This one is an absolute no-brainer. There I was last week, munching on a delicious bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips, wishing they weren’t so crazy-addictive, when it hit me that this was the easiest D.I.Y. blog post of all time.

Stacy’s are my fave so don’t think I’m hating but they also have a list of ingredients way longer than necessary, considering mine looks like this:

D.I.Y. Pita Chips

• 3 wholewheat pitas, cut into eighths
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• salt and pepper

Combine the wet ingredients, brush (don’t slather them, unless you want a gross fried end product) onto the pita wedges and bake at 375 degrees for about 12-20 minutes, depending on your oven.

What could be any easier?! The best thing about these is the endless possibilities of flavourings: herbs, cheese, balsamic-infused. Go ahead and get crazy.

The next step to making these truly D.I.Y.? Making the pita bread from scratch too. Don’t worry there’s a recipe for that in my new book. It’s only a matter of time.

Today, I took my first stab at baking bread. I’ve been looking forward to this moment since Christmas when I received Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads as a gift:

I cannot wait to get my bake on. First up, and the obvious choice for a new baker: “The First Loaf“. I was so happy when I saw this beginner’s loaf listed first (in a book of hundreds of recipes). It made me feel completely at ease.

This simple, white loaf was a doddle to make. My favourite thing about this book? Every recipe contains instructions on how to make your bread by hand or machine, depending on what you prefer. Since we don’t own any mixers or fancy equipment, this book is perfect.

For our first loaf (let’s be honest, this was totally not just me. See those man-hands above? Yeah.) this turned out surprisingly well. I think we should have kneaded for a bit longer, since there was a slight doughy taste.

Baking a bit longer might have helped too, especially because I am a big crust fan! So far, I have enjoyed it dipped in soup and toasted up with lashings of butter:

Yes.

Have you ever made your own bread? What are your favourite loaves to make?
I’m super excited to get into a whole wheat loaf and a sourdough.

Black bean burgers are another item that are none too cheap to buy in stores and yet I fork over my hard-earned cash for them on the regular because they are so dang delicious and quick to make.

They are also incredibly easy to make yourself. Once I thought about this for a minute, I realized that I should totally be making big batches of these go-to salad, sandwich, wrap and whatever-else-you-like fillers and spending my dollar bills on something else.

I looked at a few recipes online for some tips to make sure these turned out just right but this recipe is an Eating for England original.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers
(makes 6 patties)

• 15oz can organic no salt added black beans
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1/2 green pepper, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 3 tbsp green onion, finely diced
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1/2 cup wholewheat Panko (normal breadcrumbs can be substituted)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Drain and rinse the black beans.
• Place black beans in a medium bowl and mash with the back of a fork til thick and mushy.
• Add the onion, garlic, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, and green onion and mix.
• In a separate bowl, crack egg and whisk. Add chili powder, cumin and hot sauce and mix.

• Pour wet mixture into bean mixture and stir.
• Add Panko or breadcrumbs and combine until mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into patties.
• Place patties on a lightly greased baking sheet, and bake for ten minutes on each side.

I served mine on a wholewheat English muffin but obviously you can have it however you like – the options are endless! I have to say, the “mm” noises from my official taste-tester confirmed that these turned out pretty awesome. They are definitely spicy though so if you’re not a fan of hotness then omit the jalapeno or cut the hot sauce.

As with my homemade granola bars, these burgers are cheap as chips to make and don’t have any scary or weird ingredients in them – they are just healthy, delicious and fresh!

The nutritional stats made me happy: 145 calories, 1.8g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 7.9g fibre, and 8.9g protein. Nosh on these to your heart’s content!

Next time I’ll be making a much bigger batch and freezing them so that my store-bought veggie burger habit is finally kicked to the curb!

What expensive food do you wish you could make at home?
I’d love to make pesto but alas, I lack the equipment to do it!