May 2014 – Bangers & Mash

Beef and Guinness pie with vanilla and thyme

May 28, 2014Posted in Meat, Recipes, Stews and casserolesTagged beef, guinness, pie, thyme, vanilla10 Comments

When Solange at Pebble Soup suggested vanilla as the theme for this month’s Spice Trail, which she is very kindly guest hosting for me, my mind went into overdrive. I simply had to come up with a way to use this gorgeous spice in a savoury dish. And this deeply dark and delicious beef and Guinness pie is what I came up with.

My husband was the inspiration. He thought vanilla might work well in our favourite braised pig cheek recipe. I’m sure that would be heavenly but, as I’ve only recently featured the dish here on the blog, I couldn’t really go with that again. So the idea of pairing vanilla with slow cooked with meat in a rich, warming sauce evolved instead into this sumptuous beef pie.

Vanilla and Guinness are a genius combination. Soft and rich and ever so slightly sweet, but without being cloying. The vanilla flavour is subtle; just enough sweetness to be warm and comforting. Teamed with tender beef and vegetables – I opted for butternut squash and celery to continue the sweet them and some chestnut mushrooms for texture and a touch of earthiness – and topped with buttery puff pastry, this dish is definitely my idea of foodie bliss.

Beef and Guinness pie with vanilla and thyme

1 tbsp vegetable oil
400g braising beef, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp corn flour
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
2 celery sticks, sliced
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
440ml can Guinness
260ml hot beef stock
large handful fresh thyme, picked
1 vanilla pod
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
375g ready rolled puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 180°C / gas mark 4.

Heat the oil in a large casserole and fry the beef until browned on all sides. Stir in the corn flour to coat the meat.

Add the onion, mushrooms, celery, butternut squash, Guinness, beef stock and thyme. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Add the seeds to the pan, along with the pod. Season to taste and give it all a good stir.

Bring it to a gentle simmer. Pop the lid on and place in the oven for at least three hours until the meat is beautifully tender.

Remove the stew from the oven and leave to cool.

Turn up the oven to 200°C / gas mark 6.

Transfer the stew to a ovenproof pie dish (around 2 litre). Brush the edges of the pie dish with a little beaten egg and carefully lay the ready rolled puff pastry over the top of the stew. Knock the edges with the back of a knife so they stick to the dish and trim off the excess pastry.

With a sharp knife, cut a little hole in the middle of the pastry to allow the steam to escape and brush the top with beaten egg.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

Serve with vegetables and creamy mashed potato to soak up all that meaty vanilla-flavoured gravy.

I am entering this pie into The Spice Trail, which is of course being hosted this month by Solange over at Pebble Soup, and where the spice theme this month is vanilla.

And as this pie also contains lots of lovely fresh thyme, I shall also enter it into Cooking with Herbs, hosted by the brilliant Karen at Lavender & Lovage.

Spicy chana dal cottage pie

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014Posted in Meat, RecipesTagged beef, chana dal, cottage pie, mashed potato, minced meat, spice9 Comments

There are certain dishes I don’t play around with too much. When they’re easy winners with the family, what’s the point of trying to fix something that ain’t broke? Like spaghetti carbonara or bangers and mash. Sometimes simple is best.

Cottage pie had always been one of those kinds of meals for me. Cooked minced beef with onions, maybe a vegetable or two, in gravy and topped with creamy mashed potato. Why would you want to mess with that?

But the problem is I just do have this tendency to play with my food. I was thinking about ways to make cottage pie go further, you see. Since taking part in the Living Below the Line initiative, where we only had £1 a day for food and drink for five days, the cost of food has been on my mind and I keep looking for ways to make things stretch a bit. I always bulk cottage pie out with a few vegetables, so the idea of adding lentils (or in this case chana dal, split and polished chickpeas) seemed the natural next step. Of course, I could have gone completely vegetarian and left out the beef mince but we do rather like meat in our house, and I think it’s useful to have ways to get more meals out of good meat than have to omit it all together.

