Monday 19 January 2015

Success

There are some meals I cook because I know everyone likes them and some evenings there isn't time for doing anything other than a tried and tested favourite.
Although I do still like to try new things out on my little family, you never know one of them may become another favourite.
Over the past couple of weeks I've tried a few new recipes.
Post Christmas I'm trying to use up things already in the freezer rather than buying more. First up to use was a pack of sausages. I took a recipe originally for oven baked chicken and figured it would probably work ok with the sausages.
G and S liked it, T didn't. He left the sausages.
Next to use was a joint of pork so I tried this balsamic vinegar and honey recipe in the slow cooker.
This time G and T liked it, S didn't. She gave it a good go, adding a good splodge of BBQ sauce to try and finish it off but it just wasn't for her.
My last thing to use was a 750g pack of steak mince.
I had torn out a recipe from an Asda magazine which said to add a tin of mashed up chickpeas to the meat and seasoning to make it go further. T and S don't like chickpeas but I thought disguised in meatballs and a pasta sauce I may get away with it.
G and T liked them, S didn't although she managed to eat all of them bar one.
Finally with the other half of the mince I made a turkey tortilla pie.
I made a few changes though, obviously the mince was steak and not turkey and
I left out the kidney beans as I knew these a definite no no but I did add 2 peppers.
I didn't have any chipotle paste but I did have chipotle ketchup and used that instead and I substituted passata for the chopped tomatoes. 
And I'm pleased to say that finally it was a unanimous thumbs up all round.
 
 

photo from the BBC Good Food website.

11 comments:

  1. It looks lovely. I've got some mince out of the freezer for tea tonight but it will be good old pasta bolognese that it's used for.

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  2. Well done....had a similar idea of just eating everything in the house up before buying anything else.... it lasted about 2 days before was lured back to the shops!!

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  3. That turkey tortilla pie looks delicious - I'm definitely adding that one to the 'to cook' list! Thanks, Lisa! x

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  4. I have to say I admire the way you try and try and try. Well done - you inspired me to try something different. Now what have I got lurking in the fridge? xxxxxx

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  5. I know just how hard it is to cook a meal that everyone likes! Thumbs up that the last one you tried ticked all the boxes! With regards to kidney beans, sometimes I substitute baked beans instead and they are just as good! x

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  6. Fun to try new recipes to use up leftovers; I cook the same old tried & tested meals all the time !

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  7. Oh thank God you found a meal they all liked. I hate it when 3 out of 4 like it and you just KNOW no.4 will NEVER like it.

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  8. Mmmmm, they sound great!!!! Alas, my husband has given up meat so not sure how that's going to be. X

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  9. I think it all sounds delicious, but I will pretty much eat anything and am always thinking about my next meal. We also find it tricky to find weekday meals that we all enjoy. Quite often the kids eat first then we eat something (spicy, usually!) when they're in bed about 8pm. But as they get older and go to bed later this wont be possible. There's always pizza! xx

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