If you’re trying to eat seasonally, you’ll find asparagus is in season this month. Asparagus is heaven and really doesn’t need much fancy prep, but if you’d like to be more adventurous, here are a few ideas that landed in my inbox from Tesco!

Asparagus, herb and gruyère omelette (pictured)

Ingredients
20g (¾oz) asparagus spears
2 large eggs
2tbsp chopped herbs, such as chives and parsley
small knob of butter
20g (¾oz) finely grated Gruyère cheese

Method
Blanch asparagus in boiling salted water for three minutes, drain and finely chop.

Lightly whisk the eggs, season and stir in the herbs.

Sizzle the butter in a small non-stick pan and add the eggs. With a palette knife draw in the cooked egg and tip the pan to allow the runny egg to cook slightly.

Add the cheese and asparagus, fold over the omelette and serve.

Spaghetti salmon primavera

Ingredients
200 g (7oz) spaghetti (we like Finest extra-long spaghetti)
25 g (1oz) frozen petit pois
50 g (2oz) fresh asparagus tips, chopped
200 ml carton Healthy Living crème fraiche
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
80 g (3oz) smoked salmon trimmings

Method
Cook the pasta according to the instructions.

Meanwhile, cook the peas and asparagus in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain.

Put the crème fraiche into a pan and heat gently, but don’t boil. Add the spring onion, salmon, peas and asparagus and heat until everything is warmed through. Season.

Drain the spaghetti and return to the pan. Pour over the sauce and toss well together. Serve immediately in warm bowls.

Asparagus and tuna tart

Ingredients
500g (1lb)puff pastry
375g (12oz) tuna steak
400g (13oz) asparagus
125g (4oz) quark
1 egg
75ml (3fl oz) milk

Method
Heat oven to Gas 4, 180°C, fan160°C. Brush a 36x12cm (14x5in) loose-bottomed flan tin with a little melted butter.

Roll out the pastry, line the flan tin and place in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Mix together the quark, egg and milk until blended and smooth. Cut the asparagus and tuna into lengths that fit the width of the tart case.

Pour in the quark mix and alternately arrange the tuna and asparagus evenly in the case. Place in the lower part of the oven and bake for 30 minutes; reduce the temperature to Gas 3, 170°C, fan150°C, and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with green salad leaves.

It is a great week to do a big grocery shop! Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Ocado are all offering £10 off £50 voucher codes for first time customers.

Sainsbury’s £10 off £50
Code: LM3F-G2VK-QKVF

This is Sainsbury’s first voucher code! New customers can get £10 off a £50+ spend off their first grocery shop online at Sainsbury’s. Good on deliveries until Tues 25 May.

Tesco £10 off £50
Code: XXAFFT

New customers can get £10 off a £50+ spend off their first grocery shop online at Tesco. Good on deliveries until Thurs 30 Sept 2010. Not valid on purchases of tobacco products, infant milk, prescription medicines and the delivery charge.

Ocado £10 off £50
Code: VOU9206024

New customers can get £10 off a £50+ spend online at Ocado. Good on deliveries until Weds 30 June.

These offers are credited to MoneySavingExpert.com.

Everyone is buzzing about the Tesco.com clothing sale this Friday.

Word on the street is that for two hours on Friday 7th May, Tesco.com is offering 50% off all clothing.

You must be a fan of Clothing at Tesco on Facebook and be registered at Tesco.com/Clothing. At some point on Friday, all fans will be sent a 50% off discount code through Facebook that will be valid for a short time on clothing only.

I’ve heard you can’t buy more than 20 of the same item and the offer excludes delivery (£3.95).

Good luck!

There are so many bank holiday offers on that I can’t really keep up with my inbox or write a special post for each, so here are just a few to note:

Free shipping from Barratts until midnight on Tuesday with code BANKHOL

15% off orders over £50 from B & Q

Free shipping from Ann Summers until midnight on Monday

£10, £20 and £30 off selected styles at Coast

Littlewoods has half price savings on hundreds of products plus pay nothing until April 2011 with code XV057

Free delivery on orders over £50 plus 20% off on selected items with code TDX-MHLY from Tesco

Tesco is slashing the cost of loads of baby and toddler essentials during its Baby Wonderland event until 10th March.