Once I’d decided to add chana dal, it was a natural leap to add some spice, since chana dal is such a popular ingredient in Indian cookery. I added some cumin and mustard seeds to the mince and dal, and then a little turmeric to melted butter before mashing it into the potato. It could so easily have been one of those disastrous experiments but it worked an absolute treat and the whole family seemed to approve. Well, they asked for seconds. Always a good sign.

This is another of those incredibly adaptable dishes. Instead of chana dal, you can use pretty much any kind of lentils or pulses, and throw in whatever vegetables you happen to have in.

Spicy chana dal cottage pie

This recipe makes two large cottage pies, each yielding 4 to 6 portions. One for supper tonight and another for the freezer – perfect!

200g chana dal
1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp black mustard seeds
500g minced beef
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
2 courgettes, halved lengthways and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
200ml beef stock
salt and pepper
1kg potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered depending on size
50g butter
½ tsp turmeric
200ml milk

Soak the chana dal in cold water for at least an hour, and then drain.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and fry until the release their aroma.

Add the minced beef to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until browned, stirring frequently. Next add in the carrots, courgettes and garlic and give it all a good mix before stirring in the chana dal, tinned tomatoes and stock.

Leave to simmer gently for 20 minutes or so until the liquid has thickened a little and the vegetables are tender. Taste and season.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the potatoes until just tender, drain, and return to the pan.

Gently melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the turmeric. Pour the yellow butter onto the cooked potatoes, pour in the milk, season with salt and pepper and mash well.

Spoon the meat and chana dal filling into two ovenproof dishes, and then cover with the mashed potato. Cook one in the oven for around 25 minutes until the top is golden. Cool the other one before covering with foil and placing in the freezer for a quick easy dinner another night.

As this is a great way to make a cottage pie go further, I’m entering it into this month’s Family Foodies challenge where the theme is Cheap & Cheerful.

I’m also entering it into the Credit Crunch Munch challenge, the brain child of Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours, and this month hosted by Gingey Bites.

Wild garlic pesto tear & share bread

May 19, 2014May 28, 2014Posted in Bread, Recipes, VegetarianTagged bread, pesto, wild garlic12 Comments

The lanes near our house have been heavy with the heady scent of wild garlic flowers in the last few days, the warmth of the late spring sunshine increasing their intensity. We’re nearing the end of the wild garlic season, so I’ll be picking one last harvest to make up a big batch of wild garlic pesto. It freezes beautifully and will provide us with a taste of English spring for many months to come.

The pesto is delicious simply stirred through a bowlful of pasta or spread on toasted bread to create bruschetta. It’s also wonderful in this easy tear-and-share bread, a perfect accompaniment to cold meats and cheeses as part of a buffet lunch or a springtime picnic.

Wild garlic pesto tear & share bread

Makes 8 bread rolls

400g strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 x 7g sachet fast action dried yeast
250ml water
1 tbsp olive oil
half a jar of wild garlic pesto – see my recipe here

Put the flour, salt and dried yeast into a large mixing bowl and combine.

Make a well in the middle and pour in the water and oil. Gradually work the flour into the liquid to form a soft dough. If it’s too dry, add a drop more water. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour.

Flour the work surface before tipping the dough onto it. Knead the dough for five to ten minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Return the dough to the mixing bowl, cover loosely with cling film and put in a warm place for about an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

Grease and flour a 20cm round cake tin.

Uncover the risen dough and punch it back down. Flour the surface again and divide the dough into eight equal portions.

Roll each portion of dough into a rough rectangle, approximately 20cm by 10cm. Spread each rectangle generously with wild garlic pesto and roll up carefully into a tidy spiral. Stand each spiral into the prepared cake tin, spacing them out to allow them room to spread.

Cover loosely with cling film or a clean tea towel and leave to rise again for another 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 or use the middle of the top oven of an Aga.

