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.

 



stuffed peppers....

 

Sorry for the photos I was rushing to snapped what I could! lol!

Got some peppers reduced and they were a good size so stuffed peppers it was!

 

This mix was:

Onion
Garlic

Pork mince
Celery
Carrot
Courgette
Rice
Salt and Pepper

Cook your rice and fry off the rest of the ingredients and mix together.

 

You can stuff them with pretty much anything though.

 

 

Cut the top off the pepper and stuff.

I had some mozerella to use up so put a slice of that on top.

The smaller pointed peppers behind were stuffed with feta.

 

Now the plan was to stick them in the slow cooker for a few hours

 

Buuuuuut I had too many and they wouldn't fit in so I just stuck them in the oven for dinner, lol. Served ours with salad.



Use - it - up - carbonara.

 

 

Had some eggs and cooking bacon to use up, so decided on carbonara for tonight.

Some chopped onion, pepper, bacon, mushroom and garlic was fried in a pan with a bit of butter.

Pan of boiling water to cook the spaghetti.

Beat the eggs in a jug with some fresh black pepper and parmesan. I used Grana padano its very similar and was down to 50p per pack at lidl last weekend.

Immediately after draining, while the pasta is still very hot, return to the pan and pour over egg mix and the fried 'bits'. Toss and stir to make sure its all coated.

The residual heat from the pasta will cook the egg and create a sauce.

Top with more black pepper and parmesan and your done :) Italian fast food at its best. Served ours with a bag of reduced salad and some HM rosemary bread.