The "Help Shiny To Feed Her Family" thread...

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

..if I may be so self-centred!

From today it's just me and the kids for the first time ever, and DH always did all the cooking and was rather good at it whereas I think I may be rather crap - in fact I know I am - because it wasn't/isn't something I've had to do, ever really.. or since DS1 was small... and I was no good at it then!

So I was wondering if I could tap into the vast amount of Mumsnet knowledge in this area and people could maybe post me some recipes/ideas/Idiot Proof instructions for family meals..

They need to be..

• Easy (don't underestimate the extent of my ineptitude (sp?) in the kitchen, but I imagine I will improve.. I need to - FAST!
• As inexpensive as possible. We have a small budget. (But years of being fed by DH means I won't/don't intend to feed us all the cheapest of stuff.. eg Asda SmartPrice full of hydrogenated rubbish..
• Varied. I am very afraid we will end up eating the same few things every week because I am unable to cook anything else! Please help me to avoid that..
• Quick - or quickish. Although I have never cooked, I have always been very busy doing lots of other things.. so I have never had to fit this into my day before - and I don't anticipate becoming an earth mother any time soon - I just want to be competent and ABLE to feed them adqequately, without using Crispy Pancakes (I have bought some ) every day!

The kids are quite nervous about this aspect of our new family arrangement.. they know I am crap in the kitchen. When they were smaller they used to cry if I cooked.. before I even put it on the table and their taste buds confirmed their suspicions!!

They are no very special dietary requirements anymore. DS2 (8) used to be dairy/egg intolerant but is very newly, not, apparently!
DS1 (16) (who has cystic fibrosis) needs lots of fat and callories but I know how to bump up his calorie/fat content in his portions and he supplments heavily with "junk" food (not junk to him, he needs it)
DD (9) and I aren't fussy at all.

If you have an easy/nutritious recipe, please would you post indiot proof instructions to help me to become a self sufficent independant single mum!

Thanking you in advance Do appeciate it. Had been putting the cooking aspect out of my mind, what with the trauma-aspect of his moving out.. but today he goes.. and I have to think about it!

Going to work my way through these btw.

James, waht temp should the oven go on for saus casserole? (I know nothing! But not for long...)

Watch sales and buy in bulk when you can and freeze what you don't need straight away.

Whenever you use mince eg chilli, cottage pie etc add also red lentils. They are a wee bit smaller than dahl lentils.

This makes mince go further while adding fibre and also protein. You can get an extra serving out of your ususal recipe for 'free' (well pennies anyway! )

hth

HELP please re the sausage casserole that is in the oven.

I part-boiled the veg and fried sausages before putting them in casserole dish and putting them in the oven. The oven is on 180 degrees ish. I now intend to leave it there til we eat later (five ish). Do I need to turn the oven down a bit? It won't burn will it?

I would turn it down as it wont take longto cook

No ... don't do 3 hours at 180 - it'll all dry up. Probably needs about an hour at 180-200. If you're putting it in now, turn it right down to 100 ish.

Thanks have turned down to 100.

It smells gorgeous.

I think I might make a chicken casserole tommorrow as I got some nice chicken earlier..

Amazing how much.. self respect or something, cooking a half-decent meal has made me feel (although we have yet to eat it of course!)

Please keep adding idiot proof family meals..

Lots of easy chicken casserole meals - basic premise is chicken, onion, other veggies (if you feel like it), herbs/spices and then something to cook it in.

eg Chicken, onion (fried), squash cooked with stock and wine
or Chicken, courgettes, onion, tinned tomatoes and a bit of water
or
Chicken, onions, mushrooms, tomatoe paste cooked with stock and wine.

I'd also experiment with some easy peasy pasta sauces:

• fried bacon on pasta tossed with pesto
• fry onion and bacon together, then some mushrooms when they're done.
• My favourite idiot proof sausage pasta that tastes more impressive than it is and is good for semi occassions where you want to look a bit better without actually going the whole hog:

fry chopped sausage (or even pork mince) with a large teaspoon of fennel seeds. Add the zest of a lemon and a few chilli flakes (to taste). Then put in 100ml each of white wine and milk and let it buble away for 1 - 10 minutes (depending on speed and how runny you like it). Then add a tablespoon of creme fraiche, stir, and serve with pasta.

I was making this yesterday and thinking how scrummy and nutricious and even better, cheap is:

Mexican bean soup ~

Fry a chopped onion, two garlic cloves, and three chopped chillies in 3 tbspoons of oil, till soft.

Add two tins of kidney beans and two tins of chopped tomatoes (I use asda value ones aned they're fine) and stir for a few minutes.

