This week I made Coronation Chicken which is basically a sweet, creamy and not really in the slightest bit spicy chicken dish that can be served as a chicken salad, sandwich filler or on a bed of rice.  It was invented by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume in 1953 for the Queen’s coronation, read the wikipedia article here for more details.  I hadn’t heard of Coronation Chicken before googling related recipe’s a week ago so this was my first attempt at making it and also the first time I’d ever eaten it.  From what I’ve read the basic recipe, to be honest sounds a little “meh” by today’s standards.

The recipe I found here seems a little bit more special.  This recipe has the right amount of warmth for you average kid but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a curry recipe (bit disappointing on the curry front) it is definitely more of a curry-flavoured or curry-inspired dish.

I’ve reduced the amount of coriander as I felt the flavour was a little overpowering.  You can always reserve some coriander on the side for anyone who’d like a little extra sprinkled on top.  The mango I used was slightly under-ripe so maybe the mango-flavour was a little too subtle to counteract the coriander?  I think I’d like it with a little more heat next time around so I might double the amount of chilli and would definitely recommend leaving the Tabasco out on the table for anyone who wants to add a bit more kick to their meal after tasting.

Hubby has our camera in New York with him this week on a business trip so I pulled out our old camera for these photos.  This camera is a bit old and dodgy and struggles to focus.  I did the best I could and waited for the sunniest day we had all week.  I think the old girl did okay all things considered but I still feel like I should mention it since as amateur as my photography may be, I do like to think I’m very slooowly improving over time and this post is a bit of a backslide (oops).

The first thing you need to do is cook your chicken breasts.  The recipe recommends steaming them but only one of our hob’s on our stove top works (did I mention how pretty this flat is?  Super pretty people!  If only the silly appliances worked) and I’m too impatient to cook the chicken first and then begin the sauce.   To bake them place in an oven safe dish, rub the melted butter into them pouring all 2 Tablespoon over the top.  Sprinkle with  Salt and Pepper and the zest of  the lemon (reserving the juice for later) before covering with foil and placing in the centre of the oven.   I baked the chicken breasts on a medium-low heat (150C/300F, lower if fan forced) in my oven for 40 minutes to an hour.

Once you’ve popped the chicken in the oven you can get started on the good bit!

Melt the knob of butter in the pan over medium-high heat and throw in the finely diced shallot and red chilli.  Cook, stirring until they’re softened (5 minutes)

Stir in the curry powder and cook for 2 or 3 minutes

Stir in the Tomato Puree and cook for a further minute before adding in the wine

Allow to simmer until the liquid has reduced by half

Add the jam and stock, stir and allow to simmer again until the liquid has reduced by half

Remove from heat and set aside

In a bowl combine the mayonnaise and Creme Fraiche and stir it into your sauce

At this point,  check on your chicken breasts.  If they’re done (cut one open to check there’s no pink/translucent meat) then remove from the oven to allow to cool a little.

Stir into the sauce the mango, spring onions, lemon juice and coriander

Dice the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir through the sauce.  Season with Salt and Pepper and Tabasco.

I served mine with a crunchy green salad (mmm!).  Serve however you like, on a sandwich, with salad or on rice

Enjoy!

* recipe is from here

Out of desperation this week (our fridge has died yet again and we’re awaiting a replacement part) I needed something to make for dinner that didn’t involve any refrigerated meat.  The fridge has been at 12 degrees celsius for a few weeks now which has been just fine for vegetables but too risky for dairy or meat products.  We keep our cheddar cheese in the freezer which is fortunately still working (for now, it’s a side by side fridge-freezer so I have no faith in the other half hanging in there for ever).

In this recipe I used UHT Dairy Free Cream but you can use milk or single cream.  Leave the cheese out if you’d like (I separated out a portion for Master 6 and I before adding the cheese) but the cheesy version is pretty awesome if you can justify the extra fat/calories/dairy.

