Tips to make your own personalised hamper gift

Katy Hackworth

I look after communications and marketing at Dairy Diary. I’m a busy mum and love home baking and cooking for my family. In my spare time I enjoy visiting the theatre, eating out with friends and exploring the great outdoors!

Tomorrow is known as Stir-up Sunday – the day when tradition suggests we should make our Christmas Pudding!

As with many of our festive traditions, Stir-up Sunday is a tradition that began in Victorian times. It gets its name from the beginning of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer, read on the last Sunday before Advent, which begins with the words, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people”. This became a reminder to prepare the festive fayre.

The classic version of the pudding we know of today would traditionally contain 13 ingredients – representing Jesus and his twelve disciples.

Family members would take turns to stir the pudding with a wooden spoon (to represent the manger) from east to west, symbolising the journey of the Three Wise Men, whilst making a wish. Trinkets would often be added to the pudding before it was wrapped, steamed and stored away until Christmas Day.

Today there are a huge variety of Christmas Puddings to choose from.

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Win £150 Sophie Allport Voucher

While Christmas is on your mind, take this opportunity to enter our competition to win a Sophie Allport voucher worth £150.

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Katy Hackforth
I look after communications and marketing at Dairy Diary. I’m a busy mum and love home baking and cooking for my family. In my spare time I enjoy visiting the theatre, eating out with friends and exploring the great outdoors!

You may recognise the expression “it’s better to give than receive”, but did you know this is backed up by research?

Cast your mind back to the last time you did something nice for somebody else. Do you remember how it felt when you saw their surprise, followed by a smile on their face? It made you feel pretty good, didn’t it?

There’s actually a scientific explanation for the buoyant
sensation that arises when we help another person out.

To begin understanding this, we must travel back to the time of our ancient ancestors. We are hardwired for connection and offering someone assistance in the days when humans lived on the savanna may have aided one’s own survival. If you offered a helping hand to someone in need, the hope was that maybe they’d help you out when you needed it most in the future.

Volunteer benefits

While assisting a friend might not confer the same survival benefits as it did in the distant past, studies show that helping others could contribute to a longer lifespan in other ways. Supporting others can reduce our own stress levels (leading to a lower risk of disease) and decrease loneliness, which can affect both physical and mental health.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, 1000s of people have become volunteers, either on a very local level, helping out neighbours through lockdown or through the government schemes which have been a valuable lifeline for many.

Volunteering on a regular basis also connects you to others and can increase your self-confidence in the process. By measuring brain activity in volunteers, researchers have even discovered that supporting others gives us great pleasure on a chemical level. Ergo, the more we give, the happier we feel!

Increase wellbeing

If a regular volunteering commitment is beyond you right now, try a small gesture. Smiling at a stranger, checking on a neighbour or leaving seeds out for the birds confers the same feel-good benefits.

Acts of kindness may also encourage others to repeat the good deeds they’ve experienced themselves – contributing to a more positive community!

So help others because you care and reap rewards that enrich your own sense of self in the process. It’s a win-win situation. So what are you waiting for?

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Why helping others is healthy is one of the fascinating articles in the 2022 Dairy Diary and features 12 simple ways to help your family and community.

Katy Hackforth

I look after communications and marketing at Dairy Diary. I’m a busy mum and love home baking and cooking for my family. In my spare time I enjoy visiting the theatre, eating out with friends and exploring the great outdoors!

How to make your own peanut butter for Peanut Butter Lover’s Month plus 3 perfectly peanuty recipes

The Incas and Aztecs (who we can also thank for chocolate) were the first to grind roasted peanuts into a paste but it was brought to mass-production in the USA by Kellogg’s (the cereal people), who patented peanut butter paste.

Surprisingly easy to make, you can create
your own peanut butter at home.

You only need three ingredients, a food processor and a jar to store it in (if it lasts that long!)

Peanut butter is SO versatile, you can use it in savoury dishes, such as a stir-fry or a soup. Or as a breakfast toast-topper, a sandwich filling or even use it to make an incredible dessert.

