Each week since March 2008, in order to motivate her to waste less food, Kristen The Frugal Girl, has posted a picture of any food that has gone bad over the last seven days. She found this embarrassing practice so helpful, to her, that she invited other bloggers to post their own photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
I started participating in October 2010 and have found, that 2-years on, the amount of food I waste is minimal. In fact every Friday, as part of my No Waste Tastes Great routine, I account (and devise a plan) for all my potential food waste as well as confessing to any items that I failed to save.
Kristen has kindly asked me to host Food Waste Friday, alternate weeks (when she doesn’t post herself), and her initial invite for everyone to join in is cordially extended here!
———————————————————————
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Click here to learn more about my Friday routine

Not what you were expecting?

It’s packed out in preparation of a self-catering short-break we’re taking.

The cull and clean took place yesterday.

My food waste-confession  this week, is this rather limp looking salad.

Pre-bagged salad always looks a little worse for wear the day after.

It’s been a rather successful week, on saving other potential food-waste. Birthdays this week have meant a deviation in the usual meal-planning and the production of not 1 but 2 birthday cakes.

Club Penguin Cake Marque 1

Club Penguin Cake Marque 2

The remnants of Marque 2 are being given away to any unsuspecting person who knocks on the door. And the rest will accompany us on our travels.

As always I’ll leave the last word to Kristen…
“How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You’ll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don’t blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.

**I’ve decided not to include the LINKY for the foreseeable. My blog doesn’t allow links on the actual post, and being redirected to another page isn’t ideal. Please drop your link in the comments section.** Jo

Those of you who participate in Food Waste Friday can now grab a fancy-schmancy button to perk up your posts. If you copy and paste the following code into your Food Waste Friday post, this little graphic will appear.”

<div align="center"><a href="http://simplybeingmum.com/" title="Simply Being Mum"><img src="http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/food-waste-with-leaf-v2.1.jpg" alt="Simply Being Mum" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If you blog on WordPress, just make sure you’re in html mode when you copy and paste the code, or it won’t work p

Countless times I have promised the Kids pizza and then forgotten to leave enough time to prove the dough. Therefore I got rather excited when I spotted a recipe, in an old copy of Easy Food, for pizza dough that doesn’t need to rise. The recipe is of course adapted from the original, as I just can’t leave things alone!

Now, I have written and photographed this recipe as I prepped and baked it the very first time, and it came out fantastic. I’m explaining this not to say “how great am I?” but rather to illustrate this must be a super simple recipe as evidentially it is fool-proof (I’ve had many a first-date-disaster with new recipes in my time).

You will need – Makes 2 x 10″ pizzas

(follow either metric or imperial measurements – do not mix and match)

500g (1lb) Strong White Bread Flour

4 x Teaspoons (20ml) Baking powder

A large pinch of salt

100g (3oz) Cold butter

4 x Large eggs (room temperature best)

Passatta or chopped tomatoes for the topping

Grated hard cheese or chopped mozzarella

Instructions:

Preheat oven to a high temperature.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Add the butter in small chopped pieces.

Rub the butter in, with your hands, to create a crumble.

In a separate bowl or jug lightly beat the 4 eggs together and gradually add the eggs to the dry ingredients.

Work into a dough ball with your hands.

It will require a little kneading to ensure the dough ball is smooth.

Halve the dough to make 2 smaller dough balls.

Place each on a lightly greased 10″ pizza tray and press down to flatten slightly.

Roll out, evenly, to cover each tray.

Top each pizza with the tomato topping of your choice. I use Aldi’s chopped tomatoes with herbs in a carton. These tomatoes are the best I have ever used. At approx 45p a carton they are a great buy.. I use them as bolognese for lasagne as well as the tomato base for chilli and spaghetti. Try them. You won’t be disappointed! (Aldi do not know I am giving them a shout out…these toms are just too good not to share).

Top with cheese as required.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and place in your oven for 10-15 minutes until cooked.

Serve and enjoy!

** Please note that I am not a qualified nutritionist or professional cook.  My recipes are what I put together at home and all amounts etc… are approximate. What I write is my own experience of cooking the recipe.  Ovens and ingredients do vary – just go with it,  have fun and apply common sense at all times!  Practice makes perfect!**

Click here to learn more about my Friday routine

(I’ve had an unexpected absence from my virtual home this week – where have the days gone? – there were posts planned, but time didn’t allow!)

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

The 2 top shelves contain spreads and cheeses.

My faux-pas this Friday was forgetting to pop the Kids’ sandwiches in their lunch bags for school. Oops. The 2 green boxes, sitting on the second from bottom shelf, will be winging their way to school en-route to Aldi for my weekly shop.

The bottom shelf is where action is required.

I have minced beef thawing out. It’s headed for the slow-cooker with the piccolo tomatoes. I’m thinking slow-cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner this evening.

There’s natural yoghurt, once more, hanging around. Fortunately it’s unopened with a good shelf-life. British strawberries are tasting great at the moment (I did know why they are particularly good this year, but have forgotten!), and will be served with the yoghurt over the weekend.

That just leaves the asparagus.

I’m a bit stumped. The Hubby mentioned he fancied some asparagus. Doing what I never do, I purchased it without a specific dish in mind.

Any ideas? I’m hoping not to ruin a no-waste-week with the disposal of 12 asparagus tips… so you could say I’m looking for tips, to save some tips….

How’s your Fridge looking this Friday? Anything to declare? Or is it nice and bare? Please share…and don’t forget to drop a link in the comments if you’ve blogged about it!

No Waste Tastes Great is bought to you (as always) with thanks to The Frugal Girl for the original inspiration.

Each week since March 2008, in order to motivate her to waste less food, Kristen The Frugal Girl, has posted a picture of any food that has gone bad over the last seven days. She found this embarrassing practice so helpful, to her, that she invited other bloggers to post their own photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
I started participating in October 2010 and have found, that 2-years on, the amount of food I waste is minimal. In fact every Friday, as part of my No Waste Tastes Great routine, I account (and devise a plan) for all my potential food waste as well as confessing to any items that I failed to save.
Kristen has kindly asked me to host Food Waste Friday, alternate weeks (when she doesn’t post herself), and her initial invite for everyone to join in is cordially extended here!
———————————————————————
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Top Shelf – The usual spreads, cheeses and yoghurt – all in date

Middle Shelf –  Grapes, 2 cherry tomatoes, cucumber and some more cheese

Bottom Shelf – Milk and uncooked ham/gammon

Door – Milk, OJ, Lime and Kiwi (the Kiwi is to be taken on a picnic today)

There’s not a lot to see here on the food-waste-front – Yay! As for No Waste Tastes Great, dinner this evening will be slow-cooked ham with eggs (cupboard) and mini-corn (freezer).

However, I did waste a teapot handle.

I must write a post titled ‘Life lessons learnt from cake decorating’, I have so much material. Without a doubt every cake I create, I learn something. And learn something that is applicable to life generally.

Fortunately I had time to make and dry another handle.

A slightly more robust design this time. Pity  it didn’t quite fit in place as well as the broken one would have done. I’d already made the inserts, in the cake, based on the first design – duh!

As I said…Life lessons…

As always I’ll leave the last word to Kristen…
“How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You’ll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don’t blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.

**I’ve decided not to include the LINKY for the foreseeable. My blog doesn’t allow links on the actual post, and being redirected to another page isn’t ideal. Please drop your link in the comments section.** Jo

Those of you who participate in Food Waste Friday can now grab a fancy-schmancy button to perk up your posts. If you copy and paste the following code into your Food Waste Friday post, this little graphic will appear.”

<div align="center"><a href="http://simplybeingmum.com/" title="Simply Being Mum"><img src="http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/food-waste-with-leaf-v2.1.jpg" alt="Simply Being Mum" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If you blog on WordPress, just make sure you’re in html mode when you copy and paste the code, or it won’t work p

One of the main marketing-principles, that became ingrained, was to continuously monitor the competition.

Now competition can be a strong word. Maybe monitoring the other players in the market is more appropriate?

The idea for this post came to me on a journey back from Warwick Castle.

We’d had a wonderfully sunny day filled with interesting historical facts and medieval fun. In my head, during that 45 minutes as a passenger, I sketched out a new business idea.

Now, my old, professional, marketing-trained self would instinctively first check out the competition.

My new, freewheeling, possibly naive self – believes there isn’t any competition.

Not that I am superior to the other players in the market. Rather, I now feel, there is a place for everyone.

I don’t want to dominate, I just want my place. Therefore I need not concern myself with what everyone else is doing.

Monitoring the competition is all rather time-consuming. As well as overwhelming, daunting and ultimately intimidating.

For what I have discovered is, one of the most effective ways to stop me proceeding with something is to feel totally inferior. As though my efforts will be so insignificant in comparison to others that it is futile to continue. That I have nothing to offer.

What relevance does this have to everyday life?

This principle, I believe, also relates to life in general.

Above I’ve stated that competition is rather a strong description. Although in today’s society I do wonder if competition may be, in some circumstances, the right word.

I recently finished the book – Death By Suburb by Dave.L.Goetz. On page 42 he writes:

“Parenting is hard these days; perhaps it truly is, as the saying goes, today’s most competitive adult sport.”

We all have our place.

It may not be the same place as our neighbours, our family, or even our closest friends. There is no need for us to all lead our lives in the same way. There is no need for us all to agree.

“It is the difference of opinion that makes horse races” – Mark Twain.

By watching what everyone else is doing, do we avoid what we truly want to do ourselves?

Sit back grab a coffee and check out this Zen Habits post that is business related, but the principles are applied to general life.  I loved the ‘key lessons’ summarised at the end…

Click here to learn more about my Friday routine

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Slightly more than anticipated, as yesterday whilst out grabbing some extra milk, I impulse purchased some Tzatziki and pitta bread

And can you see the Greek yoghurt sitting on the middle shelf?

It’s one world week at school. The Kids’ have been food-tasting.

It transpires my 4-year-old isn’t too keen on frogs legs.

However my  giaourtiophobic 8-year-old seems to have conquered her fears.

(Yes, there is a specific term for the fear of yoghurt!)

So pleased was I, that 2 pots of greek yoghurt with honey just popped into my basket. Along with Tzatziki – which also coincidentally is yoghurt. I’m hoping that this new found confidence continues into trying other international dairy products. I’m thinking raita etc… oh the options are endless!

Coincidentally I have been craving greek yoghurt myself since watching this TV advert.

The track the ad agency chose was very apt. I could not get it out of my head.

Being on the 6&6 allows a treat a day. And rather than indulge in  nutritionally deficient chocolate or a.n.other satan-endorsed-snack – I’ve decided to go sugar and fat crazy on real food.

So good and tasty – it hurts.

But back to No Waste Tastes Great.

Confession time.

I’m so rubbish some weeks. It’s slow-cooked ham. That’s not clever.

How’s your Fridge looking this Friday? Anything to declare? Or is it nice and bare? Please share…and don’t forget to drop a link in the comments if you’ve blogged about it!

No Waste Tastes Great is bought to you (as always) with thanks to The Frugal Girl for the original inspiration.

So motivated that I am back on my 6&6 regime. Okay so maybe not so much of a regime, but a little bit of discipline does us all good from time to time.

(6&6 evolves as does life. The above link outlines how I was doing it 2-years-ago. There’ll be a post soon on how it’s now working).

Just 4 days in, I’m feeling the benefits of ditching the extra sugar and the nutritionally deficient snacks and foodstuffs.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed. My running buddy asked me this morning if I’d had 3 Shredded Wheat for breakfast (worth clicking on the link for a little 70′s nostalgia).

I hadn’t of course. All-bran is my breakfast of choice when being good, topped with fruit and milk.

I’m getting to the recipe. I promise.

For lunch I had…

And for dinner…

Simple Smoked Haddock Pasta Bake (told you I was getting to it!)

You will need (Serves 2):

2 frozen smoked haddock fillets (approx 100g/4oz each in weight)

150g / 6oz dried wholewheat shaped pasta (I used fusilli)

150g / 6oz frozen sweetcorn

50g / 2oz grated hard cheese (I used cheddar, but double gloucester works well also)

3/4 pint of semi-skimmed milk

2 Tablespoons of cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water

A handful of breadcrumbs or crushed crisps/potato chips or cornflakes

Black pepper to season

Instructions

Cook the haddock as you would normally or according to the instructions on the packaging.

I wrap mine in a foil parcel and bake on high for 20 minutes.

Whilst the fish is cooking, cook the pasta as you would usually.

I simmer mine for 8-10 minutes in boiling water with a splash of oil. Drain the pasta once cooked and put to one side.

Whilst the fish and pasta are cooking, make the cheese sauce.

Place the milk in a pyrex jug, in the microwave for 3 minutes on high (based on 800W).

Remove and pour in the watered down cornflour, the grated cheese and black pepper (to season). Stir well.

Heat again in the microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir.

It’s likely the sauce will need to be heated for a further minute (5 minutes in total). The sauce should be thick but runny. A similar consistency to custard or a thick soup.

Put the sauce to one side until the haddock is ready.

Once the fish is cooked leave to cool slightly before flaking.

Add the pasta, sweetcorn, haddock and sauce to a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

Transfer to an oven-safe dish, or split into  2 individual dishes depending on how it will be served.

Sprinkle over the crumbs and either bake immediately on a moderate-high oven temp for 15-20 minutes until piping hot throughout , or chill until ready to bake. If baking from chilled increase cooking time by 5-10 minutes.

** Please note that I am not a qualified nutritionist or professional cook.  My recipes are what I put together at home and all amounts etc… are approximate. What I write is my own experience of cooking the recipe.  Ovens and ingredients do vary – just go with it,  have fun and apply common sense at all times!  Practice makes perfect!**

In the kitchen.

Talking to myself.

Out loud.

“What you do everyday matters more than what you do once in a while” Gretchen Rubin

Last week I made a pact with myself. To focus on specific things, daily. Certain things that are important to me, improvements that I want to make and skills I wish to develop.

I mapped it out.

There are other things that I have chosen to do daily, on a separate map. Things that have to be done, and of course things that the Kids’ need/want to do as well.

So, here I am in my kitchen reprimanding myself, out loud, for ticking just a solitary thing off my self-enforced daily list.

Exercise. Running to be precise.

(The proof)

What happened to baking, writing, reading and meditating?

Baking, and writing, was a sure thing today. Or so I thought. The plan had been (note: had) to bake the *perfect cupcake, photograph the recipe and write a blog post.

This would be the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone.

(*As we all know there is no such thing as “perfect”, but that’s what I am going to unapologetically title it, when I get round to actually doing it…)

But, the day is wearing on, I’ve wiped down the kitchen counters for the umpteenth time and the light, that is required to take a decent photo, is fading.

I’m thinking baking won’t be happening today. Does that mean I should give in?

It’ll take 10 minutes to type this post up. I can spare 10 minutes can’t I?

40% success rate. 3 out of 5 not done. Far from perfect but better than 5 out of 5 not done. As my day progressed and I realised I wouldn’t achieve what was intended, I could have decided to try for a perfect pass rate tomorrow, and give up on trying to improve today.

Tomorrow never comes.

Perfect is the enemy of good. In fact perfect can be the enemy of done.

“If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second or even the third place.” Cicero 106-43 BC

**For anyone who loves a bit of drum and bass check this class track out - Not Giving In – Rudimetal - prepare to feel motivated!**

Each week since March 2008, in order to motivate her to waste less food, Kristen The Frugal Girl, has posted a picture of any food that has gone bad over the last seven days. She found this embarrassing practice so helpful, to her, that she invited other bloggers to post their own photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
I started participating in October 2010 and have found, that 2-years on, the amount of food I waste is minimal. In fact every Friday, as part of my No Waste Tastes Great routine, I account (and devise a plan) for all my potential food waste as well as confessing to any items that I failed to save.
Kristen has kindly asked me to host Food Waste Friday, alternate weeks (when she doesn’t post herself), and her initial invite for everyone to join in is cordially extended here!
———————————————————————
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Not much to talk about here. The usual spreads, cheeses and yogurt on the top shelf, all with life left in them.

Slow-cooked ham sitting in the centre, which will be eaten up as part of the Kids ‘choosing tea’ after school.

There is waste. About an inch deep of natural yogurt – see bottom shelf. I just didn’t quite finish it – Duh!

My fridge looked very different last Thursday.

(Last week’s fridge chaos is nothing in comparison to Jeff’s from last night’s episode of Britain’s Biggest Hoarder. I have never seen a fridge/freezer quite like it, nor do I ever wish to again. My heart goes out to Jeff. I was incredibly impressed with what he has achieved in dealing with his hoarding. Keep going Jeff – don’t give up!)

Although I successfully limited the damage, last week, it reminded me just how important meal-planning is, here, in the battle against food waste.

It seems only right on the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters to quote Winston Churchill;

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”

Back on the meal-planning program, I am.

Simply Being Mum’s Menu Board

My menu runs Saturday-Thursday. Friday is No Waste Tastes Great.

Being a Brit it’s only right we have a chippy night. The Hubby and I no longer indulge in a takeaway on a Friday, rather the cash is spent on a fish and chip supper after swimming lessons for the whole family. This has become a family tradition, and hopefully is creating a childhood memory.

Of course reducing food-waste is not just about the fridge. A quick inventory of the cupboards and I discovered a basket of potatoes.

No problem. A quick peel and boil…

…and they were whipped up into these for baking…

Quite a stylish way to serve mashed potato, even if I do say so myself! They were nicknamed ‘potato puffs’ by the Kids last night.

I love a good food-save!

As always I’ll leave the last word to Kristen…
“How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You’ll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don’t blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.

**I’ve decided not to include the LINKY for the foreseeable. My blog doesn’t allow links on the actual post, and being redirected to another page isn’t ideal. Please drop your link in the comments section.** Jo

Those of you who participate in Food Waste Friday can now grab a fancy-schmancy button to perk up your posts. If you copy and paste the following code into your Food Waste Friday post, this little graphic will appear.”

<div align="center"><a href="http://simplybeingmum.com/" title="Simply Being Mum"><img src="http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/food-waste-with-leaf-v2.1.jpg" alt="Simply Being Mum" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If you blog on WordPress, just make sure you’re in html mode when you copy and paste the code, or it won’t work p

My chocolate fudge cake recipe is good enough, it’s not perfect.

It isn’t the Nigella recipe that I have followed countless times over the years.

(Can you see the chocolate smudges? That’s the sign of a good cookbook – actual food remnants on the page.)

These days, as my confidence in the kitchen and culinary skills have increased, rarely do I follow a recipe to the letter.

Particularly if doing so means:

a) a special trip to the supermarket

b) there may be additional food waste from buying seldom used ingredients in quantity

c) there’s a cupboard full of alternative ingredients ready to go

With a couple of omissions and alternatives I can create a credible, if not perfect, chocolate fudge cake. The added bonus is this “good enough” cake will also cost considerably less than the perfect version.

