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

Confuzzled

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

well done nat! I managed chicken liver pate but wasnt able to touch the livers - more chop from afar!! eeewww!! Has anyone tried making a stewy thing with chicken legs? Just wondered if it works?

oh yes i bung frozen chicken legs in my slowcooker with my usual soup fixings all the time.

when it's ready to eat carefully the chicken out into a bowl (best use a large spoon rather than tongs as the legs will fall to bits) when it's cooled enough to touch you can easily strip the meat from the bones and mix back into the soup.

i personally then save the bones in a bag in the freezer to make stock from, waste not want not!

Confuzzled

tinypawz wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering is polenta and maizemeal the same thing?

Probably a really daft question.....

i've used polenta as a replacement for cornmeal (maizemeal) with success. i find the course polenta better for making cornbread (its a nicer texture for the bread) but either fine or course ground works in my experience

Confuzzled

Yategirl wrote: »

I have to agree with co-sleeping - it did work for us esp as I was bf but each to their own and all that

i did cosleeping with my daughter, and breastfed as well. ohhh so convenient and i'm sure it helped keep me sane as i didn't lose all that much sleep as many parents report (i'm not good without my sleep, trust me on that one :eek:)

i never rolled on top of her (nor did my ex) and he's a heavier sleeper than i am. i don't believe it's for everyone but for anyone wanting to try it out don't let others shame you out of giving it a try. for me it was necessary as i kept falling asleep breastfeeding and nearly dropped my daughter on too many occasions, i figured enough was enough, she came into bed with us and it was good all around thereafter!

shaz_mum_of__2

nopot2pin wrote: »

, washed down with a cheeky spiced apple and chamomile teabag wine

OOh do we have a recipe for this??

Hi guys back and very tired from my trip to the big smoke have caught up with akll posts and forgotten evrything :rolleyes:

Isom a picnic in the park sounds great i wish i could bring something homemade but won't have the facilities unless i bring something that "keeps"


off to catch up on the other threads i follow


Shaz

Confuzzled

gizmomum wrote: »

I'm trying to plan meals for little one as well and it sounds like alot of the ones on here can be adapted easily for that......I'm determined to give him home cooked as much as possible

with the exception of the occasional rice cereal mixed with breastmilk i cooked ALL of my dd's food from scratch. and you're right it can be easy to adapt many big people recipes for babies however do check about possible outcomes in babies, some foods cause a lot of gas in babies so you need to introduce them slowly in small amounts.

that said within 3 months of being on solid i was already adding in garlic and onions in my wee ones meals. my ex often said with a pinch of salt the meals would be good enough for him to eat!

i made up batches large enough to freeze (basically i made what i would make for him and I that was plenty to batch freeze in baby sized portions) if you don't have enough plastic containers for your freezer you can pour the stuff in freezer bags and lay flat to freeze, this works for all but the runniest things.

my wee one ate, by the age of 1 year, nearly any type of veggie, happily ate meat and would seriously devour any fruit put her way.

the only problem we had was with milk products, she had to be on soy milk til she was 2 years old (she's fine now) though hard cheese wasn't a problem just anything soft or fresh like yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc. do go slowly at first just as you would with jarred baby food to make sure they handle it well.

she ate very adventurous meals happily, sadly not quite as adventurous now at 7, but over all she's a very good eater and very healthy :T

Confuzzled

macwah97 wrote: »

Also - everytime I ' boil up the bones' - bit like Mr Lecter? the chicken soup never turns out right - HELP

All suggestions gratefully received.

in my experience the best and cheapest way to make stock is to keep all onion skins (and outer layers if you don't use those) veg peelings, tops and tails, stalks, leaves and bones, fat etc plus any leftover 'juice' from things like beetroot, pickles (yes, you can use a small amount in each pot of stock and the vinegar actually draws calcium from the bones for even more nutrious stock) olive brine etc in the freezer til you have enough for the stockpot

obviously wet things need to go in a tub, the other things can go old bread bags (keep the meat/bones seperate from veggies then you can reuse the veggie bags, the meat ones need to be thrown away) i use cheap thin little bags, nothing stays in my freezer long enough to need expensive bags.

chuck in what you have in the slowcooker (easiest) or into a big pot on the cooker. i fill to nearly the top with water ( i don't reduce my stock but then i don't usually add any additional water to my soup either so it all evens out i suppose) boil or simmer until the stock smells amazing... i find if you cook it too much longer beyond that point it has a tendency to get a slightly sour taste to it, especially in the slow cooker.

next you need to put a colander in a large bowl and carefully pour the contents into the colander (watch out for splashing). i allow the solids to sit in the colandar a good while til they're cool enough to pick through then save any meat i can get off any bones to put back into my freshly made stock

remember your stock will have little or no salt in it at this stage so you may want to add a bit to a little set aside before you reserve judgement, on the whole if it smells amazing, let it cook a few minutes longer then turn it off it's done, trust me

the veg solids that remain can go in your compost bin or worm bin or be fed to any rodenty pets if they'll eat them. i'm not sure about this as i haven't had a dog since i was a kid but i suspect your dogs would eat the remains of the soggy veg mixed in with their dry foods, obviously be careful you don't want them getting dire rear (as my ex calls it :rotfl:) the bones/skin etc generally just go in the regular bin.


now, from experience some things i've found work well and some don't

NOT SO WONDERFUL
seeds... i mean things like marrow seeds or pepper seeds. if you keep bits of marrow or peppers to put in your stock bag be certain you remove ALL seeds, they really give it a nasty bitter taste :eek:

