Sherry Trifle

In honour of my late Mum - who always enjoyed a drop of sherry and a nice trifle - on what would have been her 95th birthday.

Trifle sponges, liberally laced with dry sherry, covered in fruit cocktail and topped with custard and whipped cream. Finished off with grated dark chocolate and a few glace cherry halves.

Mushroom & Pea Risotto

V  Our "midweek meat-free meal" this week was a substantial bowl of risotto - so quick, easy and cheap to make and extremely tasty.

I sauteed some chopped onion (in olive oil and butter) in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan until transparent, added some sliced mushrooms and black pepper until they were nicely browned, then tipped in some risotto rice (arborio) and stirred it all together to coat each grain. After a minute or two (when the rice started to "click") I added some white wine, which bubbled and reduced quite quickly, then some vegetable stock (one cube in a pint of boiling water, added around 1/4 pint at a time). The heat went up and down several times, depending on how it seemed to be cooking, and I stirred the whole lot quite often. I added a tiny sprinkle each of Italian Seasoning and paprika, and added some frozen peas when the rice was almost cooked but still with a little "crunch". After another 2-4 minutes, it was ready to serve ... so I added some half-fat cream!! (Really not necessary, but quite scrummy!) Served in a bowl with a few shavings of Parmesan ... lush!

Bacon, Leek, Cheese & Potato Bake

This is one of the tastiest - if not the tastiest - thing I have cooked for a long time! It is an incredibly quick, easy, satisfying and relatively cheap meal, based on this recipe. It's advertised as "low fat" but, in my version, it probably isn't!! I added more bacon and a little grated cheese between halves of the potato/leek mixture and also topped it with some grated cheese. (I also used more cream than was strictly necessary ... but it was half fat!)

Naughty? ... Yes! But heaven on a plate? ... Most definitely!!! It was so delicious and satisfying, that it needed only some simple steamed veg to accompany it; in this case, carrots and curly kale.

Meatballs on Pasta

Little homemade meatballs (just lean minced steak & seasoning), sitting on a swirl of tripolini pasta, accompanied by a rich tomato, mushroom and chorizo sauce, topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese ... absolutely scrumptious!

Lower-fat Vegetable Lasagne

V  In our continuing efforts to have lighter evening meals, we decided to try a lower-fat version of our roasted Mediterranean vegetable lasagne last night. The vegetables were chopped small, roasted in a little oil (covered with foil) for about an hour, seasoned with black pepper and Italian seasoning (mixed herbs), then brought together at the end with a tin of chopped tomatoes, some water and a shake of Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce; I used courgettes, aubergine, mushrooms, red & green peppers, leek, carrot and red onion.

When the vegetables were cooked, I placed a layer in the dish and topped with dry lasagne sheets, repeated and finally topped the second layer of lasagne with the following: soft cheese (I used Philadelphia Light) mixed with low-fat, Greek-style natural yogurt, a little milk, black pepper and some crumbled feta cheese until it was a creamy spreadable sauce consistency. I spread it over the lasagne and topped it with grated cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. It went back in the oven for 20-30 minutes ... and was absolutely delicious!! (We had the leftovers re-heated for lunch today and even my 16-year-old "fussy eater" granddaughter wolfed it down!)

We served it with nothing more than a small green salad, drizzled with balsamic glaze.

Flavours From A Greek Taverna!

A simple pan-fried pork chop (the pan was not burnt, as the photo would suggest!) and a lovely Greek salad ... memories of wonderful holidays.

Easiest and best Greek salad recipe: chop plenty of cucumber, tomato and red onion into a bowl; add sliced green pepper and sliced or whole olives (black is best, but we didn't have any); sprinkle with a little black pepper, mixed Mediterranean herbs and dried mint (gives a more authentic Greek flavour than fresh chopped mint); drizzle with freshly-squeezed lemon juice and good olive oil; place chunks of feta (rinsed) on top, then add a little more of the herbs and olive oil. Heaven on a plate!

Light Chicken Roast

Following a discussion about our eating habits - and how we'd like to eat "lighter", particularly as we eat fairly late in the evening - we had a somewhat healthier version of our usual roast chicken yesterday. A smaller portion of chicken (it's NOT necessary to cover half the plate with it!!), some roasted vegetables and a good portion of brussels sprouts with some smoked bacon lardons, and a much thinner gravy than we usually make. (Our normal gravy is almost like a delicious chicken soup ... we weren't sure about this "lighter" version, at first, but in fact it seemed to allow all the flavours of the meat and vegetables to come through more.) The main difference was that we used a little blended cornflour to thicken it, rather than making a roux with flour and the meat juices.

It was, of course, plenty ... we were nicely sated without feeling "stuffed"!! Lesson learned, hopefully!

Felafal Pitta Pockets

V  Our "Midweek Meat-free Meal" was a day late again, this week ... but still relatively "midweek"! We have tried Granose Felafel Mix before (see their range here) and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd put together a nice pitta meal. We had wholemeal pittas, spread with a little houmous, then filled with the felafels and a gorgeous simple salad/salsa, topped with minty Greek yogurt. The olives were just there to nibble while the meal was being prepared ... which only took 15 minutes or so, in total! Very substantial and very delicious! (An incredibly quick, easy, cheap and healthy meal to make!)

The salad was simply chopped cucumber, tomato, red onion and coriander, seasoned lightly with salt & black pepper, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. The Greek yogurt was mixed with a teaspoon of garden mint (from a jar) and a sprinkle of dried mint. To be honest, I could even have just enjoyed these two in the pitta, without the felafels at all! (Although they were very tasty.)

Southern-style Chicken & Creamy Veg Pasta

This was one of those last-minute, throw-something-together-quick type meals! I hadn't been to the shops, so was limited to what we had in the fridge/freezer/larder. I remembered hubby had bought some Southern-style chicken fillets last week (proper chicken breast pieces, not the dodgy "reformed"stuff), so they went in the oven while I cooked some tripolini (curly-edged, tagliatelle-type pasta) and made a sauce.

I sauteed some red onion slices, broccoli florets and sliced mushrooms in oil and butter, added frozen sweetcorn kernels at the end, then poured in a little cream, milk and dissolved cornflour to thicken. The only seasoning was freshly-ground black pepper and it was delicious! The garlic bread was a step too far, actually ... we couldn't manage it!