Vincent, my brave little dog

I know that I normally post about my kitchen antics.... But I felt the need to post about my dog. He had cryptoid testicles, which basically means that as a puppy they didn't descend and were sitting inside him, instead of outside, unfortunately having them removed was the only option, because they could become cancerous...... Today was that day.

We drove 2 and a ½  hours to get this done, I haven’t been overly impressed with the vet here in our local area and decided that my precious little man, despite his quirks, was too important to us to take him to a vet I don’t trust.

Watching him go under the aesthetic, was traumatic, convulsions (although having been told this was normal) left me feeling very anxious, and when he took that last deep breath, before going completely to sleep, made me look and feel to see if he was still breathing, for a second I thought he had died. For a moment there my heart was breaking. I remember yelling at my husband to get the vet… If he hadn’t been there right away I would have started giving him CPR, a thousand thoughts race through your mind in that moment…. Of course I was stressing for nothing but this is my baby
don’t, forget.

Let me tell you about a few of Vinny’s “antics.” My mother breeds Golden Retrievers, and because I was living with my mother at the time, and my inability to not become attached to the little puppies, I stayed well clear of Vinny’s litter, apart from the beginning, when I was there for the birth of the entire litter. Sat in my mother’s bathroom with an armful of towels, it was my job to dry and gently blow into the little puppies noses, sometimes giving them a vigorous rub to get them breathing. It was the 29^th April 2009, 0515, my husbands birthday, what a way to wake up on your birthday, with your future wife sticking a puppy in your face, that had been born literally moments before. This was the extent of my involvement with the puppies though… After that moment on, my puppy duties required of me only to make up feeds later and help clean the poop, admittedly only on occasion. This changed though, when the litter was about 5 weeks old, I had been at work all day and for whatever reason, it was, my mother and father had to go out and no one was at home to take the nearly house trained puppies outside to do their business. Oh my goodness what a disgusting mess 8 puppies can make, to make matters worse we had 30 minutes in which to clean the mess and have 8 little puppies clean and smelling nice for prospective owners. I was left cleaning poopy pups. 7 got cleaned, to be honest I had quite a good system going, all the pups went in the bath, and in a very professional and detached matter, I grabbed a puppy, stuck it under the tap in the sink shampoo’d, rinsed, towelled dry and moved onto the next 6 with NO inkling of ooooh I sooo want you feelings. Then came Vinny, last but certainly not least.

Why I fell completely in love with a dog who, chewed my hair, tried to pierce my ear again, and would growl at me all of the time I have no idea, but I did, I should have taken this as a sign of things to come, after all I am a seasoned dog owner, years of experience.
The best place to start is his GOOD qualities, this should take seconds…. He ermmmm plays well with others.









He looks really cute… Yup I think that’s about it……
Here’s a list of what he managed to get up to in the last 2 years 10 months and why we can’t leave the house without him being crated.

1. He ate a box of tissues…. $2.00
2. He ate an xbox headset…. $5.00  - $19.99
3. Jack Higgins books x4…… $6.95 each
4. La Gastrominque 1976 edition….. $50.00
5. Xbox controller…… $37.00
6. 10 pairs of my shoes and a pair of slippers….. $250.00 maybe more.
7. He ate 2 nail files $1.00
8. Tube of ibuprofen gel (made his poo shiny) $5.00
9. Husbands mess boots (shoe laces neatly removed and laid on the floor in straight lines) $100.10
10. First note book with blog ideas. $5.00 (plus emotional trauma)
11. Ran away and was gone for a total of 18 hours, found having a blast at vet….. Irreparable, trauma.
12. Husbands brand new jumper, never been worn (chewed off the zip) $30.00
13. $200-$300 worth of dog toys (turned into rags and bits within 5 minutes)
14. Numerous, cleaning cloths, mop ends, blankets and towels (no major issue just a pain)

It’s impossible not to love this!!!!

