Favourite recipes

hiya everyone,

well im at it again next weekend im cooking!!

The annabel karmel recipes are becoming to similar and i need something new and exciting!

SO anyone what can i feed my monsters 8mnths and 2yrs, lola will eat chunks and lumps and tbh is one 12mnths meals in ak books poor kid needed variety!

Jo and rachel, How do i make pesto??? is it easy? worth it, or do i buy some?? what can i do with it? something with as many diff things in as poss and can i freeze it???

anyway enough questions and thanks xxx

Buy it,it's easier.Or 2oz pine nuts,2oz parmesan,3 cloves garlic,big handful of basil leaves,olive oil.Salt and pepper.Whizz it up.I'm a big basil and garlic fan,adjust to taste.It's great on pasta,also on chicken.

Big dinner success tonight.I had an extra child,my fussy eater nephew.We had homemade meatballs and spagetti.Yummy for kids and grown ups.First time I ever heard that child say he likes something.Great finger food  for Lola,if a little messy.Just uncooked  mince,breadcrumbs,garlic,herbs,grated cheese,apple(keeps it moist),squirt of ketchup,an egg to bind it all.Salt and pepper.Whizz in the food processor,then roll into balls(messy bit).Bake the meatballs for about an hour.Make a tomato sauce meanwhile and pour it over the meatballs.You can have it with pasta,spagetti.

We're stinkin of garlic tonight.

think ill try making it, lets be adventurous, but ill buy some incase lol!

oooh roo loves meat balls, i could make smaller ones for the kids, thanks for that, jacks loves spagetti and lola tried some plain cooked the other day!!

thanks x

Jo's pesto recipe identical to mine mate-aldi sell it cheap if you wanna try it first,and they do about 4 varieties. I usually have mine with chicken strps(fried naughty naughty) pasta-anything dried you've got in cupboard,and mushrooms-cook pasta,fry chick with mushrooms then toss together with pesto,whack a handful of toasted pine nuts on top(good way to use up any you bought for pesto) and voila!!!

I'm into fish at the mo,did crab bake the other week,went down well,same principal as fish pie but with 225g cooked crab meat,and cheesy sauce!!

Mmmmm duck for the men tomorrow-prob have veggie sausages wish I could eat meat-especially when I've made summat nice!!!!!

Think signature dish is enchiladas but you already do them. Dya make lasagne? Nice and simple lads love it,I try and make different ones like veg or salmon and brocoli,have even done spinach and ricotta.

I might try meatballs in the week haven't made them for years!. We eat the same sort of thing after a while-it's hard finding inspiration isn't it-especially with this weather,I plan summat,then it's red hot and we just have salads!!!!

Christ I'm glad I don't live by you-I love chippy shop chips,we try and have a treat once in a while,but ours aint that nice so bit of a drive and it's bein bothered tbh!!! I'm too lazy to get in car me!!!!!!

Ooh chips with loads of salt and vinegar!!!  God I'm suddenly hungry-I'm goin to bed before I hunt for the car keys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we live to far away from any take away, although its a ten minute walk to pizza hut, when jack was little i used to put him to bed in the carrycot clip ontop of the buggy and go for dinner, it was so quiet after 7 hed sleep through when we got home life him upstairs and see him in the morning, he was a wonderfull baby!!! i have to admit until i got into my manic cooking a month back we were bad for take aways nearly every night or eat at mums or friends, jack lived off fish and veg, home made totilla pizzas and pasta for too long and since cooking lots ive seen him behave better, no better reason than that to keep it up!!!

i do one or maybe two days of cooking non stop, roo washing chopping etc when he can and freeze it all so in the week its conveinence food, although the freezer cant take much (its a mini one just 1 drawer and a v small shelf on top of fridge. so its just for the kids atm im hoping someone will answer my freecycle wanted ad for a freezer.

only things that we have i havent made are fishfingers and steam bags (they are fab really love em and asda have them for £1 for 4 well worth it) thank goodness the kids dont need huge portions, well jack does but i add salad, crusty bread, veg, home made garlic bread etc to his so the freezer can survive!

Stop with the chippy talk I'm always starving when I hear bout chips!!!! Or pizza for that matter. After reading Jo's post the other night I had cheese on toast-at quarter to 12 at night!!!! No wonder I'm big!!! I doubt I was that hungry!  Was lovely tho!!!

we have an amazing all you can eat chinese, kids under 5 eat free and its only £6.99 at lunch and thats puds and iced water too, love it!!!!!!!!!

Rachel how do you make all those different lasagnes??? Most exciting thing ive done is swap from ragu to dolmio!

Oh no use supermarket own brand hun it's way cheaper,when it's mixed up with other flavours yu'd never know it weren't ragu!!!!

If you like when the lads have nap tomorrow afternoon I'll send ya some recipes for them. I'm way too stuffed and tired to think at mo-goin for a soak in the tub after my crafty fag down bottom of garden!!!

Do you guys eat soya mince? cos I do about 3 types of veg lasagne!!! Need to get a life I know!

What about cannaloni? Do you like that? Ihaven't done that for ages-oh 1 other thing I don't weigh stuff-I'm a bit stupid like that,if a recipe says to put a certain amount in I just look and guess!!!

But I'll try to post you understandable recipes!!!

that would be fab!! thank you!

Never tried soya mince, roos a meat man, we do like quorn though, won him over showing him how healthy it is

whats cannaloni??

I only use weights when following a recipe 1st time, maybe the 2nd if its been a while, i just know how much now!

i make a spagetti dish we all love with bacon, spinach, mushroom and parmesan

i never used shop bought ragu or dolmio, always make my own, its so easy and much cheaper, just tin tomatoes, puree and a few herbs

i should do that, we always have all that stuff in the cupboard, how many tins of toms would you use?

Can anyone make the white sauce, is it worth doing? or to much hassle i like lasagne as its a nice easy dish and making the tomatoe sauce seems a doddle so ill be doing that from now on,

Thanks ladies for all the tips xxx

I never buy white sauce,never buy ragu,it's so easy to make,and you can make it to your own taste.

The shop ones are great if you're in a hurry,but a bit of cornflour milk and butter is something we always have in.

Shameful secret is the frozen lasagne hiding in my freezer.No excuse,so easy to make

Right here goes hope these tips are ok!!!!

My fave dish at mo-Crusty pasta & brocoli bake-can be served with meat if you got a hungry man!!! serve mine with bacon or gammon.

YOU NEED; enough penne pasta for however many are eating!

1 red onion

Huge brocoli,cut into small florets

1 veg stock cube

Tsp mustard-any will do

200g tub half fat creme fraiche

loadsa grated cheddar

fresh breadcrumbs-good fistful

mixed herbs

Boil the pasta,onion and broc in plenty of water for bout 8 mins,reserve 400ml roughly of water,drain everything.Return the reserved water to pan an dissolve stock cube,whisk in mustard &creme fraiche season to taste.Bring to the boil,stir in the pasta mix and add some cheese,mix til melted,whack in sum herbs.Tip it into shallow ovenproof dish scatter over your breadcrumbs and cheese whack under grill til cheese bubblin-enjoy