the $1.9 million for the house above.  Not a huge fan of all those concrete walls, they always seem cold to me.  The only reason I would live there though would be location, as it's close to the lake.

Dd house warming gift and a recipe....

Dd and son-in-law close on their house this week.  They are living on the 21st floor of a condo and are moving to a detached house with a garden.


We are lending them our push lawn mower, as there isn't that much grass to cut and I got them the following gardening equipment:

Now truth be told they would have preferred a barbecue, but overall this is more practical as they have no gardening tools.  We are lending them our old pine dining room table and I picked up four chairs for $10, a real steal, that will do until they can afford a new set, plus we have picked up bits and bobs for them. 


I will be posting photos in the coming weeks of all the work we will be helping them with at their new house.


We had the family up for lunch on Sunday and as ham was on sale at Foodland for $1.47per pound, I bought one.

I didn't want to put the oven on so I decided to cook it in the crockpot/slow cooker.


Super simple to do; put 1 cup of brown sugar in the crockpot.

Place ham on top and using hands pat in another 1/2 to 1 cup of brown sugar.

As my ham was to tall for my bowl, I covered the top with tin foil to keep the heat in and cooked it on low for around 5 hours.

It was really, good and super moist.  We had it with Greek Salad and roasted potatoes I had cooked on the barbecue.

We will be eating ham for a few days this week, as there is plenty left.


I guess you could also smother some mustard on the top of the ham when cooking, as that would be tasty.  If your ham is not precooked like mine was you will have to adjust your cooking times.

Gill's Bean and Sausage Casserole

Couldn't decide what to call it and saying it's an actual recipe is a bit of a stretch, but thought I'd share it with you.  Here is what it looks like:

Gill's Bean and Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled and sliced , use as many as you think people will eat
1 or 2 onions peeled and sliced, or if you like onions use more
Red or Green pepper sliced
1 package sausages cut into thirds, depending on how many people you are feeding you may need more than one package
2 cans Heinz Baked Beans in tomato sauce, or whatever brand you prefer, they do need to be in tomato sauce though
Seasonings.....

This is cooked in a slow cooker.  Place the potatoes and onions in the bottom of the slow cooker, season.  I used salt and pepper and garlic powder.  Chilli powder would be good if you like a bit of a kick.  Place the sausages on top of the potato and onion mixture, then top with the cans of baked beans.

Cook on low for around 10 hours.  I used around half a dozen potatoes, one onion, 5 sausages and two cans of baked beans and that fed the two of us, and there is enough left over for dh a filling meal later on in the week.  It's a comfort meal for a cold day and very simple to make.  I did not put any red or green pepper in mine as I forgot about it.

Also I bought Presidents Choice English Bangers as I really enjoy them for this dish.  However I think they were labeled wrong as they were spicy like a mild Italian sausage, so that spoiled the dish for me, as I don't do spice!!

House and cottage of the week, plus other stuff..

This week's house/condo of the week is just plain awful.  I can normally find something I like about a place, but honestly this condo is just plain awful, right down to the way it is all decorated, and it has just had $300,000 spent on it........where?  I guess if you want to be downtown it has the convenience factor but otherwise, I wouldn't give you $100,000 for it, never mind 1 million!!!


The cottage of the week, well there wasn't one, they did an "office space," instead.  I personally would find it hard to work in a space like that, as it is too "pretty."  Also that space is way too tidy for any real work to get done, don't you think.  Then in the summer how much work would you get done with a deck just outside the door?

***Deal Alert*** If you are in Canada and happen to be passing Canadian Tire they have a KitchenAid 2-quart saucepan on sale for $8.89, should be $39.99, it is worth every penny.  I have one and it is a great size to have in the house.  It's on sale from Friday through to Sunday and there is also a scratch and win  the same days, where you can win  a McCain frozen cake, or a $5 money off coupon, or a $5,000 gift card for Canadian Tire.  I would be happy to win the $5 off card.  I will be popping in as cling wrap, aluminum foil, magic eraser's and a few other things are all on sale for 89 cents each.  Plus it's 10 x the bonus points for gas with the coupon this week as well at the Canadian Tire gas bar.

We went to the market again on Thursday and walked away with 12 bags of rolls for the freezer.  More leeks, carrots, parsnips and broccoli.  Also 7 white pine trees and we bought a gorgeous turn of the century chest of drawers with a mirror on the top from the antique market.  I will take a photo when we get it cleaned up.  Dh said as soon as I saw it my face just lit up, and he knew I wanted it.  Also the guy that owned the booth happened to be there and knocked $35 off of it, so that was nice of him.

