Dinner of the day

Foraging like Claire Beauchamp 

Live Below the Line meets Outlander: tea recipes!

So you should know by last week’s Live Below the Line Game of Thrones recipe that I like a theme, plus LBL is already tricky enough, so if you can inject some creativity, so much the better I say. 

The Live Below the Line campaign challenges you to spend £1/$1.50 per day on all food and drink for five days, to raise awareness and funds for those who live below the poverty line every day. 

This week I’ve taken inspiration from the very smart Claire Fraser/Claire Beauchamp from the wildly popular book and tv series, Outlander. Claire is always foraging for herbs to feed and treat those around her (mostly Jamie) in the 18th century. 

My foraged treats have all been turned into teas (a luxury difficult to budget for on a small Live Below the Line budget) and include: dandelion leaves, mint, rosemary, sage, and strawberry leaves. 

To make the teas: 

Wash leaves/herbs thoroughly. 

Place in a cup with boiling water, and steep for no more than 10 minutes or tea will be bitter. 

Enjoy! (And add sugar if you want to/have budgeted for it). Note the Scottish oatcakes in photo too ;) 

These leaves all have various properties, per my googling, from dandelion being packed full of vitamin C (good for that old 18th century foe, SCURVY!), to a digestive aid (good for all that cheap rice you’re consuming on LBL) from mint, and even potential improved cognitive function: sage. The sage, rosemary and mint were my faves. Strawberry leaf did have a slightly sweeter taste (as you’d probably expect) and dandelion had a deeper (but not bitter) flavour. 

Good options for a tea-less 5 days! 

So come on Sassenachs, get foraging! 

I’m partnering with The Hunger Project UK on Live Below the Line, a charity whose programmes focus on empowering women to end their own hunger and poverty, particularly given that women are the no.1 food producers on the planet. Their message is, when women are empowered, everyone rises. YES! And for me, this makes total sense with the kind of woman Claire is too: strong, independent, and empowered. Join or simply support the campaign here: http://bit.ly/joinlbl More on Hunger Project: http://thehungerproject.org.uk 

Sansa Stark’s lemon cakes for under 50 pence

Game of Thrones goes Below the Line!

Quick, easy and most importantly, CHEAP, Live Below the Line challenge recipe for Sansa’s lemon cakes using LBL staple and old favourite, Sainsbury’s lemon curd (25p).

Who says you can’t be creative?!

Ingredients (makes 4/5 cakes): 1 cup of self raising flour 4 tablespoons of lemon curd Half a cup of vegetable oil Water

Method: 1) Preheat oven to 360 deg/gas mark 4. 2) Whisk 3 tablespoons of lemon curd together with oil in a bowl. 3) Sift in your flour and mix ingredients together. 4) Divide mixture in a muffin/cake tin and bake for around 20/25 mins. 5) For added lemony-ness melt 1 tablespoon of lemon curd with some water in a pan and brush/glaze (ooh, fancy) your cakes. 6) Enjoy!

These cakes have a biscuit-type texture, great dunked in a tea if you’ve managed to budget for it. Sainsbury’s does a pack of 40 bags for 20p, by the way ;) I bet even Arya would approve!

Total cost: 34p (includes whole lemon curd jar and only measured amounts of flour and oil).