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

Lesley_Gaye

ceridwen wrote: »

Well - if you're going to go off and hide in a corner for not making your own bread - then I guess that would be me hiding in the opposite corner (due to that expensive breadmaker I bought and never used since:o). Mind you - in my defence - I was mentioning said breadmaker to a friend in LETS tonight and he instantly asked for "first refusal" if I decide to sell it through the LETS Scheme. I've told him I'll think about it for a week to be sure on this - but if I do decide to sell it (errr...probably will:o) then he can have this £100 breadmaker for 80 Lets Credits (which he felt is fair). Nope - I'm not going to say JUST how far in debit my LETS account is..:cool::o:o:o

I do envy you a LETS group. I enquired about one and now LETS HQ think I want to organise one and ask me at intervals how I am doing, completely ignoring my replies along the lines of, I would love to join one, but don't have the time or inclination to set one up

artybear

Wowie thank you all so much for your thoughts-Im sorry for taking over your thread for tonight weezlie but its sort of on topic.

I have some student debt like I said but struggled alot not to have the maximum-because my family are not wealthy (or have even a tiny surplus) I never felt that there was a fall back plan and was very stressed and worried alot of the time.

Now because of my post grad I have taken a significant personal loan but i dont think i will ever regret it-even if it doesnt get me a job i love what i am learning.

I think because im a bit younger than you all I feel I could easily avoid Bob and Shirley debt because I am reading this forum and many academic papers about bad debt-however i do get worried that i wll never progress/buy a house/travel in life because I feel such guilt when taking any thing on credit.

I suppose debt is worth it for what you value in life-I value education HIGHLY and so have debt from that-hopefully I will help people through this too but mainly it was quite a selfish thing.

anyway thanks for giving me feedback and hopefully i can explain to people in more concise terms next time they ask me about debt and the plan.

artybearxxxxxxx

p.s im planing on moving to central-ish londres in july so if we meet at the ministry of food exhibit id be happy to provide free tea/coffee and have a frugal lunch. Im so looking forward to meeting everyonexxxx

princess_loki

ok... because i added extra water i had to cook it down for longer BUT once i had cooked it down you would never know that it had ready brek in it!! i must have added 6 -8 (maybe more) heaped dessert spoons of ready brek to weezls basic ingredients (plus 1/2 onion which needed using!). because i cooked it for so long it has the consistency of a thick paste rather than pate - but think about those jars of 'toast toppers' or similar (have never bought but have had at friends!).

i did add extra colemans mustard powder, chilli and paprika but then i like my food HOT!!!!

Sian_the_Green

artybear wrote: »

p.s im planing on moving to central-ish londres in july so if we meet at the ministry of food exhibit id be happy to provide free tea/coffee and have a frugal lunch. Im so looking forward to meeting everyonexxxx

Ooh, that is exciting. Maybe we could all bring something along then. I know that sounds a little silly but the thought of trying something made by these people whose recipes I keep reading is very exciting to me.
Lesley, it was a compliment, honestly, I am trying to work out how to wangle an invite for dinner

weezl74

Awwww! I go off to bed early and you all have lots of interesting chats without me :rotfl:.

But this is the virtue of internet life, we can keep different hours but still enjoy each other's company

I'm feeling very excited about the nearly finishedness of Bob and Shirley planner 1

the 2 biggest issues I have are: TEA!

We're good for enough milk for most people for 6ish cups a day, but not so many people were up for reusing the tea bags

Good suggestions from some folk about the loose leaf and pots, I think I'm going to have to do a bit more pricing research!

weezl74

shanks77 wrote: »

Weezl where is the recipe for the stuffing i have had a look but cant find it. Should be able to do something with stuffing in the next day or so if you want. xx

Hope DH feels better soon speak to you tomorrow

stuffing, yes! Will do a search this thread in a bit (the function is being temperamental at the mo!) and post a current recipe idea

Murrell wrote: »

Hiah,

Not a silly question. Yes ordinary dried mung beans. They have to be whole, so will be green. Its a bit like the lentils being green when whole and orange when split.
I sprout
green mung beans
chick peas
alfalfa
brown and green lentils
aduki beans
they are all easy to do apart from aduki beans, most of these don't sprout in my case, so I think I am going to cook the rest and give up with those. This is the second packet i've tried. Been doing the others for years. After soaking time, take 2-3 days depending on time of year apart form alfalfa which take about a week.
Hope this helps

Sandra
x

So it's these ones?:




and can you guesstimate the yield rate to failure rate? ie are you throwing away half the beans unsprouted, a quarter?

