Making Meal Planning Easy: Recipe Spreadsheet

Ohey!

I have a little confession to make - on Tuesday we ditched the meal plan and had a Dominos. It was completely indulgent and did break the food budget we set for the month, but we've been so good at cooking every night and doing our best to stay healthy that a lazy meal just sounded too good to pass up. We did apply some sensible principles to the splurge though - it was Two for Tuesday meaning we got 2 pizzas each and lunch was sorted for the next day. Also upon seeing that his pizzas cost twice the price of mine Chris even swapped to getting gluten free pizzas himself, so it was under £15 for 4 pizzas. Not cheap, but not break the bank either.

Even though it was contrary to our budget, it did make me appreciate how our routine since moving over has helped us save a lot of money, time and hassle just by keeping us organised. It's only when you stop using something, even for a moment, that you realise just how useful it is! So I wanted to share with you just how we're planning our meals and keeping things on-budget.

Introducing our recipe spreadsheet..

It's a work-in-progress, but it's working well so far!

This is one tab of a much larger spreadsheet where we keep our entire lives organised. It contains everything from our meal plans and recipes to our monthly budget, upcoming travel plans to home maintenance tasks to keep on top of. Basically if there's something that needs to be planned or organised in our lives, it has a tab!

There are two tabs that relate to our meal planning - the one above that contains all of our favourite recipes and another where we plan our meals for the week and create our shopping lists. I say lists because even those are broken down further - regular shopping, a list for the market (there's a weekend market nearby that has some amazing food when we want to make something special!), and lists for pantry items, cleaning items and misc. At the moment we also have a furniture list, but that will go once we've finished furnishing the house (and no news there either I'm afraid).

It sounds a little extreme to be this organised, but with so much going on and such variation in my fatigue it has really helped me remember things that would otherwise be forgotten. We also keep this spreadsheet on Google Docs so that Chris and I both have access to it and can edit it from either laptops or our phones when we're on the go. It's been incredibly useful for coordinating when he's at work!

So how do you set up something like this? It's quite simple and quick to do if you already have some favourite recipes bookmarked but even if you don't it doesn't take long to put together.

The set up

First you'll need to decide on a spreadsheet programme - Google Docs is easiest to access from anywhere, but Excel or Sheets works too. Then set up the top row much the same as I have, with the following columns:

Recipe Name - This might be the name the recipe book/site gives it, or the name you've given it yourself.

Main Ingredient - By having this column you can quickly look up recipes with a specific ingredient if you have an excess of something to be used up.

Cooked On - Similarly, having this column makes it easy to see what equipment you'll need for a recipe. For example if you're going to be out for the day and want a simple meal waiting for you then sorting by slow cooker will be useful!

£/Portion - This is something we're interested in as if we like a recipe and it has a low cost per portion it's gonna fast become a family favourite! We're aiming to get most of our meals to £1/portion or less.

Rating - This is what you and other family members think of the recipe. If anything gets less than a 3 then just delete it - over time you'll want to be cultivating a spreadsheer full of low-cost 4s and 5s.

Notes/Changes - These are changes you make to the recipe - for example we use sweet potato instead of normal a lot, or switch out beef mince for pork. Or if you add extra seasoning, be sure to mention it here so you can make it the same next time.

Link - This is simply a link to the recipe online. You could also keep a note of which cookbook/page the recipe is on if you have a physical copy.

Filling it in

This can be done all at once or over time. I've been keeping a folder of bookmarked recipes on my laptop for a long time anyway so I went through those and copied across ones I knew we would use regularly. Then it's just a case of keeping it updated as you find new recipes you like or want to try. I'm thinking of adding a baking section as we've got quite a few recipes we want to try like Apple Granola Bars and Sweet Potato Muffins.

