Lemon and cranberry loaf

Now that spring has finally made an appearance, I find myself wanting to use all things citrusy.  I love the freshness that oranges and lemons exude especially when used in desserts.  

This recipe has nothing to it - it is so easy to throw together.  In fact, Lil Miss J came home one day with it from having baked it at the childminders and so I had to ask them how they made it.   So much flavour from such a simple recipe. 

Ingredients

Self-raising flour - 175 g 

Butter - 175 g 

Caster sugar - 175 g 

Eggs - 3

Dried sweetened cranberries - 1 handful 

Juice and zest of two lemons

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius. 

2. Sift flour and set aside. 

3. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  You can use an electric beater but we tend to hand beat it as my baking is always done with Lil Miss J who loves 'mixing'. 

4. Add one egg at a time and beat until incorporated.  

5. Lightly fold the flour in.  Add the juice and zest of two lemons and the cranberries. 

6. Pour into a loaf tin and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 40 to 50 minutes.  If the top is browning too quickly, you can cover it with silver foil.  

7.  Remove from oven and let cool in tin before turning it out on to a cooling rack.  When cool, cut into slices and serve. 

Enjoy :)

Upcycled shoe rack

I've made one of these before and you can see it here. But this time, we went one step further and used the paintings that Lil Miss J makes at nursery to decorate the A4 paper boxes.  A fun afternoon activity and her shoes are all nice and tidy. 

Spinach and cheese pie

I had been looking at a spinach pie recipe on Budget Bytes for ages.  Yesterday the craving hit an all time high so I proceeded to make it with whatever ingredients I had lying about!!! 

I love puff pastry - I know its not that good for you in terms of being healthy but what can I say - I do love it.  Combine it with spinach, mushrooms and feta which are some of my favourite ingredients and you're in food heaven!  

So here it is - a very simple to throw together meal.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients

Spinach (frozen cut) - 16 oz 

Mushrooms - 5-6 sliced thickly

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic clove - 1 

Nutmeg - 1/8 tsp

Feta cheese - 1/2 cup

Mozarella - 1/2 cup

Parmesan - 1/4 cup

Cayenne Pepper/Chilli powder (optional) - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Eggs - 3

Puff Pastry - 1 sheet (I bought the ready version)

Oil - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Thaw out your frozen spinach. Mix together the spinach (after you've squeezed out all the water), feta cheese, mozarella, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and salt. 

2. Chop the onion and garlic.  Take some oil in a pan.  Lightly saute the onion and garlic.  Add the mushrooms and quickly saute till they are just soft.  Add some salt and then add this to the spinach mixture.  

3. Check for seasoning and then add 2 eggs to the spinach mixture. 

4.  Roll your puff pastry out.  Then place the pastry in an ovenproof dish.  Spoon the filling in evenly and then fold over the pastry to cover the top.  I cut off some excess bits from the side to cover a gap that was left.  Break an egg and beat it up and brush over the top of the pastry to give it a nice glaze as it bakes in the oven. 

5.  Bake for 45 minutes at 160 degrees centigrade. 

6. Once done, take it out of the oven and leave for five minutes prior to cutting it up to serve. 

If you want to refer to the original recipe, you can find it here. 

Slow cooker chicken pepperonata

This has become a staple meal in our home....its oh so easy to do and packs oodles of flavour.  The original recipe is from Kayotic Kitchen.  Mine is the slightly Indianised version! 

I love peppers and the combination of peppers, onion and garlic sauteed in a pan is enough to make the house smell divine! 

Here is this super easy recipe:-

Ingredients
500 g boneless chicken thighs
3 bell peppers
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil

Method

1. In a pan, add 2 tbsp oil.  Add the chicken thighs and cook till they get a little bit of colour.  Remove and drain on some kitchen towel. 

2.  In the same pan, add the onions, garlic and bell peppers.  Once cooked, add the chilli powder, cumin and dried oregano.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

3.  Transfer the onion bell pepper mixture to the slow cooker and add the chicken and diced tomatoes.  Add the cream of mushroom soup.  If you prefer not to use canned soup, leave this out and use some cornstarch to thicken the pepperonata once done. 

4.  Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for about 3 hours.  

5.  Serve with hot rice or pasta sprinkled with a generous helping of cheese - Enjoy! :)

If you prefer, you can make this on the stove top.  Just add the chicken and cover and cook till done. 

Veg pot pie

I have had a sabbatical from blogging.....I have gone back to working full time after four years and this doesn't leave me enough time to do as much as I used to.  Between trying to juggle home, work and family, I have had my hands full. 

But I miss blogging and I figured I need to focus and try and get started again.  It may not be as much as I used to  but I need to at least try.

Here's another winner from Budget Bytes.  I tried this vegetable pot pie this weekend and it was amazingly good.  Beth has done all the hard work with putting up the recipe and step by step photos, which you can find here. She has an awesome blog - do take some time to visit it - especially if you enjoy cooking. 

Black bean and corn quesadillas

With moving house and things up and down on the job front, most of this year has been - to say the least - quite trying! Its taught me to live a more frugal lifestyle and to be honest, once you start to do that - you wonder why you spent so much money wastefully in the first place! 

I've just found work again but have been trying out different recipes over the past couple of months whilst I was off work - which is just as well because it has stood me in good stead now when I have to work full time! 

One of these fantastic recipes, I found over at Budget Bytes. This is my new favourite blog - Beth does some awesome recipes on a budget - inventive cooking is so much fun!

The only change I made to mine was that I didn't use any cayenne pepper in the taco seasoning - just because I didn't have any! Other than that, these were super easy and taste amazing.

You can find the original recipe here. They freeze beautifully - perfect for a quick lunch or snack!

Enjoy!

Lil Miss J turns Lil Miss Helper!

Lil Miss J enjoys helping out  - it started out when she was younger, as a means of getting her involved in doing things around the house so that I could get the housework done with  her about.  But I have also realised along the way that children do not view things as chores.  With a little bit of fun injected into it, there is nothing a child loves more than being involved and helping mum out! 

I tend to buy fresh coriander a lot as it gets used in plenty at home.  Lately I've also been buying some fresh mint.  The best way to keep these fresh for long is to pick the leaves and store them in an airtight container lined with a paper towel and then place the container in the fridge.   Coriander stalks have loads of flavour, so don't throw these out.  In my house they get used in a mint coriander chutney and also to flavour soups. 

I got Lil Miss J to help me pick the leaves.  I find this is a good concentration activity for her and since I'm with her doing it, she enjoys it a lot. She is usually far more fussy than I am - usually saying "we can't have this leaf mummy - its brown!" or more recently - "mummy look at the leaves properly before you put them in!!!".  She can now recognise the difference between the leaves and knows both  herbs by name.  

I got her to smell the mint leaves and asked her what they smelled of.  "Toothpaste" came the prompt reply! A great way for children to build associations.

We talked about how different the leaves looked, how they smelled different, how  the stalks were different , how they felt different to touch and even how they were slightly different shades of green. 

It took us the better part of 40 minutes to do this and I could have possibly done it in 15 myself.  But not only did a job that needed doing get done, she enjoyed killing some time with mum, she learnt to recognise shapes, colours, smells, touch all in one activity!