*I’d recommend baking Nigella’s chocolate fudge cake at least once in your lifetime, as not only is it superbly perfect, but it also allows you to compare how good, good enough is.

You will need:

(please be aware this recipe is best made measuring in grams, but if using ounces, do not mix and match measurements – stick to ounces throughout the recipe)

400g / 14oz flour (Either self-raising or plain/all purpose)

250g / 9oz caster sugar

100g / 3½oz light muscovado sugar

50g / 1¾oz cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of baking powder (if using plain/all-purpose flour but not with SR as it is not required)

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon of salt (if using plain/all-purpose flour not SR)

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract or essence

175g / 6oz cooking margarine (melted and cooled)

125ml / 4floz cooking oil – I use extra virgin olive oil

300ml / 10floz cold water

200g of dark chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids)

200g cooking margarine

300g icing sugar (powdered/confectioners sugar)

Another tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 x 8″ diameter or 20cm sandwich tins

Instructions:

Preheat oven to a moderate heat = 160°C / 320°F / Gas Mark 3.

Grease and line the sandwich tins. Or alternatively use cake release as I do.

Melt 175g / 6oz of margarine and leave to cool.

In a large bowl place all the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, sugars and cocoa. Mix.

In a jug whisk together the eggs and vanilla.

In another bowl, or jug, whisk together the melted margarine, oil and water until just combined.

Pour the fat/oil/water into the dry ingredients and mix until combined – do not over-mix. I use an electric whisk.

Add the egg/vanilla to your chocolate batter, whisk again till just combined once more.

Pour the batter/mixture into the 2 tins as equally as possible. If you want to get the split fairly accurate you could weigh the tins as I do.

(my tins weighed approx. 850g each when filled)

Place in the centre of the preheated oven and check after 35 minutes. Ovens do vary, and this recipe could take up to 45-50 minutes. Mine were ready in just over 40 minutes.

The cakes should be firm to touch. Test with a cake tester/wooden skewer, if unsure, to check the cake is cooked throughout.

Leave in the tins to cool slightly (and to firm up) before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

Once cold the cakes can be covered in the chocolate fudge frosting/icing.

Melt 200g of dark chocolate.

If using a microwave, break the chocolate into chunks and place in a non-metallic dish. It will take approx. 90 seconds to melt in a 800w microwave oven. Stir to ensure all lumps have dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.

To make the chocolate fudge icing/frosting beat or whisk together 200g of margarine with 300g of icing sugar. This can get messy!

I use an electric whisk. This creates a crumb like consistency first, which is normal.

Continue to whisk or beat (by hand) until the mixture is smooth.

Pour in the melted chocolate and add a tablespoon of vanilla and beat in by hand.

Combine thoroughly.

The bottom tier of the cake may need to be leveled slightly to stop the top tier bowing and even potentially splitting when placed on top – this will depend on how much the cakes have risen.

Once/if leveled, spread the top of the bottom tier with the frosting/icing. I chill my icing for a few minutes so that it has a thicker consistency for spreading – this is personal preference.

Place the other cake on top.

Spread the frosting/icing all over the cake, including the sides. There will be plenty of icing to cover the cake

Chocolate fudge cake, in my opinion, is best baked a day or two before serving. It should last up to 5 days in an airtight container, and there is no need to refrigerate. Cake and extreme cold do not go together!

And there you have it, my adapted version of a perfect cake. I’ve changed quantities, dumbed-down and even removed some ingredients entirely. I don’t feel too guilty though, as Nigella herself confessed to adapting this recipe from Tish Boyle’s Diner Desserts.

Maybe someone will adapt my chocolate fudge cake recipe?

** Please note that I am not a qualified nutritionist or professional cook.  My recipes are what I put together at home and all amounts etc… are approximate. What I write is my own experience of cooking the recipe.  Ovens and ingredients do vary – just go with it,  have fun and apply common sense at all times!  Practice makes perfect!**

**There are no affiliate links in this post**