Live Below the Line - Day 4

Today has been the hardest day so far. I'm tired, hungry, light headed and forgetful. I am finding myself behaving strangely. I've been watching KFC adverts and thinking 'that looks lovely'; on a few occasions now, a massive bucket of chicken, and then a weird battered wrap thing with sauces and cheese. I bet it's not even nice?! I haven’t even had a KFC for about 5 years and I'm not that bothered about them. I was sniffing into the doorway of Greggs in town yesterday. I want bad food, it's funny how depriving myself of pretty much everything, meat, fish, dairy, sugar, caffine... makes me crave things that wouldn’t even cross my mind if I was eating a normal everyday diet.. Except wine, I really want a massive glass of wine... I cannot wait for Friday and wine.

Today I had Leek and Potato Soup for lunch, it was nice, I can't get more excited than that, and it worked out at 49p per serving. I'm definitely losing enthusiasm for my menu. Especially looking at the kitchen bench and the ever depleting tiny pile of food. It now consists of some flour, half a bag of lentils and an onion. That's all... so that's supper tomorrow then. Luckily I have soup pre made for lunch tomorrow and I've made a Chickpea Carrot and Butternut Squash Curry for supper tonight, working out at 35p per portion. Thank goodness for spices, it would be a pretty dull 5 days without them...

Live Below the Line - Day 1

I have completed Day 1 of my Live Below the Line challenge! Yesterday I did my shopping, which was a bit stressful. I went to Asda, and only took the exact money I could spend. TLI has joined me on my adventure so I had £10 to spend, £5 each for 5 days. Supermarkets you don't know are stressful to begin with, I had no idea where anything was and their range of dried pulses was pitiful, I should have stuck with Morrisons... Buying loose vegetables to an exact amount of money is also stressful. I stood by the scales with a calculator and a notepad weighing each carrot, leek and potato one at a time!

I went to the self service till in case I went over my budget and had to put stuff back, it seemed less embarrassing at self service; I did have my sums wrong, but ended up being £1.85 under, so I still have that to spend. I couldn’t face heading back into the aisles so have yet to decide what else to buy.

I unloaded when I got home and surveyed what I had bought. I'm not sure how two of us will live on it for 5 days, it looks pretty impossible at first glance to be honest. Ten pounds just doesn’t seem to go very far, especially when you choose some fresh produce.

My first day didn’t exactly go to plan, as I spent most of it eating nothing at all. I was off to the Farne Islands for a meeting about a very exciting new project I'm getting involved in. It was beautiful to be there, but I couldn’t accept tea or coffee, and when I got back to the mainland later than expected after no breakfast I was pretty hungry. You don’t know how good those fish and chip shops looked... Who would know? But I stayed strong and got in the car...

My first proper meal, late afternoon was Roast Butternut Squash soup with flat breads. I roasted the squash with onion and garlic, then simmered a potato in chicken stock and blitzed. It was fine, not my best ever soup, a little thin, but should be enough for 4 portions. It worked out at 33p for a portion of soup and 3p for both of the flat breads, so 36p in total. Not a bad start...

For supper I had Red Lentil Dal with flat breads which was delicious, spiced, warm and filling. I topped it with fried onions and cumin seeds and a couple of flat breads on the side. It was really tasty, I'll definitely make it again. This worked out at 49p for the dal and again 3p for the flatbreads, so 52p in total.

I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting on the through the week. thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me, I have raised an amazing £395 so far!

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/annahedworth

Curried Parsnip Soup and Ouseburn Open Studios

I'm going to be hanging out at Ouse Street Arts Club again this weekend, as part of Ouseburn Open Studios we are one of 8 venues opening their doors to members of the public. The Ouseburn Valley is the creative heart of Newcastle and on the last weekend of November the much-anticipated Ouseburn Open Studios event sees venues open their doors, offering a unique chance to come and see inside the studios of over 200 artists and designer-makers.

At the Arts Club we have set up an art-mini-mart with work to buy from the lovely Amy Dover, Laura Sheldon, Prefab77, Muro Buro, Bubblegum Vegas and Louise Green. There are some amazing prints framed and unframed, cards, T-shirts, ceramics, jewellery, dresses and tote bags for sale. Totally unique Christmas presents, I might have to do a spot of shopping myself... We also have a tiny pocket cinema showing a range of short films all weekend.

I will be manning the fort and also providing sustenance; Curried Parsnip Soup and Sausage Stew will be on hand to warm you up, with coffee from the Ouseburn Coffee Company by the cup and the bag too...

I discovered this parsnip soup last week when trying to decide what was a fitting end to the parsnips I grew myself this year. It is a simple yet delicious soup that will hopefully keep all the Open Studios visitors warm and full. A rich earthy parsnip soup with spicy curry and garlic, delicious.

Peel and chop 4 large parsnips and 1 onion and add to a baking tray with a big glug of olive oil. Add a clove of garlic still in its skin and 2 teaspoons of medium curry powder, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Then roast at 200°C for about 20 minutes or until golden and soft.

Then add the contents of the tray to 600ml of chicken stock, scraping everything you can out of the baking tray for extra flavour. Then simmer the roasted parsnip mixture in the stock for about 10 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly and check to see if it needs any salt or pepper then blend until it's smooth. I added a tablespoon of crème fraiche at the end for extra creaminess. These amounts will serve 2. The rich earthy parsnip is delicious with the spicy warm curry, just the thing to warm you up as winter approaches...

Smoked mackerel and spinach kedgeree with cardamom rice

I am suddenly busy constantly, most evenings I can remember back, and loads I can think of forwards. It seems people have decided that the early year hibernation is over and there is a new flurry of birthday parties, ballet outings, supper with friends out, supper with friends in, engagement parties, family gatherings... Spring is in the air, they are saying... The sun is out and the crocuses too, hopefully it will warm up soon.

So I need something for the sister to eat when she comes to visit; something warming with a hint of spring for tonight, and something long and adventurous to try when we have some time at the weekend.

We had all the ingredients for the Mackerel and horseradish salad, but I think it needed to be a little bit more warming than that, perhaps with a bit of rice and some spices. I found a lovely recipe for kedgeree, it had smoked mackerel flaked through it, wilted spinach, rice perfumed with cardamom pods and a soft boiled eggs on the top, this is based around that recipe. These amounts will serve two people.

Thinly slice half an onion and cook it on a low heat for about 10 minutes in 25g of butter, until it is soft and golden. When it is, add a teaspoon of medium curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes.

While the onion is cooking bring a small pan of water to a simmer and lower in 2 eggs, let them continue to simmer for 6 minutes. You're aiming for a soft yolk and a just done white, mine were a little bit under so I couldn't cut them up on the top, more of a very careful balance... When they are ready run them under a cold tap so you can handle them and gently remove the shell. You should be able to cut the into quarters... unlike me...

Put 120g of basmati rice in a small pan with 10 cardamom pods and a good pinch of salt, add 225ml of boiling water and let it simmer with the lid on for 8-10 minutes, or until the water has gone; then turn the heat off and allow it to sit for 10 minutes continuing to steam with the lid on.

Finally put 4 or 5 handful of spinach, about 120g, into the onions and allow it to wilt, then add the cardamom fragranced rice, with the pods removed. They taste of a shot of perfume if you accidentally bite into one... not nice... Flake in 180g of smoked mackerel fillet in bite sized pieces and allow everything to warm through. Add salt and pepper to your taste and a good squeeze of lemon.

Finally place the quartered soft egg on the top and serve. The mixture of curried onions, cardamom rice and smoky fish is really lovely.