<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Instructions
Here are all our own created recipes, or just our favourite recipes collected from various places. In the first view are all recipes sorted alphabetically. In the second view are all recipes sorted by assigned tag. There is a separate tag for Supporting Recipes; these are foods such as pastry, that are mentioned or referred to in other recipes that make a final product.
The International Recipes From PenPals tab is a list of recipes that I have kindly been sent by PenPals from all areas of the world in my time as part of a PenPal Group. I am always interested in hearing about favourite foods, so this tagged collection is my thank you to everyone who has indulged me and sent over their favourite choices. If I have been sent a recipe and not tried it myself, I have tagged that too.
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Some Thoughts on How I Got Here
A few of the books represented here literally changed my attitude towards cooking, especially as my family grew bigger.
First: Delia’s How to Cheat at Cooking by Delia Smith - the principles in this book, particularly taking shortcuts, incorporating convenience food, and shopping specifically for weekly meal plans and recipe lists, have saved me a fortune over the years. Yes, you can (and I did!) chop, peel and mess around with, for example, fresh herbs for hours (I sometimes still do, for pleasure!), but instead you can also use ready chopped pickled, paste or dried herbs that are then available all the time in the cupboard or fridge, and instead spend those hours with your family. Will the recipe taste a little less gourmet? Yes maybe, but are you catering for a dinner party? It will, after all, still be delicious and perfectly acceptable to hungry children after work. My biggest change from reading both this and Delia’s Christmas Book was my attitude to Christmas dinner. I changed from cooking all day on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, alone in the kitchen, to making our Christmas Dinner as close to a ready meal as I could get it without actually using a ready meal. Christmas Eve then turned into a spa and movie day with my daughters, and I got to relax with my family and their gifts on Christmas Day instead of being chained to an oven. My children barely noticed the change in food, because there really wasn’t that much of one.
Second: A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe - This book helped me more than I can describe when I became a single mother, and also had to budget so closely it was painful. I had already begun taking shortcuts; this allowed me to take bigger shortcuts when both every minute and every penny was precious. It stopped me from feeling so guilty about the changes in my children’s lives. It also helped immeasurably with preparing for cost of living rises later on. I understand Jack to have based this book on Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy, which I have not yet read, but may also be worth a look for those in the same position.
Third: The Dairy Book of British Food - I have been using this cookbook since I was a child, and it is a gem of a book just to see the huge range of British food available. There are notes too on traditional versions, and where the recipes originate, and they are organised by county. Growing up with this book as a mainstay, I have always thought British food gets a poor show; my knowledge is of a huge range of dishes and baking skills.
Fourth and Last: A place rather than a book; The Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire - I have spent many happy hours here learning sausage making, meat preserving, cider making, eating the fresh vegetarian dishes served at art classes, and shopping in the Welbeck Farm Shop. Welbeck began my love of vegetarian dishes, and of changing dishes from meat to veggie and back again, depending on my needs and audience. I eventually became a big believer in less meat per week for everyone, as we just do not need the amount we consume.
</aside>