Maple and pepper-glazed chicken with roasted carrots

Last Wednesday night we had maple and pepper-glazed chicken with roasted carrots for dinner.  This recipe was from the March 2010 issue of Olive magazine.  It was delicious!

I am only getting to write about it now as I have been a bit unwell the last week.  I did make the dinner, as it was a quick one, and took a few photos so that I would be able to post about the meal as it was so delicious.

The meal was really quick and easy to make.  When I put the carrots in to roast, I put a few potatoes on to boil so that I could make a little bit of mash to go with the chicken and roasted carrots.  To be honest, I don't think the mash is really necessary, but I knew my husband would be starving and would appreciate a bit of mash.

I gave the baby a bit of mash and chicken.  I only gave him a little of the chicken though as I was conscious of the fact that it had been cooked in stock.  He had some of the roasted carrots to eat as finger food.  They went down really well and I ended up giving him more from my plate.


Alterations
Other than using three chicken breasts instead of two and more carrots, I made no alterations to this recipe.

Cost
The chicken breasts cost €3, the carrots cost 40 cent and I have allowed €1 for the remaining ingredients and potatoes.  The total cost of the meal was €4.30.

Baked feta and tomato

I had initially planned to have baked feta and tomato last Saturday for my lunch, but Saturday didn't go as planned.  I ended up making it for my lunch on Friday instead.

This recipe is low GI and was really satisfying.  Although I made it for lunch, I think the salad would make a pretty decent evening meal. 

Alterations
As my husband doesn't like cheese (to my knowledge he hasn't tried feta yet, but all cheese is slimy according to him and there is no persuading him to try it) I made this recipe for one.  I halved all the ingredients except the tomatoes - I used 3.  I didn't substitute any of the ingredients in this recipe.

Cost
The feta was about €1, the tomatoes were 50 cent, the salad leaves were 50 cent and I would allow another 30 cent for the olive oil, garlic, dried oregano and balsamic vinegar.  The total cost of the salad was €2.30.  Considering the cost of some of the other lunches I make, this is quite expensive.  However, it was so tasty that I will definitely be making it again in the future.

Parsnip soup

As my menu planner for the week shows, on Sunday I intended to make soup for my family, but the type of soup would depend on what vegetables were on offer in Dunnes when I got there.  Parsnips were on offer for 49 cent for a tray of 500g.  I bought two trays (98 cent) knowing that I would be able to find some sort of parsnip soup on the GoodFood website that I could make.  After doing a search on 'parsnip soup' and sifting through the results I decided on the parsnip soup with parsley cream, minus the parsley cream as I didn't have all the ingredients for it.

I only completed step one of the recipe.  After an incident (the soup boiled over when I went upstairs to see what my daughter was up to) there wasn't much liquid left in the soup, so I didn't bother with the removing of the liquid to blend the parsnip.  As it was, once I finished blending I had to add a bit of liquid to the soup as it was very thick. 

The end result was pretty tasty and it is definitely one I would make again.  Removing a chunk of the steps and cutting the parsnips finer than the chunks the recipe calls for meant that it was ready in about 30 minutes.  Leftovers were used for lunch on Monday.

Not adding the parsley cream lowered the calories and fat content of the soup considerably. I used slimline milk to help lower the fat content as well.


Cost
The cost was pretty reasonable.  As I already noted the parsnips cost me 98 cent.  I have allowed another €1 for the onion, stock, milk and bay leaves - I think this is quite generous.  This means that the total cost of the soup was €1.98.  Another bargain soup for lunch!!

Next time I make the soup I'd really like to make the parsley cream as well.  I know that this will add to the cost of it, but given how cheap it is in the first place I don't mind.  As I've mentioned before - parsley is one of my favourite ingredients and I'd try the soup with the parsley cream in it to see how it adds to the taste.

Menu planner for 19/5/2012 to 25/5/2012

This week will be a busy week for us as we get ready for our daughters birthday party on Saturday.  To make sure we have plenty of time to get ready on Friday night I have opted to have leftovers from Thursday nights chilli.

