Cheese Muffins with Bacon and Spring Onions

Whilst searching for some inspiration on what to bake for today, I came across a recipe for cheese muffins with bacon and chives. I looked in the fridge and cupboards and I had most of the things to make these muffins. I did make a few changes; mine will be gluten free, made with spring onions as these are what I had in my fridge and I have used leftover cooking bacon instead of sliced bacon.

I think its good to go through your kitchen and look at what leftovers you have, this recipe could quite easily be adapted with the addition of peppers, maybe some diced chorizo instead of bacon or tomatoes. I think i'm going to enjoy playing with this recipe.

I think these are a great breakfast / brunch recipe that you can have on the go. For those of us who work full time or those of you who are busy with children or anyone just on the go, you don't always have time to sit down and have breakfast. It's sometimes good to have something you can just pick and eat on the go, on those times when you're in a rush or just don't want to eat breakfast first thing in the morning.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

60 - 80 grams of bacon bits (I used cooking bacon).

1 large tablespoon of butter

1 spring onion - chopped very finely

1 cup of Doves Farm Plain Gluten Free Flour (this is approximately 140 grams)

1 teaspoon of baking powder (Dr Oetker is gluten free)

1 pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 medium egg

1/2 cup of milk (approximately 120 mls - i used semi skimmed milk)

1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese (this is approximately 40 g - used mature cheddar)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C
2. Heat up a frying pan on a medium heat and fry the bacon in a small amount of oil. This takes about 10 - 15 minutes. Chop / crumble the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
3. In the meantime add the egg into a bowl with the milk and whisk
4. Melt the butter in a small pan. As soon as the butter is melted, take off the heat and add the spring onions.
5. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar (you can sift the flour, but i personally didn't do this). Stir the ingredients to combine.
6. Add the butter and spring onion mixture to the eggs and milk and stir to combine.
7. Add the flour mixture, bacon bits and cheese to the liquid mixture (eggs, milk, butter and spring onion) and stir until everything is combined. Please note that the mixture shouldn't be too loose but it shouldn't be stiff either.
8. Oil a muffin tin - I used a silicone muffin tray, as I find that the muffins are less likely to stick to this and are easier to get out. I used a kitchen towel and normal vegetable oil, to make sure that I don't put too much in.
9. Put the muffin mixture muffin tray / tin and put into the oven.
10. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until the muffins are starting to colour on the top and if you put a knife in it should come out clean.
11. Leave to cool for 2 minutes and then put onto a wire rack to cool.

The original recipe where this was adapted from can be found on the following site: http://www.food.com/recipe/savory-cheese-muffins-with-bacon-and-chives-62995?mode=us&scaleto=6.0&st=true

The muffins turned out really well, they weren't dry and seemed to rise pretty well. I was really pleased with the outcome. My non gluten free tester (my boyfriend) also liked them.

What are your favourite ways to use up leftovers?

Polish Kabanos Sausage Soup

I'm always trying to find new and interesting recipes and i stumbled upon this recipe one day. Some recipes take a bit of tweaking to get them right and others take A LOT. This however, is one of the recipes that doesn't have to be changed much at all.

I love soups in general, but they're particularly great in the colder months. I don't think there is anything better than a steaming hot bowl of soup with some great ingredients in it. They're a great way to perk you up, when you are perhaps feeling a little under the weather. Especially when man flu, chest infections and colds are all around.

My dad eats a lot of Kabanos sausages coming from a polish background, so when I saw this recipe it instantly captured my attention. I love the taste of Kabanos sausages and the hint of paprika in the background.

I did make some small changes to the original recipe, but you can find this below:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5962/polish-sausage-soup

As we were having this for our main evening meal, i decided to bulk it up a little bit with the ingredients that were already there. 

These were the changes that I made:

• 250 g of Kabanos sausage - This was the size of the pack that I bought, so I thought I'd add the rest in to help bulk this up a little
• 150 g of shredded Kale - I had some more kale, so I decided to put some more of this in too. It's always good to have plenty of vegetables.
• Sometimes if I've run out of thyme, I just used some mixed herbs instead.

