Roasted Butternut Squash and Halloumi Jumble

Now this is another Hello Fresh recipe. I just changed a few things to accommodate veg I already had. The recipe calls for half a butternut squash - well I had frozen half a butternut squash cut into small chunks with the skin still on along with half a harlequin squash also. I decided to whack this in instead - more squash equals more yumminess! The only thing I would change in the future would be to defrost the squash first and using a paper towel remove excess fluid. I just shoved it straight in and the squash ended up steaming due to the water from the ice instead of roasting. Still tasty but just not the right texture. I also shoved in some spring onion to use it up also.

Now this recipe has all the warm autumn flavors from the squash with the decadant saltiness from the halloumi. It has become one of my favourite bowls of goodness. This makes enough for two folk.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Butternut squash
• Red pepper
• 1.5 tsp Smoked Paprika
• 150ml Water
• 1/2 veg stock
• 75g Bulgar Wheat
• 25g Pine Nuts
• 1 block Halloumi
• 1 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 bag of Rocket (James isn't a big fan so in the future I will use about half a bag or perhaps none at all)

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 210 degrees. Chop the butternut squash to about 1cm cubes, you can leave the skin on. Cut the core of the red pepper and cut a third of it into cubes as small as you can. Cut the remainder into about 2cm chunks.
2. Toss your squash and your large chunks of pepper in a little oil, the smoked paprika, a pinch of salt and pepper. Lay out on a baking tray and put on your top shelf for 25 mins.
3. Bring the 150ml water to boil with the stock pot. Pour in the bulgur wheat, place a lid on and rest off the heat for 25mins, or until the water has completely soaked into the wheat.
4. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Keep to the side once ready.
5. Cut the halloumi into 1cm thick slices. Rub a little olive oil on each slice and put your frying pan to medium-high heat, Cook each side for 2-3mins until golden brown.
6. Toss your bulgur wheat, roasted squash and pepper in a bowl. Add the red wine vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Lastly, gently stir through the rocket and season with a pinch of pepper.
7. Divide between two bowls. Top with the halloumi and pine nuts. Enjoy!

Today I visited Richmond Park for the first time. I had arranged to meet a friend at the park. Unfortunately neither of us had visited before and we ended up at completely opposite gates from one another. It took over an hour and a half to find one another! It is such a beautiful park and I will have to visit again. I feel like I spent so much effort looking for my friend I didn't appreciate its beauty fully. I quickly came across lots of deer just chilling out on the plane.

Spectacular! Apparently next week there will be a humane cull of the deer in order to keep population sizes down to reduce the spread of disease and parasites and ensure there is sufficient resources to support the herd. It saddens me this has to be done but I understand why it would be detrimental to allow them to grow exponentially. 

Roasted Curried Parsnips with Cumin Quinoa

Here is another favourite of ours from a recent Hello Fresh box. I have never been a massive fan of parsnips but this not only made them edible for me - I actually enjoyed them!

Ingredients:

• Baby parsnips, halved - 1 pack
• Onion, chopped - 1
• Gardlic Clove, grated - 1
• Curry Powder - 1.5 tsp
• Quinoa - 120g
• Ground Cumin - 1.5 tsp
• Water - 240mls
• Veg stock - 1
• Flat leaf parsley - 1 bunch
• Mint, chopped - 1 bunch
• Natural Yoghurt - 1pot
• Pistachios - 25g
• Baby spinach - 1 bag
• Pomegranate seeds - 1 pack

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C. Cut the tops and bottoms off the parsnips, then cut lengthways (don't peel). Cut the onion in half through the root, peel and chop into small pieces. Peel and grate the garlic, or use a garlic press.
2. Put your parsnips on a baking tray and drizzle over some oil - enough to coat the parsnips. Sprinkle over the curry powder with a pinch of salt and mix together with your hands - get the parsnips good and coated. Pop in oven for 25 mins.
3. Whilst the parsnips roast, put your onion in a saucepan on medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Cook for 5 mins until soft, then add the quinoa, cumin and garlic. Stir together and cook for 1 min before adding the water and veg stock. Bring to the boil to dissolve the stock. Once boiling, turn the heat to low, pop a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for 15 mins. Once the 15 mins are up, take the pan off the heat and leave to the side for 5 mins.
4. While your parsnips and quinoa cook, roughly chop the flat leaf parsley and mint. Now don't do what I did here! I didn't read the next line and washed my mint and parsley together and then had to waste time separating them when I realised they were for different parts of the dish - sigh! Put the yoghurt in a bowl, add your mint and stir them together.
5. For the pistachios. Take them out of the shell and put them in a dry frying pan for approx 3-4 mins. You just want them slightly toasted.
6. Once the quinoa is cooked, taste and season further if required. Add your parsley and the spinach to the pan, put the lid back on. Leave for 4 mins so your spinach wilts slightly, then stir your spinach through your quinoa to wilt it further.
7. When it is all ready, serve your quinoa in bowls with your curried parsnips on top. Add a spoonful of your yoghurt sauce on the side and a sprinkling of pistachios and pomegranate seeds.
8. Feast!