Thai Chicken Broth and Prawn, Coconut Curry

Christmas 2009 I received three GoodFood BBC cookbooks, from my step-daughters, what could be more perfect? These next two recipes came out of them. It was time to spice things up a bit - besides I had to try out my new books..... They are really nice books, the recipes are easy to understand and they have lovely colour pictures for each recipe. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_4?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=good+food&sprefix=good%2Cstripbooks%2C243, if you are interested in buying any.



Thai Chicken Broth

1 litre hot chicken stock
1 tbsp Thai curry paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
100g mushrooms, sliced
Bunch of scallions, whites and greens separated
200g cooked chicken

 1.      Put your stock into a large saucepan, stir in the curry paste, fish sauce, most of the zest and the lime juice. Bring to a boil, and add the mushrooms and the white bits of the scallions, put a lid on and simmer for a couple of minutes.

2.      Stir in the chicken and the green bits of the scallions, gently heat through.

Prawn Curry With Coconut

 4 tsp olive oil

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
¼ tsp of ground turmeric, mild chilli powder
½ tsp ground coriander
2 bay leaves
10 raw king prawns, peeled
200 ml coconut cream
1/2 lime
150 ml water

1. Heat your oil in a skillet, and tip in the mustard seeds, if you haven’t done this before they will pop, which is what you want to happen, add the onion and fry until it’s golden. Then add the garlic and fry for about a minute. Next put in your spices, stir cooking for a few seconds and then add the bay leaf.
2. Next pour in your water, you’ll want to bring it to a boil, for about a minute. Lower the heat, add the prawns and simmer for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked.
3. When the prawns are cooked add the coconut cream, heat the curry through, add a squeeze of lime juice, season and serve with rice.

creamy pesto chicken

Right so tying in with the chicken cordon bleu, here is another chicken recipe, Creamy Pesto Chicken….

 Suddenly, boring plain chicken has become so much more interesting!

 Creamy Pesto Chicken

4 chicken breasts

3 tbsp pesto
85g mascarpone
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
100g fresh breadcrumbs

1. First preheat your oven to 200̊C. Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket in the side of each chicken breast. In a small bowl mix together the pesto and the mascarpone, then put a ¼ of the pesto mixture into the chicken breasts. Smooth over the opening to seal the chicken.
2. Brush about 1 tsp of evoo into each chicken breast and season well with salt and pepper. Put the breadcrumbs into a bowl and season. Put each chicken breast into the breadcrumbs to coat them. Then put them into a lightly oiled, baking dish.
3. Roast for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked and golden.

chicken cordon bleu

These days chicken breast is so cheap to buy, and I’ll often buy the family saver packs, split them down into separate freezer bags and then stick them in the freezer until such a point as I am ready to use them – a few years ago I wouldn’t have entertained the idea of buying plain chicken. More over I wouldn’t have had a clue about what to do with it, probably wouldn’t have been allowed either. Making it myself, would have meant spending more money, much better to buy pre-prepared rubbish, that you can’t really be sure what went in it right?

When my life became liberated, so did my food and my “experimenting,” with all these “new” ingredients. It paid off in a big way, with each success, my confidence in the kitchen grew, but also within me.

This next recipe, at the time seemed a little daunting and complicated to make, but I was ready and excited for the challenge. The first time round it was time consuming, but well worth the effort and to be honest in all fairness, half of the time I spend in the kitchen prepping and cooking is because I enjoy it, not because I need to be in there. I have an inner peace in the kitchen, I put my iPod on and cook away to my favourite music….. I do try not to sing though….. Hehehehe..

My kitchen is my little world, somewhere where I have found that I feel safe and happy, and no I don’t always get it right, baking is something I just can’t master at all, but I have the drive to keep trying. I now have something that I can talk about other than work or what was on T.V the night before – mind you I could also talk about the hundreds of books I have read or the masses of vodka I managed to down last night. “O-M-G - smiley face – LOL,” as my dear husband would say.

