Advent Post #23 - Quick chicken pasta bake

As Christmas creeps up on us, quick and easy family meals are a must in our house! This chicken pasta bake recipe is a perfect winter warmer and is also delicious cold the day after (if you have any leftovers, that is!). And an added bonus is that it's low in fat so you can be on your best 'foodie' behaviour before the indulgence starts!

Image via www.bbcgoodfood.com

You can vary the recipe by replacing the chicken with pork or prawns; we used left over chicken so reduced the cooking time slightly. You could also swap the broccoli for similar veg - sugarsnap peas or baby sweetcorn would be perfect!

Hot chocolate souffles with orange - Recommended Recipe!

Hot chocolate souffles with orange - serves 4, takes 25 minutes.

Ingredients
Sunflower oil for greasing
50g caster sugar
20g cocoa powder
Pinch of cream of tartar
3 medium egg whites
Rind of one orange, grated

Method

1. Set the oven to 190C/170C Fan/ Gas 5.  Grease 4x100ml ramekin dishes or ovenproof teacups.
2. Mix caster sugar, cocoa and cream of tartar together.  
3. In a clean, grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Gradually whisk in the sugar, cream of tartar and cocoa mixture.  Stir in the orange rind.
4. Divide the mixture between the dishes and place on a baking tray.
5. Bake for 12 minutes until risen.  Serve immediately.

Per serving - 75 kcalories, 12g sugar, 1g fat, 0.7g saturated fat, 0.2g salt.

Source - Morrisons instore magazine.

Easiest Tea Bread Recipe - Ever!

Here's the recipe for yesterday's Silent Sunday photograph...

Tea Bread - serves 6-8, depending on how thick you like your slices!

1 mug of cold tea (no milk)
225g mixed dried fruit - sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed peel - any combination of!
225g self raising flour
125g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsp orange maramalade

1. Place the fruit in a small bowl and pour the tea over the top.  Soak overnight or until the fruit swells (I soaked the fruit for about 4 hours and that was OK).
2. Grease a 675g loaf tin and preheat the oven to Gas 4.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl; then pour in the fruit and any left over tea.  Stir thoroughly.
4. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour and 10 mins... check after 1 hour and then every 5 minutes until the top is nicely browned and a skewer when inserted comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.
6. Job done!

This is really easy to make and the preparation is quick too - so long as you have planned ahead with the "fruit-soaking"!  It also keeps really well and is actually better after about 2 days of storage so don't eat it all really quickly (or double up and bake 2 loaves).  You can see from the photo that it's quite a moist cake as it's full of fruit.

You can serve it sliced on it's own or with butter... after about 1 week (if it lasts that long!) it also makes great bread and butter pudding.

As a variation to the recipe, I also use different teas.  The recipe calls for normal English tea, but I have used fruit teas, Earl Grey, Assam teas, etc... just to give a slight twist to the flavour!

It's enjoyed by all in my family and a good cake to have in "stock" for unexpected visitors.  It's low in fat and a great way to get some fruit into your little one's tums!

The recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe - have a look at the other great recipes on her site here.

Silent Sunday 8th July 2012