Check this video out for more information on ‘Come dine below the line’

If you’re interested in holding your own budget dinner party, sign up here and get your fundraising boots on! 

The challenge within this campaign as mentioned is that the recipe has to be below 33p a head.  The price allowance is dependent on the number of people. So, for example, if you were cooking for two, you’d have a budget of 66p, if you were cooking for 10, you’d have a budget of £3.30. This recipe was created with 4 people in mind – so my overall budget was £1:32. 

Initially I was left scratching my head, but a visit to Asda gave me a burst of inspiration. I found my muse within the dairy aisle, it didn’t have fanciest packaging but you should never judge a book by it’s cover;

The name almost sounds comical. ‘Greek style salad cheese’  is only 75p!  With that in mind I got to think about preparation methods and decided to bake it in with chilli to help this budget block of dairy reach it’s full potential.

You’ll need something to bake the chilli in for this recipe I used parchment paper as it was the only thing I had to hand – for this you could also use foil (I’m sure you have either knocking around the house, if not you could bake it in a casserole dish or a pan with a lid. 

Baked Chillli Feta Ingredients / Cost Breakdown

 1 block of Feta / Greek Style Salad Cheese – 75p divided by 4 = 18.75 per head 

1  chilli (of pack of 6)  45p divided by 6 = 7.5p  divided by 4 = 1.8 p per head

4 pita breads (from pack of 6) 49 divided by 6 = 8p per head 

Sprinkle of coriander from garden herbs  = 0p 

1 tsp oil (This on was annoying) 1tsp = 5 millilitres my olive oil is £0.35/100ml meaning £0.35 / 20  so 0.01p (Missed out as negligible and maths sucks)

 Overall my shoddy probably inaccurate calculations costed this around 28p per head (well below the 33p boundary, even if oil and herb cost were included) 

Baked Chilli Feta Instructions

1. Turn your oven up to 180c

2. Deseed and slice the chilli 

3. Drain the greek style salad cheese of water 

4. Cut some parchment paper or foil large enough that it covers the feta when folded 

5. Put 1tsp of olive oil on the feta package, put your sliced chillies on top- then scrunch up the sides and toss in the oven

6. Bake at 180c for 10 minutes

7. Turn oven up to 200c and uncover the feta package, bake for a further 10 mins until browned

8. Toast up some pitta breads.

9. Garnish the feta with some chopped up coriander.

10.Tear and share with friends! 

The post Baked Chilli Feta & Pittas – “Come Dine below the Line” recipe appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

Intellicig and I have the answer to your problem, as part of their #gogreen campaign we’ve teamed up to give a lucky entrant the chance to win one of these wicked little herb gardens.

So what are you waiting for? ENTER BELOW!

Win an amazing indoor herb allotment! !!

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Luckily my house mate works in a wine bar in Brighton so I can pick up good bottles of wine for cheap (Thank you staff discount…)  

Do you have any tips for drinking well on the cheap? 

The post How to pair food with wine – Infographic appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

I thought the article was going to be published just within the student section, but it was published to the front page and was the number one article within the food section (Not bad for a romanticised egg & chips!) 

The article questions why people get takeaways when they’re hungover – surely it’d make much more sense both for your health and for your wallet to knock something together in the kitchen. I do understand on the most horrific of hangovers, wherein every step makes your nauseous, that the thought of crawling to the stove wouldn’t be very appealing.  

But when it’s the case of going one or two pints over there’s nothing more productive then getting your cook on is essential hangover rehabilitation. 

It was a huge surprise to say the least and the influx of traffic was a bit of a surprise! (But a great surprise  to wake up to, I thought it was a glitch at first)

Some of the comments on the article aren’t particularly positive or constructive – but y’know, haters gonna hate.

But don’t take it from me, James Franco raises some points on the matter;

 

But enough blowing my own trumpet, If you’d like to read the article click here 

The post “How to have a healthy hangover” – Guardian Article appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

Gammon is a conventionally Christmas meal, it’s the less attractive but more fun cousin of turkey. A good gammon can be whipped up with minimal effort and easily  appease the in-laws on boxing day.  This is a super secret recipe that has been handed down through my family for ONE WHOLE GENERATION (From my Dad to me) 

If you’ve got a slowcooker  this recipe will be an absolute breeze. I used a 2.4kg gammon joint which I got from my local butcher for £6 (To any international readers, this equates to an absolute steal) If you don’t have a slowcooker don’t fret. You can just use a sauce pan and it turns out equally as well. 

I soaked my gammon overnight to remove excess salt, if you don’t like your meat too salty I’d recommending doing this as well. 

As pointed out by Andrew within the comments you can also slow-cook in stock or beer.

