Eat Clean BBQ Recipes

Tasty BBQ steak and BBQ garlic chicken

With the weather so gorgeous here in the Uk at the moment we are taking every opportunity to use the BBQ . My kitchen is getting smaller by the day so any alfresco dining is appreciated.

Here are two of our favourite marinades for meat on the eat clean diet we try and follow:

Steak:

Pieces of lean steak for BBQ

2 cloves garlic

2 TBSP djon mustard ( no sugar)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp of chopped thyme

freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

Rub both sides of the steak with the crushed garlic

Add all the ingredients together and mix.

Place in a bowl with the steak and mix in well.

Cover and leave to marinade for up to 24 hours.

Season and cook .

Enjoy with a fresh green salad. 

Chicken:

4 Free range chicken breasts

8 tbsp Olive oil 

4 tbsp Balsamic vinegar 

Rosemary as required

Sage as required

Basil as required

8 cloves of garlic 

I like lots of rosemary, but it depends on your preference.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Score the chicken breasts diagonally across the top

Add the chicken to the marinade and rub it into the meat.

Cover and leave to marinade for as long as required.

Season and cook.

Enjoy with roasted vegetables and corn on the cob.

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www.takingachanceinlife.blogspot.uk 2012 - 2013

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Images may not be downloaded,manipulated or reproduced without prior written permission. All rights are reserved.

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Back to it!

Frugal Friday

The months of December and January are probably our most expensive months of the year. Christmas, followed by numerous birthdays, in addition to some large yearly bills mean our account is drained alarmingly quickly at this time of year. Thanks goodness for budgeting and planning ahead!

So January is a month for getting back to it.

Not only do our finances take a battering, but my freezer supplies were depleted over the Christmas holidays to the point where I have nothing left in reserve other than a pot of beef stock and some breadcrumbs.  

So as soon as the children were back at school this week it was back to batch baking each time I cooked a meal. As I have said before I could not cope with the busy lives the children lead without having meals in the freezer that I can defrost and use. The thought of having to cook from scratch everyday, for me, would be overwhelming.

So I made Mammoth Meatballs on Wednesday (with the addition of chopped apple) and have two meals in the freezer. Friday is lasagne and I will make an extra one for the freezer. So already with not much effort I have 3 meals done for the next few weeks , waiting in the freezer. 

The meals I batch bake are simple, hearty, family meals. Nothing particularly fancy about them, but they fill the family up and are healthy and inexpensive to make.

Here is my two week menu plan ( starting from last weekend). I always plan my meals as it keeps my shopping budget to a minimum.

Day	Week One	Week two
Sunday	Carvary out as a family	Brisket, Roast Pots,veg  SC
Monday	Chorizo Pasta and salad	Beef, mash pots, carrots and peas
Tuesday	Roast Chicken and Mash pots, brocoli and carrots	Homemade pesto/ tagliatelle and salad
Wednesday	Mammoth meatballs,* rice and peas	Spaghetti Bolognaise *
Thursday	Sausage Casserole and pots SC	Homemade Beefburgers in rolls F
Friday	Lasagne and salad and homemade garlic rolls **	Loaded Baked Potatoes - tuna, cheese and beans
Saturday	Chilli and Rice *	Chicken Curry * and rice

SC = slow cooker

F = a meal from the freezer 

* = make an extra meal to put in the freezer

I do change days around if needed, but generally I do stick to a menu plan once I have it written . I'm too lazy  busy to rethink it!

Another of our favourite, quick and easy meals is a good old fashioned Steak Pie. I usually serve this with mash, peas and gravy and the family fight over the last slice of pie! I do spend a little more on the meat for a pie as I find if you serve up a pie with chewy, stringy meat, no one will touch it! However, most meat, if simmered slowly in a good gravy in the slow cooker for 5- 6 hours will be tender and delicious.

Steak Pie ( the quick way)

I usually make 2 or 3 pies in one go, but these are the quantities for one. It seems pointless to make one at a time - the slow cooker will be almost empty - give it a go, making an extra one for the freezer if you haven't tried it before!

Filling.

1- 1 1/121b of good quality braising steak chopped. ( Amount depends on the size of your pie dish and family.)

one large onion

flour

beef stock - 1 - 1/2 pints

Knorr liquid stock - a couple of glugs! 

herbs - what takes your fancy.

seasoning

• Soften the onion , then add the meat and brown gently ( I do all this in the slow cooker dish).
• Mix in a couple of tablespoons of plain flour  and cook through .
• Add about a pint to a pint and a half of beef stock and stir in to thicken the sauce.
• Add herbs, knorr stock ( if you have it) and seasoning.
• Put on slow cooker and cook for 5 - 6 hours until tender and gravy has reduced.

