Ham Hock, Mustard & Macaroni Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Making Macaroni cheese is a regular meal in our house, its easy, delicious and is that all round comfort food I remember fondly growing up - don't tell mum but it was her best dish by far too! What's honestly better than an oozing bowl of golden flecked cheese loaded pasta?! With this particular version I kept it very simple - its cooked all in one pan - always a winner when there is less washing up - and made a few little extra additions in the form of stuffing some gorgeous giant red peppers I had picked up with it, along with adding a packet of ready to use shredded Ham Hock I bought from Aldi! Its the first time I'd picked it up and it was such a handy cheat ingredient!

You might notice the peppers in the photo above are in a loaf tin - its the best way I find of baking stuffed peppers, it keeps them upright and the filling on the inside!

Now I did make a bit of a boo-boo with my grocery shopping - after getting everything ready I went to get some greenery from the fridge and I had completely forgotten to buy any green or similar veggies! My friend C who lives next door also had nothing of use, we tend to go shopping together so had both failed by weird coincidence! After rummaging again through the fridge we quickly discounted the vac-pack beetroot as being a bit odd as a side, same with the sweet potatoes as not really going either and in the end I cooked some part-bake rolls and in fact, they were great as I ended up using them to make a stuffed sandwich with the cut open stuffed pepper. Yes its a bit carb on carb but it was oh so good too!!

This batch of mac n cheese makes quite a lot - I only had two peppers to be stuffed, the rest of the pasta got baked as normal in an oven tray - I reckon it would easily fill at least 6-7 peppers if wished!

Ingredients

1 pint milk

1 pint vegetable stock (I always use Marigold Bouillon)

260g macaroni

110g ready Ham Hock

2+ large red peppers 

1/2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
60g grated extra mature cheddar
35g chopped butter
35g plain flour
20g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Spray oil

Pre-heat oven to 180o (Our thermometer is long time not accurate - it should be fairly hot!)

In a large saucepan, bring the milk and vegetable stock to the boil, add the macaroni, cover and simmer for 12 minutes or until packet states.

Turn the heat up slightly, stir in the butter and flour until thickened, then stir in the mustard and ham hock, season to taste, then add 3/4 of the cheese and the parsley.

Meanwhile, carefully remove the lid off the pepper, remove the seeds, return the lid, spray with oil and place inside a loaf tin. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

When the macaroni is ready, carefully stuff the peppers and sprinkle a little extra cheese on top and put the 'lid' back on.

Return to the oven for 25 minutes or until the peppers are cooked through and softened.

Serve with er, greenery. Or go carb on carb with a bread roll!

The best way I found to attack the peppers was halving them then eating in chunks!

Disclaimer: 

Many thanks to Aldi who provided vouchers to cover the cost of my ingredients - the Ham hock is great!

A relatively new linky to me is also #CookBlogShare, this week held on Hijacked By Twins (such a cute blog name I think!)

If you fancy also stuffing some peppers, do check out these delicious links!

Red peppers stuffed with veggie haggis & Mushrooms from Planet Veggie

Or if you have no peppers, how about some chillies why not try these intriguing sounding Chocotos - Chocolate stuffed chillies from Tin and Thyme?

Keeping on the chilli theme you could also try these Creamy stuffed Jalepenos from The Veg Space

Cheesy Sausage and Spaghetti Hoop Bake

Many apologies for the tumbleweed gathering on my blog of late! Its been a funny few months, with family being poorly I have been prioritising my time, also I've been spending time focusing also on me, following my pain management program I've found myself questioning a lot of what I do, how and why.... Plus I decided I'd had enough of the side effects for one of the meds for my Fibromyalgia and I have been weaning down slowly, which apart the current insomnia phase its been overall worthwhile!

Also managing to slice through my left index finger 3 weeks ago really has not helped with blogging in general! Typing's a nightmare, yet alone cooking and pretty much all my meal planning went out of the window and whilst there has been some pretty decent meals...they have been few and far between! On the plus side we have been busy perfecting making calamari!

Pasta bakes are one of my go to dishes - it feeds us for days and I had made this dish at the beginning of March we had family over, and it also gave us lovely leftovers too! Pasta hoops or as they are better known - spaghetti hoops - are one of my favourite pasta shapes and writing this now reminds me I must pick some up some more next time I am in town! This is by all means not my first dish with hoops - you can see here my other Spicy Toasted Cauliflower Spaghetti Hoops.

Its a bit of a naughty ingredient but I used Garlic Sausage in this, which I get in the Polish aisle - its garlicky but without being over powering and it keeps for ages before being opened, so I often keep a pack or two stashed away in the fridge for impromptu dinners! I also used some ready diced onion, its super lazy but when tight for time its a handy cheat! You might also spot there is no thickening agent - however 'loose' it might look let the oven do its magic- the al dente pasta will soon devour any excess!