To make it gluten free, please remember to use gluten free stock cubes.

I hope that you will all enjoy this recipe as much I did. 

What's your favourite thing to eat on a cold winters day?

Valentines day

I've never been a huge valentines day fan, but it is nice to show you care and its always nice receiving flowers ;)

This year has been a bit more frugal than last due to buying a house in the summer. As you homeowners are aware, there's always something that needs doing to the house. It'll take over all your finances if you let it!

This is one of the main reasons why we decided to stop in this year. Aside from saving to go on holiday to France, bonjour! 

My lovely boyfriend decided he was going to cook for me this year, a very nice lamb dish. I always enjoy lamb as its one of the meats I eat the least. 

He dressed the table and bought me 3 red roses. A bottle of cheap bubbly. I don't think you always need to go out, sometimes staying in is just as pleasant, plus you don't get a bubble bath run for you in a restaurant lol.

You can see the table he dressed for me:

The lamb dish was really good, though personally  I'd use a little less mustard, if you're a big mustard fan then go ahead and stick to the recipe. If you like it but are a little less keen,  then just add a little bit and add to taste. 

The pesto crust was really good and i really liked the whole dish in general. I would definitely have the meal again, just with a little less mustard. I did also sub the bread for warburtons gluten free bread.

You can find this recipe at the following address: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/655659

Then for dessert, I made Creme Brulee (third time lucky with this recipe) as the first 2 times, I did made a couple of mistakes. If you stick to the recipe then it works much better. It would also work much better with a blow torch (this is now on my wish list)

I really like this recipe, it is a Michel Roux one so it can't be too bad. I will aim to make a creme brulee as good as he does. You can find the recipe at the following address: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1039655/vanilla-crme-brle

I wish you all a happy valentines day and hope you all had a good one too :)

Gluten Free Bolognese Stuffed Peppers

Tonight on the menu is..... Gluten Free Bolognese Stuffed Peppers!

Stuffed peppers are one of my favourite things. I love peppers when they've been roasted and I also love Bolognese. So this is why I've put this on the menu for today.

I think this is a fairly straight forward recipe that doesn't take much effort, but is quite a tasty and satisfying meal.

I've not used any shop bought sauces in jars, as personally I don't like to use these (I'm not saying that I never use anything from a jar), as you don't know all of the ingredients that go into them. I know a lot of people use these for convenience and some people like the flavour, but I think that for not much more time and effort, you make a home made sauce that tastes really good and you'll know exactly what is going into your sauce! Lots of the sauces in jars in the supermarkets have hidden gluten in them, I've been caught out on a few occasions with this.

The peppers turned out really well, were moist with just enough sauce to make sure they aren't too dry. At the same time, they didn't have that much sauce that it spilled over the side.

The ingredients:

500 g minced beef *

4 bell peppers - cut in half length ways and de-seeded **

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic - minced / chopped***

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1/2 onion - chopped

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 - 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1 gluten free beef stock cube

A good pinch of paprika

1 teaspoon of mixed herbs

2 handfuls of grated cheese

Salt and Pepper

* I used British mince, as I'm trying to use more British products

** I don't tend to use green peppers in recipes like this, as I don't like the flavour as much

*** Minced if you use a garlic press, or chopped finely if you don't

Method

1. Put a frying pan on a medium heat and add the oil
2. Put the chopped onions in the pan and cook for approximately 5 minutes until the onions start to soften but not colour
3. Add the garlic to the pan and stir to stop from burning
4. Add the minced beef to the pan and cook the minced meat until this is browned (feel free to blot the pan a little with a kitchen town to get rid of some of the excess fat)
5. Tip the chopped tomatoes into the pan
6. Cook the tomatoes out for a couple of minutes in the pan and add the tomato paste
7. Crumble the stock cube into the pan, add the sugar, the mixed herbs, paprika and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to the pan and mix until the stock cube and sugar have dissolved. Please make sure you change the seasoning, add a little more balsamic vinegar if it is a little too sweet. If it is is a not sweet enough, please add more sugar.
8. Cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Turn the oven on and preheat to 200 C.
9. Fill the half peppers with the bolognese mixture and put onto a baking tray.
10. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, sprinkling over the cheese approximately 2 minutes before the end.