When the bread has risen again, place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Place the tin on a wire rack and leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out. Lovely eaten while still warm, drizzled with a little olive oil.

As this bread makes use of a sensational spring ingredient, I’m entering it into this month’s Four Season’s Food challenge hosted by Eat Your Veg and Delicieux where the theme is Celebrating Spring.

And as it’s a very seasonal recipe, I’m also entering it into Simple and in Season hosted by Ren Behan.

Finally as it features wild herbs, I’m sharing it with Karen at Lavender & Lovage in this month’s Cooking with Herbs challenge.

Old fashioned vanilla ice cream

May 18, 2014May 18, 2014Posted in Puddings and desserts, RecipesTagged custard, ice cream, ice cream machine, the spice trail, vanilla7 Comments

When the sun is shining it’s hard to imagine the world any other way. When the sun is shining and you’re sat in the garden eating a big bowl of vanilla ice cream, life is good. Especially when it’s homemade vanilla ice cream made the old fashioned way with a proper custard.

I don’t know how long this warm weather is going to last. I don’t generally bother to watch the weather forecasts. But it was gorgeous yesterday and it’s gorgeous again this morning. So we shall make the most of it.

Yesterday we spent practically every minute, once we’d got the dance lessons out of the way in the morning, in our garden. Playing swing ball, cutting the grass, weeding, planting seedlings in the vegetable patch, having a barbecue, washing the car, running through the water sprinkler. Even the chores are enjoyable when the sun shines. Almost felt like we were on holiday in our own home. And when you are on holiday you eat ice cream. At least I always do, anyway.

I was given my first ever ice cream maker a couple of months ago for my birthday. The children have been thinking up all kinds of weird and wonderful flavours for us to experiment with, but before we move onto those I was keen to master the classic vanilla.

Good ice cream isn’t difficult to make yourself but it does require patience. I’d always assume that an ice cream maker would mean you simply put everything in a pot and it transforms it into ice cream for you, when actually it’s key function is the churning, the constant stirring while the ice cream freezes to prevent ice crystals forming.

Our first attempt was a disaster. The custard was rushed and it wasn’t lovely and thick before it went into the maker, and so the ice cream just didn’t thicken. So when it came out of the freezer, it was one large ice block that was practically impossible to get into. But the second attempt was just perfect and I spent much longer at the stove, stirring the custard until it was beautifully thick and glossy. The ice cream was softly sweet and creamy, with that oh so comfortingly familiar flavour of delicious vanilla, and I imagine I’ll be making many, many more batches of this particular recipe.

You can of course use vanilla extract for this recipe, but I prefer to use a vanilla pod. You see all those pretty little black seeds in the ice cream, and you can wash the pod afterwards and use it to flavour your sugar. Oh and don’t forget to put the canister from your ice cream machine into the freezer the day.

Vanilla just happens to be the theme this month for The Spice Trail challenge, which this month is being guest hosted by Solange over at Pebble Soup who is doing an incredible job attracting an eclectic collection of wonderful vanilla recipes. Do pop over there to take a look and of course, if you’re cooking with vanilla this month, why not add your recipe? There is a fabulous prize for the winner – a selection of Steenberg organic extracts and essences from Naturally Good Food, including vanilla of course.

Old fashioned vanilla ice cream

Serves 6 to 8

300ml full fat milk
1 vanilla pod
3 large egg yolks
85g caster sugar
300ml double cream

Pour the milk into a heavy-based saucepan. Split the vanilla pod with sharp knife and scrape out the seeds into the milk. Pop in the pods too and give it a good mix.

Place the milk onto a medium heat and bring to the boil. Quickly remove it from the heat, cover and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks well with the sugar and then stir in the milk and vanilla. Remove the vanilla pod and then pour the mixture into the saucepan again.

Cook over a low heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens and covers the back of the spoon. This will take around 10 minutes or so. Don’t let the mixture boil or it will split, and do wait until it has thickened or your ice cream won’t set properly.

