Slow Cooked Lentil Ragu

Ingredients:

2 onions

2 carrots

3 celery stick

2 red peppers

200g dried red lentils

200g dried green lentils

3 tins chopped tomatoes

100g tomato puree

700ml vegetable stock (made with 2 OXO cubes)

2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp mixed herbs

Method:

1. Chop onions, carrots & celery into chunks.
2. Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker and stir together.
3. Cook on low for 5-7 hours until the lentils are cooks and the sauce is thick.

Occasionally extra liquid may need to be added before the end of the cooking time. If there is too much liquid, you can leave the lid off for the last hour to allow some excess water to boil off.

Ideal to serve with rice or pasta or jacket potatoes. Great sauce for a lasagne too.

Vegetarian Herby Bean Hotpot

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin of baked beans
1 tin of kidney beans, drained
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp mixed herbs
1 handful of grated cheese
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Place the sliced potatoes in a pan of boiling water & simmer for 5 minutes to allow the potatoes to soften.
3. Heat the oil gently in a pan & fry the onion softly, until soft.
4. Add the carrots to the pan & fry for a few minutes.
5. Add the tins of tomatoes, baked beans, kidney beans, tomato puree and mixed herbs to the pan with the onion and carrot.
6. Heat the pan until the mixture is simmering, allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Place into the bottom of an oven proof dish and arrange the sliced potatoes on top.
8. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the potatoes.
9. Place in the oven for 30 minutes until the cheese and potatoes on top are golden brown.

Roasted Peppers, Tomato & Goats Cheese Sliders

Ingredients:

6 bread cakes or bread baps or bread rolls (depending on which area of the country you reside in!)
Jar of roasted peppers, chopped
Goat's cheese, crumbled
Slices of edam cheese
1 egg for glazing
Handful of grated cheese

Tomato sauce:

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp dried basil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Make tomato sauce: place tin of tomatoes, garlic & basil in a pan & rapidly simmer to reduce to a nice thick sauce.
3. Cut the bread rolls in half and line the bottom of an oven proof dish with the bottoms of the bread rolls.
4. Place cheese slices over the bread rolls.
5. Spread the tomato sauce on top of the cheese slices.
6. Sprinkle over the chopped peppers and goats.
7. Place the top of the bread rolls back on.
8. Glaze the top with the beaten egg and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.
9. Place in the preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the tops of the bread rolls are golden brown.

Serve with some green salad for a light lunch bite.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 leek, sliced

2 carrots, chopped

150g mushrooms, chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed

3 tbsp dried sage (or 3 fresh leaves if available)

3 tbsp dried thyme (or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves only if available)

250g dried green lentils

750ml vegetable stock (made with 1 vegetable OXO cube)

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

200ml red wine

1 tbsp (vegetarian) Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

tbsp olive oil

Topping:

2 large sweet potatoes

2 large potatoes

1 small/medium cauliflower, heads only

large knob of butter

handful of grated cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the leeks, until they begin to soften.
3. Add carrots, mushrooms and garlic, continuing to cook for 4-5 mins, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the herbs, lentils, tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock, red wine, soy sauce & Worcestershire sauce and stir together well.
5. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer on a low heat for 30-40 minutes to thicken slightly.
6. Whilst the filling is simmering, boil the potatoes, sweet potatoes & cauliflower in a pan together for 15 mins until all is soft.
7. Drain the vegetables and add the butter to mash until smooth.
8. Transfer the filling to an oven proof dish and top with the mashed vegetables. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the top.
9. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:

Filling:
2 small or 1 large onion, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, crushed

150g mushrooms, quartered

2 large carrots, chopped finely

An inch slice of a large swede

Few large leaves of kale

2 tins tomatoes

1 tin borlotti beans 

1 tin red kidney beans

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground coriander

Pinch of cumin

Sprinkle of dried coriander leaves (or some fresh chopped coriander if available)

2 tbsps olive oil

1 tbsp lime juice

Packet of tortilla wraps

Grated cheese

Method:

1. Gently heat oil in pan. Add the chopped onion & garlic, gently fry until soft. 
2. Add mushrooms, kale, swede & carrot. Fry for a few mins. 
3. Add the paprika, coriander (ground & dried), cumin & lime juice and stir well to coat all the vegetables. 
4. Add the tins of beans & tomatoes and mix well. 
5. Simmer on a low heat for 20 mins or until the vegetables are soft. 
6. Place a large spoonful into each wrap & fold them up, place them side by side in a rectangular ovenproof dish.
7. Sprinkle lots of grated cheese on top & grill for a few minutes until golden brown. Or if you prefer a crispier enchilada place in the oven at 180C for 20-30 mins.

