This dish is both tasty and inexpensive – less than five dollars for a family meal. The secret? The sauce is full of cabbage. And no one will know if you don’t tell them.

For someone like me who loves cabbage, that may not be a selling point. But if you walk past cheap cabbage and don’t buy it because you know no one will eat it, try this recipe.

Serves 4 – 6

Method

1. Heat a little butter or oil in a large frypan or saucepan. Lightly brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Remove from pan.
2. Add the onion and sauté until almost soft. Add the cabbage, capsicum and garlic and toss sautéing for two minutes or so. Remove from pan and add to chicken.
3. Melt a little extra butter in the pan and add the paprika, flour and tomato paste, stirring to a smooth paste. Add the stock, a little at a time, stirring well until all the stock is incorporated and you have a smooth sauce.
4. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan, add the mushrooms, stir and cover. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (test by cutting into the largest piece – the juices should run clear and there should be no pink).
5. If the sauce is too runny at this point, you can remove the chicken, increase the heat and reduce the sauce until it thickens. This also concentrates the flavour of the sauce. I like to remove the chicken anyway before stirring in the sour cream, just because it makes it easier to stir.
6. Turn off the heat and stir in the sour cream and some chopped parsley. Serve over rice with an extra sprinkling parsley.

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Sick of the same old mince dishes? I was. So I went searching for a recipe and ended up adapting this one from Taste.com.

This is a tasty dish, easy to make and inexpensive. The yoghurt is optional but really gives the dish a lift; the tartness contrasts well with the earthiness of the spices and the burst of sweetness from the sultanas. Weevils nested in my almonds so I didn’t add those, but toasted almonds definitely balance the texture by giving the dish some crunch.

Basmati rice is recommended in the original recipe but I just use regular long grain rice. Also, I use lamb mince because we don’t eat beef anymore, but you can use regular beef mince also, which would make this dish even cheaper.

Method

1. Toast almonds in a dry pan (no oil) over medium heat until lightly golden. Set aside.
2. In a large pan (one that has a lid), sauté onion in a little oil until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for a few more seconds. Add mince and brown well, breaking up lumps.
3. Stir in rice then add the stock, spice mix and sultanas. Stir, cover and cook over medium heat until stock is absorbed and rice cooked through. Start with 1 1/2 cups of stock and add more if necessary. I used long grain rice and eventually added nearly 2 1/2 cups of stock before the rice was cooked. Add a little stock at a time, stir a little and cover until rice tender to your liking (12 – 25 minutes depending on rice and taste).
4. Meanwhile steam, boil or microwave pumpkin and beans until just tender. Drain and set aside.
5. When the rice is done, stir in the tomato, cooked pumpkin and beans and heat for a further 5 minutes.
6. Serve topped with a dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkling of toasted almonds.

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This is one of our favourite stir fry combinations. I can’t find if I’ve shared it or not previously, so maybe I haven’t, although it’s one we’ve been eating for years. My favourite flavour ‘profile’ is a sweet/salty combo, which is exactly what the Oyster sauce and honey give to this dish.

In the above picture I left out the cashews because the little fella was eating it too, but we normally have cashews in this dish.

I apologise for the lack of sauce measurements. I don’t measure, just slosh it in. Add a little of both the oyster sauce and honey, a tablespoon or two to start, give it a good mix, taste and adjust. Add more honey if you like it sweeter, add more of both if you like your stir fry saucy.

If you toss noodles through the stir fry, particularly rice noodles, they will absorb some of the extra sauce, giving them lots of flavour. I used hokkein noodles in the picture above.

Below are the vegetable that I usually use, but as always, add what you have in the crisper. Mushrooms or snow peas make a nice addition. Serves 2 – 4 a flexible dish; add more or less depending on serving needs.

Method

1. Chop all ingredients first so that they are ready. The meat will be more tender if you cut it against the grain thinly, cook it very briefly at high heat until just cooked through (it will continue to cook once you remove it from the pan and you will be adding it back later, so no need to cook it to death now) and avoid boiling it in the sauce later. This goes with all types of meat in any stir fry, although you can cook beef or lamb so that it is still a little pink and it will be cooked through by the end.  I defrost the beans by soaking them for a minute or two in boiling water from the kettle.
2. Heat a wok or pan to high, add a little oil (not olive it will burn) and stir fry chicken in batches until just cooked through. Remove from wok.
3. Turn down the heat a little and add onion and stir fry for a minute or two until tender. Add capsicum and garlic and stir fry for a further minute.
4. Add vegetables and continue to stir fry for a couple of minutes before adding the sauces, stirring, tasting and adjusting. Cook until the vegetables are at your preferred tenderness. Meanwhile, prepare rice or noodles.
5. Add the cashews and chicken stir until chicken is heated through. Serve with rice or noodles.

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This is a basic grilled or fried chicken breast with a little difference – topped with cheesy potato rather than having the spuds served on the side.

