Slow Cooker BBQ Beans with Chorizo

These beans are an absolutely delicious dish as a stand alone on top of a jacket potato or even toast, but they are a great side dish too and one that I often make if we're having any kind of fried or baked chicken. 

The fact that they are made in the slow cooker with no need for any faff too, makes them an absolute winner in my eyes; ideal for midweek when time is often short and any shortcuts are golden.  The smoky BBQ aroma will fill your home while they're cooking too, it's an inviting smell to welcome you home after work or school believe me.

They are made mostly from store cupboard essentials too and if you want them as a vegetarian option instead, simply omit from including the chorizo.

The below is a generous portion for a side - enough to serve x6 people. 

Slow Cooker BBQ Beans with Chorizo

Here's how:

• x1 tin of red kidney beans
• x1 tin butterbeans
• x1 tin chopped tomatoes
• x1 red onion
• x1 clove of garlic
• x1 tbsp chipotle paste
• x1 tbsp tomato puree
• 70g cooking chorizo
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• Pinch of salt and black pepper
• Water

The only slightly laborious task in preparing these BBQ beans is to finely dice the red onion, mince the garlic and chop up the chorizo into small pieces and add to the slow cooker.

Now add the rest of the above ingredients, and using one of the empty tins, fill that one third of the way with cold water and add to the mix.Give a good stir.

Pop the lid on and then place on the appropriate setting for your slow cooker, I use a Crockpot and use setting 2 for four hours and there is no need to stir during cooking.Enjoy!

Banana and Chocolate Chunk Bread

This Banana and Chocolate Chunk Bread is really a cake - deliciously moist with a close texture and ideal for an elevenses or tea-time treat with a cup of tea. 

It is also a great way to use up any over-ripe (or even slightly browning) bananas too - no waste here.

There are tons of varieties of Banana Bread and they each have their own charm, if I don't add chocolate I love a gentle spicing with ginger and cinnamon or even mixed spice; vanilla also works well but when the chocolate is in the mix, I don't think it needs anything else. 

Banana and Chocolate Chunk Bread

Here's how:

• 275g peeled banana
• 2 tbsp milk
• 180g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 75g walnuts
• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 100g melted butter
• 160g dark brown sugar

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees and grease and line a square or loaf tin. 

Now in a mixing bowl, mash most of the bananas up quite smoothly with the milk. Then with the final 1-2 bananas use your fingers to gently break up into bigger chunks - and allow for a different texture throughout the cake.

Into the banana bowl, sift the flour and add the salt and baking powder and gently mix.

In a different mixing bowl, add the butter (melt first if it isn't already). Add the brown sugar and the eggs and whisk up till light and creamy in texture.

Now roughly chop the walnuts and chop the chocolate into large chunks and set aside.

Add the banana and flour into the sugar, butter and eggs combination and fold in until you have a good, wet cake batter and no evidence of any flour hanging about.

Now add the walnuts and chocolate and give a final stir through.

Pour the batter into the lined tin, and place into the oven for 60 minutes exactly. 

Remove from the oven, and allow to stand in the tin for ten minutes. Then remove, and allow to stand for a further ten minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Banana and Chocolate Chunk Bread

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

If you have a hankering for some Chinese food without heading to the local takeaway, this Chinese Style Roast Chicken is an all-round winner and makes a great change to a Sunday roast dinner.

You can serve with noodles, rice or some stir fried or steamed vegetables but I implore you to drizzle over the 'gravy' or chicken cooking juices left in the pan as they are simply packed full of flavour and utterly delicious.

Like most marinades, the flavour will intensify if you leave for a few hours, or overnight - however this works well too, if you impulsively decide to make the chicken and just throw it all together and on the bird before throwing into the oven; great for spur of the moment cooks like me.

The below is enough for a family of four for dinner and a couple of packed lunches the next day.

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Here’s how:

• 1 large chicken
• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4cm piece of ginger
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese Five Spice
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Firstly turn the oven on to 200 degrees.

