Banoffee Pie

Good evening,

Tonight's post is for a deliciously quick Banoffee Pie recipe that I found on the Carnation website, link here and details also pasted below.  This dessert is my husband's favourite and I definitely wouldn't turn my nose up at it either lol!

Quick Banoffee Pie

Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 250g digestive biscuits, crushed
• 100g butter, melted
• 397g can Carnation Caramel
• 4 small bananas
• 300ml carton whipping cream, whipped
• grated chocolate, to decorate (or use a small crushed up Flake bar)

You will also need...

23cm loose-bottomed tart tin

Method:

Tip the biscuit crumbs into a bowl. Add the butter and mix in. Spoon the crumbs into the tin. Press into the base and up the sides of the tin. Chill for 10 minutes.

Spread the caramel over the base. Do not overbeat, simply spread with a spoon or spatula

Slice the bananas and scatter over the top. Spoon the cream over the bananas and finish with grated chocolate. Chill until ready to serve.

Mushroom Soup

Good morning,

Here's a lovely thick and creamy soup recipe I made last week but didn't get a chance to put on my blog.

I got the idea from a veggie cook book I had years ago but have added some more herbs and garlic along the way.

Mushroom Soup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

10g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, roughly chopped

2 x 650g packs mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped (I used Asda Smart Price cheapies)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2 med-large floury potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried tarragon
750ml vegetable stock (I used 2 stock cubes)
5 tbsp double cream, plus extra to garnish, if liked
Salt & Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onions and cook over a low heat with the lid on for about 5 mins stirring occasionally.  Add the mushrooms, garlic and potatoes and cook for around another 5 mins stirring regularly.  Add the herbs and stock and bring to the boil.  Put on the lid and reduce the heat, simmer for around 30 mins.  Allow the soup to cool slightly then blend or liquidise.  I like the soup thick but if you'd prefer add some more stock or water at this stage.  Add the cream and reheat gently.  Season to taste then serve with some more cream swirled in the middle, if liked.

Spicy Bean Dip

Hello again,

Here's a quick wee dip recipe that I put together from leftovers from tonight's dinner. It really is super quick and perfect if you have the late night munchies with some raw veggie sticks and/or tortilla chips!

Spicy Bean Dip

Ingredients:
1 small or 1/2 large can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 yellow or red pepper, chopped
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp sweet chilli sauce (or more to taste)
1 small red chilli finely sliced (optional for garnish)

Method:
Blitz the beans and pepper together with a stick blender until smooth.  Stir in the mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce.  Garnish with red chilli if using.

Taco Chicken Bake

Good Afternoon,

What horrible wet weather we've been having here in Inverness, there's been lots of flooding in and around the city, thankfully it's mostly affected the roads and hopefully it hasn't got inside any homes.

It's just the weather for a comforting bake and this one has a wee bit of a kick to it with the Taco spices.  It went down a storm, with Iona declaring it the best meal I've ever cooked and Rab and I enjoyed it too!

The recipe is from a Woman Magazine Cookery Special I bought a couple of years back, with a couple of tweaks.

Taco Chicken Bake

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

500g chicken breast, diced

2 red onions, cut into chunky wedges

3 peppers, sliced

30g pack taco seasoning (I used Discovery/Santa Maria)

500g carton passata

400g crispy potato wedges, defrosted if frozen

6 tbsp soured cream

50g cheddar cheese, grated

1 large avocado, diced

Few sprigs fresh coriander, chopped

200g cherry tomatoes, halved

4 spring onions, sliced

Juice of 1/2 lime

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken, onion and peppers for 5 mins or until the chicken is golden.  Add the taco seasoning and cook for 1 minute, then stir in the passata and season to taste.  Mix with the potato wedges then spoon into a large ovenproof dish.  Spoon over the soured cream, scatter with cheese.  Bake for 15 mins until bubbling.  Meanwhile, mix together the avocado, coriander, cherry tomatoes and lime juice.  Season to taste and serve along side the bake.

