Chilli Wraps

This is a really simple meal that anyone who can make chilli can make!  My family love it and I always find it is a nice and different way to have chilli instead of with rice.

I have used a packet sauce in this recipe, however, if you are feeling adventurous and have the time, why not make your own cheese sauce.

I have calculated the cost of this dish, for 4 people, would cost around £4.00 depending on where you purchased your ingredients and the quality of the same.

Ingredients:

Chilli

Wraps (a pack of 8 works well for between 3 and 4 people depending on appetites)

Cheese sauce

Handful of Grated cheese

Recipe:

1.  Place a small amount of chilli in a wrap.

2.  Fold the wrap as you usually would.

3.  Place into an oven proof dish.  Repeat with each wrap until you have filled them all and the dish.

4.  Make your cheese sauce either from a packet mix or from scratch.

5.  Pour the sauce over the wraps.

6.  Top with grated cheese.

7.  Bake in a pre-heated oven, 200C for between 30 and 40 minutes until hot throughout.

Enjoy!

Chilli

This is my chilli recipe which has always gone down well with whoever I have cooked it for.  I don’t tend to make it too spicy as I get complained at by my son, plus I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to spicy food too!

I have calculated the cost of the chilli for 4 people is around £3.00 depending on where you buy your ingredients and the quality of the same.

Ingredients:

500g mince

1 onion, diced

1 can kidney beans

1 beef stock cube

1 can chopped tomatoes

1/2 small can tomato puree

1 green pepper

1/2 teaspoon hot chilli powder

Handful of chorizo, diced (optional – I don’t buy this especially for chilli, just put it in when I have some going spare!)

 

Recipe:

1.  Fry the mince with the onions and stock cube until the mince is browned and the onions have started to soften.

2.  Add the green peppers, chilli powder (to your own taste), and chorizo (if using) and fry for another couple of minutes.

 

3.  Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and kidney beans and stir well.

 

4.  Simmer for around 20 minutes until cooked through and thickened.

Spanish Chicken Bake

This is a recipe that I have very slightly adapted from the Hairy Dieter’s recipe to suit.  It is one that is requested by my husband quite a lot.  If you are not keen on chicken thighs it works well with breast too.

I have calculated the cost of this dish for 4 people is around £5.00 depending on where you buy your ingredients and the quality of the same.  Chorizo is an expensive ingredient and the dish can be made without if you are looking for a bit of a cheaper meal.

Ingredients:

1 onion cut into 8 wedges

1 red onion cut into 8 wedges

500g new potatoes cut in half or quarters depending on size

8 whole garlic cloves

Tomatoes (as many as your family likes) quartered

Around 75g chorizo (optional)

Chicken – Around 2 thighs per person or 1 breast depending on personal taste

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

1 pepper (whichever colour you prefer!) cut into strips

 

Recipe:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 200C.

2.  Place the onion wedges, potatoes, garlic and tomatoes in a roasting dish, season then cook for 20 minutes.

3.  Whilst cooking, season the chicken and cut the chorizo into 1/2 cm slices.

 

4.  Scatter the chorizo over the vegetables and stir a couple of times.

5.  Place the chicken on top and sprinkle with the paprika and oregano.  Place back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

 

6.  When you take the dish out of the oven tilt to one side and spoon some of the juices over the top of the chicken.  Place the peppers on top and cook for another 20 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are cooked.

 

Enjoy!!

Spicy Mushroom & Broccoli Noodles

There are lots of new dishes on the menu this week which we haven’t had before so it is all a learning curve!  So far everything we have tried has been really tasty and will be regularly featuring in our weekly meal plans.  Today’s recipe was no exception.

I have calculated the cost of this dish, for 4 people, to be around £4.00 depending where you buy your ingredients and the quality of the same.  I have been converted to the Sainsburys Basics stock cubes as they are only 10p for 10 and the flavour is really nice!  I also used Sainsburys own brand noodles which were just as good as the branded ones at a lot cheaper price.

Ingredients:

1 Vegetable Stock Cube

Noodles (Approximately 1 nest per person depending on appetite!)

1 Small head of broccoli

250g pack chestnut mushrooms (thickly sliced)

1 garlic clove (sliced)

Pinch of chilli flakes (although these could be left out if you didn’t want a chilli kick)

4 Spring Onions (thinly sliced)

A good dollop of Hoisin Sauce

 

Recipe:

1.  Boil a pan of water with the stock cube, then place in the noodles and boil for around 2 minutes.  Then add the broccoli and boil for another 2 minutes.  When draining, keep back a good cup full of the stock.