Coke Gammon Ingredients

• Gammon Joint 
• Coca Cola (Enough to submerge the joint, it took a litre to cover mine)

Glaze Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Honey 
• 1 tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
• Left over gammon/coke juices

Coke Gammon Cooking Steps

1) Coke, meet gammon you’re going to be spending a lot of time with each other.  2) Submerge your gammon in the coca cola, I used  slowcooker  on high for 8 hours.  If using a sauce pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 2 – 3 hours. I removed the skin after it had spent the necessary time in the slow cooker 

3) Once either steps have been completed above, you should remove the gammon from the pan and leave to cool. At this stage I also removed the skin. Dispose of most of the coke but keep a little to add some liquid to the glaze.  Pre-heat your oven to 180c at this point

4) Once cooled, score the fat that’s left over and put the joint in a baking tray. Mix your glaze with the ingredients listed above (and a little bit of leftover cooking coke) 

5) Once the ham is coated , put it into the oven for 20 mins. Take out at this moment and spoon excess glaze over. If the glaze  isn’t caramelizing turn up the heat and keep an eye on it! 

6) Remove the coke gammon from the oven and leave to rest before carving, enjoy!

The post Honey and Mustard Glazed Coke Gammon appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

My obsession with pumpkin seeds as a snack occurred just after Halloween, after the initial rush of people buying pumpkins they were left incredibly cheap. Naturally being tight as hell I grabbed a few, since after all I was very interested in what I could actually do with pumpkins in general.

The answer is… LOADS OF THINGS!

They’re actually surprisingly healthy and versatile. I don’t think anyone got the memo about this, since after all – we carve faces into them and leave them to rot. Food waste eat your heart out.

Who knows, maybe 1,000 years into the future scientists will find a carved fossilized pumpkin and ponder what was wrong with their ancestors. I’m getting carried away, but if anyone wants to buy the screenplay then drop me a line . Michael Bay, that one goes out to you if you’re listening.

Probably best to stop rambling and explain the how to make these toasted pumpkin seeds.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Ingredients 

• 1 x Pumpkin 
• 1Tsp oil
• Salt/Pepper to taste.

Step one in your pumpkin seed quest is to lop the top off the pumpkin and separate the flesh from the seeds. I’ve seen people on-line talk smack about using your hand, but screw them. Reach deep into the pumpkin sift through the flesh looking for seeds. 

Once the seeds are retrieved they will be covered in pumpkin gunk, you don’t that at all 

Wash all of the gunk off in a colander and dry  before the next step. 

After that, heat 1tsp of oil in a Pan over a medium heat. Once the oil simmers, through the seeds in. When the pumpkin seeds are brown and the husks open slightly they’re ready.
Finally put the toasted pumpkin seeds in a pretentious cup and photograph artistically after seasoning with salt & pepper. They”ll be delicious, mine didn’t stick around longer than an hour… Now to wait for the next Halloween. 

Expect a pumpkin purée recipe in the pipeline. Boy are you in for a treat. 

The post Toasted Pumpkin Seeds appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

At the start of this term I bought a bag of frozen basa fillets at Aldi – mostly to experiment with panko and to see if I could replicate the token mass produced breaded fillet (A particular previous favourite of ) After a couple of attempts I decided just to bake a basa fillet in a simple marinade, the end result blew my mind. 

I was shocked to discover that it was just as tasty as the breaded fillet and much healthier. They’re great  with couscous, I photographed this recipe at the same time alongside my couscous recipe and it complimented it perfectly (enough that I ate both fillets in a single sitting) I’m sure they’d also be really great alongside just a salad if you were looking for a super healthy meal. 

If you’re using frozen fillets it’s advisable to defrost them beforehand, this can be done easily by putting them into a sandwich bag and then adding that into a bowl of warm water. They’ll generally take about 10-15 minutes until they are defrosted completely. 

Baked Basa Fillets Ingredients

Baked Basa fillets with garlic & thyme

2014-10-25 05:01:49

Serves 2

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1. 1Tbsp olive oil
2. 2 tbsp chopped thyme
3. 2 tbsp lemon juice
4. 1 garlic clove minced
5. 2 defrosted basa fillets

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Baked Basa Fillets Recipe

1) Preheat your oven to 180c. Slice your garlic finely after that pluck the leaves off of your fresh thyme. Mix the garlic, thyme, olive oil and lemon juice together. 

2) Put your fillets onto some aluminium foil  and then drizzle the marinade over the fillets.

3) Wrap your fillets up nice and tight! Put the parcel into the oven.
4) Bake for 20 minutes, when that amount of time has elapsed remove them and check the thickest part of the fillet to make sure they’re cooked through. 

5) Plate up your baked basa fillets! As mentioned before I  recommend to have them with couscous, but you can have them anyway you want. Be sure to spoon the delicious sauce from the parcel onto your plate. 

The post Baked Basa Fillets with garlic & thyme appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

Couscous has been around since the 13th century, it’s archaic and god damned delicious. There’s a million reasons why you should be eating couscous, it’s healthy as hell and cheap to boot! 

For me it’s been a real  game changer in my university packed lunches, it’s incredibly versatile and you can pretty much add anything you can think of to it. This recipe calls for five simple ingredients…. That’s right! JUST FIVE! 

Quit mucking about with flaky & soggy pre-packaged sandwiches and throw a big handful of couscous in some tupperware and be the envy of all your friends (Don’t forget a fork though, I did last week and it wasn’t pleasant) Expect many more couscous recipes to come, chorizo couscous is just the beginning. 

