Slow Cooked Mexican Style Beef - Makes two meals

After my thrifty food posts and the weather becoming cooler, I thought I'd look at beef brisket again.  I mean I do love a good pot roast and love leftover cottage pie even more but woman cannot live by pot roast alone!

So I thought I'd mix up the flavours a bit and see if I could make a dish with a super easy leftover idea.

Slow Cooked Mexican Style Beef - Day 1 - serves 2 adults (or more if you don't want leftovers)

Ingredients

800g beef brisket
2 onions, cut into wedges
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 chilli, chopped (without seeds)
125ml red wine
1 red, yellow or orange pepper (capsicum)
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tsp smoked paprika

Method

Fry the onion in half the oil.  Put into a slow cooker with the garlic, chilli, pepper, tomatoes and paprika.

Fry the brisket in the remaining oil.  Put into the slow cooker.  Deglaze the pan with the red wine.

Cook on high for 1 hour and then low for at least 4 hours or until very tender.

Serve the meat with some of the vegetables if liked (drain off but keep the juices), add avocado, coriander (cilantro), sliced raw onion, tomato and avocado if liked.  Add seasoning if you like, maybe some pickled jalapenos if you really must and devour.  (Keep a napkin on hand!)

Mindblowingly delicious if a little messy.

Chill the leftover beef and sauce for the next day.

Slow Cooked Beef Chilli (day 2) - serves 2 generously

Ingredients

Left over beef and sauce from the previous day
1 tin of cooked red kidney beans (or pinto beans or mixed beans if you prefer)

Rice to serve

Method

Take the beef out of the sauce and put on a plate.  Spoon the sauce into a saucepan and start to heat.  Drain and rinse the beans and add to the pan.

Put the rice on to cook and cut up the beef into chunks.  Add to the saucepan and simmer gently until everything is warmed through.

Once the rice is cooked, serve with the chilli and any avocado / coriander you have left if liked.

Make it Thrifty:

Brisket is a cheaper cut and by cooking it in a slow cooker, the electricity costs are vastly reduced (I've heard that the power used by a slow cooker is similar to a light bulb.  Not sure if it's true but it's certainly much less than an oven.)  Make it cheaper still by missing out the avocado and coriander.  You could bulk out the chilli further to serve 4 by cutting up the beef into smaller chunks and adding a tin of pinto beans as well.



I've sent this in for approval for "the spice trail" challenge which for November 2013 is on chillis!

The BRAT diet for dodgy tummies

When I was little, I thought my Mum made me banana on toast as a treat when I was feeling poorly.  I was wrong.  She was being sneaky but with my best intentions in mind.

The idea is that BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) is meant to stop the swirly tummy in it's tracks.

Well it wasn't my son, it was me.  And isn't it always the way that when you feel ill, the first thing you reach for is the food from your childhood?

So not so much a recipe, more a snapshot from my childhood.  My mum used to sprinkle with a little Demerara sugar on top.  I've used a touch of honey but miss out for children under 1.

Banana on toast to make a sore tummy feel better - serves 1

Ingredient

Piece of bread, toasted
One overripe banana
Half a tsp runny honey

Method

Mash the banana onto the toast and drizzle with honey to serve.

So far, I'm feeling a bit better.  Maybe it's been the magic solution, just like Mummy's kisses.  :-)

No Refined Sugar Breakfast Muffins; great for adults but also for kids

I have some 'cupcake' cases in the cupboard, bought in a moment when I actually needed fairy cake cases but picked up the wrong thing.  They were somewhere between a cupcake and a muffin in size, nearer a muffin so I decided to cook something more substantial to fill them.

Ok, they may look 'parent sized' but my son has a large appetite so he still ate two.  No refined sugar though which can't be bad.  Sorry, just for over 1 year olds though as under 1's can't eat honey.

Ooh, I've just realised while I was writing this up, this is dairy free!  Purely accidental!

Breakfast Muffins - makes 8

Ingredients

1 egg
75ml apple juice
1 tbsp oil (chose something flavourless like rapeseed or sunflower)
50g, 1.5oz grated apple (approx half an apple)
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g, 3.5oz self raising flour
30g, 1oz porridge oats plus an extra 1tbsp to sprinkle
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
90g, 3oz sultanas (golden raisins)

Method

Preheat the oven to 160oC, 320F.

Mix the first 7 ingredients together (the wet ingredients).  Mix the next 5 ingredients together (the dry ingredients).  Mix the two together but don't go mad, you don't want it fully mixed through.

Put into the cups and then sprinkle with the extra oats.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and springing back when pressed.  If you use proper muffin cases, they may take a little longer.

Leave to cool.  No idea how long they last in a tin, it only lasted two days in our house.  Do leave them to cool fully before eating though, otherwise they tend to stick a bit to the wrappers.  I may try spraying a little spray oil in the cases next time to help them release.

Make it Thrifty:

This is a great way to use bananas which are a little past their best preventing waste.  If you cook them at the same time as there are other things in the oven too it will reduce cooking costs.