Once the custard has thickened, pour it into a clean bowl and leave it to cool. Then whisk the cream into the custard. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge until is completely chilled. I left mine in the fridge overnight.

You then tip the mixture into your ice cream machine and freeze following the instructions provided. Transfer to a plastic container and freeze until required – if you can resist plunging straight in.

Alternatively, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can freeze once you’ve whisked in the double cream for around four hours, remembering to give it a good stir once an hour to break up any ice crystals that are forming.

Serve in bowls or in wafer cones. Enjoy!

I am entering my vanilla ice cream into The Spice Trail’s Wow Vanilla! challenge hosted by Solange Berchemin over at Pebble Soup.

Braised oxtail with smoked bacon

May 14, 2014Posted in Meat, Recipes, Stews and casserolesTagged Aga, bacon, beef, offal, oxtail, silver spoon, slow-cooked, soffrito13 Comments

Other than tinned oxtail soup as a child (which I don’t think really counts), I hadn’t eaten oxtail until just the other week when I got hold of some at my local butcher and decided it was time to try it out on my family.

I’ve been meaning to cooking with it for quite some time but for one reason and another hadn’t got round to it. It’s a wonderfully cheap cut and I’d heard how full flavour and “unctuous” it can be when cooked long and slow – perfect for us as we cook in an Aga.

And I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I turned to that classic Italian cookbook, The Silver Spoon, which I always tend to consult when faced with a new cut of meat, and found a recipe for a slow-cooked oxtail, cooked very simply with soffritto (onion, carrot, celery and garlic), white wine and pancetta, or in my case beef stock and smoked bacon.

The result was truly unctuous. So it might not be the prettiest of plates but it tastes divine. A properly rustic kind of dish which demands eating with fingers to make the most of all that gorgeously sweet meat clinging to the bones, with plenty of cartilage to be gnawed and marrow to be sucked. The vegetables seem to soak up the gooey, marrow-rich sauce making them beautifully soft, and a large helping of creamy mashed potato is just wonderful served on the side.

What did disappoint was how squeamish the children were about getting stuck in. This isn’t normally a problem in our house, where we’re used to sticky fingers and dribbly chins. Perhaps I left a little too much fat on the oxtail or maybe it was simply the idea of eating a beast’s rear appendage, but I was surprised at how much encouragement my kids needed to finish their plates.

Don’t worry, I never give up on the first attempt. This is definitely a dish I’ll be trying on the clan again soon. I loved it so much, it’s now my mission to make my family love it too.

Braised oxtail with smoked bacon

850g oxtail, cut into pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
3 rashers smoked bacon, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500ml hot beef stock
salt and pepper

Remove any excess fat from the oxtail and then soak in cold water for three hours, changing the water a couple of times. Drain and pat dry with kitchen towel.

Preheat the oven to 140°C/gas 1.

Heat the butter and oil in a large ovenproof dish, add the bacon and fry for 5 minutes until coloured.

Add the oxtail pieces and brown all over.

Stir in the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and fry together for a few minutes before pouring in the hot beef stock. Add enough hot water to just cover the ingredients and season to taste.

Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover with a lid and transfer to the oven to cook for three to four hours, until the meat comes easily away from the bone and the juices have thickened.

Serve with plenty of creamy mashed potato to soak up all that delicious sauce. And make sure you have napkins to hand.

Oxtail is a very inexpensive cut of beef and so I am entering this dish into May’s Family Foodies challenge (hosted by myself and Eat Your Veg), where the theme is ‘Cheap and Cheerful’.

I’m also entering into Credit Crunch Munch, co-hosted by Camilla at Fab Food 4 All and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours, and this month guest hosted by Gingey Bites.

Mexican month on The Spice Trail

May 7, 2014Posted in Competitions and challengesTagged gran luchito, Mexican, Mexico, spice, spice trail8 Comments

Last month on The Spice Trail I called for your favourite Mexican recipes and boy, did you lot rise to the challenge? The following round-up is a sensational celebration of Mexican cuisine, demonstrating just how diverse and exciting this nation’s food really is.

