Make! Spiced baked pears and plums

Here is a nice little winter warmer and a simple pudding. Cut a load of plums in half and slice up some pears, then place in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle generously with honey and sprinkle all over with cinnamon. Bake in the oven at 180c for around half an hour. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt. A very comforting and satisfying pud for a cold and wet day!

Naughty little winter treat: Raspberry Gin

Last autumn I made raspberry gin, and come our Christmas party it went down such a storm that I've decided to begin a festive tradition and make it again this year. It is very easy to make and just requires a long time left in a dark cupboard to develop its full loveliness.

I use 1 1/2 litres gin, 350g raspberries and 350g caster sugar. Frozen raspberries will work as well as fresh - the ones you can buy in the supermarket are usually surprisingly sweet and delicious once defrosted.

It is important to sterilise the containers you will be storing your gin in. I use a 2 litre Kilner jar and I actually sterilise it in a steriliser for baby bottles - it just fits! It's an easy way to do it if you have such a thing to hand.

Simply mix all your ingredients in the cooled sterilised jar then seal and put away in a dark place. Mine will hopefully stay (on a high shelf!) in a cupboard until Christmas, in three months time. I'll probably give it the occasional gentle shake every couple of weeks or so. Then you just need to strain out the fruit before serving. Small bottles of this make lovely gifts, or it will make a delicious cocktail when mixed with apple juice and soda water at your Christmas party!

Low carb eating: cauliflower rice

Do you see a pattern emerging with my food posts?! Eating a lower carb diet for a few days is something I like to do when I'm feeling a bit sluggish or when I've had a particularly indulgent weekend/holiday! I just discovered cauliflower rice thanks to Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie's Money Saving Meals' and it's a great, filling alternative to rice if you're eating a low carb diet or counting calories. For one portion, I used a couple of handfuls of cauliflower florets, blitzed to a 'ricey' texture in the food processor, then cooked on full power in the microwave for one minute in a covered microwaveable container. Your 'rice' should come out piping hot and steaming. This works really well as an alternative to rice when served with curries, stews, chilli con carne, etc. It tastes fairly bland so it's good when paired with with tasty sauces and bold flavours, just like ordinary rice. I fed this to my mum and dad with a curry and they loved it (at least that's what they said!) Have you tried cauliflower rice?

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesdays:

Low carb treat: zucchini 'spaghetti'

Previously on the blog I've mentioned my new favourite kitchen gadget: the spiral slicer! Here's a little serving suggestion and a low carb alternative to a big bowl of spaghetti.

I simply slice a couple of courgettes into fine noodles using my spiral slicer, then fry in a generous amount of olive oil with minced garlic. I then season with dried chilli flakes, black pepper and Parmesan cheese. I love courgettes and I've become a bit addicted to eating them this way.

My Gefu Spirelli slicer appears to have now been discontinued at Lakeland, but they are still available from some other online retailers including Ebay.

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesdays:

Make! Quick Asian-inspired salmon

A friend was telling me about a fish dish she made with lots of nice Asian flavours, and it inspired me to make this dish tonight with some salmon I had in my freezer.

I took a thumb sized piece of root ginger (peeled and roughly chopped), 2 cloves of garlic, the juice of a lime, a handful of fresh coriander and a glug each of soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil. I blended these all together in a mini-food processor to make my marinade.

I then spread the marinade over 2 salmon fillets, wrapped in foil (like a loose parcel but sealed all around) and left in the fridge for a couple of hours until I wanted to cook it. The flavours are strong so you could just cook it straight away.

When I wanted to cook my salmon, it was all ready in its foil parcel, so I just popped it straight into my preheated oven (170 degrees Celsius for our fan oven, add 10 degrees for non-fan) for 25-30 minutes.

I served the salmon with brown rice and spring onions, fine beans and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle the juices from your fish over the rice; it makes a delicious gravy.

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesday:

The Green Smoothie: A PMS-busting breakfast?

