I love quesadillas, they are so simple to make, filling and versatile. I’m always looking out for new filling ideas, this is one of my favourites.
Pan fry a tortilla wrap filled with spinach, pesto, mozzarella and pesto. Fill only one half of the wrap and fold over the other half, fry on both sides and serve whilst hot
Chicken is so versatile and can be pretty much stuffed with most things. This recipe uses Spinach and Ricotta.
Put a small bag of fresh spinach in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over it. Whilst the spinach is wilting, add two tablespoons of ricotta cheese, a sprinkling of nutmeg, the zest of a lemon, and seasoning in to a bowl. Next strain the wilted spinach to remove any excess moisture then chop it up before adding it to the ricotta mixture and beat everything together.
Next butterfly your chicken breasts and spoon the mixture into the middle and close the butterflied breast, rub the top with a little olive oil and sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top. Cook in a preheated oven 180fan for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked, meanwhile prepare some sides.
I like to serve this with roasted red peppers and crushed garlic new potatoes
Butterflied chicken breasts are a regular in the Forster household as they are quick to cook, and can be topped with a variety of flavours
I like to serve this dish with new potatoes and roasted tomatoes so first get your new potatoes quartered (about 4-5 potatoes per person) and get them boiling.
Next finely slice 2 leeks and fry them in a little olive oil on a medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Meanwhile, butterfly your two chicken breasts, I tend to remove the inner mini fillet first (these serve my kids) . To butterfly a breast simply place one hand flat on top of the breast then with a sharp knife slice across the thickness of the breast in order to open the breast up like a book. This doubles the size but halves the thickness and therefore reduces the cooking time. Season and rub in a little olive oil then place on an oven tray. Put the chicken under the grill and cook for 5 minutes on a high heat, meanwhile quarter 10-15 cherry tomatoes, add one crushed clove of garlic, a splash of olive oil, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and seasoning.
After 5 minutes, take the chicken breasts out of the grill, turn them over, add the tomatoes and place back under the grill for another 5 minutes.
The leeks should be cooked now so remove from the heat and crumble approx 50g of feta cheese into them, season and then spoon on top of the chicken breasts when the 5 minutes are up. Return to the grill for a final 2 -3 minutes so that the topping starts to colour.
Serve immediately with then potatoes and tomatoes
Serves 2 adults and 2 little people
I’m really loving ginger at the moment and I’m keen to get my children to eat lots of different flavours so this is a good recipe to try ginger out on them, it only takes 20 minutes so if they’re not that keen you haven’t wasted much time!
First steam a large handful of purple sprouting broccoli in the microwave for 2 minutes, this should leave it still firm to bite.
Next, slice 250g of flank beef steak into finger sized strips and season with salt, pepper, a teaspoon of ground coriander and a glug of olive oil.
This would be a good time to get some egg noodles boiling, so cook these according to packet instructions.
Finely slice a small red onion, crush a clove of garlic and grate or finely chop a piece of root ginger the size of your index and middle fingers, – yes a pretty decent chunk! You can use less if you’d prefer
Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan on a high heat and fry the onion, garlic and ginger for a couple of minutes until the onions soften then add the beef. Continue to fry for a couple of minutes then add the steamed broccoli and stir for a further two minutes. Finally add a tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of sesame oil and fry for another minute.
Drain then toss the noodles in a teaspoon of sesame oil, serve the beef stir fry on top and, if you have some, a squeeze of lime juice makes a big difference
Yum
Serves: 2 adults generously (i.e. this is enough for 2 adults and our 2 toddlers)
This recipe has a slightly longer list of ingredients than my usual recipes but its absolutely worth it so give it a try!
I generally serve this with rice, so get some basmati rice on first and cook this according to packet instructions
Whist the rice is cooking, finely dice one clove of garlic and a thumb sized piece of root ginger. Next chop 2 spring onions and slice 14-16 raw tiger prawns (shells removed) along the back to butterfly them. Finally chop 1/2 of a Chinese Leaf bulb and remove the root. That’s all the prep work done.
Now add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in to a frying pan on a medium to high heat. when at temperature, stir fry the garlic and ginger for a couple of minutes then add the prawns. when the prawns have started to change colour and curl up add 1 tablespoon of the following ingredients: tomato puree, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chilli bean paste and stir for a minute. Finally add the chopped Chinese Leaf and continue to cook for a 2-3 minutes until the leaves are wilted and a small amount of sauce has formed.
