Lemon and Garlic Chicken

 In 2018 Donal Skehan came out with a new book called Meals in Minutes. It’s a great inspiring book too. 

I found myself in a ‘lost my cooking mojo’ round about that time, and for a good while before that too, after the passing of my Mother. Donal’s enthusiasm for cooking is infectious and it was this book that made me want to cook again. Not that I hadn’t been cooking, just hadn’t enjoyed it much at that particular time in my life. For that I’ll always be thankful to Donal and his lovely family, who are great fun to follow on Instagram. 

Anyhow, back to tonight’s supper, lemon and garlic chicken with couscous salad and hummus. The latter two are cheats ingredients, as they are bought, just leaving you to butterfly chicken breasts, then cooking them in garlic butter and finish off with lemon juice. It’s a lovely recipe, hubby and I both liked it a lot. Definitely keeping this in mind for the hot days of summer, you know the ones where it’s too hot to do anything, but the family still needs fed! 

Celebration Trifle

 This is my new favourite trifle. It’s from Simple Comforts by Mary Berry. Celebration trifle has a ring to it, doesn’t it? I made it first not long after the book came out, then again as a double sized one for Christmas Day last year.  

Now, in Summer, here it is again! The fruits are fresh raspberries and tinned pears, a really good combination. The only change I make to the recipe is I miss off toasted almonds from the topping and use shaved chocolate instead. The business! 

Milk Street Pasta alla Silana

 A new book for me a couple of days ago was Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball and team Milk Street.  It’s a cracking book.  So many great ideas for any cook who likes interesting meals during the week. 

First make, last night was this, pasta alla Silana.  Pasta, tomato sauce, a little bacon and salami plus onions, chilli and basil. 

PW Mini Meatloaves and Roasted Broccolini

Mini meatloaves from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Come and Get It by Ree Drummond. The recipe in the book is for turkey mince, I subbed in pork mince and it worked well. I need to try Ree’s meatloaf from her first book... one of these days. 

On the side is broccolini roasted with olive oil, seasoning and garlic, then spritzed with lemon before serving. This one is from the same book. I have really struggled with broccolini, and haven’t tried it for a few months. So this was really it’s last chance in my kitchen, and -hurray- it was delicious. Thank goodness I was willing to try it one last time! Which won’t be the last now I’ve found a way we like to eat it! 

PW Thai Chicken Wraps

We had these Thai chicken wraps for supper, and they were very good. The marinade / sauce for both the chicken and the satay sauce are both just stir together numbers, so super easy. From The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Come and Get It by Ree Drummond. 

Pioneer Woman Apple Dumplings

Apple dumplings from The Pioneer Woman Cooks,  Come and Get it. 🍏 Apples stuffed with raisins, pecans, sugar and cinnamon. Wrapped in puff pastry then glazed with a buttery sweet syrup when baked! 

Pioneer Woman Bean with Bacon Soup

 Ree Drummond’s Bean with bacon soup from The a Pioneer Woman Cooks, Come and Get It.  Weekend lunch is done! There may even be some for the freezer too. I loved the episode where she made this soup, Ree and Ladd are so cute 🙂 

It occurs to me now that you can’t actially see any beans in the pictures 🙈, but there is definitely a pound of them in there!