A big and a small chicken, leek, and bacon(optional) pie made. I had to have help fitting the rolled puff pastry. Here is the recipe. I scaled mine down. http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/627/chicken-and-leek-pie.aspx
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Thank you for this… I’m still learning how to cook.
I’m not a good cook . My main problem is if i have to do too much co-ordinating of timings and there’s too many steps involved.
I’m not a good cook either. But I want to be better then I am now.
I’m always making soup. As much as this family LOVES soup it’s nice to have something else once in a while.
Pasta carbonara. Made with the rehab team(they supervised)
Ingredients:
300g dried spaghetti
1 tsp vegetable oil
4 slices lean back bacon rashers snipped into pieces
5 spring onions trimmed and finely chopped
150g lower fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs
1 egg
150ml 1% fat milk
40g reduced fat hard cheese finely grated
2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
1 pinch ground black pepper
What to do:
-
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the pasta or spaghetti and cook for 8-12 minutes, according to pack instructions.
-
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the bacon and spring onions and cook them for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat.
-
Beat together the soft cheese and egg in a mixing bowl, then stir in the bacon and spring onions. Add the milk, half the cheese and the parsley (if using). Season with some pepper.
-
Drain the pasta, then return it to the saucepan. Add the egg mixture and heat gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture cooks and thickens. Serve, sprinkled with the remaining cheese.
Tips:
-
For a vegetarian version, omit the bacon.
-
Check the pack instructions for cooking the pasta, as some quick-cook varieties are done in just 3-5 minutes.
-
Try adding 75g thawed frozen peas, stirring them in just after adding the egg mixture to the pasta.
Meatballs n sauce
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
200g lean lamb mince
1 tbsp olive oil
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
200g closed cup mushrooms sliced
1 peppers, any colour chopped
200g macaroni (any pasta shape is fine)
What to do:
-
Mix some of the chopped onion and garlic with the mince. Shape the
mince into small balls about half the size of a golf ball. -
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and brown the meatballs on all
sides. Remove and put onto a plate. -
Add the remaining onion to the frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes
until soft. Add the remaining garlic and cook for another minute. -
Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs, mushrooms and peppers to the
pan with 150ml water. Bring to the boil, then add the meatballs. Reduce
the heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes. -
About 10 minutes before serving, put the pasta on to cook in plenty
of boiling water. Serve with the meatballs and tomato sauce.
Tips:
-
Try using turkey mince as a lower fat alternative to lamb.
-
Add a grated carrot or courgette to the meatball mixture to make them
go a bit further, and to add more vegetables.
- Serve with wholegrain brown rice as an alternative to pasta, though
remember that it takes 25-30 minutes to cook.
Tuna and sweetcorn pasta
Ingredients
300 g wholemeal pasta shapes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium red onion chopped
1 garlic clove,crushed or finely chopped
400 g chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato puree
150 g drained sweetcorn
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 cans tuna in water,drained and flaked
What to do
Cook the pasta
While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in large frying pan. Add onion and garlic and cook gently until soft, about 4-5 minutes.
Add tomatoes,tomato puree,sweetcorn,mixed herbs and cook for 5 minutes, just before serving add tuna and stir through gently.
When the pasta is cooked,drain well and serve the tuna and sweetcorn sauce.
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Wow, thank you for this. I am going to copy and paste these so I can make them over the weekend. This looks great.
Thank you again. How long have you been cooking?
Quick quiche
4 eggs
1 pack of back bacon
1 sheet of readymade puff pastry
Cheese
Onions
Pepper
Cut onion into small pieces
Cut pepper into small pieces
Cut bacon into small pieces
Grate the cheese
Fry the bacon in a non stick frying pan and add onion
and pepper once bacon is cooked. Once cooked leave
in pan but take off the heat
Preheat oven to 220/ gas mark 7
Butter cupcake tins
Roll out puff pastry and use a biscuit cutter to make circles.
Line cupcake tins with the pastry circles. Press pastry down
and to the sides so that it covers the bottom and sides to the rim
Place a little bit of the bacon, onion and pepper mixture into each cupcake.
Place little bit of grated cheese on top
Beat the eggs in a jug and pour it to just under rim of each cupcake
Bake for approx 10 minutes
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I am a huge Quiche fan. A slice of Quiche with a bowl of soup is the best meal ever.
On and off for years but i lost confidence and motivation. Quite a few recipes here
Need to be patient as takes a little while to load.
