Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

Cottage pie is the perfect way to feed all the family - it contains 5 different vegetables, and is delicious and very filling - it will go a long way so is great value for money. You can prepare it in advance, and is a great way to get in some veggies without really noticing. Also perfect as a meal for one or two as you will be left with portions for the rest of the week or to freeze and re-heat at a later date.

Just look at that cheesy goodness making it the ultimate 'healthy' comfort food!

Sweet potato is a great alternative to normal potatoes as not only do they have a great flavour, but they are also higher in vitamins and have a lower GI, so they transform the traditional cottage pie to a more tasty and healthy meal for the family!

Serves 4

- 2 medium-large sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped

- olive oil

- 500g pack of extra lean beef mince

- 2 onions, chopped

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed

- 5 large mushrooms, sliced

- few generous glugs of Worcester sauce

- tomato ketchup (or tomato purée, if you have it)

- dried mixed herbs

- small handful of plain flour

- 500ml beef stock

- 200g frozen peas

- dash of milk

- knob of butter

- salt & pepper

- 75g extra strong cheddar cheese

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the sweet potato until soft (about 20 minutes), and pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Meanwhile, drizzle some olive oil into a large saucepan and brown the mince. Add in the onion and carrot and cook for a few more minutes.

3. When softened, add the cloves of garlic, mushrooms, Worcester sauce, tomato ketchup, dried herbs and flour, and mix together until combined.

4. Pour in the prepared beef stock and bring to the boil, then add the frozen peas. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until reduced and thickened.

5. Drain the sweet potato when cooked and return to the pan. Pour in some milk, butter and season, then mash until smooth.

6. Pour the mince mixture into a large oven-proof dish, then smooth the sweet potato mash on top using a spoon. Grate the cheddar on top and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes, or until piping hot in the middle and golden on top.

7. Serve hot from the oven with green veg of your choice (I had long-stemmed broccoli!)

Enjoy :)

Beef casserole & roast potatoes

A hearty beef casserole to warm you up through the cold weather

Perfect with some crispy-bottomed roasties

Serves 2-3

For the casserole

- olive oil

- 1 large onion, thickly chopped

- 1 clove of garlic, chopped

- 450g casserole steak, chopped

- plain flour

- salt & pepper

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

- 400ml beef stock

- 100g mushrooms, chopped

- sprigs of fresh thyme

For the roast potatoes

- maris piper or king edward potatoes, halved or quartered

- olive oil

- seasoning (spice & herb blend or whatever you like)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. In a large pan, fry the onion and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil for a few minutes. Then add the beef, a sprinkling of flour and seasoning and stiry to combine, cooking for a few more minutes.

3. Next add the carrots, then the best ingredient

4. And the beef stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer.

5. Add the mushrooms and fresh sprigs of thyme, then transfer to a casserole dish with a lid, and cook in the oven for about two hours (stirring halfway through). 

6. Meanwhile, while the casserole is cooking, for the roast potatoes, prepare as many as you wish (depending on your appetite) and par-boil in salted water for around 10-15 minutes.

7. Drain and place on kitchen paper, leaving to cool and dry out for 20-30 minutes.

8. Pour a generous amount of oil into a roasting tin and place in the oven, turning it up to 200 degrees, until the oil has heated up.

9. Remove the tray from the oven and transfer the potatoes into the dish, coating in the hot oil. Season well and then roast in the oven for around 40 minutes, or until crisped to your likening.

10. By the end of the two hours, your casserole should be thicker (add cornflour if not) and ready to serve, accompanied by roasties that are fluffy in the middle, and crisp on the outside.

Enjoy :)

Crispy duck stir fry

 Since it is Chinese New Year on Friday, I thought it was only fitting that I treat myself to some duck, and thankfully, the supermarkets agreed. In Sainsbury's the crispy aromatic duck is half price at £5 so I bought it and decided that instead of sitting there by myself and scoffing duck pancakes, I would make a delicious stir fry that I could share with you all!