 

2.  Fry the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they start to soften and go golden.

 

3.  Add the chilli flakes, garlic and spring onions and fry for a couple more minutes.

4.  Add the cooked noodles and broccoli and mix well.

5.  Add a couple of tablespoons of the leftover stock from the noodles and broccoli together with a good dollop of the hoisin sauce, making sure everything is coated well.

6.  Once everything is heated through, serve.

Banoffee Pie

A couple of weeks ago I was watching Come Dine with me with my son and he saw someone making banoffee pie.  He asked what it was and then requested that I make it for him soon!  As we were below budget with the shopping this week I decided to buy the ingredients and give it a go.  It was the first time I have made it myself and I was very impressed, as were my husband and son so I think I will be making it again!

I have calculated the cost of the dessert (6-8 portions) would be around £3.00 depending on where you bought your ingredients and the quality of the same.

Ingredients:

Around 250g Digestive biscuits

200g butter (although I am testing out Flora Cuisine at the moment so used that)

1 x Can Condensed Milk

100g Brown Sugar

Double Cream

2 x Bananas

Recipe:

1.  Place the biscuits into a food bag and bash them until they are crumbs.

2.  Melt the butter in a microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute then mix in the biscuit crumbs.

3.  Press the biscuit mix into a tin (a loose bottomed one always works well I find).  Then put into the fridge whilst you make the caramel topping.

4.  I always thought to make caramel from condensed milk you had to boil it for hours, however, it turns out you can make it very quickly on the hob.  Simply melt around 100g brown sugar and 100g butter together in a pan.

5.  Add the condensed milk and let it boil for around 1 minute, whilst stirring, until it forms a nice caramel like mixture (don’t lick the spoon once you’ve done this, not only is it addictive, it’s damn hot!).

6.  Spread the caramel mix over your biscuit base then leave in the fridge to set.

7.  Once it is set put a layer of sliced banana on top.

8.  Next whip up your double cream until it is soft peaks.

9.  Spread the cream mixture on top of the bananas then place in the fridge to cool.

10.  When ready to serve a broke a little chocolate over the top and some more banana slices for decoration.

W/C 20th May – Meal Plan

I have been meal planning for quite some time now as I hate not knowing what to cook on a night and if I didn’t meal plan we would probably end up with ‘freezer food’ every night!  Meal planning helps me keep to a budget too.  I write a list of recipes each week that I am going to cook, make my shopping list and then order it online as I am more likely to stick to it that way!  Hopefully I can provide some inspiration and ideas for others by sharing my weekly meal plans.  I will post up recipes as soon as I have cooked them (unless they are already on the blog in which case I will link to them).  Enjoy!

Monday – Mushroom & Broccoli Noodles with Banoffee Pie for dessert (as requested by my son!)

Tuesday – Spanish Chicken Bake – A big favourite

Wednesday – Chilli Wraps – Another favourite with everyone

Thursday – Super Vegetable Pasta

Friday – Tuna and Sweetcorn Burgers with homemade chips

Saturday – Jamaican Jerk Chicken (using a jerk sauce my husband’s relatives recently brought back from Jamaica)

Sunday – Soy & Honey glazed Sausages

All recipes to follow.

Cauliflower Cheese Pasta Bake

This was another new recipe we tried out today and it went down very well – I have been told I can make it again!  There were also lots of suggestions of different variations we could try instead of the cauliflower such as broccoli or mince and adding blue cheese with the cheddar (my family are never satisfied!).

I have calculated this dish, to serve 4, costs around £3.50 depending on where you buy your ingredients and the quality.  As usual, I used fairly budget ingredients and it was still delicious.

Although I made my own tomato and cheese sauces, you could easily substitute these for ready made or packet sauces if you are not confident making your own, or need to make it in more of a hurry.

This dish is great for making ahead of time as you can keep it refrigerated for up to 2 days or freeze for 1 month.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pints milk

50g Flour

50g Butter

1 tsp Mustard

100g Cheddar (plus extra for topping)

Pasta shapes (as many as your family would usually eat – I used around 250g)

1 large Cauliflower cut into florets

Frozen Spinach – as much as you like really, I would have liked more in ours however we were running low

4 garlic cloves (keep 1 whole and slice the rest)

Can of chopped tomatoes

Recipe:

1.  Make the tomato sauce – Fry the garlic for 1 minute in a little oil (I am testing out Flora cuisine at the moment instead of oil!) then stir in the chopped tomatoes.  Season then half-cover the pan and leave for 20 minutes until rich and sauce like.

2.  Whilst the tomato sauce is simmering you can make the cheese sauce.  Put the milk, flour and butter into a pan and heat, whisking constantly until smooth and thick.