Vegetarian Cottage Pie for all of the family

Sometimes you just need vegetables.  My son loved this!  He'd had a week of nothing really home made and was a touch bunged up if you don't mind me being crude so I was determined to get him a full on meal of delicious vegetables without either of us noticing we had no meat.





Vegetarian Cottage Pie - Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 Onion
1 tsp Oil
1 Clove of garlic
1 Carrot, chopped
150g, 5oz Butternut squash, peeled and chopped
400g, 14oz Tin of tomatoes
125ml, half a cup Red wine
A couple of sprigs of rosemary
Black pepper
100g, 3.5oz Green lentils
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 Potato
2 Sweet potatoes
50g, 1.5oz Extra mature (sharp) cheddar - miss out or use vegan cheese substitute if avoiding dairy

Method

Cook the lentils following pack instructions until pretty much cooked (although keep an eye on them, they often cook a little quicker than the pack suggests).

In the meantime, chop the onion finely and fry in oil.  Add the squash, carrot, tomatoes, rosemary (chopped) and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are softening.  Add the lentils, simmer for a further 10 minutes.

While everything is simmering, peel and chop the potato and sweet potato.  Simmer until cooked.

Preheat an oven to 200oC / 400F.

Once the vegetables and lentils are cooked.  Take three different spoons and put into a food processor.  Return to the saucepan.  Mix the cornflour with a little cold water and mix in with the hot vegetable mixture.  Stir to thicken.

Put into a baking dish.

Drain the potatoes.  Mash them (a ricer is great for this).  Top the vegetables with the mash then top with the cheddar.  You can let it all cool down then chill until ready to cook if liked.

Bake in an oven for approx 25-40 minutes (shorter time if cooking directly from hot).

This would be great even for babies on soft lump stage upwards.  So many veggies you gotta love it!  I've linked this up to the wellness weekend.

Make it Thrifty:

The ingredients of this area already very thrifty but if you like you could just use regular potatoes for the topping.  Bake directly from hot and you'll reduce the cooking time.

Even if you prefer meat cottage pies, include some cooked lentils in the sauce and you will not notice while reducing the fat, the calories, reducing the cost and increasing the fibre.

Quick Ginger Biscuits

My son had a hankering for some biscuits after nursery.  I must be mad because what do I do after a hard day at work?  I only go and make some!

Not masses of sugar here but certainly just treat food.  When they cool, they make a pretty crunchy biscuit but my son loves biscuits like that.  While still warm they're a bit softer so don't be surprised if they're still soft when you take them out of the oven.  This was a recipe from my mum but originally from my aunt.  The recipe was originally to use 1lb of flour!  That must have made 40 odd biscuits!  I know my son eats a lot but...

Ginger Biscuits - makes approx 10

Ingredients

1 dessert spoon of golden syrup
45g, 1.5oz Sugar (I used golden caster sugar)
60g, 2oz Margarine (use dairy free if avoiding dairy in your diet)
110g, 4oz Self raising flour (or all purpose flour and baking powder)
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
A generous 1/2 tsp Ground ginger (powdered ginger)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F

Melt the sugar, syrup and margarine together gently in a pan.  Take off the heat.

Line a baking tray / cookie tray with baking paper (or you could just about get away with spraying a non stick one with spray oil).

Mix in the remaining ingredients and quickly form into balls about the size of a small walnut.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (10 in my oven).  Cool on a wire rack.

Keeps for a couple of days in an airtight tin.

Make it Thrifty:

This is already a pretty thrifty recipe but if you have the family to eat them all, doubling the recipe to use more often space will keep cooking costs down.

I've linked this lovely old recipe up to the Spice Trail Ginger challenge.

Cheese and Onion Stuffed Jackets for the Whole Family

This was an improvised dish after I'd got some potatoes in the oven and I was determined to squeeze a small amount of vegetable into my son's diet (it had been 'one of those' days food wise) and I was a bit lacking in things 'suitable' for filling a jacket spud.

What is it as well that salad feels right with a regular jacket spud but if you then stuff it, boiled or steamed veg suddenly seems ok?  Not sure but I wanted to go down the boiled vegetables accompanying route so this is what I came out with.

Normally I make more 'interesting' food for my son but this was pure comfort food which somehow feels right for the autumn which seems to have come in with a bang rather than a whimper this year!

Cheese and onion stuffed jackets -  serves 1 adult and 1 toddler easily

Ingredients

2 baking potatoes
1 onion
Spray oil or a tiny bit of olive oil
Very small knob of butter
50g of extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar, grated

Method

Bake your potatoes, or better still, use ones you'd baked earlier when the oven was on already to save energy.

In the meantime, put the onions and spray oil in a frying pan.  Heat then cover with a large lid (I use the one off a casserole dish, it doesn't fit perfectly but it works), lowering the heat stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.  This gets them super soft.  Once the 10 minutes are passed, add in a smidge of butter and up the heat, frying until they colour slightly without burning.  Put to one side.

When the potatoes are cooked and cool enough to handle or cold, halve the potatoes and scoop out the flesh.  Mash, (see comments below) and stir in the onions and approx 30g of the cheddar.

Refill the shells.  Put in a baking dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at approx 180oC or until hot through and cooked.

