Dust off your sombrero and break out the pinatas! I'm going all Mexican on you here today. I know . . . this is supposed to be The English Kitchen . . . but variety is the spice of life after all . . . and as Mexican as this may be . . . it was cooked in an English kitchen!



Mexican food is one of my favourite treats! Oh, how I love all the warm Mexican spices . . . cumin, coriander . . . chilies.

Just the thought of them can make my tastebuds start tingling and my mouth watering.



Back home there was a tasty little Mexican restaurant that we used to love to go to . . . where the fajitas were served sizzling at your table on your very own cast iron skillet . . . my but they were good. Strawberry margaritas . . . they were good too, but I don't drink those anymore. If anyone knows how to make one without alcohol, I'd be interested!



Anyways, I had some cooked chicken that I needed to use up and I thought why not go all Mexican here. I was in the mood for a real fiesta!

I love chimichangas with their crunchy tortilla wrappings and cheesy, spicy fillings. One of my Mexican favourites for sure . . . along with nachos and burritos and . . . oh my, don't get me started. I love it all!



These tasty chimichangas were the perfect way to use up that leftover chicken. Don't you just love it when you can take something that's already been used and fix it up with a few things to make it all new again? I do!



I have a 72 year old husband so these are somewhat on the tame side. You can of course make them a lot spicier by using a spicy cheese, and adding some hot chilies to the filling. As well, the condiments can be chosen with more heat if desired!



*Chicken Chimies*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

You can make these even spicier by using a cheese with added jalapeno peppers etc. These are so easy and incredibly tasty! A great way to use leftovers too!

2 large cooked chicken breasts, shredded
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 TBS butter
10 (8 inch) flour tortillas
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
6 spring onions, chopped
a handful of pitted black olives, sliced
1 TBS vegetable oil (for cooking)
To serve:
shredded lettuce
sour cream
guacamole
tomato salsa

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and season with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Saute for about 3 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Stir in the chopped spring onion, olives and cheese. Mix well together.

Spoon this mixture evenly onto the centre of the tortillas. Fold up side and roll up burrito style.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the rolled up tortillas and saute on all sides until golden brown all over. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce and with your choice of toppings. Delicious!

One of the things we loved best about Roast Dinners when I was growing up was . . . that we knew there would be a lovely pot pie waiting at the end of it all . . . kind of like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow . . . sure you love that rainbow, but it's the pot of gold that always gets you in the end . . .



It was a sure thing if we had had a roast beef dinner, or chicken, or turkey . . . after my mother had served it up once the day of the roast, a second time sliced cold with some vegetables, a third time possibly as a soup or a hash . . . the rest would get made into a pot pie.



Oh how we loved her pot pies. Her crust was fabulously rich and flakey, the insides thick and chock full of vegetables, bits of meat and tasty gravy . . . I suppose it was a great way of making a little bit of meat go a long way . . .



Even now if we go to visit she is sure to break one of her pot pies out of the freezer as a real treat. Once, when I was about 13, she had to go away for the weekend. She had left a pot pie for me to heat up along with some oven chips and vegetables for our Saturday night supper. To this day I still get accused of taking the largest piece for myself . . . and truth is, I probably did!!!



You don't really need any leftover meat to make a delicious pot pie though . . . I make a rather tasty one using rich and moist chicken thighs, which are just loaded with flavour. Cheap and easy, this always goes down a real treat with anyone I serve it to . . .



It doesn't taste cheap and easy. It's wonderfully rich and comforting. Good eats all round. I like to serve it with some tasty mashed potatoes and a vegetable on the side. One trick for making really tasty mash is to whip some herb and garlic boursin cheese into them. Oh yummo! Probably not too good for the waistline . . . but sometimes you just got to do what you just got to do . . .

Besides . . . I have a bad cold. I need comforting . . .



*Chicken Pot Pie*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

Pot pies are very popular in my house. Normally I use leftover roast, but today I decided to use some chicken thighs I had on hand. Delicious comfort food that is not only economical but very easy and quick to throw together.

