Pork Stroganoff

My sister in law bought be a lovely tin of amazing smoked paprika - and I love using it in my cooking! This stroganoff is a family favourite and lets me use my lovely paprika. I had to use  red onion, as we were all out of white! It didnt affect the taste though. I use the cheaper shoulder steaks to make this, you could use tenderloin or fillet or any cut you like.

2 tbsp vegetable oil 
200 g trimmed pork cut into strips
1 bay leaf 
30 g butter 
1 onion, thinly sliced 
100 g button mushrooms, sliced 
1/2 tsp smoked paprika 
100 ml soured cream 
1 lemon, juice only 
1 tbsp chopped parsley 
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
boiled rice, to serve 

 1. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed non-stick frying pan until smoking. Season the meat and place in the pan, along with a bay leaf.

2. Fry quickly, stirring briskly until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside.

3. Add half the butter to the pan and soften the onion on a low heat - about 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining butter to the pan and, when it has melted, add the mushrooms and paprika and fry for a further 2 minutes, until softened. Remove from the pan and add to the pork.

4. Spoon the soured cream into the frying pan and warm through. Tip the pork, onions and mushrooms back into the pan, bring the mixture to a simmer, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until creamy. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley, and season to taste. Serve with boiled rice.

Marinated Cucumber

I have been eating a lot of salads lately, but cucumber always seems so boring! I was flicking through the River Cottage Veg Everyday cookbook, and found this simple recipe for jazzing up cucumber. It was such a nice change, I will be doing this more often! I grow mint in my garden, so always have some fresh to hand. The rest is just store cupboard items.

1 medium cucumber
Tablespoon bunch fresh mint
Tablespoon olive oil
Teaspoon cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to season

Top & tail the cucumber, then peel. Chop in half, then slice those into halves length ways. Chop into chunky half-moons. Mix the olive oil, vinegar & mint, and add the cucumber. Thoroughly mix, season & leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Stir again then serve.

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

These are delicious on toast, or even just by themselves! You could probably use it as a pasta sauce, or pour it over chicken. I love mushrooms, so I am always looking for new recipes for them. If you have a good mushroom recipe, please share it with me!

Serves 2

3 crushed garlic cloves
12 mushrooms chopped (I used chestnut, you could use any though)
Knob of butter
Splash of sherry (or white wine)
Half a carton of double cream
Parsley, to serve

Melt the butter in a pan, and add the garlic. Cook for a minute or 2, letting it cook but not colour. Add the mushrooms and stif fry for about 5 minutes. Add the sherry and let it simmer & reduce down. Add the cream, and let it warm through, stirring to mix all the flavours. Sprinkle with parsley & serve.

Marinated Courgettes with Mozzarella

I bought some courgettes reduced at the supermarket, so needed a nice recipe to use them up. I had a flick through the River Cottage Veg Everyday book, and found this one. Really tasty! No-one else here likes courgettes, so I ate it all myself :D Very tasty, will definitely make it again. I didn't have a lemon though, so I used a lime instead, still tasted great so I assume you could use either. I have bookmarked a few more recipes from this book to try, they all sound amazing.

4 medium courgettes (about 500g)
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil
1 large clove garlic, finely slivered
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus a little juice
A handful of mint or basil, roughly torn
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella (about 125g), or other mild, soft cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Top and tail the courgettes, then cut them lengthways into thin slices, 1–2mm thick. Put them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the oil and use a pastry brush to get them all lightly coated.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a fairly high heat. Working in batches, sear the courgette slices for about 2 minutes on each side until tender and golden. Transfer them to a shallow dish.

Take the frying pan off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, the garlic and lemon zest. Heat very gently for a few minutes – the residual heat in the pan may be enough – you just want to take the raw edge off the garlic and infuse the flavours into the oil.
Pour the infused oil over the courgettes. Add some salt and pepper, a little squeeze of lemon juice and the mint or basil. Toss together, cover and leave for 1 hour at room temperature.

Serve with the torn mozzarella scattered over it.

Cheese, garlic & chive crisps

Not a potato in sight! These would be perfect for people following a low carb diet. They are also perfect for cheese lovers! They are deliciously crispy and tasty, I would serve these as a snack at a party/buffet. I used fresh chives from my garden, but dried would work. You could try changing the toppings to whichever herbs/spices you like. Try varying the cheese too.

4 square slices of Edam cheese (from the packs you get of pre-sliced cheese but NOT processed cheese)
3 inches of fresh chives, snipped
A few pinches of garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 170c. Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper. THIS IS IMPORTANT, they will stick to foil/nonstick trays! Cut each square of cheese into 4 quarter squares. Spread on the baking sheets, top with snipped chives & a tiny pinch of garlic powder. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, and carefully remove the greaseproof paper with the cheese from the tray, and place on a cool surface. Le the cheese completely cool (this doesn't take long) and then serve! They crisp up beautifully.

