Are you tired of Christmas dinner by now? If not you should give this a go, Even if you are what the heck, try it anyways.

I spotted a recipe in a magazine before Christmas (I think it was Sainsbury's own mag but not entirely sure) which I read and kept the idea in mind for during the Christmas period. The original recipe looked beautiful with dried apricots, nuts and cranberries all mixed in but I had to leave these out of my version of this recipe for husband to be able to enjoy it too.

This was rather tasty and really very easy to make but looks a bit more complicated and impressive - I love things like that!



Ruth's Christmassy Terrine

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsbp olive oil
18 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon
8 skinned and boned chicken thighs, diced into a mix of small and large pieces
150g pork mince
2 slices of bread, blended into breadcrumbs
1 tbsp brandy
1 tsp sage
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Recipe
1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Leave to cool for a bit.
2. Line a loaf tin with the streaky bacon, leaving a few to the side
3. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl then pour into the bacon lined tin.
4. Cover the top with the overhanging bacon and layering extra bacon over the top.
5. Cover over with tin foil and place in an oven dish. Part fill the dish with hot water and place into the oven at 180˚C for 1 hour.
6. Remove from the oven and carefully drain off any fat. Leave to cool.



This can be served hot or cold, if you want it hot place a few slices in the oven at 180˚C for 5-10 minutes
Great served with some roast root veggies, potatoes and cranberry sauce.

I was given Jamie Oliver's "Ministry of Food" book for Christmas and have only recently been making stuff from it. There's some great recipes in it and a lot of the book suggests varieties on each recipe too to help with learning and trying new things.

This is a straightforward recipe and a really delicious one and with some variety in the choice of glaze. I used mango chutney but you'll see some other ideas in the ingredients list.



Pan fried glazed pork chops
Source Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, p 230

Ingredients
2 pork chops
olive oil
salt and pepper
apple sauce/mango chutney/apricot jam/maple syrup/honey to glaze
lemon juice (optional)

Recipe
1. Trip the skin off the edge of the chops and cut into 2 long strips.
2. Rub the pork chop with salt and pepper and heat a little oil in a pan.
3. When the pan is hot add the strips of skin and move about. Remove when crispy and golden.
4. Lay the chops in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, turning every minute.
5. Spoon a large spoonful of your glaze over each chop and keep turning to be sure both sides are evenly glazed. Cook until golden red.
6. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for a minute before serving.
7. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top to balance out sweetness

My hubby, Rob, is working in Liverpool these days which means there are loads more options for me for dinner. I threw this together for myself and absolutely loved it!



Pork and Mango Stir Fry

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
150g pork pieces
2-3 tbsp mango chutney
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
pinch of dried chili flakes
handful of mixed vegetables (I used broccoli, red pepper, onion and peas)
2 rings of fresh pineapple chopped up
Add to wok noodles for one.

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and add the pork. Stir fry until cooked through (about 5 minutes)
2. Add the mango chutney, oyster sauce, soy sauce and chili flakes and stir through. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the vegetables and pineapple and cook for 3-5 minutes.
4. Stir in the noodles and cook for 1 minute and serve.

Last Sunday was a manic day. to start with little Stewie (our wee dog) had to get taken to the vet - he had a run in with a tree at the park the day before. After that I had to rush to church then to the shop to pick up some bits for the afternoon. Shortly after getting lunch we had to go pick up a drugged up Stewie from the vet and then straight after that I had to get back down to church for a band rehearsal for our youth service so I was kept busy at the rehearsal, then the service and then we had our youth group meet after that too!!!!! What a day of running here there and everywhere, and in the middle of that I had to make dinner for our band! So I had some cocktail sausages, oven chips and a Nigella recipe to use.

Unfortunately after making them I only got to have one but it was so good I've bought in some more cocktail sausages with the plan of having them all to myself! And I also wasn't able to get a photo because they were all scoffed so quickly so I'll add a photo when I remake this one.

And here's a photo of the second batch.... still sooooo good! And with perfectly well again Stewie craving over them in the background!



Soy Honey Cocktail Sausages
Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson, p322
Ingredients
1kg (75) cocktail sausages (I had a pack of 60)
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
125ml honey

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 220˚C. Separate sausages if linked and spread over a roasting tin
2. Mix together the honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. Pour over the sausages and mix well to cover.
3. Roast for 25 minutes and turn half way through.

I'm sending this to Giz and Psychgrad for the Tried,Tested and True 3 event.



I'm also sending this into the blog event I started and still run with the help of some excellent guest hosts every week - Bookmarked Recipes. This week Maggie from Doghill Kitchen is hosting.

This week for my bookmarked recipes event I've been brave and made a savoury pie for the first time ever. I've made apple pie and rhubarb pie but today I made a chicken and bacon pie. I took a recipe from a food magazine I love, Easy Food, which was originally chicken and ham but knew that my dear hubby Rob hates ham so I used some cooked bacon instead.




