Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

I did some actual cooking today, not just re-heating. Here's one of the things I made.

Icing has never been my strong point

Ingredients:

100g soft marge

100g sugar

1 egg

100g self-raising flour

2 tbsp cocoa

1 orange

Icing sugar (amount will vary)

Makes 15

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180degC

2) Mix the marge and sugar in a bowl until smooth

3) Add the egg

4) Also add the flour and cocoa

5) Then squeeze the juice of half an orange into the bowl. You might need to add some flour to get back to a good consistenct

6) Divide into paper cases and cook for 15-20 mins

7) Squeeze the rest of the orange juice into a new bowl, and add enough icing sugar to make a thick paste (maybe 400g?)

8) When the cakes have cooled, spread the icing on top

Lemon Gingerbread Cake

Effectively working full-time is taking a bit of a toll on my culinary ambitions...generally all I manage is two large batches of food a week that get re-heated. Anyway, this weekend I made cake. Tasty cake. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Thumb of fresh ginger (or 1tbsp ground ginger)
Optional spices - 1tsp cinnamon, 1tsp mixed spice
115g soft margarine
115g brown sugar
200g golden syrup
250ml milk
1 egg

Makes 2 cakes, serves 12

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 160degC
2) Mix the flour, bicarb and spices
3) Stir in the butter
4) In a saucepan, boil the sugar, syrup and milk (watch carefully, else it'll boil over like mine did)
5) Pour the hot liquid into the bowl and add the egg
6) Tip the mixture into 2 loaf tins and cook for 45 mins

Cranberry and Cream Cheese Muffins

My freezer is full of cranberries (and other frozen fruit), and I had some cream cheese in the fridge so I thought I'd try this recipe for cranberry and cream cheese muffins, with a couple of tweaks.

Ingredients:
175g frozen cranberries
250g caster sugar
100g soft cheese
200g self-raising flour
Pinch salt
2 eggs
75ml sunflower oil (it's got to be flavourless! i.e. not olive oil)

Makes 12

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
2) Put the cranberries in a saucepan with 25g of the sugar, and heat until they are soft. Mash them then put them aside to cool
3) Mix the cream cheese with another 25g of the sugar in small bowl and put it aside
4) Put the flour, rest of the sugar, salt, eggs and oil in a large bowl and mix
5) Stir the cranberry mash into the large bowl with the other ingredients
6) Spoon the mixture into 12 paper cases, and cook for 20-25 mins
7) Leave to cool

Budget:
Cranberries = 30p
Sugar = 40p
Soft cheese = 25p
Flour = 30p
Eggs = 40p
Oil = 15p
Total = £1.80, 15p/ muffin

Cookies

I had half a tube of squeezy condensed milk leftover from when I made coffee ice cream. Simple and delicious, plus they still tasted great a few days later. I found the recipe on the back of the condensed milk tube.

Ingredients:
115g margarine
115g sugar
85g condensed milk
50g chocolate chips
175g self-raising flour

Makes 15

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
2) Mix the margarine, sugar, condensed milk and chocolate chips together
3) Stir in the flour
4) Use a dessert spoon to portion out the mixture, and place on a tray (well-spaced out)
5) Cook for 12 mins (until golden)

Budget:
Marge = 12p
Sugar = 12p
Condensed milk = 50p
Chocolate chips = 30p
Flour = 20p
Total = £1.24, 8p/ cookie

Slow-cooked Goulash

I got a slow cooker for my birthday this year, and only just managed to use it. I wanted to make goulash with the good deal I got on casserole beef, as well as the paprika in my cupboard.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
1/2 onion
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
1 tomato (optional)
1tbsp tomato puree
100g tinned tomatoes/ passata
1/2 pepper
3tbsp plain flour
Herbs: pinch salt, 1tsp mixed herbs, 1tsp paprika
300g diced casserole beef
200ml beef stock
200ml red wine

Serves 3-4

Method:
1) Heat the oil in a pan, and prep the veg. Toss in the veg and cook for 10 mins
2) Add the tomato puree and stir
3) Tip the cooked veg into the slow cooker

4) Mix the flour, salt, herbs and paprika on a chopping board. Coat the beef in the seasoned flour, then fry until browned for around 10 mins
5) Whilst the beef is cooking, boil the water for the stock. Make up the stock, and pour it and the wine (proportions variable, doesn't have to be 1:1) over the veg. Also add the tomato products
6) Add the beef to the slow cooker
7) Turn the slow cooker on low, and cook for 6-8h
8) Serve with a dollop of sour cream, and bread or potatoes. Tastes even better the next day!

Budget:
Oil = 2p
Veg = £1
Flour = 5p
Herbs = 6p
Beef = £3
Stock = 10p
Wine = 60p
Total = £4.83, £1.21

Poached Egg on Toast = Breakfast of Champions

I got a 1/2 hour lie-in this morning, so decided to treat myself to a tasty breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 slices of toast
Strawberry jam
Pinch of salt

Serves 1

Method:
1) Boil a saucepan of water, filled about halfway up
2) Put the bread in the toaster
3) I used a silicone pouch thing to make my egg, in which case you put the lid on and cook on medium for 5 mins. Otherwise, crack the egg in whilst stirring the water (tricky) and boil with the lid off for 5 mins
4) Butter the toast, and spread jam over one
5) Slide the egg on to the other, with a pinch of salt

Budget:
Egg = 17p
Bread = 15p
Jam = 3p
Salt = 1p
Total = 36p, 36p/ person

Chicken Risotto

I used some of the leftover roast chicken and chicken stock, along with some pepper and passata (from the pizza!) to make one portion of risotto.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
50g risotto rice
100g chicken
2 ladles of chicken stock
1/3 pepper
2 tbsp passata

Serves 1

Method:
1) Heat the oil in a pan, then add the rice and cook until translucent (onion optional here)
2) Tip in the chicken, 1 ladle of stock, and the vegetables. Stir, then heat on medium heat for 10mins
3) Add the last ladle of stock, then cover and heat on low for 10 mins

Budget:
Oil = 2p
Rice = 13p
Chicken = 30p
Stock = 10p
Pepper = 15p
Passata = 10p
Total = £0.80, £0.80/ person

Apple Crumble

I'm really struggling with switching from cooking for five to cooking for one...this is my mini version of apple crumble (which tastes great hot or cold).

Ingredients:

Apple sauce (1 cooking apple, splash of water, sprinkle of sugar)

25g margarine

25g plain flour

25g sugar

Serves 2

Method:

1) Make the apple sauce - peel and chop the apple into chunks, and tip it into a saucepan with a splash of water. Simmer gently until it looks like sauce, then add sugar to taste. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C

2) Make the topping - mix the margarine, plain flour and sugar together until fine

3) Pour the sauce into a small ovenproof container, then tip the topping over the apple

4) Cook for 30mins in the oven (until golden on top)

Budget:

1 apple = 40p

Sugar = 10p

Flour = 5p

Margarine = 10p

Total = 65p, 33p/ person

Coffee Ice Cream

The great thing about this coffee ice cream is that you don't have to stir it while it's freezing. I based this on Nigella Lawson's recipe but only had (decaf!) instant coffee available. Turns out it works a treat, and has an amazing aftertaste!

I ate this in the garden, enjoying the late afternoon sun

Ingredients:
300ml double cream
175g condensed milk (I got a squeezy tube of it rather than a tin)
1tbsp instant coffee granules + 4tbsp boiling water

Makes 1 pint

Method:
1) Boil the kettle and add to the granules
2) Pour in the cream and add the condensed milk
3) Whisk everything together until you get soft peaks
4) Scrape into a box and freeze

Budget:
Cream = £1.10
Condensed milk = £1.10
Coffee = 15p
Total = £2.35

Simple Roast Chicken

You can buy a small chicken for £4.50, and you get a lot more meat for your money than if you bought the components separately. I cooked this for my Sunday lunch:

Taken on my laptop's webcam...

