Chorizo Pasta Bake

Utensils	Ingredients
Oven dish	200g pasta
Cheese grater	100g cheese
	2 peppers
	2 tins chopped tomatoes
	1 onion
	1 small chorizo sausage

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Put uncooked pasta into the oven dish.
3. Chop up onions, pepper and chorizo isn’t bite-size pieces, and add those to the dish too.
4. Pour over the 2 tins of tomatoes. Fill one tin to the brim with water and add that too. Stir.
5. Oven-bake for 25 minutes.
6. Take the dish out the oven, give it a stir then sprinkle the (grated) cheese on top.
7. Return to the oven for a further 20 mins.

Suggestions:

-> Also works with bacon, chicken or Quorn if you don’t like chorizo.

-> The easily way out for this is to instead get ‘pasta bake’ jar sauces, from brands like Dolmio, and following the instructions. But making your own is definitely more satisfactory!

Cheese-Stuffed Chicken

Utensils	Ingredients
Frying pan	4 chicken breasts
Knife	100g cheese
Cheese grater	4 rashers bacon
Oven tray	mixed herbs
	vegetables, to serve

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cut each chicken breast nearly in half, so they then fold out like a book.
3. Grate the cheese and place on one half of the chicken. Fold the chicken back over.
4. Wrap each breast in bacon and sprinkle the mixed herbs over the top.
5. Oven-bake for 45 minutes.
6. Serve with whatever vegetables (or chips) you like!

Suggestions:

-> Add more of less cheese depending on your taste – and try a variety of different types too!

-> You can add finely chopped garlic with the cheese to give it any extra kick.

Spafeti

Usually my recipes are pretty self-explanatory, but I think this one needs a wee introduction. The recipe book my flatmates and I found it in labelled it pretty blandly, so after changing part of the recipe to suit us, my flatmate came up with the name Spafeti (Spaghetti + Feta), so give it a try and enjoy.

Utensils	Ingredients
Pan	300g spaghetti pasta
Fork	200g feta cheese
Something to drain	1 tin chopped tomatoes
	2tbsp olive oil
	2tbsp basil
	1 garlic clove, chopped
	rocket

Method:

1. Cook the spaghetti. Put chopped tomatoes in oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the olive oil, basil and garlic. Cut the feta into cubes.
3. Drain the pasta and stir in the oil/garlic/basil mix until well coated.
4. Stir in tomatoes and cubes of feta.
5. Serve with handful of rocket on top.

Suggestions:

-> If you like your dishes with a bit more meat in, bacon or chicken goes great.

-> If you’re not really a fan of garlic, use less or simply fry part of it to weaken the taste. Raw garlic is pretty strong.

Super Chocolate Brownies

Utensils	Ingredients
Mixing bowl	120g caster sugar
Whisk	150g butter
Baking tin	2 eggs
Grease-proof paper	50g plain flour
	1 large Cadbury’s  chocolate bar
	1/2tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Melt the chocolate (NOT in the microwave, boil a pan full of water and place a bowl in it for the chocolate) and then add the butter and sugar. Whisk thoroughly.
3. Add 1 egg, half the flour and baking powder and whisk. Add the remaining egg and flour, whisk again.
4. Line baking-tin with grease-proof paper, and pour in the brownie mixture.
5. Bake in over for 20 mins, until the mixture has set.
6. Leave to cool for a good hour or so before slicing into squares.

Suggestions:

-> You could add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, marshmallow or anything else to give the brownies a delicious kick.

-> Double the quantities of everything if you have a real sweet tooth!

-> If you want more gooey texture and slightly less sweet, then check out the chewy gooey brownies recipe.

Chewy Gooey Brownies

Utensils	Ingredients
Mixing bowl	200g caster sugar
Whisk	4tbsp butter, melted
Baking tin	2 eggs
Grease-proof paper	40g cocoa
	60g plain flour
	1/2tsp baking powder
	1/2tsp vanilla essence
	milk

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Whisk melted butter and sugar together until you have a syrup consistency.
3. Mix in 1 egg, half the cocoa and half the flour. Whisk well. Do the same with the remaining egg, flour and cocoa.
4. Add vanilla essence and baking powder and stir in.
5. Add in a dash of milk if the mixture is too stiff. You want it looking a little like cake mixture, though perhaps slightly less runny!
6. Line baking-tin with grease-proof paper, and pour in the brownie mixture.
7. Bake in over for 20-25 mins, until the mixture has set.
8. Leave to cool for a good hour or so before slicing into squares.

Suggestions:

-> You could add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, marshmallow or anything else to give the brownies a delicious kick.

-> Double the quantities of everything if you have a real sweet tooth!

-> If you like sweeter, more chocolaty brownies, then check out the super chocolate brownie recipe.

