Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

weezl74 · 7 February 2010 at 12:40PM

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

...and the belly pork.
Penny. x

advice/testing welcomed there please Penny, if the belly pork were served with 250g raw weight of potatoes roasted, 3 stuffing balls, carrots, peas and fine green beans (80g of each veg) and gravy, how little raw weight meat of pork belly do you feel we [STRIKE]can get away with[/STRIKE] frugally allow our mythical impoverished family of 4? And would it help if I added roast onions?

xxx

nicki_2 · 7 February 2010 at 12:41PM

As I said I will have a go at all the recipes if I have the ingredients (or a near equivalent in), DD will have to like it or lump it

:rotfl: I won't be doing the borscht though. I was looking at a carrot cake recipe yesterday and wasn't impressed due to the icing. Looking forward to trying this one when I have a spare 5 minutes

Just wondering about making it in the shallow remoska pan with some greaseproof/foil over the top of it for a bit to stop it burning? :think:

Right, off to the DIY shop. I will stop this leaking pipe! :mad:

wyrdsister · 7 February 2010 at 12:50PM

Going to Asda later on to get the weeks shopping but have now adapted my list so I can try the onion tart tonight and possibly the carrot cake too

I may hang around and wait for the chick pea curry recipe since it's on my menu plan for this week

sistercas · 7 February 2010 at 12:57PM

ok the carrot cake is in the oven , I have used 200g of sugar instead of 350g and added a few more sultanas. I may add a tiny drizzle of icing when cooled as my lot love that ( I have saved a little of the orange juice to add to the icing sugar)

will let you know

aless02 · 7 February 2010 at 1:09PM

weezl74 wrote: »

soup will be great! Won't be able to fit it into the meat eaters budget, but it will definitely be able to feature in the veggie version....

I figured, since it uses ingredients that tend to feature heavily on Weezl's shopping lists

Spinach & lentil soup

Serves 4ish, though if using for lunch you could possibly stretch to an extra portion or 2

250g dry weight of green lentils, cooked according to packet instructions (47.5p)
roughly 10-12 balls of frozen chopped spinach, which is approx 260-300g frozen weight (26-30p)
400ml vegetable stock (made using stock cube) (1.9p)
1-2 onions, chopped (2 if small, 1 if large) (2p)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil for frying (less than 1p)
1 tsp cumin (more to taste) (5p ish)
several roughly chopped coriander stalks (or around 1 tablespoon dried coriander, to taste) (10p?)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (more to taste) (1p)
salt & pepper to taste (less than 1p)

1. Prepare lentils ahead of time, according to your packet instructions.
2. In a large pot, saute the onion until translucent, roughly 5 minutes.
3. Add lentils, cumin, stock, spinach and about half of the coriander.
4. Bring to low boil and cook until spinach is completely melted & integrated. Add remaining coriander.
5. Blitz the contents of your pot with either a hand blender (easiest) or in batches in a regular blender. If it's really thick, you can add a bit of water to thin. but it is supposed to be rather hardy. Then add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.*

* (personally, I tend to throw in a lot more cumin, lemon juice & coriander than what the recipe calls for, because we like bold flavours. This recipe is extremely flexible for each family's preferences. I also throw some chili flakes in for an extra zing!)

Served with 2 slices of HM bread, this will feed 4 for dinner (portions are smaller than you think you need as soup is VERY filling)

98.4p total /4 = 24.6p per person! (plus cost of bread). Tesco costings, b/c ASDA don't have smart price veg stock cubes anymore.

Frugalisation can be using dried coriander instead of fresh, dried onion packet if it's cheaper (no idea), thinning out the soup slightly with water, or serving smaller portions with more bread.

jo1972 · 7 February 2010 at 1:19PM

Oh, thank the lord I've managed to find one of your threads at the beginning and don't have to read a 1000 pages :rotfl:

I would desperately love to be a tester. I (We) are having a financial nightmare this month and are worrying very much how we are going to feed the 5 of us (3 adults, 2 kids). I am gradually learning how to be more frugal but must admit it's not taken over yet

I have, however, learnt how to rubberise a 3 quid chicken and use it for 3 meals :j so I am getting there (kicking and screaming, but I'm getting there

)

thick onion tart (like an oniony quiche, delia originally)
chick pea curry
veg risotto
pork and apple burgers
spicy tomato meatballs and pasta
pasta, pesto and green beans
roast turkey leg and trimmings (very straightforward, just need an idea of whether the portions are adequate!)
roast belly pork and trimmings (as above)
HM pizza with gammon and green beans (on top!)
carrot and chick pea veggie burgers

I am more than happy to try any of the above, I'm not into baking or sweet stuff (at the moment), plus funds don't allow this month

. Be happy to try the Borst (sp?) when I've more money but I need to make proper meals iykwim? Really not sure about the sweetcorn fritters (I work in a school and see sweetcorn on a daily basis _pale_), I'll see what everyone else thinks when they've made them :rotfl:

I will get the ingredients for the onion tart thing today and make that tomorrow and let you know what went wrong tomorrow evening :rotfl:

x

weezl74 · 7 February 2010 at 1:20PM

wyrdsister wrote: »

Going to Asda later on to get the weeks shopping but have now adapted my list so I can try the onion tart tonight and possibly the carrot cake too I may hang around and wait for the chick pea curry recipe since it's on my menu plan for this week

Are you using dried or canned chick peas wyrdsister?

You'll need canned toms, chick peas 2 cans or a bag of dried around 500g onions so that after peeling you'll have 320g raw weight chopped onion, a bag of frozen peas, tube of garlic puree garam masala, mustard (smartprice 40p) (guessing you have salt and pepper in the house?

xxx

jo1972 · 7 February 2010 at 1:21PM

weezl74 wrote: »

Delia thick onion tart (nearly entitled post 'Delia-thick tart' but then thankfully re-read it and saved Martin a Libel case:rotfl:)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

taka · 7 February 2010 at 1:23PM

Erm is it ok to use a round cake tin (8 inches I think?) instead of a tart tin as I don't have one? (in fact I had to google it to find out what a tart tin is

) Can you tell I'm a novice at this?

:rotfl:

aless02 · 7 February 2010 at 1:30PM

taka wrote: »

Erm is it ok to use a round cake tin (8 inches I think?) instead of a tart tin as I don't have one? (in fact I had to google it to find out what a tart tin is ) Can you tell I'm a novice at this? :rotfl:

I don;t have tart tin, so I was going to use a pie dish! but I imagine cake tin works too

Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

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