Chilli - You can't beat it...

I heard on telly the other day that Chilli was one of the handful of dishes that most Brits could cook.

I then realised that it had been years since I had had a chilli.

So, straight down the supermarket. Mince, kidney beans, chopped tomatoes etc....

An hour or so in the kitchen and voila.

Really nice, I won't be leaving it so long next time.

While I've been writing this I've just done a quite search and found a couple of other (low fat) Mexican recipes I think I'll try.

Birthday Dinner & Home Cooking

Nothing to do with cooking this time, rather about food in general, restaurant food in particular.

It was my birthday on Friday and my other half took me out.

The restaurant was very nice as was the food but there was just something wrong with every course.

The starter was tricky to eat with the utensils provided.

The main Calves Liver, was undercooked for my tastes.

The desert had some very odd flavour combinations...

And it got me to thinking about the old saying about not being able to beat home cooked food.

When you cook at home you choose how to eat the starter, you choose how well done the food is and you choose the flavour combinations.

I guess it's no guarantee of quality but you (or the family cook) are (is) in charge and that makes all the difference.

A quick Sunday evening meal after a long day out

I spent most of the day out with family friends yesterday and didn't have the energy to do a huge meal yesterday evening.

The solution... pasta

Always a good one to fall back on.

Made a basic sauce with mushrooms and chilli Sausage (adding some extra chilli flakes to give it a little more kick).

It was very well received.

I just cut up 2 small onions, chopped up a couple of sausages, added some crushed garlic, then the mushrooms when in.

After frying gently for 5 or so minutes, I added the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, salt pepper, mixed herbs and some chilli flakes, simmered for 10 minutes (while spaghetti was cooking) and voila tasty pasta sauce :)

Longest list of free recipes I've ever found...

This site is quite appropriately called Free Recipes.

It has over 100,000 recipes.

Now I'm not sure if that is overkill, if you're looking for recipe recommendations then I think you'll need to go elsewhere but if you know what you're looking for odds are you'll find it here.

http://www.free-recipes.co.uk/

Where my ideas come from

Just a short post today, I tough I'd share some of my favourite recipe sites with you.

They are the usual suspects but just wanted to let you know where I get most of my inspiration from.

BBC Good Food Recipes

Good to Know Recipes

Jamie Oliver Recipes

Channel 4 Recipes

Healthy snacks

I'm always on the look out for healthy snacks for me and the family.

The best option I've found so far, especially for taking to work, is dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

Fresh fruit would be preferable but it's not very portable, especially if you travel to work by public transport. You get to work and the inside of your bag is covered in fruit pulp...

Dried fruit gets around this and seeds and nuts are a great substitute for crisps.

Cream of jerusalem artichoke soup, YUM...

I just had to share this one with everyone: Cream of jerusalem artichoke soup

I just hope everyone reading this can get hold of these things, I'd never tried them before I got them in an organic veg box that we get every week.

This is one off the best new recipes I've tried in ages.

If jerusalem artichoke isn't for you, you can find more soup recipes here: Soup Recipes

Tabbouleh

We always have a bowl of tabbouleh on the go in our fridge, it's can act as a great side for a wide range of dishes.

Here's a quick and easy recipe that uses tabbouleh as a base.

Lemon chicken with tabbouleh

This recipe is as straight forward as can be and is really healthy to boot.

Checkout more easy recipes from this site.

Chorizo my favorite!

I have to say I love chorizo, it can liven up the dullest dishes.

So Today I'd like to share with you some of my favourite chorizo recipes.

Chorizo Pasta

Chorizo Stew

Chorizo with Lentils & Red Wine

I love one pot cooking and this last one is an absolute gem.

Last night's dinner...

I was feeling lazy last night, this happens quite frequently ;).

So I needed something quick and easy to cook.

I found this Garlic Bread Pizza Recipe on the BBC Good Food website:

Although you need to make your own dough with this recipe it really doesn't take that long at all and doesn't use that many utensils (so less washing up afterwards).

This was a great alternative to the usual heavy, cheese topped pizzas you usually find.

Hi, welcome to Hursty's Cookery Blog

Hello World.

I believe that is the usual title for these things :)

In this blog I'm basically just going to let people in on what I'm cooking at home and my experiences in the Kitchen.

Expect updates every couple of days....