"Plenty of Pre Packaged Produce" Pasta

Ingredients

• 500g pre-packaged pasta $3.98 (I used chicken and mushroom ravioli)
  
• 500g chicken thighs $6.85 (no free range here)
• 200g swiss browns $3.98
• splash of stock $0.25
• 100g cheddar $2.20
  
• 100g colby $1.50
  
• 100g parmesan $3.50
• 250ml cream $1.28
• 1/2 pre-packaged garlic bread $1.98
• 1/2 head garlic $0.50 (special from the market)
  Total $25.49 (had another meal leftover though)
  

Method

1. Stick garlic bread in oven to melt/crisp up.
2. Chop up chicken thighs into very small bits
3. Slice mushrooms
4. Finely chop garlic
   
   
5. Fry the chicken thighs in a little olive oil (very little, they'll render out a fair bit of fat themselves). Make sure you let them get carmelised, otherwise they will taste insipid. Season them when they are about done.
6. Put the pasta in piles of salted water to cook.
   
7. Remove from pan and crank the pan up to stupid heat, toss in a pile of butter, the garlic and a splash more olive oil and fry the mushrooms. If they aren't sizzling they are stewing, so remove some from the pan to get the heat back up. Season the 'shrooms just before they are done and remove from pan.
8. Deglaze pan with splash of stock and dump in cream
9. Stir in cheeses and melt.
10. Add 'shrooms, chicken and cooked pasta into the pan and heat through.
11. If you've got it garnish with parsley (I didn't)

Time to cook: 20 minutes
Family contentedness: 2 year old had to be helped but ate it all, 4 year old ate the garlic bread then declared he didn't like mushrooms and had to be cajoled into eating the lot (which he did), wife ate the lot and reluctantly shared garlic bread with 4 year old.
Leftovers: another meal for 4 (sans garlic bread)

Veal Saltimbocca or was that marsala

Ingredients

• 400g veal "schnitzel" $11.00
• 4 slices prosciutto $3.20
• 1 bunch sage $2.45
• 1 bunch carrots $1.90
• 1 bunch brocollini $2.30
• 2 squash $2.10
• 50g butter $0.50
• 100 ml white wine $2.00 (yep the picture has marsala, I changed my mind mid-cook)
  
• 1 lemon free from the tree
  Total $25.45
  

Method

1. Cut the veal into equal size pieces and pound the crap out of it to make it uniformly 5mm thick.
2. Slice the veg up into roughly equal sized pieces. I like to cut the carrots lengthwise.
   
3. Pick and place sage leaves on veal and then cover with prosciutto. Fold a corner over and pound some more to hold things in place.
   
   
4. Lightly coat both sides of the veal in well seasoned flour and fry in a little olive oil, start with the prosciutto side down over a medium heat.
5. In another pan, heat some oil and chuck in the veg.
   
6. When the veal is nice and brown, flip it and crank up the heat.
7. Pour about 50ml of water into the veg pan and cover to allow steam to soften the veg.
   
8. With the veal still in the pan, deglaze with the juice of the lemon and the white wine.
9. Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat and stir in the butter. (note it's important to let it split, like I did. Umm, that's a joke, I messed up it looks ugly but still tastes okay)
   
   
10. Toss the garlic in the veg pan and turn off the heat.
11. Season the sauce and serve.
    

Time to cook: 20 minutes
Family Contentedness: 2 year old scoffed the lot, he seemed to really like the softness of the veal; 4 year old whined about a sore tummy (4 year old speak for I don't like the look of that) and had to be cajoled into eating it, wouldn't touch the squash at all; wife is 24 weeks pregnant now so small meals are the go, but she liked the lemony bite to the sauce.