Saturday, December 27, 2014

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk Recipe

Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Rice (photo)
Throughout the coastal areas of Latin America, you’ll find local variations
of “Camarones al Ajillo”, freshly caught shrimp, fried quickly in olive
oil with garlic and chiles. My friend Arturo grew up near the beaches
of Acapulco and learned a way of preparing the garlic shrimp classic
with jalapenos and coconut milk. The layers of flavor in this dish are
fabulous – chile, shrimp, coconut, lemon grass (or lime). If you get the
timing right, this dish cooks up quite fast. You can use either peeled
or unpeeled shrimp. The peeled is easier to eat, but the unpeeled
absorbs flavor from the shells while cooking.


Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Rice Recipe

  • Yield: Serves 3 to 4.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
  • 1 pound, about 20 large jumbo shrimp (peeled with tail on or unpeeled, but veins removed)
  • 6 large garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, de-ribbed, julienned
  • Juice of one lime (or 2 inches of white tender end of lemongrass, finely sliced)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 small cans (5.6 ounces) coconut milk
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of red chili powder or red chili sauce (to taste)
  • Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Method

1 Start cooking rice, following package instructions.


garlic-shrimp-coconut-1.jpg


2 Pulse garlic, water and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender, just
a few pulses, so you can still see chunks of garlic. Pour over shrimp
to marinate. Marinate for 10 minutes.


garlic-shrimp-coconut-3.jpg garlic-shrimp-coconut-4.jpg


3 Strain the water from the shrimp and garlic mixture. Add the
lime juice (or finely sliced lemongrass), jalapeño, and 1/2 teaspoon of
salt to the shrimp mixture.


garlic-shrimp-coconut-5.jpg garlic-shrimp-coconut-6.jpg


4 Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in high heat in large sauté pan. Add
shrimp. Cook one minute. Add 1 small can of coconut milk. Cook 30
seconds more. Mix in a teaspoon red chili powder or sauce.


5 Put rice into a large bowl. Mix in the second 5.6 ounce can of coconut milk to the cooked rice.


Serve shrimp on rice. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro (optional).


Hello! All photos and content are copyright
protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written
permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the
recipe in your own unique words and link back to the source recipe here on Simply Recipes. Thank you!

garlic-shrimp-coconut-b.jpg
arturo-vargas-a.jpg

Many thanks to my friend Arturo Vargas of Taste for the Senses for sharing his "Camarones al Ajillo" recipe with us.

 | SimplyRecipes.com

Pork Kaldereta Recipe: Lady's Choice Philippines

Pork Kaldereta

Nutrition Facts

Energy 693 kcal
Protein 35 g
Carbohydrate 31 g
Total Fat 47 g
Saturated Fat 14 g
Sodium 1352 mg

Ingredients

½ kilo pork kasim, cut into cubes
1 pc pork bouillon cube , dissolved in 2 cups of water
1/8 cup cooking oil
3 pcs potatoes, quartered and fried
1 pc medium carrot, sliced and fried
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pc medium onion, minced
½ cup tomato sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
80g can liver spread
1 pc red bell pepper
1 pc green bell pepper
4 pcs red hot chili peppers
¼ cup sweet pickles
3 Tbsp Lady’s Choice Mayonnaise
salt and pepper (to taste)


Directions

  1. Boil
    pork in the pork bouillon stock until tender, about 25-30 minutes.
    Remove pork, strain and set aside. Also set aside liquid where pork was
    cooked.
  2. Fry potatoes and carrot, drain oil and set aside.
  3. Sauté garlic and onions in oil in a casserole. Add the cooked pork and stir until meat turns brown.
  4. Add
    tomato sauce and soy sauce. Next, add the liver spread and mix well and
    then add the liquid where pork was cooked. Simmer everything in
    medium-low fire for about 10 minutes.
  5. Set the fire to medium heat. Then, add in potatoes, carrots, red and green bell peppers. Simmer for 5 minutes.
  6. Add the red hot chili peppers and sweet pickles.
  7. Next,
    add 3 Tbsp of Lady’s Choice Mayonnaise. Stir and blend well until
    creamy. Check seasonings and adjust according to preference. Add more
    peppers as desired. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.




