After our Easter Supper I ended up with some leftover roast chicken that needed using up.  We were supposed to have our dinner on Saturday, but because of my trip to emergency we had it on Sunday. I made a really simple meal.  I spatchcocked a chicken and rubbed it with olive oil and a generous amount of Kinder's Seasoning, Buttery Garlic and Herb.

That stuff is so good. I use it on a lot of things. We bought ours at the Cambridge Convenience store where they carry a lot of Costco products.

So we had that roast chicken, with some scalloped potatoes, carrots, beans, stuffing, biscuits and some relishes on the side.  Ice Cream for dessert. I kept it really simple and did not overdo it this year. Happy to say there was nothing leftover except for some chicken breast meat. It was a nice sized chicken. It fed the four of us and I also sent a meal next door to my neighbor Sheila. I was surprised to have leftovers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yield: 1 serving

Author: Marie Rayner

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Hot Chicken Sandwich

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 20 Min

The quantities here are for one serving. You can very easily multiply this to make as many hot sandwiches as you like. This is incredibly tasty. No leftover chicken? Use deli sliced chicken. This will still be delicious!

Ingredients

For one serving:

• two slices of a rustic type of white bread
• 4 slices of roast chicken (enough to fill the sandwich)
• 1 cup (240ml) of chicken gravy (use leftover, make some fresh, or use a packet)

Instructions

1. Make your gravy or heat up the leftover gravy. (You can heat your sliced chicken in this if you wish, but it's not totally necessary.) You want your gravy to be boiling hot.
2. Lay one slice of your bread on a plate. Ladle 1/4 of the gravy on top of the bread.
3. Top with the sliced chicken. Ladle 1/2 of the remaining hot gravy over the chicken.
4. Place the final slice of bread on top of the chicken and gravy. Ladle the remaining gravy over top of everything.
5. Serve immediately.

Notes

You can also shred rotisserie chicken to make these. If you want to you can add things like shredded cheese or a layer of hot stuffing to the base. In my opinion, however, it doesn't get much better than this basic version.

Serve with hot chips, oven wedges, heated leftover roast potatoes, and a vegetable on the side.

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I saw this Butterbean Soup recipe on Pinterest the other day.  It did not have a recipe actually but was merely a list of ingredients. It looked delicious however and so I copied out the ingredients and decided that I could wing it and make it up myself.

My mother was the best soup maker on the planet. She was an expert at making soups.  Every time we had a roast dinner of any kind, we could be sure that a delicious pot of soup would follow it in short order.  Turkey, beef, ham, chicken.  She used the leftovers from all of these meals to make a hearty and delicious soup!  She never used a recipe. Never.

I learned how to make soup from watching her. I reckon I could make a soup from just about anything as well.  My children loved all of the soups I used to make for them when they were growing up. Well, my youngest daughter, she was not overly fond of soup, but the rest of them were.

Anyways, I had a tin of butterbeans in the cupboard that I wanted to use and decided to make a butterbean soup with it. I have baked butterbeans before with great success, but I was in a soup kind of mood. This was the tasty result!

• 1 TBS butter or olive oil
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 small onion
• 1 fat clove of garlic
• 1 small bay leaf, broken in half
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 tin (140z/400g) butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup (240ml) vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup (120ml) water

WHAT ARE BUTTERBEANS

You might be a bit confused as to what Butterbeans are.  They are a flat oval, creamy colored bean that comes either dried or canned.  I used canned for this recipe. You can also buy the dried ones and cook them yourself.  You will need to soak them overnight in that case and then rinse, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and then simmer until tender. Don't add salt as this can toughen beans.

Cooked, butterbeans have a soft velvety texture that practically melts in your mouth. They also have a beautiful mild flavor which acts as a lovely canvas to layer on other flavors. They also have a slightly nutty and buttery flavor which is where they get their name "butterbeans" from.

They are high in fiber and loaded with nutrition as are most legumes. Filling and satisfying they are rich in vitamins and minerals. They are also low in both fat and calories.

If you cannot find tinned butterbeans for this recipe then feel free to substitute another bean in their place. Cannellini, Navy and Great Northern beans all work very well.

