* Slow Cooker Turkey and Chorizo Chilli

Over the Christmas holidays I went to my oldest BFF - Kerry's house, for dinner. It was just the two us (tres romantic) and we stuffed ourselves stoopid on her slow cooker beef chilli, cheesy nachos, all the trimmings and cheesecake. Kerry knows how to entertain when it comes to food. If she'd come to me she'd have had a bowl of chilli and rice placed in front of her, with a fork... and possibly some cheese. I may even have grated it in advance.

Her chilli was *to die for*, and though she has promised me the recipe - a bit like the cheesecake recipe of yore - she has yet to come up with the goodies (this is a not-so-subtle hint). The only thing she 'fessed up to was the use of chorizo sausage and a can of mixed beans.

After waiting very patiently - possibly a day, maybe two - for the recipe... I decided to create my own Slow Cooker Turkey and Chorizo Chilli recipe, that was inspired by Kerry's flavours but different enough that when I'm old and gray and wrinkly and she finally gives me the recipe for hers (laying it on super thick here)... that I can add it to Abbe's Cooking Antics. 

I've used chickpeas in this recipe, in place of beans and turkey instead of beef - partly because it felt right and partly because I could. It really is one of my best slow cooker recipes yet, right up there with the Moroccan Lamb Tagine and the Mexican Meatballs.

But you really should judge for yourselves... which is code for "Cook it, you'll love me".

You really will.

* Slow Cooker Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya

Yeah Baby... YEAH!... Another success in my slow cooker. "OOooooh Happy Daaaaayyyyyyyzzzzzz".

I'll be honest (when am I not), I was expecting this to be a disaster because of the rice. Not out of any sort of psychic knowledge of what rice does in a slow cooker, but from one experience a couple of weeks back when dinner went in the dog.

I had discovered a weight watchers chicken rice type recipe for the slow cooker and followed the method and ingredients precisely and maaaan oh maaan "disgusting" just doesn't cover it - I could have cemented a house together with what came out of the pot. Sammy (the dog) thought it was Christmas (for the third time that week... don't even get me started on the beef skirt I wasted on a casserole in the bloody thing). I didn't give her the whole pot all at once - I made it last for a few days at dinner time for her - but she still couldn't get her belly up off the floor for a week afterwards. When Neil tried to play tug-o-war with her, which she loves, she just kind of rolled her eyes at him in a "stupid boy" fashion, rolled over, farted and went back to sleep...(I also do this when Neil wants me to play tug-o-war... but for entirely different reasons).

She didn't get any of this though. It was scrumptious.

Yet again it's a recipe that I adapted (quite a lot) from The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney. There was a bit of pre-cooking involved, and I have to admit that's not what I bought the slow cooker for. I really wanted to be able to just bung everything in it, turn it on and "Hey Presto!"... dinner is cooked and ready to serve a few hours later.... however... the end result is always worth the extra bit of effort, and I have the time to do it (mostly) - so why not?

As typically as ever, I didn't have all of the ingredients for this to begin with. I bought okra thinking I had everything else... and when I checked, the only thing I had, was the okra. Thankfully I got my car back from Neil on Monday, so was able to go shopping (I was born to shop) and get the rest. I suppose I could have played about with the main ingredients, but I've had such little success with the slow cooker that I didn't want to jinx the current turn of events.

I'm building up the courage to tackle making a cheesecake in it. Though I'm not sure my brain is on the same page with this one.

Which could be interesting.

* Pita Pizzas

I'm always struggling to find ways to use up fresh food... before it's no longer fresh... and these little pizzas fulfil several agendas. They're quick and easy, you can design your own topping, they use up leftovers and almost everyone loves them.

I say almost, because I have "A Josh". I think we all have one somewhere within our families. Mine doesn't like pizza... I am constantly checking his birth certificate to make sure he is mine.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I fight a constant battle between what I want to eat, what I have to eat, and what time I have to cook. I'm not the worlds most organised individual so I'm often scrabbling around at the end of the day for something half decent for us to eat, that I can put together fairly quickly and bung on a plate with a wodge of salad (or not).

I have the best of intentions in the morning, but come late afternoon and evening I've usually lost the plot. It's a personality defect that my nearest and dearest tolerate with aplomb. Today, for instance, I had fully intended to get up early, get my jobs done, walk the dog, cook stuff, blog stuff, sit in the garden and contemplate the importance of being.... then walk the dog, cook more stuff...

...I've walked the dog and... *sigh*. I've walked the dog. That's it.

OH!... and watched a film.

You can see why a meal as quick and easy as pita pizza, comes in handy occasionally. You can use any type of pita bread, but I prefer circular wholemeal ones and of course, you can make up your own toppings depending on what you have available. 

I've given you a couple of ideas below, but have at it!

* Sausage, Bean and Vegetable Casserole

This time last year, I'd put my boots in the back of the cupboard and swapped them for an array of sandals. My thick cardigans and jumpers were folded up, put in the top of the wardrobe and were being ignored in favour of t-shirts and light weight jackets... and my toenails were painted in spring colours...

This year is a little bit different.

...I've just walked the dog... in a woolly hat. Of course, I was wearing more than just that (don't even go there)... but a woolly hat? In April? I almost came back and got my scarf when the wind picked up as I walked down the hill! Last year on my birthday (which is around this time of year), I was wearing chiffon... chiffon!!! ... with my sandals et al when we went out to dinner to celebrate. This year - boots, jeans and a long black snug woolly jumper... and a jacket. The woolly hat would have spoiled my strategically messy hair or I'd have worn that too. One can't really sit down to dinner with a bad case of "Helmet Head" and feel that ones husband is finding one attractive.

Chiffon!!!

What on earth is going on? Didn't we have a bad enough year weather wise last year? Did it not rain cats and flippin' dogs from April until December? I so desperately want to blame the government for the weather... or people with really bad hair... or New Age Travellers (who are sooo new age that they don't actually travel)... but I can't. Because apparently it's not their fault.

The only comfort - other than turning the dial up to three on the electric blanket - is that warming winter recipes manage to find their way to the table a bit more often than they might otherwise... and this one fits the bill rather nicely.

I debated whether or not to call it a straight forwards "sausage casserole", but it's got soooo much in it, that the other ingredients were worthy of a mention. It's one of those meals that will take virtually any vegetable that you have at your disposal, that you want to use up. I had half a butternut squash and a slightly sad parsnip that were perfect for bunging in with the rest of the veg.

There's so much in it, that you really don't need anything more than a few thick slices of crusty bread to go with it.

...and some grated cheddar if you really can't help yourself. 

Which I couldn't.

* Seafood Paella

I've been a busy bee this past week - painting and decorating a bedroom for my mum. I've been covered in white paint freckles from top to toe and at one point you'd have been forgiven for thinking I'd been dipping my hands in the paint pot rather than bothering with a brush... not exactly a french manicure.

I decorate a bit like I cook... the end result is always - okaaaaay... mostly - worth the effort, but the utter carnage I leave in my wake can leave even me... awestruck.

This would probably amaze my friend Trina, because I'm fairly sure she thinks I have OCD (mainly because she said so). She saw inside my cupboard under the stairs yesterday and stopped just short of taking my temperature - my cupboards are organised to within an inch of their lives. Not because I am tidy and organised when given the time, but more because I have a temper that makes anything that isn't nailed down - fair game.

I have lots and lots of stuff in my cupboards. It's a small house. If I can't get to what's in them - I break stuff. Stuff that is in the way of other stuff. Stuff that I need. Just... stuff. So it's safer, cheaper and more expedient for me to be able to get at all of that stuff, without testing my patience... of which, I have none.

Happily, this Seafood Paella didn't test my patience either and was fairly quick and easy to put together, which meant we didn't have to survive on take-out whilst I was becoming the next Michael Angelo.

I kid you not. My undercoating is "To Die For".

* Chorizo and Chestnut Mushroom Carbonara

Yes - it IS another Chorizo recipe. I'm sorry, they're kinda screaming to get out of their folder due to overcrowding issues. So though I said I'd try to space them out... I did also say that I "wouldn't promise nuffink"... because I  LOVE IT.

You nearly got a soup recipe, but when I had a really good look at the photographs - it looked a bit like cat sick. So... no soup today. Especially as I would really like you to come back and thought I may have been pushing my luck with Monday's Meat Brownie... *cue exaggerated wink*. 

No. I'm not having a stroke. Thankyou.

This recipe was not born of the need to use up the Chorizo - however, there was a small, half used tub of low fat crème fraîche that was feeling rather sorry for itself at the back of the fridge, and I had an urge for some sort of creamy pasta. I also had an egg. Just the one.

