How to Peel an Orange

Bargains!

2009-09-04T17:49:00.002+01:00

Wow!! Virtually everything I love was on offer in Asda today! Okay, some of this stuff wasn't on my list, but except for the water, tuna, Philadelphia, tea and pick'n'mix, everything in this haul cost only £1!! That's especially amazing for the snacks. Buying my own snacks is saving me a LOT of money at college; I mean buying a packet of crisps there is usually about 50p for a bag, whereas any of those will be less than 20p. Okay, doesn't seem like a big deal, but those pennies add up and let me justify buying my 75p flavoured coffee every morning I'm there... Had hazlenut today, sooo nice! :D

So this has been my first week of college and it's going well for me. Got an assignment due for next week, which was why I thought I'd get a blog post in before all my computer time is used up drafting and redrafting it :P I'm glad it's the weekend though, I am pretty tired! So, thanks for reading, I'll sign off now :)

Bez

Pancakes!

2009-08-30T19:16:00.004+01:00

So, the housemates are all away for the weekend, and it was my thought that I would make them pancakes for them getting back! I decided to make bannocks because they are typically Scottish -- we do love our homebakes here and there are few smells more nice to come home to than freshly cooked bannocks. I rang my mum up for the recipe which she helped me to convert into cups as I don't have a set of scales here: 1 1/3 cups self raising flour, 1/4 cup white cane sugar, 1 large tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1 egg beaten together with 1/2 pint of milk. Combine all the try ingredients, then gradually beat in the egg/milk mixture until you have a nice, smooth batter.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add about half a ladleful of batter. It should make a hissing sound when it hits the pan; if it doesn't, you need to heat the pan longer.

One thing you are definitely going to need for this recipe is a good, bendy, heatproof spatula. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make bannocks without one. Well not impossible but incredibly frustrating. Anyway, when the pancake you've just poured on starts having bubbles on the surface (see picture) it's time to flip it over! It should look golden (or darker if you prefer). It will only need about 5-10 seconds on the other side. I will warn you this recipe does demand a lot of time and attention -- usually about 45 minutes to 1 hour per batch of pancakes, although this is shortened if you have a non-stick griddle as these can cook 4 pancakes at a time. (I had a hard time getting these pictures as pancakes cook very quicky, so it definitely does my phone's camera justice how well they came out under the circumstances!)

After you have cooked a pancake, pop it onto a teatowel and fold it over to keep warm (if you're eating them now) or cool. The teatowel stops them from drying out as they cool. To reheat either put them on a plate in the microwave for a few seconds, or pop them in the toaster on a low setting. I prefer this as they go lovely and crispy around the edges!

Traditional toppings for bannocks include sugar and lemon juice, butter and jam, or fresh fruit and whipped cream. My favourites though are butter and cinnamon, or Philadelphia cream cheese. Delicious!

I hope you'll give pancakes a try! They're cheap, healthy, easy baking for students; they also have the added virtue of being filling and an excellent comfort food! :)

Thanks for reading!

Bez

Cooking for the housemates!

2009-08-27T20:10:00.002+01:00

So tonight was really nice. My housemates and I all had odd things needing used up, so I put together one of my mum's recipes, cheese and onion potato bake, with a twist: grilled bacon and cheese on top! Mmm! It was really tasty and went down really well; and because we were sharing resources it was a really cheap and filling meal for us all! I don't think this will be the last time we do this. It was so enjoyable for me to cook for a group of people again; cooking for one has felt very strange to me after being used to cooking for family and friends, and I often end up with far too much and eating leftovers the next day (not always a bad thing: I have casserole in the freezer for Monday night, my first day of college classes). I'm getting along with everyone really well, we are really gelling with each other and there's a lot of banter to be had.

Also (and my poor mother has heard this twice already :P) I had my college induction day yesterday. I had such a good time, my classes are going to be really interesting and I was exciting to learn I'll be doing a module in Philosophy, which I loved at highschool and didn't know my course covered, and my classmates all seem really nice too so I am really happy. I'm settling in so well and I'm already starting to speak with the local dialect. I knew I would get it, but I didn't realise it would happen so quickly! So all in all, this has been a great week so far!

Thanks for reading!

Bez

The price of takeaways!

