Mexican Salad

Yes, before you say it, we really do only eat Mexican and BBQ food at our gaff. 

Tonight's dine was a spin on the classic Caesar salad, I've made it a number of times before and it always goes down well. It's funny how just a bit of chilli can take things into man territory.

Start by beating up your chicken. Lay chicken breasts between two sheets of grease proof paper and beat with a rolling pin until the breasts are about an inch thick. Excellent stage for taking out a spot of agression. Sodding.Post.Man.I.Hate.Royal.Mail.

Then grind together some spices with a pestle and mortar - basil, paprika, cumin and fennel seeds make a great combo. Sprinkle this over the chicken then massage in to make sure the spices get absorbed. You can always beat the spices in if anger issues have not yet resided.

Start to fry the chicken in a little oil in a frying pan. In a seperate pan fry off some chopped up bacon until crispy.

Meanwhile make up your salsa - slice tomatos, chilli, spring onion and coriander, the juice of one lime and a drizzle of olive oil.

Then make your Guacamole - blend avacado, a few cherry tomatos, coriander, a chilli and the juice of one lime in a food processor. Or keep it real and mash with a fork (how primitive).

Put the squeezed limes in your salad bowl.

Tip: before squeezing your limes, roll them on a flat surface to release the juices.

Layer up your salad in the bowl with the limes - baby gem lettuce, rocket, coriander, a red chilli and crumble in some feta cheese.

Check your chicken - it should be turning nice and crispy so turn it over. Stir your bacon.

Make your chips - slice up tortilla wraps into triangles and lay onto a baking tray, drizzle with olive and sprinkle with salt. Pop into the oven for about 5 mins until slightly brown.

When your chicken is done, slice it into chunks. Pop your bacon, guacamole and salsa into seperate bowls, and take to the table along with your lettuce leaves and some soured cream.

Then leave your guests to make up their own salad - sociable, healthy(ish), filling and utterly delicious. With it's mix of Mexican and Greek flavours this bad boy is like the love child of Julius Caesar and Speedy Gonzales. If they were foods of course. 

Thanks M&S

Absolute snacking perfection from M&S. 

Loads of prawns, amazing tangy sauce.

Now craving a full on prawn cocktail.

The inventor of which is a genuine genius. Possibly the best starter ever, way better than all this ponsy caviar crap - we like to keep it real on this blog.

Breakfast

I've run out of cereal. And bread. And milk.

So because I also couldn't be bothered to go to the shop, breakfast was looking a bit bleak this morning. 

Luckily we had eggs, avacado and some cherry tomatos in, so I whipped up some scrambled eggs, seasoned slices of avacado and heated through the tomatos in a frying pan. 

Et voila, a healthy and filling breakfast that might seem weird but works perfectly and tastes delicious. 

For lunch there's some cheese, some asparagus, peppers, spinach,

one egg and some left over cherry tomatos. Tune in later to see what I make.

I feel like I'm on ready steady cook.

Fiesta! Home made chilli

I've blogged solidly about eggs for the last two weeks.

So it's high time I gave the chickens a rest and talked about something else. 

Tonight Sam and myself decided we'd have chilli. So as the football was on it was a great opportunity for me to cook all my myself aka get drunk in the kitchen without him nagging at me for "drinking again."

First up: pour glass of wine.

Chop up two carrots, two red peppers, two garlic cloves, two celery sticks and two onions and wang them in a deep casserole dish or frying pan. Add in a heaped teaspoon each of cumin, cinnamon and chilli powder and stir every 30 seconds for about seven mins. If you like yours extra spicy you can always add a fresh red chilli.

Throw wine away. It's disgusting, your brother bought it round last week and it tastes like vinegar.

Add to veggies a can of kidney beans and a can of chickpeas and two cans of chopped tomatoes.

Mix yourself a gin and tonic which is too strong for a Monday night.

Add to veggies your lean steak mince and stir. Add coriander and some water.

Put more tonic in G&T. It really is too strong for a Monday night.

Turn the heat up until the chilli starts to boil, then turn it down to simmer, and cook on a low heat for one hour.

Meanwhile make your guacamole. Chop up a few tomatoes and a chilli and blend with some avacado and corriander in a food processor. Drizzle some tortilla wraps with olive oil and put in oven for 5 mins. Give both to boyfriend for "half time snack."

Serve with rice, natural yoghurt and grated cheese.

Yet another egg based post

It is a well known fact amongst scientists (and hungover people) that eggs are one of the best cures for a night on the sauce.

It's something to do with protein getting broken down into amino acids in your body. Appaz amino acids are used to build something called neurotransmitters (brain signals???) which are screwed up by alcohol. 

Who knew!

So with that in mind, and the fact I had four (large) glasses of wine last night AND the fact I have to work today, dippy eggs for brunch was the obvious choice.

The internet didn't say anything about the benefits of eating cupcakes after you've eaten said eggs to cure said hangover, but this is all in the name of research you see. 

I feel better already.

Baking one off

Sometimes you merely need the tiniest excuse to bake a few cakes.

What's that, some bananas which are about three minutes over ripe? Better bake some banana muffins!

Preheat oven to 160c.

Mash up two bananas in a bowl, then in a separate bowl mix together an egg, salted butter, self raising flour, baking powder and caster sugar until smooth. 

Meanwhile on a chopping board, roughly chop up some milk chocolate. Tip: don't use the whole bar, keep one row for snacking.

Add the mashed up bananas and chocolate to the cake mix and fold in.

Separate the muffin mix into cake cases, and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 mins, or until the muffins spring back when gently pressed.

At this stage, do not do any washing up.

While the muffins are cooling prepare the icing. Mix softened butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl and beat until smooth. You can always add in a splash of milk if it's not coming together.

Tip: Wait until the muffins are completely cool before decorating! 

Now, time for the important stuff: the licking of the bowl. A rubber spatula is your best friend in this situation, wooden spoons just don't cut it. 

Love you forever Mary xxxx

And, as my mother always told me, if a jobs worth doing it's worth doing well, so don't be afraid to get right in there. 

Perhaps this technique is why I ended up with so many bowl hair cuts as a child. And an unhealthy attitude towards food, of course.

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter all!

May we all celebrate the rising of Christ.

But more importantly mum has bought us all chocolate bunnies, there's a chocolate cake ready to be cut, roast lamb in the oven and apple crumble ready to cook.

Before all that though we're off down the pub. If I make it to the end of the day without being sick it will be a miracle.