About ME!

HELLO!!

I'm Christine. I'm a busy mum to 5 year old twins, Robin and Evie and wife to Ian. I also run a property management company. We live in a small village in beautiful, rural Northumberland. I love spending time at home with my family, running and exercising and socialising with my fabulous friends.

When I'm not busy with work, family or friends, my favourite pastimes are cooking and eating (often a combination of family/friends and food). I particularly get so much (too much?!) pleasure from making healthy, nutritious meals from nothing (well, whatever I've got in the house!), making leftovers exciting and not wasting a thing. I HATE waste. I've wanted to start a blog for a few years but time just hasn't allowed it. But I'm very excited about getting it going now and sharing my passion for food with the world!!

I'm very health conscious and want to feed my family good food, on a budget. As you can imagine, time is not something that I have a lot of so my cooking has to fit in with my busy life. Weekday cooking has to be fuss-free and speedy but I still want it to feel indulgent.

I am also a keen vegetable gardener. There is little better than creating a whole meal from produce that you raised with your own fair hands. And in the British weather, it's not always easy. It makes you appreciate it even more though! I would urge anyone to have a go at growing their own. Even if it's just a few of your favourites in pots or some herbs on the windowsill. Do it!

I'm going to try and share some of the recipes that I create and any tips that I have along with general ramblings about food and the good life!

Don't expect fine dining, just homemade, tasty, healthy and wholesome food. Always on a budget! Maybe with the odd flashy, entertaining number thrown in for good measure. The budget won't go out the window though.

I'm very new to this so please bear with me until I find my feet!!

I hope you enjoy it. All feedback very much appreciated!!

Thanks y'all!

Thursday, 3 April 2014

500g beef mince = flippin' masses of meals!

I am impressed with myself today. And i was yesterday. And I was on Tuesday. Reason? We have so far had the following from 1x 500g pack of beef mince:

Tuesday: mince and potatoes for the kids
Wednesday: lasagne for all 4 of us
Thursday: leftover lasagne for my lunch 
Cottage pie for supper. Ian and I both had seconds too. 
AND there is enough of both the cottage pie and the lasagne for another meal time each, for us all! 

When I made the mince initially I cooked it with some dried herbs, garlic, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, lots of beef stock and bulked up with dried breadcrumbs (homemade, obvs) and a bit of flour to keep it nice and thick. 

I split what was left into 2 and made bolognese sauce yesterday with a little bit of red wine, 2 tins tomatoes, splash of balsamic vinegar, beef stock, chilli powder, oregano, 1 tsp sugar, a squirt tomato ketchup, a little buttery flour mix (just mix it in a bowl - has to be softened butter. You don't need to make a roux in a pan) to thicken it, if necessary. 

I made a big batch of cheese sauce and made a large lasagne which would easily serve 6-8 adults. 




Today I fried another onion and garlic with 2 sticks of finely chopped celery, a handful of finely chopped mushrooms, red wine. Let the alcohol cook off and add the mince. Mix it up, add beef stock, half a tin of tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, chilli powder, tomato ketchup, mixed herbs. 

Make up a big pan of mash. I added wild garlic butter and a handful of grated cheese. 

Assemble in a deep oven dish. Mince first, mash on top. Sprinkle more cheese on top and some dried breadcrumbs for extra crunch. 

This made enough for 6-8 adults. 


No comments:

Post a Comment