So you saw that lovely roast pork I posted yesterday.  I do love a roast dinner, don't you?  I love the leftovers even more!  They are a beautiful ingredient to use to create another delicious meal from.  My mother was great at making pot pies from leftover roasts.   I like to do that also, but if I can create a delicious casserole, so much the better!  Delicious casserles like this Leftover Meat Escallope casserole!  You don't need to use pork in this, lamb, beef or chicken work equally as well.

There is nothing us Brits love more than a good old-fashioned BBQ. Whatever the weather, nothing beats gathering friends and family together to enjoy tasty grilled treats. This year’s BBQ Week runs from 23rd – 29th May, coinciding with the Bank Holiday in May and Memorial Day in the US,  providing the perfect opportunity to experiment with a variety of recipes, and lucky for you, Newman’s Own is here to lend a helping hand.

With a selection of sauces, rubs, marinades and dressings from Newman’s Own, you won’t want to BBQ without them. Get to the grill this BBQ Week and impress your guests with a selection of mouth-watering recipes ranging from honey turkey burgers to fiery bourbon chicken wings. (All the post-tax profits from Newman’s Own products go to the Newman’s Own Foundation, with over £1 million already being donated to a wide range of charities in the UK alone and over £250 million donated worldwide.)

Let's start off with Fiery Bourbon Chicken Wings served with a cooling Blue Cheese Dip!   I adore chicken wings.  If chicken wings are on the appetiser menu, they are my choice every time!

Another cookery book I received recently for review is Healthy Speedy Suppers, by Katriona MacGregor. Bursting with quick, simple and deliciously healthy recipes, Healthy Speedy Suppers will inspire anyone who feels too tired or busy to cook at the end of the day.


Katriona MacGregor started her Speedy Weeknight Suppers column for The Telegraph online in 2013, after a move back to exhausting London office life caused a slump in her diet. Resolving to break away from eating ready meals and cheese on toast every night, she began developing recipes that took no more than 40 minutes to make, were packed with good quality, wholesome ingredients, and tasted fantastic.



It is brimming over with advice for those who are short on time but stillwant to eat nutritiously and how to stock a healthy larder.  There are Six tasty chapters of recipes including . . .

 

Soups and Salads - Nineteen delicious recipes including such fabulous delights as Little Gem, Cucumber and Rocket Soup, Asparagus, Broccoli and Proscuitto Salad wih Caper and Herb Dressing, Roast Carrot, Tomato and Dill Soup, Prawn, Courgette and Coriander Salad.  Who knew healthy could be so delicious!



Poultry - Fourteen Tasty Delights . . .  Soy Roast Chicken Legs with Butternut Squash and Red Peppers, Pheasant, Coconut and Tamarind Curry, Honey and Mustard Glazed Poussin, Duck Breasts with Peaches and Balsamic Vinegar to name but a few.   Totally tempting to the tastebuds.



Meat - Sixteen tantalizingly delicious sounding meaty meals including Pork, Courgette and Broccoli Stir Fry, Paprika Pork with Red Peppers, Corned Beef Hash with Roast Tomatoes, Lamb with Bashed Peas and Tomato & Mint Salsa.



Fish -  Fifteen Oceanic Delights including  Sea Bass with Thai Vegetables, Moroccan Fish Tagine, Spicy prawn and Tomato Spaghetti, Garlic Roast Salmon with Courgettes and Olives.  Can't wait to get stuck in!

 

Grains, Pulses & Vegetables - 18 delicious recipes using these as their main ingredient.   Fabulous sounding dishes such as Chickpea and Black-eyed Bean Chilli, Courgette, Cherry Tomato and Goats Cheese Frittata, Quinoa, Courgette and Herb Cakes,  Butternut Squash, Chestnut and Sage Risotto to name but a few. 

And finally  . . .



Dips, Sauces & Dressings - Eight different dips, sauces and dressings including Butterbean and Pumpkin Seed Hummus, Grainy Mustard Mayonnaise, Beetroot and Walnut Dip and Watercress Sauce, just for starters.

No surprise . . .   no desserts.  Boo Hoo, but then again, unless you are talking about eating a fresh piece of fruit there are not too many healthy desserts are there really.

The recipes are fresh, seasonal and nutritious and showcase a broad range of influences from around the world. Ingredient lists are short, prep is kept to a minimum and the methods are relaxed, often featuring one-pot or one-tray cooking. All of them have been put to the test at home after a busy day in the office, and the ingredients are easy to find and can be scooped up on the way back from work. Ranging from the summery Strawberry, Fennel & Chicken Salad, to warming Aubergine & Red Lentil Curry and zesty Sea Bass with Thai Vegetable Noodles, there is something here for every mood, diet and seasons.

Most of the recipes are wheat and dairy free, and are all naturally low in fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. Also included are a guide to larder essentials, suggestions for leftovers, ingredient substitutions and simple variations.  This is truly a one-stop cooking resource for stressed, busy people.

I, for one, can't wait to get stuck in!

 

Food writer and chef Katriona MacGregor has been cooking, thinking and writing about food since she was able to wield a wooden spoon. Leith’s trained, she has worked all over the country in restaurants, private houses and cookery schools both cooking and designing recipes.

If you are looking for a delicious way to cook some lovely spring lamb cutlets look no further!  I adapted this delicious recipe from  a cookery book of mine entitled,  "Secrets from a Country Kitchen" by Lucy Young. The original recipe called for studding two 7 chop rack of lamb with garlic and roasting them for about 25 minutes in a hot oven. I didn't have a rack of lamb, but the recipe looked so tasty that I really wanted to try it, and so I did what any good cook does . . .  I switched it out for what I did have which was  . . . 