Serve with a green salad, guacamole, salsa & sour cream dips, tortilla chips etc for a delicious Mexican meal.

NB Alternative: the filling could also be served with rice

Green Tomato Chutney

Wondering what to do with that glut of green tomatoes from the garden?

Ingredients:

1kg green tomatoes

2 medium onions

400g sultanas

400g dark brown soft sugar

1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 tsp nutmeg

800ml malt vinegar

Method:

1. Chop tomatoes & onions roughly.
2. Add all the ingredients to a large pan & mix together.
3. Bring pan to the boil on a medium heat then reduce the heat to continue simmering, stir occasionally.
4. Simmer for about an hour to hour and a half (can sometimes take longer!) until the mixture is a thick pulp, when you draw the wooden spoon across the base of the pan there should be no vinegar fill that space.
5. Preheat oven to 150C to sterilse the jars.
6. Wash in clean soapy water the jars & their lids, then place on a baking tray & put them in the oven for 15 mins to dry.
7. Fill the jars with the hot chutney, place a wax seal on top of the chutney & screw on the lid.
8. Leave for about 4-6 weeks for the flavour to develop.

Great to give away as presents for Christmas or to enjoy for yourself with cheese and ham   :)

NB The above recipe made & filled about 4 1lb jars of chutney.

Where have I been?

I know it's been a very long time since I posted anything...apologies but it's been a very busy summer!!

We had a wonderful road & camping trip to the Black Forest in Germany to see my brother, sister-in-law & 3 nieces. The youngest nieces are twins that were born earlier in the year so it was our first time to meet them & have lots of cuddles. Plus my brother & his family hadn't yet met our youngest neither. We also became Godparents to the twins & had a lovely day with all the family at the Christening at a little chapel high in the mountains.

Heidelberg

Heidelberg

Black Forest

Only a few weeks after returning from our holiday my mum suddenly passed away, which was quite a shock for us all, but meant I was very pre-occupied with all the arrangements & grieving.

In memory of mum

August brought my return to work after nearly 7 months off, which has been a big adjustment for us all. 

Hence, I'm sure you can now understand  why the blog has been a little neglected. But I now have some wonderful new recipes to share with you, especially as we have now all become vegetarians I have even trying out lots of new foods & recipes.

Peas in a pod

Green tomatoes waiting to be made into chutney

On top of that I've been:

• Enjoying the garden & more recently harvesting
• Learning lots about essential oils & their benefit to health & wellbeing from my sister-in-law Maria in the Wood
• Started doing some Christmas crafts in preparation for December coming around much quicker than I'd like to admit! 
• Looking after my 2 gorgeous little boys  :)
• And a last minute camping trip to Northumberland enjoying the last of the summer sun in September.

Bamburgh in September

Slow Cooked Ham Stew

Ingredients:

2kg ham joint, soaked overnight to reduce the salt

2 onions, chopped finely

half a swede, chopped into chunks

6 carrots, peeled & sliced

1 can of baked beans

2 cans of tinned tomatoes

1 can of kidney beans

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsps mixed herbs

Method:

1. Chop the onions, swede & carrots and place in the bottom of a slow cooker dish.
2. Add the baked beans, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato puree & herbs and mix well.
3. Cut off as much fat as possible from the ham joint.
4. Make a dip in the bean & veg mix and place the ham joint on top.
5. Pour over 300ml boiling water.
6. Cook on high for 1 hr, then low for another 6-7 hrs.

Serve with rice or potatoes.

Spring Seeds

This was my conservatory windowsill a week or so ago...

...lots of new growth and potential for the summer garden of 2016. Now, it is beginning to look a bit like a forest. I am looking forward to the end of this cold weather & the frosts to be able to begin planting out in the garden.