Serve immediately with the rice
The stock for this is made in the slow cooker whilst you are out for the day and then it just needs 10 minutes of prep / cooking in a pan to finish it off.
First thing in the morning add the following ingredients to your slow cooker
1.5 litres of vegetable stock, 2 chopped carrots, 1 chopped leek, 1 onion quartered, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 500g of skinless / boneless chicken thighs, 2 chopped stalks of celery, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley and seasoning. slow cook this for 6-8 hours.
When you’re ready to eat the soup, strain the stock in to a pan, remove and reserve the chicken then discard the stock vegetables.
Next, in your saucepan, simmer the stock on a medium to high heat and add 2 chopped carrots and 1 chopped leek. leave to simmer for 5-6 minutes then add 100g of sweetcorn, 100g of vermicelli noodles and the chicken reserved from earlier. Simmer in the pan for 5-6 minutes until the noodles are cooked then serve with some crusty bread
Salmon is so nutritious and yet simple to cook. I tell my kids that eating fish makes them clever, sometimes they need an extra little push! There are so many ways to cook Salmon and this method works best when you’re feeling particularly tired (lazy) 🙂 Using a George Foreman grill, it’s ready in minutes.
For this recipe, simply marinate you salmon fillet in some sweet chilli marinade and cook in your George Foreman grill for 4-5 minutes max! (if you don’t have one, you can use a normal grill and this should take 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillet)
Serve with some steamed broccoli and stir fried noodles and enjoy
I’m pretty sure this could be tweaked to turn it into a slow cooker dish but the original recipe below is simple enough to cook and is ready within 25 minutes
First thing is to get your brown rice on, now I have to admit, I’m not much of a brown rice fan but someone suggested cooking it in chicken stock rather than plain water and actually it’s pretty good! So cook this according to packet instructions but sub water for stock
Next, dice 5 chicken thighs and marinate in the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon of olive oil one clove of crushed garlic then season with salt and pepper. Leave for 5 minutes then pan fry with the marinade for a couple of minutes on a high heat until sealed, add the juice of the remaining half of the lemon and 2 tablespoons of honey a splash of water and stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat down and simmer until cooked, if the sauce starts to dry up, add a little water but not too much as you still want the sauce to have a degree thickness to it.
Serve with the rice and some greens.
In the words of my husband ‘Meatball and Pasta soup??? Now that’s the kind of soup I like’ this soup is delicious and filling so won’t leave anyone hungry. Perfect for a cold day! I have hello fresh to thank for this recipe!
First finely dice a stick of celery and a carrot, then fry in a saucepan on medium heat for 5 minutes with 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil.
Next add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a vegetable stock cube and 500ml of boiling water. Let this summer whilst you make the meatballs
In a bowl mix 200gm of minced beef with 1/2 teaspoon of chilli, 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan, a handful of finely chopped fresh marjoram (or 1/2 teaspoon of dried marjoram) and season with salt and pepper, make in to meatball and fry for a couple of minutes until browned then set aside
Next, add your pasta into you soup mix (approximately 3-4 handfuls) and cook in the soup
When the pasta is 5 minutes away from being done, add the meatballs and cook in the soup for the remaining time.
Serve with some grated parmesan and crusty bread
Sometimes simple flavours are the best! There is nothing complicated about this dish and it can be ready in 25 minutes
First quarter your new potatoes, about 4-5 per person and then boil until cooked, this should take 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, trim some green beans and blanch them in boiling water for 3-4 minutes then set aside.
Next season you salmon filets with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a preheated (180 fan) oven to cook for 10-12 minutes or until cooked.
Now quarter a small punnet of baby tomatoes and fry in a little butter for a couple of minutes until tomatoes start to burst, next add a clove of crushed garlic and seasoning then fry for a further couple of minutes, next add the green beans and a handful of chopped parsley and some lemon juice and continued to fry for a further couple of minutes then set aside. Using the same pan a little more butter and when your potatoes are cooked through, crush them a little bit then sautee in the hot butter for a couple of minutes until browned and crispy
Serve up the Salmon with the veg and potatoes
Yum!
Fast Family Food 