50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

Softstuff

walmerstores wrote: »

Thanks Mrs M just been to Mr T got 12 mangos at 15p each so going to make mango chutney or some other delight this evening how ripe should mangos be they are still a bit on the hard side?

If you're making chutney with them it's good to have them a bit hard. Other than that, give them a bit of time to ripen, they should feel like a ripe pear when they're ready (and smell more mangoey). Once ripe you can chop them into cubes and freeze them too, great for smoothies.

MRSMCAWBER

Evening all

Well first things first -FOOD
InSearchOfMe... here is a link to a recipe I found and OMG they are stunning -especially if kept in the fridge ..they have an almost truffle/gnache texture to them and "low fat" too -a serious choccy hit and they freeze too -and are very nice semi frozen..guess how I know that :rotfl:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=12894525#post12894525

That link for the fergus is soooo cute :T

Bashful...Im affraid my fave thing to do with belly pork is very basic... I put the slices in the bottom of a dish..make my own stuffing with leftover bread etc -you have to make it sloppy mind..pour ir over and bake.. all the meat juices go into the stuffing (eeehhh im almost drooling on the keyboard )... then towards the end I pull hubbies up to the top and let it crisp up..mine stays underneath so it stays wibblt wobbly.. im a dirty moo -I blame my dad, I eat all my meat like he did ..it has to be HM stuffing for me though -can't remember the last time i had stuffing mix

Bunny -they are soooo sweet... I have my eye on some of those banners... hope you enjoy doing them

Well tomorrow is blackberrying day -hope we get a good haul... just wedged another 3 bags of roasted tomatoes with chilli in the freezer :j ..

right back to my knitting I go

sorry -loocyloo
If the apples have no bumps n bruises you can wrap each one in a sheet of newspaper and place in a cardboard box somewhere cool and dry -you just need to check every so often and remove and with blemishes

jtb2412

Mrs M ... I've seen your recipe on the first page for passata and am going to do some tomorrow (went out earlier and picked about 5lb of tomatoes - couldn't get out before today because of the rain !)

Just seen in your post above that you put chilli with your roasted toms - can I be cheeky and ask is that for passata or something else? (Have loads of chillis ready to use here too so wouldn't mind 'borrowing' your ideas if that's ok?)

TIA xx

MRSMCAWBER

Hi jtb2412

I roast the veggies off in a medium oven (usually when its on for something else ) ... today just happened to be just tomatoes n chillies with a drop of oil rock salt and cracked black pepper.. then when cool bag up n freeze -then I can use them as they are in pasta dishes (or on toast nomnomnom) or if i want i blitz them up like passata... I now have 31 bags of variations on that -so at least one pasta dish a week until April..and loads more still to come off :T I pay 35c for a box of basic passata so thats over €10 saved so far :rotfl: plus lots of extra veggies in there too :A :rotfl:

jtb2412

That's great Mrs M ..... thank you !

Now i've just got to find space in the freezer ! :rolleyes:

I have been making an Apple and Sultana loaf quite a bit lately (they freeze really well) - recipe was from a really old cookbook so if anyone would like it, i'll pop it on here tomorrow (I have varied it slightly so no copyright to worry about ).

Tis really nice and comes out like malt loaf but very appley !

Ohhh ! I got very excited earlier .... my cucumber plant has one cucumber on it ! About 4 inches long - not sure when that popped up, must have been all the rain ! Previously it hadn't been doing too well at all and I was going to pull it up next weekend ! :eek:

Back to work for me tomorrow (work term-time only) so my cookfests have gone out of the window for now .

cw18

jtb2412 wrote: »

I have been making an Apple and Sultana loaf quite a bit lately (they freeze really well) - recipe was from a really old cookbook so if anyone would like it, i'll pop it on here tomorrow (I have varied it slightly so no copyright to worry about )

Yes please

jtb2412

Will do cw18 .... would do it now but i'm just about to switch off and go to bed ...... otherwise i'll never get up ! 6 weeks of lay-ins ...... tomorrow's going to come hard :rolleyes: !

Nite everyone xx

Jammie_Dodger_2

Hello kiwiblue,
You sound to have an enviable location in which to live especially from rainy old britain.
thanks for answering my cordial question. I was just wondering about all the blackberries (masses and masses in the wood near me) and elderberries for cordials and wether they would make nice ones. Can't bear seeing all this foraging fruit going to waste when I could be making free cordials. Am buying elderflower cordial atm as wanted to see if I liked it before I went ahead to buy all equipment ( if any) to make some. I do rather like it so next year I know where all the flowers are and now full of fruit. So really it's will blackberries and elderberries make nice cordials? Also as the fizzy stuff is full of sugar, one of reasons I have to stop drinking it, are cordials full of sugar too and so not much better for me ?
Thanks, cheers Jenny

[Deleted User]

Hi Jammie Dodger
Yes it is beautiful, but I do need to be very well organised as the nearest shop is over 20kms away!

Both berries make great cordials. I think the sugar is needed as a preservative. Have you heard of the herb stevia? It is used as a natural sugar substitute, I use it when making drinks that are consumed immediately.

Blackberry Cordial
1200 g blackberries
600ml white vinegar
250 g sugar
500g sugar

Mix the blackberries with the vinegar in a non metal container and allow to stand for a week, stirring daily. Strain through a jelly bag overnight. Mix the liquid with the sugar and honey and bring to the boil. Allow to cool and pour into sterilized bottles.
This can be diluted with water for a refreshing drink and is great for colds and sore throats.

ceridwen

Errrr......just one leetle problem there. I have the idea stevia is impossible to buy in Britain (other than - presumably - over t'Internet from another country). Cant recall the reason why - summat ostensibly to do with health concerns about it - did have a looksee at one point on t'Internet...and couldnt fathom out what there was supposed to be to BE concerned about....so could be some firms' vested interests at stake really - rather than our health.