This dish is nice with a salad, but I have a pregnancy aversion to salad at the moment, so vegetables it was. The bonus of using vegetables is that you can add them to any leftover potato mixture for bubble and squeak the next day (just fry the mixture in a little butter like fritters).

That is exactly what we did for breakfast. The little fella insists on being involved in all cooking (who am I to argue with that! Hopefully the interest in cooking doesn’t wear off!). When I explained I was cooking bubble and squeak he noddled solemnly and said ‘noisy breakfast’. However there was total silence as it was eaten. Serves 4

Method

1. Boil whole potatoes until almost tender (a reader the other week suggested steaming spuds instead to ensure they don’t get overcooked. Great tip!) Cool and grate. I left the skin on when boiling and most of it stayed on the grater when I grated the spuds. If you over cook the potato (um, like I did) it’s more like mashed potato than grated, but that’s just as good!
2. Meanwhile, halve the chicken breasts horizontally so that you have two fillets or schnitzels. Lightly hammer or roll to flatten.
3. Combine potato, onion, cheese, egg and chives.
4. Fry chicken in a little oil until brown on both sides and cooked through or grill under the griller/broiler until cooked. Place on a tray and top with the potato mixture.
5. Grill under a medium hot grill until potato mixture is browned and cooked through (about 5 – 10 minutes).

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We stopped eating beef about five months ago. The reason is that beef doesn’t agree with me. My digestive system has been much happier since. While I think this decision is not only good for me, but for the environment as well, beef mince is a frugal staple and finding replacements can be expensive.

Lamb mince is both difficult to find and expensive (although a first: Woolies is cheaper in this case. Our local Woolies sells lamb mince for $10 a kilo, while the wholesaler charges $27 a kilo and you have to order it in advance). Pork mince is another alternative and reasonably priced. Both can be substituted successfully for beef mince.

Method

1. Prepare noodles according to directions on packet.
2. Brown the mince, breaking lumps up with a spoon. Drain.
3. Heat a little oil and add the cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms and garlic. Sauté until vegetables are just tender.
4. Return mince to pan and stir through peanut butter and soy sauce (taste and add more if preferred).
5. Toss the noodles through the mince mixture, heat and serve.

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This dish was adapted from two recipes: I used this recipe for the satay sauce, halving the quantities and leaving some of the ingredients out and adding a little lime juice; and this recipe for the meatballs. Then I tossed the both with some noddles and cooked vegetables. It was quite a hit, even the little fella telling me it was ‘ummy’ as he slurped peanut buttery noodles.

I didn’t use all of the sauce, just add enough to coat rather than drown out the noodles – the rest was frozen; I found the sauce to be a bit claggy and added water to loosen it up a bit once I mixed in the noodles.

One packet of noodles was sufficient for the two of us and the little fella; if you’re feeding more, use two packets of noodles and maybe a bit of extra veg and enough sauce to coat.

The ginger in the meatballs works really well to cut through the nuttiness of the sauce. Ginger in a jar is one of the few cheats that I use in the kitchen.

As usual, use whatever vegetables you have in the crisper. Serves 2 – 4

Method

1. To make the meatballs: combine all ingredients, squooshing well with your hands. Roll teaspoon-full amounts into small balls and set aside in the fridge.
2. To make the sauce: sauté the garlic in a little oil over low heat until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir for a few minutes over low heat until combined and thickened slightly. Set aside.
3. Prepare noodles as per packet directions (usually soak in boiling water for a few minutes).
4. Fry meatballs in a little oil over medium heat until browned and cooked through. Remove from pan.
5. Sauté the vegetables in the same pan until softened slightly. Return the chicken to the pan and toss in the noodles. Stir in enough sauce to coat and make the dish saucy. Add a little water if needed to loosen the sauce. Serve.

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I know. I should be banned from doing any sort of food photography. This dish does taste much better than it looks in the photo. The pork is marinated in herbs and garlic and the vegetables, honey roasted. What’s more, it’s cheap and easy to throw in the oven and forget about. Serve with your favourite greens for a complete meal. Serves 4.

Method

1. Combine the oil, lemon juice, rosemary and garlic and pour over pork chops. Marinate for one hour or over night.
2. Preheat oven to 220°C. Place vegetable in a baking dish, drizzle over honey and olive oil and toss to coat.
3. Bake vegetables for 40 minutes, turning once.
4. Place chops on top of vegetables, drizzle with marinade. Roast for for 15 – 30 minutes until pork is just cooked through (cooking time will depend on the thickness of the pork chop). Serve with greens.

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Lamb neck. Tastier than it sounds, I promise.

I bought five lamb neck chops (500g) for $2.80, so this dish, all up, cost under $5, with leftovers. Not only is this recipe inexpensive, it is so easy to cook in the slow cooker and it is also one of my favourite stews. The recipe is for 1kg of chops, I made it almost exactly the same but with less meat and less stock.

