Cooking from scratch saves you money

Food prices are constantly increasing.  More often we are being forced to shop around for cheaper prices because it save us maybe a few pennies.  This doesn't seem like much of an achievement, but we all know that over time those pennies can add up to pounds saved off the weekly food bill.  However, even more can be saved by cooking at home, because at some point we all rely on prepared food; whether it is Gluten-free bread bread or an instant meal.

Let's take bread as an example.  The average gluten-free loaf costs £2-£4. Of course, this is dependant on your local region and where they source their ingredients from.  In general, companies always boost the price so that they make a profit.  Flour, by UK standards is £3 pounds per kilo - this can be used to make 4-5 loafs.  Eggs - £1.50 per dozen (6 loaves) or Egg Replacer at £3.00 (Equivalent of 50 eggs).  A pinch of salt coast all of a penny and soy milk is £1.2 a litre (Almost 2 loaves) and yeast is £2.50 a box (20 loaves).  Adding this all up using the price for egg replacer - £0.75+£0.06+£0.01+0.60+0.13 =£1.55 per loaf. This is only a rough amount, depending on how much you use this amount would be more or less.  But £1.55 to make it at home of £2-£4 pounds to buy in store.  Which do you prefer?

The best part is this doesn't just apply to baking, it applies to cooking in general.  Pasta dishes, lasagne, sauces, pies ect.  All these are items that are cheaper to make at home.  Cooking from scratch can effectively halve your food bill.

Home-made Burger Patties; Gluten free, Egg-free

I was looking back at the recipe I posted and realised that maybe posting just muffin recipes was not a good idea.  Here's a burger on for variety. :)

Ingredients:

Beef Mince; 500g
Salt; 1 teaspoon
Corn Flour; 50g
Gluten-free Gravy Granules; 2 tablespoons
Tarragon; 1 teaspoon
Chives; 1 Teaspoon
Sage; 1/2 Teaspoon
Marjoram; 1 Teaspoon

Directions:

Stick the mince in a large bowl and just dump the other ingredients on top.  Get your hands in the bowl and mix the mince around until the ingredients are evenly distributed through the mince.  The mince will naturally form a large ball.  Break this into 2 or 4 smaller pieces and form the pieces into balls.  Just squash these balls down and you have your burger patty.  I recommend cooking these on a hot frying pan at medium heat.  Too hot -you will have a burnt crush and red insides; Too cold - and it will take forever to cook through.


Serving suggestions:

Toasted Gluten-free bun with peppered tomato, lettuce and beetroot slice.

Toasted Gluten-free Bun with spinche and roast mushroom

Toasted Gluten free bun with lettuce, peppered tomato and pineapple slice.

The Dreaded Exam

Today I have my final Exam of the academic year.  Do I feel prepared? Nooo way in hell!!  Still, when it's over the only thing I have left to do before my 4 month summer holiday (of work, cause I'm poor) is finalise my dissertation project for my honours year.  I'm very nearly free!

Photos from cafe koba

 These are the photos from Cafe Koba; a review of which you can find here.  I was going to upload these to the review but I never got around to it.  My bad.

The is the seating area.  As you can see, lots of earthy tones and art. 

This is the view to the street entrance, sorry it's not rotated properly.  It took so long to load that I couldn't be bothered fussing with it by the time I realised I couldn't rotate it in Blogger.

This is where the original fireplace would have been.  I'm actually surprised they were allowed to strip it out like this but it gives the room a nice effect.  You can see how tiny chimneys actually used to be - and little children used to be forced up them to sweep!

The salt and pepper pots.  This is a feature I actually really didn't like.  This is so wrong from a hygiene perspective.

Fancy looking menu, of course :)

Water, cause it's free. :)  It was all clearly filtered so tastes better the  local tap water anyway. :)

This was one of the starters we tried.  Rice balls deep-fried with a cheesy centre.  The green dip on the other side is a garlicky home made pesto. 

My vege soup with a dollop of pesto and sough dour bread.

This was a Sussex beef burger with goats cheese and chips.  I was surprised by how nice the Sussex beef was.  Although next time we will have to remember to ask for it to be well-cooked.

This was a Serrano Ham and Peach salad with mozzarella cheese.  Very nice summer option.  Had to eat around the cheese though; mozzarella is a little too milky for me.

Spiced Banana Muffins

More evidence of my banana obsession.  But, hey, they are really good for you.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 2 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicerbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
3 large Bananas; Mashed, 1 1/2 cups
Cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger; minced, 1/2 teaspoon

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb and spices.  Mix in the soy milk thouroughly; an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Mash the banana in a seperate bowl and stir it into the muffin mix.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven. The Muffins will be ready when a poker through the center comes away clean.

Coffee

Writing helps my brain work.  It's like oil for the engine.  For some reason this one was difficult.  I must be tired or maybe Coffee was just an awkward word to use.

          Coffee, bitter-sweet,
       mOrnings favourite treat
          Flavour calls to me
 breakFast, lunch, and tea
  coffeE calls to me
          Early everyday.

Spiced Strawberry Muffins

This one is a little more unusual - strawberry muffins.  These are worthy of a dollop of cream, regardless of the dairy allergy. :)

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 3 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicerbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
Strawberries; de-leafed and diced, 1 1/2 cups
Cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger; minced, 1/2 teaspoon

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb and spices.  Mix in the soy milk thouroughly; an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Gently stir in the strawberries.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven. The Muffins will be ready when a poker through the center comes away clean.

Hey readers :)

I've noticed a fair bit of regular traffic.  If anyone would like to request recipes/culinary help, give tips, or has allergen friendly recipes of their own to share, please send me an email.