My Favourite Recipes

Ice cream

2009-07-23T12:22:00.003+01:00

Just bought myself an ice cream maker and my first batch was lovely. Here is the recipe for Vanilla Ice cream

1/2 pint of double cream
1/2 pint of milk
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 oz of sugar

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until creamy. Add the vanilla extract.
Heat the milk in a pan until hot then add to the egg yolks and whisk. Return to the pan and gently heat until thickened. Do not boil otherwise it may curdle. Add the double cream and stir. Allow to cool completely and then chill for a couple of hours. Pour into your ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.

Mushroom and chive tagliatelle

2009-02-16T18:39:00.003Z

I picked up a recipe leaflet today at Asda and thought it looked extremely tasty. I bought the ingredients whilst there and cooked it tonight. Absolutely delicious!

10g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
500g chestnut mushrooms sliced
150g baby button mushrooms
150ml white wine or cider
200ml low fat creme fraiche
3 tablespoons fresh chives chopped
350g tagliatelle
Salt and black pepper

If using dried pasta then get that on straightaway. If fresh pasta is used cook that in the final two minutes of the recipe.

Melt the oil and butter and add the onion and garlic. Cook until soft. Add the mushrooms and white wine and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the creme fraiche and half of the chives. Season to taste and heat through. Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce and serve immediately. Garnish with black pepper and a few long chives.

I added a good grating of parmesan cheese on top.

Chocolate truffles

2008-12-22T22:13:00.002Z

Courtesy of Mr Jamie Oliver These truffles are so easy to make and really delicious. My daughter and I have just made a batch for Christmas.

Christmas pudding

2008-11-16T09:30:00.004Z

My version of a delicious Christmas pudding. Nothing fancy using cheap ingredients

To make 3 large puddings

2 bags of smartprice (Asda) mixed fruit

1 bag of smartprice (Asda) raisins

1 bottle of guiness or this year I used Old peculiar

The juice and rind of a lemon and an orange

A good slush of brandy

240g dark brown sugar

360g butter

3 eggs

180g white breadcrumbs

240g plain flour

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of black treacle

Start the night before by soaking the fruit. Pile it all into a big bowl, add the rind and juice of a lemon and an orange, pour the guiness and brandy in. Add the black treacle. Stir every now and again to mix thoroughly. By morning you will have plump fruit and no liquid.

In the morning.

Cream the butter and sugar together, I do this in my food processor. Add the eggs.

Measure out the flour and spices. Add the flour, breadcrumbs and spices to the fruit and then add the butter, sugar and egg mix to the fruit. Stir thoroughly. Pile into greased pudding basins. I usually put a round of greaseproof paper at the bottom of each pudding basic. Then put a circle of greaseproof and a circle of foil (with a pleat in) over the top of the puddings and tie tightly with string. Put into a slow cooker with water half way up the basins and cook on high for 6 hours (this depends on your slow cooker, you might have to keep checking by sticking a skewer into the middle of the pudding. It needs to come out clean and be piping hot). You really can't overcook a pudding in the slow cooker. Leave to cool for a while and then turnout. Wrap in greaseproof and foil and store somewhere cool until Christmas. I usually put mine in the garage. To reheat I just use my slow cooker again. Reheat for about 3-4 hours.

Chewy choc chip cookies

2008-10-27T18:51:00.002Z

100g butter
100g brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
150g SR flour
Choc chips or smarties

Cream the butter and sugar together
Add the golden syrup and mix
Add the flour and choc chips/smarties

Divide into about 10 pieces and roll into a ball. Place on a greased baking sheet spaced well apart. Bake at 180 for about 12 mins. Don't over cook. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Photos to come soon.

Autumn vegetable soup

2008-10-25T09:20:00.001+01:00

My friend Charlie's recipe for Autumn vegetable soup

This will make 2 decent sized portions

120g pumpkin
120g carrots
120g celeriac
medium onion
1 stock cube, made up with 3/4 pint water
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon
black pepper (or S&P to taste)

Chop everything...pop in a pan with the stock.....bring to boil then simmer for 30- 35 minutes.....whizz in a blender and reheat.

