food, reviews & life in my kitchen
Spicy chilli con carne has always been one of my favourite dinners, and this recipe is a fail safe way to cheer me up and fill me up. I’ve been working on the recipe for a while, changing the ingredients and quantities from the version mum has always cooked, which was pretty good to start… Continue reading Smoky chipotle chilli con carne recipe
When the weather is cold, and spring just doesn’t seem to be on its way, I always fancy warm, comforting food. One of my favourites (and a bit of a classic in our family) is Mum’s homemade mushroom soup. She serves it Boxing Day lunchtime as a perfect antidote to the excess of food we… Continue reading Ultimate comfort lunch: Mum’s Mushroom Soup Recipe
Anyone who knows me well will know that I love pie. I love pie with creamy mashed potato, doused in thick gravy until the mash begins to dissolve in the liquid and the pie crust starts to soften (to my mum’s sheer horror). I love cutting into fresh, crisp pastry, homemade when I have the… Continue reading 3 things that make a perfect pie & my 3 favourite pie recipes
This is an indulgent and warming recipe to treat yourself to on cold nights. For me, chicken and mushroom pie is ultimate comfort food, and is full of nostalgia. As a child, my favourite dinners were always the kind which came with gravy and veg. In fact at one stage, I wouldn’t even entertain the… Continue reading Chicken and Mushroom Pie Recipe
This recipe was born one chilli (get it?) January night, when I was craving a rich hearty chilli con carne, but a) had no mince in the house and b) could not muster the effort to go to the shop. So I delved instead into the kitchen cupboard reserves of tinned beans, topped it up with some veggies, added tomatoes, spices, and chillies, and was extremely pleased with the result. (Especially as I had enough over for 2 lunches!) It’s rich, smoky and satisfyingly savoury, despite all the lovely sweet veggies. I even convinced a very reluctant fiancé that it’s good! (With a little encouragement and a LOT of cheese. But you can’t win em all!) In fact, I was so pleased with the flavour that I didn’t miss the meat at all, and aside from what you serve it with (yogurt or cheese), it’s not only a vegetarian recipe, but a vegan one too! A very happy coincidence, as I want to start making some better choices about the food I eat. So naturally, I felt obliged to share this little discovery with you all – and I’d love to know what you think!
In the winter, all I want to eat is comforting, hearty food, and especially over Christmas, I probably eat a little too much of it! In January I still want the comfort and to feel full, but with a bit of health and a lot of veg thrown in. It’s a great way to recover from the over-indulging, and I always feel better when I eat better. I don’t know if that’s psychological or not, but it’s true! There are lots of different recipes to choose from, but these are 3 of my staples which I fall back on time after time. They all pack a huge veggie punch, and don’t feel like diet food either! I’ve included a stir-fry, soup and curry recipe. The stir-fry is quick and easy to cook, perfect for staving off any Chinese takeaway cravings. The carrot soup is warming, and ideal to cook in a batch so there’s some for lunch the next day (or the whole week!) too, and a veggie curry which is one of my favourite Friday or Saturday night treats, and much healthier than ordering in.
An alternative to turkey, and the star of and Christmas supper or Boxing Day Buffet, this honey and mustard gammon really is a showstopper. In my parents’ house, we have always had turkey or chicken on Christmas day, but whenever we were hosting the wider family for Boxing Day tea, there as always ham home-cooked ham in the buffet line up. While it was intended for Boxing Day tea, we always cooked it and ate it for dinner on one of the days before Christmas, usually the 23rd or 24th December. Freshly cooked, hot, and served as a roast with potatoes, vegetables and gravy, this has become one of my favourite winter dishes, and is an essential part of Christmas.
Crammed with sellers of all things food and drink, from larger companies to small artisanal producers, there is definitely something here for anyone who likes eating food. Which is everyone, right?!
The ultimate savoury taste of a steak and ale pie I difficult to beat, I love it best when freshly baked: puff pastry layers crackle under the knife, and dark, sticky gravy oozes out onto the edges of the pastry. I love chunky steak, sweet carrots and earthy mushrooms. I love rich saucy gravy edging slowly across my plate, muddling with muddling with creamy, buttery mashed potato. Drooling yet? I am.
Now that Halloween is over, the anticipation of Christmas festivities has moved to centre stage, with shops already sparkling with decorations and gifts. It’s clichéd, I know, but I really do love autumn and winter, especially now, in this little post-Halloween, pre-Christmas limbo. Crunchy leaves in vibrant red, copper and bright gold litter the ground outside, waiting to be walked in, kicked about, enjoyed, and jumpers and boots have made a convincing comeback in my wardrobe. There aren’t daily frosts just yet, but I can’t wait to see the beautiful silver spray of delicate, glittering lace over leaves and spiders’ webs in the morning sun. I don’t think I have long to wait. This morning I had to de-mist the car windows with the heating on max for a good 5 minutes before I left for work.
