April 2020 #KitchenClearout roundup - confinement style !

Well, we've made it to the end of confinement and a tentative period of deconfinement is beginning. For these past couple of months, we've been working miracles in the kitchen, using up odds and ends and pulling out weird and wonderful packets of random things from the back of the cupboard. Someone suggested that this would be a great time for starting the #KitchenClearout linky back up again, so here it is ! Here's our collection of confinement creations. (On top of this, we've used up loads of baking odds and ends which won't even get a mention. My kitchen cupboard hasn't looked so clear in a long time !)

Starting us off was Cheeseburger Rice, a dish that will win no prizes for the way it looks but the kids wolfed it down and said it tasted amazing ! (I think maybe they were just missing McDonalds though, to be honest !)

Next, an adaptation of an American dish, Crunchy-Creamy Chicken. Another big hit with the family, this involves throwing together whatever you have in the fridge (chicken, bacon, veggies, ...), throwing in a tin of soup (without the tin - that might break their teeth !) then topping it with crushed-up crisps or crackers. I will absolutely admit that it sounds weird and vaguely disgusting but it actually tastes surprisingly good !

Jane from Onions and Paper was along next, with her gorgeous-looking dish : Meatballs in a Spicy Veg Sauce and its Infinite Variations. The ultimate confinement dish, this can be adapted to whatever you have in the cupboards and fridge and Jane even gives various versions you can try - Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Italian, ... We made this and the kids loved it :)

Claire from Life, Ninja Killer Cat and Everything Else brought along dessert with her Store Cupboard Bread & Butter Pudding. Perfect for using up not only Christmas panettone but all manner of slightly stale bread and cakes. Looks delicious !

Bacon & Tomato Chicken Traybake was another big hit with the family, even though (or quite possibly because !) we were almost out of anything resembling a vegetable!

Jane was back with another delicious sounding meal - Sausage & Cider Hotpot. Perfect for using up half a bottle of cider, it also uses sausages, potatoes and onions. I had everything but the cider !

One day, I fancied chilli con carne but had no mince. Mexican Meatball Chilli was born and it ticked all of the right boxes !

Yellow Rice with Chicken & Beans is a one-pot wonder that is great for using up leftover cooked meat, maybe after the Sunday roast. Another one that the whole family enjoyed.

Alison from Dragons & Fairy Dust came over to link up her recipe for Easy Hot Dog Hash, which could be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or, if the kids had their way, probably all three !

Fruity Couscous Salad is the perfect recipe for clearing out your fridge. We used up cooked meat, salad veggies (sweetcorn, peppers, cucumber, ...) and fruit (grapes, apple, ...) but just use your imagination and see what you can come up with ! Perfect for the hotter weather.

Well, confinement is pretty much over and I doubt if we've got much left to use up in our cupboards any more, but this month was fun, so I'll start another roundup. Head on over if you have any dishes that you'd like to add :)

*** If you've been using up any odds and ends from your cupboards, looking for ways of reusing leftovers or just digging out things that have lurking at the back of the cupboard for way too long, share your posts here ! It would be great if you could add my badge and a link back for others to join in too :) ***

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Madhouse recipe : Yellow Rice with Chicken & Beans

Absolutely perfect for cooking in lockdown, this is a dish that can be tweaked to use up whatever you have in the cupboards and the fridge. You'll need rice, a bit of turmeric if you want a vibrant yellow colour, then whatever vegetables, tins of beans and meat leftovers you have. It actually tasted really good and the kids wolfed it down !

 Yellow Rice with Chicken & Beans

ingredients :

a splash of olive oil

1 onion

rice 

1tsp turmeric

half a red pepper

any leftover cooked meat (sausage, chorizo, chicken, beef, pork ... whatever you have)

a tin of red kidney beans (or I used mixed beans)

salt, pepper

1tsp chilli or paprika (optional)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or saucepan. If using raw meat, chop it up and fry it off then reserve on a plate. Fry the onion and red pepper (I left out the red pepper as we'd run out) on a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring from time to time, until they soften.

Add the rice to the pan (for a family of three plus leftovers, I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the pan by about 2cm) and continue to cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute.