So let’s get this party started, shall we?

How about starting our Mexican feast with a few nibbles? Pridhi from Drizzling Delicacies has brought these Easy Homemade Nacho Chips (1) to the party, flavoured with roasted cumin and totally irresistible. And how about some dips to accompany those nachos? Louisa from Eat Your Veg has made a super easy, super healthy Holy Moly Guacamole! (2), while Nasifriet offers us her Guacomole with a Twist (3) – the twist coming in the form of grey shrimps and tiger prawns.

Grab some crusty bread for this colourful Mexican Oil Dip (4) from Sarah at The Garden Deli, featuring lots of Mexican-inspired flavours such as coriander, chillies, lime and tomato. I think Sarah’s spicy oil would be a wonderful accompaniment to this homemade Queso Fresca (5) from Lapin d’Or and More, which is also perfect served with pasta.

If there’s any bread or nachos left, you can use them to scoop up some of my very messy but incredibly moreish Queso Fundido (6), a Mexican version of fondue topped with spicy chorizo and a fun addition to any gathering.

Time to clear away the nibbles and get properly stuck into our Mexican menu. First up is my Black Bean Soup & Chilli Baked Feta (7), a dark and deeply smoky soup which is a perfect match for the spicy, tangy feta cheese.

We’ve a couple of sweet potato dishes next. I love the look of this vibrant Sweet Potato Salsa (8) from Nasifriet, which sounds so zingy and refreshing, and then how about these marvellously vegetastic Sweet Potato, Zucchini and Olive Quesadillas (9) from Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe, in which the sweet potato becomes a replacement for cheese.

Similar to cheese-less quesadillas are these Cheater Tlacoyos with Nopales (Cactus) (10) from Janet at The Taste Space. Never having eaten cactus, I am really rather intrigued by these, which are served with a generous helping of refried beans – which I have eaten before and adore.

Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen brings her take on a Mexican ‘Tortilla’ Bake (11) to our table, which looks so tasty and just the dish for using up a fridgeful of eggs and veggies.

How about following that up with a serving of these Bean Enchiladas (12) from My Kitchen Odyssey, made with blackbeans, mushrooms, chilli, garlic and of course lots of Mexican spice?

Linsy from Home Cook Food shows us how to make her versatile Home Made Red Enchiladas Sauce with Roasted Tomatoes (13) next, which as well as being great in enchiladas is also ideal for chimichanga or any other Mexican dish requiring a tomato sauce. Indeed how about trying it in Linsy’s tasty Soy Chorizo and Vegetables Enchiladas (14)?

These Vegan Mexican Tamale Pies (15) from Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen look just so tempting. I really wish she lived closer to me so I could sample some direct from her stall. She describes them as a Mexican version of shepherd’s pie, made from soy mincemeat and beans, topped off with a creamy cornmeal topping. Don’t they sound good?

Holy Mole! We have another stunning vegetarian dish next, this time from Sarah at The Fig Tree, whose Vegetable, Lentil and Bean Mole (16) features a lovely homemade Mexican spice mix as well as a whole host of virtuous veggies and even chocolate. A perfect meatless Monday meal, I reckon.

Beans feature a lot in Mexican cookery and there are no less than 15 different kinds in this Vegetarian Chilli (17) from Linsy at Home Cook Food. She describes it as a thick soup and is good served with quesadillas, corn cakes or corn bread. I like the way she’s served it with a generous dollop of guacamole on top.

Another chilli next but this time a meaty Chilli con Carne (18) from Julie’s Family Kitchen, another entry to use that classic Mexican addition of dark chocolate. Now doesn’t that look like a satisfying bowlful?

Elle from What the Cook also brings a chilli to our Mexican table but this time it’s a Healthy But Hearty Chilli Con Carne (19), which she says not only tastes divine but also does you a bit of good too. It looks and sounds full of flavour and I like the idea of topping it with both fresh parsley and mint – a combination I haven’t tried before.

