Homemade Burgers

Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Serves: 4


Ingredients
· 10 g butter
· 75 g onions, finely chopped
· 450 g minced beef, or minced lamb
· 1/2 tsp thyme, chopped
· 1/2 tsp parsley, chopped
· 1 eggs, beaten
· pinch fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
· 4 tbsp olive oil, for frying
To serve
· 1 ciabatta
· 4 leaves lettuce

· Tomato slices
· Cucumber pickle

Method
1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and add the onion. Fry over a gentle heat until the onion is soft and very pale golden. Leave to cool. 2. Mix the mince with the herbs and egg, and then season with salt and pepper. Add the onions, and mix. 3. Fry a tiny bit of the mixture in the frying pan to check for seasoning, and then shape into hamburgers. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the burgers for several minutes on each side. 4. Split the ciabatta horizontally, and toast under the grill. Fill the toasted ciabatta with lettuce, the tomato and some cucumber pickle. Pop the hot cooked burger inside, and serve immediately.

Quote of the Week

Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experiences and invest them in the future.

StairSteady Home Safety Tips

-Don’t walk around in socks or stockings on non carpeted floors. Try to wear rubber soled, low-heeled shoes when ever possible
- Get rid of small rugs as they are easy to trip up over.
- Make sure all of your carpets are properly fitted and all the edges are properly secured.
- Keep you home well lit using long life energy saving bulbs. Pay particular attention to stairs and walkways.
- Talk to your council, Social Services or local Independent Living Centre about having grab rails installed by steps, stairs, toilets and baths and showers.
- Get an anti slip mat for the bath and shower and replace it when it starts to loose its adherance.
- Avoid having any trailing wires. Try to group appliances next to power sockets if possible or consider having more sockets installed.
- Consider using a cordless phone or mobile to avoid having long telephone wires.
- Be tidy! Pick up anything that falls as soon as possible and think about putting small objects such as magazine racks and bins out of the way or beside large pieces of furniture.
- Wipe up any spills as soon as possible
- Never store heavy items or things you use often in high or hard to reach cupboards.
- Never keep anything on the stairs, keep stairs and walkways clear at all times.
- Take your time when getting up to answer the phone or door. Once you stand up take a second to make sure you don’t feel dizzy.
- Consider using nightlights for your bedroom and route to the bathroom or make sure you always switch the lights on before you walk across a room.
- If you need spectacles make sure you wear them at all times and get your eyese checked regularly.
-If you need a walking aid use it at all times and make sure you have one upstairs and downstairs so you don’t have to carry one on the stairs.
-Write out a plan if you fall so you know what to do as it is often difficult to think after the shock of a fall. You could also consider having a personal alarm system so you can get help if you need it.

Rachaels Comment

I have been making Hints and Tips for the StairSteady website but one particular one recently really struck a chord. Everyone at present seems to be having more money difficulties so I decided to do a piece on saving money. All of the hints and tips I put together in themselves were relatively simple but all together they could make a big difference to your monthly outgoings. Some of the tips were even fun to do!
The money saving tips I found can be broken down into three main themes: Food, Energy and Utilities and Activities. Food is a good one to start with as we all have to eat! I discovered that there are lots of things you can do to reduce your weekly bills. The first idea I came across is make a menu: this seems like quite a time consuming thing to do but once you get into the habit of it before you go shopping then you can save yourself lots of money and wastage. I started by making a list of the meals I regularly make, I was surprised how few dishes actually featured on my list, about 10 in total. I then broke the dishes down into ingredients, store cupboard essentials, fresh vegetables and meat/fish/dairy and bought the store cupboard essentials in larger bags to save money. By making double sized portions of some of the dishes like Bolognese sauce, curry, stews, pies etc and freezing them I was able to use them as my own ready meals when time is short, again saving lots of money. Another way of saving money is to use stores own brand store cupboard essentials such as tinned goods, rice, pasta etc, I found they are often just as good as expensive named brands and are a fraction of the cost, there are a few exceptions as no one in my house would eat home brand beans! Home baked cakes and biscuits also save money and it’s something I can involve my children in, they like to ‘help out’ with the stirring and decorating our treats.
Another fun way to save money on your food bills is to grow your own produce. You don’t need a large garden or big greenhouse to get started, tubs on a patio or window boxes and hanging baskets can still produce good crops of fruit and vegetables. This year we have tried tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, potatoes, beans, peppers, sweetcorn, cabbages and pumpkins. We also have raspberries, apples and plums growing quite happily outside in tubs. They always seem to taste nicer when you have grown them yourself! Salad leaves, herbs and chillies will all grow on a kitchen windowsill so you can have fresh all year around, if you manage to water them better than us!
Utilities are also a big drain on people’s finances, it is really worth shopping around and making sure you are getting the best deal possible. There are lots of independent sources to look at I tried Which? Online site (http://www.which.co.uk/switch/?m=home&cid=carousel). Often you can get a better deal for taking out multiple utilities with one company, I have got all of my electricity, gas, broadband and telephone with just one company and it seems to be much cheaper than when I had them apart.
Saving energy around the home can also cut down on the amount you spend. Simple measures such as swapping all your bulbs to energy savers can, I found, actually reduce your bills by quite a lot. Always make sure at you turn appliances off when you aren’t using them as leaving them on standby can actually use up to 80% of the energy they use when running. When you replace your white goods always make sure you go for the best energy rating product you can afford, some products now are A++ rated meaning you will save money on your bills, this isn’t always an option for some people though, me included! Another simple tip is to only boil as much water as you need in the kettle, completely filling it each time can waste energy.
I also found that by using vouchers and rewards you can save quite a lot of money on days out and other items. Lots of supermarkets offer a reward scheme for just doing your normal shopping, by using these tokens you can pay for days out, meals, hotels, holidays etc with money you have already spent in store. I have managed to take the whole family out on day trips to Zoo’s, aquariums, activity centres and the cinema for free with my vouchers. They also come in really handy at Christmas for presents! Local and National papers and tourist booklets also quite often have vouchers in making your trip out a little cheaper.
I hope that this will inspire you to just make some small changes to your daily routines and that it saves you money too!