* Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

I've been going through all of my kitchen cupboards doing a bit of cleaning and re-arranging, so that I can see better what food I have available and make space for more.

I'm joking.

There is no space for more... I live in a rabbit hutch. I just had an urge to re-invent the interior of my kitchen cupboards because I made the fatal mistake of visiting Homebase last week and ended up looking at beautiful, stream lined, well designed, brand new kitchens.... then came home and wanted to burn the house down.

When re-arranging et al - I discovered a bag of dried porcini mushrooms that I bought a couple of weeks back... and dinner was decided. Sort of. What I really wanted to make was a risotto, but as yet I have not discovered the trick to making a mushroom risotto that doesn't look like something the cat coughed up.... also - Neil doesn't really like risotto and is starting to suss out when I say "It's a rice thingy", that it is, in fact... a risotto.

So seeing as I can probably only use the "Rice Thingy" as an excuse maybe one more time and get away with it... I made a Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta, and threw in a large handful of curly kale at the end, to add a bit of crunch. If I'd had any spinach I might have used that - but me and spinach is doing a Ross and Rachel and we is "On a Break".

Of course... I did have some creme fraiche standing to attention in the fridge, giving me it's best toothless smile, so I bunged some of that in.

How could I resist?

* Turkey Chow Mein

This Turkey Chow Mein is a quick and easy mid-week meal that takes about 30 minutes to put together.... and a life time to blog about.

It's been sitting in my to-do folder for about a month because I took sooooooooo many photographs of it that I LOVED - that I was having a hard time whittling it down to just two. After a while they all sort of looked the same and I had to chip away at them gradually until I was happy with my final choice... which I wasn't - so I had to go find all the deleted originals and start again.

Twice.

Had I known just how complicated and time consuming taking a photo of a recipe was going to get, I may never have started food blogging in the first place. However, I am now well and truly addicted and we're eating all sorts of weird and wonderfuls... that don't always get blogged.

For instance, last night I threw together a quick chicken shepherds pie type affair, with leeks and mushrooms and it tasted absolutely GAWJUS...

... but it looked like the cat had thrown up on our dinner plates. Not exactly food to share. I spent the entire meal thinking "How can I do this again but next time make it look like something other people might want to try to cook... and then eat?"

I'd had a glass of wine though and after thinking the above sentence... all I could think about was cheesecake.

This happens A LOT.

* Beef and Bell Pepper Goulash

Beef Goulash is the ideal food for the weather that we're having at the moment. It's not quite as heavy as a stew, but it's hearty, sweetly spicy and warming with a bowl of rice to soak up the juices.

This isn't a quick recipe, but more a slow burner - though still very easy to throw together and walk away from while it cooks.

After the lovely summer that we've had - it's almost inevitable that my welly boots now need their own welly boots. It isn't just raining - it's pouring.

The dog is speed pee-ing whenever she has to "go tinkles", to get it over and done with as quickly as possible and I wouldn't be surprised to walk into the kitchen at some point and find her with just her backside hanging out of the dog flap while she does her business. She never used to mind the rain, but as she's grown older she doesn't tolerate any level of discomfort well.

I sympathise completely.

I really don't like the discomfort of being hungry - which would probably explain the size of my bum. This 5:2 diet I'm on is making even cat food smell appetising when I catch a whiff of it as I trundle past the cats bowl on my way to the tap for a filling glass of water.

And toothpaste.

Toothpaste smells like gourmet fare.

I really need to go lick something.

* Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta Bake

I'm becoming the "Queen of Hate Food Waste" just recently, with all the food I'm managing to use up. I think it makes me just slightly more inventive when I cook based on need rather than on want.

I'll try to explain....

