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

weezl74

aless02 wrote: »

no grana padano, unless you're choosing to omit it from the recipes that had been using it?

sad that chickpeas are gone, but c'est la vie!

oh drat! Haven't I included it? oh boy....

shanks77

Ceridwen Lentil Cheese Roast looks lovely i am not a veggie but sounds scrummy will have to wait to get some yeast extract on next shop but really looking forward to trying it. Afraid you wont convert me but happy to try new things veggie or otherwise:beer:

HowlinWolf

Good grief this thread don't 'alf move fast. I couldn't get on at lunchtime and it's taken an age to catch back up.

Thinking about the final plan, I think we should include a really basic process guide for Shirl. i.e a step by step white sauce guide etc so that Shirl can read these at the start of the month so that she has an idea of how it's supposed to work and then when she comes to follow the recipe she isn't confronted by a process she's never come across before.

ariarnia

ceridwen wrote: »

Also - I have to say that I doubt very much that anyone (no matter how hard their backs are against the wall) will use powdered milk in their tea (remembers that from decades ago....and sticks fingers down throat gesture...).

We have as standard in 3 different places where I worked - 1. an alterntive education center for disaffected kids that was in a wood and fresh or uht just wasn't feasable - working shifts were 24 hours as they were residential in 2 week blocks. 2. a highstreet charity shop where h&s wouldn't let us have fresh milk or a fridge - 5 days a week 8 hour a day 3, an archaeolgy office that was used as a base and would have 10 people in one day then no one for 3 weeks sometimes.

honesty couldn't tell the difference if it's made up as per instructions with water first.

p.s sorry for any mistakes, i'm on a laptop.

weezl74

ceridwen wrote: »

I've done both recipes myself in the past - doing the saute in fat (in my case butter or oil) version - rather than cooking the onions in water. So - the sauted version of both is fine. Yep - the beans I used in recipe 2 were dried haricot beans (cooked in a pressure cooker in my case). I suggested the canned baked beans - as much quicker and canned Value baked beans are cheap enough (29p for Asda Smartprice ones per can).

C, does it work if we drain the beans for a while through the sieve? It's just that when the 5 a day portions are calculated, the tomato sauce around the beans counts as part of the 5 a dayness. So if we drained them and rinsed with just a teeny bit of water, and saved that water, and used that tomatoey base as part of the vegetarian gravy to go along with it, then we'd be preserving it's 5 a dayness?

And re your PM, having problems with responding, but have referred it to tech team now, but :j:j:j:j:):):):):):) from me xxxx

HowlinWolf wrote: »

Good grief this thread don't 'alf move fast. I couldn't get on at lunchtime and it's taken an age to catch back up.

Thinking about the final plan, I think we should include a really basic process guide for Shirl. i.e a step by step white sauce guide etc so that Shirl can read these at the start of the month so that she has an idea of how it's supposed to work and then when she comes to follow the recipe she isn't confronted by a process she's never come across before.

excellent idea

Any volunteers?

No need to reinvent the wheel, it could easily be a quick trawl through the mega index in old style to see how others have explained things simply.

ariarnia wrote: »

honesty couldn't tell the difference if it's made up as per instructions with water first.

Thanks, that's very reassuring we think so too here. I wonder if it's a 'brand' issue as well, I have certainly had some types of powdered milk that were horrid, but I really can't tell the difference with this stuff

And back onto the topic of my outgoing PMs not working, we need to carry this project on people! Over the last couple of days I've received 9 lovely PMs from people who are lurking and reading NOW, and are in Bob and Shirley's predicament and are gaining lots of hope and courage from our journey together and our planner.

They are obviously saying this privately so I won't say any detail, but the PMs are moving and amazing and each one asks us to please not give up.

THANK YOU LOVELY LURKERS! :A:)

weezl74

dearest loveliest Sian the Green :A

You know your idea of drizzling the carrot cake with oil afterwards?

Would you be willing to try a half or quarter batch? (for minimal risk )

weezl74

2250ml of rapeseed oil used raw would appear to yield the whole family's Omega 3 for the month. But that seems really different from Firefox's maths so I wonder if somebody who likes researching (artybear, HGL, avocet) could check out my logic?

weezl74

RDA of Omega 3 sourced wikipedia
% of n-3 oils in Canola(rapeseed oil) sourced USDA database for nutrients
conversion rate of 80g oil = 100ml of oil.

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

C, does it work if we drain the beans for a while through the sieve? It's just that when the 5 a day portions are calculated, the tomato sauce around the beans counts as part of the 5 a dayness. So if we drained them and rinsed with just a teeny bit of water, and saved that water, and used that tomatoey base as part of the vegetarian gravy to go along with it, then we'd be preserving it's 5 a dayness?


Thanks, that's very reassuring we think so too here. I wonder if it's a 'brand' issue as well, I have certainly had some types of powdered milk that were horrid, but I really can't tell the difference with this stuff

Well - I have only ever tried that recipe as per whats in the book - but I would imagine that if one uses canned baked beans - then I see no reason why the sauce shouldnt be reserved and put towards the vegetarian gravy - or summat else in another recipe. I suppose there is another possibility - ie actually just throwing the whole of the canned baked beans in with the recipe and then perhaps baking it in the oven with some breadcrumbs on top for a sorta crunchy type topping and/or soak up excess tomato sauce - I just havent tried it that way, so have no idea what it would be like.

Re the dried milk issue - possibly theres a brand difference in taste?? I know that, for instance, I am okay with one brand of Rice Milk - but the others are yuk! Think it was Hillbilly Housewife who reckoned dried milk could be more palatable if made-up in advance and left to "settle" for a few hours in the fridge (think they use a lot of dried milk in American economy cooking - must be given out on food stamps or summat??).

JayJay14

Hi Ceridwen - I think the main problem with dried milk is there are two types. The 'dried skimmed milk' and the 'dried skimmed milk with added vegetable fat' type. The one with the added fat has more 'body'. I do think though, whichever one you use they do taste better if they are made up and left to chill in the fridge. The other thing is to actually read the instructions. They do need to be made up in the correct proportions. Guessing does just not cut the mustard.

Some years ago when OH was out of work for nearly two years (before credit cards so no debt fall back position:rotfl:) we used to buy dried milk in large bags and used it for everything. If you mixed it well and chilled it you got used to it.

I would never recommend just putting the powder in tea/coffee - def into 'yukk' territory there.