The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

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  • Good Afternoon :hello:

    I'll respond better, later, but I'm just nipping on quickly, whilst whisper it I have a sleeping baby :j

    I have uploaded last night's tea pic to PB - it didn't take all day :j I'm not convinced I'll stay with them in the LT, and will investigate other providers, but for now...... Tea didn't go to plan, as I wasn't fully concentrating when I made the white sauce - it didn't thicken enough and I made too much, so any pie filling was out of contention, as I would have had a soggy bottom :eek: and a sticky bottom :eek::eek::eek:.... of my oven, as it would have oozed everywhere! So, necessity is the mother of invention and so we had 'stroganoff-style' mushroom and leek with rice and brocolli. Picture here;

    065_zpsexkw24bn.jpg

    i'll make 'sausage' rolls with the pastry. I did break open the new basmati rice, as I couldn't face sticky rice with a 'cream' sauce, but I will use the last of the basiks rice - there is about 100g left. I'll just not buy it again. The 'cream' sauce wasn't actually anything more than a white sauce with a bit of 'S0merset Supreme' cheese grated in. The cheese was from m&$, YS'd from £3 to £1.20 for 300g. I'd not had it before, and thought it worth a punt. However, it isn't a cheese for me - but it'll be ok cooked. Cheese lovers, will appreciate if I say that although it was a cheddar (v mature) it had the 'finish' of something like blacksticks bloo, g0rgonzola..... that sort of cheese. I'm not a fan of the blue veined cheeses - Yes, I realise that I am odd - but if you like those sort of cheeses, you'll like SS. I will use it up though, and I've grated it, so that it can be frozen if we don't use it up quickly enough in food this week.

    Baby Greying had two brief snoozes yesterday, (they are having a proper sleep today!) and I managed to get some paperwork sorted and made a start on making the falafels, so all in all success. Thank you for your kind, supportive words apple muncher - they made me reflect about yesterday, and to recognise that I did actually achieve somethings - I made a phone call too, whilst BG was playing quietly, so it's important to note (if only to myself) that I can do things, when the opportunity arises.

    See y'all later. Thanks for your support and for popping in, know that you are appreciated. GREATLY.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (April) -  £0/£15  (Camping TTD - £60/90)

    Grocery spend March £247.85/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24
    Grocery spend April £7.39/215
    Non-food household spend April £12.94
    Bulk Fund April 0/£10
  • rtandon27
    rtandon27 Posts: 4,515
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    Popped on to report back on collards & found talk of the cheese variety! :D

    Oh happy days!!! (OH says I'm easily pleased - is that the same as low maintenance??? ;) )

    Will keep the SS in mind next time we are near a cheesemonger - few and far between but it does happen on the rare occasion...

    In fact this past weekend we were in parts up northish and stopped in a town famous for pies and stilton! Besides pies, we perused a lovely cheeseshop with 150 kinds & gave in to four small wedges of the unusual type... stilton with mango and ginger, aged cheddar with chives, aged leicester but not of the processed variety and a lovely cheddar with walnuts! OH proudly announced last night that he'd not touched it while I was away at work! :rotfl:
    4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)
    (With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)
    ...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)
    17 YEARS 5 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS
  • Good Morning :hello:

    I thought the days of p00-nami were over...... apparently not _pale_ The nappy couldn't contain it, and when the sleep suit was opened up, it was apparent that that couldn't contain it either, which was actually very funny :rotfl: So, straight in the bath............ :D

    Baby Greying is now, er, sleeping like a baby....... :D

    Tea last night was late and it was (thankfully) just soup and a toasted cheese sandwich. No pic, as the bowl is green and so was the soup. I used the last 2 mrAl S6 leeks and the last, but 1 (small one) wilja potato, so at least it was thrifty.

