Yesterday I made a list of some of my favourite things to do in December (if you haven't seen it then you can read that here). One of the things on that list was baking, it's one of the best things to do this time of the year. Filling the cupboards with boxes of tasty home bakes, and the house with a delicious smell.

Home made meals are the best, especially this time of the year. Its dark and cold when you sit down for dinner, so obviously you need something that will warm you up and give you comfort. December is all about comfort food - and making every effort to lose any attempt at the summer body.

This week I was set the task of making a chicken and ham pie for our dinner, something that I've never done before. It's always been my mum's speciality, but is something I've always wanted to try. Making something just like my mum has to be the ultimate goal. Student living and cooking just isn't the same as a proper home cooked meal, that is filled with veg and goodness.



This chicken pie was surprisingly easy to make - it becomes a check list of all the stages you need to tick off, then put all together. And what's great is that you can throw in as much veg as you want, making it perfect to fill you with lots of vitamins since we hardly see the sun this time of the year.

Ingredients
Chicken
Ham
Broccoli
Leek
Carrots
Puff Pastry
Cheddar Cheese
Flour
Milk
Butter

How to make

For the pie

1. Shred pre-cooked chicken and pre cooked ham and place in a dish.
2. Cut up your chosen vegetables. Here I've used a leek, some carrots and broccoli, but you could also add peas, sweet corn, mushrooms etc. Before adding veg to the dish pre-cook them (Eg boil the carrots and broccoli or pan fry the mushrooms) then add to the dish.
3. Add the cheese sauce over the the filling, making sure the whole dish is covered in a thin layer of sauce.
4. Roll out puff pastry and either cut out shapes to layer over the filling or lay over the dish in one big layer. (I chose to make mine Christmas tree shaped so that it was a festive chicken pie.)
5. Cook for 30 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
6. Serve! You can add sides of whatever you like, such as potatoes, green beans, or even some tiger loaf, or just eat it on its own and enjoy all the veg that fills it!

For a cheesy sauce

1. Melt a nob of butter in a pan on a low heat.
2. Mix in a tablespoon of flour till it becomes a paste.
3. Take the pan off the heat, and slowly add in small amounts of milk, mixing quickly until all the lumps have gone.
4. Add grated cheese into the sauce until it melts.



Super easy and super tasty. It's one of the best meals to have this time of the year, to fill you up and provide that winter comfort that's needed throughout a stressful December.

Why not have some home made mince pies as the desert? Here's how I make my mince pies!

Love,
Emily
xxx

~ Latest Post - My Favourite Christmas Traditions ~

ENTER my Christmas GIVE AWAY, filled with goodies to help you survive the stresses that December can throw at you.

Who says being a student means you don't eat well? It's not all cereal out of a pan, microwavable meals and endless bars of chocolate. Once you reach fourth year, you start to realise the student lifestyle isn't all its hyped up to be, and spending a little extra time in the kitchen is totally worth it. That's not to say it has to be a 5 star chef meal. or take hours of your time. It can be really easy to make a meal that tastes just like your mum makes and is comforting enough to help you forget that long day in the library or the next deadline that's due.

I may be cheating a little bit when I say that this is a 'home cooked meal'. The majority of the ingredients are out of jars, and just need to be thrown together in a pot. Of course you can be a little more adventurous than what I am, but I went back to basics and made the easiest lasagna possible. And here's how you can too.




Ingredients:
Jar of lasagna red sauce
Jar of lasagna white sauce
500g Mince meat
Pasta sheets
Mozzarella

Instructions:

1. Brown the mince on a pan, and add seasoning as you wish
2. Once browned, add the whole jar of red lasagna sauce and leave to simmer for 20 mins
3. Separate the meat into either 2 or 3 sections ( I went for 2 as my dish was big and shallow, but if you have a deeper dish then you may want three layers)
4. Pour one section of meat in the dish and cover with a layer of pasta sheets
5. Pour half (or a third) of the white sauce over the pasta sheets
6. Add a layer of mozzarella over the white sauce
7. Repeat the process until you've used all your mince & sauce
8. Put the dish into the oven at 180 degrees (fan) for 30-35 minutes
9. Take out and serve with a side salad or bread!

We love a good home bake in our family, and now that we're off on holiday we've started to have a baking day each week. Even with regular baking, none of the food ever lasts - and we're finished within a couple of days.. I'm taking it as a compliment that they're just that good.




So, in need of a new recipe to tingle those taste buds, we thought we'd try out a recipe for coconut slices that we tried years ago and seem to have forgotten about. But believe me, they will never be forgotten again. Within minutes of the first slice being cut, my dad had already eaten 4 squares. They're extremely moreish, light enough to eat a couple in a row, but filling enough to act as a mid morning or afternoon snack.



