Archives for January 2013
Munching on Munchkins
As I explained in my last post I get a lot of people finding my blog as a result of a search engine enquiry for a Munchkins recipe or similar so I thought I would go find a recipe, try it out and report back.
Well I’ve never tried a munchkin before and all of the recipes are American and use different ingredients to what we use here so I had to improvise a bit and also the measurements are a bit different too but here is my take on Munchkins and they look very much like the google images I found so I think it’s about right 😉
You will need:
3/4 small tin of condensed milk
1 pack of rich tea biscuits ( I used asda basic range)
1 tbsp cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s)
A few tbsp of dessicated/shredded coconut
* Instead of rich tea and cocoa you could just use chocolate biscuits.
Blend biscuits and cocoa power until fine. Gradually mix in your milk and once well mixed out on the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Remove from fridge and cover a plate with coconut. Using approx 1tsp of mix roll into a ball and roll in coconut. Place on greaseproof paper on a tray and continue until all mix has been used. Chill for 1 hour.
Verdict : I stuck to just one as I can see how the rich, gooey sweetness could get addictive but definitely an easy to make treat or dessert. I may have another tomorrow 😉
Is it me you’re looking for?
It’s always funny to read what people have searched for that has led them to my blog, sometimes it’s quite obvious how they have found it and other times its more like.. Hmmmm that’s a bit strange.
The most popular terms that people search for are:
Camp Bestival
Be happy be healthy and get well soon
The hungry caterpillar cake
Dr Ranj – see top answer
Baileys Cupcakes
Recipe for Munchkins
Fairly normal I guess. I wrote a review about last years Camp Bestival and it was a popular post and still is apparently. The Be Happy and Dr Ranj searches are from a post I wrote about Izzy being ill and me singing the theme tune to the Cbeebies show to her. The cake recipes are to be expected from a food based blog and The Hungry Caterpillar cake gets searches every single day!!
The last one however which also gets searched for at least 5 times a week threw me a bit. My blog is called Munchies and Munchkins but I had no idea what munchkins were ( I use it in the child sense) .. After a fair bit of google trawling it seems that they are chocolate cake/sweet type treats and of course after all of the searches it’s only fair that I tried to make them! Recipe on my next post.
Here are some of the less common searches I’ve had:
Do Sainsburys of Altrincham sell vegan cheese – being neither from Altrincham or Vegan I’ve no idea how they got led to me.
Is James Martin friends with Chris Evans? – this seemed like such a school playground question but I can see how it’s led to me as I wrote about a show I watched with both of them in at BBC good food show
Strict insane breastfeeding diet – I didn’t diet whilst breastfeeding, let alone insanely. Weird.
Smug parents of 3 children – we only have 1 child and she gives us the run around far too much for us to be smug!
I started punching when I saw my son munching, he had been put on punishment for eating the last … – it ended there. No idea how this led to me but I do feel bad for the son!
Rachel Allen recipe where is my parents at cake – random, just random although the very lovely Rachel has written a guest post for me but not for that cake haaa.
A few nudity related searches but I fear for my spam if I post those.
I wonder what people think when they find my blog from a totally unrelated search. Say hello next time you stop by 😉
Feeding the family – cheese, bacon and broccoli gnocchi bake
Sometimes it’s hard to work out what to cook that we can all eat. For the most part these days Izzy eats the same food as us. It means that I have to think twice about what I put in our food.. Throwing in handful of dried chilli flakes may not be the right thing to do anymore. If I can I will make the same meal but in a separate pot/pan so that if needs be ours can have a little extra spice.
I am going to try to post some recipes occasionally of meals which are entirely suitable for ALL the family. The following is one of them. I only started using Gnocchi at home about a year ago, it was one of those ingredients that I just never thought to base a dish around. Now I love it. A lot. I make a tomato based gnocchi bake at least once a month and we all enjoy it – it’s one of Izzys favourites.
You can find the recipe here: www.munchiesandmunchkins.com/2012/09/25/eating-well-on-a-budget-simple-suppers/
Today’s recipe came about from wanting to get Izzy eating more broccoli. I know it’s one of those vegetables which children can begin to get fussy about so I’m trying to stop that from happening.
So anyway here is what you will need:
1 500g pack of Gnocchi – I use Il pasteio ( around 70p at Asda)
1 – 1/2 pints of prepared cheese sauce ( recipe link here ) I didn’t measure!