Courgette/marrow and spinach soup with cream cheese

2008-09-07T11:34:00.003+01:00

These quantities are approximate because to be honest I rarely measure anything.

I used:

2 very large courgettes (small marrows)
Large bunch of spinach
2 medium potatoes
1 large clove of garlic
2 medium onions
sml bunch of herbs-mint, origano, parsley
2 veg stock cubes
2 cups of water
level desert spoon of salt
Black pepper
Large knob of margarine

Asda be good to yourself cream cheese with garlic and herb

Melt margarine in a pan, add the washed and diced courgettes, peeled and chopped onions, peeled and diced potatoes, spinach and crushed garlic. Add the salt at this stage.
Allow the veg to sweat down very slowly on a low heat.
Add the bunch of herbs
Add 2 cups of water and stock cubes
Cook for about 20-30 mins on a low heat
Blitz in a blender and return to pan.

Pour soup into a bowl and then add a teaspoon of cream cheese and allow to melt into the soup. Soup could be frozen before the addition of the cream cheese and added when reheated.

Red Tomato Chutney

2008-08-20T11:24:00.003+01:00

I have quite a glut of tomatoes so decided to make up a recipe for chutney.

1 kilo of tomatoes roughly chopped

150g sugar

300ml of vinegar

4 medium onions chopped

2 apples peeled and chopped

100g sultanas

1 tablespoon of hot curry powder

2 red chillies deseeded and chopped

Pile all ingredients into a pan and simmer for an hour. Turn up the heat and boil, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Leave the lid off and continue simmering until the mixture is dark and very thick.

Sterilize some jars and pour the mixture in.

Yogurt Scones

2008-08-14T11:10:00.003+01:00

To make 8 very large scones

16oz SR flour
4 oz of butter
4 oz of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
250g of natural yogurt (half a big carton)
mixed fruit (put as much in as you like)
Milk for glazing

Rub the butter into the flour
Add the sugar and baking powder
Add the fruit and stir
Add the yogurt a bit at a time and mix to a firm dough
Roll to about an inch thick and cut out the scones
Brush the tops with milk
Bake at 180C for about 20mins

Drying your own tomatoes

2008-07-14T09:56:00.003+01:00

I had a go at drying some tomatoes in my oven. It worked extremely well and I now have a container in the freezer with 'sundried' tomatoes in.

I used small tomatoes and I cut them in half. Laid them on a pizza baking tray (you could use foil with holes in it to allow the air to circulate. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt (this helps to dry them out) I put my oven on 50C and opened the door every now and again to let out the steam. It did take most of the day so you need to be doing plenty to make it worthwhile. The tiny cherry tomatoes would probably dry in a few hours. I then decided to freeze them just to make sure they stay fresh. Apparently if you leave moisture in them they can go mouldy so best be safe and freeze.

Pork steaks with Tomatoes and Rosemary

2008-07-11T17:02:00.004+01:00

I have a lovely Rosemary bush in the garden so thought I would do something in my slow cooker with the pork steaks I had in the freezer and the Rosemary.

4 pork steaks
6 tomatoes quartered
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of chopped Rosemary
4 tablespoons of single cream
A dash of water

Fry the pork steaks in a pan with a tiny bit of oil. When sealed put into the slow cooker pot. Chop onion and garlic and add to the frying pan. Fry for a few mins until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes and Rosemary. Cook for a couple more minutes and then add to the slow cooker pot. Put a dash of water into the pot and then close the lid. Leave for at least 3 hours (depends on your slow cooker) or until pork is tender. Season with salt and pepper and add the cream. Stir around and then leave for another half an hour. Serve with mashed potatoes and veg.

Tomato and mint salad

2008-07-11T16:21:00.005+01:00

I have an abundance of mint in my garden along with many tomato plants. I came up with this salad recipe which tastes lovely.

5 or 6 small tomatoes
a bunch of mint leaves
Chopped cucumber
Chopped red onion
2 tablespoons of wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper

Quarter the tomatoes, put into a serving dish. Add the chopped cucumber and red onion.
Tear the mint leaves and add to the tomatoes. Stir around to mix up.
Whisk olive oil and vinegar and season to taste. Pour over the salad. It tastes even better if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Banana and raisin loaf

2008-07-10T19:16:00.004+01:00

This is very easy to make and tasty.

225g Self Raising Flour
100g margarine
150g raisins
2 tablespoons of honey or golden syrup
2 eggs
100g sugar
3 bananas mashed

Rub the margarine into the flour, then add the raisins, eggs, honey, sugar, and bananas.

Mix thoroughly and then bake in a greased loaf tin at 180 for approx 1 hour.

Sweet Orange Monkey Bread

2008-07-09T20:23:00.005+01:00

I wanted to do some baking with the children at school. They love it when I bring in homemade bread so I decided to make some bread with them. Let's face it children do love sweet stuff so I made this recipe up and it worked really well. The children loved helping to make it and eating the result.

Do you know why Monkey bread is called Monkey bread?

Apparently it's because when baked everyone can dig in and break off a chunk like monkeys.
You learn something new everyday :)

Before

For Sweet Orange Monkey Bread

3 mugs of strong plain flour
Half a mug of milk
One egg
1/3 mug of sugar
2 tablespoons of margarine
One sachet of instant yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
Grated orange rind

For the glaze
2 tablespoons of margarine
Juice of an orange
Sugar

Rub the margarine into the flour. Add the orange rind, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix well. Whisk the egg into the milk and add to the mixture. Form into dough and knead well. Leve to rise in a warm place for an hour or so. Knock back the dough and knead for a few minutes. Put the juice of an orange and the margarine into a microwavable bowl and heat for 20 seconds or until melted but not hot.

Break off tiny bits of dough and make into a ball. Dip into the margarine mixture and then roll in sugar. Pile into a greased baking tin or dish. Leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour and then bake at 180 for 30 minutes

After

Macaroni Cheese made with Campbells soup

2008-07-07T19:14:00.003+01:00

This is a recipe I have made for many years. I probably first made it when I was about 18 or 19 and now both my daughters make it.

To serve 4
8oz of macaroni
One tin of Campbells Tomato soup
One onion chopped
3-4 oz of strongish cheese (cheddar, red leicester or even the cheap ones from Asda or Sainsbury)

Method

Cook the macaroni in plenty of salted boiling water. Chop the onion and fry in a pan with a teaspoon of oil. Add the soup. Stir continuously until heated through. Add all of the cheese and stir in until melted. If the sauce is very thick then just add a splash of milk. When macaroni is cooked, strain and add to the sauce. Stir round.

You can sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top and pop under a hot grill for 5 minutes if you want to.

Mushrooms with cheese

2008-07-07T08:01:00.002+01:00

Mushrooms with cheese

Large field mushrooms
Cheese

Clean the mushrooms put small chunks of cheese around the stalk. Pop into a baking tin and bake in oven for about 10-15 mins until mushrooms are cooked and cheese is all bubbly and melted. These are great on the barbecue too.

Playdough recipes

2008-07-06T14:00:00.003+01:00

I thought I would collect together some links for playdough. There are loads of different ones out there on the net.

Click here
Click here
Click here (love the glitter playdough)
Click here (a wheat free playdough included in this link)

Please don't try eating any of these :)

To colour the playdough you can of course use food colourings but also think about powder paint or just ordinary children's play paint.

Garlic Monkey Bread

2008-07-05T13:16:00.007+01:00

I make this when we have a barbecue because everyone can just dig in. It's also good for informal family meals to accompany chilli, or spaghetti bolognese.

Before

After

For the dough you will need:
4 cups of strong plain flour
1 sachet of easyblend yeast
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 cloves of garlic crushed

To coat the dough
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 bunch of parsley chopped finely
6 oz of butter or margarine

To make the dough put the ingredients into a bread maker. Mix on the dough setting. When ready take out. Leave to one side for a few minutes whilst you melt the butter/margarine in a pan along with the garlic and parsley. When melted put to one side to allow to cool a little. You will now need a greased baking tin.

Divide the dough up into lots of little dough balls and roll around in the garlic butter and just place into the tin. Continue with the rest and just pile into the tin. This is a great activity for kids to get involved in. When you have used up all the dough then pour the rest of the garlic butter over the monkey bread. Leave to one side for about 10 mins to rise a little.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven 180C

For a variation you could sprinkle on some grated cheese and have garlic and cheese monkey bread.

Tapas - Eggs with Peppers

2008-07-05T09:38:00.003+01:00

I love Tapas and am always looking for easy recipes. This one I have made lots of times and it goes well with a salad. Great for vegetarians too.

2 red peppers deseeded and halved
6 hard boiled eggs (please use free range) shelled and sliced
2 tablespoons of white wine or cider vinegar
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped
2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh dill
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Add the peppers to a pan of boiling water and blanch for about 5-10 minutes.
Drain well and run under a cold tap to cool quickly. Pat dry with kitchen paper and then cut into very thin strips
Arrange the slices of egg onto a serving plate and sprinkle over the pepper strips. I like to make a lattice effect but it's up to you.
Whisk the vinegar, oil, chopped onion, chopped dill and sugar together in a bowl and then season with salt and pepper. Pour over the eggs and peppers and serve.

This is a light and refreshing salad and ideal for a barbecue or summer eating.

Green Bean Salad

2008-07-04T08:58:00.003+01:00

If you grow beans in your garden you can get very bored with just cooking them hot as a vegetable. My daughter loves this recipe and it's a way of using them cold in a salad.

Green beans either whole if small or cut into a pieces
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 clove of garlic crushed
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of wine or cider vinegar

Cook the green beans in water until just tender.
Run under a cold tap to cool off
Mix all the other ingredients together thoroughly then add to the green beans. Toss and serve.

Big Cook Little Cook

2008-07-03T18:55:00.002+01:00

The CBeebies site has a great selection of children's recipes.

Click here

Microwave Flapjack

2008-07-03T17:16:00.005+01:00

Thankyou to Simon for this recipe

Flapjacks

Ingredients

Makes 12 pieces

100g (4oz) butter or marge (I use Flora).
50g (2oz) soft brown sugar – I use dark muscovada – gives great flavour
2 tablespoons golden syrup
150g (6oz) rolled oats
75g (3oz) mixed nuts (for best flavour, chop your own whole nuts rather than ready-chopped)

Method

Lightly grease a 23cm ( 9 inch) square shallow glass dish.
Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and heat in microwave until melted.
Stir the melted mixture until all one colour.
Mix in the golden syrup, chopped nuts and then rolled oats. Mix thoroughly.
Press the mixture into the glass bowl and level the surface.
Cook on max power for 3mins 50 secs in a 850/900 watt microwave. Longer time in less powerful microwave.

Leave to cool. Cut into squares / rectangles when cool to serve when cold.

Click here for Simon's site

Guestbook

2008-07-02T22:08:00.003+01:00

Please feel free to leave a comment about the site either after the individual posts or in this guestbook. I would love to know if you have tried and enjoyed any of the recipes. If you have any tips or recipes of your own then please add them in this guestbook. I will look forward to reading them.

Flapjack

2008-07-02T19:32:00.003+01:00

This is my favourite recipe for flapjack. I have changed it over the years. You can add alsorts to it like cherries, dried fruit and even chocolate.

8oz SR flour
5oz margarine
5oz sugar
3 large tablespoons of golden syrup
5oz of rolled oats

Melt sugar and golden syrup in a pan or in the microwave
Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl then pour in the melted margarine and sugar. Mix well and turn into a greased rectangular baking tin. Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes until cooked through. Leave in the tin for about half an hour and then mark into pieces. Carefully remove and then leave to cool properly. You can if you want to be really naughty add some melted chocolate to the top of the flapjack.

