Midweek Meals With Capsicana*

Cooking is one of my all time favourite things to do. I love getting a load of fresh ingredients and making something I've never made before, though this year I haven't experimented too much and I really hate that. I know I've said a few times this year and some of you might be sick of it, but 2017 definitely hasn't been what I wanted it to be (so far) and I've not been well on and off for months now so that's meant I've just not wanted to cook. Anyone else like that? When you're a bit ill or down, you just can't be bothered and end up reaching for all the bad stuff? For months now either George has been cooking or we've been sticking to easy, homemade meals, on the nights I just don't feel like experimenting. The last few weeks though I've really tried to get back into it, so I was thrilled when a package arrived from Capsicana encouraging me to create new midweek meals, and I couldn't wait to share them with you!

Capsicana are a relatively new authentic latin american brand, and they sell a variety of quick cook sauces all inspired by real american dishes. Capsicana was founded by Ben Jackson when he was travelling with his dad in Texas in the late 90s. It was then that he started trying proper mexican food and his love of chillis and latin american food began. The range has 4 different sauces - Brazilian Chilli and Coconut, Cuban Chilli and Lime, Mexican Chilli and Honey, Peruvian Chilli and Lemon, don't all of them sound amazing? I knew these would all be right up my street and I made sure to test myself with some new meals with them. I made something different with each sauce so I thought I'd do a little review of each one and show you what I made and how it went!

Chilli and Honey - Huevos Rancheros 

I'd wanted to attempt Huevos Rancheros for such a long time but had just never got round to it so when I found a recipe on the Capsicana website for it, I was determined to try it. It's basically a tomato chilli sauce, with 4 eggs baked on top and you can dip fresh crusty bread into it - HEAVEN! It was really easy to make, just finely dice an onion and pepper, soften in a hot pan, add in 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, the chilli and honey sauce and leave to simmer for around 15 minutes. When the sauce has thickened, make 4 spaces in the pan and drop in 4 eggs, add a large lid to the pan and leave for a few minutes to ensure the eggs cook through. You can then put the pan on a table, and just dip in some fresh crusty bread, we even had nachos too and it was just incredible! The sauce was delicious and it was a perfect, comforting meal which I can't wait to make again.

Chilli and Lime - Fajitas

Straight away I knew I wanted to use this sauce for fajitas. Fajitas are probably my favourite meal and we have them most weekends so it made sense to use one of these spicy sauces for it. I decided on the chilli and lime and it was perfect! It coated the chicken so well, made a really nice, sticky sauce and just went so well with everything else we like to have in our wraps. The picture doesn't look the prettiest, because lets face it fajitas are hard to photograph well! but there was some of the chicken mix, golden rice, refried beans and sour cream. I loved that the sauce was spicy and that the chilli was the main flavour but the zestiness of the lime with each bite was so good! Chilli and Lime is such a good combination and I'd definitely use this sauce for fajitas again!

Chilli and Lemon - Chicken & Halloumi With Rice   I really wasn't sure what to do with the Chilli and Lemon sauce just because a lemon sauce wouldn't be my first choice usually. We ended up trying it though with chicken in pittas with halloumi and it was so nice! The chicken was a little bit zingy because of the lemon but had a nice kick from the chilli and together the flavours were great. The sauce coated the chicken really well and there was the perfect amount! It was so nice to have it like this as it was almost a bit like nandos, just homemade and a bit cheaper! We had to have it with halloumi as it's literally the best cheese ever and we also had it with some golden rice because I just love rice. 

The only sauce I haven't got round to using just yet is the Brazilian Chilli and Coconut. I'm sure it will be just as nice as the others though and I'm excited to try another new meal at some point! I might even do a full recipe post when I use this sauce if anyone is interested.

I've absolutely loved using these sauces and they really have inspired me to try some new meals! Especially the Huevos Rancheros, there is no way I would have ever attempted that otherwise but it was such a delicious meal. I think the Chilli and Honey sauce was probably my favourite out of them all just because of the meal I made with it, though I'd definitely pick the others up if I saw them in a shop too. If you would like to try some of these for yourself, they are available from Sainsburys, Waitrose and Whole Foods and are priced at £1.80 or you can find more info on the website here. They are so versatile and could be used for so many different meals, I definitely recommend if you want to spice up your dinners and try something new!

Have you ever tried anything from Capsicana?

*sauces sent for the purpose of this review, as always I only work with brands I feel are relevant to me and my blog

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