What we Cooked up October 2025
Recipe 1 - Staffed Chicken for the Brave Ones
Made with leftovers, Aldi loyalty, and a wild refusal to give up. Staffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon with mushrooms, goat cheese and caramelized onion. Served with golden air fried potatoes and green salad leaves. And yes - a punchline.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, butterflied with care
2 tbs Dijon mustard (your fingers will smell like ambition)
5 mushrooms, chopped like secrets
2 garlic cloves, smashed for drama
Zest of 1 lemon
A splash of white or rosé wine (ours came from spring and the Danube)
70g soft goat cheese
2 tsp caramelized onion (the jar that waited)
8 slices of sticky bacon
40g cheddar cheese, grated like a last-minute idea
A pinch of thyme, because we always try to make time
Salt, pepper, and defiance
Method:
1. Mustard and Chicken- a love affair
Butterfly the chicken. Open it like a love letter never sent. Smear with mustard. Let it sit there, let it rest, dreaming of the stuffing to come.
2. Mushrooms in the Pan
Chop mushroom small. Add garlic, lemon zest, thyme. Sauté until they start telling you their stories. Add wine. Let it sing, then vanish. Off the heat, let it cool. Stir in the caramelized onion and goat cheese. Now you’re creating the melody of flavors.
3. Assemble the Magic
Spoon the mushroom-cheese mixture inside the chicken breast. Yes, it’s messy. But so is falling in love at the wrong time. Lay out the bacon like a red carpet on an old board. Place the staffed chicken on top. Sprinkle grated cheddar over it like stardust. Wrap it tightly. We all need to be hold like this sometimes.
4. Into the hot Oven
Pour some leftover wine. Bake at 180C fan. 25 minutes or until it’s done. You’ll have a golden, sizzling, gorgeous piece of edible art.
5. Now the most important part- Serve with
Air fried potatoes (you already know how we feel about those). Green salad leaves because mess needs some healthy contrast.Fork in. And a quiet moment on a grey day to say - we made this together. We stayed. No worries, enjoy. Than’s the point.
This wasn’t just a dish. It was one of those thoroughly - we’ll write it down as a recipe, not because it was perfect. But because it felt like us. Simple ingredients. Forgotten parts. A bit of elegance, a bit of imagination, and a lot of courage. Wrapped up, a little messy and broken, but whole in the end. We didn’t name it when we cooked it. But maybe that’s some things are to be named for the brave ones.
Recipe 2 - The Cauliflower Dip that pretends to be Soup
There are soups that are ment to be sipped gently with a spoon, and then there’s this one. Ours.
Ingredients:
1 whole cauliflower cut into florets
1 large carrot
1 onion
half a leek
a sad celery stick (don’t judge, he showed up)
5-6 garlic cloves (but don’t measure use what it feels right)
Paprika, thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil
400ml chicken stock (we could have added more, but didn’t)
a splash of double cream
blue cheese, cubed bacon
a last minute drizzle of pomegranate molasses
dill, for flair
freshly baked sourdough bread, because obviously
Method:
1. We roasted the cauliflower until the florets were brown and crispy at the edges - 25 minutes at a hot oven. With olive oil, garlic cloves, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper.
2. In a pan, bacon got crispy then stepped aside. The onion, carrot, leek, and celery took over the stage, softened in the fat left behind, singing warm autumn songs.
3. The roasted cauliflower joined the party. Chicken stock poured in. It simmered quietly for 10 minutes, while we talked about everything and nothing
4. Then the vertical blender comes in. Everything swirled. Cream added. Silence in the kitchen. Just the blender working hard, trying to keep the soup all together in the given pot..
5. We served it hot with crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon, a swirl of pomegranate molasses, and a pinch of dill for beauty. Sourdough on the side? That didn’t last long. It became the main act. Dipped in. Drenched. Eaten. Gone.
Recipe 3 - Cauliflower Salad with a non planned Store-Bought Mayo
This was the day when the homemade Mayo recipe betrayed us. But did we stopped? No way. So here’s what we did:
Ingredients:
- 1 cauliflower, cut into chunky florets
- Two cloves of garlic, grated
- Salt & pepper, obviously
- Dill, chopped like you mean it
- Store-bought mayo (do NOT ask about the homemade attempt)
- Bread (sourdough freshly baked preferably), fried runny eggs, and crispy chilli for the full plate
- Leftover feta cheese because why not
Method (with Infinite Love, not measurements):
1. Boil the cauliflower until soft (not mush). A splash of vinegar is meant to help with the smell. We’ll just say this: it didn’t.
2. Cool the florets. Chop them up.
3. Add salt and pepper, garlic, dill. And store bought mayo. Read “Behind the Steam” page for the full story. It will answer your why - in case you have one.
4. Mix gently. Chill it in the fridge. It deserves a break after all the drama.
5. Plate it up with fried eggs (runny yolk is non-negotiable), freshly baked bread, crispy chilli oil (use with caution), and feta crumbs (use at your discretion). Dill for making the plate pretty. Eat. Laugh. Possibly cry a little. Then eat again.
Notes from the Chaos kitchen counter:
The crispy chilli? A bit aggressive. Might’ve hijacked the harmony. But hey, we love a bold flavour. The yolks? Beautiful rivers of gold. The mayo disaster? Worth bottling as perfume. Eau de “Trying Our Best.”
This salad isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely honest. It started with Hope, hit a wall of failure, and still made it to plate looking proud. And that’s us. Conclusion? Don’t you dare to give up. Look around. You’ll always find savers to save your reputation and your salad planned.