Category: Cooking

Quick Chocolate and Candy Cane Fudge

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Baking, Christmas, Cooking

I have had so many fudge setting disasters it feels laughable I have a fudge recipe to share that actually worked out 🙂 But this is so quick and tastes pretty good 🙂 It is quite soft and should be kept in the fridge, or add more chocolate if you want it to be more solid in the centre.

Ingredients

1 can of condensed milk

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

2 Candy Canes
Method

Grease a baking tray and line with baking parchment. I used quite a small, deep tin. If you’re using a larger one, you might want to double the quantities.
Empty the tin of condensed milk and all the chocolate chips into a microwaveable bowl. Heat for one minute. Stir well and heat for another 20 seconds until melted. Heat in 10-20 second increments if it needs extra time, so it doesn’t burn.
Whip the mixture with a metal spoon. Apparently using a metallic one helps it solidify.. I have no idea why.

Put candy canes in a ziplock bag and bash with a rolling pin. You can keep the pieces chunky or beat into tiny shards. I chose to leave the pieces a bit larger. If I had been in a bad mood, I probably would have opted for the latter.
Pour fudge mixture into tin and sprinkle candle canes on top. Allow to set on counter and when cooled keep in fridge. Cut into squares and serve. Give as presents to other people, or to yourself 🙂

No Yeast Easy Pizza

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Cooking, Recipes

I’m having one of those weeks where I’m stalling when it comes to doing the food shopping. Once everything turns “merry” and the countdown to Christmas starts, the thought of battling my way through crowds, trying to complete a mental shopping list, fills me with dread. So I’ve been trying to survive on what we already have in the cupboards and I came up with this. It’s weird how creative you become through avoidance of shops.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 tsp of salt

2 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tbsp of oil

160ml water

1/2 jar of tomato sauce

2 handfuls of grated cheese

 

Method

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add the oil and water. Form into a ball and gently knead for a couple of minutes. Add more flour if the mixture is too wet/more water if too dry. Flatten it out. I find it’s easier to stretch this pizza base with your hands – that’s why mine looks so misshapen 🙂 Dont forget to grease the tray first so it doesn’t stick! I usually pour some oil on kitchen roll as a quick way to do it/ you can also use the paper cover off a tub of butter. Spread tomato sauce with a spoon and sprinkle cheese on top. I used cheddar because it was all we had but any would work – apart from maybe cream cheese. That would be weird 🙂 Add any toppings you like. Cook at 180c for 10-15 minutes. It is ready when the cheese has browned.

Easy Slow Cooker Chinese Chicken

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Cooking, Recipes

512A5C49-6923-4D06-BFF4-A1A1CC726BD7This recipe probably isn’t authentic Chinese cooking, or authentic anything. I just made it up on the spur of the moment and it tasted surprisingly good. It’s easy to make and I’ve been making more use of my slow cooker now the Winter nights are announcing their arrival at 4pm. It’s cheap and easy to make and goes well with rice or noodles for an effortless dinner.

Ingredients

Pack of chicken legs/drumsticks/thighs

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of chicken stock

Scattering of sesame seeds

 

Method

In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, rice vinegar, crushed garlic, chicken stock and sesame seeds. Mix well. Add the raw chicken legs and cover completely with the sauce. Lay in slow cooker and pour remaining sauce from the bowl over the top. Cook on high for 5 hours/low for 8 hours.

 

Best Cottage Pie Recipe

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Cooking, Food, Recipes

I love this cottage pie but I’d forgotten to make it for a while. I seem to forget about comfort food over the summer (unless chocolate counts as a comfort food, in which case I have plenty of it.) This meal is easy to make and my kids eat it.. well, they eat the mince and mashed potatoes and set the rest on my plate :/ The measurements for this are so rough because I tend to just throw stuff in a pan and hope for the best and with this it worked 🙂

Serves 2 adults, 2 kids or 2 hungry people

Ingredients

For the meat:

250g beef mince
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 small carrots
2 sticks of celery
Beef stock to cover
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Shake of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ketchup
1 tbsp red wine

For the potatoes:

8 potatoes
1 tbsp butter
A splash of milk
A shake of salt

For the topping – grated cheddar cheese

Method
Fry the mince on its own in a pan. Chop an onion, garlic, celery sticks and peel and chop carrots. (Cut the vegetables up small so they cook quicker.) Add to the pan and continue to cook on a medium heat.
When the onions are clear and the veg looks like it is softening, cover the meat with boiling water. I crumble in 1/2 a beef stock cup after doing this and mix it in. Add the wine, Worcester sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper and thyme. Reduce heat and let simmer until carrots and celery are soft. At the end, add in a couple of tbsps of cornflour mixed well with COLD water. (Do this in a cup first.) Stir continuously until sauce has thickened. Turn heat off.

