All my Quick Easy Recipes! They make my life easier.

Michelle - posted on 06/10/2012 ( 7 moms have responded )

I am always looking for tasty easy, cheap and quick recipes that use minimal ingredients that I have around the house as I live on an extremely tight budget. I have found some quick easy recipes that I have fallen in love with as have my family that I thought I would share incase anyone is interested in trying them. (Hope it makes sense bit tired at the moment)



Baked Chicken and Sweet Potato

1-2 red onions, halved and cut in thick wedges

600g sweet potato, peeled and cubed (3cm pieces)

4 tomatos halved,

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced,

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 chicken thigh fillets

240g chickpeas (drained if tinned)

1-2 tablespoons dry parsley (I would only use 1)



Preheat oven to 220 Degrees C. Combine Onion, sweet potato, tomato, garlic and half the oil in a bowl then transfer to large baking tray (try not to overcrowd too much). Bake for 15 mins (I bake for about 30-40mins because my oven sucks) Meanwhile heat remaining oil in large frying pan, Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 mins each side or until golden brown (try not to cook through as it might come out dry at the end so take off thin pieces asap). Add chicken to the tray and bake for a further 10 mins or until chicken is cooked through. Add parsley and chickpeas and toss through to warm.

VARIATIONS:

I would try favourite vegies, so I like broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, corn cobs and I leave out the chickpeas and just use a little bit of mixed herbs. You could use lamb chops instead of chicken and pumpkin instead of sweet potato and serve with natural yoghurt. OR Italian sausages instead of chicken, small potatoes halved instead of sweet potato and 240g cannellini beans instead of chickpeas. You could even coat the chicken with ginger powder or Lime and Chilli instead of salt and pepper, or even mix through some sweet chilli sauce at the end. (I have to be careful with my cooking though as my partner has irritable tummy)



Banana Cupcakes (makes 24ish) GREAT for overripe bananas

half cup of butter or margarine

3quarters a cup of caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 eggs

1 cup (3 medium bananas)

1 and a half cups SR Flour

half teaspoon of Bicarb Soda (I dont use it as I never have any)

1 third cup of milk (can be fat reduced)



Preheat oven 180 degrees C, Grease or line muffin/cupcake tray

Beat butter sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until combined well. Add mashed banana, beat until combined. Sift flour and bicarb (if using bicarb) over banana mixture. Add milk. With a metal spoon gently stir until combined. Spoon evenly into patties, Bake for 18-20 mins or until cooked through when tested. Let cool for 5 mins in tray before putting on cooling rack. You can Ice these but I choose not to.



Apple crumble

4 cups sliced apples

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

half a cup of water

1 cup white sugar

half cup of butter or margarine

3 quarters a cup of all purpose flour



Preheat oven 175 degrees C, grease baking dish, Place apples in dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, pour water over all.

In a bowl cream together sugar and butter, blend in flour. Sprinkle over apples (will resemble crumbs). Bake in oven for 30-40mins or until apples are tender. I love this recipe as Im not a fan of oats in my crumble, its super easy and the family loved it.



Chocolate Pudding (self saucing)

60g of butter/margarine

half cup milk

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 cup sifted flour

half teaspoon vanilla essence

3 quarters cup castor sugar



Heat butter and milk in a saucepan until melted, remove from heat, stir in sugar and vanilla essence. Stir until sugar is dissolved (whiteish liquid in parts) add sifted flour and cocoa. Stir until smooth, pour into greased baking dish. Use a 1.5-2L pyres dish.

3 quarters a cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of cocoa

Mix Brown Sugar and cocoa until evenly mixed. Sift over top of pudding evenly and pour 1-2 cups of boiling water over the top. (I dont like to use the full 2 cups of boiling water) Cook in oven at 180 Degrees C until springs up like a cake does. This is very sweet (I find anyway) so would be best served with something not so sweet, but have a play and see what you and yours like.



Basic Quiche

1-2 cups grated cheese

5 eggs

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons flour (plain)

2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Salt and pepper to taste

meat and vegetable of choice (i.e tomato and basil, or mushroom chicken and bacon, whatever you like my sister uses asparagus)



Preheat oven 170-180Degrees C Cook meat and saute vegies, salt and pepper them. Set aside, Grate cheese, Set aside. Mix eggs and milk together well, add cheese and mix. Add butter and flour and mix. Combine meat and veggies with egg mixture. Pour into greased baking dish. Top with cheese and toppings of choice (sliced tomato etc) Bake for 30 minutes or until set (mine takes up to an hour but like I have said my oven isnt the best), let cool slightly and serve. Can serve with a salad or by itself.



Apple and Cinnamon muffins (these go down really well)

1 and a hlaf cups SR Flour

3 quarters a cup of sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

half cup of milk

1 third cup of melted butter (I use Canola oil, works a treat)

1 egg slightly beaten

1 cup of apples



Preheat oven 190Degrees C

Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add all remaining ingredients. Stir until flour moistened. Spoon into prepared muffin liners or tray. Bake for 18-23 minutes or until golden on top or centre cooked. Let stand 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.



My egg salad recipe is pretty simple, I cook as many potatoes as I would normally do (so if feeding 4 I would do 4 potatoes and 1 extra) plus 1 (or 2) less egg than potatoes, through in some good quality yummy mayonnaise, some spring onions, salt and pepper. All of this i just do to taste.



Heres the tim tam cheesecake,



Base

250g chocolate ripple (or just plain chocolate biscuits)

200g melted butter, (I found this was too much so will be putting less in next time I make it)



Filling

3 teaspoons gelatine

quarter a cup water

2 250g packets cream cheese, softened (best at almost or at room temperature)

200gm packet tim tams chopped

half a cup of castor sugar

300ml of thickened cream, whipped



50g melted dark chocolate



Blend or process biscuits until finely crushed. Add butter process until just combined. Press mixture into a 20cm spring-form tin, ensure it is even and press up the sides (I just did the bottom and used a normal silicon round cake pan and just put baking paper on the bottom) Cover and refrigerate while preparing filling.



Sprinkle gelatine over water, stir and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until dissolved and let cool. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Stir in gelatine and then tim tams. Fold in whipped cream and pour into prepared tin.



Drizzle melted chocolate over the top. Pull scewer back and forth to achieve marbled effect (or just leave as lines). Refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours or until set.



We had left over filling and my partner ate it before it had set, he said it tasted funny but loved the cake after it had set. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did :D



Broccoli Salad (serves 6)

2 large heads of broccoli

8 rashers of smoked bacon

olive oil

3 firm red tomatoes, halved and deseeded and chopped

small bunch of chives finely chopped

edible flowers (if you can manage to get your hands on them which I couldnt)

Dressing

half clove of garlic, peeled and finely grated

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

6 tablespoons of virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

sea salt and ground black pepper



Remove broccoli florets, cut them smaller and discard the dry bit of the base cut the rest smaller. Blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water for 60 seconds. Drain then spread on a clean tea towl to steam dry. When completely dry put in serving bowl. Fry bacon on medium heat with small bit of olive oil. until crisp and golden. Spoon most of the bacon over broccoli, leftover fat/oil can be used in dressing, pour all ingredients for dressing into mixing bowl and whisk. Add tomatoes and chives to broccoli and bacon, dress and taste. If it needs 'pimping' add a splash of vinegar. Could toss through diced feta cheese or different coloured cherry tomatoes



These are the more interesting recipes I have so far, hope you like them if you try them. I highly recommend them! Please add your own easy, quick and CHEAP recipes made from minimal and basic ingredients.