Instagram Inspiration

If, like us, you’re addicted to cooking and baking pages on Instagram, then you know you will never be short of a good recipe.

One page we go back to regularly is good ole @odlums_ireland.

The recipes are fool-proof. Decadent and delicious, impressive and attractive without breaking the bank or giving you a headache.

These prosecco cupcakes are just one example of a recent post but we’ll also be trying our hand at their chocolate brownies!

Rural Rhymes

A time to remember

COVID’s gone, hip hip hooray

We’ve lived to fight another day

We can now discard the daily task

Of wearing that awful COVID mask

It’s been with us now for two long years,

For many folk, a vale of tears

So lonely when we had lockdown

Not visits to our local town

Friends and neighbours stayed away

Waiting for another day

Grandchildren didn’t understand

We didn’t even shake their hand

But recent days are looking good

We can meet our friends for a bite of food

Sport and leisure back on track

Those in power say not going back

We’ll soon be back to our normal way

And join a parade on Patrick’s Day

We’ll join the crowd who go to watch

The goings on at the ploughing match

Its back to before COVID came

We’ll now enjoy the Sunday Game

It’s the simple we’ll value most

–Paddy Egan

Picture of the Week

Farm-mad 22-month-old Liam Healy from Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, loves reading the machinery section of the Irish Farmers Journal and helping Daddy feed bales to the cattle every evening. \ Miriam Healy

Katherine’s Home Management Tip

The general rule of thumb for freezing is three to four months for prepared food. It’s not that it’s harmful if it’s consumed after this date but the quality and flavour deteriorates.

Flavourings such as spices and salt fade. With stews and curries, this is easily rectified by tasting and re-seasoning as necessary. Frozen food is always better when thawed slowly.

Fresh joints of red meat last about a year, chicken for six months and fish for three months.

If food has been in the freezer over a longer period, use common sense when assessing whether you can eat it or not. Is it slimy or smelling bad? This is a sign that food has gone off.

Freezer burn is not harmful, cut off that piece as it will be tough. In a power outage, do not open the freezer. Cover it instead with blankets to prevent thawing. A full freezer will last a few days.

Number of the Week

3 – The number of people in every 10 who have experienced food poverty in Ireland.

Tweet of the Week

Quote of the Week

From Elaina Ryan, on the importance of making reading fun for kids:

At age nine, about 6% of kids report that they don’t read ever and when that comes up to those teenage years, it rises straight up to about 21% who don’t read ever because there’s so much going on with them