This meal did not photograph all that pretty.  It totally makes up for its ugly in creamy deliciousness!

The veggies I used are a nice combo of a bit of bite, colour and flavour but you could easily switch them out with ingredients you have on hand (eg. frozen peas instead of corn).

In a saucepan, heat the oil or butter.  Throw in the chopped onion, red pepper, celery, carrot and crushed garlic (I also threw in a little extra parsley but I probably wouldn’t bother next time around, I’ll just stick with the parsley added later on in the recipe)

Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables have begun to soften (about 10 minutes)

* At this point if you’re in the same boat as me you might need to have a word with your furry friend about the pot containing vegetables NOT the tuna he caught a wiff of from the other end of the flat

Add the flour and stir for a minute

Remove from heat and stir in the milk or cream.  Then place your saucepan back on the heat and bring to a boil, simmering gently until the sauce has thickened

Stir in the canned or frozen corn kernels, tuna (including the brine), chopped parsley, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a pinch of paprika, a pinch of nutmeg and the Tablespoon of whole grain mustard (this is one of the rare occasions when less is definitely more…don’t add extra mustard!  It will drown out the other flavours)

Heat until all the ingredients are heated through and you’re happy with how thick the sauce is (take particular care if using frozen veggies that they cook through).  If using cheese then drop that in and stir until it’s deliciously melty

Taste test your sauce (don’t get carried away, I could totally take the whole darn lot into a dark corner and go nuts with a dessert spoon) and add salt and pepper to taste

Once you’re happy with the flavour you’re done!

This first pic is minus the cheese (I had mine with a side salad)

The rest of the family had theirs with wholemeal spaghetti.  Try yours stirred through any kind of pasta you’re in the mood for or with rice.  You could also make it into a pasta bake in a casserole dish with macaroni or penne, a sprinkle of bread crumbs, extra cheese and bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on top.  I could even picture this as a toasted/grilled sandwich filling (think tuna melt) or simply on a piece of buttered toast (yum!)

* My recipe is inspired by the recipe’s here and here

Soup probably isn’t a go to meal for most in spring but here in London after a few weeks of warm weather (hooray!) the April showers have set in and there’s a definite chill in the air.  I think most of us have hit a bit of a post-Easter slump and are trying to cut back after gorging ourselves on chocolatey goodness.  This soup taste’s yum but is also completely guilt-free and cheap too.

This recipe serves 4-6 depending on if you eat it with bread or not.  For our family, I doubled the quantity and that was enough for one dinner for the 5 of us (me minus the bread) plus enough for the three kiddo’s for lunch the next day.

I added red lentils to this recipe to make it more substantial (i.e fill us up quicker) but you can omit if you’d like a lighter soup or if lentils just aren’t your thang!

Very easy to keep this dairy-free by omiting the creme fraiche/cream/yoghurt.

Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat and tip in the coriander (or cumin) seeds only.  Fry the seeds until they start to sizzle and pop and smell gorgeous (they’ll go quite brown but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn)

Tip the seeds into a mortar and pestle (or if you’re ghetto like me then a deep dessert bowl and the back of a spoon for mooshing) and crush the seeds coarsely.  Put the crushed seeds aside.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.  In the pot throw in the carrots, garlic and 3/4 of the crushed coriander seeds, placing the remaining quarter aside

Stir so the carrots are coated in the buttery goodness and turn the heat down to low and cover.   Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the carrots have begun to soften

Pour in the stock and lentils (if using) and season with Salt and Pepper

Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer partly covered for 25-30 minutes or until the carrots are completely softened and the flavours developed.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little (5-10 minutes) before blending until smooth.  I did this in a few batches, tipping each batch into a clean bowl/casserole dish as I went along.

Pour the soup back into the saucepan and stir in the remaining crushed seeds, the fresh coriander and the creme fraiche/double cream/greek yoghurt (you can leave this out if you prefer, it makes your soup a touch creamier but it’s up to you).  Heat the soup back up in the saucepan, tasting and seasoning as you go (I love me some cracked black pepper and go a bit nuts with it).  If you’ve used double cream or greek yoghurt in place of the creme fraiche, don’t allow the soup to come to the boil or it will curdle (eek!).

