Sweet Chili Prawns and Rice!

Prawns and mixed vegetables with rice and sweet chili salad dressing. 
This is a very easy dish to make and, provided you buy good ingredients, is very healthy as well. The prawns we used were already cooked but we've decided when we make this again to pop the prawns in the microwave with the baby corn to firm them up. We had ours with sushi and sugar snap peas on the side (as you can see in the picture!) but that is of course optional. The sweet chili dressing we used is one we found in Tesco. Your favourite brand of sweet chili sauce is perfectly fine to use as well, but we found the dressing wasn't as tangy and worked better, so try to get your hands on some! Serves two.
 
Ingredients:
- 1 packet of cooked prawns
- 150g white long grain rice
- 4-6 spring onions, chopped.
- 1/2 a carrot, grated.
- 1/2 an onion, diced.
- baby corn, chopped
- 1/2 a tsp each of black pepper, chopped dried chilies, parsley and thyme
- a pinch of salt
- juice from half a lemon
- Sweet chili salad dressing


Step One
Put the rice and the diced onion into a pan and following the instructions on the packet, boil until ready to be drained and served. 


Step Two
In a tub (make sure it has a secure lid!) put the prawns, the spring onion and the carrot, along with the lemon juice and the seasonings and give it a good shake to ensure they're mixed and coated. 


Step Three
Cook the baby corn in a microwavable dish (following the instructions on the pack!).
Once the rice is ready, plate up and serve with a sweet chili salad dressing or sauce. 

Apple Sauce with Cinnamon

How to make a delicious and simple apple sauce spiced with cinnamon. 
Very similar to my cranberry sauce with just a bit more preparation. 


Ingredients
- 6 Golden Delicious apples (peeled, cored and diced)
- 1 cup of water
- half a cup of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of cinnamon 


Step One
Put the apples into a pot at a medium heat and add the water and the cinnamon.
While it's simmering away, add the sugar gradually with plenty stirring and tasting.
Cook for about 15 minutes.

I like to take a potato masher to it just a little so it's a little mushy but still has some nice lumps of apple in it for texture. 

To store: wait until it has cooled right down and then put in an air tight box in the fridge.

Christmas Cranberry Sauce!

How to make an easy cranberry sauce with some Christmas spice.
Cranberry sauce is a must on the dinner table in winter, and here's the recipe for what I made my family this year. Of course you can have it any time of the year but I think the allspice makes it particularly Christmassy.
This has got to be one of the easiest things you could try to make so don't worry about any hassle!


Ingredients: 
- roughly 4 cups of cranberries (fresh or frozen!)
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1 cup of water
- 3 tbsp of allspice


Step One
Pour the cranberries into a pot at a medium heat and add the water and the allspice. While it's simmering away, add the sugar gradually.
You can add anything you wish into it at this point, for example: chopped pecans, orange zest, raisins or currents. Cook for about 20 minutes (or until the cranberries have burst) and keep tasting to make sure it doesn't need extra sugar or spice.


To store: wait until it has cooled right down and then put in an air tight box in the fridge.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Crab Salad.

A healthy crab salad with roasted sweet potato, crunchy salad leaves, spring onion and sweetcorn. 
This is one of my favourite inventions so far and I am very proud of it. It's very healthy to eat and so easy to make. The meat is from the legs and the claws of the crab, and was bought in a small tub from Morrison's Supermarket and came already cooked. The sweet potato works best if it's roasted for only a short amount of time and doesn't develop too much of a 'skin' on the outside. This recipe contains two servings.

Ingredients:
- tub of pre-cooked crab meat
- 2 large sweet potato (peeled and chopped into roughly 1cm cubes)
- 1 bag of mixed crunchy salad
- four spring onions
- half a cup of sweetcorn
- the juice of half a lemon
- parsley, rosemary, pepper & salt


Step One
Preheat your oven to 200 and prepare a baking tray with some foil.
Blanch the sweet potato in a pan of boiling water for five minutes so it's slightly soft but not thoroughly cooked.
Put on baking tray and sprinkle with rosemary and pepper and a drizzle of oil.
Shake the tray to coat the sweet potato and then cook in the oven for around 20 minutes.
Keep an eye on it to make sure the edges don't burn too much.

Step Two
While your sweet potato is cooking, chop up the spring onion and put it in a bowl.
Add the crab meat and the lemon juice and season with a little pepper, parsley and just a touch of salt.
Also, cook the sweetcorn.


Step Three
When the sweet potato is cooked, dish out onto two plates. Top with a handful or two of the salad and sweetcorn, and then follow with an even share of the crab meat.
Enjoy!

Garlic Potato Salad

New potatoes tossed with garlic, parsley, spring onion and mayonnaise. 
A lovely side dish to accompany a variety of meals.

Ingredients:
- 1 bag of new potatoes
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 4 spring onions 
- dried or fresh parsley
- pepper to season 
- lemon juice (optional)
 
Step One
Wash and boil a handful of new potatoes. (Roughly 5 per serving).

Step Two
Chop up the spring onion and garlic.
Put in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise, the parsley and some pepper.

Step Three 
Once the potatoes have cooked, drain them and mix into the rest of the ingredients with a little lemon juice if you chose to have it. Serve.

Delicious especially with my Chili Baked Salmon recipe.
To store; refrigerate and use within two days.

Chili Baked Salmon with Roasted Red Peppers

Fillet of Salmon baked with chili peppers, garlic, spring onion and seasonings and served with roasted red pepper.
This is a very easy and very healthy dish to make. I love salmon and this is one of my favourite ways to cook it. 
Feeds two people.

Ingredients:
- 2 fillets of salmon 
- 2 small red chili peppers 
- A bulb of garlic 
- 4 spring onions 
- 1 lemon 
- 1 red pepper 
- 1tsp parsley 
- salt & pepper

Step One
Turn your oven on to around 200° and prepare a baking dish with tin foil and put an extra sheet aside to put on top later.

Step Two
Remove the head of the chili peppers and dice, and do the same with the garlic.
Remove the head of the spring onion, and then chopping off the ends, slice down the middle into two or three strips.
Place the salmon on the baking tray and surround with the chili, garlic and spring onion.
Sprinkle with a couple pinches of parsley, some pepper and a little salt.
Rub this mixture into the fish a little bit, and then cut the lemon in half and squeeze some juice on top.
Cover with the remaining tin foil and put in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step Three
Slice your pepper into strips and put on the baking tray, with a little oil drizzled on top, about half way through cooking and cook for about 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on it so they don’t burn.

Step Four
Ideally serve this with the spring onion and chili still on top, along with some crunchy salad and my own recipe Garlic Potato Salad. 

Optional: Slice the remaining half lemon into quarters and serve on the plate beside the fish.