Another cheap and cheerful dinner option
Ingredients
1 tin meatballs in tomato sauce
2 mushrooms
1/2 onion
Clove of garlic, crushed
Tomato ketchup
Dried Herbs, eg basil, thyme
* heat a little oil and fry the chopped mushroom and onion for a minute or so
* add the garlic then the tin of meatballs
* Add a good squirt of ketchup and whatever herbs you fancy
* heat through for a few minutes then serve
Ingredients
250g diced beef
1 onion
1 parsnip
2 carrot
Sweetcorn
Mushrooms
Handful of pearl barley
Beef stock cube
1tbsp plain flour
Thyme
* heat oven to 180C
* heat a little oil in a pan and fry the meat until browned
* stir in the flour, then add half a pint of water and the stock cube
* peel and chop the veg and put into a casserole dish with the pearl barley
* Add the meat and stock. Season and stir well
* cover, and cook in the oven for 90 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4)
75g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
120ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tin sliced peaches
50g blueberries (optional)
* grease a small oven dish and heat oven to 190C
* tip peaches and blueberries into the dish
* mix together the flour and sugar, then beat in the vanilla and milk
* pour the batter over the fruit and bake for 50 minutes
Ingredients (makes about 18)
225g butter
400g Brown sugar
3 eggs
10ml vanilla extract
240g self raising flour
50g choc chips
* heat oven to 180C
* melt the butter in a large pan then add the sugar and mix well
* allow to cool a little, then beat in the egg and vanilla
* sift in the flour and mix well, then stir in the choc chips (or chopped nuts if you prefer)
* pour the mixture into a greased brownie tin and bake for 30 minutes
Not exactly a recipe, more of a method. This is a great way to get an extra meal out of a chicken. How meaty your soup ends up depends on how much is left on the carcass. The one I used today was a small chicken with not much meat left do it's more of a chicken flavoured vegetable soup.
Ingredients
1 chicken carcass
Water
Whatever veg you have in the fridge or freezer
Herbs
A couple of big handfuls of pearl barley
* put the chicken carcass in a pan and cover with water. Season well, bring to the boil and cook for around half an hour.
* Drain the liquid off into a bowl, retaining the chicken
* chop up your chosen veg. I used carrot, parsnip, onion, garlic and sweetcorn
* return the stock to the pan. Add the veg and pearl barley. Add whatever herbs and seasoning you fancy.
* pick over the chicken carcass and remove any meat. Add the meat to the soup.
* simmer for an hour, or until everything is cooked
Ingredients
225g self raising flour
1tsp mixed spice
100g butter or marg
100g caster sugar
175g dried fruit (I used sultanas, cherries and apricots)
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
* heat oven to 180C and grease a 7 inch cake tin or a loaf tin
* sift the flour and spice into a bowl and rub in the fat until it looks like fine breadcrumbs
* stir in the sugar and fruit
* beat eggs and milk together and mix in to a soft consistency
* pour into the tin and bake for 55 minutes
If the cake sounds bubbly when it comes out of the oven, it's not quite done so give it a few more minutes
Cool the cake in the tin
We had roast lamb last night, and there was plenty of meat left. This was a quick way to turn some of the leftovers into dinner.
Ingredients (serves 1)
100g roast lamb, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced lengthways
3 mushrooms, sliced
50g broccoli florets
Big dollop reggae reggae (or bbq) sauce
* heat a little oil in a pan
* stir fry the veg for a couple of minutes
* Add the meat and sauce.
* cook until the lamb is heated through and the veg is cooked
I had it with some noodles.
Found this idea on a website called nomnompaleo and thought it looked well worth a try.
Ingredients (serves 1)
1 sweet potato
1 clove garlic
1/2 small onion
Salt/pepper
Oil spray
* finely chop the onion and garlic
* cut the sweet potato into little sticks. I used the julienne blade on my mandolin. Mix the potato with the onion and garlic and season well
* heat a couple of sprays of oil in a pan and fry the potato mixture over a medium-high heat for a few minutes
* put a lid on the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until the potato has softened.
I had it as a side dish with a couple of sausages and some steamed veg.
Ingredients (Serves 1)
1 large flat mushroom
1 rasher bacon
1 spring onion
1/2 clove garlic
Breadcrumbs approx 1/2 slice
15g cheese, grated
Salt/pepper/thyme to taste
* lightly grease a small baking dish and heat oven to 180C
* chop bacon, onion and garlic quite finely
* remove stalk from mushroom, finely chop and add to bacon etc
* fry bacon etc until cooked and stir in breadcrumbs. Season
* place mushroom in baking dish and spread over the stuffing mixture
* top with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Ingredients (serves 4)
400g mince (beef/lamb/pork/quorn depending on your preference)
1 tin tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic
Mushrooms
Basil/oregano/thyme as much as you like
Worcester sauce 1/4 tsp
Big squirt of ketchup
Stock cube to complement mince
* heat a large pan and dry fry the mince, pouring off any fat.
* Add chopped onion, garlic and mushroom and cook for a minute or so
* Add the tomatoes, herbs and other seasonings
* Cook on a low heat for at least half an hour
* serve with pasta
