My SoA....please help!

Benson112

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Hey again!

You are a good father and obviously want the best for your family! That is why you are on here asking for advice/help.

Try not to take comments too personally-we are all here for you:D Answer the ones you want to and ignore the ones you dont;)

Hugs

PP
xx

Ok ok...your right i just bite too easy when it relates to my family :-)

Apologies!

justmarried06 wrote:

Unixgirls menu ideas are great - I must admit I tend to 'batch cook' just cos its easier. In fact I did it for a friend the other night when I was babysitting for her!! £12 made the following - 2 lasagnes, 1 shepherds/cottage pie (whatever you want to call it the mince was beef ) 2 macaroni cheese and four separate portions of spaghetti sauce, each one enough to feed two people. I could also have ade a macaroni bake or a few other things - if you want some ideas feel fre to PM me, I'm getting ever more creative cooking on a budget!! And my ohubby is a fussy b@gg@r too!!!!

Thanks very much i will be PMing you shortly :-)

Benson112

unixgirluk wrote:

You might find this useful http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/
You put in what you do have in the house foodwise and it gives you ideas what you can cook.

now that is good!! haha you lot have loads of good websites to point me to!

Uniscots97

These are a few of my own recipes from my really skint days, still use them now. All the pasta ones can be made up and portioned and frozen. All of the dishes below can be made for pennies. They're great for lunches or dinner. A tip if using really cheap baked beans add a splash of worcestershire sauce gives them a great taste

Also added my sorbet recipe at the end, get the kids to help mash the fruit. Messy but fab.

Funky bacon and beans:-

you'll need:

a tin of baked beans (I prefer Heinz now but the cheaper brand only cost pennies!)
rashers of bacon (1-2 rashers per person, you can use veggie bacon instead if you want)
brown sauce
slices of bread (1-2 slices per person)
a little grated cheese


Put the bacon under the grill until it starts to crisp, then remove it and coat one side of it with a generous helping of brown sauce and put back under the grill until the bacon totally crisps and the sauce cooks. Put your bread in the toaster or under the grill and toast. Meanwhile start to heat the beans slowly, once the bacon has cooked removed it from the grill and slice it up into small chunks then add to the beans. Once piping hot pour the bean mixture carefully onto the toast and sprinkle the top with some grated cheese, if you want you can put it back under the grill for a few seconds to toast the cheese.


No effort chicken pasta:-

you'll need:

pasta (macaroni, penne it doesn't matter) (amount depends on how many you are cooking for)
1 chicken stock cube (1 stock cube will be enough for 1-2 people)
Left over sandwich meat (Optional)

Cook you pasta according to the instructions on the packet and add the stock cube to the water the pasta is cooking in. Once cooked, drain the water and stir in the left over sandwich meat (cubed) and serve.

This recipe can be done without the luncheon meat and is very basic but delicious. If you have dried herbs, a sprinkling of these could be added or why not try different flavours of stock cubes? Another combination that is really nice is vegetable stock cubes and use tuna.


Another pasta recipe:-

you'll need:

pasta (amount depends on how many you are cooking for)
cream cheese (Philidelphia or cheaper equivalent, Aldi and Lidl do their own version which is just as nice and the large tub is only 45p. A small tub will be enough for 3-4 people)
ground black pepper

Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Once cooked drain the pasta and put the pasta back in the pot, now stir in the cream cheese (use a wooden spoon and the pasta won't start to break up), keep the pasta on a very low heat whilst stirring and add lots of ground black pepper. Stir through. Serve straight away. This is fab served with garlic bread.


Caramel Apple/Pear flan:-

you'll need:

Brown sugar (demerara or muscovado)
Apples or Pears sliced up (allow 1 large apple/pear per person)
white or brown bread with the crusts cut off (1 slice per person)
marmalade or honey to spread on the bread
vanilla ice cream

Make sure you take the crusts off your bread and the bread into triangles (cut corner to corner to make 4 triangles per slice), spread the bread (not too thickly) with some marmalade/honey. Place the bread onto a baking tray, then arrange the slices of apple/pear onto each slice and sprinkle (generously) with brown sugar. Place the baking tray under a hot grill until the sugar starts to caramelise. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
* If you really want to be fancy dust a little icing sugar over the slices before serving.


......Another pasta dish:-

you'll need:

pasta (macaroni, penne it doesn't matter) (amount depends on how many you are cooking for)
can of condensed soup (I use campbells but others can be used and choose the flavour you like. I can is enough for 3-4 people)
the crusts from the above recipes toasted and made into breadcrumbs!

Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the packet and drain and place back in the pot, stir in the condensed soup and stir, add water (using the empty soup can as a measure, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the can full of water). Stir well and place mixture in an oven proof dish, sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs and put into the oven (about 200C, I think thats gas Mark 5) for 20 minutes and serve.


Raspberry Sorbet:

Great if the kids are hassling you for ice cream. 1 Kg of frozen berries is about 89p in Tesco's. Depending on the orange juice you use this has no sugar. I have used Tesco value OJ and this comes out great.

What you'll need (serves 2 people):-

150 grammes of FROZEN raspberries
1 cup (not a mug) of good quality fresh orange juice

(don't use concentrated long life orange juice as
this will give the sorbet quite a bitter taste)

a food processor or hand blender



Before you start put the dishes you'll be serving this in, in the fridge. Let the dishes chill for at least an hour. This stops your sorbet from melting too quickly if its really hot.

Good quality frozen raspberries can be bought from most supermarkets. 500g costs about 1.50 GBP (sorry my keyboard doesn't have a pound symbol). Places like Farmfoods and Iceland sometimes have them cheaper.

Method:

Place the raspberries in the food processor and add about a quarter of the orange juice too. Put the lid on and start the machine. Once the raspberries have started to break down stop the machine and add the rest of the orange juice and replace the lid. Turn the machine on again and whizz it round until you have a smooth paste. Spoon into the chilled dishes and serve immediately. The sorbet can be garnished with a sprig of mint if you want to impress.

Any frozen berry fruit can be used. Be careful with strawberries as the seeds that coat the outsides do not break down and can iritate people with sensitive mouths. If when making this you find the consistency too stiff for your liking by all means add more orange juice but do it gradually or you'll end up with a very gooey mess.

Calorific content:

If made according to the instructions above each portion contains:

55 calories
0% fat

The fat content is dependent on the orange juice you choose. If you want it totally natural then use freshly squeezed orange juice.

Taste: This is my personal opinion. This is smoother than most shop bought sorbets but has a real impact with a great taste, and you can taste both ingredients. Good quality orange juice gives it enough sweetness without adding any sugar. As I said above concentrated orange juice is quite bitter and will overpower the taste of the berries. I make this most weekends now and I've also made this for friends and they've been completely amazed that something that tastes so good can be so low in calories and fat free.



In case any of you are wondering about the blurb around my recipes (and they are my own) I have them posted elsewhere and it was the quickest place I could access them.

melaniec_2

Hi Just to defend myself as I seemed to have done what my post said wasn't my intention.

I wasn't attacking you I was mearly asking you to stand back and look at how you were coming accross, you seem to have done that.

zoologygeek

Hey Benson, congrats on making the SOA, GOOD LUCK. Just for reference when you ditch the Sky, we've got a freeview box that works a bit like sky plus...Its got a built in hard drive so I can record programmes on the other side while dear son/hubby watches his programmes. You can set it on timer aswell. Its fab!!

Benson112

zoologygeek wrote:

Hey Benson, congrats on making the SOA, GOOD LUCK. Just for reference when you ditch the Sky, we've got a freeview box that works a bit like sky plus...Its got a built in hard drive so I can record programmes on the other side while dear son/hubby watches his programmes. You can set it on timer aswell. Its fab!!

sounds good thanks very much! Ill have a look into that. Still got the damn sky for 12 months though lol ah well never mind!

scootw1

Benson112 wrote:

sounds good thanks very much! Ill have a look into that. Still got the damn sky for 12 months though lol ah well never mind!

Check the contract on the Sky if you've only had it a couple of weeks as there may be a get-out clause for a period

Uniscots97

Benson, apart from pizza you said you had other favourites regarding takeaway food. Would be happy to pass on my recipes if you tell me what your favourites are? For some I'll need to look in my notes at home and post them tomorrow.

Benson112

melaniec wrote:

Hi Just to defend myself as I seemed to have done what my post said wasn't my intention.

I wasn't attacking you I was mearly asking you to stand back and look at how you were coming accross, you seem to have done that.

appology accepted :rotfl: hahaha only joking.

Lets kiss and make up :kisses2:

Penny-Pincher!!

What kind of meals do you like? We meal plan weekly and eat meals such as:

Roasts
Lasagna
Toad In Hole
Chilli
Stew
FishPie
Shepards Pie
Egg & Chips
Spagbol
Chops
Sausage & Mash

Alot of the meals can be double batched and stick one in the freezer for the following week:D ...come over to OS, and we will show you how to do it all at minimum cost!

There are 3 of us and we eate very well for about £35pw

PP
xx

PP
xx