Author Archives for Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

About Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

Head of Dairy Diary; I'm passionate about producing high quality products that our customers will cherish. I'm also a mum of three and I enjoy cooking, walking, gardening and painting with my family, as well as printmaking (when I find the time!)

5 Top Tips for Managing your Budget

5 top tips to manage your money

It’s not the jolliest of subjects but keeping track of finances is essential.

Having juggled cash for a family of five on just one income I’ve learned a few savvy tricks over the last five years.

  1. Have two bank accounts; one for all your bills and another for your spending money. That way, you will always know how much you have to spend as you can see online or at the cashpoint exactly how much money you have left before payday.
  2. If at all possible, pay your credit card bill, in full, every month.
  3. Home Budget with the Dairy DiaryHome Budget with the Dairy DiaryUse the home budgeting pages in your Dairy Diary. This is invaluable as you can see how much is coming in and going out each month. And you know how much to transfer to your bills account and how much you have left for fun.
  4. When contracts for utilities or phones etc. end ALWAYS compare deals online. I use moneysavingexpert.com all the time for reference. Ensure you never pay more for anything than you need to.
  5. Use a savings account for Christmas and birthdays. Add up how much you spend on everyone for their birthday and at Christmas and divide it by 12. Then transfer this amount into a savings account by direct debit every month. You could also set up a direct debit to a holiday savings account.

 

There are many delicious recipes that cost very little in our cookbook, Fantastic Food for Less.

Here’s one of my favourites:

 Chilli Beef Noodles

Chilli Beef Noodles

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 494 per portion
Fat 15g (4.4g sat) per portion

Ingredients

  • Egg noodles 2 nests
  • Olive oil 1 tbsp
  • Beef frying steak 175g (6oz), thinly sliced
  • Red onion 1, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
  • Frozen peas 110g (4oz)
  • Ready prepared stir-fry vegetables 225g pack
  • Chilli powder ½ tsp
  • Dried oregano ½ tsp
  • Sherry 2 tbsp (optional)
  • Soy sauce 2 tbsp

Instructions

  1. Cook the noodles according to the packet’s instructions.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and fry the beef and onion for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned all over. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
  3. Add the peas and stir-fry vegetables to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then stir in all the remaining ingredients with 4 tbsp water. Stir in the beef and drained noodles and cook for 1 minute before serving.

 

Cook’s tips
Ready prepared stir-fry vegetables are really inexpensive to buy and make midweek cooking super-speedy. If you don’t have sherry available then replace it and the water with 6 tbsp beef stock.

#savvy #savemoney #tripletested #toptips

Recipe of the Week | Coffee Sponge with Gingerbread Cream

Coffee Sponge with Gingerbread Cream

This beautiful cake is so easy you can make it every weekend – or decorate with edible flowers and bake for a birthday.

Coffee Sponge with Gingerbread Cream

  • Servings: 8-10 slices
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Instant coffee 2 tsp 
  • Unsalted butter 175g (6oz), softened
  • Caster sugar 175g (6oz)
  • Eggs 3 medium, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 175g (6oz), sifted
  • Double cream 600ml tub
  • Gingerbread syrup 1 tbsp
  • Icing sugar 1 tbsp
  • Blueberries, crystallised ginger and/or edible flowers to decorate (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4 and grease and base-line two 18cm (7in) sandwich tins. Mix coffee with 1 tbsp boiling water.
  2. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.
  3. Beat in coffee and eggs, a little at a time. Fold in flour and then pour into tins.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes or until sponge springs back when lightly touched. Cool in tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. Whip cream with syrup and icing sugar and use to sandwich cakes together. Spread remaining cream on top and decorate with blueberries, crystallised ginger and/or edible flowers, if wished. Chill until ready to serve.

 

#birthdaycake

#edibleflowers

An Easy but Beautiful Birthday Cake for Grown Ups

Coffee Sponge with Gingerbread Cream

Although I love to bake I am a terrible at cake decorating and my creations never look very pretty!

However, recent ideas from Bake Box have inspired me to create something beautiful using edible flowers.

Fruit and flowers clustered on top
of a cake look simple but stunning.

Take a look at their ideas here http://the-bake-box.com

Over the winter I enjoyed a couple of cheeky gingerbread lattes, which gave me the idea for this cake. It has a light coffee sponge with sweet gingerbread-infused cream. Mmmmm.

