112. Recipes // Speedy Chilli

If you're anything like me, the last week or so before payday is an absolute financial nightmare. Sound familiar? Despite promising I'll be sensible, track my spending and not go overboard each payday, within two weeks I'm scraping the barrel for pennies. 

Today's post is inspired by that feeling. All too often when we're skint we'll neglect our basic nutritional needs and instead of cooking up a dish containing veggies, carbohydrates and protein (because we all know how expensive meat is these days!) we'll opt for beans on toast or a frozen £1 pizza from Iceland, because it's cheap and cooking something more nutritious would be too expensive.

I try to avoid this as much as possible and I think I've found a quick, easy, nutritious and cheap dish that can be used for either lunch or dinner; it will go perfectly with pasta or in a salad as a packed lunch, or served with rice or even a jacket potato for your evening meal.

Ingredients (for 2)

1 x packet of Tesco's Meat Free Bolognese Mix (£1.75)

200g of Iceland sliced cooked chicken breast (£1.25 - sold as £2.50/400g)

2 x jalapeno peppers (sliced, £1 for large jar - only need 1/10)

1 tsp hot tobasco sauce

1 tbsp cajun spices

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Coriander (to serve)

Method

1. Heat your oil and add the bag of frozen meat free bolognese mix

2. When the bolognese mix has melted slightly, add the sliced chicken

3. Stir in the spices, jalapenos and tobasco sauce

4. Continue to stir on a low heat for 5-10 minutes

5. Serve with your side-dish of choice, sprinkle with coriander if desired.

If you're a veggie, simply leave out the chicken and you could enjoy this spicy dish too. 

As you can see, so long as you already had the spices and 'cupboard essentials' such as oil, this dish could cost you as little as £1.75 each (CHEAPER THAN A GREGGS SANDWICH!) if served with rice.

Are you going to try this recipe? 

Do you have any cheap and easy, healthy recipes?

98. Recipes // Honey, Apple, Chai & Oat Muffins

Yesterday, after getting a little sick of being practically bed bound for three days, I decided to try and cheer myself (and my tummy) up by doing one of my favourite activities: baking. 

Although I'm trying to avoid fatty, processed and oily foods at the moment, I thought I'd try a recipe which involves lots of good stuff (and quite a bit of naughty stuff too) to balance it out, and from that brainwave Honey, Apple, Chai & Oat Muffins were born.

Unfortunately, I can't find my cable for my camera so you'll have to make do with the one photograph that I took on my phone (sorry) for this post. Next time I'll make sure I'm more prepared, so here goes...

Ingredients

300g porridge oats

200g plain flour (I used wholemeal)

200g brown sugar

250ml semi-skimmed (or skimmed) milk

2 medium eggs

3tbsp honey

1 x apple (finely diced)

4 Chai tea bags (rip open and pour the contents into a bowl)

3tbsp baking power

1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 5

2. Mix together the sugar and eggs until well mixed

3. Add the oats and flour and mix until a nice, thick consistency (don't over mix)

4. Add everything else and mix until even

5. Spoon into muffin cases (fill them about 3/4 full)

6. Bake in the oven for between 15-20 minutes

7. Serve warm

As you can see, this is a lovely, simple and quick recipe. These muffins are ideal for a tasty pick me up in the afternoon, or even as a yummy breakfast, served with natural yogurt and fruit (which is exactly what I'm about to do...)

80. Recipes // Chocolate Orange Brownies

I got a great response on Twitter when I mentioned that I was going to be baking a personal favourite of mine; chocolate orange brownies, for my works' Macmillan Coffee Morning this week. We held our coffee morning on Thursday rather than Friday as most of the reporters (I work for a local newspaper) are out of the office on a Friday.

Anyway, boring-ness aside, we raised over £300 through sealed bids for amazing prizes, a tombola, a raffle, donations and lots of yummy cakes available to purchase, and I had a wonderful time! I even won a Yankee candle, some Nails Inc polishes, a bottle of white wine and a box of Malteasers... everything you'd ever need for the perfect girls night!

So, after the great response and lots of requests for me to share my brownie recipe, here goes!

I used a recipe from BBC Good Food's website, but adapted it slightly.

