Novice Slow Cook Moroccan/Brit Chicken Casserole

Me and the boy recently spent a long weekend away at my Papi's house in a Devon village (views of his garden above). Whenever I go there I tend to come back with a different mindset. It's completely relaxing, and the food is just top notch. My dad and stepmum eat very well-always organic, local where possible. Whilst I was there they also described to me the benefits of a slow cooker (amongst other things) so as soon as I was back, I popped to Argos and got the Cookworks 6.5 litre Slow Cooker for a mere £19.99
I googled many recipes, many of which still seemed to be quite complicated, and required pre-cooking and exotic ingredients I'd never heard of. Horror! I bought it because I literally wanted to bung some food in and have a delicious meal a few hours later, using meat and veg.



Ingredients: 4 chicken thighs, 2 red onions, Half a butternut squash, 7 medium carrots, handful of dried dates, salt, pepper, cumin, honey, half pint water, tablespoon of flour.

So that is what I did. I didn't follow a recipe, I just used common sense. I chopped the onions, carrots and butternut squash (thank you M&S for selling it pre-peeled) and bunged them in, and seasoned with salt and pepper. I rubbed 4 chicken thighs with honey and cumin, and placed them on top with some dates (I watched a lot of Moroccan themed TV at my dad, hence the cumin also).



I added some boiling water by eye (probably a little too much, I would now say you only need about half a pint) and a tablespoon of plain flour. A pinch more cumin, a bit of a swirl around, then the real experiment could begin! I opted to cook on low for 7 hours (7 torturous hours, once the smell started circulating) and voila! I had made enough for a serving for myself, for the boy, and some leftover to freeze for a rainy day, and also some liquid leftover to use as stock for the next meal! How purse friendly of me.



Taste wise, it was pretty good. It was a bit too watery this first time round, a lesson learnt for the next round!

Anyone else out there have a slow cook recipe to share? Link me, I'd love to know more! Also, sad old me doesn't have any followers yet even though I get several comments! What am I missing here, what would you like to see that's different? Let me know, and if you do a foodie blog link me to that too, I mainly follow fashion blogs right now, so need some recommendations!

Prawn Noodle Soup

You Will Need
1 x Red Onion, chopped
2 x Celery Stalks, chopped
Butter Beans (1/2 a tin)
Sweetcorn (small tin)
80g cooked prawns
Noodles (I used one serving of dried egg noodles)
Stock (I used a Knorr stock pot to make 500ml of stock)
Olive Oil
This is so easy, so quick, so delicious, and so low cal! I'm calling it a soup, but it's chockful of ingredients meaning it is kind of between a really chunky soup and a really light casserole!

So all you're going to do, is fry your onion and celery in a little oil, til the onion is starting to brown.
Make up 500ml of stock-I used a chicken Knorr stock pot and it worked really nicely.
Pour the stock over the onion and celery.
Drain the butterbeans and sweetcorn, and throw them in as well.
I just used some Sharwood medium egg noodles-already packed in one serving sizes-throw them in the stock for 4 minutes, til the noodles are soft.
Then I stirred in my already cooked prawns.
An optional extra, is a bit of hot sauce or chilli flakes for a bit of a kick!

This actually made me 3 small servings, but the whole saucepan full would total about 550 calories. All the flavours and textures together-sweet onion, juicy prawns, sloppy noodles and salty stock-are so enjoyable and the butterbeans (I love butter beans A LOT) and prawns really help fill you up like a proper hearty meal would.

Enjoy!

OH! Isn't the soup bowl great? My mum got me and my boy two for Christmas, one grey set and one cream set. She got them from a local shop, but I've found them on ebay for cheaper! (Don't tell Mummy)
Shop Soup Bowl, Lid, Spoon and Plate set.

Bacon, Rice and Bean Stuffed Pepper

I shan't lie. This meal came from my own laziness. I got dressed to go into town to get my dinner...then had a massive fail in which I took my shoes right back off, parked my arse down, and thought "I'll just eat what's in the cupboard and fridge." Now this could have led to me eating cold baked beans from the tin (again) followed by chocolate digestives. Instead I sort of just mixed everything I found (excluding the biscuits) and shoved it inside a pepper. Nice. To recreate the complicated masterpiece of the hermit chef, follow this...



You Will Need (Serves 2)

2 Peppers of any colour
Brown Rice-about 3 uncooked tablespoons
2 Bacon rashers, chopped
Half an Onion, diced
Tin of Baked Beans
Any soy sauce,herbs or spices you desire

• Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet (obvs)

• In the meantime, fry up your onion and bacon. When mine was done, I splashed some soy sauce over the top, and let them sit in it as the rice finished cooking.

• When the rice is cooked and drained, mix in the bacon, onion, any herbs you like, and about 4 tablespoons of baked beans, sauce and all.

• Slice the top off your pepper, and scoop out the seedy inside bit. Fill with your ricey beany mixture.

• Put the lid on your pepper, then stick on a baking tray in the oven at about 190, for 15-20 mins.

• If you're lucky, and your pepper has a sturdy base, you can just slide onto a plate. Mine fell over, so I had to kind of scoop and sweep, but it all tastes the same.

• Enjoy! (I served mine with the gourmet choice of chips and salad leaves)

Other fillings/cupboard findings that would be great would be either rice or cous-cous with tuna, kidney beans and peas, or perhaps just prawns and a sweet chilli sauce. Let me know your suggestions too!

Delicious and Diet Friendly: Dijon Chicken Salad

Dijon Chicken Salad



You Will Need:
Cooked Chicken-about 3 tablespoon size portion
Low-fat Greek yoghurt-2 tablespoons
Dijon Mustard-1 teaspoon
Pepper x1 of any colour
Red Onion x1
Celery stalk x2
Lettuce or spinach salad
Oil/Spray

Serves 1
Total prep and cook time-Less than 20 minutes.
Threw this together to use some of the chicken from the Sunday roast and the celery from the mushroom stack, it is surprisingly filling and by my calculations comes in at under 300 calories per serving.

• Simply chop up a red onion, a pepper and a couple of celery sticks and cook in a frying pan in a little oil or low cal spray. I already had leftover chicken, if you're using it fresh, sizzle in a diced chicken breast with your veggies.

• After about 10 minutes, I poured in a couple of tablespoons of water so the onion was nice and soft, and a little gooey. I also just like the sizzle it makes. Cook for a few minutes longer, then set aside to cool.

• In a bowl mix together the dijon mustard and low fat greek yoghurt-I used Total 0% fat.

• Fill a plate with your salad leaves, then scrape about half your mixture of cooked veg on top.

• Mix the rest with your dijon flavoured mix, and add that on top too.

Smells amazing, tastes amazing, and is totally guilt free when you think about your 5-a-day. Perfect!