Cheap and Easy Tomato Soup

I've told a few people about my homemade tomato soup...and some have turned their noses up at it because I use tinned tomato's....well give it a go and see for yourselves! Prince Frugal enjoys it and he's rather fussy.

This is really quick to make too.

Number of servings: 4 (Just double the ingredients if you need more)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes (I use supermarkets own brand for 31p - bargain)

• 1 pint of stock - your preference (I use vegetable - with a good old oxo cube)

(BTW I went to Lidl yesterday and you could get oxo cubes 2 boxes for £1, and they normally cost about a £1 in other supermarkets)

• 1 TBS Dried Basil

• Olive oil

• Garlic Italia herbs

• Worcestershire Sauce

What to do....

1. Chop up your onions and the garlic in fry in the oil until golden brown
2. Pour in your can of chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 5min
3. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, and again simmer for 5min
4. Add basil, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, about a tea spoon of garlic italia (add more if you like) and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Blend to make it lovely and smooth.
6. Enjoy....tastes really lovely with a cheese sandwich.

This recipe can also be frozen ( I have two portions in the freezer ready for Prince Frugal's lunch next week)

Hope you enjoy. I  would love to hear any feedback if you tried this recipe...good or bad!

White Vinegar...who knew it could be so useful ;)

Well... I think we all did really! My mum used to have a book about the uses of white vinegar, including some really useful tips and some really weird and wacky ones (including some on contraception....which I'm not going to say on here!!)

So here's a TOP TEN list of the ones that I use and think are really helpful. 

White vinegar is really cheap, and therefor ideal to use in this currant economical climate. 

White Vinegar can be bought from all good Supermarkets :)

OK, so here goes...

1. Cleaning the microwave - use 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/2 cup of water in a safe microwavable bowl. Pop it inside the microwave and 'nuke' it until the water is boiling. Hopefully, any baked on food will be loosed and odours will vanish. Then just wipe clean. ( I think I should do this to the microwave in work, before we all catch e-coli! - no joke!)

2. For making glassware sparkle - use undiluted white vinegar for this. Get some paper towels and soak it in the vinegar. Wrap the paper towels inside and outside of the glass. Leave it for a while and then give it a rinse.

3. Removing stains from tea/coffee cups - I'm going to get Prince Frugal to do this, as he's a bit of a half a job Harry when it comes to cleaning the mugs! sssshhhh don't tell him I told you!   Use equal parts white vinegar and salt (or you can you baking soda) scrub the cups gently and then rinse clean.

4. Stained and smelly plastic containers - Use undiluted white vinegar and with a cloth, wipe clean

5. Smelly lunch boxes - Soak a piece of bread in white vinegar and leave in the box overnight.

6. Removing grime, mildew and scum from the bath tub, tiles, shower curtain or door -Use undiluted white vinegar and with a cloth, wipe clean, and then rinse with water.

7. Washing powder  -You can save on the amount of washing powder you use by half, by adding 175ml of white vinegar to your washing machine drum.

8. "When I'm Cleaning Window" (One for the mum's) - You can clean your window with white vinegar and then buff with newspaper. I add lemon juice to this, to make it smell nice.

9. Too much salt, yuck! - If you've added too much salt to a recipe, you can add a spoonful of white vinegar and sugar, to try to correct the taste.

And finally ...

10. Pesty Cats - Cats are great, but now when they poop in your sand pit!! Spray around your kiddies sand pit , and hopefully this will keep the cat away.


Well I hope these tips are helpful. I'm off now to the supermarket, I need some more vinegar. :)

Portion Size...I HATE Waste

Maybe a bit of a dull topic...but since I've had to do the supermarket shop, and I now know how much food costs; I'm very aware of food waste!

So... reasons for this post

1. I hate food waste!
2. I don't want to end up eating extra, just so I don't have food waste (MUST NOT GO UP A DRESS SIZE!))
3. I don't have a third and besides the first two were amazing ;)

So I thought I'd just do a list of foods, and the ideal adult portion size.

(P.S. This is just my opinion... I could be wrong...it does happen) 

Rice
I measure this using cups - 1/2 a cup for each person

Cous Cous
50g per person. So for Prince Frugal and I, I would boil 100g of cous cous with 125ml of water...bring to the boil and stand for 5 min :)

Pasta
75g per person

Spaghetti
This is one I am rubbish at! I really need to buy that gadget with the holes it.

This website is awesome if you want to check your portions. Great if you're having a dinner party

http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/portions/everyday


Stay healthy everybody!

Pea and Ham Soup

So here’s the story… on Monday I made an amazing roast ham dinner (amazing if I do say so myself!). As there is only two of us if the house, I needed another way of using the ham up.

The dog had a little bit on his dinner last night as a treat…but I there was a huge chunk left.

I wanted to make a soup, but bearing in mind that I want to use things in my cupboards etc… I did an internet search and found a couple, and sort of put them together to suit what I already have….so here it is

Preparation about 10 min

Cooking 10-30 min

Serves 2-4

1tbsp sunflower oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 large potato (I only had small ones, so used about 4!) – cut into small cubes

Salt and Pepper

300g frozen peas

600ml of vegetable stock ( I used 3 vegetable oxo cubes and hot water  )

100g ham – chopped up small

1. Heat oil in large pan, on a low heat.. Add the potato and onion, and season with Salt and Pepper. Then stir to coat the vegetables in oil

2. Take a piece of baking paper large enough to cover the top of the sauce pan (I used foil  ). Scrunch it up and unfold it, then lay it over the top of the pan ( this will help the vegetables cook more quickly). Put the lid on the pan, cook on a low heat for 8-10 minutes, until the potatoes and onions are cooked,

3. Remove the paper. Add the peas and 400ml of stock to the pan, and bring to the boil. cook for a couple of minutes,

4. Take the pan off the heat, and blend the soup with a stick blender, until it is very smooth. Add the remaining 200ml of stock. Put in the ham

5. Bring the soup back up to a simmer. If you need to add more seasoning then do so.

6. Eat and enjoy!!

Mr Frugal has just devoured a bowl of this and he’s given it two thumbs up!!!

Feeling rather proud of myself with my first attempt at making soup!

I hope you enjoy this cheap and cheerful soup.

P.S if you haven’t got any ham…I think it would taste great with bacon. Yum Yum