I’ve been watching too much telly. I had a craving for one of those chicken sauces in a jar. It tempted me in the supermarket as I walked past it’s shelf.

I didn’t buy it, I decided to make my own version which was pretty easy and doesn’t include any extras like preservatives or artificial flavours.

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This is a quick omelette that is very tasty. DH insists that it must be served with grilled Turkish bread, but a well dressed salad adds some greens to the plate, the vinegar cutting through the fattiness of the chorizo. Chorizo isn’t exactly a diet sausage, but it is oh so good. Serves 2

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I had a few leftovers from Christmas, some salad leaves that needed eating, a bit of topside in the fridge and leftover dressing, so I made this seared beef salad for lunch in order to use up what was left in the fridge and avoid the waste.

I’ve given the ingredients that we used below, but as the whole point was to use up leftovers, the idea is to build the salad on whatever you have rolling around your crisper.

I don’t really like salad, I usually choose steamed veg over salad any day, so I tend to take my salad making pretty seriously in order to gain maximum enjoyment.

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Picture by touring fishman.

I have this wonderful cookbook that I pilfered off my mum called Quick, Thrifty Cooking. It’s a treasure trove of cheap meals many specifically written for using up leftovers. And after Christmas there are always leftovers.

These probably aren’t your traditional croquettes, but I don’t do much deep frying, so I like this recipe because the croquettes are just pan fried.

While this recipe doesn’t roll the croquettes in breadcrumbs, I like to finish them off by doing so.

Of course, you could substitute the ham for leftover turkey, chicken or pork.

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Want to know how to feed a family of four on a single chicken breast? Chicken and vegetable pie is just one answer.

The basics of this pie (and any pie really) is meat, sauce or binding, vegetables and flavourings. With this pie I’ve used a basic white sauce as the binding flavoured with mustard, herbs and garlic, but you could substitute the milk with chicken or vegetable stock to cut out the dairy and even use a little white wine for flavour. Use whatever vegetables you have in the crisper.

Top the pie with commercial puff, filo or shortcrust pastry, or make your own easy pastry. I usually don’t put pastry on the bottom of the pie, but that’s personal choice.  In the picture above I used some left over filo. It was all torn so I screwed it up gently and placed it over the top. It’s a nice decorative finish to the pie and the filo didn’t get wasted.

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Making your own chicken schnitzel is very easy. It’s cheaper than buying it pre-made and you know exactly what has gone into it. I admit, it takes an extra few minutes to make and there are a few extra plates to wash up, but it is well worth the effort. All up, it takes around 30 minutes to cook this meal.

One large chicken breast is enough to feed the two of us – it gives two large schnitzels and a smaller one with the tenderloin. We buy our chicken breast hormone free from the local wholesaler. A chicken breast comes to around $1.90 each so the whole meal above with veg for two people cost less than $5.00 in total.

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This is a nice, easy recipe to go with some homemade fried rice. Just like having takeaway, but far cheaper and you know what ingredients are going into your food. Only downside is the washing up! Pack your chicken and fried rice and maybe some steamed greens in some containers for an evening ‘takeaway’ picnic on the beach.

As usual I don’t have a recipe, so I’ve tried to guestimate as well as I can the ingredient quantities. Taste the sauce as it cooks and adjust it to suit your own tastes. You could also toss through some steamed snow peas and capsicum to make it a little more healthy.

Method

1. Coat chicken in cornflour and heat about an inch or two of oil in a pan.
2. When the oil is quite hot, cook the chicken in small batches until golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, bring the stock, lemon juice ginger and honey to the boil, then simmer for a minute or two. Stir in a small amount of cornflour that has been mixed with water to form a slurry to thicken the sauce and simmer until thickened slightly.
4. Taste the sauce and add a little extra honey if it seems too sour (or a little extra lemon if it’s not sour enough).
5. Serve the chicken hot with the sauce drizzled over the top.

There are quite a few ingredients in this recipe, but if you generally keep your pantry well stocked, you’ll probably have almost all of them on hand. This is a recipe that I cook when I haven’t done the shopping, because I usually keep all of these ingredients except for coriander if I don’t have it growing. Serve with rice or bread and salad.

Method

1. Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl and knead until well combined in a paste like consistency. With moistened hands, shape the mixture into walnut sized meatballs, placing them on a tray. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
2. For the sauce, heat oil or butter in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook over low heat until softened and golden, then add the paprika, turmeric, cumin and chilli and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add stock and coriander and bring to the boil.
3. Add the meatballs, shaking pan so that they settle into the sauce. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Add parsley and lemon juice and simmer for 2 minutes. Serve with rice or bread, serves 4.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out two random sausages that had been in the freezer for quite some time to cook them up for dinner. Two sausages don’t go far on their own, but as a stew served with a side (I used polenta) it could feed 4 people. I just made the recipe up as I went along so the ingredients are a bit of a guestimate.

Method

1. Fry sausages until cooked through.
2. Add some oil to the pan and sauté onion and garlic. Add carrot and zucchini and brown lightly.
3. Add herbs, tomato paste and tomatoes and bring to the boil.
4. Slice the sausages thinly and add to the mix. Simmer until sauce has reduced and thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Stir through parsley just before serving. Serve with a side.

Serves 2 – 4. This was a scrounge meal, so add whatever vegetables or meat that you have on hand.

This is my family rissole recipe that is jam packed with flavour, inexpensive and healthy as well. I don’t have a recipe and I don’t measure the ingredients, so I had to make a guestimate at some of the measurements. You made need to adjust.

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well with your hands, adding enough breadcrumbs so that the mixture comes together without being sloppy.
2. Shape into rissoles and refrigerate for 10 minutes or so.
3. I like to fry these in a little macadamia nut oil flavoured with a little butter, but they BBQ and grill just as well.

Makes about 8 depending on the size you make the rissoles.

If you want to make the mince go further or make them a little extra healthy, I also add cooked red lentils to the mixture, about 1/4 or less of the mince. The lentils add fibre, but they can make the rissoles stick when you cook them on the BBQ, so you may need a little extra oil when cooking them.

If you combine the mixture well, giving it a good squish, no-one will see the vegetables and lentils and they won’t even know they’re eating them.

Nothing beats rissoles with mash and greens, but these rissoles can also form the best burgers ever.