Super Easy Mushroom Soup Recipe

Here is another of my so-easy-anyone-can-do-it recipes that a few of you have asked for.

The herbs and spices can be adjusted to taste so I have just listed the ones I use.

Large box Mushrooms

3 cloves Garlic

2 Vegetable Stock Cubes (made up with water)

Glass Wine

Fresh Basil

Fresh Chives

Mixed Herbs

Red & Black Pepper

Ginger

All in pressure cooker, up to pressure, turn down for 10 mins, then off.  

Liquidise if you like smoother soup.

You can keep some in the fridge and freeze the rest J

Before serving you can also add a knob of butter and/or some grated cheese – stir to melt. 

Or you can stir in some milk or cream for a Cream of Mushroom soup.



NB.  I just made some yesterday and as I hadn't got any fresh herbs in stock I just sprinkled in some spices from my spice rack and it was still lovely.  

I always tend to add Mixed Herbs and some Black & Red Pepper from my spice rack to most soups.

The main ingredients (mushrooms in this case) and the Stock Cubes are the only important ingredients really.

Surely life doesn’t have to end this way! My own views on the Liverpool Care Pathway.

It has been a while since my last blog as I have been wanting to post this one but must have changed it a hundred times as I don’t want to antagonise anyone – anti euthanasia, pro the Liverpool Care Pathway etc. or upset anyone who has lost someone on the so-called CARE pathway.

But if I don’t post it soon I will never post it.

There seems to coincidentally be an awful lot about it in the newspapers at the moment too.

But I just feel I need to write this and get it off my chest as I have been agonising over this for nearly 4 years now.

THIS IS ENTIRELY MY OWN OPINION FROM THE EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD WITH MY OWN MOTHER

If you were marooned on a desert island with no food or water, what would happen – your body would die!

So if you are lying in a hospital bed and you were given no food or water, then what would happen – your body would die!

If you are lying in a hospital bed and you are given a lethal injection, what would happen – yes, you’ve got it – your body would die!

I KNOW WHICH I WOULD PREFER!

The decision is made to end the life of your body at the point they put you on the Liverpool Care Pathway so at that point it is euthanasia – just slow euthanasia.

Due to some very outdated laws and oaths doctors can now put you on a slow death route as they are DOING NO HARM but they are not allowed to give you a lethal injection.

So instead of the nice painless quick ending that we would be kind enough to give our pets, they can only subject the body to die on its own through lack of the vital sustenance it needs to survive.

If we did it to a child, elderly person or even a pet AT HOME we would be charged with neglect. But do it in a hospital or care home and they put the name CARE into a form of euthanasia.

I am not against the Liverpool Care Pathway as such because it can save a person from living in a state that they would never be happy in again and may save them a long time in pain.

What I am against is not changing the law to enable doctors to sign the papers for a fast instant injection instead of signing the papers to withdraw all nutrition and fluids, when it gets to that point in a person’s life.

SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG HERE in this day and age.

It is a cruel way to end the life of a body.

I will never stop feeling “guilty” as I sat day after day at my own mother’s bedside and looking into her eyes knowing that her body was slowly being put to death, while she was muttering that no-one was feeding her and that she was thirsty.

Don’t get me wrong, she was 92 years old and had not really had much of a life for the last couple of years and she was in hospital because she had had a stroke.

After 3 weeks she could still hardly move and would have absolutely hated to have been in that state for the rest of her days but she was conscious and talking as best she could although it was hard for her to get the words out and sometimes she wasn't making any sense and her hand seemed to be writing what she wanted to say at the same time.  But she did know they were not feeding her and kept telling me, even if she only knew subconsciously.

I had been unable to visit her on the Sunday and when I came in on the Monday they didn’t say anything but when I spoke to the nursing staff they mentioned that her feeding tube had FALLEN OUT on Saturday. I thought they stitched those tubes in!