To prepare the marinade, peel and mince the garlic and add to a small bowl. Now peel the ginger, and either grate into the bowl or very finely slice and dice into tiny shards and add to the bowl.

Zest the limes into the bowl, then half them and squeeze in the juice, keeping the halved limes to one side.

Add the honey, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil and Chinese five spice and give the marinade a stir.

Now take the chicken and using a sharp knife remove the legs and the wings and place ninto a roasting tin with the entire breast or crown of the chicken.

Pour the marinade over the whole chicken ensuring all of the skin gets a good coating. Now take the discarded lime halves and push them inside the chicken breast cavity.

Place the entire tin into the oven and roast at 200 degrees for 20 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and continue to roast for a further 40 minutes.

Every 10-15 minutes, remove the dish from the pan, and carefull baste with the juices in the pan. I use an oven glove to carefully tilt the dish and use a serving spoon to lift out the tin juices and pour over. This will help to keep the chicken moist and juicy.

After 60 minutes in the oven, remove and place on the hob and check to see if the chicken is cooked through. Use a fork or a skewer to pierce the chicken in both the thickest part of the breast and the thickest part of the leg; and as long as the juices run clear this is cooked.

The important thing now is to baste one last time with the juices in the pan, then carefully take out the chicken and place onto a plate and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.

Also do not waste the chicken juices left at the bottom of the pan - whatever you are serving alongside the chicken, should be drizzled in this as it is packed full of flavour.

The gravy that must be used from Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Once fully rested, take each piece of chicken onto a board with a fork and a carving knife, carve into small slithers of delicious, juicy chicken. Try to ensure that each piece has a little of the skin for extra flavour. Once you have carved all you can, now grab another fork and use the two to pull off any remaining bits of chicken from the breast or leg bones and gently shred.

Serve with your choice of rice, noodles or vegetables. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Chilli - Meat Free Monday

This vegetarian chilli is a delicious family meal taking its' substance from sweet potatoes, red kidney beans and red split lentils. 

It's packed with goodness, flavour and sustenance and is a great Meat Free Monday meal - that is also vegan (so long as you omit from serving with any cheese or yoghurt). 

I made this at the weekend for a lovely Saturday lunch with my two daughters, and a few packed lunches for this week to keep the cold at dawn - it is mostly made from store cupboard essentials, so I didn't even need to leave the house. 

I served with some wholegrain rice, avocado, a cucumber and carrot ribbon salad, a little fat free natural yoghurt and a grating of cheese and it was very well received. 

You could add other vegetables to the mix or different beans; black beans, chickpeas or butter beans would all work here too.

Vegetarian Chilli

Here's how:

• 1 white onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 red jalapeno chilli
• 300g sweet potato (peeled)
• 1 orange pepper
• x2 roasted red peppers (I used jarred, but you could char your own and remove the skin)
• 1x tin red kidney beans
• 1x tin of chopped tomatoes
• Vegetable stock
• 100g red split lentils
• 100g sultanas 
• 1 tbsp dried cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp chipotle paste
• Drizzle olive oil

Firstly drizzle the olive oil into a large pan or wok and place on a low heat.

Now peel and finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the chilli and add to the pan to saute.

Whilst this is softening in the pan, peel and roughly chop the sweet potato to about 1cm pieces and add to the pan. 

Chop the orange pepper into small pieces and add to the pan. 

Now add all of the spices - the cumin, cinnamon, caynenne pepper, paprika and season with a little salt and pepper too.

Mix around with a wooden spatula to ensure all of the sweet potato gets a good spice coating and allow to cook out for a minute or so and then add the drained red kidney beans and the chopped tomatoes.

Rinse the lentils and add to the pan with the chopped roasted peppers, the sultanas, the chipotle, oregano and thyme.

Using one of the empty tins, make up a vegetable stock cube in one of these - fill it up and add to the chilli and give a good stir.

Allow to cook on a low heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring every so often. Serve with your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!

