MY BLOG, MY RECIPES, MY FOOD!
I do love a good pizza, particularly my homemade ones. Homemade is always best in my eyes. Proofing pizza dough is all well and good when you have a the time to prepare it but what if you come in after a hard days work and need pizza NOW!!!! Well no need to shout. Grab yourself a packet of puff pastry from out of the freezer and it's simple; defrost said pastry, roll it out, spread over tomato sauce, add toppings of your choice and your done! A yummy twist on pizza in no time at all!
My Nan used to love pickled red cabbage. With a big bowl of Scouse, shepherds pie or any kind of stew she would spoon in mounds of it and I have to say it's a taste that I have definatly inherited from her. I've not had any for ages so as I was on a bit of a pickling spree for Christmas I thought it would be the perfect time to make a nice big batch in honour of my Nan. Mine uses red wine and balsamic vinegars with mustard seeds and bay leaves to give it really sweet edge. Hopefully when I give this out as gifts this year, I'll pass on that love to my friends too.
So you have had a go at my garlic and rosemary oil (hopefully cloudless!). Hope your enjoying it on your roasties! Next up is my second one, a fabulous spicy chili oil. Chili oil is great for using as a base for a curry, stir fry or just for simply dipping in bread in an anti-pasti kind of way. It so simple to make and can be done on a lazy afternoon. All you need is a large pan, lot of oil and an array of chili's and you can create a second oil which you can give out on it's own or as a duo with your garlic and rosemary oil. 
Homemade Christmas gifts are the best. Just by putting in a little bit of time and effort to prepare your own little prezzies can sometimes mean a lot more to most than a thoughtless last minutes present grab from the shop. Here is my first flavoured oil, garlic and rosemary and you can make enough for around 6 people just by taking an afternoon out to get your infusing on. Decant it into little fancy bottles which you can find cheap online, decorate with ribbon and labels and your recipients are going to adore it.
My apple turnovers went down a treat last weekend. Well with me anyway I must of eaten about 6. Proper little pig me! What is a boy to do when he doesn't have any puff pastry to hand. I ain't making any (ain't nobody got time for that!). Lucky for me I had some filo pastry sheets to hand so I thought it would be perfect to use the same filling but create a stunning strudel instead. So this time you get that warm cinnamon spiced apple, apricot and raisin filling but this time wrapped in a beautiful crispy filo snake. Another wonderful winter treat! 
When you come in on a Saturday after a hard week in work there is only one thing you need and that is to stuff yourself with a big fattening greasy takeaway that you clearly know is bad for you but hey, you deserve it, you've worked hard. Don't waste your hard earned pennies on pizza shop prices though and get on my new pizza recipe for a cheesy, meaty, chili feast with delicious cheesy stuffed crust. Yes, you need to wait a bit for the dough to proof but it's well worth the wait when your shoving those slices in your mouth! 
It doesn't get more comforty than an apple pie does it? But what does one do when you don't have or can't be bothered making a shortcrust. Bring out our old friend, the frozen pack of puff pastry and you can whip up some apple turnovers instead. For added flavor I have added apricots and raisins into these triangular treats and stewed them in sugar and a good spoon full of cinnamon to really make them pop. The perfect winter pudding to warm you up on a chilly evening! 
Its a lemon fest this weekend at MattyB Bakes. You have had a try at the Classic Lemon Tart but what about if you really fancy having a scrummy lemon cake instead. Well with the left over ricotta cheese from the 3C Pasta bake you can whip up this amazingly moist sponge cake dotted with crunchy poppy seeds and covered in a beautifully sticky icing. Its a different take on the traditional lemon sponge cake but one that I think you will agree really sits alongside those classic recipes it in terms of both texture and taste!
It's the day before your holidays and you still have a lot of veg and eggs in your fridge that are going to go to waste if you can't use them pronto. What do you do? Whip up an egg fried rice! So simple to do, all you need are some eggs and cold rice and whatever bits and bobs you have in your fridge and hey presto you have turned your miscellaneous veg and dairy that was destined for the bin into a great meal that not only prevents waste but tastes so much more better and fresher than something you would get in your local chippy!
