Have to make this last as long as possible...

princess_lou

CCP- Thanku.. u have just sorted dinner for us..! kids have had their tea, pasta, handful of peas and pesto... yogurt 4 pud.. now they gona have bath, bed then will sit dwn and do menu frm this thread while oh cooks ccp dinner idea...

zippychick

princess_lou wrote: »

wow.. so many ideas.. thankyou all so much.. sorry if i should know this, but wot is pastico?

I had to look it up too! It's a greek pasta bake - first recipe i found here . Looks like there are a few variations of course.

Zippy- sorry didnt realise i sounded so rude.. i had meant to be that i had thought of nothing tonight as followed suggestions and put meat in freezer.. hadnt taken any out to defrost so no meat dish tonight.. really sorry it came out wrong.. the suggestions have been lovely and im v grateful for them all.. i have picked nup some great ideas and will be sitting down properly tonight for an hr or so to check out the recipes for all of ur ideas.. x x

Don't be silly! It's a lot to take in. Ask away, all you like. Someone will have the answer. Sorry my post was a rush out the door post too! Sorry the lemon meringue pie was my idea but that was me assuming you had eggs. I use a lot of eggs so always focus on egg based things

You can make a cream based sauce like carbonara with the ham or bacon, onions, mushrooms, as you have cream, it is the perfect marriage YUM

Lynz your way with words has me drooling for carbonara and I've never even tasted it (because it comes with mushrooms i always avoided it)

CCP

princess_lou wrote: »

CCP- Thanku.. u have just sorted dinner for us..! kids have had their tea, pasta, handful of peas and pesto... yogurt 4 pud.. now they gona have bath, bed then will sit dwn and do menu frm this thread while oh cooks ccp dinner idea...

No problem - roast veg with pasta and cheese is on my meal plan for Thursday, so it's the first thing that came to my mind!

zippychick

Lou, smoothies are also good for using up dying fruit. I usually throw in splish of milk, splish of yoghurt (i use natural but can use flavoured), some fruit and some oats to add filling power. It's almost a brunch in itself (or can be dessert ).

Angelfeathers

May I suggest (because I don't think anyone has yet) getting some eggs and making some pancakes? They're a fantastic way of bulking out a very small amount of leftovers such as Bolognese sauce, cooked veg/meat etc., especially if you top them with a cheese or tomato sauce and bake them in the oven like cannelloni.

One egg's worth of batter will do you eight pancakes, which would be a main dish for the four of you. Or of course you could have them for pudding with some of the fruit, if you prefer! :-)

princess_lou

Ok i have sorted tomorrow...

Breakfast; Porridge 4 me and baby, toast 4 oh( his day off) ds has breakfst club at school

Lunch:
ds packed lunch: ham roll with lettuce, yogurt in a pot, cube of cheese, kiwi, flask of juice and butterfly cake(mum bought some round earlier 4 him)
Me & oh: ham & mustard rolls..
Baby: bread fingers, ham sliced, cube cheese, natural yogurt( pretty much same as ds)

After School snack 4 both ds:
Carrot sticks, cucumber slices & baby sweetcorn with some sort of dip(?)

Dinner:
Butterflied Chicken topped with onion, peppers, tom puree, few tbls chopped tom,some dried herbs(sort of pizza topped chicken) served with salad

Want to do a sort of choc sponge cake with a choc cream/icing type filling and strawberrys... can picture it in my head, just not quite sure how to go about it..(?)

zippychick

Chocolate sponge is dead easy

Fairy cakes or victoria sponge are the same mixture and quantities. To make it chocolate, i would add a couple of tbsps of cocoa powder- accounting for it with your flour. So for eg if you needed 100g of flour, include your cocoa powder in that quantity. (So when weighing out, put cocoa in first, then add flour to make up to x amount)

Simples

Weigh eggs - 3 is good start or 4
Measure out equal quantity of butter sugar and Self raising flour

Cream butter and sugar until white (mix really well and it will go pale )
Add eggs, mix (not for too long, just short while - dont over egg it he he)
Fold in flour - gently (with your cocoa powder in if you want it)
Add a teaspoon of baking powder , teaspoon of vanilla (optional to taste), a tiny pinch of salt (brings out the sweetness) and then a few drops of milk - tablespoon at a time - so it is dropping consistency - kind of runnyish but thick? So it drops off the spoon but isnt too runny?

Grease two identical baking pans (or put out cases for fairy cakes which ever you choose - in a bun tray as if you dont they will poo everywhere ). Can use greaseproof paper if you want for cakes - i lightly swipe it with butter to grease anyway

Bake at 180 for around 18-20ish minutes (depends on your oven - you will suss this out) . To check it is ready, insert a cocktail stick or something sharp and pointy in the middle. If it comes out with mix on it, pop back in for a couple of mins. When it comes out clean , it's ready. *time of 18mins for cake, less for buns*

Cool on wire tray. Whip fresh cream with touch of sugar if you like. Spread on one base, add strawbs, top on. Dust with icing sugar or do chocolate icing if you really want to go to town.

Or there is also a fairy cake thread here.

Baking is mainly about ratios (in my brain) so thats why the egg dictates how much fat flour and sugar you use.

Also good without the cocoa, sandwiched with jam and fresh cream *drool*

I'm a recent convert to baking but this is easy when you do it - honestly. Then you can make fairy cakes and experiment with jam/lemon curd inside, or my latest was mini creme eggs (which exploded, toffee yummnesss) mmmmmmm

Sorry hope ive not over complicated it - trying to cover all the things you will think eek what do i do there?

princess_lou

zippychick wrote: »

Cream butter and sugar until white (mix really well and it will go pale

does this mean cream as in double/single cream or meant as cream the butter and sugar together? sorry, im not the sharpest on baking:rolleyes:

also because of this, i have a ready made sponge mix in cuoboard(value);)
so assume i'll just need to invest in eggs with week budget(£10)?

thanku 4 recipe tough, will make it up as u said.. (cream, topping , bake time etc..)

princess_lou

by the way, HM mini creme eggs?:D do tell theysound gorgeous and will need to use the ten pound on some bits to make hm goodies 4 kids and oh(me mainly:rolleyes:)

zippychick

princess_lou wrote: »

does this mean cream as in double/single cream or meant as cream the butter and sugar together? sorry, im not the sharpest on baking:rolleyes:

also because of this, i have a ready made sponge mix in cuoboard(value);)
so assume i'll just need to invest in eggs with week budget(£10)?

thanku 4 recipe tough, will make it up as u said.. (cream, topping , bake time etc..)

Sorry my fault entirely! Creaming is a baking term. So you combine (word i should have used ) the butter and sugar and mix vigurously until you get a creamy kind of texture. It will go a pale almost white colour - and thats how you know it is "creamed". Make sensey? You could use your sponge mix and just throw a couple of tbsps of cocoa in i imagine? Then build up to doing it by scratch?

Did I say HM creme eggs? My im an idiot tonight. I used mini creme eggs in the middle of fairy cakes .

Master basic fairy cake first or experiment with one or two "flavoured " ones. To do this, put some mixture in the bottom of the bun case, spoon half - a whole teaspoon of jam on top, then cover with mix . I used the same method with creme eggs - i dipped them in flour to stop them sinking, but they just exploded in the middle of the bun

I also use SR flour, ill edit my recipe post now.

That ok? Anything else just ask

If you are using the mix, i would follow the instructions on the packet chick - then next time you can make them from scratch. Value SR flour from Tesco is about 50p from memory. I cant remember if it was in your original list.....x