KUMPULAN MASTER BLOG

Pork Loin Steaks in Dijon Marinade- a recipe for pan-fried pork loin steaks in a delicious marinade of Dijon mustard, lemon juice and honey. Pork tenderloin isn't something we eat that often and I have no idea why. Probably one of those 'stuck in a rut' things. I sometimes think that online supermarket shopping encourages that, because you essentially shop from a list with no distractions. I've recently been adding pork loin steaks to our order for something different and I have wanted to find the perfect marinade for them. This Dijon mustard marinade with a touch of honey is definitely it. It's peppery, slightly acidic and slightly sweet. It's SO good and it goes perfectly with pork. You just can't beat Dijon mustard for a meat marinade.

Beef Chilli Hash- an easy slow cooker comfort food recipe. Classic Chilli made with big chunks of beef and slow cooked with potato chunks. A one pan, all-in-one meal. We enjoyed the last week's slow cooker bolognese hash so much, that I got thinking about what other spins I could put on that recipe. Beef chilli seemed the perfect candidate so I made Chunky Slow Cooker Beef Chilli Hash. It's a hearty, filling chilli recipe that is perfect to having cooking ready for dinner after a long day at work. I absolutely love chilli over a jacket potato, so cooking the chilli with the potato in the slow cooker just takes one step out of the process. It also means that I don't need the oven or the hob on in these warm summer temperatures. The slow cooker emits very little heat, which is why I am a big fan of using it through the summer. I use mince when I make beef chilli usually, but for this Chunky Beef Chilli Hash, I prefer it chunkier so I used chunks of casserole stewing steak ins...

I spent quite a while coming up with a name for the recipe I'm sharing today- Slow Cooker Bolognese and Potato Hash. In the end my friend came up with the name, when she was visiting last weekend. What do you call something that's essentially a traditional beef bolognese made in the slow cooker with potato? We toyed with Bake, but it's not baked. She suggested hash, which resulted in some pondering about what hash means in the foodie sense. Corned Beef Hash has potato in, and is sort of thrown together, so that must work, right? Let's hope so, because that's what I've gone for! I decided to do a spin on spaghetti bolognese, because it has so much flavour. All that rich sauce- it must surely be a good idea to put potato in it? Excellent comfort food! Beef Bolognese works beautifully in the slow cooker. It allows the sauce to really develop a deep, rich flavour. What you do need to be careful of however, is how much liquid you add. It's tempting to put in as m...

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff- a slow cooker version of the classic, creamy Hungarian stew. Perfect with rice or jacket potatoes. Jump to recipe Last week I made beef stroganoff, something I haven't eaten for years. I had mushrooms leftover in the fridge and was looking for inspiration on what to use them for, when I remembered stroganoff. The first time I ever had it was at a friend's house when I was a teenager and I remember being very worried when they told me that's what we were having. It sounded strange and unfamiliar! I needn't have worried- it was creamy and delicious. Beef Stroganoff is a rich, creamy stew, originally from Russia. The main thing that most people associate with stroganoff is mushrooms, but they weren't in the traditional Russian recipe. It was all about the beef! My slow cooker version of beef stroganoff uses beef stewing steak, onions and mushrooms with beef stock, paprika, thyme and sour cream. I also use a little onion powder but if you d...

Bolognese Bake- a warm and comforting pasta bake, perfect for family meals, pasta mixed with bolognese and topped with cheese. Syn-free on Slimming World if you make the cheese your Hex A with reduced fat cheddar. Jump to recipe You'd think that now we're in the summer holidays, I would have all this spare time for making fancy, elaborate dinners. Doesn't seem to quite work out that way somehow! This bolognese bake fitted the bill of a comforting pasta meal on a rather cool summer evening last week, with plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. Pasta, mixed together with a rich, meaty bolognese sauce and topped with grated mature cheese, makes a very tasty dinner. I find that mature cheese is essential to really complement the flavour of the bolognese. It makes a delicious meal, especially when served with a salad and some garlic bread. Just look at the cheese when it's all melted and crispy around the edges! I tend to keep my bolognese sauce fairly simple and reas...

This week I made a batch of one of my favourite slow cooker dishes- Brown Sugar Gammon . We had it for dinner, then the next day in sandwiches, but there was still some leftover! It's absolutely delicious, so I couldn't let it go to waste. I decided to make some ham and leek pies to use it up, as I had plenty of leeks ready to make soup. These ham and leek pies are individual portion sizes with a creamy, garlic, ham and leek filling. The creamy sauce is really what separates them from just any old ham pie. It's essentially a classic white sauce but with garlic and double cream added. I used my leftover brown sugar gammon for the ham filling, but you can buy a ready-cooked bacon joint or use leftovers of any type of ham you have cooked recently. I used ready-made shortcrust pastry but you can, of course make your own. I recommend this recipe: Shortcrust Pastry Recipe from BBC Good Food. The traditional enamel pie dishes with the blue edges are the ones I use for cooking my...

Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder- lamb, slow cooked with rosemary, thyme, garlic, potatoes and carrots until it's juicy and falling apart. A delicious alternative to your normal Sunday roast, and a lot less effort for the cook! Jump to recipe Last week, I spotted that Lamb Shoulder was on offer when I was doing my online shopping. I don't cook a lot of lamb but whenever I do eat it, I love it, so I ordered some. When it arrived, I laughed because it was such a tiny, wee cut of lamb shoulder. I had made the classic online food shopping error of not checking the weight- 400g! Oh well, it was the perfect size for two. Lamb shoulder is best slow cooked, until it's soft and juicy and can be pulled apart easily you find will talk about slow cooking it in the oven, but I always prefer the slow cooker. It's more economical and it means I can use my oven for other things at the same time as cooking the meat, if I want to. I tend not to move away from the classic complimentary flavours...

Slow Cooker Beef and Butternut Squash Stew- a lovely autumn stew of beef and butternut squash and flavoured with rosemary and thyme, all cooked in the slow cooker for an easy, no-effort dinner. Syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe Our freezer was looking a bit bare this week and the butternut squash was staring up at me from the potato cupboard, so I started with that and added everything else around it to make this Beef and Butternut Squash Stew. It makes a nice big batch, so you could serve it up to the whole family or freeze some, or use some as a meat pie filling. So many options! You could serve it with potatoes, which is what I do, or throw some pearl barley in with it to add bulk and then serve it as it is. Butternut squash goes with almost everything, and this beef stew is no exception. The butternut squash adds a lovely sweetness to the meatiness of the beef. Definitely one to add to your winter warmers list. Y ou can never have too many 'chuck it all in and leave ...

Slow Cooker Lamb Madras- a spicy slow cooked lamb curry, less than 200 calories. A great alternative to a takeaway and syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe You just can't have enough curry recipes in my opinion, especially slow cooker ones. They help to get the absolute best out of those cheap cuts of meat which absorb all the delicious spices. So with that in mind, I was inspired by a pack of diced lamb that I got on special offer, to do a slow cooked lamb madras. Madras comes in many styles and originates from South India. The name madras for the curry however, is a British invention, like most of the curry names that we know and love. Madras is a red curry with plenty of chilli used to make it hot. It usually has a sour element included such as lime juice or vinegar, and sometimes will have yoghurt added to cool the heat. I used both fresh chillies and chilli powder to make this slow cooker lamb madras and add lime juice for the sour flavour. It thickens up beautifully ...

Hearty Slow Cooker Beef and Bean Stew- a really filling slow cooked beef stew with carrots, potato and haricot beans. Syn-free on Slimming World and just over 300 calories. Jump to recipe When you ask someone what they make in their slow cooker, invariably they say 'stew'. It's a slow cooking staple. I have made it quite rarely myself though. I think have been so determined to find other things to make in my slow cooker that I have rather neglected the humble stew! This week I decided to remedy the situation and make a Hearty Slow Cooker Beef and Bean Stew. I had a late meeting coming up and took the chance to put this stew on overnight and portion it out in the morning. It was so nice to walk through the door at 7pm and know that it only needed a quick zap in the micro and it would be ready. I call this beef and bean stew hearty because it's so filling. As you're using a cheap cut of beef and packing the stew with veg and beans, it's also very low cost to make....

The recipe I'm sharing today is a beautiful, spicy, marinated pork tenderloin dish, perfect for a weeknight dinner or an alternative Sunday roast. I had never eaten pork tenderloin until two years ago when my parents started raving about it. My dad kept telling me how he had got these pork fillets for amazing prices at Asda and how they were delicious roasted. I decided to try it, and he's right, it is delicious roasted! Pork tenderloin is a very lean meat and it marinates very well, especially if you slice it up into thick slices, so it can really soak up the flavours. I used a combination of chilli, honey, lemon, garlic, ginger and coriander. You can easily adjust the quantities to suit your own preferences, so add more chilli if you like a kick, add more honey if you like it sweet. If you are doing things last minute then you can leave the meat in the marinade for 20 mins and get away with it. Ideally though, 3-4 hours would let the flavours really get going. One thing you n...

Warm Smoky Bacon Couscous Salad- a warm couscous salad with fresh tomatoes, smoky bacon and smoked paprika. Makes a nice lunch or BBQ side dish. Jump to Recipe I am constantly looking for new things to have for work lunches, especially now my husband regularly works away and needs a packed lunch to take with him. I am very into couscous right now, because it feels summery and a bit lighter than pasta. The key thing with couscous is that, like many grains, you need to add lots of flavour to really make it work. It can be terribly bland otherwise. I wanted to add smoky flavours to this and serve it as a warm salad, so I added smoky bacon and smoked paprika along with fresh tomatoes into the giant couscous. The sweetness of the tomatoes went really well with the smokiness of the bacon. It's lovely warm, served fresh from the pan, but my husband liked it cold as well. As with most grains, make sure you cool this quickly to be safe, and then keep cool. If you do that, it will be safe to...

Slow Cooker Beef Goulash- a slow cooker recipe for beef goulash, a delicious paprika based beef stew, perfect for using cheaper cuts of meat. A warming winter recipe to serve with rice or mash. Syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe I'm always looking for good freezer meals to have ready for lazy days and days where there's no time to cook. Slow cooker meals are perfect for this, and today's is Slow Cooker Beef Goulash. Goulash is a Hungarian dish; most people know that, but what you may not know is that there are several varieties of it eaten in Hungary and even more adaptations across the world from Albania to the USA. It was traditionally a simple, humble dish eaten by shepherds but it has changed over the years with some varieties including red wine, for example. What doesn't change though, is the use of paprika, the signature of any good beef goulash. For this slow cooker beef goulash recipe, I have kept it simple- beef, onion, red pepper, tomatoes and spices....

As you know, I love my slow cooker. Ahem, my two slow cookers... and I use them very regularly. One thing I haven't really tried to cook in them is pulled pork. Pulled pork is everywhere! It came out of nowhere and now you see pulled pork sandwiches in shops, pulled pork on restaurant menus, ready to eat pulled pork in supermarkets and so on. I have eaten pulled pork and enjoyed it, so it was about time I made some! Pork and apple are a classic combination, so it seemed a good place to start. I used to make a pork and cider casserole quite often (note to self- must resurrect that recipe this winter!), so that seemed that a good flavour combination to go with. I used the eating apples that I had to hand, to add more apple flavour to the cider. They were Gala apples, and if you prefer things quite sweet, then go with that. I prefer the more "appley" flavour of a slightly more tart variety. If that's you, then go for Pink Lady or Granny Smith. As far as the Cider itself ...

Slow Cooker BBQ Beef- chunks of beef slow cooked in a BBQ spice mixture and then shredded. Perfect for when you want BBQ flavours with minimum effort. Delicious in soft rolls with home-made coleslaw and chips. Jump to Recipe I love BBQ. It's the first sign that summer is peeking round the corner, when you smell everyone's BBQs firing up. The problem is, that with my small garden, it's not an easy feat. The best solution I have found is to use my slow cooker to make BBQ Beef and BBQ Chicken. All the BBQ flavours, no matter what the weather! A good BBQ sauce has heat and a rich sweetness balanced with a touch of acidity. I like to add smoked paprika to my spice mix to get some of that smoky flavour you would normally get from a traditional BBQ. By slow cooking the beef in the home-made BBQ sauce, it really absorbs all the flavours. Once it's been cooked to the 'fall apart' stage, it can be shredded so every piece is coated in that sweet sauce. Delicious. I highly ...

Beef Mince Hot Pot- a twist on the traditional hot pot, very easy to make for a filling family meal. Low fat beef mince, carrots and peas topped by sliced potato. Syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe Last week, I was in a real hurry to get out the door on one of the days, so I wouldn't miss my bus to work, so I didn't have time to think about what we would have for dinner. I just grabbed a pack of mince from the freezer to defrost and raced off. On the way home, I was trying hard to be inspired by something to make that was a bit different from the usual mince rcipe. So, not chilli ( chilli recipe ), not cottage pie, not lasagne or bolognese ( bolognese recipe ). I decided on a twist on the traditional hotpot. So, instead of chunks of lamb or beef, I used mince. I left the skin on the potatoes, because why not, and it turned out very well. My husband wolfed it down- there were leftovers for lunch and I would make it again! It would also freeze well, if you wanted to make ...

Curry is probably my favourite takeaway. It's not just the curry and rice, it's all the delicious bits that go with it. Mmmm naan bread! Saag Aloo! Poppadoms! Mango Chutney! Samosa! Bhaji! The problem is wanting to have a bit of everything, but not being able to fit it all in. There's a talent in clever ordering. It's very easy to make a half-decent curry at home. There's a bit more talent required to make a really amazing one. One of my colleagues at work makes spectacular curries and delicious little morsels of Asian goodness as well. I am nowhere near up to that mark! Getting it right is all about the combination of spices. Slow cooking a curry means that you can use cheap cuts of meat and you can leave it cooking without standing over it. Below is my slow cooker beef curry, which freezes well and is full of delicious smells to come home to! I use beef rib trim, which can be hard to get. You can use stewing steak or other humble cuts as well. If you are doing Sli...

My husband made a request for pies recently, and I decided to make a big batch so we could have some in the freezer. I had some beef stewing steak in the freezer which would go nicely with some mushroom I hadn't used yet, so beef and mushroom pies were on the menu! I find slow cooking the filling gets the best results. I use the traditional style, white, blue-rimmed pie dishes that come in individual sizes.