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

Elfinwings

Time to report in!
Well, Piggery Pie was a reasonable success. I cooked the onion and celery in some oil, took them out of the pan and fried the pork mince and a few small bits of bacon (rest went into soup). Drained fat off, stirred through a spoonful of flour to thicken sauce later, popped the veggies back in, added tarragon, mustard and ham stock (from a cube) and tiny chunks of pre-cooked black pudding leftover from yesterday. Simmered for ages. Decided it still tasted fatty. Added lemon juice to try and cut the taste - seemed to work to an extent. Aded more mustard. The black pudding broke down and thickened the sauce a bit. Added lentils to thicken it a bit more. Cooked for another 20 minutes. Added pepper. Decided enough was enough and I should stop fiddling about. Put it in the casserole with the sliced potatoes on top, and a sprinkling of cheese over. Baked for about 25 minutes. Served with random frozen vegetables and OH pronounced it very nice. I'm less convinced - it was ok and I'll be quite happy for us to eat the other half tomorrow, but I might not do it again!

The soup, on the other hand, was simple and successful. However...I've gone and left my tub of it on the side in the kitchen and therefore have no packed lunch at work today :eek:

In_Search_Of_Me

Well done all...happy moving confuzzled (if there is such a thing?)...I have some hm chai that weezl made me last year but save that for a treat...I like mine with lots of milk! May do some wine for christmas pressies...can only knt/sew so much in a shortish space of time and have to be innovative this year! Am hunting out recipes for the sat night curry...will keep you posted! Elfie the pie sounds "interesting?!!" Really annoying when you leave sommat on the side....

BigMummaF

Hello everyone..how's tricks?
I've been attempting to maintain the spirit of this thread over the past couple of weeks with mixed results. I managed to bone a whole chicken--altho not to end up with the meat intact--& have two good sized breast in the freezer for whatever takes my fancy. The leg & darker meat went to make fajita the other night & Pup had plain-cooked meat & the stripped wings. I think it was someone on the GC who said they bone out their bird then stuff, roll & sew up to make for ideal carving...a skill I wished I could master.
My "disaster" remains hm pastry The Hairy Bikers had scrumptious pasties & I tried to recreate them myself, but yet again failed to make enough pastry so it ended up as a past-pie Not bad...but the bottom was soggy & the spud not cooked enough for me, even tho I had cut it into really small chunks. Their recipe had raw skirt, swede, potato & onion in equal sized cubes [bigger than I had cut mine] then add a dessertspoon of water before sealing up the individual pasty. The idea was the water would in effect, steam the innerds & make a gravy. Not in this house I'm afraid, but it got eaten. Pup was the only one to have a pasty proper, as he can't have onion :cool:
Anyone else think TV chefs have hotter ovens & hobs than we have at home? as I've always got to add on extra cooking time. My saucepans never stay as clean either :whistle:

jaytin

I boned a chicken once for a special meal for our anniversary, it was lovely, but knowing how long it takes and the mess I got into, I am not keen to do it on a regular basis. As for TV chefs, I don't think cookery shows on TV are ever 100% realistic, pretty sure you are right about those big and fierce industrial ovens too!

In_Search_Of_Me

Evening all...still plugging on but ran out of things like loo paper etc...lodger just announced she is leaving so back to drastc measures and using up the wheatgerm...!!

cheerfulness4

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Evening all...still plugging on but ran out of things like loo paper etc...lodger just announced she is leaving so back to drastc measures and using up the wheatgerm...!!

Hope you find another quickly, ISOM.

In_Search_Of_Me

me too...although in some ways its a relief and hopefully I will make a better choice this time!

cheerfulness4

Well if she was your first lodger maybe its a 'live and learn' type of thing. Sure you'll find someone suitable soon. Least you might have a moment to yourself before the next one moves in.

sashanut

Hi everyone :j

I'm a bit of a lurker but do follow the thread with interest...possibly not the best thing to say if we're hoping to be DF lol:D

Anyhow, I just wondered if anyone had some idea what i could do with a load of (fairly unripe) grapes from our vines? I've never done anything with them before, but its an outside vine with loads of bunches of mainly green grapes. The grapes are very small, well quite tiny really & appear to have a pip in each one. Some are now flushed with red, but I'm not sure how ripe they're gonna get here in Yorkshire. We're not really wine drinkers, but I wondered if i could dry them - sort of dried fruit IYSWIM?

Seems a real shame to just leave them to rot, probably when we get a frost it will kill them off anyhow. Any ideas gratefully welcomed!

candygirl

This might sound weird, but I made the lentil pate, and had tons left so stuffed some mushrooms with it, put a bit of cheese on top and cooked for 20 mins and it was gorg:p:p