Tuesday 27 January 2015

Beans!

Beans can be beautiful. I have always thought they were boring and kinda gross but here are some cheap ways to flavor up your beans. All recipes serve 1

Lemon beans:

  • 1 lemon
  • 1 garlic clove - use less or none if you don't like garlic
  • 1 cup of beans
  • salt and pepper.
  • 1 tsp of oil
  1. Place your beans in a bowl and add 1cm of water. Microwave for 2 mins covered.
  2. Meanwhile zest and juice lemon. 
  3. Drain Cooked beans.
  4. Pour 1 tsp of oil over cooked beans along with 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of zest. Salt and pepper beans. Toss beans and taste. Add more lemon juice/zest if need be. 

Minted green beans:
  • 1-2 tsp of butter
  • 1 cups of beans.
  • a couple of mint leaves.
  • salt and pepper
  • Garlic - 1 clove if you love it. - half if you enjoy it or none if you hate it.
  1. Place beans in bowl and add 1cm of water. Cover and cook on high for 1min in microwave.
  2. Chop garlic and add to peas. 
  3. Return peas to microwave for 1min.
  4. Meanwhile chop mint. 
  5. Drain cooked beans.
  6. Stir the butter, mint and salt and pepper. 

Garlic green beans - Yum!
  • 2-3 garlic cloves (depending on size.)
  • 1 tsp - butter or oil.
  • salt and pepper.

  1. Place beans in bowl and add 1cm of water. Cover and cook on high for 1min in microwave.
  2. Chop garlic and add to peas. 
  3. Return peas to microwave for 1.5min.
  4. Drain cooked beans.
  5. Stir the butter and salt and pepper. 

Thursday 22 January 2015

Lemony

Lemon zest. It;s something that I don't use often and I don't want to go buy a whole lemon just for the zest. So I started freezing the lemon zest. If I buy a lemon before I use it I just peal all of the zest off. Then pop that into a zip lock bag and grab it when I need it.

Mashed Potatoes

I don't know about you, but as as a student mashed potatoes are on the menu wayyy to often. I get sick of them fast. This is a cheap way to liven up your mash.
Feel free to make this vegan.

Serves one:

  • Potato - 1 large
  • 1 peel of lemon zest. - see here for a tip.
  • Rosemary 1 small fresh sprig or about 1/2 a tsp dried - depends how much you like it.
  • 1 piece of stale bread
  • 1/3 garlic clove
  • teaspoon of oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Chop potatoes into 1.5cm cubes and place in boiling water. 
  2. Meanwhile if your bread is stale enough or just not stale pop in the oven and grill until golden brown on both sides.
  3. When you can stab the potatoes and the knife enters easily then they are cooked. Drain them and leave them in the pot - this will remove excess water and keep them warm till serving. 
  4. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the potatoes and mash continue to milk until potatoes are combined.
  5. Turn grill onto high.
  6. Combine bread, lemon zest and rosemary in blender or whatever you have (I have a bullet). Blend until combined and then add oil. 
  7. Place mashed potatoes on oven proof dish. - If I think my plate will survive then I just chuck it on that. 
  8. Cover potatoes with bread crumbs and place in the oven. It's done when crumb is crispy. 

Herbs

Growing your own herbs is amazing, it's rewarding (with minimal effort!) and they are delicious.
Setting up your own herb station is easy peasy no matter where you are living. It's totally worth it because buying fresh herbs aren't worth the price.

I started off with herbs in little pots just hanging out on my windowsill. Doing this is great if you are flatting or in an apartment.

What you need to get your windowsill herbs started:
  • The window needs to get at least 6 hours of sunlight. 
  • Choose your herbs. Think about what you are going to use often and whats in season. I currently have basil, rosemary, mint, sage, thyme, oregano and paisley.  
  • Buy the herbs, seeds are definitely cheaper but more timely. If your like me and can't be bothered with seeds buy small herb plants. 
  • Buy the pot, at least 12cm deep pot.
  • A small bag of potting mix 
Setting up:
  1. Fill in your pot until it's a quarter of the way up and then place your herbs in,
  2. Fill the rest of the pot up with dirt.
  3. Water and place on your window. 

Friday 16 January 2015

Seasonal Foods

This is very important when it come to cooking on a budget. So many times I've brought things that aren't in season without realizing it and come out with a large food bill :(
If your in New Zealand then this website is great for letting you know whats in season. If your anywhere else in the world I'd check out whats in season around you.

Pappa al pomodoro

This is seriously amazing. So amazing in fact that I had to give it a fancy name. It's actually just bread and tomato soup. Whats so amazing about this you might ask? It's cheap. Like crazy cheap. I can make 1 portion for $2.00! This recipe is the basic one but feel free to change it up. I probably eat this once every week to every fortnight.

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of diced tomatoes (only 80c at countdown).
  • Garlic - the ammount depends on how much you like garlic, for me I add 3 cloves. . .  but you can always just start with 1
  • 5 big leaves of Basil - I grow my own or use some that I've frozen in ice cubes. you could always use the basil that comes in a tube also. Don't use dried, trust me this isn't a time to use dried. 
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar 
  • Salt and Pepper.
  • A few slices of bread - I would recommend ciabatta or sourdough but when I'm poor, it's more likely going to be the $1 bread loaf from countdown. 
This can me made either in the microwave or on the stove top. I prefer the microwave because it's a zillion times faster. 

  1. Thinly slice the desired amount of garlic and place in bowel 
  2. Microwave for 30 seconds, or until the garlic is soft aromatic.  
  3. Add chopped tomatoes and microwave for 5 mins, while cooking chop basil and toast bread. The tomatoes are done when they have reached a porridgey  constancy. 
  4. Add salt, pepper, sugar and basil. 
  5. You can either eat it with the bread or chop the bread up and stir it in and eat it with a spoon.