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Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Food may not be the first thing that springs to mind during wedding planning, but for food lovers it is. Everyone’s been to a wedding where the food was awful – probably because it was catered and there were hundreds of freeloading wedding guests to feed – and it does spoil the day a bit.

Here are a few tips on getting your wedding food spot on:

• Prepare in advance – Plan a menu that can be prepared the day before, so you (or your friends or caterers) only need to reheat on the day.

• The cake – Break wedding cake convention by getting one you really like, the more indulgent the better (think big, gooey chocolate sponge cake).

• Use friends and family – What could be better than food made with love, or family recipes passed down through generations?

With Nigella Lawson’s banana bread, we aren’t unfortunately talking about the voluptuous domestic goddess’ personal loaf – we’re on about the amazing recipe she has concocted.

Banana bread is the only sort of cake-baking I actually do (apart from making flapjacks, but they don’t really count) and I’ve found this particular recipe surprisingly simple. All you need is the basics: flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder, vanilla essence and of course, bananas. It’s always best if the bananas are a little over-ripe (they can be nearly completely black), making it a good use for otherwise-inedible ones.

Extras

There are a few variables with this recipe; feel free to try the following at your leisure:

• Currants/sultanas
• Dark rum (my favourite)
• Chocolate chips
• Walnuts

Whichever one you try, the end result is nearly always moist, sweet and just a little bit healthier than other cakes (except that darn carrot cake, of course).

It is a brand new year so you may be thinking on creating a brand new you? If you are a great way to do it is to eat a food group called – Negative calorie food. Foods which consist of negative calories include celery. When you eat celery – you burn off more calories eating it and digesting it than you actually ingest. Another good food to eat is cucumber as this is made up mostly of water!

If you are dieting and are eating these negative calorie foods – remember to stay healthy your body requires vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and approximately 2000 calories for women and 2500 for men – ensure you stay healthy and if you can be bothered get yourself down to the gym!

I have a bit of a phobia / extreme dislike of sweet foods going on to savoury food – prime examples of this are Pineapple on Gammon, Pineapple on burgers or pineapple on pizza – ie Hawaiian pizza – ewwww why would you mix these two together? One is a sweet fruit and one is a pizza – it is WRONG to mix these!

Nonetheless, after having this rant with one of my colleagues they have kindly informed me that Pineapple is a great help with digestion, it is a is diuretic and is a natural cleanser, removing toxins from the body. So eating a pineapple a day keeps the doctor away – however please don’t eat it with a pizza because it is wrong!

I am not a stingy or tight person – I don’t mind paying a little bit more just as long as I get better quality for it. When my boyfriend and I were doing our weekly shop in ASDA I came across the chunky meat section, now me being a sucker for a bargain had a nosey inside the fridge. There was a huge slab of meat for a very reasonable price – it was one of those ready cooked ones so all you had to do is cut bits off every time.

The surprising thing was – this huge chunk of meat was about the same price as cooked processed ham which you get pre-sliced. In my opinion the chunky slab of meat was 10 TIMES better than the processed ham – and you get more for your money. So the trick is to shop around and make sure you get the best deal!

Can you remember all of the different advertising slogans you have heard all over the years? One of my favourites is a Shreddies Breakfast cereal TV advert which is where they claim that having Shreddies in the morning locks up hunger until lunch and “hunger” is a monster which gets locked up until dinner time.

My point is it is always good to have a healthy breakfast, when you are asleep you are still burning calories therefore you need to make sure you start the new day in great shape. Having a healthy breakfast then means you are more likely to have a healthy sandwich at lunch time as you are not ravenous and less likely to choose some fast food of vast quantity!

Choose the healthy option – we don’t want to be the obese generation!

When I used to work in Manchester city centre, there was a butty shop called Take 5 and it made the best sandwiches in the world. On offer there were butties pre made that morning in the fridge (I don’t know about you but I don’t like butties that have been chilled – they are not as good as fresh room temperature ones) and then there is a counter where they make them fresh for you with all the ingredients you could ask for!

My favourite was the Ham salad – boring you may think – however the ham was gorgeous and thick and I would have all the trimmings and salad cream on top – yum. It would fill me up until tea time and that is what you need a good sandwich to do otherwise you will be snacking on junk food all afternoon rather than being healthy and waiting for your tea!

Man surveys have shown that many people are so snowed under with their workload that they just don’t have time to take a proper lunch break.
However, even if you are extremely busy, it’s still important that you in, in order to keep your energy levels up during the afternoon.
A simple sandwich is perfect for lunch- particularly brown bread, as the carbs release their energy slowly throughout the afternoon.
If you’re unlucky enough to have to eat lunch at your desk, you’ll need a sandwich that isn’t too messy to eat, as you won’t want all your important documents to be smeared with butter!
Ham sandwiches are perfect for the office- add a cheese slice, salad or mayonnaise for a little extra flavour.
Making your sandwiches at home then taking a packed lunch into work is also a great way of saving money, as you won’t be tempted to buy expensive sandwiches from the canteen or local butty van!

When you pay a visit to your local deli, you’re sure to be presented with a fantastic choice of different types of breads to choose from.
Baps, bagels and baguettes are three of the most popular breads, and all three can be filled with a mouth watering variety of yummy ingredients.
Baps are great when you just want a simple, standard sandwich which can be eaten on the go and has no frills!
For a little more taste, go for a bagel. The only problem with bagels is that some fillings, particularly mayonnaise, can be tricky to eat without spilling everywhere!
Baguettes are often bigger than baps and bagels, so opt for one of these if you’re feeling particularly peckish!

Christmas is getting closer and closer, and as is tradition, and my team at work went to the nearest pub for lunch yesterday. We had a lot to chose from, both the standard and ‘festive’ menu, and I settled for a turkey baguette with gravy and chips.

The turkey and gravy were lovely, but the baguette… well. It wasn’t the best. And the chips definateley let the meal down (so I won’t talk about them). But the bread is key to any sandwich.

A baguette is quite a big sarnie at the best of times, but when it’s not as warm as it could be, and the edges are just that bit over-cooked… This is why the best sarnie is the one you make at home.