Ingredients

200g butter,

200g chocolate (I used Cadbury's Dairy Milk),

Grated zest of 1 large orange,

4 eggs,

350g caster sugar,

100g plain flour,

50g cocoa powder (I used Cadbury's hot chocolate powder),

Juice from 1/2 large orange,

120g Terry's chocolate orange (equivalent of 3 bars),

Cocoa powder to dust

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees,

2. Melt the butter, chocolate (not the Terry's!) and orange zest over a low heat,

3. Leave to cool whilst you mix sugar and butter until fluffy,

4. Sift in the flour and cocoa butter in with the sugary-buttery mixture,

5. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture

6. Add the chunks of Terry's and the orange juice,

7. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin/tray,

8. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes,

9. Best served warm with ice-cream.

79. Recipes // Homemade Chilli Nachos

Hello guys.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I'm lucky enough to only be working two days this week before my mum and I are off to the Lake District for four days - I can't wait! I'll hopefully have more time whilst I'm away to catch up on blogging and get a few posts written up and scheduled, I'll also be able to take some more photographs with my new camera *yay* 

Anyway, I'm getting carried away... Today's post is a really yummy recipe that Shane and I tried for the first time last weekend; nachos with chilli! We've made nachos with cheese and jalapenos and all that jazz before, but this time we made our own chilli and it's surprisingly simple, so here goes!

As we both work full-time and usually don't eat until about 7 o'clock, we decided to take a few shortcuts *cough* ready made mix *cough* so I've been entirely honest about these in the recipe.

Ingredients (for 2/3 people)

400g steak mince

1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes

2 x peppers, sliced

1 x medium sized onion, diced

250g Mexican cheese (available in Iceland and Tesco)

Handful of sliced jalapenos

1 x packet of nachos

1 x tin of baked beans

1tsp chilli powder

1tsp paprika

1 x packet of Schwartz Chilli con Carne mix 

Optional: Guacamole and Soured Cream to serve.

Method

1. Once all your vegetables have been prepped, brown your mince and onion in a pan

2. Whilst the meat is browning, follow the instructions on the Chilli mix to create a sauce

3. When the meat is browned and the onions have softened, add the sauce

4. Also add the baked beans, chopped tomatoes and peppers (and any seasoning)

5. Heat all the way through and then leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes on a low heat

6. Whilst simmering, spread the nachos in a baking dish and grate the cheese

7. When cooked, pour the chilli on top of the nachos and spread evenly

8. Sprinkle with grated cheese and jalapenos (if you want an extra kick!)

9. Cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden

10. Top with guacamole and soured cream, and enjoy!

Have you ever made your own nachos?

Do you have any recipes for homemade guacamole?

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

76. Recipes // Steak Black Bean Stir-Fry

 In the spirit of the Get Fit in 12 Weeks challenge (which I promise I am trying harder at this week!), I decided I'd cook a high-protein meal for us to enjoy, so last weekend I decided I'd make a delicious stir-fry. 

After nipping to the butchers and discussing what meat is best for a stir-fry (as you can imagine, not a very interesting conversation...) I settled for rump steak. One of the perks of having a butcher for a boyfriend is a 20% discount off meat (and that includes bacon sandwiches, praise the lord!) I popped into a couple of shops and picked up some veggies, stir-fry sauce (as if I could be bothered to make my own sauce?! Sorry!) and some noodles and I was good to go.

So on Saturday night, after Shane finished a long shift at work, I made this stir-fry and it went down a treat with a glass of Six Hats shiraz whilst watching Dexter, and it's almost entirely guilt-free. Well, not really... but it's not that bad for you!

Ingredients (for 2)

200g sliced mushrooms

1 x sliced green pepper

1 x diced white onion

400g rump steak in slices

1 tbsp olive oil

3 nests of egg noodles

1 x packet of Blue Dragon Black Bean stir-fry sauce

1 x tin of whole water chestnuts (drained)

Method

1. In a pan of boiling water, cook the noodles for about 4-5 minutes until soft

2. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan

3. When hot, add the steak, onion and mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes

4. Add the green peppers and water chestnuts

5. After another 2-3 minutes, add the drained noodles and stir in the sauce

6. Mix everything together and serve immediately 

I'm hoping to create some more healthy(ish) recipes over the next 9 weeks of the Get Fit in 12 Weeks challenge! Next on my list is a refreshing smoothie, so keep your eyes peeled for that one!