Serve with a swirl of extra creme fraiche and a sprig of coriander if you’re feeling fancy…

and Enjoy!

* Recipe is a alightly altered version of this recipe.

The only changes I made was to omit the floury crosses added before baking (I find them tough and tasteless) and replaced them with either no crosses or the icing crosses after they’ve cooled.  I also used an egg wash on them before baking (rather than anything sweet).  I also scored them with a sharp kife in a cross shape to give me a guide for my Frosting Crosses but it didn’t turn out so great anyways so it’s totally up to you.

I do apologise for not doing a proper post of these, I might head back and edit it with a step-by-step when I get a chance.  I’m a little swamped with the kids all home for Easter Holidays so time is a little limited (eek!).

Head over to the Original Recipe for Instructions or just check out my pretty, pretty buns and thank your lucky stars you can buy them from the grocery store and don’t have to knead the heck out of dough (hooray!).

I had a light bulb moment as I stood chained to the kitchen.  Ahead of me was 20 minutes of waiting on the rising dough and  30+ minutes of cleaning the flour off  the benches, roof and floor (mess just seems to explode around me).  Wouldn’t a hot cross bun inspired cup cake be way more manageable for not only future me (hello next Easter) but other women (and men) who have their plates full with work and other commitments?  So many people just couldn’t be bothered kneading the heck out of dough for the small reward of 16 measly hot cross buns and who can blame them?

Quick and easy sounds like a win-win to me so instead of tackling the disaster that is my kitchen benches, I decided to experiment with combining the Hot Cross Bun ingredients I had out and my stock standard cupcake recipe.

I am pleased and surprised to report that it totally worked out.  Instead of sharing the Hot Cross Bun recipe I was planning to blog  I have these yummy (and quick) Hot Cross Bun inspired cupcakes to share.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C/350 F and either line a muffin tin with cupcake papers or use a non-stick bun tin (the shallow ones used for fruit mince pies and patty cakes, here’s an example).   This recipe makes 18 small buns or 12-15 cupcakes

1/ In a large bowl beat the softened butter and caster (super-fine) sugar until smooth

2/ Add the eggs and beat until combined

3/ Sift into the butter mixture; the self-raising flour, baking powder, salt, spices and the dried fruit.  Fold in until combined

4/ Stir in the 1/4 cup of milk

 5/ Fill your bun tins almost to the top (about an ice cream scoop’s worth) or the cupcake papers 2/3rd’s full

6/ Bake for 10-15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

Leave to cool on a wire rack and prepare the frosting if you’re planning to use it

The easiest way to make you’re crosses is to prepare your frosting/icing in a  tall ziplock bag (or divide between two smaller bags).  Place the cup of icing (confectioners) sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1-2 dessert spoons of milk in the bag , force out most of the air and seal.  Gently knead until combined and you’re left with a thick paste like frosting.  Push the frosting toward one corner so you can use your baggy as a piping bag

Snip the corner of the ziplock bag and test the consistency on a plate before piping the crosses onto your cooled cakes

You could add food colouring to your icing to pretty it up.  I think this frosting is cheap and easy enough that you could make a few batches in different colours or flavours.  Yum!

Enjoy!

I’ll start my Hot Cross Buns post now so stay tuned if you’d like to give them a go.  They’re not difficult to make just time consuming (eek!).

Master 5 turned 6 last Thursday and given that he is related to me by blood it was no surprise that he wanted cake.  LOTS of cake.

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical when he asked for custard cupcakes to take to school on his birthday.   They sounded a little boring compared to the Malteser and Chocolate Bar cupcakes we were also making for his class.   Master 6 was very specific; He wanted them to be custard flavoured, have a bit of proper custard baked in the middle and have marshmallows on top.

