Stressed Mum

Posts Tagged ‘Kenwood Chef’

My son went to France last week on an exchange trip with school and has returned a complete Francophile.

He now requires French bread for his school lunch so I thought I’d have a go at making my own. I used the French bread dough programme on my bread machine to make the dough.

500g White bread flour
1 teaspoon quick yeast
2 teaspoons salt
320ml warm water

The dough took over 3 hours to make. It would have been quicker to use the Kenwood but I wanted to just leave it as I was busy.

The dough was split into 4 portions. Each was flattened then rolled out to about 4cm x 30cm with plenty of flour.
Each piece was then rolled into a cylinder shape and the join pinched together. The loaves were left to rise covered with a damp teatowel for half an hour.

They were put into a hot oven, 200C for 15 minutes. A bowl of hot water was placed on a lower shelf to provide steam.

The result? Four delicious, crusty loaves to be proud of! They didn’t last long though!

I’m still trying to eat healthily most of the time.

Needing a quick healthy lunch I decided to make a quick butter bean dip to have with pitta bread and carrot sticks. I used a 400g tin of butter beans but if you have more time you can soak and cook your own. I added the juice of half a lemon, 2 generous tablespoons of low fat creme fraiche, a crushed clove of garlic and a heaped teaspoon of curry powder. I whizzed mine in the food processor attachment of my Kenwood Chef but it can easily be mixed by hand. Make it smooth or chunky depending on your preference. A generous handful of chopped coriander finished it off and it made a delicious lunch with toasted pitta bread, carrot sticks and baby plum tomatoes. Low fat, healthy and delicious, perfect.

I have made a start on my healthy eating plan. I know I
have to improve the diet of my family so I decided to incorporate
lots more vegetables into some of their favourite meals. This is
not a new idea but I have let it slip recently.

Today I have made a large pan of bolognese sauce. Not terribly exciting, you may think,
but at least everyone (except veggie me!) will eat it. As well as
the usual minced beef, tomatoes and herbs this one contains onion,
carrot, celery, yellow pepper and mushrooms. Of course my son is
not keen on any of those so I gave them a good whizz in my Kenwood
food processor attachment first until they were all a similar size
to the mince. Cunning, yes? In the finished sauce most of the
vegetables really cannot be seen and what cannot be identified is
much more likely to be eaten. I used up a glug of red wine hanging
around since Christmas too.

As part of my plan to eat more
economically I have made more than I need and will get a few single
portions stashed in the freezer for those days where I need a quick
meal for someone, hopefully this will save on requests for fast
food as there will be something ready in just the ten minutes it
takes to boil the pasta.

When I decided to join the 21st century and write a blog I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to write about. I still have no idea. I do know that I like to write. I also like to cook, read, garden, watch Manchester City and sew. I do not like to clean, tidy, wash, iron…. you get the picture. I may write about cleaning, tidying etc. as I do those (almost) every day. I am more likely to write about the things I love.
The things I love do, of course, include my husband and four children so I may write about them too, but only if they do something interesting!
Currently the thing I love best is my new Kenwood Chef. My Mum had one of these when I was growing up but I was never initiated into its mysteries. I recently did some research (Google and talking to friends!) and decided to buy one with the proceeds of a few days teaching in March. I am a convert. I have chopped, sliced and mixed. I have made bread (lots), pasta, soup and cakes. I think I may be addicted to bread making. Looking for and trying new bread recipes takes time but the end result is very satisfying so I am trying to collect together a good selection of recipes. I will post on here any good ones I find.