October favourites

I've mentioned before that I have a not-so-secret love for beauty blogs - I think it's mainly due to my magpie tendencies, and the fact that whilst jeans may not do up, you never have that problem with nail polish. Also, see shoes. One thing that beauty bloggers seem to do on a monthly basis is pick out what products they've really been enjoying using over the past 4 weeks. 

I thought it might be a nice idea to try that here - it may or may not work with food, but sometimes you have to think "what the heck" and give something new a go.

So what have I been loving in the Pantry this month?

Pumpkin puree. This is a recent discovery of mine from Waitrose, and when I saw it on the shelf, I swiftly (and somewhat greedily I admit) picked up three tins. I've used one already in my Pumpkin and apple traybake, a seasonal recipe if there ever was one, and have my eye on a snickerdoodle and pumkin loaf for the next. 

Which takes me onto my other new love - which isn't a product per se, but Pinterest. Yes, I know I'm mahoosively late to this bandwagon, but I love it. If M's late home, or I'm having an afternoon in I can happily while away the hours on here. What I really like is that a lot of the recipes are American and so I'm getting to try new flavours and combinations as typically I tend to use very British bakes. 

And then of course we have my K-Mix. God I love this. It was a present from M, and I have used it for everything I possibly can, it really does make baking a breeze and it looks so pretty too! 

Ingredients wise, I also picked up some new chillis from the Newbury show last month, and used one in my last batch of chorizo, butternut squash and cannelini bean chilli. The smoked flavour gave such a nice contrast to the clean hit of heat that I normally get, adding a sweetness and a smoothness to the chilli. Definitely some to add into different recipes.

Finally, and again, I'm behind the times horribly on this too. But Jamie's 30 minute meals. I got the book for Christmas and have found myself reaching for it on a number of occaisions this month. And the minced beef hash was a firm favourite with M and I - although I'd definitely recommend cooking it a day in advance to give the flavours time to develop. I know that people seems to say that the meals take nothing like half an hour, but I found it wasn't too much longer at all. Especially if you start with things like the kettle boiling etc. But that may just be me, as we know I'm somewhat haphazard when I'm cooking non baking dishes. 

So there we have it, my October favourites. What are yours? Is there anything new or old you've picked up this month and really enjoyed using or trying out?

Let me know if you're interested in this kind of post and I'll consider making it a blog hop next month.