Not surprisingly, Martin from Spurs Cook has brought a football theme to our Mexican party with his Chicken Villa-jitas (20) – get it? To be honest, I don’t really understand the football references (I’m more of a rugby girl myself), but I do like the look of Martin’s tasty fajitas, flavoured with lots of cumin, paprika and coriander and I know they’d be a big hit with my kids too.

Dark chocolate with game is a splendid combination, as seen here in this Partridge with Chilli and Chocolate Sauce (21) from Solange at Pebble Soup, which she adapated from a Sophie Grigson recipe to suit her French guests. There’s some great advice about not covering the meat entirely with the chocolate sauce, otherwise it looks rather like… well, you’ll need to read that over on Solange’s blog…

Next up we have some Moreish Mexican Fish Tortillas (22) from Elle at What the Cook. The fish in question is haddock, which has been marinated in a whole host of gorgeous Mexican spices along with both grapefruit and lime juice – doesn’t that sound fantastic?

Finally it’s time to end our Mexican party with a little sweet something, or two. Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog brings us these Mexican Smoked Chilli Energy Bars (23). Perhaps they’re really a little two healthy for a pudding, filled with oats, nuts and dried fruit as well as some of Gran Luchito’s excellent smoked chilli honey, and possibly more appropriate for breakfast, but I know I could happily tuck into one of these any time of the day.

This Mexican Spiced Chocolate Orange Cake (24) from Cakes From Kim definitely fits the pudding bill though, with its decadent three tiers of truffle-like chocolate cake flavoured with orange and cinnamon. I love the pretty skull decorations too, inspired by the Mexican Dia de los Muertos. What a perfect way to finish off our Mexican feast.

And the winner is…

I think you’ll agree, we received a fantastic range of Mexican-themed recipes for this month’s Spice Trail challenge. But as usual there can only be one winner. So I have great pleasure in handing over to Alex from Gran Luchito to make that all important announcement…

“The overall winner has to be the Moreish Mexican Fish Tortillas from What the Cook. I loved the look of this dish. I can quite easily imagine stuffing my face with these on a beach in Mexico. I like the sound of the various ingredients going into the marinade, but it’s also a recipe which doesn’t seem to require too much messing around. Perfect. Congratulations to Elle at What the Cook who wins a box set of Gran Luchito chilli paste, mayo and honey.”

In acknowledgement of so many fine recipes, Alex has also nominated four more entries to receive runners-up prizes of a jar of chilli paste:

Vegetable, Lentil and Bean Mole from The Fig Tree
Vegan Mexican Tamale Pies from Allotment 2 Kitchen
Mexican Oil Dip from The Garden Deli
Queso Fresca from Lapin d’Or and More

Well done everyone! We’ll get your Gran Luchito goodies out to you in the post as soon as you email me your addresses. Enjoy!

And thanks to everyone that took part in our glorious celebration of Mexican cookery. May’s Spice Trail is being hosted by Solange over at Pebble Soup and the theme this month is Vanilla. I can’t wait to see what dishes you come up with featuring this veritable queen of spices.

Wow Vanilla! May’s Spice Trail challenge is now open

May 4, 2014May 4, 2014Posted in Competitions and challengesTagged spice trail, vanillaLeave a comment

For the first time, I’ve handed the reigns of The Spice Trail over to a guest host, and the host in question is the very brilliant and superbly talented Solange Berchemin from Pebble Soup.

The theme for May’s challenge is vanilla, a much-loved spice used all over the world. We can’t wait to see all your ideas for sweets and pastries, puddings and desserts, but we are also hoping there might be a few savoury suggestions in the mix too!

For more on how to enter and for details of this month’s fab prize from the good people at Naturally Good Food, do head over to Pebble Soup to join in the vanilla fun.