Ingredients:

1 small chicken (cooks in 70 mins)

Olive oil

Salt

Rosemary (optional)

Lemon (optional)

2tbsp plain flour

About 200ml chicken stock/ white wine/ combination

Serves 4

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. If using the lemon, put it in water abd boil it for 5 mins

2) Put the chicken in a roasting tin, and rub the rosemary and salt into the skin

3) Use a sharp knife to make some holes in the lemon, and stick it up the chicken

4) Pour the oil over the top

5) Put in the oven, and baste every 30mins

6) Remove from the oven, transfer to a warmed plate and fish out the lemon. Cover the chicken with foil

7) While the chicken is resting, tilt the roasting tin so that 2 layers form: the oil is on top and the chicken juices below. Use a spoon to remove most of the oil (you can keep it in a jar in the fridge for another day if you like)

8) Heat the tin on the hob and add the flour. Start mixing it round

9) Pour in the liquid and continue to heat for 10 mins

10) Carve the chicken whilst the sauce is heating

11) Transfer the sauce to a jug and serve

Budget:

Chicken = £4.50

Oil = 5p

Salt = 2p

Flour = 5p

Liquid = 20p

Total = £4.82, £1.21/ person

* If you are serving with other vegetables (potatos, carrots, parnsips), put them in 30mins before the chicken is finished cooking

* If cooking for one, you can carve up the rest of the chicken and use the leftovers in other recipes

Homemade Pizza

There are two parts to making your own pizza:
1) Making the dough
2) Adding toppings and cooking

I based my pizza dough recipe on Jamie Oliver's but halved the quantities and tweaked it a bit.

1) Dough

Ingredients:
7g sachet dried yeast
340ml warm water
1 dsp caster sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

500g strong white bread flour
Pinch salt

Makes 3 pizzas

Method:
1) Mix the yeast, water, sugar and oil together and leave for 5mins
2) Tip the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle
3) Pour the liquid mixture into the middle and work the flour and liquid in together, starting with a wooden spoon
4) Then lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it
5) Knead the dough for about 15 mins
6) Leave it to rise in a warm place for about 1h, until it doubles in size:

7) Poke all the air out of the dough, and divide it into 3 balls

At this point you can freeze the dough if you don't want to use it all at once

2) Pizza

Ingredients:
About 200ml passata
Vegetables (I used some sliced tomato and pepper)
Grated cheese (I used cheddar, but you can posh it up with mozzarella if you have it to hand)
Mixed herbs

Makes 1 pizza

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 degC
2) Stretch out the dough into a circle or rectangle
3) Use a palette knife to spread the passata
4) Top with vegetables
5) Finish off with a sprinkle of cheese and mixed herbs

6) Cook in the oven for 15mins

Budget:

Yeast = 7p
Sugar = 5p
Oil = 5p
Flour = 25p
Salt = 2p
Passata = 20p
Cheese = 20p
Tomato = 10p
Pepper = 30p
Total = £1.24 (if you eat 2/3 now, and 1/3 later then about £1/ person)

Back to uni

Since I'm back at uni with a couple of days to spare before term starts, I thought I'd get some batch cooking out the way to set me up for when things get busier. Here's what I made today:

L to R: 3 x sweet and sour sauce, 6 x tomato sauce, 2 x apple sauce, 1 x cranberry sauce

Recipes to follow when my internet's less sloooooow...

Creamy Bacon and Pea Pasta

I actually have an alternative version of this where I make a bright-green pea puree, but I didn't have enough peas or cream for that this week.

Here's what I came up with instead:

Ingredients:

1/2 brown onion

1 tbsp oil

3 rashers of bacon 

Small glass of white wine

200ml single cream

2 eggs

300g tagliatelle

150g frozen petit pois

Serves 6

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C, and cook the bacon for 20 mins (I like it crispy)

2) Heat the oil in a large saucepan and chop the onion up small

3) Fry the onion for 5 mins on low heat, then add the wine and turn the heat up to medium for 5 mins, then just keep the pan warm on a low heat

4) Boil the water for the pasta, and cook it (fresh - 4 mins, dry - 12 mins)

5) Whisk the eggs and cream together in a jug

6) Cook the peas in the microwave/ on the hob for 5 mins, then drain

7) Drain the pasta, and tip into a cold serving dish

8) Chop up the bacon and tip on top of the pasta

9) Add the peas

10) Pour the eggy cream over the top, and stir round (carefully!) 

Budget:

Pasta = 50p

Onion = 10p

Oil = 2p
Bacon = 60p
Cream = £1
Eggs = 40p
Wine = 40p
Peas = 30p
Total = £3.32, 55p/ person

Spaghetti Carbonara

So simple (and delicious!), this is now firmly on my family's 'favourites' list. Plus it uses only a few core ingredients that I normally have in the fridge!

