Post By Request

I made dinner last night, like I do every night & when I posted a photo on Instagram & Facebook I had a lot of friends ask for a recipe, so I figured I would post it up here! Forgive me for the lack of step by step photos - I wasn't planning on posting this one :)

Creamy Pepper Pasta

1 table spoon of Olive oil

1 Large onion (I love onion so if you're not a fan you can do a small one)

4 cloves of garlic (again, love of garlic so this is a taste thing)

6 basil leaves (1/2 tablespoon if using dried)

2 good shakes of red pepper flakes (these are HOT so again, adjust to taste)

1 large jar of spaghetti sauce (I used sauce that has pepper in it, if you use a plain sauce, add 2-3 chopped sautéed peppers)

1/2 cup of heavy cream (next time I'm going to try Greek yogurt to cut some calories)

Salt & Pepper to taste

3/4 box of angel hair pasta

Sauté oil, onion, garlic in a pan for 3-5 minutes, till the onions are clear (if you are adding peppers, sauté them with the onions & garlic). Add basil & red pepper flakes & continue to cook for another minute. Add spaghetti sauce, salt, pepper & cream and lower heat to a simmer. This will cook while you cook the spaghetti. 

Fix the pasta according to the box - angel hair tends to cook much faster then other spaghettis. 

Top your meal with fresh chopped basil & take your Instagram picture! Voila! 

For the sausage, in the US I would have used an Italian sausage, but here they don't have it so I used Venison & Pork sausages which were delicious. 

Monday Meal

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week, just been one of those ruff weeks. 

Last night I made a really simple, delicious meal & I figured I would share it with my readers. Because we get our grocery delivery on Tuesdays the meals I fix on Sunday & Monday nights are usually pretty simple. Plus who wants to fix a super complicated dinner on a Sunday or Monday night? I know I don't. Here is my recipe for One Pot Pasta!

One Pot Pasta

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2/3 box of linguine (or spaghetti)

1 pack of cherry tomatoes - cut in 1/2

1 large onion - finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic - chopped
Handful of fresh basil (10-15 leaves)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 large lemon - cut in thick slices
4 1/4 cups of water
Parmesan cheese - freshly grated is best

This is truly a one pot meal, which doesn't just save on time, but it also saves on the washing up (Steve's job). Please note - in the photos you will see 2 different pots, I switched mid cook for better photos (judge me!). I wouldn't recommend doing this!



First I put the cup up tomatoes, onions, lemon, basil, salt & pepper, olive oil & water in the pot. I don't turn the heat on until everything is in the pot - keeps things from sticking to the bottom. 

Add your pasta. If you have a skillet I recommend using it so your pasta is submerged from the start. 

Here is all of the ingredients simmering away. I cooked this on high & I made sure I kept stirring the pot so things didn't stick to the pan. Bring the pot to a boil(no lid - we want water to evaporate), then bring the temp to med-high & let the pasta cook for another 9-12 minutes. Most of the water will evaporate & you will be left with a think creamy looking sauce. The cheese will also add to this in the next step. 

Switched pots! Again, do as I say, not as I do. This just seemed to be prettier to look at. This is after the it finished cooking so it's off the hob. While the pasta is still hot grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top and mix it in. The heat of the pasta and pot will melt it. 

Here is the final product on the plate! I just added some more parmesan cheese (we love cheese) and of course fresh chopped basil. I mildly cheated because I used a second pan to grill the chicken (we don't have a grill) but I'm still calling this a one pot meal. 

If you have different veggies around the house feel free to use them too! Or even grill some zucchini & squash with your protein and add them to the pasta. It's a great "everything but the kitchen sink" kind of meal.

Do you have a go to "one pot meal"? Do you know a good recipe linkup I can use when I post recipes? Will you be trying this recipe? 

You Don't Have What in the UK?!

