Even though the days are getting longer, most of us want to spend more time enjoying the warm weather and less time inside cooking. Luckily there are many quick, easy recipes from brands such as Schwartz that you can practically throw together in no time at all, and below are five of the best.

Tomato and Chorizo Pasta

The best pasta recipes take little longer to prepare than it takes to cook the pasta. Tomato and chorizo pasta is definitely one of those.

Ingredients:

One tablespoon oil

One onion, chopped

One red pepper, diced

One tablespoon paprika

100 grams (four ounces) chorizo, sliced

400 grams tin chopped tomatoes

200 grams (seven ounces) pasta, cooked and drained

Salt and Black Pepper to season

Heat the oil, and fry the onion and pepper for six or seven minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add the paprika, and cook it for a further minute. Stir in the chorizo and chopped tomatoes, and simmer everything for five minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta, season to taste and serve.

Bubble and Squeak

Bubble and squeak is especially easy if you use a packet of gravy mix, like in this recipe.

Ingredients:

One tablespoon olive oil

450 grams (one pound) cooked roasted potatoes, finely chopped

One onion, finely chopped

200 grams (seven ounces) cooked meat, chopped

225 grams (eight ounces) cooked vegetables, such as sprouts, carrots, parsnips

One teaspoon Schwartz Easy Chilli

One packet Schwartz Mix for Classic Roast Turkey Gravy

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in large non-stick frying pan. Fry the potatoes and onions together for five minutes. Add the meat, vegetables and Easy Chilli, and fry everything for a further ten minutes, stirring constantly. Make the gravy following the packet’s instructions, and serve the gravy with the bubble & squeak.

Mini Pork Sausage Skewers

Because pork is so flavourful, pork recipes tend to be easy to do. Mini pork skewers are even easier than most recipes.

Ingredients:

450 grams (one pound) pork mince

Two teaspoons Schwartz Perfect Shake Pork Special Blend

50 grams (two ounces) spring onion, finely chopped

Cocktail sticks, soaked in water to prevent burning

Combine the pork mince with the Perfect Shake Pork Special Blend and spring onion. Form the mixture into a sausage shape around the cocktail stick. Cook the skewers under a grill or on the barbecue for around ten minutes or until cooked through. Serve the skewers with apple sauce.

Jerk Chicken

Jerk chicken is one of those dishes in which the flavour belies the amount of effort it takes to make it.

Ingredients:

Eight chicken drumsticks, skinned

Three tablespoons olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

Four teaspoons Schwartz Perfect Shake Jamaican Jerk Special Blend

Two tablespoons light soy sauce

One tablespoon honey

Score the flesh of the chicken, and place it in a shallow dish. Mix together the remaining ingredients, and pour over the chicken. Marinate the chicken for at least thirty minutes, turning occasionally. Place the chicken under a heated grill or barbecue for twenty or twenty five minutes, turning frequently and basting with any remaining marinade until cooked.

Beef and Tomato Casserole

Although slow cooker recipes are, by definition, not quick, they could not be any simpler. Cut up some veg and meat, add a liquid, set the cooker and wait for a delicious meal to be made for you.

Ingredients:

One onion, cut into chunks

Two red peppers, cut into chunks

450 grams lean beef, diced

One sachet Schwartz Slow Cookers Beef and Tomato Casserole

400 grams chopped tomatoes

Place the onion, peppers and beef into a slow cooker pot. Blend the sachet contents with the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée, and add it all to the cooker. Stir through, and then cover and cook for four hours on high or eight hours on low, until the meat is tender and cooked through. Remove the lid, stir through and let it stand for five minutes before serving with rice and fresh vegetables.

Ingredients

4 cups of left over chili or canned chili
1 bag of frozen French fries
1 jar of cheese sauce

Directions

1. Place the French fries on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, or until they are slightly golden brown and crispy.

2. Warm the chili up in the microwave and pour it over the baked French fries.

3. Pour a cup of cheese sauce over the chili covered French fries and serve them up for a taste filling appetizer. You should get 4 servings out of this recipe.

Tips!

1. If you don’t have cheese sauce on hand you can always use shredded cheddar cheese instead.
2. Use curly steak fries instead of shoe string fries for thicker crunchier fries.
3. You may use veggie chili instead of ones with meat in them if you are a vegetarian.

Ingredients

6 Scrambled Eggs
¼ Cup of Milk
½ Cup of Cheddar Cheese
1 Cup of Chunked Ham

Directions

1. Scramble eggs together in a mixing bowl with milk and pour into a buttered frying pan.
2. Add the chunks of ham into the pan with the eggs and scramble the eggs and ham together on medium heat until you get fluff golden yellow eggs with ham throughout. Takes about 5 minutes to cook up scrambled eggs and make sure you are continually stirring the eggs and ham as they are on the stove so they don’t stick to the pan.
3. Once the eggs and ham are cooked and scrambled together sprinkle on the cheddar cheese and allow it to melt, which takes about 1 minute.
4. Serve the cheesy scrambled eggs and ham up on plates for a hearty satisfying protein breakfast that can feed two people easily. If you need to feed more people with this recipe simply double it up and have a tasty breakfast.

Ingredients

1 pound of raw almonds
64 ounces of dark chocolate

Materials

Sauce pan
Spatula
Wax paper
Plate
container

Directions

1. Break the dark chocolate up into little bits and melt it on low heat on the stove for about 5 minutes, or until the chocolate has become syrup like. Make sure you continue to stir the chocolate as it is melting so it doesn’t stick or burn to the bottom of the pan. Once the chocolate is melted remove it from the heat immediately.

