Book Review - Tin Can Cook

Tin Can Cook by Jack Monroe seems like a great idea for a recipe book to me. For those days when you don't have time to shop for a meal or someone calls in unexpectedly to eat. Having some cans in your cupboard that can be transformed into a meal would make you feel super organised.

But does it work? Can you make acceptable meals mostly made from canned goods? Let's find out!

First up: Warm potato salad with anchovy mayo

Ingredients

100g mayo

Tinned potatoes

Tin of anchovies

1 tablespoon lemon juice

I picked this recipe because we've had a tin of anchovies in the cupboard for ages and I feel guilty for not having tried them on pizza before now. We already had lemon juice and mayo so I just had to buy some tinned potatoes.

Warm up the potatoes in a pan and then blend the remaining ingredients to make the anchovy mayo. Drain the potatoes and stir the mayo though them. I finished ours off with some parsley and pepper.

Lunch for two!

The anchovy mayo was a really strong flavour on it's own (I tried a bit as I made it) but it was different on the potatoes. Potatoes are quite plain which made the anchovy taste more mild. We really enjoyed it! It was incredibly simple and quick to put together with only a few ingredients. It ticks all my boxes. ✔️

PBJ Crumble 

Ingredients:

100g butter

100g peanut butter

1 tin cherry pie filling

100g jam

200g flour

50g sugar

Pour the cherries into a dish and try not eat all of the cherry sauce with a spoon right then. I just managed this! Dot the jam all around in the cherries. Make up the crumble topping by creaming the butter, peanut butter and sugar together and then rubbing in the flour until the mixture resembles small pebbles. Spoon this all over the dish to cover the cherries/jam. Bake in an oven at 180 C for about 30 minutes or when the crumble is browned a bit.

I only just remembered to get a picture of it. Such was my eagerness to eat it, I forgot all about it being a food for this post. It was fantastic. The best crumble I've eaten. We had it with custard and it was so good. Using tinned fruit for a quick crumble dessert is a genius idea and much more convenient than preparing fruit first. Another thumbs up!

Creamy Tomato Soup

I often make tomato soup as we like having it with grilled cheese/cheese toasties for tea. This recipe is different from my usual recipe even though I do use tinned tomatoes in mine.

Ingredients:

1 can tinned tomatoes

1 can coconut milk

1 can tinned carrots

1 vegetable stock cube

Ground black pepper

The recipe is as easy as putting everything in a pan, heating it up and then blitzing it with either an immersion blender or putting it into a blender to puree. Heat through again and serve.

It was certainly creamy from the addition of coconut milk but it also gave it an unusual smell that me and Val weren't keen on. It was a nice thick soup thanks to the addition of carrots. Overall I enjoyed it, it was warming, creamy and thick as you'd expect but it didn't have quite the same taste of tomato soup I usually have. Still, it was so quick and simple to make it'd be ideal for a quick lunch on a cold day

Conclusion

I found Tin Can Cook to be a recipe book full of ingenious and unpretentious recipes that are cheap and quick to prepare. There are lots more recipes in there that I want to try. I feel like this is the first true cheap meals cookbook I've ever read. Some of the recipes suggest rinsing baked beans because it's cheaper than buying beans such as pinto or cannellini beans. These kind of tips are so helpful to anyone struggling to afford food at anytime. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to feed their family for less money and to increase convenience too. 

A to Z Blogging Challenge: K is for Kitchen

We enjoy making food so I've decided for K to make a list of 10 things we get a lot of use from in our kitchen. 10 appliances or utensils that make things easier for us.

1. Slow Cooker

We get so much use out of our slow cooker. Shown in the picture with a chicken, spring green and chickpea soup. We make soups, stews, meatloaf, lasagne, curry, desserts and much more. I always check when I'm making something if it has a slow cooker version because I just love making a meal when I'm full of energy in the morning and coming back to a ready-made tea at 5.30. Plus, the house smells lovely all day!

2. Crockery Stand

We've got quite a small kitchen in our house so creative storage ideas are always a hit with us. This crockery stand doesn't take up much space in the corner of the counter but holds all our dinner plates, side plates and dishes. I really like how it looks too. The crockery is easy to access and using this stand saves space in the kitchen cabinets.

3. Casserole Dish

For years I wanted one of the Le Creuset casserole dishes but they're so expensive. JD bought me a cheaper alternative and I love it. It adds a nice splash of colour to the kitchen and I've used it a lot. We have a 'date night' meal every Tuesday when JD and I get the dining room to ourselves for an hour or so. I usually make us something in the casserole dish and it's really handy how you can start on the hob then transfer it to the oven to finish off.

4. Cutlery Drainer

I can't remember where he came from but our elephant drainer is great. Throw wet cutlery in his back and the excess water drains out of his trunk. A well designed kitchen thing that works.

5. Bluetooth Speaker

Not technically a kitchen gadget but it gets used in the kitchen the most out of any room. We had to buy this one to replace the one stolen when we got burgled last year. I really like to listen to music or a podcast when washing up, baking or prepping the slow cooker ingredients. 

6. Toastie Maker

It's actually a combo toaster, waffle maker and panini press but it gets used most to make toasties. Erin uses it most to make cheese toasties for her and sometimes Val when she's feeling generous. She also discovered a way to make cheese quesadillas in it which works really well. It was a gift for the family from JD's Dad a few years ago and it's had lots of use since.

7. Sieve

JD bought this huge sieve recently to use as a splash guard for when we make marinara sauce (which we make a lot) and it works perfectly. We just sit it on top of the pot when the marinara sauce is cooking and it stops that fine film of red sauce splotches covering everything as it bubbles and reduces. 

8. Smoothie Maker

I've had this smoothie maker a few years now but I still get plenty of use out of it. Maybe 3-4 mornings a week I have a smoothie for breakfast. You can buy such a lot of frozen prepped fruit now that it's really easy to make a smoothie in a couple of minutes plus they're so delicious. I also use it occasionally for making a milkshake or to blitz a tin of tomatoes.

9. Tassimo Drinks Maker

My sister Sally was telling me once about her boss who had bought a specialised Hot Chocolate Maker and we both said how decadent that was as it only made 1 drink. After thinking about it more I realised that I'd really enjoy having a drinks machine even though the only hot drink I'd make was hot chocolate. So I browsed eBay and found this one for only £10. Now once a week I treat myself to a really nice hot chocolate made by the Tassimo machine. I've bought some nice syrups too so I can have caramel or praline flavoured hot chocolate. I love it! 

10. Plastic Scraper

This unassuming blue plastic scraper gets used a lot by JD for scraping out mixing bowls before he washes up. We use it to scrape out the bowl when baking and to scrape the counter after making bread too. It cost something like 70p and we've had it for years but it gets used often.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our favourite kitchen items. What utensil or appliance gets used the most in your kitchen?

A Year of Learning - British Sign Language

 

In October I'm going to be learning British Sign Language (BSL). I already had this on my list for the year and coincidentally in JD's new job at Henshaw's supporting autistic students at the college, he'll be learning BSL too. 

I started on the British Sign Language website to browse their resources.

I found that they do an online course and right now because of Covid it's a pay as you feel system. I paid and signed up for it, as I like structured learning such as this. It's really good, with a series of videos showing each sign in different categories such as places, jobs, colours, animals, greetings etc. There's a test at the end of each section so you can see how you're doing.

I printed out and put up a copy of the BSL alphabet so we could see it often. We sometimes go around the table at tea taking in turns to do the next letter and we've all got quite good at it. Not that you'd guess from this video!

The grammar of BSL is different to what we're used to. Instead of saying 'What is your name? you sign 'Name you what? And instead of 'My name is Emma' you sign 'Name me what? Emma'. As demonstrated in the below video.

We've also learned lots of colours and animals.

We've both really enjoyed learning BSL and we're going to carry on with the course, which is quite extensive. It's a good skill to learn, especially for JD as he'll be using it daily at work. 

Next month we're both taking part in National Novel Writing Month so I guess I'll be learning how to write a novel in November (the hard way!).

A Year of Learning:

Smartphone Photography

Breadmaking

Arduino Programming

Harmonica

Creative Writing

Meditation

Crochet

Graphic Design

Family Tree

A to Z Blogging Challenge: J is for JD

 

Back in November 2016 I started this A to Z Blogging Challenge and I only got up to I is for Ice Cream. But I've decided to pick up where I left off because I like to see things through to their bitter and pointless end.

I'm up to J now and of course the obvious choice is JD. My lovely husband.

It can't be a whole post of mushy stuff though so what else can I tell you about him.

He likes climbing things.

He likes petting cats.

He's written 5 books now!

You can see them here --> JD on Amazon

He's pretty great at tending to our growing plant collection! If left to me they would wither and die. 

JD is a good cook and can be relied upon to make tea easily but his particular culinary talent is seasoning food. I often make a meal and then have JD taste and season it at the end as he always makes food taste great with various herbs and spices. 

JD is incredibly supportive in everything I do. Whenever I suggest some challenge I want to do, he encourages me to do it. Plus half the time he joins in along with me. See Emma's Exercise Experiments as a great example of this! When I wanted to climb Pen-y-gent, JD made sure to pack enough snacks and drinks. There's no way I'd have done it without him. 

This is obviously only the tip of the iceberg as to why JD is so great but you can't all be married to him so you'll sadly never know the full extent of it! :)

Family Fun - Guinness World Records again

 

We've had a go at trying some records before, hence my face being covered in post it notes in the banner above!

This time we'll be trying a few more (spoiler, we didn't break any! haha)

Eating Smarties with Chopsticks

The record is for 65 smarties eaten with chopsticks in a minute. We didn't quite manage that but JD did the best with 24, I got 15 and Erin managed 8. It's much harder than it looks!

Most Spoons on Face

The record is 17 spoons hung on the face!! JD and I managed 3 each and Erin did 2. JD discovered it was easier if you rub your face with a towel first. Still don't think we'd ever get to 17 though!

Most Dominoes Stacked in 30 seconds

This is a risky task. Go too fast and you could easily knock down what you already built up. Or go too slow and you've no chance of beating the record. Which is 48 dominoes! Luckily we came nowhere near because we only had 28 dominoes anyway, haha. JD and I managed 17 each and Erin got 11.

Most Grapes Caught in Mouth

Throwing grapes into your own mouth this time and the record is 34 in 30 seconds. To save on wasted grapes we tried to do it with the same grape but they went all over the place. It was really funny. I did 7, JD did 6 and Erin did 4. There's probably still some under the dining table!

Toilet Roll Unravelling

This one was the most pointless fun we've had. Unravelling a toilet roll with one hand in the fastest time. Erin went first and used an impressive spiral technique I wish I'd got a video of. She did it in 42 seconds.

JD went next and managed it in 36 seconds.

It was quite a beautiful thing to watch. It's not as easy as they made it look though and I took 50 seconds to unravel mine. The record is 9.8 seconds! I was the quickest at rolling the toilet roll back up so as not to waste it. Now we have some weird fluffy toilet rolls to use up!

All in all it was great fun but I don't see us getting in the Guinness World Records any time soon! :)

Subscription Box Review - Snack Surprise

 

When I heard about Snack Surprise I knew I had to try it. It's right up my street as they send you snacks from a different country every month. I signed up for a 3 month subscription of their medium box (they also do a mini and premium box).

You can check out the options here. My first two boxes were from Greece and France but I'm going to share my third box, which is from Sweden.

Each box arrives with a small booklet telling you information about the country and what's in your box. The medium box has 10+ items and my box had 12 snacks.

My favourite was the Delicatoboll, a delicious chocolate ball with a mocha flavour rolled up in coconut. It was soft like a huge truffle inside with a lovely chocolate flavour. I really liked it.

I also really liked the Dumle Snacks, a chocolate bar with caramel in the centre and covered in crispy rice. Yum!

Each medium box contains a drink and this time it was an apple and orange combo soda. It's been popular in Sweden since the 50s apparently. I enjoyed it.