Vietnamese Pho with Cavolo Nero and Cashews

Here is another of the recipes we have tried from Hello Fresh. This one would be grand for winter or when you have the sniffles.

Takes approx 35 mins and two massive servings.

Ingredients:

• Vermicelli Noodles 1/2 pack
• Chestnut Mushrooms 1 punnet
• Garlic Clove 1
• Ginger 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Cavolo Nero 1 pack
• Spring Onion 3
• Coriander 1 bunch
• Red Curry Paste 1/2 tablespoons
• Veg Stock 1 pot
• Star Anise 1
• Water 750ml
• Cashew Nuts 25g
• Lime 1
• Soy Sauce 1 1/2 tablespoons

Method:

1. Put the kettle on to boil. Then pop the noodles in a heat proof bowl and submerge in the boiled water and leave uncovered for 8 mins. If tender after 8 mins pop the noodles in cold water to prevent overcooking. 
2. Quater the mushrooms. Peel and grate the garlic and ginger. Slice the cavolo nero widthways into 1 cm strips. Remove the roots from the spring onion and then slice as thinly as possible. Roughly chop the coriander.
3. Once all the veg prep is finished, start making your broth. Heat a deep saucepan or wok over medium-heat and add a splash of oil. Once it's hot add the mushrooms and cook for 5 mins or until they are nicely browned. Add your garlic and ginger and cook for 1 min more.
4. Add the red curry paste, veg stock pot and the star anise along with the water (specified in the ingredient list). Bring the stock to the boil and stir well to dissolve your curry paste and veg stock pot. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and add your cavolo nero. Simmer for 4 mins.
5. Whilst your broth bubbles away, smash the cashew nuts with the bottom of a pan or a rolling pin (or anything really). Don't pound them into powder just make them a little smaller.
6. After 4 mins try your broth and make sure that your cavolo nero is soft and tender. Add your noodles to the pan and warm them through for 1 min. Season your broth with a squeeze of lime juice, the soy sauce and chopped coriander. And the Pho is done.
7. Complete by ladling into two deep bowls. Sprinkle over your crushed cashews and the spring onion. Slurp away!

Pea and Mint Salad

James and I started Hello Fresh. It is one of these companies that you select how many days you want and they provide you with the ingredients and recipes to go with. I was sceptical at first. I thought it was too expensive and we would end up getting a lot of things we didn't like or a lot of the same recipes. I was wrong. So far we have enjoyed the majority of the recipes! We do three days a week and a lot of the time use the previous recipes to fill in the other days.

Here is one of those recipes. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

New Potatoes - 1 pack
Sugar Snap Peas - 1 pack
Cider & Horseradish Mustard - 1 tsp
Lemon - 1/2
Pine Nuts - 25g
Mint - 3tbsp
Salad leaves
Goats Cheese - 1 log.

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil with 1/4 tsp of salt. Wash the new potatoes, leave the skin on. Cut them into quarters and cook in the boiling water for 10-15 mins until cooked through. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
2. Bring another pot of water to the boil with some more salt. Add the sugar snap peas and boil rapidly for 2 mins until al dente. Drain them and put them in cold water so they don't overcook.
3. Make a vinaigrette by mixing the wholegrain mustard with the juice from half the lemon and 1/4 tsp of salt and some black pepper. Slowly mix in 2 tbsp of olive oil. You can also add 1/2 tsp of honey or sugar.
4. Toast the pine nuts by putting them in a dry frying pan on medium heat. Keep an eye on it as it can easily burn.
5. Roughly chop half of the mint leaves and leave the rest whole.
6. Mix together your salad leaves, cooked new potatoes, sugar snap peas, whole mint leaves and chopped mint in a large bowl. Pour over as much vinaigrette as you like.
7. Divide the salad between your bowls then crumble over the goat's cheese and sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts.
8. Yum time.

