Chorizo and Chickpea Summer Stew

So I know the word 'stew' is not something you would usually associate with summer, but bear with me. Normally I would use the excuse reasoning that we don't get much of a summer so really nothing is off limits food wise! This year; not true. For the last two weeks we have been basking in glorious sunshine and above average temperatures; finally truly understanding what a Summer should be like.

 

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Pancetta, Spinach and Mushroom White Pizza

Mr E and I hardly ever go out for dinner, and when we do it's usually on vouchers. There's a certain well known supermarket in the UK that issues reward points for shopping with them, and you can exchange these for vouchers for various treats such as a meal at a restaurant, hotel stays or days out. We almost always exchange them for restaurant vouchers, and that's pretty much the only time we eat out! I was about to say apart from birthdays... but I'm pretty sure we used vouchers for my birthday last year too!

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Fresh and Simple Mini Taco Cups

The other day I was going to tell you about these fun little taco cups, but I got distracted by this Lime Cheesecake. I'm sure you can completely understand that feeling!

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Thai Lamb Noodles

This recipe almost didn't make it onto the blog, and that would have been sad. Very sad. This is an all time favourite in the Ellwood household, and the most requested dinner by far.

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Shredded Lamb Wraps with Pomegranate Salsa

I haven't had my dinner yet, and I was just editing the photos for this post.

That was an error.

I am now so hungry I doubt I'll make it to dinner without eating all sorts of appetite ruining snacks.

Oh well.

It's not the pictures that are making me hungry really, it's more the memory of this meal. This meal that made me so happy to eat I didn't want it to end. Have you had meals like that? I've had a few, but rarely are they something I've made myself, because I'm my worst critic.

This was beyond criticism; it was perfection in a wrap.

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Weeknight Winner - Pesto Chicken Tart

 

The last time I told you about one of our tart recipes (my personal favourite, a Hoisin Tart), I blamed Mr E for being overly generous with the toppings- and, in turn, I blamed his generosity for my failed attempt at making said tart look pretty.

It turns out I may be partial to topping overkill too, and I'm just not sure it's possible to make these tarts look pretty. Good thing they're oh so very yummy that they're gone too quickly for your their appearance to even register!

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Chicken Caesar Salad

I'm back! Did you miss me?!

No?

Oh.

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Smoked Haddock and King Prawn Cobbler

 

I'd love to say there was a cosy little story to go along with this recipe, but I'm afraid it was the result of nothing more than the fact that prawns were only £1.12 and the haddock was only £1.40 when I went to get our shopping yesterday!

I love love love fish pie, it's one of the most comforting dishes anyone could put down in front of me... Mr Ellwood is not such a fan- we're still working on his relationship with fish (or lack thereof). Do you know what Mr Ellwood does like? A meal that costs £5 (I had to buy sour cream and cheese, everything else we had already) for 4 portions. So that got me off the hook!

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Mexican Lasagna

A few weeks ago one of my favourite fellow bloggers posted a recipe for her Momma's Lasagna, and it looked soooo good. In fact, it looked a lot like the lasagna my own momma used to make... and just like that, I was craving lasagna and resolved to make it for dinner that very night.

When I got home from work, I realised that I didn't have any pasta and I had no intention of going out just to buy some. What I did have was a stash of tortillas in the freezer, and chipotle lime sour cream leftover over from our seared steak fajitas... and so our dinner plans changed. OK, they didn't exactly change, they just altered. Instead of pasta we used tortillas, instead of herbs we used spices, instead of mushrooms we had sweetcorn and beans and instead of a topping of finely grated Parmesan we had chipotle lime sour cream. We had ourselves a Mexican Lasagna, folks!

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Wild Mushroom Soup

In winter, we keep a pretty good stock of soup in the freezer. It's just so nice to be able to warm up on a crisp day with a bowl of your favourite... which is why at any given time we usually have at least three varieties in the freezer to choose from, and why we keep them in individual portions. They make for a far more enjoyable, much more filling, and just as easy lunch to take to work than cuppa soups!

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Easy Aromatic Prawn Potstickers

For our first attempt at making potstickers, we thought it would be fun to make our own wonton wrappers. It was fun, and the recipe we followed was really easy, but for simplicity's sake we thought that for future attempts we might just use store bought wrappers. They're really cheap from our local Chinese supermarket, and it does make the whole process a bit quicker... which, when you're dealing with a very hungry husband, is a definite bonus! If you're looking for a fun new cooking skill to try out though, and really easy and clear instructions, please see the recipe over at Kitchen Simplicity.

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Seared Steak Fajitas and Chipotle Lime Dip

Mr E and I have had a bit of Mexican misunderstanding. I posted a while back about Turkey Tacos, but Mr E said they weren't technically Tacos. I tried to explain that for the sake of a catchy title it was acceptable (and, well, I did at least bake the shells), but he said it was false advertising- Mr OCD E would like me to admit that, unless it's in a corn shell, a taco it is not.