They didn’t sound very exciting to me but I was oh so very wrong.  In fact I think from now on I will always add a little custard powder to my cupcakes, they were that good!  The custard filling was take it or leave it for me so feel free to leave the custard out.  You could use this recipe and add to the batter choc chips, blueberries or almost anything you’d add to a plain cupcake.

Master 6 has issues with dairy so I made these completely dairy free and for once you totally couldn’t tell it wasn’t the real deal (namely the flavour of buttery goodness).  You can use whatever dairy free spread you like and whatever milk you have on hand.  A dairy-free custard (or custard-like) dessert is easy to find here in the UK.  I got mine from the Tesco down the road.  Surprisingly custard powder (or at least this brand of ) is diary-free so no dramas there.

I made 18 cupcakes out of this batter using an ice-cream scoop to measure out the batter.  If you made slightly larger cupcakes, then you’d probably get closer to a dozen cupcakes.

This recipe is ridiculously easy.  Throw the ingredients together, beat the batter and then bake.  I’ve never made cupcakes this way before (I’m normally careful not to overwork the flour) but this time it worked out fine.  If you’re worried then you can make these as you would any other cake batter (suggestion below).

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C/350 F

In a large bowl sift the flour and add the custard powder

Add all the wet ingredient to the dry and beat with your electric mixer until smooth and combined

Ordinarily I would beat the wet ingredients first and then stir in the dry but in this case beating them all together worked out fine.

 If you’re concerned or if your butter isn’t completely softened then go ahead and beat the butter and sugar till smooth, beat in the eggs and vanilla and then pour in the dry ingredients and stir.  Stir in the milk last.

If making 12 large cupcakes then divide the batter between 12 paper cases.  If you want to add a custard filling then reserve about 12 teaspoons of batter for dropping on top of your custard

To make 18 cupcakes, use an ice-cream scoops worth of batter in each paper case or fill to about 1/3 full

To fill them with custard, drop 1 teaspoon of custard on top of the batter.  Drop an extra teaspoon of batter on top of the custard

Side Note: I baked three types of cupcakes for Master 6.  For the other two recipes check out my chocolate bar (candy bar) cupcakes.  The only alteration I made was to make them dairy free using dairy-free spread in place of butter and soy milk.  I found these dairy-free chocolates and baked those in instead of candy bars (yum!).

Bake in your pre-heated oven for 15-18 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and cool on a wire rack

I iced mine with a basic butter cream (I don’t use a recipe for butter cream I just beat some butter until smooth and then stir in icing sugar/confectioner’s sugar until I’m happy with the consistency…this does involve having a LOT of icing sugar on hand in case I over-do the butter).  For dairy-free icing just use a dairy-free spread.

* Custard Cupcake recipe is from here

Anywho!  As previously mentioned (i.e complained about) our current kitchen’s stove is downright awful so meals have been of the easy and mostly bake-able variety over the past few months.  Meatloaf most definitely falls into the easy and bake-able category so it’s become a favourite served up with buttered bread and lots of veggies.

I think most of us have a tried and tested meatloaf recipe so I figured I’d share mine this week, feel free to tweak it however you like.

Pre heat your oven to 180 C/ 350 F

In a large mixing bowl place all your ingredients and brace yourself for a really disgusting photo…

…hopefully you’ve managed to hold onto your breakfast after seeing the disgustingness of a naked sausage with mustard and garlic smothered on top of it (I have no idea how I didn’t notice how gross this looked whilst taking the photo, must have been “in the zone” )

The easiest and most effective way to combine all these ingredients is to get your hands in the bowl and smoosh it until everything is combined

Place your mixture into a greased or lined loaf tin and pat down until smooth

Place a greased piece of baking paper directly on top of the mince (I was out of baking paper and greased a piece of aluminium foil instead)

Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, removing the paper/foil 15 minutes early to allow it to brown on top a little

Did I mention this baby isn’t pretty?

