Easy Chicken, Chorizo and Bean Rice - A Perfect Midweek Meal

This last week I have realised how hard it is to juggle home life and working full time. I have found that when I get home in the evening all I have wanted to do it relax. But when you come home to a family, relaxing is way down on the list. So to make life a little easier I have been looking for ways to make meal time not only stress free but also tasty. I quickly realised that the freezer was going to become my best friend. I do not normally have many frozen foods in but this week they have been life savers. Having pre prepared frozen vegetables, in particular, has saved me no end of time and this recipe shows you how versatile and full of goodness they are.

We all love the chicken and chorizo combination. Chorizo add such a fantastic depth of flavour, you really do not need to worry about extra herbs or spices. When cooking easy midweek meals, the least washing up the better, so I have made this a chore saving one pot meal. Tasty, easy and not a lot of pots, what more could you wish for?

This is what I did...

Quick and Easy Warm Rice and Quinoa Salad

When it comes to lunch time, I want something that is healthy, something that I can prepare quickly and easily. If it is not quick and easy I tend to go for a sandwich. I love salads but after a few they can get boring. So to make them a bit more exciting I have been trying some new ways to enjoy a salad. You can expect to see some new salad recipes over the next few months!

My first new salad recipe is a salad that is so full of flavours, health benefits and quick to prepare. To make it quick and easy to prepare I have used a pouch packet of Tilda brown basmati rice with quinoa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I am a huge fan of the easy rice pouches but love that this one has the added grains and seeds. When I saw it on a recent shopping trip I knew that it would make a delicious addition to a salad.

This is what I did...

Beef Kheema for Great British Beef Week

This week is Great British Beef Week so this weeks recipe with Aldi features their 100% British beef. Aldi are committed to sourcing only 100% British beef that comes from Red Tractor assured farms. This means that they are able to trace back all of their meat to the farm of its origin. The Red Tractor is one of the largest food standard schemes in the UK and they ensure that the welfare of the animals is protected, food safety is paramount and that everything from the care to packaging of the meats is environmentally friendly. 

With Aldi offering some of the best prices on the market seeing the Red Tractor on all of their beef you can be confident that you are going to be cooking and consuming great meat.

To celebrate Great British Beef Week and to also celebrate the fantastic prices at Aldi I am sharing with you a curried beef recipe, beef kheema. This is a simple yet full of flavour dish that can be served in a variety of ways.

This is what I did...

Smoked Haddock Kedgeree - Cheap Budget Meal with Aldi

For many families sticking to a food budget is an essential part of life. However with the rising costs of foods and household products it can be hard. Each week I am delighted to be sharing with you a delicious, healthy meals, for the whole family, that can be made for under £5. Having three children and animals means that our weekly shopping bill can be high, but since I changed where I buy our food and household products from I have noticed a huge drop in our weekly expenses. Yesterday I shared my top money saving tips which include meal planning, writing a shopping list, using a calculator as you shop to name a few. But the one biggest influence on our shopping bill has to be switching to Aldi. Last week I posted a picture via my social media platforms showing what I had spent at Aldi for a weeks worth of shopping.

I was not surprised by the response. So many people also commented on how they had also switched to Aldi and were spending a lot less each week! I spent £55.92 and bought vegetables, cereals, free from milk, cows milk, a lot of fruit, cat food and even a box of dishwasher tablets that cost £5.99 so our food shopping actually came to under £50!

Today I am going to share with you a meal that was based on Aldi's Haddock and Kale Kedgeree. In usual Hijacked By Twins style I have taken the recipe and adapted it to taste and added extra vegetables.

This is what I did...

Back to School Lunch Box Meal with #PowerofFrozen

Now that we are coming to the end of the long summer holidays it is time to start thinking about the children returning to school. The return to school also brings the return of preparing packed lunches. I don't know about you but making packed lunches always seems like a chore, it is always done at the end of the day and I often get stuck for ideas. So when Iceland challenged me to devise an easy recipe for a healthy packed lunch I knew that it would need to be a lunch that will not take long but that would also be full of healthy foods that the kids would love. The one way I find that my children tuck into a salad is if it is fun, colourful and with mayonnaise.