I actually used tagliatelle, not spaghetti - but sssh, no one'll notice

Ingredients:

250g pasta (ideally a long thin one like spaghetti or tagliatelle, but not essential)

300ml single/ whipping cream

2 eggs

Nutmeg (optional)

Black pepper

3 rashers of bacon, or lardons, or combination

Serves 6

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C, and cook the bacon in the middle of the oven for about 20 mins

2) While the bacon is cooking, boil water for the pasta

3) Crack the eggs into a medium-sized bowl/ jug, and whisk lightly with a fork

4) Pour the cream into the jug, and continue to whisk

5) Cook the pasta (fresh - 4 mins, dried - 12 mins)

6) Add the pepper and nutmeg to the eggy cream

7) Remove the bacon from the oven, blot with kitchen paper and cut into small chunks. Leave to cool

8) Drain the pasta and put into the (cold) serving dish. Leave to cool for 3-5 mins. We're trying to avoid scrambled egg!

9) Slowly pour the eggy cream onto the pasta, and stir the pasta to coat the strands

10) Add the bacon chunks

Budget:

Pasta = 50p

Cream = £1

Eggs = 40p

Spices = 5p

Bacon = 60p

Total = £2.55, 43p/ person

Chicken Vegetable Pasta Bake

A tasty variation on my sausage vegetable pasta bake.

As you can see, I've used carrots, yellow pepper, broccoli, red onion and tomato as well as chicken that was leftover from the night before. 

Serves 6

Same process as before - I pre-cooked the pasta, prepped the veg and started layering. There was an offer on jars of pasta bake sauce, so I've used that and tinned tomatoes to make my sauce. 

Layer 1 - pasta

Layer 2 - tomato sauce

Layer 3 - vegetables

Layer 4 - chicken

Layer 5 - vegetables and tomato sauce

Finished off by stirring (carefully!) before cooking in the oven at 180 deg C for 40 mins.

Budget:

Pasta = 35p

Tomato sauce = £1.20
Vegetables = £1.20
Chicken = £3

Total =  £5.75, 96p/ person

Raspberry Yoghurt Cake

I saw this cake in the newspaper over the weekend and thought it looked delicious. Plus I had some excess raspberries in the freezer that needed to make way for ice cream so a happy ending all round really!

My version is adapted from a recipe in the Telegraph here. It's a very soft, moist cake that cooks for a relatively long time without rising much.

Ingredients:
300g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
125g soft margarine
225g caster sugar
1tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
120g plain natural yoghurt
200g raspberries

150g icing sugar
3tbsp lemon juice (in total, 1+3tbsp = approx. 1 lemon)
5 raspberries (optional)

Serves 10

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 160 deg C
2) Takes 2tbsp of the flour and tip it over the raspberries
3) Mix the rest of the flour, the baking powder, margarine, caster sugar, lemon juice, eggs and yoghurt together
4) Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into a loaf tin
5) Scatter 1/2 the raspberries over the top of the mixture
6) Add the next 1/3 of the mixture
7) Add the rest of the raspberries to the top
8) Spoon the rest of the mixture into the tin (it doesn't matter if you can see some of the raspberries peeping through)
9) Cook for 1h15
10) Make the icing: mix the icing sugar and lemon juice. Wait for the cake to cool down for about 30mins, then drizzle the icing over the top
11) Optional: squish the raspberries a bit, and scatter over the top. If you omit them, you can freeze the rest of the cake

Budget:
Flour = 20p
Baking powder = 10p
Butter = 25p
Sugar = 20p
Lemon = 40p
Eggs = 30p
Yoghurt = 15p
Raspberries = £2
Icing sugar = 15p
Total = £3.75, 38p/ person

Altered Lorraine Pascale's Cheese, Ham & Chive Bread

This is my absolute, all-time favourite bread recipe. There aren't many bread recipes out there that use self-raising flour and require no kneading or proving. Simply mix 'n' go...

This version is adapted from a recipe in Lorraine Pascale's excellent book Home Cooking Made Easy. Enjoy!

I've hidden it in the bread bin - I know that as soon as the rest of my family get home, it'll be gone in minutes!

