Natural fire lighters to make yourself

I have just heard on the weather forecast that we are in for a cold snap. Snow and wind from the arctic will be arriving in the UK in the next day or so....

If you have an open fire and normally use those white fire lighters, this might be
a lovely cheap alternative.


Collect all the candlewax you can. Collect some pine cones on your winter walks or even on the road as some trees are growing right underneath our noses. Get an empty baked bean can, put in a pan of boiling water, add the wax and when melted dip in the cones. Take them out and let them cool of on a news paper. Et voila, your natural, cheap and quick firelighter! If the candles were scented, they make great presents too!

How to make: Naan bread

Although this is not the authentic Punjabi recipe, it is quick, tasty and easy to make. An no waste is created.

This recipe makes 8 and is lovely with curry or soup.

250 gr self raising flour

2 tablespoons of whey or yogurt

1 teaspoon salt

115ml luke warm water.

Put flour, yogurt/whey, and salt in mixing bowl. Add the lukewarm water, a little at a time, working it into the flour with your fingers. Bring the flakes of dough together adding enough water to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead for a couple of seconds, leave to rest for at least 15 mins in a warm place.

Flour your fingers and pull off an egg sized piece of dough, roll out very thinly and lay in a very hot frying pan, grill or griddle until it starts to puff up and becomes speckled. Then turn over for another few seconds. Repeat this for all the other naans.

You can add coriander, garlic, onion etc in the dough if you so wish

How to make: pizza

I do the same for the pizza base as I would do for making bread. This time however, I buy white or chiabatta bread mix. Follow the same instructions as mentioned in the how to make bread blog. Rather than dividing them into tins, I roll them out flat and put them on a baking sheet.

Cover with tomato paste (from a tube), grated strong cheddar cheese (then you don't need so much of it) put on your topping and put in the oven for 20 minutes at 200C. Not only is it extremely fast, there is hardly any packaging involved and costs a fraction of the shop price. This would make two pizza's if you only need one you could take the left over dough, roll it out, cover with brown sugar, raisins and mixed spices. Close it all up into a roll and put into a oil loaf tin this makes a wonderful tea bread.

Another delicious recipe is to fry sliced onions in oil, add a little sugar and some balsamic vinegar.

Spread over the pizza base with tomato paste. Grate some feta and mozzarella cheese over this mixture, some rosemary and put in oven as above. Delicious!

For those of you who don't have an oven, here is an alternative:

Quick pizza (makes 2 small pizza's)

110 gr flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

yogurt, 1 tbsp oil

tomato paste/sauce , grated cheese and other toppings.

Sieve flour and raising agent. Stir in yogurt to make a soft dough. Roll into a very thin circle to fit in a frying pan. Heat oil, put the dough in the pan. Cook for 1/2 minute then turn the dough adding a little sauce, topping and cheese. Cook for 1/2 minute and place under the grill for 3 minutes. That's all!

How to make: bread

I have been making bread for years now and because it is so quick and easy I don't even think about it as a chore. No bread machines, just two tins and my hands will turn the flour within 10 minutes or so into bread. Well not really, that is my input, after that, the bread does it all itself.

Again this is a bit of a cheat, I go to my local supermarket and buy a packet of bread mix. I tend to get the mixed grain, granary or something similar. It works out at about 50p for a packet.

I also buy a bag of strong white flour. Most bread mix packets have a lot of yeast and salt already added so I add the same amount of strong white flour, double the amount of warm water (or whey if you have some left from yogurt making) that is stated on the packet, mix it all together and knead for about 10 minutes.

I oil the two tins, divide the dought between them. Cover with a tea towel and leave them in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size. Then I put them in the oven for 30 minutes at about 200C. When you take the bread out of the tins, tap them on the back, if they sound hollow they are ready otherwise return to the oven for a little longer. I make 2 large loaves for about £0.75

How to make: Elderflower cordial

Last week I noticed the first flowers on the Elder, I had to contain myself not to pick them yet as 20 flowers were needed for the recipe below. After a few days of warm sunny weather the time had arrived for the annual Elderflower cordial. What a treat, my boys love it!

