Welcome to my kitchen...I have been baking more than I ever have for a long, long time…Come and join me…

I have so many bananas in my freezer I need to use up before the next ones come along as looking at the tree they will be ripe very soon…I have updated my original version of banana cake…Why? I get bored and think of how I can change something it doesn’t always work but sometimes it is for the better… I prefer using oil for one dish cakes by that I mean cakes, where everything is mixed together and cooking fat is just not the same here and neither are the cakes…Many Thai cakes are fatless and rice flour is used so they are very, very light…Quite nice but I like a cake with a bit of substance to it…

What has been cooking in my kitchen then?

Corn Beef hash for one…I haven’t made corn beef hash for a few years…Earlier in the week, I visited a new shop on the hunt for some cheese…Proper cheddar can be difficult to find here and as is the case once again after Christmas and the New Year stocks of some goods take a few months to start coming in again…I wasn’t lucky on this occasion but the guy had come across some Brazillian corn beef and at a good price…Hence corn beef hash…

I do know that corned beef to the English is not the same as corned beef to my American cousins…What my American cousins call corned beef we call Salt Beef…It gets confusing at times, doesn’t it…sigh…but interesting as well…

Salt Beef …a sigh of pleasure as I remember how my mum served it with pease pudding and a lovely clear gravy…also known as pease porridge, is a savoury pudding dish made of boiled legumes, typically split yellow peas, with water, salt, and spices, and often cooked with a bacon or ham joint or Salt Beef…

Asa child it wasn’t my favourite although I got to like it as I grew older ..Does anyone remember the song Pease Pudding, hot, Pease Pudding, cold. Pease pudding in the pot 9 days old?

Back to Corn Beef Hash…

• I large onion chopped
• 3/6 cloves of garlic we like lots of garlic
• About a kilo of potatoes peeled and cubed
• 1 1/2 tins Corned Beef.
• Salt and pepper to season
• Worchester Sauce (optional)

Parboil your potatoes until nearly cooked. In the meantime cook your onions and garlic until soft but not browned.

Heat your oil in a pan with a couple sprigs of rosemary(optional) Then drain and add your potatoes lightly crush then with a potato masher and cook as like roast potatoes turn halfway through cooking and about 15 mins before the end add your broken up corned beef and stir in gently…

If you are using eggs at this point you can make a small well in the mixture and crack your eggs in one per person into the wells made.

I didn’t add eggs this time as the family wanted cauliflower and broccoli in a cheese sauce.

Once cooked add a shake or two of Worchester sauce over the top and serve either with crusty bread or a side of vegetables or salad.

Enjoy!

It seems everyone has a hankering for homemade cookies…These ones have blueberries and Chocolate in them…Oh and some oats…that’s the healthy bit or so I keep telling myself…lol

Carol’s Chocolate and Blueberry Cookies…

• 1 cup of oats…I used rolled oats but quick oats are fine.
• 3/4 cup of wholewheat flour…I did 1/2 cup wholewheat and 1/4 cup all-purpose
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts…the recipe said hemp seeds which I didn’t have…
• 1 med banana mashed…I need to use these bananas
• 2 tbsp coconut oil…mine is always liquid but if solid melt and cool
• 1 tsp vanilla essence1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Let’s Bake!

Makes 8 cookies.

Mix your dry ingredients together and then in a separate bowl mash the banana. Add the coconut oil, vanilla and honey to the banana and mix well to combine.

Add the banana mix to the dry ingredients I did mine in two batches stirring well to combine in between.

Gently add the blueberries, nuts and chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime heat your oven to 180C /365F or gas mark 4.

Then spoon or roll the mix into balls place on the prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly with your hand. Leave about a 2′ space between the biscuits they didn’t spread that much.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are slightly brown remove from the oven and cool down…my oven tends to run hot so 12 minutes was ample next time it will be 11 minutes. Biscuits always harden as they cool…

I prefered these to the chocolate ones I made last week they were not as dry…

The banana bread is still being tested you tell how hard I am trying to use all the bananas up…The first one I used nuts and the one I made a couple of days ago I added sultanas …This next one I am going to add lime zest and walnuts…Hopefully, I will get a picture before they dive in and eat it…I am also planning gingerbread which I love and haven’t had for ages.

Pancakes are also being tested as it is Pancake Day soon…To be precise it is Tuesday 25th…Lily is coming today for the weekend so I will make pancakes early… I am also planning to make some banana ones I am going to mash the bananas into the batter and see how they turn out…

Tonight we are having one of our family favourites crispy pork and Kale…

This really is a lovely dish if you like crispy pork belly…

That’s all from me for this week I hope you have a fabulous weekend and if you are making pancakes and have some great recipes please share…xx

Thank you for reading I invite your comments as always xx

About Carol Taylor: Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a fabulous weekend xxx