SPAM & Pineapple Tacos #AD

Just as we thought we were getting back to some sort of normality, lockdown fever has set in again and the stockpilers are out in force buying up all the toilet rolls, pasta and tinned tomatoes. I'm pretty sure many of them have still got a cupboard full from earlier in the year, along with a year's supply of flour & yeast, but each to their own with their crazy behaviour. Thankfully this recipe doesn't include any of those ingredients, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding everything you need to make these tacos. They're easy enough to make, and quantities can be easily adjusted depending on how many people you're feeding. This recipe makes 6, which fits perfectly with the current "rule of 6", although you'll have to take the word of the husband and 11 year old that these taste great, as my eldest taste tester has gone off to uni, the middle one is now vegetarian (although she did have a vegetarian version & loved the flavours), and I'm experiencing altered & diminished taste following a bout of the dreaded Covid in March. It's not what you want when you're a food blogger, but it could be worse. Thankfully I have a family of willing volunteers when it comes to trying out new recipes, and it doesn't stop me eating, especially spicy food!

The fresh pineapple salsa works really well with the SPAM Chopped Pork & Ham, which is coated in a spicy taco seasoning and sizzled in a pan. The soft mini tortilla's are the perfect size for taco's, and easy for little hands to hold, if you're feeding the family. They can be made up before serving, or let everyone put their own taco's together at the table. As an optional extra you could add a drizzle of sour cream or yogurt, and a sprinkling of grated cheese, but we think the creaminess of the avocado is enough here.

SPAM & Pineapple Tacos - makes 6

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Garlic granules 

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Ground Coriander

1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp olive oil

340g SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham

4 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1/4 fresh pineapple, chopped

handful coriander, finely chopped

6 mini tortilla wraps 

1 avocado, thinly sliced

• Make the taco seasoning by mixing together the dry spices and salt
• Chop the SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham into 1cm cubes and add to a bowl
• Toss the SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham cubes in the taco seasoning
• Heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan
• Fry the coated SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham over a medium heat until browned and crispy
• Whilst the SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham is cooking, make the salsa by mixing together the tomatoes, red onion, pineapple and coriander
• Warm the tortilla wraps in the microwave for approx 20 seconds
• Load up the wraps with the salsa and spicy SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham, and add a couple of slices of avocado

For more Sizzle Pork and Mmm recipes head over to the official SPAM Brand website.

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Cheese, Tomato & Spring Onion Quiche - with a bread crust

Well, 2020 is turning out to be a pretty bizarre year isn't it - how are we already in August, but at the same time it feels like the year is dragging. So much has happened, but also so little. Never again will we complain about the length of the 6 week summer holiday when many of us have survived the kids being off school for the equivalent of 4 summer holidays back to back, without even a an actual summer holiday to break it up. At least the weather has been pretty good, mostly, other than the torrential rain, multiple storms and floods that have happened recently. On the good days many of us are grateful that we can now venture further than our back gardens, and can once again enjoy parks, beaches and countryside.

Picnic time

Picnics are a great option for lunches at this time of the year, whether it's to enjoy in your garden, on a beach, park bench or even your living room floor if the weather is bad. Whilst sandwiches are a safe bet they can sometimes be a little boring. Pies, pasties, sausage rolls and quiche are great go to picnic essentials, but if you want to go for an impromptu picnic and you don't have the time or inclination to to make pastry, or you don't have any ready made in your fridge, then this quiche recipe can be the perfect solution, as it uses sliced bread for the crust.

Crispy crust

Yes, believe it or not, that crispy crust is made using sliced bread! Vogel's No Bits Seeded White loaf is ideal for those who want their children to have the benefits of milled grains and seeds in a seeded loaf but have children that won't entertain anything other than white bread. Not only does this sliced bread have all the nutrition and taste of seeded bread, but it has the soft texture of a white loaf, which children love.

Healthier option

Not only is this crust convenient, but it is also a much healthier option than using pastry, which has a high fat content (around 30% fat in your average shortcut pastry versus less than 3% fat in Vogel's No Bits Seeded White), and lower fibre content (around 1% fibre in shortcrust pastry versus 4% in Vogel's No Bits Seeded White). Some of the egg mixture soaks into the bread, but this is minimised by brushing the bread with a layer of egg mixture before 'blind baking' for around 10 minutes.

Get the kids involved

Making this quiche is a great activity to do with children of all ages. It's a simple enough recipe for older children to prepare on their own, as there are no tricky skills required, and younger children can help with grating cheese, cracking and beating eggs, and buttering bread, depending on their age and ability. They can also choose fillings for themselves - try adding a choice of fillings to small bowls and let children choose what they like, for example chopped ham, sweetcorn, cooked broccoli, cooked bacon, mushrooms and cooked leeks.

Looking good!

How good does that quiche look! Great for lunches, picnics or dinner, and when the kids are back at school you could pop a wedge into their lunchbox, or try making individual quiches in a muffin pan using a slice of bread for each quiche. Here's how to make a deep filled quiche, approximately 15cm x 20cm in size.

