Quick Chickpea Curry.

Or Chana Masala.
We all have those days when we want something really tasty, but we just can't be bothered, right? Now I love curry, but most of the time I really can't be bothered marinating the meat, then Mr Badger decides he wants raita, naan, chips, the works! This meal is so quick and easy it's usually nearly ready by the time he asks what we're having. If you wanted to you could make it really special and do the works with it, but for me I like to keep it simple and serve it with brown rice and a big dollop of greek yoghurt.

Ingredients:
400g tin of Chickpeas

400g Chopped tomatoes

Onions

Mushrooms

1Tbsp of Curry Power
1Tsp Coriander

1/2Tsp Cumin

1. Chop your onions and mushrooms into bitesize pieces, fry gently for 5 minutes or until they're soft.

2. Add a splash of water and add your spices, stir until your veg is coated.

3. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with boiled rice and a big dollop of yoghurt, it really is that simple.
Enjoy x

Wholewheat Pitta Bread.

I've always fancied having a go at making some pitta breads but always thought it was going to be a bit of a faff. How wrong was I! These are so easy to make and ridiculously cheap, 22p for six! I will definitely be adding these to our regular menu as they are just so lovely and simple to make.

You'll need:
9oz Wholemeal Flour
7g Sachet of Dried Yeast
6floz Lukewarm Water

Method:
Mix the flour and yeast together in a bowl and make a well in the middle.
Add the water until it starts to form a dough (you may not need it all)
Kneed for 5-10 minutes and divide into 6 balls.
Roll out the balls to a thin pitta shape and place on an oiled baking tray. Remember your dough will rise so you need to roll it thinner than you think.
Pre heat oven too 250C/230Cfan/Gas 9
Leave in a warm place until the pittas have doubled in size.
Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until they are just starting to colour.
Place them on a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup.

I love soup, especially when it's cold, it's a great way to use up those odds and ends that are kicking about taking up space. Soup is so quick and easy and a great way of packing lots of different veg into one dish.


You'll need:
1 Butternut Squash
1 Sweet Potato
2 Med Carrots
3 Sticks Celery
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
2 Veg Stock Cubes
Ground Coriander, Black Pepper & Nutmeg to taste.
Serves 4. 40p per serving


Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C, cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds, place skin side up on a baking tray and roast till the skin begins to shine and the flesh is soft. This makes the skin just peel off and roasting it adds flavour.

Finely chop the garlic, onion and celery and fry off gently in a large pan. Meanwhile peel the skin from the squash and chop into large chunks, peel and chop the sweet potato and carrots and add to the pan, cook for 5 minutes then add the squash.

Crumble the stock cubes onto the veg and pour over enough water to nearly cover, put on the lid and leave to simmer until everything is nice and soft.

Once everything is soft, turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly before blending, once blended stir in the spices to taste.

Serve with some crusty bread.

Tasty Wholewheat Loaf.

I love bread, there's nothing better than on a cold day tearing up a slice of bread and dunking it into a thick soup, however I do not love what is in bread, shop bought bread to be exact.

Here are what's in one of the top selling UK brands of wholemeal bread.
Wholemeal Wheat Flour, Water, Kibbled Malted Wheat, Wheat Protein, Yeast, Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Malted Barley Flour, Vinegar, Soya Flour, Emulsifiers: E471, E472e; Preservative: Calcium Propionate (added to inhibit mould growth); Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

Here's what's in mine.
Wholewheat flour, Water, Yeast, Olive oil, Dark brown sugar, Salt.

Yep, that's it, 6 ingredients, you can also completely omit the salt if you want to. It's taken me a while to get this recipe right, we've had dry bread, soggy bread, crumbly bread, sunken bread and finally we have this lovely soft bread and best of all it only cost 88p!

You'll need:
16floz Lukewarm Water
1.5lb Wholemeal Flour
3 tbps Olive Oil
2 tsp Dried Yeast
3 tsp Brown sugar
1 tsp salt
50g Seeds (optional)

I was given a bread maker and it's fab, if you don't have one I can highly recommend getting one if bread is something you eat a lot of, if you do, throw it all in and set it to "quick" (the booklet will tell you to only do white bread on quick, but I've tried on the wholewheat setting and it's turned out horrible and heavy every time.

