Consett Community Fridge... Top Tips!

Consett Community Fridge... Spring Top Tips!

After our first season of Community Fridge sessions in Consett, we decided to make your life easier and much more exciting by sharing some Our Top Tips. Get creative or stay simple with these Top Tips for using some of our more popular items from our spring sessions. They are all quick, easy and great tasting.
Why not give them a try and let us know what you think?

Grape Sorbet

If you can't manage all your grapes at once, simply follow this easy guide to store your grapes for longer and then make your own grape sorbet.

Find a freezer safe bag or container (using old ice-cream or butter tubs works fine too) and grab a lemon or lime or some juice and some sugar.
Pop your grapes in the container, add the lemon, lime (not the rind or pips) or  juice and sprinkle with sugar then just put it in your freezer.
The grapes will keep now for up to 3 months.

When you are ready to make the sorbet, take the container out of the freezer and allow them to soften at room temperature for about 5 or 10 minutes.
Then blend it all with a hand blender in a jug or bowl or in your normal blender.
Eat immediately for a delicious, reasonably healthy dessert. If you want to be really health conscious, leave out the sugar and use more lemon.

Mushroom Soup

Probably the easiest and tastiest soup ever...one of our favourites and packed full of Vitamin D.

You will need: water, vegetable stock cubes, mushrooms, onion, garlic, butter or oil, cream, salt, pepper, chives.

1. Put half a pint of water in your kettle on to boil and have a vegetable stock cube or two ready to use with the water.
2. Take a punnet of mushrooms and slice them, if you like it dice a clove of garlic and an onion too. Fry these all until they are soft and brown.
3. Mix the stock and boiled water together in a pan and add the vegetables. Cook on a hot simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add salt and pepper and some chives, and if you like it, some cream.
5. You can decide whether to serve a chunky soup or a smooth soup, simply blend if you want to.
   
6. Serve hot with bread, or even better garlic bread.

Singing Swede

Cooking a swede (not a turnip) couldn't be easier. We have found two simple ideas to cook your swede keeping all the flavour and without any added fats.
Make sure your swede can stand without wobbling, put the whole swede in the microwave for 15 minutes until it is lovey and soft in the middle. As sizes vary, please adjust the cooking time for very small or very large swedes.

Another method is to wrap your swede in foil and cook in a hot oven for 45 minutes. Cooking times may vary so check your swede is soft in the middle before serving it, unless you happen to like a firmer swede.

Just add salt, pepper, a dash of parsley and butter if you must and enjoy as a healthy lunchtime treat or as a side with your tea....delicious.