Chilli

Makes.... enough for 6. Roughly. Or 8 if you're not so hungry.

I used:

1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 red pepper (or 3 fresh red chillies) (or a combination, or both), deseeded and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, halved
500g lean minced beef
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tins chickpeas, drained
1 tin red kidney beans in chilli sauce
marmite
dried oregano
worcestershire sauce
dark/plain chocolate (a couple of squares)
salt
lemon juice
olive oil

(I also fried sausages for my lunch and used the fat from cooking them instead of olive oil. Very unhealthy. But it made the frying onions smell FABULOUS.)

Gently fry the finely diced onions, seasoned with salt and lemon juice, in the fat or oil for about 10 minutes while you peel, chop and pulse the carrots, celery, chillies, red pepper and garlic in a food processor. Add the pulverised vegetables to the pan and cook gently for another 15 minutes or so.

Turn up the heat and add the minced beef. Season with oregano, marmite, worcestershire sauce, chocolate, salt and pepper and brown the mince off quickly.

Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and kidney beans and mix well. Reduce the heat to its lowest, cover, and simmer gently while you cook some rice.



This recipe freezes well and is a great way of making 500g mince go a long way. It's also low-GI from the inclusion of all those vegetables and the chickpeas and kidney beans.

Serve with brown rice and grated cheese.

Chocolate chip and banana cake

Previous Recipe......

•  
• 190 g plain flour
• 135 g white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 225 g mashed bananas
• 1 egg
• 115 g unsalted butter, melted
• 60 ml milk
• 125 g plain chocolate chips (I used a bar of plain cooking chocolate, chopped up)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.
4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until blended. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. (It will have some melted chocolate, but no crumbs.)

I followed this recipe (taken from here) last night to use up a couple of ageing bananas. In the end it took all night to cook it: I cooked it with the oven on for nearly an hour, then just turned the oven off and left it in there overnight. Pretty easy recipe to follow, and manageable in an evening.

Yummy :)

Carrot and Orange Cupcakes

225g / 8oz caster sugar
3 eggs
200ml / 7 fl oz vegetable oil
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
225g / 8oz self-raising wholemeal flour
1 tsp ground cinanmon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
350g / 12oz grated carrot, squeezed dry
175g / 6oz walnuts, chopped (I used pecan nuts)

Oven: 180C

Makes 12 large muffins (get your bun tin lined with cases ready)

Beat the sugar, eggs, oil, orange rind and juice together until light and frothy. Stir in the flour, spices and salt and beat for a further minute. Stir in the nuts and carrots.

Fill the prepared cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are firm in the centre. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.



Cream cheese frosting:
140g/ 5oz softened butter
225g / 8oz cream cheese
225g-250g / 8-9oz icing sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until thoroughly blended, soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth, with a spreadable consistency.

Chicken Pie

Pastry - use 150g self-raising flour, 75g fat

Pie filling:
2 chicken breasts, diced and floured
handful sprouts, sliced
handful baby carrots, sliced
packet baby button mushrooms, sliced
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
100g philadephia
teaspoon wholegrain mustard
tablespoon flour
about 75ml milk, boiled, plus boiling water to make up to about 300ml, plus 2 chicken stock cubes

Oven: 180C

Heat a large frying pan or wok with a tablespoon of olive oil, over a medium heat. Add the garlic and  swirl around quickly. Just as they start turning brown, add the floured diced chicken. Turn the heat up and stir to seal the chicken on all sides - you may need to add some water to stop things sticking (don't add any more oil). Once the chicken is sealed add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes.

Next add the philly, flour, stock and mustard and stir until the philly is no longer a big sticky lump. Cover and cook for 10 minutes (while you peel the potatoes for the accompanying mash).

Roll out the pastry that you made before you started cooking (!), pour the pie filling into a dish (mine is about 10" square I think) and cover with the pastry. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is cooked.

Serve with mashed potato. And green beans if you remember to cook them. (Which I forgot.)

Garlic Mushroom Stuffed Red Peppers

Ingredients
6 red peppers, halved lengthways and de-seeded
breadcrumbs made from 6 slices white bread, lightly toasted (alright, dried out in the toaster)
3 large flat mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves garlic
half a cup strong cheddar, grated; plus extra for topping
2 eggs
quarter cup of milk (as necessary)
olive oil and butter
salt and pepper

Instructions
Heat the oven to about 180C.
Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the pepper halves on the sheet, open side up.
Fry the mushrooms until tender in the butter and oil (butter for flavour, and oil because butter burns); drain on kitchen paper. Fry the garlic in a little more oil until just turning golden brown.
Combine the breadcrumbs, mushrooms, garlic and cheese in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and as much milk is needed to make a useable stuffing mix.
Distribute the stuffing between the pepper halves, and top with a little extra cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
6oz / 175g margerine
6oz / 175g caster sugar
6oz / 175g sr flour, sifted
2 large eggs
teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons instant coffee
2 tablespoons hot (not boiling) water
2 tablespoons cold water

Directions
1. Preheat oven to (160C / Gas 3).
2. In a cup, dissolve the coffee in the hot and cold water.
3. Tip ALL the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat well. Hint: Use an electric mixer!
4. Divide the mixture between 2 greased and lined cake tins and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the cake is springy when touched.

Fill with whipped cream or butter icing.

Plum Crumble Cake

This recipe is courtesy of Jacqui Hobbs, from the September edition of "Your Steyning".

This cake is delicious with a dollop of whipped double cream and a good cup of coffee. It keeps for up to a week.

Ingredients:
800g plums, halved, stones removed

For the Cake:
125g (4.5oz) plain flour
1tsp baking powder
125g (4.5oz) caster sugar
1 lemon, zest only
4 drops vanilla extract
125g (4.5oz) softened butter
2 medium eggs

For the Crumble:
150g (5oz) plain flour
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar
pinch ground cinnamon
100g (3.5oz) butter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C (gas 4). Grease and line a 10" springform cake tin.
To make the crumble, sift the flour, cinnamon and sugar. Either rub in the butter by hand or pulse in a food mixer until you have a fine breadcrumb texture.
For the cake. Sift the flour and baking powder, add the other ingredients and then either use a hand whisk or a food mixer to achieve a smooth consistency.
Spoon the mixture into the tin. Smooth the surface flat. Arrange the plums cut side up so that they overlap.
Sprinkle over the crumble mixture in an even layer.
Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test with the tip of a knife which should come out clean).
Remove from the oven and release from the tin. Place on a wire rack to cool.


I made this crumble cake yesterday and it was DELICIOUS. I had to cook it for an extra 20 minutes however with just the bottom element of the oven on to cook the cake base, I think I had melted the butter for the cake mix too much so it was having trouble cooking - but, it worked, and worked really well. I shall be making this again - I just need an excuse now!