Cooking for 4 days in 1 night

I had a really busy night last night. I'm heading off to Youth Ministry Summer School today and decided to help hubby out by cooking a few things in advance that he can reheat the next few nights while I'm not here.

So firstly I made bolognese in a very straightforward quick way - brown mince beef, add sauce from jar, cook for 10 minutes, fry chopped bacon, mix into mince and separate into containers. Seeing as he isn't keen on spaghetti/pasta and loves mashed potato with bolognese, i boiled some potatoes that he can reheat and mash when he needs it.

After this I made some Irish Stew, which is a great dish and handy for nights when I'm working at home because you really just throw everything into a casserole dish and leave it to cook for a couple of hours. It really looks more complicated and longer than it actually is.

Then after this made sweet and sour chicken - cook chicken til golden, add chopped green bell peppers, stir in sweet and sour stir fry sauce and add chopped pineapple - ready in 10 minutes and delicious!


IRISH STEW

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
500g casserole beef steak pieces/lamb pieces
5 medium sized potatoes
2 large carrots
3 medium sized onions
400ml beef/lamb stock
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
1.5 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp chopped spring onions

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the meat. Brown for 5 minutes then add to a casserole dish.
3. Chop the potatoes, onions and carrots into chunky pieces. Add the carrots, onions and potatoes (in that order) to the casserole dish.

4. Add a few splashes of worcestershire sauce, season with salt and pepper then pour in the stock.
5. Cover and place in the oven and leave for 1 hour 45 minutes
6. Melt the butter in a pot, then stir in the flour: this mixture is called a "roux". Pour the sauce in the casserole into the roux and mix. When it comes to the boil pour it back into the casserole dish.
7. Add the spring onions.
8. Mix the casserole, mashing up the potatoes slightly as you do.
9. Cover and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.
10. Remove and serve.