Spicy Lamb and Feta Koftas with a lemon and mint Greek Salad

Its Friday night and the food has been delivered. I fancied doing something a bit different tonight so I made Spicy Lamb and Feta Koftas with a lemon and mint salad. I also made some child friendly ones with Eryn too. I called them 'meat lollipops' and she loved it. I guess anything you can dip in tomato ketchup is a winner! She had fun making them though.

To make the Koftas:-

Ingredients

- 500g Organic minced lamb
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 Tbsp Harissa Paste (yes Im using a lot of this at the moment in recipes!)
- 60g Feta
- Fresh Mint - finely chopped
- Parsley
- Salt / Pepper to taste

Method

- Put the minced lamb in a bowl, add the finely chopped red onion, Crumbled feta cheese, chopped mint (a sprinkle), parsley, season if you want to add.
- Mix tougher with your hands until combined
- If you are making some for the kids then take a little out and keep aside.
- For the adults - add the Harissa paste and mix together
- Form into sausage shapes
- When ready to cook, put under the grill for approx 10 mins until cooked through. Difficult to say exact time as it depends on how thick you make the meat. Turn when under the grill regularly.



Greek Salad

- Diced Cucumber
- Chopped cherry tomatoes
- Feta Cheese
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice - (quarter of a lemon)
- Cooked rice
- Fresh mint

-Mix everything together - serve. I layered mine with rice on the bottom and the salad on top.

Enjoy xx

Harissa & Feta Pasta Frittata....... left over quick dinner for hubby

Ok so I get home from work on Wednesday and have zero food in the house....... Ive been away with work this week and I've not got around to doing the food shop yet. Chris is going to be late home and I have a starving child. Opening the fridge I stare at it in the hope for some inspiration. In my head I'm mentally doing 'Ready steady cook' to see what i can pull together. (Secretly I quite like the challenge as sometimes you can come up with a great new dish)

Ok so I have pasta, tinned tomatoes, soft cheese - excellent I can make a quick pasta dish for Eryn then worry about Chris later.

Ingredients

- Pasta
- Tinned Tomatoes
- Dried Italian herbs
- Salt/ Pepper if you want to use
- Philadelphia
- Vegetable Oil
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- Onion - chopped as small as you can

Method

- Add the Oil to the pan and add finely chopped onion and garlic - cook until soft
- Add the chopped tomatoes and a sprinkle of Italian herbs
- Turn down the heat and simmer
- Heat water in a pan and add the pasta - cook according to instructions.
- Drain the pasta and add the tomato sauce
- Serve

Eryn added feta cheese and parmesan to her dish to decorate.....

Ok so I overdid the pasta quantities and have loads left over....... so Im now thinking what can I do with this to make it interesting for Chris when he gets home.

Ingredients

- Leftover pasta from above
- 3 eggs - beaten
- 1 tbsp Harissa paste
- feta cheese crumbled
- Sweetcorn

Method

- Turn on the oven to apron 180C
- Spoon in the Harissa paste into the leftover pasta
- Heat a frying pan with a little oil- ideally a skillet or small frying pan
- Add the leftover pasta
- Poor over the beaten egg and flatten down the pasta into the egg with the back of a wooden spoon.
- Cook on a low heat for approx 8 mins
- Sprinkle on the drained sweetcorn and crumbled feta cheese
- Add to the oven and cook for a further 5-10 mins until the egg is set in the middle.
- for extra colour finish off under the grill

Result!!! A new dish that was created with a few standard left over ingredients

Sunday breakfast - creamy mushrooms on toast

I love lazy Sunday mornings and it's the one day of the week I get to make something a little bit different for breakfast.

Monday to  Friday it's a bowl of granola, Saturdays are usually a rush getting the little one ready and off for swimming so it's a quick piece of toast and jam. Sundays are perfect for a nice family breakfast and cup of coffee!

Today I made creamy mushrooms on toast and it really was delicious.

Method :
Sliced button mushrooms in a saucepan with some rapeseed oil. Fry then add in a couple of tablespoons of low fat soft cheese, few splashes of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard.  Easy as that!

Enjoy
Laura x

Big on taste...... Taste of summer...... Tomato, Basil and Creme fraiche Risotto - perfect vegetarian recipe!

Its been a long week at work this week. However after 11 hours at work on Wednesday I still managed to knock up this fantastic recipe. Made up on the scratch out of my head! I love it when this happens and it goes right. Great vegetarian recipe.......

Everyone can make this and I promise you it can't go wrong! 

Ingredients

- Butter
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- Chopped chilli - optional

- Arborio Rice

- Onions

- Veg stock

- Tin of chopped Tomatoes

- Salt

- Pepper

- Basil

- Creme Fraiche

- Cherry Tomatoes

Method

- Add 25g of butter to the pan and melt. 

- Add 1 onion chopped. 
- Add the 2 cloves of crushed or chopped garlic. 
- if you want a little heat then add the chopped chilli. - optional

- Cook until soft on a low heat. 

- Add 125g of Arborio rice and coat until glossy. 

- Make up 600ml of vegetable stock. Add small amounts of veg stock and wait until the   

  rice has  

  absorbed it. Add until half has gone. 

- Add a tin of chopped tomatoes. stir. 

- Add the salt and pepper.

- Add the cherry tomatoes to the oven and roast. 

- Add the remaining of the stock gradually until all absorbed. 

- Add the basil to taste.

- Add a large spoon of creme fraiche and stir in. 

Serve with the roasted cherry tomatoes on top.

Delicious!!! 

p.s if you double up the recipe you can save the left overs and make arancini s the next day! 

Enjoy Louise x