This dish is cool and delicious. You know what is not cool and delicious... Getting stuck in a lift in 32 degree Celsius heat! We were extremely lucky that there was an engineer only 10 minutes away. 35 minutes later two sweaty messes was released! Huzzah! 

 

Christmas Cheesecake

As usual I have another recipe I used from BBC Good Food. We have Orange and Pomegranate cheesecake. It was scrummy and pretty easy to do too!

Ingredients: 

• 250g digestive biscuits
• 100g butter, melted
• 600g full-fat cream cheese
• zest 3 oranges (you can also cut out the segments for decoration but I got lazy)
• 3 tbsp milk
• 100g icing sugar
• 150ml double cream
• seeds of one pomegranate

Method:

1. Crush the biscuits roughly. Mix with the melted butter and tip into a 23cm springform tin. Press the biscuit evenly to form the base. Chill for about 30mins in the fridge.
2. Put the soft cheese, zest, milk and icing sugar into a bowel and blend with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the cream and whisk until the mixture is the consistency of thick custard. Pour the filling over the biscuit base and spread evenly, return to fridge and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
3. Top with pomegranate seeds and orange segments and serve.

Stuffed Butternut Squash Yumminess

This was a recipe I found on Pinterest. Now normally I just oogle food on Pinterest, salivate a little but never actually go ahead and try it. Well I gave this one a go (with a few wee tweaks) and it was heaven! We had it two nights in a row we enjoyed it so much! The recipe is found here. And as per usual I will copy it here just in case that website is ever removed so I have a go to place for all my fave recipes.

Ingredients:

• Butternut Squash 2 small (I had 2 large so used one each night and we just had half each which was ample.
• Olive oil 1 tbsp
• One medium onion, chopped.
• 2 Garlic cloves, chopped.
• Fresh coriander, about 10-15 sprigs.
• 1 Large red bell pepper, diced.
• Minced turkey 500g
• Tomato Paste 1 tbsp
• Chipotle Paste 1 tbsp
• Wild Rice cooked, 1 cup (all I could find in my supermarket was wild rice miked in with basmati so I just cooked the recommended amount on the packet for two people)
• Feta Cheese, they say 2 tbsp but I just crumbled on loads till I was happy.
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Cook your rice as per packet instructions and set aside.
2. Cut your Butternut Squash lengthways (pretty tricky I found), scoop out the seeds and place face down on baking sheet and cook for forty minutes (as mine was pretty big I did it for over an hour waiting for it to be nice and soft on the inside).
3. When the squash is cool enough scoop out the flesh leaving a border about 1 inch.
4. Now for the filling, Heat the olive oil in a high sided pan. Cook your onions, coriander (leaves and stalks) and your red bell pepper gently for ten minutes. 
5. Add the turkey and cook until the meat is no longer pink.
6. Now add everything, using salt and pepper to taste.
7. Pop mixture into your butternut squash, sprinkle on feta cheese and bake for 20mins
8. Once ready I sprinkled on a little more feta and some more coriander
9. Hold your belly in appreciation.

Cheesecake Brownies

James and I have decided for good that we need to make a change. We have watched our bellies get rounder and our fitness decline for long enough, so starting Monday we are making some changes. Hence why yesterday I decided we would go out like a bang. Whipped up this bad boy that I found in the mag BBC Good Food.

Ingredients:

• 250g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 200g dark chocolate
• 50g white chocolate
• 375g golden caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 50g plain flour, plus 1 tbsp
• 85g cocoa
• Half a tsp baking powder
• 200g tub cream cheese

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan
2. Grease and line a 20x30cm tin with baking parchment. Finely chop 150g dark chocolate, and roughly chop the remaining dark chocolate and the white chocolate. Put the finely chopped chocolate in a bowl and melt over a small pan of gently simmering water. Set aside to cool a little.
3. Put the butter and 350g sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add 4 of the eggs, beating well between each addition, then sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and a good pinch of salt. Finally, stir in the melted chocolate and the chopped chocolate chunks. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
4. Working quickly, tip the cream cheese into a bowl and beat to soften with a spatula. Add the remaining egg, flour and sugar, and mix until combined. Spoon blobs onto the brownie mixture until it is used up. Using a knife or skewer swirl the two mixtures together to get a marble effect.
5. Bake for 30mins until just set - it should still have a little wobble when it comes out of the oven, and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out with sticky crumbs (Mines took a little longer cause my oven is, well, it's shite)
6. Completely let it cool in the tin before cutting into squares to serve.