They said that as no doctors were around over the weekend the tube had not been put back in.  Then they gave me a leaflet on the Liverpool Care Pathway which I guess was supposed to answer most of my questions before I saw the doctor as his time is precious.  They said I could make an appointment to see the doctor the next day if I wanted.

So by the time I could see the doctor and complain / approve their decision 3 days had already passed and her organs were already damaged, probably past the point of no return.

I was told she would not last more than a day or so in her weakened state as she was effectively already into day 3 of the Pathway. She actually lasted 5 more days after that.

I don’t know how awful that felt for her to not be given nutrition and fluids, and more importantly I have no idea how horrible it must have felt for her to have her organs shrivel up and die slowly inside.

But I do know how awful I felt knowing that it was 100% certain that her body was about to die and there was nothing I could do to end it quickly for her.

We don’t do this cruel thing to our pets and we shouldn’t have to do it to our loved ones either. It is cruel to them and it is cruel to us.

The current newspaper articles are about whether people are put on the LCP unnecessarily or without permission from the relatives.

But having been through this, my point is that if it is clear the patient will not get through the illness or will have no quality of life left in their last remaining days, then surely we can save them having to go through this awful process and end it in a more humane way for them. It is not dignified to put them through this ordeal when there is a simple way out.

In circumstances like this it is time to change the law!

Yellow Mint Sauce Indian Restaurant Style Recipe

Do you love that orangey/yellow sauce in one of the pots they put on the table with the poppadoms while you are waiting for your Indian meal to be served?

I love it and could happily eat a whole pot myself.   So I asked my favourite Indian restaurant for their recipe and this is it.  

Yellow Mint Sauce

Natural Yogurt + Milk to thin

Green Chilli to taste (approx. 2 small)

Coriander

Garden Mint

2-3 dessertspoons Sugar

Mango Chutney

Salt

Blend the extra ingredients, then add to Yogurt

These are the basic ingredients but this is one of those dishes that you can add as much or as little as you like to get the taste you like best, as some like it stronger than others.

I haven't got a photo to show you but will add one next time I make it, or visit the Indian restaurant which gave me the recipe.

Ooh dear – thought they were cheap!

We have been putting up some sheds at the side of the house to hopefully empty the garage so that we can turn it into a room.

We had to buy cheap sheds as they are the only ones we could find that were narrow enough.  With sheds you obviously get what you pay for!  They came with lots of bits to assemble, which were far from perfect shapes and they don’t fit together very well.

We bought those ones that you don’t actually go inside – they are more like outdoor wardrobes or cupboards with double doors that open right out.  We needed them narrow to fit down the side of the house as the back garden isn’t very big. 

If they were more expensive we wouldn’t have been able to buy 5 of them so we can’t really complain about the workmanship of them.

Down at the allotment quite a few people have been getting sheds, which normally arrive in about 6 pieces and go up in about half an hour. 

Hmm and then there are our sheds!  Our sheds arrived in about 20 pieces (plus all the fittings) and take most of the day to put up each one.  2 days for the one that would just not sort itself out and was all twisted.

The bits are warped, not quite the right size, knots in places you need to put a screw, the tongue and groove doors have gaps – you name it, these have it.  Even the floor has an extra strip that you have to put on as the original floor is not long enough (they provide the strip for you).

Never mind, they are all up now, we now just have to put some form of shelving in them and we can start emptying the garage.

It is so good that we are both very easy-going patient people as others I know would have smashed them to smithereens by now and used them for firewood – they probably wouldn’t even burn but that is all they are really good for!

They do look a bit like a row of lockers but at least they don’t take up as much space as walk-in sheds and all the space inside is usable.  I doubt anyone will see them down the side of the house besides us anyway.

