spangles
Bouncy Castle
So I bought this today and I was pleasantly surprised. It cost £8.99, and that's a tad on the expensive side for a spiral-bound book with fewer recipes than the lastest lovely, hardbound Jamie Oliver (reduced to the same price in a supermarket near you)... but at least unlike the CWP handbook, this is full of workable, tasty recipies most of which have photos.
Everything is calculated to serve two, which is of limited use if your partner eats more than you'd get on each step, or wants less puritanical, fat-free methods of cooking... but that's fine because most quantities can be halved, and where not, most things can be kept in the fridge, cooked or uncooked, for the next day. Or you could always scale up the quantities for your partner - but i'd be worried about being tempted to take more than my share.
Recipes are divided into breakfasts, lunches, dinners and a few desserts for step 5, and are labelled with the step for which they are suitable. there's a fair few for each step, which is really useful - though unsurprisingly, they get more tempting as the steps go up. There's thankfully less reliance than in the handbook, for 'reduced fat spread' etc - though I can't see myself buying reduced fat cheddar for the otherwise tasty-looking salmon and broccoli au gratin, for example. I'd rather use less of the real stuff and go for serious flavour.
Somewhat annoyingly, there are lots of calls for a tablespoon (or other small quantity) of something you might not otherwise have... (like sherry) but i guess that's the way of all cook books. The knack is, either planning another suitable use for the rest of the goat's cheese, after you've used two slices required in the recipe, or being ok with letting it go to waste, rather than using it all, or gobbling up the remainder during a low moment. Which I suspect is a tough lesson most of us need to learn - I know I do.
Anyway, I recommend it if you're planning stepping up.
Everything is calculated to serve two, which is of limited use if your partner eats more than you'd get on each step, or wants less puritanical, fat-free methods of cooking... but that's fine because most quantities can be halved, and where not, most things can be kept in the fridge, cooked or uncooked, for the next day. Or you could always scale up the quantities for your partner - but i'd be worried about being tempted to take more than my share.
Recipes are divided into breakfasts, lunches, dinners and a few desserts for step 5, and are labelled with the step for which they are suitable. there's a fair few for each step, which is really useful - though unsurprisingly, they get more tempting as the steps go up. There's thankfully less reliance than in the handbook, for 'reduced fat spread' etc - though I can't see myself buying reduced fat cheddar for the otherwise tasty-looking salmon and broccoli au gratin, for example. I'd rather use less of the real stuff and go for serious flavour.
Somewhat annoyingly, there are lots of calls for a tablespoon (or other small quantity) of something you might not otherwise have... (like sherry) but i guess that's the way of all cook books. The knack is, either planning another suitable use for the rest of the goat's cheese, after you've used two slices required in the recipe, or being ok with letting it go to waste, rather than using it all, or gobbling up the remainder during a low moment. Which I suspect is a tough lesson most of us need to learn - I know I do.
Anyway, I recommend it if you're planning stepping up.
