Flying gleefully into 2009 - One Fresians adventures in debt-busting

mooomin

Thanks for the recipe primula! It looks like something I will definitely try out soon, there's blooming beans everywhere :rotfl:

tomtombeanie your chilli recipe was amazing - just had some for dinner. There was enough for me, OH and flatmate, a portion for work tomorrow and I will be able to freeze at least a couple of meals worth too, hurrah!!

Lurker1972

I'm pinching that Monay pie recipe & getting tempted by the slow cooker.......

Freesian, how do you find the time to do everything? I want to keep ontop of everything yet get distacted by anything...........

mooomin

Lurker1972 wrote: »

I'm pinching that Monay pie recipe & getting tempted by the slow cooker.......

Freesian, how do you find the time to do everything? I want to keep ontop of everything yet get distacted by anything...........

I don't find the time to do anything!!

This morning I knew I wanted to make chilli so:

Last night I took mince out of the freezer and chucked it in a bowl to defrost Time taken 30 secs
Woke up twenty minutes early this morning, so still got coffee and allotted f*nnying around on the internet time.
Prepped chilli as per instructions
Had time left, f*nnied around on the internet some more
Went to work

I got home, put the rice on and had dinner fifteen minutes later. Slow cookers win

A lot of the time it's just pushing myself not to be such a lazy git. I would happily lay around all day every day doing nothing, but I'm starting to find the fun in doing things like cooking and cleaning. Sad, I know! I find that sense of accomplishment in having a clean fridge/toilet/floor is quite moreish.

There will be some days where I do naff all but surf online and eat cake though. Many days I hope!

hypno06

I'm with you as far as the slow cooker is concerned - I love mine! It is mahoosive, so I can make enough to feed any visiting army......and failing the army showing up on time, I get loads to put in the freezer.

Have you tried doing a cheap gammon joint with a can of cherry coke and some cloves a la Nigella Lawson? Perfect every time, and great sliced cold with some egg and chips

mooomin

hypno06 wrote: »

Have you tried doing a cheap gammon joint with a can of cherry coke and some cloves a la Nigella Lawson? Perfect every time, and great sliced cold with some egg and chips

I have heard tell of this "Cola Cookery" thing, but I have to admit I was suspicious...

It does seem as though everyone on MSE has done it to great success though so I will consider doing this sometime soon. Do you just put meat in cooker and add cola?? Will it work with cheapo supermarket cola or should it be Coke?

hypno06

yes, it really is that simple - and cheapo coke does fine! I love the cherry coke because it gives the same sort of sweetness as baking it in marmalade, but I have seen plenty of good reports using normal coke flavoured stuff!

dawnybabes

I used el cheapo coke when I made it and I didn't tell OH as I thought he wouldn't like it before it hit his gob !!! He loved it !

tomtombeanie

morning from me - early again! the flip side of this is that i was in bed before 9pm last night

glad the chili was a success - it is definitely my favourite slow cooker meal. however, i think i need to try this gammon and coke thing too - does anyone know how many cloves you need? and do you just shove them randomly around the gammon for flavour? (the presumably take them out again?) i will have to google nigella recipe in a minute, she's not one of the cookbooks i have...

i've pinched the monday pie recipe, too. kids will quite like that, i think. and "monday pie" is a good name as it gives no clue as to what's in it, which is key with my 3 year old (and still to a certain extent with 7 year old) . they *think* they are very fussy, but will eat "jungle cake" (not banana bread) or "cheesy bake" (not macaroni cheese, which we had last night num num num!) or "ocean pie" (but not anything with fish in the title) etc...i just have to remember what i have re-christened everything!

another busy-ish day, need to get the final few bits out of the garage before a (free) coffee and play at ikea. ebay guy coming tonight with cold hard cash (55 squiddies!!!) for our ladder so that needs a quick wipe down before he arrives. must do general cleaning/washing etc too as has slipped for a few days.

may be back later, if i'm not in bed just after the kids again have a lovely day xx

mooomin

6 x lamb chops
2 x tins of tomatoes
Handful or two of frozen mixed veg
1 x onion
Some mushrooms
Squirt of tomato puree
Squirt of garlic puree
1 x lamb stock cube

Put a little oil in a frying pan and let it heat
Add chops and brown, turning a couple of times
While the chops are cooking (Took about 10-15 minutes as they were really thick) add the tinned gubbins and sprinkle the stock cube over. Stir.
Chop up onion and veg and add to the mixture. Stir.
Add purees. Stir until fully dissolved.
Add chops and spoon the mixture over them.
Go to work.

Come home again to yummy yummy food. :j

***

This was a really good one for me as my dad gave me bags and bags of lamb chops, not the little rubbish ones you get from the supermarket, but big thick ones that we got from the actual crofter who reared the sheep. Yum

Trouble was that the b*ggers were so thick that you would cook them for ages and they would still have blood coming from them if you had defrosted them. Not very appealing. So I thought I would slow cook them and wow, really tasty! The frozen veg I used had sweetcorn, baby carrots, sliced beans and peas in it and I normally hate carrots but the tomato and garlic made them really tasty and melt in the mouth yummy.

Highly recommended!

Primula

Oh no, I had my tea hours ago and your lamp chops are making me hungry again! Sounds delicious. Been planning doing the Nigella gammon and coke thing for months now so stopped off in Mr T after work and got the gammon and the coke to try that out for tomorrow. Will report back!