bread and butter/summer pudding hyrbrid.....

 

 

Some-times using up odds and ends produces some strange but tasty combo's, lol.

The bread here was a fresh bloomer I bought reduced, it was starting to go stale so I sliced it and buttered both sides for a bread and butter pudding. I had a box of raspberries and a handful of blueberries to use up. They were defrosted out of the freezer so too soft to eat on their own.

So I stuck them in this, lol. Layer of bread, sprinkle sugar, layer of blueberries, layer of bread, sprinkle of sugar layer of raspberries.

I made up a pint of milk using powdered and added the egg I used to glaze the pie and another 2, poured the mix over.

 

It went in the oven the same time as the pie to make the most of the heat.



Take 1 large chicken ........

 

On Monday I made a large roast dinner for 6. I used a large chicken, 2.2kilos in weight.

Were on a mission to work down the freezer and downsize to a smaller chest freezer, so I'm taking joints out of the freezer (they take up the most room). I'm not wanting to freeze any leftover if I can help it, but I can't afford to waste anything. 

 

 

The pot on the right is the leftover cooked chicken. Half a handful went into the pie.

 

Today was leftover pie. Basically any leftovers from the roast dinner stuffed into pastry. It depends on the leftovers, but today was leftover roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, mixed veg, chicken and gravy. I added 1/4 onion and a mushroom, a bit of home-made chicken stock.

 

 

There was enough leftover mash and veg from Monday for the kids to have with the pie.

 

I really didn't fancy pie so instead decided to make a chicken soup.

I used 1/4 onion, 1 clove of garlic and 1 mushroom. Fried in a bit of chicken fat from the top of the stock.

After the stock went in I added half a carrot, a handful of frozen green beans and half a red pepper.

 

That tub on the left is home-made chicken stock. I already drained off the chicken juice from roasting, that's not this stock. This is the result of the chicken carcass/bones being stuck in the slow cooker for 8 hours. Its been reduced down so turn into jelly. 

 

 

 

Because its concentrated I only needed about 3-4 tablespoons. Topped up with water, added seasoning.

 

Just before serving I added a handful of cooked chicken and a handful of spinach.

The pot on the right is how much cooked chicken I have left after a roast dinner, pie, soup and 2 pasties.

Its going to go into a risotto with the rest of the stock for another dinner tomorrow.

 

 

 

the two patsies on the right are lunch for the kids tomorrow with some pastry leftover from the pie.

 

Stretching your most expensive ingredient (usually meat) is a fantastic way to reduce grocery shopping bill. 1 large chicken will have stretched over 4 large main meals and a lunch without wasting a scrap.

 

 

 



Lasagne

 

Lasagne is a fab way to stretch a Bolognese sauce and is made a lot easier with the microwave white sauce.

I made my Bolognese with a pack of reduced steak minced, 80p. It did the kids tea with spaghetti yesterday and I'm making a family size lasagne for tonight tea.

 

 

I still had a small tub of Bolognese leftover after making up the lasagne which I stashed in the freezer.

Minced based meals are the easiest way to stretch a tight food budget as its so versatile and can be bulked out.

 

 

Start with a layer of Bolognese.

 

Layer of lasagne sheets.

 

Layer of white sauce.

 

Layer of lasagne sheets and repeat until you finish with a layer of white sauce.

 

Then just top with cheese.

 

 

Ive made mine up in the morning ready to stick in the oven for tea. I will be filling the oven with baking while its in to make the most of the oven being on. Serving this with side salad and garlic dough balls.

 

 

 

 



easy microwave white sauce

 

This is so much easier to make in the microwave and no lumps or sticking to pans!

 

So you will need:

2 tbsp margarine or butter

4 tbsp plain flour

Salt & pepper

2 cups milk (I made up powdered

 

So, 2tbsp margarine in a jug, pop into microwave for 30 seconds until melted and add any seasoning.

 

Add your 4tbsp plain flour and whisk.

 

It will form a thick paste.

 

Add 1/4 cup of milk and stir whisk thoroughly to make a thinner paste.

 

Add the rest of your milk and stir.

 

Microwave for 2 mins, take our a stir. It should be starting to thicken.

 

Microwave for another 2 mins.

 

 

Tadah! Thick white sauce ready for use :) If you want a cheese sauce add cheese while its hot and stir through to melt.

 



Pretzel rolls

 

I made these to go with some pulled pork. They are chewy and springy and a bit different to standard rolls.

 



1 tbsp dried yeast

2 tbsp vegetable oil

500ml warm milk

300ml warm water

2 tap salt

1 kilo strong white flour

 

Measure out your milk and water and add the yeast.

Mix the dry ingredients into a bowl and add the oil.

Add the milk mix bit by bit to form a rough dough.

Tip out onto a floured work surface and knead.

Set aside for an hour to rise.

Form into rolls and slash the tops.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp bicarbonate soda.

Boil each of the rolls for about a minute, this is what gives it the chewy crust.

Sprinkle with salt and bake at 220 for 20mins.

tandori chicken with biryani........

 

Last week was so hectic I didn't get chance to cook at all. This week is a little calmer and I'm planning meals using what we have in.

 

Biryani can be made using leftover cold rice from the day before, or you can make it from scratch and cook some rice.

Mine had onion, garlic, mushroom, peppers and some curry paste all fried together.

The chicken leg quarters were from a couple of chickens that I jointed myself, but they're usually around £2 kilo to buy, pretty cheap cut of meat. I rubbed them with tandoori spice mix and left them in the fridge to marinate, then just baked them for half an hour in the halogen.

Simple and easy and very cheap.

 

Soft Flapjacks....

 

Ive made 5 batches of these now and they come out perfect every time!

 

500g oats

125g margarine

125g butter

250g sugar

6 tbsp Golden syrup

 

 

Melt the margarine, butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan.

 

Weigh out your oats.

 

When melted, stir through the oats.

 

You can line a pan with greaseproof paper, I used a re-usable baking sheet.

 

Press down with a fork.

 

Bake at around 190 for 20 mins or so.

 

 

Leave to cool for about 30mins. Then gently lift it out of the tray, peel away the paper and slice up.