What to do with leftover mash!

I hate wasting food but I am not very good at portion control!  If we ever have any left over chilli, stew, etc I will freeze the leftovers for a quick and easy meal at a later date.  With roasts we will keep any leftover meat for sandwiches, but I am never sure what to do with left over veggies and they usually get thrown away or given to the dog!

Last night I made too much mash, as usual, so, instead of wasting it I put it in the fridge and this morning have made some potato croquettes.  They were really simple and quick to make.

First I beat an egg and put it onto a plate.  I then put plain flour onto another plate and breadcrumbs onto a third.  I split the leftover mash into six and rolled into croquette shapes.  First I covered them with flour, then egg and finally breadcrumbs.  They take around 20 minutes in the oven at approximately 200C and are really crispy and delicious.

I used some packet breadcrumbs but if you don’t have any, toast a piece of bread and make your own they will work just as well.

Does anyone have any good recipes for other leftover veg?

Yippee! I’ve got mouldy bananas!

Ok so maybe not something I should be bragging about, having mouldy food in the house.  Under normal circumstances it’s not an exciting event, except when it comes to bananas as it means I can make banana bread, one of our family favourites!

To make your own delicious banana loaves, this is the recipe:

200g plain flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

75g butter or margarine

115g caster sugar

3 bananas, mashed

2 eggs, beaten

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180/gas mark 4

2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl

3.  In another bowl mix the butter/margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy

4.  Add mashed bananas and eggs to sugar/margarine and mix well

5.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix quickly and evenly

6.  If making one large loaf it will take around 50-60 minutes to cook, halve this time if making small loaves or muffins

I have topped mine this time with a brown sugar glaze and two of them with chopped nuts but it tastes just as good plain.

It is a really versatile recipe and also makes great banana muffins.  I have also made it before adding raisins or chocolate.

Let me know what you think if you try it out! 🙂

 

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in Bangladesh

Big Mr A’s Big Fat Hairy Diet

Big Mr A has been unhappy with his weight for a while but, like a lot of people, struggled to find the motivation or effort to do anything about it.  Over the summer we watched the Hairy Bikers dieting programme and he thought if they can do it so can I.  Great, I thought as images of Daniel Craig’s body with Big Mr A’s head flashed through my mind, then the realisation struck me that I would be the one who would have to plan and cook his healthy meals and snacks!  I don’t know about you but the thought of planning meals each week that the whole family enjoys and that don’t break the bank fill me with dread every Sunday!

For Big Mr A’s birthday I bought him the Hairy Dieter’s cookbook and, flicking through found loads of great recipes that would satisfy the whole family.  Some looked quite daunting at first as there were a lot of ingredients and instructions but there are plenty in there for even the most basic cook.

Having used the book for the evening meals for a couple of weeks and, running out of ideas, I decided to go through all of the old recipes I had saved from various magazines and managed to find a few that would fit in with Big Mr A’s diet.  I now have a nice selection of recipes to choose from each week that are great for the whole family.

Having been on the diet now for 5 weeks Big Mr A has lost over a stone and a half (even though he has strayed a couple of times!).  I am really proud of how well he has done, cutting out snacks and especially steering well away from his beloved beer on a Friday/Saturday night.  He is looking so much healthier and his clothes are starting to hang off him already!

I am not looking forward to joining him in a couple of weeks, I have developed a real sweet tooth these last few weeks of my pregnancy and don’t know how I will cope without chocolate, cakes and especially donuts!  Maybe the Hairy Bikers can come up with a recipe for healthy but tasty donuts?!

A couple of our favourite recipes from the Hairy Dieters:

Skinny Lemon Cupcakes when you need a sweet fix

Delicious chicken korma