Macaroni Cheese with Chicken and Leeks

I’m sorry its been such a long time since I last posted but I’m back with a new and delicious recipe for you all the try.
We had this for dinner last week I think it was and I wasn’t so sure that I’d like it; macaroni cheese is my favourite dinner but I didn’t think adding chicken and leeks would work…I was wrong! It was very yummy and I think I had seconds!
This is the exact recipe which I’m putting on.

Ingredients

  • 2 Butcher’s selection chicken breasts, sliced
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • 300g macaroni
  • 400 ml skimmed milk
  • 2 tbsp. cornflour
  • 20g butter
  • 80g Asda 50% less fat mature cheddar, grated
  • 40g parmesan, grated
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbsp. Asda panko breadcrumbs
  • 2 tsp dried thyme

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200C / 180C Fan / Gas 6.
  2. Toss the chicken, leeks and oil together on a baking tray. Cook for 20 minutes until the chicken is done through.
  3. Cook the pasta to the pack instructions and drain.
  4. Mix 2 tbsp. of the milk with the cornflour. Melt the butter in a pan, add the rest of the milk and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cornflour mix and cook for 2 mins to thicken. Take off the heat, add the cheeses and cayenne and season with black pepper. Let the cheese melt then stir to combine.
  5. Toss the macaroni and cheese sauce through the chicken and leeks, sprinkle on the breadcrumbs and thyme and bake for 15 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Now in my opinion, that’s a lot of effort for a normal mac ‘n’ cheese with chicken and leeks! You can either use this recipe or you can do what we did. We made our usual macaroni cheese (you can find our cheese sauce on this blog), cooked the chicken and leeks and mixed them all together. Simple!

Chicken Quesadilla

Finally, a non-garlic recipe!!! lol
I have been watching some Laura Vitale videos this afternoon and came across this beaut! I love quesadillas, when we make them, we usually put cheese, onion and pepper in them (they are gorgeous!!! 🙂 ) but these look even better; tasty, flavoured chicken glued together with gooey cheese!
Here is the recipe from Laura’s website, and I will attach her video at the end of this post.

Ingredients

  • 2 6 oz each pieces of chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp. of chili powder
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • About 2 cups cheese (you might need a bit more of this depending on how much cheese you like)
  • 4 large tortillas
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
  • A bit of vegetable oil to brush on the tortillas

Method

  1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat and add the butter and oil and let it get nice and hot.
  2. Sprinkle the spices over the pieces of chicken as well as salt and pepper, toss everything together to make sure each piece of chicken is coated in the spices.
  3. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and let it cook for about 7 to 8 minutes or until fully cooked through.
  4. Remove the chicken and place it on a plate.
  5. When you’re ready to make the quesadillas, preheat a grill pan over medium high heat (or a large skillet) brush one side of the tortilla with some vegetable oil and place it oiled side down onto a plate.
  6. Sprinkle some cheese on one half of the tortilla, and then top that with some of the cooked chicken and a bit more cheese.
  7. Fold it in half and place it on the grill pan, let it cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until the cheese is melted on both sides and its got nice golden brown ridges.
  8. Continue with the remaining tortillas and dig in!!!

Garlic knots

Here we go another garlic recipe. If you didn’t already know, I love garlic.
Ever since I went to Frankie and Benny’s for one of my birthdays and had garlic dough balls, I have been trying to find the recipe. Not too long ago, I came across these little babies. I still haven’t made them yet (partly because we don’t have a blender/food processor) but I still droll over them when I watch this video.
This is another Laura Vitale recipe (you can subscribe to her YouTube channel – Laura in the Kitchen – or find recipes on her website – http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/ ), I love her recipes, they are amazing!!!

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ball of fresh pizza dough
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp. of fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to approx. 204°C,line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Place the ball of dough on a floured surface and cut it into 1/2 inch strips. Form the knots from each strips and place them on the parchment lined baking sheet.
  3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown, meanwhile make the oil
  4. In a small food processor, add the garlic, oil and parsley, blend until smooth.
  5. Immediately out of the oven add the knots to a large bowl and pour over the garlic oil, season with a little salt and pepper and toss together until they are well coated in the garlic oil.

