50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

AlexRed

Hi Sian

I have read lots of Weezl's other threads over the months and have learnt so much from the gang of you about money saving. It's a great site!! Being more and more shattered each day at the moment means that I seem to be spending more of my time surfing the web!!


:D:D:D:D

Cazzdevil

Frugalista wrote: »

They sound yummy! Care to share the recipe?

Absolutely! Just made them and they're really delicious.

Chocolate and marzipan cookies
2oz marzipan (cut into very small pieces)
4oz butter
4oz sugar
2 eggs
6oz plain flour
1tsp bicarb
1tsp salt
1tsp veg oil
1tsp milk
3 - 4 tbsp cocoa
4oz milk chocolate (broken / chopped into small pieces)
Oven at 175 degrees c / Gas mark 4

Cream together marg & sugar, add eggs one at a time mixing the first completely before adding the second.
In a separate bowl mix the flour, bicarb and cocoa until combined. Add the creamed butter & sugar mix and combine. Then add milk & veg oil, then add the marzipan and chocolate and stir to distribute.
Drop teaspoonfuls onto a nonstick baking sheet & bake for about 13 minutes. Cool on a rack before eating.

Now they came out looking more like little flat cakes than a Millies cookie but they're sooo moreish. I made giant ones since they're going to be devoured by a bunch of hungry mountain bikers tomorrow and got 30 giant ones from doubling the quantities. I reckon you could easily omit the cocoa since there's chocolate in them anyway. Here's how they turned out:


Notice there's one missing from the cooling rack... Well I had to make sure they were edible!!

AlexRed

Hi got it-spend it

Thank you so much for those tips! I never thought of frozen peppers, that is a really good idea as we both like peppers for things like fajitas, soups etc. and the price of peppers seems to go up each week at the moment. I will also use the suggestion for carrots, have quite a few in the cupboard at the moment and am making some bolognaise tomorrow from some bargain mince from buitcher to use as base for cottage pie and chilli so will add the grated carrot to this. A really good tip for me, as I find that I do throw away far roo many carrots that I have left lingering in the cupboard that have gone soft - thanks so much for that!

I am due on September 26th, I know what you mean about having to make the budget stretch even further on maternity leave! I'll have 90% pay for 2 months then it goes down to half pay then statutory maternity pay. Full pay isn't great to start off with, but then I find the job really rewarding, so you can't have it all I suppose.

It has been worrying me a bit as this is my first baby so its the unknown. Am determined to see it as a challenge though and to think of creative ways to stretch those pennies that is why I find this thread so wonderful. Hope that you are feeling ok with the pregnancy, I am feeling very tired at this point and have some backache but have been fortunate to have no major health problems. Hope all goes well with you also

Sian_the_Green

Glad the cookie recipe worked out for everyone, I just found it online so can't take much credit but it sure does taste good
Cazz, those look amazing!!!!! I am actually drooling

My dinner party went really well, everyone seemed to enjoy it and I don't think I really spent that much to be honest, it was one £2.00 pack of Tesco value mince and a load of tomatoes, cinnamon, fresh coriander, some chopped sweet potato and some onion I think, though I am sure I added some extra stuff too. Served it with couscous and some roasted butternut squash and parsnips (one squash from the asian supermarked did enoough for 9 people!)
I made a pecan and date cake for pudding and got my friends to bring ice cream and maple syrup to go with it. They all brought drinks too and we sat out in the garden, was a lovely evening.

Ooh, can't remember who asked about the asian supermarket. It is the one on wellgate, called Pak's, it's brilliant, especially the fruit and veg I think but also the pulses and fresh things, as long as you don't get the things that you could find in Tesco and the like, they are more expensive (e.g. pasta!)

I am feeling a little sorry for myself this afternoon, went outside and the neighbour's cat came and sat by me and I petted her. I am very allergic but couldn't help myself. She sat on my phone and then later I stupidly used it to call my parents. Cue massively itchy face and I look like a right idiot. Now sat inside holding a bag of frozen peas to my face One good thing, how nice are frozen peas straight out of the bag... mmmm

Guapa1

Hiya all, hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather. I'm not in the mood to go out today, so am in the house trying to work out a meal plan for next week.
I want to start making lighter foods, but have absolutely no idea what to make.

@ Alex, congrats on the baby! Re your 5 a day, frozen fruit/veg is definitely the way to go if you find yourself wasting the fresh ones.
What fruits do you like? Maybe we can suggest fruits to try of the same family. I always look at mysupermarket.com to see what's on offer.

The way I have my 5 a day is like this:

Brekkie
2 pieces of fruit

Lunch
1-2 portions of veg (usually soup, sometimes salad)

Dinner
1-2 portions of veg.

It's actually really easy when you get started.

@Sian, oh no! I'm allergic to cats too (and dogs) and it's really painful. My eyes swell up and I can't hardly see. Luckily I don't have any cats around me and I don't like them anyway.