There were lots of other snacks too. Cheez doodles, dill crisps, wasa sandwich crispbreads, dubbel nougat (I ate that before I managed to get a picture!), some weird looking (and tasting!!) salty candy shaped like monkeys and much more.

It's nice to get a surprise box of snacks once a month and interesting to see what's popular in other countries. I've enjoyed my 3 month subscription but it's not the healthiest of ways to spend your money. It would make a nice gift for someone though.

The medium box comes in at £12.99 which is reasonable value to have 12 snacks from different countries collected together and delivered to your door. 

Overall it's a nice treat to try snacks I wouldn't normally have and if that's your thing, then I bet you'd enjoy it too!

A Year of Learning - Family Tree

 

During September I'll be learning how to trace my family tree. I want to specifically focus on my Dad's side of the family finding out about the name Beadle and how far back it goes.

I've signed up to Ancestry.com for a free trial. As soon as I started looking up my family it became addictive. It's really easy on Ancestry as they have all the civil documents uploaded for you to look through and you can easily search for a family member. 

I found my grandad, Frank Stoker Beadle and then his parents, Ephraim and Elizabeth Beadle. I was surprised to learn they'd lived on South Beech Avenue in Starbeck, just one street over from where we used to live in Avenue Grove. That information was on an old electoral register.

Further back I found Ephraim's parents Charles and Eliza Beadle who lived in Knaresborough. And their parents, William 'Old Hallelujah' Beadle and his wife Charlotte. They had 12 children as far as I can tell!! William got his nickname because he was a lay preacher in his spare time trying to spread the word of God. He worked all week as an agricultural worker and often only got a few hours sleep at the weekend after being out preaching. 

They lived in Patrington near Hull (still Yorkshire!) As did William's parents Richard and Mary Bedall. 

It seems the spelling of the surname varies throughout the years. Beadle, Beadal, Bedell. I think this is due to a lot of records being written down when someone is asked their name which causes names to be written more like they sound.

I got as far back as 1530 when John Bedell was born in Withernwick near Hull.

In 1861 two of Old Hallelujah's sons, George and Henry Beadle emigrated to Auburn in Ontario, Canada where they married two sisters Martha and Emma (Another Emma Beadle!!) who had also emigrated to Canada and came from East Yorkshire too. So there are plenty of Canadian Beadles out there who I share family with.

It was nice to read about my family tree but I really wanted to see something physical too. JD offered to drive me on a pilgrimage to the Hull area so we could look in some graveyards for Beadles. We started with Thorngumbald since that was the district they all lived in around the early 1900s. JD and I pulled up to the Saint Mary the Virgin church and my heart fell. It was a tiny graveyard with only 20 or so graves in it.

I decided to take a picture of the church anyway and stood outside the gates with my phone raised. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the name Beadle on a gravestone! I couldn't believe it. It was David Beadle, one of Old Hallelujah's sons and his wife Ann.

We looked at the rest of the gravestones and found another Beadle. This time it was David's brother Thomas and his wife Isabella. Pretty amazing to find two Beadles in such a small graveyard, but then again OH did have 12 kids!

Old Hallelujah was counted as living in nearby Patrington during the 1880 census of the area so we decided to test our luck by trying there next. The church of St Patrick was a really nice church with a HUGE graveyard.

JD and I searched high and low for a Beadle but none were found. I thought it very unlikely we'd find a grave for OH as he'd died in a poor house, the building had been demolished in 1981. But it was worth a look. I feel lucky the pilgrimage was reasonably local, only an hour or so away!

I really enjoyed my foray into researching my family tree. I'm pleased to find out that we're from Yorkshire as far back as the 1500s. I've always been a proud Yorkshire Lass but now I can say it with more conviction. I was also pleased to find another Emma Beadle on the family tree. I wish my Dad was still around so I could tell him about all this, it was him telling us of his grandad Ephraim that made me want to find out more.

Next month - British Sign Language

A Year of Learning:

Smartphone Photography

Breadmaking

Arduino Programming

Harmonica

Creative Writing

Meditation

Crochet

Graphic Design