The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Good Morning :hello:

rtandon - you lucky thing. local asparagus YUM! We've actually not had any this year Well, not yet anyway. Haven't even had any of the gardening parental's which is a shame, as they don't eat overly much of it, but are good at growing it. And we've not seen the relly who lives on the doorstop of a farm that grows asparagus

apple muncher - yes. I've bought those frozen avocado from mrT before. I think they are aimed at the smoothie market, but i've had success with them cooked, and although they are not are attractive, they are ok for some dishes de-frosted, although apt to be a bit watery and take on a slightly grey hue. But for things like cake and drinks and incorporating into dishes, they are pretty good

Well, i didn't make it back on here last night, DH fell asleep putting BG to bed (luckily BG fell asleep first ), so I ate my tea and then DH ate his - and by the time that was all done, it was nearly 9pm and I was exhausted again.

But we had sausages with jambalaya, brocolli and yoghurt dressing. The sausages were a new (to me) recipe from the 'world of' Happy Pear cookbook (found out yesterday it is their second, and our library doesn't have the first one ). The recipe called for coconut concentrate - which is the block - and is something that I have not used before, but I had happened to pick up a block somewhere for what I thought was 'quite cheap' - I'm not actually sure if it wasn't mrS having a bit of a sell off of their ethnic foods selection. And I also had flaxseeds (linseeds) in the freezer, so with a 29p tin of butter beans from HB, I was ready, set, go I made the mixture as per the recipe, and I managed to get 12 1/4 sausages from the mix. On cooking the 1/4 and tasting it, I thought, 'oh dear - this just tastes of coconut', but when I cooked the others, and had them in the dish for tea, yes, you could taste coconut, but it was no longer the dominant taste and I have to say, the recipe is really quite spiffing. It's certainly a keeper for me, and one that I look forward to trying in infinite falvour combinations, I think it will be entirely adaptable. The one thing that I hadn't allowed for, was how filling the sausages would be, I should have just portioned myself 2, as i was absolutely stuffed! If you would like a bash at making these sausages the video/recipe is HERE - I would strongly advise you to turn your flame down MUCH lower on the cooker though - I'm amazed the boys didn't set themselves alight! Picture of my effort here;



The middle sausage is a different colour because I didn't dust it with cornmeal. I found the mix stable enough, and when I make them in future, I won't bother with the cornmeal dusting - the undusted one actually tasted nicer.

Tea this evening should be soup, but we've started off the day with nice weather, so I'll have to see if we feel in a soup mood come this evening, or whether something lighter would be nicer.

I'm going to attempt some tidying today. We'll go out for a walk, even if we need nowt from up the high street, we've to post a letter, so need to go via the post box, if nowt else.

Um, can't think of anything else MS related, so better push off.

Have a great day.

Greying X

Good Morning :hello:

Well, it was my turn to fall asleep whilst minding BG last night - doh! I know that they had fallen asleep, and i remember thinking, 'right, I can go now....' And then I woke at 10.35pm when DH came to bed......:o

Ho hum.

I don't think all the fresh air and sunshine exhuasted the right individual yesterday, somehow..... :rotfl::cool:

Still, at least DH had actually put the salad bits away in the fridge and put the remaining meditteranean crustless quiche in the freezer :j He'd even portioned it and labelled the box (shan't tell you what he called it :rotfl:as he said he 'didn''t know what it was' :rotfl:)

So, for tea last night, the weather was way too nice for soup, so i went with a sort of salady type dish. I made crustless quiche, into which I shoved chopped olives, chopped peppers (heron mixed frozen 2 bags for £1), red onion, garlic, chopped spinach (mrW YS'd but only to 69p, won't bother with it again), 3 eggs, a dollop of yoghurt, some plain flour and a slug of milk. On top of the quiche, I sprinkled chopped almonds, chopped sunflower and pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and sesame seeds. I served this with wild rocket (mrL PoTW 39p), smoked paprika potato salad, chopped mixed cherry tomatoes in vinagrette, sliced cucumber and pugilese beetroot salad. Picture here;



I shall be honest and say that the potato salad was inspired by a product that I saw on a shelf in m&$. They are making a big deal out of launching (?) their 'taste of summer' foodstuffs at Chelsea Flower Show - my first question being, how did that come around so quick? - and obviously the range is on full display. Anyway, I don't know how much they are charging for their version, nor what is in it, but a seed of an idea was sown, and my version was; mrL tinned potatoes, chopped roasted red pepper, red onion (pickled to bring out the sweetness) roasted garlic (roasted a couple of heads of garlic on Sunday, whilst the oven was on for the fush & chups - oh goodness, the scent, the taste......), smoked paprika and dried basil. I'd make it again, nice change.

