* Pork Meatballs with Chipotle Tomato Sauce

I am currently going through yet another "use up everything in the freezers" phase. It's only going to last long enough for me to make enough room to stuff more stuff in them... and also long enough to discover a million different ways to cook pork mince - I have a crap ton of the stuff... of course, I didn't know this when I started this phase. If I had, I might still be endeavouring to cram everything into my freezers with a shoe horn. There's only so much pork mince a person can eat before they start oinking.

Or before one's husband begins to roll his eyes and ask... "Pork mince again??? Have we started a pig farm and this is your way of telling me?"

"No - but if you'd like to take over the cooking from now on.....?"

"Nothat'sokay."

"Thought so. Have another meatball... we have a freezer full of them."

We don't... but for the sake of winding him up, I just can't resist.

So... as you can see... I made these Pork Meatballs with Chipotle Tomato Sauce. They're  rich and spicy and busting with flavour and are also fairly easy on the calories.... yes... I am still dieting, or rather - since my last post I sort of, kind of, might have... eaten my own body weight in chocolate (again)... and decided I should probably start making an effort to ensure that I only ever require one seat on an aeroplane...

... to house my bum...

* Creamy Paprika Pork

I've chosen to remove (temporarily) one of my recipes because it has become an almost permanent victim of *that meat that comes in a tin* - I'm not saying it out loud in case this post attracts the same - and it's absolutely doing my head in. I've reverted it to draft form, and have no idea when I publish it again, whether it will slot back into my blog in it's original place, or show up as a new entry. So if you spot one of my bread recipes is missing, this is why.

I have also been debating (quite seriously) the pros and cons of having a *followers* gadget in the right hand column on this blog for some time - since I started it up, in fact. On the one hand, it's an easy way for anyone that likes what they find, to find their way back when there are new posts... and on the other hand it tends to look like a measure of one's popularity, but only if one is striving to be popular.

One has never striven to be popular.

One's two friends could attest to that.

So.... The follower gadget... I did it.

Theeeeennn I undid it.

It lasted about a day, maybe two. It made me distinctly uncomfortable and I honestly couldn't tell you why. The only thing I can compare it too (and it's random) is the difficulty I face when purchasing birthday cards for a loved one... although I completely empathise with the flowery, sentimental words written within some of those cards, and they convey exactly how I feel about the person I'm buying the card for... I'D RATHER SHOOT MYSELF IN THE FOOT than buy one.

I nearly always purchase a card that has no words and could mean absolutely anything, and I write the words myself "Happy Birthday" - that's it. Simple but effective. "Happy Birthday". That's all you get... and maybe a *much love*  - if I love you...

...or a *from* - if I don't love you and have only bought the card out of some misguided sense of duty. Let's face it - if it's just got *from* on it, I don't even like you and my mum made me do it.

I did say it was random.

Can you even imagine the absolute agony I go through at Valentine's?? How to convey to my husband that I love him very much, without actually buying a card that says that??!!??

Did I mention that I'm slightly unhinged?

Did I need to?

* 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*).

* Fusillata with Buttered Leeks and Gammon

Josh absolutely loves convenience foods... if it comes in a packet, plastic box or tub or cardboard box - he'll eat it. Oddly enough he also loves fresh vegetables. Which as you can imagine, can be difficult to combine...

Anyone for a Big Mac and a plate of carrots?!!? No?

One of his favourite quick meals is a packet of  Batchelor's Ham and Leek Pasta 'n' Sauce, which I refuse to buy on the grounds that I can cook whatever is in it, from scratch - in about the same amount of time and make enough for us all to have the same meal - a VERY rare occurrence - without the additives and preservatives and general crapness that they put into these things.

And mine is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better. Of course.

I'm currently playing about with a variety of pastas that I haven't tried before. It's so easy to get bogged down with using the same stuff all the time because we remember to buy it and know we have a use for it. Macaroni is something that this house would fall down, without. It's my *go to* pasta.

Yesterday, after falling in love with the little squishy cream cheese filled peppers - I found some sexy looking pasta called Fusillata Caseraccia. There's no translation (that I could find) for Fusillata. It's probably just a schmexy way of saying Fusilli. But Casareccia appears to mean *homemade* - which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and earth mothery.

Which is new. Not sure if it's me, though.

* Smokey Pork and Black Bean Tacos

I have a new love.

Whilst standing at the deli counter in Morrisons today - buying a hundred weight of Manchego cheese - I noticed these little tiny red peppers, stuffed with cream cheese. I couldn't resist them, but not knowing if they'd be as nice as they looked, I only bought 100g.

I wish I'd bought a kilo. They were sweet and spicy and bursting with flavour. They lasted all of five seconds after I'd eaten the first one. Happy days.

I also bought some fresh, slow roasted tomatoes, that were just as juicy and incredibly sweet and perfect to try out in a guacamole - that's if there were any left after I'd sampled them a few times.

Just to be sure.

I made tacos et al, to go with the guacamole. A boat load of them.

I'm plum taco'd out.

* Pork and Mustard Casserole

Growing up, I watched my mum get tied to the kitchen virtually every Sunday of her life - cooking a roast dinner. Even in the height of Summer, when the entire family would be milling around, intermittently helping and hindering between bouts of sitting in the back garden, soaking up the sunshine, getting merry on whatever wine or lager dad had managed to get on special in Somerfields.

The only time she didn't cook a roast, was when dad did a barbecue. Which was always an experience - we grew up believing that barbecued meat was supposed to resemble the coals it had been cooked upon.

Mum was quite happy to cook a roast - most of the time - but it was something that I saw as not being her choice - so more often than not, I choose not to cook a roast dinner on a Sunday... but just occasionally I crave a simple dinner with meat, potato and vegetables.

Neil appreciates it when I have these cravings.

Man cannot live on pasta alone.

Well. Mine can't.