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A Fruity Chicken Curry

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My eldest Izzy has always been great with food, will normally try anything and has never been scared of a little spice. Lately however she has been going through a bit of a fussy stage. She will say before a LOT of meals that she doesn’t like this or that. Most of the time she will still eat it but she does like a good moan first.

To try to stop her getting any fussier I have been trying to offer even more variety to our diet. A little spice, different fruits or veggies and one of the dishes I came up with was this fruity chicken curry. The peaches make it slightly sweet and juicy but there is still protein in the form of the chicken and veggies – sometimes it’s just peas and onions but quite often I throw in frozen spinach, carrots or whatever I need to use up. I should say the inspiration for this recipe and the idea of using peaches in a curry came from the rather fabulous recipe book written by Jack Monroe and her recipe for chickpea and peach curry.

Fruity Chicken Curry

For this recipe, you will need:

1 tin of peaches, drained and diced into small chunks
Reserved juice from tin
1 shallot/small onion diced
1 garlic clove, crushed or diced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 raw chicken breasts diced or you can use leftover cooked chicken
1 cube of frozen spinach
50g of frozen peas
1 chicken stock cube
100ml of water
1 tbsp of Olive oil

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat, add your oil, onions, garlic and spices. Wait for the onion to soften but do not allow to burn. Add your chicken (if using raw) and diced pepper. Brown your chicken and then add your peaches, peas and spinach. Pour over your tin of tomatoes, juice, water and your stock cube and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the sauce has thickened.

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Serve with rice, chips or naan breads.

*If you want extra heat you could add a diced chilli or tsp of chilli flakes.

**To make this a veggie dish just replace the chicken with chickpeas and the stock cube with a vegetable one.

This makes enough for 2 adults and 2 small children.

This dish went down very well with the entire family, my youngest particularly liked the peach chunks. Its full of flavour but not too spicy and is sweet and tasty.

Easy Peasy Mincemeat Recipe

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You can buy perfectly amazing jars of readymade mincemeat these days and fairly cheaply too. I use a jar from Aldi quite a lot and it’s delicious.  There is however something special about making your own, I normally use quite a fancy, shmancy recipe to make mine but this year I tried something super simple and this easy mincemeat recipe works just fine.

You will need:

375g of mixed fruit ( with peel)
75ml of French Brandy ( I used Aldi)
150g shredded suet
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
125g Dark brown soft sugar
1tsp of ground nutmeg
1 apple, peeled and grated

This may just be the easiest mincemeat recipe you will ever try.

Simply soak your mixed fruit and lemon zest in your brandy and lemon juice for at least 1 hour so they plump up. The drain and set the juice/brandy mixture aside. Add all of the remaining ingredients in and then pour the liquid back over. Spoon into sterilised jars and cover for at least 2-3 weeks before using. Will then keep in fridge for 6 months or longer.

This recipe made two jars.

easy mincemeat recipe

 

Perfect Yorkshire Puds & Horseradish Sauce

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I love a roast dinner. Who doesn’t? I’m also one of those people who can eat a Yorkshire Pudding with anything. I know really its just supposed to be served with beef but they are so darn good that I have them with chicken and pork too..although not lamb – not sure why that is!

I’ve been trying to make the perfect Yorkshire puddings for ages but I never managed to get them exactly as I wanted them to be.

It took some time but I think I’ve done it!

The most important two things you need to remember when making them is:

1. Ensure your oil is bubbling hot before adding your batter.

2. Don’t open the oven until they are fully cooked.

You will need:

280g Plain flour
400ml full fat milk
8 medium free range eggs
Crushed sea salt and black peppercorns
Sunflower oil

*The above recipe makes 24 Yorkshire Puds.. I do this because I like to freeze a batch. They freeze so well. You can easily halve the quantities if necessary.

Using two x 12 hole muffin trays, drizzle a little olive oil into each hole and place in a preheated piping hot oven ( around gas mark8)

Pour your flour into a bowl and beat in your eggs until smooth. Slowly add all your milk and seasoning making sure all the lumps are gone.

Carefully remove your trays from the oven and slowly add batter to each hole as evenly as you can. Place carefully back into the oven and cook without opening the door or disturbing for approximately 25minutes.

Remove from oven and try not to eat them all at once.

*If you are freezing half then leave to cool before freezing. When ready to cook them remove from freezer and bake in a hot oven for about 5 minutes. There is no need to defrost first.

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Izzy loved hers:

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If you are making a traditional beef dinner then you will also need delicious horseradish sauce. It’s so simple to make and tastes a world apart from the store bought stuff.

You will need:

30grams of freshly grated horseradish
300ml of double cream
1tbsp of mustard powder (you may want to add more or less depending on how hot you like it -this gives a kick)
1/4 tsp sugar
2tbsp of white wine vinegar
Hot water
Crushed sea salt and black peppercorns

Soak your grated horseradish in 4tbsp of hot water while whipping your double cream. Then combine with all of your other ingredients in a bowl. Serve some in a dish and place the remainder in a clean sterile jar and keep in your fridge for roast beef sandwiches later in the week.

Love Your Eggs

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I didn’t used to like eggs much, I only really ever ate them in cakes and it was only when I was pregnant that I missed having them.. I know you can still eat them but having to cook them into submission didn’t really appeal.
In the last few months I have developed a real addiction to poached eggs and recently I have started trying eggs in new recipes..not just cakes!

One of my favourites is Frittata I was going to share this recipe soon as part of one of my eating on a budget blog posts but here it is sooner than planned.
The best thing about this dish is you can throw anything in, leftover boiled potatoes, peppers, meats,spinach, onions.. I could go on. Let me know if you have any special combos that you use.