    Tea this evening will (hopefully) be a recipe that I have seen in a cookbook I have out from the library. I'm pretty sure it was EH that mentioned potato gnocchi a while back, and I was going to get some from mrAl. Anyway, I was in mrA last week and I saw that they had theirs (ambient product) on offer at 2 for £1, which beat the mrAl price (not sure about quality - as I've tried neither), so I picked some up. I also bought some YS'd asparagus yesterday, from m&$ for 70p instead of....... £2(?), and yes, before you shout at me, it is produce of Mexico - and why did I buy it? Well, I'm trying out a recipe, and I don't want to waste SUPERB British asparagus on something that may not be cooked again, so I'll try it with the imported stuff, if it's a goer, then you can bet it will be on the planner when our own asparagus season (not long to wait now :j) is in full swing :D

    I also picked up some YS'd washed tatties yesterday, £1.10 for 5kg in total. I've not heard of the variety before - lanorma, I think they are (?). I've not high hopes taste wise, but they are on a par with the bagged dirty wiljas, pricewise. Funnily enough, we passed the farm supply store that sold the wiljas on Sunday, and DH asked should we get some. I declined, because the tatties we had were already starting to sprout, so these - even if stored in a cold store - would sprout mightily in our shed at home, so it wouldn't be £5 well spent.

    I also forgot to mention, that I spoke to a member of staff in m&$ about a product that they are charging more for at the till than the SEL displays. They sorted it out for me that I only got charged the SEL price, and that I received a refund for being previously overcharged when I bought the product a couple of weeks ago. Credit where credit is due - I moan about m&$, but in this instance, they did the right thing. I'm not interested in *com.pen.say.shun*, I'm just interested in not being out of pocket, and m&$ made this so.

    moneywhizz - thanks for the tip about peanut butter - a good price for that brand, but I think we'll just finish up this jar and lay off peanut butter for a while - not that we have it often - as this product is not a good advert for PB. I hope the tip helps someone else though :D

    mcculloch - I saw that pastry. I've still got 2 ready rolled and 2 (?) blocks in my freezer though, so I'll not get some this time. Thanks for sharing the tip though.


    Right, my coffee is finished, I best get started on some chores.

    Ta for popping in, and supporting me. Appreciated. Greatly. Thank you.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (April) -  £0/£15  (Camping TTD - £60/90)

    Grocery spend March £247.85/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24
    Grocery spend April £7.39/215
    Non-food household spend April £12.94
    Bulk Fund April 0/£10
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 21,196
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    That's definitely a good price for the gnocchi Greying - I'll not be buying any for a while now I don't think as *fingers crossed* kitchen destruction is imminent...I also have an allergy to A5da so avoid it like the plague wherever possible! :o (In fairness that MIGHT just be our local one - I'm sure there are some lovely stores scattered around the country, entirely free of pyjama clad, open-mouthed-gum-chewing, f;'ing and blinding individuals... :rotfl:

    I have a wonderful picture in my mind of you holding BG over the bath and "hosing" them down... :p Poo-nami indeed!
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  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,371
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    edited 15 March 2017 at 9:32PM
    Good Evening :hello:

    Ha ha EH - i feel your pain, but thankfully our mrA, isn't too bad....... But I only go there occasionally now. It is the only stockist in Greying Town - well, in walking distance anyway, that stocks an item for BG and so I have to go there. And whilst I am in the store, I tend to have a mooch, to see if there are any bargains, or nice things. I do like ditali pasta, and they stock that for £1 per 500g, and I'm pretty sure that they are selling green speckled lentils for 75p a 500g bag, which is 4p cheaper than HB (do check me), which otherwise would be the cheapest source that I know of for them - I bought a bag, anyway. So whilst it will never be my supermercado of choice, it does have some items at reasonable prices. Although they had YS'd a load of bananas down to 20p, and I have no clue who would have bought them for zero pence, let alone 20p, as they were black, squashed and mushy in the bag -I have no idea what you'd use them for......