This is me good or bad, I enjoy it and for the first time in a REALLY long time I have found something I am good at, and proud of accomplishing.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

100g fresh bread crumbs
1 tsp each of rosemary, thyme and sage
4 chicken breasts, butterfly cut
4 rashers (slices) of bacon
100g grated cheese
1/3 cup of olive oil

1. Mix the breadcrumbs and all the herbs together.
2. Cut the bacon rashers in half and place inside the chicken breast, making sure they don’t over lap the ends.
3. Then layer the bacon with the grated cheese.
4. Flip the other half of the chicken breast back over, carefully roll the breast in olive oil and then in the breadcrumbs.
5. Bake in a lightly greased dish at 350̊F for 30-35 minutes.

Steak With Onion and Mushroom Sauce

Sometimes you'll find, that, you'll cook one thing and it will inspire you to cook something else. This recipe was inspired from the beef and mushroom pie recipe. As I was eating the pie, I was thinking it would be just as nice without the pastry served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, I wasn't wrong, what could be nicer than a steak with a rich mushroom sauce?

Steak With Onions And Mushroom Sauce

1 large onion, roughly chopped
garlic
150g mushrooms
large knob of butter
300 ml beef stock
1/2 whiskey tumbler port/sherry (200ml)

1 Tbsp cornflour
salt and pepper to taste
2 beef steaks

1. Gently fry the onions, mushrooms and garlic, in the butter, season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Mix the port and the cornflour. Add the stock to the onions and mushrooms, then add the port mixture, bring to a boil, stirring until thickened.

3. Grill the beef, until cooked to desired doneness.

Serve with mashed potato and mixed vegetables.

Beef and Mushroom Pie

Picture to follow

LOVE beef, LOVE mushrooms, LOVE thick gravy, LOVE pie...... All these put together, is a perfect combination of utter indulgence, sublime for a frigid winter evening. Piping hot straight out of the oven, crisp buttery pastry, with tender steak bites and a rich boozy gravy, another comfort food? Quite possibly........ And traditionally British? Well a variation of one at any rate!

Beef And Mushroom Pie

300g Beef cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, diced
250g mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
250ml beef stock
1/2 whiskey tumbler of port
2 tsp cornflour
gravy granules to thicken
salt and pepper to taste
Short crust pastry

1. Roll out the pastry, grease the pie dish and use half the pastry to line the pie dish. (if making your own pastry chill for 30 minutes before use)

2. Gently fry the onion, mushrooms, garlic and beef.

3. Add the stock and add to the beef and mushrooms, mix the port and cornflour together, add to the beef and mushrooms, bring to a boil while continuously stirring, add the gravy granules to thicken if needed. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Put the mixture in the pie dish then cover with the rest of the pastry, brush with a little egg or milk.

5. Bake until golden brown on top.

A alternative spin on potato salad

We love salads, and I was looking for a “jazzy” potato salad. Something a little less “German,” don’t get me wrong, I love German food but for years my cooking was very German influenced. After all I have lived in Germany most of my 33 years, 25 if we want to be totally pedantic about it. So of course it’s going to have a lot of German influences in it. I was trying to get away from that though and start something new.

I found this “Warm Potato And Bacon Blue Cheese Salad,” in one of my cookbooks and if I’m honest it is just a jazzed up variation of a German Potato Salad.

 Warm Potato Salad With Bacon And Blue Cheese

500 grams new potatoes or salad potatoes, thickly sliced

2 tbsp Evoo

2 red onions, wedged

4 bacon strips, chopped

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

100 grams salad greens, torn

50 grams creamy blue cheese

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1. Preheat oven to 220°C/450°F. Place potatoes in a roasting tin, rub with a tablespoon of evoo and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 15 minutes, then add the onion and roast for another 15 minutes or until potatoes are golden and onion is soft. Remove from the oven and allow to, cool, slightly.

2. Meanwhile dry fry the bacon.

3. Whisk together the mayo, red wine vinegar and remaining evoo to make the dressing.

4. Put potatoes, onions, bacon and salad leaves in a bowl, pour over the dressing, then toss well. Crumble over the blue cheese.

crockpot beef stew

Crockpot’s are brilliant and I miss mine so much, I think I may have to invest in a new one soon. I had never owned one before, but we were given one in the States, which although I didn’t use all the time, proved invaluable for busy days when cooking was going to be tough to fit in. This Beef Stew, was my first Crockpot recipe, and after I made this in it, I crock potted all my stews, chilli’s and even Bolognese sauce. I love that you can throw everything in the one pot, add limited clean up and that you flick a switch, show up 8 hours later and HEY HO! It’s ready to eat….. If I am honest the best stews where made in my Crockpot.

