The Crazy Kitchen: April 2012

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Tuesday 24 April 2012

Indian Spiced Meatballs with Raita and Flatbread

I often use turkey in cooking because of it being low fat as well as a cheaper version of chicken. It's often only eaten at Christmas but it can be used in many dishes as a replacement for other other meats, such as beef mince, pork or lamb. I've been challenged by Lean on Turkey to come up with a family meal idea using Turkey for under £10 so I've decided to make Indian Spiced Meatballs. These would more traditionally be made with minced lamb but the turkey is a much healthier option - and cheap too at only around £2 for the mince, in fact the whole meal comes in at under £5 if you already have the spices in your cupboard.


Indian Spiced Meatballs with Cucumber and Mint Raita and Flatbread - Serves 4


Meatballs (makes 16)


450g Fresh Turkey Mince
1 tsp ground Cumin 
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
fistful of fresh coriander, chopped
Olive oil (for frying)
  • Mix all the ingredients together (apart from the oilive oil)
  • Form into 16 balls
  • Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan (if you don't have an ovenproof pan you can transfer the meatballs to a baking tray)
  • Fry the meatballs to seal on all sides
  • Transfer the pan to a preheated 200 degree (C) oven for 12 minutes, until cooked all the way through
  • Whilst they're cooking make the flatbreads and prepare the raita


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Flatbreads (makes 4)


200g Plain Wholemeal flour
60g Natural Greek Yoghurt
1 tbsp Olive oil
5 tbsp water, room temperature
  • Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough
  • You may need to add a touch more flour or water depending on whether your mix is too dry or too wet
  • Divide into 4 balls
  • Roll out on a floured surface to the size of a side plate
  • Cook on a hot griddle pan for approx 3 minutes each side
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Raita


250g Natural Greek Yoghurt
1/2 cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp Mint Sauce or chopped fresh mint
small bunch of coriander, chopped
  • Mix all the ingredients together



Serve the meatballs in a flatbread with Raita and shredded lettuce


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For larger appetites you could serve with spicy potato wedges

For more turkey recipes have a look at Lean on Turkey.



This is a sponsored post but the recipe is my own






This is my entry into the BritMums Lean On Turkey competition sponsored by www.leanonturkey.co.uk

Monday 23 April 2012

Staffordshire Enchiladas

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I know that Enchiladas come from Mexico but these are a little different as I make them with Staffordshire Oatcakes. Not to be confused with Scottish Oatcakes the Staffordshire variety are like a pancake and made with oatmeal, flour and yeast. They are particularly nice served warm with melted cheese on. I've used them in this recipe in the place of flour tortillas so if you can't get hold of oatcakes you can use tortillas or savoury pancakes instead. I've also used cooked chicken leftover from yesterday but this can be replaced with beef, pork or turkey.

Staffordshire Enchiladas

2 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 Green pepper, sliced
tsp ground coriander
tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne papper
tsp smoked paprika
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 can of red kidney beans, drained
cooked chicken (leftovers)
Pack of 6 Staffordshire Oatcakes
150g cheddar cheese, grated

  • Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the oil and garlic for 2 minutes
  • Add the pepper and spices (you can add fresh or ground chilli at this point too if you want it spicier) and fry for 4-5 minutes
  • Add the tomatoes and beans, replace the lid and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring regularly
  • Set half of the mix aside and stir the cooked chicken into the rest
  • Divide the chicken & sauce between the oatcakes and sprinkle with a little of the grated cheese
  • Roll the oatcakes up and place in a greased baking dish (join side down)
  • Cover with the rest of the sauce and cheese
  • Bake in a preheated 180 degree (C) oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown


Serve with salad

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Strawberry Chocolate Cake

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I had some strawberries that needed using up so I decided to incorporate them into a chocolate cake. The addition of the jam and strawberries makes it a moister cake without the hassle of having to decorate it afterwards.


You will need :


150g Caster Sugar
2 eggs
150g Natural Greek Yoghurt
75g butter, melted
175g SR Flour
75g Cocoa Powder
150g Strawberries, chopped
60g Seedless Strawberry Jam



  • Beat the sugar and eggs together until smooth & creamy
  • Stir in the yoghurt & melted butter & beat again
  • Stir in the flour and cocoa powder and mix until combined
  • Mix the strawberries with the jam
  • Spoon half of the mix into a lined & greased 8" cake pan
  • Spread the strawberries onto the cake mix and then cover with the rest of the mix
  • Bake in a 170 degree (C) oven for approx 45 minutes





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Thursday 19 April 2012

Pasta with Peanut Butter and Bread Sauce

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Some time ago I saw a recipe for Spaghetti with peanut butter on The Blue Bear Wood. Today I noticed a tweet about the recipe and I knew that my struggle to decide what to make for dinner tonight was over. It's near the end of the week and our fridge is almost bare but I had all the ingredients apart from the spaghetti, but I did have plenty of Penne instead.


A while ago I made a similar pasta dish using breadcrumbs instead of the peanut butter so this time I thought I would use both to fill it out a bit.