3.  Add the cheddar and mustard and mix well.

4.  Boil the pasta and cauliflower for around 8 minutes – enough to soften but not fully cook.

5.  Fry the whole garlic clove in a separate pan for a minute then add the spinach and season.  Cook for a couple of minutes then remove the garlic.

6.  Set aside around 300ml of the cheese sauce and mix the rest into the cauliflower and pasta.

7.  The assemble!  First put the tomato sauce at the bottom of the dish/dishes.

8.  Spread the spinach mixture on top.

9.  Top this with the cauliflower and pasta.

10.  Top with the remaining cheese sauce.

11.  Bake in the oven at 200C for around 30 minutes until bubbling and hot throughout.  I topped our bake with some more grated cheese and oats to get a lovely crispy top.

I served ours with some tomatoes roasted in balsamic vinegar as they needed using up, and some garden peas which were really good accompaniments for a delicious dish – this will definitely be going on our regular menu!

Strawberry Cheesecake

This is probably the easiest recipe in the world, anyone can make it, even those that burn beans on toast!  The best thing about it is you can add whatever flavours you like.  I made plain old strawberry but it would work with any fruit you wanted or you could add chocolate, the possibilities are endless!

Without adding in the cost of any fruit, I have estimated the cost of the other ingredients to be around £2.50-£3.00 depending on where they are purchased and the quality.  I find cheap, shop brand digestives and soft cheese work just as well as branded items.

Ingredients:

250g digestive biscuits

100g melted butter

600g soft cheese (although you can make it with less, I only used about 400g)

100g icing sugar

284ml double cream

Plus whatever fruit etc. you want to add

Recipe:

1.  Put the digestive biscuits into a food bag, then bash them to crumbs with a rolling pin.

2.  Mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter until they are all covered then press into a cake tin (the ones with the removable bottom are the easiest to use).

3.  Put the base into the fridge whilst you make the topping.

4.  Mix together the soft cheese and icing sugar until mixed thoroughly.

5.  Mix in the double cream until you have quite a stiff mixture.

6.  Add whatever fruit or other flavourings you are using then mix in.

7.  Spread the topping onto the base and you have a delicious cheesecake ready to eat after chilling.

It is not the best dessert for your waistline but is so delicious!

 

Sausage & Bean Cobbler

This is the first time we have tried this recipe and can honestly say it was delicious!  The whole family thoroughly enjoyed it!

I have roughly estimated the dish (for 4 people) comes to around £4.00 depending on where you buy your ingredients and the quality.   I used relatively cheap ingredients for the dish, including fairly cheap sausages and I really don’t think the dish warrants expensive ingredients.

Ingredients:-

6-8 Sausages – skins removed

1 large onion – diced

2 garlic cloves – chopped

2 celery sticks – chopped

Pinch chilli flakes (optional)

1 tbsp tomato puree

400g can butter beans

400g cannellini beans

400g chopped tomatoes

225g self-raising flour

100g butter – cubed

150ml milk

2 tsp dried oregano

Recipe:-

1.  Pre-heat oven to 200C/180C fan (gas mark 6).

2.  Place sausages in pan with a little oil, breaking with a wooden spoon.

3.  Add the onion, garlic, celery and chilli flakes (if using) then cover and cook for 6 minutes.

4.  Add the tomato puree, beans and chopped tomatoes.  Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes.

Whilst the cobbler base is cooking you can make the topping…

5.  Put the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter cubes until you get a breadcrumb like texture.

6.  Add the milk and oregano and mix until it becomes a smooth, firm dough.

7.  Once cooked, spoon the sausage mixture into an ovenproof dish.

8.  Tear off small balls of the cobbler topping and place them on top of the sausage mix.

9.  Bake for around 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

 

You can then serve with whatever sides you want.  We had ours with some butternut squash that needed using up.  The other great thing about this recipe is you can make it in advance, put it in the fridge and bake it later in the day.  I tend to do this quite a lot so I am not rushing around after the school run!

 

I give this recipe 4/5.

 

Hello, and Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my new blog.  My aim is to share with you all the great recipes that we love as a family.

I know how difficult it can be to find new and interesting meals that the whole family will enjoy (and actually eat!) and I hope that you can find some inspiration here.

Although my skills have gradually improved over the years, I am not the greatest cook in the world so the recipes won’t be too taxing and I hope you will give some of them a try!

Having recently given up my job to become a stay at home mum, I also know that keeping to a budget is important and I am always looking at ways I can save money when it comes to the food shopping and most of the recipes I share should be very budget friendly.

I would love if you could share your recipes with me and hopefully we can all get some great ideas from each other to create some really exciting, budget friendly, family friendly meals!