After having a look on Amazon, I have found that you can buy them from as little as £16.00, obviously some are a lot more expensive, it depends on what brand you want and what you want them to do, I saw an all singing all dancing one, which, steamed, slow cooked, and was also a rice and porridge maker, but that was £68.00. Although it was and is totally lovely, I would probably not use it to it’s full potential – I buy boil in bag rice, so the rice maker bit wouldn’t get used – frozen vegetables, so the steamer bit is out, I am not naïve enough to think you can only steam vegetables, I am just left wondering if I would really steam anything else? Porridge, hmmm, maybe, but I don’t make it often enough to warrant a maker. So that’s the porridge bit out too. This machine was by no means the most expensive either, I settled on a Morphey Richards slow cooker 6.5litre, so very big and it was £27.00, I have put it in my wish list for later. I’ve managed without for 17 months a little while longer is not going to hurt!!

Beef Stew

2lbs beef, cubed

¼ cup flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 ½ cups beef broth

1tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 garlic clove

1 bay leaf

1tsp paprika

4 carrots, sliced

3 potatoes, sliced

1 onion, chopped

Put meat into the Crockpot, mix flour, salt and pepper, and stir to coat the meat, stir in the rest of the ingredients cover and cook…  

Spaghetti bolognese

I would class spaghetti bolognese as a classic recipe, popular everywhere! I could go into the origins of where it comes from and include the traditional recipe, however that isn't really what this blog is about, my mission, so to speak, is to blog about MY antics in the kitchen, besides you can wiki it, in fact here's a link, I hope! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_bolognese and get the information if you like... I like my bolognese simple, I sometimes add a little sour cream or creme fraiche and a tin of tomatoes, but it entirely depends on my mood and what I have to hand at the time. I'm slowly but surely, turning into the, little of this, little of that cook, learning as I go, that, things like 3 garlic cloves are great, 4 and you are doing that back of the throat gagging hiss noise (depending on what you are using it for). This of course is just an example and not to be taken literally. Although too much garlic does cause a back of the throat hiss noise - also known through experience. I hate this phrase, but I guess it's very much a case of 'learn by doing.' You learn by doing a recipe, that a little more or a little less is more suited to your palette. I am still learning what flavours go together, and what flavours 'cut into' each other - still really bad at it too.

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
500g mince
1 large onion
200g mushrooms
500 ml beef stock
tbsp tomato puree
gravy granules to thicken
salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the evoo to a skillet and heat. Roughly chop the onion and then add the onions to the skillet, once the onions have started to soften add the mushrooms.

2. Remove the onions and mushrooms, then fry the mince, once the mince is done add the mushrooms and onions again, along with the tomato puree, stock and gravy granules, bring to a boil then gently simmer.

3. In a large pot, cook spaghetti according to package directions, once cooked drain and place the spaghetti on the plates, season the bolognese if need be and then spoon on top of the spaghetti....

You could sprinkle it with a little grated cheese, or add the cream, tinned tomatoes to the bolognese before you serve.... etc..

poaching fish

This recipe is another of my own, and also the other way that I like to cook fish, I have a serious issue with "crispy" fish, I can't stand the texture, but love the taste - rather unfortunate if you ask me. It's like, for example, if you really like peanuts but can't eat them because of a nut allergy, to me that's really unlucky, but at least you have a reason! I just start to gag because of the texture, how incredibly lame is that? Anyway by poaching the fish, you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar, that the fish will be perfectly cooked, and it only takes a few minutes...... I serve this with new potatoes and vegetables. The milk I turn into a white sauce, simply by adding a little flour to cold liquid and pouring it into the milk,

cook stirring continuously until it thickens and        

season to taste.                                                       

   Poached Fish

2 fish fillets of choice

milk

salt and pepper 

1 bay leaf

tsp Italian dried herbs

butter

1 tbsp cornflour

50 ml white wine

1. Place fish in a large skillet, cover half way with the milk, add salt and pepper to taste, the bay leaf, Italian herbs and a knob of butter. Cook until the fish is cooked, you can tell because it should easily flake with a fork...  You may have turn the fish over, to cook the other side.