 

I cooked a roast at the weekend and had plenty of leftovers afterwards, which doesn't make me sad in the least.  I love leftovers almost more than I love the original meals!!  In my opinion, leftovers taste twice as nice!  I don't understand people who throw away their leftovers.  They are missing out on real treasures!  Yesterday I turned some of them into a tasty Pot Pie!  NOBODY complained!

When I was a child Gammon/Ham was the centre piece of every Easter celebration dinner.  It was always served cold, thinly sliced, with mustard and mashed potatoes and vegetables on the side.  In all honesty as a child, I was far too full of chocolate and candy to really get too excited about Easter dinner.  There would have been a lemon pie for dessert though and that would have gotten me plenty excited.  (Its my favourite!)

 I thought it would be fun to share some healthy Saint Patrick's Day options today which I have gathered from around the www.   All look tasty.  All look simple.  All are very healthy, diabetic friendly and sure to a smile on your Saint Patrick's Day loving family's faces! So put on your green and lets eat some healthy grub!

A big Sunday tradition over here in the UK is the roast dinner.  People either cook one at home, or they go out to have one at a restaurant . . .  roast meat (beef, gammon, turkey, lamb, pork), with roast potatoes, veg, gravy etc.  Oh and Yorkshire puddings.  They're a must.   We never have a roast dinner on a Sunday.  By the time we get home from church and I call my  mom, etc., there just isn't the time and to be honest I am pretty tired by then.  So, I save our roast dinners for other days.  On Sundays, we usually have something which I have either remembered to put in the slow cooker before we left for church, or I whip up something quick like these Bacon & Cheese Omelettes.

There are certain times of the week, month and year that my Crock Pot is my best friend and the most valued and used tool in my kitchen!  On Sundays when I know we are going to get home from church absolutely famished, it is such a simple thing to do to pop something into the crock pot before we leave, making sure that something tasty is waiting for us when we get home.  In the summer when you want something hearty and don't want to heat up the kitchen, the Crock Pot is a great ally, and in Winter, when the cold winds doth blow, there is no better way to create rib sticking hearty and comforting meals for the whole family!   Nothing could be easier.  Just pile it all in the pot, cover and turn it on.  The pot does the rest!

I love these kinds of recipes.   You know the type I mean . . .  the kind where you just go to the fridge and see what you have in there and then throw it all together to come up with something tasty?  Yeh . . .  I love those.  I used to love watching Ready Steady Cook when I first moved over here to the UK.

I was going to make a shepherd's pie with the leftovers from the roasted lamb the other day but instead I decided to make a hash, but not just any kind of hash . . .  a Lamb Samosa Hash!  Lamb is a common filling used to make Samosa's and so I thought why not make a hash which incorporates the flavours which go into a Samosa and all I can say is  . . .  GREAT CALL on my part, because it was fabulous!

 

Living here in Chester we are situated right on the border with Wales.  In fact right now they are harvesting their leeks on the farms which surround the housing area where we live and the air smells just gorgeous.   The Welsh are known for their leeks, but they are also known for a lot of other deliciousness as well!   Today I want to tell you about a fabulous online Shop which delivers Welsh Food right to your door called the Bodnant Welsh Food Centre.     I was asked if I would like to try some of their products and I was quite happy to do so!

I have always said that the potato is one of my favourite vegetables.  I am also really fond of cheese, especially good cheese, which is surprising really when you consider the fact that I grew up on plastic cheese and had never ever really tasted good cheese (I was a cheese taster chicken) before I moved over here to the UK.  Oh sure  . . .  my mom used to get in some Cracker Barrel every Christmas, but  . . .  I was too chicken to try it.

I have always loved potatoes in any way shape or form. I think they must be one of the most versatile vegetables in the kitchen.  You can do anything with them.  I was recently sent a cookbook to review, entitled Make It Easy Cookbook, by Jane Lovett an d as soon as I saw the recipe for Slow Fried Lemon and Oregano Potatoes in it, I knew that I had to make them!  Simple ingredients, simply prepared with extraordinary taste results!

Charlie Bigham's, makers of delicious dishes for two, have launched brand new recipes for their signature Cottage Pie and Shepherd's Pie dishes as they look to serve up the most delicious versions possible of these two British Classics.

I have long been a fan of Charlie Bigham's meat pies, having first tried them when we lived down South, and so I have been keen to try these new dishes!




























Charlie and his team have been busying themselves away over the stove to create some sumptuous flavours, including the richest red wine and thyme tomato ragu the chefs have ever made.



This is the ragu they use in the new Cottage pie, which features tender, slow-cooked British beef, topped with creamy mashed potato, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and Cheddar Cheese. 

  

Charlie's Shepherds Pie now has an even more tomatoe-y ragu wih an extra sprinkling of thyme to give it that rich, deep flavour.  Originally the Shepherds Pie was made with a beef and lamb combination, but following customer feedback, it is now all lamb based and is succulent and full of flavour.

I like the idea that at Charlie Bigham's they are not afraid to take customer feedback on board and make changes to enhance their existing recipes making them even more delicious!  

One thing I love about the Charlie Bigham's products is that they can be ready in minutes and provide a homely supper which is just as good as homemade and from scratch.  In fact they taste like homemade and that's not bad.

These new improved pies are now available to buy in stores nationwide via Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Booths, Budgens and Ocado, RRP £7.00

For more information do check out the Charlie Bigham's website.
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