Just looking at this beetroot Houmous makes me feel insanely happy. The colour is so vibrant, it’s hard not to break into a smile just looking at it. It also tastes as good it looks and is so easy to whiz up.
Ingredients:
Half a tin of cooked chick peas (plus half of the juice it’s in)
150g pre cooked beetroot
1tbsp Olive oil
1tbsp Tahini paste
Juice of half a lemon
2 cloves of garlic
Seasoning as required
Method:
Quite simply pop everything into the blender and pulse for a few seconds. Add a bit more lemon if required and season to taste.
As the chilly air creeps in & the evenings become darker earlier, we are thinking of mouth watering stews to warm our tummies.
This gorgeous beef and Guineas stew does just that.
Let’s get started!!
Ingredients;
500g diced beef
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 celery sticks, cubed
3 large carrots, cut diagonally
1/2 a bunch of fresh rosemary & thyme
500g swede, cubed
500g squash, skin on and cut into chunks
4 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 litre beef stock
1/2 x can of Guiness
Start off by preheating the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place a large casserole pan onto a medium heat & add 1tbsp of oil. Add the onions to pan and allow to soften for a few minutes. Stir the carrots & celery into the pan, then add the rosemary & thyme.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Stir in the beef, swede and squash. After a few minutes, add the stock and Guinness, stirring gently.
Bring up to a be gentle simmer and cover with a wet scrunched up sheet of greaseproof paper and pop into the oven for an hour.
After an hour, remove the paper and cook the stew for another hour (ish) until the meat is tender.
Next up, it’s time to make the dumplings. Mix 2oz of suet and 4oz of self raising flour together with 4tbsp of cold water. Mix in well and form into a ball. Divide into 8 dumplings (or if you prefer big dumplings, divide into 4) and roll into balls.
Place the dumplings on top of the stew and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before plating up. Serve with chunky bread and enjoy!
Every now and again I really get stuck in a rut at meal times. As you probably know by now, I love flavour. This is something that my kids don’t always agree with me on! And who can blame them right? I don’t remember eating the type of food I try to cook for them. Our meals were always the same most week days. I always knew Tuesday would be Lasagne, Friday would be fish fingers and we’d almost always have a roast on a Sunday. Nothing wrong with that. Absolutely not. It’s just not me these days.
So anyway, here I was feeling a bit stuck. Dinner needed to be quick and tasty. My fridge was also looking a bit on the bare side. I therefore decided to get some inspiration from my recipe books, and I came across this little beauty. To make matters better, I had all of the ingredients to hand. That is always a bonus. Especially when you live in the back end of nowhere.
This recipe is lifted straight from Nigel Slaters classic guide to comfort food. It really did hit all the right notes and was so easy to make.
Ingredients:
400g Chicken fillets
1 medium sized red chilli, seeded and chopped
1tsp dried chilli powder
2 pinches of saffron
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
Handful of mint leaves (about 20)
4 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Halves of lemons to serve
Method:
Cut the chicken into finger size strips and pop into a dish. Blitz the fresh and dried Chillies, the garlic, saffron, most of the mint , olive oil and most of the lemon juice for about seconds until you have a lumpy marinade.
Spoon the marinade over the chicken strips and set aside for half an hour or so.
Next up, heat a frying pan (or you can use the grill) and lightly oil it. Add the chicken to the pan and gently fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until they are golden brown in places (make sure the chilli doesn’t burn). Season the dish with some salt and the remaining mint and lemon juice.
I served this (as suggested by Nigel Slater) with some well buttered couscous, flecked with coriander and coriander. I also added a blob of Creme Fraiche on top, which I mixed some finely chopped mint leaves into.
Bon appetite lovely people! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Originating from maritime South East Asia, Laksa curry is a must for curry fans. It’s fragrant smells will drive you insane!
This is a really simple version that I put together on a week night. But just because it was quick (think 10 minutes) doesn’t mean it lacked in flavour! It packed the punches and hit all the right taste buds. I made up my own version of a Laksa paste, however they are readily available in the shops should this be your preference.
