Chicken Fajitas

I love Mexican food and we have a friend who visits weekly who enjoys Fajitas as well so we eat Fajitas frequently.

They are so quick, easy and yummy!!

You could buy a kit but I choose to buy all the ingredients separately as I find it is generally better value for money.

Ingredients:
8 wraps
500g chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 sachet of fajita seasoning mix (whatever flavour you desire - BBQ, Mexican Herb...)
2 peppers (green, red or yellow), sliced
1 onion, sliced
100g mushrooms (Optional), sliced
1 carrot, cut into thin sticks (Optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Coat the chicken in the seasoning mix and add to the wok.
3. Fry chicken for a few minutes.
4. Add the peppers, onions and carrots and fry until chicken in cooked through.
5. Warm wraps in the microwave for 40 seconds.
6. Fill wraps with fajita mix, grated cheese, salad, salsa, sour cream and guacamole (all optional).

Serve with nachos!

BRADFORD - Bradford Cathedral

Bradford Cathedral was originally the St Peter Parish Church of Bradford and there has been Christian worship on this site since the 8th century. The oldest part of the current building dates back to the 14th century and has been added to numerous times since.

Bradford Cathedral

The Cathedral is built on a piece of higher land that has formed on the outside of the bend of the Bradford Beck which curves round to flow north towards Shipley. The original township of Bradford grew up on the other side of the beck, und

The cathedral can now be seen from various places across the city centre as the Broadway Shopping Centre was demolished in 2005 and that blocked most of the view of the old stone clock tower.

Bradford Cathedral from the Urban Garden (site of previous Broadway shopping centre)

Warhammer

My husband is into his Warhammer and has been painting his figures all weekend...they're so tiny but yet look fantastic all painted.

Random sweets

In Bradford city centre there is a shop which sells seconds of various food products. They always have a good selection of sweets, so we often pop in when we're in town for a cheap sugar rush to give us the energy to walk back to East Bowling with all our shopping.

A few weeks ago we found quite a strange selection of sweets...

...I chose a bag of chocolate coated fruit and nutes which contains strawberries, ginger, nuts, raspberries and various other types of chocolate coated berries.

Seconds chocolate coated fruit

Although, one white chocolate coated strawberry resembled a little pig's head...

White chocolate coated strawberry which looked like a pigs head

My husband on the other hand chose a bag of jellied sweets containing...

...a huge spider sweet!

Bag of jellied sweets

It was pretty big...!

BRADFORD - Lamp posts

When wandering around Bradford city centre if you look up, you can see these beautifully designed lamp posts.

Bradford lamp posts

Jubilee Cupcake

Jubilee Cupcake

I love this little cupcake made by some friends (JennyandDonna Kingdom Cakes) for the Jubilee celebrations last summer. They are just so colourful, bright, healthy and delicious. My mouth waters just looking at this photo.

JennyandDonna Kingdom Cakes have designed many a beautiful and delicious cake so check them out on Facebook to see more of their designs.

Homemade enchiladas

Frying the mince

Chilli simmering away

Ingredients:

For the chilli:

500g mince beef

250g mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped into small pieces

1 clove of garlic, crushed

2 chillies (red or green), deseeded and thinly sliced

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of red kidney beans

200ml of beef stock (made with a beef OXO cube)

1 tbsp of tomato puree

1 pepper or carrot, cut into small pieces (Optional)

200g rice (boiled)

6-8 flour tortillas/wraps

grated cheese, for sprinkling on top

Method:

1. Heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 or 160C.
2. Fry the onions, garlic, chillies and mushrooms until soft.
3. Add the beef and cook until browned.
4. Add the tin of tomatoes, stock, kidney beans, tomato puree and optional vegetables.
5. Simmer for 15 mins until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has reduced.
6. Whilst it is simmering, place the boiled rice in the bottom of a pyrex roasting tray and prepare wraps on top of the rice ready to place the chilli into.
7. Fill each wrap with chilli and roll up placing on top of the rice bed.
8. Spinkle grated cheese on top and place in the oven until the cheese topping has browned.