Enjoy!

Pea and Potato Curry

Tried this recipe tonight from BBC Good Food- Vegetarian Summer mag. Was pretty tasty, made a yummy dinner and a filling lunch for tomorrow. Will defo be adding this to the cooking inventory.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp veg oil
• 2 onions. sliced
• 3 red chillies, de-seeded and thinly sliced
• thumb sized piece of ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp madras curry powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 750g new potatoes, halved
• juice 1 lime
• 500ml pot natural yoghurt
• small bunch coriander, stalks and leaves finely chopped
• 200-300ml veg stock
• 300g peas
• naan bread to serve

Method:

• Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan. Add the onions and cook slowly for 10-15 mins til soft. Add the ginger, chillies and spices for a min or two. Add the potatoes and lime juice and coat in the spice mixture. 
• Add the yoghurt, stock, coriander stalks and the veg stock. Simmer for approx 45mins (until potatoes are soft) and the sauce has reduced.
• Add the peas and cook for further five mins whilst heating up your naan breads.
• Serve

Butternut Squash Risotto

Now you may be thinking, and I agree that this picture I took to go with this recipe looks a little like some sort of bizarre scrambled egg, let me assure you it is not. No sir-eee. My food photography may be lacking but this is indeed some scrummy butternut squash risotto. Recipe found on BBC good food. What-more! I shall share it for you all on here to save you clicking this here link. Or you can. Whatever you prefer! I just like to save recipes I like on here so I can find it later. Saves any disappointment just in case the link 'is dead Jim' - thank you Chrome!

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 4 tbsp light olive oil
• 600ml veg stock (I used chicken as was all out of veg)
• 50g unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bay leaf (mind and fish this out before you serve, bloody bay leafs!)
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 140g risotto
• 100ml white wine
• 50g parmesan

Method:

• Heat oven to 200C.
• Peal the squash and separate bulbous seed-part from long part. Chop slender part into 2cm cubes, toss in half the oil, season lightly and roast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on the outside and soft in the centre for about 30 mins. Cut the bulb in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Chop the flesh into 2cm pieces. Warm the stock in a small pan, on a low heat. Pop in the squash and let it poach.
• While the sqaush is roasting, warm a medium size frying pan (I used a wok here cause I'm a tad messy and get over-zealous stirring things) over a gentle heat. Add the remaining olive oil and half the butter, followed by the onion. Cover and cook for 3 mins until the onion turns translucent. Stir in the celery, garlic, herbs and a few turns of pepper. Cover again and cook for a further 2 mins. Increase the heat slightly and stir in the rice. Stir uncovered for about 5 mins - this will help develop the toasty aroma of the rice without burning the veg - apparently. 
• Turn up the heat, stir in the wine and let it bubble away to almost nothing. Reduce the heat and start adding the stock. Add one ladle at a time, stirring gently but not over-zealously. The idea is to encourage the rice to absorb the liquid and soften, but also to give up its starch to thicken the remaining broth. Don't stir too aggressively or you will end up with a pan of mush (maybe I went a but too much but it was still tasty so meh). When the stock has absorbed add the next one... This will take approx 15 mins. By this point the squash in the stock will have soften, mash it up with a potato masher and stir into the risotto.
• Turn off the heat, dot the top of the risotto with the remaining butter and most of the Parmesan, cover and leave to rest for 2 mins, then stir, check seasoning. Serve with the roasted squash on top.
• Bask in the delight of making your own plate of yum.

Saturday's Sizzling Stir Fry

I've been attempting to try out new recipes lately and expand my repertoire so I gave this one a go. This is a weight watchers one (that's right I am at weight watchers but I ain't gonna bore you and bang on about it). I must admit this one was drool-worthy! If Sirloin Steak wasn't so expensive I would make this at least weekly if not more. I made a bit of a boob though and didn't realise this recipe was for one person. Made it for James and I - more like a little starter. Was gagging for some more scrupulousness. At least I know this one is a keeper. Before this, the only stir-fry I made was chicken, a pre-pack of veg and soy sauce.

Serves 1 (Don't make the mistake I did!)

Ingredients

• calorie controlled cooking spray
• 2.5cm fresh root ginger, grated finely
• 100g lean fillet or sirloin steak, all fat removed, cut into thin strips
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree mixed with 100ml water
• 4 spring onions
• 100g beansprouts
• half red pepper, de-seeded and sliced finely
• small bunch of coriander, chopped

Method

Heat a large non-stick frying pan or wok and spray the cooking spray. Stir-fry the ginger for 10 seconds and then add the steak and stir-fry for a further 2 mins, until it begins to brown.