Ingredients for the Laksa paste;
4-6 small dried red chillies
1tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp paprika
1/2tsp cumin
1/2tsp turmeric
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1tsp lemongrass paste
3-4 cm piece of ginger, shredded
2 cloves of garlic
1tbsp sesame oil
Ingredients for the Curry;
500g Salmon & Cod fillets, skin off and cut into chunks
200g Coconut milk
1 1/2 pints of Vegetable stock
1tbsp olive pil
1 onion, finely sliced
200g green beans, trimmed and cut into quarters
225g shredded white cabbage
3 tbsp Laksa paste
Handful of frozen sweet corn
2 bundles of dried soba noodles
1 spring onion, sliced diagonally
1 lime, halved
Method for Laksa paste;
Pop everything into a mixer and blitz for a few seconds into a smooth (ish) paste.
Method for Laksa Curry;
Warm up a large saucepan and add the olive oil. Gently fry the onion and cabbage for about 10 minutes, until softened. Add the Laksa paste and cook for 2 minutes.
Next up, add the coconut milk, stock and green beans and season well. Bring up to the boil and then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the fish chunks and gently stir the mixture.
Leave to cook for about 4 – 5 or until the fish is opaque to their centre.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to boil and add in the soba noodles.
Cook for 4 minutes and drain and return to the pan.
Once the fish is cooked, stir in the curry. Serve out into large bowls and garnish with sliced spring onions and halves of limes.
It’s that time of year when everywhere you look, pumpkins and squashes adorned the shelves in shops.
If you’re looking for something to do with them other than carving out ghoulish faces or pumpkin pie, look no further!
This delicious soup is hands down the tastiest thing I make at this time of year, and to make matters even better, my kids eat it! Surely that’s worthy of a parent point?!
Ingredients (serves 4 with plenty for seconds);
1kg Squash or pumpkin
2 carrots, cubed
2 large potatoes, skin on cubed
2 small onions, sliced
2 cloves of Garlic (or more, depending on taste buds)
2 pints of Vegetable stock
Sprigs of Rosemary & Sage
Seasoning
3 slices of brown bread
1tbsp olive oil
Method;
Start off by quartering the squash and carefully cut off the skin. Cut into large chunks, deseed and chuck them into a large saucepan.
Next, add the remaining vegetables and crushed garlic. Remove the herb leaves from the stalks and roughly tear up and pop on top of the vegetables.
Cover the ingredients with 2 pints of vegetable stock and bring up to boil on a medium heat.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for about 35/40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The next part is up to you and depends on your preference. You can eat the soup nice and Chunky as it is, or you can pulse it with a handheld blender for a few seconds. I chose the latter as my kids like their soups nice and smooth.
While the soup is cooling down, roughly chop up 3 slices of bread (crusts off) to make some croutons and place a large frying pan onto a low heat to warm up. Add a splash of olive oil and add the cubed bread.
Gently fry until the croutons are nice and crisp on each side, it should only take a couple of minutes.
Now serve up the soup and pop some crispy croutons on top.
This earthy Peruvian inspired soup is my own interpretation of a Jamie Oliver recipe. I’m a bit of a maverick when it comes to following recipes, often straying heavily. However, the core herbs and spices are the same, I just adapted some of the vegetables with what I had to hand. I must say, this is a very tasty soup indeed!
Ingredients;
1 large red onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 mixed colour peppers
3 potatoes
2 small sweet potatoes
1kg chicken thighs, skin off
Olive oil
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp coriander leaves
Pinch of ground cloves
1.5l of Vegetable stock
2 limes, halved
100g Couscous
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Method;
Prep all of the veg and once done, place a large casserole pan on a medium – high heat to warm up. Put the chicken and 1tbsp of olive oil in the pan and stir well. Brown off the chicken.
Next up, tip in the herbs and spices stirring regularly. Stir in all of the prepped veg and cook for 15 minutes. Pour in the stock and bring the mixture up to boiling point. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
Put the limes in and pour in the couscous. Cook for a final 15 minutes until the couscous is cooked through. Remove from the heat. Season well and stir in the chopped fresh coriander.
