Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Chicken Pie

This recipe is easy peasy, great for a Sunday night. And its soooo yummy too.

Ingredients

1 shole bbq chicken
1 400g can cream of chicken soup
1 tbsp oil
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 zucchini grated
1 carrot grated
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn
Sheets of puff pastry

Method

Strip all the skin and meat off the chicken. Eat the skin (hehe) and toss the bones (or if you are clever use them to make your own stock).

In a frying pan, heat the oil and add the leek, zucchini and carrot. Cook till softened. Add peas, corn and soup mix. Stir and add chicken. Allow to cool.

You can use this mix to make any size pies you like. The Pastry can be used for both the top and the bottoms of the pie. For muffin size pies, cut the pastry sheets into quarters. Grease the muffin tins and line with pastry. Fill with the meat mix. Gather pastry corners together, and give it a twist. I popped a bit of egg wash on the top of the pies for colour.

Cook at about 200c until brown.

Eat and enjoy.

Monday, July 20, 2009

What's for dinner tonight - Tuesday

A family favourite, I'm cooking up pork salad. (It's not really a salad)

500g minced pork
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce *note, the sauce amounts may be changed to suit your taste.
Green beans
Corriander

Fry mince in a saucepan. Add Garlic and ginger and cook for a few minutes. Add sauces and green beans. Cook till beans are tender.

Mix in chopped corriander.

Serve on boiled rice or in iceberg lettuce cups.

Eat and enjoy

What's for dinner tonight? - Monday

Dd and I cooked dinner together. We made bolegnaise sauce with veges in it. Very healthy. Eaten with spiral pasta as someone has an aversion to spaghetti, with all those vegetables it has to be healthy.

Pasta sauce Recipe

500g lean mince
2 400g cans diced tomatoes
2 zucchini - grated
1 carrot - grated
1 red capsicum (pepper) diced, eenty teeny tiny
1 tsp garlic
1 tbsp pesto
salt and pepper

Cook mince in saucepan till brown, add garlic. Add zucchini, carrot and capsicum, and cook till soft. Add cans of diced tomatoes and mix well. Add pesto. Season to taste. Allow to cook gently till pasta is cooked as per packet instructions.

Serve with cheese.

This makes a lot of food. Enough to freeze for another night.

Eat and Enjoy

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

What's for dinner tonight? Wednesday

Roast pork shoulder sandwiches on homemade bread.

Potato Gratin (reduced fat)

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
2 tbsp flour
1 med inion, sliced and separated
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 small zucchini, sliced
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
340 ml evaporated skim milk
2 tbsp parsley chopped

Method

Layer one third of the potatoes over the bottom of a prepared pie plate. Over the potatoes sprinkle 1 tbsp of the flour and arrange the onion rings. Dust with cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp of the paprika.

Layer another third of the potatoes adding the remaining flour, pepper and 1 tbsp of the cheese. Scatter the zucchini, dusting with the nutmeg and mixed herbs.
Cover with remaining potatoes. Pour milk over the gratin and add the remaining paprika and cheese.

Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes at 200c. Remove foil and bake at 160c for 15 minutes until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

Tuna Puffs

Another family favourite. I hate tuna, especially straight out of the can. But I love this recipe, its worth trying.

Ingredients

500g packet of puff pastry sheets
30g butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
800g can tuna in water, drained
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Method

Melt butter, stir in flour. Cook for 1 minute and add milk, tuna, salt and pepper. Stir constantly until sauce boils. Add lemon juice and chopped parsley. Cool. Cut pastry sheets into 12cm squares. Place a small amount of filling into each square. Glaze with a little milk. Fold each square over to form a triangle. Glaze each triangle with a little milk. Cuta a slit in the top. Place triangles on a greased baking tray. Bake at 200c for 10 minutes and then 180 c for 20 minutes.

Serve with onion sauce (white sauce with onions in it)

Leek and Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 rashers bacon
6 large potatoes chopped
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup parsley
60g butter
4 leeks chopped
1.5 cups milk
grated tasty cheese

Method

Chop bacon and fry in butter until crisp. Add potatoes, leeks and cook a few minutes. Add stock and cook 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and soft. If preferred mash with whisk until soup is smooth. Add milk and heat gently. Stir in parsley. Serve garnished with grated cheese.

Ki Si Min

This recipe is the first ever meal I cooked, and I cooked it with my dear dad.
Serve it with rice.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
500g mince
3 0r 4 sticks celery chopped finely
salt and pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cabbage shredded
1 pkt chicken noodle soup mix
1 desertspoon full of curry powder (keens is best)
1 onion chopped

Method

Fry the onions and curry powder in butter and add mince. Brown.

Add soup mix dissolved in water and simmer for 15 minutes. Add all of the vegetables and simmer with the lid closed for 10 minutes.

Eat and enjoy

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Minced Beef and Noodle Casserole

This is an old family favourite.

Temperature: 180 degrees Celcius

Ingredients

250g angel hair pasta
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 clove garlic
180g grated cheese
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp mixed herbs
2 cups water
500g minced beef
2 tbsp cornflour
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tbsp oil
2 beef stock cubes
salt and pepper

Method

Cook noodles in boiling salted water untill tender and train.

Heat oil, brown mince and garlic, stirring frequently.

Dissolve stock cubes in water, and add to meat. Add tomoato sauce and herbs. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Thicken with cornflour blended with a little water.

Season to taste.

Put half of the noodles in an ovenproof casserole dish, cover with half of the meat mixture. Repeat the layers.

Sprinkle the top with the cheese and paprika and cook at 180c for one hour.

Eat and enjoy.

In season this July

Fruit

Granny Smith apples
Pink Lady apples
Kiwi fruit
Lemons
Mandarines
Navel Oranges

Vegetables
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Leeks
Lettuce
Onions
Potatoes
Beansprouts
Bok Choy

*Note, some of these veges such as lettuce are not at full supply at this time of the year. This list may not be complete, rather its to my families taste.

Introduction

Due to a downturn in the economy, everyone is feeling the pinch. Feeding our families is becoming more difficult.

Its time to get back to basics. So this blog will contain recipes and menu plans aimed at keeping the costs low and the yumminess high.

I've set it up so that you can easily find all the recipes with minced beef for example. Just click on the lables for the main ingredient you are after.

Eat and enjoy.