Tag: easy food

Posted in Recipes

Some Like it Hot – Chilli Con Carne

Posted on by sheila kiely

I’ve released an ebook collection of my 50 favourite dinner recipes and one of my top 5 would have to be Chilli Con Carne. This recipe is delicious, and what makes it doubly so is the fact that you can reheat the leftovers, add some jalapenos, tortilla chips and melt some grated cheese on top to have some fantastic nachos the next day.

Chilli Con Carne on Baked Potato

As I say in the recipe if you really do like it hot add another tsp of hot chilli powder but to my mind the recipe is perfect. I have shared it before and you can find the link to it here or if you are interested in purchasing my 50 favourite dinner recipes and having them available on your phone or device via the free kindle app then click here for ‘Gimme Dinner’. (You’ll find the kindle app in the app store – I like being able to check ingredients easily when I’m shopping without having to bring a list and find this very handy).

Reheat the chilli, use a base of salsa, add in tortilla chips, jalapenos and top with grated cheese – excellent with sour cream and guacamole

In other writing news I’ve started on my second romance novel which will be a sequel to ‘Good Enough.’ The ideas have been bouncing around since ‘Good Enough’ was released last December 2021 and I’m so happy to say that the words are starting to be written.

xx Sheila

Posted in Recipes

Roast tomatoes

Posted on by sheila kiely

Here’s a recipe for a simple side of roast tomatoes.
Especially good for tomatoes that are turning overripe and softening. (Unless they’re mouldy of course then it’s time for the compost).

Roast Tomatoes Recipe ⬇️

How good do they look?. I can’t wait to visit Italy again over the summer and see the tables laden with tomatoes being left to sun-dry outside.

  • Hot oven
  • Small tomatoes
  • oil
  • herbes de Provence
  • salt
  • roast 10 mins
  • & squash slightly with a fork before serving.
  • Recipe Ends ⬆️

Why would you throw an overripe tomato away when you can turn it into something so glorious? Or an overripe banana, freezes perfectly for future smoothies or banana bread. Sometimes a little imagination can redeem a waning ingredient.

x Sheila

Posted in Recipes

Spice it up – Recipe No. 2 for the summer is Ras el Hanout Chicken with Chickpea Mash. & also… how does your garden grow?

Posted on by sheila kiely
Ras el Hanout spiced chicken & chickpea mash – Sheila Kiely


Ras el Hanout chicken strips ⬇️

  • Chicken fillet cut into long strips or mini chicken fillets
  • Ras el Hanout
  • Heat some oil in a pan, add the chicken, dust generously with Ras el Hanout, turn over after a couple of minutes and dust the other side, one last turn and chicken should be done , cut through to centre to check white all the way through

Spiced Chickpea Mash ⬇️

  • The LIST
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed or chopped
  • 1 tbsp crushed chillies or ‘easy’ chillies*
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 2 tins drained chickpeas crumbled – use food processor
  • Large handful chopped fresh coriander
  • The METHOD
  • Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and chillies, cook for a minute
  • Add the cumin, mix through
  • Add the crumbled chickpeas and the coriander
  • Mix well, heat through & serve
  • TO SERVE
  • Serve with lime wedges, Greek yoghurt & crusty bread
  • *easy chillies refers to jar of crushed chillies that are long-life, simple to use and stored in the fridge

⬆️ Recipe ends here

Well, the above are old favourites and I have shared these before. Ras el Hanout is a magnificently warming spice blend that will warm up your food and is perfect for enhancing summer dishes. I like to serve this with a side of mashed avocado splashed with lime though in Ireland getting hold of perfectly ripe avocados can be tricky and involves mostly luck!

At last the degrees have decided to start climbing and we have been gifted with some warmth and when the sun breaks through and clouds dissipate there is NOWHERE more beautiful than Ireland as it never gets too hot. We have brightness until 10pm which is magnificent and these stretched days will stay with us until 21st June. Each day awakens shortly after 5am and the darkness of winter becomes a faded memory.

