In My Kitchen

Being completely unprepared for this months "In My Kitchen" I've taken the prompt rather literally this time - and no "pre-blog tidying" has gone on! I'm not sure we've ever shown you our kitchen as a whole. Its rather chaotic in different ways; the complete mish-mash of cupboards, empty spaces, broken drawers and different colours of worktop come to mind before we even start on the added everyday clutter.

Looking around, this month of particular note is the broken down freezer which we've decided has given itself up for lent! We were going to hurry out and sort a replacement, but having dealt with the food that wouldn't fit in the fridges little ice box the urgency has gone. It'll have to be done soon though.

The chop saw sitting in the middle of the kitchen is certainly not a normal feature, nor the large stack of cardboard packaging to its right. A birthday present for Joe which should hopefully make the upcoming cabinetry a little easier.

Talking of cabinetry, without the cabinets in the bathroom there is no sink, and so toothbrushes are sitting on the kitchen side still.

Finally, some rather pink lilies that Joe found in the reduced section at 10% of their original price. Bargain.

What's in your kitchen? Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial is collating her monthly roundup of kitchens all around the world.

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In My Kitchen: Trying Something New

Joe and I are definitely creatures of habit. We love to cook and experiment - Joe's entries for the Great Swift Bake Off could be taken as proof of that - but when it comes to our everyday dinner we end up eating the same things over and over again. They're good things, we're not denying that; actually, it depends on your definition of good. All are tasty, not all are healthy!

This year we've decided we're going to cook more new recipes (note that: we are going to cook more new recipes). In January we managed that three times, enjoying spanish meatballs, Thai prawn, ginger and spring onion stir-fry and spiced chicken, roasted pepper and hummus flatbread wraps.

The meatballs were a definite hit. I always like the thought of meatballs in a rich tomato sauce, but often find the result a bit dry and bland. The use of the olives in these, along with a packet of well seasoned crackers instead of breadcrumbs (though not M&S for us) meant that they were neither. Hopefully these might make a regular feature. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the photos for this one.

The stir-fry wasn't quite such a success, though was better on the second night when the marinade had time to sit for a while so that might be the answer.The prawns themselves had good punch of flavour which promised well. the rest just needs a little tweaking to help it along.

As always we employed our bread machine to take care of the mixing and kneading with the flatbreads needed for our final recipe. We left the dough to prove for a couple of hours as Rosie recommends before ignoring her instructions and rolling them out with a rolling pin! We also added a tin of chickpeas to the chicken and peppers to be roasted off in the oven which works well. The only thing that could have improved this recipe would have been fresh summer salad leaves - but that simply means we'll be giving it another go in a few months.

Linking in with In My Kitchen run by Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. 

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