Ingredients

Base:

• 100g of butter
• 100g of plain flour
• 100g of caster sugar
• 85g desiccated coconut
• 3 egg yolks (but save the whites for later)
• 5 tablespoons of jam (flavour of your picking) 

Over the next few days running up to Christmas, my blogmas posts are going to be centred around Christmas Baking and different recipes that you can try out. The week leading up to Christmas is typically when we do the most baking in our family, re-making all our favourites in time for everyone coming home. The yearly tradition began yesterday and continued well into today, with many more recipes in the pipe line for the next few days too (as well as a rocky road house kit!). Its a wonder that we bake so much - with all the Christmas foods and sweets we really don't need double batches of mince pies, cakes, cookies and more but its almost impossible to resist when you get into the swing of baking.




Today I'm sharing the recipe for Peppermint Creams - a super simple recipe that doesn't involve much time, mess and barely any ingredients!

Ingredients:

• 225g of Icing Sugar
• 1 egg white
• Peppermint flavouring
• Milk Chocolate 

If you've been keeping up with my 'Happier & Healthier' Series, then you'll have seen quite a few recipes that I've posted already. While those were all for healthy meals, I thought I'd share a recipe for those with a bit of a sweet tooth, like myself. Here's the recipe to a chocolate cake that I made with my sister the other day.




Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3 Eggs
• 200g of Brown Sugar
• 60g of Cocoa Powder
• 150g of Plain Flower
• 50g of Butter
• 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder

Just because I have been loving experimenting with what I'm cooking - and actually trying to cook healthy, substantial meals unlike the typical student meals I lived off of in 1st year - I've got another recipe to share for my 'Happier and Healthier' series.

Spag Bol has always been one of my all time favourite meals, so trying my hand at it made me a little sceptical - could I really beat my mum's home made meal?






Although I would never say I beat my mum at a meal, I've got to admit that I've come gey close to it.

Ingredients :

• Mince Meat - 500g
• A Jar Bolognese Sauce 
• A Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
• One Onion
• Extra Veg- such as Mushrooms
• Spaghetti Pasta

It seems food is the theme of the blog this week, and if you haven't already then check out my last post about my visit to Steak, where I tried Steak on Stones.

This week's Happier and Healthier blog post is another recipe, as I do love trying my hand at being a chef, and having people over gives the perfect excuse to don the chef hat once again. And another opportunity to post about a delicious meal.


What you will need:

• Olive Oil
• 1 Onion
• Tablespoon of Paprika
• Paella or Risotto Rice
• Can of Chopped Tomatoes
• 900ml of Chicken Stock
• 400g of Frozen Seafood Mix
• 1 Lemon

For this weeks themed post, I thought I'd share another recipe. This one I tried out the other day, and I couldn't believe how well it turned out. I honestly think this is the best meal I've ever made - certainly better than the standard student meals that I've prepared over the last couple of years.




The pasta bake is super easy- you just need to keep an eye on a few pots at a time. And it really doesn't take too long either; within an hour you'll be plating up and tucking in.

Ingredients
400g Pasta
Broccoli
5 Rashers of Bacon
1 Pepper
1 Onion
100g of Cheddar Cheese
2 Slices of Bread

For the sauce:
50g of Butter
50g of Plain Flour
700ml of Milk
200g of Cheddar Cheese

• Start by boiling a pan of water and putting the pasta in, seasoning to your liking. 
• After chopping the onion, pepper and bacon into small chunks, throw them in a frying pan with some vegetable oil and let them fry. 
• At the same time, make the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a pan. Once melted, add the flour and stir, until it looks like a paste. Slowly add small volumes of milk at a time, off the heat and continually stirring the mixture. Once the sauce looks smooth, add the cheese while continuing to whisk it all together. 
• 5 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the broccoli, cut into small flourets to the same pan. 
• Once all the pans are cooked, add the pasta, broccoli into a large dish, then mix in the vegetables & bacon. Add the cheese sauce to the pan and mix it all up.
• Finally, sprinkle bread crumbs over the top of the mixture, and grate some cheese over too. 
• Cook in the oven (preheated to 200 degrees C) for 25 minutes. 
• And serve!

For the first of my 'Happier and Healthier' series, I thought I'd share a recipe for lentil soup. If you haven't already seen by what I mean by Happier and Healthier, then check out my intro post here!

One thing I've been working on this year is eating better - more fruit and veg - and that includes making my own soup. Soup in my house signifies the start of autumn / winter. My mum always makes her own soup, SO many different recipes, all of which are so lovely, and so much better than the shop bought canned stuff. It's easier to stick that in the microwave to heat up, sure, but its so much tastier and healthier actually making your own. AND it doesn't have to be difficult!

My mum sent me down the recipe for her smooth lentil soup, although I had to adjust some of the quantities for a smaller batch, it was so easy and tastes amazing (not tooting my own horn or anything!).




You will need:

• A packet of red lentils
• An onion
• 3 carrots
• A stock cube
• Salt & Pepper