If you're looking for further Meat Free Monday inspiration here are a few other recipes I've posted on the matter:

• Squash and Goat's Cheese Pot Pie
• Spinach, Ricotta and Courgette Pasta Lasagne
• Mexican Veggie Burgers
• Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
• Truffled Mushroom and Leek Tagliatelle
• Squash Mac and Cheese
• Creamy Mushroom and Danish Blue Cheese Risotto

Cod Fishcakes with Quick Tartare Sauce

Fishcakes are a great favourite in our home, my girls love eating them, but they also love getting involved with making them too; the joy of getting your hands messy is never boring for children and I love them getting cooking and teaching them basic cooking skills even aged 5 and 3. 

I've used smoked and unsmoked cod here, which is wonderful in fish cakes, and we had some leftover mash potato from the night before, which is invariably an invitation for us to make some fishcakes. 

Loads of different fish works well for different fishcakes - we love salmon, mackerel, tuna, crab and haddock but these cod ones are quite classic and appeal to a child's palate perfectly. 

The quick tartare is well worth the effort too and it's made from mostly store cupboard ingredients that you're likely to already have in stock.

Cod Fishcakes with Quick Tartare Sauce

Here's how:

Fishcakes:

• 200g mash potato 
• 400g cod
• 200g smoked cod
• 3 spring onions
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley 
• 1 tbsp creamed horseradish
• Zest of x1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Bowl full of breadcrumbs or panko

Quick Tartare:

• 150g mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp rinsed, capers
• 5 cornichons
• 1/2 tsp English mustard
• 1 tsp creamed horseradish
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Firstly, place the oven on to 180 degrees. 

Now in a large bowl place the mashed potato. 

Finely chop the chives and the parsley and add to the bowl.

Zest the lemon and add to the bowl.

Finely chop the spring onions and add to the bowl.

Now cut the fish into about 1cm pieces and add to the bowl. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Now prepare the bowls to pane the fishcakes once formed. In one bowl crack the eggs and beat.

In another bowl, add the flour and season again.

Finally place the breadcrumbs (I whizz up whatever bread I have indoors in my Nutribullet) into a third bowl.

Get a plate, tray or chopping board ready to place each of the fishcakes onto.

Now firstly mix all of the fishcake ingredients together gently with a wooden spoon.

Now get your hands in and grab a handful of the fishcake mixture. Squish it together and form a patty shape - like a burger. You don't want each fishcake to be much more than 2.5cm wide ideally and try to keep them as similar in size as you can so they cook at the same pace.

Once each fishcake is formed, firstly roll in the flour, then the egg, make sure the fishcake is wet all over and then roll in the breadcrumbs and place onto the plate or tray.

Repeat until all of the fishcake mixture has been used up and you have a set of 6-8 fishcakes.

Now add some vegetable oil to a large frying pan and place onto a medium heat. Grab an oven tray or dish and get it close by.

Place 2-3 fishcakes into the pan at once and allow to cook for about two minutes on each side until lightly golden and crisp, then turn over and do the same on the over side, then remove to the oven tray.

Repeat until all of the fishcakes have been fried and once they're all on the oven tray place that into the oven for ten minutes to ensure the fish is cooked through and the fishcakes are piping hot.

In the meantime, assemble the tartare sauce by adding the mayonnaise to a bowl, with the English mustard, creamed horseradish and lemon juice. Make sure the capers are thoroughly rinsed and add to the mayonnaise mixture, roughly chop the cornichons and the parsley and add to the mixture and stir through.

Once the fishcakes are cooked through serve with a simple salad and a spoonful of the tartare sauce. Enjoy!

Here are a few other fishcake recipes you might like:
Mexican Style Salmon Fishcakes
Thai Salmon Fishcakes with Quick Chilli Oil
Colcannon Mackerel Fishcakes
Spiced Tuna Fishcakes
Haddock Fishcakes
Lightly Spiced Salmon Fishcakes

Lemon Curd Drizzle Cake

This is a gorgeously moist and zingy cake that is perfect to enjoy at home with a cuppa during this horrendously cold, windy and wet weather. I made it yesterday with my girls to keep them occupied for a while, and after we enjoyed a slice, warm from the oven we delivered some to my Dad at his allotment which was very well received.

