Spring is in the air! I can’t tell you how GOOD it feels to see the sun out and to feel it on your skin when you walk outside. When you live in a country like England that’s known for it’s bad weather (dark, cold and a lot of rain) you can’t help but smile and appreciate a nice sunny day. I can’t really remember what the weather was like this time last year but when I asked Joe he said it was still very cold. We had a great Summer last year though and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this year will be the same. Having some beautiful sunshine outside also means that I get to shoot my recipes in natural light and I don’t have to rush because the sun is about to set! [Read more…]
Grass-Fed Persian Spiced Beef and Roasted Butternut Squash
Lately it feels like I’ve been having mind blanks when it comes to creating recipes for this blog. Some weeks I feel like I just can’t come up with anything and just want to give up on the whole thing but I always manage to find something to share. The truth is what I share with you here is what Joe and I eat at home, that’s why you will find more savoury than sweet recipes here, because we just don’t eat them very often and honestly I’m not a big baker so those recipes are kind of every now and then for me. I try to photograph at least 3 recipes a week of what we eat to share with you but on other days our meals are pretty much simple to make and eat things! I cook a lot with grass-fed beef/lamb and turn that into different things like meatballs, sauce, patties etc and just change up the vegetables and seasonings. So I guess cooking for the blog is slightly different to cooking just for us to eat. Anyway, I’m not a chef but a home cook so I try my best to share a range of recipes and hope that you all reading this blog will enjoy them! [Read more…]
Persian Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
It’s been a while since I’ve shared a recipe post here! As you may know Joe and I were away visiting family in Australia for about 6 weeks and we just returned back to England about a week ago. As you may imagine our trip was AMAZING and it was just incredible to be able to spend that time with our families and also catch up with friends. I won’t lie, it was hard to leave (again!) and I’ve definitely felt the impact of being away from everyone. Although I’m pretty used to it by now, when you spend a big chunk of time away like that it’s always hard at first to get back into your routine. Anyway other than spending time with family and friends we got to enjoy some GREAT weather while we were there as well, granted it did rain a couple of times but other than that the weather was nice and warm and I definitely took advantage of it! I’m just kind of sad that we missed out on the heatwave that happened this past week with temperatures in the high 40′sC/100′sF! Yeh I might sound crazy wanting to have heat like that but this cold, wet weather in England is making me wish we could just have one day of sunshine and hot weather…. you know the whole ‘the grass is always greener’ thing.
Anyway since it is cold and since the weather is not on the list of things I can control I’ve been using it to my advantage to make delicious warming meals. My slow cooker/crock-pot has been getting a good workout with making bone broths and slow cooked meats, and of course one of the best ways to keep warm is with a nice big bowl of steaming hot soup! [Read more…]
Butternut Squash and Beef Chili Stew
It’s been a while since I shared a recipe! As you can tell I’ve been busy redesigning the blog! It took a while to get here… who knew changing up a blog would take up so much time! Well at least I learnt some things along the way, like the fact that getting someone else to redesign your blog can set you back hundreds, even thousands of dollars! No thanks! I still had to pay something towards the redesigning but it was worth it! I’m hoping to add a few add-ons here and there but for now I’m happy with the result.
In other news there’s just over 3 weeks left until we’re off home to Australia! The closer it gets to us going the more excited I become! I’m wondering how much Melbourne has changed and I’m looking forward to visiting all our old hang outs and of course seeing family! I’m trying to get some guest post bloggers on board for while I’m away to be able to still share posts with you but not sure how I’ll go. No idea how much blogging time I’ll get over there but I will hopefully still have the Facebook page going!
Anyway this recipe I’m sharing with you today I made a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting to share it since! It’s the perfect dish for this Autumn weather! I’ve been using the homemade chili spice seasoning in this recipe in other dishes as well, one of my favourite ways to use it is brushed on chicken thighs which I then bake in the oven. SO GOOD! [Read more…]