Shout out to my boy couscous, you the man!

Did I mention this was a pound for a kilo at LIDL? 

Chorizo Couscous Ingredients

Chorizo couscous

2014-10-22 09:36:17

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

1. 200g Couscous
2. 2 Inches of chorizo
3. 400ml stock (Chicken or vegetable advised)
4. 1 tsp paprika

Optional

1. Parsley to garnish

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1) Slice up your chorizo, cut more than you’ll need as if you’re like me you’ll inevitably pick at it. 

2) You’re gonna want to fry your chorizo until it is crisp to release it’s delicious flavour. I generally dry fry mine but feel free to add oil… if you’re into that.

3) Add 200g of couscous to your chorizo pan, give it a stir to ensure the chorizo oil coats the couscous

4) I made 400 ml of vegetable stock with boiling water in a jug. Proceed to pour this onto your couscous until it is covered, measurements don’t have to be exact, just don’t drown it. Cover with a plate and leave it for 10 mins.

5) Take off the plate, add the paprika and then fluff the couscous. Then add the parsley to garnish. All done!

The post Chorizo Couscous appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

These were my staple food during my second year of university, just one with a pita alongside wedges can be a healthy and filling meal. I’ve been 

Fun Fact: I was vegetarian for 2 years during my adolescence… 

Chickpea Patties

2014-10-15 07:54:39

Serves 4

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Chickpea Patties

1. 1 can Chickpeas - 400g
2. Breadcrumbs (1 food processed / broken up slice of toast)
3. Handful of coriander
4. 1 tsp cumin
5. 1 tsp chilli powder
6. Lemon juice
7. Panko
8. Egg

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Chickpea Patties Recipe

1.) First things first, cut a white onion in half. Slice half of the onion and dice the other half (This is important and essential for chickpea patties)

2.) Toast up some bread and then put it through a food processor / break it up with a fork. Congratulations – you just made breadcrumbs! 

3.) Drain your can of chickpeas

3.) Add your breadcrumbs, chickpeas, roughly a handful of coriander, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chilli powder and an egg to the blender (If you’re vegan at this point you could add flax seeds as a binding agent)

4.) Scrape out the food processor into a mixing bowl, add your chopped onion and mold together with your hands.

5.) Roll the fledgeling chickpea patties into a ball. It totally looks like birdfeeder ball at the moment but it will get better, honest.  6.) Quarter the ball (with your knife) and then flatten these balls into patty shapes. Put the chickpea patties in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up

7) Remove your chickpea patties from the fridge and then pull out your secret weapon… PANKO. This stuff is great, it will make sure your patties crisp up loads within the oil (It’s used for Katsu curries) If you do not have any panko, dust the chickpea patties with breadcrumbs.

8.) The patties can be prepared in a variety of ways at the point, you can either bake in the oven at 180C until brown, grill in a George foreman or fry with 1 tbsp sunflower oil until both sides are brown and crispy. 

9.) Plate up! I love them in wraps with sweet chilli and avocado. If that’s not your jam then you could serve these chickpea patties cut up in a salad, pita or even with a fried egg on top!

The post Chickpea Patties appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.

I’ve been making this simple yogurt topped flapjack recipe since the start of university – they’re a great way to ease yourself into the world of baking and a great way to apologise to neighbours for making too much noise! 

They’re also guaranteed to be infinitely better for you than the sugary and stodgy lumps that the SU shop will try and palm off on you. The recipe can be tweaked as much as you want. I only started adding the frozen berries recently but feel they are a tasty, nutritious and cheap way to jazz up your flapjack!

So preheat your oven,chuck your apron on and challenge your housemate to a bake off. Winner gets to lick the bowl. 

Yogurt Topped Flapjack Recipe

2014-10-05 13:57:16

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Flapjack

1. 200g porridge Oats
2. 5 tbsp Golden Syrup
3. 150g Butter
4. Handful of frozen mixed berries

Topping

1. 8 tsp yogurt
2. 1 tsp vanilla essence
3. 1 tsp icing sugar

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1) Preheat your oven to 180c

2) Put a medium sized saucepan on a low heat.

3) Melt your butter and then add the golden syrup to the pan, stir until thoroughly mixed.

4) Put your frozen berries and oats in a mixing bowl

5) Add the butter / syrup mix and coat thoroughly.

6) Grease a medium sized baking tray with butter.

7) Scoop the mix out and push down until the tray is full

8) Bake this mix in the oven for 15 minutes

9) Whilst baking – mix 8 tsp of  low fat yogurt, 1 tsp icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla essence in a bowl. This is an essential part of the yogurt topped flapjack recipe! 

10) After baking remove your flapjack from the oven and ice with your yogurt mix.

11) Put back into the oven for 5/10 minutes (depending on how crispy you like it) 

12) Remove from oven and leave to cool, these are even better once chilled… if you have the patience…. 

The post Yogurt Topped Flapjack Recipe appeared first on The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides.