Pasta bake

This is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. My kids whinge about the vegetables but the bacon bits and crunchy cheesy topping make up for it. The quantities are vague because I tend to use whatever I can find in the fridge.

Ingredients

Pasta shapes (macaroni, penne etc.) - a bit less than you would normally use for the number of people you're feeding
vegetables - e.g. broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, frozen peas, chopped reasonably small
one pack of lardons
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1 small pot of cream
lots of grated cheese
breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. Put the lardons (or bacon) and chopped onion into a large oven dish, put in the oven at 180°C to cook while you get on with the rest of it.
2. Cook the pasta in a big pan along with your vegetables until just done.
3. Drain but save a mug full of the cooking water.
4. Stir the pasta and veg into the oven dish with the bacon and onions, add the chopped garlic (at this point I also mash up the broccoli and cauliflower). Stir in cream and half the cheese, and add enough of the cooking water to make it nice and saucy. Cover with the rest of the grated cheese and some breadcrumbs, then bake for around 1/2 hr until crusty on the top.

Beef cobbler

This is a keeper: everyone liked it. If you load the stew with veg you won't even need to cook any extra to serve.

Stewing beef
onions
carrots
celery
frozen peas

For the cobbler:
150g SR flour
50g butter
milk / yoghurt

Chop the onions, carrots and celery finely and sweat in a little oil until soft. Stir in the meat with 2 tbsp flour, about 500ml of stock, a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce and a bay leaf, and simmer gently on the stove for an hour and a half, or in a low oven, or bung it all in the slow cooker (which is what I did - all day on Auto).

When the stew is cooked and the meat is tender, assemble the cobbler. Tip in some frozen peas and stir it around. Make the scone batter by rubbing the butter into the flour and adding enough liquid to make a soft and slightly sticky dough. I added a couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese, which worked out quite well. Pat out until it's about 2cm thick, then cut into cobbles and place on top of the stew. If you make the dough slightly stickier you can dollop it on in spoonsful.

Brush with beaten egg or milk, if you like, then bake for about 1/2 hr at 180°C, until the cobbles are nicely browned.