Emergency Kitchen Sink Dinner

It has happened to us all, pay day is far around the corner, there are miscellaneous items in the freezer and you realise you are going to be spending about 2 hours total in your house that week so cooking individual meals is out of the question.

Ok, so it might not happen just like that, for me it was Sunday night, the realisation I had nothing for lunch that week and being on a tight budget buying lunch each day is out of the question. Incomes the kitchen sink lunch, as I have affectionately named it, basically because I opened my freezer, fridge and spice cupboard and chucked whatever was there into a pan, and covered it in cheese. Let's be honest, few things can go wrong if you are involving large amounts of cheddar.

Which brings me to my second epiphany of that night- if I make 8 portions of something and freeze them I can guarantee you I won't eat the last two. I don't know why, something about the last two portions of a dish make it really unappealing and they just sit in my freezer slowly degrading until I am convinced the freezer burn is sufficient to get rid of them and start again. So this makes 6 portions, 3 in the fridge, 3 in the freezer, or if you are me all 6 in the freezer because my lunch tends to get a bit battered on the way to work so it is much better if it starts out frozen and defrosts around lunchtime.

Ingredients

200g Sprouts
200g Spinach
200g Cauliflower
200g Broccoli
100g Chopped chorizo
100g Cooking bacon
250g Chicken Breast
300g Cream Cheese
125g Grated Mature Cheddar

You will also need one big saucepan, and a dish to bake it in.

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C
2. Weigh out and dice the chorizo, chicken and cooking bacon.
3. Weigh out and roughly chop the vegetables. (I used frozen so just smashed them a bit in the pan).
4. Fry together the chorizo, bacon and chicken breast, you shouldn't need any extra oil because of the fat from the chorizo but keep it moving so it doesn't burn.
5. Add the vegetables and continue cooking until they are mixed well.
6. Optional extra- open the spice cupboard and start adding! I put chilli flakes, garlic powder and onion salt in mine for a bit of a zing.
7. Mix in the cream cheese throughout and then transfer the mixture to the cooking tray.
8. Smooth out the mixture evening and cover with the grated cheddar.
9. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the cheese has turned golden brown and bubbling. (this may depend on your oven so keep an eye on it)
10. Allow to cook and portion into your lunch containers.

Tip: I also pre-made cheese crisps and had them with this everyday for a week and it was really filling.

Nutritional Information

Calories 428 kcal
Fat 3g
Carbohydrate 5g
Fibre 4g
Protein 30g