Featured Archives - Food on a Budget

Unique Finds on Etsy for Your Festive Table

There are a wealth of hand crafted unique finds on Etsy for your Festive table to create stunning, colourful seasonal displays or minimalist, neutral themes.

Just visit the Etsy Holiday Hub to make your ideas and themes come to life.

Reusable Crackers

Cut out the waste and furnish your festive table with some lovely hand crafted linen crackers.
Easy to fill with your own treats, chocolates, party hats and verses.
They can be used year after year.

Wooden napkin rings

Character napkin rings create a bit of fun and artistic design to the Christmas table.
Easy to use, so no fancy napkin folding techniques are required.
They also make a perfect stocking filler or Secret Santa gift.

Hand embroidered place mats

Add a touch of class to the dining table with some hand embroidered place mats. Washable designs create colour and fun whilst protecting your table cloth.

Linen embroidered napkins

Ditch the paper napkins and treat your guests to some beautiful hand embroidered linen napkins. Many designs to suit your table theme.

Table runner

Easily transform a simple white or plain table cloth with a festive table runner depicting chic Christmas trees in shades to coordinate with your theme or tableware.

Christmas Tableware

Bring out some special tableware to serve up your festive culinary treats.

Table centrepiece

The final touch to the Yuletide table is a feature display. Seasonal foliage and berries surround a placeholder for candles.

Rustic cake stand

Display Christmas sweet treats and cup cakes on a rustic statement cake display.
Just adds a touch of country magic and dimension.

Wine glass charms

Make sure your friends and family can easily recognise their drinks glasses with some hand crafted charms.

Gift cards

If finding the right gift is a challenge or you want to offer them choice, an Etsy voucher is ideal. Many Etsy sellers accept vouchers, so there will be plenty on offer for all tastes and budgets.

Gift registry

Don’t forget that Etsy now offer a gift registry service, making it easy to keep track of goodies on your wish list. You can easily send this to friends and relatives so that they know exactly what to buy.

Give a gift of budget cooking

Featured

We all know just how much food prices are rocketing in the shops and how little we have to spend on gifts, so why not give a gift of budget cooking?

A number of the leading chefs and food writers have published some very interesting books to make meals with basic ingredients in one pot, a mug or even on a piece of toast.

There is something for everyone too. Meals for Vegans, students and those short of time.

We have been researching some of the best books for simple, tasty and low budget meals that will make ideal gifts.

Great Budget Cookery Books

Cook well, eat healthy and indulge in some of your favourite as well as a whole range of new tasty recipes from top chefs and food writers.

One Pan Wonders

Jamie Oliver

Over 120 recipes for tasty, fuss-free and satisfying dishes cooked in just one pan.

Real Life Recipes

Tom Kerridge

The ultimate cookbook for simple everyday recipes that use simple ingredients and won’t break the bank

Cooking on a Bootstrap

Jack Monroe

A creative and accessible cookbook packed with affordable, delicious recipes, most of which are vegetarian.

Bliss on Toast

Pru Leith

75 recipes for things on toast. Quick, delicious and versatile meals for working-from-home lunches to indulgent treats.

Meat Free One Pound Meals

Miguel Barclay

Fifth book in the “One Pound Chef” series includes over 85 vegetarian recipes, to help save you money, get healthy and do your bit for the planet.

Quick and Easy Gluten Free

Becky Excell

Speedy, fuss-free, 30-minute recipes or a variety of ‘lazy’ recipes that only ask for 15–20 minutes of effort.

Little Book of Student Food

Alastair Williams

pocket-sized collection of helpful guidance and satisfying recipes will help students eat well and affordably

Eat Well For Less

Jo Scarratt-Jones

Delicious recipes, meal planning guide, help on freezing and storing and using leftovers, family budget planner and lots of ideas to get kids cooking.

St Patrick’s Day Recipes

Featured, Recipes

If you are looking for inspiration for St. Patrick’s day food then go to the Food Network website where they have 34 dishes to choose from.

The fertile land and temperate climate of Ireland make the emerald isle perfect for growing fresh produce and rearing livestock.

Lamb and bacon are the meats of choice and the waters of the Irish coast provide an abundance of seafood.

Smoked salmon is popular in Ireland and smoked Irish salmon is in great demand worldwide.

Irish recipes include cakes, stews, breads, salad and vegetable dishes.

The famous soda bread is wonderful with soup and so very easy to make with no rising time required. It can even be flavoured with cheese or herbs.

One of the staple foods of Ireland which led to the deaths and emigration of thousands during the famine of the 1840’s is the humble potato or spud and for this reason the Irish became very adept at making something out of seemingly nothing.