Pork Kaldereta Recipe: Lady's Choice Philippines

Fudge Crinkles A Great 4 Ingredient Cake Mix Cookie) Recipe - Food.com


 

1 box  (18 1/4 ounce) box devil's food cake mix (Betty Crocker Super Moist suggested)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
 2 large eggs 

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Stir (by hand) dry cake mix, oil and eggs in a large bowl until dough forms.
  3. Dust hands with confectioners' sugar and shape dough into 1" balls.
  4. Roll balls in confectioners' sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
  5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until center is JUST SET.
  6. Remove from pans after a minute or so and cool on wire racks.
  7. *My Notes*:.
  8. I have tried these with several different cake mix brands.
    They all come out good, but the Betty Crocker does come out the best.
  9. I was having a problem with my cookies flattening while
    baking. This usually happens with the generic cake mix brands. You can
    play with your oven temp and try them on 375 to keep them from
    spreading. Adding more oil than called for will also cause the cookies
    to spread -- I wouldn't suggest it, they really don't need extra oil.
  10. Another way to keep them nice and thick and to get the most
    "crinkled" or "crackled" look is to make them bigger. When I roll them
    at about 1.5 inches they look prettier.
  11. And my best tip: My confectioners' sugar was consistently
    being absorbed by the dough. The last time I baked them, I rolled them
    into balls without rolling in the sugar and let them "dry" for a few
    minutes. Then I rolled them in sugar and baked. These came out with a
    nice coating of sugar that didn't disappear.
- Food.com

Media noche Philippines

#363 New Year’s Fruit Basket


Photo from Tsibog.com


Part of the fun in getting ready for New Year’s Eve is to come up
with 12 round fruits, each to signify a month of the year. Ideally,
there should be 12 different fruits — grapes, oranges, clementines,
cantaloupe, pomelo, watermelon, chico…


It’s a tough challenge, so at times, half the fruits in a Filipino’s
New Years Fruit Basket or dinner table are likely to be not really round
such as mangoes, pears and apples. But the fruit that Filipinos most
associate with the celebration of the New Year and which will be always
found in a fruit basket are ubas (grapes), preferably the big
imported varieties to add a special touch to New Year’s celebrations.
For Filipinos having round fruits on the dinner table are supposedly
harbingers of good luck for the rest of the new year…

| 365 Great Pinoy Stuff

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home

Many simple foods are not only easy to make at home, they'll likely be cheaper, healthier, and much tastier than the store-bought varieties. From cheese to peanut butter, here are a few DIY, delicious food projects.

10. Vanilla Extract

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
Pure vanilla extract is really easy to make—you just need vanilla beans and a cup of vodka, rum, or bourbon. Not only do you get a much better ingredient than the store-bought version (and more extract than if you bought the same amount), everything you use the vanilla extract in (cookies!) will taste better as a result.

9. Cheese

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
Making your own American cheesecream cheese, and other cheeses (homemade ricotta is amazing) is surprisingly easy with just a few basic ingredients. Besides having really fresh cheese, you can mix in other flavors if you like.

8. Buttermilk

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
Most of us don't have buttermilk around all the time, and when we do need it for something, the carton is often too big and we end up wasting the whole thing.Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to milk, though, and you can whip up some buttermilk in a few minutes on the cheap.

7. Spice Mixes

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, and other pre-packaged spice mixes are very easy torecreate on your own when you have the ingredients list. So instead of paying $5 for a bottle you might not use up before the mixes get stale, just stock up on the basic spices that are behind these mixes. And if you haven't tried it already, you might want to make your own bacon salt too. (Who am I kidding? Go make some bacon salt.)

6. Stock

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
When you make your own stock, you turn kitchen scraps—things you would normally throw away—into an awesome base for soups and other dishes. Make chicken stock like a pro and customize its flavor and healthiness to your liking. You don't even need a recipe to make vegetable stock.

5. Alternative Milks

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
Soy milknut milks, and nut butters are all cheaper to make at home, not to mention fresher. Our own Dave Greenbaum says he saved 20% on almond milk when DIYing it using organic almonds at home—plus the added benefit of getting almond meal, which you can use in other recipes.

4. Cocoa Powder and Instant Hot Cocoa

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
1

You only need three ingredients to make better-tasting, higher quality cocoa mix: powdered chocolate or cocoa, sugar, and a little salt. If you want your hot chocolate to be creamier and taste more chocolatey, add in a few more ingredients to your hot cocoa mix and you'll be all set in these cold winter months.

