todays meals.

Dear reader and especially for you Sue. The rolls we made yesterday using the recipe I have linked to post of yesterday. No egg in recipe just becuase we have none. 

Pictured last night while still warm with homemade burger and cheese and today's lunch with ham, cheese and salad. I only had wholemeal flour so that's what I used and we are chuffed with them.

I do not seem able to get on with our bread making machine at all but these handmade ones are great. I'm hoping to try some handmade bread soon too so will keep you posted.

After my long lost blog readers and commenters search I have received one comment from Jo so that's good. I do read via Blogger and Bloglovin but don't seem to have great success with the latter.

Today we are at home making the most of the wind to dry washing. The rain is absent, for now and we have watered our laurels as they went dry last year and have yellowed a bit. We are trying to give them a bit of tlc as we want them to form a boundary hedge in the back garden.

Tonight's dinner is a homemade curry from the freezer, with rice, naan, dhal and onion bhaji.

April tomorrow. Wow, going quickly this year. X

My first great bread!

Success, the rolls are Devine! We are in shock.

Waiting for a rise.

Dear reader,

Nice day just doing house stuff although we did have a walk earlier in gorgeous Marlow. I popped into a charity shop there and the quality was very good. Lots of Karen Millen, Monsoon and even Mahnola Blahnik shoes although the KM handbag was £18 and the shows £35. Didn't buy anything although am always on the look out for mixing bowls and enamel baking tins. No such luck though.

Tonight's dinner started off as homemade burgers, chips and beans but big man fancied burgers in buns. We didn't have any bread so I decided to make some rolls. We have no eggs either so I searched for eggless burger bun recipes and am using this one. http://chefinyou.com/2009/12/dinner-rolls-recipe/
We are still at the first rise stage and bread making is not my greatest skill. (The bread maker and I do not get on and it is still in the cupboard after several tiles of dry cement were made).
Feeling hungry now and needing a snack I had some scallops and prawn started in a white wine sauce from Lidl in the freezer so we have just had those with a warm baguette.
I have to say they were very good, you just cook from frozen for 20 mins and they come in their own little ramekins. Lidl seem to be doing a "posh nosh" range and last week we saw Kangeroo, Venison, three bird and three fish roasts in there. Not sure about the Kangeroo but will have these again.

We are low on fresh food but do have lots in the freezer that I had cooked and frozen. Lasagnes, curries and quiches. We also have a lot of frozen fish that I bought on offer so may try the Jamie Oliver fish curry tomorrow. There is also a frozen vegetarian chilli that I made with Quorn and some pork steaks. I have a few potatoes and a few tins of vegetables.

We have milk but no eggs or bread. No flour left but we have a couple of those baguettes you cook in the oven. I guess I shall have to go shopping tomorrow as packed lunches call and BM likes to have a sandwich and then a hot meal in the evening.

I'd love to be able to spend less on the food shopping and I honestly don't know how some of you do it on £20 a week. I salute you.

Nothing leftover and a message to you.

Dear reader,

I'm having a lazy Sunday. I got up at 5am and promptly went back to bed until 1030. I don't lie in often but do enjoy is occasionally.

I did a load of washing and becuase the weather is awful here I lit the log burner and there are two racks drying in front.

We both had the sweet and sour pork I made last week with some frozen special friend rice I saw in the reduced section at Asda some weeks ago and had stashed in the freezer. A quick microwave lunch for us both.
I sat and watched a bit of the Jamie Oliver programme on how to cook and save money. Not many tips and tricks for those of us who do this anyway but a few nice ideas.
He did a fish curry with some frozen fish, vegetables and frozen cauliflower with some tikka curry paste. Looked very good indeed but was £2.68 a portion with rice. Not exactly frugal food but not bad. I was surprised that frozen white fish is a third cheaper than fresh and cauliflower is three times cheaper frozen than fresh. He also did some crispy pork tacos using leftover pork meat from a roast and a chicken salad from a whole chicken dinner leftovers. I think we all make great meals out of leftovers. I'm not sure they should even be called leftovers! Seconds, we call them here!

