Week 8 - Skint Spaghetti, Pancakes and Goulash

The last couple of weeks have been one-recipe weeks, mostly because I've been focusing on getting the blog up and running and I haven't really had the time for looking at new recipes. However now that I am officially live and blogging I thought I'd bring you a bumper Week 8 with no less than three new recipes!

So on the blog for this week will be; an Avocado Spaghetti Sauce, a Hearty Beef Goulash and in recognition of pancake day - Scotch Pancakes!

So, without further ado I'd better crack on otherwise I'll still be writing this post in week 9!

First up this week was Avocado Spaghetti Sauce - and here it is:

 

The recipe for this sauce is something that I developed using a few leftovers in the Kitchen Gem's fridge. Mr Gem and I eat quite a lot of pasta, but its easy to get into a rut and just cook the same dishes every week, so when I had a couple of leftover avocados I thought it would work quite nicely in a pasta sauce.

To make the sauce I blended the two avocados, two cloves of garlic, one chilli, and the juice of one lime, a splash of olive oil and a tablespoon of low fat cream cheese until it made a smooth sauce. The result was a fresh and zingy sauce that was delicious served over some wholewheat spaghetti with roasted vegetables and topped with a little Parmesan. 

This is a really quick and easy dish to make - and because the colour is green you feel like you're getting some goodness. Mr Gem said it was a nice change from the usual pasta sauce and actually really enjoyed it despite being a little unsure at first.

For a quick Monday night dinner I'd give it an easy 7 out of 10 (lets face it - spaghetti sauce is never getting more than a 7 is it?!)

Next up for Week 8 was Scotch Pancakes:

I don't like normal pancakes - I know that this fact makes me seem a bit strange but I never have like them. 

I didn't think it would be fair to deprive Mr Gem of some form of pancake on Shrove Tuesday so I opted for a sweet version that we could have as a pudding rather than a main meal.

I found the recipe in Eat In magazine and it was so easy to make, I would definitely make these again for a treat. The exact recipe I followed doesn't appear to be online but you can find a similar one here.

Basically you need to whisk flour, eggs, milk, sugar and baking powder to make a smooth batter and drop them into a hot frying pan 1 tablespoon at a time - I kept the pan oiled with low fat cooking spray between batches. When bubbles start to pop on the surface of the pancakes flip them over and cook on the other side until they are cooked through.

I did have a teeny tiny kitchen fire when I made the last pancake as my pan got a little bit too hot, but aside from the minor panic and Mr Gem swearing that I'll burn the house down one of these days they were so easy to make and tasted lovely. We had them with vanilla ice cream and honey, but you could also make them with fruit, or nuts depending on your taste.

So because these are my first attempt at pancakes I'm going to mark these a 9 out of 10!

And finally for Week 8 we have a Beef Goulash: 

We don't have stews very often at Kitchen Gems, but every time I make one it reminds me how much I love hearty warming food. I came across the recipe on BBC Good Food whilst I was looking for something else and it looked so lovely I wanted to try it.  Its a longish recipe so I won't bore you with the details and if you want to make it all the details are on the link above.

Its quite an easy recipe to make, and the flavours are delicious. I would add more paprika next time to really lift the flavour. I didn't have quite enough tomato puree to follow the recipe exactly but other than that it was a lovely stew. We ate it with baby new potatoes and greens, but it would go really well with rice or dumplings.

A lovely comforting dish and I'd give it a 7 out of 10. 

I'm now into Week 8 of my New Years Resolution and I can honestly say I'm loving it - I find myself wanting to try something new on an almost daily basis - can't wait for next week! Happy cooking!

Week 7 - Pad Thai

So I've finally caught up and I'm writing this in real time, I suddenly feel a bit apprehensive as if I'm performing to a live audience! 

I've already had some constructive feedback, so especial thanks to Mr Gem who, after seeing my attempt at food-styling for today's recipe, has offered to be my creative director because I (and I quote) 'don't have the eye for it' - but the below images are of my own doing so judge for yourself.

Also I should mention the lovely Sam Brown who told me my content was good but my apostrophes need work - (does apostrophes need an apostrophe?!) so I'll bear that in mind for all my future posts.

Anyway - onto the main event. This week's new dish was Pad Thai, I found the recipe in a Good Housekeeping recipe book that I've never used before so my new years resolution is already paying off!

