Cottage Pie...

...I know, I know...not a new or even radical recipe, but a much loved, sometimes much maligned recipe...some say it's boring, but here in our house, we say it's fab!! Cottage Pie reminds me of my childhood...It is the meal I am most likely to cook after a week or weekend of excess...it is one of those unassuming, unpretentious, comfort food recipes...It is one of those recipes that every family knows and has their version of...and this is mine...via my Mum of course!!!

Fish Pie Friday...

...did you know this week is British Pie Week?...until March 12th in fact...so in honour of this special week we are having fish pie for our dinner tonight...
This recipe is just known as 'fish pie' in our house...no fancy name, no fancy ingredients (two fussy smallish people remember!)...just good old home cooked fish pie...the recipe is mine and mine alone!! I probably got it from a myriad of different fish pie recipes that have been 'tweaked' and adjusted over the years to suit all our tastes!! I seem to recall smoked haddock and salmon making an appearance pre-smallish people...but times change and so do recipes...

Beef, Red Wine and Black Olive Stew...

I found this recipe the other day as I was searching for a completely different one...and decided it looked pretty great for a Thursday night dinner...why Thursday? Well I don't work on Thursdays, so have time to make a lovely slow cooked evening meal...which is what this looked like to me...

Midweek Veggie Night...

...Hubby and I like to have at least one night each week that is meat-free...and this week, tonight is the night!!

Squash, Aubergine & Potato Curry..(with a bean and pea or two thrown in!!)

It is another of my "whatever is in the cupboard/fridge goes in the pot" meals!! So there is no set recipe, just my usual method for this type of curry...which is the same as the one back here... Except in this case, you need to add only veggies to the mix...no chicken allowed on meat-free nights!
So tonight I diced an aubergine and about 1/4 of a squash plus about 200g potato also diced - always try to keep the diced veg the roughly the same size - it helps with cooking times!

Comforting Cannelloni..(.Winter Warmers pt6)

Well, it's another grey and grim day outside, so what better to make for dinner than my Bolognese-Filled Cannelloni...Hubby and I are off out tonight for a belated Valentine's Dinner at Slice Restaurant in Swansea...{a gorgeous tiny place that only seats about 20 people max!! It may be small, but it is a slice of Welsh Heaven!!! (Will post foodie pics tomorrow)}...so I offered to cook Grandma and Pops, plus my two smallish people some of my cannelloni...as always, it is an amalgamation of several recipes, from several people and places that have fused to become the recipe below....

Sunday Dinners...(Winter Warmers pt5)

Hi guys, well, me and the smallish people are in South Wales right now, visiting Grandma...we've left hubby at home to some peace and quiet...

Before I left home, I remembered to upload some photos from the weekend, so that I can still post a few bits and pieces whilst away...So without further ado...Sunday Dinner...in our house, the two nights on the weekend are the only time we get to sit down and eat together, during the working week it is more often a case of two smallish people eating together, followed much later by two larger people...Sometimes I will sit with the smaller ones, and hubby will eat when he gets in from work...Not ideal I know, but these are the times we live and work in...So...Saturday and Sunday are meals we all like to eat...plus the odd 'newbie' once a month or so. It's because of this that we don't very often subscribe to the 'Sunday Roast' theory...We just plump for good home-cooked meals that we can share as a family. This Sunday it was Lamb cooked in Red Wine...

Saturday Night is Curry Night...(Winter Warmers pt4)

We're trying to stop ordering out for dinner...so I am making my own versions of our favourite take-out meals...Last night was Curry Night...and the curry I made also fits into my Winter Warmer classification. I do make 'proper' curries from time to time, but more often than not they tend to be tomato-based, whatever is in the fridge/cupboard type meals...although, as I tend to have similar ingredients around most of the time, my curries tend to be pretty similar! Last night's was... 

...Chicken, Aubergine, Spinach and Mushroom Curry...

Warming Spice...and Chicken so Nice...(Winter Warmers pt3)

Another day at work, and the need for another speedy supper...and I have the perfect thing...(it's even another Winter Warmer-ish!!). It is a recipe I found in a Good Food Magazine supplement about 5 or 6 years ago, but the supplement was lost at least 2 years ago...however as it is a popular meal in our house, it's etched in my mind, at least my version is...I didn't even get to copy it down before losing it, so this may or may not be like the original now...as my 'tweaks' may well have changed it into a completely new dish...anyway, it is now known in our house as...

My Moroccan-ish Chicken Dish

A Quick Supper...(Winter Warmers pt2)

Hi, I've just finished my Super Speedy Mushroom Risotto...one of our favourite quick and easy 'working day suppers' (yes, I actually worked today!!). Thought it would fit in with the whole Comfort Food/Winter Warmers theme I seem to have going on right now!

Before I go any further, this is not a "proper" Italian risotto...it is a "Sara Special"...one of my infamous 'tweaked' recipes...so without further ado....

"Sara's Super Speedy Mushroom Risotto"

Winter Warmers...part 1

Well it's been around freezing outside for the last few days and inside, comfort food has been the dish of the day...that's all well and good for dinner/supper time, but lunch?!? Soggy sandwiches or crisp salads just won't do for times like this! 


Which is why I made a batch of my;

 Italian Inspired Veggie Soup...

...and sausage snogs!

Well, the cold snap is still here, in fact everywhere has been turned into a winter wonderland...

So...comfort food number 3 appeared on the menu last night...sausages, mash and onion gravy...with veggies too of course!

I always serve my sausages and mash with a plateful of yorkshire pudding...

and the best one I've found is...Delia's Yorkshire Pudding... I have never had one go wrong on me...(yet!)

...Baked Bean Cuddles...

Following the last post, I had a similar request for tea tonight..."something warm and yummy". So the Cod with veggies and sauté potatoes were transformed into fresh cod bites, buttery mash and comfort food extraordinaire...Baked Beans...

...Mmmmm Baked Beans...not only are they one of our '5 a day', they are full of yummy scrummy goodness!!!

The cod bites are made by cutting boneless and skinless cod loin fillets into nuggety chunks, coating in seasoned flour, dipping in beaten egg and finally covered in a fine matzo meal (also very nice with a handfull of chopped dill added). We have also used homemade breadcrumbs in our time, but never the packet breadcrumbs...they seem to absorb so much oil! Finally they are shallow fried in as little oil as possible and drained on kitchen roll before being devoured by the 2 smallish people...For the larger people, I just leave the cod loins whole or in half depending on their size.

Pasta hugs...

As we seem to be gripped by a cold snap right now, our family are all craving warming, comfort food...you know the sort of things I mean, foods and meals that will give you a great big warming hug on a freezing cold Winter's day...and what is more comforting than a big bowl of pasta bake?

My 2 children wolf this meal down whenever it is put in front of them!! So last night as a last minute supper, (they decided last minute that my idea of sausages and mash was not comforting enough!) I raided my fridge, freezer and cupboards for the ingredients to put it together...What they don't realise is that the sauce is chock full of hidden veggies...and so they are getting about 2 of their "5 a day" in one big comforting hit!

I always seem to have a couple of tubs of my bolognese sauce (I have to point out that yet again this is one of my tweaked recipes, that is more accurately a combination of several Bolognese recipes that I have used over the years) in the freezer at any one time, so a quick defrost in the microwave and off we go!

This tub would also feed 2 as a spaghetti bolognese dinner

My pasta bake changes occasionally, but there are a few key elements that never change...