Here’s a great recipe to make Toad in the Hole, adapted from the BBC Good Food website

Ingredients:

• 12 Sausages (We used Debbie & Andrew’s Harrogate 97% Sauasges, also good are Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Ulitmate 98% Sausages)
• Sunflower Oil
• Gravy

For the batter:

• 280g Plain Flour
• 1 tablespoon Salt
• 4 Eggs
• 350ml Milk
• Ground Black Pepper

Preparation:

Turn your oven on to 200°C Fan/220°C Electric/Gas Mark 7 to preheat. Place the Sausages in a large baking tray and liberally coat with the Sunflower Oil. When the oven is preheated, bake for 15 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.

While the Sausages are baking, we can prepare the batter mix. Sieve the Flour into the bowl and add the Salt. Once added, make a well and crack the Eggs into the well. Whisk the ingredients together (an electric whisk is best but it can be done with a normal balloon whisk). Slowly add the milk while whisking. Add some Ground Black Pepper to add a touch of seasoning. Once done, this can be left to stand while the Sausages finish baking.

Once 15 minutes are up, check the Sausages have browned well. Add the batter to the baking tray (we recommend adding it down the middle in the gap between the Sausages, it will expand and fill around the Sausages in all the gaps!). Place back in the oven on the top shelf and allow to cook for 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye and make sure the batter is expanding well!

While cooking for the last 5 minutes, prepare some Gravy to pour over (We like thick beef Gravy!)

Once done, remove from the oven, serve up and enjoy!

This is quite a large meal and can be served by itself. Serves 4 people.

Here is a great recipe to make your own Beefburgers and chips, adapted from the Asda recipe website.

Ingredients:

• 500g Beef Mince (Whatever variety you prefer – normal, lean, extra lean)
• 1 Medium Egg, Beaten
• 100g Breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
• 1 tablespoon Chopped Parsley
• 4 Spring Onions, trimmed and finely chopped
• 4 Large Baps for buns (these burgers are pretty large!)
• 2 Large Baking Potatos
• 2 teaspoons of Sunflower Oil and 1 teaspoon for brushing
• Tomato Sauce and Salad to serve
• Drink stirrer sticks (these can be got from Starbucks, look like lollipop sticks)

Preparation:

Put on your oven to preheat at 180°C. Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into long thick strips for steak chips. Place in a baking tray and coat them with the 2 teaspoons of oil. When the oven is ready, place in for 40 minutes. After 20 minutes, take out the oven and turn the chips around so they get evenly cooked on both sides.

While the chips are cooking start preparing the burgers. Add the mince, beaten egg, breadcrumbs, Worcester Sauce, Dijon mustard, chopped parsley and spring onions to a large mixing bowl. Get in there with your hands and make sure the mixture is thoroughly mixed together. Once mixed, shape out the mix to make 4 large patties, making sure to use all the mixture.

Consider that the chips take 40 minutes and the burgers will only need 10 minutes in the oven before the next step. When it’s time, the patties should be brushed with the oil and seared in a frying pan for 3-5 minutes until lightly brown all around the patties. Once seared, put on a baking tray and put in the oven. If you considered the time correctly, all should come out of the oven at the same time. Serve the burgers up in the large baps buttered and the chips. Add salad and tomato sauce to taste in the burgers and season your chips to taste.

For the authentic look, push the drink stirrer sticks through the burgers to hold them together.

Serves 2-4 people (adapt portion sizes for hungrier people!)

These are our beefburgers and chips, ready to eat!

Here is our take on the traditional Sweet & Sour recipe.

Ingredients:

• Sharwoods Udon Style (Thick) Noodles 300g (2x150g)
• 3 Chicken Breasts, 375g in weight roughly
• 1½ Red Peppers
• 400g Bag Bean Sprouts
• Uncle Bens Oriental Sweet & Sour sauce jar 500g
• Pinch of salt
• Tablespoon of oil (Sunflower Oil)

Preparation:

Defrost your chicken if frozen. Make sure it is defrosted thoroughly but make sure it doesn’t cook. Cut the chicken breast up into large chunks.

Heat a frying pan with the oil and spread around the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken breast and fry until lightly browned but still moist. If unsure, cut a few chunks in half to make sure they are cooked through. If a lot of juices come out the chicken, make sure they are drained off once cooked before continuing.

Cut the peppers into chunks, we did this into chunky strips. Add into the pan with the chicken and let them sweat a bit. You can tell when they are done because they will be soft but still have a bit of crunch left.

Add about 2 ½ large handfuls of bean sprouts or to your taste. Let them sweat in the pan. When ready, they will be soft and will have shrunken in size. At this point, add a generous pinch of salt. This will help bring out the flavour of the peppers.

Add the whole jar of sauce. At this point, the pan will stop sizzling but this is supposed to happen. Keep mixing everything until the sauce is piping hot all the way through. When hot enough, add both packets of Udon noodles to the mixture and stir through thoroughly making sure the sauce has coated all the ingredients. Cook until the noodles are piping hot and soft and the sauce has a thick consistency.

When ready, take off the heat and serve!

Serves 3-4 people.

This is our Udon Noodle Sweet & Sour plated up and ready for eating!

We found this recipe on the Schwartz website, however after a few attempts, we have perfected the recipe!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 400g Macaroni Pasta
• 1 sachet Schwartz Cheddar Cheese sauce
• 375ml milk
• 25g Butter
• 100g grated mature cheese
• A few pinches of nutmeg

Preparation:

Turn on the oven before you start to 220°C so that it is pre-heated.

Put the Macaroni pasta in a saucepan, fill with boiling water to a reasonable level and then heat on the hob until the pasta is soft. Mix the pasta occasionally and make sure it doesn’t boil too much, if it does, turn down the heat so it is simmering

While the pasta is boiling, prepare the sauce. In another saucepan, put the milk in and warm it through on low heat. Do not boil the milk or it will ruin it. When the milk is warm, add the whole sachet of Cheddar Cheese sauce powder and stir in thoroughly. When this is mixed, add the butter and the nutmeg and keep stirring the sauce until it is thick.

When the pasta is soft and the sauce is ready, add the pasta to a glass ovenproof baking dish first. Then, pour the sauce over the top and mix together so all the pasta is coated. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and then put in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. When done, serve up and enjoy!

Serves 3-4 people or 2 people who like big portions!

This is the recipe we prepared, how it looked after baking.

We found this little recipe on the Philadelphia website and saw the advert on the TV, so we tried it tonight!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• A skinless, boneless chicken breast for each person
• A pot of Philadelphia light with chives
• A strip of bacon for each chicken breast
• Enough chips for each person/personal tastes

Preperation:

Turn the oven on before you start to pre-heat it. It needs to be 190°C fan oven/200°C conventional oven/gas mark 6 for a gas oven.

Cut a slit into the side of each chicken breast to form a pocket. Open it out to form a butterfly.

Spread the Philadelphia on one side of the open chicken breast. Season well with salt and pepper then press the breast back together. Repeat for other breasts.

Wrap the breast in a slice of bacon. Place on a baking tray and then put into the pre-heated oven for around 25 minutes. Make sure it is thoroughly cooked through, especially under the bacon slices before serving.

While waiting for the chicken breasts to cook, 10 minutes before prepare the chip fryer and fry the chips until crisp and golden

Hopefully both will be cooked at around the same time. Serve and enjoy!