I get asked questions quite a bit about the slow cooker so I figured I’d pop my tips/answers below, with a slow cooker lamb tagine recipe at the end. As an added bonus, this recipe actually has a video to match. If this is the kind of thing you like to see please do let me know and I’ll do my best to film some more.
Maybe I should have called this post “why I flipping love my slow cooker”! Read More
Séan O’Rourke and his team very kindly invited me in to RTÉ Radio One this morning to chat about my love for cooking for my family, and my best friend the slow cooker. 😉
Here are all the recipes that we’ll be eating at home here in the week ahead (all going according to plan). Okay, okay if it doesn’t go according to plan then that’s life. My biggest problem is now that I’ve committed the menu to writing for the week ahead I’ve a 17-year-old who will hold me to it. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to slack off given most of these dishes are firm family favourites. As per usual, simply click or tap the picture to be brought to the recipe. Read More
The trick to making your chicken dippers taste like dynamite is to use a very small amount of salt and pepper at each stage of the process. Once you master the breadcrumbs there’s very little else to do and serving up this homemade takeaway is a doddle. Read More
I flipping love my slow cooker, and this beef curry recipe is the kind of thing that reminds me how easy it is to cook plenty of different meals for the family each week!
The last thing I want to do is to spend a busy day slaving in the kitchen to cook up something healthy and tasty for the kids. That’s why I make the most of my slow cooker at least twice a week. A slow cooker is such a handy gadget to have in your kitchen, and they use up the same energy as a light bulb. It’s the ultimate money-saving, time-saving way to make a dinner that the whole family will love. If you’re worried about leaving the slow cooker on when you leave the house, invest in a timer plug attachment. Read More
Some days amazing things happen. Like getting a phone call asking me to demonstrate healthy recipes as part of the Navan #MyHealthyTown initiative. I had to pinch myself!
This was one of the most popular dishes I demonstrated in Navan for Morphy Richards last weekend. Everytime I heated the pan, it was like an advertisement for certain gravy granules and attracted a crowd. It seriously only takes about 7 minutes to put together. Thanks to popular request I’m sharing the recipe on the blog so it’s easy to find. I also shared it on my Instagram yesterday if you’re interested. Read More
It’s National Potato Day in Ireland today and when I was asked to develop a new recipe especially for the celebration I found it hard to say no. If you ask me, everyday is a potato day! There’s a reason why I don’t grow potatoes at the allotment. I certainly could if I wanted to, it’s just that we have so many fantastic local potato producers close to home that I prefer to support them instead. In fact, the local potato growers are so supportive of what we do at the allotments, there is a particular farmer who supplies us with potatoes for the pigs! Every couple of weeks a meitheal of syndicate members gets together and we shift a tonne of potatoes from a trailer into storage boxes for the pigs. They’re then boiled daily for the pigs’ main meal. Read More
Okay, okay, it’s not a pilaf in the classic sense of the term. This rice dish isn’t baked in the oven, but it is cooked in the amount of time it takes to simmer some rice, and cook off the vegetables. The carrot and courgette pilaf is a great way to use up a glut of vegetables, then sneak them into your family’s diet with mild curry spices. Each one of the three kids would sit down to a massive comforting bowl of this pilaf with a poached egg on top. I love cooking this kind of food that’s easy on the stomach, wallet, and senses.
The carrot and courgette pilaf came about because, go figure, I had a glut of carrots and courgettes. Read More
During the school year I try to get the kids to have their dinner by 5.30pm at the latest. It stops too much snacking when they get home from school and it means that they get hot food on cold days (not that we’ve had many of those recently). All three of the kids have conspired against me these past few weeks and each finished at a different time. That will change very soon thank goodness! These flatbreads are the perfect meal to prepare in advance. I can mix up the dough in the morning, cover and forget about it. I can also make the filling well before I need to serve it up.
The kids would happily set up camp beside me in the kitchen and eat the bits that I make as they come straight out of the cooker/pan. Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread, and once sliced, they each made sandwiches out of it. When a dear friend arrived and I gave the end of the loaf to her to try as I value her opinion, they all gave out yards that I give away their food. Honestly, they don’t know how flipping lucky they are!
All I can say is ‘roll on next week’ when I can have unlimited opportunities to sort socks in peace* Read More
The beauty of this simple chicken traybake is that once it’s assembled you just bake it in the oven and wait while the delicious smells fill the house. Read More
The trick to perfect meatballs is to roast them in the oven before adding the meatballs to the sauce. This is not only a way to render off the fat you sometimes find in the cheaper cuts of meat, but the browning process in the oven adds extra flavour. It’s easy to see why this meal is a hit with my family. Read More
This vegetarian tart is so easy to make thanks to the pre-rolled puff pastry. There really isn’t much to do apart from bake the pastry, then fill it a quarter of an hour before serving, then cooking for the final few minutes. It’s the ultimate make-ahead party food, and you’ll look like an absolute genius to produce something so pretty from your kitchen at the last minute. What makes it more incredible is that you only need 5 ingredients to make it! Read More
Sometimes when my husband works a late shift I’ll cook a regular meal for the kids, and then we sit down together when he gets home. It’s not that I’m advocating cooking individual meals for different family members though! It’s simply that it’s nice to have somebody to sit and eat with at the end of a long day in work. This griddled turkey steak with vegetable stack is a wholesome, gluten free, paleo friendly dish that will keep you coming back for more. It’s well balanced and light on the stomach if you don’t like eating too much late in the evening. Read More