I try really hard not to waste any food and limp veg, lettuce, spinach-anything, goes into a soup. Ends of bread are made into croutons or crunchy toppings, meat is either sliced and used in sandwiches, curried or added to a tomato sauce for lasagnes. I reuse sandwich bags for the odd half an onion and cheese is purchased in large blocks, grated, portioned and frozen. It freezes brilliantly. Old fruit is sliced and frozen and used in cold drinks. Old apples, Pears and stoned fruit are cooked and then frozen for crumbles or compote on porridge. Nuts and dried fruit are bought in bulk then portioned for snacks at work and for adding to homemade flapjacks. Extra is made at dinner times for lunches the next day and any excess of vegetables are chooped, blanched and frozen. Milk and cream, if not used in time are frozen and bread is purchased in reduced section and again, frozen.
I'm sure lots of you do the same or have other ideas and suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

I've had a short blogging break as most of us do and am trying to get writing again. It's usually about food or what I have done that day or money saving stuff. I had hoped for a good read with a cuppa today but I find that a lot of the blogs that I used to really enjoy are no longer written.
Obvioulsy there maybe all sorts of reasons why not. After all we don't really know about some of our blogging friends, there could be a tragedy or someone health maybe suffering or they may have been trolled and don't want to blog anymore and that's perfectly understandable but for all of you who, perhaps like me sometimes, just can't be arsed, please do me a favour, drop a really quick blog line down and post it, it would be lovely to hear from you, Mabel and Maisey, Miss Piggy Bank, Frugal up North, closet clearing, frugal Tasmania, a frugal wife, bonnie of Clyde and many others. Just let us know you are doing ok. Xxx

A quick tea and how I cut costs.

Dear reader,

I've been up since 0430. I have to be at work at 0700 and I like to get up and have a potter. Read the news online, drink tea, shower, wash and dry hair and arrive at work early enough to get a parking space. It's a 45 minute drive so I'm out of the door by 0600.

Tonight I knew I had some cooked chicken drumsticks to use up and two approved food pizza bases in the larder. Hmmm Calzones!

Pulled the chicken off the bone, mixed with BBQ sauce and sliced some mozzarella cheese, folded in half and into the oven. I made an "everything" salad to go with.
Lettuce, tomato, olives, anchovies, croutons made of the old end of a loaf fried in garlic oil and crispy fried onions. Just everything I could use up.

I always save the ends of a loaf and put them in the freezer. Great for emergency toast, breadcrumbs, croutons or a summer or bread and butter pudding, into faggots or the topping for a vet able name. Don't throw away the ends.

My other momey savings are using any shower gel, fairy liquid or bubble bath for the hand wash I keep by the sink. I'm always washing my hands during cooking and I keep a pump dispenser by the sink. I just half fill it with whatever I have and add some water.

Porridge oats are our big saving. We used to buy the ready packs, you know the little cute packets you microwave. What a waste of money. We get a huge bag in Asda for 75p and eat this for breakfast with a teaspoon of cheap jam or a handful of blueberries if we want some fruit. I also use them to make flap jacks and always add them to a crumble topping or a handful in a stew, chilli or curry for that extra thick, creamy sauce.

I don't spend out on nails I just keep my own shortish and paint them myself very rarely. My hair is highlighted but thinking of going natural to save the £60 a month.

Make up! Wow that is expensive. I have a limited supply of foundation, powder, blusher, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick. It seems a lot but it lasts for ages, well over a year. I don't wear any on days off. I like to let my skin breathe.
I'm not a fan of expensive creams. I usually buy a mid price face cream. I do have friends that buy the really, really expensive £200 plus brands. They promise to keep you younger looking for longer. The trouble is, when you get to 60,70 and beyond, how do you know if they worked or would you look like that anyway? And would you care?

Hungry girls minestrone.

Dear reader,

Had another nice day at home. Had hoped to hang out some washing but the sky went from sun to dark cloud most of the day with some lashing rain.
I was cold today, we still have the heating on and the log burner for the evenings. We also use it to dry clothes overnight and they are totally dry in the morning.

Today I fancied something hearty and filling to eat and wasn't in the mood for meat. I didn't know what I wanted. I had onion, celery, cabbage, garlic, tinned tomatoes so a hungry girls minestrone it was.

My mum used to cook this when I lived at home it basically a vegetable stew with additions the next day if you fancy.
Chooped onion, garlic and celery, fried in the tiniest bit of olive oil until soft but not brown. Chopped cabbage, any variety will do, add the tinned tomatoes. (I use whole becuase they are cheaper and leave them whole as they keep the sweetness and mush them in when cooked, Jamie said so!)
Salt, pepper, dash of Worcestershire, dash of brown sauce, dash of red sauce, a bit of tomato purée and I always add a sweetener or teaspoon of sugar. I added 3 cups of water and a handful of pasta shapes and just left it.

Two bowfuls with grated, melting cheese on top later and I was replete.

You could add some chopped meat, tin of sweet corn, peas, pulses or even rice, as long as you keep adding liquid.
It calls out for thick crusty bread and butter or a warm ciabatta roll.

What's your comfort food?

X

Retro cooking and message to Flowerpot.

