Your mission...*UPDATE 2* TACOs!!!!! - (inc. photos!)

[Suzie and Faith]

*MEAL 2 - SUCCESS*

I used Melanie's recipe (thank you so much!) for Tacos with a bean/vegetable filling - and I will now admit to not knowing what Tacos were!! I followed the recipe and voila! Another food success!!!!!! THANKYOU GUYS, more ideas please!! I've got 2 days off of cooking as OH wants to do it tomorrow and i'm round my mums on Sunday.

ooh and here are some Taco pic!

*MEAL ONE - SUCCESS*

I used purple13's recipe (thank you hun!) for sausage casserole and it was YUMMMMMMMM
Here it is...

Next up - TACOs - will update tomorrow!


Is to GET ME COOKING
any volunteers for teachers?
I need a nice simple-ish recipe for dinner tomorrow night... and how to do it...

I will take photos and let you know how it goes!
After the Jamie thread I feel bad about my lack of cooking!

 

[purple13]

lol, good for you hon

why not try a casserole? my fave is to use the schwatz packet mix (bit of a cheat, but it tastes lovely ) for sausage casserole.

* grill as many sausages as you want for 10 mins - turn so that they're brown all over (OH and i have 3 each)
* fry 1x chopped onion in a large saucepan
* once the onion starts to brown, add 1x chopped pepper
* add the schwartz mix with water, as per the instructions on the packet
* add a few chopped mushrooms
* add your grilled sausages
* put the lid on the saucepan and place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for 1 hour
* serve with boiled potatoes / rice / steamed veg / whatever you fancy

you can add any veg you like to the casserole - onion, peppers & mushrooms are my favourite. but i've also used courgette, carrot, broccoli & potatoes

 

[daftscotslass]

Cheat carbonara.

Take a packet of prosciutto, chop it up and fry it until it's crisp. Add half a packet of boursin or similar garlicky cheese. Add about a cupful of milk and stir until it's all melted together to make a smooth sauce (if it's too thick add more milk, too thin add more cheese). Add black pepper to taste. Stir into cooked pasta. Et voila!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

lol, good for you hon

why not try a casserole? my fave is to use the schwatz packet mix (bit of a cheat, but it tastes lovely ) for sausage casserole.

* grill as many sausages as you want for 10 mins - turn so that they're brown all over (OH and i have 3 each)
* fry 1x chopped onion in a large saucepan
* once the onion starts to brown, add 1x chopped pepper
* add the schwartz mix with water, as per the instructions on the packet
* add a few chopped mushrooms
* add your grilled sausages
* put the lid on the saucepan and place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for 1 hour
* serve with boiled potatoes / rice / steamed veg / whatever you fancy

you can add any veg you like to the casserole - onion, peppers & mushrooms are my favourite. but i've also used courgette, carrot, broccoli & potatoes

Right, now at the risk of sounding totally stupid how long do I boil potatoes for? I'm guessing if they are new pots then I don't need to peel them??
I'll go to the shops tomorrow and get a few bits Are there any sausages which aren't rank? Gillian McKeith put me off sausages a while back! lol

I really am naive when it comes to cooking!


Daftscotlass - will try that sometime, i don't normally eat pasta with ham but i'll have a go.

 

[purple13]

Right, now at the risk of sounding totally stupid how long do I boil potatoes for? I'm guessing if they are new pots then I don't need to peel them??
I'll go to the shops tomorrow and get a few bits Are there any sausages which aren't rank? Gillian McKeith put me off sausages a while back! lol

new potatoes don't need peeling, and i buy organic so don't even bother washing them if they look clean; they usually cook in 15-20 mins on a med-high heat. i boil the kettle first and pour the water into the pan - speeds things up a bit i half cover the pan with the lid but keep an eye on it so that the water doesn't boil over. if connor isn't sharing our dinner, then i add a pinch of salt to the boiling water; it raises the boiling temperature slightly. test if your potatoes are ready by sticking a fork in them - if it goes in easily, they're done.

i actually bought some cheapy sausages in asda last weekend and they were lovely - part of their extra special range. then at the other end of the scale, sausages from the real meat company are just LUSH! good sausages will contain at least 80% meat so just check the packaging; you generally get what you pay for IYKWIM.

good luck!

 

[Melanie]

These vegetable tacos are yummy and really easy to make Thea loves them.
(Makes 8)

1 onion
1 medium carrot
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt & pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
½ tsp. mild chilli powder
½ tsp chilli sauce
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
450g tinned taco beans (or kidney beans)
8 taco shells
½ lemon
Chop the onion, dice the carrot and crush the garlic.

Heat the oil then cook the vegetables until soft.

Stir in the tomatoes, beans & lemon juice. Season and stir in the cayenne, chilli sauce and chilli powder.

Cook gently for 15 minutes or until the sauce as thickened.

Stand the tacos on a baking sheet and warm in oven for 3 minutes.

Fill the shells with the vegetable mixture. Top with sour cream or cream cheese & lettuce

 

[leckershell]

Have you tried looking at evening courses at colleges? I did 2 terms worth, one evening a week, and 1. it got me out the house, 2. I learnt some new recipes and techniques, and 3. I made a good friend there.
Think they're only about £60 for a term, plus the ingredients which you'd eat anyway.