2. Gently remove the fish, once it is cooked. Carefully wrap in toil foil and keep warm. Remove the bay leaf, from the fluid.

3. Add the white wine to the cornflour, and give it a good stir so that the flour has "dissolved" then slowly pour into the milk, gently bring to a boil, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens.

Serve with new boiled potatoes and vegetables of choice! 

Easy Peesy Wraps

You have to love wraps, unless you don't like tortilla's, then it's a little pointless. The combinations you can use to fill them are endless. Tuna, chicken, ham, sausage, shrimp..... and any kind of salad ingredient you like, I have personally used, ranch dressing, mayonnaise, and plain yogurt to dress them, I also tend to, but not always, toast my on my George Foreman, mostly because at times my rolling/wrapping skills have a lot to be desired. Admittedly, it's a little odd to toast your salad, but as I have said before, it's all about personal preference and nothing is wrong if you enjoy it.                      

Tuna Wraps  (makes 2)

2 handfuls of lettuce

1 tomato

1 egg

1 can of tuna

salt and pepper to taste

mayonnaise to smear over the tortillas

1. Chop the lettuce and the tomato into fine pieces, slice the egg, put the tuna into a bowl and season with a little salt and pepper.                                                                                                           

2. For each tortilla make two pieces of kitchen roll damp, and place the tortilla between the two pieces and place in a microwave for about 30 seconds, This will soften them making it easier to wrap.

3. Spread mayonnaise all over the wrap, from the centre outwards, to about a cm away from the edge of the wrap, place your filling ingredients on the tortilla along the right edge keeping on the mayonnaise, fold the right edge inwards then fold the bottom one up, tightly roll the wrap, once it's rolled tuck in the top.                                                                                                                       

4. If you wish, now is the time to grill your wrap on the George Foreman or similar style grill. 30 seconds is usually plenty long enough.                                                                                      

Easy Fish Dinner

We love fish, I think I have mentioned this before, I particularly like smoked fish, but I also enjoy fillets. Salmon, tilapia, cod and catfish to name but a few. I'm a little fussy about how it's cooked, preferring to bake it in tin foil or poaching it in a little milk on the hob. This particular recipe the fish is baked in tin foil, with a little garlic, dried Italian herbs, lemon and a little butter, but I've also cooked the same dish using a bay leaf instead of garlic, both are equally palatable. I suppose you could use both together if you wished. I serve the fish with new potatoes and mixed vegetables with the butter juices and a simple white sauce - but you could also serve it with a green salad and crusty garlic bread or some such. Simplicity at it's best.                                                                                                                        

Baked Salmon Steak Supper

2 Salmon Fillets

1 garlic clove, minced and divided

2 knobs of butter

1 teaspoon Italian mixed herbs

1/2 lemon, juice

salt and pepper to taste

1.Place the each of the salmon fillets on a separate piece of tinfoil, large enough to wrap it up, add a knob of butter, 1/2 clove of the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of Italian mixed herbs, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste to each one.                                                                                                                                                    

2. Wrap the fish in the toil foil, and bake for 20-30 minutes at about 170 C on a fan assisted until fish is pink and flaky.