A squirt of garlic paste or crushed garlic clove
3 rashers of smoked bacon ( fat removed and diced)
2-3 handfuls of cooked roughly chopped broccoli
1 cup of breadcrumbs ( I blend mine with herbs and freeze ready for such dishes)
1 tbsp of chopped rosemary ( fresh or dried)
Pepper
Cook your gnocchi as per packet instructions and drain. Brown your bacon with the garlic and set aside. In an ovenproof dish ( I use a large cazuela) mix your gnocchi, bacon, herbs and broccoli together before pouring over your cheese sauce ensuring everything is covered then sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and cover with breadcrumbs. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20-25 mins until golden and crispy on top.
Serve with salad. Delicious.
This went down a storm with all of us. Tasty and comforting. Izzy certainly approved.
Comforting chicken casserole
Last Sunday I decided to try out one of the recipes in the Slow Cooker book I received for Christmas – Chicken Fricassee. It sounded delicious. After following the initial first step of tossing my chicken in seasoned flour and sautéing until brown I realised I didn’t have two of the key ingredients I needed to make this dish but I was determined to make SOMETHING so I worked out what I did have and what I came up with was this amazingly rich and comforting chicken casserole. Afterwards I scribbled down the recipe as I assure you this is one I’ll be making again.
Chicken Casserole
You will need:
2 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken thighs ( the original recipe called for thighs & drumsticks)
3 slices of smoked bacon chopped finely
2 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt&pepper
4 shallots, sliced
3 garlic cloves crushed
3 waxy potatoes and 1 sweet potato chopped into very small pieces
115g of sliced mushrooms
2 tsp of finely chopped fresh rosemary
150ml red wine
200ml of hot chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Salt & Pepper
Heat oil in a large pan, toss chicken in seasoned flour and then cook for 8-10 mins until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
Add your bacon and shallots and cook for a few mins stirring occasionally. Add your garlic, mushrooms, potatoes and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes stirring often.
Add your wine and bring to the boil then allow to simmer for 1 minute. Transfer everything to the slow cooker and pour in the stock, add the chicken and bay leaf cover and cook on high for 5 hours.
45 minutes before the end of cooking time use two forks to tear your chicken thighs into smaller pieces – this should be easy as it will be super tender, also at this time if desired add dumplings. These are a wonderful addition to the casserole but it would be perfectly lovely without them.
Serve with dumplings or fresh homemade bread – lots of bread recipes will appear shortly as part of my new challenge. I made soda bread to accompany our casserole.
““This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh.”
Meal planning and Chicken Coconut Curry
This is a little late but here is this weeks meal plan:
Monday : Freezer food – this is for days when I’m too busy or tired to pull a meal together. This week it was Bistro chicken and broccoli pies ( frozen when reduced to clear in Asda) with mixed veg.
Tuesday : Spaghetti bolognese – I used a cheaper minced beef than I normally do and was disappointed. I won’t make that mistake again.
Wednesday : Vegetable curry
Thursday : Cheese and broccoli gnocchi
Friday : Jerk chicken with coconut rice
Saturday : Sticky pork with rice. Recipe here
Sunday : Family get together and meal at a restaurant
Last week lots of you asked for the recipe for Chicken and Coconut curry. So here it is:
You will need:
3 skinless&boneless chicken thighs ( or breasts – I prefer thighs in curries)
1/2 can of coconut milk
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 small sweet potato cubed
1 onion or shallot chopped
1/4 jar of Balti ( or other curry) paste. I used Indi grand.
1 tablespoon of shredded coconut ( not essential but tasty)
Olive oil
Fry your onions in a tbsp of olive oil until soft and golden, add your Balti paste, whole chicken thighs and sweet potato. Fry until meat is browned. Add chopped tomatoes and coconut milk and cook for approx 5-8 minutes. At this stage you may wish to add up to 100ml of water – this depends on how thick you like your curry to be. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Your meat should now be tender enough to pull apart into smaller pieces. If using add your coconut, cook for a few more minutes and serve immediately.
I served mine with fragrant rice and flatbreads. You can find the recipe for the flatbreads here
Probably the best day out in Britain….?
This may sound a little bah humbug but sometimes after all the fuss of Christmas it’s nice to do something which is totally not Christmassy.
On January 4th 2013 we headed to Bristol Zoo after being offered a chance to review it for Money Supermarkets Britains Best Day Out!
Can you believe I have reached the grand old age of 29 without ever visiting this popular attraction?? I was possibly more excited than Izzy who at 16 months was probably more excited about the car journey snack pack.
