Homemade Chicken and Pasta Soup

This is a Slowcooker recipe but can also be done on the stove top as well.

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Baby Carrots
• 4 Stalks of Celery
• vegetable stock cubes
• 500g bowtie pasta (or whatever pasta you fancy)
• Water
• Salt and Pepper
• mixed herbs
• Onion

How to Make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup:

-          In a large pot cover your chicken with water, add the stock cubes and allow to boil

-          Dice your onion and celery. You can also chop the baby carrots if you want to, put all the veggies together in a bowl and set aside.

-          Remove chicken from pot and place into a bowl to allow cooling to room temperature.

-          Fill your slow cooker or crock-pot with water until it is ⅔ of the way full. Bring to a boil (use your hottest setting until it reaches a boil).

-          Once your water is boiling, place 2 stock cubes into the water and allow them to dissolve.

-          Shred the cooked or cut the chicken into cubes if you prefer.

-          Place the chicken and vegetables into the boiling water and reduce heat. Slow cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.

-          Place your pasta into your slow cooker for the last 20-30 minutes and allow the pasta to become tender.

-          Serve with fresh rolls or bread 

If you want to make this on the stove top you can follow the same process just set your stove to a lower setting and allow to cook for 2 hours.

I have made this recipe a few times and love it especially when someone in the house is under the weather.

Slowcooker Meatloaf

My Hubby is on leave and made this for us last week and it was AMAZING, we served it with a loaf of fresh bread but you could serve it as you like, you can also do this in the oven as well, the cooking time would just be different.

Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagna

Its time to share anther yummy winter recipe with everyone....

Ingredients

1 large egg 
450g  Ricotta Cheese
1 large package baby spinach, coarsely chopped 
3 large or 4 small portobello mushroom caps, gills removed halved and thinly sliced 
1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced 
1  can tomato onion mix
1  can diced tomatoes 
3 cloves of garlic, minced 
Pinch of salt and pepper
A box of lasagna sheets, uncooked 
3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided
 

Preparation

-   Combine egg, ricotta, spinach, mushrooms and zucchini in a large bowl. 

-   Combine crushed and diced tomatoes and their juice, garlic and salt/ pepper  in a medium bowl. 

-    Spread 1 1/2 cups of the tomato mixture in the slow  cooker. 

-   Arrange 5 noodles over the sauce, overlapping them slightly and breaking into pieces to cover as much of the sauce as possible. 

-   Spread half of the ricotta-vegetable mixture over the noodles and firmly pat down, then spoon on 1 1/2 cups sauce and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella. Repeat the layering one more time, starting with noodles. 

-   Top with a third layer of noodles. Evenly spread the remaining tomato sauce over the noodles. Set aside the remaining 1 cup mozzarella in the refrigerator. 

-   Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on High for 2 hours or on Low for 4 hours. 

-   Turn off the slow cooker, sprinkle the reserved mozzarella on the lasagna, cover and let stand for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

Enjoy =) 

The easiest pizza base EVER

This oh so simple recipe was shared with me many moons ago and has been such a great help in times when the kids feel like a treat and money is well... fleeting so I just had to share it with all of you.

Ingredients:

Pizza Base

500ml buttermilk
pinch of salt and pepper
1 kg (max) self raising flour

Extras:

Tomato Sauce
Toppings of your choice

Pour your buttermilk into a large bowl, add the spices and then slowly add the flour until your dough forms to a consistency of your liking.

Sprinkle some flour onto your counter and knead the dough then roll it out, use a cup to cut out mini pizzas or a large plate to cut out a larger size pizza, your kids can even do this with help.

Place the base on a floured or grease proof baking sheet and bake at 180 for 10 minutes remove and smear your tomato sauce on as a base then add your toppings and pop back into the oven until cooked this usually takes another 10 minutes or so at 180 degrees.

Voila quick simple and cheap, YUM

This makes a mother load of pizza dough btw so noone will be left hungry and you can freez any left over dough as well.

Pasta and Chicken Slow Cooker Soup

I love sharing recipes and this is one I haven't made in while so it is on the menu for this weekend, its simple and the whole family will love it unless they are like Gabriel who just refuses to like soup then I am afraid you may need to make something alongside with it, I usually do toasties and Gabriel is quite happy with that.

Pulled Slow Cooker Chicken Wraps

This is another simple recipe to  make for these cold days that are FINALLY dawning upon us, I made this last night and it was absolutely divine so I just had to share.

End of the month Bolognaise

 

Also known as my throw everything you have left in the cupboard together spaghetti =)

I will say that every time I make this it is different as I base it on what I have left in my cupboard but it is always a winner and this weekend’s was amazing so I decided to share it with you.

When I say this is filling I am not kidding and the beans and veg make it go a lot further, you can of course skip the mince and go vegetarian without it but my kids asked for a mince dish.

Butternut and Feta Lasagne

This is honestly one of my Favorite veggie dishes of all time to make and such a hit with everyone I have made it for, you can of course substitute the cheese for vegan cheese and the milk with a vegan alternative if you are vegan.

Homemade Slow Cooker Chilli

Not my picture but exactly how it turns out

My Hubby has been asking me to make this since I mentioned it and it literally is one of the easiest and quickest dishes to make ever, you can vary the amount of flavor and spiciness according to your family and tastes but this worked for everyone.

Our slow cooker is seriously the best investment in our kitchen and it saves so much time I highly recommend investing in one if you do not have one!

Ingredients

500g ground beef

1 large onion diced

1 red or green pepper diced

1 clove of garlic minced or a 1tbsp of crushed garlic

1 can of diced tomato

250g  Berlotti beans

250g Butterbeans

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

Dash of Worcester sauce

Pinch of salt

1 stock pot 

* you can vary the beans as well my kids really enjoy the butter beans and I had Berlotti beans in the cupboard already so I used what I had

Directions

 
            Throw everything into the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours       

It seriously is divine and I just served it with some buttered bread which the kids and hubby loved so much. 

  

Wild Rice and Veggies #VeggieMondays

My family really loves rice particularly wild and brown rice so this week I decided to male use of my slow cooker once again and see what I could put together.

Ingredients

1 tin of diced tomatoes

1 diced red onion

1 diced brown onion

2 cups sliced carrots

2 cups diced potato or sweet potato

250g chickpeas

1 cup diced broccoli

1 cup peas

2 cups wild rice

1 tbsp garlic

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp masala

a dash of cinnamon

salt/ pepper

1 tsp sage

2 x vegatable stock cubes

dash of olive oil

water

Method

Throw a dash of olive oil into the slow cooker and allow to heat up, throw in all your spices and your onion wait a while and then add all your veggies and your uncooked rice, cover with water and set on auto over night.

Taste and check on the food in the morning, add more spices if needed.  If the rice drys out a tad just add another stock cube dissolved in a cup of water when you heat it up to serve, my family prefers a saucy meal so I did this when I got home, it took about a half hour to reheat it in the slow cooker on high.

It really is as simple as that and it tasted great, the slow cooker is so easy to use and allows all the flavors to cook into the veggies and rice.

Making a simple vegetarian meal really is so simple there is no need to buy fancy alternatives or go over board it can be done on a budget and taste great!