Burger and Pasta…two of my favourite foods so surely the dream combo? The answer is yes, yes it is! I saw this dish on a restaurant menu months ago and thought I’ve got to recreate this at home myself. Not only is it delicious, it’s all done in the one pan so it’s really easy and creates minimal washing up. Not only that but it’s a perfect dish for kids as it combines all the lovely flavours of a classic burger and makes 6 portions. Perfect to feed the whole family and still have leftovers.
This recipe is so quick to prepare but it’s really important you do everything at the same time so it’s nice and hot when you serve it. In the main recipe I’ve included my take on a traditional carbonara but below I’ve also included a couple of variations which you can try if you want to either mix things up or bulk the recipe out further. Continue reading
I am a huge fan of pesto, in particular when its home made. The fresh and vibrant flavours can really lift a dish to the next level. When I was flicking through this months Good Food magazine, a recipe for Broccoli Pesto and Pancetta Pasta really took my fancy as not only did it involve pesto, but it used a whole load of broccoli which is packed with goodness. To start with I tweaked the recipe to make it WW friendly but I found that the recipe in the magazine didn’t actually have much taste so I continued to tweak and taste until it was perfect. The result is the recipe below.
Whenever I’m asked to create a new recipe, one of the main things my followers want is something that is quick and easy to rustle up in the kitchen after a long day at work. As a result, I’m always trying to come up with new, tasty and speedy recipes that will help you have tea on the table in as little time as possible. So when Very Lazy approached me to ask if I could try out some of their products and create some new recipes, I knew these would be something which would appeal to lots of my followers!
The hubbie and I love pasta so I’m always looking for new quick and easy pasta sauces to add to my repertoire. Whilst watching James Martin’s new cooking show this week (he is travelling around American making all sorts of amazing looking dishes), we both watched with our mouths watering as he rustled up a Bloody Mary pasta with prawns. Of course, being James Martin, the dish was loaded with butter and oil and not Weight Watcher friendly in the slightest, but it did give me the inspiration to cook up my own healthy version of the dish.
There is nothing better than a nice light pasta dish in the summer and one of the recent requests from one of my followers was a salmon pasta so…. ask and I shall deliver!!
I decided to make a nice homemade pesto to go with this and included peas to both up the flavour and lower the points (you don’t need to use as much cheese to get a lovely depth of flavour). The pesto recipe as listed below is enough to serve 4 people. If you are only making this for two (like me) you can just pop half of the pesto in a sealed pot in the fridge to be used at a later date.
I’m always being asked for more vegetarian recipes but as such a big meat eater, I often find myself automatically basng my recipes around chicken, pork, beef or lamb. Having gotten a little into Meatless Mondays at the moment however, I though it was time I gave another veggie recipe a go.
I’m always a fan of meals that I can whip up using the contents of my cupboards/fridge/freezer. This recipe fulfills exactly that brief as I always have chorizo in the fridge and a large packet of squid rings in the freezer. Together they are a lovely pairing but when I was whipping up this pasta, I fancied incorporating a new flavour. Chipotle paste was the perfect choice, it adds a lovely smoky flavour to the dish and stands up well to the fishy flavour of the squid and fish stock. A fishy, meaty, smoky delight!
I don’t use leeks as often as I would like so this week when I picked some up, I decided to pop together a new recipe to try and get me cooking them more often. Leek paired with chicken and bacon is a classic combo often found in a chicken pie. The combination here with pasta is delicious. It is both lovely and silky and creamy whilst not being too naughty. The introduction of pesto really lifts the flavour too. If you fancy you could use the sauce below as a pie mixture. Simply let it cool and then pop into individual pie dishes, top with the pastry of your choice and then bake. I like it as a pasta though as its quick and oh so satisfying.
My sister has been asking me to make my own version of this classic Italian dish for a while now and so this week I finally got around to it. Haven eaten it many times when out myself I knew how it should taste and I wanted my version to be as close to it as possible. The end result was exactly as I wanted, creamy with a good spicy kick. Give it a whirl – you will never feel like you are missing out on eating out again!