Rock cakes.

Recipe from "1000 recipe cookbook" by Isabelle Barrat and Jane Harrop.
  These are great. They don't last long-they turn to rock obviously. But day one hot and day two with a cup of tea. These worked fantastically and aren't too sweet. Everything in them is in the cupboard! Whip them up on a lazy wekend afternoon or as gifts to take with you to a book group etc.
I weigh things out and leave them in seperate bowls with the butter coming to room temp until I have time to mix them together to throw in the oven. Really small quantities of ingredients too.

You can have a batch of cakes (15-18) in less than an hour.


225g self raising flour
50g sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (we think half would be better)
75g butter (room temp is better for quick mixing)
75g sultanas or raisins (whatever needs using up)
25g chopped mixed peel
1 egg beaten
60 ml/4tbsp milk
caster sugar to sprinkle.

equipment...measuring spoons,scales,big bowl,pan,rack,fork,jug,knife

• Sift the salt,flour,cinnamon and sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter till it all looks like bread crumbs. 

• Mix in the fruit and add the liquids. (I do all the mixing with my hand)

• Drop tablespoons of batter well apart on a greased baking sheet (I used a smooth based grill pan) sprinkle with caster sugar and bake in a pre heated oven 190c/375f for 15-20 minutes (15 was perfect in my oven) 
•  Cool on a rack (I use a grill pan rack) and eat some while warm. Put in an air tight container as soon as they are cool but don't leave them too long!

The master list.

Pasta:

• Fusilli (tricolore or regular)
• macaroni
• shells
• lasagne sheets
• linguine or spaghetti
• penne

Herbs (dried)

• mixed
• oregano (large tub)
• mint
• sage
• thyme

Spice

• ground cumin
• ground coriander seed
• chilli powder (strength of choice)
• chilli flakes
• curry powder (strength of choice)
• tumeric
• mixed spice 
• ground nutmeg 
• ground cinnamon
• cloves
• ground ginger

sauces, stocks, purees, liquids,spreads (because these often interchange)

• worcestershire sauce
• beef stock cubes
• chicken stock cubes
• vegetable stock cubes
• gravy granules
• tomato puree
• tinned tomatoes
• passatta (seived tomato)
• condensed mushroom soup
• vinegar (regular everyday sort)
•  soy sauce
• tabasco
• balls original chutney(although any mixed fruit chutneys are fine)
• red jam (any)
• marmalade lemon and orange
• crunchy peanut butter
• marmite
• english mustard
• wholegrain mustard
• mustard powder
• sandwhich pickle
• mango chutney
• mayonnaise
• lemon juice
• cheap red wine
• cheap white wine (save the not so nice bottles recieved as gifts or use the funky bit left over in the fridge)
• Ale (one can hidden out of sight lol)

Fish

• small tin of anchovies
• tuna in brine

 Pickled or brined bits

• gherkins
• capers
• black olives 
• onions

Nuts and dried fruit

• currents
• sultanas
• raisins
• candied mixed peel
• dates
• flaked almonds
• pine nuts
• chopped hazlenuts
• walnuts

 Tinned vegetables and fruits

• Chopped tomatoes (also under sauce section)
• sweetcorn
• rhubarb--two large
• pears
• artichoke hearts
• mushy peas

 Tinned beans

• baked beans
• chick peas
• kidney beans

Dried beans and grains

• basmati rice
• long grain rice
• cous cous
• pearl barley
• chick peas
• haricot beans
• red lentils
• arborio or other short grained rice (for pudding and rissotto)
• oats

Flour

• self raising
• plain
• cornflour
• cornmeal/polenta (I can only find this ina  local healthfood shop-try holland and barratt or julian graves)
• strong white

 Sugars and syrups

• granulated sugar
• caster
• icing
• golden caster
• golden syrup
• treacle
• honey
• soft brown
• demerera

Perishable fridge items

• milk
• eggs
• bacon (can be frozen)
• cheddar

Perishable fresh veg always to hand

• carrots
• white potatoes
• onions
• white cabbage

Perishable fruit always to hand

• apples
• bananas
• other things in their seasons and as required 
• unwaxed lemons (often through summer not so much winter)

 Frozen

• Bacon (mentioned in fridge)
• diced cooked ham
• prawns
• peas
• minced beef
• minced lamb
• minced pork
• cod or other white fish
• smoked haddock
• diced lamb
• diced beef
• chicken joints
• diced chicken breast

About:
   Ham........learn to cook ham or bacon joints use google. Then freeze packets of sliced ham and diced ham in the freezer. This is cheaper than even the cheapest value ham and ten times the quality. Glazes are made with cupboard ingredients.  These joints are cheaper at christmas if you have a chest freezer to store them
    Chicken......buy whole birds and learn how to joint them and dice the breasts. Per kilo it's criminally cheaper than ready butchered joints. You just have to get used to eating joints as well as breast meat.
    Diced pork/casserole pork.......it's cheaper to buy pork shoulder steaks and cut it yourself.
    Lamb is frighteningly costly. Buy more than you need for a sunday roast to allow 3-500 g of lamb leftover. That leftover lamb can be put in the blender with an onion and used to make shepheards pie that is more flavourful than that made with mince.
    Pork loin joints.....often in reduced section can vbe seperated into smaller roast joints or diced for a casserole. 

It's common sense but bulk buy the list items when they are on offer (checking dates of course) seperate meat and freeze as soon as possible.

Make menu plans and make sure to get things out of the freezer on time.

The start.

 This blog is more for me than anything but you are most welcome! If anything is useful to you or you have ideas and questions please comment.
  I have found increasingly that the best way to feed the family healthy and treat foods and keep them interesting is to have a well stocked and clean kitchen. I have devoted much money and time to finding the best recipe books-what a waste of time. I have around fourty now and find something happening....I use some ingredients over and over and tend to choose recipes based on what I have already. All I need to buy are meats and vegetables and dairy or the odd ingredient.
   If you're new to cooking you'll find it expensive buying variouse spices and other odd ingredients, this may be why people moan that home cooking is expensive and to begin with it can be as you build up the cupboard. But after a while you will know which things go to waste in the cupboard and which get used up before the best before date. The cost of a jar of spice is fine if you use that jar for many different things, some items I use for many things and some for just one thing but regularly enough to always have it to hand.
  So why am I bothering to blog? I want to gather up a quick reference recipe book based on a set list of store cupboard ingredients. Using a huge collection of tags to allow me to search by ingredient or to tell me if I can make something based purely on cupboard ingredients.
    I'm not talking victorian style pantry here (oh I dream of a walk in pantry!!!) I'm a modern woman so I'll be adding my freezer to my list. I have limited space for food storage and I guess many do. 
    So I'll Post my list in one entry. It'll change and possibly grow as I discover new versatile ingredients. This will be my main list "the master list" every time I shop I'll check if any need topping up. I'll post recipes based on the list and tag every ingredient and the recipes that come from the list alone.