The filling would be great for babies on the soft lump stage of weaning.

If you're nervous about mashing potato and lumps, get yourself a ricer.  They are so easy to use.

Make it Thrifty:
Cook jacket potatoes in the oven when cooking other things, especially a roast.  You can make stuffed jackets like this or just use the centre as mashed potato.  You can also make jacket potatoes cook in the oven quicker by skewering through the centre with a metal skewer.  This helps conduct heat to the middle.
Alternatively cook the potatoes in the microwave before scooping out and finishing in the oven (but it's not quite the same.)

Porridge for Babies, Toddlers and Grown Ups

Why don't more people eat porridge?  I think part of the reason is people think it's difficult.  It's not at all but if you make it on the hob it makes no sense to cook it for 1 and the pan ends up pretty mucky.  Making it in the microwave solves all of that.

Until March this year, I was commuting for up to 90 minutes morning and night.  I'd been working at the site for several months before I realised they served porridge in the canteen.  Seeing as I had to leave before 6am to be at work on time; I never had breakfast before I left home.  It was such a joy then when the canteen opened and a steaming dish full of thick porridge went onto the counter.

The portions were huge as well.  Way too big for me really but I normally finished it anyway and ended up having the smallest snack at lunchtime.  That's the great thing about oats, they fill you up.

So, this is a more sensibly sized portion for me but my son (at the age of 3) being a lover of oats would probably eat the same amount.  Increase or decrease accordingly (and you might need to change the microwave instructions too.)

Microwave Porridge Oats - Serves 1

Ingredients

1/2 cup, 40g, 1.4oz Porridge Oats - use confirmed wheat free oats if suffering from a gluten allergy*
1 cup, 220ml, 8 fl oz Milk (use full fat for under 2 year olds)

To serve
Honey (over 1's only), brown sugar, cinnamon, golden syrup (optional)

Method

In a large jug, mix the oats and milk.

Microwave on full power for 2 minutes, stir then microwave for 3 more minutes.  You might need to decrease or increase the cooking time depending on the power of your microwave and how old it is (they tend to lose power over time).  Make sure it's bubbling and thick before serving.

Allow to cool, even for adults a little cooling time is needed (it somehow ends up molten!)  Add a little cold milk if needed to children's portions to speed this up or if you like it a bit thinner anyway.  Just add the milk and whisk it in.

Serve with one of the topping options if liked!  (No honey for the under 1s though please.)

This is great for babies who are starting to be on more coarse and mashed foods, i.e. from the age of 6 months.  Also because it's pretty sticky, it's a great food to start self feeding with, either with hands or with a spoon.  Messy but lots of fun!

After my posts about food thrift last week, it's well worth remembering that you can buy a kilo of porridge oats for 75p and 4 pints, 2.27L of milk for £1.  Microwave cooking is very low in energy usage so the total cost of this breakfast, even topped with a tsp of golden syrup (at an additional 2 pence) is less than 15p.  Even if you're not choosing to be thrifty, that's surely a good thing!

Keep an eye out on my posts for a "Make it Thrifty" comment at the end.  I'm going to start this with new and old posts so anyone on a limited budget can see how to adapt a recipe to make it cheaper to make.

*Note, although oats are naturally gluten free; there is inevitable cross contamination in the field between different grains.  You can get some oats which are confirmed as gluten free.  If you are on a gluten free diet, look out for these specifically.

I've linked this here.

Soba Noodle Salad

I've not tried this with my son yet but he has similar dishes with hot noodles so I see no reason not to try.  Certainly a meal for adults though or older kids and despite the humble ingredients it's substantial enough to make you feel you've really eaten something.

Soba noodles are made with buckwheat.  They are often served chilled in Japan so having them in a salad isn't a big leap.  Buckwheat if pure, is gluten free.  If you are following a gluten free diet, make sure your noodles specifically say 'gluten free' and also check the sauces you're using.  Soy sauce would be more authentic but I only had fish sauce which makes this non vegetarian.  Substitute for Soy Sauce (or wheat free Tamari) if you prefer.

Soba Noodle Salad - serves 1 grown up

Ingredients

Sauce

2 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 tbsp Fish Sauce (or Soy Sauce)
1/2 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Smooth peanut butter

For the Salad

90g, 3oz Soba Noodles
5cm / 2 inches of Cucumber
Half a Carrot
Approx 10 Sugar snap peas (Snap peas)

A small handful of unsalted, chopped peanuts to garnish (optional, exclude if giving to younger kids due to the choking risk or substitute for sesame seeds)

Method

Cook the noodles following pack instructions.

While the noodles are cooking, mix the sauce ingredients, it will be fairly thick so you might need one of those dinky whisks.

Cut the carrot and cucumber into julienne strips and the sugar snap peas into thick slices.

Drain and cool the noodles under running water.  Mix the drained noodles with the sauce and vegetables.

Put into a bowl and top with peanuts if using.

Make it Thrifty:
To save money as unsalted peanuts are always strangely expensive; rinse the salt of unsalted peanuts and use immediately.
Swap soba noodles for regular noodles

I've linked this up to the wellness weekend.