Ingredients:
425g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150-200g grated cheese (mature Cheddar, double Gloucester etc all good)
Packet of ham (4 large/ 6 medium/ 10 small slices), chopped into squares
1/2 handful of chives, chopped with scissors
Mustard powder, paprika, salt, pepper
280-300ml water

Serves 4-6

Method:
1) Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C
2) Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl except the water
3) Pour in the water, and mix to a sticky dough
4) Shape into a ball and place on a baking tray
5) Cook for 35 mins

Budget:
Flour = 30p
Baking powder = 3p
Cheese = 80p
Ham = £1
Chives = 10p (although I grow my own and just give it a haircut)
Spices = 7p
Total = £2.30, 46p/ person

Coffee and Invisible Walnut Cake

This was meant to be the usual coffee and walnut cake - until I discovered that the walnuts I thought were lurking in the cupboard had vanished. So with a couple of tweaks, this became coffee cake instead. I adapted a recipe from Jamie Oliver.

The mixture fills two loaf tins, so I can freeze one (perfect when it's only me), or my family can just give in to temptation! Even a few days on, the coffee aroma is fantastic.

Ingredients:
175g soft marge
200g sugar
3 eggs
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50ml cold coffee (made from instant granules, about 1tsp, or cooking liqueur stuff)

20ml cold coffee (as above)
100g icing sugar

Makes 2 loaves (serves 12)

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C, and put the kettle on
2) Cream the margarine and sugar, then fold in the eggs
3) Add the flour and baking powder and mix
4) Make up the coffee (do 70ml to include the icing too)
5) Stir in 50ml of the coffee
6) Bake for 25 min
7) Make up the icing by stirring the icing sugar (sift it first!) and remaining coffee together
8) Drizzle the icing over the top of the cakes when they have cooled for 5 mins

Budget:
Margarine = 40p
Sugar = 30p
Eggs = 60p
Flour = 50p
Baking powder = 3p
Coffee = 10p
Icing sugar = 20p
Total = £2.13, 18p/ person

Tomato-Gazpacho Soup

I was going to try gazpacho soup until I discovered you don't cook the tomatoes, and I am not the biggest fan of uncooked tomatoes. So I took a couple of the ingredients you'd use in gazpacho (spring onions, red pepper, garlic) and a couple from traditional tomato soup (onion, carrot, celery, tomato puree) and combined the two.

Ingredients:
1kg tomatoes
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
2 spring onions
Half a red pepper
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1tbsp oil
1tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp sugar
2 bay leaves
2 pints of vegetable stock

Serves 6

Method:
1) Prep all the vegetables - peel and chop roughly. Quarter the tomatoes, and then scoop out the seeds and stems with a teaspoon
2) Heat the oil in a large pan, and tip in all the vegetables except the tomatoes. Heat on medium with stirring for 10 mins

2) Squeeze in the tomato puree, and add the garlic. Stir until everything is red

3) Boil the water for the stock
4) Then add the sugar, some salt and pepper, and 2 bay leaves. Tip in all the tomatoes and cook until they are squishy and the skin is coming off

5) Make up the stock, and tip it in
6) Cook for 25 mins with stirring

7) Remove the bay leaves and leave to cool for a couple of mins
8) Puree the mixture and serve

Budget:
Tomatoes = £1
Carrot = 8p
Onion = 10p
Celery = 20p
Spring onions = 15p
Pepper = 30p
Garlic = 7p
Oil = 3p
Tomato puree = 10p
Sugar = 4p
Herbs = 4p
Stock = 30p
Total = £2.41, 40p/ person

I've entered this recipe into Made with Love Mondays:

Homemade Butter

The chemistry behind butter-churning interests me, and I'd heard you could make butter from a tub of whipping cream, which is cheaper than butter. So this experiment was driven by both science and economics!

Ingredients:
300ml whipping cream
Pinch of salt

Method:
1) Tip the cream into a food processor, and turn on to medium for about 20 mins, or until it looks like butter
2) Separate the leftover liquid and keep or chuck
3) Wash the butter with water until the liquid runs clear
4) Add a pinch of salt, and use a wooden spoon to work it into the butter (not a metal spoon)
5) Keep in the fridge

Budget:
Cream = £1