Sunday 27 October 2013

Simple Sweet and Sour

I'm 4 days away from payday, and you can tell just by looking in our fridge! Old Mother Hubbard etc. We popped out to Asda yesterday for some essentials, and I remembered a really quick, really cheap and really tasty dinner idea a good friend of mine told me to use back when we were living on £2 a day last year. 
Chinese is a firm take away favourite for us, but even when we are able to afford it as a treat, I never have the sweet and sour dishes as I find the sauce is too thick and sweet, even for me. I know on the face of it using plums in a savoury dish might seem a bit odd, but once they start to soften and the juices mix with the honey, the sauce is the nicest sweet n sour sauce you've ever had! I lick the plate every time!

1. Halve one or two red peppers so that they stand as pepper 'cups', deseed and take out the white bits inside. Place on a baking tray and give a quick spray of Frylight (or drizzle with oil if you aren't watching you weight!)
2. Halve and stone one or two nearly-ripe plums, keep the skins on. Quarter them and stuff them into the pepper cups. On average I find that each pepper cup can hold about half a plum.
3. Spray with Frylight and then sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic seasoning and a little pinch of mixed herbs. Then drizzle about a teaspoon of honey over the cups.
4. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Take them out after this, sprinkle with a little grated cheese (optional, but I like it) and stick them back in until the peppers are visibly starting to blacken.
5. Carefully remove from the oven making sure not to spill any of the juice!! Serve with vegetables or rice to make it feel like a chinese.
You will want to mop up the sauce at the end! Alternatively, mix in with the rice. SO TASTY! A really cheap and low fat dinner. I've sat and eaten it with my blanket over my lap, in preparation for the storm that's coming our way... scary times!

BB xx

Saturday 26 October 2013

Common Myths About Food Banks

It's getting to a point now where I feel I want to start one of these myself, once we move to Beds.
I don't have anything particularly creative to write here today, but I wanted to re-post this in case you didn't get to read it.

The 10 Most Common Myths About Food Banks:

I would urge you all to consider if you could collect for a food bank in your area. Could a collection box be set up somewhere in your work place? Could you afford to pick up a tin to put in there yourself the next time you pass a donation point? Would you want people to think of giving unwanted tins to a collection box if YOU needed to use them?? I know I would.

There's a storm coming outside... Protect yourself!

BB xx

Friday 25 October 2013

You KNEAD to try this!!

Knead... KNEAD?! Like I meant 'need' but as it's all about bread, I said... knead?? Yeh.
I apologise.

I'm off to see my best mate Al tomorrow and she's making homemade courgette and red pepper soup. What a star bar! Y'know what goes well with soup? Fresh bread. What kind of bread? Super simple, super tasty sourdough loaf, that's what.
I have tried this recipe a number of times now, and it ticks all the boxes: It can be made with store cupboard essentials. It's messy to make, which brings out the kid in all of us! It's speedyspeedyspeedy fast! And it tastes absolutely amazing, especially when it's nearly cooled.

The recipe is one of the wonderful Jack Monroe's (see the link to her page on the right...) and you have to try it when you get a spare hour one lazy, winter weekend... and have it with soup!!
You will need: 200ml milk, 200g s/r flour, 1 tsp Bicarb of Soda (I ran out and use baking powder instead)
and 2 tbsp lemon juice.
1) Mix the milk and lemon juice together in a jug and set aside to allow to curdle.
2) Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle, and pour in most of the milk and lemon mixture.
3) Use your hands! It's meant to be sticky and it's meant to end up looking more batter than dough-like. Don't play with it too much - lumps are OK and it doesn't need to be really smooth.
4) Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees C in a fan oven. You'll know it's cooked when a knife pulls out clean and if you tap the bottom of the loaf and it sounds really hollow.
It's soooo tasty. I also added a pinch of salt to mine as I love that freshly baked salty flavour you get. I hope this will go well tomorrow, as we're going to need warming up - torrential rain and wind on the way!! WHOOP.

BB xx


Saturday 19 October 2013

Food Poverty Crisis: A political hot potato...