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Thai green curry
Made this yesterday. I think i overestimated the curry paste(i’m not a good judge of quantities) but it was ok.
There are fancier/more complicated recipes out there but this is good if your cooking skills are limited.
Recipe for 2
Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 jar(285g jar) (blue dragon) green curry paste
400 ml coconut milk
2 chicken breasts --thinly sliced
1 red pepper- deseeded and thinly sliced
Heat oil in pan and fry paste for 2 minutes
Add coconut milk and mix with paste
Once milk is hot , add the chicken and pepper slices
Cook until tender.
Ensure piping hot and serve with rice
2 Likes
Thank you Firemonkey… I’ve copied this one down. I love curry.
Over this last weekend my kid sis helped me make a loaf of sourdough bread. I was wondering what that bubbling goo was… in the crock in the back of the fridge. It’s Sourdough starter.
It’s just flour, water, sourdough starter, a tiny bit of sugar and yeast, but you have to kneed, and wait, and kneed and wait and add a more flour and kneed and wait and shape the loaf and wait…
I didn’t think we would ever get done. My sis says punching the dough around for 10 to 15 minutes at a time is very good anger management. So she gets to punch something and then there is fresh bread at the end. 
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What does sourdough taste like? Do you use yeast?
The sourdough starter raw taste horrid. I have found out, do not eat the starter.
But after the bread is baked, it’s like a french bread with just a tiny bit of tangy flavor in there some where.
Even though it was from a starter sponge, my sis did use a little yeast so it wasn’t so dense. She says with out the yeast it’s a very dense rustic bread. With the yeast it’s lighter and better for sandwiches.
Here is another simple recipe for Thai red curry
Thai Red Curry Recipe
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 jar(285g jar) (Blue Dragon) Thai Red Curry Paste
400 ml can Coconut Milk
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 aubergine, cut into quarters lengthways then thinly sliced
Some (jasmine) rice, to accompany
Preparation
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the Paste for 2 minutes.
Add the Coconut Milk and mix with the Paste.
Once the Coconut Milk is hot, add the chicken and the aubergine and cook until tender.
Ensure it is piping hot and serve immediately with (Jasmine) rice.
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Couple of easy paella recipes i’m going to add to my book.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek or onion, sliced
110g pack chorizo sausage, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
300g long grain rice
1l hot fish or chicken stock
200g frozen peas
400g frozen seafood mix, defrosted
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then soften the leek for 5 mins without browning. Add the chorizo and fry until it releases its oils. Stir in the turmeric and rice until coated by the oils, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.
Tip in the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to heat through for a final 1-2 mins cooking or until rice is cooked. Check for seasoning and serve immediately with lemon wedges.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp each hot smoked paprika and dried thyme
300g paella or risotto rice
3 tbsp dry sherry or white wine (optional)
400g can chopped tomatoes with garlic
900ml chicken stock
400g bag frozen seafood mix
juice ½ lemon, other half cut into wedges
handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and soften for 5 mins. Stir in the paprika, thyme and rice, stir for 1 min, then splash in the Sherry or wine, if using. Once it has evaporated, stir in the tomatoes and stock. Season and cook, uncovered, for about 15 mins, stirring now and again until rice is almost tender and still surrounded with some liquid.
Stir the frozen seafood into the pan and cover with a lid. Simmer for 5 mins, or until the prawns are cooked through and the rice is tender. Squeeze over the lemon juice, scatter with parsley and serve with extra lemon wedges.
1 Like
Hi, thank you so much for sharing all these recipes!!
I love Thai curry, especially green curry, and I often make it useing paste.
I love cooking and used to cook a lot, but these days I only cook easy meals… 
I would love to try Tuna and sweetcorn pasta this week 
Here’s one simple pasta recipe I’d like to share with you!
Spagetti Napolitana(Japanese version of Spagetti Napoletana)
Serves 1
100g of dried spagetthi(thick ones, if possible)
1 green pepper , sliced*
1 quarter of an onion, sliced*
1 slice of bacon, cut into thin strips*
2 vienna sausages, cut diagonally in half*
1 eringi mushroom, thinly sliced*
30g butter
80g tomato ketchup
grated cheese(optional)
Cook the pasta 1 minute longer than the time written on the package.
Melt two third of the butter in a hot frying pan.
Cook all the ingredients marked with *
Drain the cooked pasta, and add it into the pan and cook for a while
Then add the ketchup and stir well
Melt into the remaining butter
Serve with grated cheese on top.
Enjoy!
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Thank you for that…