Mine lost its bottom (hehe) when I tipped it out of the tin but scooping the extra bits out was the highlight of my evening (oh, you’re wondering why I’m eating meatloaf out of the tin with a spoon? To save on water trying to wash it out later, obviously!).  If however you don’t need an excuse to hide in the corner of the kitchen shoveling meatloaf down your gob unbeknownst to the rest of your family who are patiently waiting on dinner then you could place a long strip of baking paper underneath your mince mixture so you can just lift it out after baking

My hubby’s favourite way to eat meatloaf is with buttered bread and ketchup.  I have it minus the bread and butter and it’s still pretty awesome!

Enjoy!

* Recipe is from here

]]> http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/03/25/sometimes-easy-really-isnt-pretty-meatloaf/feed/ 6 chaoticallyme Meatloafrecipe ed022 ed028 ed029 ed033 ed038 ed041 ed054 http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/03/15/a-little-bit-irish-chocolate-espresso-ripple-pots-with-baileys/ http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/03/15/a-little-bit-irish-chocolate-espresso-ripple-pots-with-baileys/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:45:41 +0000 Jenny http://chaoticallyme.com/?p=4428 ]]> I’m kind of in love with these adorable little pots of yumminess.  They are one of my go-to desserts when we have people over for dinner.  Super easy to make and fairly rich so a small serving  goes a long way.  I forgot the mascarpone in our grocery order this week so I made this batch with extra cream in place of the cheese.  It worked out okay so if you’re in a tight fix you can double the amount of cream.  If you can find mascarpone though it is 100 times better with the thicker texture (holds together better) and hint of cheesy deliciousness.  You could also try cream cheese if mascarpone isn’t available in your grocery store.

Roughly break 3 to 4 cookies into 4 glasses or espresso cups.  Pour 1 Tablespoon of espresso into each glass

In a large bowl place the mascarpone, cream and Baileys and whip using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Pour the cream mixture on top of the chocolate and stir gently until you have a chocolate swirl effect

Divide between the 4 glasses, cover and refrigerate.  An hour or longer will firm them up nicely but if you’re pressed for time then 10 minutes works too

Grate some chocolate on top if you feel like it and serve with a few extra cookies (I like to crumble them on top or dunk them in for a bit of a crunch).  Enjoy!

* Recipe from Sainsburys Winter Recipe Collection published in 2010

Our flat is pretty, we have loads of extra floor space and it’s the first place I’ve lived that is relatively easy to clean up after three messy kiddo’s in.  We pay an arm and a leg for the pleasure but walking through the door and letting out a sigh of relief rather than a groan whilst squeezing past a bike, knocking down a pile of coats and tripping over a pile of shoes makes it worth it.  Sadly the landlord has over the years of renting this place out started to cut corners on appliances.  The dishwasher, oven and washing machine are really cheap and nasty.  It wasn’t something we could have known before renting the place (unless I had thought to ask the previous tenants when we had our viewing.  I always feel awful intruding in people’s personal space when viewing a property and rarely say anything other than to apologise for the inconvenience and to thank them for letting us wander around) so sadly we’re stuck with it.

Fortunately there is a solution within reach, we’re saving for one of these babies: a Double Induction Hob.  Until then I’m out of new savoury dishes to share and will probably just stick to easy to bake stuff.  The oven is pretty terrible too but manageable so I can still bake up a storm (albeit inside a teensy tiny oven that takes forever to warm up).

These cookies are healthy (ish) and the kids loved them dunked in milk.  They remind me a little of gingernut cookies and I loved them dunked in a strong cup of milky tea.

I used wholemeal flour but you could use half white flour and half wholemeal if you prefer.  Raisins can be substituted for the dried apricots and dairy-free spread and dairy-free milk can be used to make these allergy and vegan friendly.