Add boiling water to the rice (enough to cover the rice by about 2-3cm) and stir in 1tsp of turmeric, plus the salt and pepper. Don't worry if you haven't got any turmeric - it just gives it a lovely yellow colour. You could opt for chilli, paprika or any other spices you may have instead. Stir and cook for 8 minutes (depending on the cooking time given on the box of rice).

Stir in the beans and the cooked meat. 

Continue to cook for about five minutes, until the water is completely absorbed and the rice is cooked. (If the rice is still a bit hard, turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan (or a plate over the top, if you haven't got a lid). Leave to sit for 5 minutes then stir.)

This is a great dish for using up leftovers. As well as being perfect with a variety of meats, you could even stir through any leftover cooked veggies - I think broccoli, spinach, peas, cauliflower and carrots, among other things, would work well with this. Feel free to have a rummage through your spice rack too - you could go for Italian seasoning (in which case, leave out the turmeric maybe), BBQ seasoning or add extra chilli/paprika if you want some extra zing in there !

Adding to the #KitchenClearout linky - come on over and see what you can make with your leftovers ! Feel free to link up your own recipes.

Madhouse recipe : Bacon & Tomato Chicken Tray Bake

Here's another recipe that is easy to throw together and can be made with whatever you have in your confinement kitchen. We were on the end of the week and had very few veggies left, so feel free to add a side serving of something green - green beans maybe? Salad? I'd love to add extra onions and mushrooms too, or maybe throw in a tin of red kidney beans, ... well, just do the best with whatever you have in your kitchen ! This was inspired by a recipe for Amatriciana Chicken Tray Bake from the BBC Good Food website.

Bacon & Tomato Chicken Tray Bake

ingredients :

serves 4

4 chicken thighs

3tbsp tomato purée

3tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed (or I used 1tsp garlic puree)

1 long red chilli (optional - I left it out)

about 500g potatoes (new potatoes or regular potatoes, halved or quartered)

200g bacon lardons (or chopped bacon)

400g cherry tomatoes (or regular tomatoes, halved)

sprinkle of Italian seasoning (or thyme, basil, whatever you have !)

salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the tomato puree, garlic (or garlic puree), chilli (if using) and olive oil in a bowl and mix. (I will admit it, I forgot to add the olive oil, but it was still fine !)

Lay the chicken thighs in a single layer in a roasting tray. Spread the tomato/garlic paste over each thigh. Scatter the potatoes around the chicken thighs, season with salt and pepper, plus thyme/Italian seasoning if using, mix it all together with your hands then put it in the oven for half an hour.

Take it out of the oven and add the bacon pieces and cherry tomatoes. Mix it all up again, making sure it is all nicely spread out in one layer. According to the original recipe, the bacon needs 30 minutes and the tomatoes need 15, but I added them both at the same time and left it for 20 minutes.

Serve it all from the pan - the chicken and the potatoes on the bottom, the bacon and tomatoes on top, then all of that scrummy sauce. Don't be ashamed to mop up the juices with some crusty bread (or even sliced white if it's what you're down to !)

Even the kids said this was delicious - bonus !

I've started up the #KitchenClearout linky again, if you want to share your confinement recipes and give us ideas of simple things to throw together with whatever you have at home. Head on over to see what everyone has been linking up !

Madhouse recipe : Crunchy-Creamy Chicken

This is a great recipe for twisting to fit whatever you have in stock, so it's absolutely perfect for throwing together with whatever's in the the cupboards during confinement. I found a recipe for Easy Chicken Casserole on the Dinner then Dessert website, and I was intrigued by the idea of using soup as a sauce and Ritz crackers or something similar (I used broccoli crisps from a recent Degustabox !) as a crunchy topping. It was a great hit and the kids asked for seconds - yay ! Feel free to make whatever adaptations you want - you could use canned or frozen veg, gravy instead of soup, even beef or pork instead of chicken, ... Whatever you've got, it'll work !