2009-08-24T09:48:00.003+01:00

Is extortionate!! We often get flyers through the door for our local Chinese/Indian/pizza joints offering home delivery, and now that I've started budgeting for myself I can't believe how overpriced everything is! I suppose they are having to cover things like their rented space, gas, etc., but how can you justify £2 for a portion of egg-fried rice? Or £2.50 for soup? I made myself a Chinese-style soup last night to get some veg used up and I estimate that it cost me less than £1 to make, and it was also very quick and simple to make. Two spring onions (scallions), a small can of sweetcorn, half a red chilli sliced thinly with the seeds removed, a couple of spoonfuls of chickpeas, some seasonings, all boiled up together for about 15 minutes (I'd cut it back to 10 next time as the spring onions ended up tasting like leeks, blurgh) and then some easy-cook noodles added. I suppose it ended up being what I will loosely term 'ramen', as I'm not sure whether or not there are 'necessary' ingredients in ramen. It was delicious and far more satisfying than ordering takeaway, not least because it was so much cheaper! I also had the knowledge of exactly what had gone into my food, which you often don't when ordering food elsewhere, and that was really good to know!

I'm getting a new phone this week which has a very good camera in it, so expect to see more photos on this blog in the near future! My camera is pretty good but I have to faff about switching the memory card between it and my old camera, because my computer won't read it from the new one for reasons I cannot fathom. I'm more likely to use my camera at family gatherings etc. now as it will have more space on it for getting lots of snaps; but for my blog I'll most likely just use my phone. The reason I'm getting a new one is that I've discovered it is far better value to be on a contract than PAYG if you use your phone a great deal -- which I do, even moreso than before now that I've left home! Gotta keep in touch with the loved ones! :)

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

French Toast Pudding

2009-08-20T19:37:00.005+01:00

So, as a follow-up from yesterday's post, here is what I ended up with!

Doesn't that just look DELICIOUS? :D It's the simplest thing in the world to make! Four slices of bread, torn in half. Arrange four pieces on the bottom and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon. Add another layer; more cinnamon and some sugar. Beat a medium egg, top it up with milk until it's about 400ml, ish? I didn't actually measure it. As long as the bread soaks up plenty milk this will work fine. It'll probably look really mushy and awful before you put it in the oven. I cooked this at 175C for about 40 minutes in the end -- I kept checking on it as I wasn't sure when it would be done. It will be crispy on top and wobble slightly when it's finished :P This is delicious hot -- just like French toast in a cake form -- and I've also tried it cold with marmalade on the side. Equally delicious! This recipe makes 4 portions, so it is a super-cheap pudding and great for using up ingredients! :D

After much humming and ha-ing about what to do with the orange, this is what I did in the end:

It's a room-scenter, like the ones my mum makes at Christmas! Orange baked slowly in the oven with cloves. :) Lovely! I don't really like eating raw orange, so when I thought to make this I was very happy with myself!

Thanks for reading!

Bez

Recipe idea...

2009-08-19T20:55:00.003+01:00

Hello all!

My cooking adventures thus far have been pretty straightforward, cooking recipes I have used before: stroganoff, stir-fry, and today I made carrot and orange soup, which I will also be having for my lunch tomorrow, yum!

I have been looking through my larder and I have some things needing used up: some bread which has gone a little dry, my milk needs using up in the next couple of days, and I also have half an orange. I was thinking of making a variation on bread and butter pudding by whisking the milk up with an egg, pouring it over the bread (cut into soldiers), and topping it with the sliced orange, some cinnamon, sugar and a few cloves. My plan is that it will turn out like a cross between French toast, bread and butter pudding, and Eve's pudding. Do you think it will work, or am I going to end up with a disgusting, inedible mush?

Thanks for reading! :)

Bez

Leftovers

2009-08-17T15:24:00.002+01:00

So last night I cooked mushroom stroganoff with brown rice for my dinner... I cooked about three times as much rice as I actually needed and twice as much stroganoff. Apparently I am far too used to cooking for three or more people! So I had the second half of last night's dinner for lunch, and I'm using the rest of the rice to make a salad-y type thing for my dinner. I guess in a way this would be a good habit to get into: making two meals for myself and reheating the second one the next day. Would it work out cheaper I wonder? Or would it be better to just make exactly as much as I need every night? Hmm. I think what I'm most likely to be leftover with is extra rice, extra pasta, the kinds of things that swell up during cooking.