My menu plan for the 19 May to the 25 May is as follows:-
Saturday dinner - Spiced salmon with lentils
Sunday lunch - soup (depending on what veg is on offer)
Sunday dinner - Ham, vegetables and Boulangère potatoes
Monday dinner - Leftovers from Sunday lunch
Tuesday dinner - Pizza
Wednesday dinner - Maple and pepper glazed chicken with roasted carrots and mash
Thursday dinner - Quick chilli (special request by my daughter for her birthday!)
Friday dinner - Leftover chilli

For lunches I will be making baked feta and tomato, scrambled eggs, tuna, red onion and white bean salad and sandwiches.

Several of the recipes I have picked this week are low GI recipes.  Food that has a low GI helps to keep your blood sugar level steady as the foods take longer to digest.  This helps make you feel fuller for longer.  I will be trying to incorporate more low GI foods into our diet over the next few weeks, paying special attention to lunches.

Tip - My shopping bill for this week will probably be slightly higher than previous weeks as I will be adding some items to it for my daughters birthday.  Next weekend we are planning on having a BBQ at our house, so rather than buy everything in one trip to the supermarket next week, I am hoping to pick up some things this weekend in order to spread the cost slightly.  Our butcher has offers on this weekend on pork loins which are lovely cooked on the BBQ, so I will pick up a few of these, marinade them and then freeze them so that they are ready to simply lift out of the freezer and cook next Saturday.  Doing this will save me time as well as money.

Spanish bean stew

For dinner tonight we had Spanish bean stew from the December 2010 pull-out in the GoodFood magazine (image below).  We will be having leftovers tomorrow night.

To save time I made the stew on Wednesday night after the kids went to bed.  So all I had to do this evening was re-heat the stew - making sure the chicken was heated through - and serve.  As I used a stock cube to make my chicken stock, this meal was unsuitable for the baby.  Instead of having the stew, he had leftovers from the leek and mackerel pasta bake.

This recipe is suitable for freezing and according to the recipe can be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer, making leftovers a handy meal to have on standby in the freezer.

Alterations
As with the stew I made on Saturday night, I had no chicken thighs for the Spanish bean stew, so I used 2 chicken breasts instead.  I actually meant to use 3, but lifted the wrong freezer bag out of the freezer!  Anyway, to compensate for the lack of chicken I put an extra couple of potatoes in to the pot.  Instead of using one tomato I used a tin of peeled plum tomatoes, breaking them up with the wooden spoon as they cooked.  I only had 150g of chorizo instead of 200g.  As well as a white onion I used a red onion - both were quite small.  I didn't bother with the parsley as I had none in.


Cost
The chicken breasts cost €2, the chorizo was €1.52, the beans were €1.09, the tomatoes were 67 cent, the red onion was 15 cent, the white onion was 6 cent and I have allowed 50 cent for the potatoes, olive oil and stock cube.  The total cost of the recipe was €5.99, making the cost per meal €3.

Next time I make it I will be adding an extra chicken breast - 2 just was not enough. This will increase the cost by an extra €1 for the whole recipe or 50 cent per meal.  I still think that is quite a reasonable price for a yummy dinner.

Leek and mackerel penne bake

Dinner tonight was leek and mackerel penne bake from the November 2009 issue of the GoodFood magazine (picture below from magazine).  I found the recipe really easy to follow and quick to make.  The whole family enjoyed it. 

According to GoodFood, the bake is perfect for midweek winter nights.  Given the weather we have been having lately I figured it was perfect for a midweek winter night in May 2012!

Most of the pasta bake recipes that I've come across have cheese in them.  My husband refuses to eat cheese or any sort (apparently it's slimy and they all taste the same - go figure!) so I was delighted when I came across this recipe for a pasta bake with no cheese in it. 

Don't forget to remove any bones you find in the mackerel - the recipe doesn't mention this, but it is especially important if you are going to be giving it to small children.