Yorkshire Puddings

2008-06-30T18:20:00.005+01:00

200g of plain flour
3-4 eggs (depends on the size of egg)
pinch of salt and pepper
About 1/4 pint of milk (you need the mixture to end up like thick cream)
oil

Heat oven to 220C

Yorkshire puddings rise really well if there is plenty of egg in the mixture, coupled with a hot oven and preheating of the Yorkshire pudding tins.

Beat the eggs and milk together. Add the flour a bit at a time. Beat well and add salt and pepper.
Put oil into Yorkshire pudding tins and heat until very hot. Pour in the batter and cook for about 10-15 mins.

Toad in the Hole is a great favourite in our house. Make the above mixture but pour into a large baking tin with some partially cooked sausages. A bit of chopped onion added to the batter makes this even tastier.

My daughter who is vegetarian enjoys Yorkshire puddings filled with grated cheese. If you add the cheese just as they come out of the oven they the cheese melts beautifully.

My youngest daughter enjoys Yorkshire puddings with golden syrup poured over. Makes a great pudding.

Prawns in pasta

2008-06-30T18:03:00.004+01:00

This is quite a spicy sauce and delicious.

450g prawns
2 tins of tomatoes
2 teaspoons of marjoram
two glasses of white wine(any will do)
2 teaspoons of chilli powder (or to taste) we like it hot
2 cloves of garlic crushed
a teaspoon of olive oil
If you are not trying to lose weight some single cream (optional)
1 teaspoon of sugar (I find this takes of the acidity of the tomatoes)
Optional some parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently fry garlic in oil (make sure you dont burn it) Add wine and heat up to boiling Add chlli powder and majoram Add tins of tomatoes Cook for about 20 mins (gently simmer) Add single cream if using Add a couple of table spoons of parmesan cheese and stir in until melted Add Prawns and heat through thorougly but dont overcook Season Pour over cooked pasta with more parmesan if liked

Gruffalo Cake

2008-06-29T21:51:00.003+01:00

I made this during bookweek where our classes theme was 'The Gruffalo'

It was very simple to make and the children really enjoyed it. Click the title to take you to the recipe from the Gruffalo website.

Greentea, oats and raisin bread

2008-06-29T20:20:00.003+01:00

Trying to find ways of getting more greentea into everyone. It is so good for you. I thought I would have a go at making this loaf. I first made a very strong cup of green tea using 2 teabags. I left it to cool. I put the following ingredients into the bread maker

3 cups of strong white flour
1 cup of rolled oats
1 tablespoon of butter/margarine
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of marmalade
1 sachet of easyblend yeast

I then added the cooled greentea

Set the breadmaker for a rapid loaf and hey presto a very nice tea bread, good toasted for breakfast.

Slow cooker treacle sponge

2008-06-29T20:09:00.005+01:00

I wish I had taken a photo of it to show you because it looked fantastic. Quite some time ago I had a go at baking in my slow cooker. I made a lovely carrot cake that was deliciously moist and scrummy. It got me thinking about using the slow cooker for a steamed sponge. The idea being you could just put it in and basically forget about it. Last Sunday we had the mother - in - law for tea. I cooked a lovely lasagne which she loves and I made a treacle sponge and custard for pudding. Here is the recipe:-

100g of Self raising flour
100g of margarine
100g of sugar (I used brown)
loads of golden syrup (sorry I didn't measure it)
2 eggs

I blitzed the flour, margarine, sugar and eggs in the food processor.
I greased a pudding basin with margarine and then poured about an inch of golden syrup into the bottom. I then piled on the sponge mixture. Covered tightly with a piece of pleated foil and then put into the bottom of the slow cooker. I put about 3-4 cm of water in the bottom of the slow cooker. Put the lid on and turned on high. I checked after about 3 hours to find it cooked right through. It was light and fluffy and very moist. I turned it out onto a serving dish and the golden syrup ran down the sides. It was a big hit with everyone.

