Whats your cheat ingredient or recipe you would be ashamed to reveal?

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Mine is pasta caronara- with the sauce bit made from adding any old grated cheese (usually cheddar ) to creme fraiche til it melts. Absolutely gorgeous, everyone loves it but I would be soo ashamed to reveal that my carbonara sauce contains cheddar cheese!

Whats your secret?!

I can't make white sauce - so I use granules That's more shaming that making up a perfectly good sauce recipe that everyone loves!!

yorkshire puds from the frozen aisle!! I can't do yorkshire puds to save my life, they always end up burnt, or rock solid, or flat as a pancake, no matter what I try

I cant make white sauce either! thats why i use creme fraiche and cheddar...millions of italian mammas must be turning in their graves as we speak.

for a mushroom sauce i use a tin of condensed mushroom soup with a little milk and white wine if we have any. I have to say, it tastes exactly the same as the very expensive tub of fresh mushroom sauce I bought from M & S when the PILs came.

Oh god yes frozen yorkshire puds- what would i do withiout aunt bessie? i can testify though that her apple pie is not pleasant.

lucysmam you need to borrow my dp his are lovely

I sometimes add a tin of lentils to minced beef based meals to make it stretch if I have unexpected visitors.

Your 'cheat' sounds nice notamumyetbutoneday, think I'll try it.

Chilli con carne using Morrison's kidney beans in chilli sauce. I make it in the usual way using proper ingredients but instead of using plain kidney beans use these. Everyone loves it!

ooh thats a good tip king rolo! does that mean they you dont drain the kidney beans before adding them to the chilli?

Is he free on Sunday Curiousmama? About 3pm ish? Could do with some nice yorkshires to go with the joint we're treating ourselves to

I use soups for sauces sometimes too notamumyetbutoneday, works well and nobody can ever tell.

I have never had a problem with Yorkshire puddings. Maybe because I'm a Yorkshire lass?

You just tip the whole tin in the pan - works a treat!

Oh, here's another! (I'm not a good cook - can you tell ?).

Philadelphia instead of proper cheese sauce in pasta dishes. Works really well with bacon and leeks.

he he thank you HopefortheBest- Im thinking spaghetti a la cheddarino?

KingRolo, I'm a Yorkshire lass too, just rubbish at yorks puds. Philly with bacon & leeks as a sauce for pasta sounds a good one

Pork steaks/chops (or whatever) in barbecue sauce. Just splash the meat with Worcestershire sauce, then a dollop of whatever bottle of table barbecue sauce you have in the fridge (used Sainsbury's own), turn so that the meat is coated and then roast slowly in the oven till lovely and sticky.

Mmm, bbq chops sound nice!

big blob of tomato ketchup in bolognaise/shepherds/pie/beef stew sauce....

I always use frozen chopped onions in most recipes because I hate chopping onions

ok, we need a yorkshire pudding masterclass here....

1: buy new non-stick yorks pud tins. go on, do it now!

2: Make mix in advance ( 4 tablespns plain flour, pinch salt, 1 egg, half pint milk. Mix well. PUT IN FRIDGE!

3: Put oil in tins in hot oven for around 10 mins. Then add your fridge cold mix. Put in oven for at least 20 mins before you even think about opening oven door to check on roast .

35 mins later, take out gorgeous fluffy yorkshires.

Lol HopeForTheBest. You must live near me.

I second the bob of tomato sauce in bolognaise/shepherdspie etc + a dash of worchester sauce too.

My worst cheat is to pour a made up packet of Schwartz mushroom, garlic and cream sauce over chicken, leeks and brocolli, cover with fresh breadcrumbs and cheese and bung it in oven.

The salt content in the sauce must be criminal

blob not bob!

I was helping the kids make some cakes last week and ran out of vanilla essence for the buttercream icing, so I used custard powder instead. Worked surprisingly well...

I also routinely bung Bisto Onion Gravy granules in casseroles as a thickener; I can do a roux, but I can never be arsed.