Autumn Recipes

Here are some of my favourite Autumn recipes.

All are great for the budget-conscious and really easy to make.

Butternut Squash Soup 

This is a fab recipe. its so easy to make, the ingredients are so cost effective and it can be frozen for three months so great for last minute hunger pangs. 
My daughter loves this soup and it is very low calorie and 2 of your five a day. 
Obviously you can buy Butternut Squash in the fruit and veg section of any supermarket but i must admit when i make it i cheat and buy frozen cubed Butternut squash, purely because its quicker and easier. 
When i freeze it i use old tubs from naughty Chinese take away evenings and always label with the date.
We like our soup thick so i only used 500ml of water, but you can add more for a thinner consistency. I also used two vegetable stocks because i like lots of flavour but you can use one, it really depends on your taste. Once you have made this recipe once you can adjust to create the soup consistency you prefer.   

Serves 4

Cost £1.35 a serving

Ingredients

1 tbs Olive Oil
1 Onion
1 Butternut Squash
1 Small Potato 
2 Garlic Cloves 
pinch of Black Pepper
Vegetable Stock Cube
500ml Water

1. Peel and chop onion and cook in olive oil for 3 minutes along with the finely chopped garlic.
2. Peel and chop Butternut squash and potato and place in pan with onions,pepper and garlic.
3. Add water and stock. Bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
4. Take the soup off the hob and allow to cool for a few minutes
5. Place half the soup mixture into a blender, pulse a few times to break down the lumps  before blending for about 3 minutes.
6. Serve and enjoy! 

Slow Cooked Beef with Mushrooms and Dried Tomatoes

I wasn't sure about this recipe at first because its preparation and appearance when cooking was much like a stew which i don't really like but i was invested as I'd bought the ingredients and starting the prep and I'm glad i persevered as its much more of a stir fry type dinner than a stew.
It is very simple to prepare and I was able to go off and play monopoly whilst it was simmering away so its a good recipe for a lazy day at home. 
The only thing i would advise is to ensure you have a decent pan for sealing and cooking the beef as my first attempt was not great!. 
my second attempt i used my Jamie Oliver Tefal pan and it was a lot easier 
This is the one i have from Amazon- here
I used a jar of sun-dried Tomatoes from Morrison's and this worked perfectly with the recipe.
I served this dish with fresh egg noodles which i cooked through in the pan as i would a stir fry. I think this recipe would also work well with rice. 

Serves 4

£4.42 a serving

Ingredients

800g of lean casserole steak
2 tbs Plain Flour
2 tbs margarine
1 Onion
400 ml Water
Knorr Beef Stockpot 
400g Mushrooms
1 tbs Rosemary
125g Sun-dried Tomatoes

1. Dust the diced beef in flour to seal
2. Melt the margarine in a pan and then cook beef in batches until brown.
3. Set the beef to the side and place chopped onions in pan, cook the onions for 3-4 mins and then add 400ml of water and the stock cube
4. Bring to the boil and then add the mushrooms and Beef.
5. You can either cover and cook on the hob for one and half hours or place in the oven for 2 hours
6. Add the chopped rosemary and sun dried tomatoes 15 minutes before its ready.

Country Apple Cake 

This is my absolute favourite Autumn cake. For me it sums up Autumn. 
A little bit of a dark and tangy flavour of ginger and cinnamon but complimented with the sweetness of the apple and cocoa.
Its so quick to prepare and smells and tastes gorgeous. 
You will need a deep cake tin. I have one with a removable base which makes it a lot easier to get it out once cooked. you can line the tin with baking parchment or do it the old fashioned way and rub butter around the tin and then dust with flour.

Serves 6
£1.34 per serving

Ingredients 

5 medium Eggs
200g Granulated Sugar
100ml Vegetable Oil
175g Plain Flour
2 tablespoons Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon Cinnamon 
Half a teaspoon of Mixed Spice
Half a teaspoon of ground ginger
5 eating apples (i used Cox's)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and prepare your cake tin.
2. Beat the five eggs and sugar together until thick and pale and then stir in the oil
3. add the sieved flour, cocoa,baking powder, cinnamon, mixed spice and ground ginger and slowly fold in until combined
4. Add the apples
5. pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 mins

Apple & Blackberry Cobbler 

I really like this recipe because the fruit is so full of flavour and its a nice alternative to a crumble.
If you and the family are foragers like me then you can pick the blackberries, its quite nice on a Autumn afternoon,  but you can also frozen ones from the supermarket

The only tedious part of the preparation for this recipe is peeling and chopping the apples.
I used eating apples (Braeburns) in my recipe because i didn't want it to be too sharp for the kids and also because i wanted to reduce the amount of sugar. 
If you do swap cooking apples for eating apples you can use 4 tablespoons instead of four in the filling.

I served ours with custard but i think it would also be very nice with cream.

Serves 6 

£1.90 per serving

Ingredients

For the fruit filling                                                          For the Topping
700g Blackberries                                                           150g Plain Flour
700g Cooking Apples                                                      2 tps Baking Powder
6 tbsp Sugar                                                                    60g Butter 
5 tbsp Plain Flour                                                            3 tbs Sugar
1 tbsp Melted Butter                                                        120ml Milk
                                                                                         tsp Lemon Juice

1. To make the fruit filling Peel and roughly chop the apples, removing the core.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and then mix the chopped apples, sugar, Blackberries and 5 tablespoons of flour together with butter. (don't worry that the blackberries smell quite vinegary when mixed, that is correct) 
3. Place in an  22x33cm ovenproof dish. 
4. To make the topping Sift 150g of flour with baking powder.
5. Rub the 60g of Butter into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs
6. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to 120ml of milk and then stir this into mixture along with 3 tablespoons of sugar.
7. Drop the mixture on top of the fruit. It is up to you whether you want to completely cover the fruit or leave space for the fruit to bubble over
8. Bake at 190c/gas mark 5 for 30-40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and risen. 

All prices were gathered from Tesco, and were correct on 16/10/2017.