Chicken curry soup

                                           Chicken Curry Soup

I had wanted to make Bread bowls for a while.

Well like I've mentioned it is soup season :)
So what better time to try a new recipe with a new soup recipe :)

A friend once brought me dinner when I was sick and G was traveling.
The dinner was spaghetti bolognese with lovely pretzel buns...Since then I have had this love of pretzel buns.
(The Spag Bol was pretty awesome also :)

So while checking out recipes I seen pretzel bread bowls... I knew this was for dinner with my new CURRY SOUP.

Always wanting to try new soups and something that we will all eat I knew this might be a winner.
It was more than a winner :)

What you'll need

Oil ~ 2 tablespoons
Chicken breast, cut into cubes ~ I used 4
shallots, chopped ~ 1/2 cup (or a brown onion)
garlic cloves, chopped finely  ~ 3
ginger, grated ~ 1 tablespoon
ground cumin ~ 2 teaspoons
ground coriander ~ 2 teaspoons
garam masala ~ 2 teaspoons
turmeric ~ 2 teaspoons
cayenne pepper ~ 1/2 teaspoon
Chicken stock ~ 2 cups ( I used the homemade, The one I made 2 weeks ago)
Cream ~ 1/2 cup
Tomato  puree  ~ 2 tablespoons
Tomato Ketchup ~ 1/2 cup
Potatoes peeled and cubed ~ 1 cup
Salt and pepper


In a saucepan add the oil, shallots, garlic and ginger. Cook for about 5-6 minutes
add the ground cumin, ground coriander, garam masala, turmeric cayenne pepper and tomato puree.
mix well.
Add the chicken, chicken stock, tomato ketchup, salt and pepper and cream. Bring to a quick boil.
As soon as the mix is boiling stir and put on the lowest setting of the stove.
Put a lid on the pan leave for 30 minutes, with checking occasionally  and giving a little stir.
After 30 minutes add the potatoes and stir well.
Put the pot lid back on but not completely on, leaving a little gap
Then leave on the lowest setting for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked

I served in home made pretzel bowls

Enjoy :)

I'll post the bread bowl recipe soon :)

Baked Chicken Fajitas

                                                    Baked Chicken Fajitas 
                                      With home made Seasoning 

I had seen a these posted a few times in different places and I liked the idea of everything in one dish
not standing over the stove with different pans.

I was a bit skeptical about this. Would it be soggy? Would I taste the green peppers? (I'm pulling a face as I type green peppers)
As I only had a green and red pepper in the fridge I had no choice.

It was good!
The green pepper wasn't over powering!
one dish, no standing over the stove.....and they liked it!

I find with the seasoning is hit and miss with what I an find in the stores.
Some are ok and some are good.
So I decided to make my own. Again skeptical as I don't like cumin or so I thought.
The good thing was I was in control of how much I was adding :)


For the seasoning

Chili powder ~ 9 teaspoons
Chili flakes     ~ 1 1/2 teaspoons
Salt                ~  1 teaspoon
Cayenne pepper      ~   3 teaspoons
Onion powder     ~ 3 teaspoons
Paprika               ~ 3 teaspoons
Ground cumin   ~ 2 teaspoons
Oregano             ~ 3 teaspoons
Ground black pepper ~ 3 teaspoons

Mix all together and store in a jar

For the Fajitas  you'll need

chicken breast ,cut into strips  ~ I used 3
1 large onion sliced
1 whole red pepper sliced
1 whole green pepper sliced
2 1/2 tablespoons of seasoning
1 tablespoon of oil

In an ovenproof dish add the chicken and veggies
mix them up
add the seasoning and oil and mix well

Bake at 180/350 degrees for around 40-50 minutes (in my oven that hates me at times)
I checked on this about three times giving it a stir each time

I served this in soft tortillas, with homemade salsa, homemade guacamole and shredded lettuce

Homemade chicken stock

                                            Homemade Chicken Stock 


As I have might have mentioned a couple of times already it is soup season!
Yes we love soup in our house.

You know whats going into it.
you can pretty much throw just about anything into a soup.

The one thing that I use a lot of is chicken stock.

Again with this you can so easily make your own.
you know what exactly is going into the stock
You can use the crockpot and basically forget about for hours
Your get the most you can from the chicken
The house smells fab!


We had had a roast chicken dinner and when we were clearing up. G went to put the chicken carcass in the bin.
No I screamed I'm making stocking.

While this takes time, it doesn't take much work, you don't need to stand over it.
Each step takes very little time :)

What you'll Need

Chicken Carcass
celery stump and 2-3 celery sticks (leaves included)
large onion, cut in half (DO NOT PEEL)
half head of garlic (DO NOT PEEL)
2-3 bayleaves
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
peppercorns
Water

Throw the chicken carcass, celery, onion, garlic, peppercorns, bayleaves, and garlic.
add the apple cider vinegar and then over the chicken with water

I did forget my garlic, then 1 hour in I remembered and added :)

cook on low for minimum of 12 hours

I cooked my for 18 hours in total and let me tell you the house smelt amazing!

I removed a lot of the what was in the crockpot/slow cooker to make
I then poured the remaining into a large jug through a sieve.

This was left to cool.
I removed the thin layer of fat on the top of the stock.

I then poured the stock into muffin molds and ice cube trays and froze

I removed them from the molds and trays when frozen and put them in freezer bags.

So easy and I have homemade stock at hand :)

The molds are around 1/3 cup each and the ice cube sizes are almost 2 tablespoons.

I love add one of the cubes to potatoes or rice

Beef and Vegetable soup

                                                 Beef and Vegetable Soup

Beef and vegetable slow cooked soup

I have decided it is October so it must definitely soup time.
The heating has kicked in.
So soup needs to be cooking.

This is so easy and you can just use what vegetables you have in the fridge

I use a cup of each of the vegetables.
Its actually very therapeutic all that peeling and chopping.
Use whatever you have in the fridge to use up! 

The beef was already cubed but I cut it up some more. 

What you'll need

All vegetables and meat peeled, chopped, diced or cubed 

sweet potato ~ 1 cup
onions ~ 1 cup
green beans ~ 1 cup
carrots ~ 1 cup
butternut squash ~ 1cup
swede/rutabaga ~ 1 cup
frozen peas ~ 1 cup
parsnips ~ 1 cup

beef ~ 2 cups

beef stock stock ~ 2 cups

1 can/400g diced tomatoes

onion powder ~ 1 tablespoon
Thyme ~ 1 tablespoon
oregano ~ 1 tablespoon
smoked paprika ~ 1/2 tablespoon
chili powder ~ 1 teaspoon
rosemary ~ 1 teaspoon
rubbed sage ~ 1 teaspoon
white ground pepper ~ 1/2 teaspoon
sea salt ~ 1/2 teaspoon

corn starch
water These are if needed
I find I don't always need them

If you do about 40 minutes before the end of cooking mix 1 tablespoon with some water and mix well until no lumps and then stir in to the soup and soup will thicken

after peeling chopping and dicing all vegetables
place in the slow cooker Except the peas
add the tomatoes and mix well
add the beef and again mix well
add the herbs and spices to the beef stock and stir
add the beef stock with the herbs and spices to the crockpot/slow cooker and mix well
add the peas and mix well

cook on low for 5~6 hours

Enjoy