2 TBS oil
2 TBS plain flour
500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 medium cooking onion, peeled and diced small
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 large rib of celery, cut into small dice
2 carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
2 chicken stock cubes
1 1/2 cups hot water
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried savoury
100g frozen peas
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley.
1.2 of a (17 ounce) packet of ready roll puff pastry
1 beaten egg yolk

Trim the chicken, discarding any fat. Cut into small cubes. Toss with the flour. Add the oil to a large skillet. Heat over medium heat. Add the floured chicken and brown, stirring until it is cooked all the way through, and no pink remains. Add the onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Cook, slowly, stirring from time to time until almost tender. Crumble the stock cubes over all and stir in the hot water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the peas and parsley. Place into a pie dish. Top with the puff pastry. Crimp the edges and vent. Brush with some beaten egg yolk.

Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F. Place pie on a baking tray and bake in the heated oven for approximately 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and browned.

Serve hot with some mashed potatoes and a vegetable of your own choosing. Delicious!

I've done a lot of cooking at work over the last week . . . what with luncheons, Christening do's, brunches . . . that's a lot of long hours on my feet, cooking, serving, cleaning up . . .

Whew! It's a good thing I really enjoy that part of my job!



The parties are all done now and things will be back to normal tomorrow. I love the excitement of these special occasions, but, I think I am starting to get a bit too long in the tooth to enjoy a steady diet of them.

I hate to admit it, but . . . I am slowing down! A few days like this, now and again, are just about all I can, or want to handle.



Back at home this afternoon, I was ready to let my hair down and relax. This called for a lazy meal that didn't require a lot of work, or trouble.

Roasting/casseroling meals are the best for days like this. Days when I am tired and want to relax, but, I'm also starving because . . . although I've been spending a lot of time feeding everyone else . . .

I've not been feeding myself!!! (or Todd!)



This is the perfect . . . lazy . . . delicious . . . satisfying . . . indulgent . . . "feed me now" type of meal. All I had to do was to bung it all into the oven and then wait. Oh, I did cook a bit of rice to go with it and some veg, but really that takes little or no effort . . .



Highly recommended by Todd.




*Country Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A simple, yet delicious country style roast dinner. Wonderful with pasta or rice.

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
(Or 8 pieces of chicken, I used thighs)
8 shallots
5 fresh or dried bay leaves
250g of smoked bacon, chopped (generous half pound)
2 TBS olive oil
1 1/2 TBS wholegrain mustard
1 bunch of fresh tarragon, coarsely chopped
100ml of white wine (scant half cup)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
cooked pasta or rice to serve

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F.

Place the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add the shallots, smoked bacon and bay leaves. Drizzle with the oil and mix all together well. Dump into a roasting tin. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Cook in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Whisk the mustard and white wine together. Stir in the tarragon. Remove the chicken from the oven. Drain off any excess fat. Pour the mustard mixture over the chicken and return to the oven for 10 minutes longer. Serve warm with the pasta or rice, and any pan juices spooned over top.

It's really full on at work this week, with luncheons and parties etc. to cook for. This is what I really enjoy. It's challenging and it's a lot of fun! I get to really stretch my abilities and there is nothing I love more than a challenge.



I'm always up for it. It does mean though that I don't have a lot of time for at home cooking.

Poor Todd, don't you feel sorry for him? Don't feel too sorry though . . . I never leave him with nothing. He's always well catered to and truth be known, he'll be right up there with me for most of it, pitching in. Washing dishes when I need him, serving guests, butlering.

He's pretty handy to have around.




Quick and easy is the rule of the day for home though . . . last night we had burgers and chips and today we had this delicious stir fry. Easy peasy, lemon squeasy.

I guess you could also say hasty tasty!!

Deliciously spiced chicken bits, and crunchy vegetables in a sticky lemon and ginger sauce.

Yumm! Yumm!!




*Sticky Lemon and Ginger Chicken Stir Fry*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

Quick, easy and a deliciously tasty mix of spiced and lemony flavours and crunch!

