Cooking and baking!

We spent the first half of today whipping up all sorts of delights in the kitchen!  I'm trying to keep my freezer stocked with pre-prepared meals, ready for when the baby comes.  And I thought I'd sneak some treats in there too!

I've posted my recipe for Rocky Road previously; click here if you missed it the first time around!  I made the mistake of making this first this morning... so of course I spent the remainder of the day sampling a piece each time I went into the fridge!  Naughty!

My little miss kept herself busy making chocolate crispy cakes.  We're still working our way through easter eggs and easter chocolate in this house, so she used up some of these along with some "value" cornflakes to make the crispy cakes.

I made a Sultana Loaf Cake too - again, this is one of my favourites so you can read the recipe here!  This time I substituted the demerara sugar for granulated sugar as this was all I had in my baking cupboard.  I've wrapped this in foil and I'm keeping it for a day or two before cutting it - this improves the flavour and texture.

Whilst all this was going on, I made chicken casserole in the slow cooker.  Chicken thigh fillets cut into chunks, along with beef stock, carrots and onions - all left in the slow cooker to do it's own thing over the course of the day.  I scooped out the contents using a slotted spoon and thickened the liquid with some chicken gravy granules before pouring over.  All tubbed up and labelled for the freezer now.

I also made chicken tikka masala using diced chicken thigh fillets, mushrooms and onions along with a jar of tikka sauce.  A few weeks ago I picked up some jars of Tesco own-brand tikka sauce for 44p each in the "reduced to clear" section.  This was the last jar!

I was happy with our efforts this morning so we spent the afternoon relaxing at the play park and the library... total spent - £1 on a slushie for the little miss on the walk home.  A productive morning and a cheap and cheerful afternoon!

Best Wishes
Debbie