So, here is my question for you: what are your favourite ways to use leftover rice and pasta? I love turning them into salads with lemon juice, olives and a vegetable of some kind. Mmm!

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

So here I am!

2009-08-16T17:18:00.002+01:00

I moved to my new town yesterday! Mum and dad bought my first (big) shop for me, based on recipes out of a student cookbook I have. So finally I have something to write about! None of my housemates are here yet but I'm looking forward to meeting them; the house is pretty quiet! But it gives me time to adjust to my new life and get my bearings. :) I haven't done any cooking thus far (unless you count making sandwiches) because I am still pretty tired. I have a week's menu planned from Monday though which I will be writing about. My house has a gas cooker so getting used to that will be... interesting, after being used to electric hobs. I'm sure it will be fine though :)

Thanks for reading!

Bez

Budgeting

2009-07-25T15:34:00.003+01:00

So today I have been looking at budgeting my expenses at college. After totting everything up it seems I will have around £20 ($33 USD) per week to spend on food, which is actually pretty generous for one person -- especially me, as I do not eat very big portions and am fortunate enough not to have a special diet to adhere to such as gluten-free. Considering that this guy managed to feed himself for a month on less than £75, and eats probably twice the portion sizes I do, I will probably end up cutting that budget right down, and use the extra money on nice luxuries such as new novels which I am addicted to buying. :) My initial shop of course is going to come to much more than £20, but a lot of that will go on store-cupboard necessities such as rice, pasta etc. I'm really getting excited about going!

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

Big Fillers

2009-07-23T17:44:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I'm at a loss as to what to write about until I actually move (three weeks on Saturday) but a wave of inspiration just hit me: filling dinners! One of the easiest ways to spend cash is buying snack foods like crisps, sweets etc. These are overpriced for what they are and really don't do much to fill you up, despite how tasty they are.

I recently "invented" a soup recipe which is filling, nummy and inexpensive, a student's dream! So I thought I would share that with you:

1x can baked beans in tomato sauce

1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

approx. 1 cup of rice

Seasonings to taste (mixed herbs are good)

Add everything to a small saucepan. Refill the can with fresh water and add to the mix. Simmer for about 15 minutes and voila! This is a really easy recipe to play about with and is very filling -- this would probably serve me about three portions, perhaps more.

What are your favourite big fillers? :)

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

Special Diets - Lactose Intolerance

2009-07-16T10:41:00.003+01:00

I'm sorry my posts are a little sporradic at the moment. I will have a lot more to write about when I am actually shopping and cooking for myself. For today's entry I'm going to talk about lactose intolerance. This allergy is caused by the body making insufficient amounts of lactase, a natural enzyme, to break down lactose into sugars the body can use, called glucose and fructose.

Lactose intolerance is often misunderstood as an allergic reaction to all dairy products -- anything containing any kind of milk. This is not true! Lactose does not exist in goat or sheep products so it's easy to find replacements for recipes which call for cow's milk products. I often swap cheddar or parmesan for manchego, which is a hard goat's cheese manufactured in Spain. For recipes which require cream, you can use soy cream, or if you're also allergic to soy, coconut cream works well as a replacement too. The only downfall to using coconut cream is that it's pretty high in calories, so if you're watching your waistline this might not be the best replacement to use.

In baking, most recipes require milk to make up the liquid. I have generally found that using rice milk or even water does not change the flavour of a recipe too much. The only difference is that some recipes, cakes in particular, come out a bit more crumbly and dry out faster. I slow this down by keeping dairy-free baked goods in the fridge.

Depending on how severe a person's lactose intolerance is, dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids minimum) is usually okay. It does contain milk protein which is, in small amounts, harmless for a lactose intolerant person. It's best to check if you're going to use it in a recipe though as some people are very highly sensitive to anything related to cow's milk.

The most important food additive to look out for when catering for a lactose-free diet, besides cow's milk and cheese, is whey powder. This is often used in crisps to help bind seasonings together and contains large amounts of lactose.

