“How can you eat delicious, fresh food at home on a tight budget?”– Jamie Oliver

Having a little less in your pocket should not mean you scrimp on healthy food, or so says chef extraordinaire, Jamie Oliver. In posing his question to the Yahoo!7 Answers community, Jamie reaches out with a dilemma that so many of us face: can we shop, prepare, cook and eat in smarter ways?

Jamie Oliver is known as the man who successfully taught British school children about healthy eating. He believes that cheap doesn’t have to mean fatty, salty or processed. Fresh, tasty and healthy doesn’t have to mean expensive. But if you have tips on what this means in practical terms, why not answer Jamie’s question and share your knowledge with the community?

Answers itself is a hive of amazing cooking know-how, based around the Food and Drink category.

Is it healthy to eat broccoli raw? Nikita thinks so. According to her medical sources, “not only is this cruciferous vegetable high in vitamin C and fiber, it’s also a rich source of compounds known as glucosinolates which are broken down in the body to form sulforaphane. Sulforaphane has been demonstrated in numerous studies to have potent anti-cancer properties.”

On a slightly less serious note, Aurora asks for some tips on how to bake bread. T?R is on hand to offer some of his 25 years of experience with dough: “Kneading, letting it prove well and getting the mix just right. Use fresh yeast, not dried, and a good quality bread flour. Strong flour means it has lots of gluten.”

Est wants to know how to make quiche. David J offers a great way to combine bacon and mushroom with a little bit of Swiss cheese!

Yum, don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry!

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Last week another Tuesday night passed and still the Oz Lotto jackpot hasn’t gone off. It’s a bit disappointing for all of us who spent our hard earned cash on a ticket. On the bright site, at least we had another week to dream about what we’d do with a cold, hard $90 million.

Last week I went to the launch of the Embraer Phenom 300, an Executive Jet that has never before been sold in Australia. If things go my way, this time next week I will have the winning Oz Lotto ticket in my hot little hands and I’ll be able to think about more extravagant purchases, like private jets. Imagine that, being able to fly 9 of your closest friends to Melbourne for an impromptu shopping spree or up the coast for some winter sun. And for only US$7.9million (AU$9.9m), you’d have plenty of change from your $90m for a couple of luxury cars to drive you to the airport.

What else would I buy? Well obviously I’d be calling the real estate agent to talk about my dream home. It would have to be overlooking the water with plenty of balconies and there would be a big fireplace for those cold winter nights where all you want to do is cuddle up with a hot milo and a book. And of course plenty of spare bedrooms for friends to stay when we throw those fabulous dinner parties and serve vintage Grange and Henschke until the wee hours of the morning.

Of course the altruistic side of me remembers that if I won, there would also be a fair amount of money going to charity. However the indulgent part of me wants to endlessly dream. I can just seem myself seeing the hippos and giraffes on a safari in Africa, enjoying a romantic night in a Michelin star restaurant overlooking Paris and splashing out on a boat cruise around the Caribbean with all of my friends and family.

How about you? What would you splurge on if you won $90 million?

Caitlin
Community Manager

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Yum, one of the things I love most about travelling is all the different food that you try. I always wonder what goes into these exotic dishes and want to try to recreate the experience by making my own versions at home. Granted, eating Clam Chowder in your own kitchen isn’t quite like slurping it out of its bread bowl on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. And I agree that the Cornish Pasty isn’t quite as warm and inviting when there isn’t wind biting your fingers and cheeks like it does in South West England. These recipes provided by the Answers community do look delicious though, and I can’t wait to cook them up!

Cornish Pasty
Chuck steak or skirt
Two Large potatoes
Half a large swede (turnip as second best)
One large onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Water

The Pastry: Place flour and salt in a bowl, rub in the fat, until the mixture is so fine that it falls through the fingers. Tip mixture onto a lightly floured table top. With your index finger make a well in the centre of the mixture. Add water a little at a time until it forms a pliable but stiff dough… More

Dim Sims
1/4 c. gluten rice flour
2/3 c. wheat flour
3/4 c. hot water
1/4 c. lard
1 c. cold water
Filling:
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/4 lb. dried shrimp, chopped
1/2 c. water chestnuts, chopped
2-3 green onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp. white pepper
1 tbsp. soy sauce … More

San Francisco Clam Chowder
1/2 pound (225 grams) diced bacon
2 small onion, chopped
12 cups water
3 carrots, chopped
28 oz (3 1/2 cups) fresh clams
2 1/4 cups clam juice
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 (400g) cans stewed tomatoes … More

Spanish Paella
170g/6oz chorizo, cut into thin slices
110g/4oz pancetta, cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 tsp soft thyme leaves
¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes
570ml/1pint calasparra (Spanish short-grain) rice … More

Caitlin
Community Manager

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