I’ve been meaning to do a recipe with salmon for a while; I normally just use soy sauce and some chilli flakes, which has to be one of my favourite dishes. You should definitely try using this, as it is so simple and quick.

However, this recipe is an adaptation of my basic recipe, as I wanted to try something different and use a few more ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 Salmon fillets

1 tsp of fresh chilli, chopped

1 tsp of fresh ginger, chopped

5 tsp of soy sauce

2 tsp of maple syrup

I was originally going to use honey but I didn’t have any so I used maple syrup instead.

Method:

Start my skinning the salmon fillets if they have the skin still on them, then chop them up into small chunks and place in the frying pan or wok.

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, taste and adjust to your liking.

Pour the marinade over the salmon and leave for 20 minutes or leave for as long as you can.

Cook on a medium heat until the salmon is cooked through, around 5 to 10 minutes.

I normally serve it with rice and on this occasion I did, along with some cabbage, delicious!

Chilli con carne

I recently found a few new ingredients that I wanted to try out so I made this for my housemates on Sunday night and they can’t stop telling me how much they love it. If they keep telling me how much they love my food I might want to live with them forever!

Ingredients:

450g beef mince

1 tin of kidney beans

1 tin of Heinz vegetable chilli beans

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 chopped pepper

1 chopped onion

Chilli flakes

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Method:

Start by putting some olive oil in a saucepan then adding the onion. Cook for 3 minutes then add the pepper and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the beef mince and brown off, cooking for roughly 10 minutes. Adding salt and pepper whilst it is cooking.

Add all of the beans and the chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of chilli flakes and cook for another 5 minutes.

Leave the chilli con carne to simmer for 15 minutes.

I served mine with rice and an Old el Paso Stand N’ Stuff Soft Taco Kit and some salsa. It was so much better than any chilli I had had before and maybe that’s why my housemates loved it so much. Next I’ll be trying burritos!

Spicy Chicken Rice

This is my take on spicy rice. If you've ever had it at nandos, it is possibly the best thing since sliced bread. It is the ultimate comfort food but without any guilt. Everyone should try this, you won't regret it.

Ingredients (per person):

2 oz of brown rice

½ a pepper

½ an onion

Chilli powder

1 crushed clove of garlic

1 egg

1 chicken breast

Olive oil

Soy Sauce

Butter

Method:

Start by weighing out your rice, you don't want more than this otherwise you will lose all the other ingredients and basically just eat rice. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Also cook the chicken breast with a bit of seasoning in the oven for 25 minutes on 180C.

Melt the butter in a pan. Then turn down the heat and crack the egg in the pan, then scramble it. Cook it for about 4 minutes or until it is to your liking.

 Chop up the onion and pepper and crush a garlic clove in with the onion.

Put some olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Let it cook on a medium heat for about 5  minutes so the onion softens. Make sure you keep stirring so that it doesn't catch.

Add the pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add in the rice and soy sauce (as much to your taste) and chilli powder (again to your taste, depending on how much spice you want). Mix it all together and cook for about 3 minutes, make sure you keep stirring so you don't burn the rice.

Shred the cooked chicken so it is in smaller pieces. 

Add the egg and chicken and mix in with the rice mixture and cook for a bit 3 minutes to heat it all through.

And here's the delicious final dish! I could eat it all over again, it was that good. I could give nandos a run for their money :) 

Next time I would probably add carrots but we didn't have any in the house at the time. And maybe a bit more chilli powder!

Cauliflower Pizza

After I tried cauliflower rice yesterday (and loved it!), the next thing to try was obviously as a pizza, it didn’t turn out quite how I expected but I did follow the method exactly so obviously I will next time! It was still good, what I was able to rescue…anyway, this was way tastier than the rice as there was a bit more to it so definitely try this one.

Ingredients:

½ Cauliflower

A handful of mozzarella

1 egg

1 garlic clove, crushed

Pizza sauce/tinned tomatoes

Any toppings you like

Mozzarella for topping

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220c and put the baking tray in to let it get hot. Grate the cauliflower, or blitz in a food processor, so it resembles ‘rice’.  

Put in a microwave proof bowl, top with a plate and put in the microwave for 4 minutes.

Tip it out onto a clean towel when it’s done and allow it to cool down.

Put it back into the bowl with the mozzarella and garlic, stir it all together and then add the egg and mix it in well. 

Lay it on some greaseproof paper in a round pizza shape.

Put this onto the baking tray and pop back in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out after it has bronzed a bit.

Put on the sauce, toppings and cheese and put back into the oven for roughly 6 – 8 minutes, or until it looks how you prefer your pizza.

Take it out and enjoy!

If anyone wants to give me any new recipes to try, I would love you forever!

Egg Fried Cauliflower Rice with Vegetables

I've never been a big fan cauliflower but today I fell in love with this recipe, it's delicious. Honestly, if you're going to try something, try this recipe!! I was really hesitant to try this one, what if i didn't like it?, was it really all what it was made out to be? and yes, yes it was.

100% credit needs to be given to Caitlin and Susie for recommending this.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
½ a cauliflower
½ a chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
½ red pepper, diced
2 asparagus, chopped
1 egg
2 tbsp soy sauce

Method:
First either grate the cauliflower, or more easily, blitz it in a food processor.

Then put it all on some kitchen roll to absorb some of the moisture. With the chilli and olive oil, put the cauliflower in a wok and cook on a medium to high heat for roughly 4 minutes to allow for it all to cook through. 

Add the soy sauce, pepper and asparagus to the mixture and allow to cook for a couple more minutes. 

Make a well in the mixture and add the egg to the well, allowing it to cook through slightly. Mix in the egg through the rice and vegetables and cook for a couple of minutes. 

Serve and enjoy!

Tomorrow I'll be trying cauliflower pizza, which I'm looking forward to now!

Salmon and Leek Parcels

I just can’t stop cooking! So it would be quite rude of me if I weren’t to share these great recipes with you all. I was a bit apprehensive about this recipe with the odd combination of spices and herbs but you’d be surprised at how well they work together. I’ve always been more of a savoury person than a sweet person even though I absolutely love baking; I never eat what I make! However, I’m all into trying new things right now so I’m going to look into finding some healthy alternatives to satisfy your sweet tooth, so stay tuned!!

Ingredients:

2 medium leeks, trimmed

4 salmon fillets, skinned

6 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp chopped coriander

1 tsp medium hot curry powder

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 – 6 stems of vine cherry tomatoes

Method:

Thinly slice the leeks, place in a sieve and rinse under cold water. Drain well.

Grease foil lightly with a little oil, and divide the leeks, placing in the centre of the foil. Scatter half of the coriander over. Place a salmon fillet on top and season.

Mix together the remaining oil, curry powder and lemon juice and pour some over each fillet. Seal the packages.

Het the oven to 200c, place the parcels on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, put the cherry tomatoes into a small roasting tin, drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 12 minutes.

Scatter the remaining chopped coriander over the fish and serve with tomatoes.

When I was roasting the tomatoes, I also seasoned them with garlic salt which tasted amazing and I also served it with a small portion of rice but its not necessary if you want a smaller meal!