2 free range boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets
1 TBS plain flour
1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
1 TBS sunflower oil
180g of finely shredded vegetables (red peppers, yellow peppers, shredded bok choy, sprouts,
baby corn, red onions, carrots, broccoli)
1/4 tsp crushed chilies
the finely grated zest and juice of one lemon
1 large piece of chinese stem ginger in syrup, chopped
2 TBS stem ginger syrup

Cut the chicken breasts into thin slices crossways. Toss them together with the flour and five spice powder. Heat half of the vegetable oil in a large skillet. Toss in the chicken pieces and cook, stir frying for 3 to 4 minutes until cooked through and golden brown. Remove and keep warm. Add the remaining half of the vegetable oil and add the vegetables and chili flakes. Cook, stirring until almost tender, about 4 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the lemon zest, the lemon juice, ginger pieces and ginger syrup. Stir fry for a couple of minutes to create a sticky sauce. Serve hot with noodles or rice.

Everyone needs a good company dish up their sleeve that they can whip together as quick as a blink. You know . . . for those times when someone drops in unexpectedly and you just want to sit down and break bread together.



Something quick that uses store cupboard ingredients . . . yet is special enough to feed company.



Something that tastes soooo gorgeous, they will think you slaved all day over the stove . . .
but in reality, you threw together in about 20 minutes . . . and that's stretching it!



This fits the bill on all accounts. Quick, easy, gorgeously delicious and using ingredients most of us foodies have in our store cupboards and freezer most of the time

Got pasta, sun dried tomatoes, chicken breasts, cream and basil???

Then you got this!



Seriously, that is about all it takes! Well, that and a few minutes of your time. Actually not much longer than it takes to cook the pasta and set the table. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!



All you need to go with it is a crusty loaf of Italian bread and a salad. Don 't even think about the calories. This will make you famous, it's a signature dish if I ever saw one . . .

and that, my friends, is well worth the price in extra inchage on the hips. Trust me.



*Chicken with Sundried Tomato and Basil Cream*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

Rich and delicious. This is quite simple and quick to make, but special enough to feed to even the most discerning of your dinner guests. Tis a real ravable dish! Scrumdiddlyumptious!

For the chicken:
1 TBS butter
1 TBS olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips crosswise
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 eschalon shallot, peeled and minced
(or 1/4 cup of minced ordinary shallots)
50g oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained, blotted and chopped finely (1/3 cup)
1 TBS sun dried tomato paste
150ml double cream (2/3 cup)
120ml dry white wine (1/2 cup)
a handful of freesh basil leaves, cut chiffonade
(roll up tightly into a cigar shaped bundle and slice thinly across the grain)
370g spaghetti (1 pound)

Melt the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, season with salt and black pepper, and cook, until golden brown on all sides and just cooked through.. Remove to a plate and set aside. Add the shallots to the drippings in the skillet. Cook and stir until softened. Stir in the sun dried tomatoes, cream, wine and tomato paste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally until thickened. Stir in the basil. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the chicken and heat through.

Cook the spaghetti until al dente, according to the package directions, about 10 minutes. Drain well, reserving some of the pasta water. Stir the pasta into the sauce, adding some of the pasta water to thin if necessary. Serve immediately.

Buttermilk is one of my favourite ingredients to bake with. Cakes, muffins, breads . . . all benefit greatly from the addition of buttermilk, with moist and delicious results.

Some people like to drink buttermilk. It's known to have some great benefits and can immunize against such toxins as poison oak and ivy . . .

Who knew???



Buttermilk pancakes and biscuits are fabulous, and not to be outdone by any other kinds.

Soaking chicken in buttermilk before frying is a well known southern trick in the US. Buttermilk fried chicken is supposed to be incredibly delicious.



I'd like to stand up and be counted here . . . chicken baked in buttermilk is mighty fine as well! This is a real winner.



Trust me. (Sometimes even I cheat and use tinned soup. Don't hate me for it . . . this is incredibly easy, in-expensive and delicious. Win . . . Win . . . Win.)




*Buttermilk Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

I'm not sure how it works, but the buttermilk in this recipe helps to create chicken that is moist and very tender. This is delicious!

2 ounces butter
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 heaped TBS of plain flour
2 284ml containers of buttermilk
1 (285g) tin of Batchelors condensed cream of mushroom soup
chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish

Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F. Melt the butter in a 13 by 9 inch shallow baking dish. Set aside.