 

HOW TO MAKE BUTTERBEAN SOUP 

This is, as with most soups, very simple and easy to make. You really cannot go wrong!  If you have all of your vegetables prepared before you start, it goes together very quickly and easily.

Peel the carrot and cut into bite sized pieces. Chop the celery into 1/4-inch dice. Peel and chop the onion into 1/4-inch dice. Peel and mince the garlic. ( I had only some very tiny Nante carrots and so I used about 4 of those, which I peeled and cut into 1/3-inch-thick coins.)

 

Heat the oil or butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds longer.

Add the broken bay leaf, dried thyme, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper and paprika. Cook and stir to coat everything with the herbs.

 

Add the vegetable stock and water, along with the drained butterbeans. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a slow simmer.

Simmer partially covered over medium low heat for about 20 minutes until the flavors have melded well and the vegetables are all meltingly tender.

Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and black pepper.  Ladle into heated bowls and serve.

 

This was quite simply a lovely soup. It was hearty and delicious.  I didn't need to add much in the way of salt and pepper as my vegetable stock was already quite salty.

I enjoyed a lovely bowl of this along with a buttery cornmeal biscuit. This was a fabulous meal!

 

I love soup and I could eat it all year round.  Sometimes for a hearty lunch or sometimes for a light supper.  Most of the time I will make my own soup from scratch. I find tinned soups quite blah in comparison to homemade. Here are a few other favorites of mine that you might also enjoy!

STONE SOUP - Stone Soup was one of my children's favorite stories when they were growing up  and so this simple cabbage, tomato and rice soup became known as Stone Soup.  

It's a deliciously hearty testament to what can be done with a bit of this, a bit of that, and a whole lot of nothing!

LEMON & CHICKEN SOUP - This is a fabulously tasty chicken soup, with fresh flavors!  It uses chicken stock along with lemon juice. You might think the lemon would be overpowering, but it really isn't.  It adds a lovely layer of flavor that is quite pleasant! It is delicious and hearty.  You can make everything up to adding the pasta ahead of time but do wait until not too long before serving it to add your pasta.

Yield: 2 generous servings

Author: Marie Rayner

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Butterbean Soup (small batch)

Cook time: 35 MinTotal time: 35 Min

This is a simple uncomplicated belly warming soup that is easy to make, hearty, and delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 TBS butter or olive oil
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 small onion
• 1 fat clove of garlic
• 1 small bay leaf, broken in half
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 tin (140z/400g) butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup (240ml) vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup (120ml) water

Instructions

1. Peel the carrot and cut into bite sized pieces. Chop the celery into 1/4-inch dice. Peel and chop the onion into 1/4-inch dice. Peel and mince the garlic.
2. Heat the oil or butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds longer.
3. Add the broken bay leaf, dried thyme, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper and paprika. Cook and stir to coat everything with the herbs.
4. Add the vegetable stock and water, along with the drained butterbeans. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a slow simmer.
5. Simmer, partially covered over medium low heat for about 20 minutes until the flavors have melded well and the vegetables are all meltingly tender.
6. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and black pepper.
7. Ladle into heated bowls and serve.

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Hello everyone and welcome to my Sunday Meals of the week post. I really enjoy putting these posts together to share with you each Sunday.  All of the deliciousness that I have shared for my main meals for the past seven days.  Seven days of tastiness, with the pertinent recipes and menu suggestions.

When you are a person who lives on your own it can be only too tempting to eat out of cans, takeaways or frozen meals. My mother lived on her own from the age of 53 until my sister and Dan moved in to take care of her when she could no longer care for herself. She always cooked for herself prior to that.  She never ate out unless it was with other people, and of course the last few years of her life she had my sister living with her, who made sure that mom always had something nutritious and delicious to eat every day.

Not all of us have a Cindy to cook for us, so we must fend for ourselves. I am determined that for so long as I am able to I will cook for myself. I hope that will be for a good long time.  I try to make my meals quite balanced, nutritionally sound, and budget friendly as much as possible. I think I do a pretty good job.

