Beef casserole with roast potatoes

I have wanted to cook a casserole for some time now, but hadn’t had the courage to attempt it in case it didn’t taste right. This evening, I took the plunge and made one. It was a huge success. It was lovely! It was so nice, I thought I would share my recipe.

Ingredients

  1. Cubed beef 485g (160kcal per 100g)
  2. Casserole Vegetables 450g (120kcal per bag)
  3. Potatoes 2kg (72kcal per 100g)
  4. Knorr beef stock pot gel 2 (6kcal per 100ml prepared)
  5. 1 Onion
  6. Chopped garlic
  7. Rosemary
  8. Salt
  9. Black pepper
  10. Basil

Method

  1. Fry and part cook the cubed beef. Once half cooked, place in a large casserole dish or 5-litre pot.
  2. Chop an entire onion and fry until it starts to brown, then place in pot with cubed beef.
  3. Add 1 and half pints of water to beef and onion.
  4. Add casserole vegetables to pot and bring to the boil.
  5. Add 2 Knorr beef stock gels to the pot
  6. Mix and turn heat down and simmer for approximately 2 hours.
  7. Peel and chop potatoes to required roast potato size and place in a steamer for 1 hour.
  8. Prepare a large oven dish with a splash of oil and place steamed potatoes into dish and season with chopped garlic, salt, pepper, basil and rosemary as required.
  9. Place in oven for approximately 1 hour on gas mark 8 or equivalent.
  10. After 45 minutes, turn potatoes and place back in oven for remainder of time.
  11. Once potatoes are cooked, the casserole should be ready. Serve immediately!

Serves – 3 with left overs!
Calories per portion – 560
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Stir fry turkey and vegetables

Another nice meal I have discovered while on my journey to losing weight and becoming fit.

Ingredients

  1. Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry (50kcal per 100g)
  2. Turkey Breast Fillet Portions (127kcal per 100g)
  3. Fresh Egg Noodles (163kcal per 100g)
  4. 1 Onion
  5. Salt
  6. Pepper
  7. Chopped Garlic
  8. Basil
  9. Worcestershire Sauce

Your ingredients!

Method

  1. Remove all fat from turkey breasts. Add salt, pepper, garlic and basil and fry until golden. Remove from frying pan and cut in to small chunks, then place in a large pot.
  2. Peel and dice 1 onion and fry until golden brown or until desired.Then add to the turkey breast in the pot.
  3. Fry vegetables for around 5 – 6 minutes to soften, stirring constantly, then add to pot.
  4. Add noodles to wok on a very low heat stirring constantly or noodles will stick and burn. Fry until hot. While mixing together, add salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Once hot enough add to pot.
  5. Mix contents of pot well while over a medium heat. Once all ingredients are piping hot, serve immediately.

Serves 1 – 2
Calories per portion – 533
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Reviewing Etiquette

A while back I bought a toilet roll holder for my bathroom because now that Chloé can go to the toilet by herself she was always calling us to give her some toilet paper. I bought the toilet roll holder for £7.50 ( which to be honest, for what it is, is way over priced ). Ever since that day, Sainsburys kept sending me emails asking me to review the toilet roll holder.

The offending item!

4 emails later I decided that I was going to write a review of it, and I wouldn’t hold back. My review;

I paid £7.50 for this toilet roll holder. I thought to myself that its expensive for what it is, but it should be of an acceptable quality.

Got it home, put it up, the holder keeps coming loose and falling out and it does not want to stay in the wall. I cant get a refund for it as its been over a month since I bought it.

Don’t bother wasting your money, it won’t hold your toilet roll for long!

Yes it was brash, but it was how I felt about the holder, plus I thought I had a duty to warn other potential buyers about this product. This was written on the 5th July 2011 and I have yet to see it on the Sainsburys website. If someone asks for a review and you happen to provide a bad review based on your experience, should they be allowed to delete your review from existence as if it was never written? What are your thoughts?