3. Bread

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
There really is nothing quite like freshly baked bread. Although some breads may take more time and effort than it's worth, many breads can be made with just a minute or 5 of prep time. You don't even need a breadmaker: a pressure cookerwill bake a warm loaf in minutes or you can "bake" bread dough on the stovetop.

2. Peanut Butter

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
2

DIY peanut butter is worlds away from the commercial stuff. All you need is a food processor and five minutes (plus roasted peanuts, of course) to concoct your own better-tasting peanut butter. Let Alton Brown show you how to roast peanuts for it in a wok.

1. Salad Dressing

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home
When you know the formula for salad dressings, there's no need to ever buy packaged dressing (which often has so much salt, sugar, and other ingredients you might not care for), since it's so easy to combine simple ingredients into a great vinaigrette.
Photos by kavastudio (Shutterstock), Silanti (Shutterstock), Matthew Cole(Shutterstock).
Measure
Measure
Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Roast Turkey Recipes by Jamie Oliver




Roast Turkey


In my books, the perfect bird is 6.5kg– 8kg in weight because that's a good size to handle, feeds about 10 to 14 people and has better flavour than bigger birds. If you're buying from a small producer, like the lovely turkey I used from my mate Paul Kelly, you'll often find these birds come with their own cooking instructions. Really good-quality birds do cook in a shorter time so follow the instructions if it has them. 



This year I'm using a flavoured butter to give a bit of extra love to my turkey, and this is a job you can do the day before. Get your turkey and use a spoon to work your way between the skin and the meat. Start at the side of the cavity just above the leg and work gently up towards the breastbone and towards the back so you create a large cavity. Pick up half of your butter and push it into the cavity you've created. Use your hands to push it through the skin right to the back so it coats the breast meat as evenly as possible. Do the same on the other side then rub any leftover butter all over the outside of the bird to use it up. If you've got any herb stalks left over, put them in the cavity of the turkey for added flavour as it cooks. Cover the turkey in cling film and keep in the fridge until you need it.



Take your turkey out of the fridge a few hours before you are ready to put it in the oven so it has time to come up to room temperature. That flavoured butter will already be under the skin so you'll only need a few tweaks to finish it off. Halve the clementines and pop them in the cavity with a few more sprigs of fresh herbs like rosemary, bay and thyme. The fruit will steam and flavour the birds in a really lovely way. Take the fresh rosemary, pull off the leaves at the bottom then spear that through the loose skin around the cavity to hold it together and keep it from shrinking back as the turkey cooks.



Open up the neck cavity and pack as much stuffing as possible in there, then carefully pull the skin back over the cavity, tuck it under the bird and pop it in the roasting tray. If you've already made your gravy like I've done, you won't need a vegetable trivet, if not, do that now by roughly chopping the carrots, onions and celery sticks. Preheat your oven to full whack, get the turkey in the roasting tray and cover with foil. As soon as it goes in the oven, immediately turn the heat down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.



As a rough guide, you want to cook the turkey for about 35 to 40 minutes per kilogram, so a 7kg turkey will want about 4 to 4½ hours in the oven. But there are so many variables such as the sort of oven you have and the quality of your bird. Check on your turkey every 30 minutes or so and keep it from drying out by basting it with the lovely juices from the bottom of the pan. After 3½ hours, remove the foil so the skin gets golden and crispy. If you are at all worried just stick a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast. When the internal temperature has reached 65ºC for a good quality bird, and about 82ºC for a cheaper bird, it's ready to come out.



Carefully put a metal skewer in the cavity and use it to lift the bird and angle it over the roasting tray so all of the juices from the cavity run out. Move the turkey to a platter then cover it with a double layer of tinfoil and 2 tea towels to keep it warm while it rests for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours for bigger birds.
Whether it's delicious vegetarian or vegan recipes you're after, or ideas for gluten or dairy-free dishes, you'll find plenty here to inspire you. For more info on how we classify our lifestyle recipes please read our special diets fact sheet, or or for more information on how to plan your meals please see our special diets guidance.



Nutritional Information Amount per serving:
  • Calories
  • Carbs
  • Sugar
  • 50.6g
  • Saturates 15.4g
  • Protein 211.7g
/ Jamie Oliver Recipes

Leche flan recipe : SBS Food



Ingredients

  • 110 g (½ cup) caster sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 395 g can condensed milk
  • 375 ml can evaporated milk

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced
(convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian
tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml;
1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups
are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless
specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.


Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the sugar in a saucepan and cook,
swirling pan occasionally but not stirring, over a medium-high heat for
3-4 minutes, or until the sugar is a deep amber caramel.


Pour into a llanera (a shallow, oval-shaped pan traditionally used in
leche flans) for an attractive finish. A loaf pan or individual
ramekins work just as well.


Beat the eggs in a bowl, adding in the condensed and evaporated milk,
until well combined. Strain through a fine sieve into the pan, then
cover tightly with foil.


The next step is to bake it in a bain-marie. Place the pan in a
roasting pan and fill with boiling water to reach halfway up the side of
the pan. Bake for 1 hour or until firm.


Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Refrigerate to firm.


Run a knife around the flan, then invert onto a platter. The hard
caramel base will have liquefied to form a runny caramel coating. Cut
into slices and serve.
Leche flan recipe : SBS Food

Top 10 Filipino Noche Buena Favorites Choose Philippines

What are the Filipino favorites for Noche Buena? Lechon, Fruit salad and Hamonado are just some of the top notchers!
The Filipino Christmas is the longest in the world. It brings the
Filipino value of being family-oriented to the fore as families gather
to partake of the Christmas feast over laughter, storytelling and love.
Food favorites are prepared and family secret recipes are shared.



Here’s a list of the all-time Noche Buena favorites:



Lechon

(Photo from ThePickiestEater.net.)



Roasted pig, roasted belly of pork, chicken, fish… anything that’s
roasted over coals. You name it… it is going to be a part of the
Christmas feast. In some households, the lechon baka or karnero (lamb)
can come with the pig but it is always the lechon baboy (pig) that lords
it over the table. The



choices for the lechon dip are: Chicken liver sauce, Mang Tomas
lechon sauce, vinegar with chopped garlic or Soy sauce with Native Lemon
(Kalamansi).



Which brings us to another rosted favorite…



Barbecue

Pork and chicken top the list. Pork or chicken meat is marinated in
soy sauce and kalamansi with lots of mashed garlic then skewed on bamboo
skewers before being barbecued. Neighborhoods are alive with the aroma
of barbecue during Christmas.



Bibingka and Puto Bumbong

Bibingka or rice cake and the iconic purple of puto bumbong are
Filipino delicacies sold outside churches just in time for the influx of
people going home after hearing mass.



Fruit Salad

(Photo from WokWithRay.net.)



Fresh or canned, the fruits that are mixed with the cream and
condensed milk provide the color and the pizzaz in this cold, sweet
dish.



Hamonado

(Photo by Iska Montero.)



Hamonado is pork or chicken cooked in pineapple juice.



Lumpiang Ubod

Spring rolls that are made from the heart of the coconut (ubod).
Mixed with carrots, ground pork, lettuce then wrapped in lumpia. Can
come with sauce made from corn starch, vinegar and sugar.



Leche Flan

(Photo by Cecile Aquino of English Patis.)



Just mix egg yolks, condensed milk, fresh milk and sugar, steam then
top with caramelized sugar then voila! You’ve got leche flan! Dessert is
certainly sweet with this Pinoy classic.



Spaghetti

Filipino style spaghetti is tomato sauce and paste, ground beef or
pork, cheese and a little sugar to have that sweet taste. It is a
Filipino staple in parties and on Christmas, it goes head to head with
the lechon.



Tsokolate

If people in cold countries have eggnog to warm them up on Christmas,
Filipinos love warming up with a hot cup of tsokolate or chocolate, be
it commercial powder or tableya (the native chocolate).



Macaroni Salad

This pasta is paired with mayonnaise and chicken strips to make
chicken macaroni salad. For macaroni fruit salad, it is paired with
canned fruits. Others just add cheese and pimiento to the mayonnaise
then mixed with macaroni to make macaroni cheese pimiento salad.
Different versions for different tastes but the macaroni pasta sure does
make it on the list.



Quezo de Bola

Is a semi-hard cheese from the Netherlands called Edam. Shaped like a
ball and coated with red paraffin wax. It is paired with white wine and
cold cuts. After Christmas, the cheese is added to a lot of dishes.



Sotanghon Soup

Sotanghon noodles are symbols of long life and the warmth that the
hot soup provides during the cold Christmas breeze, make the Noche Buena
complete.




Share.