If you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll have missed out on the news that demands for food parcels from local food banks have TRIPLED in this past year. I regularly refer people through my job to them now, as many of my clients are on very limited income or have lost out on benefits, and literally have no other place to turn to. It's a political hot potato (excuse the pun) where some politicians such as Edwina Currie have made outrageous remarks about the kind of people who use them, claiming that people will use them simply because they're there - "makes sense: high quality fresh food, no charge... rational choices, who wouldn't?" This implies that people are taking advantage, when I bet your bottom dollar that the likes of Ms Currie haven't ever had to face the feeling of utter despair, embarrassment and shame that people queuing up outside feel. Service users include families who were once earning good money, but for whatever reason have found themselves in need of such a vital resource. 

Thanks to Jack Monroe, Guardian columnist, anti-poverty campaigner and single mum, I'm far more aware than ever of how worrying an issue it is, and it yet again makes me think about the way in which we buy and eat food. Yes, Tom and I have no need for a food parcel as we are at the moment, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't feel more responsible for how we spend our money and feed ourselves. For a better explanation as to what the fudge is going on, please watch the clip from This Morning below, which features Jack and her story coping through poverty... (sorry, I don't know how to imbed the video. Just click on the link below)


If you want to learn more, and find out how to eat on a super, super low budget but still have a nutritionally balanced diet, I urge you to go and see Jack's website, www.agirlcalledjack.com.

What with being ill for 90% of this week, food shopping has been the last thing on my to-do list. I got to a point yesterday where I was dipping digestive biscuits into hot chocolate powder, made into a paste with a little water, as a sweet treat and something to eat... Oh dear. However I don't really have the money to go and do a big food shop yet, but we need something in the fridge that will fill us up and keep us going until sometime next week when we can go and shop properly.
I don't usually like shopping in smaller supermarkets like our local Co-op, but at the right time of day there is a lot of meat and veg on sale at reduced prices. They all sell pre-packed veg at a reasonably good price. This was my shopping bag today:
Casserole veg bags - £1 each
Casserole mix - 96p
Pasta - 62p
10 eggs - £1.50
Chopped tomatoes - 58p
Bread - 98p!!
Lemon curd - £1.40 (that was my treat for today!)

Chicken casserole is now cooking in the trusty old slow cooker, ready for a bit of a late supper later on. Both bags of veg contained enough to feed us easily until Tuesday. I added 6 frozen chicken breasts to that - had to slightly defrost them first and then cut them up. £2 a bag from ASDA, and I already had those in the freezer from our big supply we had last month from my brother.
I feel that some of the issue with the food crisis is that there are many people out there who haven't had the luck to really learn how to make a meal out of what's available. The food bank parcels are made up of mainly dried and tinned food, and eating them on their own is one thing but it isn't that interesting or tasty. Plus, a lot of the tinned veg is stuff like chikpeas, which even I struggle to know how to cook with sometimes!!
I'd be interested to know what the rest of you think about this... How do you make things stretch out and last? Do you like to make up your own recipes with what's in the fridge and in the cupboards? Or do you struggle?

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

BB xx


Friday 18 October 2013

Brilliant No-Sew T-Shirt Hack

This is pure genius!! Get ready for this. I have had a mega crappy week, ending in a crappy Friday spent mostly on the sofa trying not to feel nauseous and watching awful tv. I'm painfully aware that I have less money than I would like as it's getting towards the end of the month, and I'm having a "fat" week where none of my clothes look good on me. NONE OF THEM!

Cue: Brit+ website, for loads and loads of craft projects, fashion hacks and home furnishing ideas. Whilst browsing, I came across this gem which was 25 No Sew projects, for those of you who can't even put a button back on a shirt. You know who you are...

Josie, blogger of Fine and Feathered (see her fabulous blog right here) came up with this:

DIY TSHIRT RESTYLE

Before
I came across this tee while thrifting this week and instantly grabbed it up! I adore the colors and the unique print. Unfortunately, it needed a little make-over. To start with, it had shoulder pads (seriously, dideverything have shoulder pads in the 80s??) which I promptly snipped out. I'm also not a huge fan of shirts that sit close to my neck, and since it was a size or two bigger than i normally wear I had plenty of material to play with.
So here we go!

