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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.

With my compost..arium there is no place I’d rather be

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I don’t know about you but I can’t think of the word compost without singing the theme tune to Mr Blooms nursery. I guess if you don’t have a child of Cbeebies age you may not have a clue what I’m talking about. Mr Bloom is a character from a Cbeebies TV show who has as many mum fans as toddler fans…I don’t really know why…ahem.

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Anyway this post is not about Mr Bloom. Every year I think ah I want to get my garden in order but this year I actually am planning to. I love the idea of being able to get all my salad and herbs from my own vegetable patch. I already grow a lot of herbs.. Mint, oregano, parsley, lavender, tarragon, rosemary, thyme and sage to name a few and we have just planted rocket and basil and starting to think of what else we can have – any suggestions? I am not even remotely green fingered so I need a lot of tips. Next job is to make a compost heap or compost bin. I’ve scoured the web for some tips and here are the more useful ones I’ve found:

What can you compost:

grass cuttings
soft prunings
annual plant and weed remains before they have set seed
fruit and vegetable scraps
old cut flowers
tea bags and coffee grounds
Cardboard
Newspaper
Scrunched up paper
Straw

Do not compost:

diseased plants
meat and fish
dairy
cooked food
coal ash
cat and dog waste
disposable nappies
perennial weeds eg bindweed

Plenty more useful tips here

Apparently the best time to start your compost heap is Spring but I think I’ll be starting mine sometime one the next month.

If having a compost heap encourages my daughter to recycle and helps to stop our family adding more than is needed to landfill it can only be a bonus 😉

Any tips for me with regards to composting or what to plant at this time of year would be greatly appreciated!

*this post contains paid content

The simplest slow cooked supper

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Sometimes food needs to be simple and cheap.. And well easy! However you still want it to taste good, there’s no point in ever cooking something from scratch if its not going to be tasty.

This is a very brief post just to share with you a delicious recipe for a slow cooked sausage, sweet potato and bean stew.

The prep will take you 5-10 mins then its throw it all in, leave for 8-10 hours et voila.


Sausage, sweet potato and bean stew

You will need:

6-8 sausages ( I only use sausages from my butcher or Debbie&Andrews in the supermarket as they are 99% meat which is after all what should be in our sausages)
1 red onion diced
1/2 large sweet potato cut into smallish chunks
1 large carrot diced
2 tins of baked beans
1 it of chopped tomatoes
About 100ml passata
Some fresh or dried herbs ( I used oregano on this occasion)
Seasalt and freshly ground pepper

First lightly brown your sausages all over in a frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and your onions then scoop it all into our slow cooker with the remaining ingredients and give it a good stir. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours and then serve.

Crusty bread to mop up the incredible sauce is optional but delicious.

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