You don’t win friends with salad!

Hello,

You don’t win friends with salad but you might entice them with this little recipe!

I hate waste. It pains me to throw out food that has hasn’t been used especially fruit and vegetables. So today I found myself at home trying to figure out if there was anything I could make with my wilting carrots and apples and huzzah there was!

I like salads, sometimes I love them (usually when they are from a restaurant or a shop that know what they are doing *shout out to LovingSalads Cork*) but more often I just like them. I don’t like coleslaw unless it’s the one my mum makes which hopefully i’ll do a post about eventually.

Anyway I decided to try a coleslaw variation. I had limited ingredients as I was still in my pajamas and couldn’t pop to the shop in fear of scaring my new neighborhood with such a sight! However what I made turned out pretty good and is sure to jazz up that boring lunchtime sandwich. Making it again I think I would add raisins and if I’m feeling very adventurous that day maybe even some cabbage!

It’s super easy and would last in a covered container in the fridge for a few days. I hope you enjoy, give it a try!

Roz x

Ingredients listed will make enough for 2-3 people but feel free to double or triple depending on how much you need. Also add more or less of what you like.

Ingredients

1 Apple (peeled)

1 Carrot (peeled)

1 tbsp of Light Mayonnaise (could also try natural yogurt or sour cream)

Small handful of Almonds (chopped)

Method

Peel apple and carrot or leave skins on and give them a wash.

Grate and mix together.

Add chopped almonds.

Mix all with mayo.

Enjoy in a sandwich or as a side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home-made Vegetable Soup

Hello

This vegetable soup is something I’ve always wanted to try myself after watching my Mum make it for years. I’ve probably been eating it every winter of my entire life and it never fails to make me feel warm and cosy.It was a lot easier and quicker than I thought it would be. It’s also perfect if you have some vegetables that are going to go off as you can just lash whatever you like in. In my cooking adventures I’ve really discovered the power of a chicken/vegetable stock cube and how it can add to any dish.

Give it a go yourself its perfect comfort food for the Irish winter that is approaching :).

Enjoy

Roz x

Ingredients

3 Carrots, chopped into chunks

3 sticks of Celery, chopped into chunks

1 large Potato, chopped into chunks

1 Onion, chopped

1 Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cube

Some Water

Salt and Pepper

Method

Wash and cut all vegetable.

In a large pot add some olive oil and butter and let simmer.

Add vegetables.

After a few minutes add about half a kettle of boiled water.

Then add broken up stock cube, some salt and pepper.

Place lid half on and let simmer for about 20 minutes until vegetables are soft but not mushy.

If you like you can serve soup like this or my preference which is blending it all together making it thick.

Best served when there is hailstorm/raining/snow/extreme wind outside 🙂

 

 

 

Pork Chops with roasted Sweet Potato, Tomatoes and Garlic covered in Honey and Balsamic Vinegar

Hello

This evening I cooked pork chops for the first time and they were so good. I wanted to make dinner and if I ate one more piece of chicken I might sprout wings so decided on pork chops. On my and my mothers weekly trip to ALDI  today, we picked up six Irish pork chops for 4.99 euro! We also bought some sweet potatoes (which are cheaper in Tesco fyi), and some of my new favourite taste, balsamic vinegar.

This meal as always is really easy.I love one pan dishes where you just throw everything in one big roasting dish and then everyone helps themselves. I am a great believer in just lashing stuff on and seeing how it turns out. Fortunately this time everything turned out edible and not looking half bad either which is always a bonus.

Here is the recipe, method and some pictures.

Enjoy

Roz x

 

Ingredients (serves 2-4 people)

6 Pork Chops

1 large Sweet Potato, chopped and cubed

4 Tomatoes, quartered (could also use cherry tomatoes)

6 cloves of Garlic (more or less depending on what you like)

Half a Lemon juice

Salt and Pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

Honey

Method

Chop sweet potato and peel garlic.

Place in roasting dish and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and honey.

Place in oven for about 20 mins at 200 degrees.

Fry and slightly brown pork chops.

Add to roasting dish with tomatoes. Add lemon juice.

