Recipe: Pumpkin Soup

It's October! Which means one thing in my book: pumpkin flavoured everything. 

Personally, I love all things pumpkin. Pumpkin is one of my favourite vegetables and whether it's sweet or savoury, if it's got pumpkin in it - I'll eat it!

Recipe: Easy Bread Rolls

An American Feast

Another Friday night dinner...

Are you getting bored of these yet?

For weeks I'd been craving cornbread which meant an American themed meal was inevitable. So I basically designed my meal around that. I've mentioned before that I can't really eat pork but this Friday I thew out the Crohn's rule book and made pulled pork with cornbread muffins, homemade baked beans and corn on the cob. It was delicious and I don't regret it one bit.

Another Friday, another chicken.

I'm trying to commit to something. As someone with multiple chronic and mental health issues, cooking is something I love to do but can't always do. Due to the effort and exhaustion, cooking isn't always an option for me. And most weekdays consist of cheats that make cooking a little easier. Jars of sauce, microwave vegetables etc etc. 

But to keep myself busy and as a goal, I'm trying to commit to making at least one meal from scratch as possible. And I mean from scratch. So instead of all my quick, adapted recipes that I usually go for - I've been trying to cook a proper homemade meal for James and I. Luckily this usually means leftovers for the next day so technically I'm making two meals from scratch... Right?

A busy, child free, weekend.

This weekend my partner and I were child free for the first time in months. Which obviously meant long lie ins and lots of laziness. But it also meant I could spend some time in the kitchen.

Friday night I popped to Sainsbury's and bought a small whole chicken. When I roast a chicken, there's a few rules I stick too and my method doesn't fail me. I put a lot (and I mean a lot, I never said this was healthy roast chicken) of  seasoned butter underneath the skin of the breast and cover the skin in butter, making sure you tuck a some between the legs. I sometimes mix the butter with fresh herbs (if I have any) or smoked chilli paste. This time I just went plain and simple and then added a lemon, cut in half, and a few garlic cloves into the cavity. I always roast my chickens on a bed of thickly chopped onions and cover with foil until the last half an hour. This way the onions can properly caramelize without burning. I usually cook the chicken for 1.5/2 hours and rest for 15 minutes.

As we had more time to spare and I had more time to cook, I decided to make a quick roast dinner. We had new potatoes in so why not! I used boxed stuffing because, as much as I love homemade stuffing, I just did not have the energy or the money for ingredients.