Champ is a very well know Irish dish, easy and economical to make consisting of mashed potato and spring onions. Champ has reached new heights in many restaurants but it’s beginnings came about through the necessity to mask the dreadful taste of blighted potatoes by using chopped spring onion.

A similar dish, Colcannon, uses kale or cabbage instead of the spring onions.

Champ and Colcannon are great ways to use up left over potato.

Visit the Food network site for your St. Patrick’s Day recipes

Find out more about St. Patrick’s Day

Getting Fruity at River Cottage

Featured, Processing

Summer this year has given us a bountiful fruit harvest and Hugh’s latest book; River Cottage Fruit Every gives us some wonderful ideas as we gather the last of the apples, quinces, hips and berries.

The book runs alongside the latest in the River Cottage television series “River Cottage to the Core” which is currently showing on Channel 4.

As well as our usual preserves, pickles, chutneys, crumbles and pies, Hugh makes us think outside the box when it comes to cooking with our fruit with such delicacies as From Pear and Stilton Pizza to Blackberry Beer and Chicken Pie.

Special offer

River Cottage Fruit Every Day is on special offer at only £12.00 and would make a great Christmas present.

Fruit is pretty much the perfect food: bountiful, delicious and colourful, it also helps us to fight infection, stresses and strains. But why are we still a nation that thinks it’s a bit racy to slice a banana onto our cornflakes in the morning?

River Cottage Fruit Every Day - Book cover — River Cottage Fruit Every Day – Book cover

A ‘piece of fruit’ in a lunch box, on the breakfast table or at the end of a meal is all very well, but fruit is so much more exciting than this, and we don’t eat nearly enough of the stuff.

Perhaps this is because we don’t always understand how to use it in our cooking, or how to choose the best fruit for the season.

Hugh sets out to address this head on with 180 delicious recipes.

River Cottage Fruit Every Day! will show you how to enjoy a broader eating experience and make fruit easy, fun and irresistible. You’ll find recipes for all the wonderful seasonal fruit that grows in this country, and learn how to make the most of fruit from other parts of the world.

Recipes include marinated lamb and fig kebabs; barbecued pork chops with peaches and sage; venison stew with damsons; and parsnip and apple cakes. There are also fresh and zingy salads as well as gorgeous cakes, tarts, pies, crumbles and puddings.

More Information

River Cottage to the Core – Channel 4

Catch up with 4 on demand

River Cottage Fruit Every Day – Special offer on Amazon

Duck with elderflower and lovage

Featured, Recipes, Wild Food

Elder flowers are synonymous with the start of British summer, but apart from making elderflower cordial, wine and champagne, they have a great many other uses.

An alternative summer sunday roast — Roast Duck

We found this great recipe by Lawrence Keogh on the BBC Food website which uses elder flowers and elder flower cordial to dress a rather tasty peppered duck.

A great summer alternative to the traditional Sunday.

This recipe also uses lovage, a garden herb which has a mild celery/coriander like taste but not often grown because it can become a bit of a thug.

Remember not to pick all of the elder flowers or there will be no elder berries later in the year!

Apart from Elder flowers, there are many other wild foods available in June, including;

Alexanders – flowers or stems and buds if flowers not open. –

Fairy-ring Champignon
Gorse flowers
Marsh Samphire
Pennywort
Ramsons (wild garlic)
Ribwort Plantain
St George’s mushroom
Sea Beet
Shaggy inkcap
Stinging Nettle
Sweet Woodruff
Wild Rose Flowers
Wild Strawberries
Wild Thyme
Wood Sorrel

More information

BBC Food – Peppered Duck with Cherries and Elderflower and lovage dressing.

Elderflower recipes – Some great elderflower recipes from River Cottage, including elderflower delight.

Watercress Week Recipes

Featured, Make it yourself

Celebrate National Watercress Week (19 – 26 May 2013) with Three Scrumptious Summer Recipes

Herald the arrival of the British watercress season and National Watercress Week from 19 – 26 May 2013 with three delicious new recipes, perfect for summer picnics in the park or light al fresco suppers.

Why not start a lazy Sunday by serving a satisfying but fresh tasting Warm Watercress Potato Cake with Poached Egg and Trout for brunch? Or for a speedy and healthier alternative to a quiche try making a Watercress and Goat’s Cheese Frittata.

If you’re planning a summer barbeque and want to serve a salad with a difference then give a Warm Watercress, Chicken and Blueberry Salad a go. This deliciously unites the peppery zing of watercress with crunchy pumpkin seeds and sweet blueberries.