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

69. Recipes // Lemon & Blueberry Loaf

Before I begin I want to apologise for the sheer lack of photographs in this post! It is safe to say, this is the least photogenic recipe I've ever created.

Whenever I see something on special offer I can't resist buying it, no matter what it is. I've walked away from shops with the strangest items before just because they were buy one get one free, or half-price... and it's no different with food. 

So, when I spotted blueberries for £0.50 last week, i had to buy them. No, seriously, I had to. There was no alternative. I snapped up two punnets and started o think about what I could do with them. Rather than have them on my desk at work for a healthy snack, I decided I'd bake something. I'd been thinking about baking a lemon drizzle as it's one of my, and my families, favourite cakes so I've created a cake that combines both of their delicious flavours!

Lemon & Blueberry Loaf

Ingredients

3 eggs

150g self-raising flour

150g caster sugar

150g butter

100g blueberries

Juice of 2 lemons

Handful of porridge oats

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 or 180 degrees Celsius

2. Grease, or line, a loaf tin

3. Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons

4. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and butter

5. Add the eggs one at a time and stir into the mixture

6. Add the juice of the lemons (and some zest if you like)

7. Stir in the blueberries

8. Pour into the loaf tin and sprinkle with porridge oats

9. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through

10. Leave to cool before removing from the tin 

And then... devour!

64. Recipes // Cranberry Flapjack

I've had a pretty manic weekend so I've not got much time for blogging at the moment, so for the time being, I'll leave you with a super tasty fail-safe recipe for cranberry flapjacks!

Ingredients

500g Porridge Oats

250g butter (softened)

150g cranberries

8tbsp golden syrup

200g sugar (preferably soft brown)

Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4/180 degrees celsius

1. Melt the butter and sugar, over a low heat, in a pan with the syrup. Stir continuously.

2. Pour in the porridge oats and cranberries and mix.

3. Pour the mixture onto a deep baking tray and spread evenly.

4. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden-brown on top.

5. Leave to cool before cutting.

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

60. Recipes // Peanut Butter & Chocolate Brownies

Last week, whilst browsing online, I stumbled across a recipe for peanut butter and chocolate brownies. My mouth watered instantly. My heart rate increased (as did my BMI, almost simultaneously) and I vowed that I would bake these. No matter what. 

I know this sounds very OTT but, seriously, peanut butter? chocolate? brownies? What's not to like?! Although it's an incredibly rich, indulgent and high in fat pudding, it's a delicious treat and goes down incredibly well (especially with ice-cream!)

Ingredients

For the Brownie:

150g milk chocolate,

100g self-raising flour,

280g sugar,

200g peanut butter,

3 medium eggs

For the topping:

50g milk chocolate,

50g peanut butter,

50g chocolate chips,

Dash of milk

Method

Before starting: Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 and grease a baking tray.

1. In a pan, on the hob, melt the sugar, milk chocolate and peanut butter until the sugar has almost (but not completely) dissolved,

2. Still in the pan, add the 3 eggs one-by-one and beat,

3. Pour the mixture evenly into the baking tray,

4. Melt the left-over peanut butter and drizzle on top of brownie,

5. Bake the brownie for 25-30 minutes or until cooked but still somewhat gooey,

6. Melt the left-over chocolate (whilst milk, if needs be) and drizzle on top of brownie,

7. Sprinkle chocolate chips (or anything you'd like!) over the top and serve, still warm.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any ice-cream to serve with mine but it was still delicious! 

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

57. Recipes // Autumn Porridge

Today I'm going to talk about porridge. 

Yes, porridge. The underrated, unappreciated super-food. 

I'm trying to eat healthier at the moment as my confidence with my appearance is pretty much rock-bottom currently, so I've been trying out some new recipes for low-fat, filling breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and I came up with a really tasty breakfast yesterday which I wanted to share.

I'm a massive fan of Chai tea (in case you didn't already know...) and I've incorporated it into numerous recipes - now even including porridge! I'm not keen on porridge on it's own but, at the same time, I didn't want to fall into the trap of pouring syrup, sugar or honey all over a 'healthy breakfast' and completely ruining it, health-wise.