Leave for about another 20 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Sweet Potato

Out of the oven

 

 

Vegetable Lasagne

Hello

Tonight for dinner I made a vegetable lasagne for the first time. Thrifty as ever I checked the press before I went out meaning I only ended up spending 4.36 euro on ingredients. That’s dinner for under a fiver!

In my lasagne I had courgettes, peppers and cherry tomatoes. Of course it is completely up to you what you decide to put in depending on what you like you could also use onions, aubergines, carrots, broccoli etc. I also bought and used mozzarella cheese for the first time and with a price of .59 cent, I will definitely be buying it again. This dish needs some fresh bread to soak up all the sauce and maybe even a nice glass of wine ;).

Try this dish yourself. It’s perfect for a vegetarian or also perfect for a change from meat for us carnivores :).

Enjoy 

Roz x

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

1 red Pepper, chopped

1 yellow Pepper, chopped

1 Mozzarella Ball, sliced

A handful of Cherry Tomatoes, halved

2 Courgettes

A jar of Pasta Sauce

White Sauce (can be bought or home-made)

2 cloves of Garlic, crushed

Pasta Sheets

Method

Fry chopped courgettes and peppers for about 10-15 minutes.

Place slightly cooked vegetables at the end of dish. 

Cover with pasta sheets.

Add pasta sauce followed by white sauce.

Add more vegetables. Repeat above steps.

On top layer of sauce place the chopped cherry tomatoes and sliced mozzarella.

Place in the over for about 45 minutes at 180 degrees until bubbling.

Serve and enjoy!

 

Before

After 🙂

 

 

Chicken Chi Chi

Hello

It has been awhile since I have posted about actual cooking so this evening I made dinner. I spotted this recipe in some little booklet that came with a Sunday paper. So you know never just throw those things out without having a nose first. They can be very good and give easy recipes.

I was drawn to this recipe firstly because of its name ‘Chicken Chi Chi’ (Chi Chi is a name I call my dog Travie ha). It looked pretty easy to do but had a lot more ingredients than I’d ever used before. The best way to describe this dish is a really nice sweet’n’sour type. It has some sour ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce but it also includes brown sugar.

It takes about an hour to do and that includes preparation and cooking time. I served it with some basmati rice with peas (you can find my recipe for that from my earlier posts ;)) and some fresh bread for all the juice.

This dish could easily be made vegetarian by simply leaving out the chicken breasts and substitute the chicken stock cube for a vegetable one. You could add more peppers and maybe mushrooms or courgettes.

Here is the recipe, method and some pictures. Don’t be afraid to try it yourself. You will impress those with a dish better than the local Chinese takeaways :). Also feel free to add or exclude any of the ingredients listed depending on your own taste. Make sure you taste the sauce to be sure its not too sour, if it is simply add a little more brown sugar.

Enjoy

Roz x

Ingredients (serves 3-4 people)

4 Chicken Breasts, skinless

1 large Onion

2oz Sultanas or Raisins

Juice of half a Lemon

1 Pepper (any colour), chopped

1 Chicken stock cube, crumbled

3oz butter

2 tblsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tblsp Vinegar

2 tblsp of soft dark Brown Sugar

5 tblsp of tomato ketchup

1/4 pint of Water

1 tblsp of Plain Flour

A little salt and pepper

Method 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Heat 1oz of butter in saucepan

Add onion and chopped pepper and fry gently

Add remaining sauce ingredients (basically everything but the rest of the butter, flour and chicken) and bring to the boil. Stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 mins. (I didn’t wait 15 mins and it turned out fine :))

Flour the chicken breasts.

Melt remainder of butter in frying pan and add floured chicken breasts till brown on both sides.

Place chicken in a shallow heat proof dish and then pour over the sauce.

Place in oven for about 45 minutes.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

Sauce

Floured and browned Chicken

Out of the oven

Served 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect Fluffy Sticky Rice

Hello

My mum came across this the other day while watching a Jamie Oliver programme and I said I’d try it out as we are always envious of the fluffy sticky rice that a Chinese takeaway provides and we can never seem to make it the same way.