3. Serve with your sides.

Vegetable Soup

This vegetable soup recipe has been in my family for years, certainly my Grandmother passed it on to my mother and my mother onto me, and I am pretty certain my Great Grandmother probably passed it onto my Grandmother. Originally it was a french vegetable soup, my mother adapted it to her tastes and I have done the same. My husband although not entirely adverse to having a vegetarian dish, prefers to have a little meat with his meals, so I throw in a handful of chunky bacon bits, or cut up frankfurter sausages. It kind of negates from being vegetable soup, but hey ho, if my husband is happy and it tastes good, why not right? I suppose the special thing for me in all this, despite the changes, this is a recipe from my past but it signifies my future. I realise that seems pathetic and maybe even incredibly melodramatic after all it's just soup...... But this "just soup," has been passed down for          generations and I will eventually pass it onto my children and grandchildren...                                                                    

Vegetable Soup

1 leek

1 carrot

1cm wide slice of celery root or a 1/4 fennel

1/2 a turnip

1 onion

2-3 potatoes

butter

500ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

 100ml sour cream

1. Wash, peel and chop all the vegetables, into bite sized pieces. Gently heat the butter in a large pan, then add all the vegetables and saute gently for about 5-10 minutes.                                             

2. Add the veg stock, bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer gently until the veggies are cook through.                                                                                                                                     

3. Drain and retain the liquid, mash the vegetables (mash a lot if you want a smooth soup, or leave it chunky entirely up to you) return the liquid, do it a little bit at a time, until you have the soup consistency you like, some people like a really thick soup, you can always add extra water if the 500ml isn't enough, but you can't take it out once it's in.                                                               

5. If you are adding any pre-cooked meat now is the time to do it, salt and pepper to taste and the sour cream, return to the heat and warm through, but do not boil.                                                            

The vegetables are just a guide line, as you can see from the photo I also added sweetcorn to this soup.

Chicken and Vegetable Pie

Chopped up little bits of chicken

 This is a mish mash of what I had to hand at the time, I am not very creative, and need an idea to expand on, I used the crispy topped fish pie as my basis and then expanded on that..... This is probably why I always begin with a recipe.

Chicken and vegetable filling with out the creamy bit

Chicken and vegetable filling with the creamy bit

Chicken And Vegetable Pie

2 chicken breasts
1 carrot, sliced
1 leek, sliced
200g spinach
100ml water
1 chicken stock cube
salt and pepper to taste
200ml milk
1 tsp cornflour
puff pastry

1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, then gently fry the chicken, when cooked add the other vegetables and gently stir fry until done.

Finished pot pie

2. Add the water and the chicken stock cube to the chicken and vegetables and simmer gently. Season with salt and pepper.

Just about to be eaten

3. Pour all but about 30ml of the milk into the mixture, then add the cornflour/cornstarch to the remaining milk, give it a good stir and then add to the mixture, stirring until thickened, if it's not thick enough repeat the cornflour process again, with a little less liquid. Taste and season accordingly.

4. Spoon the mixture into the pots you want to use and then top with the pastry, bake at 180 C for about 20 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Simple Lamb

This is another one of my own recipes, I have no idea what it was that inspired me, or whether it was more a case of opening the pantry and thinking oooooooh!! A little of this a splash of that. I very much suspect it was the last one, since that seems to be how I work in the kitchen. All very well but it makes it rather difficult to keep a record of what it is that I am doing.

I was a housewife at the time and very much coming into my own, I suppose I was re-evaluating my life, who I was and what I wanted out of life, and in the meantime spending a huge amount of time in the kitchen, it's a good way to think, whilst doing something productive.

I had discovered the art of clean and easy marinating by using a freezer bag. As far as I was concerned I had reached the cooking level of connoisseur....... Of course I can now, use a freezer bag to marinate, that automatically makes me a connoisseur of food. What else would it mean? At this rate I am going to have my own restaurant and 5 of those star things to boot!! All because of a freezer bag.

Simple Lamb

2 or 3 Lamb Chops or steaks
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
1/2 cup evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1. Mix together in a freezer bag the evoo, Worchestershire sauce, garlic, dried herbs, salt and pepper.

2. Place the meat in the marinade and leave for a few hours in the fridge.

3. I use a George Foreman type grill, and cook them for about 4-5 mins, depending on the size of the chops/steaks.

I served it in this picture with a pasta bake, but baked potato and salad are a wonderful side with this dish!