It is so quick, easy and cheap that one wonders why you go out and buy it in the shops?

On the web I found Sophie Grigson's elderflower cordial

20 heads of elderflower

1.8kg sugar £1.28

1.2 litres water

2 un-waxed lemons £0.50

75g citric acid

One 500ml bottle will cost you approximate £0.45 to make, not bad as you could have to pay nearly £2 in the shops!

1. Shake elderflowers to get rid of insects and place in large bowl

2. Put sugar into pan with water. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved completely.

3. While sugar syrup is heating, pare zest of lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice lemons, discard ends and add slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

4. Next day strain cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed in boiling water) and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles.

Cheers!

Make your own: Yogurt

With food in the shops so expensive and most of us trying to reduce our waste, this is one of many things that you can make in no time, saving you money and waste.

I hope you enjoy the new items on 'how to make your own' on this blog, if you have any requests on how to make other stuff, send me an email and I'll see what I can do.

Yogurt is created by the propagation of bacteria cultures. Basically, if you place a tablespoon of yogurt in a glass of milk, the bacteria will reproduce and spread through the milk, and within 6 to 12 hours, transform the milk to yogurt. But yogurt cultures are "fussy" -- the milk must be boiled first in order to remove any competing bacteria and then cooled to a lukewarm temperature so that the yogurt bacteria won't be killed by high heat or use UHT milk (as it has been boiled before) and bring the milk to 120F. This usually takes no longer than 2 minutes.

Recipe: Yield 1 Liter of runny yoghurt or 500ml of 'greek style' yoghurt

INGREDIENTS:
1 liter milk (use the UHT type)
1 table spoon bought plain yogurt when you first start, after that use some of the previously made yoghurt.
1 wide necked thermosflask

approximate cost: 1 litre of yogurt £o.45 in shop £0.70
500 gr Greek style yogurt: £0.28 or £0.95 in shop.

1. Pour the UHT milk into a sauce pan or boil milk then let cool to 120 degrees F.
2. Heat to 120 degrees F.
3. Stir in the yogurt and pour the mixture into a clean wide necked thermosflask.

INCUBATE: Allow the yogurt to incubate for 5 to 6 hours.

The yogurt is ready when it retains the impression of a spoon pressed into the surface. If the yogurt doesn't "yog", either the heat wasn't consistent or the original boiled milk wasn't cooled enough.

At this point you can either leave it as it is and you have 1 litre of yogurt, or you pour the yogurt into a jelly bag and let it drain for 1 or 2 hours. This then gives a thick creamy yogurt and the whey can be used for breadbaking.

Flavorings:
Almond extract
Vanilla extract
Fresh fruits, such as blackberries, strawberries, peaches, etc.
Coffee flavor

TIPS! For low-fat yogurt, or low-fat substitute for sour cream, use low-fat milk. For a richer yogurt, use a mixture of whole milk and cream.
It's usually best to make yogurt before you go to bed, so the cultures can work when they're least likely to be disturbed.

Don't try to make yogurt and bread on the same day. Yogurt cultures hate competition and yeast in the air seems to make them roll over and go to sleep.

New batches should be made every 4-5 days to keep the culture active and the flavour good.

how to make: marmalade

This is a bit of a cheat really but fool proof and tasty. If you collect 9 jars with lids these will last you for years.

Ingredients:
1 tin of Mamade (thin or thick sliced) £1.12
1.8kg sugar (normal white sugar) £1.28
water

This works out at £0.30 per jar.
A large pan and clean jars.

If you follow the instructions on the tin, you will find that if you put all these ingredients in the pan, bring them to boil, have your breakfast and by the time you have done your breakfast washing up,the marmalade is ready to be put in the jars. Put the lids on, put it upside down for a few minutes then put it straight up again. This will vacuum tighten the jars. Wash the pan immediately as it gets very difficult to clean if you let it harden. Et voila, 9 jars of delicious marmalade made within 20 minutes at a fraction of the price of the cheapest marmalade you could find in any shop.