Here is a quick recipe for you to try, it’s palm oil free, contains no preservatives and is cheap to make!

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Ingredients 
Plain, unroasted peanuts 300g (11oz)
Honey 1 tsp (or to taste)
Salt ½ tsp (or to taste)
Sesame oil 1½tsp

Method 

1 Preheat oven to 200°C/180°fan/Gas 6.

2 Spread peanuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

3 Blend nuts in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Using a spatula, scrape peanuts down from the side of the processor every minute or so. This should take 3-4 minutes.

4 Add honey, salt and oil, then blend for another minute. Taste and add more honey and salt, if necessary.

5 Spoon peanut butter into a sterilised jar. Store in the fridge and use within two weeks.

Cook’s tip: Add ½ tsp cocoa powder with honey, salt and oil for a chocolatey flavour.

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Here are some of our favourite recipes using peanut butter, for #PeanutButterLoversMonth, including two BRAND NEW recipes from our fabulous cookbook More Taste & Less Waste (which makes a brilliant Christmas gift!).

Peanut Butter & Popcorn Layer Cake 

Ice Box Caramel, Peanut & Banana Pies

Peanut Chocolate Slice & Bake Cookies

Emily Davenport

I post regular blogs featuring food, family and fun. Ideas for days out, crafty makes, health and home, plus giveaways and, of course, delicious recipes that I think you will find irresistible.

Dairy Diary is giving you the chance to win this one-stop solution for perfectly cooked meals!

Introducing the 14-in-1, 5 Litre Multi-Cooker.

The settings on this clever device include Steam, Stew, Soup, Roast, Poach, Bread Rise, Bake, Fish, Saute/Brown, Rice, Pasta, Slow Cook High, Slow Cook Low and Yoghurt!!

The inner pot is non-stick and dishwasher safe so is easy to clean.

The five-litre capacity allows you to make meals for up to approximately 6 portions – perfect for family meals and batch cooking.

Just set and forget about it! Easy!

With so many functions you could choose any number of our delicious recipes to adapt – here is just one to start with…

Spiced Sweet Potato Soup

Spiced Sweet Potato Soup is a delicious comfort food recipe from A Zest For Life cookbook.

To enter visit the competitions page.

Good Luck!

Katy Hackforth

I look after communications and marketing at Dairy Diary. I’m a busy mum and love home baking and cooking for my family. In my spare time I enjoy visiting the theatre, eating out with friends and exploring the great outdoors!

 

 

With the COP26 Climate Change Summit taking place in Glasgow, many of us are trying to do our bit to help the environment

However, it can sometimes be overwhelming and we wonder what we can do as individuals to make a difference.

Cutting down our food waste is something that we can all do – with just a small amount of thought and effort on our part – and it makes a big difference!

As part of the COP26 a photography trail has been produced by Glasgow photographer Rankin. This open-air trail showcases images that are created from food that will end up in landfill.

 

 

 

Speaking about the exhibition Rankin said;

“I had no idea that food waste is a bigger contributor to climate change than plastic. It’s quite literally feeding an epidemic that’s killing our planet.

“It’s time we viewed food waste through the same, if not a more dangerous lens than single-use plastics”

“We know people want to do their bit for the environment so our message is this – the easiest way you can fight climate change is by reducing the amount of food you waste. It’s as simple as that.”

 

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Our new cookbook More Taste and Less Waste is all about creating and eating delicious food whilst minimising food waste

Including chapters such as:

• Perfect Portions – scrumptious recipes to serve two
• Take one: make two – a collection of recipes using one main ingredient to create two different meals
• Take one: make three – a collection of recipes using one main ingredient to create three different meals
• Make & freeze – batch cook recipes and freeze the extra portions for another day.

 

 

Take a closer look at More Taste & Less Waste cookbook

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katy Hackforth

I look after communications and marketing at Dairy Diary. I’m a busy mum and love home baking and cooking for my family. In my spare time I enjoy visiting the theatre, eating out with friends and exploring the great outdoors!