This is what happens when someone leaves blueberries in store

One of my new years' resolutions is to blog more, as I have neglected my cooking and baking for ages. Today I had a few friends over for a roast dinner and served them a fruit called persimmon for dessert, which tasted like a pear or an apple but sweeter. But it's a shame they left early as I had acquired some blueberries to make some cupcakes. Someone left two fresh punnets of blueberries in the store I work in and my colleagues said I could have them only if I bring in cupcakes; fair enough. Just before watching Sherlock tonight I set up camp in the kitchen to make some cupcakes. I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe and added the blueberries to make a super simple pudding. I'm sure my colleagues will be happy tomorrow when I come in bearing these. 

However, after posting a picture of these cupcakes on a social networking site my friends decided to comment on their resemblance to nipples. I thought I had taken a rather good photo, for my usual standard anyway, and I hadn't considered that my cupcakes were breast like. Then my boyfriend peers at my screen and says that the blueberry on top looks like a nipple. Great! Everyone thinks my cupcakes are boobs incarnate. Well I hope the blokes in my store appreciate it. What do you think?

Busy Busy Busy

I was supposed to spend this weekend writing articles, but with a major hangover yesterday and writers block I haven't got anything done. It's been a super busy few weeks trying to move back to my old job and settle back in. I am so so happy to be back in my old job, my colleagues are amazing and my customers are lovely. Going back to that job has given me lots of work to do and I haven't had much time to blog let alone cook. Here are some photos of some of the foods I've cooked recently.

Curried Salmon on Noodles

Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara (no cream)

Steak and mushroom sauce - great hangover meal!!

Plum Crumble

Pork Chops with Gnocchi

After pulling a 50 hour week at work, instead of my usual 27 hours, I am exhausted, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook a really long meal. I was curled up on the sofa watching Nigella on tv, and she was cooking this pork chop dish. It looked super easy so I had to try it. Here's the recipe.

I used less mustard than stated, but the sauce was very mustardy! Maybe it's because I don't really like it. And I cooked far too much gnocchi. Next time I try this, more cider, less mustard, and some greens. This dish took about 10 minutes to cook, perfect for a night were you really cannot be bothered. After working loads, a Gü pud is exactly what I want for dessert, yummy!

Time for an Update

It's been a busy week looking after Chewy, my hamster. He's been very shy so I've been staying up late at night with him so he gets used to me. This unfortunately has left me with not much time to cook or bake. But he is adorable so all can be forgiven. Here he is the other night exploring the bathtub and playing with his toys.

With not having much time to cook I've been relaying on some old favourites and easy comfort food like pizza, 9p currys, pie and chips, and tuna pasta bakes. I love these because I always have tuna, pasta and tomato sauce in my cupboard, so when the shopping hasn't been done, which is quite usual at the moment, then this meal is perfect and filling, ultimate in comfort food. And as you can see, I took comfort food quite literally and snapped a photo while in my PJs. What are you favourite comfort foods when you have no time to cook properly?

Also you may have noticed a bit of a change of design. I wanted to pull it all back to basics and keep it simple. When I get a bit more time I'll see if I can design something prettier.

Goan Chicken Curry

I'm sitting on the sofa and watching my new hamster eating his food in his little house. Yep, you heard me, I've just bought a hamster! He is absolutely adorable. I brought him home last night, and he was a little stressed when he got in, but has now settled in his cage. He spent most of the night running in his wheel, which squeaks like crazy so I'll to buy him a new bigger one soon as it kept us up last night for a few hours. He doesn't have a name yet, waiting to get to know him a bit more and see if he acts like a certain name.. if that makes sense. Anyway, here is a rather blurry dark photo of him from last night, he wouldn't keep still unless he was hidden away.

The photo above was taken this morning while he was curled up in his little house.

Now on to the food. I made this Goan chicken curry recently, which was really simple to make and most of the ingredients were from my stock cupboard. I was expecting a thicker sauce, so maybe it needed to be boiled down for a bit longer, but I was starving and couldn't wait. 

   Ingredients

• 4 large skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 400ml coconut milk
• salt

   For the marinade

• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1½ tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp salt
• 75ml water

   Method

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together to give you a smooth paste. Add the chicken pieces and coat them thoroughly, and leave for 1 hour.
2. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until they're golden and then add the chicken and leftover paste.
3. Fry for about 8 minutes before adding the coconut milk. Increase the heat slightly and bring to a simmer. Cook for a further 10-12 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly before serving with rice and naan bread.

Coconut Rice with Ginger Chicken

For me this is major comfort food. Well any curry type dish is pretty much comfort food in my eyes. When I'm feeling a bit sluggish I make a big vat of curry to microwave for the next few days. This dish is really really sweet. There is about a cup of sugar in it, plus the coconut milk and soy sauce. Even though this was absolutely lovely, I couldn't taste the ginger so I'd put quite a bit extra in next time. The coconut rice is very tasty, and I could nom on it on its own. 

Coconut Rice

   Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tso salt
• 2 cups basmati rice

   Method

1. Whisk the first four ingredients together in a pot, bring to a boil. 
2. Add rice and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

Ginger Chicken

   Ingredients

• 3-4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• fresh ginger, grated

   Method

1. Combine everything in a pan and fry until the chicken has cooked and the soy sauce has condensed. 
2. Serve over the coconut rice. 

Sunday Munchies - Chicken Jalfrezi

I don't know where I found this recipe, but this is the most unjalfrezi like curry I have ever seen. However, it tasted quite nice. It was easy to do and I served it with rice and naan. Next time I will throw in some tomatoes and pepper so you could try that.

   Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely
• 1 green chilli, chopped (optional)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp peeled and grated root ginger

   Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and chilli, and fry for 5 mins.
2. Add the curry powder and the tomato puree. Stir and then add in the chicken and ginger.
3. Allow the chicken to cook for a couple of minutes and then add 125ml of water. Stir and cook for 10 minutes.