Lawns are being cut and humming mowers and strimmers are a familiar background sound though it’s lovely to see that many gardeners are taking heed of the threatened bee population and leaving strips of dancing wildflowers, daisys, buttercups and dandelions to flourish.

So Instead of mowers I wish you a summer filled with nature’s sounds, chirping birds, buzzing bees, gentle breezes through the trees and meadows.

Slán for now, x Sheila.

Ras el Hanout spiced chicken – Sheila Kiely
Chickpea mash, made in minutes – Sheila Kiely
Sauce required? Sprinkle some paprika over Greek yoghurt, tadah- Sheila Kiely
Posted in Recipes

Simple Salmon Supper, Emergency Sauce & the gist of it all.

Posted on by sheila kiely

Ras el hanout. It sounds exotic and it is. If you’d like to read more about this warming spice blend use the ‘Search by ingredients’ area of this site (in side-bar to right of this post if you are on a pc).

You’ll also find it in Tesco or a spice store and possibly other supermarkets where I haven’t found it yet. You can also make it too, again if you’re interested search in the ingredients box of this blog ->

….but you’re probably just here for the recipe.

Simple Salmon Supper:

Ingredients :
Salmon Darnes
Drizzle oil
Good scattering of Ras el Hanout
Method:
Into hot oven for approx. 15 minutes

Emergency Sauce:

Ingredients:
Mayonnaise
Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Tomato & Chill Relish
Honey
Ras el Hanout
Method:
Use your own excellent judgement to combine the above until you make enough sauce to dollop on your salmon. Check your fridge, other things that you can swap in to make great emergency sauce = yoghurt, creme fraiche, vinegars, lemon juice, sweet chilli sauce, hot sauce, mustard, pesto, capers etc.

When it comes to cooking you really don’t need to be spoon-fed line by line instructions, exact quantities and cooking temperatures. Trust your instinct, swap things in and out and your cooking experience will become simpler and faster. All you need is a rough idea of what ingredients work well together and the gist of the method. Gist, now there’s an underused and underrated word for you.

Trust yourself & cook!

Simple Salmon Supper – Ras el Hanout baked Salmon Darnes served with couscous, tenderstem broccoli & a dollop of emergency sauce

xo Sheila

Posted in Recipes

Easy Dinner & is Instagram no longer where to share?

Posted on by sheila kiely

More often than not when it comes to food and especially the main meal of the day I just want to eat something simple but super tasty. After a day of work it is very difficult to turn around and cook something at all and much easier to throw on a pizza or pick up some fast takeaway but you know and need to remind yourself that cooking can be as simple and fast as that too. You do need to have done the shopping at some stage though! An empty fridge will not yield a tempting meal. So do yourself a favour and get a food shop in : lots of veg, your preferred protein and stock up on those things that will bring flavour – garlic, lemon, chillies, spices, honey etc.

Think about the flavours you like and put those things together – I love a combination of bitter & sweet, hence the sugar and vinegar of the pickle served with the sweet chicken strips on leaves is my idea of a simple & tasty meal.

Red Onion Pickle

Slice Red onion, sprinkle with red wine vinegar & sugar
Leave to marinade while you cook the chicken strips
Tastes even better the next day

Is Instagram not for photos anymore?

So what’s that about then? I generally just pick up on mutterings and snippets of things as they filter through the ether and don’t have time to explore on detail however what I’m hearing is that the Insta moguls are leaning in preference more towards video content than still images. What does that actually mean? When you search for something you’re going to be returned with moving pictures rather than still images perhaps. I don’t see that it will really matter. If it’s only pictures you want to see that is the content you will seek out.

So here is one of my recent Insta dinners & Insta recipes. I think the visual along with limited text should be enough for the time pressed. Be inspired then make it your way.

Chicken Strips – Le Photo
Chicken Strips – Le Recipe

xo Sheila