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

mama67

weezl74 wrote: »

Hello janejustjane, thanks for honouring us with your first post! Erm, when you say it's disgusting, do we mean, 'grosses you out to look at/touch', or is the smell bad, or.... spill the beans, I'm a little bit scared!:eek:



munchki, there's a photo of an elderflower for you, but alas, you may have missed the season now sorry hon!

redfraggle, hello and welcome! Yep! I freeze the lentil pate all the time.

zoe girl, fab idea with the potato peelings! Hoping I can do it with my beetroots when I harvest them.... Hmmmmn they're probably not in season where you are though!:D

esselt, hiya, very intrigued by your 'Sausage and lentil meat loaf (just made that up- still thinking about a recipe!)' please post how it goes, it sounds fab! We'd love the recipe...:j

awwww newlywed, naughty OH! Chicken and leak cobbler sounds very lovely, may we pretty please have the recipe? Huh, huh, huh?

Love Weezl x

Mine have all gone brownish now so no good for cordial anymore; did manage to make 2 batches though, so have 10 litres in the freezer stored in old squash bottles.

Will now be watching for the fruit so i can make jam with those and the brambles which we know of. I might even try some cordial from the fruit as well.

Nothing better than nearly free food.

My 11 litres of Elderflower cordial cost me:

4 lemons 69p
200g citric acid 1.99
2 kg sugar 1.82

So total cost £4.50 which even allowing some for electricity for boiling the water say 50p that then equals approx 45p/ltr for cordial, which costs £2.99/ltr in Mr S & Mr T.

newlywed

weezl74 wrote: »

wwww newlywed, naughty OH! Chicken and leak cobbler sounds very lovely, may we pretty please have the recipe? Huh, huh, huh?

Of course.... will post it tonight (I think I know it by heart but want to check before I post). It's really mum's chicken and leek pie recipe (and seriously easy so that even I haven't been able to make a mess of it yet) but we went on a diet so the whole puff pastry idea went outta the window but I didn't want to give up the rest of it so used WW cobbler recipe Will post the pie instructions too in case anyone has spare puff pastry or lots of hours to make some

janejustjane

Brawn

I think my recipe for this came from the Seymour book, but there are loads of different recipes around. Basically you boil up the head for an hour or so, then scrape the meat off the skull, chop it and mix it wih the cooking liquid which forms a nice solid jelly.

The pig comes back from the slaughter house nice and clean (I think they dip them in boiling water). You add your choice of herbs and spices (thyme, allspice etc) to the cooking water, and it smells fine whilst its cooking. The thing which used to get to me was the scraping and chopping, you've got the brain and tongue to deal with and the bristles in the nose and ears. Sorry if this is too much information, I'm assured it used to taste very good, but I could never bring myself to eat it. However, its probably well worth cooking if you can get a head for nothing, very nourishing and no additives.

Talking of pig recipes, I saw a roast pig head being eaten on the Supersizers (historic food programme - the exact title escapes me) and it looked very appetizing. Also I have always fancied whole roast suckling pig.

There is a saying that you can use every part of the pig except the squeal!

cw18

johanne -- don't envy you the 11 week old baby get-ups..... I love them at that age when I can hand them back, but have to admit I'm pretty relieved my youngest "baby" is 17 this week :rolleyes2

I agree about the stuff from the green-grocers not lasting as long.... I gave up buying more than I wanted to use the same day (and possibly next day) if I were shopping there -- and sometimes it didn't seem to last that long !

I don't throw much fruit/veg away at the moment -- but that's probably due to the fact I rarely buy salad stuffs (only me that happily eats anything but tomatoes on a regular basis), and almost all our veg (apart from potatoes, mushrooms and onions) is frozen these days (a switch I did 12-18 months ago to reduce waste). Plus if it's looking like it won't last until I next want, anything but raw potatoes and excessive amounts of onions gets fed to the dalmatian as his treats !! People used to knock me for that one, but when compared to what they spend on doggy treats it actually works out cheaper most of the time anyway :undecided


But I shall keep my eyes peeled for the bags when I'm near the QVC Outlet shop, as I know I've seen them in there in the past

cw18

carriebradshaw wrote: »

weezl I've got a cheese & lentil loaf recipe if you want it, it's scrummy and freezes well

Oooooo..... yes please

newlywed

janejustjane wrote: »

The thing which used to get to me was the scraping and chopping, you've got the brain and tongue to deal with and the bristles in the nose and ears.

Thanks - could do with a good reason to eat more veggie meals and that thought might just do it!!!

