Rumpy Pumpy Soup.

Yes, the Hobbits are finally coming off their diet and so I offer the following recipe from The Hairy Biker show 'Mum Knows Best' for your tastebuds.

This is the sort of recipe that begs you to serve it with home-made bread and is just the sort of thing I believe dear Sam may have rustled up for Frodo after their quest. Hearty, filling and perfect for a cold winter's day like today.

Ingredients:
About 2 litres ham stock (I'm a vegetarian so I just used vegetable stock)
450g carrots, peeled and chopped
225g turnip or swede peeled and chopped
340g onions, finely chopped
Any other ‘secret’ veggies, such as sprouts,
Leeks, finely chopped cabbage, even a can of chopped tomatoes (I always put a tin of tomatoes in)
225g red lentils
Salt and pepper

1.To make the stock the night before with a ham bone or hock so the flavour can develop.

2.Cook the vegetables in the ham stock until soft, then add the lentils. Stir frequently at this stage, as lentils can burn quite easily.

3. If you have made the stock with a ham hock, remove any meat, chop it and add to the soup. Season to taste.

Maureen sometimes adds chunks of potato to cook in the soup to make it more filling, or stirs in 1–2 teaspoons of ground cumin to give it a curry flavour.

This recipe is taken from Mums Know Best: The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook.

The Hobbits Are Dieting!

Due to trying to lose a little bit of weight, I shan't be uploading any new recipes for a while. I've been having far too many second breakfasts!

Poor Man's Pizza

I've recently enjoyed reading a book called, "The Duggars: 20 and Counting". Poor Man's Pizza is just one of many recipes shared by the Duggar family, and is incredibly simple.

Basically arrange several slices of bread on a tray, spread with a pizza/pasta sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 200c.

Other recipes can be found here at the Duggar family website. http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html


I imagine this type of meal might have served to the men of Lake Town for a tasty lunch. Perhaps even Bard the Bowman was treated to several rounds after he slew a certain Dragon.

Easter Egg Birthday Cake.

I can't imagine many people wondering what to do with their leftover easter eggs other than just scoff them!! But, if like me you're planning to diet soon, this proved a good way to use my easter eggs up for every one's benefit!

I found the recipe here http://www.easylivingmagazine.com/Food/Recipes/ChocolateCake/Default.aspx

whilst looking for a quick birthday cake I could make for my husband's birthday. I decided to ice the top and then I had planned to melt half an easter egg and drizzle the chocolate over the white icing. But, I decided to smash the egg up, leaving some nice big pieces too, and sprinkle the chocolate on instead.

My husband enjoyed it so much he wanted another one making asap! I took that as a huge compliment!

As for who would serve this in Middle earth, I'm thinking perhaps Rosie Cotton would do this for Sam's birthday, not that they even have easter eggs in Middle earth...but you never know!

Breakfast Casserole

This is another recipe I found at http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/ , it was called Baked Egg Casserole , but that reminds me of a dessert called Baked Custard for some reason, so I want to call it Breakfast Casserole instead.

6 slices of buttered white bread (I used 4)
1 lb. fully cooked bacon (I used about 6 vegetarian bacon slices)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of milk
1 dozen eggs (I used 4 and doubled them up with milk)

The recipe needed a bigger casserole dish than I had got, so I used two lasagna dishes instead and split the recipe between the two. I may invest in a larger dish, but doing it this way does give you the option of spicing the adults dish up and making it a bit more fiery, leaving the children's dish plain.

This does go very nicely with the Beans and Dogs, or could be made the night before, stored in the fridge and baked in the morning for breakfast as suggested on the above website.

I rather like to think that Barliman Butterbur might have prepared this for his hungry guests in Bree as a breakfast, it would have warmed them up and kept them going at least until a 'Second Breakfast' was dished out!

Beans and Dogs

I stumbled across this recipe on http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/ , and it sounded so easy and included all the things my boys like to eat.

Beans and Dogs Ingredients:
2 cans of baked beans
5 hot dogs sliced 1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of ketchup
2 to 3 slices of onion chopped
A dab of mustard
Mix it all together and cook it at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes

I think this would make a lovely lunch or supper all on its own with a nice chunk of bread. Or combine it with the Breakfast Casserole like we did. Either way I'm quite sure Rosie Cotton made it for Sam after a hard days work in his garden.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry

This is probably not your typical Hobbit food. But, I reckon Gandalf might have enjoyed this curry and would have sustained him well on his journeys on Shadowfax.

The recipe was past on to me from my brother, and I've tweaked a bit. Feel free to do the same.

1 onion, sliced,

1/2 pint coconut milk

Tin of chopped tomatoes,

1/4 jar of pataks curry paste ( I used Madras)

4-5 chicken breasts, skinless,

1 or 2 sweet potato's, cut into chunks. (I used a small tin of new potatoes)

1 tbs cornflour.

Heat the oil in a saucepan, fry onion. Add curry paste stir & add the chicken to brown. Once browned Add tin of chopped tomatoes , potato & coconut milk /milk (my brother uses normal milk) and bring to gentle boil.

Simmer for 25-45 minutes depending on how much your making, or until chicken is cooked through and coconut milk has reduced. To add more sauce, put in more chopped tom's or add milk. I added about a tablespoon of cornflour, but depending on how thick you want the sauce you could add more/less.

As you can see, we had ours with naan bread, but a bit of Lembas Bread would probably go down a treat too!