Food

Sausage and bean stew

~ rinaforster ~ Leave a comment

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Who doesn’t like sausage and beans??

This is a great hearty meal for when the nights start to get colder and darker and we want something warm and filling

I use a slow cooker for this but you can use a casserole dish in the oven if you don’t have one.

In your pot, put 6 meaty sausages, a can of plum tomatoes, a dolop of tomato puree, a diced onion, two teaspoons of paprika, two teaspoons of cumin powder, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a tin of canellini beans. Give everything a good mix and season then cook on a slow cooker all day or in an oven for 1-2 hours on about 160 fan – if you’re cooking in the oven you may need to add a mug full of water as the sauce will reduce more so just have a quick check after an hour.

Serve at the end of a long and stressful day with some mash potatoes

 

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Lemon and coriander Tuna steak

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You can’t get much simpler than this tuna steak!

Marinate some tuna steaks in olive oil, lemon juice and coriander – naturally these ingredients would take better when bought fresh but for an everyday cost effective way of fish I use frozen tuna steak thawed out the night before, lemon juice from a bottle and coriander paste. Season to your taste.

Once marinated, flash fry the steaks for a couple of minutes on each side and serve immediately.

I served mine with rice salad which is a great way of using up left of rice from the night before. To this rice simply add a glug of olive oil, salt, pepper, bbq seasoning, lime juice, any kind of store cupboard tinned beans, (pinto, kidney or mixed bean salad etc) and then dice up any salad vegetables you have to hand, again I used peppers, tomatoes, sweetcorn and cucumber. Give it a good stir and voila 

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Blueberry Pancakes

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Great for Sunday mornings!

In a big jug pour 300ml milk, 1 egg beaten,200g of sf flour, 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt and a knob of melted butter. Give everything a good mix, then stir in a couple of handfuls of blueberries.

Put a pan on a medium to high heat then pour a approximately half a ladle of pancake mix into the pan, cook for about a minute on each side until nice a brown

Serve with as much fruit as you like and squeeze of maple syrup  or treacle!

Eat!

Breakfast Egg Muffin

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These are really simple to make and kids love them, they think they’re getting a treat. You can make these as exotic or as simple as you like

In the past I’ve made ham and cheese, spinach and parmesan, salmon, goats cheese and spring onion, and cheddar and chives. All delicious!

For the ham and cheese, I’d use about 2 slices of ham cut in to squares along with approx 30g of grated cheddar; for the spinach and parmesan, use 2 teaspoons of parmesan and 2 -3 cubes of defrosted spinach; and finally for the goats cheese version use approx 30g of goats cheese, 2-3 leaves of smoked salmon and a sprinkling of chives or spring onion

Simply beat together 6 eggs, season and throw in what you like. Pour the mixture into cupcake tins (4 large eggs makes about 6 muffins) and bake at 180(fan) for about 20min until risen

Eat hot!

Let me know of any other flavours you try out

 

Chilli Beef

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You can make this as hot as you like, in hindsight I perhaps should have made it a little milder given poor Sammy started panting like a puppy and trying to scratch his tongue! Ooops

Cut a large rump steak into thin strips (tip – as mine came from the freezer I did it when it was still a little bit frozen in order to get the strips really thin) and put the strips in a marinade of oil (groundnut if you have any), 2-3 garlic cloves, a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes and a good dash of soy sauce. Mix, cover and leave for as long as you can

Make some rice, stir fry your choice of veg and when ready just flash fry the beef including any remaining marinade in a hot frying pan for 1 minute max!

Serve!

Spicy Chicken Quesadillas

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imageEasy peasy,super tasty and healthy too!

Dice one red pepper, one yellow pepper, add a handful of sweetcorn and some precooked diced chicken

Mix the ingredients all up in a bowl and season.

Next put a large pan on the hob and turn it on to a medium heat. place a flour tortilla on the hob and fill one side with filling, grate some cheddar cheese on top then fold the other half over the filling to create a semi circle, heat on each side for a couple of minutes until nicely browned and the cheese has melted inside

Serve with a mango salsa and guacamole

Eat whilst smiling!

Krispy Chicken with Mixed Mash

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For the chicken –

Chop a couple of chicken breasts in to 3 pieces each and then marinate the chicken in some butter milk – this keeps the chicken from drying out – ideally do this and leave overnight if you can.

Next make some breadcrumbs by toasting 2 slices of bread and then whizzing in a blender (or simply buy some!), to the breadcrumbs add dried chilli, paprika, salt and pepper – quantities to your taste!

Take your chicken out of the marinade and coat in the breadcrumb mix, the buttermilk will help the breadcrumbs stick. Once all pieces are covered shallow fry for a couple of minutes each side and then bake in the oven for approx 15 minutes at 180 fan until cooked.

For the Mixed Mash –

This is a great way to get some veg in your meal and my children love it!

Dice one carrot, one sweet potato and one potato then simmer in some vegetable stock until all vegetables are cooked – you should make the carrots the smallest, followed by the potatoes, followed by the sweet potatoes being the largest chunks.

once cooked drain the excess liquid and mash with a fork, i like to leave a few chunks in mine. Next whist still warm add some spinach and allow it to wilt into the warm veg. Grate a chunk of cheddar cheese, add a knob of butter if you like and give everything  big mix and then serve when ready!

‘Lite’ Chicken Korma

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This a much more lighter version of a korma which you can enjoy any day of the week

Dice and fry one onion until soft and browned, next add 5 cardamom seeds, 3 gloves of galric, a knob of grated root ginger (you can use the paste ginger if you dont have any fresh) , a stick of cinnamon (or a teaspoon of ground cinnamon), 2 teaspoons for ground coriander, two teaspoons of garam masala and heat for a couple of minutes. Next add two diced chicken breast and stir until chicken is browned.

Lower the heat then add approx 100ml of natural yoghurt, 100ml of milk and 100ml, 100ml chicken stock , mix, bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

serve with some boiled rice and green and a sprinkling of flaked almonds

Spicy Chicken Noodles

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You can have this as a cold noodle salad or a hot chicken stir fry.

To start, marinate two diced chicken breasts in some Chilli Relish for along as you have time

Grill the chicken until cooked – I used a lean mean grilling machine – aka The George! – and its done pretty quick

Meanwhile grate a carrot and chop some red pepper in to thin strips,

Next prepare your egg noodles to instructions on packet and when ready stir fry them in a little groundnut (or sunflower) oil.

once done, mix together the noodles, carrors, peppers and chicken with another tablespoon of chilli relish, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a splash of lime juice, some coriander (I used corriander paste) and as much chilli as you can handle.

Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!