Caitríona Redmond: Try my recipe for slow cooker beans that you can use in many meals

I love making a big batch of beans in the slow cooker, and then that’s several meals sorted

Have you ever wondered why Mother’s Day falls on a different day each year? There’s a very good reason for that and believe it or not Mother’s Day never started out as a holiday to celebrate your mother at all.

The origins of Mothering Sunday reach back to the sixteenth century when people returned to their “mother” church for Laetare Sunday (the fourth Sunday of Lent). In the Industrial Age it became a day when servants were given a day off to return to their family and it was often the only time of the year when entire families would congregate together and visit church as a family. It was also known as “going a-Mothering”. Over time this Mothering Sunday tradition evolved to one where mothers are celebrated.

This week I have a recipe for mothering buns. Traditionally made by children for their mother, in our house, they require a little supervision so we make these together as a family. These buns are not that sweet, the main sweetness comes from the vanilla icing on top, they are a little fortified and made with milk and honey.

Before I became a mother to my two gorgeous boys I had a mothering role and my husband made a point of marking the day for me. Being able to embrace and celebrate a mothering role has been an important part of my life.

For me mothering is very much tied with homemaking and feeding my family.

Last week I told you about my efforts to stay closer to home so that I spent less money. This week the first of my seedlings started to sprout. It’s a very gratifying feeling to see the tiny first leaves begin to unfurl and reach for the sunshine.

I had the seeds planted two days ahead of my parents-in-law. It’s been a source of huge satisfaction that some of my seeds germinated before theirs on Sunday. The following day of course my phone was awash with pictures from their whatsapps showing that they had far more success. It’s healthy competition and we will all benefit and share in the spoils.

Just like parenting and mothering, with a little bit of nourishment and love a seed will grow.

My second recipe this week is for Slow Cooker Baked Beans. I love making a big batch of beans in the slow cooker, and then that’s several meals sorted!

Between March 16 and 21 customers will be invited to add €1 at the till to raise funds for Down Syndrome Ireland and the Down Syndrome Centre.

Food News 

Dunnes Stores are celebrating World Down Syndrome Day. Between March 16 and 21 customers will be invited to add €1 at the till to raise funds for Down Syndrome Ireland and the Down Syndrome Centre.

Being a Tesco Clubcard member is now a must if you want to avail of their special offers in-store. Most products with a special offer label are only available to Clubcard customers. Using the Clubcard also accumulates points for the customer which can be redeemed in various ways, including money towards your Christmas shop. 

This week Tesco announced the points can now be used for The AA to contribute towards annual breakdown cover and up to €250 off car insurance renewal. Tesco has also teamed up with Royal Caribbean Cruises and will treble the value of Clubcard points to go towards a cruise holiday.

Home Economics

Did you know that today is the sixth Global Recycling Day? I’ll be honest I didn’t either until I picked up a Lidl magazine.

Recycling has a big part to play in managing our home finances. Being canny with what you recycle will certainly bring down the cost of refuse collection every month. It’s also a great way to think about how you are using the containers and packaging you receive into the house.

Milk cartons with handles make for nifty watering cans once you rinse out the bottle well and pierce a hole in the lid. Yoghurt pots are ideal for making giant ice cubes or indeed ice pop moulds. If you spread large cardboard boxes out flat and then damp down with water they make an excellent weed barrier and soft matting in the garden. Cereal boxes are a decent filing box, and takeaway boxes and trays are super for storing batch cooking plus organising the fridge.

By the way, Lidl has recycling bins behind the tills in all their stores which takes care of the larger items if you shop in that supermarket.

Mothering Buns

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

A Mother's Day classic.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 30 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour

• 1 tsp dried yeast

• 20g melted butter

• 1/2 tsp table salt

• 2 tsp honey

• 150ml warm milk (blood temperature)

Method

1. Take a large bowl, set the warm milk to one side and mix all the other ingredients together using your hands until you get a breadcrumb-like texture. Slowly mix in the warm milk, bit by bit. Stop as soon as you get a firm and slightly sticky dough. Add a little more warm milk if you don’t get a firm dough.

2. Knead the dough until smooth (this takes me about 10-15 mins on a clean surface). Brush the bowl with a small amount of melted butter and put the dough back inside then cover the bowl tightly with cling film.

3. Allow to rise for 90 minutes in a warm spot.

4. After 90 minutes, remove the cling film and knock the air back by giving a bit of a bash. Divide into 8 equal-sized pieces. I didn’t do this so there are 2 mini bits on my tray! Roll these pieces into thick sausage shapes. Dust a baking tray with flour and fit the pieces of dough into the tray, making sure that they don’t touch one another. Cover the tray with a tea towel and leave them to rise back for a further 30 minutes.

5. Heat your (fan) oven to 200 degrees Celsius. After the second rising stage, remove the tea towel and put the tray into the oven once it is heated.

6. Bake until golden (this takes about 25 minutes), remove and tip the rolls out onto a wire rack to cool.

7. Once they are warm to the touch. Ice by mixing 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract with 200g icing sugar and 4 tablespoons of water to get a thick paste. Dip the top of the rolls into the paste and set back onto a wire rack to allow to drip dry. Sprinkle the top with hundreds and thousands if you like.

Slow Cooker Beans

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

A few meals' worth of beans here for all kinds of uses.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 3 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 3 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

• 400ml vegetable stock

• 2 medium white onions, finely sliced

• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 3 sticks of celery, chopped

• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 1 tin cannellini beans

• 1 tin butter beans

• Optional spices/flavourings:

• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp ground white pepper

• Splash of Worcestershire sauce

• Splash of balsamic vinegar

• Drizzle of black treacle

Method

1. Make sure your slow cooker is off before starting.

2. Place all your ingredients into the crock pot (the ceramic bowl of the slow cooker). Stir the mixture well. Place the lid firmly on top.

3. Turn the slow cooker on high for 3 hours.

4. Stir the mixture 3 times during the cooking process if you can. If you can’t it’s no big deal from a flavour point of view, but it can help stop crusty bits forming on the crock-pot which can be a pain to scrub off.

5. The flavour of these beans is only improved by leaving the mixture to cool and mature for a further 12 hours. We normally eat a batch as soon as they are ready, then jar the remainder and allow to cool before popping it in the fridge. It keeps for up to a fortnight in the fridge in a sealed, sterilised jar. Our baked beans never last that long though.