00Hidden vegetable tomato base sauce recipeMy son has requested lasagne for dinner tonight (it's his birthday) but I'd no pasta sauce left so time to make another batch of this my staple tomato base sauce. I have been making this sauce for around 6 years now and I always have some in my freezer. At the time my youngest was going through a phase of refusing most vegetables and things were getting pretty stressful around meal times. I had the idea of trying to blend some vegetables into a tomato sauce to use for pasta. So that was where I started - I added chopped carrots to tinned tomatoes and added a little stock as it got too thick. Once it was ready I blended it and tasted it and it was ok but I thought maybe there was a hint of carrot taste so I added some tomato puree and the carrotty taste was gone. Next time i made it I had done my homework online and found people doing similar things with an array of different veg so I got my trusty food processor out and blitzed all the veg I had left in my veg drawer from the week before - a pepper, some mushrooms, a sweet potato, 1/4 of a cabbage, a few sticks of celery and some carrots. I upped the amount of stock and added an extra tin of tomatoes. As it cooked I kept tasting it and added more tomato puree and some worcestershire sauce. Once it tasted like a tomato sauce I blitzed it with the hand blender and froze it in 400ml portion sizes. Remember I had made it as a pasta sauce originally but a couple of days later I was making a chicken tikka masala and Kyle hadn't eaten any veg all day so instead of adding 2 tins of chopped tomatoes I added 2 portions of my tomato pasta sauce. I served it up as usual and no one noticed any difference and so my tomato base sauce was 'invented'. Since then I have used all sorts of veg in it including those stir fry veg packs you get from the supermarket when I picked them up for 10p! I use it in every recipe that calls for tinned tomatoes which is why I don't add onions, garlic or any herbs or spices as they get added in the recipes separately. I even use it as a base for homemade pizzas! Have a go and let us know how you get on in the comments.00Tomato SoupThis slow cooker tomato soup is one of the cheapest and easiest recipes that I make on a regular basis. My kids absolutely adore tomato soup and this is there favourite. 100 times better than any tinned soup you can buy! And this makes enough to easily feed 6 for approximately 60p. I am at the point in my life now my kids are a little older and always hungry later in the evenings. I used to go to bed of a night and get up the next morning to find half the food in the house had been hoovered up by hungry teens! I started batch cooking this recipe by scaling up the ingredients by up to 4 times. You don't need any longer cooking time and it means I can freeze it in portions for the hungry masses to reheat in the microwave. A big bowl of soup with some crusty part baked baguettes seems to fill them up and has been saving me a fortune! Give it a go and let me know how you got on in the comments! 00Cream of Chicken SoupThis cream of chicken soup recipe produces a lovely warming soup that is perfect for a winters evening. It is very filling and oh so tasty! You will see from the ingredients list that you need only the smallest amount of chicken and a few other cheap ingredients which makes it perfect for the end of the month when the money is running out but you still have hungry mouths to feed. No one will know how little this cost to make and when served with part baked baguettes to dip no one will be complaining about still being hungry afterwards. I originally came up with some of these recipes as stop gaps for when money was tight which was fine but now they have become staples in our house because they are tasty and the kids love them. Quick, easy, tasty and cheap is my favourite combination of words! There is no need to sacrifice taste when money is tight! A huge pot of this delicious soup will make dinner for us one night with a few portions leftover for lunches later in the week or you can freeze them for another night! Have a go at making this and let us know how you get on in the comments! 00Pineapple, Custard and Coconut Tart recipeThis pineapple, custard and coconut tart is a real throw back recipe. It is not a dish that yoi will see readily available and I don't think there are many recipes for it around and for the life of me I don't know why because it is delicious! I mainly make this in the summer as it is so light and refreshing. My family always request it when we are having a barbecue which suits me fine because I can make it in the morning or even the night before and just keep it in the fridge until we are ready for it. Give it a go and let me know how you get on in the comments. 00Easy Peanut Butter FudgeIn the back Tupperware dish as I can’t find one of the fudge on its own! I have halved the quantities of the original recipe I had as quite frankly unless you were selling it you’d have no teeth left and your kids would be swinging from the curtains. This is extremely sweet and sickly so only for die hard sugar addicts. And please no one tell me how awful it is! I know I’m only posting coz I was asked to.00Slow Roast ChickenWhen I first attempted this recipe I was sceptical about how it would work. I had so many questions! I had always thought you had to put liquid in the slow cooker for it to work properly. I was delighted after my first attempt came out so well. This is such a time saving, fuss free way to make your Sunday roast it will change your Sunday routines forever! You simply pop it in the slow cooker and then you are free to go off and do whatever you want knowing that you will come home to a delicious cooked chicken. Cooking your chicken this way also means never having to worry about dry meat again. And as the meat just falls off the bones yo do seem to get a lot more meat off the carcass! What is that saying? Winner winner chicken dinner! Give it a go and let us know how you get o in the comments.00Slow cooker fudgeI’ve got my step daughter up for Easter and her first request was for this! Slow cooker fudge00Cream Cheese And Chive Quiche recipeWho doesn't love a quiche? And everyone knows that homemade always trumps shop bought. Quiche is one of those meals that I forget how much I love until I have it on my plate and I think 'why has it been so long since I've had this?' Quiche is also fab for summer lunchboxes and picnics as it is as tasty cold as it is warm. The addition of cream cheese in this particular recipe adds a lightness and extra creaminess that will blow you away. As always I encourage you to add extra veg or cooked meat to customise the taste to what you like best. 00Slow cooker Beef GoulashWe’ll get 3 meals from this pot, there are 8 of us. Goulash tonight with some rice or potatoes, and then I’ll make some pies or pasties tomorrow and pop them in the freezer
