Pea & Ham One Pot

 

1 Litre of Water

2 Cups of Peas

3 slices of Ham

1 handful of Spinach

1 carrot (chopped)

1 celery stick (chopped)

3 large or 4 medium sized Potatoes (eg Maris Piper)

4 mint leaves

 

Cooking & Prep time approx. 40 minutes.

 

Fill the pot with the water. Chop the potatoes into smallish sized cubes (about 1 inch). Put all the ingredients into the pot and heat to a simmer. Leave to simmer until the potatoes are tender. Then drain off about 80% of the water. This is so that if blended it produces a nice smooth paste that is not too dense. If you want a more course meal use a potato masher until you get the desired consistency.

Curried Lamb with Green Lentils & Basmati Rice

300g Diced Lamb
1.5 Litres Water
1 reduced salt Chicken Stock cube
2 Carrots
1/4 swede
1 tablespoon Garam Masala
2 handfuls Green Lentils
2 handfuls Basmati Rice
1/2 small onion diced
2 Handfuls of Spinach
1 tin chopped tomatoes

Cooking time 2 hrs. Prep time 10 minutes at most.

              Using a casserole dish or a large saucepan bring the water to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Before adding the lamb remove any excess fat and make sure the cubes are all of a similar size and not too large as that effects cooking time. Add chicken stock to the simmering water and once it has dissolved add the lamb. Leave to simmer for 1 hour with a lid on. If you would like to make sure even more fat is removed from the dish this is the time to do it. Reduce down the heat and spoon off the excess fat which will pool on the surface of the water.
              After an hour remove the lid and add the carrot, swede, onion, spinach, Lentils and Garam Masala. Mix together. After a further 30 minutes add the basmati rice and leave to simmer for 30 minutes. If at any point the water is absorbed by the rice and lentils just add some boiling water.
             

Forest Fruit Summer Smoothe

2 cups Mixed Berries (Blackberries/Cherries/Blueberries)
1 Banana
1 cup of low fat Greek Yoghurt

You can either buy/grow the fruit fresh or frozen from your local supermarket. I got a bag of frozen mixed berries from my local supermarket as they were offering a large bag for £1 and I am trying to keep costs down. This smoothe can work with any fruit, I am going to try a Mango one today.

This recipe is very simple and it can be frozen too. Throw everything into a blender and whizz it up. This will make about 4 servings. If you double the amounts you could pour the mixture into ice lolly moulds and they would make a great frozen treat.

Tilly loved this and got into a right old mess!

Lamb with Root Vegetables, Spring Greens and Rosemary

My local supermarket does an offer for three meat items for £10. One of my choices was 300g diced lamb. The rest of the vegetables were all fresh and on offer at £1 per bag which contained 1kg of produce. I made 15 meals out of this recipe so it worked out at about 40p per meal.

• 300g diced Lamb
• 3 sweet potatoes (medium sized)
• 3 maris piper potatoes (medium sized)
• 2 parsnips
• 3 carrots (medium sized)
• 1/2 a swede
• 1 medium diced onion
• 1 reduced salt chicken stock cube
• Rosemary - 1 sprig (finely chopped) or 1 teaspoon of dried or pre-prepared
• Knob of butter
• 1.5 ltr of water

Cooking & Prep time - 3 hours

Firstly get a large Casserole Dish and pour in 1.5 litres of boiling excess fatty bits are removed and that any large pieces are cut in half. Then add the meat to the simmering stock. I do not brown the meat first as I do not want to add any additional saturated fat to the dish. Lamb is already a fatty meat to begin with. Whilst the lamb simmers away peal and dice your vegetable. You can make the sizes as big as you like as it will be cooking for about 2 and a half hours so everything will be fully cooked. Add the vegetables and the Rosemary. Now all you have to do is add a knob of butter and leave to simmer on a low heat. It is preferable to have a lid on for the duration of the cooking.

Tasty Tuna & Sweet Potato

2 Sweet Potatoes
1/2 Tin Tuna
2 Carrots
1/2 cup peas
Handful of grated cheese (medium)

Cooking time - 40 Minutes inc Prep Work

Peel and chop the potatoes and carrots into 1cm size cubes and put on the stove to boil. Add the peas.
Once tender remove from the heat and strain. Add 1/2 a tin of tuna and a handful of grated cheese and start mashing with a fork or potato mashing for a rough texture (7 months +) or blend to a puree for a smoother texture. This should make about 5 meals so I put 2 in the fridge and 3 in the freezer using storage bags.

 

This is easily Tilly's favourite meal to date and its so easy to make I have to give it 4*