Add 1 1/2 pints of veg or chicken stock and the juice of two limes, and leave to simmer for about 25 minutes.

When it's cooled, woosh it in a blender if you've got one, or else you can jut eat it 'rustic'. Add coriander when you eat it if you like it.

Very, very filling, lovely and warming with crusty bread. Horrendous farty after effects though but worth it!

Just use one or two chillies to start with maybe depending on how hot you like things.

There are some wonderful videos online that actually show you how to do basic stuff i.e. making an omlette - which is a basic, really fast filling blardy good for you supper/tea.

Stick some cheese and mushrooms in and you have protien and veg with eggs all on one plate.

Think really simple {grin] dc love simple

Sausages and mash potato, use veggie sausages add aunt bessies yorkshire puddings and make granule gravy and some vegtables on the side. My dd loves mint sauce with this meal.

Jacket potato, prick with a fork and put in the oven on gas 5 for one and a half hours. Serve with a varity of fillings and butter.

Cheese and beans (beans count as a vegtable portion)Tuna and mayo, the list goes on

Pasta, and pesto. This is jar pesto not homemade. Pesto in jars is ok and added to cooked pasta in teaspoon measures one teaspoon per person and weigh the pasta to get the correct amount (it says on the packet how much per person) swirl it around in the cooked drained pasta saucepan and then add a tablespoon of creame fraiche. Cheese grated on top if you like. This takes about 10 minutes in total to make.

Sometimes I add chopped cherry tomatos, fried bacon bits or sweetcorn - froozen is wonderful cos you just add it to the pasta pan

omlette I never flip I just pop the pan under the grill for literally two minutes and then continue.

chicken dish I would used skined chicken thighs, as they are far cheaper - only have one bone so mostly meat making them a good quantity buy. Croutons are so easy to make - cut bread sliced into cubes toss in a bowl with oil and garlic and place cubes on baking tray for 20 minutes on gas5.

I can't really do chicken thighs as the kids (and me really if I'm honest) don't like chicken on the bone. I know that's quite decandant of us

Pie and mash tonight.. the kids wanted it, so I 'll cook something "decent" again tomorrow

You can get boneless chicken thighs which are still cheaper than chicken breasts.

I wasn't being a snob of any kind Fio (ha! Me?! Inverted one maybe according to various thread of the past) but I jsut know the kids will turn their snotty noses up at chicken on the bone. Blame the H!! He has certainly fed us well over the years.. but probably a reason why we are so financially f*cked!!

Boneless chicken thighs worth a go though, Do I.. er.. ask for them at the butchers?

Hi Shiny...easy and yummy chicken recipe for you to try:

YOU WILL NEED:

• pan with lid that has a wide base and sides at least 3 inches tall
• chicken breast for all family
• 1 large carton of fresh orange juice
• A bunch of tarragon
• salt/pepper
• small carton of creme fraiche

Start cooking this about 2hours before you want to eat. The longer it cooks the yummier it is.

• take pack of chicken breasts (enough for each of your family...and spare if you want to freeze or have hungry children!)
• heat olive oil in bottom of wide, deepish pan (at least 3inches deep)
• place chicken breasts in pan until just browned - not cooked all the way through, but until all meat looks white
• turn heat right down to low
• add 1 large carton of fresh orange juice - enough to cover the chicken completely
• chop up a bunch of fresh tarragon (into large pieces, say an inch long) and add to orange/chicken.
• add a little salt and pepper
• put lid on pan and simmer (ie just little bubbles round edge of pan
• check occasionally and trun chicken so it doesn't stick to bottom of dish. Add a splash more orange juice if it looks like it's drying out.
• about 15mins before you're ready to eat, add carton of creme fraiche to chicken/orange and stir through. The liquid should have the consistency of thick gravy/pasta sauce.

The chicken will be very tender and seriously yummy from poaching in orange juice.

Serve with rice and nice green vegetable, say broccoli.

Let me know if it works out! :-)

Mmm Flirty that sounds yum!

It's a Flirty family favourite and SO easy!
To be honest, you can even serve this to dinner guests...always goes doen well.
Good luck! x

That sounds very yummy, Flirty.

Shiny, I buy the boneless chicken thighs from Tesco - I don't know who else might do them. If you have a reasonably-priced butcher you could ask them (I don't), but the price at Tesco is 4.98 a kilo - about twice the price of a large pack of thighs with skin and bones included but cheaper than chicken breasts.

Chicken thighs are very easy to skin and take the bone out.

Cook the chicken thighs slowly and before you serve take the skin off and take the bone out - if the chicken is cooked slowly then the bone can be taken out with a fork and also the skin.

Keeps the price down and no need to use a knife.