I'm not a vegetarian, however having lived with a pretend one for nearly nine years I've become accustomed to eating many a meat free meal and a lot of my blog recipes are veggie friendly. I do get frustrated that some eateries are off limits due to a lack of veggie options that Jon actually likes (risotto and goats cheese are a no no) so Bistro 1847 is a godsend. Whenever we have visited in the past there has always been top notch meat free farye that is so beautifully presented and delicious that it makes you wonder why you ever need a slab of meat on your plate. With the arrival of their new Autumn menu we decided it would be a great time to see if their new dishes excelled as much as those we had enjoyed so much in the past. Sure enough, it was once again an absolute treat!
It's terrible when your going on holiday and you need to empty your fridge unless your going to waste all that delicious fresh food. Sometimes though using what is left in your fridge can throw up some surprising delicious treats and this is how these cheesy mushrooms came about. Using some left over portobello mushrooms, some "heading towards its expiry date" mozzarella, throwing in some oils and herbs and lacing with hot jalapenos, these delicious veggie treats make a great change from your standard Sunday roast. 
I do love a good bit of cheesy beans on toast for breakfast on a weekend. Proper dirty start to the day that. With this recipe though I got a tin of cannelloni beans, some spicy chorizo and a hand full of plump mushrooms and elevated them with a tin of chopped tomatoes and a cheesy crumb topping to something you could be proud to serve on the dinner time for a nice winter tea time treat. If you think you need something to warm your cockles tonight then this will proper do the job!
Earlier in the month I showed you how to make a delicious chocolate orange sauce. Now you need the perfect pud to pour it over and here it is in the form of a beautiful sticky toffee pudding laced with chunks of pecans for added crunchy goodness. It's essentially an all in one mix so as long as you have all the ingredients and a stick blender you can have this gorgeous pudding rustled up in no time. Pour over the sticky toffee topping and you are in pure pudding paradise and that's before you have even added that scrummy chocolate sauce.
I had quite a bit of pumpkin left over from making my pumpkin spice muffins so I thought whilst I'm enjoying my new found fondness for those orange boulders that I'd give the classic pumpkin pie a whirl. Using my favourite sweet pastry recipe and topping with a layer of delicious dark chocolate this is more suited to serving as a pudding at a Halloween themed dinner party (or after Thanksgiving dinner if your one of my American chums!). It's defiantly a more grown up treat that you can enjoy whilst the little ones enjoy their candy hauls. 
My Xmas preparations continue with the batch of my lully chili and tomato chutney. I have made this chutney for the last couple of years now and last year I think I got the recipe spot on. I sat late in the evening and was in heaven spooning it onto ham and cheese and just devouring the lot. It truly is heavenly. What's great is that you can create a large batch in October, leave for the flavors to really meld together and then decant into smaller jars to hand out to your friends and family as gifts in December. It's the chutney that keeps on giving.
Yaaaaaaay! Christmas is coming. Cards and wrapping paper are creeping onto the shelves and adverts are beginning to appear on the TV. It got me in the mood to bake with some classic Christmassy flavors, cranberries and mixed spice. You have to have a little tipple at Christmas though so I've soaked my cranberries in some Amaretto overnight for an adult punch to these deceptively innocent looking breakfast muffins. After one bite, those comforty Xmas flavours and smells will transport you straight to the 25th December!
How does one make cake even better. Why you serve it with a sauce of course. You could simply pour over a shop bought sauce of some sort but you can't really get that many flavours to suit your need down at your local supermarket. If your really out to treat yourself or impress some guests without breaking the bank why not make this delicious orange and Amaretto chocolate sauce. So decedent and boozy its defiantly one for the grown ups and once you've cracked this recipe you can change it to create an array of flavoured chocolate sauces. 