Being an expat isn't easy. You miss your friends and your family, your pets, your city & the things you're used to. You do your best to pack & bring things to make your new life abroad easier, things you don't think you can live without. Thankfully Steve & I didn't move to a 3rd world country, heck they speak the same language here! But in spite of research & careful packing there are still things that we miss & then there are things we simply can't believe they don't have in the UK.

Redbox - Blockbusters are gone, I saw 2 movie rental stores in Belgium (I used to visit them when I lived there 14 years ago) yet the UK hasn't gotten Redboxs yet! It's crazy! All of these people who commute and walk to work, as busy as the city center is & the grocery stores are Redbox would make a fortune here! I now feel like we have to go see all the movies we want to see in the theatre. Since we don't have cable, just regular TV we're at a bit of a loss on how to watch new movies. Any ideas?

Baking section at the grocery store - There are plenty of food items I knew we'd be hard pressed to find once we moved across the pond, things like Crisco, pancake mix & coffee creamer to name a few. One thing I didn't think I'd have an issue finding is things like a good brownie mix, or even break & bake style cookies. They have them, but there's only one or 2 brands and they're not very good. I guess people bake from scratch here






Capers - they have bagels, onions, tomatoes and amazing smoked salmon. They serve them all together for a yummy breakfast sandwich yet they are missing that salty pickled taste of capers. Not sure why they don't have them, I'm hoping I can go to a higher end grocery store and fine them.










Dryer sheets - dryers seem to be a bit of a rarity here. Houses are small & most washing machines are located in kitchens, thankfully ours isn't. But without dryers being the norm, dryer sheets are hard to find. I think big super markets might carry them but the small local sainsburrys I go to, they don't have them.

Coupons - back at home I was a couponer & I had the stockpile to prove it. I really loved it, it was a major stress reliever for me. Obviously the money saving was awesome - I bought in bulk when stuff was on sale & therefore we simply "shopped" in our garage. A lot of people laughed at my hobby, including Steve, until he ran out of body wash one day and didnt have to use mine or go to the store, he just grabbed a bottle from the garage.

Part of my stock pile





I'm sure the longer we are here the more things we won't be able to find. Are you an expat who can't find everyday things where you live?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I'm the one who does the majority read all of the cooking, but since Steve sometimes reads this blog I shouldn't say that of the cooking. I don't mind, most of the time, because I really enjoy being creative in the kitchen. Now that I'm not working I tend to watch a fair amount of food network. Its one of the few decent channels we get, as 20+ of them are home shopping channels. So when I watch food network I get inspired and itchy palms to get into the kitchen and make something yummy.

Unfortunately the furnished apartment we have wasn't furnished to my medium standards in the kitchen. Crappy pots and pans, no measuring devices, just not good. Now that my stuff has arrived I feel much more at home in the kitchen & its more fun. Mind you, I was worried as my oven is about 1/2 the size of a normal US oven... hello no thanksgiving turkey this year. But my biggest pan fits inside, barely. 

So I decided I would start blogging about some of the meals I fix. Sometimes it will be a recipe I have made myself, aka I didn't google a recipe. Sometimes I will link up to another blog or website where I got the recipe. If I do make any changes to the recipe I will let you know. 

Tuesday night after watching too much food channel I decided to do a chicken bake, but I was going to upgrade it. What you're looking at is my turkey bake. I filled my pan about 1/2 an inch deep with white wine (didn't measure because it depends on the size of you pan). Then I added 2/3 of a bag of baby potatoes all cut in quarters. Then I cut up some peppers, onions, shallots & garlic. It's a little like stone soup, just sort of toss in what you have laying around the kitchen aka what I did. 

This is my new favorite thing! Piri Piri seasoning goes into pretty much everything I make theses days. Its a perfect blend of onion, garlic & peppers (aka the base of 90% of my meals). I seasoned the turkey with this, but again, you can use chicken or pork. 

Once all the veggies and turkey were in the pan I sprinkled a good spoonful of french mustard around the dish and put the lid on. This way the dish sort of steams itself in the oven while its also cooking. Leave the meat on top to begin with, somehow it makes it juicer. 