In the meantime, peel potatoes and chop into chunks (so they cook more evenly and quickly.) Put in boiled water with salt and cook on medium heat for about 20 mins. Take potatoes off heat when they are just starting to break apart. Drain and mash with butter and milk. (Sometimes I use an electric mixer to make them extra smooth and creamy.)

Fill an oven dish with the meat mixture. Use a spatula to spread the mashed potatoes on top. Cover generously with grated cheddar. Put in the oven at 180c for 15 minutes to crisp up the cheese. Let it cook until it is browned on top and the sauce is visibly bubbling underneath.

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Raspberry, Pineapple and Kale Smoothies

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Cooking, Recipes

I should preface this by saying, in this smoothie, you can’t taste the kale. I can confirm based on the fact my children will drink it and one of them doesn’t like green vegetables; the other doesn’t like any vegetables. When my kids are asking for ice lollies constantly, it’s a good, healthy replacement. If you use lots of frozen fruit, it makes a slushy type of consistency that they can eat with a spoon. This recipe is more the consistency of juice. You can also freeze it in lolly moulds to make ice lollies.

Ingredients

1 frozen banana
handful of frozen raspberries
small handful of pineapple
handful of kale
apple/pineapple juice to just cover the fruit and veg.

Method

Add a frozen banana broken in two and a handful of frozen raspberries or other berries to the bottom of a blender. Place pineapple and kale on top and fill with juice until it just covers the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

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Courgette Cake/ Zucchini Bread Recipe

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Baking, Budgeting, Cooking, Recipes

Today I was in the mood for some baking and I recently remembered I used to make zucchini bread and how addictive it is. It sounds strange but the courgettes cook down into a treacly consistency, so it just tastes like a sweet, caramel-type cake. I decided to make two loaves since this always goes down well in our house.

(Makes two cakes.)

Ingredients

3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil
3 tsps. vanilla extract
2 cups of grated courgettes

Method

Sift the flour, salt, cinnamon, backing powder and bicarb of soda together. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, sugars, oil and vanilla extract. Combine the wet and dry ingredients well. Add the grated courgettes and mix well. Put in two greased loaf tins. Cook at 160c for 45 minutes, covering with tin foil halfway through to stop the top getting too crispy.

Easy Chicken & Coconut Curry with Sticky Rice

by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Cooking, Recipes

I threw this together today and it was surprising good for how easy it is to make. I usually cook a roast chicken and then divide it up into different tubs, freezing some, so it’s ready to use when I need it. Shockingly, my kids admitted to liking this – probably because it is such a mild curry and the coconut milk makes it sweet. The rice is so easy and cheap to make and goes with everything. I just use the value range long grain rice.

(Serves two – or add more chicken and mushrooms/rice to stretch it further.)

Ingredients

Curry

1/2 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
oil
2 heaped tsps curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 can of coconut milk
handful of chopped mushrooms
handful of cooked chicken
handful of chopped cashew nuts
handful of coriander and more to garnish

Rice

1 cup of long grain white rice
salt
boiled water

Method

To make the curry, fry a chopped onion with crushed garlic in oil. When it turns clear, add the curry powder, black pepper and mushrooms. Stir until coated and mushrooms cooked. Add the tin of coconut milk. Bring the heat down to a simmer. Add the chicken and coriander. Cook on a low heat for twenty minutes.

For the rice, add 1/2 a cup of rice per person. Add double the amount of boiled water, add salt and cover with lid. Cook on a very low heat for 20-25 minutes. Don’t stir, but check intermittently to make sure the water hasn’t all been absorbed. It will clump together like sticky rice when cooked this way so you don’t need to drain it. Add some more coriander at the end to make the dish look pretty 🙂