 

Coffee Sponge with Gingerbread Cream

  • Servings: 8-10 slices
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Instant coffee 2 tsp

     

  • Unsalted butter 175g (6oz), softened
  • Caster sugar 175g (6oz)
  • Eggs 3 medium, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 175g (6oz), sifted
  • Double cream 600ml tub
  • Gingerbread syrup 1 tbsp
  • Icing sugar 1 tbsp
  • Blueberries, crystallised ginger and/or edible flowers to decorate (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4 and grease and base-line two 18cm (7in) sandwich tins. Mix coffee with 1 tbsp boiling water.
  2. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.
  3. Beat in coffee and eggs, a little at a time. Fold in flour and then pour into tins.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes or until sponge springs back when lightly touched. Cool in tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. Whip cream with syrup and icing sugar and use to sandwich cakes together. Spread remaining cream on top and decorate with blueberries, crystallised ginger and/or edible flowers, if wished. Chill until ready to serve.

 

#birthdaycake

#edibleflowers

National Stationery Week

National Stationery Week

National Stationery Week & the London Stationery Show

What was your favourite stationery product as a child?

I had many bits and pieces over the years but my most treasured items were a tiny scented eraser (remember those?) in a little plastic box with a lid and a shiny turquoise pencil with a sparkly gem on the end (I still use this though it’s quite short now after many years of sharpening).

As a child I adored stationery and still do,
so I am immensely excited to be travelling
down to the London Stationery Show today.

London Stationery ShowIt’s going to be a hectic three days building the exhibition stand and sharing our diaries with the trade but I can’t wait to show off our new products. Maybe I will even be able to pilfer a new sparkly gem pencil!

Many pontificate about the death of the paper diary with the widespread use of the smartphone but I think there’s no comparison. You can’t flick easily from week to week to view your plans on a phone – and there’s certainly no weekly recipe sat on the page to inspire you. Amongst many other useful things, our diaries also have a handy pocket to store bits of paper, vouchers and cards – phones don’t have pockets.

Bias aside, I think paper diaries have a valuable place in our stationery repertoire in 2016 and for many years to come. Hurrah for stationery!

 

#nationalstationeryweek

#londonstationeryshow

 

 

Win a Vonshef Waffle Maker

Do you like waffles? Brownies? Doughnuts?

Of course you do – so you need to enter now!

Dairy Diary is giving you the chance to win a VonShef 3 in 1 Waffle, Brownie & Mini Doughnut Snack Maker.

It makes 7 delicious mini doughnuts, 4 scrumptious brownies or 4 fluffy waffles in as little as 5 minutes!

Share and enter now!

ENTER

 

http://www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions/win-waffle-maker.html

 

Recipe of the Week: Spiced Cottage Pie

Spiced Cottage Pie

A delicious twist on the ubiquitous cottage pie. This fabulous recipe is cheap to make and perfect to freeze.

 

Spiced Cottage Pie

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

Calories 737 per portion
Fat 25g (10.8g sat) per portion
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Sunflower oil 1 tbsp
  • Minced beef 500g (1lb 2oz)
  • Onion 1, peeled and chopped
  • Medium hot curry powder 2 tbsp
  • Carrot 150g (5oz), diced
  • Red lentils 150g (5oz)
  • Beef stock 600ml (1 pint)
  • Tomato purée 1 tbsp
  • Sultanas 50g (2oz)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Potatoes 680g (1½lb), peeled and cut into chunks
  • Butter 50g (2oz) Milk 4 tbsp
  • Ground turmeric ¼ tsp
  • Cooked frozen peas to serve (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the mince and onion, stirring and breaking up the mince, for about 5 minutes until it is evenly browned.
  2. Stir in the curry powder and carrot, cook 1 minute and then mix in the lentils. Pour in the stock, tomato purée, sultanas and seasoning and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally until the lentils are soft.
  3. Meanwhile, put the potatoes into a saucepan with just enough lightly salted water to cover them. Cover with the lid and bring the water to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
  4. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pan with half the butter and the milk and turmeric and season with salt and pepper. Mash well, adding the milk as needed to make a soft spoonable mash.
  5. Preheat the grill to hot. Spoon the mince mixture into an ovenproof dish, cover with the potato and fork the mash into an even layer. Dot the remaining butter over the top and grill for 5–10 minutes until browned. Serve with peas, if you like.

Cook’s tip
Leftover lentils can be used to make a delicious, filling soup. Cook 110g (4oz) lentils with 1 chopped potato, carrot, onion and parsnip (or any other leftover veg you fancy) and 900ml (1½ pints) stock very gently for 1 hour. Purée with a stick blender before you serve.

 

Fantastic Food For Less cookbook

 

This recipe comes from Fantastic Food for Less.

The clever recipes in this cookbook show you how to cook fantastic food using good quality, affordable ingredients with minimum waste.

Order your copy of Fantastic Food for Less.

Order now

 

 

 

#recipeoftheweek
#cottagepie
#tripletested

World Book Night and My Top Ten Adult Books

Top 10 Adult Books

World Book Night and My Top Ten Adult Books

I love reading book lists and I have just discovered 15 new recommendations on the World Book Night website. I’ll certainly be purchasing one or two of these to begin on Saturday, which is World Book Night.

