152. Toad in the Hole Recipe

Hello lovelies.

If the weather is anything like it is here where you are then you'll be in the mood for comfort food. Wind, rain, snow and hail can dampen even the most optimistic of peoples' spirits and after a long, miserable January day back at work I'm always hankering for something easy, warm and filling for my dinner. 

To me, Toad in the Hole is a classic. My whole family always had smiles on their faces when we heard that we were having it for tea; who doesn't love sausages? And Yorkshire pudding? Together? Oh wow. And since moving in with S, we've enjoyed this delicious meal a few times, so I thought I'd share my recipe (which is a mixture of several that I've tried and tested) for anyone else out there who loves it - or who has never tried it before!

Ingredients (serves 3 people, or 2 with MASSIVE appetites)

6 sausages of your choice

125g plain flour

2 eggs 

125ml milk

125ml water

Mustard

Salt & pepper

Oil (I prefer to use FryLight as there is so much fat in sausages already)

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees/gas mark 8

Oil a large, deep baking tray and place your sausages in, evenly spaced

Cook the sausages for around 15 minutes or until golden

Whilst cooking the sausages, mix together the rest of your ingredients in a bowl

Add a teaspoon (or two, depending on how spicy you like your food) of mustard and season with salt and pepper to taste

Once the sausages have turned golden, remove the tray from the oven and pour the batter mix in

(It should sizzle as you pour it in, just like it would with a Yorkshire pud)

Return the baking tray to the oven and cook for a further 20-30 minutes or until golden and risen

Serve with whatever you like! We always go for a mountain of veggies and either some mash or roasties and, of course, lashings of gravy!

112. Recipes // Speedy Chilli

If you're anything like me, the last week or so before payday is an absolute financial nightmare. Sound familiar? Despite promising I'll be sensible, track my spending and not go overboard each payday, within two weeks I'm scraping the barrel for pennies. 

Today's post is inspired by that feeling. All too often when we're skint we'll neglect our basic nutritional needs and instead of cooking up a dish containing veggies, carbohydrates and protein (because we all know how expensive meat is these days!) we'll opt for beans on toast or a frozen £1 pizza from Iceland, because it's cheap and cooking something more nutritious would be too expensive.

I try to avoid this as much as possible and I think I've found a quick, easy, nutritious and cheap dish that can be used for either lunch or dinner; it will go perfectly with pasta or in a salad as a packed lunch, or served with rice or even a jacket potato for your evening meal.

Ingredients (for 2)

1 x packet of Tesco's Meat Free Bolognese Mix (£1.75)

200g of Iceland sliced cooked chicken breast (£1.25 - sold as £2.50/400g)

2 x jalapeno peppers (sliced, £1 for large jar - only need 1/10)

1 tsp hot tobasco sauce

1 tbsp cajun spices

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Coriander (to serve)

Method

1. Heat your oil and add the bag of frozen meat free bolognese mix

2. When the bolognese mix has melted slightly, add the sliced chicken

3. Stir in the spices, jalapenos and tobasco sauce

4. Continue to stir on a low heat for 5-10 minutes

5. Serve with your side-dish of choice, sprinkle with coriander if desired.

If you're a veggie, simply leave out the chicken and you could enjoy this spicy dish too. 

As you can see, so long as you already had the spices and 'cupboard essentials' such as oil, this dish could cost you as little as £1.75 each (CHEAPER THAN A GREGGS SANDWICH!) if served with rice.

Are you going to try this recipe? 

Do you have any cheap and easy, healthy recipes?

105. Lifestyle // Health Update No. 1

I'd like to start off by apologising for my lack of posts in the last week; sometimes life just gets in the way, you know? I have a very stressful job (woe is me, I know) and, to be honest, when I get home all I want to do is cabbage on the sofa, stick on some Breaking Bad and relax. However, I can't do this forever as I miss blogging too much!

Today is the second installement of my new Health Update series, following on from my Wake Up Call post, which I published last month. I'm trying to keep these updates fortnightly as I love to read up on other peoples progress, failures and successes, and I'd hope that people would like to do the same with me. 

