Foodie Friday: Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Bake

Another Friday, another super simple recipe from me! This is one of those cheap but filling ones that fall into the comfort food category without being too unhealthy, although I do have a fair amount of cheese in here but you could easily leave that out. But then what's a pasta bake without cheese...

I know the whole point of a pasta 'bake' is for the pasta to be cooked in the oven, but that's just so time consuming that I find it easier to just boil it as normal beforehand to pretty much halve the total cooking time.

Preparation time: 10 minutes                                                  Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 chicken breast fillets

200g pasta (any shape)

200g broccoli

1x 400g can of cream of chicken soup

1x ball of mozzarella

50g cheddar

Method

1. Wrap chicken in foil and bake for 20mins at 200 degrees centigrade/ gas mark 5.

2. Cut broccoli into smaller florets and cook along with the pasta for 10-12 minutes.

3. Drain pasta and broccoli. Take chicken out of the oven and cut into chunks. Combine pasta, broccoli and chicken in a casserole dish.

4. Pour over soup and mix into the pasta. Fold in cheddar.

5. Arrange mozzarella slices on top and bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday: Chilli Con Carne

In the past couple of years this seems to have become my signature dish, it's the only thing I can cook better than my mum can so people always ask me for it when they come over! I think being able to make a good pot of chilli really gives you a good starting ground when it comes to cooking because it's just so versatile: have with rice, make nachos, chilli cheese fries, on a baked potato, in tacos, quesadillas etc. The list just goes on and on! Plus it's healthy, filling and cheap too, so a definite winner in this household!

 

 

Contrary to popular opinion, chilli isn't really that hard to make, it just takes a while to cook. You can start the cooking process and go off and do other things just as long as you remember to come back regularly to give it a good stir. You could also substitute the mince for a variety of different beans and pulses to make a veggie version, and this would probably be much quicker to cook. My version isn't very hot because I'm not a spice lover, although it does have a tiny kick. Obviously you can adjust this to your personal preference though.

Anyway, enough gabbing and on with the recipe!

 

Preparation time: 15 minutes                 Cooking: 60-90 minutes

Nutritional Stats (per serving)
kCal: 380, Protein: 36g, Carbs: 24g, Fat: 17g (6g sat fat), Salt: 1.7g

Ingredients (serves 4)
500g beef mince
1 onion
2 peppers (any colour)
1 garlic clove
300ml beef stock (made with one cube)
400g chopped tomatoes
400g kidney beans (or similar- I used chickpeas this time)
1tbsp tomato purée
1tsp paprika
2tsp chilli powder (or more if you prefer)

Method

1. Brown the mince in a small amount of oil.

2. Chop the onion and peppers into small pieces, add these to the pot and cook through for about five minutes.

3. Add the garlic, paprika and chilli powder, stir and allow to cook through for just a couple of

minutes.

4. Add the beef stock, chopped tomatoes and tomato purée to the pot and simmer for approximately an hour. Check it and stir every so often. If it gets too dry add some more water, but I've never had this happen. What you're looking for is for it to thicken slightly into a rich sauce.

5. Add a drained can of kidney beans or similar for the last few minutes cooking.

Serve!

Easier than you thought eh? ;) although it does take a while to cook, this is one of those dishes that's perfect for you to make a huge batch of and portion it up for the freezer. Usually, I double the quantities I've given above and it means I get eight meals out of it, with only having to put in the effort of making it once :)

Foodie Friday: Ten Minute Minestrone

This is exactly the type of recipe that I love: one-pot, no effort but looks much more complicated that it is and really impresses your guests ;) It's perfect for a dinner party too as it's one of those recipes that you can serve straight away but actually tastes better if you leave it for a couple of hours so you can make it well in advance and just reheat later.