Do you suffer from PMS? It's a horrid affliction but I've discovered that there are a few things I can do about it, and I've been experimenting with changing my diet around that time of the month.

Yesterday I was reading online that magnesium deficiency can be an aggravating factor of PMS, so I looked up foods with high magnesium content and decided that I'd try to incorporate more of these into my diet. Some of the top magnesium rich foods listed are spinach, bananas, yoghurt and dark chocolate - all things I love so I was happy about that! I eat these foods all the time so I'm not sure I can be magnesium deficient, but I will see if eating more of them helps me!

This morning for breakfast I made a smoothie as an easy way to cram in loads of magnesium rich food at the start of my day. Green smoothies are very popular at the moment so I figured that spinach in a fruit smoothie could not taste too bad (it was lovely).

My ingredients were one banana, about 100g Greek yoghurt, a few handfuls of spinach, a handful of blueberries and a splash of milk. I used my trusty hand blender to mash it all up.

My smoothie was really good! Even if it doesn't cure my PMS, at least it is still an enjoyable way to fill yourself with fruit and veg in the morning. Now I just need to get my hands on some dark chocolate...

I'm linking this up with Tasty Tuesdays!

Blogs and food inspiration

One thing I like to blog about is food. Whether cooking it or eating it; I like to tell you about it! I also like it when other bloggers share their culinary tips and I'm particularly up for trying anything that looks foremostly delicious, but also quick and simple. Having kids around restricts the amount of time one can spend slaving over that hot stove, plus it's nice to make things that the little ones can get involved with. V isn't quite baking with me yet, but he likes to help me with all things domestic and I know that he'll soon be keen to start making things in the kitchen too.

A lovely blog I've been following is Family Life at Number 2, and when Jill blogged about a chocolately treat she'd made I knew I had to give it a go. Check out Jill's blog for this lovely and easy recipe. These Nutella pastries were dished up to some mums and kids I had visiting the other day, and their rapid disappearance was testament to their success. If your kids are into baking this is a nice recipe you could do with them.

I dusted these with a little cinnamon and icing sugar. Very nice. Thank you Jill!

Hannah x

Kitchen gadget obsession: The spiral slicer

This spiral slicer is my new best friend in the kitchen! I'd been wanting something like this for ages and I was so pleased when my father-in-law bought me this Gefu slicer from Lakeland. So far I have just used it for courgettes a few times and it's so easy to get these lovely long ribbons or 'noodles' using it. As a serving suggestion, I have used the sliced courgette like noodles in a stir fry - just chuck them in to heat through at the end of frying like you would with cooked or fresh noodles. Or serve them as a delicious side dish, sautéed in olive oil and garlic then sprinkled with black pepper and Parmesan cheese.

I also plan to use the spiral slicer for carrots and cucumbers to add some interesting texture to my salads. As one who gets excited by kitchen gadgets, I think this slicer is a useful little item and reasonably priced at around £10.

Do you have any unusual kitchen gadgets that you love? Please do tell me about them!

Make! Teriyaki pork

One of the many things I love to order at Japanese restaurants is meat or fish in a teriyaki sauce. It's also easy to make at home and although I've used pork this time, it goes with so many meats/proteins: think chicken, beef, salmon, tofu, etc etc.

I used 6 pork loin steaks, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup mirin, 1/4 cup sugar and a dash of sesame oil.

In a casserole dish, put the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sesame oil. Warm over a medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Sauce made!

Fry the pork steaks in a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side (I used vegetable oil and a little sesame oil).

Now add your pork steaks into the sauce in your casserole dish, bringing to a simmer. Put the lid on and allow the meat to simmer gently in the sauce for around 30 minutes.

I served this with stir-fried peppers, brown rice and spring onions. Ladle over some of the delicious sauce before serving, and bon appetit! One of those easy dishes that everyone seems to like.

