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

SunnyGirl

Good morning all I've not been online since Friday morning so have just caught up.

Thank you so, so much for all the lovely things that you've said about us and DS1 It's an ongoing process with him but I'm so proud of all of the children as they've all had to make big adjustments :A

Not much except the usual cooking, tidying, cleaning, dog walking & gardening has been going on here. I'm making a pasta bake and salad for tea this evening as it's too hot & humid to have the oven on with a roast :eek: I've got some cooking apples to stew that I'll serve with ice cream or yoghurt instead of a pie. I'm declaring my grocery challenge today too and am very pleased with this months result again :T I seem to have cracked it now thankfully/hopefully! The 3 boys all eat like horses and seem to grow every week so it's no easy feat filling them up :rotfl:

Weezl Well done on the energy reductions. I spend a lot of time walking round telling everyone to turn off lights, tv's, dvd/videos, mp3's, hair straighteners, mobile chargers and other things that they all can't live without!

In_Search_Of_Me

ooo looked at the wine site...earl grey and chai here I come..nom nom!!

shaz_mum_of__2

Black Eye Bean Burgers

300g of mashed potato
2 x 400g cans of black eye beans
3-garlic cloves/ 1-tablespoon puree
1-teaspoon chilli flakes
100g roasted peppers from a jar
2 teaspoons cumin
Handful chopped coriander

Mash the mixture together then add an egg chill until firm then bake for 40 minutes in a hot oven turning half way


next time i will use instant mash added dry to the beany mixture as it was a faff making it special


Shaz

Sian_the_Green

(Someone cleverer than me want to WW point those burgers because they sound ace and I am going to a bbq next week and need to steer clear of temptation! )

Okay, using the recipe builder online which comes with the monthly pass they are 1.5 points if you make more than 10 from them (2pts if you make 10, must be on the borderline of 1.75!) so that is definitely an option for next week. Does that sound like a reasonable number to make from that amount?

nopot2pin

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

(Someone cleverer than me want to WW point those burgers because they sound ace and I am going to a bbq next week and need to steer clear of temptation! )

Okay, using the recipe builder online which comes with the monthly pass they are 1.5 points if you make more than 10 from them (2pts if you make 10, must be on the borderline of 1.75!) so that is definitely an option for next week. Does that sound like a reasonable number to make from that amount?

I worked the blackeyed beans burgers to be 12.5 points for the whole recipe.
8 points for the beans, 1.5 for the egg, and 3 points for the potato (as long as you dont put anything in it) everything else is zero.
So, I guess it just depends how many burgers you get out of each batch.
Sounds like a good recipe to batch cook too.

Just worked out the costings for these too
I made it out to be £1.73 per recipe....
So if you get 10 out of it, 17p a burger.
I think that really good.
Thanks Shaz

If you use instant mash, I worked it out to be £1.97 per recipe

Seakay

phizzimum wrote: »

has anyone used apples to make their own pectin for jam?

we've just been strawberry picking and DD fancies making jam. when I make blackcurrant jam I just use granulated sugar but I know strawberry jam needs the extra pectin.

also picked some gooseberries so we could try the River Cottage recipe of strawberry and gooseberry jam, but I fancy making something else with the gooseberries as well. managed to find a couple of elderflowers to go with them too.

does anyone have any fave gooseberry recipes? I confess that today is only the second time I've ever eaten one - I tried an unripe one when I was about 7 and it put me off for life! It was only my children telling me that they were nice that convinced me to give them another try.

I have used crab apple to make pectin for strawberry jam - it works if you use it straight away but don't do what i did and freeze it - it seemed to loose all it's power!.

Basically I covered cleaned apples with water after chopping them (skins and all) and boiled until all was soft - strained the mixture and used the liquid for jam and sieved the pulp to make apple butter.

My favourite gooseberry recipe is gooseberry fool.

Stew the top and tailed gooseberries with a little sugar - they should remain quite tart.
Mash with a fork or potato masher - the fruit should remain lumpy and not be a smooth puree.
When the stewed fruit is cold add about a quarter double cream (ie a quarter of a pint for a pint) and swirl it around.
Refrigerate until needed.
The mixture will thicken a little in the fridge as the tart juice acts on the cream but will not split.
The richness of the cream contrasts brilliantly with the tart fruit.

You can use more cream and sugar if you prefer, but it tastes very luxurious with these amounts and a little goes a long way.

shaz_mum_of__2

nopot2pin wrote: »

I worked the blackeyed beans burgers to be 12.5 points for the whole recipe.
8 points for the beans, 1.5 for the egg, and 3 points for the potato (as long as you dont put anything in it) everything else is zero.
So, I guess it just depends how many burgers you get out of each batch.
Sounds like a good recipe to batch cook too.

Just worked out the costings for these too
I made it out to be £1.73 per recipe....
So if you get 10 out of it, 17p a burger.
I think that really good.
Thanks Shaz

If you use instant mash, I worked it out to be £1.97 per recipe

I made 18 with a diameter of about 3 inches and about an inch thick we had 4 each with swetcorn salsa and couscous (the men had the spare 2 )

Not sure how well they would bbq though quite sloppy but firmed up after baking i am not sure it neede the egg tbh (it was a sw recipe so free on green day )

yummy

Shaz

shaz_mum_of__2

Forgot earlier

looking for a rocky road recipe (we like the greggs one) i have picked up some huge bags of marshmallows at HB last week

i figure its just melted choc with assorted bits added(digestives dried fruit marshmallows ) but wondered about quantities or special added extras

hmm ................ideal picnic food me thinks ;0)

shaz

ps

lidl have cranberries and walnuts on offer i think they work out cheaper than HB but check first

SunnyGirl

Shaz I've used this recipe from the BBC food website a few times & it's good. I don't follow it exactly, more a case of using what I've got in & substituting more frugal choices but it's a good base. HTH

phizzimum

thanks seakay for the advice re apple pectin - DD was really keen to make the strawberry jam so I just went and got jam sugar as I wanted her first attempt to be a success. But I will def try the apple pectin another time.

I've frozen some of the gooseberries as it's just not the right weather for crumbles and cobblers. Then tomorrow we're going to to make strawberry and gooseberry jam - am I right in saying the gooseberries are naturally high in pectin?