Cheese, Tomato & Spring Onion Quiche - with a bread crust

6 slices of Vogel's No Bits Seeded White bread

40g butter, softened

6 large eggs, beaten

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

half a pepper (I used 1/4 of an orange pepper & 1/4 of a yellow one), thinly sliced

75g mature cheddar cheese, grated

50ml milk

Salt & black pepper

4 or 5 baby plum tomatoes, halved

• Preheat the oven to 170°c
• Cut the curved top crusts off 4 slices of bread and cut the other 2 slices in half - you will need the halves with the straight crustUse a rolling pin to flatten the bread out a little
• Spread the softened butter onto the bread 
• Arrange the slices of bread, buttered side down, in the 15x20cm rectangular dish with 2 slices on each side, and the half slices on the ends, overlapping slightly. Use offcuts of bread to patch up any gaps or holes in the bread.
• Beat the eggs and brush a layer onto the bread
• Bake for approx 10 minutes until the bread is starting to crisp up
• Lay half of the sliced spring onions, half of the sliced peppers and half of the cheese onto the bread crust
• Beat the milk into the eggs & season with salt & pepper
• Pour the egg mixture into the crust, and top with the remaining onions, peppers, cheese & tomato halves
• Bake for approx 30 minutes, until the filling is just firm to the touch
• Enjoy warm or cold

Not only does Vogel's No Bits Seeded White make great quiche, but it makes pretty awesome toast too! Available to buy from Waitrose.

Recipe commissioned by Vogel's Bread

Chilli Sweet & Sour SPAM with Noodles {& a GIVEAWAY} #AD

There are a few dishes that usually appear regularly on our weekly meal plan, and along with fajitas and roast dinner, sweet & sour is one of those. It's a lovely quick midweek meal that can either be made with raw or pre cooked meat of almost any variety, and many different vegetables. I usually keep it simple by adding just peppers and onion, and occasionally I'll throw in a tin of pineapple if I have some to hand. Sometimes I'll use a ready made sweet & sour sauce and other times I'll make my own, but for the ease and quickness of this midweek recipe I used a packet.

As it's the UK's official SPAM®️ Appreciation Week this week (4th-11th March) I've chosen to use SPAM®️ Chopped Pork and Ham in this recipe. SPAM®️ is made from more than 90% shoulder pork and leg ham, and as it is already cooked this dish takes just a few minutes to make. It needs a quick sizzle in the pan to crisp the edges, before frying the peppers, onion & chilli, adding the sauce and stirring through the SPAM®️ to coat in sauce. Job done in under 10 minutes!

You'll need your volume up to listen to that #SPAMsizzle

Chilli Sweet & Sour SPAM with Noodles - serves 2

1 tbsp oil
200g can of SPAM®️ Chopped Pork and Ham
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red chilli
2 spring onions
150g sweet & sour sauce
300g fresh egg noodles

• Heat the oil in a large pan or wok over a med-high heat
• Dice the SPAM®️ and add to the pan
• Fry until lightly browned on all sides
• Remove from the pan & set aside
• Chop the peppers, and thinly slice the chilli and spring onions
• Toss the peppers, chilli & onions into the pan & fry for a few minutes until softened
• Add the fried SPAM®️ back into the pan, along with the sweet & sour sauce
• Stir the sauce through everything in the pan until everything is heated
• Serve with the prepared egg noodles

WIN a SIZZLE PACK

To win your very own sizzle pack, including a SPAM®️ slicer, apron & spatula, you need to complete the Rafflecopter form below.

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More SPAMTASTIC meals and recipe ideas can be found on the SPAM®️ UK website, and for additional chances to win a Sizzle Pack follow SPAM®️ on Twitter and Instagram, and follow the #SPAMsizzle hashtag.

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Bloodied Eyeball Dessert Shots

I can't believe how fast this year is flying by. We're more than halfway through October already, which means that Halloween is fast approaching, followed swiftly by that dreaded C word!

For Halloween this year my teens have requested a party, which came as a bit of a shock as they planned it together, by actually speaking to one another. Wonders never cease.

I've got quite a few Halloween party food recipes on this blog, but before I could start planning the menu for the party of the year I was informed that hot dog sausages resembling creepy fingers wouldn't be featuring on this buffet table, and neither would spooky banana ghost pops. All that would be required are a few bowls of crisps and a couple of cans of cider. How very disappointing!

If you're having your own Halloween party this year I'm sure your guests will appreciate these ghoulish mini desserts, complete with their own bloodied eyeball. Made with SKIPPY® Peanut Butter they have a touch of sweet & saltiness to the creamy filling, which pairs so well with the sharp raspberries. They are like mini cheesecake heaven. 

They are really easy to make, and can be whipped up in just a few minutes and stored in the fridge until you eat them. I found these plastic skull shot glasses in Asda and they're a perfect size for kids. Note that if you're making these for young children you might want to use a lychee or foil wrapped chocolate eyeball instead of the bouncy eyeballs I used, for safety reasons.

SKIPPY® Peanut Butter has been enjoyed by millions of Americans for more than 80 years, and as the Super Chunk and Smooth varieties can be now found in most major UK supermarkets the UK can go nuts about SKIPPY® Peanut Butter too. SKIPPY® Peanut Butter is made only with high quality peanuts from the USA, and is a really good source of protein, providing 22.1g per 100g.

The wide necked jar is a great feature that allows you to get out every last bit of nuttiness too, because nobody wants to waste peanut butter. Some of my favourite ways to enjoy SKIPPY® Peanut Butter are with sliced apple or banana for breakfast, spread with jam in a sandwich for lunch, or added to a curry or stir fry, which is a great way to add additional protein and flavour, as well as acting as a thickener. 

How do you enjoy yours?

The star of the show - SKIPPY® Peanut Butter Super Chunk

This recipe was commissioned by SKIPPY® Peanut Butter. You can find more recipes on their UK website here : www.peanutbutter.uk.com