SUPRISINGLY GOOD

pickle juice (don't add more than a few tablespoons per pot though)
beet juice
bbq sauce dregs and/or skin from whole bbq chickens or ribs you get from the deli counter mmmmmmmm they add real depth to the stock
olive juice/brine oooh a favourite of mine, this also reduces the need to add much salt later
apple cores... you can add a few to a savoury stock without ill effect but probably not more than 2-3 for a slowcookers batch worth otherwise it will taste too sweet
cucumber and lettuce, odd to think it but these are nice, but if you use them either peel the cukes (the skin can easily go bitter) or be sure not to boil too long


TYPICAL
garlic/onion skins and tops and tails
carrot tops/tails (and peels if you peel them)
fat
bones
leftover meat of any kind (if you use fish though you may want to consider more carefully the other stock ingredients, fish is harder to get it right than other meats)
potatoes, peelings and/or you can use left over chips etc, however i find that using left over chips are best to thicken the actual soup vs putting in stock but i've used them in stock before, they do make it cloudy
tomatoes
pea pods
green bean tops and tails
celery leave hearts and ends
cabbage ends and outer leaves you may not eat
broccoli stems (though i tend to save these up and make a creamy cheesy broccoli soup instead)
most veg actually

really use your imagination and DON'T COOK IT TOO LONG! many things go bitter if you cook them too long or get a sour twang so it's really important not to boil it to death.

also i find just a small portion of fat in the mix (be it fat trimmings, drippings, skin etc) really makes a huge difference. you can always let your stock go cold in the fridge and scrape most of the fat off the top when it's congealed if you're worried about the fat content/calories

i've been making stock like this for about a decade and it's superb, plus i feel so good knowing i'm getting every last bit of nutrition i can get out of the food i buy.

Confuzzled

macwah97 wrote: »

Only problem is when I want to use it I have to get another book to convert the oven temps as this one only does Farenheit and Gas.


.

a bit late for the original poster BUT helpful nonetheless i hope!

Conversions

C F GAS MARK
70 150

---

80 175

---

100 200 LOW
110 225 1/4
120 250 1/2
140 275 1
150 300 2
160 325 3
180 350 4
190 375 5
200 400 6
220 425 7
230 450 8
240 475 9
260 500

---

270 525

---

290 550

---

these conversions are approximate but have served me well for a decade (i copied them into my Tightwads Gazette book in the back beneath the recipe I'd found for her much mentioned Refrigerator Dough [made some an hour ago actually] http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,145175-250203,00.html use oil or butter for shortening, i use butter)

hope that helps someone

grrr the formating here keeps messing up my columns, anyway first column is Celcius, 2nd is Fahrenheit and 3rd is Gas Mark

Confuzzled

BARGAINHUNTER! wrote: »

I have just checked on mysupermarket.com and it appears that Sainsburys are also selling theres half price - a Bernard Matthews x large basted turkey (10.2kg) is reduced from £50 to £25, large (8.2kg) reduced from £40 to £20,and medium (6.2kg) is reduced from £30 to £15. I have never ever seen a frozen turkey for sale at £50 before!!

i nearly choked when i read that! in the states turkey is sooo cheap all year round but especially near the holidays. i simply can't imagine paying anywhere near that much for a turkey (especially the small ones you get here!) now mind you it's been a decade since i've bought turkey in the states but even then it wasn't uncommon to see it go for as little as 49CENTS a pound so just over $1 a kilo

sadly i rarely eat turkey anymore and it's so good for you. i realise it's not as fashionable here but enough people eat it that it shouldn't be so ridiculously overpriced

In_Search_Of_Me

Come on now weezl stop lurking and say helloooooo!! Hows my bestest most gorgeous boy?
Re the chutney there is no scientist in me just a recipe book!! That there be the recipe and I do follow it...suspect its along the lines of it being nice and squishy and thats how I like it so have just kept to it plus its quite liquidy at the start and take a while to reduce...so there you go! No science...

jackieglasgow

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Hi all. Not been on much for the last couple of days as my Dad was in hospital today having angioplasty and 2 stents put into his coronary arteries. It's all been a success thankfully, Mum & I are just shattered now :eek:

I haven't done the quiz on religion yet I'll look at it tomorrow. The reason I said what I said about christian people sitting in church was because my DS1 isn't actually 'my' DS1 even though he truly feels like it. He is my daughters boyfriend who was thrown out of his family home on Christmas Eve last year by his parents. He slept rough for 2 nights (including Christmas Day - I didn't know) before going to a friends house. They kept him for 2 weeks but when he couldn't contribute to finances they also asked him to leave. He was going to go into a hostel for young people (he was only 16 at the time) when I said he could move in here with us. He's been here ever since, is a valued member of our family and is happy & settled. He made a few youthful mistakes the worst of which was getting arrested for drunkeness & he smoked w**d on occasion. He wasn't an angel, I know, but his parents couldn't cope with it all. What makes it worse is that he was adopted by them at the age of 4. They have little contact with him now, don't want him home & have basically washed their hands of him. So has his elder brother & the rest of his family. He doesn't touch w**d or alcohol anymore, has got into full time college starting in September and looks happy & healthy. I talk to him about his problems and he is learning new responses to his feelings every day. In the meantime his parents go to church every week, are involved in the scouts, take holidays with his brother, don't contribute to his upkeep and yet continue to ignore this lovely young man :mad:

I'm sorry for typing such a long post it just seemed an appropriate moment to bring it up. Thanks for reading so far.

Hi everyone, catching up after a few days offline, I'm not caught up completely yet, but had to resond to this immediately as I'm sitting here teary eyed. What is it Christians strive for?? To be more Christ like? You've just shown exactly what you meant by your original comment. I won't say well done, as I'm sure you don't need my praise, but I felt compelled to respond to the humanity of your situation. Weezl, sorry to hijack your thread!

Jackie