os Thursday 16th October 2008

mummysaver

Morning all! Grey and a bit drizzley here today.

Not done a lot yet, kitchen needs a good clean around today I think, but that will have to wait till later - being on hol this week means I can do things later! Most other jobs will have to wait as well as I'm off riding soon and then having my hair cut - neither things I really enjoy that much, but have promised to help a friend exercise her horses as her usual horsey friend is busy, and my hair needs a trim as it's starting to poke out and scare small children!

Got crumpets for brekkie and then left them in the car, so nobody ate them today, has anyone made them themselves, are they worth it?

Kids have all trotted off with packed lunches, girls have ham sarnies, yoghurt with honey (seems really thick today for some reason, must've miscounted the spoons of powdered milk as I made it), raisins, an apple and shortbread stars. DS has given the yoghurt a miss as he says it's too much of a faff, and he has cheese and pickle, the pickle got huge thumbs up. I'm so pleased with this jam maker, think it was worth the money for the effort it'll save me with pickle making alone. Want to try dulce de leche next in it, so think a banoffee pie is coming up at the weekend, yum!

Dinner tonight is meant to be wraps, girls like to make these whilst ds takes command of the stuff to go inside them, just have to watch he doesn't stick too much chilli in before separating some out for the girls! I know onion bhajees aren't typically served with wraps, but friend was having a takeaway last night and told me about his bhajees and made me want some! (Not sure if that sentence has come out quite the way I intended lol)

No luck with finding tiles or anything for bathroom floor, so will have another go at the weekend.

Meeting at school was interesting, they have rearranged things a bit more so that the LSA will be covering for the minimum amount of time, all the specialist lessons will now take place on the day she has the class, so they will be out swimming, doing PE and French and music. I'm still not entirely convinced about the situation, but we shall give it a go. Perish the thought that I have to home ed dd3, my ears would bleed with all her chatter! Thanks for all the info Annie and Candy.

D&DD and thriftlady, you've both reminded me that I need to visit the farm shop, think a new one has opened locally so will give that a go later hopefully, think I've got a few little ones after school so will take them along with me, it'll keep them busy!

Beth, all I can suggest is stewing and freezing them for future use, or dehydrating them, apple crisps are popular here - though dd3 likes them dipped in choc so perhaps not too healthy!

Penpin - for soup I chop all the veg and throw it in the moski or SC with stock (cubes usually) and some herbs, then blitz it when it's done as I prefer smooth soups and it saves chopping the veg up really tiny! For chicken noodle soup I just use chicken stock, sweetcorn, onion, shredded chicken and break in some dried spaghetti a few mins from the end of the cooking time. Think Kathy is your best bet for soup making tips in the moski, as she's made hundreds!

Well 10 more mins to catch up on yesterday's news and view before I have to leave. Have a fab day, and hugs to all in need. xx

bootsalebabe

Morning all, bright but chilly here this morning, but still no heating on.DH is working for an agency at the moment but has just heard there are full time jobs coming up at the factory he works at so he is putting in for one of them. Unfortunatley DD's OH has been laid off so he is job seeking again.
It's a sad day as DD's baby was due today, and i keep thinking all the stuff that is stored away should have been out and waiting for her arrival.
We will visit the grave later with some flowers and try to move on.
No news on campervan bill yet as garage couldnt find a problem yesterday, so more investigation needed today.
Nice to see petrol down to 99.9p litre, that will ease our petrol bills, as the van is 1800 engine.
Making HM lasagne with jacket spuds for tea, and house is quite tidy so just a quick brush round, have stopped using hoover as all floors are laminated.
DH received his "free" laptop yesterday with his new T mobile phone contract, so he is over the moon cos he can never get on this one lol.
Have a lovely day BSB xx

betheebee

Thanks ESSEX and MSAVER, but I have lots of apple sauce in the freezer, I'm doing pork loins for dinner so will use some then.
I might just make an apple upside down pud and freeze.
Off to start moving furniture out of the study ready for decorating, got the paint reduced in B&Q and an extra 10% off with DH's old coggers card.
Hope today is a kind one for all.

Penny-Pincher!!

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

The easiest way to make soup is to chop the veg small, pour over boiling water or stock, and simmer until the veg is cooked. YUou can then blend of leave chunky.

I prefer to soften an onion and some garlic in a bit of oil first - IMO it gives a deeper flavour, but for sweet potato and carrot, it makes not much difference

I'd season this soup with some ground cumin and coriander, and possibly ground or grated ginger, and garnish with fresh coriander, or a coriander pesto :T

Penny. x

Thanks Penny! So I just have to chop the sweet pot and carrots small, add the stock and let simmer? Can I just add an onion chopped without softening first? I dont have any fresh herbs either:o but I do have mixed dried herbs or some dried chillies .....Im not very good am I?

If it works well, Ill knock some batches up for when Im in hospital as it should freeze well and I could get OH to bring me some up in a flask too;)

Would the parsnip soup be the same kind of method to make?

Thanks

PP
xx

Jorgan_2

Morning all, working until 9 tonite so popping into a few supermatkets on the way hoping to find some RTC's, I can live in hope.

Chilli in the SC, made with some peppers & toms I got of a friend for helping with a few jobs they needed doing. If all goes to plan I'll be growing my own next spring.

Have a good one whatever you are doing.

Pink.

Morning all,

I love the way the daily is going at the moment. Welcome to the new people who are joining in and welcome back to the old regulars who have returned. :hello:

It's a lovely autumn day here...cold but sunny and bright too so I walked ds2 to school to try to blow away the early morning cobwebs. Can't say it worked, but at least I tried.