Hmm, this post has turned out much longer than I'd expected it to! I hope you found it interesting, and I will write similar posts to this every now and again on different special diets and ideas on how to cater for them. :)

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

White Bean Soup

2009-07-13T20:28:00.004+01:00

This was a delicious recipe I tried for the first time tonight. One of our family friends gave me a box set of around-the-world recipe books; this came from the Italian one. The ingredients are cannelini beans, soup pasta (I used gluten-free spaghetti instead to make it suitable for my mum), vegetable stock, olive oil, garlic and parsley; so it's a pretty cheap and very filling meal. It's also high in protein -- essential for concentration -- and is vegan, soy-free and gluten-free thanks to my adaptation. Hooray!

I think soup is one of the best options for a cheap and filling meal. It can be a bit time-consuming but if you make a big pot you can freeze portions to eat later when you're too tired to do much but put something in the microwave to re-heat. ;) What are your favourite soup recipes?

Thanks for reading,

Bez.

Mexican Shepherd's Pie

2009-07-09T20:13:00.002+01:00

is a recent invention of me and a friend's! Yesterday we were given beef mince and left to it... So we cooked it with some kidney beans, a green pepper diced, onions, chilli seasonings, tomato paste, garlic paste and a mixed Spanish seasoning which mainly contained paprika. Once it was cooked, we put it in an ovenware dish, poured a jar of salsa dipping sauce over the top, followed by plenty of plain tortilla chips. We topped it off with manchego cheese, which is suitable for those who suffer from lactose intolerance as it is made with sheep's milk. Then we grilled it all at about 160C for 10 minutes, and wow! It was delicious! So we gave it this name, and felt extremely proud of ourselves. It contains all of the main food groups too and dirties up only two dishes besides plates. This recipe is also gluten and soya free. It's a little time-consuming to make the mince but hopefully if you try it you'll think it's well worth the effort! And, of course, you can always use leftover chilli from another meal. Hooray!
I hope you'll give it a try. :) As a student I am forever looking for recipes that don't involve messing up too many dishes for me to wash later, so, please share your ideas!
Thanks for reading,
Bez.

Your Top 5 Seasonings

2009-07-06T09:37:00.008+01:00

Hello all :)

Until I move I'm probably going to do a lot of posts like this, sharing general ideas about cooking and flavours. This is because I'm not generally the one who does the cooking just yet. I thought today it would be interesting to see which seasonings we prefer to use the most. So here's the question: if you could use only five seasonings for the rest of your life, what would you pick? Mine would be:

> Fresh root ginger

> Garlic

> Paprika

> Black pepper

> Cardamom pods

A bit of a mish-mash, but these are the things I use the most. I've generally found so far that ginger goes well with pretty much everything, but it's especially good if you chop it finely and rub it into some pork chops before roasting them in the oven. This is delicious if you marinate the chops in lime juice for about half an hour before roasting. This keeps them very tender and gives them a lovely fruity flavour once they're done. Or, if you don't want to roast them, cut the chops into thin strips and stir-fry with the ginger along with some vegetables such as red peppers, mangetout (sugar snap peas) and beansprouts. Yum!

Another thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I'm also very interested in catering for special diets. One of my friends and his grandmother are gluten, dairy and soya-free. Sounds like a bit of a nightmare but it's not as difficult to cater for as you might think. The above two recipes are both fine for these diets. I'll be talking more about this in later posts. :)

Thanks for reading!

Bez.

Introduction

2009-07-05T18:14:00.005+01:00

Greetings!

Very soon I am going to be moving out, which means that for the first time ever I will be cooking for myself, every night. I know that many students would ask, "Why bother to cook when you can buy readymeals?" I could easily go down that road, but not if I want to stay healthy/avoid being broke. Microwave dinners are packed full of additives -- and half of what I'd be paying for is someone to do the work for me. Home-cooked food is well worth the effort in health benefits and also the self-satisfaction of taking raw ingredients and turning them into something delicious.

On the flip side of the coin, it's often been said that "health is for the wealthy". Organic produce and wholefoods come at a price. This, to me, seems equally as unfair as convenience food being packed with unhealthy ingredients. Why should I be punished for trying to choose the healthier option?

Thus, I have created this blog, where I will be exploring healthy eating at minimal cost. There will probably also be random posts about my life at college in general. I hope you enjoy reading, and I invite any and all input you may have. Thanks and take care,

Bez.