OS Summer Cooking

Beki

how about couscous salads? you could have it cold with things like prawns and avocados, or tomato and cucumber, tofu, salmon, or odds and ends that are knocking around the fridge...

newlywed

I have a lovely recipe for slow cooker Chicken creole.... mainly chicken thighs, red peppers, onions and tomato in with chicken - I think it would be lovely with rice and a salad...

will try and remember to post tomorrow.

Mum always used to do lasagna still in summer, but with a salad.

I tend to do a bit of stirfry, chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and baked, with salad and when the red peppers are on offer - I do barley stuffed peppers in the slow cooker and then just serve with chicken breast or some other meat for OH :rolleyes:

Omelettes and fritatatatatat's often feature in the summer too

freebiequennie

we have a lot of things with homemade wedges and I actually buy a 2.5kg bag of new potatoes most supermarkets do a value range of them and use these to make wedges or cube them and make fried potaoes.

we have chicken (99p for 5 drumsticks from marks and spencers), hm chicken and mushroom pie (with left over chicken from roast dinners), spare rib pork chops (cheaper than normal chops). all with hm wedges or fried potatoes and then some carrots, peas, sweetcorn or salad.

we also have meatballs and spaghetti, spag bol, spag with prawns and a tom sauce, pasta bakes with salad.

dinner tonight is southern fried chicken (marks and spencers do a thigh and drumstick pack get about 5-6 pieces for £3.49 and often on offer buy one get one half price) with HM wedges and some carrots.

redballoon_2

risotto is great, really cheap and filing. put any old veg in and a couple of froozen cream cubes from an ice cube tray. ppad it out with garlic bread or salad.

same for piella

chicken kebabs marinaded in thai red curry paste and rice/cous cous/salad

homemade meatballs in pitta breads (the pitta breads can be frozen) with salad/rice/cous cous

homemade burgers and wedges/ hm pizza/lasangne and salad/wedges

gnocci is really cheap (and you can make it with pureed mash potato and flour) and ideal with roasted butternut squash and wilted spinach and garlic. it can also be baked.

salad isnt that expensive as long as you organise to eat it up before it goes off.

Dr_DiNg_DoNg

salad nicoise , home made pizza & risotto

Tabatha_Kitten

I've been doing a lot of stir fry type meals with cheapo noodles.
My favourite is prawns (big frozen ones were on offer in Mr T's a few weeks back) with garlic, chilli, spring onions and anything else I feel like putting in there !!

msb5262

I like tomatoes stuffed with tuna - ideally use beefsteak tomatoes but another option is to use whatever kind is cheap; slice a generous lid off each tomato, scoop out insides (into a bowl to use in another salad or replacing tinned tomatoes in bolognese, casseroles etc). Mash tinned tuna with a little mayonnaise, some natural yoghurt, squeeze of lemon and if possible plenty of chopped parsley or chives. Stuff into tomato shells, put lids back on; serve with fresh bread and green salad. An advantage of using small tomatoes is that you end up with more tomato (cheap and good for you) and less tuna (more expensive and less good for you).

Raw vegetables with hummus - make the hummus go further by adding some natural yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Home-made quiche - unbelievably different from the bought version. Cheap and delicious.

The French are great with salad things that don't seem to occur to us - like:

- lentil salad (green or brown lentils, boiled or tinned, rinsed then dressed with vinaigrette and combined with finely chopped raw onion & parsley, and if you have an anchovy or two to hand, they can be chopped in too);
-leek salad (smallish leeks, trimmed to uniform size, steamed or boiled until tender then lightly dressed with vinaigrette);
- grated carrot or tinned sweetcorn with dressing;
- red, yellow or orange peppers halved then roasted with sliced garlic, bits of tomato & a little olive oil poured over;
- eggs boiled for about 7 minutes, then shelled and quartered lengthways, served with mayonnaise.

I'd serve these with bread and green salad; if it's good bread, any one of them would make a meal. If your family are really hungry, serve a vegetable soup first and put some cheese on the table with the salad course. I realise these aren't very "normal" meals for most people - but they are delicious.
Hope that helps.

MsB

cady

wow thanks there is loads of ideas here i was thinking id be stuck with salad and pasta all summer!!

Boodle

Loads of great ideas here, but just wanted to add that white fish or smoked mackerel fillets are very cheap, quick and light for a summer meal. You could have either with your salad and boiled potatoes or veg and rice/couscous.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

What about cooking a big chilli in the SC and serving with Taco's and salad?....other meals we have when its warmer are:

Jacket spuds & salad
Salads with ham, cheese, pickles etc
Open sandwhiches & oven chips
Ploughmans
Pasta & Rice salads
Frittata (sp)
Ham/Gammon, Egg & Chips
Scampi & Salad
Cold Chicken
Ham/Cheese platters with olives etc
Use up buffet
New Potatoes or HM Potatoe salad as accompaniates (sp)
HM Coleslaw
Lighter soups

HTH

PP
xx