It's also a great excuse to discover new recipes if you have an excess of a particular ingredient or find something on sale at the shop. We usually use the weekend to make something a little more ambitious, so we'll pick something we have in the freezer and maybe a style of cooking and see what the internet has to offer us. Chris searches for recipes during downtime at work and this was how we ended up with an amazing Harissa Chicken recipe! :)

Using it

I'm planning to write a blog on meal planning sometime soon which will go into this a bit better, because it's one of my favourite ways to get organised and save money. There are so many little tricks you can use to cut down your food budget without losing out on amazing meals it definitely deserves it's own blog! But the beauty of this spreadsheet is in its' simplicity.

Need a chicken recipe? Sort by the main ingredient column and select one. Looking for something to throw in the slow cooker and go out for the day? Sort by the cooked on column. Budget looking a little tight this month? Pick all the lowest cost per portion recipes you've collected over time (if you've bothered with this one)!

The hardest part is getting into the habit of using it, but once you see how easy it is and how much faster it makes everything I'm convinced you'll be as sold as I am. :)

How do you keep your recipes in order? Or do you just wing it? Any you think I should add to the list? Let me know in the comments! I'm always looking for yummy new recipes to try, especially on weekends when we can put a little more effort in. :)

Love,
Ami
xx

Homemade Hummus Recipe

Good Evening!

Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday, I was feeling a little under the weather over the weekend and got a little behind on writing! It's the first one I've skipped after being back for 2 weeks though so I'm pretty pleased with myself. :)

Today I wanted to share with you a recipe we've been using over the last few days to make our own hummus! We've been going through 3-4 tubs a week since I moved over, dipping carrot sticks and apple slices (seriously, apple in lemon hummus is amazing) on an almost daily basis, so it was getting expensive. £1.80 for 2 from Tesco was easily approaching a £15/month habit! Having made hummus in the past I knew we could cut down on the price and have a much healthier product to boot so off to the shops I went.

For our first batch the plan was to keep it simple and go for a lemon and garlic hummus, plus I'd looked up a tahini recipe and decided to make our own there too as it would be even more cost effective.

Your shopping list will look like this:

1 Can Chickpeas

Garlic

Tahini (or sesame seeds if you want to make your own)

1 Lemon

Olive Oil

Salt

Smoked Paprika (we added it at the end for some extra flavour)

The Recipe

If you're making your own tahini do that first as you'll need to wash the blender (we used one of the small chamber blenders as we're making small quantities at a time). Making it is really easy - toast the sesame seeds until they just start to brown, leave to cool and then blend with olive oil until it's a runny paste. It smells amazing!

Ingredients:

1 Can Chickpeas

1-2 Cloves of Garlic (to taste, we used 2 tsp of Lazy Garlic)

2 tsp Tahini

1/2 Lemon (or more/less to taste)

3-4 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt (to taste)

Smoked Paprika (to taste)

1. Drain the chickpeas and keep the water to one side.

2. Add all the ingredients to the blender, including ~5 tablespoons of the chickpea water.
(Note: It might be easier to add the chickpeas half at a time if you're using a small blender.)

3. Blend until smooth, adjusting consistency by adding more olive oil or chickpea water if it's too thick.

4. Taste and adjust flavour with more lemon, garlic, salt or paprika as you like!

Our first batch was quite thick which worked well for carrot sticks but not so much as a side dish with cous cous (another thing we've loved doing!). We made a second batch yesterday using lime instead of lemon and without the paprika. We made it a lot thinner and it went absolutely perfectly with Walkers Sensations Moroccan Spice & Sweet Tomato crisps (I'm currently in love with these as they're on offer for 75p at Tesco!).

Another great way to save money is to save old shop-bought hummus pots and clean them so you have perfectly sized containers to put it in! Although this recipe makes enough to fill 1 and partially fill another so you'll want a few before starting.

I've not done the official sums yet as we're still adjusting the recipe each time and finding ways to make it even cheaper (for example next time we'll be buying a giant bag of sesame seeds from Amazon to cut down on per-batch cost). That said, I've estimated that each batch is costing us about 80-90p - almost the same as the Tesco hummus but we know exactly what went into it and we get about 1/3 more with the homemade recipe, so already worth it.