Also, I would be mega interested in how the nutrition profile increases after sprouting if you have access to that info. I know you have done lots of thinking about healthy vegan diets

xxx

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

A picnic is a fab idea, that would be really lovely

Hang on, I am planning the menu now......

Well, it's a saturday Lesley, will we not all be bringing our flasks of pea and apple soup?;)

Apart from shanks (only pea!)

ceridwen

skaps wrote: »

Making kiwifruit bread and thought you may want the recipe. Don't know how frugal it is but i always get kiwis when they are cheap.

[FONT=&quot]Kiwifruit Bread recipe[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ingredients:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]¼ cup of liquid honey.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1/3 cup of vegetable oil.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 medium egg.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 teaspoon of cinnamon.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]¼ teaspoon of ground cloves.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 teaspoon of baking powder.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]¼ teaspoon of salt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 cup of kiwifruit pulp.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 cup of chopped walnuts.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 cup of raisins.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Preparation Instructions:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1)Thoroughly beat the honey, vegetable oil and egg.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2)Sift the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder and salt; then and add to the honey/oil/egg mixture.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3)Lightly stir in the kiwi pulp, chopped nuts and raisins.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4)Spoon into an 8-inch oiled loaf pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5)Allow to cool.[/FONT]

I've now tried this recipe out - as I duly spotted some cheap kiwifruit.

So - with the following amendment - ie I had to add some milk (typo that none was listed??) - so with a cup of milk (standard full-fat milk - rather than diluted MSE-fashion) thats a good recipe. I personally used agave nectar instead of honey (just because I'd run out of honey) - but agave nectar is very similar to honey (errr...non-frugal alert - its dearer than honey <cough>).

So - with that milk addition - to get it to a cake consistency - its a nice recipe. I would certainly do it again. I tried it out on a friend and he was standing there going "yum:p" and took a couple of slices away with him happily.

Its an easy recipe to do as well - I used American size cup measurements and got 16 small slices from it. Easy as well - well it woulda been for anyone else (it took me personally rather more effort - as I used unshelled walnuts - rather than buying my walnuts ready-shelled. Hence I had to shell my walnuts first.)

So - just thought I'd report back on how this went - though its not on the Plan.:D

Its :T

FrankieM

Morning,
I really enjoyed everyone else's comments on debt. I went to bed too weezl but it was interesting to read this morning.
sian Is the Tart the onion tart that is on the plan? Am I right in thinking that it's a bit like sloppy onions on pastry, no egg or filling other than the onions? Is it dry? Sorry for all the questions...I'm not very good at picturing things in my mind.

Does anyone think I could use the basic eggless apple cake but without the apple and add coco powder? It's my DD's b'day today and was thinking of doing it for her birthday cake.

FrankieM

ceridwen I have some kiwi fruit...do you think I could use that in the eggless apple cake recipe?

Can anyone else see a theme here...;)

weezl74

thanks ceridwen

Aless, if you have a spare mo today can I get some marmalade thoughts from your good self?

similarly, frankie your thoughts on a fruit cordial for the kids would be ace

taka,:D what is your breadmaker recipe and what size loaf does it yield, and would you be willing to try an oaty version in case Shirley isn't a fan of the no-kneed or the Paul merrett

Sian, thanks lots for the splendid news and results on the 2 onion tarts, they sound superb When you say arrange a beautiful layer, I Imagine one with perfect circles of onion rings lightly caramelised. Have I got the right picture in my head? I'd also appreciate some further info from you on 2 things if you have any space:

egg-free cakes: Are we just risking pleasing no-one with these? and do we just look for sweet treats which aren't trying to compensate for a lack of egg?

This is mainly for planner 2, so if you need to see an ingredients list to get your head round what's available, just let me know and I'll provide one-ish!

Is the onion tart (both versions) ok with just potato salad and 1 veg, or would it need some kind of sauce/chutney HM ketchup/gravy?

could you have a quick look at the eggless quiche in t'other place, and let me know if that seems too similar to the non-vegan version you posted for both to appear twice in the same month planner?

I can space them a week apart!

poohbear I was very encouraged by your findings on the fillingness of the risi e bisi, thank you!

I wondered if you could say a little more about the relative merits of your 2 types of pie you made from your leftover chicken?

xxx