Tag Archives: easy recipes

Easy Recipes For Quick Savoury Snacks Or Meals

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When you have a busy schedule it’s not always easy to find time to shop for, prepare and cook hot, healthy meals with fresh food. I’ve certainly found that anyway. Rather than go down the microwave ready meal route I’ve got a few favourite easy recipes that I make if I haven’t got much time and the ingredients are usually already there in my cupboards. Following you will find my 3 favourite quick and easy recipes:

Spaghetti And Cheese On Toast

My scary ex mother in law introduced me to this snack. It’s hard not to think about her when I prepare and eat it but it hits the spot and tastes so good that the memories fade into a delicious oblivion.

Ingredients:

Tin of Spaghetti or Spaghetti Hoops – whatever size or brand you prefer. I use Heinz.
Bread For Toasting – I use wholemeal but any will suit
Cheese – Cheddar is best and I use low fat
Spread – Optional but I use low fat.

Method

Lightly toast your bread and at the same time heat the spaghetti up, but don’t overheat. Grate enough cheese for your needs. Put a thin layer of spread on your toast and then cover with the warm spaghetti. Cover the spaghetti with grated cheese and then pop under the grill until the cheese is melted to your taste. Transfer to a warm plate and eat.

That’s a really quick, filling and easy recipe and you can either make it as a snack with one round of toast or a meal with 2 rounds of toast.

Jacket Potato With Tomatoes, Cheese & Onion

After I got divorced I was broke and needed to add cheap but nutritious meals to the menu, and as I was working 2 jobs the meals had to be quick to prepare and energy giving. This was one of the cheapest meals that I made and it never got boring.

Ingredients:

Large Baking Potato
Tin Of Plum Or Chopped Tomatoes
Small Very Finely Chopped Onion Or Dried Onions
Grated Or Crumbled Cheese – whichever you prefer

Method

Either bake the potato for 50 minutes or microwave for 7 minutes. Slit the cooked potato open and place the onions in the slit. Cover the onions with cheese and pour the tomatoes on top. Place in microwave and cook on full power for 3-4 minutes.

I’ve sometimes added cooked, sliced mushrooms instead of or with the onions, or used low fat cheese slices instead of grated cheese. I also use baked beans instead of tomatoes on occasion.

Really Super Noodles

I experimented and added to a tip in a magazine for this quick meal.

Ingredients:

Pack Of Bachelors Barbeque Beef Super Noodles
Tin Of Plum Or Chopped Tomatoes
2 Cooked Sliced Sausages
Dried Onions

Method

Break up and place the noodles in a pan with the included flavouring. Add a small amount of dried onions and add the tinned tomatoes instead of water. Stir and keep stirring while bringing to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes and then add the cooked, sliced sausages. Simmer for another couple of minutes and your very quick meal is ready.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can experiment with different ingredients and still get a tasty meal. For instance sometimes I add pre cooked beef strips instead of sausages, or I use chicken flavoured noodles and pre cooked chicken strips and leave out the onions.

Health & Diet

I suppose that it depends how you look at it, or how you prepare the meals whether you think they are healthy or not. The meals have varying amounts of carbohydrates, protein, calcium and iron and we need them all to live.

Are they fattening? Rigid dieters might say yes but I don’t think so as long as you don’t over eat and you swap ingredients for low fat alternatives. In fact I have included these meals when dieting and lost weight while feeling well and healthy.

I hope that you enjoy my favourite savoury snacks or meals and if you want more great Easy Recipes or even a free Yorkshire Pudding Recipe just click on the links.

Easy Recipes: Yorkshire Pudding Filling & Scone Topping

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yorkshirerecipesWhen you think about it Yorkshire Pudding batter mix is quite versatile and can be used in lots of savoury and sweet recipes. Pancakes are a firm favourite come Shrove Tuesday and they can be turned into a savoury pancakes quite easily if you add fish, cooked meat, vegetables or chicken mixed with white sauce.

I’ve got a pretty tasty recipe for Fruit Batter Pudding and I love Toad in the Hole. One of my favourite warming winter meals is a giant Yorkshire Pudding filled with onion gravy and I’ve even had Yorkshire puddings in a Chinese restaurant but that’s another story.

I have had mince and onions in giant Yorkshire puds in cafes but I’ve never been very keen on mince finding it tasteless unless you add flavourings. What I do like is Yorkshires filled with savoury mince and following you will find the recipe that I use, plus a scone topping recipe:

Savoury Mince Recipe

Before you start prepare and place giant Yorkshires in oven unless you are using the frozen kind.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

3 large carrots

1 large onion or leek

1 lb (½ kg) minced beef

400g can of chopped tomatoes

60z (150g) garden peas

small can sweetcorn drained

4 oz (100g) mushrooms sliced

½ pint beef stock

pinch of mixed herbs (optional)

2 tablespoons Worcester Sauce (optional)

Cooking oil or lard

Method:

Dice the carrots and slice the onions then fry them together in a saucepan until lightly browned. Take out of pan and drain well. Fry the mince until evenly browned and drain the fat out before adding the carrots, onions, tomatoes and juice, peas, sweetcorn, sliced mushrooms, beef stock and herbs if you are using them.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. When cooked I usually stir in a couple of tablespoons of Worcester sauce for added flavour but it still tastes good without.

To Serve:

Ladle savoury mince into Giant Yorkshire Puddings which should have been cooking at the same time as your savoury mince. Or you can use this recipe as a delicious jacket potato filler and grate a little cheese for the topping.

Cooking Alternatives:

I’ve made this recipe in a slow cooker or crockpot, pressure cooker, microwave and in the oven and it’s been delicious every time. For different meal choices I’ve topped this dish with dumplings, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes and the following tasty scone topping which can be used for this dish, beef or sausage casseroles.

Scone Topping

Prepare savoury mince, beef or sausage casserole and place in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:

6 oz (175g) plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

20z (50g) margarine

Approx 1 tablespoon milk

Optional:

20z (50g) grated cheese

and/or 1 oz (25g) dried onions

Method:

Mix flour with baking powder and rub the margarine in until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs. If using mix in the grated cheese and/or the dried onions at this point. Add enough milk to make a soft dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface until about ½ inch thick.

Cut into rounds with a pastry cutter and place on top of your prepared dish, brush with a little milk and bake for 15 minutes at 200° C, 400° F or Gas Mark 6.

Alternatively you can cut the scone mix into one large round and use as if it’s a pie topping and scatter the grated cheese on top instead of using it in the scone mix. This way would require adding at least another 10 minutes onto the baking time.

There you have it a delicious savoury mince recipe to go with your Yorkshire Puddings or baked potatoes and a tasty topping as an alternative, enjoy your meal!

If you want more great Easy Recipes or even a free Yorkshire Pudding Recipe just click on the links.