Easy Meals for Time Poor People

Baked Risotto with Chorizo and Cherry Tomatoes

Any leftovers can be easily frozen for later use :)

You will need a large frying pan which has a lid that seals well, or if you don't have a lid

you can use alfoil tightly wrapped over the pan.

1 x 4 pack of beef chorizo sausages from the supermarket
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large brown onion, peeled and chopped finely
1 heaped teaspoon crushed garlic
1 1/2 cups uncooked Arborio rice
3 1/2 cups hot chicken stock
3 large zucchini, thinly sliced (cut those slices in half if you like)
250gm pack of cherry tomatoes, halved (if they're large tomatoes cut them in quarters)

Cook the sausages until browned all over, remove from pan and when cool enough slice thinly

OR slice the sausages and then cook them - your choice.

Heat the oil in the same pan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat, stirring until the onion is golden and soft. Add the uncooked rice and stir to coat in the onion mixture.

Stir in the hot stock and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan tightly and and cook on a low heat for around 20 minutes.

Stir in the chorizo, zucchini and cherry tomatoes. Cook uncovered (stirring occasionally) for around another 15 - 20 minutes -

until the rice and vegetables are tender.

**Hint - if the mixture appears a little dry during cooking - particularly towards the end,

add a little more hot water and stir through**

Nice served with heated turkish bread :)

Banana Cake

This mixture makes one cake or 12 muffins

Handy hint: if cooking muffins, use paper muffin cases

and put them in the muffin pan - saves cleaning up afterwards

125 grams of butter or margarine

3/4 of a cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas, chopped into chunks

1/4 of a cup of yoghurt (any flavour will do, I use vanilla)

1 teaspoon of bi-carbonate of soda

2 cups of self raising flour, sifted

A pinch of salt

Place the butter/margarine, sugar and bananas into a bowl

Mix until butter/margarine is creamed and bananas are pureed

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition

Add yoghurt, bicarb soda, flour and salt - mix until combined

Pour mixture into a greased round, square or rectangular cake pan

OR

Use a 12 space muffin pan

Bake cake at 180 degrees (170 degrees fan forced) for about 50 minutes

Bake muffins at the same temperature for about 25 minutes

Cool on a wire cake cooler and sprinkle with icing sugar if desired

Beef Chow Mein

1/2 kg premium beef mince
1 packet frozen Thai stir fry veges
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 heaped teaspoons crushed garlic
2 heaped teaspoons crushed ginger
Soy sauce
Dried chilli flakes
1 dessert spoon of corn flour mixed with a little cold water
Cream
Kantong rice or flat noodles

In a deep wok / frypan, cook the garlic and ginger in the sesame oil for a minute or two
Add the mince and cook, stirring, until all browned
Add the frozen Thai stir fry veges, a good slug of soy sauce and a good shake of dried chilli flakes, stir through
Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veges are cooked

Meanwhile, cook the noodles to packet directions (generally put them in a bowl of boiling water and soak until done, separating gently with tongs)

Add the corn flour and water to the mince and stir to thicken, then add about a tablespoon of cream and stir through
 

Beef Stroganoff

Serves 4 people

This takes a while to prepare and cook so I tend to make it on weekends

and freeze the leftovers for meals during the week.

I use a large non stick frypan with a lid for the whole meal,

however you can also cook this in a casserole dish in the oven.

Just follow the recipe using a fry pan to brown the meat,

then place it into the casserole dish. Fry the onion / garlic and mix through the

other ingredients, then when it comes time to add the meat, simply pour the

mixture in the frypan over the meat in the casserole dish, lightly stir through,

put the dish in the oven and cook covered for about 45 minutes at around 180 degrees celsius.

750 grams of diced or stir fry beef

Small bowl of plain flour

1 teaspoon of salt

4 tablespoons of margarine / butter (plus more if needed)

2 brown onions, diced

2 teaspoons of crushed garlic

6 button mushrooms, stalks removed, peeled and thickly sliced

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1/2 a cup of beef stock

2 tablespoons of medium / sweet sherry

1/2 a cup of full cream

Combine flour and salt then coat the meat

Melt the margarine / butter over a medium heat and lightly brown the meat,

a little at a time, removing from pan as each lot is browned

When all the meat is done, brown the onions and garlic

in remaining margarine / butter, adding extra if needed

Add mushrooms, tomato paste and beef stock and blend until thick

Add meat, stir through, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes

Add sherry and cream and stir through then serve with rice

or my Garlic Herb Buttered Pasta - please see this site or my facebook page for the recipe

Bulgogi Beef (Korean Style thin Stir Fry Beef)

This is really quick to cook and is great served with a light salad

or with coconut rice

Easy to freeze for later use

See Chicken Marinated in Red Wine & Garlic Sauce with Coconut Rice on this website and my facebook page

for rice recipe

1 pack of Bulgogi Beef stir fry (available from Woolworths in the meat section)

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1 wok or non stick pan

The beef is very thinly sliced and will be packed tightly, so separate it

then trim any excess fat and either pull apart or slice into smaller pieces as desired

Heat the oil in the wok/pan and stir fry the beef in small batches for a minute or two each, removing each batch from the wok/pan when done

Serve with either salad or coconut rice