Once we've finished adjusting and finding the cheapest way to make it I think we can get it down to about 75p a batch - coming in at a much more reasonable £6/month for hummus. Happy Ami and happy bank balance. :)

Have you made hummus before? What recipes do you use? I'm always looking for new ones to try! :)

Love,
Ami
xx

Recipe: Endo-Friendly Moroccan Chicken & Lemon Cous-Cous

As some of you will know each week we make a meal plan so that we can keep our food costs down and also get everything in one shop rather than going to and fro all week for things we need.
Monday is meal plan & shopping day, so I usually spend the better part of the morning doing a quick inventory of the freezer and cupboards to see what we've got, then coming up with meals for the week. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays tend to be my favourite days to cook something new as those are my days off and I can generally spend more time preparing an exciting meal.

Since starting the Endo Diet food has lost some of its appeal to us, which is a little depressing. As much as I enjoyed being inventive at first, trying to come up with exciting new ways to present what is essentially chicken or turkey and veg has become a bit of a chore. So yesterday I made an extra effort to come up with meals that sounded full of flavour and was really quite pleased with myself when I fell upon a recipe for Moroccan Chicken & Lemon Cous-Cous! Not only did it sound delicious, it was also an opportunity to attempt cooking with bone-in chicken thighs. For those who don't know me that well, I have never even eaten food with bones in before unless it was a surprise and in all occassions I stopped eating as soon as I found out. Something about it freaks me out. But in the name of money saving and on a quest for flavourful foods, I took a deep breath and jumped right in to this new experiment.

I had a little waver upon seeing them at the shop and another upon seeing the bones at first at home, but after seeing the price I pushed through. £4 got us 1.1kg of chicken thighs! To put that into context; the packets of 450g of chicken breast are also £4, so we got almost 3 times the meat for the same price. So on the back of last nights' success, I've been convinced to try AFC (Ami Fried Chicken!) using chicken wings or drumsticks in future. I'm a bone-in convert...for chicken at least!

And so on to the recipe...

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

4-8 Bone-in Chicken Thighs

2-4tsp Turmeric

1-2tbsp Garam Masala

Pinch of Salt

Sunflower Oil

1 Onion, finely sliced

1-2 Garlic Cloves, finely sliced

500ml Chicken Stock

Juice from 1 Lemon

125-250g Gluten Free Cous Cous

Parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Heat some oil in a large pan, coat the chicken thighs in half the spices and place skin-down in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn and cook for another 2 minutes before removing them from the pan.

2. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and fry until golden.

3. Add in the remaining spices and cook for another minute. (I forgot to do this bit and it still turned out yummy!)

4. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil, before placing the chicken back in the pan skin side up.

5. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 35-40 minutes. (I didn't cover it and the stock concentrated down nicely, but I did have to add more water in later for the cous cous to cook.)

6. Remove the chicken and take the pan off the heat.

7. Stir in the lemon juice a cous-cous, topping up water if necessary, then leave to stand for 5 minutes/until the cous cous is cooked through.

8. Fluff through the cous cous and place the chicken back on top.

9. Garnish with parsley and serve!

I forgot to take a picture of our meal last night so this picture is taken from the recipe!

Recipe: Endo-Friendly Banana 'Ice-Cream'

I chose this recipe today to celebrate as today was the last Zoladex injection I need before my lap next month! Avoiding dairy and sugar has been difficult (and I've slipped quite a bit on sugar..) so finding this recipe has been a god send. This is definitely one for your sweet tooth, saved for those occassions when you absolutely need something sweet but don't want to slip off the bandwagon. Obviously it isn't real ice-cream, but it's close enough! It does take some pre-planning and you may not get to the ice-cream stage - while preparing my first attempt I couldn't wait for it to freeze and ended up with ice-cold mashed banana! :)

Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 Banana
Fruit Syrup (optional)

Method:
1. Break the banana up into chunks
2. Freeze then part-thaw the banana
3. Blend the banana until it's smooth and creamy
4. Serve with fruit syrup

Very budget friendly, very tastebud friendly!