Some of the great offers include:

Huggies Super Dry Value Boxes
NOW £9 (was £11.98)

Pampers Baby Dry Jumbo Packs
2 for £18 – usually £10

Pampers Carry Packs (Baby Dry & Active Fit)
2 for £9 – usually £5.98

Huggies Pull Ups Carry Packs)
Save 1/3 – NOW £3.32 (was £4.98)

Johnsons Baby Wipes Fragrance Free 6-PK
£5 – Special Purchase

Selected Johnsons Baby Toiletries
£2 – (prices usually from £2.50)

Tesco Maternity Towels x 10
Save 1/3 – NOW 64p (was £0.96)

Tesco Ultra slim Breast Pads x 40
Save 1/3 – NOW £1.74 (was £2.61)

Tesco My Baby’s Muslin Squares x 6
Save 1/3 – NOW £3.20 (was £4.80)

Tommee Tippee Explora Cups and Tableware
2 for £5 – (prices usually from £2.88)

Organix 12month Snacks (15g)
3 for £1- usually £0.46

Cow & Gate Growing up milk (900g)
£5 – usually £6.96

Sudocrem Antiseptic Healing Cream 400g
£5 – usually £6.39

Tommee Tippee Hygeine Plus Sangenic Nappy Disposal Bin
1/2 price – NOW £9.99 (was £19.99)

For more information please visit the Tesco Baby & Toddler Club.

In this week’s Tesco Baby & Toddler Club email, the big offer is two for one on select Johnson’s products, including:

Johnson’s Baby Gold Shampoo–500ml

Johnson’s Baby Softwash–400ml

Johnson’s Baby Bedtime Bath–500ml

Johnson’s Baby Bath–500ml

Johnson’s Baby Extra Care Wipes (and refills)

Johnson’s Baby Lotion–500ml

Johnson’s Baby Relaxing Shampoo–500ml

You can also enter to win a family mini-break at The Gallery in Beer, Devon from Tesco and Child Friendly Cottages here.

At the beginning of the year, I try to do a bit of hibernating. Staying in, keeping warm and not spending any money. Generally just trying to recover from all of the extra eating, drinking and lazying about that’s done over the holiday period!

If you’re like me, you’ll be excited to see the latest from Tesco Entertainment. Stock up cheaply on a few new DVDs and you’ll probably spend less than renting them at your local video store.

Here are a few of the films on offer:

Monsters Vs Aliens (2009)
£5.00

Play preview
Transformers (2007)
£3.00

Fast Furious (2009)
£5.00

Play preview
Cloverfield (2008)
£2.00

Play preview
Tropic Thunder (2009)
£5.00

Role Models (2009)
£5.00

Play preview
Stardust (2008)
£3.00

Play preview
10,000 BC (2008)
£3.00

Tesco have load of toys on sale for half price.

To be honest, the prices don’t look THAT low so I’m a bit curious about this one, but have a look for yourself and see if there are any bargains to be had.

While you’re there, you can also check out the up to half price sale on kids’ bikes.

The Tesco Baby & Todler Club is offering free BabySafe seminars especially designed to help parents cope with babies and young children in emergency first-aid situations.

Each seminar covers a range of different life-saving techniques including basic resuscitation, what to do if a child is choking, dealing with burns and scalds, spotting the signs of meningitis as well as car-seat safety advice.

The two-hour course also includes a practical session with RLSS volunteers, enabling participants to try out their skills on dummy babies and children. Great for a refresher course or to boost your confidence in emergency first-aid!

A great perk for attending is that everyone who attends will receive a free ‘goody bag’ packed with useful products and a free life-saving skills DVD.

All upcoming dates and locations for the sessions are listed below. Sessions take place from 7.00pm to 9.00pm with a break for refreshments. To register, call 01733 385174 and punch in your selection code next to the workshop you’d like to attend.

Last week I was minding my own business, doing a quick shop at Waitrose (I know, its not budget but I love it and its nearest to my office!) and I walked straight into a WALL of Christmas candy and treats. That was September. Now that its officially October, EVERY store is in on the game. This weekend I took pictures at Boots and House of Fraser (see main snap) to document the Beginning of Christmas until I got bored with taking pictures.

It’s a fact, the Christmas retail season starts earlier every year. Possibly the worst culprit, Tesco, came under fire (well, if not fire, at least speculation about Santa’s potential anger) for selling traditional mince pies with an October expiration date. But I’m curious, is there a good reason? Do the shops make more money selling mince pies four months early? And does anyone decorate their tree in October, making it worthwhile to devote substantial space to Christmas ornaments before we’ve even thought about Halloween? Anyway, if you’ve got a strategy for saving money on Christmas that involves starting at August Bank Holiday, I’d love to hear it!

Waitrose wall of Christmas

Boots Christmas Spirit