Stuffed Chicken Wrapped In Bacon

Slightly disappointed, this is another recipe I made before it occurred to me to photograph what I make.

I was looking for a chicken recipe, a little more luxurious, than the ones I had already made. The chicken curry I made inspired me, I wanted something creamy - but also cordon bleu-ish, never having made cordon bleu from scratch, I had no idea how to make it.... I loved the creaminess of the cheese and the smokiness from the bacon/ham. I found this recipe and thought it would be perfect for what I had in mind.

It didn't disappoint, herby cream cheese and the smoky saltiness of the bacon complimented the chicken in exactly the way I intended, not to mention the fact I had moved onto a far more fiddly recipe. Several months before I would never have attempted to cut pockets into chicken breasts and here I am with a filleting knife doing exactly that.


Stuffed Chicken Wrapped In Bacon

4oz cream cheese
2 Chicken Breasts
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
4 rashers/slices of bacon
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, salt and pepper and dried herbs.

2. Carefully cut a pocket in each of the chicken breasts. Then stuff the cream cheese into each.

3. Using a spoon, flatten and stretch the bacon, then wrap it tightly around the chicken breast, to seal in the cream cheese.

4. Wrap each one in foil and cook in the oven at about 425°F  for 30-40 minutes.

Portobello Stuffed Mushrooms and home made lasagne

I think I maybe spreading myself a little thinly, I have course work to do, just helped one of the lads write his wedding vows, more to the point got him to write a list of everything that he wanted to say, then put together a few paragraphs, which he then altered and changed to say what he really meant...... I have a course, I have to go on for work, and been training someone up for his course. Then I've been doing my blog, which I am very proud of..... :o) And I am trying to write out the recipes I have done, I am a little behind with that project but slowly catching up.

Anyway moving on to these recipes.

We love stuffed mushrooms, if we are out to dinner and mushrooms are on the menu we always get a portion to share! We've had them stuffed with all kinds of things, cheese and bacon, spinach and cream cheese, ground beef, which is what inspired my next recipe, which I make if we have lasagne - I always make enough to feed the entire British Army (that's an exaggeration, it in fact is enough for 6 very large portions) I use some of the meat to make the mushrooms and bake them. In much the same way as the lasagne, which I bake at the same time but save for the next day and the next day and the next! Comfort food again at it's absolute best....... With loads of garlic bread to mop up the sauce. Of course at the same time, giving yourself putrid breath, great for keeping       people and vampires at bay. The lasagne recipe is a little loose because I prefer it that way, it should be easy enough to make it a little thicker, it does thicken up the next day though!                                                                                                      

Lasagne

1 Tbsp butter
250 ml sour cream or crème fraiche
500 grams ground beef
1 large onion, diced
200 grams sliced fresh mushrooms
1 Tbsp Evoo
2 Tbsp tomato paste
400 grams grated hard cheese (such as Cheddar)
200 ml milk
8 lasagna noodles
2 tsp corn flour
200 ml Vegetable stock
2 Tbsp Bisto Gravy Granules
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 garlic clove, minced
mixed dried herbs

1. Gently fry the onions, garlic and mushrooms until soft then remove from heat.

2. Fry the meat until cooked, then put all the ingredients in a large pan, add tomato puree and mix together add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for about 10 minutes add enough gravy granules for desired thickness, then add sour cream or the crème fraiche.

4. Melt a little butter in a pan and add the corn flour then slowly add milk, stirring constantly, add 200grams of cheese stirring until melted.

5. In a lasagne dish layer meat mixture, pasta until no meat is left finish with a layer of cheese sauce and top with grated cheese and mixed herbs. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Servings: 6

Cheesy topped stuffed mushrooms

4 portobello mushrooms
lasagne mixture
Cheese sauce
cheese to top

1. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, stuff some of the mince mixture into each of the mushrooms.

2. Drizzle a little of the cheese sauce over the top, sprinkle each mushroom with grated cheese.

3. Grill or bake the mushrooms until the cheese is melting and bubbling.

Servings: 2

                                                                                            

Sausage risotto

Also from my School text book came this simple sausage risotto. I suppose with it being a childs school text book it should be. That said with everything I have read and seen on television, risotto is not that easy to make. So with that in mind I either have it down or I don't, in any case we quite like it, most definitely a simple supper.