Low Fat Humous

2008-06-29T18:06:00.005+01:00

This is really easy to make and is less calories than the normal version of Humous. My daughter who is a vegetarian loves this.

1 Can of Chickpeas
1 tablespoon of fromage
lemon juice to taste
salt and pepper

Blitz all ingredients in a food processor. You could add some peppers, chillis, garlic etc to taste.
Use for dipping vegetable sticks into.

Tomato Bread

2008-06-29T11:08:00.004+01:00

The children at school often get tomatoes for their snack and the vast majority hate them. To overcome this problem and to avoid throwing out loads of tomatoes I now take them home and make bread with them.

4 cups of strong white flour
half a cup of water
10-15 cherry tomatoes chopped
1 tablespoon of margarine or olive oil
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 sachet of easy blend yeast

Put everything into a bread maker and either make into dough and bake as individual buns or use the white loaf setting and make into a loaf. The children love eating this bread and are always eager for more.

Sloe Chutney

2008-06-28T20:05:00.000+01:00

1kg sloes
2 chopped onions
1 chopped chilli
450g brown sugar
225g seedless raisins
1 stick cinnamon
1 teaspoon whole cloves
300 ml malt vinegar

Wash sloes and put into a pan, cover tightly and cook on a low heat until realy soft. Pass through a sieve.

Add the spices to the puree and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, stirring well until the sugar has dissolved . Simmer gently for 30 minutes. Pot and seal. Store at least two months before use. A pleasant, mild chutney.

I made about 6 small jars with this recipe and it was a lovely tasty chutney to have with left over cook turkey.

Sloe gin

2008-06-28T19:58:00.000+01:00

If you are lucky enough to have this wonderful fruit in your garden you can make yourself some sloe gin. This is the recipe I use, there are loads of variations

I use the empty litre water bottles to soak the sloes.

Fill half full with washed and pricked sloes (I use a fork to stab each sloe)
A wine goblet of sugar (add this to a jug and then top up with gin)
Mix round and then add to the sloes.
Top up to nearly the top with Gin.
Give the bottle a good shake and then leave. Each day shake the Gin. The sugar should dissolve quite quickly. Leave for about 3 months and then decant into a clean bottle. Don't leave the berries in for more than 6 months.

Enjoy!

Tandori Whole chicken

2008-06-28T19:51:00.000+01:00

A whole chicken, skinned with gashes cut into the flesh
Mix the juice of a lemon and 1 teaspoon of salt together and rub all over the chicken
Leave for an hour

In the meantime put an inch block of ginger root, 4 garlic cloves peeled and a red chilli in a blender with 6 fluid oz of set natural yog. Blend. Then add 2 teaspoons of coriander, 1 teaspoon of cumin and 2 teaspoons of garam masala....mix again....

Rub this all over the chicken, refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to highest setting and put in chicken for about 20 mins....then turn heat down to 180ish and cook until done....you might need to cover it at some point if it starts to look too well done.

Very low fat and healthy and very tasty cold with salad or for sandwiches and a fraction of the cost of buying ready made tandori If you want the red colour then add a few drops of red colouring into the marinade...I dont bother

Persian Chicken Tagine

2008-06-28T19:24:00.000+01:00

low fat cooking spray
4 chicken breasts(cut in chunks)
1 medium onion,chopped
4 garlic cloves,crushed
1 stick celery,chopped finely
2 medium carrots, chopped finely
1 tbs plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground tumeric
150ml(5 fl oz) white wine
600 ml(1 pint) chicken stock
2x400g cans cannelli beans
bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a casserole or large heavy-based saucepan on the hob and spray with low fat cooking spray. Add the chicken, season and brown, then remove. Add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, until softened, stirring occasionally.
Mix the flour with the spices and stir in, cooking for 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan, pour the wine and stock over, season, cover and cook on a low heat for 45 minutes.
Add the canneli beans and cook for a further 5 minutes, then sprinkle the coriander over and serve. Serve with rice