I occasionally buy ingredients to cook for a specific recipe that either I have come up with, or I've found whilst trawling through various cook books or across the interwebz. It's really satisfying to cook from a recipe, but I often have half a jar of this or half a tub of that left over when I'm done - because I mostly use fresh ingredients when cooking. I then get left with an ingredient or three that has a shelf life.... like spinach, creme fraiche, harissa paste, cream cheese (never, ever do I have chocolate anything left over... ever) - to name but a few. If you're a repeat reader you already know about the spinach and the creme fraiche - if you're not a repeat reader - go do your homework... links have been supplied!

This Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta Bake made use of some cooked left over chicken and the remnants of a tub of Philadelphia, and I honestly don't think I'd have come up with it if Melanie Jean on my facebook page hadn't made a request for a chicken and tomato pasta dish with no basil and only a little garlic. I was just gonna bung the chicken in a sandwich for Neil and eat some cream cheese on crumpets until both were gone. Not overly inventive, eh?

This was one of those meals that you could cut the time in half by simply not baking it in the oven, just dish it out straight from the pot if you're in a hurry and grate some cheese over the top. I baked mine because I had the time.

It was nommy.... and there were left overs.... 

... Be still my beating heart ;-)

* Butternut Squash Lasagne {Meatless Mondays}

I've experimented with this Butternut Squash Lasagne a few of times now. The first time I used a bechamel sauce and cut the butternut rather large. It was too rich and sweet and the butternut wasn't a particularly nice texture to come across whilst eating it... not a good thing when the whole bloody dish is being prepared on the basis of using the butternut to start with... and it was sloppy.

I don't like sloppy lasagne... I like gin... (you have to have a tv and know your Aldi adverts to appreciate the last sentence).

So... I like lasagne that holds it shape when you dish it out - it makes it look like you're an expert at much more than just making lasagne. Truly.

Next time you visit a restaurant or friends house and they serve up a sloppy lasagne - even if it tastes great - you're going to think about the fact that you are judging them on so many more levels than just their ability to cook the lasagne. If you're eating out, at the very least you're going to think you're paying too much. If you're at a friends, you're going to pray that they haven't attempted a trifle for dessert.

Well... that's what my brain does... I don't get invited anywhere but mother's for dinner (JOKING PEOPLE!).

The butternut for this lasagne was diced much smaller than previous versions, so sort of melted into the sauce, aaaaannd I used creme fraiche instead of a bechamel sauce and it cut through some of that sweetness. Plus all I had to do was spoon it out of it's pot, rather than stand stirring and whisking and praying for a lumpless sauce.

This lasagne held it's shape.

I reckon I could tackle a trifle. 

Maybe.

* Chard and Chickpea Curry {Meatless Mondays}

I was out cutting the grass a few days back when I heard a voice comment on the fact that I needed to trim my bush. My fuscia bush. You are so rude. It (the fuscia bush) covers the end of the path that leads to the front door. My friend Trina, was attempting to get past it, hefting a bag of ruby chard that her mum had grown and given her for me to try.

I knew nothing about chard - beyond the fact that it was green and leafy - so had to do a quick google search to find out how best to cook it/use it. I was fascinated to discover that it's related to the beetroot family.  It does taste very mildly like beetroot - it's got a subtle, earthy flavour to it - doesn't turn your tongue pink though.... yes... I tested it. Twice.

You can use the stalks of the chard like you would celery, and the leaves like you would spinach. Trina and her mum had both tried it in a salad and not been impressed, so I thought I'd have a go at something different and came across a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for a Chard and Chickpea Curry, that I altered to suit the ingredients that I had available... because I STILL never have everything I need to follow a recipe.

As I've never cooked with Chard before - this recipe is going into this month's Our Growing Edge link up - hosted by Palachinka from Food and Travel. Our Growing Edge is aimed at connecting food bloggers everywhere and inspiring us to challenge ourselves and try new things. It's a great idea and absolutely everyone is welcome to join in, so come on over and take a look for yourselves.

Oh yeah... the curry was lush. I think I may be having an affair with chickpeas.
  

