Main meal salads for warm days

Ironically I have settled down to write this post while it is pouring with rain outside! Hardly a day I would think of making a salad on!

However, on those days when I just fancy a salad, or it is too hot to cook, a chunky, full of flavour salad is just what the doctor ordered. Here is a round up of my favourite salads. Some I have made again and again, and a couple I have yet to try, though they are definitely on my to make list! There is something for everyone on this list. Some may need add ons, like bread, something grilled on the side etc. Hope you find something you like!

Here is a tasty pasta salad from Fake Ginger. This salad is a side dish but I could see me eating it on it's own due to all that yummy pasta. Find the recipe here.

I cannot wait to try this one! I love the colours and the mix of sweet and savory. Find this Garlic and Lime Barbecue Chicken Salad over at Cafe Delites.

Love hamburgers? Howabout a hamburger salad? I think this will be a big hit in this house! Find the recipe at Can you Stay for Dinner.

This is a must make! Full of flavour, we all loved this one and I'm making it again next week. The dressing was lovely and thick. I suspect it should be more like a light dressing but we enjoyed having large dollops of the stuff over our creation! You can find this recipe here from Averie Cooks.

There is something about savory and sweet that I just love. So naturally this salad caught my eye. Coconut, pineapple and ginger. What's not to love? This recipe from Carls Bad Cravings can be found here.

I've lost count of how many times I have made this salad. I always serve it with some warmed through ciabatta. The main thing I change with this one is to substitute apple for the grapes. I have tried it with grapes but prefer the crunch of apple pieces. This is super easy and the candied pecans are yummy! The recipe comes from Dishing The Divine and can be found here.

This Thai salad makes a ton! Or was it just my portion control?? Anyway it was lovely. The crunch of the nuts and cabbage make this very enjoyable.  Find the recipe here from the Recipe Critic.

Last but not least is another pasta salad. Looks delicious doesn't it? I can see this one being a lovely addition to my autumn cooking with all that pasta. The recipe is from Chelsea's Messy Apron and can be found here.

Which one has your mouth watering?

Have a great weekend!

One Pan Gnocchi with Chorizo and Spinach

Schools out!! Weather is looking yucky for the next few days but we are still determined to have some fun, meeting up with friends and spending long lazy days doing pretty much nothing!

When it comes to dinner I still want to be able to churn out something tasty and delicious though time is a bigger factor for me during the holidays. We can potentially be out all day which leaves me with very little time when we get back to prepare something (or indeed the inclination!).

I have a lot of quick and easy to prepare meals that I use in rotation and they will be used a lot over the summer holidays. It is nice though to discover new recipes and to create a new tasty favourite to add to the mix.

One of the things we all enjoy eating is gnocchi. I must admit I have yet to try and make it myself, but Sainsburys do a very nice fresh gnocchi which means less time making dinner!

This recipe I am about to share came about when we were on holiday in France last year. We had a self catering mobile home, so we popped up to the onsite shop and picked up fresh gnocchi, vegetables, cheese and a large piece of chorizo. I threw it all together in a pan along with some of the items I had brought with us, and created a quick and tasty meal that could be ready in about 15 minutes!

One pan Gnocchi with Chorizo and Spinich

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

500g Gnocchi

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion chopped

2 cloves garlic (chopped or minced)

1 red pepper

3 large mushrooms or 200g button mushrooms (chopped or sliced)

500g chopped tomatoes (I used Sainsbury's chopped tomatoes with basil)

A handful of fresh basil roughly chopped

A large handful of spinach

Diced chorizo (I use half of the Sainsbury's cooking diced chorizo pictured below)

Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Set a pan with water to boil.

2. In a large pan or skillet warm through the olive oil. Add the chopped onion and cook until the onion starts to go clear, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the chopped/minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Add all vegetables except spinach and cook until softened and cooked through. Once your water is boiling, add your gnocchi to the pan to cook for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add in the chorizo and continue to cook on a medium/low heat.

6. Add basil, chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. You can add a teaspoon of sugar to the sauce if it tastes a little sharp. Once these are cooked through add your spinach.

7. Once spinach has started to wilt add the cooked gnocchi to the pan. Mix the gnocchi in well so that it gets covered in the sauce.

8. Once mixed, remove from the heat and serve. To make this a more substantial meal for 4, serve with bread and a side salad.

Doesn't that look tasty?

All done in a few minutes and provides a very flavourful dinner.

Have a great weekend!

Paprika Potato Wedges

When we went up to Edinburgh we did some hop on hop off bus tours. Included in the price of the ticket was entrance to some of the big landmarks, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Yacht Britannia. The Britannia houses its own tea rooms for a spot of lunch once you have finished your tour. We couldn't resist dining on the yacht so headed to the tea rooms straight after.

My husband ordered soup which came with some potato wedges. They were delicious! Gently spiced with paprika and salt and served with a garlic mayonnaise. Luckily he shared some with me! I knew I would have to replicate them when we got back home. I tried them out a few weeks ago and they were very spicy, but very tasty!

I used Albert Bartlett Rooster potatoes, but your favourite kind should do!

Pre heat your oven to 200'C/375'F. I began by washing and peeling the potatoes. I used 3-4 large potatoes which served 4.

As you can see they don't need to be completely free of skin. I cut them into chunky wedges and laid them out on a large baking tray. You want them completely spread out so that they all get a good dousing of seasoning.