If you are looking for something a little bit different for the kids, look no further than this Jamie Oliver recipe. My children love these lollipops and the little dip that went with it. What’s more, it was super easy, quick and hassle free.
Ingredients;
2 skinless chicken fillets
Olive oil
Seasoning
4 tbsp natural yogurt
2 tsps tomatoes paste
4 Lollipop sticks, soaked in water
Method;
Start off by cutting the chicken fillets into chunks and use a sharp knife to make a deep slit into the bottom of each piece of chicken.
Rub oil into each chunk and season well. Insert a lollipop stick into each slit and gently warm up a frying pan on a low – medium heat.
Place the chicken lollipops into the frying pan for 7 minutes on each side, until golden.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, mix the yogurt and tomato paste together in a bowl, seasoning to taste.
When everything is ready, plate up with your sides of choice and enjoy!
I’ve been trialling out some new recipes recently with the help of Izy Hossacks, and I have to say I love these little breakfast cups.
What’s great about these cups of food is that they can be prepped the night before, then completed and microwaved the following morning.
They are super healthy and have been giving me a real boost first thing.
Let’s get started!
Ingredients:
30g Oats
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4 Ground Cinnamon
1 egg
4tbsp Milk or non-dairy milk
1tbsp blueberries
1tsp honey
1tbsp yogurt of choice
Method:
Grab yourself a large cup and tip in the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, egg and milk. Mix together really well and then stir in the blueberries.
Pop into the microwave for 2 minutes on high. Leave to cool briefly and then top with your honey and yogurt. Add any extra toppings of choice and enjoy!
The theme this week is packed lunches. What do you put in your kids lunch box? We’ve always stuck to sandwiches, day in and day out for oh, about 7 years now. I’ve decided to change all of that and be a bit more experimental.
These gorgeous little pizzas/patties/pastries with toppings (not quite sure what to call them, if I’m honest) have gone done a storm at lunch time.
They are so easy to make – the kids got stuck in with their favourite toppings – and they cost pennies.
This time around I totally cheated and bought some ready made pastry (it was on offer for 90p – bargain!). We heated and thickened up a tin of chopped tomatoes, adding in some mixed herbs. Once the sauce had thickened, I took it off the heat and placed to one side to cool down.
Once all of the ingredients had been chopped and sliced, we set about spooning a blob of the tomato sauce on top of the pastry bases. We then sprinkled over the ingredients, made them look pretty and popped them into a preheated oven at 180•C for about 12 minutes.
As you can see, they look dreamy. Leave to cool down on a wire rack and enjoy! Bon appetite.
Here at Mums In Real Life we’re always looking for tips and hints. Please do share any favourite Packed lunch ideas with us. Thank you x
The summer holidays have come to an end and it’s back to making packed lunches for the little ones. It can often be challenging to think of different healthy foods to pack in their lunch boxes, this is therefore a great choice and it certainly ticks the boxes in terms of taste.
I hadn’t heard of Scuffins before, until I picked up a recipe book from a trendy young lady called Izy Hossack. They are the shape of a scone but with the texture of a muffin. They also taste pretty damn good and got a massive thumbs up from my kids, which is always a bonus.
I used Izy’s recipe as a guide, but made quite a few adaptations based on the quantity I needed and the fruit I had to hand. Let’s go!
Ingredients(makes 6);
30g Red Lentils
1 Egg
3tbsp Milk
40ml Olive Oil
1/2tsp Nutmeg
80g Plain Flour
30g Oats
1tsp Baking powder
150g Pears (Cooked) & Strawberries – cubed
30g Demerara Sugar
Method;
Kick off by preheating the oven to 180•C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper, or use fairy cake cases.
Next up, put the lentils into a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and place back into the saucepan.
Stir in the egg, oil, milk, nutmeg and sugar and stir well. Add the remaining ingredientscombine everything together.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out about 2tbsp worth onto either baking paper or into the cases (I tried both) until the mixture has been shared out evenly.
Bake in the oven for 17 – 20 minutes, until spring and golden. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!
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