Happiness in a pan

Let's clear two things up. You cannot actually find happiness in a pan, and this recipe is made in a rectangular casserole dish, but if happiness could be found at the bottom of a glass receptacle, this recipe comes close to it.

It is basically home-made three-layered party dip, and I got the idea from a family friend who is called Helen, and who served a version of this several years ago, to my great delight. Helen actually calls it something else, but this is a family blog, so I can't repeat what she calls it.

This makes an excellent and filling party dish, serving approximately 10 people, and can be made for very little cost.

Bottom layer: spicy chunky salsa
Two tins chopped tomatoes (25p each from Tesco), strained to remove superfluous juice.
1 red pepper, diced.
One finely diced red onion
Some fresh parsley, chopped.
3-4 small dried chilies, finely chopped. Use more or less according to taste.

Mix everything and set aside in a long dish. I use one nine inch by 21 inch 'pan' so it is fairly big.

Second layer: cool cream and chive
2 pots of sour cream
1 pot of cream cheese
Chopped chives.

I grow my own chilies, chives and parsley in wee pots on my kitchen windowsill - if you have the motivation to water and tend to these regularly you can save a lot of money.

Top layer: grated cheese
I buy mature cheddar in bulk to save money and grate it myself. It lasts much longer and is more cost-efficient than buying bags of pre-grated cheese.

Sprinkle the top of the cheese with paprika or freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Buy some corn chips/nachos to dip into it. I tend to use various supermarkets' own brand or budget bags of corn chips, as these are really good value for dipping and you can buy several big bags for £2, which works out in terms of volume and cost to be much better value than spending £2 on one bag of Doritos.

And that's it - just get dipping, right down through all those layers!

The teenagers I often have round really love this - they are always asking me if I am going to make it. And I love it too. Which is why I'm fat. Well, one of the reasons anyway...

Bad Boy Mac 'n' Cheese

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, oh my days, yes. Photo: Simoney Sunday

This is a classic, comfort food dish and most people have their own way of making macaroni cheese. 

But I like mine extra, extra cheesy, with minimum effort, stuffed with zing and flavour.

Obviously the fewer ingredients you have to buy, the better. But I like to use leftovers - either shreds of roast chicken from the Sunday dinner - or, in this case, two hot dog frankfurters that had failed to make it into a soft white roll and smothered in mustard and ketchup at a barbecue a few days before. They were so lonely, sitting there in my fridge... until Bad Boy came along.

Ingredients (Serves four)

1/2 pack macaroni; 250g of a 500g bag. I used Tesco's own label but a basics or budget one works just as well.

1/3 (roughly 150g) of a 450g block of mature cheddar. Again we used Tesco's own label.

3 tablespoons of flour

1 cup of milk

Small knob of butter

Spinach

1 brown onion

1 clove of garlic

Frankfurters

In fact, everything here was Tesco's own label apart from the Frankfurters. Why pay through the nose for brand name food when you're cooking on a budget?

To taste:

I grow my own mini chillies and chives on my kitchen windowsill, then dry and store the chillies for later. For this, I used just one.

Paprika

Salt and Pepper

Parsley

Feeling Extra?

Lightly shaved parmesan and breadcrumbs for a topping. (TESCO!)

How To

Put the macaroni in a saucepan and cover with water. Set it to boil and stir frequently to prevent it sticking.

Dice the onion, crush the clove of garlic, finely cut up the chilli and put these to brown a little in a frying pan with a little cooking oil. Remove from heat and set aside.

Chop up the frankfurters and set these aside.

Grate the cheese and set aside in a bowl.

In a separate saucepan, drop in the butter, then the flour and stir into a smooth paste. Quickly add the milk and stir vigorously and continuously on a low heat to remove all lumps and bumps.

When it looks like it is starting to thicken, scoop a handful of grated cheese, the salt, pepper, parsley and paprika and stir together.

Once it has thickened into a yellow cheese sauce, take it off the heat and make sure it is not sticking to the pan.

When the macaroni has softened, drain immediately, and mix it into a casserole dish together with the onions, garlic, chilli, frankfurter and spinach.

Add the cheese sauce and make sure it is stirred in well.

Toss the remaining cheese all over the top of the mixture and put into a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees Celcius (gas mark 3) for about 8 minutes.

If you want to be extra, add a little grated parmesan to some breadcrumbs, then toss this over the cheese on top of the food before it goes in the oven.

Yep, it is delicious x

Magic Soup

You know the old adage: feed a cold,starve a fever? This is a truth that most people do not understand. They think that it means feed someone if they have a cold, and starve them if they have a fever. They think wrong, based on an ignorance of English proverbs and medicine. It means 'if you have a cold, eat well to prevent a fever from taking hold'. Effectively, you starve off the fever from taking over from someone with a cold.

I do believe that natural cures are the best: fresh fruit and vegetables, hot lemon and honey, ginger, garlic and so forth. For any cold a powerful blend of herbs in a hot chicken broth is part of the solution. This is my own recipe for a herby soup that will help effect an 8-hour turnaround in the event of a cold.

It is also a lot cheaper than buying a host of ever-expensive medicines at high-street stores, and is a great way of using up leftovers. Healthy and on a budget!

Therefore I call it Magic Soup.

You will need:
5-6 small chicken breast strips
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1 cup of peas
1 cup of sweetcorn
1-2 tablespoons of honey
1 small chilli pepper
2 chicken stock cubes
1 teaspoon of mint
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon of saffron (optional)
Pinch salt
Pinch celery salt
Ground black pepper
Dash of paprika

Take a large saucepan and put in a little oil, the herbs, finely chopped garlic and a finely diced onion. Heat this up with the honey, stirring continually.

Add the diced chicken, the peas, the stock cubes and the sweetcorn. Stir until the chicken is part-cooked and covered with the seasoning.

Cover with 1.5 pints to 2 pints of water and leave to boil for 20 minutes.

Add salt, celery salt, pepper and paprika to taste.

It should look like a clearish, sparkling broth and have a good kick to the back of the throat with every spoonful.

Serve generously, it is a powerful, good, tasty soup with a chilli, garlicky hit that will get to work immediately.

It cured man-flu, it can cure any cold.