I use pre made shortcrust pastry sheets from the supermarket which I buy when they are on offer. I cannot make it this cheap then! Also my homemade pastry is not my best asset. (shhhhhh) . Later in the day when the meat is ready in the slow cooker : 

• Place meat into a pie dish ( or similar) and cover the top with pastry. Keep any spare gravy to pour over the pie when serving. 
• Seal the edges and trim.
• Cook for about 30 mins at 180 degrees.

NB: I freeze these pies before cooking the pie, as the pastry tends to change it's consistency when it is frozen if cooked. 

Rough and ready looking, but absolutely gorgeous.(This is actually my homemade pastry!)

I have now been given two fluted, proper pie dishes as well. I can't wait to use them. I feel like a proper grown up now I have pie dishes!

A couple of pasta dishes next week, with a delicious homemade pesto!

Happy Baking.

Design ©2012 Another New Day

www.takingachanceinlife.blogspot.uk 2012 - 2013

All personal images are owned by Another New Day

unless stated otherwise.

Images may not be downloaded,manipulated or reproduced without prior written permission. All rights are reserved.

Commercial or Private use without explicit written consent is prohibited and action will be taken through UK and worldwide copyright laws.

Recipe - meatballs

Frugal Friday

Mummy's Mammoth Meatballs

After a few treats over Christmas, it is back to being careful again in our household. We are not hard up in comparison to so many, but with 3 kids money can disappear very quickly! As I have said before I resent spending our hard earned money without thought and am learning to be more intentional about where and how to spend, resulting in some good savings and more money available to spend on the things we really want.

Frugal Friday 2013

I have had a few requests for some of the recipes that I use for my batch baking family meals so I thought I would start 2013 off with some of those. I need to stock my freezer up again as we relied heavily on these freezer meals whilst I was ill over Christmas, but it meant that everyone still ate well!

I am one of those cooks whose recipes tend to change slightly as the mood takes me and as the larder allows, but I think this adds variety! So do change the things you don't like about this recipe. Adding chilli flakes is a good one. Throw in a spare box of stuffing mix to bind these meatballs together - this is another favourite. Or cut down on the liver if your kids are not big fans.

They are pretty robust. 

There is not much damage you can do with them!

The name Mummy's Mammoth meatballs is not of course the proper name for this dish . It is actually Faggots, which has a different meaning in certain parts of the world and I don't like the name anyway. However, a faggot ( in food terms!) is a pork and liver based meatball, but when the kids saw how big they were compared to the normal beef ones I make they declared 

"Look at Mummy's Mammoth Meatballs" 

....and of course for good or bad that is what they are called. It gives us a good laugh every time anyway.

 Rename as you wish!

These are the measurements for a meal for 5. I make 3 times this in one go and freeze 2 meals. The meatballs are about the size of a tennis ball ( just a bit smaller), but make them the size that suit you - too small and they may fall apart.

Ingredients

Meatballs

750g pack of mince pork

400g minced lambs liver ( or chopped yourself in processor)

Quarter a loaf of breadcrumbs 

One large onion

Fresh chopped herbs ( what you can get - sage and rosemary. Fennel or coriander to add taste.)
One egg

Flour to place meatballs on

Sauce:

Basically to create a 'gravy' for them to cook in. I make a tomato based one as that is what my kids like. Anything goes here.....

Carton of passata

One large onion

Large blob of butter!

Plain Flour

Vegetable stock (1/4 - 1/2 pint depending on how thick you like it) ( or Beef if you prefer)

Garlic

Tomato puree

Worcestershire Sauce

Method

Chop the onions  

Fry the chopped onion until soft.

Place half the onions in a large bowl with the minced pork, minced liver, breadcrumbs , egg, herbs and seasoning. Put the rest of the onion aside to go in the gravy.

Mix well with your hands.

Flour a surface.

Form the mixture into firm balls about the size of a tennis ball ( excuse the terminology here) and place in a baking dish.

Cook for about 30 minutes at about 180 degrees, turning halfway until cooked through.

Whilst the meatballs are cooking through make the 'gravy'.

Make a base for the gravy by starting with butter and flour then adding the stock with the water. I always use a whisk to make sure of no lumps whatsoever. I then add passata, garlic,herbs, puree, w. sauce, seasoning, the rest of the cooked onion and whatever else you have in the stock cupboard to make it extra tasty! Cook through for a few minutes.

Take the meatballs out of the oven and pour the gravy over the meatballs and return to   the oven for another 20 to 30 minutes until the meatballs have absorbed some of the flavour from the gravy.

Serve with mash or rice and peas.

They freeze beautifully and taste even better second time around! I freeze these once they are totally cooked so they only need to be defrosted and warmed through.

Size of meatballs - never the same!

Ready for cooking.

Done!

And two meals for the freezer.

This is one of the cheapest meat based meals you can make. Minced pork and liver are both cheap and easily available. I turn old bread into breadcrumbs and freeze when I get to the end of loaves of bread so I am never short of breadcrumbs. The rest of the ingredients are stock cupboard basics.

Hope you enjoy them!