Unfortunately, the picture doesn't show what an absolute rainbow of colour that plate was. Nice to look at and eat. Got it right for once.

Tea tonight will be a buddha bowl, featuring tofu, as I have a block up for grabs in the fridge. I'm not sure what will accompny, but the store cupboard and fridge are going to feature heavily!

We'll definitely get out and about for a walk, earlier rather than later, if the sun is as warm as yesterday. I've some recipes to extract from library books, and there is always sorting/tidying should I find time on my hands.......

Think that is about it on MS front, so best shift-a-tail-feather.

Ta for popping in and reading. Appreciated.

Greying X

Good Morning :hello:

Well, best laid plans and all that. We ended up having baked potato (mrT organic YS'd), baked beans (mrL) and a cheese omlette for tea last night. I ran out of time in the afternoon to do the prep for the buddha bowl. But the up side of that is that I did alot of prep for a job that I have been meaning to do for the last 3 months, so, swings and roundabouts......

Baby Greying went to sleep straight away last night, so I did get to enjoy eating tea together with my husband, which is a first this week I think - so silver linings.......

We went for a walk up the high street and got a few bits and pieces. Saw our family friend and had a nice chat with them. And got home before the sun became too hot - so all good

The weather has changed here, so I'm hopeful that we can at least get out and about for a little while. I may be able to continue with my project if BG is minded to let me, but since it involves the computer, I'm not hopeful I'm be able to do it for long.

I could do with getting some oven chips, but they would be for Sunday's tea, so not entirely a rush to get them today. Depends if heron have them in stock.

I just took a break in writing this to look after BG whilst DH got ready for work, and managed to copy all the recipes out of one of the library books that I have, that I thought I may use; so that can go back today. Which is good, as it'll be back in time and I won't incur a fine. I shan't say which book it is, but it's one of the new generation of 'healthy lifestyle' bloggers. Probably more a triumph of style over substance, and a few too many niche (aka expensive) ingredients for my table. But still, I was able to borrow it for 'free' from my library, wasn't I? I didn't have to buy the book (and wouldn't have, had that been the only option). Huzzah for public libraries!

Right, I'm not sure I've owt else, MS to add, so I best vamoose. I've a baby to tickle

Ta for popping in and reading. Appreciated.

EDIT: I forgot to say, pizza and wedges for tea. The pizza will be mozarella, and I have every intention of putting roasted garlic in the dough :jThe wedges will be the remainder of the mrT organick spuds.

Greying X

Good Morning :hello:

Well, BG did nap yesterday morning, so I was able to more or less complete the chore that has been on my 'to do' list for the last 3 months! And I completed it in the afternoon - despite BG deciding that they weren't in need of a nap, as naps are for babies.........yup, we did have a meltdown and falling asleep in the middle of being fed did occur later....... ho hum

Tea was mozarella pizza and wedges, The wedges look burnt, but I can assure you they weren't - even DH agreed that they weren't. Picture here;



We're off out to a different market town along, today, to see what is what. It'll probably involve spending, rather than saving money. We'll need to pay for parking for a start, but if it's open, we'll check out their library and have a mooch around their charity shops, so it'll all be in a MSE vein!

Tea this evening will be curry. I best get on and make it actually, don't want to have to start cooking on return from a day out, and as we may go out tomorrow (not sure yet), I want to keep the 'convenience food' for then.

Oh, I am officially now on an avocado diet (:D LOL), I thought I would take a punt on the avocadoes in the market at '4 for a pand', and then dropped into m&$ where they were YSing again (3 members of staff on it, at Friday lunchtime!) and I dropped on 3 'baby' avocados for 65p. I know that they retail for £1.80 in m&$ normally, so I didn't hesitate, and snagged them. Therefore, I am now a woman in posession of 7 avocadoes in various states of ripeness

Don't think I've owt else MS to report, so best get currying!

Ta for reading. Appreciated.

Greying X