In the Kitchen - Frugal Frittata

Evening All,

If you have been following this blog you will know that the EM has been confined to quarters of late ... no dashing out to the shops to keep the larder well stocked. This has meant I have had to exercise the old grey matter a little more than usual in the kitchen. Fortunately, we have a few staples already in the cupboards, eggs, cheese, etc., and a rake round the fridge produced enough to make this substantial dish for last night's supper.

Frugal Frittata

Ingredients:

One large, deep frying pan.

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 3 rashers of back bacon - ours was unsmoked - chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 medium onion - peeled and chopped
• 1 celery stalk - chopped
• 3 medium sized cooked potatoes - cut into bite-sized dice
• 1 medium sized tomato - cut into bite-sized dice
• 3 dessertspoons of cooked peas
• 1 teaspoon of mixed dried herbs
• 6 eggs - beaten
• 2 dessertspoons of semi-skimmed milk
• 2 oz grated cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat pan for a minute or two and then add the oil.
• Add the chopped bacon and fry gently for a couple of minutes.
• Add the chopped onion and celery and cook until softened.
• Add the potatoes and fry until gently browned.
• Toss in the tomato and fry for a minute or two.
• Meanwhile mix the milk into the beaten eggs and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Now add the peas and the mixed herbs.
• Turn up the heat and making sure the bacon and vegetables are spread evenly in the pan, pour the beaten eggs over the mixture.
• Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top of the mixture.
• Cook on high heat for a few minutes then reduce the heat to prevent the base of the mix burning and allow the egg to set completely.
• Finally, turn on the grill, set on high, and just before serving zap the pan under it for a few minutes to cook the top of the frittata to a golden brown shade.

Serve with a salad, ours had lettuce, tomato, orange and apple slices combined, but a green salad would go with it just as well.

The frittata is big enough to feed four people for lunch or two very hungry people for dinner. You could easily adjust the ingredients to make a smaller frittata, e.g. two eggs and fewer potatoes & vegetables would still make a good sized meal for one.

Most of the vegetable ingredients could be substituted with any other leftovers you have in your fridge and the bacon could be omitted to make a tasty vegetarian dish.

Frankly, the most time-consuming thing about making this recipe is the preparation - once the bacon and vegetables are chopped, cheese grated and eggs beaten it's made in super quick time.

The EM enjoyed it so I hope that if you try it you will enjoy it too - whatever, do let me know - all feedback welcomed :)

And after all that typing, I now have to go think about what we are going to eat tonight. Thank goodness for the fridge and freezer - we'd starve without them.

I'll be back tomorrow with another project I've just completed. Until then, happy crafting to you all,

An 8 x 8 scrap page - Jennifer at the Christening

Morning Everyone,

Life at Casa Worthington is slowly getting back to normal, the EM is getting a little better every day, and I'm squeezing in a bit more crafting time too.

This is my first Guest Design Team member submission for the month of December on the Scrap our Stash Challenge Blog. It's an Anything Goes challenge this month so I thought this page fitted the topic very well. It's yet another 8 x 8 layout  - I'm finding that when time is short this is the page size that's just right for me - it can be quickly made using only one photograph and needing fewer embellishments.

My daughter, Juli, had her four oldest children Christened at the same time in 1999 - gosh, that's 12 years ago, doesn't time just fly? Somewhere I have a photo of the family altogether in the church but haven't been able to lay my hands on it yet ... when I do, that will be another page to make. In the meantime, I love this photo of Jenny, aged 6, with her happy, gappy smile and pretty dress having fun at the Christening party.

For the base, I've used Core'dinations, Aged Wine, sanded lightly around the edges, and for the layout I've used a selection of papers from a Kay Miller Designs set, Simple Pleasures, that came free with Scrapbook Magazine. The colours in the floral designs echoed the colours in Jenny's dress perfectly and the ornate heart-shaped shapes together with the little ribbon bow were just the right embellishments.  I've used Kiwi Lane templates to cut shapes from the paper - Bracket 1 for the floral & pink check pieces and Paisley Place mini 2A for the pink wavy strip that can be seen going along the bottom of the layout. The computer generated journalling was printed on the floral paper before cutting out the bracket shape. The floral trim came with the set too - I just trimmed round it with scissors on one edge to add a bit of interest. All the paper edges were inked with some Tim Holtz's Victorian Velvet. The rest of the embellishments, butterflies, flower, gems, came out of my stash - the butterfly embellishments I found whilst on holiday in Wales earlier this year. To make the butterfly trail, I lightly pencilled in the shape I wanted and then used tiny sticky-backed gems to cover the pencilling.

It's another dull and dark day here in Ayr - yesterday we even had a shower of hailstones - ugh! I'm so temperamentally unsuited for this miserable weather :) Here in Scotland we've had enough rain in the last few weeks to make the farmers in the south of England green with envy! To cheer ourselves up, the EM and I have been planning next year's holiday. We are going on a road trip - now that's adventurous of us :))

We've posted the map of the UK up on a wall in the snug and the blue spots you can see are stickers indicating the places we would like to visit. Most are in the south of the country so that's where we are headed next summer - I can't wait :))

Right, I'm off to make a bit of lunch for us, fill the washing machine, empty the wastepaper baskets and so on - then I'll be back to craft a bit more.

In the meantime, I wish you all a happy day and keep crafting,

Celebrating 100 Followers Giveaway Winner Announcement

Hello Everyone,

Many thanks to all who left a comment on the giveaway post. There were 23 comments in all to go into the draw and, as I just cannot get to grips with the Random.org thing, I decided to do it the old-fashioned way. I printed off all 23 comments and folded the strips into itty bitty pieces and dropped them into the largest jug in our collection, stirred them about a bit, and pressed the recovering EM into service to make the draw - in fact, I think he was quite chuffed to be asked :)

Much as I would love to be able to reward all you lovely followers, it just isn't possible, so there could only be one winner drawn from the jug and that is ...

 drum roll ..............................................................................

...............................ta da, ta da ..................................

...............ta da..................

Yes ... that's you ..........................  

Shaz

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards

Congratulations Shaz - please e-mail me with a note of your postal address so I can get the prize of to you as soon as possible - I'm hoping to beat the Christmas post :)

Once again, many thanks to all my followers and encouragers, you are what makes blogging the pleasure that it is. I appreciate you all, your comments are a delight and I enjoy participating in blogland - the hints, tips and exchange of ideas makes it a fabulous learning ground and I have benefited enormously from the friendship and camaraderie I've experienced - long may it continue :))

CHEERS!

My best wishes to you all and happy crafting,