Filipino-style Macaroni Salad

Like spaghetti, this Filipino-style macaroni salad is one of the things we adapted from
the west and made our own. Unlike its plain ol’ western counterpart, it
packs flavor and flair with a hodgepodge of shredded chicken, cubed
cheese and ham, raisins and crushed pineapple. By adding our own Pinoy
taste and twist to a classic dish, we turned it into something more
delicious.

Filipino-style Macaroni Salad
Filipino-style Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
  • 1 (16 ounces) package elbow macaroni, uncooked
  • 1 pound chicken breast or thigh meat, boneless and skinless
  • 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 (14 ounces) can crushed pineapple
  • ½ cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1 cup quick-melt cheese (Velveeta or Eden), cubed
  • 1 cup ham, cubed
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
  • ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a pot of salted boiling water, add macaroni and cook for about 8 to 9
    minutes or until firm to bite. Drain, rinse under cold running water and
    allow to completely cool. Set aside.
  2. In a pot, add chicken  meat and enough water to cover. Bring the water to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Simmer chicken for about 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked  through. Drain from liquid, allow to completely cool and shred. Set
    aside.
  3. In a pot, bring water to a boil. Add diced carrots and
    cook for about 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon, remove from water and
    plunge into an ice bath until completely cool. Drain and set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, combine macaroni, chicken, carrots, ham, eggs, raisins,
    onions, cheese, mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk and pineapple  including packing juice. Gently stir together until evenly distributed.
    Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes
    to allow flavors to meld.
 - Kawaling Pinoy

Spaghetti Recipe


Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
A quick, yet flavorful take on the classic spaghetti with meat sauce.




Ingredients
  • grams dried spaghetti
  • grams bacon
  • grams beef - ground
  • small onion finely diced
  • small carrot peeled and grated
  • cloves garlic finely minced
  • dry white wine
  • grams canned whole tomatoes
  • tablespoons ketchup
  • teaspoon
  • teaspoon black pepper
  • teaspoon oregano
Units:
Instructions
  1. Put
    a large pot of salted water on the stove over high heat. If you taste
    the water after dissolving the salt it should taste pretty salty. This
    flavors the pasta. Whatever you do, do not add oil to the water. This is
    done to keep the noodles from sticking together while boiling, but it
    will also keep your pasta sauce form sticking to the noodles when you
    eat it.
  2. Add the bacon to a pan over medium high heat and fry
    until a good amount of fat has rendered out of the bacon. Add the
    ground beef and brown it, breaking up the meat with a spatula until it's
    cooked. Transfer the meat to a bowl, leaving as much of the fat as you
    can in the pan.

Turn
down the heat to medium low. You should have about a tablespoon of
rendered fat in the pan, if you have significantly more or less, dump
some out or add some olive oil. Add the onions, carrot and garlic, and
sauté until the onions are soft and the mixture is about 1/3 of its
original volume. Depending on how small you diced your onions, this
should take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. This is where your sauce
gets a lot of its flavor, so don't skimp on time.

Turn
up the heat to high, then return the meat to the pan. Add the white
wine and boil until there's almost no liquid left, stirring to prevent
burning. This not only burns off the alcohol, it concentrates the flavor
of the wine.

Turn
down the heat to medium-low and add the canned tomatoes, ketchup, salt
and pepper. Put the oregano in the palm of your hand, and then use your
other hand to rub the oregano in a circular motion to crush it into a
powder before adding it to the pan. Us a spatula to break up the
tomatoes, being careful not squirt tomato juice on yourself.

  • By now
    your water should be boiling. Add your pasta and stir during the first
    few minutes of cooking to keep it from sticking together. I usually boil
    pasta for 1 minute less than what the package directions say (i.e. 8
    minutes instead of 9).


  • Your meat sauce is done when your pasta
    is done. You can either plate the pasta and top with sauce, or
    personally I like to dump the pasta straight into the sauce and toss it
    together before serving.
  • All images
    and text on this website are protected by copyright. Please do not post
    or republish this recipe or its images without permission. If you want
    want to share this recipe just share the link rather than the whole
    recipe.