Pesto Veg Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

750g pasta shapes

1 jar (190g) green pesto

5 tbsp olive oil

2 large carrots, finely chopped

150g frozen peas

150g frozen sweet corn

100g baby corn, finely chopped 

200g sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

5 tbsp dried basil 

Plenty of black pepper

Method:

1. Cook pasta, leave to cool a little.
2. Steam the sweet corn, carrots, baby corn & peas until soft. 
3. Add the olive oil & pesto to the pasta & mix well. 
4. Add the steamed veg, chopped sundried tomatoes, black pepper & basil & again mix well. 

Serve cold as part of a buffet or alone as a meal. 

Slow Cooked Sausage & Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

15 sausages

3 onions, chopped finely

4 carrots, sliced

1 tbsp sage

1 tbsp mixed herbs

1 tin of black eyed beans

1 tin of kidney beans

1 tin of sweetcorn (or frozen)

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

1 vegetable OXO cube

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp cornflour mixed in a little cold water

200ml boiling water

Method:

1. Place the sausages in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Add the chopped onions, carrots, herbs and mix well.
3. Next add the tins of beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes again mixing well.
4. Next sprinkle the OXO cube on top, add the tomato puree and cornflour, before lastly the boiling water and mix very well together.
5. Place the slow cooker on high for 1 hour, then low for 5-6 hours.

Serve with rice, pasta or mashed potatoes

NB This recipe serves about 12 people, but I always cook large quantities and then freeze for another day.

Aircraft Pizzas

I've been trying to spend more special time with my toddler since the arrival of his little brother and a great way to do this has been to spend some time cooking and baking together. We decided to make and decorate pizzas, but he is helicopter mad, so they had to be helicopter & aeroplane ones.

This is our efforts...

Aeroplane Pizza with BBQ sauce

Helicopter Pizza - see the hot dog main rotors and the pepper & olive tail rotor

Another photo of the helicopter pizza

...he was so proud of his achievement in making his own tea with mummy.

More Hogan Harvest

For my first year of gardening we have done quite well, we had lots of peas, we have quite a number of tomatoes, many are still green but here was my first red tomato.

I also have a toddler who arrives at my side regularly with a proud smile on his face and a handful of freshly picked green tomatoes, which he says are apples! So we shall see how many manage remain on the plant until they are red.

My herbs are doing really well after a slow start and I have started to use them in my cooking.

Do you remember the photos I posted of the basil in June (What's Wrong With My Basil?) well these are the same plants, you would never guess how healthy and green they could look after starting out in the garden so brown & yellow.

And this is my first red raspberry, which is a surprise as I only planted the canes this year and had read that it can take a few years for them to bare fruit. Well, we have a number of flowers and small fruits beginning to grow on the plants now, so we have done quite well with our first season.

The blackberries which have grown over from next door are also feeding us well, with 2 apple and blackberry crumbles made this week with the produce.

I am looking forward to trying some different plants and more of the same as well next year.

First fruits

Carrots

Red Strawberries

Peas

Peas

Green Tomatoes

Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp mixed herbs

500g beef mince

1 courgette, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 tin of tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1 cup of beef stock made with 1 oxo cube

black pepper

3 large potatoes, peeled & chopped

2 handfuls of grated cheese

splash of milk

black pepper

knob of butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4.
2. Boil the potatoes in a pan until soft.
3. Heat the oil in another large pan and gently fry the beef mince, once beginning to brown add the onion, garlic, herbs and courgettes. Continue cooking until the onions are soft.
4. Add the carrots, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, chilli flakes and beef stock and season with black pepper as necessary and stir well.
5. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the carrots and nicely cooked through.
6. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the butter, milk and a handful of cheese to the pan and mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. Season with black pepper.
7. Place the beef sauce into the bottom of an oven proof dish and top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the remainder of the grated cheese on top on the potatoes and heat in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is golden on top.

Serve with some fresh green vegetables.

Aubergine Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 large aubergine

150g lasagna sheets

4 cherry tomatoes, halved

Sprinkling of basil

For tomato sauce:

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp basil (fresh is best but dried is ok too)

1 courgette

1 carrot

1 tin of tomatoes

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tbsp tomato purée

For the cheese sauce: 