SunnyGirl

Sian Cooling & de-swelling vibes being sent your way it must be awful for you. Frozen peas are yummy I always snaffle a few when I'm putting them in the pan

Alexred I used to be shocking for buying lovely varieties of fresh fruit & veg then throwing half of them away when they'd gone off :eek: I now make soups, fruit salads & fruit puddings with any veg or fruit that looks like it's going past it's best. Frozen fruits & veg are a great time & money saver and I would second the idea of putting veg in things like bolognese & chilli. I grate carrots, courgettes & chop things like mushrooms, peppers, squashes and parsnips to use in lots of main meals. With so many hungry boys it's the only way I can pad out the meat to feed us all.

How lovely that you're pregnant but I remember what it was like in the hot weather all too well :doh:

ellemm

AlexRed, the only vegetable my OH ever ate was tinned peas! until he met me that is....oh and had a heart attack just over a year ago!!

He had to drastically improve his diet from too much salt, sugar and fatty foods and introduce more fruit and veg. (At least he likes fruit which was a start)

The dietician at the hospital told him that even tinned and frozen veggies would count and he will now take salad leaves and tomatoes and red onion so long as it has a balsamic vinegar dressing!

I also do roasted veg a lot and as got it-spend it said the frozen peppers (£1 a bag in Farmfoods) are great for that along with some tomatoes, red onions, sweet pepper and the obligatory balsamic vinegar! Farmfoods also do £1 bags of leeks which have been great for soups throughout the winter as I was fed up buying vegs which went off before I could use them. Obviously they do other vegs but he draws the line at brocolli and carrots I'm afraid:rotfl:

His favourite is still tinned peas!

weezl74

hello ellem and alexred, nice to see you!

erm, on getting your 5 a day, I think tinned and frozen often packs a better punch because of how quickly it's preserved, keeping the nutrients in, rather than sat on a container lorry all the way across a continent and then languishing on a supermarket shelf as a lot of fresh produce does!

Alexred, congrats on the pregnancy :T:T:T another way to maximise your nutrients would be to drink the greens water if you can face it! We had boiled mashed celeriac with our tea, and I'm drinking the cooking water cooled now, and I did this throughout pregnancy!!!

Trying to vary your colours is a good one to do as well. Although you can get your 5 a day just from a can of chopped tomatoes, it's best for you to try and eat more colours. I did write about the cheapest way to eat your colours each day, i'm happy to dig that out for you if you like?

Dried fruit might be a good way forward as you need less of it to make a portion. Also there's something in fresh green veg that some pregnant women get an aversion to, which is about the body trying to protect the foetus from hidden nasties that aren't toxic to adults. Again, can look out the info if interested!

On the topic of pregnancy, bashful must have had her baby by now, but probably worn out bless her!

Guapa1

ellem how big is the bag of mixed peppers in farm foods? Sainsburys does a 500g bag for 75p. If the farm food bag is a 1kg, I'll try and make the effort to get down there.

AlexRed

Good evening all

Thank you all so much for your replies and reassurance, its been really helpful and good to get some support!

Weezl - thanks so much for the congratulations and words of wisdom. Am really greatful about the reassurances about the frozen / tinned fruit and veg. Also great idea about drinking the vegetable water, because lots of the nutrients go into the water during cooking, don't they? I can relate to the going off green leafy veg when pregnant. I usually love brocolli but at the moment it turns me which is a shame as its such a superfood!! As I've been a lurker for a while just wanted to say that I hope that your little boy is doing fine and how helpful I think this thread is, a great resource!

Guapa 1 - thanks for the welcome. I have similar problems planning menus when the weather gets warmer, I'm more at home planning casseroles and hearty winter type meals - must be too do with being a typical Brit! I love the sun though! Have been eating more fish in this warmer weather, mackerel oven cooked in foil and herb butter as its cheap and also having potato wedges with different dips. Thank you for providing me with a daily breakdown of how you eat your fruit and veg, it gives me a good idea of what to aim for.

Sunny Girl-I love your name! Glad that its not just me who has contributed to the wasted food mountain we have in this country! I am determined to change this as I hate waste and get really annoyed with myself for throwing out veg and fruit. Thank you for the idea about soups and fruit puddings. I do batch cook lots of sponges and freeze them ready to fill with different fillings when needed so I could use one sponge as a base and top it with tinned / frozen summer fruit - thanks for that idea!

Ellemm - So sorry to hear of your OH's heart attack, I hope he is feeling better now. It sounds as though you have him on the right track with your recipes. Thanks for reassuring me that frozen fruit and veg are just as good nutritionally. Great idea about roasting veg with balsamic vinegar. I love balsamic vinegar and have a small bottle gathering dust in the cupboard that I bought from Aldi! Will try this out next week.

Just wanted to say that you've all inspired me this evening to have a good dig through my fridge / cupboards and made me and DH tea out of things that I found. I saw a recipe for a curried bean sandwich spread earlier on in this thread (can't remember who posted it sorry but its a great recipe)

I whizzed up a large tin of butterbeans, some cherry tomatoes that were going soft and a bit wrinkly, half a red onion, a garlic clove, half a tub of cream cheese, some lime juice, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and whizzed it up in a blender. It was lovely with a bit of a kick! Served this with some potato wedges that were a bit soft, sprinkled them with some herbs and pepper and olive oil.

It's good to know that some veg that I would have thrown out in a few days have been used up before going bad.:D


Thanks for setting me on the right path, hope I can contribute some advice on this thread myself soon! :j:j:j

Have a lovely evening all.