Voila! This is the same dish after being in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes. Keep in mind, this varies depending on what meat your using and how much you cook. Never a bad idea to keep check it after 30 min or so. 

After you pull it out to check it, go ahead and mix it up. Spoon the yummy wine over everything, mix the veggies with the meat, it won't look as pretty but it helps disperse the flavors. Pop it back in the oven for another 15 min or so. Again cooking times depends on what meat you're using. 

I didn't get a photo of the next step, forgive me. Use a slotted spoon to get the turkey out of the pan as well as most of the big veggies. You want just the liquid in the bottom of the pan left. It will have bits in it, mostly shallots and garlic which is perfect. Get your cream out, either double or single, depending on what you have on hand and slowly pour into the pan and keep whisking. Feel free to add a little more mustard. This will make the cream sauce. I like to do it like this because this wine is full of all the yummy bits from the dish & it saves you using another pot. 

Not the best photo of the dish but Steve loved it. Plus it makes really yummy leftovers aka what I'm eating for lunch today. 

 For dinner I wanted to use up the pineapple I used earlier to make a special smoothie for Steve's migraine. I bought a whole pineapple instead of a can and I didn't want to leave it after I'd cut it up. I got the idea from watching Ready Steady Cook.

Here is the link to the recipe: Griddled pineapple with a yoghurt and mint syllabub

Sounds fancy? That's what I thought but I had all the stuff so I figured why not. Grilled the pineapple in our grilling pan, folded the extra cream from my mustard sauce in with the yogurt & added a little honey. They recommend serving it in a wine glass - see below - but I was too scared I'd break the glass so I dumped mine into a bowl. The fresh mint really

The fresh mint on top really made it yummy. So easy and if you're already grilling this summer its such a quick think to throw the pineapple on the BBQ after the meat has cooked. 

Did you enjoy reading about my cooking? Would you try this recipe for yourself? How can I improve these type of posts? 

Link Up

Link Up Here

Back when I used to blog on my old blog Atl Yankee Belle... not sure if any of my old readers have come over to this blog, but I love a good link up. I feel like its a good way to get some more people reading my blog as well as it gives me a subject to write about (aka I get stumped on topics or I have good topics but not sure they're worthy of a post). 

So this post is about getting to know little old me. Since my blog is still pretty new and I haven't gotten a fancy designer layout I don't have a "all about me" section. 

• I've recently started my own herb garden. Since we don't have any outdoor space, not even a balcony I've had to make do with a windowsill 

•  I'm 5'7, telling your height seems to be a thing for this link up so I figured I should include it 

•  I speak a tiny amount of french. After living in Belgium for 5 years this shouldn't surprise anyone yet Steve was shocked when I spoke french when we visited Belgium last weekend

•  I've recently started my own Easy shop featuring my photography. I'm very much a beginner so I'm not charging much for these pictures but I am hoping to make it a real business Spilled Milk Photography

•  I can't drive a manual car. I tried to learn a few years back in an ancient pick up truck in a field full of goats. Needless to say it was a failure of a lesson and I never went back

•  I am not much of a gamer, I don't play PS4 or Xbox or magic or geeky board games, what I do play is the Sims4. Ive been an avid Simmer since the original came out when I was in 8th grade... not so many years ago

•  I'm an excellent procrastinator aka the reason I started this blog post as opposed to running errands or unpacking or starting one of 3 loads of laundry I need to do today 

•  I hoard collect cook books. I had a huge collection at home, at least 50 or so. Yet I never use them when looking for a recipe, I'm all about google. I only packed about 10, but they're pretty so I can use them to decorate

•  Since I've been in the UK I've made 8 dishes I've never cooked before. I've had plenty to time to find new recipes and online shopping has helped too as I don't have to wonder around the supermarket for hours looking for something

Feel like your readers don't know much about you? Why not join this link up! Don't forget to add your post to the main website