Preparation: None                                                                    Cooking: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves six)
400g chopped tomatoes
1L vegetable stock (made using 2 stock cubes)
2tbsp tomato puree
75g spaghetti, broken up into small pieces
400g mixed frozen veg

Method
1. Add the vegetable stock and tomatoes to a pot and bring to the boil.
2. Add the spaghetti and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the frozen veg and tomato puree. Cover and allow to simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

And that's it! As I say, it tastes loads better if you turn the heat off and just let it sit for a while so that the flavours infuse (check the chef-y language ;) ). You can also make a big pot of this to portion up for the freezer too :)

Foodie Friday: Lemon Drizzle Cake

An oldie but definitely a goodie ;)

Preparation time:  15 minutes                                                   Cooking time: 40-50 minutes

 

Ingredients

 

Cake

225g self-raising flour

225g butter

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

Zest of two lemons (could use one to tone down the lemony-ness)

Juice of half a lemon

 

Drizzle

Juice of one and a half lemons

100g caster sugar

 

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade/ gas mark 4. Grease loaf-tin if not using a silicone one.

2. Beat together butter and sugar, then add eggs and combine. Sift in flour and fold in gently.

3. Add lemon zest and juice (amount dependant on preference) and mix through.

4. Transfer to loaf-tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

5. Make the drizzle by combining caster sugar with lemon juice.

6. After baking, allow the cake to cool slightly before pricking with a fork and pouring over the drizzle. The drizzle will sink through the holes throughout the cake and make it extra lemony and delicious.

7. Allow to cool completely before slicing, otherwise it will just fall apart.

8. Make a cuppa and enjoy!

Foodie Friday: Mediterranean Sausage Casserole

I do love a recipe that it is super tasty but doesn't destroy the kitchen, and this one is right up there with my favourites! One-pot, bung it in the oven and ta dah!

I took this recipe from a BBC recipe book years ago, swapped the chicken for sausages (I think that was all we had at the time!), added a sauce and a few different spices and came up with what is now one of our staple dinners. It can easily be modified to suit you if needed- it works really well with sweet potato, but I just prefer white and the pork sausages could be substituted with quorn, veggie or beef varieties (although the beef might overpower the sauce a bit- just a thought).

 

Hope you enjoy!

Preparation time: 15 minutes                                             Cooking: 30 minutes

 

Ingredients (serves 4)

8 pork sausages

1 large onion

2 peppers (any colour)

2-3 potatoes per person (judgement call)

400g chopped tomatoes

Olive oil

Chilli, paprika, thyme to personal taste

Method

1. Cut potatoes into chunks- doesn't matter what size, but try to keep them fairly even so they cook at the same rate. Do the same with the onion and peppers. Transfer these to a large casserole dish.

2. Pierce sausages to avoid them exploding (yes I have had this happen before) and arrange in dish.

3. Drizzle over olive oil and get your hands in there to make sure everything has a coating. Be careful not to add to much oil as the sausages will also release some- I'd say use roughly two tablespoons.

4. Sprinkle over thyme (or oregano or mixed herbs) chilli powder and/or paprika to own personal spice-liking.

 

5. Bake at 200 degrees centigrade/ gas mark 6 for thirty minutes, checking it half-way to give it a mix.

6. Stir in chopped tomatoes and add extra spices/ salt and pepper.

Eat it!

PS. I only remembered about the 'after' picture when we were halfway through eating dinner....fail! In the interests of a 'balanced diet' I didn't want to do another cake recipe this week so I promise to add in the picture the next time I make this. For the moment though, you'll just have to imagine the picture above cooked and with a tomato sauce added ;)

PPS. For the record, it was delicious ;)

Foodie Friday: Banana Nut Loaf

Welcome to my first post in my Foodie Friday series, where I'll be sharing an easy and fail-safe recipe every week. I absolutely love to cook, but the easier and less stressful I can make it the better, so hopefully this can help out some of you!

This weeks recipe is for banana nut bread. You can use whichever nuts you prefer, and as much as you like (or even miss them out if you're not a fan) so it's really versatile. This recipe is super easy to follow- a case of throwing everything together and voila!

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
225g Self raising flour
200g Soft brown sugar
200g Butter (softened)
4 Bananas (mashed)
1tbsp Vanilla Extract
1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Egg
30g Almonds (or other nut)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees/ approx gas mark 5.
2. Combine bananas, butter, egg, brown sugar and vanilla extract.
3. Fold in flour, almonds and bicarbonate of soda until well incorporated and mixture has a doughy consistency.

4. Transfer to a greased or silicone loaf tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Remove from loaf tin, allow to cool before slicing (this is important- it will just fall apart otherwise) and enjoy!