So, instead, I decided to bulk my porridge up with fruit and add some flavour by using the contents of a Chai tea bag. I know it sounds odd, but it's honestly super tasty and reminds me of Autumn which is why it's called...

Autumn Porridge

50g of porridge oats

200ml of semi-skimmed milk

1/2 a Chai tea bag

1/2 an apple

1. Chop the apple into small cubes,

2. Measure out your ingredients and put everything in a pan,

3. On a low temperature, simmer your porridge until desired consistency,

4. EAT IT. Eat it all.

So if you're in need of a quick, simple yet nutritious breakfast, try this. I promise, it tastes better than it looks.

Lots of Love,

Becci xo

51. Recipes // Thai Red Curry

On Sunday night, after a long, hard week, S and I fancied cooking some real comfort food. Rather than a big Sunday roast, we went for something a little more exotic - our ultimate favourite: Thai red curry.

I only discovered my love for Thai cuisine late last year when, following a recommendation from a friend, we decided to try out our local Thai restaurant: The Thai House, Hexham. The service, surroundings and - above all - the food was amazing. 

Since then, we've visited a couple of times and also tried recreating some of our favourite dishes. Simple red and green curries are our favourite as they're so easy and quick to cook, yet taste incredible. Seriously, they taste like you've slaved away over the stove all day. So delicious.

Tonight I'm going to share my Thai red curry recipe which I hope you all like. I didn't make the paste from scratch by the way (I'm not a *real* cook) but it still tastes good, I promise.

Ingredients (for 4 portions)

600g diced chicken breast

1 x can of coconut milk

250g fine green beans

2 x large peppers, chopped (any colour)

1 x large onion, chopped

1 x jar of Thai red curry paste

Olive oil

Fresh coriander

Rice

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken,

2. Once the chicken is golden, add the onions and let them sweat,

3. When the onions have softened add the peppers and fry for a few minutes,

4. Begin to prepare your rice,

5. Add the whole jar of curry paste to the chicken - make sure it's all covered,

6. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes,

7. Once the sauce has thickened add the green beans,

8. Simmer for a further 10-15 minutes until correct consistency and rice is ready,

                                          9. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Do you like Thai food?

What's your favourite dish?

Love,

Becci xo

46. Recipes // Chai & Banana Cake

After a long, challenging day at work on Wednesday I decided to relax by baking something that I could enjoy whilst curled up on the sofa, whilst watching the television with my family.

I didn't have much spare money to spend on ingredients, so instead I scoured the cupboards and threw together what I could find and they just happened to be Chai tea and bananas... it's basically banana bread but with a twist.

The recipe is incredibly simple, it takes a while to cook, but the end result is delicious! I'm not really one for measuring things out, especially not spices, so you may want to chop and change the recipe a little bit as it won't be one hundred percent accurate anyway.

Just to note: I used 'cups' rather than weighing my ingredients. Where I say '1 cup' I mean short, fat tumbler.

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal flour,

1tsp baking soda,

Pinch of salt,

1/2 cup of softened butter/margarine,

1 cup brown sugar,

2 eggs (I used duck eggs to make it that little bit richer),

4 bananas,

8 Chai teabags

Method

1. Mash up your bananas and rip open the Chai teabags - tip the contents into a small bowl,

2. Add all your ingredients (inc. banana and Chai) into a large bowl,

3. Either whisk or mix all ingredients until it's a smooth (apart from the chunks of banana!) mixture,

4. Pour mixture into a pre-greased loaf tin,

5. Bake in a pre-heated oven on Gas Mark 4 (180 degrees C/350 degrees F) for one hour, or until cooked through.

This cake honestly is so tasty! The fact that it contains wholemeal flour, brown sugar and bananas sort of makes it healthy... kind of... a little bit? Maybe not. But, either way, it's a lovely little treat and is best enjoyed warm.

Love, 
Becci xo

43. Recipes // Chicken Jalfrezi

As some of you will be aware, I'm saving to move in with my boyfriend of (almost) 4 years, later on this year. So I've been getting into scrimping and thrifting; one aspect of which, is affordable meals. We both love food, and good food, not just beans or cheese on toast! I know how easy it is to spend an absolute fortune on food; sometimes we spend over £10 just on snacks for the night, or £20 on a big takeaway, but once we're living together and paying all these 'grown-up' expenses, we won't have cash to splash on fancy food.

