My Lack Of Inspiration

I'm starting to run a little low on ideas for recipes, I've put together maybe 50 or so in the last year, some of which I've cooked just for myself and others I've made for family and friends. Most of them have turned out well, some not so much, and when they haven't I've tried to improve on them and suggest ways to make them better. Whether they were taught to me as a child, are me just formalising things that I've been cooking for years or are something that's been inspired by someone else cooking, I've tried to make each recipe my own and hopefully I've been fairly successful in doing so. I know a few people have tried cooking some of my recipes themselves and when they have I've generally received positive feedback, which is absolutely awesome, however, to be honest just knowing that people are making and eating things that I've come up with is a great feeling. I think I've got maybe 1 or 2 more left, that I'm yet to post, before I'm completely out of ideas and, to be honest, I'm hoping that something will come along and inspire me to come up with something new before then. If not it definitely wont be the last recipe I post, though it might be the last one for a little while.

I Think I Might Have Had A Bad Day

I'm sure people use the word "irregardless" just to annoy me, the word you're looking for is either "irrespective" or just "regardless". "irregardless" isn't a word, it does not exist and if it did it would essentially mean the opposite of what you think it does.

The Truth About My Posts

I’ve been asked a couple of times why it is that I post basically the same things across all of my social media and, to be honest, there’s a couple of fairly simple reasons:

1. I’m not intelligent/creative enough to think of enough unique ideas to post different things on each platform.

2. With a few exceptions, damn you all, different people tend to follow me on different platforms, as such most people are never aware that I’m creatively bereft and recycle all of my posts.

Caribbean Style Curried Turkey Mince And Sweet Potato Stew

This is a simple, hearty one pot stew recipe I’ve put together using flavours more commonly found in caribbean style curries. This is a genuine winter warmer that actually benefits from spending a couple of days in the fridge before eating.

You will need:
2 tbsp hot caribbean curry powder
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp ground allspice
0.5 tsp ground black pepper
2 medium onions, chopped
500g turkey mince
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 green peppers, sliced
2 medium sweet potatoes, roughly chopped into half inch cubes (I left the skin on for additional flavour)
2 chillies, finely chopped (alternatively use 1 scotch bonnet)
1 tin of black beans (red kidney beans will do)
500ml chicken stock
Salt to taste

Method:
1. In a large bowl mix together the turkey, onions and spices, then set aside to marinade.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, over a medium high heat, add the turkey mix and fry until browned.
3. Turn down the heat to medium low, add in the garlic, green pepper and sweet potato, then cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add in the chillies, beans and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the sweet potato starts to break down and the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
5. Check the seasoning and add salt if necessary.

Notes:
This is another all in one meal that doesn’t really need any accompaniments, but if you wanted to bulk it out add in 4 good sized flour dumplings once the stock is boiling.

Additional:
I’ve been eating this for a few days now and If I’m being honest, although the flavour is good and it’s a pretty satisfying meal, this wasn’t my most successful of recipes. If I was to cook this again I would probably swap out the turkey mince for either diced turkey or chicken, increase the quantity of herbs and spices, maybe add in a little mace and nutmeg, add a tablespoon of flour at the first step, to help the stew thicken, and add some extra veg to bulk it out and provide extra flavour, probably some fairly chunky celery and carrot added with the sweet potato.

Bored On A Train

You’ve really gotta love it when the train you’re on, baring in mind that was already 10 minutes late when it arrived at my station, stops in the middle of nowhere, for at least 5 minutes, with absolutely no explanation and for no apparent reason.

Good Quality, High Welfare Meat... My Biggest Dietary Weakness

Even after years of practice I still suck at dieting, completely ignoring my fairly recent weight loss. In my defence I came across this absolutely beautiful looking treacle cured back bacon, it's dry cured, free range, outdoor bred, from an RSPCA assured farm, it was calling my name, I had to buy it, and it would have been just wrong not to go all out with it. So here we have griddled bacon, griddled mushrooms, fried eggs, homemade baked beans and a griddle toasted ciabatta.

Friday Night Chicken And Chips

Home made salt and pepper oven chips, seasoned (Aldi chicken seasoning is awesome), oven baked, skinless chicken thighs with a side of corn on the cob and pickles. Maybe not the most diet friendly dinner in the world, but a whole lot better than the takeaway chicken and chips I was fancying, and almost caved in and bought.

My Hideous Visage (AKA Stroking My Own Ego)

I’m heading into town for a few drinks, so I’ve decided to try to look at least a little presentable and I’m currently failing miserably. Also the camera on this phone absolutely sucks.

P.S. That is not my room, it's the spare/storage room and just happens to be the only room in the place with a full length mirror.

Bad Habits

Not the most politically correct or healthiest of habits, but it is international pipe smoking day, it does go down nicely with a bit of melodic doom and I've never claimed to be politically correct.

