Family Friendly Frugal Meals – Paella….

I’m not sure if I’ve said on here before but I started following the Slimming World plan in January although I don’t go to the meetings as I can’t really justify to myself spending £4 or £5 a week just to be weighed and have someone tell me how good/bad I’m doing (I’m sure it’s more than that but you know what I mean).  So far I’ve lost a stone and apart from the occasional blip, I’ve found it really easy to stick to and I’m learning that the majority of meals that I cook can easily be adapted with a few tweaks here and there.

Sunday – HM Paella.

Monday – Slow Cooker Chilli with rice or home made potato wedges.  I make the wedges by par boiling the potatoes until they’re almost cooked and then slicing them into wedges, spraying them with Frylight cooking oil spray and finishing them off in the oven.  If I was having them with something less spicy than chilli, I’d also sprinkle some Cajun spice or chilli on them at the same time as spraying them.

Tuesday – HM salmon fishcakes or HM salmon fish fingers.  I managed to get some lovely Salmon fillets reduced when I picked Mr Frugal up from work a few weeks ago, I got 8 separately wrapped fillets for £1.25!

Wednesday – Philly Chicken.  Basically, a chicken breast with a slice in the top, filled with Philadelphea (the light version for me and wrapped in bacon.

Thursday - Toad in the Hole with mash and veg.

Friday - HM Burgers in buns with salad and curly fries (not HM).

When Miss Frugal and I went to London last year, I took her to Covent Garden and she had a bowl of paella from the man who cooks it in a giant pan and she loved it.  I was going to show you a picture but I can’t find it on my USB stick, I do have this one though that I shared on here at the time.  You can see the giant pan of Paella and further across, there she is enjoying it.

I’ve been promising her since then that I would have a try at making it myself but never actually actually got around to it because a) it looks like it’s quite a faffy recipe and as you know, I don’t do complicated in the kitchen and b) I imagine it could get quite costly if you do it right as the recipes I’ve seen include things like clams and squid.

So for that reason, although I’m calling this homemade Paella, it’s an easier and a slightly more frugal version of the dish which tastes delicious but probably lacks the real authenticness (if that’s even a word).

Homemade Paella
2 chicken breasts
70g chorizo
A handful of ready cooked prawns
1 diced onion or you could use a handful of the frozen ready chopped stuff as I do
2 cloves of garlic
1 green pepper finely chopped
Chilli – either 1 fresh chilli finely chopped or 1 tsp dried chilli
200g paella rice
700ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron
1tsp paprika
Handful of frozen peas

1. In large based frying pan, saute the chicken, chorizo, chilli, onion and garlic until they’re lightly browned.
2. Add the prawns, peppers, paprika and saffron, and fry lightly.
3. Add the rice, and stir around until any of the juices in the pan have been absorbed..
4. Add the saffron to the stock and add to the pan along with the peas and give it one good stir.
5.  Simmer gently until the stock has evaporated – Don’t be tempted to stir at this point!

For more menu plan ideas, check out At Home With Mrs M