I’ve shared this recipe before here, cooked traditionally on the stove. This time round, I left the bones in (who has time to cut up all that meat? And besides, the meat just falls off the bone after hours of cooking and you get all that good marrow and gelatine from the bones), added more potatoes and slow cooked the stew.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, or you want this one pot stew cooked in under 2 hours, then check out the original recipe.

The photo was taken at the end of the meal, which was gobbled down in a rush with a very cranky, screaming toddler who was well overdue for bed. I know food blogs have lovely, styled photos. What you see here are real meals, photographed before they get cold (or before the little fella starts throwing potatoes at us).

Method

1. Brown lamb chops quickly, a couple at a time, in a pan with a little hot oil. Place in slow cooker.
2. Reduce the heat and lightly brown the onion and carrots. Sprinkle flour over onion and cook for a minute stirring, then add the tomato paste and cook stirring for a further minute to take off the raw tomato taste.
3. Add enough stock to make a sauce and to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Pour the onion mixture into the slow cooker.
4. Add enough stock to cover the lamb chops, then add the crushed garlic and bouquet garni and give everything a good stir.
5. Cook on high for two hours before adding the potatoes and turning the cooker to low. Continue cooking for five hours or until vegetables are cooked through.
6. At this point you can remove the bones if you like, and chop up the meat. The bones are mostly large and easy to remove and the meat tends to just fall off them. Season to taste and serve with steamed greens and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
7. Alternatively, throw the potatoes in at the beginning of the cooking time and cook on low for eight hours or until tender (or you are ready).

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I don’t mind a bit of chilli, but as we were sharing this dish with the little fella, I left the chilli out. So it’s a chilli without chilli.

This recipe was made with the left over chicken from last week’s slow cooker roast chicken and it was also done in the slow cooker.

Bulk it up with extra vegetables, whatever you have in the fridge; serve on corn chips instead of rice for nachos.

Method

1. In a frying pan, sauté the onion in a little oil until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, chilli if using and tomato paste and cook for a further minute or two.
2. Throw everything into the slow cooker and cook on low for a 3 – 5 hours or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through.
3. Serve with rice and topped with grated cheese if you like, or maybe some guacamole or sour cream.

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I’m embarrassed to say that I forgot to take a photo of our roast chicken. The photo above is from the day after – chicken stock is quietly bubbling away. Thought I’d add a little current ‘still life’ to the picture.

I’ve always slow roasted in the oven. I have a great ceramic coated cast iron pot that can go on the stove top and in the oven. There are several downsides, however to having the oven on all day: I worry that the little fella will get burned, it’s way too hot most of the year to have the oven on and it uses a lot of electricity.

So I finally bit the bullet and bought a slow cooker last month. I can tell you that I have a new love in my life! I use it nearly every day and it has made life (especially the evenings) so much easier.

Roast chicken in a slow cooker is not like a roast chicken done in the oven. The skin doesn’t get brown and crispy and the chicken pretty much completely falls apart when you try and lift it out. But it is oh so moist and tender. That and the fact that it is so easy to throw it in the slow cooker and forget about it makes it so worth cooking a chook this way.

I found that there was a lot of chicken juice in the bottom of the bowl. You can elevate your chook by placing it on the vegetables you’re going to serve with the chook or some balls of foil. Use the chicken juice to make gravy by pouring some into a saucepan and make your gravy as usual.

Method

1. Rinse the inside of your chook and pat dry. Stuff the cavity with the onion, garlic and lemon. Sprinkle the chicken skin with the paprika, salt and pepper.
2. Place the chicken in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours and then on low for five hours or until cooked (the time will depend on the size of your chook, so test it after a few hours by skewering the thickest part of the thigh – the juices should run clear. Alternatively, use a meat thermometer).
3. Lift the chicken out carefully (it will probably break up so an egg flip or similar is useful here) and serve.
4. Save the chicken bones, onion and garlic in the fridge to make stock.

Stock

1. The next day, place the bones from your chicken carcass back into your slow cooker along with 1 onion, quartered (don’t worry about peeling) a carrot, chopped, a bay leaf, some pepper corns, some parsley stalks, (and a leek top if you have it), or left over vegetable peelings from the freezer. Throw in the onion, garlic and lemon from the roast chicken if you didn’t eat it. Add 2 1/2 – 3 litres of cold water.
2. Cook on high for a couple of hours or low for about eight hours. Taste and add salt if desired.
3. Strain stock and refrigerate overnight. Skim fat off top and divide into portions and freeze.

I bought a fairly large chook (it cost $10 – I miss the cheap chickens I used to be able to buy) so there was enough for a roast meal for two adults and a hungry toddler, 2 litres of stock, plus two days worth of lunches (avocado, tomato, chicken and cheese melts – yum) plus a ‘chilli’ chicken and bean dinner that also had leftovers for a lunch and an extra toddler dinner. I also cooked this in the slow cooker, and I will be sharing the recipe next week.

P.S. I researched slow cooker roast chicken and was ‘inspired by’ eHow. After cooking my chicken, I can across this website about how to get the skin crispy by finishing the chook off in the oven. Will try this next time.

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