Alterations
The biggest alteration I made was that I used fusilli instead of penne.  I used slightly more pasta than the recipe calls for - 200g instead of 175g.  I used an extra leek and 3 smoked mackerel fillets.

Using the extra ingredients meant that I had enough to do dinner tonight, a lunch tomorrow and two dinners for the freezer for my baby.  I didn't give the baby any capers as I wasn't sure how these would go down.  My daughter ate one and was not impressed!!

Cost
It is difficult for me to work out the cost of the bake as I no longer have the receipt for the mackerel.  I got it in aldi and from memory it was around €1.70.  The leeks were €1.99, the pasta was 30 cent, the crème fraîche was €1.30 and I have allowed 50 cent for the butter, capers and breadcrumbs.  The total cost of the bake €5.79.

Puy lentil, spiced carrot and feta salad

Just a tiny bit excited about my lunch for the next few days - almost looking forward to going to work in the morning so that I can have some at lunchtime!

I made the puy lentil, spiced carrot and feta salad from the May 2011 issue of GoodFood magazine.  This recipe is served warm, but obviously my salad won't be warm as I will be eating it straight out of the fridge, but the magazine suggested using leftovers for lunch so I decided to make it specifically for lunches.  I did however have a sneaky taste while it was hot and it was yummy!

Alterations
I made two minor alterations to the recipe.  I used the juice of one lemon instead of the juice of 1/2 a lemon and the lettuce I used was a mix of lambs lettuce and rocket.

Cost
The puy lentils (green lentils) cost 30 cent, the carrots were 50 cent, the lettuce was €1, the lemon was 25 cent, the red onion was 15 cent, 63 cent for the feta and I have allowed 50 cent for the other ingredients.  The total cost was €3.33.

There is enough in the salad to last to four days lunches.  I put it into a large tub in the fridge and will fill a small tub for my lunch each evening.  This means that the total cost of my lunch per day will be 83 cent.  Much cheaper than eating out!

Can not wait to eat this tomorrow!

Smoky chicken and bean stew

On Saturday night we had the smoky chicken and bean stew from the September 2008 issue of Olive magazine.  I found the recipe on the GoodFood website and was attracted by the image (see below) of the stew.  After reading the list of ingredients I decided to make it for dinner. 

It was delicious!!  Especially the chunks of pepper - they were bursting with flavour.  Before he had even finished his my husband was asking me make it again sometime!  The recipe suggests serving the stew with wholemeal pittas, so I did.  We had two each.  I heated them in the toaster before serving them and we cut them into strips to use to soak up the juices.  It was really filling and we didn't need any more than the couple of pittas.

Alterations
I had difficulty getting the chicken thighs required for the recipe.  One of the bigger Marks and Spencers that I was in a few weeks ago had them, but when I went to my local Marks and Spencers there were none.  My local butcher doesn't sell them and I didn't see them anywhere else, so I ended up using two chicken breasts instead.

Instead of using borlotti beans I used kidney beans.  I already had kidney beans in the cupboard, so using them meant I didn't have to buy a can of borlotti beans. 

When I did my grocery shop in Dunnes they didn't have any coriander in stock, so I just left it out.  I only own hot chilli powder in my cupboard so I used it instead of the mild chilli powder and I added a little smoked paprika as well.

The recipe called for half a red pepper, but I used a whole red pepper instead.  Instead of using 1/2 a pack of chorizo I used 1/3.  This is because I need the rest for the recipe I am I making on Thursday night.  Plus, I felt there was enough meat in the recipe with the two chicken breasts.

Cost - The chicken breasts cost €2, the chorizo was 76 cent, the red pepper cost 50 cent, the red onion was 15 cent, kidney beans €1, the tomatoes cost 46 cent, the wholemeal pittas cost 47 cent and I have allowed another 30 cent for the olive oil, garlic cloves, stock cube and spices.  The total cost for this meal was €5.64.

My smoky chicken and bean stew - looking at this is making me hungry!

