#2PoundChallenge with Voucherbox and Zamcog

When I first heard about the #2PoundChallenge fundraiser I was intrigued to find out more. I love saving money on our weekly shop but being able to help raise money for a charity is even better.

Voucherbox are working with bloggers to raise money for Zamcog. Zamcog is a UK based charity that works with some of the most vulnerable children in Zambia. Zamcog support the Shitima School which has grown from being one class room teaching just 8 children to a fully functioning boarding and day school for over 446 children. To feed, clothe and educate a child in Zambia it cost £2 per day per child. To help us to change the way we view both food and how much we spend we were going to spend the day eating for just £2 per head. I could take the challenge in one of two ways, I could do the challenge myself or get my family involved and have the whole family eat meals for just £2 per head. I decided to do it as a family. I want my children to grow up knowing how lucky they are to live where we do. We have a constant supply of drinking water, they always have clothes and there is always food in the kitchen for them to eat.

Zamcog - Defying The Odds from Adam Dickens on Vimeo.

The day before the challenge I went shopping with £10 as we are a family of five. Before I went shopping I planned out all of our meals for the day so that I knew exactly what to buy and how much it would cost. The days shopping came to a total of £9.61.

Bramley Apple Week - Bramley Apple and Plum Crumble

We all love a good pudding and this week it is time to celebrate one of my favourite ingredients for a good, comforting pudding, the fantastically versatile Bramley Apple.

The Bramley Apple is a traditional cooking apple. Its bitterness settles to a deliciously sweet flavour once cooked and unlike eating apples it stays full of flavour. Bramley apples can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes making it a great all rounder and with them being at their best, now is a perfect time to start cooking with them. Today I am going to share with you one of our favourite puddings, Bramley Apple and Plum Crumble. The trusty crumble is a pudding that can be adapted easily to taste and can be used with a wide variety of fruits. It can be served with cream, custard, ice cream and even yogurt, the possibilities are endless!

Aldi currently have Bramley apples in store and priced at just 99p for 4 apples (approx 500 - 550g) they are cheap enough to buy a few packs, stew the apples, eat some and freeze some for another day.

This is what I did...

Cypriot New Potato Salad

One of my favourite vegetables to use has to be the new potato. As soon as new potato season arrives they are my go to potato. However, as we know, in the UK we do not have new potatoes all year round, we simply do not have the weather for them. Thankfully Cyprus does and thanks to Tesco we can enjoy them right now!

These deliciously versatile potatoes have come straight from sunny Cyprus and are of the 'Spunta' variety. The Spunta potato has a lovely yellow skin and is a fantastic all rounder potato but in my opinion, it is perfect for salads! Their mild, buttery, earthy flavours mean that they are a potato that will go with vegetables, meats and even fish. They are the perfect potato for when you are short of time as all they need is a wash and they are ready to be cooked. They can be steamed, boiled, baked and even made into chips.

As I said before my favourite way to use Cypriot new potatoes has to be in a potato salad. Forget buying a tub of potato salad, once you have tried my healthy potato salad there will be no going back!

This is what I did...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday Week 6 2017

Hello and welcome to week 6 of #MealPlanningMonday I hope you all had a good week and are ready for another delicious week.

Last week our house was full of bugs. On Tuesday Little T got sent home after being sick. Thankfully the sickness did not last long, but he was still poorly for the week with cold and raging temperature. Little I must have an immune system made of steel, bless her, apart from a bit of a snotty nose she is well. But now the rest of us are feeling it. I am not too bad, I just feel completely washed out so homemade broth has been just about all I have eaten. Isn't it amazing how a good homemade soup or broth can fill you with comfort!

Last weeks meal plan was more or less followed. The lasagne turned into a chicken pasta bake made in the Pressure King Pro and I was not up to cooking the sausage casserole on Saturday. This week the Pressure King Pro has become my go to piece of equipment. Last week I shared my review but this week it has proven to be invaluable. I was able to sneak off while Little T was sleeping, prepare the food, put it in the PKP and leave it to do all the hard work for me.

I managed to get to my Slimming World class but went in the evening instead of the regular morning session. I was a bit disappointed to have only lost 1lbs but looking back I am happy, at the end of the day it was another loss.

Now onto this weeks meal plan. This is what we will be enjoying this week...

#SimplySeasonal February 2017

Welcome to February's #SimplySeasonal!

Last month I started this new monthly feature and blog party to celebrate all seasonal ingredients. Following Mother Nature and using the fruits and vegetables that are at their best is not only a delicious way to cook throughout the year but can also be a more economical way of cooking. Fruit and vegetables that are in season tend to be cheaper in the shops and if you have enough room you can even have some of them growing in the garden.

Before I tell you what fruit and vegetables are at their best this month let me show you what tasty recipes were shared in January.

I love kale at this time of year and the Pesto Kale Salad that I added to the linky has become a favourite dish. Since making this I have been adding kale more and more to salads.

Basement Bakehouse shared an easy way to transform a high calorie pizza into a vegetable, healthy based pizza. This Easy Peasy 30 Minute Cauliflower Pizza is a must try!

Soups are perfect for this time of year. Dragons and Fairy Dust shared this deliciously seasonal Parsnip and Cauliflower Soup and reasons why they are also eating with the seasons!

The second recipe that I shared featured more kale. This Naked Coleslaw is both syn free for anyone following the Slimming World plan and contains only low FODMAP foods so you know that it is going to be packed with goodness!

Pressure King Pro - Review

I love getting kitchen gadgets. The unboxing, using it for the first time and getting creative with meals is one of my favourite things to do. So when I was asked if I would like to review the Pressure King Pro I jumped at the chance! Only a couple of days earlier I was telling the hubby that I needed a new slow cooker as my other one had broken so after having a look at the Pressure King Pro online I was definitely excited for it to arrive. I have never used a pressure cooker, but I do have memories of my mum using one when I was a child. Of course they have all updated since then and are even digital! Before the Pressure King Pro arrived I really was not sure what to expect but I could not wait to find out more.

Thanks to the speedy delivery from ao.com it arrived in no time. The first thing that I was surprised at was the size of the Pressure King Pro, it was bigger than I was expecting which is fantastic when you are preparing meals for a family of five. The Pressure King Pro comes with everything that you need to prepare delicious meals in even less time!

Before you can use the Pressure King Pro for the first time you need to give it a steam clean. This is to ensure that all parts are thoroughly clean before you add any food.

To really jump in at the deep end I decided that my first meal using the Pressure King Pro would be a joint of beef in a ragu sauce.

This is what I did...