Batch Cooking

On rainy days like this when you're all puddle splashed out there's nothing better than rolling up your sleeves and having a good 'ol session in the kitchen. So after a rainy walk with my daughter we went to the greengrocers and picked up lots of yummy fruit and veg. It works out so much cheaper sometimes shopping from your local greengrocer (and also helping your local community) than going to the big supermarkets.
I managed to come home with:
1 x Aubergine
2kgs of potatoes
700g of pears
1kg of bananas
1kg of onions
500g Beef tomatoes
10 clementines
2 huge field mushrooms
2 x red onion
This all came to £7.39. I priced the same amount of food/weight up at at a big supermarket (I have online accounts so its easy to check) and it came to £10.54. Every penny counts!!
So I made three things this afternoon:
Sausage Pie
Chocolate and Pear Cake
and Pear Crumble
The leftover mash from the pie will make at least one lunch for this week in the form of potato or fish cakes, or perhaps bubble and squeak.

Sausage Pie Recipe:
1 x onion
4 x sausages (skin removed)
garlic
Half a tin of baked beans
5 x potatoes
- peel the potatoes, cut into chunks and boil until tender, usually 15 minutes
- saute the onions until translucent, then add the garlic and cook gently for a few mins
- add the sausages and crush them up with a spoon so they break down, cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
- I added half a grated apple at this point (I always try and bulk out with fruit and veg when I can and apple goes well with pork), a few splashes of worcester sauce and a tsp of mustard. Stir to combine and cook off for another 5 minutes. You can add any flavourings you like at this point, perhaps curry or chilli powder, they all go well.
- put sausage mixture in bottom of a quiche dish or oven proof dish, layer the beans on top of it and then top with the mash. Then pop into the oven until bubbling and golden brown on top. You can serve it with a nice crisp green salad or veg. We had cauliflower, carrots and peas with ours.
I had lots of leftover mash so I will pop it in the fridge and either make fish cakes or potato cakes with it tomorrow for lunch.

For the Pear and Chocolate cake I found this easy and quick recipe online:
http://www.pearrecipes.co.uk/simple-pear-cake-recipe/
I don't have a food processor so just used an electric whisk instead and it was absolutely fine.

Pear Crumble:
I peeled a few pears, chopped them up and added them to a saucepan with a few tbsp of water and simmered until soft.
Then I put the pears into the bottom of two individual ramekin dishes and topped with crumble topping (Flour, butter, cinammon and sugar all rubbed together to resemble breadcrumbs). I have now added these to the freezer to take out and cook again another time. It will keep in the freezer for around a month.

2 x pear crumbles, sausage pie and pear cake:

 Pear cake with a big dollop of Ice Cream, Perfect comfort food!