Cauliflower, Leek & White Bean Soup

So since starting my frugal regime I have also wanted to incorporate a healthy diet. Healthy diet in the way that my body is being feed all the nutrients it need. This has lead me to a few websites and cookbooks that include:

Honestly Healthy Cookbook - Alkaline diet

The recipes in this book are great and really tasty, however some of the ingridients do not fit in my current 'frugal' lifestyle. You try buying umeboshi plums and keep the cost of your soup to 40p per bowl! I don't think so... Whilst I do love these recipes I find it quite easy to tweak or even omit certain ingredients to stay in budget

The next set of recipes I've come across are by Teresa Cutter. "A qualified Chef, Nutritionalist and personal trainer, she has combined her knowledge of food, diet and exercise to specialize in developing healthy recipes for fat loss and total wellbeing. " Her website Healthy Chef is full of fabulous recipes that I have found so far are simple to make, taste delicious, plus she explains why and in which ways the recipe is good for you. 

Cauliflower, Leek & White Bean Soup


"Cauliflower contains phytonutrients that release sulphur compounds when heated. These odours become stronger with increased cooking time, so to minimise  the odour and reduce nutrient losses, it’s important to cook the cauliflower for only a short time.  Cauliflowers are low in calories, carbs and fat and contain B vitamins necessary for energy metabolism plus plenty of fibre to fill you up and to keep you regular......the beans have added quality protein to fill you up as well as aiding repair and supporting my immune system."

Healthy Chef | Teresa Cutter

Serves 4

1 leek, finely sliced - 81p

Parmesan & Parsley to garnish - 20p

1 cauliflower (800 g ) cut into flowerets - £1
1 x 400 g tin organic cannelinni beans, drained - 69p
1 litre vegetable stock - 50p (2 x Knorr veg stock pot)
£3.30 - which works out to be 80 pence per bowl

Saute leek in 1 tablespoon olive oil over a gentle heat for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the cauliflower, stock and beans.
Simmer until the cauliflower is tender and and remove from the heat.
Puree until smooth, with a hand blender or if you are lucky enough to own one, a vitaMix.
Return to the pot and season with a little white pepper.
Serve warm soup in large bowls with a little shaved or grated Parmesan, chopped parsley and drizzle of extra virgin oil.

Fat: 3.4 g
carbs: 16 g
Protein: 11g
Calories: 151 / 631 kj

This was a good soup, not one of my favourites but good none the less. I was however, surprised to find out it was more expensive to make than the celeriac and fennel soup! 80p per bowl!! Hmm think I need to find cheaper leeks!?! Have just realised Sainsbury's charged me 80 pence for a leek, one leek!? Wow......

CHESINI FIGHTS THE STORM!

A quick shot of cycling along the thames to work after the 'storm' last week!

Good old Chesini got me to work even if the trains couldn't!!

FEELING FRUGAL

I've lived in London since 2003.

When I first moved here from university, I had no job, but some savings left over to keep me a float. I soon learnt how to make money stretch.

Since then I have had several jobs before embarking on my current role, in which I have been in for nearly nine years!? I now have a steady income and long gone are the days when I'd count the pennies in my wallet to decide whether I could upgrade from value beans to the branded version.
Recently, quite a few of my friends and family's situations have and are changing quite considerably for lots of different reasons. The linking factors between them all, will be or is, a restriction in their day to day budget.

It is at time like these when you end re-assesing your own situation and consider your own lifestyle.
I personally loath wasting food. I can't bare throwing something that I've paid for, into the bin, that said I understand that my food shopping could be a little more organised and controlled. This set me out on doing some research on frugal feeding.

As I mentioned on my previous post, it is easy in London to spend £5 on lunch when at work, which when you add it up is £25 per week totalling at an eye watering £1200 a year!!!
I've always tried to take my own food in with me or buy bits from the supermarket. But after doing these calculations I shall definitely keep my homemade lunches going, and find new ways of using up left overs.

In doing a bit of research I have come across very interesting blogs some of which I have learnt a lot from and found quite inspiring:
A Girl Called Jack
Skint Dad
Frugal Feeding

A Girl Called Jack is a blog written by Jack Monroe, whose life circumstances changed from being employed in a 27k job, to being unemployed and having a little boy to feed. She ended up being in a situation where £10 had to stretch to feed her for 10 days... that's £1 a day... £1 for 3 meals a day....
All of sudden £7 for one meal at lunchtime seems extortionate!

So in a bid to embrace and make the most out of my current circumstances I've decided to start adding to my savings account rather than subtracting. To do this I'm going budget my food shop and become more aware and pay attention to how much money os spent on food.
On top of that I intend to start making a more regular visit to our local food bank in lewisham. After reading a few blogs it really does make you aware how important food banks are!

This is my list of leftovers from the weekend which I need to use up in some sort of way:

• Stale Bread
• Peas (we had friends over on the weekend and made one too many peas...)
• Glutt of celery
• Leftover mashed potato
• Chickpeas (I'd soaked to many dried ones on the weekend and now they need eating!)
• Bendy carrots

STALE BREAD
This has to be the best idea yet!
I often find that you don't always managed to eat a loaf of bread before it starts to go stale. So you end up having lots of toast or throwing it away. The obvious ideas include Bread & Butter pudding, Deptford Pudding and Summer pudding. The problem is when it is just yourself or two of you. I mean you can't sit and eat a whole bread & butter pudding every week. Well you can but you'd turn into a house!
The Jamie Oliver programme was on TV the other night and he showed how quickly you can make croutons. These croutons are delicious and can be used as a savoury snack as well as on soups or salads. If you store them in an airtight container they can last weeks unless you eat them all on the first day!
I've made these a few times now, using a whole selections of different breads, from sliced wholemeal, to french stick to sourdough. The more rustic varieties had  a better texture in my opinion, but all were good and all got eaten!