I came across a recipe for chickpea and tomato bread in Jack Monroe's book "A Girl Named Jack" this 
The BBC Good Food Bakes and Cakes so is this month and I'm so excited to be going down to check it out! They have notified me of a brand new offer for discounted tickets which I'm happy to share with you now. Find out more about the show by clicking below:
The
BBC Good Food Bakes & Cakes Show, sponsored by Lexus, launches at
the beautiful Business Design Centre in Islington, London
from 25-27 October 2014. Bringing the popular BBC Good Food Bakes
& Cakes title to life, the show will be packed with baking,
bread-making and cake-crafting demonstrations, free master classes, and
hundreds of products to get you baking like a pro.
I love Asian food and one of our guilty pleasures is to take a trip to Wagamamas for a big plate of Yaki Soba. Looking for some inspiration for a pack of tofu we had sitting in the fridge I took inspiration from our many trips there and created a tofu yaki soba so that we could enjoy this little treat from the comfort of our own home. It required a bit of work waiting for the tofu to press and marinate but your patience will yield fabulous results, creating a dish bursting to the brim with tastes of the orient.
You know when you wake up sometimes and just go "oooh I really fancy that for tea tonight". Well 
I prepared these cute little tartlets as dessert for a meal I made for a friend of mine who was staying over whilst we went to see Kylie open her tour in Liverpool this week. They are my little homage to Ms Minouge, tiny little tartlets (we all know good things come in small packages) filled with a luscious creamy white chocolate filling and I decorated the top with some pink sprinkles for that little camp flourish fit for any Kylie fan. The only real work comes in making the pastry, the filling is super simple to make but is delicious, perfect for any princess of pop!
I had a friend over for dinner the other night. Normally I make dinner when people visit but I have a habit of making thing far too complicated and stressing myself out. This time however I went with southern fried chicken and wedges. Not the hardest thing to make but that doesn't mean they have to be boring. Here is my little recipe for turning the humble wedge into crispy, punchy chunks of potatoy perfection, great for prepping before hand and whacking in the oven when needed so you can spend time with your guests rather than chained to the kitchen.
When Jon said he would be making slow cooked chili this weekend I still had to find some way to 
Making a potato salad is a rather simple affair. Potatoes, mayo and some chopped herbs. Done! What you may not know is that by adding a few more ingredients you can really lift up this simple side dish into something really special. All you need is a red onion, caster sugar and red wine vinegar and there you have it! It's ever so fancy and everyone will think it's well posh but they won't know how quick and easy it was for you to make. Don't worry though. I won't tell anyone if you don't? 
The Bubble Rooms in Woolton Village was always a fab place to eat and drink so we were sad to see that it had closed this year. However, when we heard it was getting a revamp by top chef Simon Rimmer we were excited to see what changes would be made. There was only one way to see if his changes would still make this venue a top place to visit, go and check it out for ourselves!
Revolution bars have always been something that I associate with shot roulette and horrendous hangovers. It's certainly not the first place I would think of going too to enjoy a great meal. That was until we stumbled across Revolucion De Cuba in Manchester's thriving Deansgate area. Their fantastic South American spin off not only has the party vibe of your standard Revolution but has the eats that make it a great and affordable place to bring friends for tasty treats before tearing up the dance floor.
I'm a bit of a jam hoarder. I'll buy a nice looking conserve to use in a bake and then end up with about 3-4 jars in the fridge with tbsp of jam in the bottom which would never be enough to fill a whole cake. This recipe for jammy biscuits is brilliant for using up these bits and bobs as you only need a small about of jam for them and keen bakers should have the rest of the ingredients knocking around for a spontaneous bake. Lets be honest; you would well rather have a biscuit over a slice of toast wouldn't you? Thought So!
Many moons ago I said to Jon that I fancied a frittata. At the time Jon did not."Oh well!" I thought, "maybe some other time". This turned into some kind of in joke between us both that any time we saw a frittata being made on TV or in a magazine that we'd say that some day maybe I'll get my frittata. Well today is the day folks. This is my garlic and chili jam frittata stuffed to the brim with asparagus, mushrooms and (for that spicy kick) jalapeno pepper, all topped off with salty feta. My dream has finally come true!