Watercress is so versatile it can be used throughout the year. As well as using this lush peppery leaf as the basis for a refreshing salad, you can wilt it into pasta, serve it with your burgers at barbecues, add it to sandwiches for picnics and throw it into stir fries to give them a kick.

Watercress is the ideal ingredient to boost your health ahead of your summer holiday too. Brimming with over 15 essential vitamins and minerals and grown in pure spring water, it contains gram for gram more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach. Research has also shown that watercress is an important player in the field of cancer prevention.

You can also celebrate this super British crop at the annual Watercress Festival held in Alresford, Hampshire on 19 May 2013. New for 2013 is the Great British Watercress Cook Off searching for the nation’s best watercress recipe. The winner will receive a £2000 cash prize plus the chance to demonstrate their recipe live at the Festival.

Other highlights include a traditional cavalcade crowning two local children the Watercress King and Queen, the hilarious Watercress Eating Championships competition with contestants eating two bags of watercress as quickly as possible, locally based stall holders serving delicious food made with local produce, live music and morris dancers.

To enter the Great British Watercress Cook Off simply devise a delicious watercress recipe and upload it to www.watercress.co.uk and you and a friend could be whisked away to Hampshire for the live final this Spring. Alternatively, send your recipe to info@watercress.co.uk or post to: Jessica Archard, Mustard Communications, 6th Floor, Regal House, 70 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3QS.

Step into summer with these mouth-watering recipes:

Warm Watercress Potato Cake with Poached Egg and Trout

Celebrate the best of British food in the early summer with this simple and elegant brunch or lunch dish. If you prefer, make the cakes up the night before and chill until you’re ready to bake them the next day.

Per portion: 398 calories, 21.9g protein, 30.3g carbohydrate, 21.9g fat, 4.3g saturated fat, 2.8g fibre, 1.11g salt

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Serves 4

700g potatoes, peeled and cut into medium chunks
100g watercress, lightly chopped
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
150g hot smoked trout fillets, broken into flakes
50g watercress
4 eggs

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 10-15mins or until they are tender. Drain, return to the pan and mash until smooth. Add the chopped watercress, beaten egg and plenty of seasoning. Mix well then leave until cool enough to handle.
2. Preheat the oven to 200oC/ 400oF/Gas Mark 6. Divide the mixture into four, and shape each into a neat cake shape. Brush on all sides with the oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 mins or until the cakes are golden brown.
3. When ready to serve, bring a frying pan of salted water to the boil. Reduce the heat so the water is just simmering, then crack the four eggs and gently drop them into the water. Cook for 3-4 mins or until the eggs are poached to your liking. Lift them from the water with a slotted spoon and drain.
4. Place a potato cake on each plate, top with watercress, flaked trout and the poached egg. Serve straight away.

Watercress and Goat’s Cheese Frittata

Per portion (when serving six): 238 calories, 11.8g protein, 12.6g carbohydrate, 15.9g fat, 5.3g saturated fat, 1.1g fibre, 0.55g salt

Prep: 10 mins
Cooking: 15-20mins
Serves 4 – 6

3 tbsp olive oil
400g cooked new potatoes, sliced
6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
100g watercress, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
100g chèvre goats cheese, diced
6 medium eggs
4 tbsp milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
salad leaves to serve

1. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the potatoes and cook over a medium heat for 8 mins or until they are golden. Stir in the spring onions and watercress, sauté for 2 mins.
2. Remove from the heat. Scatter over the cheese. Beat the eggs with the milk and plenty of seasoning. Pour over the watercress mixture then cook over a medium heat for about 5 mins or until the base is set.
3. Transfer the pan to under a hot grill and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the surface is set and pale golden. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 mins to firm up and cool slightly. Transfer to a board and serve warm or cold in slices.

Warm Watercress Chicken and Blueberry Salad

Warm Watercress Chicken and Blueberry Salad

Per portion: 227 calories, 21.4g protein, 6.4g carbohydrate, 13g fat, 2.2g saturated fat, 1.6g fibre, 0.22g salt

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
300g mini chicken fillets, cut into bite sized pieces
3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
6 spring onions, sliced
100g blueberries
150g watercress

For the dressing:
zest and juice 1 lime
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey

1. To cook the chicken, heat the oil in a non stick frying pan, add the pieces and sauté over a medium heat for 6-8 mins or until golden on the outside and cooked through.
2. Add the pumpkin seeds and cook for a further 2 mins until they are lightly toasted. Add the spring onion and blueberries, stir well to mix, then remove from the heat.
3. To make the dressing: place all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together with a fork. Season to taste.
4. To serve, arrange the watercress in a salad bowl, add the dressing and toss to mix. Add the chicken mixture and serve.

Visit the Watercress Festival website for more yummy watercress recipes.