Vegetarian BBQ Kebabs

Vegetarians tend to miss out on the bbq front no longer shall this be the case with these delicious, easy to make and cheap vegetable, fruit and tofu kebabs.

Preparation time- 20 minutes

Cooking time- 15-20 minutes

• Mushrooms
• Courgette
• Sweet pepper
• Onion
• Smoked Tofu
• Pineapple chunks
• BBQ skewers
• Marinade -4 cloves of minced garlic, 4cm section of grated ginger,1 tbsp brown sugar, tsp salt and a good dash of soy sauce.

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1. Make up the kebabs and marinade the night before and leave them to soak in the flavours.

2. Cut up the vegetables into chunks, not too big so they won’t cook but not too small so they fall of the skewer.

3. Thread the vegetables, pineapple and tofu onto the skewer and put into the dish and pour the marinade on top to soak.

4. Cook the skewers on a bbq or in the oven and enjoy in the sunshine.

That time of year is here again light up the barbeque and enjoy the weather with your best friends and family. As well as the glorious aspects of a bbq in the sun there are also risks in food preparation.

At the wrong heat flames will crisp and burn the outside of whatever you are cooking and indicate to one that it is cooked through. This is where the splash proof thermapen comes in, its ideal size, ease of use and resistance to liquids make it the perfect accessory for keeping your friends and family safe when cooking.

The thermapen will take a reading in three seconds making it one of the fastest on the market, it also allows you to choose whether you want to take a reading in degrees Celsius or fare height. On top of this the thermapen is equipped with an anti bacterial component that means you can rest easy when repeatedly using it.

A finely designed piece of kit that tackles the inconvenient and unhealthy aspects of other designs.

Falafel

Falafel is a popular and common dish originating in the Middle East. The main ingredient is chickpeas mixed with spices and herbs, they are great fried or baked the latter obviously offering better health benefits.

Preparation time- 20 minutes

Cooking time- frying- 10 minutes, oven- 30-40 minutes

• One tin of Chickpeas (Garbanzos)
• One onion finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• Dash of lemon juice
• Half a teaspoon of Chilli flakes
• Small bunch of fresh parsley cut finely
• One tsp coriander powder (or small bunch fresh)
• Salt and pepper to season
• 2 tbsp Plain flour
• Some oil for baking or frying

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1. Add all of the ingredients apart from the flour and oil into a bowl.

2. Process this mixture using a potato masher or food processor.

3. The mixture should be thick and not runny, you should be able to easily form a ball when you add some flour.

4. Form falafel just smaller than a golf ball and is baking flatten into a disc and put on a tray with a little spacing in between.

5. Leave as a ball if frying and preheat a pan of oil for deep frying.

6. If baking they can take from 20 minutes to 35 minutes in the oven. In the frying pan they take only a few minutes.

Serve with salad, hummus and pitta breads with a squirt of lemon juice on the top.

Are you fed up of reaching for the steel every time that you want to sharpen your knives?

A well sharpened knife is a delight to work with and not only reduces the time that it takes to prepare food but makes it more of a pleasure than a chore. The Chefs choice is perfect for professional kitchens as well as domestic use, the machine sharpens and polishes leaving you with a fine end product.

The machine will sharpen serrated as well as straight blades and can also work on pocket knives and irregular continental type blades. The machine is simple to use and works in three stages a 100% diamond stage, a small hard steel and discs for the final finishing touches.

This great bit of kit will save you time and money and bring vigour and strength back to your kitchen knives.

Tofu And Walnut Burgers

Veggie burgers can be dry and boring with not much to taste, forget about the bland burgers of the past and cook yourself some of these lovely tofu and walnut burgers.

Preparation time- 20 minutes

Cooking time- frying 10 minutes, oven 30 minutes

• 1 pack of smoked tofu
• 50 grams of walnuts
• Half an onion
• Half a courgette
• 1 cup of Breadcrumbs
• 1 grated carrot
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 handful of fresh mint
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• Some plain flour
• Oil for cooking

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1. Put all of the ingredients apart from the walnuts, flour, breadcrumbs and oil in the food processor and blend to a paste like mixture.

2. Put this mixture into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs and chopped walnuts, mix by hand and get the mixture to a consistency that you can make a ball. Make the balls and roll them in flour and flatten them into burger.

3. You can either fry the burgers or oven cook them, to fry preheat some oil and shallow fry the burgers on each side until they are lightly brown and crunchy. To oven bake lightly grease a baking tray and cook them for around 20-30 minutes turning them once halfway through.

Enjoy the burgers as part of a meal or in a bun with some salad on a lovely sunny evening.

A revolution in tea making is here introducing the Breville one touch tea maker. No longer do you have to spend your time filtering and straining leaves to only find them still in your drink.

The world of tea is amazing thousands of varieties are available as well as hedgerow teas such as rose petals and raspberry leaves. Mix and blend your own teas and at the touch of a button just wait for it to brew.

When it comes down to the real science behind tea we know that different tea types need different temperatures and times to effectively brew the ideal cup. the machine is easy to use, durable and cleans up perfectly every time.