Dont have a breadmaker?
Don't worry you can still make this.

Put your dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the middle.
Add the oil and most of the water and mix into a dough. (add more water if necessary)
Kneed on a lightly floured surface for a good 10 minutes, until smooth and elasticy, put in a bowl and cover with cling film and leave in a warm place (I use my airing cupboard) until doubled in size.
Pre heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas mark 7.
Turn the now double in sized dough onto a floured surface and kneed again to knock the air out.
Shape the dough into rugby shape and put in your loaf tin.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise again in a warm place for 30mins.
Bake the bread for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5 for a further 30 mins, the loaf should sound hollow when "tapped on the bottom" *snigger*

The bread will last for 3 days (yeah right!) in a air tight container.

Enjoy your tasty bread.

Easy Playdough Recipe.

Here is a fab little recipe for playdough that you can make in just minutes with things you will find in your store cupboard. It's super cheap to make and makes about 2 large playdough tubs worth, you could even make it as gifts for friends' children if you can find some nice storage pots. It's so much cheaper than shop bought dough, you can add herbs or spices like cinnamon, or even glitter to make it even more sensory.

You'll Need:

1/4 cup of salt
1 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup of water

Food colouring (optional)

NOTE: If you don't have a cup measure, you can just do what I did and use a mug, the ratios will me the same.

Put all your ingredients into a bowl and mix well with a fork.
Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed until you have a smooth dough.
If your dough is too soft, just add more flour until it has reached the desired consistency.

Wrap it in cling film and store in a cool place in between uses.

 And there you go, super quick and super cheap playdough that will keep your little ones occupied for hours.

Christmas Was LUSH.

Recently, I have discovered patchouli oil, it sounds silly but the smell of patchouli makes me feel so incredibly happy, there is just something about this smell that just makes me feel warm and relaxed, every time I have felt stressed I've lit my oil burner and let my worries melt away, so for Christmas I asked Mr Badger for some special smellies so off he went to LUSH and oh boy was I spoilt!

LORD OF MISRULE
A mixture of black pepper oil and patchouli, it's earthy, warming and relaxing, it wasn't as strong in the bath as I thought it would be so don't be put off, it fizzed up and danced around the bath leaving swirls of green and red foam leaving the water a rich wine colour, it also had popping candy in which was a surprise.This bath bomb was absolutely beautiful, it smells divine.

I really can't recommend this bomb enough, I hadn't used LUSH for years but this has made me fall in love with their products all over again.

KARMA KOMBA

This solid shampoo bar is just wonderful, I've used solid shampoo before and loved it, so was really looking forward to trying this.

It smells of patchouli and sweet orange oil, it lathers really really well and leaves your hair feeling clean and smelling lovely all day, the price may put some people off but a little goes a long way, I've used it twice now and it doesn't look like I've used it at all, I imagine it will last longer than a normal bottle of shampoo.

KARMA

Now this is the star of the show.

A few weeks ago I complimented my mother in law on her perfume, it was Karma, so I hinted quite heavily to Mr Badger that this was the kind of perfume I was looking for.
When I opened it on Christmas day I was really quite disappointed, don't get me wrong smelt lovely, but it didn't smell like it had done the first time I had smelt it.
I put some on regardless and after a while the smell changed, as it warmed on my skin that spicy, warming scent of patchouli that I love, began to develop, I no longer felt disappointed.
This scent is just so lovely, it changes from a sweet orangey smell to that deep spiciness and lasts all day, I'm really impressed at the longevity of the fragrance there's no need to keep topping up and there isn't that harsh smell of perfume that you can sometimes get, just a nice subtle fragrance that progressively gets better throughout the day.

If you have never visited LUSH let me tell you a little bit about them, all of their packaging is 100% recycled and if you take back 5 clean bottles/pots they will give you a free face mask, how cool is that! They actively fight animal testing, ingredients are ethically sourced, everything is vegetarian or vegan and they also help lots of charities. So what's not to love? It's great for gifts or even just for a treat for yourself, head over to their website and have a look, I promise, you won't be disappointed.