Are you looking for a dinner time hack this weekend? If so, you’re in the right place!
These Tortilla mini Pizzas are yummy and perfect as a quick meal time solution – for both kids and adults.
Ingredients:
Pack of mini Tortillas
Tin of tomatoes – blitzed in the mixture
Cheese
Toppings of choice (I used Spinach, chorizo and Parma ham)
Dried mixed herbs
Pepper
Olive oil or low fat cooking spray
Method:
Quite simple grill one side of the tortillas and spread over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese, add your topping of choice. Season well and add the herbs. Drizzle over some oil and grill for a couple of minutes! Serve with a side salad and enjoy X
Just looking at this beetroot Houmous makes me feel insanely happy. The colour is so vibrant, it’s hard not to break into a smile just looking at it. It also tastes as good it looks and is so easy to whiz up.
Ingredients:
Half a tin of cooked chick peas (plus half of the juice it’s in)
150g pre cooked beetroot
1tbsp Olive oil
1tbsp Tahini paste
Juice of half a lemon
2 cloves of garlic
Seasoning as required
Method:
Quite simply pop everything into the blender and pulse for a few seconds. Add a bit more lemon if required and season to taste.
Do you have Prosecco left in the fridge? Give this easy Teriyaki sauce a go! It marries beautifully with Salmon.
Ingredients;
350ml Water
75ml Soy sauce
2tbsp Prosecco
4cm piece of Ginger, peeled and grated
80g Light brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1tbsp plain flour, mixed with a small amount of water into a paste
Method;
Measure out and prepare all of your ingredients, then grab yourself a small saucepan. Place onto a low heat and add the sugar, water, ginger and garlic. Bring up to a simmer and leave to gently cook for about 5 minutes. Add the flour paste and bring to the boil, continuously whisking. Once you have a silky sauce, give it a quick blend with a hand held mixer (optional) and then mix in the Prosecco. Remove from the heat. If not using straightaway, once cold this can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Are you looking to push the reset button and get back in the driving seat of your fitness plan? Here at Mums In Real Life, that’s precisely our intention from this point onwards!
We’ve got loads in store for the week, HIIT, boot camp, Zumba, running and some regular gym sessions in between! We can’t wait to shimmy and sweat away our week with exercise!! Want to join us? Head on over to our website to see the exercise sheets available – more will be available soon: http://www.mumsinreallife.co.uk
What better to way to kick off the day with this super tasty oat, kiwi, banana & honey breakfast smoothie. Made with 150ml Almond milk and 250ml skimmed milk. This is what we’ll be making tomorrow morning to get us going (usually I’d only use 350ml Milk & 20g Oats but I have keen little kiddies who like to try some too).
Ingredients:
150ml Almond Milk (optional)
250ml Skimmed Milk (or 400ml if not using Almond Milk)
1 banana – peeled and roughly chopped
2 kiwi fruits – peeled and roughly sliced
40g Porridge Oats
1 Ice cube
1tbsp honey
Method:
Blitz all of the ingredients together for a few pulses and serve.
Looking for something quick and easy to knock up this evening? Look no further than these Pork & Egg burgers. It’s been a busy week here at Mums In Real and as a result, I resorted to trying a food delivery company called Gousto. I wasn’t convinced as I like to make everything from scratch when possible, but a friend convinced me of the benefits. I’ve been very impressed! My order arrived in a big box, all of the produce was super fresh and from an environmental perspective, there was very little plastic. Big plus from me already!
The meal still needs preparing from scratch, Gousto (others are available) provide you with almost all ingredients and a step by step recipe card on how to prepare and cook the food. It’s also really easy to replicate (if you already have the provisions to hand) so I can use these recipes in the future. Also, my children had a great time looking at the recipes and helping me pick out 4 days worth of dinner. It’s a thumbs up from them! It really is a great alternative for busy parents and whilst I can’t see myself ordering on a weekly basis, I certainly recommend it. Plus I received a really nice wooden spoon, which I wasn’t expecting!
Let’s get cooking!
Ingredients;
500g Pork mince
2tsp dried sage
2tsp dried oregano
30ml soy sauce
50g panko breadcrumbs
20g fried onions (I used shop bought but these are easy enough to make from fresh)
Mustard ketchup
Salt & pepper to season
Method;
Mix the mince, herbs, soy sauce and breadcrumbs together and season well. Separate the burger mixture into 4 generous patties and place on a baking tray. Refrigerate for until needed (place in the fridge for at least 10 minutes as this helps them hold together when cooking).