Sprinkle the chicken breasts on both sides with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place the flour in a shallow bowl and one container of the buttermilk in another shallow bowl.

Dip the breasts, one at a time, first into the buttermilk and then into the flour, shaking off any excess, but coating it well. Lay good side down in the melted butter in the baking dish. Repeat until all four have been coated.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip over. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes longer.

While the chicken is baking whisk together the other container of buttermilk and the undiluted mushroom soup.

Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the soup mixture over top. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove the chicken pieces to four warmed plates. Stir the soup mixture in the pan and then spoon equally over top of the chicken pieces. Serve immediately with some parsley sprinkled over each.

Back in the 1970's my ex husband and I were posted to BATUS (British Army Training Unit Services) in Suffield, Alberta which is where I tasted curry for the very first time and fell in love. My friend Cathy Giles, who was a Liverpudlian, made me my very first curry and it was pure heaven.

She added a whole bottle of curry powder, so it was a bit spicy, but again . . . it was lovely. I find at my advancing age though, and with a husband in his 70's we can't handle too spicy these days, so you'll find that our curry is always on the milder side.



Over here in the UK, Curry is like a National Dish. Kind of a hangover from the British colonial days in India I guess. I reckon there are as many curry houses over here as there are fish and chip shops and chips with curry sauce ladles over are a very popular dish up North. Most Friday nights out with the guys or gals end up in a curry house . . . no surprise there.

I think curry is something that you either love or you hate.



We just happen to love it. Just the smell of it cooking gets my tastebuds tingling . . . but I know other people that get a whiff of it and want to gag and run for the hills.

I guess it's all a matter of taste, and . . . as my mother always said, there's no accounting for some people's tastes . . .



I'm rather lazy when it comes to curries though, especially when I only have a little bit of time to throw a quick dinner together during my lunch break. This is one of my quick, cheap and cheerful dinners. A bit of pilau rice, some naan (To sop up all that lovely sauce), an onion bhajis or two or three . . . some samosas, and we are in curry house heaven!

(Grrr . . . just noticed I forgot to scatter on the coriander before I took these pictures, but . . . I'm sure you'll forgive me won't you?)




*Chicken Curry in a Hurry*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

This beats anything that comes out of a jar hands down. It's so easy and quick too!

2 ounces butter
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 inches of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
(I use my microplane grater)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp ground mild chili powder
2 ounces blanched almonds, chopped
2 bay leaves
500g of chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
6 ounces boiling water
150ml coconut cream
salt and pepper to taste
150ml of single cream
150g of thick plain yoghurt
2 TBS chopped coriander leaves to garnish



Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook for about 5 minutes without colouring. Stir in the spices, bay leaves and nuts. Cook for 3 minutes, until very fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the chicken chunks, and stir around and cook for several minutes, until beginning to brown a bit. Pour on the boiling water, along with the coconut cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken is quite tender. Mix the yoghurt and cream together and whisk into the chicken. Heat gently without allowing it to boil. It will curdle if it boils. Scatter over the chopped coriander and then serve immediately with some pilau rice and or naan bread.

I just love cooking with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They're very versatile and there is no limit to the manner of ways in which you can dress them up!

You must be really careful when you are cooking them, mind . . . for an overcooked chicken breast, dry and tasteless has about as much flavour and as much texture as an old boot . . . and it has taken me years of experimentation to get my cooking times down pat.



A tasty piece of chicken breast is the perfect canvas on which to paint a delicious dinner. This recipe, for example shows you how, with just a few additional ingredients, you can create a dinner that is sumptuous and special enough to serve to your honey on an intimate occasion. It's very easy to increase the quantities though, should you want to serve this to more . . .



I guarantee your honey will love it . . .



hmm . . . you may want to double it anyways . . . just in case.



They do say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. ☺

♥ ♥ ♥ I heartily concur ♥ ♥ ♥



*Bacon Wrapped Chicken for Two*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

This is quick delicious and special enough to serve for a intimate dinner a deux! It's also quite easy to double the quantities to serve more than two.