The beauty of this recipe is that the majority of the ingredients are frozen so there are no worries about whether you have the fresh ingredients to prepare. Even the bread rolls are frozen! One of my packed lunch fails has to be not having enough bread or forgetting to defrost some fresh bread. When I defrost bread that I have frozen it never tastes as good, so when I saw that Iceland stocked bread rolls that could be baked from frozen I knew that they would be a must have! I was not disappointed the rolls came out of the oven just like freshly made bread rolls do.

For my back to school recipe I decided to make a rice salad. Rice is full of carbohydrates so acts as a fuel for the children's bodies. The return to school can be tiring for them so they need all of the energy they can get to keep their bodies and brains going! The addition of an egg provides them with protein to help keep their energy level up. The tuna provides them with healthy omega 3 fatty acids while the vegetables give them their much needed vitamin goodness! When using frozen foods you are guaranteed to have a high amount of vitamins as the vegetables are frozen at the optimum time after picking to preserve all of the goodness that wears off as they ripen.

Today's recipe is colourful, fun and full of goodness. This is what I did...

Green Veg and Mint Risotto

Risotto is a great meal to sneak some extra vegetables into the kids. Today's recipe is easier and quicker than a traditionally cooked risotto. It requires a lot less attention and is perfect for when the kids are off school and we have less time for cooking.

This recipe focuses on green vegetables and is full of the flavours of summer. This is what I did...

Paella Rica

I adore paella. I fell in love with Spain's national dish while I was living there. One thing that I have wanted to invest in is a paellera, a paella pan. So when I saw one in Aldi for just £5.99 I had to buy it! I was also delighted to find some authentic Spanish ingredients to go with the paellera to help me recreate my favourite meal!

One of the things I love about Aldi has to be the fact that you can find so many delicious European ingredients. Today I am sharing my paella which is not only full of authentic flavour but is also an easy dish to make.

This is what I did...

Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Risotto

Risotto is my go to meal. If I ever forget to take some meat out of the freezer that I need for a meal this is my emergency dish. Risotto's are so versatile, any flavour combination that you like can work with rice. The only down side with a risotto is the attention that it requires. With a traditional risotto you need to add the stock, a little at a time and needs constant attention. However this risotto is not cooked in the traditional way. This risotto is much easier and less time consuming but equally full of flavour.

This is what I did...

New Research Results for a2Milk and Traditional Rice Pudding Recipe

I am really excited to tell you about some new, ground breaking research that has been carried out for a2Milk. The results from the study are being published today and I am delighted to be one of the first people to share these results with you. A couple of weeks ago a2Milk were featured on Channel 4's Food Unwrapped and I told you that there was some research being done in my blog post and now I can tell you the long awaited results.

The research suggests that lactose intolerance could actually be a myth for many people!

A trial has been conducted in China with two groups of participants. One group have been diagnosed as lactose intolerant while the other group are self-reported as sensitive to dairy. China has one of the highest known levels of lactose intolerance in the world. This is the first human based research that has been carried out to test the effects of the A1 versus the A2 protein on participants with clinically diagnosed lactose deficiency or intolerance.

In the study regular cows milk, that contained the A1 protein, caused the participants significantly higher gastrointestinal inflammation, stool transit delays and elevated blood markers for inflammation and immune response compared to the a2Milk.

However when the participants drank and used a2Milk the symptoms and issues completely disappeared!

The a2Milk drinkers also had faster response and lower error rates in cognitive function tests compared to A1 drinkers.

It has been discovered that all of the participants that took part in the trial were able to tolerate a2Milk.

Even the lactose intolerant subjects had no digestive problems while drinking a2Milk!

I am sure that you will agree that these results are amazing! Thanks to a2Milk, more people can go back to enjoying cows milk. This study has shown that there is a significant link between the A1 protein and dairy discomfort. a2Milk is the only milk on the market that is completely free of the A1 protein that causes so many people discomfort.

