Cook the Books - September

September has been a rather slow month in the kitchen.  Food has been cooked, but it has all been basic, lets feed the family quickly stuff.  It was not until the middle of the month I finally made something new,

Week 2:
Finally had the time to try making marmalade using the orange limes I was given last week.  I looked at lots and lots of recipes, who knew there were so many different ways to make marmalade. Eventually I decided on Three Citrus Marmalade, substituting the grapefruit for limes.  It was fiddly in respect of the peeling, chopping and trying to separate as much fruit flesh from the pith as possible.  In hindsight I probably could have chopped the zest in the food processor.

Verdict: Looks like marmalade, albeit a soft set one, smells like marmalade, tastes like marmalade, not as sweet as bought marmalade, but we like it.

Week 3:
A little baking was in order, especially as I was taking the sweet part of lunch to my sewing day.    So what did I make?  Salted Peanut Caramel Slice -this I recipe I ripped out of  a magazine, however it was acknowledged as coming from the New Zealand Cafe Cookbook.

Verdict:  A delicious, not overly sweet caramel slice.  Quite a quick recipe to make, my only gripe was that quite a bit of the base crumbled off as I was slicing it up.  Could be the cook's fault not a recipe fault though.  Yes I'll make it again too.

Week 4:
After a busy week of quick meals, I finally had a night where I didn't have to rush anywhere so cooked a nice dinner for the family.  Chicken and Chorizo Paella from My Underground Kitchen.

Verdict: Quite delicious, filling not super spicy at all. A new family favourite.

Now that daylight savings has started, I am wanting salads and fresh flavours, instead of winter comfort food. Lets see what October has me making then.