Add all the other ingredients and stir-fry for 5 mins, then serve immediately.

Enjoy!

I plan to try a Hungry Bikers recipe next...

Got the sniffles? Get some Spicy Soup on the go!

Feeling right sorry for myself the past couple of days. I'm all bunged up with the cold and had to call in sick for two shifts at placement - I bet you I missed something exciting too! Poor James has been off too due to his ankle - finally got him to go to the Minor Injuries unit yesterday (what a polava, the car ran out of fuel and everything!), but apparently it is going to take 4-6 weeks for it to heal properly. The thing he is most sad about is that he can't play bike polo for all that time.

On the upside I got my broken phone swapped for a sparkling new one :) Also James has found a buyer for his car (it's actually the guy he bought it off of in the first place) and he is coming up on Friday to get it. Exciting but it's sad to see The Bitch go. I thought we would get one last trip in it before it moved on to it's next owner.

As I have been feeling so sorry for myself, all I have done is spend countless hours staring at people's blogs looking for inspiration (despite the fact I could be getting on with three projects already started and not to mention two essays I should be working on) and sleeping. I finally decided my need for soup was so great I got out of my snot-filled den and shuffled over to the kitchen and fired up the hob. This is an awesome recipe for Spicy Carrot Soup from the amazing book The Soup Bible - Debra Mayhew. So far all (bar the borscht - but then maybe that is just not for me) of the soups I have tried, I have loved. I recommend this book to all home made soup fans out there!

In the ingredients it states it serves 6 but I reduced it so much that it gave James and I a massive bowel each and that was it! Should give me a nice shot of vitamins to help rid me of the snots! 

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 675g carrots, sliced
• 5ml of ground coriander, ground cumin and hot chilli powder
• 900ml veg stock

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and carrots and cook gently for five mins until soft. Add the spices and stir for a further min continuing to stir.
2. Pour in the veg stock, bring to the boil then simmer gently for 45 mins until carrots are tender.
3. Once cooked, cool soup and purée.
4. Re-heat and serve with warm bread (or in my case a garlic banquette yum) 

Here's hoping it burns away the sniffles!

Kirst xx

Hairy Biker Style

Finally got my bursary so we did a food shop - yay! You know your getting old when the prospect of a food shop gets you all excited. Out with the little list and armed with a pound for your trolly. Decided to whip up a satisfying comfort concoction courtesy of the Hairy Bikers and BBC food: Great Sausage Casserole It serves 6, so plenty to store for another day.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 12 pork sausages
• 6 slices of streaky bacon cut into strips
• 2 medium onions thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tbsp of smoked paprika
• can of chopped tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tbsp dried thyme (They actually call for fresh stuff but I didn't see any in the shop I was in so I used what I had)
• 100ml wine (I used water because I forgot the wine)
• 1 can butter beans

Heat your oil and fry your sausages until golden brown and then put the to the side in a large saucepan or casserole dish. 

Fry your bacon until slightly crispy then add to the sausages at the side. Then using the same frying pan gently heat your onions for five minutes. Add your garlic and heat for a further 2 minutes until it is nice a golden brown.

Then add your paprika and mix in for a few seconds, it turns the onions an awesome colour:

Add the rest of the ingredients (except from the butter beans and the sausages and bacon that you have at the side) to the frying pan and simmer for a few minutes. You then carefully pour this into the large saucepan that contains your sausages and bacon. This simmers for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Whilst doing this I put potatoes on to boil to make mash.

The butter beans are now added for 10 mins and then served. Mmmmm yummy.

Not the most healthy of dinners with all that meat and frying but a very tasty one. Mind you most things that are bad for you generally is tasty. Tomorrow I'm trying my first powerhoop class - exercise with hula hoops. I'm very excited. In my head I will look like this:

But the reality will probably be me spending most of the class picking the thing up from the floor haha. Bring it on!

Kirst xx

Peanut Butter Fudge

I'm not a big fan of peanut butter but this stuff is pretty tasty - but so bad for you! Good job you can only eat a little at a time because it's so sweet. Just pop it in an air tight tub and keep it in the fridge and it will keep for a good while. It's a Sophie Dahl recipe.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 500g dark brown sugar
• 120ml milk
• 250g crunchy peanut butter
• 1 vanilla pod (seeds only)
• 300g icing sugar

Takes about 40 minutes or so all together to make. The picture is only half of what I made (got bored cutting it after a while lol).