2. Dump the almonds into the dark chocolate and stir until all the almonds are covered with dark chocolate.

3. Pour the chocolate covered almonds onto a plate that is covered with wax paper , place them into the refrigerator and allow the chocolate to harden around. Takes about 30 minutes.

4. Remove the hard chocolate covered almonds from the wax paper into a container and seal them up until you are ready to have a delicious chocolaty nutty treat.

We all love sweet and sour meat balls in my household because they are full of flavor and heartiness. These tasty little meatballs are easy to make and taste wonderful served over white or brown rice with chunks of fresh pineapple over the top. In additions this recipe is healthy and hearty for you to eat because it contains proteins, grains, vegetables and fruit.

Ingredients

2 pound of lean ground Angus beef
¼ cup of pysillum powder (this adds fiber)
2 tablespoons of bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of milk
1 egg
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 cups of sweet and sour sauce
1 sliced up red bell pepper
1 can of chunked pineapples
6 servings of cooked brown or white rice

Directions

1. Place the ground beef, pysillum powder, bread crumbs, milk, egg and salt and pepper into a mixing bowl and combined the ingredients together as if you were making a meatloaf.
2. Now make some 2 inch size meatballs and place them into a casserole dish.
3. Cover the meatballs with the sweet and sour sauce, sliced red bell peppers and pineapples.
4. Bake the meatballs in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
5. Serve the sweet and sour meatballs on top of the cooked brown or white rice of a healthy filling meal everyone will love.

Ingredients

1 pound of chicken breast
1 can of white beans
1 can of black beans
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup of finely chopped carrots
1 cup of finely chopped celery
32 ounces of chicken broth
1 can of puree tomatoes
1 tablespoon of finely chopped green chili peppers
1 packet of chili seasoning
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Dice and sauté chicken up in frying pan with salt, pepper and butter until cooked. Takes about 7 minutes.
2. Place all other ingredients into a large soup pan.
3. Add cooked diced chicken into the soup pan as well.
4. Cook the soup on low heat for 2 hours until the soup is warm and full of Mexican flavor.
5. Serve the soup up hot as is, or with some shredded cheddar cheese and some fresh toasted garlic bread for a healthy hearty meal.

Ingredients

4 cans of sweet peas
1 ham steak
4 tablespoons of butter or olive oil
½ cup each of finely chopped carrots, onions and celery
3 cloves of minced garlic
Pinch each of salt, red pepper and black pepper
8 cups of chicken broth

Directions

1. Open the can of sweet peas and pour 3 cans into a blender and puree them until creamy smooth and than toss them into a soup pan.
2. Empty the one can of whole sweet peas left over into the soup pan as well.
3. Add the butter, finely chopped vegetables, garlic, seasonings and broth into the pan as well.
4. Stir the ingredients together.
5. Finely chop up the ham steak into bit sized chunks and pour them into the pot of soup as well.
6. Cook the soup on low heat for an hour or two, but make sure you stir it every 20 minutes or so, so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
7. Serve the hearty green split pea soup up hot with some fresh bread for a healthy meal.

Ingredients and Directions for Mini Meatballs

1 pound of ground chicken
1 pound of ground Italian sausage
½ cup of Italian bread crumbs
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley
½ cup of powdered parmesan and Romano cheese
2 tablespoons of milk
1 egg
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoons of Italian seasoning.

Directions for Meatballs

1. Combined all ingredients together in a large bowl as if you were making a meatloaf.
2. Take small handfuls of the ground meat mixture and make little 1 inch meatballs.
3. Bake mini meatballs in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Ingredients for Soup Mixture

3 tablespoons of olive oil or butter
1 finely chopped onion
¾ cup of roughly chopped carrots
¾ cup of roughly chopped celery
64 ounces of chicken broth
1 ½ of small pasta
3 cups of baby spinach
½ cup of freshly chopped and well blended basil, parsley and oregano

Directions for Soup

1. Place meatballs into a large soup pan.
2. Add in the soup ingredients.
3. Allow the soup to simmer and cook on the stove for 1 hour.
4. Serve soup up hot with some bread or a salad for a tasty healthy meal.

To make the cookies and cream pudding dessert you need 2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding, 4 cups of cold milk, a large container of cool whip and 2 cups of crushed chocolate crème filled cookies such as oreos. All these ingredients you can easily find at any grocery store.

Now to make the dessert all you need to do is pour the instant pudding and milk into a mixing bowl and combined them together with a whisk until you get all the lumps out of the pudding mix. Then you take 1 cup of the cool whip and mix it into the pudding mixture as well. This will help fluff it up and make it creamier. Then pour the pudding mixture into a dessert dish and pour the crushed cookies over the top and layer on a thick layer of cool whip. Next allow the dessert to chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving it up.

When you go to have a bite of this cookie and cream pudding dessert you will be happy you made it and so will your family. Next, you will find yourself making simple tasty dessert all the time for all occasions.

The ingredients needed to make the chili dogs are left over chili, 8 hot dogs, 8 hot dog buns and some shredded cheddar cheese. If you don’t already have chili on hand you can use canned chili instead, but homemade taste so much better.

Now to make the chili dogs you will first want to grill up your hot dogs on the grill for 7 minutes or until they have the golden brown grill marks. Then you will want to toast the hot dog buns lightly on the grill for about 30 seconds per side of the buns. Toasting the buns is important because it prevents them from becoming soggy and falling apart when you pour the chili over the top of them. Now once the hot dogs and buns are ready stick the hot dogs in the buns, warm up the chili in the microwave, pour scoops of the chili over the hot dogs and sprinkle on the cheese. Next, server the chili hot dogs up for a tasty filling hearty meal that is fun and quick.