Crunchy-Creamy Chicken 

ingredients :

drizzle of olive oil

1/2 a red pepper

1 onion

6 mushrooms

4 chicken breasts

1 pack bacon pieces/lardons

a tin of chicken soup

a bag of crisps/Ritz crackers, etc

a good handful of cheddar cheese, grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Chop and fry in a little oil or butter whichever veggies you are using. I had red pepper, mushrooms and onion, which worked well. This would also be a great way of using up leftover cooked veg, and maybe even potatoes, perhaps after a roast dinner. Once softened, transfer to an ovenproof pie dish.

In the same pan, add another drizzle of oil if necessary, then cook the chopped chicken.

After 5 minutes or so, add some bacon pieces/lardons and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently. (The bacon wasn't in the original recipe but I thought it would work well.)

Drain off any excess fat, then pour the chicken and bacon in with the veggies. Stir to mix it all up.

Pour over the tin of chicken soup. You might want to add some extra seasoning - some black pepper or chilli powder maybe?

Find something to use as a crunchy topping. The original recipe used 28 Ritz crackers, but I didn't have any, so I used a bag of Cheesy Broccoli Crisps that were lurking in the cupboard.

Crush them and sprinkle them all over the top. If you want to, you can add a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. It's your dish - you can do what you want with it ! (I didn't bother with the cheese, as the crisps were cheese-flavoured.)

Bake for about half an hour until the soup is warmed through and the topping has gone golden brown. 

I served ours with pasta, but it would go equally well with rice, mash, baked potatoes, ... even on slices of toast if you're short of everything else ! Enjoy !

This is a classic use-up-whatever-you've-got dish, so I'm adding it to the #KitchenClearout linky. Feel free to come along and add your recipes :)

#KitchenClearout recipe : Cheeseburger rice

Hands up if you're panicking about being in lockdown with Coronavirus measures and/or not being able to buy anything much from supermarkets ! Well, stay calm ! We can do this ! We've been pretty much in lockdown here since yesterday (we are allowed to go out for food shopping, but that's pretty much it !) and I've had a good stock-take of what's already in the house, that could do with using up. Look out for some upcoming blogposts using all manner of weird and wonderful things in experimental baking projects over the next few weeks ! I've been looking for new ways of using store cupboard staples too, and this dish was inspired by the original Cheeseburger Rice recipe from Goya. I've adapted it to suit what we have available here, but feel free to adapt it even further, if you have extra veggies in the fridge or some favourite spices that you want to incorporate.

Cheeseburger rice

ingredients :

glug of olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 onion, sliced

4 mushrooms, sliced

500g minced beef

tin of chopped tomatoes 

salt, pepper

1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)

good shake of Italian seasoning or similar (optional)

cooked rice (or you could use cooked Ebly or cooked pasta instead)

grated cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Gently fry the garlic, onions and mushrooms for a couple of minutes, then add the minced beef. (If I made this again, I'd add some extra veggies in here - maybe some red peppers, sweetcorn and/or courgettes?) Cook, constantly stirring, until the beef is cooked through. Drain off any excess juice.

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and season with the salt, pepper and herbs/spices. 

Stir through the cooked rice (ebly/pasta/whatever leftovers you have !) and cook for a further five minutes, stirring frequently. When it's all nice and hot, sprinkle over some grated cheese (I left one area cheese-free as Pierre doesn't like it) then turn off the heat and wait for the cheese to melt. (If the cheese refuses to melt, like ours did, pop it under the grill for a few minutes !)

Serve, on its own or with a side salad. 

This was wolfed down by the kids, who declared it absolutely delicious. As a grown-up, I thought it was OK, but I'd have added more veg to it, including red peppers, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, maybe some courgettes … but then I'm sure the kids wouldn't have liked it so much !

*** Sounds like the perfect time for bringing back the #KitchenClearout linky ! If you've been using up any odds and ends from your cupboards, looking for ways of reusing leftovers or just digging out things that have lurking at the back of the cupboard for way too long, share your posts here ! It would be great if you could add my badge and a link back for others to join in too :) ***

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#KitchenClearout January roundup and February linky

OK, where did January go? It only seems a few days ago that it was the Christmas holidays and now, it's only a week until the February half term holidays. No complaints about that, but nevertheless, time is going shooting past lately. Ah well, that does mean the summer is getting nearer, with some nice sunshine and lazy days on the way - that sounds great to me at the moment !