Marble Cake

Utensils	Ingredients
3 mixing bowls	225g caster sugar
Whisk	335g butter/margerine
2 round baking tins	225g self-raising flour
Grease-proof paper	4 eggs
Fork	3tbsp cocoa
	170g icing sugar
	1tbsp milk
	1tsp vanilla essense

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Whisk sugar and 225g of the butter together until it has a light, fluffy texture.
3. Mix in 4 eggs, and at a time, and sieve in the flour, a little at a time.
4. Add the vanilla essence. The cake mixture should now be stiff enough to not fall off a spoon straight away (and should taste amazing).
5. Half the mixture, and mix 2tbsp cocoa with one half. It should now look a light(ish) brown.
6. Line your baking tins with grease-proof paper. Add some of each mix a bit at a time, and then stir with a fork. Don’t stir too much so the mixtures aren’t distinguishable, just enough to make a ‘marble’ pattern.
7. Bake for 25 minutes – that’s two tins that should be going in. (Handy tip: inset a skewer into the middle of the cake when you think it’s done – if it comes away clean, take it out, if not, it needs a little longer).
8. To make the buttercream filling, mix the remaining butter with the icing sugar until incorporated. Add a few drops of vanilla essence or a tbsp of cocoa depending on what flavour filling you’d prefer.
9. When the cake is out, leave to cool before adding your buttercream, or else it’ll melt! Once it is, form a sandwich of buttercream between the two layers – and if there’s spare, put some on top too!

Suggestions:

-> You could add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, marshmallow or anything else to the mixture to make it extra special.

-> If two tiers of cake is too much for you, simply half the recipe!

-> An electric whisk would make this recipe easier, but it can be done with a regular whisk or fork. Get those arm muscles working!

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Utensils	Ingredients
Frying pan	few chunks of chicken
Scissors	1 rasher of bacon
Small bowl	lettuce
	Caesar dressing
	tomato
	cucumber
	wraps

Method:

1. Fry the chicken and bacon in oil until both are cooked through. Chop the bacon into small pieces with scissors (much faster than cutting with a knife).
2. Cut your lettuce, cucumber and tomato into tiny chunks or strips – your choice.
3. Add the chicken, bacon and salad stuff to a bowl and coat in Caesar dressing. The amount is entirely up to you.
4. Put into wraps and fold.

Suggestions:

-> This is a great recipe for any left-over chicken or dressing you have. Doesn’t have to be Caesar either, how about a Tikka Masala wrap?

-> Obviously cucumber and tomato is optional, I know some of you (mentioning no names FLATMATES) don’t like either!

Simple Cheesy Omelette

Utensils	Ingredients
Frying pan	3 eggs
Spatula	3tbsp milk
Grater	25g butter
Fork	salt & pepper
	30g cheese

Method:

1. Melt the butter in the frying pan, and then make sure the base it coated.
2. Beat the eggs and milk together until thoroughly mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Pour mixture into the frying pan and make sure it’s evenly spread. Turn the heat down low.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the whole omelette had a yellowy look to it. In the meantime grate your cheese.
5. Unstick the omelette from the pan using your spatula – don’t be too rough though, you don’t want it to tear!
6. Grate the cheese and sprinkle it over one half of the omelette and fold the other half over. Keep on the heat until the cheese has melted.

Suggestions:

-> Depending on how much you like the taste of eggs, you can change the quantity. More eggs and less milk makes for a very eggy omelette!

-> Omelettes can be made with a variety of ingredients, and the amount again is suggested. You may prefer a cheese overload. Other simple omelette ingredients are: tomatoes, ham, mushroom, bacon.

-> Adding herbs to the whisked eggs and milk can give it a bit more of a kick. Personally I love a cheese & chive omelette!

-> For a healthy option, replace the butter with oil and use skimmed milk.

Chicken Stir Fry

Utensils	Ingredients
Wok	500g chicken
Spatula	200g noodles
	assorted vegetables
	3tbsp soy sauce
	2tbsp wine vinegar
	1/2tsp cornflour
	2tbsp ketchup

Method:

1. Add oil to the wok and leave to heat until smoking.
2. Fry chicken for 2 minutes, then add your assorted (chopped) vegetables and fry until the chicken is cooked through. This should take about 5 minutes, but cut open your chicken and check it’s not still pink inside – size matters in cooking!
3. Whilst that’s cooking away, time to make up the sauce. Add the soy sauce, wine vinegar, cornflour and ketchup to a cup and mix thoroughly. Do a taste check to see if you’d like to add more of any of the ingredients.
4. Make up the noodles – this varies depending on what type you have. We usually have nests, which boil in two minutes, or straight-to-wok noodles, which funnily enough, go straight in the wok.
5. Mix in the sauce with the noodles, chicken and vegetables until everything is nice and warm. If you like a bit more sauce, feel free to make up some more!

Suggestions:

-> For vegetables, I like to use onions, peppers, broccoli and carrots but stir fry is a pretty mix-and-match dish. Try whatever vegetables you like.

-> You don’t have to use chicken for this, beef goes great too. Or for something a bit different, try prawns!

-> If you want a challenge, try eating with chopsticks rather than a fork. Go on, you know you’d be pretty impressed with yourself if you manage.