Due Nov 08 - Survival recipes for post baby

[vbab78]

Please post any recipe suggestions or ideas that you think are quick, easy and delish. Ideally which can be frozen to aid survival in those first hectic and exhausting weeks when baby is home!

actually, that's a really good point... my ds had bad reflux and really couldn't tolerate my breastmilk if i had eaten green veg (among many other things as time progressed). so my broccoli soup would be out

Those last two posts have given me pause for thought... And DH who does a lot of the cooking in our house
Hopefully this recipe is not too spicy. It's a favourite in our house and as well as beef you could make it with chicken. You can also leave out the dumplings if you can't be bothered to make them (although I have to say they're very nice!) Freezes well too.
Anthony Worrall Thompson's fruity beef casserole with parsley dumplings
Jamie Oliver's fish pie is fab too - I'll check which book it's in

Chicken supreme (very 1970's but very easy and yummy)

4 chicken breasts/pieces
1 can condensed mushroom soup
1 tbsp flour
1 pot of creme fraiche
1 cup (150 mls ish) chicken stock or white wine
salt and pepper
crushed cornflakes.
pieces of butter

mix soup, flour, creme fraiche, stock or wine and salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Pour over chicken breasts in ovenproof dish. Sprinkle crushed cornflakes over the top and dot with butter pieces.

Bake for 1.5 hours in oven at 180 degrees C. Serve with rice and green beans.

Very simple

Also classic beef stew:

large chunk of Butter
Onion chopped
Heap of sliced stewing beef
Can of strong lager
bay leaf
thick slice farmhouse bread
dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Fry onions in butter til golden. Add stewing beef and brown on all sides.
Spread mustard on slice of bread and place on top of beef. Pour lager over top add bay leaf and seasoning and bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover pan with lid and let simmer for an hour till bread has dissolved and thickened into a gravy. Stir.

Great and almost better if served next day or after freezing.

meant to say white farmhouse bread - wholemeal won't work...

Flapjack recipe - for getting extra fibre during pregnancy (and after if you can handle the golden syrup guilt trip!)

Makes about 15, 2.5in flapjacks

Ingredients
500g oats
200g butter (can substitute up to 100g with margarine if you want it healthier)
4 tablespoons golden syrup
160g brown sugar
Pinch of salt

Optional Ingredients
Dried fruit - cranberries, apricots, raisins etc
Nuts - chopped hazelnuts are good
Linseed - replace 100g of oats with 100g of Linseed (good source of essential fatty acids)

Cooking
Preheat oven (gas mark 5, 220 C)

1. Over a low heat melt the butter in a deep saucepan
2. add the sugar and golden syrup and stir well
3. Mix in the oats and Linseed.
4. add a pinch of salt and continue to stir
5. Add in any dried fruits / nuts (I don't usually measure these, just throw in what I want)
6. spread the mixture evenly over a non stick baking tray. Smooth over with a knife making sure the mixture is even
7. Place the baking tray onto the middle shelf in the oven for 15 minutes, checking the progress regularly. Take out when the mixture starts turning a golden brown.
8. Stand for a minute or two, then score the mixture with a knife into you portions
9. Cover the tray with something light such as a few pieces of kitchen roll and leave for a couple of hours

PS - don't use baking paper to line the tray as I did yesterday as it sticks to the flapjack - doh!

Mushroom made up but yummy thingy

So I made this last night and its a bit of an amalgamation of a Jamie Oliver mushroom risotto recipe with my own variation. Its basically a really yummy mushroom mixture which you can eat with anything - we had it last night with a jacket potato and green salad.

As usual - I'm not a fan of counting / measuring ingredients too much so if you don't like something take it out or if you do add more - here is a guess-timate of the portions I used.

Ingredients
Makes enough for 2 big servings - so if you want more just increase sizes.

For making in advance/freezing
Box of mixed mushrooms - portobello, chestnut (whatever you like)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic - peeled and halved
Thyme leaves - handful
S&P
Butter - big knob (couldn't help giggling when I wrote that )
Olive Oil

On the day ingredients
Flat leaf parsley - handful, chopped finely
Creme fraiche - 2 big spoonfuls.
Squeeze of lemon juice to taste

Cooking

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees (fan).
2. On a baking tray fry the mushrooms and onions on the hob with a splash of Olive Oil for 1-2 mins until coloured.
3. Remove from the hob and add the thyme leaves, garlic, butter and season.
4. Put in the oven for 10 mins. Once cooked you can freeze this mixture until you want to use it. If you do this prior to using reheat mixture.
5. Remove mixture from heat (removing the halved garlic cloves) and add the parsley, creme fraiche and lemon juice.
6. Mix together and serve with buttery jacket potato and crisp green salad.

Then Enjoy!

Right here is my Chicken Chasni. It comes from the Glasgow Ashoka Currybook originally.

Main reason for delay is I couldn't find this thread for ages (would help if I knew how to bookmark them but I don't!)

Obviously this makes a rather sweet dish so I tend to add less of the chutney/tomato sauce than is specified to suit my own taste. Suitable for freezing.

2 Chicken breasts diced
1 onion diced
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric
200g mango chutney
225g tomato ketchup
small carton of cream/creme fraiche
1 tsp lemon juice
optional 2 tsp mint
optional almond flakes toasted under grill

Fry onion in pan til soft then remove from pan.
Fry the chicken in mixture of butter and oil.
Add onion back to pan.
Add chilli powder and turmeric and stir in well.
Pour in the mango chutney & tomato ketchup.
When all mixed and let bubble for a min then turn down heat and add cream, lemon and opt mint.

Serve with rice, popadoms,naan whatever you like and sprinkle toasted almonds over curry if using them.

In fact I use a lot LESS Mango Chutney and Tomato Ketchup!!

liking this thread v much. i am particularly hunting for recipes which involve throwing lots of stuff in a pan/ into oven and leaving it - ds2 not keen on me doing anything too interesting on the hob while he sits in his chair... so neither of these are ready in seconds, but they require very little attention:

oven baked tomato risotto

350ml veg stock
200ml tomato passata
4oz arborio rice
frozen sweet corn and peas (half a mugful of each)
black pepper
basil & oregano
half tsp sugar

all into pan. bring to boil. transfer into oven at 175C. cook 20 mins, stir, cook 20 mins, done! makes enough for me and ds1 for lunch - he eats almost adult portions. serve with grated parmesan.

baked veg with halloumi and bulgur wheat

1 aubergine
2 courgettes
1 red pepper
200g mushrooms
Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, black pepper
1 packet halloumi cheese
Half a large mugful bulgur wheat
Veg stock powder/ cube

Preheat oven to 200C. Chop veg into chunks. Put in oven proof dish, drizzle on oil, vinegar and add pepper. Stir. Bake 20 mins. Stir around, add cubed cheese, bake another 20 mins. Meanwhile cook bulgur wheat: boil water with teaspoon of veg stock added, cook bulgur for ca. 10 mins or until done Drain and mix together with veg and cheese in big bowl. Very nice at room temp or even cold, so you can cook it earlier in the day and leave it for tea. serves 2 hungry adults!