Fancying my skills as a food stylist (before Mr Gem brought my dreams crashing around my ears) I thought I'd photograph the ingredients as a sort of 'before' shot:

As you can see, noodles, eggs, red chilli, spring onions, sugar snap peas, soy sauce, sweet chilli and peanut butter (random I know but it worked) and then a meat or veg of your choice - I went with prawns. 

The recipe looked to be quite easy but I hit a stumbling block quite early on - peanut butter and sweet chilli was actually a recommended substitute for peanut pesto (which I've never heard of) however the first step was to fry the pesto with the sugar snap peas. Immediately the peanut better started to overheat and I got a bit flustered. However, once I got all the other ingredients in the pan it was fine. 

This recipe couldn't be simpler, all you need to do is put all the ingredients in the wok pretty much at the same time and cook until its heated through - obviously if you're using chicken you'd need to make sure the chicken is cooked through before serving.

The one thing I would change next time would be that on this occasion I used Straight to Wok noodles, however, I discovered they have a tendency to break up in the wok leaving the recipe looking more like rice than noodles! Next time I'd cook regular noodles separately and then add them to the wok cooked. 

Aside from my initial panic with the peanut butter it was a really easy dish to make and actually I was quite surprised to find that it tasted like a real Pad Thai, and it didn't look too bad either!

The only other thing I'd say is that this is a dish that needs to be eaten immediately, Mr Gem was working late so I had to reheat his and he thought it was a bit dry, whilst fresh out of the pan I thought it was delicious! Overall score out of 10 would be a good 8. 

I've found a link online to this recipe here so give it a whirl if you fancy.

Week 6 - Chicken Biryani & Oreo Cheesecakes

I was watching the Hairy Bikers a while back and they made an amazing looking Chicken Biryani, I really wanted to try it so I found a recipe online and gave it a whirl. 

Sadly for the first time in 2012 I was a bit disappointed and this is because the recipe used shortcuts - using a curry paste instead of mixing the spices. I'd kind of thought this when I downloaded the recipe but hoped that something in the cooking process would make it taste like a biryani, but it didn't. It was delicious but aside from the almonds on the top if just tasted like a normal curry that I've made before. I realise that I've not sold this recipe that well but the recipe is here if you want to try it. Like I say it was a nice meal just didn't wow me - but I did take my own picture - no more plagiarism from Kitchen Gems! Here it is in all its glory!

As I was disappointed I can really only give this recipe a 5 out of 10 - I will be on the look out for a better version of this recipe later in the year!

Slightly more successful this week were the Mini Oreo Cheesecakes. These where amazing. So easy to make and so so cute. They'd be perfect for a house party and actually they aren't too fattening only 134 calories each so perfect for a tasty sweet treat!

Unfortunately they tend to dry out in the freezer so I wouldn't recommend freezing them really (they still tasted nice when defrosted but they'd just lost the moist texture). The picture below doesn't really do them justice but they are lovely bite-size morsels of Oreo yumminess.

I found the recipe here if anyone would like to try it. Personally I gave these 8 out of 10 but Mr Gem thought the base needed to be crunchier so would give them a 6 out of 10.

Week 5 - Warm and Cosy Chicken Pie

I am a big lover of pie, I find it so comforting and delicious its a good thing its a bit faffy to make otherwise I would be a pastry beast! My mum makes a mean pie and she makes amazing pastry. Sadly I wasn't blessed with her pastry making genes but eating a good pie instantly comforts me and sends me back to my childhood.

Because of my terrible pastry making - I think I must have hot hands or something - I rarely attempt to make pie but this week the temperature dropped and to be fair I'd been eating a lot of salads and just wanted something really warming and cosy, plus you can buy ready rolled pastry so why not! I came across a recipe for a healthy chicken pie and thought I'd give it a whirl. You can try the recipe out here

I made a few alterations to the recipe to suit my ingredients, and to be honest I was quite upset that the recipe was missing mushrooms as chicken and mushroom really goes well so I chucked a couple of mushrooms in for good measure.

Also because this is a healthy recipe it used filo pastry but I changed this for Puff Pastry and it still came in at under 550 calories per person so still pretty healthy if you ask me. The pie was delicious, really warming and comforting and filling. I made the recipe for two and there was still about a portion left over at the end. Mr Gem really enjoyed it and it was actually a nice change from all the Asian themed food I'd been trying.

I'd give this recipe a 7.5 out of 10, and thats just because pie isn't as flavoursome as some of the other recipes I've done this year!