* Chicken Cacciatore

I know. Long time no see. Don't pretend you've missed me.

If you're British you've been at the beach soaking up the rays of the first heatwave that the UK has seen since 2006. If you're from the rest of the world I have no clue what you've been doing. I just hope you were enjoying it, and if it wasn't legal you didn't get caught.

Me... I... have been with the rest of the UK. Enjoying the Summer. It really has been such a long time since we've had one. My oldest niece is five in September and this has been her first experience of what a British Summer can feel like, and how differently we all behave when the sun shines for more than a day or two at a time. Everyone has soaked up "the happy" to a point where even the British Economy has finally begun to surge in the right direction (upwards).

I've been in the garden. Barbecuing stuff. Then eating the barbecued stuff. There are no photos of barbecued stuff. We ate the barbecued stuff. Very quickly. We have also drunk copious amounts of wine, got drunk with the neighbours (very, very, drunk), been paddling in the river Tamar with Isla Joy (oldest niece), admired Zoe Valletta's (youngest niece) sun glasses and her amazing ability to eat a million plums (Glad I didn't have to change that nappy!), been swimming in an English sea (first time in 10 years), been out to dinner (A LOT) and generally had a holiday at home.

It has been heaven, but now the heat wave has passed and though it's still warm and occasionally sunny, the magic is fading.

My blog has suffered because I've hardly cooked in the past month. I haven't had time. Maybe if I was earning an income from it, I would have paid it more attention. But I'm not. It's a hobby. So I shall warn you now - if we get another heatwave this year... HIGHLY UNLIKELY... I may well disappear again.

I have actually missed cooking (little bit), and this Chicken Cacciatore was the perfect meal to cook on the stove in a warm kitchen with all the doors and windows wide open to let the air in. It doesn't take too long to cook and is absolutely GAWJUS with a glass of red wine...

... or three.

* 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.

* Creamy Bacon, Mushroom and Tomato Tagliatelle

I've been attempting to stick to some sort of routine as far as updating is concerned, and I think I managed a week before it all went tits up! I was aiming for Monday, Wednesday and Friday - but for whatever reason I can't schedule a post for a certain time, so have to do it all *hands on*... I know. I can get it fixed. Just haven't got that far yet. Life has this godawful habit of getting in the way...

...aaaaaaaand I have a brain that flushes stuff out once it gets full. So I forget stuff. Never important stuff. Just... *stuff what I might need at some point in the future* - like (for instance) the ingredients that I used for this particular recipe. I've just had a mild panic attack whilst staring at the photographs and thinking "OhMyGodHowDidIMakeThis??!!??"

Not only did I forget all of the ingredients... I also forgot that I knew that I would forget all of the ingredients. Read it again. It makes complete sense.

So guess what I did?  Guess. Go on.

Apparently I rescued myself!!! I've just wandered in here to make a new post, debating (rather fervently) whether or not to blag it or cook the flamin' thing again, only to discover that in amongst the posts was a post titled "Creamy Bacon, Mushroom and Tomato Tagliatelle" in draft form.

I HAD ALREADY WRITTEN THE RECIPE OUT!!! Hah. Go me. With big brass shiny knobs on.

You know what this means don't you?

I am officially an adult.

I've stuck little gold stars all over my face, as proof.

* Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake

This is my absolute FAVOURITE pasta bake. I think the cream in it hits my sweet tooth button, and of course it has oodles of cheese - and that hits the... cheese button.

It's one of those dishes that once you've cleared your plate, you'd like to go back to the beginning and eat it all over again. It's not too rich, or too savoury, or too cheesy. NOTHING is too cheesy. It's just right.

This is the yummy fare that we had for dinner yesterday.

Today I have been shopping for food (again) and have bought sooo much that I suffered a mental block over what to cook tonight. The cupboards are full, the fridge is sporting a new rainbow and the freezers have been propped shut with chairs.

It'll have to be fish finger sandwiches.