I've given a double icing here - but you could cut down the calories and sugar by just having the usual lemon drizzle icing.

Lemon Curd Drizzle Cake

Lemon Curd Drizzle Cake

Here's how:

The cake batter:

• 225g salted, softened buter
• 225 caster sugar
• x4 large eggs
• 225g self raising flour
• 3 tbsp lemon curd
• Juice and zest of x1 lemon

Drizzle icing:

• 85g caster sugar
• Juice of x1.5 lemons
• Zest of x1 lemon

White icing:

• 100g icing sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and line a 20cm square or circular tin with baking paper. 

In a large mixing bowl place the softened butter and caster sugar and beat together with a wooden spoon.

Once combined, crack in each egg one at a time, mixing in as you go. 

Now sift in the self raising flour, squeeze in the lemon juice and add the zest and combine until you have a thick cake batter.

Once satisfied with the batter, place about half into the bottom of the cake tin and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth down a little.

Now take the lemon curd, and use a teaspoon to dot spoonfuls of it all over the cake batter until you've used it all up.

Now spoon over the remaining cake batter, smooth down and place into the centre of the oven for 35 minutes exactly.

In the meantime you can prepare your drizzle icing and white icing. For the drizzle simply add the lemon juice to a small bowl with the caster sugar and mix well.

For the white icing it's the same method - combine the icing sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Now place into an icing bag, or a food bag will suffice perfectly.

When you carefully remove the cake from the oven, take a wooden skewer and prick in the centre of the cake - if it comes out without wet crumbs, it's cooked, so remove it from the oven. If you have wet crumbs, return to the oven for five more minutes.

Now use the wooden skewer to prick all over about ten times, whilst still hot in the cake tin, which will create a runway to the cake when you pour the drizzle icing over.

Pour the drizzle icing over making sure the entire top of the cake gets a good coating.

Finally make a small snip into the corner of the icing bag (if using a food bag) and then just drizzle the white icing all over.

Allow to cool for five minutes before carefully turning out of the pan. This is delicious warm from the oven or cold but always with a cup of tea or coffee. Enjoy!

Roasted Celeriac Soup

As it's January and we are enjoying plenty of lighter dishes; including soups.  I made this as an experiment for the first time today and it was absolutely delicious and I'll 100% be making it again soon.

It's completely vegetarian and vegan; so ideal if you are doing Veganuary or generally following a plant-based diet; but it's equally good for those who still enjoy a bit of everything too.

Celeriacs' can be a bit of a faff to prepare, but this recipe is well worth the initial effort and the rest of it is completely low maintenance too. The end result is a thick and creamy tasting soup - really hearty but super healthy too.

The below serves x4 portions with each portion approximately 200 calories.

Roasted Celeriac Soup

Here's how:

• x1 celeriac (approx 600g)
• x2 large garlic cloves
• x1 large white onion
• 1.5 pints vegetable stock
• Pinch of salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Firstly whack the oven onto 180 degrees. 

Now to prepare the celeriac, firstly use a vegetable peeler to remove the outside, dark, gnarly bits of skin. There may be a slightly green tinge underneath, as a posed to the white and creamy depths of the celeriac - it's fine to leave these green bits so you don't lose too much of the celeriac.

Once peeled, carefully slice into 3-4 large slices, and then chop into about 2cm pieces and place into a roasting tin.

Now peel the onion and remove the ends then roughly chop, again into about 2cm sized pieces.

Peel the garlic cloves and throw into the roasting tin with the onion.

Drizzle with the vegetable oil and then season and place into the oven for 35 minutes.

When you remove from the oven, the onion should be charred and have a lovely, smokey flavour which will add to the soup, and the celeriac should have bits that are slightly browning.

Now remove everything and place into a large saucepan and pour over the vegetable stock. 

Use a blender to blitz till thick, smooth and creamy. 

Now gently heat on the hob until warmed through. Enjoy!