Homemade chicken nuggets

Made some delicious lemon and black pepper chicken nuggets...def not
just for the kids!!

Spicy pork stir fry

Easy dinner - chicken pasta bake

Chicken pasta bake

Interesting lunches

A Hugh inspired lunch!

I've enjoyed watching the River Cottage series and always feel very inspired afterwards. I thought the lunchtime one was great - in a way, nothing new but it reminded me that even simple lunches could be made much more interesting very easily.

So I've become addicted to throw everything in salads - this one contains lettuce, spinach, mint, cherry tomatoes, leftover pesto pasta with sweetcorn & peas, brie, some sunflower seeds, and a bit of balsamic dressing - mmm delicious!

Leftovers soup

Yesterday was one of those days when I really needed to go to the
supermarket but didn't!!

So I made this soup for dinner out of Sunday roast leftovers and a few
cupboard basics.

Onion
Garlic
Turmeric
Homemade chicken stock
Leftover chicken (small amount)
Leftover roast parsnips & swede
Tin of tomatoes
Tin of green lentils

In one pan, I had the leftover chicken carcass which I'd saved to make stock. So I add some water, chopped carrots, a bay leaf & some black pepper and put it on the hob on a low heat.

In another pan, I add finely chopped onion, garlic & turmeric and sauteed for a few mins. Then I add the leftovers, tomatoes & green lentils plus a bit of water. I left in on the hob on a low heat for around 30 mins. I then add the stock from the other pan & continued cooking for another 30 mins.

And hey presto....delicious chickeny tasting soup using very little chicken! Bargain!

Beetroot juice

I was recently reading an article that raved about beetroot juice and then I discovered this, Beet it organic beetroot juice - hurrah. It's bit of an acquired taste on its own but delicious mixed half and half with orange juice!

And what's more, I can't stop singing the King of pop's Beat it whenever I see the bottle :-)

Sainsburys Stir up Sunday

I took part in Sainsbury's Stir up Sunday as part of a team of baking experts who were on hand to answer any baking questions. Here I am with the rest of the team.

From left to right: Kate McBain (Sainsburys Try Team), Sarah Randell (food writer), Dan Lepard (baker & food writer), Ruth Clemens (finalist Great British Bake Off), Lucy Chahil (Food editor, Netmums) and Liz Comben (Sainsburys Try Team).

Egg overload!!

That's the funny thing about eggs in our house...we tend to go for all or nothing!! Today, the kids had bit of an egg overload, starting with boiled & soldiers for breakfast and finishing with savoury pancakes for dinner with a bit of homemade apple & cinnamon cake thrown in in-between!

Lentil spaghetti bolognese

Made lentil spaghetti for dinner yesterday. It was a recipe on Netmums which I'd never tried before. Very easy to make and surprisingly tasty!! A great budget meal.

Recipe: Apple & cinnamon cake

Apple & cinnamon cake

Ingredients:

225 g soft margarine

225 g light muscovado sugar

3 medium eggs

100 g walnut pieces, chopped

100 g sultanas

225 g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

400 g cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated

1 tsp ground cinnamon

light muscovado sugar for sprinkling

extra chopped walnuts for sprinkling (optional)

icing sugar for dusting (optional)

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease and base line a 9 inch (23 cm) deep round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper.

2) Measure the margarine, sugar, eggs, chopped walnuts, sultanas, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until thoroughly blended.

3) Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin then spread the grated apple and ground cinnamon in an even layer on top.

4) Spread the remaining cake mixture on top, level the surface then sprinkle generously with light muscovado sugar and walnuts.

5) Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until the cake is well risen and golden brown.

6) Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

7) Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Apple picking

Apple season is fast approaching and I'm lucky to have a fabulous apple tree in my garden. In previous years, we've been a bit lazy and not done much with them but this year I'm determined to use them in lots of different ways.

So yesterday, I was out picking my first batch:

and decided to make an apple & cinnamon cake using a Mary Berry recipe:

Recipe:

Apple and Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients:
225 g soft margarine
225 g light muscovado sugar
3 medium eggs
100 g walnut pieces, chopped
100 g sultanas
225 g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
400 g cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
light muscovado sugar for sprinkling
extra chopped walnuts for sprinkling (optional)
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease and base line a 9 inch (23 cm) deep round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper.
2) Measure the margarine, sugar, eggs, chopped walnuts, sultanas, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until thoroughly blended.
3) Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin then spread the grated apple and ground cinnamon in an even layer on top.
4) Spread the remaining cake mixture on top, level the surface then sprinkle generously with light muscovado sugar and walnuts.
5) Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until the cake is well risen and golden brown.
6) Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.
7) Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my new blog - Meal planning inspiration.

Here's a couple of facts about me:

1. I'm married and mum to two great kids.

2. I can cook but not all that well! I'm really interested in healthy eating and feeding my kids home cooked food so I'm always trying to improve my cooking!

3. I eat my meals incredibly early!! I eat with the kids and they are early risers/early to bed. So my mealtimes are something like this - breakfast @6am, lunch @12pm and dinner @5pm.

4. I've started a couple of blogs before but never kept them going. I'm really going to try and keep this one going.

5. I love trying to be organised. I love everything that goes with that both offline (pens, paper, stickers etc) and online (apps, reminders, fly lady etc). But somehow, other than meal planning, I never quite make it at being organised especially when it comes to remembering birthdays :-)!!!

Hope you enjoy reading.