Recipe: Endo-Friendly Homemade KFC

One of the things I've missed most since starting the Endo diet is fast food. Aside from hot curries, there are very few meals you can get from a takeaway that don't have ingredients you need to avoid in them. So imagine my delight when a friend of mine says she has a recipe for homemade KFC. :) I tried it this evening and it was nom, so I thought I'd share it with you!

It's healthier than KFC (who knows what else they put in it!), cheaper than KFC (the price of chicken plus a small amount of flour, spices and oil is a lot less than a takeaway) and better for the environment too - no wrappers to go in the bin. If I'd known about this recipe in my pre-diet days I'm not sure I'd ever have had KFC!

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts cut into pieces
Flour (I used rice flour but any gluten-free one should do)
Spices (I used paprika, cayenne pepper, asafoetida, oregano, thyme, chilli flakes, minced garlic)
Egg replacer
Olive Oil

Method:
1. Pre-heat the over to 22C
2. Mix the flour and the spices together in a bag (I used 4 tablespoons of flour and that was WAY too much - 2 should be more than enough)
3. Add about 1cm of oil to the bottom of a square glass dish
4. Dip the chicken into the egg replacer and place it in the bag, shaking it so that the chicken is fully coated (1-2 pieces at a time so that it doesn't all stick together)
5. Place the chicken in the dish, repeat until all the chicken is coated
6. Cook for 30 minutes, turn, then cook for a further 15 minutes
7. Remove from oil and place on a piece of kitchen roll to drain
8. Serve and enjoy!

Chicken ready to go in the oven!

Recipe: Endo-Friendly Spicy Lentil and Chicken Soup

This is a new twist on an old favourite of ours and is really simple to make. Spicy chicken soup is a fall-back whenever we fancy something satisfying, warming but still healthy and budget-friendly - it really hits all bases! I especially like this recipe as you can get away with just 1 large chicken breast for 2 people. Chicken isn't cheap (there's a pun there somewhere) so needing half the amount definitely helps the food bill. I was doubtful when I first tried it, but you really do end up with a LOT of chicken once it's shredded. If you're not a fan of spicy foods it's really simple to swap out the spices and put herbs like Basil, Thyme and Parsley in their place too.

(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
100g Red Split Lentils
Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 Carrot, chopped
1 Garlic Clove
1 Large Chicken Breast
400ml Chicken Stock
270g Crushed Tomatoes
1tsp Cumin
1tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Black Pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and garlic - cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken, cumin and cayenne and cook fur a further 5 minutes until the chicken starts to brown.
3. Stir in the stock and water then simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove and set aside the chicken and add the lentils and tomatoes, leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes. While the soup is simmering, shred the chicken breast.
5. Add the chicken back to the soup and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes.
6. Season to taste and serve.

For a naughty added extra crush some lightly salted corn chips (make sure they're gluten/soya/milk free - Asda Smart Price ones are but don't know about other brands) and sprinkle them over the top for a crunchy layer.

Recipe: Endo Friendly Chicken Goulash

Today I decided to use the slower cooker that's been collecting dust since we moved in! Tom had work and I was feeling particularly lazy, so a batch of slow-cooked chicken goulash found its way onto the menu. It's incredibly simple to make and takes between 2.5-6 hours to cook depending on the setting you use. Prep time is only about 10-15 minutes so it really is a hands off meal!