Fun stealer.

So, in a bid not to upset him again, I have very carefully called these Fajitas... but whatever the heck you call them, they're perfect. I love using our own taco seasoning (do I have to change the name of that too?!) because it means you have complete control over the level of spice, and I love the way it browns as your sear the steak to give an extra depth of flavour.

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Ginger Sesame Crispy Chicken

On Tuesday I told you about my soft noodles with beansprouts. What I didn't tell you was that while I am more than happy with just a bowl of yummy noodles, if I had served that to Mr E he would have gone searching for the meat and would have come up feeling very short changed. So I didn't.

Instead, I served the noodles with Ginger and Sesame Crispy Chicken. I was still in my "I really do not want to cook right now" mood, but thankfully this recipe takes, if possible, even less prep and effort than the noodles! Oh how happy this makes me. What makes me even happier is that with so little effort I can still enjoy succulent chicken with amazing crispy skin (the best part) in a sweet and fragrant and salty marinade. I believe the only word for it is... woohoo!

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Soft Noodles with Beansprouts

Sometimes I just cannot be bothered to cook. No energy, no desire, no inspiration, no enthusiasm. Problem is, this usually comes on without much warning, so I won't have even planned ahead and thought to take one of our frozen meals out to thaw. This is an issue.

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Sweet Potato Pizza with Rosemary Garlic Butter

When I still lived at home with my parents, my sweet momma and I would do "ladies who lunch" and always go the same place and always order the same thing. Both of us. Every time.

In the village next to my parents house there is a little family run Italian restaurant that we just love. It's not just the wonderful food they serve, but the fact that we are greeted by the same familiar faces each time and they give us such a warm welcome. The last time we were there, our waiter didn't even need to ask "Are we having the usual, ladies?"... he just smiled and said "we'll get on with your pizzas then". We loved that!

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Chinese Pork Lettuce Wraps

Some of my closest and dearest friends are those I met during the year I spent in America. One such dear friend even took me in with her family for Christmas, when I couldn't afford to fly home to be with my own. This recipe comes from a fun memory we have from that time...

We decided to go out for dinner to a well known chain of Chinese bistro restaurants, and I had fairly high expectations from the rave reviews I'd been hearing. I was excited to see the menu and pick out what I would have... but then my friend informed me that for my starter I simply had to have the lettuce wraps. No amount of explaining to her that I'm not a fan of lettuce had any effect, and soon enough I found lettuce wraps being served in front of me.

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Honey and Cashew Nut Chicken

I love it when I hardly have to buy anything to make dinner... and I'm not talking about the kind of "cheese on toast" dinner (although that is a totally acceptable meal in my books... add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and it's positively fine dining!). This is one of those meals.

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Grilled Lamb Kebabs and a 'Greek' Feast

I thought maybe I should tell you more about our "feast" meals. I told you about them in my last post about Homemade Hummus, but since it was date night and I wasn't meant to be blogging (oops) I didn't go into much detail.

It all started when I introduced Mr E to Tapas. We're both the sort of people who would much rather have a starter and a main course at a restaurant than a main course and dessert (I know, dessert lovers everywhere are gasping in horror, but I'm afraid it's true), and sometimes we've even been known to order a few starters between us instead of a main course. So it wasn't a very big leap to realise that Mr E would love Tapas- and let me tell you, that boy now LOVES Tapas! We don't eat out very often though, so we decided to recreate the idea at home. It started out as only Tapas style dishes (which is where the Chorizo dish came from that I mention below), but then we decided that there's no reason why it had to stop there- what's Tapas to the Spanish is Meze to the Greeks, right? So we basically use it as an excuse to eat a feast of food from around the world, and we love it.

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Smoky Chipotle Chilli

Apparently it's officially Autumn (or Fall, if you're of a North American persuasion), and this makes me quite happy. Don't get me wrong, I love Summer... but we don't get much of one, and I'm tired of keeping up appearances by wearing Summer appropriate clothing (while secretly freezing) and eating 'light Summer food' when all I really want to do is wear comfy boots and pretty scarves, turn the central heating on and eat cosy food.

Chilli is one such cosy dish that I can't wait to make in Autumn. The turning of the leaves makes me think of bonfires, and I love to capture that smoky smell in the Chilli itself. Perfect to warm you up on a crisp fresh day.

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Turkey Burgers with Red Onion Marmalade, Radishes and Emmental

I think I might be a little obsessed with turkey. First it was the Trinidad Turkey and Coconut Curry. Then it was Turkey Tacos. Now it's Turkey Burgers. Actually, the turkey burgers came first as we've been making these for ages, but I just haven't gotten around to posting about it until now.

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