The Recipe Thread

nh

Got one for Spaghetti Bolognese

2 onion
2 carrot
1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper (or put 2 more carrots in to bring the cost down further)
1 tsp chilli powder
pound of mince (beef, pork, turkey - whatever is on special offer!)
Beef stock cube
2 cloves garlic
1 tin tomatoes
oregano

Chop carrots, onions, garlic and peppers up and put them in a pan with the chilli powder and stock cube and a dash of water (or use oil but this is also a low-cal recipe).

The key to this is to chop all the ingredients really small (use a whizz/food processor) so the flavours really blend in with one another.

Boil for five minutes then put the mince in, with the tomatoes and oregano and a bit of salt and pepper. Boil for 20-30 minutes. lovely!

Top tip - put some tomato ketchup in. It makes it delicious. Sin free on original day on slimming world! (except for the tomato ketchup!)

System

Great tip about adding the tomato sauce nh. Am going to try your recipe, it sounds nicer than my usual cook in sauce.

VickyA_2

Have only just found this thread. Absolutely fantastic! Thanks so much for the tips, this'll keep us going for a good while, and give a bit of variety to our diet!

Juicy_Tube

Do you have some dinner party ideas?

Starter, main course, dessert.

Something that looks impressive, but easy to assemble and cook-want something that can be prepared in advance, don't want to spend time in the kitchen when guests are here!

Thanks.

J

r.mac_2

why not try stuffed peppers as a starter.

One red peper per person, slice off the top (neatly) and reserve. Scoop out the seeds and make a mixture to fill the space left.

fillings to try;
mince/lentils/rice/chilli powder
cheese/breadcrumbs/cottage cheese/herbs
rics/nuts/sultanas/herbs/paprika

Basically anything goes, but cook the filling first if it contains 'raw ingredients', then fill the pepper, pop the top back on and place in an ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven for 30 mins or so, until the peppers are soft and starting to brown. Everything can be assembled in advance and the fillings can be adapted to be as cheap or as expensive as you feel. If the peppers are large, serve them with salad and garlic bread as a main course.

r.mac_2

For dessert, why not try something retro and go for jelly. You can spice it up to make it more exciting here are some ideas.

Orange jelly, made up with very cheap sparkling wine, makes great bucksfizz jelly. :P
Raspberry jelly with a few berries at the bottom adds a luxurious feel.

jelly is really cheap and if you let it set in individual glasses it can look really posh - drizzle a little cream on the top, et voila!

alison6692

Thanks for these yummy recipes - am trying to be healthy and stop all those microwave meals.

Munkee_2

I bought some lamb the other day and stuck it in the freezer until I came up with an idea of what to do with it.

The problem is, every time I cook beef or lamb it ends up very chewy (even the expensive stuff!) and I know that lamb shou;ld be cooked on a low heat in the oven.

Does anybody know how to avoid this, and also, how can I add a bit of flavour to the lamb? I'm particularly keen on mint so any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Munkee

alison6692

Hello . I made a lovely sausage casserole - feel very domesticated, but I then went on to make gross chocolate cookies! Does anyone have a good recipe?

Also I spent £100 this week at Tesco (for 2 of us) as I am trying to make our food from fresh and not keep buying microwave meals - but I think it was cheaper being unhealthy . What do you think?

System

The problem is, every time I cook beef or lamb it ends up very chewy (even the expensive stuff!) and I know that lamb shou;ld be cooked on a low heat in the oven.

Does anybody know how to avoid this, and also, how can I add a bit of flavour to the lamb? I'm particularly keen on mint so any ideas would be very much appreciated.

My mother used to add a drop of vinegar to the meat to tenderise it when she was cooking it. It worked as she only bought the cheapest cuts of meat and it was always tender. You couldnt taste the vinegar by the way.