Squash and Chorizo Stew

We're just loving squash at the moment and are eating a lot of it, I've also come across some different varieties in Morrisons so I decided to give the Harlequin squash a go. The taste and texture are slightly different and for me I prefer Butternut but it might be nice to mix to the 2 different types together in one stew.

This recipe was just what the cold weather ordered, a nice warming, comforting and tasty meal. As you may have noticed, I love chorizo so this recipe was ideal as it involves 2 of my favourite things.

I used 2 tins of chopped tomatoes in mine imstead of passata, this is just personal preference as this is how i like to make my tomato sauces. Instead of parsley I also used a couple of pinches of dried mixed herbs. I also added 2 chopped peppers as we had these available in the fridge.

I would suggest adding a little sugar to balance the tomato sauce a little.

Overall a very tasty, easy dish that we both enjoyed and it's such a bonus that this is low calorie as well. You don't have to make the full amount either, it's really easy to half.

You can find the recipe that I followed here on the BBC Good Food website.

Butternut Squash, Bacon and Vegetable Hash

This recipe was made out of the leftovers from another meal last week, so before the ingredients went off I thought it would be good to use them up. I do hate food waste and try to minimise it as much as possible, though I do think I could still improve this. 

This is ideal for a light supper or for lunch for 2, it's quite light and tasty. The good thing about this is that you can use up any of your leftovers from the bottom of the fridge, so feel free to experiment with this.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 Butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 Pepper, de-seeded and sliced

3 spring onions, sliced

1/2 large courgette or 1 medium, chopped into small cubes

3 eggs

1 tablespoon mixed herbs

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

100 g bacon (I used cooking bacon)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C (fan oven).
2. Put all of the vegetables into a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the mixed herbs.
3. Season with salt and pepper and mixed around.
4. Put in the oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are cooked through and tender.
5. Meanwhile, chop the bacon into small pieces are fry in a large drying pan with some oil.
6. When the bacon has cooked through, add the cooked vegetables to the pan and fry off for a couple of minutes.
7. Crack the eggs into the pan and stir through until the egg has cooked.

Meal Plan 27/10/13 - 02/11/13

As we made quite a bit of soup last week, we have quite a few leftovers in the freezer. We're using some of these up, so that we can try and create some space in the freezer. The idea of this was also to keep the costs down for this week, as well as enjoying some nice comforting soups!

Meal Plan 27/10/13 - 02/11/13

Lentil and Bacon Soup

Broccoli and Stilton Soup (Leftovers)

Polish Sausage Soup (Leftovers)

Butternut Squash, Vegetable and Bacon Hash

Squash, Peppers and Chorizo Stew

Chorizo and Pepper Risotto

Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup (leftover from last week)

Breakfast: Cereal, Porridge, Eggs, Bacon, Toast

Lunch: Tuna & Sweetcorn sandwiches, Leftovers

Snacks: Bananas, Clementines, Plums

Leftovers: Bacon, Tuna, Sweetcorn, Carrots, Eggs, Porridge Oats

Shopping List:

Milk £0.97

Bananas ( 10 - 1.72 kg) £1.17

Plums £1.00

Sweet Clementines (Marked down) £0.95

Onions £1.00

Garlic £0.25

Red Lentil 500 g £0.99

Harlequin Squash £0.60

Chopped Tomatoes £0.31

Knorr Chicken Stock Cubes (20) £2.99

Weetabix (24) £2.39

Yoghurts (2 x 4 Packs on offer) £2.00

Water £2.29

Isotonic Drinks £2.00

Genius Brown Bread £2.39

Chorizo 200 g (just over) £2.04

Peppers £1.75

Total £25.09

All of the above were bought from Morrisons on 26/10/13

The meals may be juggled around a little this week as I seem to have planned too much. So we had the Butternut squash and vegetable hash for lunch today and it was absolutely fantastic, I'll be sure to share this recipe with you soon as it was really tasty.

Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi

We had this gnocchi for dinner last night and it was just the right meal for a Friday night. It felt a little bit indulgent and was really tasty with the flavour of the 2 different cheeses coming through.It was just what I needed on a Friday night, was a brilliant substitute for a takeaway as well!

My other half made a cheese sauce to go with this, which went quite nicely with it. You've obviously got to be a cheese lover to eat this meal!

This recipe came from the BBC Good Food website, you can find the recipe here. If you would like to know how we made the cheese sauce then I can share this with you too.

I used Doves Farm gluten free plain flour in this recipe instead of standard plain flour. I also used frozen spinach as I have quite a bit to use up in the freezer (I find this easier to use as it keeps really well).

We're going to have a nice relaxing weekend, so I hope that you all are having a good weekend whatever you are doing.

Bacon Wrapped Pesto Chicken Breast and Roasted Vegetables

We both really enjoyed this last night and it was really simple to cook, it didn't take much looking after. The longest bit was the preparation. You could always save time on preparation if you're pushed for time, by getting a packet of pre-chopped vegetables from the supermarket.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 Chicken  Breasts, sliced down the middle to form a pocket

4 rashers of streaky bacon

2 Tbsp Pesto Light Soft Cheese (I bought this for £0.90 from Asda, but it's currently showing for £0.80 on asda.com (use enough to stuff the chicken)

1/2 Butternut Squash, peeled and diced
1 Medium Courgette, diced
1 Red Onion, sliced
1/2 tablespoon mixed herbs
Olive Oil

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.
2. Stuff each chicken breast with the Pesto Cheese, then wrap with 2 rashers of bacon. You can use cocktail sticks to secure.
3. Fry the chicken in a frying pan for a couple of minutes until the bacon is browned slightly.
4. Place on a baking tray.
5. Put the chopped vegetables in a baking tray. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the mixed herbs on top. 
6. Place the meat and vegetables in the oven for 30 minutes. Stir the vegetables half way through and cook until soft. Check the chicken is cooked through and juices are running clear before serving.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

As this is soup week for myself and Rob, one of the first soups on the list this week was Broccoli and Stilton Soup. This is one of our favourites, so we were looking forward to this. 

We doubled the quantities, as were going to freeze some soups to eat a later date. You can find the recipe that I used here from the BBC Good Food website.

It's not the first time I've used this recipe and it's definitely one I'll be using again. Instead of Stilton, I did use Castello Danish Blue Cheese as this was on offer for £1.00 for 150 g from Asda (when I bought it on 19/10/13).

Please also remember to use gluten free stock cubes, I normally use Knorr.

I urge you to give this a try, it doesn't take too long to cook and is nice a comforting on those cold nights!

Meal Plan 20/10/13 - 26/10/13

We're trying to eat more soups this week, as it's getting colder now and we are trying to keep the calories down a little. I'm also trying to make extra food so that we can freeze it as well, so that next week we won't have as much to make.

There is an extra meal being made this week, for the simple fact that I bought a marked down cooked chicken from Morrisons and decided to make a soup out of the rest (got to love home made chicken soup!)

Meal Plan 20/10/13 - 26/10/13

Leek, Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach Soup

Polish Sausage Soup

Chicken  Soup

 Broccoli and Stilton Soup

Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Pesto Cheese, bacon wrapped chicken with vegetables

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi

As mentioned above, some of the above will be used for meals for next week.

Breakfast: Cereal, Eggs, Bacon, Fruit

Lunch: Tuna Mayo / Egg & Bacon Sandwiches, Leftovers

Snacks: Bananas, Clementines

Leftovers:  Onions, Eggs, Lentils, Spinach, Rice noodles, Cereal, Flour

Milk £1.00

Organic Cornflakes £1.48

Bananas - 1.65 kg £1.12

Oranges (Smart Price) £0.60

Apples £1.00

Peppers £1.00

GF Bread £1.75

Broccoli (0.88 kg) £1.76

Celery £0.89

Potatoes £1.18

Frozen Peas £1.60

Butter £1.00

2 * Castello Blue Cheese 150 g £2.00

Garlic £0.30

Bovril Stock Cubes £0.92

1.2 kg Carrots £1.00

Shredded Kale 200g £0.95

Root Ginger - 0.045 kg £0.09

Frozen Sweetcorn £1.40

Mushrooms £0.79

Spring Onions £0.50

Mint £0.70

Chicken Fillets £3.79

Leeks £1.00

Smoked Middle Bacon £1.40

Lemons £1.00

2 x 4 Ski Yoghurt £2.00

Half Swede £0.61

Parsnip £0.33

Mature Cheddar Cheese £2.00

Chicken (Morrisons - marked down) £2.45

Natural Yoghurt £0.59

Low Fat Pesto Cheese £0.90

Parsley £0.70

Ricotta £1.00

Rocket £0.69

Kabanos £4.00

Butternut Squash - 1.14 kg £1.08

Courgette £0.52

2 * Sweetcorn £1.20

Red Onion £0.13

Tuna (2 * 400 g) £3.00

Total £51.42