This is the ultimate comfort food. It is often said to serve it with mashed potato but I think a bowl of this on its own is plenty enough. It is definitely my go to recipe in the winter.

Ingredients:

Stew -

400g Diced beef

2 Celery sticks

2 Carrots

1 Onion

2 garlic cloves

1 leek

3 potatoes

1 tbsp Oil

Herbs

1 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 beef stock cubes

Dumplings –

125g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

60g suet

Water, to bring together the dough

Method:

Put the kettle on, put the celery, carrots, onion and herbs in the pot with the oil and butter. Soften for 10 minutes, then stir in the flour until it doesn’t look dusty anymore. Then stir in the tomato puree and stock cubes.

Gradually stir in 600ml of hot water, then add the beef and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for 2 hours.

Make the dumplings by sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the suet and water to make a thick dough. Roll spoonfuls of dough into balls and coat in flour.

After two hours, add the dumplings and cook for a further 20 minutes.

I'm asking for a slow cooker for Christmas, lame I know! But I definitely think some of my recipes will improve if I cook them in the slow cooker!

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!