We arrived at around lunchtime on an unusually bright, sunny but most importantly dry day with only a handful of other visitors – a definite perk to visiting out of season.
A typical British attraction entrance through the gift shop had Izzy excitedly exclaiming at the stuffed toys and garish masks before we even entered the Zoo. She was a happy girl.
First stop was to visit the Lion.. We were sad to discover that Kamal the Lion had died and that Lioness Shiva was nowhere to be seen 🙁 We hadn’t noticed this on the website so were disappointed but quite glad that Izzy was so young so we didn’t have to explain it. She had plenty of fun with the Lion cut out anyway 🙂
In fact had there been no animals I think Izzy would have found some fun.. There is lots to climb on, peep through and play with.
Climbing
Exploring
Pointing
Chilling
The penguin talk had been cancelled but we did see a real life version of Happy Feet.. Kinda
We also went under the penguin tunnel to see them swimming about which was one of my personal favourites and Izzy loved it too
We saw cuties
And oddities
And what looked like a giant guinea pig.. I’m sure I’m wrong here but look at the pic:
The Aquarium was the biggest hit! Izzy was entranced by the brightly coloured fish and happily babbled away at them, pointing and saying hiya repeatedly. I think we will have to watch Finding Nemo soon.
We stopped for a quick bite of lunch and in the spirit of MoneySupermarket we took a picnic from home, there are lots of benches and some beautiful gardens to admire whilst munching away.
Back to exploring and we found some giant tortoise
I found some monkeys
As always we all kept an eye on Izzy
Measuring up
All in all we had a fabulous day, I would say its good value for money at £15.50 for adults and £9.50 for children ( free for under 2’s). There is a lot to do and see for all ages and although we had a few disappointments due to attractions being closed ( due to difficulties, winter weather and animal death which was unavoidable) it didn’t spoil our day. Not many people think to go to places like this in the winter but for many reasons ( particularly lack of crowds) it’s a great time to go.
The stuff you need to know:
There is hot and cold food available as well as a gift shop and numerous clean toilets and baby changing facilities. Lots more info and timetables to plan your visit by clicking here
Wherever you plan to go this year check out The MoneySupermarket Voucher site here and save yourself some pennies.
What day out is complete without a fairground ride?
A little video for you to see just how much fun we had 😉
* Thanks to moneysupermarket and Tots100 for providing a family ticket for us to visit Bristol Zoo – we had a great day.
How to spend less – Be prepared ( Part 6)
It’s been 2 weeks since I started these posts and I feel like I’ve made a subtle change in my spending habits. It may not be a huge change and it may not last forever but I’m learning.
I think this will be the last post on this topic for a little while as I don’t want to go over old ground!
Firstly I want to tell you how this month has been going for me:
* Eat in month – I am doing a lot better with this challenge than I imagined. I haven’t eaten out at all. I don’t buy any snacks or drinks in work and this is saving me at least £15 a week. We went to Bristol Zoo and we took a big picnic lunch so there was no need to indulge in the gift shop or cafe – I almost caved in when we saw the ice cream van but he was packing up to leave which was surely a sign. I have had 2 hot chocolates when we have taken Izzy to the soft play and we did buy some food in the hospital canteen when Izzy was admitted last week but that was totally unavoidable. Unfortunately I will have to cut the challenge a week early as we are going away for 5 days later this month but I’m thinking of doing an extra week in Feb instead and I’m hoping to continue with the no purchasing food at work for good! We also had a trip to the cinema and I even took my own popcorn – impressive yes? Thanks to Brittany from A healthy slice for writing about this challenge, I’m definitely going to do it again next year.
* Drastically lower shopping bills – I looked at my bank statement for November ( I avoided December as I knew it would be higher due to Christmas) and worked out I had spent approximately £289 in the various supermarkets ( Asda,Sainsburys, Tescos) this is without any possible times I may have shopped using cash. So possibly over £300 on food. Too much. Way too much. This month I have made 1 large shopping trip (£95 on NY eve) and I just did my second weekly shop. My first weekly shop was just under target at £19.80, today’s was £22.21 but this included washing powder and dishwasher tablets, if I manage to only spend £20 each week for the remaining 2 shops this month I will have saved over £100.
* Meal planning – this is still going well. I am flexible in that if something comes up which stops me from cooking something one night I’ll swap it over but most days we eat what’s on the planner.
Such as chicken and coconut curry. Yum.
Being prepared
This has been the key to my money saving this month and will be going forward.