Stuffed Cheese Burgers

I used Lidls steak mince to make these burgers, and they tasted great! Definitely the best homemade beef burgers I have made. I had mine with salad leaves & a huge dollop of homemade coleslaw. Having the cheese in the middle, all melty & oozing, was a great addition, I cant wait to make these again! These would work well on a BBQ too. Make sure to firmly seal the patties around the cheese, to stop the cheese oozing out.

Makes 3 Stuffed burgers

450g steak mince
salt
pepper
pinch garlic powder
pinch onion powder
3 small matchbox size blocks of cheese

Combine the mince with the seasoning & onion/garlic powder and mix well by hand. When thoroughly mixed, divide into 6 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball, then flatten to make a patty. On 3 of the patties, place the cheese directly in the middle. Top with one of the other 3 patties, and seal the edges. Grill, fry or BBQ until cooked through.

Homemade coleslaw
1/2 white cabbage, grated
1 carrot, grated
5 spring onions, chopped
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Chill in the fridge. Will keep for 3 days in the fridge.

Slow Cooked Chinese Beef Stew & Crispy Kale

Another meal that you can just stick in the slow cooker! You coudl also do this in the oven, for around 2 hours. The meat comes out so meltingly soft, and the chinese flavours are delicious. Makes a great change from the usual slow cooker stew. I served ours with vermicelli noodles and crispy kale (tastes quite like crispy seaweed).

750g braising beef
1 bunch spring onions , sliced
3 garlic cloves , sliced
Half red pepper, sliced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
an inch of root ginger , grated
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 star anise
4 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
2 tbsp soy sauce

Place everything in the slow cooker, and cook for around 6 hours. No need to brown the meat first!

Crispy kale -

Half a bag of shredded kale
Olive oil
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Coat the kale lightly in olive oil and spread out on a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes, until it is just starting to go golden at the edges.

Published Recipe!

I have had one of my recipes published in a recipe magazine! I am quite chuffed. The magazine is my favourite recipes and its a monthly mag full of readers recipes. If you are on Facebook, I would really appreciate some votes for this months favourite recipe :) Just go here and pick the "baked meatballs" recipe - https://www.facebook.com/myfavouriterecipes/app_142288745871074. Thank you x

Cheese and Ham Tagliatelle

I needed a quick & simple dinner for the children tonight, as my Wee Man had hit his head and only wanted Mummy cuddles for most of the evening :( He sat with his Dad long enough for me to whip this up for them. The Wee Man even managed a few bites himself! He preferred the ice-poles that we were using to bring down the swelling. If Id had time, i would have added fried mushrooms to this too.

Serves 2 (or 3 children)

6 dried tagliatelle nests
1 pint milk
Pinch nutmeg
2 large handfuls of grated cheddar
1/2 tablespoon cornflour
Half tub of cream cheese with chives (or add your own chives)
Seasoning
3 slices of ham, diced


Boil the pasta nests in salted water as per the packet instructions (8-12 minutes usually).

Warm the milk in a sauce pan, and add the pinch of nutmeg. Mix the cornflour with the cheese, then add to the milk a bit at a time, allowing all the cheese to melt before adding more. Once all the cheese has melted into the milk, season then add the cream cheese. Allow this to also melt. Add the chopped ham & stir.

Drain the pasta and divide between bowls. Pour over the sauce, twirl with a fork to combine the sauce a little with the tagliatelle, and serve.

Chicken in creamy leak & mushroom sauce

Not the prettiest looking dish! Tasted lovely though. It is quite rich, so I didnt serve potatoes with it, just some fresh corn on the cobs I forgot to meal plan this week, so all my cooking has been a bit hpahazard, using up what ever is in the fridge - I must be better prepared next week!

Serves 4
2 chicken thighs per person
Butter & olive oil, tablespoon of each roughly
2 leeks, sliced
10 mushrooms, sliced
300ml pot double cream
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 shallot, diced finely (or onion)
Small handfu parsley to garnish
Salt & pepper to season

Heat a frying pan and add the butter/olive oil. Fry the chicken, skin side down, until the skin is crispy. Transfer to an oven dish & pop in the oven for about 30 minutes at 200C.

In the same frying pan, add the shallot & garlic & fry gently, scraping the chicken bits from the bottom of the pan. After a minute, add the leeks & mushrooms (add more butter/oil if you need to). Let the leeks & mushrooms sweat for around 10/15 minutes. Add the cream & seasoning, and allow to simmer fo a few minutes. Plate up the chicken & pour the cream sauce over. Scatter fresh parsley on top & serve!