We’ve just got to empty the contents of the large (nearly double) garage into 5 incy wincy little sheds now J  

Easy Coffee and Walnut Sponge Cake

As requested here is my very easy fool-proof recipe:

Sponge

8 oz Soft Butter

8 oz Caster Sugar

8 oz Self Raising Flour

4 Eggs

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Instant Coffee (enough boiling water to dissolve – leave to cool)

½ packet (approx. 4 oz Chopped Walnuts)- keep aside some to add in the middle of the sponge and large pieces or halves to decorate

Coffee and walnut butter icing (amount to individual taste) for middle

1 teaspoon dissolved Instant Coffee

Butter

Walnut pieces

Coffee icing for top and side

1 teaspoon dissolved Instant Coffee

Water

Turn oven on to 170 degrees.

Make coffee for the sponge (if you don’t mind the extra washing up, make 3 coffee mixtures ready to use).

Line 2 sponge tins with non-stick baking paper (or grease the tins well).

If the butter is still a bit hard, put it in the microwave just above defrost temperature for about 30 seconds until just soft as it makes it easier to mix.

Put all the ingredients (apart from the walnuts) into a large bowl and stir well (you can cream the sugar into the soft butter first if you want, but I find it isn’t essential). 

When it is all mixed in you can stir in the walnut pieces (I break mine up quite small – each half into about 6 pieces).

Divide the mixture into the 2 sponge tins.

Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes (until they feel springy on top – but don’t test until about the 30 minutes or they will sink in the middle).

Take them out and cool on a rack (tip - keep the one with the best rounded top upwards and the other one with the top downwards on the rack, so the 2 flat parts are in the middle of the cake to ice).

Make another coffee mixture with as little hot water as possible and when cool add it to butter and icing sugar – make as much as you like for the middle of the cake.

Make and cool the last coffee mixture so it is cool to make the setting icing for the top.

When the sponges are cool, put the bottom sponge on the serving dish and spread with the butter icing and push some walnut pieces into the icing (or you can add them to the butter icing before spreading it if you prefer).

Put the other sponge on top.

Make up the icing with the last coffee mixture and add the icing sugar, adding a little bit more water to get the amount of icing you want.

Spread it over the top of the cake (and round the sides if you want). 

In my photo I made the icing a little thinner plus more than normal and let it run down the sides and on to the serving plate (spoon up over the bits it missed on the sides until all covered).

Decorate the cake with the walnut pieces (tip – don’t put them too close to the edge if the icing is still runny as they will fall off).

If you want just the basic reminder instructions, here they are:

Put all sponge ingredients in a bowl, stir, divide into 2 tins.

Pop in the oven 170 for 30 mins, then cool.

Butter ice the middle, setting icing the top.  Walnuts to decorate.

Oops –shouldn’t have done that!

I say that, but if I knew what caused it I certainly wouldn’t have done it.

One or other of the discs in my back is playing up again which is why it has been a while since my last blog I am afraid.

You may laugh if you saw me as this time I just can’t sit down.  Sitting down seems to push the disc on to the nerve so I have spent 2 weeks now either standing up or walking about.

Wow – is that boring , or what!

I haven’t even been able to get online as I only have a desktop pc.  It is definitely one of those times that I wish I had a tablet or a phone that has internet access.

I have been baking as it is something I can do standing up so hubby has been happy.  Talking of which, I had my first ever disaster when baking a Ginger and Marmalade Cake the other day.  Hubby wasn’t quite so pleased about that as he had to clean the oven afterwards! 

The tubs I buy of Baking Powder and Bicarbonate of Soda are exactly the same apart from the name and, of course, I mixed them up and put the wrong one in the cake.

You should have seen the mess.  You know how it is, you pop the cake in the oven and then forget about it until it is nearly time to get it out.

Well, when I looked through the oven door (as best I could as I can’t bend down) I couldn’t believe it.  The cake was bubbling, not only at the top of the high cake tin, which I never expected it to reach when it rose, but it was bubbling all down the side and all over the oven floor.

Plus, of course, as luck would have it, I had 2 cakes in the oven and had put this one close to the front so I could get it out first – so what happens – it had gone all over the door as well as down between which meant it had also made a mess of the bottom oven underneath as well.