    Saturday, December 20, 2014

    16 Ways To Create More Money For Travel

    We know from all the emails we get from our readers that “lack of money” is one of the biggest things holding you back from having more travel in your life.
    If you want to travel more over the coming new year it’s now time to start thinking about your finances and channeling what money comes into your life in the right direction.
    This can be easier said than done and everyone has different financial challenges and backgrounds, but there are simple ways and more creative ways to add to your bank balance.
    16 ways to create more money for TRAVEL.As we’ve mentioned over and over again a lot of it comes down to your priorities. If you want more travel in your life you have to make travel a priority, especially with regard to getting your finances in order.
    Recently we wrote about 30 ways to reduce living expenses so you could have more money for travel.
    Today we’re going to focus on ways to create more money to add to your travel fund once you’ve got your expenses under control.
    So lets make the intention right now to put one of the strategies below into practice, and please share any of your own tips in the comments.

    1. Rent out spare rooms / take in a room mate

    We had two boarders living with us before we left for our five year honeymoon in 2002. Some of that money went to bills (reducing costs) and what was left went straight into the travel fund.
    When I lived in London, I lived with anywhere from 5-25 people. It meant I shared a room usually with 2-3 people; sometimes I slept on the lounge room floor. I know this is not the comfort most people want – I was young and single at the time – but my rent was £35 a week, with bills and grocery staples included. This meant I had so much more money for travel.
    I don’t regret this sacrifice as it meant I created amazing memories and I formed friendships with people around the world whose couches I could sleep on when I visited their country.
    Consider Airbnb
    Maybe you could list your property with Airbnb and rent out an extra room or your whole property.
    Our friend in North Carolina is a single guy with a 4 bedroom home. He just took in a room mate who’s monthly payment now cuts his mortgage in half – meaning more money for travel.

    2. Work multiple jobs

    This was something I totally embraced pre-kids. At one stage I had 9 part-time jobs on rotation. I was never one for the standard working job life. Working a full-time and a part-time job is tough, especially when your full-time one is teaching.
    After a stressful and tiring day teaching my students, I’d don the waitress outfit and head to the local restaurant until around midnight. It sucked, but I was committed and all the extra money went into the travel fund and the odd wine to calm my nerves before bed!
    I worked multiple jobs in Australia, Bangkok, Dublin and London.

    3. Live off one wage

    If you are a couple, consider living off one wage and save the other. This is whatCraig and I did for 12 months. Once you commit to it, you’ll find it easier than you think. You’ll find a way to manage and if you bank the one wage immediately you won’t notice its absence so much.
    Sit down with your partner and create a budget. Cut out all unnecessary expenses and focus purely on covering your needs.
    Decide on whose wage will best cover these expenses. Wiggle the budget around until you can make it fit the salary comfortably. Leave a little buffer.
    Set up a plan to bank the other wage as soon as it is received. Put it straight into the high-interest savings account you have set up.  Don’t stress if you can’t bank the entire wage of one partner, bank as much as you can of the one wage. Make it a game to see how much you can increase it by each week.
    It’s a great way to get you used to living off little and needing less.

    4. Work extra shifts

    Some jobs pay extraordinarily well for overtime. My brother in-law earns great money because he chooses the shitty night and weekend shifts. This gives him lots of penalty rates and overtime. The extra money means he can travel more during the year.
    Craig always worked on a Saturday during his construction days to earn the extra cash we needed for travel.

    5. Ask for a raise

    Have you been employed at your position for sometime and are exceeding expectations, or are overdue for a raise? Politely ask for one. Or why not add more value to your job – think promotion!

    6. Be a tutor

    One of my rotating part-time jobs was tutoring. I tutored some of the local school children. It was only for a few hours a week, but the extra cash added up and it was tax free.
    I also gave private English lessons to a student at my school in Bangkok, which gave me a few extra dollars. Craig and I also tutored a Buddhist monk in Bangkok, but that one was for love and fascination.

    7. Automate your savings

    Pay yourself first! Savings should be your priority. Set up an automatic transfer that deducts 10% (or higher) of your wage each week and have it transferred into your travel savings account (a high interest account online).
    If all your money is easily accessible and sitting in your everyday spending account the temptation is always there to spend it. It’s a lot easier to keep track of your savings if you have them separate from your spending money. If you don’t touch or see it you won’t miss it.

    8. Use a high-interest savings account

    There are savings bank accounts that can pay you good interest, well at least in Australia. Depending on the balance we can earn from $50- $150 a month. Remember it all adds up and its money for nothing. In places like Asia and Africathat can go a long way.
    In Australia we discovered an everyday transaction account at ING Direct that gave us 5% cashback for every transaction under $100. It lasted for 6 months. Now they are offering the same deal long term at 2% a month. We are right on top of that and earning money for normal everyday spending.

