The home of Coronation Street’s much loved residents Ken and Deirdre has been used as a showcase for how we can all ‘green up’ our home regardless of it’s age and condition. What next, Eastenders promoting the benefits of the Congestion Charge? Read on to discover how our favourite ‘soap’ has been recruited in the battle to make us all consider our green credentials more carefully.

“B&Q, the UK’s largest home improvement retailer recently announced its sponsorship of the Ideal Home Show Refit designed by George Clarke. Over 250,000 visitors over 17 days will view the retrofit of the famed terrace house on the cobbles of Coronation Street to show visitors just how easy it is to create a sustainable home.

Named ‘The Ideal Home refit, sponsored by B&Q’, the home has been designed by architect and TV presenter of Channel Four’s The Restoration Man, George Clarke who is also a recent addition to the B&Q team as an ambassador to make home improvement easier.

The Ideal Home Show will allow visitors to see up close the current home of Deidre and Ken Barlow and then pop next door to view the eco-vated version of the iconic terrace. From Forest Friendly timber floors, resourced from 100% of well managed forests to efficient under floor heating, the house will be transformed into the greenest house on the street.

And a trip to Coronation Street would not be complete without a visit to the local Rovers Return where Betty’s famous ‘Hot Pot’ and a pint are so familiar.

George Clarke says;
‘The retrofit is designed to show that whether you’re in a Victorian terrace or a modern penthouse, greening up your home is affordable and possible. Many of the products on show can be bought from your local B&Q whose sustainable products are both easy to work with and make a real impact into cutting your home’s carbon emissions.’

George will be at the show giving ‘How To’ talks to keen home improvers as well as being on hand to showcase the home to VIP visitors.

Matt Sexton, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at B&Q says;

‘It’s great that we’re involved with the biggest home exhibition in the UK and getting the chance to tell 250,000 visitors how we’re making it easier for them to live a more sustainable way of life. From Forest Friendly timber and FSC wallpaper to energy monitors and low energy light bulbs we’re on a mission to make it easier for customers to green up their homes.’

B&Q is also giving away tickets to the public via social networking site Twitter and their own website www.diy.com. Watch out for the online competitions where followers will be asked to showcase their best home improvement makeovers.

So why not pick up a free ticket and see for yourself? After all if Ken and Deirdre can do it, so can we, right?

The Ideal Home Show is at London’s Earl’s Court from March 11 to March 27th. For more information go to the Ideal Home Show website

Today’s the day that Fairtrade’s Facebook challenges. As you will have seen from my previous blog ‘Fearne Cotton, Alistair McGowan and Harry Hill go Made for the Fairtrade Facebook Challenge’, I’m up for the ‘Fairtrade your mum‘ challenge and have already started having fun with Fairtrade fruit and with the help of my willing accomplice (my 8yo).

Using the brilliant Wean Machine, the no fuss, no mess baby food machine (which I’ll be reviewing for making baby food shortly!) we made a lovely banana facemask. Now I say lovely, as you’ll see from the photos it definitely doesn’t look lovely, but I can assure you my skin felt fabulous afterwards.

We made simply squidged a banana with some honey and a little lemon juice and voila!

As a fan of fruity facemasks too, Tilly Beazeley, the inventor of the Wean Machine, has also sent some of her favourite recipes for me to share, why don’t you give these a go. They’re not only fantastically easy to make, they are completely natural and cheaper than most over the counter concoctions.

Fruity facemasks

Take a couple of fresh strawberries and mix with a tablespoon of natural yoghurt – spread on face and wash off after 10-15 minutes.

Mix half an avocado with a tablespoon of runny honey – spread on face and wash off after 10 minutes. This one is particularly good for dry/mature skin.

Have you got any facemask recipes you’d like to share – if you dare, I’d love to see you wearing yours too.

This month I have written a blog post for www.energyrethinking.org about the importance of recycling and although as a nation we are improving, lots more needs to be done.

But rather than just explain the benefits of recycling, which you can find on many fantastically helpful and practical sites, e.g. www.Recyclenow.com, www.recycle.co.uk. I have shared products and ideas that I have found which take recycling one step further

Here’s the post if you missed it: http://www.energyrethinking.org/earth-mummy

Now you’ve read it you may be wondering where you can find out about these products, well here they are:

Eco Hen Ark
Raised garden beds
- Chic Water tanks and Garden bird feeders – both designed by Claire Potter Design

So when you decide to buy (well, why wouldn’t you?) please don’t forget to tell them that you heard about them from The Queen of Easy Green.

