Posh Sausage & Mash

This is a really good take on the old fashioned sausage and mash and gets a few of your 5 a day in as well, always a bonus.

I made this just for one (pathetic, I know) but just double the ingredients for two, and so on.

1/2 apple

2 sausages

1/2 large red onion

1 veg stock cube

Fry light spray

1 sweet potato

1 leek

Cornflour

First peel and chop the sweet potato and add to boiling water. Boil until soft and ready to mash.

Meanwhile, chop and gently fry the red onion in a pan with a spritz of fry light until the onions are soft, then put to the side.

Add the sausages to the pan and fry until cooked then put to the side.

Core, peel and chop the apple into small cubes and fry until soft.

Chop the leek and add to a seperate pan of boiling water and cook until soft.

Mash the potato and stir in the cooked leek and apple.

Add the sausages and red onion back to the pan with a dissolved stock cube in boiling water. Keep adding cornflour and boiling water whilst on the heat until you have the right amount of gravy, add more cornflour flour for thick gravy and keep the pan on the heat until all the cornflour is cooked out.

Serve up your mash, sausages and gravy and wash down with a glass of red!

Simple Butternut Squash soup

I told you I liked butternut squash, and there's nothing nicer in winter than a piping hot bowl of soup. This recipe is so cheap and simple that it's silly not to try it yourself. It's also great for storing leftovers in the freezer for another day!

The recipe is as follows for...a lot of servings;

1 butternut squash

4 leeks 

1 onion

1 glove garlic

Bit of margarine (I use a light option just so the onion and garlic doesn't stick for a few less calories, using butter for a more creamy taste is fine too, as is olive oil etc.)

2 vegetable stock cubes

Boiling water

1 red chili (optional, depending on whether you like a bit of spice, chili powder works just as well)

Salt

Black pepper

Start by chopping the garlic very finely, and then the leeks and onion. Put into a pan with a little bit of melted margarine and leave to 'sweat' (a word learned from my mother) for up to 20 minutes (apparently the longer you leave it, the more tasty the soup).

Sweat by leaving the lid on the pan on a low heat with the occasional stir so the pan contents don't stick.

Whilst this sweats, wash your butternut squash and dice into small(ish) cubes. You can peel the butternut squash but I often leave the skin on as it doesn't make much difference either way. De-seed and chop the chili (or not, as you like) and add to the pan.

Pour boiling water into the pan until all the contents are covered. Crumble and add both stock cubes, salt and pepper to taste and give it a good stir before leaving the pan to simmer (after having been brought to the boil) for up to 20 minutes, or until the butternut squash is soft.

Use a hand blender to blend everything together and your soup will be good to go.

Serve with a crusty bread roll, ryvitas or a bit of philadelphia (I go through phases) and freeze the rest for a later date. It couldn't be easier! Again, not my own image but I'd just eaten a bowl I had defrosted from another time so will save the image for a freshly made batch.