First cost effective recipe today comes from the slow cooker chicken recipe that we put up on Saturday most of the time we don’t use all of the chicken in our house, so any leftover we use of course for a sandwich but even better some chicken soup. Most people don’t realise by we have the base of a soup in our house people spend more on the shop made ones than you would making it yourself. Everyone would have some carrots, celery and onions in their house and if you look at any soup recipe it is the base of any soup. Not to mention this soup will last in fridge for up to 4-5 days or you can freeze it no problem.
Ingredients • 1 full onion chopped • 3 carrots chopped • 3 celery stick chopped • 3 garlic cloves • 250g of chicken shredded • 3 ½ cups of Chicken Stock • 1 tsp of Paprika. • Natural Yogurt to finish (optional)
• In a pot over medium heat add carrots, celery and onion cook in some oil for at 10-12 minutes.
• Add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute, as the shredded chicken, Paprika and stock. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes until the carrots are soft.
• Blend with a hand blender or blend in a food processor, season with some salt and pepper to taste. Finish with some natural yogurt if you prefer.Enjoy.
Its too nice outside to be sitting over a cooker and going back forward to and oven to check and baste a chicken. Correct? So problem solved get up in the morning stick everything into the slow cooker and walk away and don’t come back until its ready and again this is really simple, Don’t forget you can use your leftover chicken for tomorrow we will get back to that. I hope you try this one you won’t to put a chicken in the oven again after trying this one.
Ingredients • Medium Whole Chicken • 1tsp of Onion powder • 1 tsp of Garlic Powder • 1 tsp of Paprika • 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika • 1 tsp of dried thyme • 1 tbsp of Oil • Any vegetables of your choice.
• For the purpose of this recipe I’m using baby potatoes and carrots. Peel the carrots and cut them into chunks, half the baby potatoes and place into the slow cooker. • In a bowl mix all the spices with the oil. • CLEAN HANDS. Rub the spice the mixture over the entire chicken. • Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Tip: We are not putting any liquid in the reason being all those flavourful juices that come out of the chicken as it cooks will get in the vegetables and add toons of flavour, You will be amazed how it works.
Iced coffee has been a popular drink in Africa and Asia for centuries, but it’s only really made it big in the West over the last few years, initially made popular by a couple of American coffee giants and the explosion of London’s coffee scene.
The recipes we’ve got here cover the whole spectrum, all the way from the traditionally brewed drinks of North Africa and Vietnam right up to the sugary, milky mixtures of the modern-day caffeine junkie – so load up those ice-trays and get brewing!
1. Mazagran
Known worldwide as the original iced coffee, the Mazagran was brought back from North Africa to France in the 19th Century. It quickly became popular in the coffee houses of Paris, and was the first European coffee to be served in tall, narrow glasses.
Simply brew your espresso nice and strong and serve over ice with a glass of lemon-spiked ice-cold water. Mix to taste, and add a bit of lemon peel to garnish.
Ingredients
2 shots of strong, hot espresso
ice cubes
½ a lemon
1 glass of ice-cold water
2. Greek frappé
Invented – like the slinky, penicillin, and crisps – by accident, the frappé has since become a mainstay of Greek coffee culture. While the original recipe calls for instant coffee, this drink can be made equally well with chilled espresso.
Chuck the coffee, water and ice into a shaker and go to town until you get a nice frothy consistency (adding a little sugar will give you a much nicer texture). Add milk to taste, but if you’re looking to go full-blown Hellenic, make sure you go for the evaporated kind.
Ingredients
1 shot of espresso
cold water
ice cubes
cow’s milk or evaporated milk, to taste
3. Cold brew
Cold brew is everywhere. Every coffee fanatic worth their tattoos and impeccably groomed facial hair goes mad for the stuff every summer, and it’s easy to see why. It produces a naturally sweeter, less acidic drink that delivers the perfect coffee antidote for the heat, and it’s insanely easy to make yourself.
Just add cold water to ground coffee (usually at a ratio of around 1:8) and steep for 18 to 24 hours. Strain, then add ice, milk and sugar to taste. Simple as. simple as. Plus, it can be kept in the fridge for up to a month’
For a much more detailed look at this fantastic concoction, get stuck into our brilliant article on how to cold-brew coffee.
Ingredients
cold water
ground coffee
ice cubes
milk, to taste
sugar, to taste
4. Vietnamese iced coffee
A deliciously sweet variation on a regular iced coffee, this drink consists of dark-roast coffee poured over a small amount of sweetened condensed milk. Known nationally as Ca phe sua da, the shortage of fresh milk meant that this sweeter substitute became the natural alternative. Once adopted, it quickly spread.
The coffee should be brewed directly from a French drip press into a glass that’s a quarter-full with sweetened condensed milk. This mixture should then simply be poured over ice and stirred well. If you don’t happen to have a drip press handy, simple brew with a cafetiere, or use a nice, light espresso.
Ingredients
dark roast coffee
sweetened condensed milk
ice cubes
5. Coffee milkshake
Rich coffee flavours blitzed into a creamy, icy slush – this is the ultimate decadence.
First off, combine the vanilla and coconut milk in a pan, scorch the milk by bringing it to the boil, then pop it in the freezer. Meanwhile, soak the chia seeds in a splash of coconut milk until it reaches the consistency of frogspawn – not the most appealing thing you’ve ever read in a recipe, but the similarity is unfortunately quite unmistakable!
