You are here: Home > Blogs > Food and family > July 2007 Posts Print this page

Food and family

Sarah Lockett is a food writer and TV news reporter/presenter with a special interest in healthy eating. She writes on weight loss, healthy food and the psychology and practicalities of dieting. She wrote a daily cookery column for a national newspaper (The Scotsman) for 18 months. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. She says: Here are some of my ideas to save money but live well. Remember, we can go for the odd thing that's a bit pricey, but only if it's value for money.

July 23rd 2007

Got no money

Got no money…

I am working less at the moment because I have young children who react badly when I’m away too much (they become whiney and aggressive and unhappy at school/nursery, shy, stressed etc). But I don’t seem to have connected this fact with the amount I spend! Hence, I’ve been writing cheques left, right and centre for the kitchen floor to be relaid (£675), a new freezer (£600), new wiring (£300) etc. And I’ve kept paying the cleaner, gardener and nanny like there’s no tomorrow. So the upshot is, when I was planning what to do with the kids today (on school holidays) I suddenly realised we probably couldn’t go to Woburn Safari Park (£43 for an adult and 2 kids) or London Zoo (£35.50) or anywhere else that costs money. Sooooo, it was “let’s find the free entertainment with free lunch” time. A picnic was the answer, in a (free) council playground - actually a very good one near me with a paddling pool, swings, sandy beach section and lots of climbing frames etc. Picnics can be anything you want, of course, but you’ll struggle if you’re doing wheat-free. Think about it: sandwiches, quiches, pasties, breadsticks, sausage rolls, biscuits, pasta salad, cakes. Here are a few ideas:

1. Cheese cubes/batons, ham/Parma ham, chorizo slices.

2. Veg crudités + hummus/tzaziki/guacamole. Waitrose do a fab cannellini bean and lime hummus at the moment, and you can get fancy hummuses with lemon, pesto, pine nuts etc – really moreish.

3. Fruit – cherries and blueberries are very portable. Apple is good too, cored and cut into wedges (the Pink Lady variety doesn’t seem to go brown too much either).

4. Oatcakes with butter and Marmite, or oatcake sandwiches with any filling – tuna mayo etc.

5. Tortilla (see recipe)

Tortilla (Spanish Omelette)Ingredients:

4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

6 eggs

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

150ml olive oil

Salt+ pepper

75g cheese (optional), grated

Method:

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and then gently fry the sliced potatoes until almost soft, stirring. Add the onion and green pepper and fry till all the vegetables are soft. Beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper, plus cheese if using. Pour over the veg in the frying pan. Shake from time to time so the omelette doesn't stick. Once the bottom has set, turn the heat down low and cover the pan. After about ten minutes, turn the omelette by placing either a flat plate or saucepan lid on the frying pan and quickly turn over. Gently slide the omelette back into the frying pan and continue frying, once again shaking the pan from time to time so that it doesn't stick to the bottom, until it has set all the way through. Cool a little and cut into wedges. Wrap in foil or clingfilm to transport – lovely still warm!

Technorati tags: picnic free tortilla spanish omelette
Add to del.icio.us | Digg this! | Email this Permalink | Trackback | 0 Comments

Posted July 23rd 2007 in Food

July 12th 2007

I've tried 'em all...

My latest fad, and I've tried 'em all, is wheat-free. Actually I wouldn't describe it as a fad, because it's being increasingly recognised by medical practitioners and alternative therapists, as something that can have a negative effect on people's digestion, mood and energy levels. Some of the symptoms which a wheat or gluten (the protein in wheat) intolerance produces are: aches and stiffness, depression and mood swings, anxiety, asthma, fatigue/tiredness, sneezing, runny eyes, runny nose, nausea, bloating, stomach cramps, sweating, sore/itchy throat, skin rashes, swollen stomach. Personally, I feel less bloated, less moody/depressed/stressed when i don't eat it. So it's a no-brainer, right? BUT - all the yummy things like cakes and biscuits have got wheat in! Soo, time for a wheat-free cake recipe...see below. Actually I now have no wheat flour in the house, so if I'm cooking cakes etc, i wouldn't use what anyway, but one of the gluten-free flours on the market. Gluten-free grains include rice, corn, quinoa, millet and buckwheat. Spelt is an ancient strain of wheat that is often better tolerated than the modern varieties.

Wheat-Free Apple Cake

Serves 8

Ingredients:

3 Bramley apples, peeled cored and chunked

1 lemon, grated rind and juice

3 eggs

150g sugar

150g ground almonds

100g gluten free flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

40g flaked almonds

Method: Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm round springform cake tin with a little oil or butter, plus a disc of greaseproof paper in the bottom. Cook the apple, lemon juice and rind in the microwave for 3 minutes on full (or in a saucepan to soften a little). Whisk the eggs and sugar in a food processor /electric whisk (or manual) until pale, creamy and thickened. Combine everything except the flaked almonds. Pour into the cake tin and level the top. Sprinkle over almonds and bake 45 minutes, covering the top with foil towards the end if the almonds look like burning. Serve with cream, creme fraiche, custard, ice cream, fruit coulis, yoghurt... you get the idea.

Technorati tags: wheat-free gluten almonds apple cake
Add to del.icio.us | Digg this! | Email this Permalink | Trackback | 0 Comments

Posted July 12th 2007 in Food

July 12th 2007

Chicken with Lentils

12/07/07 Chicken with Lentils

Here’s a super-easy, cheap recipe - made completely from storecupboard ingredients. Actually, I may not use lentils for perhaps a year, but they’re always there for this recipe. And it takes probably 25 minutes from start to finish (and 20 minutes of that is cooking it in the microwave, so you can go upstairs and get out of your work clothes and into your tracksuit/pyjamas). AND you cook the chicken straight from frozen - what more do you want? Green/brown lentils are bigger than red, so they take longer to cook. But they give a better result – a more Provencaley cassoulet-ish pile of steaming tomatoey pulses. The other veg really depends on what you’ve got in. Just remember to dice any root veg quite fine; and things like cabbage probably won’t be any good, but you can try!

Chicken with Lentils

Serves 2 230 cals 4g fat

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil (or oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes)

1 onion, chopped

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen)

1 chicken stock cube, crumbled

2 mugs water

100g lentils (red or green)

tsp dried herbs

salt & pepper

Optional:

1 medium carrot, chopped ½ cm dice

1/6 swede, chopped ½ cm dice

1 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste

few mushrooms, chopped

Method: Cook the chopped onion in a microwave-proof bowl with 1 tbsp oil for 5 mins on full power. Put the frozen chicken breasts on top, plus all the other ingredients. Give it a stir and cook on high for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are done.

Technorati tags: chicken lentils microwave quick
Add to del.icio.us | Digg this! | Email this Permalink | Trackback | 0 Comments