I used :
Olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves
tsp mixed herbs
1 heaped tbsp Crunchy peanut butter
2 slices of bread, blended into crumbs
Can of chopped tomatoes
2 tomatoes, chopped
Penne pasta, cooked



  • Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion & garlic and herbs, fry lightly for 2 minutes
  • Stir in the peanut butter,breadcrumbs and tinned tomatoes, along with enough boiling water to give your desired consistency, simmer until onions have softened
  • Stir in the fresh tomatoes, cook for 2 minutes
  • Stir in the freshly cooked Penne and serve with grated Parmesan over





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It went down well with most of the family, although Hanna complained that she didn't like the seeds in it (from the bread), but a certain little fussy eater ate the lot!


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Sunday 15 April 2012

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

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It's been torture making this as I know that I can't have any (due to my diet) but at the same time it's a good test of my willpower. I did lick some of the mixture off the spoon to make sure that it was edible, although I washed it down with a pint of water so that makes it ok right?


Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
275g Digestive biscuits, crushed
60g Butter or Margarine, melted
1 pack (135g ) Orange jelly - I used a block not the granules
100g Dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
200g Cream Cheese
2 x 125g pots of Mandarin yoghurt


To Decorate
Grated chocolate
Orange segments



  • Stir the melted butter into the crushed biscuits.
  • Press biscuits into the base of a loose bottomed or springform pan.
  • Refrigerate until set.
  • Place the jelly in a microwaveable bowl, add 4tbsp of boiling water and microwave until the jelly has dissolved
  • Add the chocolate pieces to the jelly and stir until melted - if it doesn't all melt then return to the microwave for 10 seconds and stir again. Repeat if necessary. Allow to cool slightly, stirring regularly.
  • Beat the yoghurt and cream cheese together until smooth.
  • Slowly add the melted chocolate/jelly into the cream cheese and stir until combined.
  • Pour onto the biscuit base and return to the fridge until set.
  • Turn out onto a plate and decorate with grated chocolate and orange segments. I segmented a fresh orange but tinned mandarins would be just as nice.



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I have it on good authority that the cheesecake was good, I suppose I will just have to take everyone else's word for it - except Jack who said it was 'yeuck'!

Thursday 12 April 2012

Sultana & Cinnamon Sponge Cake



As I bought a cupcake carrier yesterday I needed to fill it with something that would justify me buying it, as I didn't really need it as I already have a larger cupcake carrier. As this one is a long and shallow box I thought it would fit a large sponge nicely.


Sultana and Cinnamon Sponge Cake


8oz Margarine (or butter)
8oz Golden Caster Sugar
4 eggs
5oz Self Raising Flour
3oz Plain Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
8oz Sultanas


For topping
2 tbsp Demerara sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon



  • Beat the margarine and sugar together until pale and creamy
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time
  • Mix together the flours, cinnamon and sultanas
  • Stir the dry ingredients into the batter until combined
  • Spread mixture evenly in a lined 11" x 7" tin
  • Mix the demerara sugar and cinnamon together and scatter evenly over the top
  • Bake in a preheated 180 degree (C) oven for 30-40 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted)



Serve on its own or, as Sam prefers, with chocolate custard - his reward for being helpful.


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Thursday 5 April 2012

Chocolate Easter Gingerbread House

It doesn't seem long since myself and Susan were making our Valentine Gingerbread Houses and to be honest I didn't really fancy making one for Easter but we did make a promise that we would make one for each event in the year as practice for our Christmas ones.

This one can't really be called a 'Gingerbread' house as it doesn't contain any ginger. I used the same recipe as I previously used but instead of using ginger and mixed spice I added cocoa powder. 

I remembered from last time that I'd read a tip about rolling the dough out straight onto the baking paper and cutting it out on there - this avoids it going out of shape when you lift it onto the baking tray - it also avoids having to flour your worktop to prevent it from sticking, meaning less mess to clear up too!

This time instead of gluing it together with Royal Icing, which had taken too long to set last time as I'd made it too thin, I used Silver Spoon white chocolate cake covering, which sets really quickly. I thought it would also taste nice with the chocolate flavour house. I also stuck the house together on it's end which seemed easier than trying to make all 4 walls stand up at the same time.

I left overnight to harden up and decorated with more white chocolate cake covering and lots of Cadbury's mini eggs and Asda 'teeny weeny' chocolate eggs dipped in more cake covering to stick on. I ran out of mini eggs so unfortunately the roof wasn't completely covered.  As I used the cake covering instead of icing there was a lot less mess to clear up as the icing usually ends up in clouds covering the kitchen.

The house isn't my best effort and it's not very inventive but I think with all the chocolate and marshmallow bunnies it should taste good.

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Don't forget to check Susan's house out too and feel free to join us over the Summer for our next one.





If you think my blog is worthy of a vote in the BritMums 'Brilliance in Blogging' awards please click on the badge below and vote for Jessies Crazy Kitchen, number 11 in the TASTY category


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