With optional times and temperatures just do a little research into your favourites and let the good times flow.

When a seed sprouts leaves all of its life energy and force is put into helping the plant grow that means that all of the vital nutrition is available for the plant. When we harvest the plant at this stage we are capturing this essence and what you will find as the purest and most natural energy booster. Nothing could be simpler than sprouting your own seeds for salads in your own kitchen all you need is some seeds, some clean glass jars, some clean and cold water and a muslin cloth.

Some seeds are easier to sprout then others, the larger the seed the longer it will take to sprout as it uses the vital energy. Different seeds and pulses require different care for example chickpeas can take up to a week to sprout whereas lentils can take a few days

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• Alfalfa is a wonderful plant that is used as a fodder crop for horses and a green manure for organic farmers. Alfalfa translates to strength of the horses and what an appropriate name, don’t underestimate the amount of room a handful of sprouts will take up sprout a tablespoons worth first to judge the amount needed. Alfalfa is delicious in salads and gives an instant boost of energy. It needs its fresh water twice a day to sprout and stay healthy.
• Hemp takes a good few days to sprout, it has every single amino acid and contains high levels of omega oils. It needs its rinsing with water three times a day.
• Chickpeas are very crunchy in salads they high in protein and fibre, they can take a week  to sprout, they are very crunchy when they first root but become softer after a few days.
• Lentils are quick and easy to sprout they are highly nutritious and great in salads and sandwiches.
• Broccoli seeds when sprouted actually offer 40 times higher nutritional value than steamed broccoli itself. the seeds are small and sprout quite quickly.

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1. So lets get started keep different sized seeds separate and fill each jar about a third or less with the beans/ seeds. Now we add cold water to the jar and leave this to soak for 8-12 hours.
2. After the soaking time drain the seeds using a sieve or muslin cloth, rinse them again and put them back into the jar with no water.
3. Around 8 hours later fill the jar with water and strain again, do this twice to rinse properly.
4. Repeat this procedure daily until the seeds sprout, once they have sprouted allow them to do so for a few days, try them for taste and eat as you please.

Make sure to keep on rinsing the seeds as if you don’t a very funky smell develops.

For those of you that live for fresh juice you will have faced the same dilemma over again, machines that work very fast but produce poor juice and slow machines that yield fine juice.

The aim of the Breville juicer is to refine previous machines faults and produce a juicer that yields fine juice is minimal time and it has done just that. The time standard has now been set to 5 seconds for an 8 ounce cup of juice. The machine processes the fruit or vegetables within seconds before they are filtered through a mesh to collect unwanted particles. Other features to maximise your experience whilst minimising time is that you can feed the machine whole fruits up to 3 inches for processing with no problem.

o more peeling and cutting just chuck the food in and let the machine work for you by using the tap to drain the juice. It has been found that by using a machine with such efficiency you can increase your juice yield by up to 30% as it fully utilizes all of the rind and other juicy bits.

With a one year warranty this machine is perfect for domestic and professional standard kitchens, it can be used with ease and comes apart for cleaning simply and effectively.

Beans and pulses are some of nature’s greatest gifts, these protein packed balls of wonder are the perfect alternative for veggie diets and those wishing to cut back on their intake of meat. From lentils to butter beans the world of beans and pulses is very diverse. Beans and pulses belong to the legume family alongside peas, runner beans and carob, this means that when the crop is harvested the roots release nitrogen into the soil. This happens when certain bacteria associate with the roots, these nodules fix atmospheric nitrogen and when the plant dies this is released into the soil. This means that by supporting beans and pulses you are helping plants that give nitrogen back to the soil.
• Many of us are familiar with kidney and cannellini beans in our favorite dishes but not many of us realise how economical it is to soak and cook our own. Red lentils are one of the only pulses that do not require soaking overnight, the following and others need soaking for at least 8 hours (or put in the pressure cooker) -Chick peas (garbanzos), kidney beans, puy and brown lentils, cannellini, black eyed peas, mung, adzuki and butter beans.

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BEWARE- red and white kidney beans can be fatal if consumed without thorough cooking so please be careful.

Beans and pulses are packed full of protein, fibre and nutrition, in studies it was shown that red lentils have a protein level in equivalent weight of 8 times higher than red meat.
this could offer solutions to intensive meat farming and the associated problems it brings such as excess methane and the destruction of rainforest for grazing.

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Our homes are constantly at threat from humidity, damp and mould, not only does this deteriorate our walls and ceilings but these conditions are very bad for our health. Dehumidifiers are nothing new but what we have is a new and refined design with the aim of getting away from the one setting suits all style of electrical appliances.

The Sunpentown dehumidifier has options from 30 to 80% to control your machine to exactly what you need it for, this is a great way to save money and energy. The water tank is a massive 10 litres and covers a room of up to 500 square feet. The benefits of using a dehumidifier are great as sleeping and living in damp rooms is terrible for our breathing and general health.

The machine has an easy to clean air filter, removable water tank and moves around a room with ease. A great feature in the office and at home, whether your home has problems or you are wishing to prevent them this machine is ideal.