It quite genuinely took 15 minutes from start to finish (after the kettle had boiled) to cook this. I even managed to make a quich Hassleback Stylie garlic bread from a Ciabatta Roll that decided to get in on the "use me now or lose me forever" action.

It was that scrumptious that I could have happily eaten both bowls.

I didn't though.

Really.

* Chicken, Chorizo and Borlotti Bean Stew

Yes, it's yet another recipe with beans in it - this time they're purple ones. Sort of. I can promise you that it's not the beans recipes that you're going to get sick of though -it's the chorizo ones. I bought a *job lot* because I LOVE IT and have had to use it up whilst it's still fresh. Which I don't mind at all, because I LOVE IT but you might not. So... I'll try to be kind and space them out a little, but I'm promising nuffink... because... well... I LOVE IT.

Apparently, I also love a lot of other food. Weight watchers has not been going well for at least the past 4 weeks - I haven't tracked my food intake, even though I have tracked the points for 99% of my recipes. My weight remained the same for 4 weeks - which is better than going up, but not as good as going down. Which disappointed my brain no end.

I think me and my brain need to have a conversation about what constitutes a miracle. It has much higher expectations of weight loss, than I do. It also has a nasty habit of making me keep my eyes shut when I get on the scales on a Friday morning. How on earth am I supposed to see how much I weigh, through my eyelids??!!??

Imagine our surprise (yes, I am referring to myself with a plural...) when I managed to prise my eyes open this morning, and we discovered we had lost 2lbs. My brain had a little party that involved streamers, popping noises and an imaginary kazoo... and I got straight on the phone to ask my mate if she'd like to go swimming again... at which point my brain caught up, stopped blowing on it's imaginary kazoo and put on it's swimsuit.

A frilly pink one with yellow spots.

I can't take her anywhere.

* Pork, Chorizo & Chickpea Casserole

I love, love, LOVE one pot cooking. Not because it means less washing up - I have a dishwasher - but because it's just so bloody easy to keep an eye on ONE POT... not two pots, or three pots... ONE POT.

Less stuff to go wrong. Higher chance of success.... and I can usually wander off and leave it cooking for a bit.

Although I like pork and LOVE chorizo, I'm not a huge fan of chickpeas. However - Neil absolutely loves them and I had a tin of them sitting in the cupboard, looking like the last kid to get picked to a football team.

Happily, they added a touch of gnarly nommy nubbiness to the casserole, and stopped it from being too rich or too... porky.

We ate it with the Courgette and Cheddar Loaf (what was left of it *rolls eyes*).

* Cavatappi with Four Cheese Sauce, Chicken and Chorizo

I have two of the most beautiful nieces in the whole wide world and I really don't see enough of them. Life has the most God awful habit of getting in the way of the things we want to do, as opposed to the things that we have to do.... anyhoo... a couple of weeks back we all got together - minus my son who doesn't *do* anything under 3ft if it isn't covered in fur (I'm referring to my nieces) - and went to my brothers local Wetherspoons for a "pub lunch".

It's a bit of a dive, and you never order the same meal twice because it's never that great. However - it is the ideal place to eat out and not have to worry about how much noise the youngest niece has decided to make or the fact that the oldest one only wants a plate full of potato. Or that you spend half of the meal repeating everything that's said - to mum - because she's half deaf and mostly in her own little world. It's relaxing.

This time, I ordered a pasta dish that had huge potential to be lovely and fell flat on it's face at the last hurdle. It had a hint of *processed food* about it, which spoilt it. It was just a bit too plasticky to be passed off as *fresh*... so... I made my own version last night.

And it was heaven.

* Golden Lentil and Chorizo Soup

When I got home from work this morning - Neil had dug up half the back garden. He's decided that where we had hard landscaping, he now wants turf. I was at a complete loss as to what to say other than - "My you have worked hard, this morning!"... and "Fancy soup for lunch?"

I didn't have any soup. Which took me aback. I always have soup. It's fast food. I like fast food. I like soup.

I made soup.

Neil was my only audience for my Golden Lentil soup. I scattered it with chorizo and pumpkin seeds with a "voila!"...

Apparently, the pumpkin seeds weren't a necessary addition, but the chorizo was... and I quote.... "okay."

He's talking out of his arse.

It was scrumptious.