Orange, carrot and mint soup

For lunch this weekend I wanted to make some sort of a carrot soup that I had never tried before.  I didn't want anything with coriander in it or red lentils, so I did a search on the GoodFood website and found this recipe for orange, carrot and mint soup.  All the ingredients were in my cupboards and I as interested to try the combination of orange, carrot and mint.  It was lovely!

Now, I have to confess that when it came to making the soup I wasn't too pushed about step 3 - it seemed like it would take a lot of time to me.  Plus it would result in extra dishes to wash which would use up even more time!!  Instead I used my hand blender to blend the soup in the pot.  It was still really smooth and velvety.

Alterations
I didn't really make any alterations to this recipe.  I had no large onion so I used 2 small onions instead, but I don't really think this could be called an alteration as this ingredient was listed already.  To lower the fat I didn't bother using the cream.  If I was to make it again I might use fry lite to further lower the fat content. 

I didn't add any salt to the soup and it tasted fine without it.  I never add salt to any of my cooking as I think it's best to leave it for people to add their own salt.

Cost
The recipe was quite cheap to make.  The carrots cost 70 cent, the onions were 10 cent (bought when they were 29 cent for a kg), the orange that I juiced was 80 cent and I have allowed 30 cent for the mint and the vegetable stock cube.  This means that the recipe costs €1.70 in total.  There is enough to do lunch for my family today and tomorrow.

My effort in a bowl!

Menu planner for 12/5/2012 to 18/5/2012

So, it's that time of the week again - menu planning time!  This week I have quite a few leftover ingredients in the kitchen, so I have made a list of them so that I can pick recipes that will use them up and prevent waste.  Doing this will also keep my grocery spend for the week down, which is good as I need to buy some formula and nappies which takes a chunk out of my budget.

My meal plan for 12 May to 18 May 2012 is as follows:

Saturday lunch - Orange, carrot and mint soup
Saturday dinner - Smoky chicken and bean stew
Sunday lunch - leftover soup
Sunday dinner - Chicken wraps
Monday dinner - Shepherd's pie
Tuesday dinner - Leftover shepherd's pie
Wednesday dinner - Leek and mackerel penne bake
Thursday dinner - Spanish bean stew
Friday dinner - Leftover stew

For lunches during the week I will make puy lentil, spiced roast carrot and feta salad, some leftover chilli that is in the freezer, leftover shepherd's pie and sandwiches.

As you can see, this week I am making a couple of dishes that we can eat two nights.  This means that I will only have to cook from scratch three nights during the working week which will save time that I can spend doing other things.

Quick chilli

For the first time, I have been so tempted by a chilli recipe that I have decided to try it.  Usually, I look at recipes for chilli and decide to stick with my own after reminding myself of the saying 'if it's not broke, don't fix it'! 

The reason behind my decision to try a new chilli recipe?  Simple - this recipe includes chorizo which is one of my favourite ingredients! 

The recipe I am using is Nigella Lawson's Quick chilli from her book Nigella Express cookbook.  I have typed it out as Nigella has written it below.  After the method I have included some alterations that I made to the recipe in order to make sure that it is suitable for the baby to eat.

The recipe is as follows:-

Ingredients
150g chorizo sausage (not the salami sort), halved length ways and cut into 5mm half moons
500g minced beef
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cardamon pods, bruised
1 x 500g jar good-quality tomato and chunky vegetable sauce for pasta
1 x 390g mixed spicy beans
60ml sweet chilli sauce
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional, or if your beans are not spicy)


Method

1. Put the sliced chorizo into a hot, heavy-based pan and cook over a medium heat until the sausage crisps a little and gives up its orange-red oil.
2. Add the mince and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking it up with a wooden fork to help it brown.
3. Stir in the spices and then add the tomato-vegetable pasta sauces, spicy beans and chilli sauce.  Also add the chilli flakes if you need more heat or if you've managed only to find some regular canned beans.
4. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. You can eat this with rice or just as it is.  If you're not adding any rice, you might consider dolloping with a blob of sour cream and sprinkling some grated cheese and chopped coriander.  I can't think of a way of eating this that isn't good.