Serves 6 (I froze 4 portions for later meals)

Ingredients:
olive oil
1/2 an onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper
1kg chicken breast
1 1/2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp paprika
3 handfuls of red lentils
other seasoning to taste (I used sage, mint, parsley & chilli flakes)
water/tomato puree can be used to thin/thicken it as you like

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add the onion, saute until cooked through and add to the slow cooker.
2. Cook the pepper and garlic in the pan then add to the slow cooker.
3. Add all of the other ingredients (minus the 'other seasoning' and lentils) to the slow cooker and mix together.
4. Cook for 2.5-3 hours on High or 5-6 hours on Low.
5. Remove the chicken and shred it.
6. Add the chicken, lentils and other seasoning to the slow cooker and cook for 15 minutes on High or 30 minutes on Low.
7. Serve and enjoy!

I especially liked this recipe as it was something I could share with Tom - he cleared his bowl! Half the battle of the endo diet is feeling like you can't share meals with other people without feeling like they're giving up a good meal, so this was a real relief. :) It's also a budget-friendly meal, especially when done as a big batch. The chicken was the biggest expense at £6 but the rest cost no more than a few pence per ingredient, bringing the cost per portion to less than £1.50!

The Endo Diet

Having done a lot of research into Endometriosis and alternative treatments that help the condition, I've come across a number of things that are said to help. The method that crops up most often is the 'Endo Diet' - a diet that cuts out all foods known to aggravate the condition. The list is pretty extensive!

There are countless testimonials saying their pain has all but disappeared and some even claim their endometriosis has gone entirely. So it's time to test out their claims and try it for myself. :)

My first step was to buy Recipes & Diet Advice For Endometriosis by Carolyn Levett*. There are lots of books out there that explain the diet and the science behind it, but this book comes with 260 recipes that are Endo-friendly, all the way from starters & soups to baking and party foods. Once you see the list of things you can't eat, you'll understand why this is a God-send!

Once that arrived I spent the morning reading through the science-y stuff and working out what foods I'll be saying goodbye to and which new friends I'll be greeting. Without going into great detail, here is the list of foods to avoid:

• Wheat/Gluten
• Red Meat
• Dairy
• Sugar
• Caffeine
• Eggs
• Alcohol
• Yeast
• Soy
• Additives & Preservatives

As you can see, it's pretty much everything you'll find in a normal diet. You may be thinking there's nothing left to eat, but you'd be surprised at how much I can still eat - I was!

For example chicken, pork, turkey and fish are all fine (as long as you're careful about the source), along with all gluten free products like breads, pasta, rice etc. Fruit and veg are fine too, natural sugars are okay. Plus herbs and spices are really good to include, so it doesn't have to be a bland diet.

Next stop was Asda to stock up on a few healthy items. I won't be jumping feet first into this diet, it'd be too extreme for my body and pretty heavy on my bank balance! The plan is to slowly use up what we have in the cupboards and replace them with the healthy alternatives over time.

We bought:

• Organic chicken stock cubes
• A fruit syrup alternative to sugar
• Almond milk
• Gluten free cous-cous
• Organic Virgin Olive Oil
• Organic tinned tomatoes (high in antioxidants)
• Turkey Mince

It came out as a pretty expensive shop! My favourite find was definitely the fruit syrup, which I used in my porridge this morning. It was quite a subtle but sweet taste and can be used in all kinds of things - tea, coffee, porridge, spread on toast, in baking and cooking etc.

                                             

We've now come up with a meal plan for the week, some of the meals being the new healthy version and some still being from our normal diet. Tom is going to be doing this diet with me (with some red meat added in for his man-needs!) so we'll be easing into it gently.

This blog is getting pretty long now so I'll leave it here! Over the next week or two I'll be throwing in some recipes that we've tried out (including the turkey chilli one from last night) along with a more in-depth explanation about why each of the foods are being cut out.

If you find this topic interesting or know someone who might benefit from the information please share my blog. :) It was quite scary at first getting a diagnosis with no known cure, but having looked around and talked to people with the illness it's really reassuring knowing there are things you can do to help. I'd love to be able to pass on that experience to others!

