Winter Warmer - Apple and Blackberry Pie!

This was originally inspired by Augusts Cultivate, Cook and Click Competition over at WeGrowOurOwn.co.uk. Unfortunately due to job interviews and assessment days, I completely lost track of time and forgot to submit it!

But, this is a really quick and easy recipe that I have discovered is PERFECT for freezing! That means that you can forage for blackberries, and collect apples from your tree as they fall, and prepare a delicious Winter Warmer, despite the fact its still August!

Freshers Foodie Tip #5 - Plan your meals!

We are half-way through my Top 10 Freshers Foodie Tips, and hopefully you're already feeling a bit more confident about heading off to uni!

Tip number 5 is to quite simply plan your meals.

This may sound boring, but there are a number of benefits!

Firstly, not only will this stop you going to the shops and buying EVERYTHING in sight because it all looks so yummy... (Supermarkets are cleverly designed to make you buy everything you don’t need)...but it will also prevent food waste! If you know you’re going to eat it, you know it’s not going to end up in the bin a month later once it’s gone mouldy at the back of the fridge!

For those of you who don't want to put on "The Freshers 7" (the number of lbs the average fresher puts on in their first term), then this will also stop you giving in an ordering take-aways. If you already have dinner planned, you can easily say no, when someone comes knocking with the pizza menu!!!

Fresher's Foodie Tip #4 - Economy Ranges

Economy/basics ranges are your friends!

Even as someone who LOVES food, and always tries to seek out the bets quality ingredients...in some instances, there is no reason why you shouldn't opt for economy! They really don’t taste any worse! It’s not the price it’s what you do with it that matters!!!

For example...

Nepalese Curried Vegetable with Lentils and Home-made Chapathis

A week ago, my family had an old friend come to stay. Her name is Aurelia, and when she was a child she came to stay with my family every year as an exchange student from France, in the hope that we would teach her some English! It’s a tradition my family has had for generations, her father staying with my grandparents when he was a child too!

I think it’s fair to say that in the time she’s spent with us she has taught us just as much as we’ve taught her!

When she came to stay this time round, she decided to teach me a new type of food – Nepalese. She visited Nepal for a couple of months and lived with a number of families eating their traditional food.

Below is our interpretation of the dishes she ate on her travel – as authentic as they can possibly be.

So here is Nepalese Curried Vegetables with Lentil and Home-made Chapathis! (aka chapattis, chapatis).

Chapathis are my new favourite thing to cook!  SO quick and easy, and good fun to make! (Though do not set your tea-towel on fire as I did!!!!!)

The London Cupcake Tour

Every summer my family and I take a trip round London! Normally we go to Oxford St, look round the shops, and do the sights like Buckingham Palace.

This year I decided we would do an alternative tour – The London Cupcake Tour! (As originally seen on An American Cupcake In London – Kerrycooks also recently took the tour and you can read her post here A-Cupcake-Tour-Of-London)

Our tour looked a little something like this:

Harrods Food Hall – Lola’s Cupcakes

Candy cakes

Ella’s Bakery

Primrose Bakery

Hummingbird Bakery

View The Kitchen Goddess (in training!)'s London Cupcake Tour in a larger map


Here are my reviews of each of the cupcakeries!

Freshers Foodie Tip #3 - Store cupboard essentials

One of the most important bits of advice is, on your first big shop it to stock up on the basics!

If you’re lucky enough to convince your rents to do your first big shop at uni (and even if you aren't), DON’T just put alcohol in the trolley (although essential), also make sure you do some bulk buying of store cupboard essentials, that way they’ll be in the back of your cupboard for the rest of term and it works out much cheaper in the long run!

Asian style salmon with cucumber and red onion dipping sauce and warm pak choy salad

This is a lovely fresh and vibrant healthy fish recipe. It’s perfect for eating al fresco in the summer sunshine!

For roughly 350 calories, you can enjoy it guilt free! I recommend flaking the succulent salmon and dipping in the cucumber and onion dipping sauce, or munching it with the warm pak choi salad! There are some many delicious flavours you won’t believe that it’s healthy!