It is now three weeks since I was admitted to hospital with crippling abdominal pains and suspected gallstones. After blood tests, antibiotics and painkillers, I was told that I needed to change my diet drastically. No more dairy, fatty, oily or processed foods, to cut down on smoking and drinking and - basically - to live a healthier lifestyle in order to avoid my symptoms worsening.

So what I have I changed? For the last three weeks, I've been so much more cautious about what I've been eating. I haven't denied myself anything - if I want something, I'll have a small portion - but I've cooked a lot more food from scratch, cut out tea and coffee and (apart from a few treats) alcohol, increased my fibre intake and drank a hell of a lot more water (hello 15 loo breaks a day!)

I've also become an avid user of My Fitness Pal, which is seriously amazing when you're trying to track what you eat. It's not just about calories either, which is good - it tracks your fat, carbohydrate and protein intake as well as monitoring how much cholesterol, vitamins and saturated fats, etc, you're taking in.

Over the last three weeks, I've averaged 1,750 calories per day and - on the whole - I've stuck to my recommended fat, protein and carbohydrate intake. S and I have shared a few takeaways, several bottles of red wine and even a few cheeky bars of chocolate, but I've still managed to lose 9lbs (this was my weight one week ago, so it may be even more now!) 

As it's not all about weight, it's about health, I think that it's important to mention that I generally feel much better too. I haven't got any abdominal pains, I feel far less bloated and just so much happier in myself. I've still got a long way to go and I'm, by no means, out of the woods just yet but I'm getting there...

In my next post I'll be sharing my favourite recipes from my new cookbook Skinny Weeks & Weekend Feasts by Gizzi Erskine.

Are you on a health or weight loss journey?

Do you have any tips that you'd like to share?

51. Recipes // Thai Red Curry

On Sunday night, after a long, hard week, S and I fancied cooking some real comfort food. Rather than a big Sunday roast, we went for something a little more exotic - our ultimate favourite: Thai red curry.

I only discovered my love for Thai cuisine late last year when, following a recommendation from a friend, we decided to try out our local Thai restaurant: The Thai House, Hexham. The service, surroundings and - above all - the food was amazing. 

Since then, we've visited a couple of times and also tried recreating some of our favourite dishes. Simple red and green curries are our favourite as they're so easy and quick to cook, yet taste incredible. Seriously, they taste like you've slaved away over the stove all day. So delicious.

Tonight I'm going to share my Thai red curry recipe which I hope you all like. I didn't make the paste from scratch by the way (I'm not a *real* cook) but it still tastes good, I promise.

Ingredients (for 4 portions)

600g diced chicken breast

1 x can of coconut milk

250g fine green beans

2 x large peppers, chopped (any colour)

1 x large onion, chopped

1 x jar of Thai red curry paste

Olive oil

Fresh coriander

Rice

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken,

2. Once the chicken is golden, add the onions and let them sweat,

3. When the onions have softened add the peppers and fry for a few minutes,

4. Begin to prepare your rice,

5. Add the whole jar of curry paste to the chicken - make sure it's all covered,

6. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes,

7. Once the sauce has thickened add the green beans,

8. Simmer for a further 10-15 minutes until correct consistency and rice is ready,

                                          9. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Do you like Thai food?

What's your favourite dish?

Love,

Becci xo

43. Recipes // Chicken Jalfrezi

As some of you will be aware, I'm saving to move in with my boyfriend of (almost) 4 years, later on this year. So I've been getting into scrimping and thrifting; one aspect of which, is affordable meals. We both love food, and good food, not just beans or cheese on toast! I know how easy it is to spend an absolute fortune on food; sometimes we spend over £10 just on snacks for the night, or £20 on a big takeaway, but once we're living together and paying all these 'grown-up' expenses, we won't have cash to splash on fancy food.

Therefore, I've been looking for affordable meal ideas. But meal ideas that are tasty and healthy too! I don't want to be living off cheesy pasta or pot noodles - we love to cook our own food using fresh ingredients and we will continue to do this when we're living together too.