Have fun and happy recycling!

We are proud to announce that Count On It labels are featured in this month’s Eat In magazine, the monthly magazine for food lovers and aspiring cooks everywhere.

If you’ve not got your copy yet, check this out to give you a flavour of what’s in store.

http://www.eatinmagazine.co.uk/in-this-issue

Thank you ‘Eat In’ and food lovers everywhere, if you want to make good use of your leftovers, why not click on our Count On It link here to buy some labels to try.

Count On It labels, the easy peel, freezer label is featured in Eat In magazine. These removable labels are perfect for jars, freezing leftovers and baby food storage. No need for Sharpies, Count On It labels can be used on freezer bags, food storage tubs and glass storage containers. Ideal for safe food storage, the make First In First Out super simple.

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As you will recall, in my previous blog post ‘Frozen Fish Fights Waste’ I shared with you the many eco benefits of buying sustainable frozen fish, following growing public interest as a result of Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight week with Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghstall.

Convenient, great value, fresher than fresh, less wastage and with a lower carbon footprint, these are just a few reasons why frozen fish is a busy mum’s naturally perfect, healthy and nutritious ingredient for family meal times.

Now, as promised, I am going to share with you the fantastic frozen fish treats that I’ve made using the wonderful fishy fayre that I’ve been kindly sent by TheNewIceAge.com and The Fish Society. Here is my first ‘new’ fish dish.

Pollack

Pollack is a member of the tasty cod family, but unlike so many native fish, it is in plentiful supply.

My pollack came direct from Cornwall, portioned by the fish guy himself, the Fish Society even guarantee that ‘if you find a bone in them, he (the fish guy) will eat his hat’!

Luckily for him (and his hat) there were absolutely no bones in the fish at all and I prepared my pollack with a simple mixture of lemon zest, juice and mayonnaise, with shallots and thyme and grilled them for about 10 minutes.

The pollack was delicious, served with rice and steamed vegetables this meal was super quick, light and tasty. Our young boys really enjoyed it too, especially with the sweetness of the lemon and mild flavour of the fish. They also loved the fact that there were no bones in it, something that often puts young ones off fish.

As well as being sustainable and less expensive than cod, the other great benefits of pollack is that it is lower in cholestrol, it is lean protein, perfect for building muscles and is lower in calories.

So why not give frozen pollack a try? It is simple to store and cook, is convenient, easy to maintain portion control and is great value – a super-savvy household’s dream ingredient. What’s more, as a special exclusive offer to my readers, The Fish Society have kindly agreed to give a £10 discount on all orders over £65 – just type in the code ICEAGE when you visit their website: www.thefishsociety.co.uk

The next dish I will be cooking will include mussels, this time using the recipe that Jamie Oliver featured as part of the Big Fish Fight – Creamy mussels with smoky bacon and cider.

Until then, what new fish recipes have your tried, have you given frozen fish a try and if so, what did you think? I’d love to hear your recipes and comments.

Did you hear me on Jim Davies morning show on BBC Radio Leicester? I was invited to talk easy eco, green cooking tips with Jim and a listener, Judith, who only eats vegetables she has grown in her garden, to help keep her grocery bills down.

Talking about vegetables and getting the most out of our food, always brings us round to leftovers – something I absolutely love to talk about (and eat!). But as Jim pointed out, it’s not always easy to eat fresh produce in time, plus conjuring up a meal from leftovers can sometimes leave us scratching our heads.

So to help us all get the most out of our food, whilst saving time, money, waste and energy, I have put together my top 5 products, plus I’ve posted links to some fabulous websites that’ll get you out of those leftover menu dilemmas.

1. Whirlpool WBC 3546 A+ NFCW Frost Free Fridge Freezer 6th Sense White
- your food storage best friend. Perfect for lengthening food storage times and ideal when batch cooking

2. Lock & Lock Food Storage Set 7 Piece
- not only are these fantastic for bulk cooking, they are perfect for keeping the portions right – no need to over cook, or over eat!

3. 3 Tier Stainless Steel Multi Steamer Pan
- fantastic for keeping in the nutrients in your food, plus they use less energy (3 vegetables can be cooked simultaneously on one ring)

4. Storage labels – ideal for keeping track on how long your food has been stored, plus they also show you when it has to be eaten by. No guessing or waste

5. FOOD STORAGE BAGS-POTATO-VEGETABLES- KEEP FOOD FRESH
- fruit and vegetable storage bags keep food fresher for longer, ensuring you have plenty of time to eat them up.