*This is an Amazon Associate link.

Eco-Friendly Easter Ideas

Hi guys!

With Easter just a week away I thought I'd give you some quick ideas on how to keep things green and save money. :) The activities especially are either very cheap or free!

Easter Eggs:
1. Buy easter eggs with as little packaging as possible.
2. Try to buy fairtrade/organic wherever you can.
3. Make a list of everyone you're buying for and get them all at once to save on transport costs.
4.  Buy the eggs on your regular food shop to save an extra trip to the shop.
5. Keep the plastic packaging from the inside as moulds so you can make your own next year!

Activities:
1. Why not try using natural dyes to create your own coloured eggs?
2. Organise an Easter Egg Hunt for kids or even adults!
3. Bake your own Easter Biscuits.
4. Make an origami rabbit!

Some friends are coming to stay at the weekend and their little boy is 3, so I'll definitely be trying some of these ideas myself. :) I'll make sure to take pictures and post the results!

How-To: Make Cheese Scones!

Since visiting Marks & Spencer on Mother's Day I have had a craving for cheese scones. They had them on sale in the cafe, I don't just get random cravings when I'm there! I wondered how to make them a few times, but didn't really bother to look into it as I was having too much fun with making muffins.
At work we've been raising money for The Stroke Association throughout March (raised £85 in total - woo!). They sent us a fundraising pack but until now I haven't opened it - useful I know. Inside they had all the usual advice on planning events, information about the charity etc. but they also had some recipes in there to sell at the Tea Party they recommended throwing. Imagine my delight when I saw that one of the recipes was cheese scones!

Lately I've had a bad stomach, the only symptom being really bad pain in my stomach at all times. It's annoying, but I've been trying to get on with life as best I could. This afternoon at work it got a bit much and since I had no more appointments I headed home for some R&R. And that brings us to todays post, so you can guess what I've done with the extra time!

Here's the recipe so you can make your own:

Ingredients:
225g self raising flour (I used ordinary flour and 3tsp baking powder)
55g unsalted butter
100g grated mature cheddar cheese
150ml milk
1/4tsp mustard powder (I skipped this step)
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C (220C for non-fan ovens) and cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt, pepper, mustard powder and butter. Then use your hands to mix it all together.

3. Add the milk and 75g of the cheese and continue mixing it all with your hands until it becomes a soft dough.

You might have to add a little more flour or milk, depending on whether it's too sticky or not sticky enough. Eventually you will end up with a nice, soft dough that looks like this.

4. Put the dough onto a floured surface and knead it before patting it out into a 2cm thick circle.

5. Use a 5cm cutter (I used a glass) to cut the scone shapes and place them on the baking tray.

6. Knead and re-shape the remaining dough until it's all used up.

7. Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle the remaining 25g of cheese over the top of them.

8. Pop in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until they've risen and gone golden. Once done, take them out and leave to cool.

And voila! Now you have cheese scones and a room full of friends! (Trust me, once the smell starts spreading through the house people will love you!)

Are you going to have a go? Let me know what you think. :)

Post Seventeen: Banana Muffins, yum!

What a wonderful Wednesday! Today I thought I'd share with you a recipe I found for Banana Muffins, which I made last night and can personally advertise as the best banana muffins I've ever eaten! (Note: I haven't eaten banana muffins before, but these are nom I promise..)
I bought some bananas last week and they were coming to the end of their life, so rather than throw them in the bin I decided to get creative!

You might need to jiggle the cooking temperature/times around a little, as I found the sugar content made the tops brown a little too quickly for my liking. The middle was definitely cooked, but perhaps a little squidgy.

Ingredients
 3 very ripe bananas
 125ml vegetable oil
 2 eggs
 250g plain flour
 100g caster sugar
 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
 1 tsp baking powder
 150g white chocolate chips

This recipe will make 12 decent sized muffins.
I only had 100g of the chocolate chips, so I improvised with 20g of mini-marshmallows. To be honest, you can't taste the marshmallows so you're probably better off sticking with more chocolate. I can't hear you complaining... ;)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200 (This could be where I went wrong - I assumed that meant fan assisted ovens and it probably doesn't. So next time I'm going to try 180ºC instead.)

