Good old fashioned Macaroni cheese!

So when the snow is falling & bellies are rumbling there is no better dish than good old simple Macaroni cheese. I spend alot of time looking over recipes for putting different things in Mac & cheese but somehow I think that it is just fine as it is! Yes I could add bacon, broccoli or cherry tomatos but why mess with something that is beautiful in its simplicity!!

My family always devour this regardless of how many pots of left overs I was planning to be able to salvage!!!

In the words of my husband......always a winner!

So how do I make it?

This may come as a surprise to alot of people but I cook my sauce in a microwave! In my opinion life is far to short for standing over a oven striring a sauce!

So, pop 500g of Macaroni on the hob & let cook.

I use a Pampered Chef rice cooker for the rest!! It works for me!

Melt 50g butter & mix with 50g plain flour to make a roux. Then stir in 1 pint/500ml of milk. I usually use semi skimmed but if I am feeling particularly virtuous I will use skimmed!

Give it a good whisk and pop it in the microwave for 5 mins. You may want to adjust the cooking times depending on your microwave strength.

Take it out & give it a really good whisk & pop it back in for about 2-3 mins. Giving it another good whisk I always end up with a perfect lump free sauce. Then stir in a good helping of good old cheddar cheese!

Mix with the macaroni, pop it into a oven proof dish & sprinkle with a bit more cheese.

I then cook for 20 mins at 200c



What we have then is the perfect Wednesday night tea for 2 hungry boys, 1 hungry Husband & me!!

Meal Planning Monday (a day late!) - 17.09.12

Well, I have had PC issues so no posts for me for a while!!

This weeks meals look something like this

Goats cheese tart (Shop bought) with home made wedges & salad

Out for a Chinese! (Boys having pizza!)

Quorn Chilli

Maggi so juicy Chicken (DS2's fave!) with roasted new potatoes & veg

Meatball spaghetti

Sausages with creamy lentils

Ragu pasta. 

Will post recipes & pictures as I go along :-)

Meal Planing Monday 10th Sept

Is it wrong to get a bit too excited about Mondays now!!!

Last weeks menu plan went all according to plan except the Chipotle pork as I forgot to take it out of the freezer! So it is re-appearing on this weeks menu.

This week we have -

Chicken pizza melts

Turkey Kofta curry

Mexican Rice with Chipotle Pork

Chunky chilli with green rice

Singapore Noodles

Only 5 meals as I am away on Saturday night at a friends birthday party so hubby & youngest son are going to a friends. Then on Sunday I am predicting a hangover so will freestyle that once I have recovered!!!

Recipes & pictures will follow in due course!!

Looking forward to looking at everyone elses menus

Check out Mrs M's meal plans here - http://athomewithmrsm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/meal-planning-monday-10th-september-2012.html

Michelle xx

Lemony Prawn & Chorizo Rice

As part of my Monday Meal Planning post I said I was going to make Lemony Prawn & Chorizo Rice and we had it tonight.

Hubby is away in Budapest on a stag do so it was just me & the boys. I did think twice about cooking it as neither of them are big fans of peppers but I just made sure that they were big enough chucks to be able to pick them out!!!

 The recipe is one that I saw in the BBC Good food magazine but it is also on the website Recipe

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , sliced
2 small red peppers , deseeded and sliced
50g chorizo , thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 red chilli (deseeded if you don't like it too hot)
½ tsp turmeric
250g long grain rice
200g raw peeled prawns , defrosted if frozen
100g frozen peaszest and juice 1 lemon , plus extra wedges to serve

1) Boil the kettle. Heat the oil in a shallow pan with a lid, add the onion, peppers, chorizo, garlic and chilli, then fry over a high heat for 3 mins. Add the turmeric and rice, stirring to ensure the rice is coated. Pour in 500ml boiling water, cover, then cook for 12 mins.

2)Uncover, then stir - the rice should be almost tender. Stir in the prawns and peas, with a splash more water if the rice is looking dry, then cook for 1 min more until the prawns are just pink and the rice tender. Stir in the lemon zest and juice with seasoning and serve with extra lemon wedges on the side.

OVEN-BAKING If you don't want to spend time at the stove, you can bake this dish in the oven. Tip the oil, onion, peppers, chorizo, garlic and chilli into an ovenproof dish, then bake for 15 mins at 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Stir in the turmeric, rice and water, cover, then bake for another 20 mins, stirring in prawns and peas for the final 2 mins. Season and stir in lemon zest and juice to serve.

We all really enjoyed this tonight, it took no time to make & all 3 bowls were clean afterwards! Also, as hubby isn't here I have lunch tomorrow sorted!!! 

For those that are following Slimming World I substituted Olive Oil for Fry light & syned the Chorizo! 

Jamie Oliver - Super Quick Salmon Stirfry

I cooked this tonight for a friend & it was delicious. It was easy to cook & we actually stood in the kitchen drinking wine whilst cooking!

This recipe is from Jamie's Ministry of food book.
Try it!

Ingrediants

Sea Salt & Black Pepper
200g Basmati rice
350g Salmon Fillet
A handfull of shelled peanuts
1 clove of garlic
A thumb size piece of ginger
1 fresh red chilli
a bunch of coriander
Groundnut oil
1 heaped tablespoon of Pataks curry paste
a handfull of mangetouts
1/2 can of coconut milk
a handfull of beansprouts
1 lime

Bring pan of salted water to boil, add rice & cook according to packet instructions.
While that's cooking chop the salmon into even size 2.5cm chunks.
Crush the peanuts in a pestle & morter or in a plastic sandwich bag using a rolling pin to bash them up
Peel & finely chop the garlic & ginger
Halve, deseed and finely slice the chilli
Pick the coriander leaves from the stalks, finely chop the stalks & put the leaves to one side.

Put wok on a high heat & add 2 lugs of ground nut oil
Add Garlic, ginger & chilli and coriander stalks.
Stir for 30 seconds and then add the curry paste and stir for another 30 seconds.
Add the salmon, cook for a minute or so & then add the mangetout and coconut milk.
Let everything cook for another minute.
Taste & season with salt & pepper if you think it needs it.

Drain your cooked rice & divide it between serving bowls.
Spoon over the salmon and sprinkle over the bean sprouts & crushed peanuts.
Half your lime and squeeze over the juice.
sprinkle with coriander leaves.

Serve!!
Yummy