Dear reader,

After reding Frugal Queen who mentioned the TV series, Back in time for Dinner, I caught up with it today on catch up TV. Brilliant! It's all about a modern day family, mum, dad, three teenagers who have taken part in a series to go back to eating in the 50's, 60's, 70's and so on.
Not only do they eat the food but they have the bottom part of their house transformed to match the era. It's fascinating to see and the 50's kitchen is so sparse and basic, not to mention the physcadellic carpet from the 70's. They also wear the clothes, drive the car and there's no fridge or TV so far......
How would our youth cope?

The food was in such short supply and tasteless but it really makes you think how tough those years were and how determined and resourceful our relatives had to be. Very thought provoking.
I don't think I could have coped with the National bread which was made with the whole husk and was very gritty not to mention the tiny piece of cold liver they had one night.
The staple of the day seemed to be dripping on bread. How times have changed when you realise all the food choices we have now. In the 50's they spent something like 28% of the weekly wage on food! What food? They had hardly anything but they managed. Today the weekly percentage of money we spend on food is 11% of the weekly wage. How lucky we are.

I read with interest a post from a fellow blogger today,
http://frugalinsuffolk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/missing-outor-not.html
Are we missing out on things by being frugal or not?

Judging by some of the comments, mine included, it's a resounding NOT.

One of the things we don't do anymore is eating out. We used to eat out a lot. Sunday lunch, evening meals, meals with friends but I cannot and will not pay, what I think are over inflated prices for normal food that I can cook at home, (usually better) along with shoddy service. Some places are charging extortionate price for a bit of steak and chips/potatoes and I just don't enjoy it.
I really enjoy cooking, the creative part of me loves to buy the ingredients and make something of them. Much like gardening or painting and crafts. I usually leave restaurants thinking how much food for the week I could have bought with the price of a meal for two, so we just don't do it anymore.
I'm sorry for local buisnesses and all that but I'm afraid that's how it is.

Back to my cooking today. I had a large pack of minced beef in the fridge and no more room in the freezer. Now I know mince can be a bit tasteless so I always try to cook in in the slow cooker/crock pot to give a nice, long, slow cook. To avoid it swimming in its own fat, I brown it first in a frying pan and drain it. The residual fat is used to cook the onions, garlic, celery and carrots that I chop. As I made a load of bologna use sauce for my lasagnes at the weekend I thought of cottage pies or beef and onion pies with a pastry case. I might do both. I have left it in there since this morning with a good dash of Worcestershire sauce, pepper, a cup of instant gravy and a stock pot. It tastes nice and rich.
Now I'm not a great pie maker so does anyone know if I have to bake the pie case blind first? Please let me know, before 1400 would be really helpful.

I'm really getting into this bulk cooking lark. Big man has been going off to work with curries, rice and naan bread and lasagnes and salads much to the envy of his colleagues who have to buy a soggy sandwich.

Thanks for all your comments yesterday. Sadly my finger slipped and I deleted one by mistake from Flowerpot, so if you read this FP, I'm saying hi and thanks.

Anyway, back to domestic bliss in the kitchen.

Fib. X

A cooking weekend

Dear reader,

Hope you are well. A few new followers which is lovely, a big hello to you. X

Have had a housey weekend as we were both off. The sun shone and several loads of washing were dried outside. I love the smell of line dried washing. We did all the clothes and our bedding which always makes us sleep really well. I am a bit obsessed witha certain comfortable fabric softener! The strawberry one. I just love it.

I decided to do some batch cooking as we had both been so busy at work there was nothing prepared for packe lunches during the latter part of the week and it annoys me to spend out on food when we had it at home.

This is what we bought: chicken breasts x4, minced beef x4, chicken thighs and drumsticks mixed, beef meatballs(12 in the pack) 2packs of pork steaks 5in each, special offer at Lidl £8 for the two.
They don't sell liver or I would have made some of Frugal Queens excellent faggots.

This is what I made, so far: one huge pan of chicken tikka massala, one chicken and potato balti curry, a huge pan of spicy rice, 3 lasagnes (one given away), large pan of sweet and sour pork and a pork casserole which we had today with roasties, mash, carrots and cabbage.

I got a huge cabbage from the local farm for £1 and decided I would try to use it all instead of throwing half away when it goes off. So I chooped it all up, washed it and blanched in boiling water. Then I cooled in cold water, let dry and bagged into 2 portion sizes in sandwich bags for the freezer.

The lasagnes are all portioned and frozen and the curries are portioned with the rice for dinners at work and also frozen.

I see Frugal Queen has been doing the same and she has made some fabulous looking quiches! I will make a couple of these this week too I think.
We have a freezer full now and ready to grab and go meals for taking to work.
I feel happy to be organised and prepared.

Much love. X