I am linking up this recipe with Honest Mum's Tasty Tuesday:

Make! Smoky beef burgers

We made some gorgeous beef burgers with this BBQ glaze which gave them a spicy, smoky flavour. When making burgers, the quality of your mince makes a big difference, so it's always a good idea to visit your high street butcher and get your meat freshly ground if possible. Our glaze consisted of roughly 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp garlic oil, 2 tsp chipotle (smoked) chilli paste, half tsp dried oregano and half tsp smoked paprika. Just mix the ingredients then use as a marinade for the burgers before frying/grilling. Serve in buns with tons of salad!

I'm linking up with Honest Mum's Tasty Tuesday, and I'm just heading over there now to have a look at all this week's lovely recipes!

On family traditions and using everything

In my husband's family, there is a generations-old tradition of taking a roast chicken to each of your grown-up children every Saturday. And now when my parents-in-law visit us at the weekend, they always bring a lovely warm rotisserie chicken for us to eat. Obviously I approve of this tradition and that chicken always goes down well!

Once we've devoured most of the meat, I often boil up the chicken carcass to make stock. Throwing it out feels like such a waste and there isn't much effort involved in just leaving it to simmer away in water, plus you end up with a wonderful base you can freeze or use right away in a soup or sauce. 

After the weekend is over, and before I've done a big weekly shop, I often find myself with a fridge that is rather forlorn and bare-looking, apart from a few odds and ends that need to be used up. Today with my chicken stock at the ready, I found myself with the perfect opportunity to make my husband's favourite soup: Minestrone. A classic dish of leftovers! This one contained red and brown onions, courgettes, tinned tomatoes, the end of a bottle of red wine, a little bit of pesto, tomato puree, dried herbs and of course my tasty chicken stock. I also added some of the meat from the chicken to the soup, which made it extra-hearty. Not to forget the last strands from a packet of spaghetti, snapped into little bits. I topped it with some grated cheese (Manchego left over from our Sunday cheeseboard) and it was a good Monday night tea with some toasted crusty bread and butter. 

I really enjoy the satisfaction of making a proper meal out of leftover things! Do you have any favourite dishes that you make from leftovers?

Hannah x

I am linking up with Honest Mum's Tasty Tuesdays. Have a look at the lovely recipes over there!

Tasty Tuesdays: Tasty Benefits

Apologies on the lack of cooking today but, as we have been away from home for most of the last week, I haven't been cooking and have nothing to post! So instead I decided to show you the pudding I had this evening, and share with you some happy food facts. I have been enjoying lots of lovely summer fruits recently and some of my favourites are nectarines, watermelon and of course all the wonderful berries that we can pick locally during the warm months. Recently I found out that strawberries are a potent anti-ageing food due to their high vitamin and antioxidant content, plus strong anti-inflammatory properties. They can really help prevent wrinkles! I was also pleased to discover studies have proved that eating low-fat dairy, particularly yoghurt, helps you lose body fat. It especially helps you stay trim around the tummy area. So this is a great summer dessert packed with health and beauty benefits. I may just eat it every day!

I'm linking up with Honest Mum's 'Tasty Tuesdays'. I'm really enjoying this fantastic linky and it looks like there are some great recipes to check out this week. Do click on the link below to have a look!

Make! Spicy prawns with artichoke salad

When I have prawns in my fridge, I usually can't resist using them to make a classic linguine involving loads of chilli, garlic and olive oil. However, during the amazing heatwave we are currently experiencing, my cravings are for something much lighter but equally tasty.

Today I concocted this simple and delicious prawn dish which took just a few minutes to put together. The salad is artichoke hearts (from a jar), baby plum tomatoes and cucumber all diced and tossed together. The prawns were pan fried in chilli-infused olive oil. Then I dressed everything with a liberal drizzling of garlic-infused olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Yum - it was such a perfect, fresh and light meal for a day like this.

What kind of thing do you like to eat on hot days?