2. Mash the bananas in a bowl - not the one you're going to be mixing everything in.

3. Mix the eggs and oil together in the bowl you'll be mixing in.

4. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add them to your mixing bowl.

5. Add the mashed banana and chocolate chips (plus marshmallows if you go with that).

6. Divide into muffin cases and place on the baking tray.

7. Cook for 20 minutes, checking frequently in case they're finished sooner! (Mine only took about 16 minutes.)

And there you go! Banana muffins. :) Like I said mine came out a little brown, but they are delicious and don't taste at all burnt.

Post Eight: Mothers Day Presents

It's that time of year again! Shops are stocked to bursting with flowers, teddy bears, jewellery, chocolates, cards... you name it they have it! And they're all telling you that material gifts are the way to show your mum how grateful you are for her constant love and care.

If you have £50 to shell out on that perfume gift set you've seen or a deluxe box of chocolates, that's brilliant. Your mum's face will probably light up when she sees what you've bought her and she'll be warmed by the thought that you appreciate her. But a week later when the chocolate is sitting on her hips, the memory of that feeling won't be fresh in her mind!

Instead, why not make her a gift that she'll cherish forever? A homemade gift personalised to your mum's own tastes won't get thrown out when the house gets too cluttered and she certainly won't be damning you for the extra inches on her waist (unless you've made your own chocolate for her!). A few quick ideas can be found here but all you need to do is get creative! Knit something, weave something, paint something, bake something.. the possibilities are endless. And the great thing is you don't need to sell these items so they don't need to be perfect. They're going to the person who loves you most in the world and will forgive your little mistakes. :)

I love the idea of making your own bath bombs, so here's a simple little guide on how to do it:

Budget bath-bomb
             
What you need
4 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp citric acid, some dried flowers
1 tbsp almond oil
1 -2 drops food colouring
10 drops of essential oils including witch hazel
+ ice cube tray, foil
Important: keep everything dry at all times
How to do it
Step 1: Mix the bicarbonate of soda and citric acid together
Step 2: Stir in the almond and essential oils, food colouring and the flowers
Step 3: Spray on your witch hazel and stir quickly until the mixture goes crumbly
Step 4: Pack the mixture into the mould, nice and tight and leave in an airing cupboard overnight
Step 5: Wrap in foil. They're now ready to use!

I hope to try this method sometime - maybe in time for mothers day if I can get hold of some witch hazel before the weekend. :)

Are you going to make your mum something? Let me know how you get on! :)

On a side note I've finally remembered to take a picture of the box I painted, so here it is:

Post Three: Chicken & Veg Broth

I'm sat here nomming my lunch of chicken and vegetable broth that I made Tuesday night and I thought I would share the recipe with you. Be warned: I took a vegetable soup recipe and made up a lot of it myself, so always make sure everything is fully cooked before eating it - even if you've already cooked it for the times mentioned.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
2 potatoes - peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 onion - diced (can add more to taste)
3 mushrooms - thinly sliced
2 carrots - sliced
1 parsnip - sliced
Approx 1 litre chicken stock
Seasoning - I used this spice mix but choose herbs and spices to match your own tastes.

Serves: 3-4 people.

Method:


1. Put all the ingredients into a big saucepan and add the chicken stock.

2. Bring to the boil, stirring regularly.

3. Once boiling, continue stirring for 3-5 minutes at that temp.

4. Lower to a simmer and leave for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables have softened. This will be indicated by the potato slices breaking up.

5. Serve with brown wholemeal rolls for the ultimate healthy meal!

My lunch, doesn't look half as nice as it tastes!

If you try this recipe please tell me what you think in a comment below!