1. I prepare meals the night before if possible. I use my slow cooker a lot and if not I still try to chop vegetables when Izzy is in bed, get the meat out of the freezer etc. Anything which makes cooking the next evening even easier. It also means I get more time to spend as a family when I get home from work – bonus,
2. I make larger portions. Most meals can be bulked up purely by adding vegetables, I do this whenever I can and it leaves me with food for Izzy to eat the next day or a lunch to take to work.
3. Making large batches of breadcrumbs mixed with herbs or garlic and freezing them means you can use up excess stale bread and they can be used straight from the freezer. Such an easy way to add an extra dimension to a vegetable bake or to top gnocchi or pasta instead of cheese. Saves you money and time as well as calories when replacing cheese.
4. Use your freezer – if you know next week is going to be hard. Precook some meals. Lasagne, curries and pies are just some of the dishes which freeze well. If you prefer to cook it fresh just chop and freeze your veg or meat. It may mean an extra half hour with your family and stops those extra vegetables going off saving you pennies.
5. Buy the basic ranges – I have always bought one or two items from the supermarkets basic range but lately I am trying more and more and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The difference between a carton of Asda chosen by you Passata and the smart price pasatta is around 15pence and a plainer box. I have found no difference in quality. Having stock cupboard items such as Passata, mixed herbs and dried spaghetti or pasta means you will always have a meal on hand even if your fridge is bare.
6. Write lists. My trusty notebook has been by my side every day since New Years Eve and I’ve used it to stock take my cupboards, meal plan and write recipes which I have made up on the go. I’ve even been slightly obsessive and written down prices in the supermarket of what I’m buying to ensure I don’t go too far over budget. This one is obvious but taking a shopping list and really sticking to it will save you lots of money and time too.
7. This isn’t anything to do with being prepared but eat less meat. I’ve blogged about this before but it really helps. If you can cut your meat intake down to 3 or 4 days a week then you will save a lot. There are so much delicious vegetables available these days take full advantage. Sweet potato in particular is just as good as chicken in a curry and its bright and colourful making your dish look so appealing.
I think that’s about it for now. I’d still like to hear about how January is going for you and how you save money. Perhaps if I get enough tips I’ll use them in a follow up post.
X
How to spend less part 5-meal plan Monday
On my way to work and realised I haven’t posted this weeks meal plan.. Not only that but I hadn’t even written one! Luckily I had my trusty book which has all my cupboard, fridge and freezer food listed so I made up a plan and
here it is:
Monday – coconut chicken curry &rice
Tuesday – tomato & bacon gnocchi bake & salad
Wednesday- sweet potato risotto
Thursday – butterbean crisp with sweet corn and salad
Friday – turkey stroganoff
Saturday – gammon, egg and low fat homemade oven chips
Sunday – Chicken pie, mash, veg and gravy
I will link up some recipes later and look forward to reading all your meal plans 🙂
The ultimate sautéed potatoes
This is probably the last ( for a little while) of the slightly unhealthy recipes. Boooo. I really need to be a little ( a lot) healthier over the next few months and I’ll share as many of my healthy recipes with you as possible. The Christmas junk has almost all gone, we have given a lot away as its just not possible to eat that much chocolate.. not without gaining a few stone anyway and I am taking the last open box of chocs into work tomorrow for my colleagues to enjoy. I did pack away a few boxes that don’t have expiry dates until August 2013 so they will come in handy when we need something sweet and save us pennies on our shopping.
Anyway without any more of my waffle here is a very simple recipe for drool worthy sautéed potatoes.
You will need:
A large frying pan
Leftover boiled potatoes ( these work best) or just parboiled potatoes cut into small chunks
Olive oil
Butter
Garlic
Seasalt ( I used Maldon smoked salt)
Crushed peppercorns ( I used normal and Sichuan)
Place a largish nob of butter into your pan along with a large glug of olive oil ( Jamie Olive style) and wait until your oil is fairly hot before adding your potatoes. Cook for a few minutes on a high heat, then lower your heat and cook for a further 5-8 minutes. Finally turn the heat back up and cook for a few more minutes giving your pan a shake occasionally to stop sticking and ensure an even colour on your potatoes. Cover with a healthy pinch of crushed seasalt and peppercorns, give another shake and serve immediately.
These potatoes are so delicious ,even better than chips in my opinion. Using potatoes that you cooked the day before and refrigerated gives the absolute best results.
Yum. For a fiery twist add some dried chilli flakes with your seasoning.