Casserole
Ingredients
- Casserole mix for the sauce (an example of this is Colman’s Casserole mix sachets).
- The meat of your choice: beef, chicken, sausage or you can choose not to include meat.
- Vegetables: Any that you like, e.g. broccoli, carrot, parsnip, sweetcorn.
- Then the side(s) of your choice. This could be things like chips, jacket potato, rice or something that you feel would go with it. You don’t always need a side but if you feel like you don’t have enough vegetables and meat then you can always add one.
Equipment
- Chopping board(s), hob, knife(s), measuring jug, peeler, saucepan (+lid), tray, wooden/plastic spoon (for stirring)
How to cook
- Cut the meat into small chunks using the chopping board as a surface to cut on and a knife to cut it.
- Cook the meat: If you are unsure how to cook meat see the cooking meat section.
- Put it into a saucepan.
- Make sure that the chopping board and knife are clean before using them again. Having a second chopping board and a second knife is a good idea, just keep them separate from the items that have come into contact with the raw meat.
- Peel vegetables if they need peeling.
- Cut the vegetables up using a knife and use a chopping board as the surface.
- Put the vegetables into the saucepan with the meat.
- On the sachet packet of the casserole mix, it should say an amount of water to pour the mix into. The water should be cold when you pour the mix into it (based on using Colman’s casserole mix).
- Stir the mixture so that the powder is gone.
- Pour the mixture over the meat and vegetables in the saucepan.
- Put the saucepan lid on the saucepan and let the mixture simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Stir the mixture occasionally (suggested to stir every 5 minutes).
- Once the food is simmering you can start the side that you have chosen. There is some information on sides that can be cooked in the sides section).
Chicken pasta bake
Ingredients
- Cheese.
- Chicken.
- Milk.
- Pasta.
- Pasta bake sauce. This can be any pasta bake sauce, not necessarily chicken (I use Colman’s Tuna pasta bake sauce but don’t use tuna).
- The side(s) of your choice. This could be broccoli, carrot, sweetcorn. Most frozen vegetables say how to cook them on their packaging.
Equipment
- Chopping board(s), colander, frying pan, grater, hob, knife(s), measuring jug, peeler, oven dish, oven gloves and a saucepan.
How to cook
- Cook the chicken in the frying pan. If you are unsure how to cook chicken see the cooking meat section
- Cook the pasta in the saucepan. There should be some basic instructions on the packaging. However, if there aren’t any instructions or you can’t find them. Then go to the sides section for more information.
- Drain the pasta into a colander so that all of the water has gone.
- Put the pasta into the oven dish.
- Put the chicken into the oven dish.
- Mix the chicken and pasta up so that the chicken isn’t just laying on top.
- Measure 425ml of milk into the measuring jug.
- Pour the entire sachet of pasta bake sauce into the jug and stir until the powder is gone.
- Pour the sauce into the saucepan and cook it for 10 minutes on medium heat.
- Once the sauce is cooked pour it over the pasta and chicken.
- Grate the cheese with the grater and sprinkle it over the pasta, chicken and sauce.
- Put the oven dish in the oven and turn the oven on.
- Cook the chicken pasta bake in the oven until the cheese has melted and is golden or for about 15 minutes.
- Cook your side.
- Take chicken pasta back out of the oven with oven gloves and serve.
Notes
- If you are just cooking this for yourself then you will probably have leftovers. If you do then you can put them in some tupperware and put them in the fridge to save them for another day.
- You can only reheat it once because of the chicken but it can be eaten cold.
- The maximum amount of time you should keep the leftovers is around 3 days, after that, they start to lose the flavour and texture.
- If you don’t have any leftovers then you don’t need to worry about this.
Curry
Ingredients
- The meat of your choice: beef, chicken or no meat, if you prefer not to have meat.
- The vegetables of your choice: broccoli, cauliflower, peas, sweet potatoes, or any vegetables that you like.
- The side(s) of your choice. This could be, bread (for example, naan or just a regular loaf), poppadoms, potatoes, rice or whatever you feel would go with it.
- The sauce of your choice: korma, tikka masala, tandoori or whichever sauce you like.
Equipment
- Chopping board(s), colander, frying pan, hob, knife(s), peeler, saucepan
- For the side you may need a microwave, a tray or an oven (depending on your choice of side)
How to cook
- Peel the vegetables if they need peeling.
- Cut the vegetables up using a knife and use a chopping board as the surface.
- Fill the saucepan with water to about two-thirds (⅔) of the way and get it to boil.
- Put the vegetables in the boiling water for 10-15 minutes
- While the vegetables are cooking in the water, cook the meat that you are going to use, if any. If you are unsure about how to cook meat go to the cooking meat section)
- Once both the meat and the vegetables are cooked. Empty the saucepan and vegetables into a colander. This will drain the water so that you just have your vegetables.
- If the meat in the frying pan has left some fat in there use a knife and fork to take the meat out of the frying pan and put it in the colander with the vegetables.
- Then run the frying pan under the tap to make sure that the fat has washed away.
- Now put the meat and vegetables into the frying pan along with the sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- Once the meat, vegetables and sauce are simmering you can cook your side. There is some information on sides that can be cooked in the sides section.
This toolkit is an adaptation of the Autism&Uni project led by Marc Fabri from Leeds Beckett University, under license CC BY 4.0. The original Autism&Uni project was funded with support from the European Commission with partners in the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. For more information about this project please visit the Autism&Uni website.