Alterations
I made a few swaps when making my Quick Chilli to make sure that it was suitable for feeding to my baby.  To lower the salt in the recipe I opted to use a 800g can of chopped tomatoes instead of the pasta sauce.  I also used non-spicy beans and added the chilli flakes that were suggested by Nigella.  I was concerned that the sauce in the spicy beans may have salt and sugar added to it.  Plus, I already had non-spicy beans in my cupboard, so I didn't need to buy them.

I had two forced alterations - my cardamon pods had gone off and I have run out of ground coriander so I couldn't add either of these ingredients.  Having never tasted the chilli before I didn't miss them, however the next time I make it I might add them to see how they alter the taste of the dish.
As I wasn't adding a pasta sauce with vegetables added to it I decided to add a finely chopped two small onions and a grated carrot large to the chilli in order to make sure that some vegetables other than the chopped tomatoes were included.

To make the meal stretch further additional vegetables could be added to the recipe.  If I was to make it again I think that I would add some mushrooms and grated courgette to bulk it up and increase my family's intake of vegetables.

Tip
Although this recipe is quick to make, if I was making it again I would make it the night before and re-heat for dinner when I get home from work.  Doing this would mean that it would only take as long as it takes to prepare the rice to have the dinner ready.

Cost
I used a pound of mince in this recipe - I know it says 500g, but I still buy it in pounds and have no idea how many grams is in a pound.  Anyway, the pound of mince I used came from my butchers and cost €3.  The chorizo I used were cooking chorizo that I bought in Marks and Spencer's on offer - 2 packs of 6 chorizo sausages for €7.  I used 3 sausages in my chilli, so that is a cost of €1.75.  The chopped tomatoes were €1.  The can of mix beans I used was bought in Aldi a while ago and I can not remember the cost of it, so have estimated it at €1.  For the remaining ingredients - spices, onions and carrot - I am allowing 50 cent.  The total cost for my version of the recipe is €5.50.

Using my version of the recipe I made enough chilli to feed my family of 4 (2 adults, a pre-schooler and a baby) two nights.  The portions were generous and I served them with rice.  I think that including the cost of the rice, the meal cost €3 for each night. 

Menu plan for 7/5/2012 to 11/5/2012

This week I have a short meal plan to put together as we were away for the Bank Holiday weekend, so I didn't have to worry about cooking on Saturday or Sunday.  My menu plan for this week is as follows:-

Monday dinner - Fish, baked potato and broccoli
Tuesday dinner - Potato, leek and bacon soup
Wednesday dinner - Quick chilli (from Nigella Express)
Thursday dinner - Leftover chilli
Friday dinner - Summer pork and potatoes

For lunches I am making soup broccoli and almond soup, ham sandwiches and tuna salad.

Sticky pan-roasted sausages

Tonight I was back on track with the menu plan and made the sticky pan-roasted sausages as planned.  This recipe was in the October 2008 issue of GoodFood magazine.  The picture below is from the GoodFood website.

I've added fruit to my dinner before - apricots and lamb, apple and pork, apple and parsnip - but I have never tried grapes in a main meal before so I was looking forward to seeing what they tasted like.  When I think about it I don't think I've ever had them hot either.  The whole meal turned out really nice and the grapes, especially the red onions, were lovely.

I had one slight alteration to the recipe tonight - I had no red wine vinegar in so I ended up using sherry vinegar instead.  The recipe turned out really well and tasted lovely.  The smell of the fennel while it was cooking smelled lovely and I was dying to try it by the time it was ready.

The recipe states that it takes 10 minutes to prepare the meal and 25 minutes to cook it, giving a total of 35 minutes.  However, I found that it was a bit quicker than this.  I put on my sausages and did the prep (cleaning the grapes and slicing the onions) during the first ten minutes while they were cooking, so that saved a bit of time.  I reckon it takes 25 minutes in total if you do this.

