Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

weezl74

Ok, I think we might be there!

Have added, evaporated milk, and dried and regular skimmed milk

I've aimed for 4g a day to round it up in case of Oxylate drain

I do hope the maths is right, firefox can you glance at my figures here:

System

weezl74 wrote: »

I do hope the maths is right, firefox can you glance at my figures

I'm no Fire Fox (obviously!), but I've just amended the weight of carrots so that the unit is 1000g rather than 100g - you were only counting 290g instead of 2.9 kg. It makes a tiny bit of a difference to the calcium total, but not much ;-)

ceridwen

Reet...I've just had a slice of it.

AMENDED RECIPE (half quantity)(to me = 8 slices/Weezl-slices = 16 slices)

100 ml semi-skimmed evaporated milk
100 ml vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil - will be same taste)
2 eggs
200 gr grated carrot
125 gr raisins
zest of half orange and juice of whole orange (NB; didnt realise this version would need more liquid - but could use juice of half orange and a couple of Tablespoons water to make it up)
175 gr self-raising flour (I personally used my wholemeal S.R. flour)
1 tsp baking powder
three-quarter teaspoon powdered cinnamon
three-quarter teaspoon powdered nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Juice the half orange FIRST (and add 2 tablespoons water to that).
3. Zest the half orange.
4. Warm the orange juice (and water) in a saucepan and add the raisins to soak in it to plump up. Allow to cool whilst preparing rest of ingredients.
5. Blitz all ingredients together or mix in large bowl with wooden spoon.
6. Pour into one caketin (casserole dish in my case) (papered and greased if need be).
7. Bake 30 minutes at 180C.

VERDICT:
Was aware as I prepared it that it needed more liquid than original version - probably due to presence of extra raisins.

After a bit of apprehension about using evaporated milk in a cake - actually I prefer it to my original version. Texture definitely noticeably better and I think the taste is as well. Still slightly "oily" - but not nearly as much I feel. I find it perfectly sweet enough - without either sugar or honey added - due to the presence of the added raisins. The carrots are more visible than with the first version - but that isnt a problem - it would still be necessary to tell people what the orange bits are if they asked (as it doesnt come over as carrot-y).

I'd do it again myself - preferably with that mixed spice I personally prefer - rather than the 50/50 cinnamon/nutmeg I used (because thats what I have in).

HowlinWolf

good grief, I go away for three days and you manage to create pages and pages. Hats off to everyone on this thread. What a team! Weezl, in terms of the calcium question what about yog? Is there a chance to replace the mayo with yog in some of the dishes or use it in breakfasts. High calcium yield from yog and has lots of other good things going for it. http://http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T045700.asp linky has intersting facts and figures on calcium yield from yog especially as live yog helps with calcium absorption.
Asda smartprice yog is 45pence for 500g although I am struggling to work out if it's live or not.
http://www.nnuh.nhs.uk/viewdoc.asp?ID=752&t=Leaflet this excellent NHS linky compares calcium in various foods and might save a bit of work. It also states the amounts of calcium needed for different age groups.

weezl74

Avocet wrote: »

I'm no Fire Fox (obviously!), but I've just amended the weight of carrots so that the unit is 1000g rather than 100g - you were only counting 290g instead of 2.9 kg. It makes a tiny bit of a difference to the calcium total, but not much ;-)

thank you Avocet

If the carrot cake goes sugar free how much sugar overall does that save us?

I think BOB does a reduced sugar weetabix loaf as well, will that help me to make some savings?

Also (sorry Lesley) one last one, if we with much sadness lose the chick pea crumble (but we will have it in another veggie version, I promise what does that bring our chick pea usage down to?

Please allow 180g dry weight chick peas for the families hummous, but (and her'e why the crumble's gone, asda have stopped the giant bags now and the dried ones are lots more money 19.7p per 100g.

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

thank you Avocet

If the carrot cake goes sugar free how much sugar overall does that save us?

.

350 grams - judging by using the full recipe (bear in mind I did half quantity for Mark 2 version).

personally - I think someone would have to have a PRETTY sweet tooth to notice that there wasnt any sugar in my Mark 2 version.

weezl74

ceridwen wrote: »

350 grams - judging by using the full recipe (bear in mind I did half quantity for Mark 2 version).

personally - I think someone would have to have a PRETTY sweet tooth to notice that there wasnt any sugar in my Mark 2 version.

I think we were making the double batch twice (or poor shirley is!) so 700g saved?

I'm glad it didn't impair flavour, and the evap milk added good mouth feel

xxx

oldMcDonald

HowlinWolf wrote: »

Asda smartprice yog is 45pence for 500g although I am struggling to work out if it's live or not.

It is. I often use it as a starter for home made yogurt when the kids gobble all mine up, leaving me none left for the next batch!

Fire_Fox

weezl74 wrote: »

Ok, I think we might be there!

Have added, evaporated milk, and dried and regular skimmed milk

I've aimed for 4g a day to round it up in case of Oxylate drain

I do hope the maths is right, firefox can you glance at my figures here:

You've missed 1g in baked beans, 0.7g in eggs, 1g in green beans! :T Eeeeeekkkkk, the spreadsheet is changing before my very eyes!!!!!! I think pasta is too high, is that based on the calcium carbonate figure and not the calcium figure?

canidothis

ceridwen wrote: »

Hmmm....never been in that position myself...but hearing a lot about teenagers with hollow legs.....hmmm...thinks.."filler foods" - teenagers for the use of.....

Thoughts on that front:
- popcorn?
- pancakes?
- interesting ways of doing potatoes (not just yer bog standard mash/chips/roasties/jackets)

Thats the first things that came to mind...

I did a popcorn experiment this afternoon:
100g dried popcorn yields about 250g of popped corn which gave me 10 x 25g bags (more than enough for a snack or to go with lunch)

The bag of popping corn cost 60p (500g) so using only 100g means

an amazing 0.06pence per bag :T

Sadly not a lot of calcium but Weezl it looks like you are there, am I right?
Well done everyone your efforts make fascinating reading