Cottage Pie Slow Cooker style

Ingredients:
800g beef mince
2 carrots peeled and chopped
1 onion roughly diced
3 tbsp of worcestershire sauce
1 oxo cube
1 beef stock melt
900ml hot water
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic chopped finely
Salt and Pepper to season
Sprinkle of garlic salt
2 cups of frozen peas
Enough grated cheddar to top the pie


For the mash
1.5 kg potatoes peeled and chopped into pieces
Knobs of butter
Splash of milk
5 teaspoons of cornflour with a little water mixed



Method:

1.  Place your vegetables into the slow cooker along with the garlic, bay leaf worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper and garlic salt.  Place 900ml of boiling water into a jug along with the stock melt and the oxo cube and stir to combine. Sprinkle the beef mince into the cooker and pour the stock over the mince. Stir to combine all the ingredients together. Put your cooker onto low for a couple of hours stirring every so often.

2. Meanwhile place the chopped potatoes into the saucepan. Place onto a high heat until the water is boiling, once boiling turn down to a medium heat for about 20 minutes. Drain away the water. Mash well then add the butter and the milk until creamy. Put to one side.


3. Do not be alarmed if your mince mixture is a little watery. Turn the heat up to high on your slow cooker and cook for another 2-3 hours. Stirring occasionally. Add the cornflour to the mince mixture and stir until thickened. If not thick enough feel free to add a little more.


4. Place the mince mixture into two oven proof dishes and allow to cool. Place the mash over the mixture and using a fork spread over the oven dish. Repeat with the second dish. Grate as much cheese as desired over the top.

5. Preheat oven to 160 C fan oven and cook for an hour or until the cheese is golden and brown. Serve with gravy and green beans.

Easy French Toast

Easy French Toast

Ingredients:
4 slices of thick bread preferrably a day old ( something like a bloomer works well)
1 cup of double cream
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 eggs
Butter


Method:

1.  Beat the eggs, double cream sugar and cinnamon together with a fork in a plastic jug. Transfer to a shallow dish. Put the bread slices into the eggy mixture. Leave to soak for at least a minute each side and then turn over.

2. Meanwhile heat a frying pan on a medium high heat. Grease the pan with a little butter turn the pan to allow it to coat all over.

3. Place the eggy bread into the frying pan cooking for about two minutes each side until golden brown, you can tell when its cooked as the bread will spring back when touched with the spatula.

4. Serve immediately, I like it best with golden syrup and a sprinkling of sugar. Perfect comfort food.

Bacon and Courgette Carbonara

Perfect for days when you cannot be bothered to cook as relatively easy to make. Definitely a rainy day comfort food. Slightly healthier than the original no cream! Enjoy!


Bacon and Courgette Carbonara 

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 200g tub of philadelphia light cheese
Salt and pepper to season
4 rashers of bacon diced and the fat trimmed off
1 onion finely diced
Sprinkling of garlic salt and mixed herbs
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 medium courgette grated
75g mushrooms diced
Roughly 75 g mature cheddar cheese ( can be tweaked depending on how much you like cheese!)
Linguine enough for four people to be cooked according to packet instructions


Method:

1.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil into frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and seasoning. Stir occassionally until onion is transluscent. Then add the bacon and mushrooms. Next the grated courgette and peas. Get rid of any excess water and drain away. Turn off the heat and put to one side.


2. In a bowl combine the philadelphia cheese fluffing with a fork before adding the two eggs one at a time beating well after each addition until well combined. Next stir in the grated cheese and season.

3. Meanwhile cook pasta according to instructions. Drain well and pour in the philadelphia mixture stirring with a spatula quickly until well combined.  Add the bacon mixture and place back onto the heat for 3-4 minutes to heat through completely. Serve immediately sprinkle with more cheese if desired.

Easter Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

8oz stork margarine
11oz flour
4 tsp baking powder
12oz sugar
1 cup of milk
4 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla essence

2oz cocoa powder


Buttercream icing:
 9oz butter
16oz icing sugar

1oz cocoa powder

Mikado sticks to decorate (you will need about 3 packets)

Chocolate mini eggs

Method:

1. Preheat to oven to 160 C (fan oven). Combine stork margarine and sugar into a bowl and mix well using an electric whisk.  Beat eggs one at a time and add vanilla extract.

2.Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the wet mixture.  Add the milk, and beat together for 3 minutes. Pour into two lined 8 inch cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. Press cake lightly to see if it springs back then you know its done.


3. Leave the cakes to cool completely and empty onto a wire rack.  To make the icing combine the butter into a bowl until fluffy and soft and whisk. Then add the icing sugar a little at a time until soft and fluffy.


4. Place one cake upside down onto a plate, then cream the middle of the cake. Add the jam,  then sandwich the cake together with the other 8 inch cake. Cream the entire cake using a palette knife use a little hot water if the buttercream is too hard. Decorate the cake with the mikado sticks, one side at a time then overlap the sticks to make it look like a basket. Place the mini eggs in the middle of the cake and put toy rabbits or chicks inside the nest if desired.

Panko Chicken with ratatouille and pasta

Panko Chicken with ratatouille and pasta

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
Panko breadcrumbs
2 courgettes diced roughly
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
Mixed Herbs
1 yellow pepper roughly diced
1 green pepper roughly diced
1 aubergine diced and liberally sprinkled with salt to stop it going bitter
1 onion finely diced
Pasta
1 egg beaten
Plain flour


Method:

1.  Add finely diced onion to a saucepan with a little olive oil on a medium heat. Cook until transluscent. Add the mixed herbs and the garlic. Add the pepper and courgettes. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until soft. Add the aubergine for a few minutes stirring occassionally. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes. Take off the heat.

2. Preheat the oven to 170.  Use three shallow dishes, put beaten egg in one, plain flour in another and panko in the other. Combine the chicken breast into the beaten egg, coat in the plain flour, dip into the bread crumbs and place on a baking tray. Cook for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

3.  Cook pasta according to pasta instructions, pour over the ratatouille sauce and place the chicken on top. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired.