Broccoli, Brie and Cherry Tomato Gratin

As I've been looking for some easy recipes this week and also thinking of a way to use up the rest of the Brie (aside from the bits I pinched when cooking.... oops!) I came across this recipe. I thought this seemed pretty simple, as well as a nice way to get in some veggies.

I did actually like this recipe and it was just what I needed, I think I would like to put some bacon bits into this as well for some extra flavour.

Ingredients:

200 g broccoli florets

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons of oil

80 g Brie, cut into small cubes

Salt and Pepper

Approx 8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 slice of gluten free bread, blitzed into crumbs

1 match box sized piece of cheese

2 garlic cloves

Bechamel Sauce:

20 g butter

20 g gluten free flour

300 ml milk

small handful of grated  cheese (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C fan, 200 C
2. Put the broccoli florets and onions into a baking dish, sprinkle with oil. Add the garlic cloves (skin on) and bake in the oven for approx 15 - 20 minutes.
3. While the broccoli is cooking, add the butter to a pan on a medium heat. Add the flour, stir through and cook for a few minutes. Take off the heat, add the milk. Stir through to avoid any lumps, put back onto the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. I added a small amount of grated cheese to the Bechamel sauce.
4. Blitz the bread with the cheese.
5. Take the broccoli out the oven, squeeze the garlic cloves and add to the broccoli mixture, discarding the skins. Add the Brie, cherry tomatoes and stir through. Sprinkle the crumb and cheese mixture on top of the broccoli, put back in the oven for approx 15 minutes.

Brie, Cherry Tomato and Basil Tagliatelle

I decided this week I would try out gluten free Tagliatelle in the fresh section of Asda. The pasta cooks in 3 minutes, so thought it would be a good for a quick after work meal.

The pasta in my opinion was quite nice, it really did just take 3 minutes to cook and with the Brie, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil it tasted really fresh. My idea of a good summer meal without too much fuss.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

100 g Tagliatelle

1 handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half

Approx 80 g of Brie, chopped into cubes

1 teaspoon of dried basil (you can use fresh if you have it)

Small glug of oil

1/2 teaspoon of garlic granules

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, add some salt into the water. Drain the pasta, keeping a little of the water from the pasta and tip back into the pan.
2. Keep the pan on the heat, add the tomatoes, Brie and basil, a little of the water that you have reserved and a little oil. 
3. Stir through the garlic granules, add more garlic if you like. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

You could add a little Parmesan cheese on top if you wanted to.

Meal Plan 07/07/13 - 13/07/13

As we ate out a couple of times this week, we had a couple of meals from this week leftover so we will be putting this back into this weeks meal plan.

Asda have started doing packs of  free from fresh pasta in the chilled section now, they have Tagliatelle which I've decided to try this week and also Penne. As I've been quite busy at work and expect this week to be no different, I thought that it would be good to have some very quick meals that I could make. The pasta only takes a few minutes to cook through, so I'm hoping that I will enjoy it.

Meal Plan 07/07/13 - 13/07/13

Chicken Thai Green Curry

Sausage and mixed bean casserole

Spicy Tomato, Bacon and Pea Tagliatelle

Cherry Tomato and Brie Tagliatelle with Basil

Broccoli, Brie and Spinach Gratin - Jamie Oliver

Baked Potatoes with Cheesy Beans

Item Price 

Gluten Free Bread £2.38 (I actually bought the fresher for longer dietary specials bread from Morrisons)

2 x packs of streaky bacon - £3 (Morrisons) 

Bag of Pink Lady Apples 1.49 (Morrisons) *

Milk - £1.00

Asda Chicken Selecton Pack (1.8 kg) - £5.00 ***

Sliced Ham - £1.00

French Brie - £1.00

Dressing - £0.50

2 x tins of chopped tomatoes - £0.62

Tuna (4 cans) - £4.00

Beans (Fridge Pack) - £1.00

Free From Tagliatelle - £1.72

Sweetcorn x 2 - £1.00

4 x Baking Potatoes - £1.15

Mixed Peppers - £1.00

Broccoli - £0.60

Lettuce x 2 - £1.00

Gluten Free Plain Flour - £1.65

Reduced Bananas (Apprpx 2 kg) £0.30 **

Cherry Tomatoes - £1.00

Red Onion x 2 (0.265 kg) - £0.21

Bananas (1.220 kg) - £0.83

Gluten Free Choc Star cereal - £2.00

Cucumber - £0.50

Gluten Free Butchers Sausages - £1.70

Total £35.65

Breakfast: Cereals, Eggs, Toast. Banana Bread

Lunch: Leftovers, Sandwiches, Salad with Tuna or Chicken

Snacks: Apples, bananas, satsumas

Leftovers:  Peas, Cereal, Chicken, Sausages, Mixed Beans, Cheese, Eggs

* I saw these on offer and as it was a good deal and as I normally buy these apples, I decided to use get them from Morrisons

** They have large bags of bruised bananas for sale at reduced prices, I decided to get one of these and I'm going to make some banana bread later on in the week

*** I've got this chicken mainly to use with the salads, but I do expect to have some left for next week. I'm going to portion the chicken up and put it into the freezer.

Prices correct at time of writing - 07/07/13

Menu 30/06/13 - 06/07/13

With my other half starting his new job this month, it's been a bit tighter on the old purse strings than usual.

I've tried to keep the cost of this weeks meals down.

We bought some meat from the market last weekend, so we've used up these leftovers in this weeks menu. 

We are eating at mum's for Sunday lunch, so we only have 6 meals this week. We're eating some leftovers from last week's meal for dinner.

Meal Plan 30/06/13 - 06/06/13

Creamy Crab and Pea Spaghetti

Sweet Chilli Pork Stir Fry

Chicken Thai Green Curry

Courgette and Pea Risotto

Bacon, Pea and Cheese Sauce Spaghetti

Sausage and mixed bean casserole

Item Price 

Gluten Free Bread £2.00

Milk £1.00

Bananas (8 - approx 1.36 kg) £0.92

Pink Lady Apples ( 6 apples - approx 0.96 kg) £3.59

Onions £1.00

Crème Fraiche £1.10

Crab Meat £1.06

Coconut Milk - Light £1.40

Coriander £0.78

Sweet Chilli Stir Fry Sauce £1.20

1 Courgette (0.22 kg) £0.35

Bacon (2 for £4) £4.00

Salad Cream £0.58

Sweetcorn £1.00

Red onion (0.13 kg - approx weight) £0.10

Chopped Tomatoes £0.31

Cucumber £0.50

3 Mixed Peppers £1.00

Lettuce ( 2 at a price of 50 p each) £1.00

Sliced Meat £1.00

2 Heinz Veg Soup £1.20

Extra Mature Cheese - 200 g £1.50

Honey mustard dressing - 250 ml £0.90

Gluten Free Sausage £1.70

Risotto Rice £1.10

Stir fry vegetables £1.20

Total  £31.59

All of the above were correct on 30/06/13 on asda.com

Leftovers: Peas, Cereal, chilli, chicken, rice, Pork, Spaghetti, Hard Cheese, Frozen mixed vegetables, Eggs, Lemongrass, flour

Snacks: Apple or Banana

Breakfast: Cereal, Egg, Toast, Sausages, Bacon

There are ways you can still bring down the cost of the above, such as buying cheaper apples. We really like these apples in particular, so tend to buy these.

Purple Majesty Potatoes

When strolling through Asda this week, I saw that Purple Majesty Potatoes were £1 for 1.25 kg (true at time of writing 29/06/13). I'd never tried them before, so decided it would be nice go give these a try and see what they are like. I must admit, that they looked good when they were peeled and chopped.

I tried mine mashed and I think they had a nice taste to them and mashed really well. They went well with my bangers, mash and onion gravy. 

They were slightly lighter after cooking and mashing, but still kept their purple colour. All in all, a nice potato and one that I will be using again.

Salty Crispy Chicken and Gluten Free Egg Fried Rice

This is one of those recipes I found whilst browsing the internet one day, I've watched a few of Ching He Huang's programmes and I've got the book which her and Ken Hom have done. I quite like her recipes and this one in particular caught my eye, as it seemed really easy. I also love chicken thigh fillets, as I find them much more succulent that chicken breasts.

Home made egg fried rice is also really good and a treat for me as normal soy sauce is a no go for most people going gluten free. If I have a little bit it wont hurt me too much, as I'm not Coeliac but too much does affect me... particularly my stomach! 

You can find the salty crispy chicken recipe here , I did make a couple of changes :

• I used gluten free soy sauce (available in most larger supermarkets now)
• I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut them into thin strips. I prefer them like this, as they are great dipped in some sweet chilli sauce.
• I used plain gluten free flour instead of potato flour, as I didn't have any of this in the cupboard.

For the Egg Fried Rice (Serves 4):

• 1 mug of Basmati rice (cooked)
• 1 handful of Frozen Peas
•  1 - 2 tablespoons of Gluten Free Soy Sauce
• Approx 1 tablespoon of Sesame Oil
• 3 Eggs

Method:

1. Beat the eggs, add to a heated wok. Add the rice to the pan, then add the soy sauce, sesame oil, frozen peas.
2. Cook the peas through, you can add more sesame oil or soy sauce if you think it needs it.
3. Serve with the Salty, Crispy, Chicken.

Meal Plan 23/06/13 - 29/06/13

I've planned our meals for next week, but it's not entirely finished yet as I haven't been shopping. I thought I would still share what meals I was going to have and I'll update with the other details later. I did take a visit to the market at the weekend though and I got some good deals on some meat as we went in the afternoon.

Meal Plan 23/06/13 - 29/06/13

• Feta Cheese, Tuna and Avocado  Salad, Balsamic & Olive Oil
• Mixed Bean and Sausage Casserole
• Honey, Soy Sauce and Garlic Pork Steaks, Carrots, Broccoli
• Bangers and Mash with Carrots and Onion Gravy
• Beef Fajitas
• Tapas Night: Paella, Patatas Bravas, Spanish Ham Selection, Manchego Cheese, Garlic Prawns
• Salty Crispy chicken, Egg Fried Rice