Oaty Banana Muffins

Oaty banana muffins

200g plain flour
80g porridge oats
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
175ml milk
75ml vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g mashed banana

Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla. Add the mashed banana and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases and divide the batter among them.
Bake at 200 C / Gas 6 for 18 to 20 minutes.

Slow cooker fruit cake

Slow cooker fruit cake

Recipe was sent to me so its in ounces
12oz Mixed Dried Fruit (I used sultanas) 4oz Caster Sugar 4oz Butter/Margarine 1/4 pint of Water 1 egg 8oz Self Raising Flour Place fruit, sugar, water and margarine in a pan, simmer with lid on for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and add beaten egg and stir in flour. pour into a greaseproof paperlined slow cooker and cook on high for 2-2.5 hours

Chorizo & potato gratin.

Chorizo & potato gratin.
Suitable for diabetics.
Total sugars 5.2g (that's overall per serving, not per 100g).
Cost: £2-3 overall (so 43p per serving for us) with full price goods.

Slice and par boil 2 x medium potatoes per person (I did 14). Drain and layer half on a tray, spoon over some onion fried with some chorizo and a little garlic, add another layer of potatoes. Pour over 300ml double cream. Season and sprinkle with a little cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

It might appear to be a lot of potato but it isnt. Sliced potato looks loads Serve with a generous serving of steamed broccoli.

Maccy D Breakfast

Maccy D breakfast for my lot is £15.92 for single Sausage and egg muffins or a whopping £26.32 for the 'meal' but I made 8 muffins for £3.08 - that's 38p each. For another quid I could have done coffee and hash browns but my lot don't need a huge breakfast. It's even cheaper if you pick up SC muffins which freeze nicely and defrost in the toaster when you need them.
Sausage: weigh 8 value sausages and strip from skins. Mine were about 400g. Add a small cup of onions, 1.5% sage (6g) and 1% yeast extract (4g) - yes, that's marmite. Blitz it together and form into 8 patties.
Egg: fry in an egg ring, add some water to the outside of the rings and put a lid on the pan. This poaches the top quickly.
Muffins: split, toast, add a cheese slice.
Assemble and enjoy.

Boozy Beef

Every party seems to have someone who will leave behind a bottle of dodgy tasting Ale (often low alcohol) that sits in your fridge for all eternity because nobody wants to try it. So here's what to do with it.

You will need:

Stewing beef (can often be found cheap in shit corner) £2.90
Couple of carrots 26p
Celery 12p
Mushrooms 40p
Onion 8p
Garlic 5p
Stock cubes or spoonful of bovril
Bottle of ale or stout (free from friend with questionable taste in alcohol)
Potatoes 30p
Peas 20p
Total cost = under a fiver

Brown the meat in a large pan for a few mins. Add the chopped onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms and carrots. Fry for another couple of mins then add the ale. Top up with a little water and bring to the boil. Add a good dollop of bovril or beef stock. Season with salt and pepper and reduce the heat right down so it's just simmering lightly with the lid on. Cook for around an hour until the beef is so soft you could chew it with your tongue.
Serve with mash and peas. 

You can also make this with red wine instead of ale. Add streaky bacon at the start and you've got yourself a boeuf bourguignon.
A handy hint for cheap cooking wine is don't throw away red wine that's been open a couple of days and tastes like vinegar. It may not be any good for drinking but it will be fine to cook with for weeks as long as the lid is on. You can even add the dregs of another bottle to it. 

Chicken Pakora

Chicken, breast/leg meat bone out, owt you have, raw in 1'' by 4 '' lumps. If you want MASSIVE pakora, you need to simmer the chicken for 5 mins first to cook, so it isnt still raw in the middle. 1 inch will cook thru, but no thicker. Lets say 1 big breast cut up..

Batter:
3 well heaped dessertspoons gram flour (chick pea flour..yes you need it!, its cheap at the asian shop, you cant sub for wheat flour, it doesnt taste the same)
1 level teaspoon chili flake/powder, and 1 of ground coriander
1 of salt and baking powder if you fancy the salt is a flavour enhancer, the baking powder makes the batter fluff up a bit.. your choice.
1/2 of turmeric and 1/2 of garam masala
optional.. dollop of mango chutney and fresh coriander leaf.
cold water to make to thick batter.
Well dry chicken, dust in cornflour to make really dry.. dip in thick batter and fry in med/hot oil til well golden/red brown.

Slow cooker Beef and tomato stew

Slow cooker Beef and tomato stew.. 5 hours high, 8 low

stewing beef cubes (or Aberdeen angus if you got lucky in the coop..) about 500g
6 big spuds peeled cut in big lumps
1 swede in medium lumps
1-2 onions sliced
can of chopped toms
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon dry rosemary
1 beef stock cube (not entirely sure this was needed, I just hoyed it in)
1 heaped dessertspoon plain flour mixed to paste with cold water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt/pepper ( about 1 teaspoon salt and a lot of pepper)
about 1/2-3/4 pint hot water.. good stir..

Slow cooked sausage casserole.

Slow cooked sausage casserole.
14 sausages (from a £2 bag of 40). 70p.
1 tin tomatoes 10p.
Handful of mix veg from a big £1 bag, 20p.
Onion 20p
Half a bag of miniature new potatoes reduced to 50p, so 25p.
Bit of water, an oxo cube and some herbs.
TOTAL: £1.45. Feeds 7.
Bung it all in at 7:30am on low setting, serve at 5:30pm. Simple as that.

Mickey Curling's phaal.

Mickey Curling's phaal.
This curry is HOT if you follow my dad's recipe, but it can be adapted by reducing the amount of chilli's!

1 and a half pounds of meat or chicken (I've used prawns or just veg before too) 
1 onion chopped, 
8 cloves of garlic minced, 
1 ounce chopped ginger (lazy is fine), 
3 tablespoons of ghee or clarified butter, 
14 ounces of chopped tomatoes, 
1 tablespoon of ketchup, 
1 tablespoon of tomato purée, 
12 dried chilli's, 
1 tsp ground cumin, 
1 tsp ground coriander, 
3 tsp chilli powder, 
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, 
1 tsp garam massalla. 

Fry meat to seal then set aside, fry onion garlic & ginger until golden, mix slices with water to firm a paste, then add to onion mixture & cook for ten mins, add all the tomatoes (ketchup & paste too) to the mixture with the chilli's & cook for ten mins, whack your meat in & stir well, cook in a pre heated oven for about 45 mins to 1 hr.