Saturday 27 August 2011

Easy to make,Cheap to make- Pasta Salad

Today i thought i would make up a few batches of pasta salad. The kids love it and i always try and vary the ingredients. It's also pretty cheap to make. Aldi is the best place for the salad ingredients, tuna (you could miss this out if you are in a budget, i know it's shot up in price recently) and pasta. The pasta i used today was a mix of what i had left in the larder. I had small soup pasta bows (approx 79p, and about half a pack each of penne and fusilli)

For example some i may include:-


Pasta salad 1
Cucumber
Tomato x 3
Tuna
Red onion
Red Pepper
Black Pepper
Mayo (son likes garlic mayo)
I packet of pasta (but i was making a big batch, you could use much less)
Grated cheese

Pasta salad 2
This is simple yet my eldest daughter loves it.
Black Pepper 
Red Onion
Pasta
Mayo
I packet of pasta (but i was making a big batch, you could use much less)

Pasta Salad 3
Cooked mince beef
Chilli Sauce
Kidney beans
I packet of pasta (but i was making a big batch, you could use much less)

The good thing with pasta salad is you can add so many different ingredients depending on what you like and don't like. It's perfect for BBQ's a quick snack for lunch or even as a meal. It's easy to make from scratch. You don't need to be a whizz in the kitchen. Just cook the pasta, drain, rinse with cold water and allow to cool while you chop up the other ingredients. Add the mayo/sauce last and just mix. It even lasts for a few days if covered in the fridge. So what if it doesn't look all that "pretty" it actually tastes really nice.







I worked out this cost me approx £3.35 and will last 2/3 days. (Would of cost much less if i didn't add the Tuna)
Later on i might even get round to making some vanilla cookies! :)


Thursday 11 August 2011

Tariq Jahan - A name to remember

I am sure most people by now are aware of the name Tariq Jahan

His 21 year old son was knocked down and killed in Birmingham along with two other young men Shazad Ali, 30 and Abdul Musavir, 31.


Hours after losing his son he made a statement.
"Today we stand here to plead with all the youth to remain calm, for our communities to stand united. This is not a race issue. The family has received messages of sympathy and support from all parts of society … I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites – we all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? Why are we doing this? Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home – please."

In his state of grief his words probably meant more to the people listening than he could ever of imagined.

We all bleed red.
Yes, we may pray to different gods, or perhaps we don't follow a religion and we may look different on the outside, or we may talk differently but basically deep down we are very much the same and for all the sorrow and anger that these riots have brought down on our country we can sympathise and feel sadness for another. We can help each other in times of terror. We can respect each other.We can unite and become stronger than we have ever been before.

As Tariq Jahan said "Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home – please."

R.I.P Haroon Jahan, 21, Shazad Ali, 30 and Abdul Musavir, 31 

Wednesday 10 August 2011

The riots, a twitter idiot and hope.

I thought that it's long overdue that i posted about the riots happening in several places in the UK at the moment.


Britain is broken,we have a generation out terrorising normal decent people.  We have police officers getting hurt while trying to protect shops and other people. We have ordinary good people getting killed. Some people (the scum of our society) are thinking it's all a game / joke or not even thinking at all.

Amazon are selling mass loads of baseball bats and what looks similar to a nightstick, are they for the rioters? or are they for people who want to protect themselves if the worst happens? Who knows. :(
Amazon Link

The photographs around the net of the places involved are of places looking like a war zone. Not something i imagined the UK would ever look like in my lifetime.

While looking for the latest news yesterday afternoon, i found tweets from some idiot (i can't think of another word that is polite enough for my blog to describe him)  At the moment i cannot think of anything else to put apart from i really hope there is no more deaths. I really hope the people involved get a good kicking locked up and i hope they do some serious time in a proper jail cell.

THE TWEETS OF AN IDIOT
I will add that i very much doubt he is a muslim. More like a troll trying to make things worse. 
He does need to be banned from twitter though
Remember:- We all bleed red. These riots are not about racism. From what i have seen all it's about is stealing and terrorising cities.




and a song to finish up on...

"WE get knocked down...
but WE get up again...the rioters are never gonna keep us down!" (ok so i changed the words slightly..but these are more apt!)

If you want to get involved in the Riot Clean up then check out this website. RIOT CLEAN UP

Just spotted a petition.
          Convicted London rioters should loose all benefits.
Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions
Any persons convicted of criminal acts during the current London riots should have all financial benefits removed. No tax payer should have to contribute to those who have destroyed property, stolen from their community and shown a disregard for the country that provides for them.
The Petition