(Now tell me if they don’t look nice?!?!?!)

Pepperoni pizza bites

I think I have run out of recipes to put on this blog!!! Everything that we make at home that I like I have put on here! So I am going to blog recipes that I haven’t yet tried but that look really nice and I would like to try. Today I’m going to blog another recipe by Laura Vitale. Again, this will be the exact recipe, so feel free to make changes in your own version.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ball of pizza dough, store bought or homemade
  • 4 oz mozzarella, cubed
  • Pepperoni, enough to stuff the dough
  • Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, grated finely

Method 

  1. Preheat your oven to approx. 220°C. Brush a baking dish with a little olive oil and set aside.
  2. Roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface so that it’s nice and thin but not too thin that it breaks up too easily.
  3. Cut the dough into 24 pieces.
  4. Fill each piece with a piece of cheese and a couple of pieces of pepperoni.
  5. Seal the dough shut around the filling, and place them seam side down onto the prepared baking sheet or in a baking dish if you like them to bake together and then pull them apart.
  6. In a small bowl, mix together the granulated garlic, Italian seasoning and black pepper, set aside.
  7. Brush the top with olive oil, and then evenly sprinkle over the garlic and seasoning blend.
  8. Bake them for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Now as many of you will know, I have already done a post on ‘cheesy garlic bread’ (the wrap! 😉 ) but this is the real thing! And I mean the real thing. I haven’t tried it before, but I am dying to give it a go. It is a Laura Vitale recipe and I am copying it from a cookbook which I got for Christmas.
This is going to be the exact recipe, but like I always say, feel free to alter it! 😉 One instant change that I would make would be to remove the Parmigiano-Reggiano!
Right, here we go…

Ingredients

  • 4 garlic gloves
  • 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 loaf ciabatta or other Italian bread, cut in half horizontally
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (approx. 204°C). Line a baking sheet with foil.
  2. In a mini food processor or a blender, process the garlic, parsley, and oil to make a smooth purée.
  3. Smear the garlic mixture over the cut sides of the bread. Wrap the bread in foil, cut sides together like a sandwich. Bake for 10 minutes. Leave the oven on.
  4. Unwrap the bread and open it so that the halves lie, cut side up, on the foil. Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmigiano evenly over the surface. Slide a baking sheet under the foil and bake, uncovered, until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly, 10 to 15 minutes.
  5. Cut into slices, and serve immediately.

As an extra bonus for this post, I will upload the video of Laura Vitale making this garlic bread; seeing it being made will make you want to make it too! 😉

Slow Cooker glazed gammon

We used this recipe at Christmas last year and we will be using it this year as well! This gammon is very tender and lovely and the best part?….It only uses two ingredients! 😉

Ingredients

  • 400g dark brown soft sugar
  • 1 (3.5kg) smoked gammon joint

Method

  1. Spread about 3/4 of the brown sugar on the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Place the gammon joint flat side down into the slow cooker – you might have to trim it a little to make it fit. Use your hands to rub the remaining sugar onto the ham. Cover, and cook on Low for 8 hours.

And there we are, a very simple recipe. It says on the recipe that this serves 24 people, if this be true, then this is a perfect dinner when you are expecting lots of guests, like at Christmas ! 🙂

There are only 19 days 10 hours 20 minutes and 55 seconds till Christmas!!!!

My Reaction to the Death of a Hero

This blog post was uploaded by my AMAZING friend Amber Baker. It totally made my day; the most HILARIOUS thing I’ve seen in a long time!!!!!!! I’m sure you will all enjoy it.
Here is the link to both of her blogs:
https://itisabloglife.wordpress.com/
https://amberbakerblogs.wordpress.com/

It's a Blog Life!

I knew about the film almost two years before it came out, I was excited before the trailer even came out. I walked into the cinema wriggling with joy, I wanted this film to be better than it’s brothers. It started, I shed some tears over the fact that the doubted was evidently on screen before me. As the film progressed my expectations were greeted and smashed to the ground. The awesomeness of the film was almost too much to bear! The reunion of the the old characters was joyful and sentimental, this film was bound to be my favourite film of the year!