Pre-heat the oven to 220 / 200 fan assisted

Get your stale bread and either cut into 1 inch cubes, tear into mouth sized morsels or slice into oval  disks that are great to place on soups.

Pop the chopped up bread into a big bowl and drizzle a GOOD amount of extra virgin oil over with a sprinkling of sea salt. Toss the bread so it's all evenly coated and then pour out onto a baking tray covered with some baking parchment.

Pop in the oven and check after 10mins to check they are toasting evenly. Once golden brown take out and allow to cool.

FRIDGE LEFTOVERS TURNED INTO SOUP

 Once you get idea of the basics of soup making, there is no excuse to waste any food in the fridge.

To start I make sure I have three things - oil, 1 onion and some stock. So that's the base.
Then I look in the fridge/cupboard and try and find two items that need using up that I think might go.
These have included things like:
Carrots and a pack of dried red lentils
Courgettes, spinach and some frozen peas
Celery and a potato
Beetroot and apples
.....the list is endless!!

I am no genius and do not have a brain full of endless recipes. However I do have access to the internet and google! I type in the two items I need to use up into the google search, adding the word soup at the end and then view the results via images. By viewing images rather than links, I can usually determine
if I think it's going to be a recipe I'm going to like. It usually is ;)

When I first started doing this I was quite astonished that my searches would end with a choice of  three recipes for me too choose from!

This week my leftover soup was pea, spinach and celery!

BUBBLE & SQUEAK!

Now I currently have a load of mashed potato in the fridge and chickpeas from when I soaked too many for another recipe. Tonight half of the mashed was used in a quick bubble & squeak with peas and a fried egg. A meal for King!


The mash can also be used on top of a fish pie and cottage pie etc. But whilst searching for recipes it also lead me to find this fantastic recipe for Chickpea Samsoas!


I'd have to tweak the recipe, so it works for me and the ingredients I have. It may go wrong, it might not be as good as using the exact ingredients they have in the list. But it does mean I use up food that would otherwise be thrown away!

If it goes to plan I'll pop it on the blog!

Happy Monday x

Celeriac and Fennel Soup

My winter diet begins! Soup, soup, soup and maybe a broth? I am a big fan of homemade soup, not only is it hot warming, nutritious and delicious. It can also be an incredibly economic way to feed yourself.

I work in Shoreditch, East London, where at lunchtime you can easily spend on average £5 for a sandwich or even £7 for some sushi. This all adds up over a year (240 working days) you could spend a total of £1200 compared to £240 for making you're own lunch. Now you might gorp at only spending £1 on food for your work lunch. However if you make a big batch and are aware of the ingredients your spending money on I can be done! £1000 should not be sniffed at. Some may say that life/money is there to be enjoyed and you can't eat a five pound note. Which I can see what they are saying but personally I enjoy cooking and I enjoy making dishes out of what can be found in the fridge. I think it's because it feels like an achievement rather than throwing food away, which I cannot bare. But then to also realise that by making my own lunches I am also indirectly giving myself nearly £1000 .... well I'd be lying if I said this didn't spur me on! Spending £1000 on something I'd keep forever rather than £5 on a posh sandwich that lasts a lunch would give me a lot more happiness!

Another great thing about making lots of soup is the fact you can make large batchs and freeze it in smaller portions. Meaning every night before you go to bed you can take out another soup, to defrost so you can take it into work the next day. Not only do you save money and time, you also end up having a variety of different soups. Remember to keep any soup containers you buy from the supermarket as they are perfect for portion control and storage.


Also it gives you the opportunity to use up any left over veg that's lying in the fridge. Just type in the list of ingredients & the words soup recipe into google. I am yet to not find a recipe.

This soup recipe is taken from the :Honestly Healthy Cookbook and altered slightly.

The book is full of tasty & healthy recipes, however some of the ingridients do not fit in my current 'frugal' lifestyle. You try buying umeboshi plums and keep the cost of your soup to 40p per bowl! I don't think so... Whilst I do love these recipes I find it quite easy to tweak or even omit certain ingredients to stay in budget.

RECIPE

• Serves 5 bowls
• 1 onion chopped - 9 onion in a 1kg bag - 11p (£1 a bag)
• 1 clove garlic chopped - 10cloves in a bulb, 3p (30p per bulb)
• 1tbsp vegetable Bouillon powder - 2g 2p  (£1.33 per 100g)
• 2 ¼ cups water - free
• 1 bulb fennel (quartered and roasted at 175°C for 30 minutes) 83p
• 3tbsp Sunflower Oil - 15p per 100ml -  45ml 7p
• 900g celeriac chopped into 2cm cubes - £1.26
400ml coconut milk - 50p
• Zest of 1 orange - 30p
• drizzle extra virgin oil & squeeze of lemon juice - 16p + 30p
• 
  
• total: £2.33 - 46p per bowl
• METHOD
• In a pan on a high heat add the garlic onion and oil and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add a 1⁄4 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of Bouillon, simmer for another 2 minutes on a medium heat.
• Add 1 cup of water and leave to simmer for another 2 minutes.
• Add your chopped celeriac & roasted fennel and cover with water.
• Cover pan with lid and leave to cook on a medium heat for 40 minutes.
• Add your coconut milk & 1 cup of water.
• Blend and serve with zest of orange over the top.

So at 46p per bowl you would still have a remaining 52p to spend on some bread or a piece of fruit for afterwards!

TIP: Get yourself a china-graph pencil to write the name of the soup and the date it was made on the lid. It helps when going through the freezer trying to work out what needs to be eaten next.