Chicken and Bacon Pie

Serves 4

Ingredients
200g ready-made frozen shortcrust pastry (thawed) (I used 2 ready made round shortcrust pastry portions)
pepper
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
500g cooked chicken breast, cubed
3 bacon rashers, cooked and diced
1 onion, diced
1.5 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup chicken stock
milk, for glazing
70ml single cream (light cream)

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line your pie dish with half of the pastry
2. Put the pepper, flour, nutemeg and chicken in a ziplock bag and shake until the ingredients are well combined.
3. Layer half the onion in the pie dish, top with half the chicken, then half the ham, then the rest of the onion, then the chicken and ham.
4. Pour the melted butter over the top, then pour in the chicken stock and top the pie with the rest of the pastry.
5. Cut 3 deep slits in the top of the pie (to allow steam to release during cooking and allows access for cream to be added later).
6. Brush some milk over the top to glaze the pie.
7. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and cooked through.
8. Remove from the oven and stand for 5 minutes. Pour the cream into the pie through the slits (I found this a bit tricky and fiddly). Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I've been meaning to take part in the Royal Foodie Joust hosted by The Leftover Queen and finally got around to it!

This month the challenge was to create a dish that included pork, any citrus fruit and pink or white peppercorns. So here's what I came up with:

Pork and Mandarin salad

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 pork chop
Salt
White peppercorn (ground)
Oil
150g tin of mandarin oranges
2 tbsp syrup from mandarin oranges
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp cider vinegar
Handful of spinach, a handful of watercress and a handful of rocket (about 100g in total)
Toasted almond flakes

Recipe
1. Cut the pork into strips, lightly salt and pepper, then fry in an oiled pan for 6-7 minutes until cooked through.
2. Mix the syrup, honey and cider vinegar and heat gently in a pan for 4 minutes.
3. Place the leaves in your dish, top with mandarin segments and pork. Dress with the syrup mix and top with the almond flakes.

It's only in the last couple of years that I've started to like stuffing and thought I'd give it a go making some and here's my recipe, that was pulled together from various recipes.

My Sage, Sausage and Apricot Stuffing

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
250g sausage meat (I used pork)
25g (about 1 slice of bread worth) of breadcrumbs
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed/chopped
2 tbsp dried chopped sage
4-5 dried apricots
Salt and pepper to season

Recipe
1. Fry the onions and garlic for 2 minutes, and allow to cool.
2. Add all the other ingredients to the onion and garlic and mix well (best done the messy way with your hands). (This can all be done the night before)

3. You can either put it inside the turkey (or bird of your choice) or make balls in an oven proof dish or spread out into an oven proof dish.

4. Cook in the oven at 190C for 25-30mins

I've never really had bangers and mask much in my lifetime, however I recently saw someone on TV eating some and got a craving! So tonight for dinner I made it with a couple of little twists.

For those who don't know what "bangers and mash" is, it's pork sausages and mashed potatoes.

Bangers and Mash with a twist aka Honey Glazed sausages and Champ

Serves 1

Ingredients
3/4 pork sausages
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vegetable oil
2/3 medium sized potatoes
1/4 cup chopped Scallions

Recipe
1. Chop potatoes and boil for 20-25 minutes. (I left the skins on but you can peel them if you like)
2. Heat the oil and honey in a pan. Add sausages and cook. (An alternative way to do this step is to mix the honey and oil in a bowl and let the sausages marinade in this for 10 minutes and grill)
3. Mash the boiled potatoes. (At this point you could add a little milk and butter to the mash to make it creamy) Stir in the scallions.
4. Serve.

Very VERY yummy! And again ever so simple. I also had a little gravy with this to add a little extra but it's good as it is too.

We cooked the BBQ Ribs again cos they were sooooo yummy and remembered to take photos this time. Served with some of the leftover sauce they were cooked in and curly fries! Yum!

BBQ Ribs

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 rack of raw ribs (ask your butcher to divide into individual ribs)
0.5 cup ketchup
0.5 cup bbq sauce
0.5 cup honey

1 tbsp garlic butter
1 tsp chili paste, or crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Recipe
1. Boil ribs in water on a medium boil for 2-3 hours (this makes the meat soft and comes off the bone easier)
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C
3. Mix ketchup, bbq sauce, honey, garlic butter and chilli/red pepper flakes.
4. Once ribs are boiled, marinate them in the sauce for 10-15 minutes
5. Place in the oven for 1 hour.
6. Serve and eat - and have lots of tissues handy for sticky sauce!!!!


These were delicious! The only problem with this recipe was that there wasn't enough!!!

I forgot to take a photo just before eating and remembered when this was all that was left


This is what was left on Rob's plate halfway through dinner.... he was leaving his chips cos the ribs were so tasty!


More photos found here