When ready, place a non stick frying pan onto a moderate heat and drizzle with oil. Pop in your burgers and cook on each side for 5-6 minutes. Once cooked, place into a plate and cover. Meanwhile, add a bit more oil to the frying pan and cook the eggs.
Whilst the eggs are cooking, lightly grill the burger buns. Now plate up! Spread some sauce of choice onto the buns (I used mustard ketchup), pop in the burger and place an egg on top. Sprinkle the fried onions over the top and enjoy!
For those of you who need to grab and go with your breakfast (snap!) I’ve been trying out breakfast pots, which you can make up the night before and grab from the fridge to eat whenever you get a sec on the train/bus/school run/at work. Continue reading “Throw Back Thursday – Breakfast Bircher Pots – Morning Hack”
Happy Autumnal Thursday lovely people. After sharing the snap of my a scrummy chicken stew dinner on Monday night a few of you have asked for the recipe, so here it is.
(Those of you who know me well will know I’m a chuck-it in kind of girl, so the measurements are down to your individual cooking style!).
Cooked chicken carcass (from your roast – mine was stuffed with lemons and garlic so leave any stuffing in for flavour and I also like to pour over any left over gravy for flavour too)
Stock pots (one chicken one vegetable)
Potato
Sweet potato
Celery
Carrots
Left over veggies (if you have roasties chop them up small they’re a great thickener)
Green lentils (mine were tinned) or Pearl Barley
Sweetcorn (canned or frozen is fine)
Salt & Pepper and a bay leaf to season
Method
Put your chicken carcass and any gravy in a large pot. Boil the kettle and pour over enough water to mostly cover the carcass (it’s ok if some isn’t covered, they’re tricky shaped, those chickens)
Add any chopped left over potatoes, parsnips or sweet potatoes at this point as they will dissolve and help to thicken the stew. Also chop the celery finely and add now too.
Add salt and pepper and a bay leaf and simmer on a low heat for about two hours or until the chicken comes away from the bones easily.
Leave to cool (just enough so you don’t burn the skin of your fingers) and pick out all the chicken bones and assorted bits you don’t want to eat. I like to do this with a large slotted spoon and have a big bowl ready for all the discarded bits and pieces. Make sure you check really thoroughly for small bits of bone in the stock.
When you’ve been through the pot and are pretty sure that everything is edible, then you can add your stock cubes and I also add the sweet potato here so it completely disappears in to the stew (mostly to avoid the accusatory “What’s that, Mum?” from the eldest bundle of joy). If your tiny humans are a bit less fussy then pop this in at the end with the carrots.
Cook for about 45 mins until the offending sweet potato has pretty much disappeared from sight and then add the potato and cook for 5-10 minutes and then add your carrots and sweet potato here. Cook for about 20 mins until almost cooked through. If at any point it’s running a little dry, add a few splashes of boiling water.
Pop in your canned lentils and sweetcorn to cook. Season to taste. I also popped some chopped parsley on mine which adds a lovely freshness.
Serve with a lovely wedge of buttered bread and enjoy that lovely warm hug in a bowl.
A note of caution – trying to serve this two days in a row did not go down well with fussy eldest bundle of joy. “Why do we have to eat the same thing two days in a row? It’s not fair”). Fortunately the other two happily scoffed the rest so my eldest joy didn’t have to put up with it three days in a row. Shame.
Every now and again I really get stuck in a rut at meal times. As you probably know by now, I love flavour. This is something that my kids don’t always agree with me on! And who can blame them right? I don’t remember eating the type of food I try to cook for them. Our meals were always the same most week days. I always knew Tuesday would be Lasagne, Friday would be fish fingers and we’d almost always have a roast on a Sunday. Nothing wrong with that. Absolutely not. It’s just not me these days.
So anyway, here I was feeling a bit stuck. Dinner needed to be quick and tasty. My fridge was also looking a bit on the bare side. I therefore decided to get some inspiration from my recipe books, and I came across this little beauty. To make matters better, I had all of the ingredients to hand. That is always a bonus. Especially when you live in the back end of nowhere.
This recipe is lifted straight from Nigel Slaters classic guide to comfort food. It really did hit all the right notes and was so easy to make.