Thanks to everyone who entered last month’s Mexican challenge. I’m a little behind with the round-up but it’s coming soon, and it’ll be worth waiting for I promise, as there are some brilliant entries in there!

Day 5: Live Below the Line

May 2, 2014Posted in CampaignsTagged live below the line, Save the Children4 Comments

We’re on the home straight now. Yes, the end is definitely in sight and I can practically smell the eggs and bacon in tomorrow’s English breakfast. In just a few hours the Live Below the Line challenge will be over and normally eating in the Bangers & Mash house can resume.

The challenge has grown progressively harder and harder as the week has gone on. It hasn’t just been the hunger. Some days I didn’t actually feel all that hungry, as we did fairly well at stocking on up carbohydrates. It was the boredom, the lack of choice. Eating the same thing for lunch over and over again. The no getting away from the crappy sliced bread. The dirth of fresh vegetables.

Our evening meals weren’t too bad. There was a bit of variety there. But to be honest, by the evenings just about anything would have been attractive. I really wished I’d been a bit more creative with our lunches. However when you’re working full-time and taking part in the Live Below the Line challenge, one decent meal a day is hard enough to manage.

So what did I eat on the final day?

Breakfast

One bowl of porridge (made with cinnamon, water and a splash of milk) with half a mashed banana and strawberry jam

Lunch

Sandwiches with cream cheese and cucumber. A couple of carrots.

Dinner

Pasta with tomatoes, peas and Marmite.

Breakfast cost around 10p. Lunch was 27p, while dinner was 32p. Plus a two cups of redbush tea with milk for 10p and a couple of ginger nut biscuits at 4, and my total spend for the day was 83p.

So what have I learned this week?

I’ve learned that when you don’t have much to eat, you notice so much more how much the people around you are eating. How much food is advertised and promotions for buckets of chicken and happy meals are constantly in your face. The reminder that you don’t have food feels like it is being rubbed in incessantly.

I’ve learned that it’s bloody hard work feeding a family on a £20 budget. It’s doable but only if you plan ahead, work out how to use a few ingredients in a multitude of dishes, get creative, shop around for bargains and swallow your pride to ask for freebies from your butcher. I’ve learned how easy it is for parents to do without some things (like fresh fruit in our case) to make sure their children get what they need.

We managed to live on £20 for five days but only just. I don’t think we could have done it any longer.

And what if we didn’t have a car in order to drive a couple of extra miles to the cheapest supermarket? Or what if we didn’t have a fridge or freezer, or couldn’t afford to keep the oven on for a few hours to cook up chicken stock? What would we be eating then? How long would it take to break our middle class morals about eating only ‘good’ meat before we succumbed to the lure of cheap sausages or a value frozen lasagne?

Thank you

Another thing I’ve learned is how wonderfully supportive people can be. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read these posts and send such positive messages via the blog, Twitter and Facebook and also to everyone that has donated money to Save the Children in support of our efforts. We’ve beaten our target but you can still continue to donate at www.livebelowtheline.com/me/reesfamily.

Day 4: Live Below the Line

May 1, 2014Posted in CampaignsTagged live below the line5 Comments

I’m glad today is nearly over. It’s been the toughest day yet on the Live Below the Line challenge.

I had a long day at work and my energy levels have been super low all day, partly because of the early start (I left the house at 7am) but also, I’m sure, because of the lack of fuel. I’ve had a headache on and off, probably due to lack of caffeine.

And to make matters worse, I had to attend a staff workshop which ran over lunchtime. We were given a sandwich buffet but of course I couldn’t touch it as I’m not allowed to accept any ‘donated’ food this week, and so I had to tuck into my hideous sandwiches made from cheap bread and cheap cream cheese and tasteless tomatoes imported from Holland.

Yes, I’m feeling sorry for myself and I can’t wait for this challenge to end. My family are all grumpy with me for making them do this, and I really can’t blame them.

I didn’t get home until nearly 7pm and couldn’t eat dinner until the girls had gone up to bed. The baked rice with beans and eggs was tasty and filling but, to be honest, I could have eaten just about anything by that point.

