Meals that start from 9 pence per person

Early last month I gave a short talk at Aberdeen Climate Action's Climate Café where I shared my top tips on how to easily and cheaply reduce your carbon emissions. Taking action on climate change can sometimes feel overwhelming or even impossible. Many solutions are just not practical for the individual like putting solar panels… Continue reading Meals that start from 9 pence per person

Apple and butternut soup

Butternut squash soup in the pot with a wooden spoon.

It's Halloween so it seemed apt to have butternut squash soup for dinner tonight (also known as butternut pumpkin in Australia). Lately I've been thinking it might be worthwhile to share cheap meal ideas since so many people are struggling with bills right now. It's not hard to feed a family of four on a… Continue reading Apple and butternut soup

First blackberry crumble of the season

It's blackberry season - yay! This means lots of blackberry crumble. Ben went foraging and collected a huge container full yesterday, half of which got eaten last night. There are so many wild blackberries all over the place in Aberdeen and the fruit ripens at different times - I guess depending on how sunny a… Continue reading First blackberry crumble of the season

Homemade haggis

I made my own haggis last night for the first time ever and it was delicious, better than the supermarket version. I got the recipe from the Scottish Vegan Cookbook by Jackie Jones. It's a wonderful book and I do recommend it. Scottish food is renowned for being fatty, meaty, and generally unhealthy but Jackie… Continue reading Homemade haggis

Sometimes we need pancakes for dinner

I'm really snowed under with work and cycling-related activities right now that I couldn't be bothered cooking dinner tonight and since I'm the parent I get to decide what we eat so we had pancakes. The kids were shocked and delighted all at once when they found out. I've found a great recipe for vegan… Continue reading Sometimes we need pancakes for dinner

Recipe for oat milk and cookies for the remaining pulp

I'm so excited about making my own oat milk that I've been experimenting a bit with different recipes to get a flavour that I like. Here's what I've settled on for now: 2 cups oats 1L water 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1-2 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it) a small slice… Continue reading Recipe for oat milk and cookies for the remaining pulp

Scottish vegan cookbook and lebkuchen

It's lebkuchen time of year which means it's time to share my recipe. It has become a tradition in our family to make numerous batches of lebkuchen every December. Lebkuchen is a German Christmas dish which translates to "ginger bread" but there's no ginger in the recipe. I got the recipe from a German friend… Continue reading Scottish vegan cookbook and lebkuchen

The perfect burger

One of my favourite meals to eat that's super easy to make, vegan, inexpensive, and anyone, even the most cooking-averse among us can easily create is the vegan burger. In my freezer, I have several packs of different types of burgers that I get from the supermarket. There are chickpea burgers, chilli bean burgers, parsnip… Continue reading The perfect burger

What to do with a glut of courgettes?

It has been a day of cooking. It's that time of year when my allotment is producing way more courgettes (zucchinis) than we can eat so I had to take desperate measures. I took the advice of an old friend from Christchurch and made chutney. This is my first attempt and I didn't make a… Continue reading What to do with a glut of courgettes?

An easy vegan meal, shed painting, and slim pickings

I've been making a lot of pasta with pesto lately. The kids love it and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings I have less than an hour between when my workday ends and my General Assembly course begins so I want something that's quick and easy to cook. I buy the pesto sauce which is vegan,… Continue reading An easy vegan meal, shed painting, and slim pickings

Decadent choc marshmallow biscuits

We saw a video online the other day about making your own chocolate marshmallow biscuits and we decided to give it a try today. It's very easy and requires only digestive biscuits, jam, marshmallows, and chocolate. Take two digestive biscuits.  Spread one biscuit with jam then put some marshmallows on top. Put the other digestive… Continue reading Decadent choc marshmallow biscuits

A doggy to cuddle and I made sauerkraut

Today I've had Millie for company. She's an adorable 1-year-old cockapoo. As you can see she's made herself at home 🙂 Millie is our first dog from Borrow My Doggy. Her owner works all day and wanted her to have some company while he's at work. I'm at home working all day and also wanted… Continue reading A doggy to cuddle and I made sauerkraut

The hungry gap, vegan haggis, and cast iron cookware

I heard a new word recently - well, two words - hungry gap. It has come, once again, into popular parlance thanks to Brexit. Britain imports more food than it produces and there are fears that without a trade deal on 29th March 2019, Britain will run low on food. Before Britain became a net… Continue reading The hungry gap, vegan haggis, and cast iron cookware

How to cook for 10 people for less than £8

They say healthy food is expensive but this isn't my experience. Unhealthy, processed food is expensive but healthy, fresh food is cheap, albeit time-consuming to prepare. Today I made a lentil shepherd's pie for ten people and as I was cooking I couldn't help thinking how cheap the ingredients were so I decided to add… Continue reading How to cook for 10 people for less than £8