Banana Bread

This banana bread is delicious and moist and so easy to make. Although it is called bread, it has more of a cake texture, although it is not as sweet as cake. The measurements are given in cups, which makes it even easier to make as you do not have to be super accurate with your measuring. As it’s so easy to make it’s also ideal for children to make.

Group 1 ingredients:

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon milk

2 over-ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

Group 2 ingredients

1½ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and grease a medium sized bread tin.

- Mix group 1 ingredients together in a bowl

- Add group 2 ingredients to group 1 and mix well

- Pour the mixture into the bread tin – I told you it was easy!

- Cook for 25-30 minutes

- Remove the banana bread from the oven and put on a wire rack to cool

- Cut into slices and enjoy!!

You can also put the mixture into small individual cake cases and cook them for about 10-12 minutes – perfect for lunch boxes!

Simple, cheap biscuits

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

175g butter

100g icing sugar

To this you can then add pretty much anything you’d like!  Chocolate Chips, dried fruit, nuts & any other cookie flavours you can think of.

Firstly rub the butter & flour together, then add the icing sugar & chocolate chips & bind together into a dough with your hands.

Form it into a rough roll shape, wrap it in cling film & leave it in the fridge for an hour.

Then slice it into pieces approximately a centimetre thick & bake in an oven at 180c for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Beating Addiction saves money!

So, I have worked really hard to give up on my beloved Pepsi Max.

I don’t even have it if we go out for a meal, choosing a lime and lemonade instead.

The upside of this is that I am no longer spending a minimum of  £1.56 every day. Somedays it would be double or even treble that amount.

One big saving that stays in my bank account.

Groceries

Three transactions – in all I should have paid £51. 84.  I actually paid £23.99. Not too bad.

I’ve managed to get my mitts on some other vouchers too. That’ll keep me going til next month.

This Weeks Groceries

I had thought that I hadn’t done too well with the coupons this week, but totalling up the bill has pleasantly surprised me. I am short on coupons at the moment so I split the shopping down to six transactions. They broke up like this:

Transaction 1 should have been £8.51. I paid £4.46

Transaction 2 should have been £7.31. I paid £3.26

Transaction 3 should have been £8.17. I paid £4.12

Transaction 4 should have been £9.61. I paid £5.56

Transaction 5 should have been £6.26. I paid £2.21

Transaction 6 should have been £9.91. I paid £4.86.

Overall, the total bill should have been £49.77. I paid £23.35.  A saving of £26.42.

Not bad

Here’s the list:

washing powder

tin borlotti beans

country crisp cereal

pot noodle x2

bread

4 pint milk x 2

bananas

3 x bag mixed vegetables

bag spinach

3 pack of onions

large carrot

chasseur mix

puff pastry

sausage casserole mix

orange juice x 2

pack spaghetti

toothpaste

sleeping aids

new potatoes x 2 bags

mushrooms x 2 punnets

cherry tomatoes

celery

thyme

bag of mixed salad

red pepper

apples

cereal

cat food

2 litres sparkling water x 6

1 litre spring water x 3

2 litre pepsi max x 4

bacon rashers

chicken drumsticks

4 pack yogurts x 4

Not a bad haul I think.

WOW – it works

I get a weekly email from www.moneysavingexpert.com and in it there are many many recommendations for saving money. This week there was an offer about internet and phone packages. It looked brilliant, so I rang my internet provider to ask for a MAC code (which you need if you’re moving provider) and also to inform them of my thinking.

I got through to a really helpful bloke who changed my package with AOL. I have been paying nearly £20 for all calls and my broadband package. After insisting on my wanting to leave, he was able to offer me the same service for £6.99.

Massive savings are possible!

shopping list for tomorrow

fresh thyme

sausage meat

creme fraiche

spinach

fresh red chilli

mushrooms x 2 packs

bag of salad

eggs

chicken

potatoes

bag of veg x 2

sausages

casserole mix

stirfry veg mix

milk

bread

sparkling water x 5

pepsi

cereal

cat food

orange juice

Looks like this week will be cheaper than usual!

Tagliatelle, sausages and tomato sauce

I tried the recipe again last night, including the fennel seeds this time, just to make sure.

The fennel seeds make it work, turn it into a really tasty springy meal that was really enjoyed. So, recipe and method follows:

Ingredients:

454g pack herby sausages (lincolshire or cumberland)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp dried fennel seeds

5 vine tomatoes, seeded and rouchly chopped

1tsp brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

450g tagliatelle

Method:

1. Cut each sausage into 4 pieces. Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the sausage pieces, onion and fennel seeds for around 5 mins, until the sausages are lightly browned.

2. Add the tomatoes and sugar, then cover and simmer for 15 mins until thickened and pulpy. Life the lid off towards the end and if the sauce is a bit watery, boil vigorously to reduce and thicken. Add lemon juice to taste.

3. Put the pasta into a large pan of boiling water until tender. Drain well and toss with the sausage sauce. Divide between bowls and serve with small amount of grated cheese on top.

Sausage Casserole

I tried cooking the sausage casserole in the wok last night rather than in the casserole pot. It was a complete disaster. The sausages turned to mush before they cooked, and then they burned. I scratched the wok attempting to scrape the food out of the darn thing, so now I need a new wok too!

Note to self: ALWAYS use the casserole dish!

This Weeks Menus

Monday: Sausage casserole (by request)

Tuesday: Spaghetti bolognese

Wednesday: Roast chicken dinner

Thursday: Chinese Chicken stir fry

This week is safer than last – I think I was being a bit too adventurous and sort of overwhelmed myself before I started!