Serve with nachos, salsa or guacamole.

Enchiladas

BRADFORD - The Wool Exchange

The Wool Exchange in Bradford is a beautiful ornate Grade 1 listed building in the city centre, hidden by many large surrounding buildings. It is now better known for hosting Waterstones.

From the Urban Garden you get a wonderful view of its clock tower which holds the correct time.

Wool Exchange, Bradford

It was built in the 1860's as a wool-trading centre, the grandeur of the building shows Bradford's 19th century wealth in the trading of wool. It is great to see the building still in good use with its interior beauty restored, a good view of the inside architecture can be seen from the Starbucks cafe.

CREATIVE CORNER - Mother's Day Cards

For Mother's Day this year I wanted to make something, so I found a lovely little flower cross stitch pattern and made this...

X-stitch Mothers Day card

...it makes a lovely little personalised card.

Red Thai Curry

Red thai curry

Simmering Red Thai Curry

Ingredients:

3 tbsps Red Thai Curry Paste

1 can of coconut milk

300g chicken breasts (or Paneer cheese, cubed if vegetarian)

1 pepper

2 tbsps of oil

Other vegetables of your choice: Peas, Mange Tout, Carrot, Mini Sweetcorn

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok and add the chicken, fry for a few minutes.
2. Add the curry paste and stir for a minute.
3. Add the can of coconut milk and mix together well.
4. Add the vegetables of your choice and simmer until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through. (Approx. 15 minutes)

Serve with rice, noodles or naan and ENJOY!!

BRADFORD - The City Hall

Bradford City Hall is a huge building in Centenary Square which dominates the city centre's skyline with its tall clock tower. 

Bradford City Hall & City Park

It is a Grade 1 listed building and was built to replace an old town hall, as Bradford needed a city hall to revival that of Leeds and Halifax's. It was opened on the 9th September 1873 but has been extended a few times since then.

The back of Bradford City Hall

On the frontage of the hall a stone statue of Oliver Cromwell can be found, if you look for him carefully.

The front of the City Hall and main entrance

Main entrance - close up

A side door to the city hall

The view of the City Hall over the grass embankment near the Alhambra

On a good day with the wind blowing in the correct direction we can hear the clock chiming from our house a few miles away. At Christmas the bells play a festive tune to make the turning of another hour.

The sun shining behind the clock tower, silhouetting the City Hall clock tower

I love to see the inside of this fantastic building one day.

Memory verse cards...

At my church last week, someone had made these beautiful postcards with memory verses on them...

...they had been scattered on the chairs before the start of the service and then during the worship time we all read out the verses on our cards...

...it was beautiful!

Stir fry with noodles

Ingredients:

400g chicken breasts, cut into bitesize pieces (or 400g paneer cheese, cubed if vegetarian)

1 onion

2 chillies

thumb sized piece of ginger

1 carrot

1 pepper

1 can of mini sweetcorn, drained

2 tbsps brazil nut oil

soy sauce

250g egg noodles

Sachet of stir fry sauce of your choice: Black Bean, Hoi Sin, Chow Mein, etc

Optional extras: mushrooms, beansprouts, mange tout

Chopping chillies & onion

Frying the chicken, chillies, ginger & onion

Method:

1. Chop the onion, chillies and ginger finely.
2. Slice pepper and carrots into strips. Prepare any other vegetables you may want to add.
3. Add the oil to a wok and heat until quite hot.
4. Add the soy sauce, onions, chillies, ginger and chicken to the wok, stirring continuously for a few minutes.
5. Add the vegetables: mini sweetcorn, peppers, carrots, mange tout etc and a splash of water to the bottom of the wok.
6. Allow to simmer for a few minutes until vegetables have softened & chicken is cooked.
7. Cook the noodles as per pack instructions.
8. When vegetables and chicken nearly cooked through add the sachet of stir fry sauce and mix in the cooked noodles.

Add the vegetables

Stir fry with noodles