On a final note, how do you feel about the pre-made shop bought sauces in jars? Do you use these a lot during cooking or do you prefer to make your own?

Gluten Free Pancakes

I love pancakes and I love pancake day.

If you are gluten intolerant or have coeliac disease, don't let this put you off making pancakes. I tend to use Doves Farm plain flour as my general use flour. I normally sub this for most recipes I use (apart from bread).

I love nutella on my pancakes and I don't think that pancake day would be the same without it.

This is the recipe I used for pancakes:

Pancakes

Doves Farm gluten free plain flour -200 g 

Eggs - 2 medium
Semi-skimmed milk - 250 - 300 ml

Method:
1) Sift the flour into a large bowl
2) Make a well in the flour and crack both eggs into the well
3) Start mixing, adding the milk gradually as you are whisking the mixture (the mixture should be the consistency of thick gravy - if it is too thick add more milk, if it is too runny then sprinkle in a small amount of flour)
4) Put a crepe pan or small frying pan onto a medium to high heat
5) Put a small cube of butter of butter into the pan
6) Put a ladle full of the mixture into the pan
7) Cook until the mixture starts to cook on the top and the pancake is golden brown and cooked on the bottom. Flip the pancake and cook the other side of the pancake until the other side looks golden brown.7
8) Serve with toppings of your choice, today mine are nutella and sliced banana. Yum!

What toppings do you like on your pancake?

Turkey and Courgette Burgers

Another site that I've been browsing a lot lately is www.skinnytaste.com, this is a great all round site for people looking to have some healthier options. The food is quite varied and can be made gluten free quite easily, with just a few simple changes. Some of the recipes are already naturally gluten free.

During the last 2 years, I've being going through a complete lifestyle change. As well as going gluten free, I've been trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet and also trying to eat fish / seafood once a week. I also try and exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes, I must admit that some days it's harder than others to get motivated. I do always feel better after I've been though.

Today I've been making Turkey Burgers with Zucchini (Courgette).

I thought this would be a guilt free way to enjoy a burger, whilst remaining gluten free and also keep the calories down. 

I made these gluten free by subbing the wholemeal bread for warburtons brown bread.

The burgers held together really well and didn't fall apart when I cooked them.

Whilst I liked the idea of these burgers and the texture was really good. I think the courgette helped to keep the burger moist so that it didn't dry out. I didn't really get on with the courgette in the burger. As turkey isn't the strongest flavour, I found that the courgette overpowered this quite a bit.

I may try some other variations on this though, possibly with carrot in instead and maybe a light blue cheese sauce.

Please do still try this burger. It wasn't exactly to my taste, but I did still enjoy the burger.

You can find the recipe on the following site:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/05/turkey-burgers-with-zucchini.html

Black Bean Brownies

I've been inspired lately as I've been reading gluten free books and some other peoples blogs and you've got to admire the recipes that people come up with!

When you have sensitivity to certain types of foods, it restricts your diet in such a way that you have never thought before and you find yourself wondering what on earth you can still eat.

When I saw the chocolate brownie recipes on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog, I had to give them a try

I must admit mine didn't look exactly like hers, so I think that I may have to tweak them slightly as I must have got them slightly wrong somewhere. They were very wet in texture, this made them nice to eat but not the normal brownie texture you would expect. The flavour was really good and you cant fault this considering its made with black beans and is also vegan and gluten free.

All in all a good recipe that I'd try again, which the none gluten free testers also enjoyed.

You can find the recipe and further details on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog linked below:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies