MISS HOLLY P
A BIT OF ME . A BIT OF FOOD . A BIT OF WINE
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Welcome to the #FoodSavvy challenge!!

So as we embark on a new month, I have taken on a brand new challenge! Along side the support of Hubbub and Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils I have been given the opportunity to share with you my experience and journey in becoming more #FoodSavvy!

In Norfolk and Suffolk alone we waste 113,000 tonnes of food waste which costs the average household an extra £810 per year and the tax payer just in these 2 counties an extra £12.6m per year!!! That’s hugely alarming right?? I’m really excited to be given the opportunity to get involved in hopefully learning new ways to reduce this personally in my household and also raise awareness to my surrounding counties and further afield!

So, if you’ve been following me a while, I like to think; and I hope you’ll agree, I’m pretty savvy anyway and from my personal financial situation over the last few years, I’ve taught myself to become more #FoodSavvy and am really excited to see what new ideas I can take on board to drive this even further in my life! I’m a genuine lover of food and it sickens me to see food go to waste, so I always try to keep it creative in the kitchen and let nothing avoidable go in the bin but I know there’s still more to do!

This week, from tomorrow, Monday, I’ll be carrying on as normal and at the end of the week I’ll be doing my baseline measurement to see what waste I’m producing in my household on a normal week, before we put in to place some of the useful provided tools to aid in this months challenge!! I’m actually off for a few days from Monday morning on my holidays to France, so I’ll be getting my folks back at my home to save their avoidable food waste along with logging roughly any food that I waste abroad Monday to Thursday, all of this you can keep track of on my instagram stories! I’ve always been a lunch prepper, I’ve been using food recycling at home for some time and i consciously make the efforts to minimize a single use plastics in my life but even as a conscious person I know the results will alarm me when so many things on offer to us have not undergone the same thoughtful and sustainable journey we would want in an ideal world. After this week is done and we measure what’s ‘normal’ for me and my household, then we’ll start the reduction measurements from week 2! Food waste and the volume of single use plastics used world wide is a huge issue and I invite you this month to join the challenge and become more #FoodSavvy with me, from Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond!

cooking

Chickpea and White Bean Curry

I love a good curry and exploring different flavours and styles dependent of origin is great fun in the kitchen! This sweet, spiced, North African inspired curry is cheap, quick, easy and healthy and with the great flavours from my Buy Wholefoods Online turmeric powder and cinnamon powder it will having you transported away to a Moroccan rooftop by flavour in under half an hour.

Prep time- 5 minutes 

Cook time- 25 minutes

Serves 2-3 

Ingredients

-An onion

-A tin of chickpeas

-A tin of white beans

-1 tablespoon of Medium curry powder

-1/4 teaspoon of Buy Wholefoods Online Ceylon Cinnamon Powder (pure)

-1 teaspoon of Buy Wholefoods Online Organic Tumeric Powder 

-A tin of chopped tomatoes

-Cumin

-Chilli flakes

-Passata

-100g of sweetcorn

-A handful of baby spinach

To serve-

-Microwave wholegrain rice or pitta

-Fresh coriander

-Mango Chutney

Start with a spritz of spray oil over a medium heat and add your onions, white beans and chickpeas, stir fry for a couple of minutes to soften and then add a tablespoon of curry powder fry for a further 2 minutes until the legumes are coated and the flavour is absorbed.

Then gradually add your in tin of chopped tomatoes and passata followed by the turmeric and cinnamon stirring as you go. Add the 100g of sweetcorn and stir in and the wilt in all of the baby spinach, simmer for 20 minutes on a low heat and you will be ready to serve, this gives time for everything to soften down.

Then serve with your chosen accompaniment and enjoy! I have gone for a pitta, mango chutney and fresh coriander today but rice and yoghurt works great too!

I’ve linked Buy Wholefoods Online so you can grab some ingredients too and recreate at home!

 

Tag me in your dishes on insta! I can’t wait to see how you serve yours!

 

Thanks for reading, H x

cooking

Low Fat Beetroot Hummus Recipe

Everyone loves a good hummus and with the addition of buy whole foods online beetroot powder it adds the fabulous bright pink shade you only get from beetroot! Using the powder is a quick, easy and clean way of adding its superfood benefits to any dish! Hummus is a super cheap, quick and easy thing to make and perfect for starters, snacking, picnics and entertaining! This recipe is vegan too so suits all dietary needs! So why not follow my simple recipe and delight your tastebuds! The best bit… no ACTUAL cooking required!

Serves 3+

Prep Time- 5 Mins

Cook Time- 2 Mins

Ingredients-

 

The preparation really could not be easier! Grab your food processor, open you chick peas, toss them in the blender, add the garlic clove, buywholefoodsonline.co.uk beetroot powder, olive oil spray, tahini paste and almond milk. I also season with salt and pepper. Then BLITZ! After blending check your texture and if it’s too thick add a little more almond milk. The reason I use almond milk is to give it that nice creamy texture without the added fat and calories of the usual olive oil- hence making it lower in fat and calories 🙂

I chose to serve mine up with crudités and homemade tortilla chips but hummus is one of the most versatile things out there! Add to sandwiches, wrap and salads for extra colour and flavour!

 

How easy was that? Are you trying out this recipe? What other types of hummus have you tried or want to see?

I’ve linked to buywholefoodsonline.co.uk so you can grab your beetroot powder and browse all their other amazing ingredients too!

Thanks for reading,

H x

 

cooking

Willy’s Apple Cider Vinegar

I’ve been using ACV for various different uses on and off for a couple of years now and when I came across Willy’s it just sounded so lovely I needed to try it. I got in touch with them and they sent me out some to try, a bottle of their original ACV and a case of their new energy drinks too! Apple cider vinegar has a huge list of uses from cooking, to skin care, using it as a weight loss aid to being an active ingredient in a plethora of home remedies. For your ACV to have all of its benefits is must be raw, unapsteuripsed and with ‘the mother’, the mother is the fermented bits of apple that you will see in your bottle which may look bitty and add to that cloudiness of your ACV. Theres an interesting article on the site for The Academy of Culinary Nutrition about the many different and amazing uses for ACV, check that out here

I use ACV to mainly promote digestion and weight loss and the way that I take it is by using a generous splash diluted in some water and I drink it first thing in the morning before I go about my day. The key difference between Willy’s and other brands of ACV that I have tried is that it tastes more of cider with a real apple taste than it does of vinegar with that real sharpness of other ACVs. It is extremely palatable and no nasty gag faces over here!

Willy’s apples are grown in 300 year old orchards on their own farm and they see through production from start to finish and see that every bottle is live with ‘the mother’ and all her goodness!

I have recently been using this one on a cotton pad as a toner too as my skin has been dreadful and I have found it’s really good for drying out spots and clearing them up a little faster, however obviously your face will smell of vinegar.

I did a previous post on ACV as a new user a couple of years ago which tells you all about my first thoughts and experiences, you can check out here

To sum it up I’m extremely impressed with this ACV, I actually can’t quite believe the difference in flavour to all the others I have tried in the past. They have also launched a brand new energy drink so watch out for a review of that coming soon!

If you fancy trying some of Willy’s products, here’s a link to their shop so you can buy! 

Thanks so much for reading!

Hx

cooking

Tea + New Flavours

Tea + drinks have had a rebrand and introduced some brand new flavours which are replacing the old ones! So T+ has become Tea+ and with a brand new super sleek packaging these guys mean business! 

The 4 new combos are-

Vitamin D- Pineapple and Mango 

Cleanse- Apple and Blackcurrant 

Defence- Orange and Blueberry 

Energy- Raspberry and Pomegranate 

They are still green tea based with all the extras included! I absolutely love their new look website which you can check out here. It is really clear and concise about what is in each tea and then has a little drop down to see why each ingredient is included, how it works and why it’s beneficial. Sometimes I think that we opt for things that we think we know are good for us but we can’t really explain why it’s good for us and this is really important when selling a product- to educate the consumer, so that’s a HUGE win in my books. 

I chose 2 of the 4 flavours to try and when I received them I was feeling that start of the year slump so I went for Energy and Vitamin D! Energy was my favourite combo which was raspberry and pomegranate and in the old style I loved Detox which was apple and blackcurrant and I think has evolved into Cleanse!

These teas are amazing for many reasons, they’re a quick and easy way of getting your intake of specific vitals which you can tailor to yourself, if you’re a tea drinker anyway why not add those vitamins? Also if you’re not really into the taste of green tea these are a great so you can feel the benefits without that taste! 

So who’s going to try the new teas?

Thanks for reading, H x