Ingredients:
400g Chicken fillets
1 medium sized red chilli, seeded and chopped
1tsp dried chilli powder
2 pinches of saffron
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
Handful of mint leaves (about 20)
4 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Halves of lemons to serve
Method:
Cut the chicken into finger size strips and pop into a dish. Blitz the fresh and dried Chillies, the garlic, saffron, most of the mint , olive oil and most of the lemon juice for about seconds until you have a lumpy marinade.
Spoon the marinade over the chicken strips and set aside for half an hour or so.
Next up, heat a frying pan (or you can use the grill) and lightly oil it. Add the chicken to the pan and gently fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until they are golden brown in places (make sure the chilli doesn’t burn). Season the dish with some salt and the remaining mint and lemon juice.
I served this (as suggested by Nigel Slater) with some well buttered couscous, flecked with coriander and coriander. I also added a blob of Creme Fraiche on top, which I mixed some finely chopped mint leaves into.
Bon appetite lovely people! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Originating from maritime South East Asia, Laksa curry is a must for curry fans. It’s fragrant smells will drive you insane!
This is a really simple version that I put together on a week night. But just because it was quick (think 10 minutes) doesn’t mean it lacked in flavour! It packed the punches and hit all the right taste buds. I made up my own version of a Laksa paste, however they are readily available in the shops should this be your preference.
Ingredients for the Laksa paste;
4-6 small dried red chillies
1tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp paprika
1/2tsp cumin
1/2tsp turmeric
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1tsp lemongrass paste
3-4 cm piece of ginger, shredded
2 cloves of garlic
1tbsp sesame oil
Ingredients for the Curry;
500g Salmon & Cod fillets, skin off and cut into chunks
200g Coconut milk
1 1/2 pints of Vegetable stock
1tbsp olive pil
1 onion, finely sliced
200g green beans, trimmed and cut into quarters
225g shredded white cabbage
3 tbsp Laksa paste
Handful of frozen sweet corn
2 bundles of dried soba noodles
1 spring onion, sliced diagonally
1 lime, halved
Method for Laksa paste;
Pop everything into a mixer and blitz for a few seconds into a smooth (ish) paste.
Method for Laksa Curry;
Warm up a large saucepan and add the olive oil. Gently fry the onion and cabbage for about 10 minutes, until softened. Add the Laksa paste and cook for 2 minutes.
Next up, add the coconut milk, stock and green beans and season well. Bring up to the boil and then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the fish chunks and gently stir the mixture.
Leave to cook for about 4 – 5 or until the fish is opaque to their centre.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to boil and add in the soba noodles.
Cook for 4 minutes and drain and return to the pan.
Once the fish is cooked, stir in the curry. Serve out into large bowls and garnish with sliced spring onions and halves of limes.
It’s that time of year when everywhere you look, pumpkins and squashes adorned the shelves in shops.
If you’re looking for something to do with them other than carving out ghoulish faces or pumpkin pie, look no further!
This delicious soup is hands down the tastiest thing I make at this time of year, and to make matters even better, my kids eat it! Surely that’s worthy of a parent point?!
Ingredients (serves 4 with plenty for seconds);
1kg Squash or pumpkin
2 carrots, cubed
2 large potatoes, skin on cubed
2 small onions, sliced
2 cloves of Garlic (or more, depending on taste buds)
2 pints of Vegetable stock
Sprigs of Rosemary & Sage
Seasoning
3 slices of brown bread
1tbsp olive oil
Method;
Start off by quartering the squash and carefully cut off the skin. Cut into large chunks, deseed and chuck them into a large saucepan.
Next, add the remaining vegetables and crushed garlic. Remove the herb leaves from the stalks and roughly tear up and pop on top of the vegetables.
Cover the ingredients with 2 pints of vegetable stock and bring up to boil on a medium heat.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for about 35/40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The next part is up to you and depends on your preference. You can eat the soup nice and Chunky as it is, or you can pulse it with a handheld blender for a few seconds. I chose the latter as my kids like their soups nice and smooth.
While the soup is cooling down, roughly chop up 3 slices of bread (crusts off) to make some croutons and place a large frying pan onto a low heat to warm up. Add a splash of olive oil and add the cubed bread.
Gently fry until the croutons are nice and crisp on each side, it should only take a couple of minutes.
Now serve up the soup and pop some crispy croutons on top.
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