This is what I used in my last frittata recipe so adapt however you like:

You will need:

1 large cazuela or pan you can use in hob or in oven
Olive oil
Chopped boiled potatoes
Chopped ham
Chopped peppers
Chopped onions
Chopped spinach
6-8 eggs beaten (dependant on size of pan)
3 or 4 tablespoons of cheese. I use pilgrims choice. Yum.

Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
Warm a little olive oil in a pan and add all ingredients apart from the eggs and cheese, sauté for 5 minutes then add your beaten eggs and cook until the mixture has set on bottom and is starting to set on top,sprinkle with your cheese and some cracked black pepper & herbs of choice and put in oven for 10-15 minutes until completely set.

When this has cooled slightly you can cut like you would a pizza or quiche and serve with a nice big salad for a healthy, budget friendly lunch. This is also great chilled and taken on picnics.

Another eggcelent (sorry I had to put it in somewhere) recipe I have recently made is spaghetti carbonara.

You will need:

1 large saucepan and 1 frying pan or cazuela
Olive oil
250g bacon, diced or roughly chopped ( I used lardons)
300mL single cream
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese ( I have substituted other cheeses and its just as good)
3 egg yolks
Salt and pepper, to taste
350g spaghetti or tagliatelle ( I used Lidl egg spaghetti last time and it was tremendous)
Seasoning

Start to cook your pasta by the packet instructions whilst frying your bacon in a little olive oil until golden, add your cream and cheese and remove from heat to stir through. Return to heat for 2 mins before adding your egg yolks and again removing from heat to stir through.
Remove from heat, drain pasta and combine. Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and black pepper.

Its so good.. This serves 2 with leftovers.

After the carbonara recipe I had 3 egg whites leftover which I didn’t want to waste so I made a quick Baileys chocolate mousse which I’d never made before but it worked really well. I adapted this from a weight watchers recipe and simple to make but very tasty.

You will need:

1 microwaveable bowl and 1 mixing bowl
Electric whisk
100g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
3 egg whites
2 tsp of Baileys

Break your chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave I do in 30 second bursts to make sure it doesn’t burn. Leave your chocolate to cool slightly and whisk your eggs until stiff ( the peaks should stay up when you pull the whisk out). Put a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate to loosen and mix well. Gradually mix the rest of the whites in, not too fast as you lose too much air. Once it’s all mixed in add your baileys, mix once more and spoon into 4 ramekins or glasses. Refrigerate until set, mine took an hour or so to set but I left them there until the following day.

These taste so scrumptiously naughty it’s hard to believe its a low fat recipe. One is more than enough to satisfy a sweet tooth and you don’t feel overly full afterwards.

If any of you have any more egg recipes to share please do!

This should go without saying but please only use free range 😀

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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.

The Hungry Caterpillar 1st birthday cake

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Firstly apologies, I’ve been meaning to write this post for weeks and Izzy is now 13 months old!

Anyway here it is! I had wanted to make Izzy a Hungry Caterpillar cake for her first birthday since spotting one on Pinterest when she was only 3 months old, when she was a little older her aunty & uncle bought her The Hungry Caterpillar pop up book and she LOVES it so it was definitely a go.

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The cake I saw on Pinterest is here and that’s more or less what I was planning to do. I made a batch of cupcakes and then my piping bag broke and well I got really annoyed and frustrated as it was the night before her party and ended up rethinking the whole idea and what I ended up with was this:

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And I actually preferred it this way in the end although as someone who is far more into the taste of food than the look of food I did find it harder than it needed to be but I enjoyed it.

Heres how I did it:

You will need :

The ingredients for one Mary Berry traybake ( recipe can be found here ) I added green colouring to my traybake to make a vibrant green flesh for my caterpillar.
500g of fondant icing sugar
Icing colour ( I bought red red and kelly green from Hobbycraft)
Basic buttercream using icing sugar and butter with vanilla extract (Nielsen Massey is best) – I used leftovers from cupcakes I was making for the party so unsure of quantity.
1 cake board or piece of cardboard covered in white paper.
Cadburys chocolate fingers
Chocolate sprinkles

Follow instructions for traybake and when cooked leave until completely cooled.
I cut out a basic caterpillar body and head from my traybake – reserve the leftover sponge in case of errors or just to munch on later.
Mix up 1/2 of your fondant icing following instructions on packet and split into two, using a cocktail stick put green colouring into one 1/2 of the icing and knead to mix the colour through making one a dark green and the other 1/2 paler. Roll out and cut into strips. Spread a little buttercream over your cut out caterpillar body and then wrap in your green icing alternating between the darker and lighter colours. Reserve any leftover icing for extra decorations such as fruit for your board.
Mix up the rest of your fondant icing and split into two, use your red colouring to make a very vibrant red icing for your caterpillar head and leave the rest white.
Spread some butter cream and wrap your caterpillar head in red icing and attach to body using more buttercream if necessary. Use cadburys fingers to make legs and antenna as well as the body for your butterfly. Use leftover icing to make fruit, leaves and a butterfly as well as to make name or message for cake. I used chocolate sprinkles to make the seeds on my strawberries and my apple stork. Use dark green icing to make eyes and a chocolate chip for the nose.

To make your cake have a little sheen brush on some lemon extract or juice with a pastry brush.

I used some leftover sponge and buttercream to make a patch of grass but I don’t think it’s necessary.

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She did like the cake although looked a little shocked at first, and kept wandering over to look at it every chance she got:

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All in all it was a success although far from perfect which you will notice if you look closely but I loved the fact that I made her a special first birthday cake. I’m guessing as the years go on I will have to become more elaborate!