Instructions

1&2. cut the neck of the tee wide like a boatneck (I cut the back part of the neck a little higher than the front) 3. from about a half inch away from where your neck cut ended, cut down and out through your sleeve 4. slit the small bit of shoulder left over and then double tie it 5. slit the leftover sleeve into shreds
And After....
After4

I hope tJosie won't mind me showing you her idea here - it was totally her brainwave! I absolutely love the effect... and not a single needle in sight!
So I had a go...
I sadly don't have a photographer like she does! But it's definitely brilliant - it's given what was quite a shapeless gym t-shirt a much more flattering neckline and the shredded sleeves are really good at hiding the fat bits at the top of your arms. 

Love it. And it literally took 5 MINUTES.

Do it!!
Also whilst you're at it, have a good look at the rest of the blogs on Brit+Co - there is enough to make you cry with tears of inspiration!!

BB xx

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Stamp Duty #1: My Homemade Wedding Invites

It was 6 months last Friday until I get to marry my man! Time to get the invites out in the post...
I have always planned to make my wedding invitations, just because it was a labour of love I was always really keen to do. Don't get me wrong - there are some absolutely beautiful invites available online and some priced very reasonably, but it wouldn't have been right if I hadn't made them myself. That's just me :)

I bought blank ready-made cards and envelopes from Hobbycraft, in the same colour as I made the save the date cards. My theme is peacock feathers, so I found two stamps that I could use for the fronts and insides of the cards.
This stamp was bought off eBay for £16. The detail in the feather is really stunning!

This was a smaller feather stamp from Hobbcraft, £2.99
I thought originally I would handwrite all of the cards, but after some initial trial runs, I felt that even my handwriting wasn't quite neat enough! Simple solution: Print out in Microsoft word, and trim to fit inside the cards. I used pinking shears to match the ragged edges of the cards.




As for the front, the peacock feather stamp on it's own didn't quite cut it. Cue this wonderful seller, again on eBay, and a personalised stamp!
I am so pleased with this! Also, it came in super-speedy time, too! I highly recommend, and if you fancy doing the same, you will find his eBay shop HERE!

All lined up and nearly ready to go in their envelopes, they look like they could have been made in a shop!



All ready to post... Just got a LOT of stamps to pay for now!! Weddings - expensive, hey?!


Well proud!

BB xx




Saturday 12 October 2013

When it's good to spend a little bit...

We're in the middle of making the most expensive purchase of our lives together at the moment, and every penny counts. We're being careful about what food we buy and how we eat and ration it, and we're turning down invites to go out every weekend in order to save on petrol, refreshments, entry to things, etc. This means becoming somewhat of a hermit though, and that's not a lot of fun!! If I'm going to spend my weekends at home then I need to be kept busy. Thankfully there are some amazing bloggers and craft forums on the internet that keep me amused for hours, seeing what other people are making and upcycling in their spare time, just for the fun of it. I've got loads of ideas and I want to try my hand to as much as possible... but it still doesn't beat the feeling I get when I really get my teeth into a new quilting project.

We went out this morning to pick up a few things we needed, and Tom took this last opportunity before we move and really do need to watch every single penny to go and buy himself some new threads. He doesn't buy clothes like I do - it's more an annual event for him! That's why he spent a little today, but he was careful with what he chose to make sure it'll last him until next year!

Before we headed home to a cosy, warm flat and a cup of tea, I went to spend my voucher in Patchwork Corner, which is a shop dedicated to all things quilting in Hemel Hempstead. Click HERE to see more about them and where they are. They put on various different levels of quilting courses, all run by their shop staff who are well seasoned quilters. The shop is a treasure trove - amazingly beautiful bolts of fabrics and tray upon tray of fat quarters to chose from. I was going to spend my £25 voucher on a handful of those, but then I remembered that a big issue I have is the cutting and measuring of my fabric, especially cutting up squares. The lady in the shop was kind enough to show me how you actually use a long ruler, and how it's even easier when you have a large self-healing cutting board...
I couldn't resist!! They're not cheap - both £18, so the two together cost more than my voucher, but it was worth it. This afternoon I have finally made good headway on a project for my Nan for Christmas, and the whole cutting up and measuring business was TEN TIMES EASIER with my new toys!

The way I see it, yes I'm meant to be saving my money but I can't sit at home and veg out whilst I don't go out!! I have to do something productive, and if it's making something for someone else to love and enjoy, then it's a worth while investment when buying the tools that will make that much easier.

Speaking of quilted goods, how are you all keeping warm now the weather's drastically changed??! Brrrrr!!!

BB xx