Sausage Risotto

250 grams sausage

1 tbsp evoo
75 grams rice
1 onion, finely diced
100 grams mushrooms
100 grams frozen mixed vegetables
375 ml  hot water
1 chicken stock cube
salt and black pepper to taste
dash of Worcester sauce

1. Grill sausages until cook and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the onion and rice, stirring for about 7 minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms, frozen vegetables, stock cube, water, sauce and seasoning, simmer gently until rice is soft and all the water has been absorbed.

4. Slice the sausages and add to the rice.

Dude She Got Me Legs!!!!

Ok so in late 2009, early 2010 my "kitchen antics" took a slightly over zealous, about turn, and I had a massive ooooopsy, this was a mistake, kitchen mishap it wasn't, because it never got as far as the end. My husband and I had been shopping, as usual we stopped at the fish counter in Giant, and as we were looking at the "specials" we found frogs legs, $4.00 for two pairs. We decided to give them a go, more accurately I decided to give them a go. As adorable as my husband is, he is clearly misguided, as he went along with my hackney eyed scheme. I am a very lucky wifey as my husband will go along with things to keep me, in a relaxed, happy and independent state, even if that requires eating frogs legs, despite better judgement. Now I am certainly not jesting anyone who eats frogs legs, I am sure they are perfectly Divine, "taste just like chicken" as the saying goes, however, and this is where my blond moment ensued - I was expecting one thing and got something else. They looked like frogs legs in the packaging - SURPRISE, what did you expect right? Ok so in all honesty I could see what I was buying. I took them home, looked up frogs legs and followed the recipe.........

In my mind I had this image of battered frogs legs, no longer looking like frogs legs, but instead looking like a mangled mess, or chicken nuggets? To my absolute horror frogs legs have BONES!!!!!! Hmmmmm... Go figure right - as I said a blond moment, I decided I could get passed this misconception and battered the legs according to the recipe, then started to cook them - which is when my mind started playing tricks on me and I could see the legs wiggling around in my skillet. Well then I had the image of poor little Kermit the frog sizzling away in my pan... With that in mind in Germany frogs are endangered, not sure why, I used to stop my car and help them across the road! Needless to say I stopped cooking Kermit's legs, wrapped them up and put them down the waste disposal shoot. Turns out my husband was grateful for my hallucinogenic episode, as he didn't want to eat them either.

School Chicken Curry

At school we had to take "Tech" which covered woodwork - boy was I bad at woodwork, Mr Cassidy would refer to me as "trouble" - mostly because if someone ended up with a drill in their thumb, due to forgetting to use the vice, it would be me, the kiddy hiding in the store cupboard, because of wanting to commit the ultimate school sin, of skiving off but not having the guts to actually do it - would be me, the student randomly sawing away at anything, was me!!! I really was very bad at woodwork..... We also did food Tech, which I did enjoy. We covered the basics of food and food hygiene, and made a few recipes, the only dish I really remember making though, other than toffee, was, ironically a stuffed bell pepper........ Ewwww icky, icky ick!!!! The point behind this tiny tale? I ended up somehow in possession of the text book we used (probably due to failure to hand it in) this curry came from that.. It's basic to make, not too hot and quite versitile, I've also made it with shrimp and lamb. 

Chicken Curry

500 grams chicken breast, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 onions coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp evoo
1 tbsp curry powder (more or less as you like)
250 ml vegetable stock
tomato purée
200 ml cream
salt and coarsely grounded pepper
rice to serve

1. Gently fry the onions and garlic, until soft add the chicken stirring until the chicken is browned.

2. Add tomato puree, curry powder, some of the stock and cream, salt and pepper to taste.

3. Simmer over a low heat until chicken is cooked through.

4. Serve with rice.

Servings: 4

I do sometimes I add vegetables to this, mushrooms and spinach in particular.