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Creamy Pesto Chicken

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I definitely have less time to cook these days but I still love creating new meals and enjoying really tasty food.

Today I had a hunt about in the fridge and made a recipe I must have made 10 times before but today it tasted especially good and I wanted to share it with you before I forgot!

Creamy Pesto Chicken

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Totally indulgent but light and the addition of the tomatoes/peppers and courgettes makes you feel pretty food about eating it.

You will need:

3 or 4 chicken thighs
2tbsp Pesto
150ml double cream
2 sweet red peppers diced (or half a large red pepper)
Approx.10 cherry tomatoes
2 inch chunk of courgette diced
Crushed black peppercorns

Brown your thighs:

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* I was making double for a different recipe.

Once browned add your courgette, tomatoes and peppers:

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Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes and then add your pesto and cream. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes ensuring your chicken is thoroughly cooked and serve immediately.

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I served with “round chips” and rocket. It was delicious. It served two adults and we were more than satisfied.

Recipe for chips to follow tomorrow.

It’s a bit of an indulgent recipes with the double cream so you could use single cream or even yoghurt to lighten it up but it’s seriously good.

Super simple Banoffee pies

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I wasn’t intending to blog about this as well it’s so easy I can hardly call it a recipe but so many people loved them (either those who ate them or saw my Instagram pics) that I felt it was only fair to share 😉

A few weeks back I bought quite a few boxes of sweet pastry shells as they were short date ( B.B end of Sept) and therefore ridiculously cheap without really any idea of what I was going to do with them – today inspiration hit at the supermarket when I saw bananas at a bargain price and I decided to make mini Banoffee pies for my daughters tea party.

If you were to have a dinner party and serve these up for dessert I assure you they would go down well. My sister declared them as the best cake/pies she’s ever eaten. You could easily make the shortcrust pastry or even do a type of cheesecake biscuit base which I’m sure I will try next time I make them. I won’t give exact quantities here as I just kinda threw it all together.

You will need:

Pastry shells (or shortcrust pastry tarts blind baked and cooled)
1 tin of carnation caramel
Double/whipping cream
1tbsp of icing sugar
Cadburys flake ( broken up into teeny pieces)
Bananas sliced thinly

Whip your cream with the icing sugar until thick.

Spoon caramel into each case/shell then top with sliced bananas, a dollop of cream and bits of flake

Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

Tada.

Told you it was easy peasy.

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Cheese and Potato Bake

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After a few days away last week I returned home to a sack of potatoes which I really needed to use up and it just so happens I’ve had such a craving for cheese and potato pie. I really didn’t fancy the fuss of making pastry tonight and also I am currently on strict orders to take it easy so I made something quick and simple which my mum made a lot when I was growing up – cheese and potato bake. I adapted it from the basic recipe my mum passed on and it was delicious.

Cheese and Potato Bake

8/9 medium sized potatoes (peeled and diced)
1 red onion (diced)
200g mature cheddar (grated)
75ml of milk
25ml of single cream
1tsp of crushed peppercorns
2 tbsp of butter
1tbsp of herbs (your choice – I used rosemary & thyme)

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.
Put your potatoes in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and drain.
Sauté your onions in a tbsp of butter until soft. Heat your milk in a small pan or microwave and add to your potatoes, butter, pepper and cream and mash thoroughly. Mix in your onions and 150g of cheddar along with your herbs and spoon it in to a cazuela or large ovenproof dish, top with remaining grated cheese, some sliced tomato and a few basil leaves for decoration and bake for 25-30 minutes.

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Cheese and Potato Bake

This was a really comforting, tasty meal. Fairly cheap to make and really quick and easy.

I served this with tinned chopped tomatoes and bacon – yum.

This fed 1 hungry pregnant lady, 1 hungry 6ft man and 1 hungry energetic toddler with a chunk leftover for someone’s (mine) lunch tomorrow.

Izzy enjoyed 🙂

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Let me know if you try it 😉

Sprouts Recipe – Bacon, Chestnut & Cream

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Hands up if you love sprouts? I love sprouts, love them love them love them. I only used to eat them on Christmas Day, why is this? I know it’s traditional but they are soon good. I intend to eat them at least a few more times this winter..especially after the quite frankly (pats self on back) amazing recipe I used them in today. I’ve seen a few variations of this kind of sprouts recipe in restaurants over the years and I decided to have a play and create my own. So here is my take on some incredible sprouts which I’m sure could persuade even a hardened sproutaphobe ( that’s not a word – I made it up ) to have a nibble.

