Steak Hotpot

Serves: 4
Syns: 0
Freezer Friendly?: No
Vegetarian: No
Cost per serving*: £1.46

Ingredients:

• 3 large onions, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 8 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 400g beef skirt or other cheap cut of steak
• Beef stock pot made up with 200ml boiling water
• 4 floury potatoes, thinly sliced

This recipe will need a big dish.

1. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius/160 Celsius for fan/gas mark 4
2. Spread one third of the onions into a layer at the bottom of the dish, along with half the carrots, half the garlic and half the mixed herbs.
3. Add the steaks, so they fit snugly on top of the vegetables. Add the rest of the herbs, the the carrots, garlic and tomatoes.
4. Add the remaining onions and pour the stock over the top.
5. Arrange the potato slices on top so that they are slightly overlapping and covering the vegetables and meat.
6. Cover the dish and cook for 2 hours. 
7. Remove from the oven and uncover. Return to the oven and cook for a further 20-25 minutes.
8. Remove, cover and rest for 10-15 minutes.

This dish would be lovely with some cabbage, greens, or other seasonal veggies. This is a dish that will really warm you up on these horrible short nights!

Enjoy,

*Rough estimate, calculated based on Tesco prices (2015)

Butternut Squash and Tomato Pasta Bake

Serves: 4

Syns: 0

Freezer Friendly?: Yes

Vegetarian: Yes
Cost per serving*: £0.95

• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 400g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, chopped into cubes
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 vegetable stock pot made up with 100ml water
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• pinch of sweetener
• 375g dried fusilli
• 120g grated cheese
• 2 tbsp basil leaves

This recipe requires a baking dish.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cook onion and butternut squash in a pan for 6-8 minutes, using Frylight or other 1 calorie spray.
3. Add garlic, stirring for one minute, then add tomatoes, stock, sweetener, vinegar and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
4. Cook pasta as according to instructions, and add 1/2 the cheese to it, along with the vegetable mix, half the basil, and put into your baking dish.
5. Add the rest of the cheese to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. Leave the dish to stand for 5 minutes.
7. Garnish with basil and serve.

This would be lovely with a chunky salad, and maybe a few syns of garlic bread!

Enjoy!

*Rough estimate, calculated based on Tesco prices (2015)

Spicy Pulled Chicken

Servings: 4
Syns: 0
Freezer Friendly?: No
Vegetarian: No
Cost per serving*: £0.84

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 peppers (yellow, red or orange) cut into strips or chunks
• 1 large onion, cut into strips of chunks
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Chilli powder (Hot or Medium, depending on your taste)
• 1 tsp Mixed herbs
• 1 tsp Garlic salt
• 1/8th Flava-it Ghost Chilli sachet (optional)

This recipe requires a slow cooker.

1. To the slow cooker, add a layer of half of the peppers, then a layer of half of the onion.
2. Combine paprika, chilli powder, mixed herbs and garlic salt in a bowl.
3. Put the chicken breasts on top of the peppers and onions, covering them in the spice mixture. Add the remaining peppers and onions in a layer.
4. Cover this in the chopped tomatoes and add the ghost chilli spices if you so desire. I like my food spicy, so this is an essential step for me!
5. Turn this on low for 3 hours.
6. Remove the chicken from the mixture and shred it using forks. Once shredded, add this back into the crock pot for another 30 minutes.
7. Use tongs to remove the chicken. There will most likely be a lot of liquid, and this might not be what you want, depending on what you're using it for.

I used this in little gem leaves, with SW chips, and also with pasta. It's a pretty versatile dish and something that doesn't really require all that much effort!

Enjoy,

*Rough estimate, calculated based on Tesco prices (2015)