I'm linking up this recipe with Honest Mum's lovely new feature 'Tasty Tuesdays'. Do check out her amazing baklava recipe and all the other linkers' :)

Make! Cheat's pizza

Unexpected lunch guests? Nothing in the fridge? I keep these pre-rolled pizza bases in the freezer for moments like these. You can top them with anything, stick them in the oven for 15 minutes, and there you have a pretty tasty lunch that everyone will enjoy! Try topping with a bit of passata, frozen veg and grated cheddar - your kids will love this. This post is not endorsed by Asda, I simply love these pizza bases for their ease of use. They are even rolled onto a sheet of baking parchment which you can just slap straight onto a baking tray. I love minimum time expenditure in my everyday meal prep!

Make! Green pesto potato salad

Despite this salad being almost too simple to post about, I made it today to take to a BBQ and thought I'd show it on the blog as it's a side dish that people always enjoy and ask for the recipe. The magic of this is simply green pesto from a jar. The one time this didn't go down so well was when I served it to a friend with a cashew nut allergy - eek! - it was a mild allergic reaction and she was okay but do remember to check the ingredients of your pesto if you're serving it to people with nut sensitivities!!! Pesto is meant to contain just pine nuts but most of the supermarket brands substitute cheaper cashews. A bit naughty but it still tastes good if you are ok with cashew nuts.

Ingredients: 750g new potatoes, 6 spring onions (chopped) , 1 tbsp green pesto, 1 tbsp mayonnaise (I use light mayo), olive oil.

Chop your potatoes into bite-sized chunks (leaving skin on) and cook by boiling. You can either let your potatoes cool or you can serve this as a warm dish with the freshly cooked potatoes. Add the chopped spring onions, pesto, mayo and a glug of olive oil. Stir and serve.

Obviously this is an easy-peasy dish but always surprisingly a huge crowd pleaser at buffets and BBQs. Try it and see!

Make! Beef cheeks 3 ways #2: Beef barbacoa tacos

Yes, I have been cooking beef cheeks again! As promised this is the 2nd way I dreamed up of cooking this cut of beef. In fact, we discovered that Mexican 'barbacoa' or barbecue style beef is often made using the cheeks of the cow.

To feed 6 people generously (this was a feast!) I'd recommend cooking 4 beef cheeks. I preheated my fan oven to 130 degrees C (150 might be better for a non-fan oven) and placed the meat in a deep baking tray. Then I poured over a sauce which consisted of the following:

1 pint beef stock

juice of 3 limes

2 tbspn cider vinegar

1 jar Asda chipotle chilli paste (100g)

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp cumin

2 tspn smoked paprika

1 tbspn garlic infused olive oil (or just use some crushed garlic/garlic powder)

Then I covered this with foil and cooked it in the oven for just about the whole day! It was in for about 7 hours. Once it was cooked to the point of almost falling apart, I took it out and let it rest for 20 minutes. I then shredded the meat using two forks and mixed it into the sauce, returning it to the oven for 30 minutes minus the foil. Voila, it was ready to serve!

I served the beef and tacos with guacamole, salsa (with lots of fresh coriander!), soured cream and cheese. Don't forget lime wedges and hot sauce to really elevate the flavours!

This went down very well as our Sunday dinner! I will be back soon (just one last time) with another beef cheeks recipe. 

Make: Butternut squash and feta lentil salad

The Internet is a great thing for food inspiration and I am constantly seeing things on blogs and food websites that I want to recreate. A Pinterest image inspired this latest offering - I knew when I saw some of these ingredients put together it would be a great combination of flavours and textures. It's pretty simple and makes a healthy and hearty salad that will fill you up!

I cut up a butternut squash into bite size chunks, drizzled in olive oil and roasted in the oven until lightly caramelised around the edges (180 degrees C, around 40 minutes). I cooked some green lentils until soft but still a little firm. Once cooked and left to cool from hot to warm, I put some of the lentils and squash on a bed of rocket salad (from a bag!) then I crumbled some feta cheese on top. I drizzled all this with a dressing composed of 1 part olive oil, 1 part pomegranate paste/molasses.

