Italian Pork with Garlic Spaghetti

This dish was very tasty and something you could certainly serve up to guests!

The sauce is simple, and the garlic spaghetti adds a nice twist to an otherwise blank accompaniment. I did wonder if all together it would be too much, but it worked really well.

I began by pan frying (with squirty cooking oil) the pork escalopes for 2 minutes on each side. I then added a chopped red onion and a crushed clove of garlic. Then I added some dried rosemary (1/2 tbsp), some lemon rind (1 tsp) and cooked it for 1 minute, stirring continuously.

I then added 150ml of chicken stock and 1 can of chopped tomatoes. This was left to simmer for about 15 minutes, by which time the sauce has thickened slightly.

Meanwhile I'd cooked some spaghetti according to the normal instructions. In another pan I had fried, in a tad of olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic and a pinch of salt, until the garlic was golden but not fully brown. Once I was ready to serve, I poured this mixture over the spaghetti and tossed it all together well.

Lamb Pitta Pockets

Lamb is expensive at the moment, but this dish makes lovely use of the meat and makes a little go a long way!

Simply cut your lamb into cubes, and fry (as always, I use low fat oil, just a squirt!) with a little mint (fresh if you've got it or I used dried) and some sweet chili dipping sauce.

Meanwhile, toast your pittas - and be careful as those things get blimen hot! So carefully wait for them to be puffed open enough and then remove them from the toaster and cut one in half. Insert some of the lamb and prepare a dressed salad for the site! Easy!

Amazing Cheese On Toast

Having been to a cheese festival at Cardiff Castle, I was the proud owner of some very nice cheese! So, to show cheese on toast isn't the bland dish you used to eat on Saturdays when you were at Primary School, here's a very tasty version.

This dish simply relies on the ingredients. With a fresh harvester loaf from the bakery across the road from my house, and my Sundried Tomato and Spring Onion cheese, I got this incredibly tasty lunch! Simply toast some chunky slices of bread, cut some thin pieces of cheese and place on top of the toast under a hot grill. A few minutes later - ta da! So easy but soooo tasty!

Film Night Popcorn

If you can't watch a film without munching your way through bags of unhealthy popcorn, then try making your own instead!

Simply get a bag of popping corn from your local health food/organic shop, or even your supermarket. Then simply add a little oil (I use the low fat stuff) to a pan and add some corn. Cover the pan (vital!) and turn up the heat! You'll hear the corn start to go crazy inside the pan as it pops away! If you've been delicate on the oil I'd recommend shuffling the pan occassionally so nothing can stick.

Once the popping's calmed down, carefully remove the lid (the odd piece of flyaway popping corn can be dangerous!) and serve! If you want, add a touch of salt or sugar/sweetener to flavour.

Herbed Pork Escalopes and Special Mash

Now this picture doesn't look like much, but it was actually a very tasty meal.

I simply pan friend some pork escalopes (just in a little bit of low fat squirty cooking oil) and sprinkled over some dried mixed herbs whilst they were cooking.

Meanwhile I boiled some left over sweet potato and swede I had from earlier in the week (great use of left overs here!) and blended it together to make a really tasty mash.

The sweet corn then added another interesting aspect to the meal.