Pop the frozen cream and chia seeds into a blender with the espresso and blitz. If you fancy it, add a dash of coffee liqueur for good measure.
Salad number 2 today is from the other side of Europe, but again using fresh ingredients (Fresh is best). You see and taste summer on your plate.
4 medium Roma tomatoes, diced
1 medium cucumber
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced or diced, rinsed and drained
1 small green or yellow bell pepper
3/4 cup kalamata or black olives, drained and sliced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 medium avocado diced
Instructions
Add all of the dressing ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk well to blend, season with salt to taste and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Add tomatoes, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, olives, avocado and feta to a salad bowl.
Drizzle dressing over top and gently toss to evenly coat. Add dressing within a few minutes of serving for best results.
You read this correctly. You can buy it pre made in the shop, but again because its Saturday of the long weekend we are taking easy simple classics and showing you the easy way of making or cooking them. I promise you can do this at home.
Ingredients
For the Salad:
1-2 heads of romaine lettuce, chopped or torn into bite sized pieces
Chicken Breast (Left over or grilled)
Grilled Bacon
grated fresh Parmesan cheese–amount per personal preference
croutons – amount per personal preference
For the Caesar Salad Dressing:
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used lite mayo)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of sugar (to cut the acidity)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
The Chicken
For the chicken if your cooking your own it’s a full chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper in a 200°c oven for 40 minutes. When cooked and cooled cut into chunks.
Instructions
In a large bowl put lettuce, chickens bacon. Sprinkle with desired amount of Parmesan cheese. I tend to like more rather than less, but everyone is different. Sprinkle a handful or two of croutons in. Set aside.
For the salad dressing:
Put the mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice, anchovy paste, black pepper, and Parmesan cheese into a blender. Blitz for a few seconds.
With the blender running (keep the lid on!) slowly drizzle in the olive oil to create an emulsion.
Pour desired amount of dressing over salad. Toss. Serve immediately. Note: Depending on personal taste, the salad may not require the full amount of salad dressing. Serve any extra dressing on the side
The breakfast egg muffin cups that was put up during the week was extremely popular. So because its Saturday of a long weekend we thought we do and unhealthy version. Treat yourself and give these a try.
5 large eggs
1/4 lb (125g) crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup grated cheddar, or any cheese you like
Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. To make the cheesy bacon egg muffins: Preheat your oven to (200°C). Grease a 6 count muffin pan with oil or non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, crack in eggs and whisk together with salt and black pepper.
2. Stir in cooked bacon, cheddar cheese, Italian seasoning and red chili pepper flakes (if using). Divide evenly into muffin cups filling each about 2/3 full. Top with more bacon and cheese if you like. Bake the the egg muffins in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool a bit and serve your cheesy bacon egg muffins immediately, or enjoy cold
Simple syrup is basically 1 cup of water 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of fresh strawberries. Place into a pot over medium heat cook for 5 minutes until it start to boil and then strain.
Instructions
Bring the filtered water to a boil. Add the tea, and let steep for 5 minutes.
Pour the tea through a fine meshed strainer, then let it come to room temperature. Then refrigerate until completely cool, about one hour.*
To assemble the strawberry iced tea, add ice to a glass and fill about 3/4 of the way up with the tea. Add a few tablespoons of the strawberry simple syrup, or more, per your taste. Then garnish the glass with fresh strawberry and lemon slices. Enjoy
With all this warm weather we needed something fresh and cool for lunch or dinner. This salad will do the trick.
INGREDIENTS
1 large head Romaine lettuce, chopped
3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large or 2 small ears corn, kernels sliced off
1/2 cup sliced radishes
1/2 cup sliced cucumber
1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup e olive oil
2 tablespoons honey, or orange juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
Place the lettuce in a large salad bowl. Top with tomatoes, beans, pepper, corn kernels, radishes, cucumber, and avocado.
Add lime juice, olive oil, honey, garlic, and cilantro to a small jar. Close the lid and shake to combine. Alternatively, whisk together in a small bowl.
Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve
A real pleasure of mine is supporting local business within these recipes. This local business is so well known in the Drogheda area it will be 34 years in business next month which in itself is an outstanding achievement. Hurley Bros Deli has been serving the hard-working public of Drogheda for the length of time. A family run business which in normal circumstances would have a que mile long at lunch for their delicious sandwiches. Today in this recipe we pay tribute to this fantastic local business by using some of their own products to showcase this delicious summer sandwich. Hurley Bros cook their own turkey, so we are going to be using some of this delicious turkey along with their homemade bread which when I received this morning it was still steaming it was only out of the oven.
Ingredients
• ½ large white onion, finely chopped • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 4 teaspoons dijon mustard, divided • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste • black pepper, to taste • ⅓ cup olive oil (80 mL) • 1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped • ¼ cup Gr • ¼ cup sour cream (55 g) • 1 lb leftover turkey (455 g), chopped into ½-inch (1 cm) pieces • 1 small head little gem lettuce, leaves separated, cleaned, and dried • 2 slices wholemeal loaf, or white bread
• In a medium bowl, stir together the onion, vinegar, lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of the mustard. Season with salt and pepper and set aside for 10 minutes. • Begin to add the olive oil drop by drop, whisking constantly, until the mixture is emulsified. Add the dill and stir to combine. • Spread four slices of the bread with ½ teaspoon mustard each. • Divide the turkey between all four slices and top with grated gruyere cheese, dressed lettuce leaves, and the bread slices. • Serve with some side salad and Enjoy!
Easy Cooking 