 

[happy-chick]

I made a chicken casserole tonight, i'm not a cook at all and I can do a few things but never attempted casserole and I must say myself IT WAS YUMMY!!! My hubby and best mate agreed It was easy to do aswell!

Also what about shepherds pie, thats pretty easy to do too! Good luck x

 

[Happybunny]

I found this site quite useful http://www.cookuk.co.uk/ it has relatively easy recipes with step by step guides with a picture for each step.

You could make chilli. I make mine in a slow cooker with spices, chillies and stock, but I found a very simple recipe the other day that sounds like it could be ok.

1. Crush two garlic cloves and add to a chopped onion and fry in a tiny bit of oil until it is soft.
2. Put garlic and onion into a casserole pot.

The next steps are just adding ingredients to the pot. You don't have to cook them at this stage. You will put the whole pot in the oven once everything is thrown in.

3. Stir in 250g of lean minced beef (for two people). (We used to use fresh, but have found frozen minced beef cheaper and just as good.)
4. Add 33g of tomato puree.
5. Add a 400g tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce. Make sure the sauce goes in as this is what will give you the flavour.
6. Stir in 100ml of beef stock. (Dissolve half a beef stock cube in 100ml of water)
7. Cover with a lid and bung in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours (the longer the better) at a low heat (about 150 degrees would be ok). (I have found it useful to stir it after the first 20 mins to make sure the meat doesn't clump together. Then a stir every hour is sufficient.)

8. When the chilli is ready, boil a bag of boil in the bag rice and hey presto!

 

[widowwadman]

Are there any sausages which aren't rank? Gillian McKeith put me off sausages a while back! lol

Gillian McKeith is an evil woman who doesn't know owt about food and thankfully has been ordered to not use her fake Dr title now.

Re sausages: There are good ones and bad ones. Avoid any with a high rusk proportion as you mostly find in the cheapos. If you stick to the various "finest" ranges you should be ok. Debbie & Andrews, a Yorkshire brand, which you can get in most supermarkets in my area, but I'm not sure about the rest of the UK, are great too. The best sausages you'll probably get at a decent butchers. Look out for 90% or more meat at least.

Don't panfry sausages, put them under the grill, gets rid of more fat and they'll be nicer.

Apart from that, here's an easy recipe, which is one of my favourites all year round, it doesn't involve meat though:

You'll need an oven dish, olive oil, new potatoes, red onion, peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, chili peppers (if you like it hot) and feta cheese.

Cut the potatoes in half and put into the oven dish face down, take a few garlic cloves, unpeeled, cut them in half and put them face down, too. Cut the onions and peppers into reasonably big chunks and add. Add the cherry tomatoes and chili peppers (1 or two of them) without cutting. You can slit the chili peppers if you want more spicyness. Drizzle with olive oil and put into the oven at gasmark 6. Leave for at least an hour until it smells nice and the veg chunks start going black at the edges. Best indicator for readiness are the potatoes. If they're soft you're done. Spoon stuff out onto plate and crumble feta on top. Yummy.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

OK! I've found my first problem grill??? huh???? what's that!!

 

[mrs_metal]

This is a recipe I made up but is based on authentic carbonara (IE no cream) but I've messed around with that recipe, it's really, really easy and takes 20 mins.
Ingredients, for two people
some chopped bacon (you can buy ready chopped if you're feeling lazy )
1 tomato chopped (if you score the tomato, boil some water and put the scored tomato into the boiled water for a minute or two then the skin just peels off)
spaghetti
onions, chopped
Garlic chopped
mushrooms, sliced (optional)
two eggs, all mixed up
handfull of cheese (I like edam or double gloucester or mozzarella but whatever you have will do)

Method
Boil the spaghetti acording to packet instruction (usually around 10 mins)
meanwhile fry the bacon, onions, garlic and mushroom (if using) in some olive oil until the onions soften and they all start browning, add the tomatoes with some salt and pepper & some mixed herbs (italian mixed herbs are best or if you don't have mixed herbs some oregano or basil is also nice) stir well then leave to cook for 5 minutes then put the pan to one side til the spaghetti is cooked. Once the spaghetti is cooked bring the stuff in the pan back up to heat, put in the spagetti, give it a good stir then add the cheese and eggs (I also like to add some chilli flakes, depending how hot you like stuff) stir well til the spaghetti is well coated (around a minute or two, by now the eggs are also cooked through) and serve.

It does tend to stick toghether a bit cos of the cheese so I find it easier to put it all in one big bowl and people can help themselves

Here's an authentic carbonara recipe if you want one, it's also extremely easy http://culinariaitalia.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/carbonara-authentic-recipe/ the eggs being almost raw put me off so I did my own version above

 

[Mummy-D]

i am not the best at cooking either, so i think i will have to use some of these recipes....they sound yummy and now i seem to be over the nausea and getting my appetite back.....

 

[Suzie and Faith]

UPDATE in original post!!!

 

[Kimbo]

love the empty plates
well done mmmmm

 

[MrsBrightside]

that looks lush, one of my fave meals so im drooling well done you! xx

 

[purple13]

that looks fab - well done you!!!!

 

[Tillytots]

welldone honey, Im coming for dinner next time I LOVE sausage casserole!!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Update in original thread - TACOS!!!!