It was super yummy - I love duck because it's so tender and full of strong flavour, and you can make it really crispy. Don't worry if you don't have a whole or half a crispy duck to cook, you can buy duck breasts and cook them like you would chicken and this stir fry would be just as good. If you haven't tried duck before, I really recommend it - I have only enjoyed it in recent years since my mum unfortunately got really bad food poisoning from duck once (not to put you off) and so we never had it in the house so I never got to try it. But now I love it and will always choose it in restaurants if the opportunity is there. As a student, duck is an expensive meat and a luxury but I thought it was time to treat myself! (Make sure you buy some prawn crackers too)

This recipe made a portion for my dinner and two others which I have frozen - all were quite big portions so I will say this serves 3 but it could stretch to feed 4, or if you have an even bigger appetite than me or are eating with a man then perhaps it would serve 2, but there was a lot of duck!

Serves 3

- half a crispy aromatic duck (or any duck equivalent)

- olive oil

- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

- bunch of spring onions, chopped

- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced lengthways

- 1 red pepper, sliced

- 300g beansprouts (or as many as you desire)

- pack of fresh egg noodles (410g)

- sachet of hoisin sauce

- splash of soy sauce

1. Start by cooking the duck - if you have the crispy duck like me then you will need to oven cook this for about 40 minutes on 180 degrees, until crispy. If you have different duck meat then follow packet instructions or if duck breast then slice and fry until browned.

2. Once the duck meat is cooked, set aside, or if you used crispy duck then you will need to shred it and then set aside (and try not to eat all the crispy skin before you even start cooking the stir fry).

3. In a wok, or large saucepan, heat a generous amount of oil, then fry the garlic, most of the spring onions (leaving a few raw to garnish) and carrot for a few minutes. Then add the red pepper and beansprouts and cook until softened.

4. Next, add the duck meat and cook for a few more minutes to heat through. Then stir in the egg noodles and the hoisin and soy sauce. I used the hoisin sauce sachet that came with the duck - but you can buy it in sachets or in bottles at the supermarket and can use as much or as little as you like, but don't forget that it has quite a strong flavour and the egg noodles and duck are quite moist without a lot of sauce.

5. Serve immediately and sprinkle the remaining chopped spring onion on top!

Enjoy :)

Steak and ale pie

Hands down, this is the best pie I've ever had. You've probably seen on here that I love both the chicken and mushroom pie and turkey and leek pie (both Lisa Faulkner recipes) but this was another level - absolutely delicious and perfect as a winter comfort food. Traditional British pub food that has brilliant flavour and textures. I served this with cheesy mash and veg but it would work equally well with chips or home-made wedges too! Sorry if the photos look unappetising - pie is a bit tricky to dish up looking spectacular...

Serves 3-4

- 450g beef (stewing steak, diced beef etc.)

- 10g flour

- olive oil or butter

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 carrot, chopped

- 100g mushrooms, chopped

- 2 tsp dried thyme

- 200ml good-quality ale

- 250ml beef stock

- salt and pepper

- ready-rolled puff pastry

- 1 egg, beaten

1. Coat the beef in the flour and season.

2. Cook the meat in the oil or butter in a large saucepan until browned.

3. Add the onion, carrot, mushrooms, thyme, ale and stock. Stir and bring to a simmer, then cover for an hour, stirring occasionally. 

4. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees and grease a baking dish.

5. Cut out the puff pastry to line the dish and pour in the beef mixture.

6. Top with more puff pastry, sealing the sides, and glaze with beaten egg.

7. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed up. Serve with potato of your choice.

Enjoy :)

Carrot cake cupcakes

I hadn’t tried carrot cake until the other week and I fell in love with it. I don’t really like nuts or citrus which are all things I thought the cake would taste of but it didn't at all. I decided to make my own mini versions and they worked really well – they are really moist and warming from the cinnamon, and have great texture from the occasional crunch of walnut and soft sultanas. The frosting is to die for and compliments the flavours in the sponge so well. The carrots on top are white chocolate cake decorations from Sainsbury’s. You could also decorate them with walnuts or chocolate mini eggs for Easter time. If you like that citrus twang, then feel free to add some orange zest into the cake mix or the frosting! This recipe will be appearing in my uni newspaper - Redbrick, yay so if you're at the university of Birmingham make sure you pick it up!