This was delicious and I will definitely be scouring Pinterest for more inspiring salad images!

Make! Beef cheeks 3 ways: Red wine braised beef cheeks

The reason I say 'beef cheeks 3 ways' is that I'm going to be doing a bit of a series on this delicious and economical cut of beef. Recently I've been branching out with the meat I buy as an attempt to be more adventurous in my cooking, whilst also saving on my shopping bill. Beef cheeks appealed to me because they are cheap, substantial and can be transformed into a variety of decadent meals.

Where to source the meat: You are unlikely to find beef cheeks in your typical supermarket meat aisles. We ordered these in advance from our local butcher; as they're not a commonly used cut your butcher will most likely need a few days notice to get these in. In terms of quantity we found that 2 beef cheeks will feed four people, and the cheeks we bought were each about the size of 2 decent sirloins. I'd recommend you ask your butcher to trim the meat for you as I've heard this is a pretty difficult and unpleasant job if you're not much of a butcher yourself! We bought enough for a few meals so that I could cook some that day and freeze the rest for trying different meals with later. As for cost, I worked out that our butcher had charged us around £2.50 per cheek, which seems extremely cheap to me as I'd normally use braising steak for this type of casserole. In my opinion the cheeks are much tastier and even more tender once cooked.

Here's the recipe. This is to serve 4 people.

Ingredients:
2 beef cheeks, trimmed (score the surface with a sharp knife so these will cook more easily)
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chilli, sliced (optional)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbspn tomato puree
1/2 bottle red wine
500ml chicken/vegetable stock
Olive oil
Rosemary
Thyme

Method:
Preheat oven to 150c/130c fan
Fry onions and garlic in some oil in a large casserole dish
Add beef cheeks and fry for a few minutes to colour both sides
Add chilli, tomatoes, puree, stir and bring to a simmer
Season with herbs
Add red wine and stock. Stir and allow to simmer for a few minutes
Cover and put in oven

Simple!

The dish will cook in about 3 hours. Check that the meat is tender - you should easily be able to break it apart with a couple of forks.

Leave out of the oven for a few minutes before serving so that the meat can rest. Break up the meat a bit and stir before dishing up with bread/rice and seasonal veg. I stir fried some green beans and mangetout in butter and it went nicely with the dish.

If you have any leftover, keep it in the fridge and it will taste even better 24 hours later!

Do you have any tips for cooking with cheap/overlooked cuts of meat? Please let me in to your culinary secrets!

Hannah x

Make! Turkish Coffee Granita

I was inspired to make this pudding by the brilliant Toast & Butter blog, where I found this recipe for Espresso Granita. Thank you Toast and Butter! I loved the idea of this for a refreshing sweet after a big weekend meal, though I decided to put my own spin on it by using Turkish coffee instead of espresso. I made up my Turkish coffee with lots of green cardamom pods to give it that lovely aromatic quality, and I strained the grains out of the coffee using a muslin cloth before allowing to cool and then freezing.

The verdict? Utterly divine and definitely an experience to be repeated!

Make! Cheat's chicken jalfrezi

This is a good shortcut recipe for busy parents or just anyone who has limited time for cooking. I used to shun pre-prepared ingredients like the frozen sliced peppers I used here but now they make feeding my family a lot easier!

Slice 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves and fry in a large pot in a small amount of oil.

Add 3 diced chicken breasts and 2 tablespoons jalfrezi curry paste (I like Pataks).

Add a few handfuls sliced frozen peppers. I get these from the frozen section in Asda. Add 1 tin chopped tomatoes, some tomato purée and a little water.

Simmer until chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened up to your liking.

I served this with some whole grain basmati rice. It is very quick and definitely a 'cheat's' curry but still really good!