My parents are pretty good scrimpers too and we often feed a family of 6, for a whole week, on under £100; that's including breakfast, lunches and a cooked evening meal, as well as all the basics such as bread, milk, butter, etc. So today when my dad said he'd be working late, I jumped at the chance to try and create a family meal for under a fiver. Here's what I came up with!

Chicken Jalfrezi Curry with Rice

Ingredients (for 5 people)

500g of chicken (from a £3.99 1kg bag of frozen chicken breast, Aldi) = £1.99

500g of long grain white rice (around 40p for 1kg, Aldi) = £0.20

500g Jalfrezi Sauce (available in Aldi for around £1) = £1.00

1 x large onion (from Tesco) = £0.20

2 x garlic cloves (£0.25 for whole garlic, Tesco) = £0.10

1/2 x green chilli (60p for 60g) = £0.10

1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil = free; you'll always have some in the cupboard!

1tsp of Habanero red sauce (£0.99 at Aldi, approx. 30tsps in a jar) = £0.04

20g fresh ginger (15p for 70g) = £0.05

1tsp salt = free; you'll always have some in the cupboard!

= £3.68 / £0.74 per person

Method

Dice the chicken (with a separate knife), onion, garlic, chilli and ginger 

Fry the chicken and onions together in olive oil for 3 minutes

Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 2-3 minutes

Add the curry sauce, Habanero sauce and chilli (if you want a kick)

Leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes

In the meantime: prepare your rice, na'an or papadums 

Apologies for the poor quality photos; they were taken on my mobile.

The curry went down really well, as they always do in our household. It's such a simple meal as the sauce is ready-made and it only takes about half an hour from preparation right through to serving up the meal.

The only thing I would change next time, I would add some chunks of potato or carrot to bulk it up as there wasn't that much chicken. I'd probably serve it with some na'an bread or papadums with chutneys too, and some salad on the side. However, even with these extras, I doubt the meal would cost more than £5 to make!

As I'm also on a bit of a health-kick, I worked out the calories in one serving of this meal and it's only just over 600 calories which, for your main meal of the day, is pretty good I think. 

To cut calories, you could always eat the curry with salad instead of rice, or try brown rice rather than white or basmati. 

Love, Becci xo

27. Recipes // Meatballs

Hello again!

I haven't posted a recipe for a while, so I thought I'd do a quick, simple recipe today.

I'm currently quite hard-up cashwise so my boyfriend and I have been looking for cheap dinner ideas. We have made delicious meatball dishes a few times but never made our own meatballs, so last night we decided to make some!

This is an incredibly cheap dish to make and is gorgeous, comfort food. This whole meal cost less than £5, fed two people and went down a treat.

Ingredients for the meatballs:

350g lean beef mince

1/2 an onion (diced)

1/2 tsp of Garlic (we used Very Lazy garlic, but garlic cloves would be even better)

1 tsp Paprika (depending on how spicy you want the meatballs!)

1 egg (whisked)

Chorizo (sliced)

50g mushrooms (sliced)

Salt & pepper to season

1. Fry the onions and garlic, in olive oil, in a frying pan until soft and then leave to cool.

2. Once cooled, put the mince, onion, garlic and whisked egg into a bowl and mix.

3. Add seasoning and then fry for around 10-15 minutes, in olive oil, in a frying pan.

4. When almost cooked, add the mushrooms and Chorizo and fry for around 5 minutes.

Ingredients for the sauce:

400g chopped tomatoes

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 tsp garlic

Salt & pepper to season

1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and simmer until warmed through.

You should be cooking your pasta or spaghetti (add a little salt to the water for extra flavour) at the same time. It usually takes around 15 minutes which, conveniently, is the same time as the meatballs and the sauce will need. So, you can put your pasta on as soon as you start frying the meatballs, or perhaps even a little earlier.

Once the tomato sauce has heated through and the meatballs are thoroughly cooked, pour the sauce into the frying pan with meatballs and simmer until you're ready to serve.

Apologies for the poor quality photo... we just wanted to EAT it

Extra Tips:

You could even add some cheese to bulk the meal up a little.

Alternatively, you could dice the Chorizo and add it to the meatballs, for an extra kick.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you have any low-cost meal recipes!

Love,

Becci xox