*Just a quick apology for the infrequency of posts - I'm busy at uni and my laptops been playing up. I've got lots of posts I want to do though so keep checking back! I really appreciate everyone who looks at my blog*

Makes about 12 cupcakes

275g caster sugar

50g margarine

150ml sunflower or olive oil

4 medium eggs

4 carrots, grated

50g walnuts, finely chopped

50g sultanas, finely chopped

225g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp cocoa powder

For the cream cheese frosting:

125g butter, softened

125g cream cheese

275g icing sugar

1.       Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4. Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases.

2.       Mix together the sugar, margarine and oil in a large mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs then stir in the grated carrot, walnuts, and sultanas.

3.        Sieve the flour and baking powder, cinnamon and cocoa powder into the carrot mixture and stir well until combined.

4.       Spoon this mixture into the muffin cases (about 2/3 full) and bake for around 25 minutes. Leave to cool on a wired rack.

5.       To make the frosting, whisk together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

6.       Add the icing sugar, stirring until combined and smooth. Spoon on to the cupcakes and smooth over with a knife. Decorate as you wish!

Egg fried rice

My mum bought some 'sticky pork belly slices' from Sainsbury's the other week which you just bake in the oven, so I decided to whip up some egg fried rice to go with it. Usually I would add peas but I felt like using carrots and green beans for a change. This is super easy to make - probably not the best egg fried rice ever because if you make it properly you should let the rice cool down etc etc but who has time for that.... this is fine if you just want some yummy rice very quickly!

Serves 2

- 185g wholegrain rice

- 1 carrot, sliced

- large handful of green beans, chopped

- sesame oil (or olive)

- 1 egg, beaten

1. Cook the rice according to packet instructions in salted water, with the green beans and carrot. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the rice, stirring until coated. Gradually pour in the egg, stirring and frying until the egg is set. Voila!

Enjoy :)

Shepherd's pie

This is a really good shepherd's pie recipe - it has the usual comfort food textures and richness, as well as being packed with tons of flavour from the fresh rosemary. A potato pie like this is a brilliant way to get some veggies in as well without it being daunting (I know that it's always not great to have a pile of veg on the side of your plate, it can be the last thing you want to eat). As a student, when I'm at uni and have less time and space, I tend to buy the Collman's or Schwartz (or Tesco or Sainsbury's equivalents) dried packet mixes where you just add water (as well as the mince, veg, potato etc) - these are also great too for flavour; I will be doing a post soon on a sausage casserole I made using one of these, as well as a post more focussed on meals to cook as a student - a sort of week dinner plan. A typical recipe will make about 3 or 4 good-sized portions so it's great to freeze portions and have them in a few days or weeks, or even months! Having said that about the packet mixes, you cannot beat a hearty home-made shepherd's pie so if you've got the time, I would highly recommend this for a family treat.

Serves 4-6 (I halved this)

- oil, for frying

- 2 medium red onions, chopped

- 3-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes

- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

- 700-750g lamb mince (you can use beef if you prefer - technically this would make it a cottage pie)

- 2 large squidges of tomato puree

- 3-4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- 200ml of lamb or beef stock

- splash of red wine (optional)

- salt & pepper

- 1 bay leaf

- 250g frozen peas

- 1kg mashing potatoes, cut into chunks

- knob of butter

- splash of milk

- large handful of grated cheddar and breadcrumbs, for sprinkling

1. Heat the oil and add the onions, cooking until soft. Add the balsamic and cook until evaporated. Add the carrots and rosemary and stir together. Add the mince, breaking up with a wooden spoon and cook until browned.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.

3. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, stock, salt & pepper, and the bay leaf, and simmer. Add the peas.

4. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large an of salted water for around 20 minutes, or until soft.

5. Drain them, and return to the an, adding the butter and milk, mashing until smooth.Season according to taste.

6. Tip the meat mixture into a large casserole dish and dollop on the mash, spreading it and forking to make a pattern. Sprinkle on the cheese and the breadcrumbs for a crunchy texture - perfect with the smooth mash.

7. Cook the pie for 20-30 minutes , or until golden on top and hot all the way through.

Enjoy :)