25g butter

1 heaped tbsp flour

500ml milk

Handful of grated cheese

Black pepper

Sprinkling of nutmeg

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 6.
2. Top & tail the aubergine & slice into 0.5cm slices.
3. Coat in olive oil & lie them on a baking tray.
4. Bake for 25 mins turning in the middle. 
5. Whilst the aubergine is cooking, chop the onion, garlic, carrot & courgette finely.
6. Put a little olive oil into a sauce pan & gently fry the onion, garlic, courgette & basil. 
7. Once soft add the tinned tomatoes, carrots, tomato purée, half a cup of boiled water & the stock cube. Stir well.
8. Leave to simmer until the carrots are soft and the sauce has slightly reduced.
9. In another saucepan on a low heat melt the butter.
10. Once melted remove from heat & stir in the flour to form a paste.
11. Return to heat & little by little add the milk stirring constantly until it is the required consistency. Add the cheese, pepper & nutmeg and extra milk if required to make it thinner. Simmer for a few minutes. 
12. Once the tomato sauce, cheese sauce & aubergine is cooked layer the lasagna sheets followed by the tomato sauce, cheese sauce, more lasagne, aubergine, tomato sauce, cheese sauce... & repeat layers until all the sauces & aubergine is used up. 
13. Top with grated cheese, the cherry tomatoes & a sprinkling of basil.
14. Heat in the oven until the topping is nicely browned for about 30 mins. 

Serve with garlic bread & green salad. 

My Growing Garden

My garden is growing, much to my delight!

Coriander

...I usually manage to kill plants but so far I am doing quite well with only a few casualities...

Spinach, Peas, Beans, Carrots and Raspberries

...a late frost caught some of my bean plants and also my tomatoes :( 

Blueberries

I also have some basil, parsley, more beans and tomatoes, a butternut squash plant and others still in my conservatory, waiting to be planted outside

Strawberries

I am looking forward to harvest :)

Slow Cooked Cauliflower Curry

I have been looking for creative ways to cook cauliflower and make it more interesting, as neither my partner or little boy seem to want to eat it steamed or as cauliflower cheese, so what could be more interesting than an self-invented cauliflower curry!

Ingredients:

Cauliflower Curry ready to slow cook

Cauliflower, chopped into florets

2 large potatoes, chopped into inch cubes

sweet potato, chopped into inch cubes

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

onion, chopped finely

tin of chick peas

2 tomatoes, chopped

100g red lentils

2 tsps ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tbsp mango chutney

1 tbsp dried coriander

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of coconut milk

1/2 cup of water

Method:

1. Place all the ingredients into the slow cooker, mix together well.
2. Cook on low heat in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours.

Serve with rice or couscous.

Vegetable, Chorizo & Pearl Barley Risotto

Ingredients:

225g chorizo slices

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1-2 tsps of dried rosemary

1/2 courgettes, chopped

1 orange or yellow pepper, chopped

300g pearl barley

2/3 carrots, chopped

400g tin of tomatoes

1 lt of chicken stock made with 1 OXO cube

Method:

1. Fry the chorizo in a pan until it is golden and crispy. 
2. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil from the chorizo in the pan.
3. Fry the onions, garlic and rosemary in a pan for a few minutes before adding the courgette and peppers and frying for a further few minutes.
4. Add the pearl barley to the pan and coat in the oil.
5. Add the carrots, tomatoes and chicken stock to the pan, bring to a simmer and place a lid on the pan.
6. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until all or most of the liquid has been absorbed by the barley.
7. Stir in the chorizo and heat for a few minutes, before serving.

Serve with grated cheese sprinkled on top!

Spring has Sprung in the Garden

Daffodils

Violas

Spring has finally sprung, which is allowing me to get out in the garden. This is the first spring I have lived in a house with a garden, so I am very excited about what we might grow this year. We visited the local garden centre a few weeks ago and I spent lots of my Christmas money on garden equipment including a raised bed, seeds and plants, etc (my husband says I can't go back for a while as I spent too much money!).

Carrots

I have planted:

• herb seeds - coriander, basil & parsley
• daffodils along the edge of my lawn
• blueberry bushes
• raspberry canes
• runner bean seeds
• pea seeds
• butternut squash seeds
• spinach seeds
• a tomato plant
• carrots
• violas

My windowsill

Many of the potted seeds are sat on my window sill in the conservatory whilst they germinate and I am really enjoying watching new shoots appear most days with the beautiful warm sunny weather we have been having. I cannot wait to get them planted outside especially if this beautiful weather continues.

Blueberry bush

Previously I have not been so successful at growing plants and keeping them alive so this year is my year to prove myself wrong and harvest bumper crops to feed the family!!!

Tomato 

Daffodil