Meatball Stroganoff

Good afternoon,

Today's recipe is one I found in last month's Good Food magazine which is now also up on their website.  The recipe was easy to follow and really tasty, possibly even better than my usual beef stroganoff recipe and it was a nice change to make it with meatballs.  We served it with tagliatelle but it would be just as good with rice or mash.

Meatball Stroganoff

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• drizzle of oil
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 200g pack small button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 beef stock cube, made up to 300ml stock
• 150ml pot soured cream
• small pack parsley, chopped
• rice, mashed potato or tagliatelle, to serve

Method

1. Season the beef and shape into walnut-sized meatballs. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the meatballs until brown on all sides. Scoop out of the pan and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and cook for a few mins to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and fry for a few mins until the mushrooms soften and start to brown a little. Stir in the tomato purée, paprika and flour for 1 min, then add the stock, bit by bit, to make a smooth sauce. Return the meatballs to the pan, cover and simmer gently for 15 mins or until the meatballs are cooked through.
2. Stir in the soured cream and most of the parsley, and season to taste. Serve scattered with the remaining parsley, with rice, mashed potato or tagliatelle.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, October 2014

Curried Parsnip Soup

Good Morning!

It's a lovely sunny morning here in Inverness but the last few days have been very Autumnal.  Just the sort of weather when you think about a nice warm bowl of soup!  This recipe is out of my Soil Association Soup Book and is an original one from the 70's by Jane Grigson.

Curried Parsnip Soup

Serves 4 

Ingredients:
1 heaped tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 dried red chilli or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 rounded tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground fenugreek
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, halved
675g/1 1/2 lb parsnips, peeled, cored and diced
30g/1 oz butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 litre/1 3/4 pints vegetable, beef or chicken stock
salt & freshly ground black pepper
150ml/5fl oz cream
chopped parsley or chives to garnish (optional)

Method:
Whiz the first five ingredients in a coffee mill, or pound the whole spices in a mortar, then mix with the ground spices.  Put the mixture in a small jar - you will not need it all for this recipe.

Cook the onion, garlic and parsnips gently in the butter, lid on the pan, for ten minutes.  Stir in the flour and 1-2 tbsp of the spice mixture.  Cook for 2 minutes, giving it a good stir from time to time.  Pour in the stock gradually, stirring constantly.  Bring to the boil and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the parsnips are really tender.

Puree until smooth in a blender, then dilute to taste with water.  Season to taste with salt & freshly ground pepper, then reheat.  Add the cream and serve scattered with chives or parsley or with a swirl of cream as I've done here.

Salmon & Dill Traybake

Good Evening,

I'm back tonight with a rare second post and my recipe is a quick and delicious one I made for tea tonight.  The recipe is from Slimming World Magazine and I wouldn't hesitate to make it again!

Salmon & Dill Traybake

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
500g King Edward or other floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
Low-calorie Cooking Spray
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 skinless and boneless salmon fillets
300g sugar snap peas
200g cherry tomatoes
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
A large handful of fresh dill, chopped

Preheat oven to 190C/170C (fan)/Gas 5.  Put the potatoes in a large roasting tin, spray with low-calorie cooking spray and season well.  Roast for 15 minutes then scatter over the onions and roast for a further 12-15 minutes.  Turn up the oven to 220C/200C (fan)/Gas 7.  Nestle the salmon, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes between the veg.  Drizzle with lemon juice, sprinkle with the zest and dill and season with plenty black pepper.  Roast for around 15 minutes or until the salmon is golden, and everything is cooked through, before serving.

If you are following the Slimming Word Program it says Syns per serving: Extra Easy Free.

I'm not following the plan so I substituted a tablespoon of olive oil for the cooking oil spray and just used 3 salmon fillets but obviously if you did that it would probably alter the number of Syns.