You will need 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil for drizzling over the wedges. To make this process easier I used a pastry brush.

This little guy makes this a lot of fun! I brushed oil all over the wedges so that the seasoning would coat easily and to crisp them up a little during cooking.

Take 1-2 tablespoons of paprika and put in a small bowl with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Using the teaspoon, sprinkle the mixture all over the wedges to coat.

Once coated, pop in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, turning once or twice until cooked through.

While the wedges are cooking you can whip up a little garlic mayonnaise. I minced 2-3 garlic cloves and added this to a bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Use however much garlic you want depending on your taste preference. We like garlic a lot in the house so we are always very generous with it!

I served the wedges with a spinach salad and yummy burgers, though they of course go with soup, or anytime you fancy a change for the normal chips/fries.

Mmm garlic dip! This couldn't be any easier.

Paprika Potato Wedges

Serves 4

3-4 potatoes (not small)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1-2 tablespoons paprika.

Pre heat your oven to 200'C/375'F. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into chunky wedges. Spread the wedges out onto a baking tray. Brush the wedges with the olive oil.

Put salt, pepper and paprika in a small bowl and mix.  Sprinkle this mixture over the coated wedges. Pop in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes turning once or twice until fully cooked.

Serve with garlic mayonnaise if liked.

Have a great weekend!

Easy Family Weeknight Dinner - Chicken Cacciatore

My house is a mess. It is an intentional mess. We have begun demolition of the master bedroom furniture, carpets and curtains. There is stuff everywhere! We have moved into the guest bedroom with some of the old furniture. I have to find homes for all our clothes around the house so that we can take apart the wardrobes and begin sanding, filling and painting the walls. It is a mammoth task with only 4 weeks until the new furniture turns up. Factor in work, school and the usual daily tasks and the end of the month is creeping ever so closer! I know it will be worth it when it's all done, but the inbetween stage with stuff all over the house causes me to have stress!

Dinner times need to be quick and easy, something I can just throw in the oven, slow cooker, or make on the stove top in about 30 minutes.

When I was a child, my father was in the Air Force. From time to time he would go on assignments away from home. These would usually be for only a few days, perhaps even overnight, so my mother would make me something special, something that I loved and my father was not so keen on.

My Mum was practically a vegetarian all her life, she would eat a small slither of turkey at Christmas, the odd bit of bacon, and salmon or tuna. When I was a child, I had no idea my Mum did not like meat. She told me years later that it was just easier to make a dish for us all and she would just have very little to no meat from whatever dish she had prepared.

She had a table top cooker like this one.

My Mum's cooker was red, and I only remember her making Chicken Cacciatore in it. She would throw all the ingredients in there and let it simmer and bubble until dinner time. I would peer in and look at the lovely tomato sauce cooking, not being able to wait until dinner time! I do the dish on my stove top and it is ready in 30 minutes! I hope you enjoy it.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

2 1/2 lb chicken breasts (1 per person)

1/4 cup plain flour

1/4 cup oil

1 onion, chopped

1 pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 bay leaves

Carton of chopped tomatoes

Can or bottle of tomato sauce/passata

1/4 cup dry white wine

Method

Coat the chicken in the flour.

Heat oil in a pan, add chicken and cook until light brown, turning occasionally. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add onion, pepper and garlic to the pan and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan. Add seasonings, chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce and wine. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn the chicken occasionally during the cooking time.

Serve on it's own, with bread or over rice.

Tasty and oh so easy!

Burger Stuffed Peppers

Whenever I visited my parents, my Mum would make some of my favourite dishes from my childhood to welcome me home. As a child I was incredibly fussy, I ate very little, and most dinners were a battle. There were some exceptions to that though, some meals I just fell in love with and couldn't get enough! One of those dinners was stuffed peppers which my Mum would serve with boiled potatoes and extra vegetables, not the mention the obligatory hot sauce!

Mum gave me the recipe when I moved home and even though I can't make it exactly the same way as she used American ingredients I can't get in the UK it is still a tasty dish that I and my family love. I hope you will enjoy it too!

BURGER STUFFED PEPPERS

(Serves 4 - 6)

Ingredients

4 medium-large green peppers (red and orange can be substituted)

1lb ground beef (This works just as well with less)

2 cups cooked rice 

1/4 cup chopped onions

Salt and pepper

1 400 to 500g bottle or box of passata (1 15oz can tomato sauce)

1 cup grated cheese

Method

Cook rice of your liking,

Halve peppers lengthways and de-seed. Pop into a pan of simmering water for only about 2 minutes and drain.

Yes I know these aren't cut in lengthways! But you get the idea!

Lightly mix beef, rice, onion, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of passata/tomato sauce. Pile this mixture into the pepper halves, top with cheese and arrange in a shallow baking dish.

Pour remaining passata/sauce over the top. Cover and bake at 350'F/180'C for about an hour.

You will have lovely soft peppers with a tasty filling along with a little sauce to spoon over the top.

I served these with salad and peas but it is especially tasty with boiled potatoes and corn!

As I didn't cut these ones lengthways, one pepper was enough on it's own. When the peppers are cut lengthways those with a bigger appetite can have more!

This is a great family dinner, kids and adults will enjoy it. The passata can be substituted for spaghetti sauce or your own home made sauce. The beef can be substituted for turkey mince or Quorn mince. 

Let me know if you make it!