We had it with leftover mash from last night which my husband heated up in the microwave.  I confess that the first time it was suggested by my husband that we should heat up mash in the microwave it did not appeal to me at all.  However, I don't notice any difference to the taste and from a practical point of view it works really well when you are trying to get dinner on the table in a hurry.

If I was to make this again I would use red onion as I think it would taste quite nice with grapes and red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar if I still do not have any red wine vinegar!).

My sticky pan-roasted sausages didn't turn out too badly!

Cost - My sausages came from my local butchers and are their 'jumbo' sausages.  They cost €4.20.  I've estimated the cost of the mash, grapes, onions, fennel, garlic and sherry vinegar at €2.00.  This makes the total cost €6.20 for the meal that I made.

The same as with the gammon steaks, I reckon that you could make this dinner for a lot less depending on the sausages you use.  I know if I had used our butchers normal sized sausages that it would have been cheaper, however, I felt that the jumbo sausages would be better for the recipe given the length of time they are in the pan. 

Colcannon - abandoned :-(

You may have noted that according to my meal plan for the week that we were supposed to have black pudding and colcannon tonight.  We didn't have colcannon as we were a bit pressed for time and the recipe that I had picked was going to take too long to make.  Instead we had black pudding, mashed potatoes, and mashed carrot and turnip.

My husband had come across a different recipe for colcannon in a newspaper during the week and he wants to make it some night instead of the recipe that I found.  Hmmmm...I might just let him.  I've made a note of this recipe so that I can make it in the future when I have a bit more time.

We are heading away this weekend, so my menu for next week is only going to run from Monday to Friday night.  I intend to plan it and do my shopping list before I head away, but I wont know what offers will be on in Dunnes,Lidl or Aldi so I intend to be a bit more flexible than I normally would be when doing my shopping.

Sticky gammon steaks

I must confess that ever since I found this recipe and put it on my meal planner for the week I have not been able to stop thinking about it!  So, it was with much excitement that I made the sticky gammon steaks from the Olive magazine issued in August 2005.  The picture is from the GoodFood website.

Instead of using a red chilli, I used some crushed chilli.  While this was quicker than deseeding and finely chopping a red chilli, my main reason for doing it was that I didn't fancy spending €1.99 on a pack of chilli's in Dunnes as I only needed one.

This meal is very quick to prepare and cook - 15 minutes in total - which makes it an ideal dinner for when you are short on time.  To save time with the preparation, you can use crushed chilli as I did.

As suggested I served it with steamed greens (Pak choi as shown in the photo) and some rice.  I broke off some of the pak choi and gave it to the baby to eat as finger food.  He also had a little bit of the gammon, but I didn't give him too much as I was concerned that it might have been too salty for him.

Cost - I am certain before I even start working out the cost of this meal that it is one of my more expensive mid-week meals.  This is because the gammon steaks that I bought  from my local butchers were €4.99.  I know that if I had gone to the supermarket I probably could have picked up some cheaper gammon steaks, however, when I saw the ones the butcher had for sale I had to have them as they were so meaty looking unlike the last gammon steaks I had which were fairly flat and round.  So, before I finish working out the cost of the meal, I would like to point out that this is one of those recipes that you could make for less depending on what gammon steaks you use.

Ok, that said it is time to work out the rest of the cost.  The pak choi was €1.99, the rice was 30 cent, the orange was 7 cent and I have allowed 40 cent for the honey, soy sauce and crushed chilli.  This brings the total to €7.75 for two adults, a toddler and a baby.

Suggestion - I think the same recipe would work quite well with chicken breasts or pork loins instead of the gammon steaks.  Using either of these instead of the gammon steaks would lower the cost of the meal considerably.  Another way of lowering the cost would be opting to use alternative greens instead of pak choi which are quite expensive.  I think that steamed sugar snap peas might work well.

And this is what mine looked like!