With the current restrictions in place, many of us are looking for new ways to make what’s in our cupboards go a little further. Here’s our tasty tips for making the most of your kitchen ingredients.
Simple snacks
You can make homemade dips with a tin of drained chickpeas or beans like butter or Cannellini. Reserve a little of the water and whizz in a food processor or mash in a bowl with lemon juice, olive oil, ½ a clove of garlic and black pepper. Add a little of the reserved water if it’s too thick, and then enjoy with crudités or crackers.
Waste not want not
Any odds and ends of breads can be sliced and roasted for a few minutes in the oven with herbs, spices, oil and salt to make croutons or crackers. Perfect paired with your homemade dip.
Eggless dishes
No eggs, no problem. Supplement with mashed ripe bananas or apple sauce in cakes. You can also use the aqua faba or leftover water from a can of chickpeas as an egg replacement when baking too. What about pasta? All you’ll need is pasta flour, water and olive oil.
Kitchen bakery
No bread flour? Did you know you can still make bread with plain flour and yeast? The crust may not be as chewy but it’s still comforting and delicious…
Whiz up your greens
Slice a woody broccoli stalk or asparagus bases and add to other vegetables in a soup base before blitzing.
Tinned fruit magic
The possibilities are endless. Serve chopped on porridge or cereal for breakfast, make an upside-down pear, peach or pineapple cake, or fold into basic sponge mix for an afternoon pick me up. Add pineapple, peaches or apricots to curries, or poach in wine or sugar syrup with spices for a warming dessert or topping for your rice pudding.
Bulk out your stews
Add a few pieces of dried fruit such as apricots and prunes to meat or veggie stews, or throw in a tin of beans or lentils to bulk it out. These are both great for keeping your fibre uptake going too.
Banana surprise
Glut of ripe bananas? We all seem to over buy them but can’t eat them quickly enough. So, bake a banana loaf or muffins, peel, slice and freeze in bags to add to milkshakes and smoothies or blitz into “ice cream” with other fruits and a spoonful of yoghurt.
Freshly baked biscuits
Make a batch of cookie dough and freeze the measured out portions to bake at a later date when you fancy something sweet.
Chin, chin!
Freeze slices of lemon and lime ready for an ice and slice in one go.
A recipe for a happy retirement
With their glossy contemporary kitchens, our retirement apartments and retirement bungalows are perfectly designed for your to cook up a storm. And, if you live in a Retirement Living PLUS property and fancy a hearty meal without the faff, you can pop to the subsidised, stylish and sociable restaurant/bistro when you want to, too.
Learn more about our lovely retirement homes near you, call our friendly team on 0800 201 4811 or contact us online for more information.