Originally all domestic cows produced milk containing only the A2 protein. However over time and after domestication another milk protein, the A1 protein, appeared in European cows which spread with the migration of man and is, now, contained in most milk consumed in the UK today.


This research could potentially transform the lives of many people who believe that they are lactose intolerant. They could, finally, return to drinking wholesome, natural cows milk as opposed to processed alternatives such as lactose free milks and artificial plant based drinks.

The video below will tell you all about the results!

To truly celebrate these recent finding I thought that I would share with you a favourite milk based recipe that I have created using a2Milk. We love a good, traditional style rice pudding. The hubby's favourite part has to be the baked top. My husband does suffer with diary discomfort but has been tested and is not lactose intolerant. So finding a2Milk has been a great way for me to make a milk pudding using the same milk for the whole family.

This is what I did...

a2Milk Traditional Rice Pudding

Ingredients

1 ltr a2Milk

200g Pudding rice

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Vanilla paste

Butter

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180C

1 - Place the milk in a pan with the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla paste

2 - Gently bring to the boil, stirring regularly

3 - Once boiling add the pudding rice, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes remembering to stir regularly to prevent sticking to the base

4 - After 15 minutes transfer the rice pudding to an oven proof dish, add a few knobs of butter to the top and sprinkle over a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg

5 - Place in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 20 minutes

Once baked serve immediately.

This is a type of rice pudding that my hubby loves. In the past he has asked me to make a more traditional rice pudding that has been baked and that has the skin on the top.

a2Milk is available in most supermarkets and online and is available in full milk and semi skimmed fresh milk and also skimmed and semi skimmed long life milk.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

Chinese New Year with Tilda Firecracker Rice

Today is the Chinese New Year and this year is the year of the monkey.

To celebrate the new year Tilda sent me some of their new, limited edition Firecracker Hot Spicy Rice and challenged me to use it in a recipe to create a hot and spicy dish and to celebrate the year of the monkey. Tilda Firecracker is packed with red chilli pepper, chilli seeds, smoked paprika and sweet tomato.

With a rice like this, that is so full of flavour and character, you really do not need to do a lot. Tilda have done all of the hard work for you. All of the spices that you need are already sealed in the handy, easy to prepare pouch of rice.

For this deliciously healthy dish all I did was add some lovely fresh vegetables and allowed the Tilda rice to do all of the work for me.

This is what I did...

Ch, Ch, Chicken Hotpot

One of my favourite flavour combinations has to be chicken and chorizo. The flavours simply go hand in hand. When cooking with chorizo you really do not need to add any additional spices as the smoked paprika and garlic juices from the chorizo do all of the work for you. I made this meal in the slow cooker. Cooking slower allow the flavours to really develop, giving you a delicious meal.

This dish combines chicken with chorizo and chickpeas, hence the name ch, ch, chicken hotpot, all of the ch words was a bit of a mouthful so here we have Ch, Ch, Chicken Hotpot!

This is what I did...

Coconut Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Rice - Blog Swap

glo have challenged Emma from From Aldi to Harrods and I to swap blogs for the day. I have written a money saving post for From Aldi to Harrods while Emma has written a delicious recipe for Hijacked By Twins!

Enjoy x

Choosing quick, nutritious meals is really important in our house, and meal planning helps us to use up items lurking in the back of the freezer and cupboards. This recipe is one of those where I just
fancied making something and made up the recipe with a little bit of research.

Coconut Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Rice for two people


Ingredients

• 2 peppers
• 4 chicken thighs (boneless)
• 3 tablespoons coconut
• 2 slices of bread
• 150g rice
• 3 tablespoons peas (I used frozen)
• Sprinkle of chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 egg
• Rosemary and salt to season
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Pre-heated the oven to 180C.

2. Put a kettle full of water on to boil.


3. Chop up the peppers.


4. When the oven is hot, place the chopped peppers on a tray and drizzle with olive oil, using rosemary and salt to reason. Place in the oven for 20 minutes.


5. Put the rice in the pan and cover it was boiling water. Place a lid on the pan, remembering to stir it after 10 minutes.


