Chilli gone barmy and nom nom nachos

With the cold spell we are having at the moment, (it makes for some beautiful pictures) this tea is perfect. It was going to be a chilli con carne, however I forgot to buy some of the ingredients and had to improvise and do you know what? It tastes better for it! This is a good one for this time of year as it's filling, healthy and cheap! Have it on it's own, with the nachos, jacket potato, rice, pasta or chips, it's your choice. I have a very slap dash approach to cooking just lately and want to stress to you all even though I give you a recipe, feel free to play around and make it your own. The nachos make a lovely supper or an accompaniment to a Mexican meal, these however are probably not as good for the waist line. Then again with the weather at the moment we need a little fat on our bones.....right?

Nachos

Tortilla chips (Asda's own brand are only 46p for a 200g bag!)

Rocket (optional)

Sweet chilli sauce

Cheese grated

Layer the crisps and cheese and grill until the cheese melts

Dish up on top of the rocket (it makes you feel less guilty)

Dribble on the sauce and enjoy!

My son Chase, hubby Paul and Louie the lab enjoying the snow!

For the chilli

500g minced beef

Red pepper diced

Onion sliced

Passata 500g carton (Lidl)

Tin kidney beans

Tin baked beans

Tsp cumin

Tsp chilli powder

Tsp paprika

300ml beef stock (oxo and water)

Fry off the mince and drain off the fat

In a pan with some oil add the pepper and onion and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes with the cumin, chilli and paprika

When the onion and pepper are soft add the drained mince, passata, beef stock and give a good stir

Add both tins of beans and leave to simmer for at least 20 minutes serve as suggested above!

Its that easy...Here are some more of my snow pictures to enjoy

Louie is such a poser

Meat free midweek meal

A simple but tasty and cheap tea we love in our house. Stuffed peppers with corn on the cob! Ok, granted, it's not a gourmet meal and doesn't look like a lot, but it's very filling and tasty too, You can add any filling you want, if there's some leftover chilli or bolognese stick that in instead of rice. So if you're looking for something new to try out fancy a change give it a go! I'll give you the recipe for 4 people.

4 large peppers                                             

2 packs of supermarkets own brand chicken/ veg flavour rice.                           

4 corn cobs

Grated cheese

Firstly cook your rice as stated on the packet (usually 425mls cold water and boil with rice until water has been absorbed).

Slice the top of the pepper off and put to one side.

Hollow out your pepper so it's like a bowl and if needed just slice a bit of the bottom so it stands up.

When rice is cooked fill your pepper bowls with rice and grated cheese (or optional fillings) and place pepper lid back on.

Cook in a preheated oven on 180 for 20-25 minutes.

Five minutes before they're cooked put the corn cobs into boiling water and they will be ready with the peppers.

Now, as this wasn't a great deal (filling as it is) we decided to have a crumble for dessert. We had some apples given so you can't get much cheaper and at this time of year there are plenty about! I had some frozen berries left which I bought from Lidl, but you could get out brambling with the kids. Tea tastes even better for free! 

6-8 med apples peeled and chopped into chunks (if using cooking apples add sugar when cooking)

Whatever other fruit you want to add

150g flour

75g butter cut into chunks

75g sugar (brown, white, whatever you want)

1-2 tsp mixed spice/ cinnamon (optional)

Add chopped fruit and mixed spice/cinnamon to a pan on medium heat and leave to stew for about 5-10 minutes until soft.

Meanwhile in a bowl pour in flour, sugar and chunks of butter and rub everything in until there are no big lumps of butter left.

When the fruits cooked pour into oven proof dish and top with crumble mix. 

Cook for 25-30 mins on 180

Serve with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Well that's it for now if anyone tries this I would love to know how you get on!