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and milk, and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, without stirring.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla seeds.
4. Pace the icing sugar in a large bowl, and pour the hot butter and sugar mixture on top. Using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until smooth.
5. Pour into a 20cm deep square tin. Allow to cool slightly then pop in the fridge to set.
6. I left it a night because I was busy and then cut it up into as neat squares as I could.
7. Enjoy!

The last of the banana's

I had the last banana that was just a little too black to eat so decided to make some super simple cupcakes so it didn't end up in the bin. I waste so much money chucking food in the bin because it has went off just because I don't plan dinners well. Nothing fancy, especially not the decorating! Tasty though! In my mind part of your five a day too :)

Makes 8 large cupcakes or 12 small ones.

Preheat oven to about 190 degrees.

You will need:

114g self raising flour

114g sugar (I used light brown sugar as that was what was in my cupboard)

114g butter (I used flora spread)

2 eggs

1 banana

Make up some butter icing for the topping - I do this by taste so no idea what measurements I used.

Some little goodies to decorate.

Whisk the sugar and butter together until smooth.

Add the eggs and whisk (do this one at a time).

Sift the flour into the mixture a little at a time and fold into the mixture.

Fold in the mashed banana.

Put even spoonfuls into your cases (I used Muffin cases because I made 8 big cakes).

Whack it into the oven for 15 mins.

Once ready allow to cool then add icing and decorate.

See! Simple, easy and tasty. No fancy nancy here!

Kirst x

Scrummy Mac 'N' Cheese

I made a creamy Mac 'N' Cheese tonight which worked out well. For once James didn't need prompted on his opinion. Just demanded if there was more because he liked it. High praise from him!

I don't mean this Mac N Cheese from Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, although I still love this show despite being a mature 26 year old! If you haven't seen it you have to! It's just a nice wee kids show.

Ingredients:


About 270g dried macaroni
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of plain flour
1 cup of milk
200g cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon of salt
A pinch or two of paprika
250g cheddar cheese grated, about 50gish should be left aside to place on top of the breadcrumbs at the end!
I slice of bread worth of breadcrumbs - I used a brown farmhouse loaf.


Method:


(1) Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius 
(2) Cook macaroni to pack instructions, drain and set aside
(3) Melt butter at a low heat then add in the flour, salt and paprika whisking it as you go
(4) Add your milk and cream cheese in a little at a time, the key it to stir this sauce the whole way through so keep going with it!
(5) Bring to the boil for 2 mins and keep stirring
(6) Then lower the heat to a simmer and stir for 10 mins!!
(7) Add about 200g of your grated cheese a little at a time - stir
(8) Take off the heat and mix in your macaroni
(9) Pop into a greased oven-proof dish, add a little butter to your breadcrumbs and mix it together, then pop it on top of your mac n cheese. Add the last of your cheese to the breadcrumbs.
(10) Shove it in the oven for about 20 mins until the top it golden brown then serve


Hope you guys like it too

xx

Ragu

So the other day I made this bad boy. You simmer it for like four hours to make the texture nice and fine and oh so yummy :) Might not be pretty enough to be a contender on Masterchef but it's pretty damn tasty for a commoner like me!

Plenty veg to help towards that five a day - bonus

Meal for two

Ingredients:

2 onions (large), chopped
2 carrots (large), chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
500g minced beef
100g pancetta
4 tablespoons olive oil
80g butter 
100ml single cream
half glass white wine
380ml beef stock ( i.e. 2 oxo cubes + water)
2 tablespoons tomato puree

Method:

1. Melt the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook until lightly soft (onions starting to brown) – about 5 mins. Season with salt and pepper too.
2. Add the pancetta and mince and cook until the mince is lightly browned – again about 5 minutes. Then add the wine and let it reduce. 
3. Then, add the beef stock and tomato puree, and then let the mixture simmer. The longer the mixture simmers for, the finer the texture of the meat will be. I like to do it for at least 2 hours; I have had excellent results with 4 hours. If you need to, you can add water during the long simmering time to ensure the mixture doesn’t get too dry.
4. 15 minutes before serving, take the mixture off the heat and add the cream.
5. Serve with tagliatelle + sprinkle with fresh parmesan.

The recipe was given to us by one of James' Bike Polo friends. What a hit it has become! Defo one to add to the usual suspects when it comes to tea. Officially this recipe serves eight but if you are wanting nice big servings then I would say four.

Hope you enjoy!

xx