Yummy winter recipes

If you’re like me and enjoy a big hearty meal around this time of year, then you’ll love these next few recipes. My absolute favourite season is winter because that’s when my mum makes these amazing homemade dishes that literally make your mouth water.

Potato and leek soup

So the first recipe is her Potato and Leek soup. It’s super simple to make!

1. First, melt 50g of butter into a pan.
2. Once that’s melted, add 450g of potatoes and 1 onion, peeled and chopped into small pieces.
3. Finally, add 450g of sliced leek and season it with salt and pepper, give it a stir, so it’s all seasoned equally.
4. Cover the pan with a lid, and let it sit for 10 minutes, on a low heat.
5. Make sure the vegetables are soft, (that’s the best part!).
6. The next step is to add in around 850ml of either chicken or vegetable stock, and bring it to the boil, before letting it simmer for around 5 minutes.
7. Once that’s done, pop it in a blender and purée until smooth, then return it to the pan.
8. Stir in around 110ml of double cream and 125ml of milk.
9. And that’s it! Now put it in some tupperware in the fridge and whenever you feel peckish, heat it up in a pan and serve.

Hotpot

The next recipe is my absolute favourite dish. You simply cannot go wrong with hotpot. It takes a little while, but it’s definitely worth it.

1. First, fry some diced onions in a pan with some diced beef, one packet will be plenty – you can find it in the meat section in Morrisons!
2. While they’re frying, boil some carrots and potatoes in a pan until soft, it will take about 15 minutes.
3. Once that’s done, drain the vegetables out, but leave half the water in!
4. Add the meat and onions to the pan with some beef stock. If you buy beef stock cubes, one of them will create the right amount.
5. The final step is to season with salt and pepper, and let it simmer for 1 hour. By the end, the meat should be juicy and tender, and the potatoes should be fluffy and light (yummy!)
6. Alternatively, for a vegetarian version of the dish, you can substitute beef stock for vegetable stock, and the beef for chickpeas, or Quorn meat! (And it’s still just as tasty).

Chocolate orange and Oreo cheesecake

Finally (and this is my own personal creation) a Chocolate Orange and Oreo cheesecake. Nothing quite says winter like orange flavoured chocolate (and yes, you can make it without the orange if you really hate it!).

1. Firstly, separate the Oreo biscuits from the cream in the middle, putting the cream in one large mixing bowl and the Oreos in another. You will need 2 and a half packets of Oreos, but don’t eat the other half (they’re for the decoration!)
2. Crush the Oreo biscuit into a fine texture, and mix with 50g of melted butter.
3. Then put this into your cake tin, as the base of the cheesecake. Make sure you smooth out the base with a spoon!
4. Pop this in the fridge to set, and then, to the bowl of Oreo cream, add 3/4 of a tub of double cream, juice from an orange, around 150g of icing sugar, and 2 tubs of Philadelphia cream cheese.
5. Whip this until the cream is thick, and then add in a small amount of crushed Oreos.
6. Give it one last stir, before pouring it onto the biscuit in the cake tin and putting it back in the fridge to set.
7. You can also add some melted chocolate on the top, gently flicking it onto the cheesecake with a spoon.
8. Top with some extra orange zest and some more Oreo crumbs, and leave to set overnight.

And viola! Three easy, tasty recipes for winter. I hope that with these fun recipes, you will have a wonderful winter and enjoy some lovely homemade food.