    9. Set savings goals

    Just like you would for buying a house or a car, decide how much you need for travel then set goals and time frames to accomplish them.
    Start short term. Set a particular date for accomplishing shorter-term goals, and make sure the goal is attainable within that time period. Figure out how much you need to save per week or per pay check.
    • First save for your airfare.
    • Then accommodation.
    • Then spending money.
    It’s easier if you break it down into increments. Just like in reducing your expenses, you’ll see results sooner which will keep you motivated.

    10. Luxury Verse Needs

    Get back to basics.
    You don’t really need a lot to survive, nor to have a great life really. You can get by with less. Your life will feel less cluttered, which will free up even more energy in order to attract more money to you.
    Would you prefer your life to be full of memories or full of stuff?
    Ditch the labels, the expensive price tags, the brand new cars and other goods, the fancy restaurants, and top shelf drinks. Start living on a needs basis, not a want.

    11. Create multiple streams of income

    This is the key to a continual flow of money. Plus, it gives you lots of security in case one stream dries up.
    When we were saving initially to travel these were the ways we had multiple streams of income:
    • Full-time jobs
    • Part-time jobs
    • Rent a spare room
    • Investments
    • Interest
    • and Craig would do odd building jobs for friends.
    Now that we have our own blogging business, we receive income in a multitude of ways and I am always adding in more when they come along. These are the current various streams:
    • freelance writing
    • freelance content creation
    • working on campaigns with brands
    • sponsored posts
    • advertising
    • affiliate sales
    • eBook sales
    • speaking fees
    • ambassador programs
    Little bits from each stream add up.
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    12. Save your tax refunds

    I hope you receive a refund check. If you don’t then celebrate as it means you are earning decent money, you just need to make sure you are putting it to good use.
    I don’t know how many times the money we received back from the government helped us live for an extra month on the road. Consider it money you have been saving all year and put it straight into your travel fund.

    13. Save any bonuses or windfalls

    Do you receive bonuses from your work? What about birthday or holiday money? And windfalls?
    We were due to leave on a summer road trip down to Florida in 2005. We had no money and it was looking like we’d have to cancel. A month before departure date, I received an unexpected $800 bonus from school. Awesome! It went straight in the travel fund; we’d at least get 2 weeks of travel out of it.
    Then, at the last minute, a friend from Dublin contacted me to say she had a check waiting for me. Teachers were getting back pay with a raise they should have been given years before. Lucky these years were the time I taught there. It was so lovely to receive a check for €2, 500.
    Hello Florida road trip!

    14. Collect all your spare change

    You will not miss the spare coins in your wallet. In fact, you are more than likely to spend them just to get rid of the weight.
    Take the coins, or even all your $1 bills and put them into your money box. We give all our coins to Kalyra and she has over $400 in the bank. That’s her entry ticket plus accommodation to Disneyland paid for.
    Pick up loose coins. I never walk over any coins I find on the ground. I don’t care if it is 10 cents and I don’t care who is looking. I pick it up and always say,
    “Wow. Look at this money the Universe is sending my way. Thank you so much.”
    And then I put it in my wallet believing that more is coming my way in the most unexpected surprises.

    15. Move back in with your parents

    Ouch! This is certainly not something we envisioned as adults with two kids but we did it for three years with Craig’s parents – a result of our real estate fiasco. A sacrifice that has helped us get back on our feet.
    You certainly don’t have to do it for three years, even three months can make a huge difference. In this game of creating your dream travel life you have to do whatever it takes. When you say yes, you are talking total commitment.
    Don’t focus on the sacrifice, focus on the reward and know that this too shall pass.

    16. Pimp out your talents

    What special talents do you have that someone will pay for? Anything you can do that will save them time or money?
    You can put yourself up for hire in places like Elance or Fiverr. Remember $50 here and there adds up. Research those sites to see what others are doing; it might stir up some ideas for you as to what you might be able to do.
    We share hundreds more tips on budgeting for travel and creating the travel life you love in our ebook, which you can read more about here.

    Do This:

    Choose 1-3 of the above strategies to implement this week. Schedule it into your weekly plan. Make the phone calls, create the plan, and take action.
    Don’t forget to reward yourself for your saving victories, but not by spending your money!
    Make a list of rewards you can give yourself with each new breakthrough. Make it something that does not cost a lot of money, yet makes you feel good. Get yourself in the habit of rewarding yourself in this way.
    What tip can you add to this list?