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Chocolate in General
by thedevilinme
Buscuit - Cadburys Fabulous Fingers
Delivery - Tin
Price - £10- £11
Gift - Seasonal Product launch
Have you noticed that only thin and attractive people eat sweets and chocolates in the TV adverts? It would be a tad more realistic if it was that big lady from Strictly Come Dancing or the fat bloke from ... Gavin & Stacey munching away under the Christmas tree. That's what happens to you if you eat too many treats girls and boys! But putting fat people in adverts would be an admittance by Cadburys that chocolate is indeed bad for you and remind us that and sweets and biscuits are unhealthy and so we wont be seeing nay advert changes soon. You can eat as many as you like but you won't get fat and stay young and gorgeous is the message. Telly is the only place where pretty and slender people with luscious lips and happy kids get to eat chocolate guilt free.
Tins
What is it with biscuits in tins? Can there be a more wasteful exercise for the environment. You can understand small sweets in them as there are a lot of flavors and shapes and sizes for the family to root around for of their favorite Quality Street etc and so practical. But with biscuits like these the tin is merely a container. Only royalty should have biscuits in tins. The truth, of course, is presentation and we like to think we are having a one off treat when it's in a tin when in reality it's yet more chocolate and carbohydrates but in different shiny wrappers, a gold tin no less to launch these Cadburys babies! I'm no expert but I suspect its all about selling us sweets and biscuits guilt free. 'Go on, treat yourself for Christmas girl. You deserve it!' I know that in the fruit & vedge warehouse for the big supermarkets up to 20% of perfectly healthy produce gets rejected because its not 'aesthetically pleasing', meaning customers vanity gets the better of them when offered the choice and so ok to leave the deformed ones alone in the green trays, and as most of the rejected are perishable they simply get lobbed away, why supermarkets want only supermodel fruit on their displays. It's the same with selling candy sticks- as the new owners of Cadbury call Chocolate Fingers over there. I thought only Willy Wonka made candy sticks. The prettier it looks the more likely we are to desire it. We give money to charity to save the dolphins and the Tigers but not the ugly animals.
What's in them?
As the Americans have taken over Cadburys you will start to see more biscuits like this. They like sweet things over there and they don't really do crunchy centers. They want to make new brand biscuits that will sell on both sides of the pond, here the first hybrid of the classic traditional Cadburys Finger, using an American style soap opera advert to sell them, introducing two new Cadbury Fingers-style puppets - Caitlin and Madison Fabulous. But they are making bold claims that vegetarians can eat these as there is nothing in them they can't eat. Cadburys have also invented a scale of healthiness called the GDA, the 'Guideline Daily Amount', perhaps slightly bias in their favor as these are nearly all sugar and so not great for healthy living. Retailers have many names for sugar. All are used here in the bars ingredients. 'A serving' (what ever that is) contains the following of your Guideline Daily Amount. If 'A serving' is two bars then you will have taken a quarter of your daily salt intake right there. There is way too much salt in our diets as it is.
4% of your GDA
Sugar....5g
6% of your GDA
Fat.....4g
6% of your GDA
Saturates.....2g
12% of your....GDA
Salt....trace
Tasty
There not bad although they don't taste like traditional Cadbury chocolate finger biscuits, this more Drifter than Twix. The top layer of velvety smooth chocolate is the best part whereas the white chocolate mantle is not that easy to taste, the bit in the middle alien to my tongue. I like a multilayered chocolate but I want the top layer nice and hard so I can eat it from the sides and feel the crunch in my mouth and then devour the taste sensations from the centre. If there are three flavors on offer I want to know about them. You don't really get that here. No this one looks more like a sucker in the way you can slurp a Mars Bar or Twix finger straight from the packet. That's the best way to taste chocolate. The 'crumbage' is good with little debris after you bite into it. As you all know with Cadburys Flakes, one bite and most of it is on the floor. The big negative for Cadburys here though is you eat one you won't be particularly bothered if you eat another one that day in the way After Eight Mints are a bit of an effort although don't get me into the arguments over whether chocolate should ever mix with mint.
Price
I used to work at Tesco's back in the day and the tinned sweets and biscuits would come in pallets of symmetrical piles and we nearly always dent a few near Christmas so we could have a massive discount on them. They are always outrageously expensive for what they are and this was the only way we could afford them on minimum wage. No one spends seven quid on a dented tin of Roses, even though the sweets remain undamaged and just as tasty.
At £8.95 a tin there are going to be few takers for Christmas, an absurd price for a new launch, the gold tin presumably why we are asked to pay £9 for biscuits. I had some free samples through work and so didn't have to shell out but if you think you can shop around and get a tin of Roses for a tenner then why would you risk so much on anew brand you may not like. If nothing else you have a shiny gold tin for your jewelry or valuables.
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Potato
by teafan11
Potatoes must be one of the most versatile vegetables there are. They can be cooked in so many ways, each being as tasty as the next. There is something so comforting about a bowl of onion and potato soup or bangers and mash. Potato is the ultimate in comfort food and is extremely economical. I buy mine in 25kg sack for £7.50 and they ... last a good six weeks. The varieties I opt for generally are a white Saxon, but I prefer Maris piper although these are a more expensive potato. If I were to list the varieties available I would fill an A4 page, the list would also include blue and purple varieties. Not what I would consider appealing, but they could be fun to put on you kids plate.
Instead I will tell you a little about the uses I put them too. First and foremost I cook them as a potato, roasted, mashed with butter and cream and sometimes with cheese (now I'm getting hungry!), chipped, baked and boiled. You can also posh them up making dauphinoise potatoes etc. But at home with kids simple is best. Another of my families favourite is soup, and I make a really tasty and homely potato and onion soup, by simply lightly frying onions in a little butter add mashed potatoes and stock and then add salt and pepper to taste. This is an easy recipe for these long cold nights and perfect for when the snow starts falling and I have cold little fingers and toes that need warming after making snowmen.
The potato is not just a great winter vegetable, as they make a great addition to a salad and you can make an absolutely fantastic potato salad for with a barbeque, just boil them until tender then add mayonnaise if you're in a hurry (or natural yoghurt and sour cream) with finely chopped chives and celery and salt and pepper to taste. You can also add diced crispy bacon, chopped spring onion or chopped boiled egg just before serving if you're feeling adventurous.
One of the other things I enjoy about this time of year is fireworks night, and coming home to hotdogs and a big jacket potato that's been cooking while we've been out is great; you open the door to the pleasant aroma which makes your mouth water. Once the potatoes are cooked which dependant on size take around an hour to bake at 180 degrees, I scoop out the fluffy potato into a bowl and add butter, cheese and chopped ham or any other combination that takes my fancy. I mix it up and then place it back in the skins and sprinkle more cheese on top and then lightly grill.....yummy!!
Another great idea for potatoes if you're a little strapped for cash is the classic potato pie which is an incredibly frugal, filling and nutritious meal. There is no real recipe that i use for this and I lightly boil potatoes' in stock and add any vegetables or meat I have in the fridge, if I don't have any I simple add onions and place in a pastry case and bake. It what I call an `all in` pie as I can use up any left overs so I don't need to throw them out.
Nutritional values per 250g:
Energy 188kcal -
Protein 5.25g -
Carbohydrates 43g -
Of which sugars 1.5g -
Fat 0.5g -
Of which saturates trace -
Fibre 3.25g -
Sodium trace
Potatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, are very low in sodium/salt and are a great source of fibre. They also contain lots of vitamins and minerals. They are a very starchy food that is high in carbohydrates. Potatoes contain enough vitamins and minerals to sustain a person if they are supplemented by milk and butter which contain vitamins A and D, these are the only vitamins that a potato lacks, not bad hey?? However I would ere on the side of caution and not follow this particular diet as potatoes are high in carbohydrates that can cause substantial weight gain if eaten excessively. They do not count towards one of your five a day which is unfortunate, because it's such an adaptable vegetable that is both comforting and tasty.
Although not native to Britain, potatoes grow exceptionally well in our climate and they are surprisingly easy to grow at home in potato sacks, so I've been told, I'm going to try sowing them in February, so wish me luck!!!
Potatoes are best left in the ground, if you are growing them at home; until needed, but if you purchase them they are best stored in a cool, dry and dark place with ventilation, that way rot is kept to a minimum, if you discover a few bad potatoes remove them immediately and check the surrounding potatoes.
Of course there is also the sweet potato, which may also be referred to as yams, they taste brilliant roasted and then mini marshmallows sprinkles on top. They also make a fantastic sweet pie (more of a tart really). It resembles an egg custard tart and is a mixture of evaporated milk and mashed, cooked sweet potato, with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. It makes a fantastic Christmas dessert with a big dollop of cream.
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Rice & Pasta Dishes
by redhead78
I've had this recipe for so long that I can't actually remember where it came from. It was a firm family favourite in our house when we were growing up and one that featured regularly on our dinner table. I now make it at least once a fortnight as it's quick, easy, uses only a handful of ingredients and is fairly economical if you shop ... savvy! Although chicken can be quite expensive nowadays the thighs used in this recipe are usually cheaper than buying breasts, although if all I have in my freezer at the time is chicken breasts then that's what I use.
My local independent supermarket does a meat deal where you can buy either 3 packs for £10 (which is common in most supermarkets now) or 5 packs for £15, which means that a pack of chicken breasts costs me just £3 each. Once you've bought your chicken most of the other ingredients are store cupboard ones and so it really does work out to be a good value meal if you're a family of four, or an evening meal with enough leftovers for lunch the next day if there's just the two of you. I often bulk it up a bit by adding more rice and peas and it then gives us enough leftovers for two days worth of lunch - bargain!
Ingredients (for 4 people):
4 x chicken thighs, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp chilli powder (adjust to your tastes in spicyness!)
350g long grain rice
1 pint chicken stock
295g can condensed mushroom soup
100g frozen peas
Method:
Heat oil in a large pan (I usually use my wok) and fry the chick for 3-4 minutes until lightly brownd. Add the onion and fry for another 5 minutes or so until the onion is softened.
Add the chilli powder and rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
Combine the chicken stock with the soup and pour into the pan, stirring well.
Simmer uncovered for 25-30 minutes until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.
Add frozen peas after 20 minutes and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
And that's it...as easy as that! It really is a meal in itself, but if I'm making it when we have guests I'll do a side salad and possibly some garlic bread too, just to posh it up a bit, but if it's just the two of us we just have a nice big bowl of steaming risotto. Obviously if you add more rice to bulk it up then you also need to add more stock to ensure the rice cooks properly.
The cost breakdown for the above to feed 4 people as I buy the ingredients is:
4 x chicken breasts £3.00
1 onion 19p
350g long grain rice 63p
2 x stock cubes 19p
Can condensed soup 50p (I always stock up when on 3 for £1.50)
100g frozen peas 14p
Total cost = £4.65
(I didn't include the oil or chilli powder as I think that's something every kitchen will have and the amounts used of both are minimal).
So there you have one of our favourite mid-week meals. Quick, easy, tasty and at only £1.16 per person fairly cost-effective too. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you try it out :)
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