For some brilliantly practical leftover recipes, visit:

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Want to know what vegetables are in season, check out:

www.eatseasonably.co.uk

Have lots of ’spare’ land or want to find an allotment, visit:

www.landshare.net

I’d love to hear what your favourite easy eco cooking/storge saviours are, plus how do you get the most from your food. Do leave your comments below.

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After watching the fabulous Big Fish Fight week on Channel 4 recently, I, like the 500,000 people who are backing Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghstall’s campaign, have vowed to eat a wider range of fish.

The programme and campaign, if you didn’t see it, (to see a trailer, click through to my previous blog post Channel 4: Hugh’s Big Fish Fight – starts tonight) aimed to expose the devasting practice of fishing by quota, whereby vast quantities of fish get thrown overboard because they do not meet the criteria or quotas set by Europe’s common fisheries policy or because they have no market value. The campaign also aimed to encourage people to eat a wider range of fish to give our over-fished favourites a chance to be replenished.

But before we all rush out and buy a plethora of unsung heroes, it is vital that we give a little thought to how our fish is stored, processed and ultimately used at home. What we can’t afford to do, in my opinion, is to indiscriminately buy this wonderful fish, only to store it insufficiently, or prepare too much and end up throwing it away. And that’s why I say, for fresh fish buy frozen.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a myth that frozen food is inferior in quality to fresh, but this is often not the case. In fact with fish, it is the opposite. Frozen-at-sea fish are caught at the peak of their quality and frozen within 4 hours, meaning that it is at it’s freshest, tastiest and has all of it’s nutrients and goodness ‘locked in’.

Unless you live by a local harbour, any fresh fish that you buy from a supermarket or similar can be up to 14 days old. This is because fresh fish can spend a long time in the food distribution chain before it reaches your supermarket counter. In some cases it can be up to 10 days old before it’s even reached the harbour!

Another great advantage of buying frozen fish is that it is convenient – always a huge plus when you are a busy mum like me. Not only does frozen save you time, but because you only need to cook what you need when you need it, there is limited or no wastage at all too. With food prices continuing to rise, it is vital that we get the most from our food and again frozen fish ticks the box, it is less expensive than fresh (did you know that frozen fish and seafood can be up to 25% cheaper than fresh) plus it has a longer storage life – freezing, the most natural form of preserving – just add frozen water!

So taking all of the above on board (excuse the pun) I have decided to cast my net (there I go again) and introduce some new fishy flavours to my family.

As I am a NewIceAge mumbassador, I have been kindly sent a voucher from the wonderful people at TheNewIceAge.com and The Fish Society, to try a variety of whitefish, shellfish and crustaceans from their incredible online store www.thefishsociety.co.uk.

Over the next couple of blogs, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on the fantastic frozen fish treats that I have chosen, showing you how simple they are to cook and how delicious we all found them and why as the Queen of Easy Green™, I back frozen fish for saving time, money and waste.

I will also be giving you an opportunity to discover some new fish favourites yourself, as The Fish Society have kindly agreed to offer you, my readers, a £10 discount with orders over £65 (when visiting their website, just use the code ICEAGE).

So pop back soon to find out how I got on and land yourself a treasure trove of frozen fish goodness.

Keen to make sure I spread the Queen of Easy Green message far and wide, I am proud to announce that I am now writing a monthly eco, green column for my home town newspaper, The Boston Standard.

As New Year’s resolutions are still (hopefully) in the forefront of most people’s mind, my first column shows you how easy and green, it can be to save money whilst losing weight.

To find out more, either see the article below, or visit www.bostonstandard.co.uk.

Please feel free to add your own ideas and hopefully I’ll be able to include them in my next column.

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Howling winds, rain, grey skies – isn’t it just perfect weather, for battening down the hatches and making some easy eco winter warming, homemade comfort food.

If you are anything like me, when it’s cold outside, particularly on a weekend, there is nothing more desirable than staying put and cooking a classic winter warming dinner, like toad in the hole or Sunday roast. And of course, none of these would be complete with rich, onion gravy.

According to the folk at British Onions, many people find that making onion gravy isn’t always as straightforward it would appear. Apparently there can be quite a difference of opinion as to what constitutes the characteristics of a good onion gravy. Some prefer it thick, chestnut brown, whilst other like it thin and light gold in colour. I too found this to be the case when I posed the question on Twitter, “how do you make onion gravy?’ the responses I received, included recipes using brown sugar, to stirring in leftover haggis.