So, this month, what have we all been clearing out of our kitchens?

Galina from Chez Maximka started things off with some Flatbread made with Brine - a fabulous way of using up the brine from a jar of pickles, which, I must be honest, is something I usually throw away. Definitely worth trying out, as it looks delicious !

On to a sweet recipe next - Brownie-style cookies were a very tasty way of using up some brown sugar and cocoa powder from the baking cupboard. I have everything I need to make these again so the kids may be in luck this weekend !

I wasn't sure how this would turn out but it was actually very nice and made a nice change from the usual cottage pie with minced beef. Fish finger pie, with potato-topped fish fingers, baked beans and red peppers,  was very popular with the whole family and used up some leftover boiled potatoes. Perfect !

You can't go wrong with Chicken Stir Fry - it's always a great way of getting the kids to eat veggies without complaining if you give them a pair of chopsticks each ! This was a great way of using up some leftover roast chicken, a pack of noodles from a recent Degustabox and all sorts of veggies from the bottom of the fridge.

Hogslop is not a very encouraging name for a recipe but it turned out really nice and was a great way of using up some cooked potatoes (again - why do I always seem to cook too many ?!). This was inspired by a #readcookeat recipe from a book, which is always great fun too.

Feeling inspired and fancy joining in? Have a rummage through your kitchen cupboards, spice rack, freezer or fridge and see if there's anything that needs using up, then come and share your creations with us. Or if it's way past its sell-by date, throw it in the bin and come and tell us what you found ! It would be great if you could add my badge and a link to this post for anyone else who wants to get involved.

Right it looks like inlinkz's free link-up tool is working again, but if there's ever an issue, just leave a link to your post in the comments section :)

#KitchenClearout December roundup and January linky

Right, we're into the New Year which means it's time to get things back under control. I'm not back home for another day or two as I write this but I'm already menu-planning for next week, sorting out paperwork (new passports for everyone, chasing up the life insurance pay-out from Madhouse Daddy's work, sending off Sophie's application to college for September - eeeek ! ... it's hardly surprising I'm exhausted all the time !) So it's time to catch up with #KitchenClearout after a month off last month, due to our internet issues. Let's hope things go a bit more smoothly in 2019 !

Jane from Onions and Paper started things off with this Veg Rack Roast, which was a great way of clearing out the fridge and the veg rack. It looks perfect for serving with any festive leftovers that may still be cluttering up the fridge and/or freezer too.

Going through my kitchen cupboards, I came across three ends of jars of peanut butter, so I used them all up in this batch of Peanut Butter Cookies. That made a bit more space for all the festive foodie goodies and the kids thought they tasted delicious too !

Over at Chez Maximka, Galina rustled up some  Mushroom, Sweet Potato and Chestnut Burgers which sound lovely, even if she thought they didn't look great ! They sound perfect after all the festive over-eating lately. I want to get more veggies back in the Madhouse kids diets in 2019 so this looks like a great way to start.

Maximka also shared her recipe for Easy Apple Turnovers, which are a great way of using up some of her bumper crop of apples and also finished off some signature spice. I know these would be a big hit at our house, so I'll definitely be making some of these some time soon.

Well, that was it for the last roundup, as my internet connection was down for two weeks so I couldn't get online. I'll hopefully be catching up this month and feel free to link up anything you posted in December. I'm predicting there will some ingenious uses for leftover turkey next month !

Feeling inspired and fancy joining in? Have a rummage through your kitchen cupboards, spice rack, freezer or fridge and see if there's anything that needs using up, then come and share your creations with us. Or if it's way past its sell-by date, throw it in the bin and come and tell us what you found ! It would be great if you could add my badge and a link to this post for anyone else who wants to get involved.

Join in with this month's link-up by adding a link to your blogpost in the comments below ! (Is anyone still using Inlinkz? I used to have a free account but it looks like you have to pay for it now - boo ! In the meantime, just leave your link as a comment.)