A While Ago This Image Came Up On My Tumblr Dash...

A while ago this image came up on my Tumblr dash and, being currently somewhat dissatisfied with my employment/general living situation, I ended up going off on a bit of a self indulgent rant. I re-read it this morning and came to the conclusion that it's a perfectly valid opinion, though it doesn't contain any information that most people aren't already aware of, so I've decided to post it on here too:

There's a fairly simple explanation, traditionally as people get older they get richer. Conservative values and policies generally benefit the rich, so the older people get the more they benefit from being conservative. That is not happening with this generation, largely thanks to conservative values and policies, the financial landscape has changed. Rates of pay at the lower end of the job market have stagnated, the majority of employers are no longer interested in their employees happiness and general well being, as they’re seen as an easily replaceable commodity. Meanwhile, house prices, and housing costs in general, have risen at way beyond the rate of inflation, meaning that many young people can no longer afford to get on the housing market and are forced into the rental trap. Couple this with rises in the general cost of living and it's gotten harder, and continues to get harder, for normal, working class, people to make and retain money. Basically we're poor, we’re getting to a stage in our lives where we should be seeing our hard work pay off, but we're not and as such conservative values and policies do not benefit us in anyway and are, more than likely, only making things worse.

Sunday Night Filth

A little bit of Sunday night filth, a toasted goats and vintage caledonian cheese sandwich on ciabatta bread.

One Pot Turkey Dinner With Sweet Potatoes, Kale And Goats Cheese

This is another recipe that I can’t really claim as my own, I based this on a recipe I found in a newspaper for using up leftover roast turkey and vegetables from Christmas. I’ve modified this to use turkey mince and kale, and a few other ingredients I’ve had lying around for a while, over the roast turkey and brussel sprouts of the original recipe.

You will need:
1 tbsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil)
2 small onions, chopped
1000g turkey mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp dried sage
3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into roughly 1.5cm chunks
50ml water
200g chopped curly kale
100g goat cheese, crumbled

Method:
1. Warm the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions soften.
3. Add the turkey, garlic and sage then cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes, until the turkey is cooked through.
4. Add the sweet potatoes and the water, cover with the saucepan lid and cook for 10 - 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
5. Add the kale and cook for about 5 minutes, until wilted.
6. Add the cheese and stir through.

Notes:
This is basically an all in one meal and shouldn’t really require anything else as an accompaniment, however, if you wanted to bulk it out even more you could double the amount of water, sprinkle in a stock cube and serve this over plain boiled rice.

Urghhhhh... (For The Lack Of A Better Title)

It’s 3:20 am and I’m lying in bed awake again. I feel like I should write something, but I need to sleep. I’m tired, I’m drained, I feel like I don’t matter, I’m so done with existing right now.

Being A Natural Fatty Sucks

My stomach is rumbling like fuck, but I’ve already eaten my calorie allowance for the day and after the weekend I just had (I basically ate everything even remotely edible that came near me) I don’t have any spare for a quick snack.

Job Search

I’ve been in my current role for so long that I’d almost completely forgotten how hard it can be to find a new job. The stupid thing is that it’s not even that there’s no jobs out there, it’s more the fact that it seems like no matter where you look none of the jobs available are roles that you’re qualified to do, that fall within your skill set or are aimed at your current level of experience.

You either end up applying for nothing at all or for a ton of jobs that you know you don’t stand a chance of getting. Either way even just trawling through job sites is mentally and emotionally draining, and that’s before you even get to filling out the absolutely ridiculous application forms or spending hours tailoring your C.V. and crafting a well thought out cover letter, all the time knowing that you’re unlikely to even receive a “thanks, but no thanks”.

To me the thing that makes matters worse is that about 80% of the jobs you apply for are through employment agencies, meaning you don’t even know if your application is getting passed on to the company or not. The only thing that you do know for certain is that for the next 6 months you’ll be getting constant phone calls, generally while you’re at work and unable to answer them, trying to get you to apply for any position in a 50 mile radius, even though you expressly stated that you’re not wanting to commute any more than 5 miles, that has a remotely, often extremely remotely, similar job description to your current role.

Being an adult sucks.

Monday Morning

A bucket full of coffee and a treacle tart is an essential part of any balanced Monday breakfast. The really sad thing is that this might be the nicest thing that I eat all week.

Tomato Free Sweet Potato And Turkey Chilli

I can’t lay claim to this recipe, it’s a modified version of a recipe I found in a paleo cookbook (unfortunately I’ve already forgotten the name of the book). Essentially I had a lot of onions and sweet potatoes in my cupboard and was looking for tasty one pot dish to use them up, along with a few of the other ingredients I’d had lying in the fridge for a couple of weeks, without me having to buy too much else. Because this recipe doesn’t include the tomatoes or coriander usually associated with a good homemade chilli, and predominantly requires store cupboard ingredients, the only thing I had to buy was the turkey mince, everything else I already had in the house.

You will need:
1 tbsp chilli powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground oregano
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil)
500g turkey mince
2 small onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into roughly 1.5cm chunks
500ml chicken stock
1 tin of red kidney beans, drained

Method:
1. In a small bowl combine the chilli powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and ground black pepper.
2. Warm 1 tbsp of oil in a saucepan over a medium-high heat.
3. Add the turkey, onions, red pepper, garlic and half of the spice mix then cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes.
4. When the turkey is cooked through, remove it from the pan and set aside.
5. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, the sweet potatoes and the remaining spice mix then cook until the sweet potatoes have browned.
6. Add in the stock, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender.
7. Puree the sweet potato with an immersion blender until you get your desired consistency.
8. Add the turkey mixture and the beans, stir and allow to cook for 2 - 3 minutes until the turkey and beans have warmed through.

Notes:
I’ll be serving this with a side of couscous, flavoured with the same spices I added to the chilli, but this could just as easily be served alongside boiled rice, tortilla chips, a jacket potato or just in a bowl on it’s own.

My Face Aches

I’m always living in the hope that one day I might take a half decent selfie, but it seems no matter what I do I always manage to look like I’ve just been dragged through a hedge backwards.

More Late Night Thoughts

I lie here in my bed, it’s well after midnight and my mind is racing. I’m thinking about my poorly paid dead end job, money worries, getting up early, having no real free time and the general futility and mundanity of life, it’s depressing. I eventually find the comfy spot in my broken, lumpy bed, I’m wrapped up warm in my duvet and several blankets. There’s a hazy smoke in the air from my pipe and burning incense. My room is lit by a single small candle, it’s burning low, flickering and on the verge of sputtering out. My window is wide open letting in the cold night air and the gentle sound of the rain. I’m slowly beginning to relax, my mind finally begins blocking out the background noise of my thoughts and the sounds of the inconsiderate coming from outside. The real world is melting away and my mind wanders to my own personal happy place.

I’m in my bed and my mind is quiet. I’m comfortable and wrapped up warm in my duvet and several blankets. There’s a hazy smoke in the air from my pipe, the fireplace and burning incense. My room is lit by the fire and a single small candle, both are burning low, flickering and on the verge of sputtering out. My window is wide open letting in the cold night air and the gentle sound of the rain. If I listen carefully I can hear the wind in the trees and the faint sounds of nocturnal woodland creatures avoiding the downpour. My old stone cottage was built at the end of a lane on a small hill, it’s full of books, rustic furniture and the smells of cooking. It’s not in best of conditions, but it’s cosy and dry and I know enough about DIY and building to keep it that way. There’s trees on 3 sides of it and a small garden full of herbs, vegetables, a wood pile and a couple of small animal pens on the other. I don’t have a lot, my lifestyle is far from frivolous, but I have everything I need and my time is my own. It’s not the easiest life, it can be hard work at times, but I’m content and happy.

My alarm goes off, I wake up, shower and get ready for work. It may have been just a dream, but it’s always there and it helps keep me going.

Usidore, Wizard of the 12th Realm of Ephysiyies...

Gandalf The Grey or Usidore The Blue? I have my suspicions that they may be one and the same. Could this be yet another unrevealed secret name? Perhaps one of such immense power and portent that to merely acknowledge it could bring about the end of existence as we know it.

Simple Chickpea And Chorizo Stew

This is another one of my simple, cheap, one pot recipes that I've put together with the intention of batch cooking in advance and making enough to last all week. This recipe is hearty, warming and entirely suitable for the current bout of cold weather we're enjoying, whilst still being fairly healthy and providing a decent amount of protein.

You will need:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 small onions, chopped
200g chorizo, chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into roughly 1.5cm chunks
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can of chickpeas, drained
250ml chicken stock
200g washed baby spinach

Method:
1. Add the oil to a large saucepan and warm over a medium heat.
2. Add the onions, chorizo and sweet potato then cook about 5 minutes, until the chorizo browns and the onion starts to soften.
3. Stir in the garlic, paprika and cumin then cook for a further 2 minutes.
4. Pour in the tomatoes, chickpeas and stock, stir and cook for 10 - 15 minutes, until the sweet potato is tender.
5. Remove from the heat, stir through the spinach and allow to stand until the spinach wilts.

Notes:
Simply serve alongside a buttered, crusty bread roll for a hearty and healthy meal.

Once A Fatty Always A Fatty

I’ve just eaten an entire toasted steak and cheese foot long from subway and I’m already regretting it...