Sharabelle bakes

LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE Its a new year so it's time for a new project. Why?  Well I get bored very easily and find it best to have something to keep me occupied.  I'm really dangerous when bored......  Side effect of having an anxiety problem, I find it hard to relax and just sit down.  Funny enough my brothers are the same. Doing nothing and relaxing is really hard...... Writing my blog is one way I can stay busy, while still remaining in a seated position.   It's taken me a while but I have finally picked my next project for 2014..... Waste not want not My New Years resolution for 2013 was to reduce my food waste.  It seemed appropriate since our local council have started a new recycle system.  Along with my paper/cardboard bins, they have added one for tins and plastics and food waste.  I've decided to go one further this year and blog some practical ideas Iv discovered to reduce waste and save a ...

Reduce Food waste mission I forgot I had lettuce in the fridge!!!!  I'd been food shopping on Saturday night with my mum, and we were able to pick up some bargains.  Food that was either near it's best before or use by date often gets reduced by shops to save it being binned.  In there own way even large supermarkets are trying to reduce there food waste.  I freeze any chilled food that I don't plan to eat that day (Always check the packaging to see if the product can be frozen) Most vegetables can be frozen, however some are best cooked first.    Lettuce being one of those ingredients that doesn't really freeze well.  Luckily the lettuce was still okay, since it was still in its packaging.  With the snow outside it's not the weather for eating salads, so I decided to make a soup instead.  It's one of those recipes you see celebrity chefs make, looks great but not something you'd cook for your self.  The anxiet...

Iv recently re-discovered a vegetarian blog, that I really love.  Bizarrely it was while looking for sites on the 5:2 fast diet for my mum.    Tinned Tomatoes  , what better than a blog named after one of my favourite cooking ingredients.  Tinned tomatoes are something that's always on my shopping list,   It's such a versatile ingredient.  So far this week, Iv used it as a base for a tomato and roast veg soup and a smoked paprika bean stew .  Found this one on the honest cooking blog, its a great base recipe.  The only variations I made was to add sliced mushrooms and 1 tbsp of Tomato sauce, to make it more of a meal than a side dish.  Ate mine with some homemade tortilla chips, to scoop up the beans.  I got my inspiration for the soup from the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten.  I'd never though of using left over roast vegetables to make a soup.  Or in my case I roasted some veg that was on...

 Wasted food    Half of all food goes to waste I don't normally buy a newspaper, however I won't turn my nose up at a copy of the Free Metro.  Forget that it's free, it's also very well written.  Yesterdays headline was pretty shocking, globally 2 bn tonnes of food goes to waste!!!!  Problems of starvation, poverty and the credit crunch are all great reasons to avoid wasting food.  When you put food in the bin, your really throwing away money.  One of my pet hates is wasted food.   If I accidently buy something I can't eat because of my food intolerances, I give it to someone that can.   Living on a budget means I  watch the pennies, so I avoid wasting food when ever possible.  Here are some of the Tricks and tips I use to save money and avoid food waste.  First way to avoid food waste - Check the label I always check the label when  I buy something,  for the - use by o...