As it would appear that we all have difference ideas about how to achieve the perfect onion gravy, with a quarter of people surveyed adding a secret ingredient, and over half using a store cupboard staple to enhance the flavour, British Onions are inviting people to help them put together their definitive online guide – The British Onion Book of Gravy.

So last weekend I decided that my time, money and waste saving batch-making mission, would be to make a stock-pile of onion gravy which I could then bag, label and freeze, ready to use whenever I needed it.

Using a selection of onions that the guys at British Onions sent to me, plus having a rummage in my food cupboards, I went about creating my own ‘secret’ recipes.

To kick off, I used the fabulous British Food’s Elaine Lemm’s classic onion gravy recipe to make my basic onion gravy mixture – here’s the link.

Onions sweated, sugar and balsamic vinegar and stock added, the first store cupboard essential I experimented with was tomato sauce. Not my immediate choice of ingredient when making gravy, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did the tomato sauce turn my gravy a rich mahogany hue, it also added a delicate sweetness to the flavour. A definite favourite with my children, this goes perfectly with sausages (especially Lincolnshire).

The second batch of gravy I made, I added some mushroom sauce. What a contrast, a mature flavour, dark brown in colour and it also added a little bitterness to the gravy, if I’m honest, this was my least favourite. Saying that, I think it will go really well with the homemade cottage pie, that the OH has made.

The final ‘experimental’ flavour I tried, was by adding a touch of English mustard. Now this was the one I was least keen to go with, but I can honestly say, it was the best. The mustard flavour was subtle and the colour was a gorgeous golden brown. Without a doubt this was my favourite and I’m looking forward to having this one with my Sunday roast next weekend.

So, there you have it, three different, but fabulous British, homemade, storecupboard gravies, made in less than 30 minutes, perfect for freezing, full of goodness and inexpensive to make. The perfect easy eco winter warming meal’s finishing touch!

Now it’s over to you, what do you add to yours, or what could you add to create your own unique twist, I’d love to hear your recipes and hopefully you will see your own best every onion gravy recipe creation in the British Onion Book of Gravy!

Finally, before I go, I couldn’t share a recipe with you, without pointing out some cooking gadgets too, they may not be for everyone, but thought I’d share them anyway!

Can’t help crying when preparing onions? Well, this ‘invention’ may just be the answer you are looking for ‘Onion Goggles’. RSVP International Onion Goggles, Pink
Protect your eyes from the irritating onion vapours with these unisex, anti-fog goggles.

Cold gravy concern? How about the Deni Cordless Gravy Boat Warmer – just pour in the gravy and switch on. This ‘invention’ will keep your gravy (or sauce) at it’s optimum temperature for up to 30 minutes, plus it has a dripless pour spout.

Alternatively, you can just ‘hold your breath’ when chopping the onions and pour hot gravy from pan to plate and serve – that’ll save you even more money and energy!

www.britishonions.co.uk

Wondering how to make ends meet? Want to get your grocery costs down but keep the quality high? Menu4Mums, the online family meal planners, have given us these top tips to help you save on your grocery shop. Why not challenge yourself to see how much you can save?

Tip 1: Plan your meals. Look online at supermarket offers (or look at the Menus4Mums Bargain Spotting page) and build meals around these ingredients. Plan a suitable meal for each day with a good balance of protein (eg meats, pulses), carbohydrates (eg potatoes, rice, pasta), and vegetables. See what needs using up in your freezer or fridge. Think about using up leftovers too. And try to include an interesting variety of tastes and textures. Then write your shopping list.

Tip 2: Never shop on an empty stomach. If you do, you just know you’ll end up at the checkout with a trolley brimming with cake, crisps, and chocolate – and a huge grocery bill to boot! Instead, if you are feeling a bit peckish, have a banana or a quick snack. It could save you a lot of money.

Tip 3: Taste test lower range products. We don’t mean suddenly going from premium brands to the most basic products. But if you give some of the middle range brands a try, the chances are you won’t notice a difference. Look at the health data on the packaging too – some lower range foods are actually healthier than the premium varieties.

Tip 4: Give the supermarket a miss sometimes. Try buying your meat at your local butcher – you’re likely to be impressed by the quality. Plus if you want just 3 chicken breasts, you don’t have to fork out for a pack of 4 so you only end up paying for what you need. Seasonal fruit and veg is often cheaper at your local market or farmer’s market, and you could turn it into a trip out with the family. Or check out your local farm shop for quality, local, seasonal produce.

Menus4Mums help busy parents ditch the takeaways and ready meals and serve up tasty, healthy food for their families, saving them time and money in the kitchen. Find out more at www.menus4mums.co.uk.