Recipe makes 20-30 cookies depending on the size of your cookie-cutter (I used a small glass and made about 30)

Preheat your oven to 170 C / 340 F

In a small saucepan melt the butter, sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and the agave nectar.  Bring to the boil, stirring and take off the heat when it has just started to bubble.

In a large bowl place the flour, bicarb soda and ginger.  Stir through the finely chopped dried apricots

Make a well in the centre of your flour mixture and pour in the melted butter and sugar

Stir until everything is combined and knead gently with clean hands until it has all come together.  I found my dough was way too dry and added a little more milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until my dough held together

Roll your dough out onto a floured surface to about a 1/4 of an inch thick.  For softer cookies roll it to 1/2 an inch thick.  I prefer them with a bit of crunch (perfect for dunking in a glass of milk) so went for the 1/4 inch

Use a cookie cutter to cut out your cookies and place onto a lined baking tray

Bake in the centre of your oven for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  10 minutes will give you softer cookies (not soft like your average choc-chip cookie, still stiff but not crunchy) and up to 20 minutes will give you crunchy cookies (check on them every 5 minutes after the 10 minute mark just in case they start to burn)

Pull up a chair and grab yourself a tea, coffee or big glass of milk and dunk away.  These will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks

* Recipe adapted from a recipe in “Cooking ABC’s” published by Guy Fox History Project Limited (free cook book the kiddo’s scored)

]]> http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/03/05/wholemeal-ginger-and-apricot-cookies/feed/ 7 chaoticallyme edIMG_8972 edIMG_8936 WholemealGingerandApricotCookies edIMG_8939 edIMG_8947 edIMG_8954 edIMG_8956 edIMG_8959 edIMG_8963 edIMG_8967 edIMG_8972 http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/02/19/its-a-good-mummy-morning-banana-pancakes/ http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/02/19/its-a-good-mummy-morning-banana-pancakes/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:00:11 +0000 Jenny http://chaoticallyme.wordpress.com/?p=4385 ]]> I have a confession.  I like to squeeze in as many seconds of shut eye as possible and this means that my three kids are always, without fail out of bed before me.  They’re old enough to get their own cereal (woohoo!) so it’s not the worst guilty Mummy moment in the world, but I doubt I’ll be winning any super mum awards.

On the weekend the Playstation 3 and morning cartoons stretch out Mummy sleep time until midday.  In fact my hard working hubby makes way more cooked breakfasts than me in this household.  I win the score on lunch and dinner but breakfast is all about cold cereal and the occasional slice of toast from me.

On the rare occasion when our kids get a cooked breakfasts (when my amazing mother-in-law is staying with us, hubby cooked me and him a little too much and gives some to the kids or on the kids birthdays) it’s a big deal.

Yesterday morning I dragged myself into the vertical position and whipped up some pancakes.  The cries of shock, “Mummy!  I can smell pancakes!!!” were classic.

These are super easy to make and relatively healthy.  I was out of wholemeal flour but ordinarily I’d have made them wholemeal to make them more filling and fibre rich.  Apple sauce can be used in place of the vegetable oil too for a lower fat option.

1/ In a large bowl whisk together the egg, mashed bananas, vegetable oil (or apple sauce), milk and vanilla extract

2/ In a smaller bowl place your flour, salt and sugar

3/ Sift the flour mixture into your wet ingredients and combine.  Your mixture will be a teensy bit lumpy

4/ Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat and grease with a little butter or oil

5/ Drop 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan and flip when it starts to look a little dimpley.  Brown on the second side and stack your pancakes onto a plate when they’re done

Serve with whatever takes your fancy.  I sliced a ripe banana on top with a drizzle of maple syrup (yum!)

* Recipe used is from over here

]]> http://chaoticallyme.com/2012/02/19/its-a-good-mummy-morning-banana-pancakes/feed/ 5 chaoticallyme edIMG_8702 bananapancakes edIMG_8622 edIMG_8643 edIMG_8665 edIMG_8689 edIMG_8694 edIMG_8702 edIMG_8732 edIMG_8751