Sprouts Recipe – Bacon, Chestnut & Cream

You will need:

200g of fresh sprouts, quartered
A handful of chestnuts diced ( I used vacuum packed chestnuts)
100ml of double cream
6 rashers of bacon, diced
1 squeeze of garlic puree or 2 cloves, minced
25g butter
pinch of black pepper and seasalt
A pinch of dried chilli flakes

Sauté your diced bacon and chestnuts in a little oil until golden, add your sprouts, garlic and butter and cook for a further 10 minutes on a medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, add your double cream, chilli flakes and seasoning and cook for a further 2 minutes.

This is so tasty. It would of course be wonderful served with your traditional Christmas dinner but it would also make a really delicious side dish with any meats, vegetables or even on its own.

If you love sprouts you will love this, if you hate them I say give it a whirl – it just might change your way of thinking.

sprouts recipe

Update: This is a fairly old recipe, one of the first on my site in fact. It is however one of the recipes that I continue to go back and make over and over, as such along the way I have made slight amendments to my original recipe. Now it is even better!

Follow this link for even more sprouts recipes.

Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

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Ok so most of you will already know that I am on a major diet at the moment and it’s working really really well.. I have so far lost 1stone and 3lb and I’ve been dieting since May 28th so I’m pretty proud of myself. There are two reasons I think it’s working well:

1. I am walking most days pushing a fairly hefty weight (baby, buggy and occasionally shopping) or carrying said baby around or playing about with her at home.

2. I am not depriving myself of everything. Most days I use myfitnesspal – I can’t really recommend it enough as it really helps me to keep an eye on what I eat. I limit myself to 1200 calories and keep it as low fat/sugar as possible however I still have treats and the occasional indulgent meals as I’m a foodie I love to cook and eat and I see no reason why I shouldn’t do that in fact I firmly believe it is helping me diet for longer!

After spending 2 days at The Plum baby cookery school followed by 5 days at Blissfields festival I was really missing home cooking so this past week I have cooked a lot. Mostly dishes I have cooked before such as vegetable curry and spaghetti bolognese ( topped with sautéed spinach and leeks- so good) but I am aiming to try a new recipe (from a book, online or friends) or invent a new recipe of my own each week from here on so last night I made chicken in a garlic and mushroom sauce now this is hardly a wondrous new invention of mine as chicken, mushrooms and garlic go together like strawberries and cream but I didn’t follow any kind of recipe and it turned out so well I would quite happily eat it every day this week.

Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

Two large chicken breasts

Double cream-150ml

Butter ( small knob)
Red onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
8 mushrooms ( I used closed cup as that’s what I had but use whatever you like) chopped finely
Ground pepper ( I use a mix of black and pink peppercorns) and salt
Sprig of thyme
Olive oil

In a pan or small cazuela sauté your diced onion and garlic in olive oil and butter being careful not to burn the garlic, after a few minutes add your mushrooms and cook for 5 more minutes before adding your cream, thyme and seasoning. Remove from best
Heat a little olive oil in a large cazuela or pan which is ovenproof and pan fry your chicken breasts for a few minutes each side, pour over your mushroom sauce and cook at approx 190 deg or gas mark 4. After 20 minutes remove from oven and shred the chicken ( you can leave the breasts whole but I prefer it this way for this kind of dish) into the sauce before retuning to oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven adding a little more pepper and serve immediately.

* I served with sauté potatoes, peppers and leek and a giant salad but I imagine it would be lovely with rice or mixed into pasta.

Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

This is a fairly naughty dish for me as it has double cream but it was worth it and I didn’t gain any lbs. 🙂

Instead of a dessert I was inspired by a tweet I saw from Beverley Glock who was the food expert at Plum cookery school for a recipe for Pimms frozen cocktails.. Now the recipe she tweeted had lime sorbet as a base but I didn’t have any limes so I improvised and it was refreshing and tongue
tingling.