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces crumbled blue stilton
2 heaped TBS chopped toasted walnuts
1 spring onion, finely shredded
4 slices of good quality dry cure smoked streaky bacon
olive oil
1 TBS butter
1 TBS plain flour
4 ounces chicken stock
2 ounces single cream
1 TBS grainy french mustard

Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Get out a shallow baking dish large enough to hold two portions. Set aside.

Take your chicken breasts, and using a very sharp knife, cut them in half horizontally, not quite all the way through, so that you can open them up like a book. Pound them lightly with your fist. Season well with salt and pepper on both sides. Divide the spring onion amongst the two pieces, placing it on one half of the book and leaving a bit of a border on the edge. Sprinkle with the blue cheese, in the same way, as well as the toasted walnuts. Bring the other half of the chicken breast over top to cover the filling completely encasing it. Using two strips of bacon per breast, wrap them around the chicken securely. Fasten with toothpicks so that it won't unroll.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add a touch of olive oil and then brown the chicken breasts on all sides evenly. This will take 5 or 6 minutes. Place the browned breasts into the baking dish and pop them into the oven and roast for 8 to 10 minutes longer or until the juices run clear. Do not overcook.

While they are baking make the sauce as follows.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Cook and stir for about a minute before whisking in the chicken stock. Cook, whisking, until it thickens then wisk in the cream and the mustard. Het through. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Remove your chicken from the oven. Cut in half diagonally and place on heated plates. Drizzle with a bit of the sauce and serve.

Mushroom rice and a tossed salad goes very well with this. Enjoy!

I think Chicken Kievs have to be one of the most popular foods with children over here in the UK. The freezer section of most grocery stores are well stocked with little cartons of the same, and you can buy fresh and ready to cook versions as well.

But how really tasty is a piece of ground up chicken that has been reformed around a dab of garlic flavoured fat (is it really butter?) and then rolled in some egg and bread crumbs and fried??? Most end up dry and tasting of nothing but garlic . . . any semblance to the real thing having been somehow lost in the translation from, what was once a delicious entree, into a pop culture fast food!



Making them from scratch is not really all that hard, and doesn't really take that long. Boned and skinned chicken breasts are wrapped around a delicious pat of frozen seasoned butter and then coated with egg and crumbs.



Fried just until golden brown, these bear no resemblance whatsoever to those pale imitations in the shops. By the time the chicken is done the butter is just melted and will gush out when you cut into it, bathing your noodles or rice, or whatever with a delicious buttery and herby sauce.

It's the real thing . . . Why settle for anything less . . .



*Chicken Kiev*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

This delicious dish hails from Russia back in the time of the great Czars. Chicken breasts wrapped around a delicious garlic butter and then breaded and fried, it is a real family favourite.

Herb Butter:
4 ounces butter, softened
1 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast portions
1/2 cup of seasoned flour
2 large eggs, beaten
8 ounces of seasoned dry bread crumbs
oil for frying



In a small bowl, with a rubber scraper, thoroughly mix the butter, parsleyk tarragon, garlic, salt and pepper together. Lay out a piece of foil. Shape the butter mixture into a 3 inch square. Wrap up and freeze until firm.

In the meantime, trim the chicken breasts of any fat and sinew. Place each piece,one at a time, smooth side down on a sheet of cling film. Cover with a second sheet. Very carefully pound the chicken out until it is 1/4 inch thick, being very careful not to break the meat. Cut the frozen butter into 6 equal pats. Place a pat of herb butter in the centre of each piece of chicken. Bring the long sides of the chicken over to cover the butt, folding the ends over and making sure that no butter is showing. Fasten with a toothpick to keep shut.

Roll each chicken piece in some seasoned flour, then dip into the beaten eggs. Roll into the dried bread crumbs, coating evenly. Place on a tray, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for an hour.

Heat some oil in a large heavy skillet. Once it is hot add the chicken pieces, 3 at a time and cook, turning with tongs, until browned all over. Drain and then place into a warm oven in a large pan that has been lined with some paper towels. Cook the remaining 3 kievs in the same way. Serve hot with some rice or noodles.