I sensed that the film was about to end when the main characters were sent on a mission, as I was enjoying the end of the film while is lasted my heart stopped when a hero had fallen.

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS! DO NOT READ THE BLOG…

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Bonfire night baked potatoes

IT’S ALMOST BONFIRE NIGHT!!! A night of fireworks, bonfires, sparklers and warm, delicious food! 🙂
I have never tried this recipe before. I was searching the internet looking for bonfire night recipe ideas and came across this!!! It looks absolutely lovely and just to prove it, i’ll show you a picture!!!

bonfire-night-baked-potatoes Now what do you think of that?!?!?
The only downer in this recipe is that I don’t like the look of the cheeses that it uses. However, after reading some of the comments, I believe that any cheese would work well!!!
This recipe serves 4 people so you’ll have to adjust the amounts depending on how many people you’re feeding! 😉

Ingredients

  • 4 medium baking potatoes
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 25g butter
  • 1 large onion, finely sliced
  • 6 slices of smoked streaky bacon, chopped
  • 2 tbsp. double cream
  • 200g mixed good melting cheese, such as reblochon, raclette or gruyère cheese
  • chopped parsley to serve

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan / gas 6. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, then rub with half of the oil, some sea salt and black pepper. Arrange on a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes until their skins are crisp and they are completely tender when prodded.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil and half of the butter in a frying pan. Add the onion and gently cook for 15-20 minutes until softened and golden. Remove from the pan and set aside, add the chopped bacon and fry until just crisp. Remove using a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper.
  3. Halve each potato lengthways, then scoop out most of the potato into a bowl, leaving a potato skin shell with a thin layer of potato. In the bowl, crush the potato with the remaining butter and the double cream. Season with salt and pepper. Fold through the onion, bacon, three quarters of the cheeses and half of the parsley. Spoon back into the potato shells and top with the remaining cheese. Transfer to the baking tray and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, until melting and golden. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve with a sharply dressed crisp salad, if you like.

 

Chicken Stroganoff

This is the exact recipe. You can change the amounts to suit you!!!

Ingredients

  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
  • 1 large onion, peeled
  • 100g / 4 oz chestnut mushrooms
  • 50g / 2 oz butter
  • 150 ml / 1/4 pint chicken stock
  • salt and black pepper
  • 5 tbsp. sour cream
  • 1 tsp paprika

Method

  1. Cut the chicken breasts into thin slices. Thinly slice the onion. Halve mushrooms through the stalk.
  2. Melt the butter and gently fry the chicken strips, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until they have lost their pinkness. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
  3. Add the onion and fry gently for about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes. Return the chicken with the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Season, stir in cream and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately, sprinkled with paprika.

Croque Monsieur

At the moment, my sister is learning about ‘Madeline’ as a project for school. As one of the activities, we ate something French (since ‘Madeline’ is set in France). I was glad that we didn’t have to eat anything like snails!!! (YUCK!) Instead, we had croque monsieur for lunch. Basically, croque monsieur is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich but it’s much nicer!!! 😛 I warn you though that it is VERY filling!!! The recipe that we had, we altered a little bit; we didn’t have any mustard (otherwise we would have used it), we used some pitta bread instead of ordinary bread, we used flora instead of butter tined ham instead of ham slices and cheddar cheese instead of gruyère cheese (in short, we changed pretty much everything on the recipe!!! XD ) You can make changes yourself or follow the exact recipe.

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of wholemeal bread
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 80 g / 3 oz grated gruyère cheese
  • 2 slices of ham
  • 30 g / 1 1/2 oz unsalted butter

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
  2. Spread half a teaspoon of mustard over each slice of bread. Top two of the slices with half of the grated cheese followed by a slice of ham each, then finish with the remaining cheese on top. Sandwich together with the other two slices of bread.
  3. Heat the butter in a large frying pan until foaming, then add the sandwiches and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
  4. Transfer the sandwiches to a baking tray and place into the oven for 4-5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
  5. Place the sandwiches on a serving plate, slice each sandwich in half and serve immediately.