Food in the Pink household today will be a bit of a mish-mash as I was at work last night and nipped into a local supermarket and managed to bag a few bargains. They included a rotisserie chicken which I thought I'd use for todays sandwiches reduced to 74p, some croissants and pan au chocolat reduced to 5p each, cheese strings which we don't normally buy but the kids hanker after them, reduced from £4.43 :eek: for 16 to 43p and some peaches, plums and apples all reduced to 10p a punnet. I was pleased with my haul until I got home and found that Mr Pink had also gone for a late night bargain hunting expedition. He came home with chicken and pasta salads (£2.99 to 29p) for all their lunches, some doughnuts and some other bits and pieces that can be frozen.

So breakfast was porridge followed by croissants and pan au chocolat. Packed lunches are chicken and pasta salad, a peach, an apple a doughnut and cheese stringy thing.

So that's left my chicken a bit redundant. :rolleyes: Normally I'd make a chicken and broccoli pasta bake but that might overload them on pasta as we had spaghetti bolognese last night and they have pasta for lunch today. Any suggestions or ideas for what to do with it would be helpful.

I'm trying to teach myself to make cards at the moment and I'm not very good at it. Think of a four year old let loose with some glue and paper. :rolleyes: Troo and Penny, I know you make cards, have you any recommendations for online or offline suppliers of bits and pieces. I've got lots of card, paper, tissue etc but it's toppers and gems that I'm a bit short of. There aren't many shops that sell them here and those that do seem very expensive.

I need to do a bit of tidying and a run around with a duster this morning and then I'll probably get together with Haribo and the girls later, make chicken something or other for tea and off out to work about 7 O'clock.

So that's my day. I hope everyone has a good one.

Pink


Edit: Beth, try this thread for some more ideas: What To Do With Apples?

Penelope_Penguin

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Thanks Penny! So I just have to chop the sweet pot and carrots small, add the stock and let simmer? Yes!! Can I just add an onion chopped without softening first? Yes!! I dont have any fresh herbs either:o but I do have mixed dried herbs or some dried chilliesOnce it's cooked, have a taste - it may need a bit of salt (depending on the stock) and pepper, and you can see if you want herbs in it. It'll likely taste good without

Would the parsnip soup be the same kind of method to make? Yes!!

......................

dannahaz

Morning everyone.

Haven't been around much for the last few months, we've been getting more and more self suffiicient and I just haven't had time. It's calming down a bit now, so I thought I'd come and post.

Today I'll be making Pumpkin Marmalade. Our Butternut squash harvest hasn't been that great this year, but a friend of ours had a bumper harvest and then deiscovered he didn't like squash. He gave us a load of his (as a "thank you" for showing him how to crush and press his apples to make cider) and I've decided that Marmalade is the first thing to do.

I've also got to wash out the bottom of my fridge. At the weekend DH and I went on a course to learn how to despatch and dress meat chickens. I found it really difficult to do, but I am glad I did it; if nothing welse it means I will be able to painlessly put any of my girls out of their misery should the need arise.

We ate one of the birds for Sunday lunch (and for curry on Tuesday). As you have to leave them a few days before gutting them, the other one (which we had already plucked) has been occupying our salad drawer since then. Unfortunately, rigormortis set in before we put him in the fridge, so the only place he would fit was in the drawer. Anyway. Last night DH dressed him, and we got him safely stowed in the freezer. Now I need to clean out the bottom of the fridge so everything can go back in its place!

I've got a Waitrose delivery coming soon (i'm trying their shop delivery service instead of Ocado for a change) and I've just realised I forgot to order any ginger which I need for the marmalade.

I'm not planning on doing any housework today as I did downstairs thoroughly yesterday.

The sky is a gorgeous blue, and I'm struggling to keep myself in the kitchen. I've got several garden jobs that need doing, so I might do those later this afternoon.

<hugs> to anyone that needs one

Penelope_Penguin

dannahaz wrote: »

Morning everyone.

Haven't been around much for the last few months, we've been getting more and more self suffiicient and I just haven't had time. It's calming down a bit now, so I thought I'd come and post.

And it's great to see you back :T Did you get any further with the pigs

Pink-winged wrote:

I'm trying to teach myself to make cards at the moment and I'm not very good at it. Think of a four year old let loose with some glue and paper. :rolleyes: Troo and Penny, I know you make cards, have you any recommendations for online or offline suppliers of bits and pieces. I've got lots of card, paper, tissue etc but it's toppers and gems that I'm a bit short of. There aren't many shops that sell them here and those that do seem very expensive.

Not me - DD makes all mine We bought our first batch of carding stuff from eBay (from Crazychick as it happens ). There are some great bargains if you have a quick search

Penny. x

twink

YOUHOO penny-pincher here i am

morning all, its a chilly one here, windy and been raining so i have done pixies ironing and cleaned out the cupboard by the stairs just stopped for a cuppa

am going to do Nigellas quick minestrone for lunch, just the day for it, its from her express book which i got from the library, lots of books from there and just 60p to request one, am waiting for paul ogradys book and 60p is better than paying £10 so make use of it folks

i seem to be using the pressure cooker more than the slo cooker these days, made a pork casserole yesterday using my home grown green peppers and it was lovely

hugs to smoky, anniestar, Ulick, bootsalebabes dd xx, penny-pincher, jayward and candygirl and her Dad and catznine

hugs to all i may have missed xx