These are only my main meals. I usually eat my big meal of the day in early afternoon. For breakfast I will have a protein shake, or sometimes toast or my favorite homemade granola with some yogurt and fruit.  I have a light supper most of the time. usually consisting of possibly a sandwich, (every now and then) or a salad, sometimes fruit, cheese and crackers, etc. Nothing too heavy or high on the carbs or sugars.  I try really hard not to go to bed with anything heavy on my stomach.  Its what works well for me.

Because I am on a limited budget I try to eat as healthily as I can whilst still reducing waste and keeping to what I can afford.  

Normally I cook for myself every day.  I usually, but not always, enjoy a family meal at my sister's once a week, and occasionally I will go out for a meal with my father or a friend.  I had been doing that regularly, but I have cut back on that now.

In any case here are my Meals of the Week for the past seven days!  I hope you will find something here that will inspire you to want to cook it for yourself!  

SUNDAY, April 13th - Sunday Dinner with the family

Usually on Sundays I go to dinner at my sisters which I enjoy along with her, my father and my brother-in-law Dan.  She cooked something different this week. It's not something I have ever cooked myself, but it was so delicious I have gotten the recipe from her. Chicken Lombardy. It is a delicious dish of tender pieces of chicken with a cheese and sauteed mushroom topping, baked in a lush and simple marsala sauce. It has some spring onions on top as well. She got the recipe here on Budget 101.  It really is delicious.

We enjoyed it along with some steamed rice and broccoli. It was a fabulous meal.  I highly recommend!

MONDAY, April 14th - Old Fashioned Tomato Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese with tomatoes is something I have always made for my family and something they had always loved.  Usually, I just use a tin of chopped tomatoes drained and I stir it into the macaroni and cheese. This version was somewhat different, and I really wanted to try it.

In this dish the macaroni and cheese sauce is made with half milk and half tomato juice. Whole tinned tomatoes are pushed down into it.  More cheese is scattered over top prior to baking to delicious perfection.  This was FABULOUS!  I really enjoyed it. I shared half of it with my next door neighbor and she also enjoyed it. Crusty bread and a salad go really well on the side.

TUESDAY, April 15th - Ground Beef & Barley Soup

It was somewhat of a very chilly day and cloudy and rainy and so I felt some hot and comforting soup was in order.  I had some of this delicious Ground Beef & Barley Soup in the freezer. I freeze it in single serving batches. It is heartwarming, hearty and delicious. Normally beef and barley soup requires much longer as you are using stewing beef in it which takes a long time to cook and tenderize.

A slice of cheese is melted on top and the burger is served atop a thick slice of iceberg lettuce that has been spread with a lush garlic aioli mayonnaise. I promise you won't miss the bun. This is fabulously tasty!  You could serve with oven chips or potato chips even if you are so inclined. I just enjoyed this as it was.  I then felt justified in having a dessert as I had been so good with my supper, lol.  Don't ask. (German Chocolate Cake, small batch  Somebody had to finish it off!)

THURSDAY, April 17th - Pork Chops & Applesauce

Because I had been such a good girl the day before I thawed out a nice meaty pork chop and enjoyed that for my supper.  I don't eat red meat very often but now and again I do like to indulge in a pork chop or a piece of steak. 

I love this way of preparing pork chops. They always come out tender and juicy with a lovely crisp crumb coating. No frying involved. I had some of my homemade canned applesauce on the side that I had made last autumn along with some mashed potatoes and green beans on this occasion. It was a delicious meal that I really enjoyed!

FRIDAY, April 18th - Sole Fillets with Lemon & Thyme

With it being Good Friday, I decided to enjoy some fish for my tea.  I had some lovely fillets of sole frozen and thawed one of them out. I cooked them this simple way which is very easy and very delicious.  Simply pan fried in butter with some fresh lemon juice and thyme, it always tastes so delicious when it is done. Any white fish is beautiful done this way.

I enjoyed with some boiled baby new potatoes and peas.  Not the potatoes and mixed veggies you see in the photograph.  It was simple and delicious.