Tag: recipe

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake!

OMG this was so much fun and so easy! I was planning on doing a bit of baking today with Madame, but as usual I fell at the first hurdle as I didn’t have the ingredients I needed to make brownies. What the hell is Vanilla Sugar anyhow? Anyway, the lovely @jinks67 suggested I Google 5 Minute Mug Cakes so I did and this was the result!

They were so simple a 3 year old could make them. Honestly, they weren’t too my liking, bear in mind I don’t normally eat chocolate, but Madame wolfed them down. I think they’d be much more inviting with a dollop of cream or vanilla ice-cream.

If you want to have a go here’s the recipe.

My Secret (Blogger) Santa Present

I must admit that I did chuckle a wee bit when I opened my Secret (Blogger) Santa present and read the card, which said ‘I thought you would like this because you like to cook’.  This is not meant to be ungrateful or rude as I absolutely LOVE the present, which was an Oxfam Cookie Stamper.  It’s not that I don’t like to cook it’s just that I’m really not very good at it.

Madame was very excited about using the Cookie Stamp so I was bamboozled at 9.15 am this morning, hung-over, into making cookies and true to form I managed to make a pig’s ear of it, even though, I followed the recipe to a T.

Ingredients:

250g butter

140g caster sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

300g plain flour

1 egg yolk

2tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
  3. Mix in the butter and blend until mixture is crumbly.  Stir in the egg yolk and vanilla.  Chill dough for an hour.
  4. Separate dough into golf ball sized chunks.  Slightly flatten the balls on a floured surface and stamp.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until lightly brown

However, it didn’t turn into a ball of dough as it was supposed to, it resembled lumpy flour.  It’s was like trying to make a snowball out of sand.  In the end, I winged it and added more butter and another egg yolk. I was pleasantly surprised with our result and they tasted yummy!

Thank you to my Secret (Blogger) Santa for a wonderful present.  It really did make cooking more fun and I love the fact that you purchased an ethical present!  Happy Christmas to you whoever you are!

Recipe: Shepherd’s Pie

As you all know I’m not brilliant in the kitchen but there are two things I’m pretty good at cooking; Slow Cooker Lamb Curry and Shepherd’s Pie.  I know you purists will be screaming ‘it’s not a Shepherd’s Pie it’s a Cottage Pie’ as it is made with beef.   Luckily, I can’t hear you!

The key to the success of this Shepherd’s pie recipe is in the layering and my special ingredient, Heinz Tomato Ketchup.  It’s fairly easy to make, but I do find I end up using every pot in the house.  As I’m lazy, I tend to use my food processor for all the mashing  but you could do it with a manual masher and you’ll save on the washing up as well.

Ingredients

6-8 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 large TBSP of butter

1 Onion finely chopped

60 g of Cheddar cheese grated

Salt and pepper to taste

4-6 large carrots, chopped

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

455 g of ground beef

2 TBSP of flour

2 TBSP of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, (the secret ingredient), I tend to free pour and eye-ball it.

180 ml of beef broth

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
  2. Boil the potatoes for approximately 20-30 min until you can piece them with a fork easily.  Drain and set aside ready for mashing.  I tend to leave them in the colander with a towel over them to absorb excess moisture.
  3. At the same time, steam or boil the carrots for approx 20 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.
  4. While everything is boiling you can start on cooking the mince.  Put the oil in a frying pan and add ¾ of the onion.  Cook for approx 3 min or until clear.  Add the mince and cook until brown.  If you’ve used cheap and nasty mince drain off some of the excess fat.  Sprinkle the flour over the mince and stir well for about a minute.  Add the ketchup and beef broth, mix well, bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.
  5. Transfer mince to an oven proof dish.  Now mash the carrots and spread a layer on top of the beef.  Mash the potatoes, with the butter, ½ of the cheese and the remaining onion and spread on top of mashed carrots and top with the remaining cheese.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  I tend to serve it with frozen peas.  I do cook them first!  Or you could serve it with baked beans

Chicken Myers Recipe

Prior to meeting my husband I lived with someone for 6 years and this recipe is pretty much all I walked away with, thanks to the lack of common law legislation in this country! ;-)

However, this is one of my favourite recipes.  Honestly, it tastes better than it looks.

You will need:

  • 1 small head of Broccoli – cut into bite size pieces.
  • 500 g boneless/skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 400 g can of Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup
  • 4 Tbsp Mayonnaise
  • 2 Tsp of curry powder (whatever strength you can cope with)
  • 25 g of cheddar cheese

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
  2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the broccoli for about 5 minutes.  It should only be slightly tender.  Don’t overcook it as it still has an hour to go in the oven.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together the soup, mayo and curry powder.
  4. Place the broccoli and chicken in a casserole dish and pour over the mixture.  Make sure it’s evenly covered.  But don’t lose sleep over it.
  5. Top with Grated Cheese.
  6. Cook for about an hour, the top should be golden brown and chicken cooked through.

I serve it on a bed of rice.

Enjoy!

Easy Slow Cooker Lamb Curry

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs of oil (whatever you have on hand)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 125 ml beef stock (half a stock cube)
  • 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Tbs of oil
  • 500g of lamb (you could use pork or chicken), cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 tbs Patak’s Mild Curry Paste
  • Salt and pepper
  • Basmati Rice
  • Natural Yoghurt

1.) Preheat the slow cooker. Heat the oil in a pan and then lump in the onion and garlic. Sautee for about 3 minutes. Then throw in the beef stock and tinned tomatoes. Bring to a boil and pour into slow cooker.

2.) Put the curry paste in a bowl, add the lamb, and stir to coat evenly. Heat oil in another pan add the lamb and brown on all sides (approx 5-10 minutes). Transfer to the slow cooker.

3.) Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with a ginormous pot of yoghurt and some naans to mop up the liquid.

Please note…the more you drink the better it tastes!

I ate it so quickly I didn’t get a chance to take a photo.

Photo Credit