I really don’t have the energy to work out how much my meals have cost today but I can guarantee it came to less than a pound.

How people live like this everyday, I just don’t know. No-one should have to live like this.

It’s the last day of the challenge tomorrow. Hopefully that will put me in a better mood…

Cheap and cheerful: May’s Family Foodies challenge is now open

May 1, 2014May 29, 2014Posted in Competitions and challengesTagged cheap eats, Family Foodies14 Comments

Since frugal food is the order of the day in the Bangers & Mash household this week as we take part in the Live Below the Line challenge, it made sense for this month’s Family Foodies challenge to also echo the frugal theme.

We’re after your Cheap & Cheerful ideas for family food – be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, snack or pudding, or even drinks – so long as it tastes good, doesn’t cost much to make and appeals to the whole family, we want your recipes!

All you have to do is post your favourite frugal family foods on your own blog and link up to this post before the end of the month. There’s a lovely Passion 4 Juice recipe book up for grabs for the winner, crammed with gorgeously healthy and delicious fresh juice and smoothie ideas you and your family will adore.

Family Foodie Entry Guidelines:

You may submit any recipe on your blog that fits this month’s theme, new or from the archive, and there is a limit of three entries per blogger. You’re also welcome to submit the post to other challenges too. If the recipe is not your own, please give the appropriate credit.
Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Wednesday 28 May 2014.
Display the Family Foodies badge (above) on your recipe post, with a link back to both Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash, as well as details of this month’s challenge.
If you’re on Twitter, then please tweet your post to myself @BangerMashChat and Lou @Eat_Your_Veg and include the hashtag #FamilyFoodies. We’ll retweet all that we see.
You may enter from anywhere in the blogosphere, but prizes can only be posted out to UK addresses.
At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe. The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries. Winners will get to display a Family Foodie Winner annotated badge on their blog if they wish and their recipe will go through to the Family Foodies Hall of Fame on each of our sites.
All entries will be added to the Family Foodies Pinterest Group Board.

I can’t wait to see your entries! Any questions, drop me an email at the address above.

May’s entries

Chocolate Cake for less than £1 from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families
Chanar Payesh ( Bengali Style Cottage Cheese Pudding) from Home Cook Food
Cheesy Pesto Pasta from Home Cook Food
Quiche Lorraine with Slow Cooked Pulled Gammon from Fab Food 4 All
Spinach, Chickpeas and Peppercorns from Spicy, Quirky and Serendipitous
Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Quiche from The More Than Occasional Baker
Sriracha Eggplant and Tofu from Home Cook Food
5 Minute Smoothie Soup from Tinned Tomatoes
Chocolate Cake for £1 from Chocolate Log Blog
Braised Oxtail with Smoked Bacon from Bangers & Mash
Chicken, Apple & Sage Nuggets from Elizabeth’s Kitchen
Easy Cheesy Muffins from Eat Your Veg
Penne with Speck and Leeks from Leeks & Limoni
Burritos with Cumin and Eggs from Spicy, Quirky and Serendipitous
Veggie Sausage and Pepper Pasta Bake from Family – Friends – Food
Beet Parathas from The Odd Pantry
£1 Chocolate Fudge Cake from Tales from the Kitchen Shed
Veggie Burritos from Eat Your Veg
How to Make Chocolate Cake for Only £1 from Caroline Makes
Chocolate, Banana and Peanut Butter Cake for £1 from The More Than Occasional Baker
Nutella Bread and Butter Pudding from Family – Friends – Food
Spicy Chana Dal Cottage Pie from Bangers & Mash
Oaty Banana and Raisin Bites from Searching for Spice
Chocolate Syrup Cake for £1 from Leeks & Limoni
Guacamole Hush Puppies from Spices Galore
Meatball and Red Pepper Pasta Bake from Gingey Bites
Healthy Mushroom Soup from Feeding Boys and a Firefighter