Finally I'm finding the time to catch up with various blog posts that I've been meaning to write for a while. Following on from the various meals that I planned I'm pleased to report that all were a success.One that we particularly liked was homemade pizza. It seems silly now that we hadn't tried this before now and since our initial attempt we've this weekend enjoyed the second batch.The recipe that I've been using for the dough is a Jamie Oliver one that I found online. I halved the quantities to make enough dough for just three pizzas (six ... read more
Meal planning
With a demanding baby in the house (Little Miss C is teething at just eleven weeks old!) the variety of our evening meals has been somewhat lacking of late. I'm hoping that over the next week I can change this a bit and whilst ordering my groceries online I have also been seeking out some new recipes to try. Earlier in the year I also tried to take part in the 52 in 2010 challenge but as expected my participation eased off somewhat once LMC arrived. May be I can get a bit back on track this next week.Firstly I was drawn in by the Waitrose TV advert featuring Delia's ... read more
Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Muffins
Life is greatly improved when you add a chocolate muffin and cup of tea to it! Muffins from the recipe in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Slight deviation in that I used chocolate chips rather than a bar of chocolate broken into pieces. Still tasted good though - I just need to learn how to stop the chocolate pieces sinking to the bottom! ... read more
Seared Spicy Tuna with Honey Soy Glaze
Anther new recipe for dinner tonight after spotting some tuna steaks in the local supermarket.Mr C had the idea that he wanted to do something with honey and Soy Sauce and a quick google found me this recipe on Oishii's blog. Fantastically tasty and the chilli flakes in there gave it a lovely warm taste. Easy to make (or so Mr C tells me!) and went great with some couscous and asparagus. Definitely one worth trying again. ... read more
Lemon and Honey Chicken
I love it when you discover a new recipe that's completely yummy, but also so easy that you could almost do it with your eyes closed. That sums up this recipe for lemon and honey chicken that I took out of 101 Cheap Eats . Less then ten minutes preparation and then an hour in the oven was all that was required before this could be served up. We used whole chicken legs in it and found that the meat stayed beautifully moist and infused with the lemon and honey flavours. These were also carried by the potatoes that cook around it and the time in the oven was just right to get these ... read more
A week of new recipes
Last week I managed to make great headway on my 52 in 2010 challenge with not one, not two, but three new recipes tried during the course of the week! The first came from the wonderful Apples for Jam and was for a simple beef stew with carrots. Not necessarily the most exciting dish in the world, but a good hearty winter meal all the same. Served up with some home-made mash this was very welcome of a bitterly cold evening. The carrots added a certain something that gave it a slight step up on most beef stews. After being inspired by seeing Nigel Slater's cookery programme on ... read more
Mushroom Bhaji
My first new recipe of 2010 to count towards my 52 in 2010 challenge was an accompaniment to a curry that I was cooking for Mr C. We had some mushrooms already in the fridge so I looked specifically for a side dish that would make use of what I had. This one that I found for mushroom bhaji fit the bill perfectly.It was found in the M&S curry bible that was providing the butter chicken recipe that I was making as the main dish and was a great accompaniment to the dish - and a necessary addition to my five a day! Despite the addition of a fresh green chilli it wasn't too ... read more
52 in 2010
Rosie drew my attention recently to a plan that she and some other bloggers have to try 52 new recipes in 2010. I figure that a challenge like that looks like a good one and it may also give me a good reason to make better use of the large number of cookbooks that are sat in my kitchen.I figure 52 in a year is only one a week and that shouldn't be too difficult, should it? I admit things may get a bit difficult come the summer, but I'm determined to give it a go. I'm not sure if there are any formal rules so to speak, but I plan to count any recipes in my tally - main meals, ... read more
A busy afternoon in the kitchen
In fact such a busy afternoon that I didn't get round to picking the camera up at any point to share it with you - sorry!A batch of ginger cup cakes are made and cooling on the rack before they get iced with some lovely fudge flavoured icing that I've got the recipe for. I've also completed a batch of mince pies for some friends that are coming round on Saturday. First time I've done these in the new oven though and they ended up in there for nearly twice as long as I used to do them in the old oven. I may therefore have to get Mr C to try one later on to ensure that ... read more
Mushroom & bacon tarts
Whenever I go in a supermarket I'm always on the look out for free recipe cards that they often have available. I'm not so good at actually using said recipe cards when it comes to deciding what to have for dinner.After being amazed at just how many of these I had collected last week I made a real effort to actually make some meals from the various recipes I had collected and I have to say that so far I have been very impressed with the results. One very simple dinner came from a Waitrose recipe for Mushroom and bacon tarts which are served with creamy ... read more