Sounds the same as that greek recipe I have - looks like chunks of meat in jelly - ugh to the jelly, let alone the rest of it!!!

carriebradshaw

cw18 wrote: »

Oooooo..... yes please

ok I'll post it now,haven't costed it out but it's quite adaptable I'd say what you can add or take away really. I saw it on another forum and changed it to how I wanted it




Cheese & Lentil Loaf
150g cheese, grated (I use cheddar or red leicester) up to you though
225g red lentils,rinsed well and cooked
100g porridge oats or breadcrumbs
100g mushrooms, finely chopped
100g mixed peppers, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 large carrots, or parsnips or 1 of each grated,
1 beaten egg
a good handful of chopped herbs I use mainly thyme & a little bit of rosemary(not too much Rosemary it can taste soapy) from my garden,but have also used mint and parsley as I grow those as well.You would use less if using dried herbs as they are stronger so I’m told

salt & pepper to your taste

Pre-heat oven to 180c & line your loaf tin with greasproof paper then grease the paper or it will stick
Cook lentils in 500ml water until soft and have absorbed most of the water.
In another pan with a small amount of oil,gently soften onions & peppers,add garlic,mushrooms & grated carrots and cook for a few more mins then tip it all into a large bowl
Add the lentils, cheese,oats & herbs & mix well, season with salt and pepper,and stir in the beaten egg.
Pour into lined 2lb loaf tin bake for 30-40 mins, until top is golden.
Remove from oven and place a plate over the top,then a heavy weight or some tins on top of that to press for about 15mins –half an hour.This will make it easier/firmer to turn out and slice up.

Then turn out onto a plate, peel off the paper and slice up how you want it and eat.

I love this served hot with some veggies or cold with salad, would be nice with some tattie wedges or chips too I should imagine.

enjoy I have no idea what costs are on that,would depend on how thick you slice it & how much the bits & bobs were I suppose,everything is going up so fast

by the way, I keep meaning to say well done on post of the month for last month weezl :T

Lesley_Gaye

cw18 wrote: »

I don't throw much fruit/veg away at the moment -- but that's probably due to the fact I rarely buy salad stuffs (only me that happily eats anything but tomatoes on a regular basis), and almost all our veg (apart from potatoes, mushrooms and onions) is frozen these days (a switch I did 12-18 months ago to reduce waste).

I sowed a few seeds of watercress, only a half dozen or so, some rocket and some mixed cut and come again spicy greens last year. The space it took up was about a square metre all told. These kept 2 of us and visiting friends and daughters in salad all summer - and we eat it big plates of it several times a week. I tried it because I resent being charged exorbitant amounts for a bag of leaves that goes black after a day or two, and then I found out that they are bathed in strong chlorine solution, which I wasn't keen on. The watercress has gone completely bonkers this year and I keep having to trim it back to keep it in check. There is no upkeep involved with it except I cut off the seeded flower heads now and again to keep it young and succulent.

A good way to get cheap (ie - free!) salad leaves. I read somewhere that watercress doesn't mind shady positions, so I pulled some up and transplanted it to a shady spot and it seems to be galloping away there too. Once the shady patch is bigger, I'll take out the other patch as sunny spots are valuable for veggie growing!

carriebradshaw

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

I sowed a few seeds of watercress, only a half dozen or so, some rocket and some mixed cut and come again spicy greens last year. The space it took up was about a square metre all told. These kept 2 of us and visiting friends and daughters in salad all summer - and we eat it big plates of it several times a week. I tried it because I resent being charged exorbitant amounts for a bag of leaves that goes black after a day or two, and then I found out that they are bathed in strong chlorine solution, which I wasn't keen on. The watercress has gone completely bonkers this year and I keep having to trim it back to keep it in check. There is no upkeep involved with it except I cut off the seeded flower heads now and again to keep it young and succulent.

A good way to get cheap (ie - free!) salad leaves. I read somewhere that watercress doesn't mind shady positions, so I pulled some up and transplanted it to a shady spot and it seems to be galloping away there too. Once the shady patch is bigger, I'll take out the other patch as sunny spots are valuable for veggie growing!

yes that's the reason we planted some cut and come again lettuce this year.My OH eats it,but I don't so buying a lettuce every week at £1.19 for 2 little gems or 1 iceberg was really getting on my pip as most of it ended up in the bin. Now it's free and there nothing nasty on it :T

cw18

carriebradshaw wrote: »

ok I'll post it now,haven't costed it out but it's quite adaptable I'd say what you can add or take away really. I saw it on another forum and changed it to how I wanted it

many thanks for the recipe...... I have most of the ingredients in, so will probably pick the rest up tomorrow morning and have a bash at this