World Book Night 2016When there’s so much choice (but also so much terrible writing) out there it’s always good to have recommendations.

Here is my top ten. It’s a challenge to select just ten but I have managed to whittle it down to these:

The Olive Farm series by Carol Drinkwater
Easy feel-good reading with plenty of sunshine and quirky characters – lovely!

Eric Ravilious, Imagined Realities by Alan Powers
When I was a student I chose Eric Ravilious, as the subject for my dissertation. After so much research into this artist, who was a designer, watercolourist and finally a war artist (he went missing in action) I feel a close affection for him. I was even privileged enough to read letters between him and his wife from the Imperial War Museum archives. This book gives a fantastic resume of his work.

Desert Flower by Waris Dirie
This story is so incredible it’s hard to believe it’s not fiction. This inspirational lady shows how it’s possible to achieve amazing things against all the odds.

Dairy Diary
Of course! Juggling three children, running a home and working full-time, I couldn’t live without my trusty planning tool.

Dairy Book of Home Cookery
If I need to make a white sauce, bake a few scones or whisk up a dressing, I know that the recipe will be in here. It’s the kitchen bible that every household needs.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
So full of complexities, characters and sub-plots it’s difficult to describe this book in just a couple of sentences. Just READ IT – it’s incredible.

The Other Side of the Dale (The Dale Series) by Gervais Phinn
Describing his life as a school inspector, the books in this series with their stories of school children in rural Yorkshire are wonderful. Every page makes you smile.

Michael Palin Diaries
If I could choose one dinner party guest it would be Michael Palin. His life has been crammed full of laughter and adventure and despite his fame he seems really grounded and ‘a thoroughly nice chap’! I’ve been fascinated by each one of his diaries (though they do make your arms ache in bed!)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
How such as harrowing plot can be so beautifully written is astonishing. Despite the macabre subject, this book doesn’t feel dark, but full of light. I loved it.

Fantastic Food for Less
This is my favourite of all the cookbooks we have produced. The recipes are simple but a bit different, use low-cost but good quality ingredients and most importantly – taste amazing. We make the Spiced Cottage Pie (see below) almost every week.

 

How to organise books

The most satisfying method for organising your books ever!

Not so long ago I spent a whole evening reorganising my books. Yes I know, I DO need to get out more. But wow, how satisfying! By sorting all my books into colours and displaying them in colour blocks rather than by author, they look so pretty! As we don’t own a library, I think this unorthodox classification method is okay (I just need to buy a few more purple ones!)

 

Spiced Cottage Pie

Spiced Cottage Pie

  • Servings: 50
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

Calories 737 per portion
Fat 25g (10.8g sat) per portion
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Sunflower oil 1 tbsp
  • Minced beef 500g (1lb 2oz)
  • Onion 1, peeled and chopped
  • Medium hot curry powder 2 tbsp
  • Carrot 150g (5oz), diced
  • Red lentils 150g (5oz)
  • Beef stock 600ml (1 pint)
  • Tomato purée 1 tbsp
  • Sultanas 50g (2oz)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Potatoes 680g (1½lb), peeled and cut into chunks
  • Butter 50g (2oz) Milk 4 tbsp
  • Ground turmeric ¼ tsp
  • Cooked frozen peas to serve (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the mince and onion, stirring and breaking up the mince, for about 5 minutes until it is evenly browned.
  2. Stir in the curry powder and carrot, cook 1 minute and then mix in the lentils. Pour in the stock, tomato purée, sultanas and seasoning and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally until the lentils are soft.
  3. Meanwhile, put the potatoes into a saucepan with just enough lightly salted water to cover them. Cover with the lid and bring the water to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
  4. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pan with half the butter and the milk and turmeric and season with salt and pepper. Mash well, adding the milk as needed to make a soft spoonable mash.
  5. Preheat the grill to hot. Spoon the mince mixture into an ovenproof dish, cover with the potato and fork the mash into an even layer. Dot the remaining butter over the top and grill for 5–10 minutes until browned. Serve with peas, if you like.

Cook’s tip
Leftover lentils can be used to make a delicious, filling soup. Cook 110g (4oz) lentils with 1 chopped potato, carrot, onion and parsnip (or any other leftover veg you fancy) and 900ml (1½ pints) stock very gently for 1 hour. Purée with a stick blender before you serve.

 

 

Dairy Book of Home Cookery

 

Order your copy of Fantastic Food for Less
or the Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

Order now

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are your top ten books?
I would love some new suggestions!

 

#dairybookofhomecookery

#fantasticfoodforless

#toptenadultbooks

#worldbooknight

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