Therefore, I've been looking for affordable meal ideas. But meal ideas that are tasty and healthy too! I don't want to be living off cheesy pasta or pot noodles - we love to cook our own food using fresh ingredients and we will continue to do this when we're living together too.

My parents are pretty good scrimpers too and we often feed a family of 6, for a whole week, on under £100; that's including breakfast, lunches and a cooked evening meal, as well as all the basics such as bread, milk, butter, etc. So today when my dad said he'd be working late, I jumped at the chance to try and create a family meal for under a fiver. Here's what I came up with!

Chicken Jalfrezi Curry with Rice

Ingredients (for 5 people)

500g of chicken (from a £3.99 1kg bag of frozen chicken breast, Aldi) = £1.99

500g of long grain white rice (around 40p for 1kg, Aldi) = £0.20

500g Jalfrezi Sauce (available in Aldi for around £1) = £1.00

1 x large onion (from Tesco) = £0.20

2 x garlic cloves (£0.25 for whole garlic, Tesco) = £0.10

1/2 x green chilli (60p for 60g) = £0.10

1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil = free; you'll always have some in the cupboard!

1tsp of Habanero red sauce (£0.99 at Aldi, approx. 30tsps in a jar) = £0.04

20g fresh ginger (15p for 70g) = £0.05

1tsp salt = free; you'll always have some in the cupboard!

= £3.68 / £0.74 per person

Method

Dice the chicken (with a separate knife), onion, garlic, chilli and ginger 

Fry the chicken and onions together in olive oil for 3 minutes

Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 2-3 minutes

Add the curry sauce, Habanero sauce and chilli (if you want a kick)

Leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes

In the meantime: prepare your rice, na'an or papadums 

Apologies for the poor quality photos; they were taken on my mobile.

The curry went down really well, as they always do in our household. It's such a simple meal as the sauce is ready-made and it only takes about half an hour from preparation right through to serving up the meal.

The only thing I would change next time, I would add some chunks of potato or carrot to bulk it up as there wasn't that much chicken. I'd probably serve it with some na'an bread or papadums with chutneys too, and some salad on the side. However, even with these extras, I doubt the meal would cost more than £5 to make!

As I'm also on a bit of a health-kick, I worked out the calories in one serving of this meal and it's only just over 600 calories which, for your main meal of the day, is pretty good I think. 

To cut calories, you could always eat the curry with salad instead of rice, or try brown rice rather than white or basmati. 

Love, Becci xo

42. Recipes // Low Calorie Cooked Breakfast

This morning I'm going to share a secret... *whispers* you can eat a fry-up even if you're on a diet.

A common misconception which people - including myself - have when dieting, or eating healthily, is that you've got to ban certain foods; puddings, wine, fry-ups, etc. No. You. Don't.Although there are healthier, lower fat alternatives (e.g. porridge, fruit, natural yogurt, etc) a cooked breakfast really does fill you up and keeps you going for the rest of the morning; meaning that you're less likely to snack and, therefore, less likely to take in extra unnecessary calories.Here's how you can make a cooked breakfast, healthily.Ingredients:2 x Sainsbury's Bacon Medallions (33 calories each, 0.7g fat each)1 x Medium Free Range Egg (around 80 calories, 6g of fat)25g x Button Mushrooms (around 5 calories, 0.1g of fat)1 x Slice of Hovis Medium Wholemeal Bread (88 calories per slice, 0.7g of fat)= 206 calories, 7.5g fatWhen cooking your breakfast, don't be tempted to use oil or butter - you don't need it. If you begin by heating your frying pan and cooking the bacon first, you can use the fat from the bacon to fry the rest of your ingredients.
Slice the mushrooms however you like and fry them for the same amount of time as the bacon, or less, depending on how well-done you like them to be.
If you want to make it even healthier: poach rather than fry the egg.Instead of using butter on your slice of bread (or toast), use tomato ketchup as the flavour goes well with the ingredients, and it has a fraction of the calories and fat content.I'd have this breakfast with a cup of herbal tea and a pint of cold water, and perhaps some fruit with yogurt (only another 150 calories, approximately) to fill me up until lunchtime.I hope you enjoyed this post!

