Croutons

I didn't have time to make my own soup today, but I am a big fan of home made fresh soup! I have lots of recipes I am dying to try out. So instead I just made some croutons to go with it.
I find croutons heavenly, I used to eat a bag of croutons like a bag of crisps, which health wise was not such a great idea! This is the second time I have made these, there so easy to make and also you can adapt the recipe easily to suit your flavour preferences.  I like to make mine really strong and flavoursome.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread (staler bread is best)
• garlic granules
• salt and pepper
• paprika 
• chilli flakes
• chive 
• coriander
• onion

Method:
Rip up the bread into small chunks, that sightly resemble a cube shape. Put them in a oven dish, drizzle with oil, and then season with any of the herbs above, my favourite combination is garlic and chilli. Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes at 190 degrees. Take them out when they have turned golden.

Chilli Con Carne

Yesterdays beans makes todays chilli!
One thing that I am terrible at, that drives my mum crazy is wastage. Its something I really need to improve upon. So when my mum suggest that I reuse the left over beans and turn them into a simple chilli with minimal effort I was all for it. My chilli is very similar to my bolognese recipe, and so is one of my favourite dishes.

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots 
• 1 onion 
• 1 red pepper
• handful of mushrooms
• a packet of quorn mince
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of 5 beans 
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 1 half a chilli (seeds removed and chopped finely) 
• chilli flakes 
• Brown rice 

Method:
Chop the carrots and the onions into small chunks and fry on a medium heat in oil for 5 minutes until they are softened. Use a garlic press to add in the cloves of garlic. Chop the mushrooms and pepper and add to the frying pan, after 5 minutes add in the quorn mince. This can be cooked straight from frozen. Add the cans of chopped tomatoes and the 5 beans and stir well. Add in as much chilli as desired depending on how hot you like it.
 Turn it down to a low heat and start on the rice. Boil the kettle and fill up a saucepan with the water. pour in the rice. You will need to use about a cup more water than you usual would for cooking white rice. Bring the rice to boil uncovered, and then turn it down low for about 40 minutes. Drain and serve with a generous helping of chilli.