Sizing wise - I used my large rectangular traybake tin for this- which worked perfectly and roughly feeds 6 to 8 people, depending on your appetites of course!

Ingredients:

300g pasta hoops, boiled as per packet instructions, until al dente
2 sticks of finely chopped celery
200g garlic sausage, chopped into 1/2 cm chunks
1 red pepper, diced
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
400ml light vegetable stock
200ml milk
1 heaped tbsp rosemary, leaves finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
100g grated extra mature cheddae
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp olive oil


Method:

1) Heat the oil in a large saute pan, fry the onion gently then add the celery and pepper, fry for about 5 minutes or until softened, then add the sausage until lightly browned, stirring regularly.

2) Add the tomato puree and rosemary to the pan, fry for a minute then add a couple of spoonfuls of the pasta water to loosen, then pour in the milk and stock, bring to the boil.

Pre-heat oven to 200o.

3) Drain the pasta and add to the pan, season to taste, then transfer into a dish large enough to hold it all!

4) Top with the grated cheese and scatter over the cherry tomatoes. Put in the oven, near the top and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden, bubbling and crispy.

When cooked and all lovely looking, serve with buttered green vegetables:

Enjoy! Its a real crowd pleasing family meal and proper comfort food!

As my pasta bake had three vegetables in it, along with on the side I am sending my dish over to this months Extra Veg Challenge - being hosted by Jo's Kitchen, which was originally set up by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy Food for Families

Meal Planning Monday and Embracing Happiness

Since posting the last recipe, last Tuesday I had planned to write another up for you but the evenings ran away with us and with getting ready for Mother's Day, it seemed there was little internet time! I am also trying to not go the internet as much, as I think its far too easy to sit and play on my phone or iPad and not actually communicating with those around me, which is both a little bit rude and not always very productive either!

We don't really get enough time on earth and having human contact is a basic necessity, not a luxury for happier living. So I am trying to be a little more conscious of my loved ones and also shake of the blues that have hung around my moods, for far too long really, though I suspect one of my meds is also part of the cause, something I am slowly adjusting... I think I am also rather pessimistic which doesn't help! One of the tools I am using to try and erode the pessimism is something called Embrace Happy - you can read more about it here on Karins' fabulous website! Every day (well mostly!) I list 3 things that have made me happy - big and small things. I will keep you updated accordingly! Also a big shout out to the wonderful Embrace Happy facebook group - you have all pulled me through the less happier times!

So yesterday was Mother's Day - I am fortunate to have a loving, supportive mum who I cherish, and also a close aunt who is second mummy! Sadly though both my mum and 2nd mum no longer have their mums with us, both who I also miss dearly and we made our way to the crematorium yesterday to pay our respects with prayers and pretty flowers. Nan L loved freesias, and whilst I had left it a bit last minute I managed to luckily find a bouquet with some pink freesias in! We also said prayers for my boyfriends gran, who we also sadly lost earlier this year. 

However it wasn't at all a sad day - okay there was minor sniffles but I remembered everything we cherished about our lost loved ones, and also was thoroughly reminded how lucky I am to still have loved ones in my life - our flat is tiny but we squeezed 7 in our lounge yesterday and we had roast lamb with all the trimmings, then tiramisu, chocolate orange gateaux, a box of ferrero rocher and my home made Sticky orange, almond and honey cake - oh and we started with a mountain of cheesy nachos, cocktail sausages baked in honey and sesame seeds-which were devoured super fast too! It was a joy to host a houseful, even though it was a juggle between chairs, footstall's and the floor but I wouldn't change a thing - yes nothing matched, and we had to wash one plate up before a later guest could eat but material things don't matter - the love in the room cannot be bought, and that's why it was perfect. Nothings better than a room full of genuine laughter!

Sticky Orange, almond and Honey Cake

We stuck mostly to last weeks plan and had some really great dishes - the sweet potato bean bake thingy came out as one of the surprise highlights!

So this week, cooking is going to be challenging - unfortunately whilst rushing around yesterday getting the food ready yesterday... I also managed to badly slice my index finger, so typing is extra fun at the moment, yet alone preparing food for the next few weeks! I have put together a rough plan, which is a bit more simple as my lovely boyfriend will be doing the majority of it!

Garlic Sausage noodles 

Pork & Aubergine fajitas, rice n beans 

Veggie burgers, Cavolo nero and sweet potato wedges

Sweet chilli grilled Salmon, bubble n squeak 

Bacon and Butternut squash Mac n Cheese