A thrifty May Day feast for your friends

At long last a warm sunny bank holiday is in our sights. We can start looking forward to BBQs and sunbathing and alfresco prosecco.

Winter is well and truly over and the birth of the summer has been traditionally celebrated in the UK for eons. One of the best ways to celebrate is to eat! What better way to welcome the sun and earth back into awakening (other than dancing round a big phallus with pretty ribbons) than by stuffing your face? There is no better way- it’s the best way to celebrate anything… well that’s certainly our view here at BB Towers.

So for your May Day treat we have come up with a spread of wonder! Whether you’re dining with friends and family or are hoping for something more intimate, we have a meal plan- which will cost you a mere £17 and will provide seven dishes to last you through the weekend – and if you’re really thrifty and have a freezer, well into next week.

One of the best ways to be economical with food is to make as many dishes out of the same ingredients as you possibly can. That means you don’t keep going back to the supermarket and spending your hard earned cash and means less food waste- which is better for us and (you don’t need me to tell you this…) the environment.

These dishes are designed to invoke the lightness and freshness of early summer. Meat lovers beware, these are meat free dishes, not because we are meat Nazi’s but because meat can add a great deal of expense to the average meal… but if you have some needing to be used, feel free to add meat to certain dishes. 

What you will need to get with your £17

(Prices based on high street supermarkets)

• 1 bag of fresh spinach – £1.30
• 1kg- plain flour – 50p
• 4 bulbs of garlic – £1.70
• 3kg potatoes – £2.00
• 1kg onions – £1.00
• 12 free range eggs – £2.50
• 1 block Greek feta cheese – £1.50
• 600g (2 punnets) baby tomatoes – £2
• 700g bag of value mixed peppers (about seven small peppers) – £1.50
• 1kg frozen sweetcorn – £1
• 1 small tub of cream – 60p
• 250g butter – £1

What we hope you will already have in your kitchen stores

• pasta
• olive oil
• chilli powder
• stock cubes (chicken or veg)
• nutmeg
• seasoning

What you will magic these into

Sweetcorn chowder

Potato soup (add chicken, ham, bacon, fish even)

Mash potato with garlic and spinach

Spinach and feta salad

Spinach quiche (add bacon for meat treat)

Spanish omlette with peppers (add Spanish ham for meat treat)

Roast tomato and pepper salad

You can either serve this as three meals for 2 – 4 to last you the weekend or as one big buffet, or even two moderate buffets.

The beauty of these is that if you are cooking for a hoard you can prepare the soups and the quiche the day before. And the Spanish omelette can be served hot or cold. If you are cooking for a small group you can mix and match the dishes to suit the mood! None of the dishes take very long to prepare… what will take the longest is the quiche but don’t be put off as the majority of the time is waiting for it to cook in the oven.

Read Dawn’s scrummy recipes here on the Boookshelf Boyfriend website.

A money-saving feast for friends

[ Dawn Frances - Nifty thrifty - Thrift Bitch blog ]

Enjoy your Easter eggs!

Good news for all you chocoholics – quality chocolate has many benefits, so you can indulge in your Easter eggs with a clear conscience and the knowledge that you are doing yourself a favour!  However, moderation is key, and also, it must be good quality dark chocolate – unfortunately, you don’t get same benefits if you scoff down a whole box champagne truffles.

Minerals:
Iron, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, potassium, calcium. Chocolate even contains fluoride (so potentially it’s good for your teeth…?!).
Antioxidants:
Flavenoids, the same type as in red wine and green tea – mop up free radicals and help prevent ageing; also considered to reduce risk of cancer and heart disease.
Mood:
Stimulants caffeine and theobromine (latter not good for dogs, however). Stimulate brain and give burst of energy.

Phenyl-ethyl-amine (PEA), which relieves depression and is also associated with falling in love and indeed with orgasm, is also contained in chocolate – give me that any day!

How to savour the flavour…

 … Ok, you might think you’re enjoying your chocolate already, but are you experiencing it so that it truly indulges every one of your senses?

Sight: 
Your chocolate should be glossy, rich, uniform in colour and smooth.

Sound: 
It should make a clean snap sound and have clean break.

Smell: 
Inhale deeply and appreciate!

Taste:
Allow to melt on your tongue and fill the mouth – there should be a complex, lingering flavour. Spice, nuts, dried fruit, tobacco – are just some of the flavours.

Your experience will vary with cocoa percentage, region of origin, and of course bean used.

There is no need, by the way, to go to extreme – 100% cocoa is very much an acquired taste. 60-70% cocoa content provides marvellous flavours.

The very best chocolate stands up perfectly by itself with no need of additional flavours or fillings.

Original articles by Marian Dougan – BB’s resident chocolate expert!
Read more about Chocolate and other lovely indulgences in our Food and Drink section

Real ale – good enough for a prince.

The Prince of Wales’ organic food and drink company Duchy Originals has just produced their first batch of draught beer, to be made available in a limited number of pubs as of next month.  They have been producing their organic real ale in bottles for a while now, but this is the first time that it will be available hand-pulled behind the bar.

We at Bookshelf Boyfriend strongly advocate the drinking of real ale over standard mass produced lagers, apart from anything else they taste scrumptious (and go perfectly with a good organic cheese!).  There are also a whole lot of other reasons why we should all be getting into our real ales.  Real ales are generally produced in microbreweries using locally grown ingredients, so you are supporting small businesses and the local economy around them.  By buying beer that hasn’t been shipped long distances you are also reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.  If you are buying organic beer, you are supporting a farm system that uses fewer pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, which in turn enhances soil fertility, increases species diversity, conserves water and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

A top tip:

A few of us here were at the most fantastic wedding this weekend, where the father of the bride bought a couple of kegs of delicious locally produced Blacksheep beers.  Everyone was helping themselves to glasses of beer throughout the night, and the following morning(!) and a great time was had by all, and there were no cart loads of cans and bottles to take to the recycling dump.  So, when throwing a party for large numbers of people, look for breweries that sell beer in kegs, which will both keep your costs down and will hugely reduce waste, whilst enabling everyone to have a jolly good time!

Read the Bookshelf Boyfriend article about real ale and beers. 

Treat yourself to some good beers from Real Ale.com

 

[ASM]