As far as I know I have emailed everyone who requested the crockpot recipe book.  If I have missed you please let me know?  I am hoping to get caught up with everyones blogs over the weekend.  It's been a very busy week again around here.

Buddy's Friday - Cooking with a crockpot....

Every Friday over at Margaret's Ramblings there is a Buddy's Friday meme, where people can contribute frugal thoughts and articles.

My contribution this week is about cooking with a crockpot/slow cooker. There are many benefits of cooking with a slow cooker.

1. Convenience - pop the ingredients in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, by supper time you have a fully cooked meal, and only the one pot to wash up!!

2. Economical, in a couple of ways.

• It is cooked on a low wattage, it is a cheap way of cooking.
• As you are cooking over a long period of time you can use cheaper cuts of meats, as cooking them in a crockpot not only makes the meat tender, but also moist.

3. Great for using in Summer as it doesn't heat up the kitchen, the way using the stove/cooker would.

4. They are not an expensive appliance to buy and they come in many sizes to suit the size of your family. Here in Canada they can be quite cheap to quite expensive, here is the Wal-Mart site for Canada. I have a family size, 6 quart size, and even though there is generally only the two of us I find it great. You can also find them at yard sales, car boot's, garage sales, just make sure they are in good condition.

5. I am a morning person and I find that is when I am more motivated as well, so putting everything together in a crockpot in a morning, means I don't have to think about supper later on in the day when my energy levels are down.

Cooking with a crockpot, what to make? The choices are endless and the recipes out there are also endless. There are sites devoted to crockpot recipes, one of my favourite sites is A Year of Crockpotting where she uses her crockpot to cook everyday.

One of my favourite meals to cook in the crockpot is Crockpot Cola Beef it's a great way of using a cheap cut of beef and it makes the best gravy ever. I love to cook a chicken in the crockpot, I pop a whole chicken in the crockpot before I go to bed, add a cup of water, and whatever seasoning you like to use, next morning you have a fall off the bone chicken, that is so moist and tender. You also have great chicken stock to use whatever way you want to.

When our kids went to University, we bought them a crockpot each and I made up a recipe book which includes numerous recipes. If anyone would like a copy of the recipes, it's a word document, do an extra post with your email address in it, and I will email you them (I will not publish your email address).

Also I must apologise for not visiting your blogs, I am really busy at the moment, so my blog visiting it suffering, I'm sorry.....please forgive me!!

Crockpot Cola Beef, and Yorkshire Puddings........

To my mind this is the only way to cook a roast of beef now. Its foolproof and so, so simple, and the gravy is so, so good.

Ingredients:

Cheap Roast of Beef, DO NOT waste your money on an expensive cut
1 packet onion soup mix (if you do not have that sub: a couple of beef bullion cubes and a finely chopped onion)
1 can Cola...........any type will do, it doesn't have to be "The Real Thing"
1 can condensed mushroom soup (optional, and I never use it)



Put meat in crockpot, then onion soup mix, then cola, cover and cook for 10 hours on low.



About an hour before the end mix a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch/cornflour with some water and mix that in the liquid, that will thicken the gravy.

Remove meat and carve. The gravy is to die for, its so good.



Yorkshire Puddings, who doesn't love a fluffy light Yorkshire Pudding covered in gravy......For some reason though people seem to think Yorkshire Pudding's are difficult to make, and if they do make them they feel like dead weights in your stomach.

The key to making a good Yorkshire Pudding is making sure you use a hot oven and the lard/shortening in your pan is smoking hot when you put the mixture into it. I never use vegetable oil. The recipe I use is from the Be-Ro Flour Home Recipes book, I have the 40th edition, not sure what edition they are now on, its a British recipe book.

Ingredients:

4 0z (1 cup) All Purpose flour
pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 pint (1 cup) milk
shortening or lard



First get a 12 cup muffin pan, and put a dab of either shortening or lard in each cup. Put this pan into the oven and turn the oven on to pre-heat to 450 oF.



While the oven is heating with the muffin pan in it, mix flour and salt in a large jug, make a hollow in the bottom and drop in the egg, gradually add the milk, stirring all the time. I use a hand whisk to do this with.

When the oven has reached it's temperature, remove the muffin pan, at this point the fat will be smoking. Pour a little of the Yorkshire pudding mix into each cup (that's why we used a jug, makes it so much easier) and put back into the oven, don't dilly-dally, as you want to get the pan back in the oven as soon as possible.



Bake for around 20 minutes, until golden brown.



We had this with cabbage for supper and it was good.

***** UPDATE:

Just extra info. The cola tenderizes the meat. There is no cola or sweet taste what so ever in the gravy, you wouldn't even know there was cola in there.*********