Aunt Bessie's Half Term Food Challenge

I'm not ashamed to say that I use convenience food from time to time, after all, with three children, a husband and my own business, life is sometimes pretty hectic. I've posted recipes before where I've used Aunt Bessie's products, here and here. I've also mentioned that to save time on Christmas Day I often use ready prepared roast potatoes, sprouts and carrots. So when BritMums announced their Aunt Bessie's #halftermfood challenge it was my duty to enter.

The challenge is to create a family meal using one or more Aunt Bessie's products. My meal does have around 30 minutes of preparation but the bonus is, if you have a family of 4 there should be enough pasties left for the following day. As I'm not one to do things by half I've used just a few more than one Aunt Bessie's product, 7 in total.

Chicken & Roasted Vegetable Pasties - makes 8

Prep time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Aunt Bessie's Shortcrust Pastry Mix

Aunt Bessie's Roasted Vegetable Stuffing Mix

20g Butter

200g Cooked chicken cut into small cubes 

1 Egg

Aunt Bessie's Button Sprouts with Seasoned Butter

Aunt Bessie's Perfectly mashed Swede & Carrots

Aunt Bessie's Frozen Chicken Gravy

• Make the pastry up as per directions on the pack
• Make the stuffing up as per directions on the back, adding the butter and mixing well
• Mix the chicken into the stuffing
• Divide the pastry into 8 equal pieces and roll out, on a floured surface, until the approximate size of a side plate
• Place a heaped spoonful of the stuffing/chicken mixture along the centre of the pastry circle
• Brush the uncovered parts of the pastry with water
• Bring sides of the pastry together and pinch together
• Brush the edge with more water and fold over the joins to seal
• Repeat with each pastry circle
• Brush pasties with beaten egg
• Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes - adding the mini roasties to a baking tin and placing in the oven at the same time
• During the cooking time heat the carrot and swede and sprouts as per directions on the pack
• Make up the gravy following the directions on the pack - I used 3 portions for 4 meals

Warm Sticky Banoffee Trifle - serves 4

Preparation Time : 1 minute

Cooking Time : 3 1/2 minutes

Aunt Bessie's Sticky Toffee Sponge Pudding

Aunt Bessie's Instant Custard

50g Plain chocolate

2 Bananas, sliced

Squirty Cream

Chocolate for decoration (optional)

• Heat the Sticky Toffee Pudding as per directions on the pack
• Meanwhile make up the custard following directions on the pack
• Stir the chocolate into the custard and mix well
• When the Sticky Toffee Pudding is cooked divide between 4 serving dishes, reserving some of the excess sauce
• Layer sliced banana over the pudding and cover with the chocolate custard
• Squirt a generous amount of cream over and finish off with some grated chocolate and some of the toffee sauce

This is my entry for the BritMums #halftermfood, sponsored by Aunt Bessie's