Sizzling chicken platter

2008-06-28T19:20:00.000+01:00

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp of hot chilli paste
4 tbsp of olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
Lettuce
Cucumber
radishes
mint leaves
for the dressing 2 ripe vine tomatoes seeded and finely diced
1 tsp of hot chilli paste
1 tbsp of lemon juice
4 tbsp of olive oil

Slice the chicken into strips combine chilli paste, lemon juice, olive oil and salt pour over chicken and leave for a couple of hours or overnight make the dressing combine chilli, lemon juice and chopped tomato Use a wok to cook the chicken strips make a bed of salad (you can use what you like really) Pile the chicken on top and pour over the dressing

Spicy Chicken burgers

2008-06-28T19:15:00.000+01:00

4 chicken Breasts
One red pepper
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1 teaspoon of coriander, cumin and tumeric
2 teaspoons of chilli powder
a good twist of salt and pepper
2 teaspoons of olive oil
2 slices of Bread

Whizz up in food processor and then with wet hands form into burgers. Fry gently for a couple of minutes on each side in olive oil then put into oven at 180C for about 15 mins or until cooked right through.

Low fat banana loaf

2008-06-28T19:09:00.001+01:00

Five large ripe bananas
8oz of self raising flour
2 eggs beaten
3 oz of brown sugar
zest of a lemon and an orange

Mash bananas well add eggs, mix well, add flour and sugar and mix again. Put in a loaf tin and bake for about an hour at 150 Very moist and delicious!

Pizza base spicy

2008-06-28T17:04:00.001+01:00

4 cups of strong white bread flour
1 tablespoon of hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of tumeric
2 tablespoons of natural yogurt
easy blend yeast
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Put into the bread maker on the dough setting. When ready roll out into a pizza base and put your favourite topping on. Enough to make at least 2 large pizzas depending on how thick you like the dough.

Mince pies with a difference

2008-06-28T16:50:00.000+01:00

A packet of puff pastry
A jar of mincemeat
grated zest of an orange
milk for glazing

Roll out the pastry into a large oblong. Spread with mincemeat then roll up. Cut into slices and lay onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Brush with milk and bake for about 20 minutes at 220 C. Sprinkle with grated orange zest

Spring cabbage cooked with butter,onion and bacon

2008-06-28T16:44:00.001+01:00

Spring cabbage
3 oz of butter
2 rashers of bacon finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
salt and pepper
water that is on the cabbage after washing

Melt the butter and fry the onion and bacon until cooked, add the spring cabbage and put the lid on the pan. Turn down low and cook until tender (few minutes) stir now and again to coat all the cabbage with the butter. Turn into a serving dish and serve.

Leave out the bacon if you are catering for vegetarians

Scone ring

2008-06-28T16:36:00.001+01:00

8oz sr flour
2 oz marg
2 oz of sugar
Fruit (optional)
milk (enough to make a dough)

Add Margarine to flour and rub in, add sugar and fruit if using. Add milk bit by bit to make a dough. Form into a big round slightly flattened and then mark with a knife. Brush with milk and bake at 180 for about 20- 30 mins

Spaghetti with pancetta

2008-06-28T16:28:00.000+01:00

A packet of chopped pancetta
A red chilli, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Chopped red pepper
Chopped red onion
Olive oil
A tin of toms S
Spaghetti enough for 4 people

Put a bit of oil in a pan and add pancetta, fry until browning nicely, add everything except tomatoes and stir until softened. Add tomatoes and simmer for about 20 mins. Meanwhile cook spaghetti. Toss altogether in pan and serve. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Marmalade and oat bread

2008-06-28T16:09:00.000+01:00

3 cups of strong white bread flour

1 cup of rolled oats

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon of salt

half a cup of marmalade

1 cup of milk

some grated orange zest (optional)

Put all the ingredients into a bread maker and use the 'quick' setting or the 'normal white bread setting'

Delicious toasted for breakfast