    I hope that the sunshine and fine weather extended over your bit of the universe today, like it did ours :D

    BG got sluiced down with a bucket (ex-greek yoghurt pot :D) first and foremost, and then bathed nicely, with hair washing, plastic duck and splish-splash time :D They have been fine and dandy for the rest of the day, so I am hopeful that that was a 'one-off' :D

    Tea was based on a recipe that I saw in Harry Eastwood's 'a salad for all seasons' cookbook. The recipe was for Asparagus, Gnocchetti and Prosciutto with a lemon creme fraiche dressing. As ever, I adapted to what I had - and used regular sized gnocchi. I didn't make the dressing as per - I just made up a lemon, dijon and garlic dressing with EVOO in it. I chopped the parsley finely and then tossed the whole lot together. I topped it with shavings of some parmesan style cheese, that I got from h3ron, for 89p at the end of January. I only bought 1 pack, as I was all out of cash. It's nice stuff, wish I'd been able to buy more now. Picture here (PB slow again tonight - just about tolerable);

    085_zpshtjkgy9p.jpg

    The asparagus did actually taste of asparagus (I grilled it in the frying pan), but it was definitely missing *something* of the asparagus that we enjoy in season, which is grown locally. But it was acceptable for 70p - I wouldn't have paid more. A nice dish though, a keeper of a recipe and one I hope to replicate in a month or two's time :D The gnocchi that I got from mrA was Il Pastaio brand and I liked it, and would definitely buy it again.

    I snagged 2 YS'd aubergines in m&$ :j 35p each :j I suspect they will be guests of honour in curry at the weekend :D

    Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

    DH, plentiful warm water and a bucket! :D:rotfl: - how rich my life :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:;)

    Ta for popping in, reading and joining in the conversation. Appreciated.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (April) -  £0/£15  (Camping TTD - £60/90)

    Grocery spend March £247.85/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24
    Grocery spend April £7.39/215
    Non-food household spend April £12.94
    Bulk Fund April 0/£10
  • Good Morning :hello:

    Gosh, Thursday again, how did that happen?

    I've got to do something today that I really don't want to do, but I've got to take the bull by the horns. A positive outcome will either depend on a high level of goodwill from a retailer, or me dropping a shed-load more money :(

    An electrical circuit has also gone kaput. We can (safely) work around it temporarily, but have asked the electrician whether we can get a new fuse (singular), or whether we'll be looking at the installation of a new consumer unit. I'm not going to cut corners with electrical safety, but my goodness, if it's not car repairs, its house maintenance, you never get the time nor spare cash to do the 'doing up' bit.......never mind the spare time, nor pair of hands to look after baby.......

    Tea this evening will be...... dunno. We didn't have our 'with rice' last night, as the asparagus needed using (it probably would have lasted until today, but it was still nice and 'fresh' yesterday. I'll cobble summat together I expect. PB sarnie, mebbe? :rotfl:

    Right, boingy BG is bored, and letting me know, so I had better vamoose.

    Ta for popping in.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (April) -  £0/£15  (Camping TTD - £60/90)

    Grocery spend March £247.85/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24
    Grocery spend April £7.39/215
    Non-food household spend April £12.94
    Bulk Fund April 0/£10
  • beanielou
    beanielou Posts: 89,816
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    Hope all goes well.
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  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 21,196
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    Aargh yes I'm currently waiting for a price for electrical work myself - and suspect I'll need to be seated when it arrives! Good luck with that one! :o
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
    Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
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  • joeyjimbles
    joeyjimbles Posts: 2,215
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    Have you tried the gnocchi pan fried or roasted? Know it was Nigella who introduced the idea to me but an italian friend says it is quite well known and does it to use them up when they are no longer super-fresh. I like them served with baked mushrooms.
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  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,608
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    Pah to electrical and other things going kaput :eek: Most inconvenient. And not really something you can tackle yourself (I'm fortunate that Mr cheery does have some experience in such matters and is willing to do small things but it's not something I'd ever go near else I'd probably look like this :eek: )

    Laughing at the thought of pb sandwiches in your house :rotfl: I bet you'll pull out some fantabulous meal that will have the rest of us drooling with envy :D

    I, on the other hand, will probably just recreate the porridge I had for breakfast :o :rotfl: currently at the tail end of tonsilitis and throat feels like it's full of razor blades so eating anyhing other than lolly ices isn't really that appealing... :o
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