Much love, Becci xo

27. Recipes // Meatballs

Hello again!

I haven't posted a recipe for a while, so I thought I'd do a quick, simple recipe today.

I'm currently quite hard-up cashwise so my boyfriend and I have been looking for cheap dinner ideas. We have made delicious meatball dishes a few times but never made our own meatballs, so last night we decided to make some!

This is an incredibly cheap dish to make and is gorgeous, comfort food. This whole meal cost less than £5, fed two people and went down a treat.

Ingredients for the meatballs:

350g lean beef mince

1/2 an onion (diced)

1/2 tsp of Garlic (we used Very Lazy garlic, but garlic cloves would be even better)

1 tsp Paprika (depending on how spicy you want the meatballs!)

1 egg (whisked)

Chorizo (sliced)

50g mushrooms (sliced)

Salt & pepper to season

1. Fry the onions and garlic, in olive oil, in a frying pan until soft and then leave to cool.

2. Once cooled, put the mince, onion, garlic and whisked egg into a bowl and mix.

3. Add seasoning and then fry for around 10-15 minutes, in olive oil, in a frying pan.

4. When almost cooked, add the mushrooms and Chorizo and fry for around 5 minutes.

Ingredients for the sauce:

400g chopped tomatoes

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 tsp garlic

Salt & pepper to season

1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and simmer until warmed through.

You should be cooking your pasta or spaghetti (add a little salt to the water for extra flavour) at the same time. It usually takes around 15 minutes which, conveniently, is the same time as the meatballs and the sauce will need. So, you can put your pasta on as soon as you start frying the meatballs, or perhaps even a little earlier.

Once the tomato sauce has heated through and the meatballs are thoroughly cooked, pour the sauce into the frying pan with meatballs and simmer until you're ready to serve.

Apologies for the poor quality photo... we just wanted to EAT it

Extra Tips:

You could even add some cheese to bulk the meal up a little.

Alternatively, you could dice the Chorizo and add it to the meatballs, for an extra kick.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you have any low-cost meal recipes!

Love,

Becci xox

11. Recipes // Homemade Chai Tea

Afternoon lovelies, two posts in a day, aren't you lucky? (or not, it may seem!)

A couple of weeks ago, there was a Spring Fair near to me which I snooped around for a good few hours! I managed to find a few lovely gifts from local businesses and one of them included a little Chai making kit, which I'd love to share with you as Chai tea is quite possibly my favourite drink and I think everyone should try it!

You can find out more about Chai, it's history and it's ingredients here 

The ingredients for the Chai came wrapped up in a piece of muslin cloth with a cute ribbon wrapped around the top. It looked absolutely adorable so I think they'd make a brilliant little present or stocking filler for somebody.

Inside the package was the following:

Cardamom,

Star Anise,

Cinnamon,

Ginger,

Nutmeg,

Cloves (sorry these aren't in the photograph!)

All Spice

I looked online for some recipes and ingredients lists and the quantities of each of the spices varied hugely, so I guess you can just choose depending on your personal preference. However, I will link some other recipes/ingredients lists at the end of this post.

The recipe I followed makes 4-6 cups of tea and any left over tea can be put in the fridge (once cooled) and used within 24 hours.

The Method:

- Wrap your ingredients in muslin cloth and tie quite tightly,

- With a rolling pin, break up the ingredients by bashing them,

- Fill a pan with 4 cups of cold water, put the parcel inside and bring to the boil,

- Simmer for a further 10 minutes then remove from the heat,

- Add 2 tea-bags and steep for 10 minutes,

- Add 1 cup of milk and 1-2 teaspoons of sugar (depending on preference),

- Re-heat slowly until frothy on top,

- Strain to ensure none of the little bits of spices make their way to your tea,

- Serve and enjoy!

There are some other excellent recipes for Chai here and one of my favourite bloggers, Rosalilium, also has a recipe for Chai concentrate here

Alternatively, if you don't fancy the hassle of making your own Chai, Marks and Spencer do a delicious Chai tea for a very reasonable price! Tesco's also make a few varities, including vanilla Chai for anyone who isn't quite as keen on the spice.

Let me know what you think of the recipe, is there anything you'd add or take away?

Lots of love, Becci