It’s very easy. Just one cup rice (a big cup more like a mug) and two cups water from a boiled kettle. Pop rice in a pan followed by the water, add a pinch of salt and leave to boil. After 10-15 minutes or so you will be devouring fluffy sticky rice with any dish you like.

For dinner this evening I had some of this rice and mixed in some peas. It is way too hot out to cook anything extravagant or even eat a proper dinner. So I got a wrap added some garlic mayo, tuna, rice and peas, and some cheese. Perfect. And also very cheap as the contents were in the press. 🙂

Below are some pictures.

Enjoy

Roz x

A Fine Mug.

Fluffy Sticky Rice

Wholegrain Wrap with tuna, cheese, garlic mayo, rice and peas.

Lemon, Honey and Garlic Chicken with Sweet Potato and Cherry Tomatoes.

Hello

Every Wednesday I try and cook a new dish for dinner. Today I tackled lemon, honey and garlic chicken with sweet potato and cherry tomatoes. It was my first time doing an all in one roasting dish and it turned out great.

It also turned out to be very cheap. I had a bit of trouble deciding what piece of the chicken to cook. Most of the recipes I had seen recommended chicken thighs but I am not a fan of brown meat. In the end I met a lovely butcher in Tesco, Douglas who suggested getting a whole chicken and he would cut it up for me. Perfect idea and he handed me back a whole chicken sectioned into 8 pieces all for the pretty price of 4.89 euro! There was enough chicken there for at least 2 nights dinners but I decided to use it all in one go.

I picked up a bag of sweet potatoes for 1.69 euro and a carton of cherry tomatoes for 89c. I already had some of the bargain 29c lemons left over meaning I spent 7.41 euro on all the ingredients and left Tesco delighted with myself.

This dish can be made with any cut of chicken although my mother ensures me it needs a bone to be juicy.

Below are the ingredients, method and some pictures.

I can’t recommend this dish enough as it’s easy and takes about an hour to prepare and serve. So be brave and try it for yourself. If I can do it, anyone can! 🙂

Enjoy

Roz x

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

Chicken (breasts, thighs, legs)

4 Small Sweet Potatoes (cut into cubes)

1 carton Cherry Tomatoes

Marinade

Juice of 3/4 Lemons

3 cloves of Garlic (crushed)

2/3 tbsp of Honey

Pinch of sea salt and some pepper

Don’t be afraid to add more or less garlic/honey/lemon. It depends on what you like.

Method

Prepare chicken and marinate for 10 to 20 minutes before putting into roasting dish.

After maybe 35 minutes add sweet potato to roasting dish.

At 50 minutes chicken should be looking cooked and sweet potato should be tender when pierced with fork. Add tomatoes for final 10 minutes.

Serve with some crusty bread for the zingy sauce.

Sweet Potato Cubed

Chicken and Sweet Potato

Just out of the oven ( I lost the run of myself and roasted some of the lemon rinds, delicious btw 😉 )

Served

Green Bean Casserole

Hello

I recently made a green bean casserole for the first time and can’t recommend it enough. I first had this dish last Christmas as made by my sister-in-law in San Francisco. It is a big festive dish in the US but I had never come across it here. Not only is this dish so tasty it is extremely thrifty to make at the total of all ingredients listed costing no more than five euro. The ingredients listed below makes enough for 2-3 people.

Ingredients

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup

2 packs of Green Beans

Fried Crispy Onions (now available at ALDI)

A little Milk

Method

Cook green beans but leave them al dente (or a bit crunchy ;))

In a dish layer green beans then soup then some onions.

The little milk in ingredients is to add to soup to make it more pourable.

Make sure the top layer is without onions when first put into oven.

Put in oven at 200 degrees for twenty minutes or until bubbling.

Add some onions on top and pop back in for another 5 minutes.

Serve and Enjoy.

This dish is great as a side to anything be it fish, chicken or meat. It’s also a nice variation form the standard potato that I as an Irish girl am so attached to.

Roz x

Ready to Serve

Crispy Onions found in ALDI at 1.59 euro and great in many dishes.