Chop sticks are a must – a bowl of sticky rice is optional!

Freshers Food Tip #2 - Learn the basics

The second piece of advice that I have is quite simply, learn some basic cooking skills.

Burnt scrambled egg will cost you £15.52. 52p for the eggs you burnt. £15 for having to order dominoes because that was all you had left in the fridge!

Chopping your finger off while slicing onions will cost you £8. £4 for the taxi journey to the hospital, £4 for the taxi journey back! (Hopefully by the time you get home a house mate will have used the onions to cook you dinner though...otherwise add on an extra £15 for dominoes!)

You can see my Top 10 Tips for Beginngers here.

The tips include: what basic equipment you will need, heating oil, defrosting food safely, cooking pasta, dippy eggs, jacket potatoes, basic stir-fry, omlette, cheese sauce and gravy!

I hope they help!

Basic Flapjack Recipe

This is a perfect recipe for students, very cheap, very tasty, and the perfect dish to help you make friends during freshers week!

It's extremely versatile so you can add any extras - fruit if you're feeling healthy, chocolate if you're feeling naughty, and much much more!

So put the kettle on and whack some flapjacks in the oven!

Freshers Food Tips - #1 Start collecting NOW!

Seeing as it’s coming up to that time of year again, where A-level results are in and there’s plenty of excited 18 year olds getting ready to say goodbye to mum and dad, I thought I would write a series of posts about how to eat like a king at uni but to shop on a student’s budget! I will do at least one post every two/three days starting from results day – so keep checking back for more advice! Good luck with your results and I hope you get the grades you need!

Enjoy!

Tip #1 – Start collecting NOW!

Start grabbing tins now...

You’ve got a month or so until you leave for uni...how many tins of baked beans/tuna/sweetcorn/alphabetti spaghetti can you sneak into the trolley at Sainsbury’s and out of the cupboards into your room until the big move up to uni?

Spread the cost (for your rents) now by buying a little and often.

Alternatively when people ask you if they can buy you a gift for uni...suggest a food hamper! For my birthday each year my sis buys me a food hamper of all the things I can’t afford at uni e.g. specialist oils, baking ingredients, popcorn etc! 6p noodles are nice(ish) but it’s good to have a few luxuries in your first term to remind you of home!

A-Level Results Day!

It's A-level results day and despite having been there, done that, got the A-level certificates, the day still makes me feel nervous!

Food Trend #3 - Whoopie Pies!

What is a Whoopie Pie: The best way to describe a whoopie pie is a cross between a soft biscuit, a cake, sandwiched together like a macaroon! They have a sweet filling in the middle and are often 2inches across. The perfect size to have alongside a cup of tea!

History: My favourite story about how Whoopie Pie’s came about comes from www.recipes4us.co.uk which suggests Amish women in Pennsylvania used to bake these sweet treats for their husbands and children who would shout Whoopie when they found one in their lunchbox at lunchtime.  Traditionally the cake part is flavoured with cocoa powder and made with brown sugar resulting in a dark brown finish, whilst the filling is very light and fluffy, often made with marshmallow fluff or marshmallow crème and flavoured with vanilla.

According to Matthias Kiehm the food director of Harrods, his store were responsible for bringing the whoopie pie over the the UK. Chris Seaby who is in charge of cakes at M&S originally launched the products in metropolitan areas but has now rolled them out across the country so everyone can buy whoopie pies! You can even find them in coffee shops such as Costa Coffee. No ones quite sure why it took so long for the whoopie pie to find its way to England, and no one knows just how long they are here to stay! (see: “Thebun fight”)

Essential tools: There are no specific tools needed to make whoopie pies, but a flat baking sheet and an icing bag will make your life a little easier!

Method: Using the basic recipe below you can make 10 large whoopie pies or 12-14 small whoopie pies. This ingredient list is very similar to that of a cake, but the added flour gives it a more dense texture.