It’s a real good job that the other cake turned out fine which redeemed me in hubby’s eyes for all the cleaning up, as the disaster cake went in the bin.  It tasted like neat Bicarbonate of Soda. 

Logically it should have been good for the tum as it had Bicarbonate of Soda and Ginger in it.  But definitely not to be!  Obviously somehow Bicarb does not work with either butter or with eggs!

I regularly make Date Loaf and indeed the Fruit and Nut Loaf (that survived in the back of the oven) with Bicarbonate of Soda but there is water in the recipe and no butter or eggs.  Flour and sugar is obviously ok as they are in both recipes.

So note to self:  Always check the labels before adding!

I don’t know if helping to erect a shed had anything to do with my disc going out (I have 3 bulging discs according to the MRI and my consultant) but I was really only passing things (screws etc.) an holding things in place, leaning on them while he screwed them together and nothing strenuous as I was being careful.

So whether it was getting in different positions to normal or whether it was “just the straw that broke the camel’s back” I just don’t know.  The pain came on when I was supermarket shopping (no I wasn’t pushing the trolley) and if I had been at home I may have been ok as I normally put my moist heat pad on my back and sit down at any sign of my back going normally.

I am very happy though that the nerve isn’t trapped or the disc leaning on it all the time, as that is what happened the 3 previous times.  Standing up all day is something I can easily put up with – it is just that I get bored.  It is surprising how many things we normally do sitting down!

I gave up waiting for it to ease off and stacked some big books under my keyboard and mouse but it still means the monitor is low (as the leads wont allow me to put that up any higher.  So after a few days of trying to type at arms length and my neck leaning forward to see the screen, I got neck ache and had to stop doing that as well for more than a few minutes at a time.

Thank goodness for gadgets.  One of my most used is my “picker-upper-thingy” – a long handled grabber (like a long gun with pincers on the end).  I have learnt to pick up everything with it, from cat fluff to shampoo bottles, even some cake ingredients out of a low cupboard when I was on my own the other day.

It would be so funny to watch me I am sure, but I have got it down to a fine art now which is a good thing because why is it that you keep dropping things when you can’t pick them up?!  It’s like when you cut your finger – everything you seem to do catches on it.

Anyway, although I am not better yet, I have managed to do this blog in short spurts so I will post it and hopefully be back to normal service soon J

Do we eat anything natural any more?

Vegetables are not what they were a couple of decades or so ago.  We now only have neat-shaped fruit and vegetables that have been grown in artificial conditions.

They have to be the right shape and colour.  They are treated and sprayed so that they can travel thousands of miles to get to our shops and still be in good condition.  They are grown in artificial environments so that we can eat every type of fruit and vegetable throughout the year instead of just when that item is in season.

Even "organic" ones are contaminated in some way by the chemicals in the wind, rain and underground water supplies, even if they aren't sprayed and fertilised.

We live in a very artificial world.

We have just got an allotment this year but the produce will still not be "natural" or "organic" as such because we have to:

Buy the seeds which have probably been changed in some way.

The land used to be farmland so has probably been treated with numerous chemicals.

The water is from an underground well which all the water from the fields nearby drain into after the farmers have sprayed their crops.

The chemical spray from the nearby fields probably blows over in the wind and rain.

If we did use any fertiliser, even from the nearby horses instead of in fertiliser bags, we don't know what they have been eating in their feed.

We now have chickens so our eggs are as free range as they can be but we still have to buy layers mash to feed them on so don't really know how they treat that.

We will never be able to get back to natural truly organic food as we have done too much damage to our soil and water but I wonder how far they will go in producing perfectly shaped and coloured fruit and vegetables for us to buy – will they all be identical in the racks in the shops so there is no real choice at all – it’s getting that way now.  And what happens to the ones that don’t conform to that shape and size – they get thrown away or ploughed back into the fields!