Chilli Con Carne

 We needed an easy slow cooker meal so, having checked the ingredients available, decided on Chilli.  This is a bit of a 'make it up as you go along' recipe at the best of times.

The ingredients we used were

1 Tablespoon oil 
2 onions, chopped
1 Tablespoon tomato puree
2 tins chopped tomatoes
450g pork mince
1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into large dice
dash of tabasco
slop of red wine
tin red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

To serve -
Taco trays (we use Discovery ones)
Grated cheese (cheddar for us)
Guacamole and Sour cream dip - from a prepacked Tex Mex trio.

First of all, the oil was heated in our wok over a medium heat.  The chopped onion was added and left to soften for a few minutes.  Then the tomato puree was added, mixed through and the heat was reduced for about five minutes to allow the paste to cook through.  At this point, the slow cooker was switched on to the high setting.

Then the green pepper was added to the wok and left to cook for a minute. Next the mince was added and browned, the tinned tomatoes, wine and tabasco was stirred through.

Once the chilli was mixed, it was transferred to the slow cooker and the setting was reduced to low.  It was then left for about 5 hours.

When we were almost ready to eat our meal, the red kidney beans (which had been drained and rinsed) were added to the slow cooker mix and stirred through.

The taco trays were warmed under a low grill and the dips were placed on the table.

Finally, it was a case of 'self assembly' and eating without cutlery (always the mode of choice for Sous Chef J).

This made enough for 4 generous or 6 smaller portions.  Half of the chilli was cooled, transferred to a pyrex dish and put in the fridge for a midweek meal.  It could easily be frozen but make sure it's reheated thoroughly after defrosting and, more importantly, MARK UP what you put in the freezer! (It's my New Year's Resolution to only put things in the freezer that have been labelled... so far I am sticking to it)

Toad in the Hole

It was a lovely surprise to arrive home from holiday last week and find a pack of Isabel's Yorkshire Pudding Mix waiting for us in the post.  We had been lucky enough to test some of the mix before it had been finally packaged and prepared for sale.  So, we decided that a good dish to use it in would be Toad in the Hole. 

With this in mind, we bought some Gluten Free sausages from the Good Little Company and were ready to make the most of the oven space when we were baking Banana Bread on Friday.
The ingredients in Isabel's Yorkshire Pudding Mix are naturally gluten free...

.... and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.

So, we got 2 eggs and 320ml of milk and started to prepare the batter.

We whisked the eggs into the milk.

Then added the milk/egg mix to the flour and whisked it together.

Then, the batter was divided between two baking trays which had been placed in the pre-heated oven.  Instead of the oil suggested on the packet, we used a little beef dripping in the bottom of each tray.
One tray had just batter added and the other had some pre-cooked sausages added to the mix.  Both trays were then placed in the pre-heated oven (180ºC fan) and cooked for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes in the oven, this was the result.  Sous Chef J was most impressed with the 'plain' Yorkshire pudding as it had turned into a mountainous pud.

The Toad in the Hole was cooked well throughout although the sausages were rather 'well done'!

Sous Chef J didn't complain though, and his plate of tasty mouthfuls was demolished in record time.

Thanks, once more, to Isabel for yet another lovely Gluten Free mix that makes cooking simple and tasty.

Check out our earlier post about cooking with Isabel's Pizza Base mix here