6. Toast the bread, and once toasted put it in a food processor or blender to make breadcrumbs.


7. Beat the egg into a bowl.


8. Mix the breadcrumbs, coconut and chilli flakes in a bowl.


9. Place a frying pan on a medium to high heat.

10. Dunk each chicken thigh into the beaten egg then the breadcrumb mixture.

11. Place each chicken thigh into the warm frying pan.


12. Add the peas to the rice and let the rice cook for another 10 minutes with the lid on.


13. Turn over the peppers in the oven.


14. After the chicken has been frying for 10 minutes, turn it over.


15. Remove the peppers from the oven after they have been roasting for a total of 20 minutes. Put them to the side.


16. Drain the rice.


17. Mix the roasted peppers into the rice and pea mixture.


18. The chicken should now be cooked after 10 minutes on each side.


19. Serve

19 steps might look like a lot, but from starting the cooking to loading the dishwasher at the end it took me just 25 minutes to cook this meal. There are so many things that you can change to suit your
tastes or what you have in the house, including changing the vegetables (courgettes and carrots would work well too) to adding more spices into your coconut and breadcrumb mixture.

Summer Vegetables, Chicken and Rice Dish

Regular readers will know that I love creating new meals with leftovers!

That is how this meal came along. I had half a chicken left after a Sunday roast. I normally end up cooking a Leftover Curry but as we are wanting to increase our vegetable intake I wanted to create a healthier leftovers meal.

I have combined the leftover chicken with plenty of vegetables and brown rice.

This is what I did...

Easy Paella

When I lived in Gran Canaria I fell in love with the Spanish/Canarian cuisine. There was always plenty of fresh fish available, having churros and coffee for breakfast, eating bocadillos (mini french sticks) with ham and cheese for lunch, tapas for a mid afternoon snack and eating late at night. I fully embraced the lifestyle and loved their meals.

There was nothing better than a get together with a fresh paella cooking in the sun whilst sipping Rioja. Just writing this I am longing for summer to arrive, investing in a paellera (paella pan) and cooking one al fresco.

Last week I finally got round to cooking this much loved dish. However as I am the only one who eats shell fish I had to leave out the clams, squid and mussels. But I did include king prawns and chorizo.

This is how to cook my easy paella...

Easy Paella

Ingredients

350g arborio rice

1 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 mini yellow peppers, chopped

1 courgette, quartered and sliced

200g cooked chorizo, chopped

100g fine beans

50g florets of tenderstem broccoli

1/2 tsp saffron, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

160g cooked king prawns

6 spears of asparagus

1.3 lt vegetable stock

Method

1 - Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a deep saute pan or paellera and gently cook the onions and garlic over a low/medium heat for about 10 minutes or until starting to soften.

2 - Add the peppers, courgette and chorizo and cook for a further 10 minutes stirring regularly. As the chorizo heats it will add colour and flavours of garlic and paprika to the vegetables.

3 - Add the arborio rice and heat for 2 minutes then pour over the saffron infused water and stir thoroughly before pouring over 750mls of vegetable stock. 

4 - Sprinkle over the smoked paprika, stir and bring to the boil.

5 - Reduce the heat to a low/medium heat, add the green beans, tenderstem broccoli and king prawns.  Cover and allow the flavours to combine together and the rice to soften

6 -Regularly check the paella and add extra water when needed. The rice should be cooked to al dente.

7 - Finally lay the spears of asparagus over the paella, re cover and cook for a further 3 minutes.

8 - Remove the pan from the heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This paella is full of authentic flavour and really does take me back to hot sunny days with Joseph's late God mother Anita at her house in the mountains of Gran Canaria. These were some of the best times that I had there and they are deeply missed as is Anita.

Paella may seem a daunting dish to cook but this really is an easy recipe. The beauty of paella is that you can add or remove ingredients depending on taste but as long as you have the basic flavours you can create a delicious meal.

Enjoy x

I am sharing my recipe with Supergolden Bakes - Cook, Blog, Share and A Mummy Too - Recipe of the Week