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

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

Can I just ask, I notice we have 7 collaborators in the team who are looking at the 'windows live' environment. Is that because other folk who post regularly on here:
A) still see themselves as recipe testing but don't want to get bogged down in too much of the detail of the project
would actually very much like to but aren't sure if they should wait for an invitation/can't get their heads around the technology/didn't even know lesley had set one up etc etc...

Not for me, I'm afraid. Can't access it from work, and as the lappy at home is one of the early steam-powered models (or so it seems at times, the time it takes to do anything), I can't really access it from there, either. Same with googledocs.

So if you still want me to produce a batch cooking guide once you have a month's menu plan finalised, I am still very much up for it, but some kind soul will need to transfer the plan to me somehow first

Further thoughts before I vanish again - first things first, happy belated birthday, Weezl :T Secondly - frugal vegan cornbread. I have produced a passable egg and milk free loaf, and think I know what is needed to make it more than passable, so will report back once I've had a chance to test the tweaked recipe.

Secondly, if anyone is still waiting to equip themselves with silicone 2lb loaf trays, I have just managed to acquire 4 from Home Bargains, at £1.99 each :j Worth a look if you have one in your area.

Thirdly.... There was something else, I'm sure.... Oh yeah, I've tried the blended butter recipe. If anyone is yet to test it, please note that it is not a good idea to attempt to do so in a shallow mixing bowl. Still, it gave me a chance to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning

Lesley_Gaye

shanks77 wrote: »

Wow Wow Wow you are why i just test recipes and leave the brainy stuff for other people. That is very impressive and comprehensive Lesley can see why you have been "promoted" in this thread to Project Manager

aaaw thanks shanks , doing stuff like that reminds me of when I worked in an office rather than from home

grandma247

http://www.vegancoach.com/vegan-food-pyramid.html

I was searching for barley recipes when I came across this site. It may be useful, there is certainly a lot of info here.

queen_of_string

ALESS02

re breadsticks, they're not so much fillings as toppings. I rolled out the dough then spread some with mustard then stuck tiny shreds of cheese to them. The others I spread with a tiny bit of butter and sprinkled some garlic powder on. HTH

I also think in the recipe index of the old style grocery challenge there is a recipe for breadsticks from Mrsmcawber, but I haven't tried it.

ariarnia

Allegra wrote: »

Not for me, I'm afraid. Can't access it from work, and as the lappy at home is one of the early steam-powered models (or so it seems at times, the time it takes to do anything), I can't really access it from there, either. Same with googledocs.

I remember my first computer back in '95, I was informed by my father that it was like a car (being horse powered) but that 'cause a computer was so much smaller it was hamster powered - believed him for years (I was 6..) evil man still mocks me for it:p.

aless02

thanks QOS. I made some today and brushed some garlicky butter on top fresh out of the oven. They were scrummmmmmmmmmmmy! Very good with soups.

grandmasam

Hi all :hello:

Have only got 1/3 of the way through so far, but i have just made the onion tart and as the dish lid i use for the tart left me with about 1/4 of the herby pastry, decided i would make some twisted sticks!
I rolled out the pastry as thin as possible, sprinkled half with grated cheese, 1 dessert spoon full,folded in half, a quick couple of passes with the rolling pin,sliced into strips, twisted into spiral shape,small pinch of parmesan on top ,then baked until golden.
result is a light cheesy stick to use as a dipper with home made hummous,

My pastry is made with 6 oz flour, 3 oz lard or similar,with added mxd herbs, tsp mustard and bound together with water.Another idea would be to make oatcakes, or the pastry as described cut into squares,mark the tops with a fork, to stop them rising too much, and baked, as a savoury biscuit.
thanks for the thread ,it's fascinating!
caz

ceridwen

grandma247 wrote: »

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/browse.html#W

This is a long list of downloadable old cookbooks I thought some on here might be interested

:T I can feel many happy hours of browsing coming on:D

artybear

Hello..rushing back from work and now rushing to my friends..

i gather it was/is your birthday Weezl hope your having/had a lovely dayXXXX

ceridwen

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Oh my gosh, you and Ceridwen are pretty dedicated to this stuff eh? I can't imagine having the time to do it really, but perhaps if I prioritised it more then I would! I realise that some things are probably very bad for us (too much sugar, artificial colours etc) but think that there has to be a balance between living on a farm growing your own of everything and just shovelling whatever you want into your shopping trolley in the supermarket. In our house we have free range eggs and meat (mostly) and always have fair trade coffee and tea etc, that shows what our priorities are I guess. There is also the other variable which is the environmental impact, so coconut oil may be better for you but I find it hard to imagine how it is better for the planet than sunflower oil. Similarly, demanding fresh fruit all year round necessitates either forced greenhouse growing or massive amounts of air miles. I find it hard to think how we can enjoy life to the full if we are always worrying about these things. Good old fashioned common sense has to win out in the end eh? Most people, when it comes down to it, are doing what they think is best, a little education goes a long way to help them make sensible choices.

I think if I were Shirley I would like to have the planner in paper form; I can almost imagine it now!

Regarding savoury snacks; scones, scones, scones, go on, try them, savoury ones I mean. Chuck in some spices and chilli and they are really simple to make and delicious in a savoury way.

:T

"pretty dedicated" to this stuff - hmm....partly that...

and largely a profound (and growing) distrust for supermarkets. I seem to recall that there was quite a battle to get the ingredients contained in the products they sell put on the label - but thankfully Right won (to a large extent - as there are still a few bits and pieces of ingredients they manage to "sneak under our radar":mad:).

The more I read about supermarkets and advertisers - the more I head as far and as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Obviously - being in the Transition Movement - I am aware that supermarkets arent sustainable for much longer anyway and we will all be going back to more locally-produced food:D.

I've now read the book "Eat your heart out - why the food business is bad for the planet and your health" (by Felicity Lawrence). It started getting a bit involved for me at some points - but I would recommend it for reading nevertheless. Right at this moment - a comment by one of the people she interviewed in it is making sound sense to me "I won't eat it - unless its been produced for at least 200 years" - to which my mental response is "That sounds like a good motto for how to decide what to have - and add sugar onto that list and I should be pretty okay". It just doesnt strike me as right to take out a load of the goodness from food - and then add it back in again with artificial "nutrients" to try and make up the deficit that the food manufacturer was responsible for creating in the first place.

I read all the facts - remember a few of them and then just go by gut instinct as to what is a good idea or otherwise to eat. I think - after a while - its starting to become second nature to automatically choose what particular food my body needs at that point. I did read research some time back - think it might have been with babies?? - which indicated that, left to themselves (before they started to get fed all the wrong things) and they would automatically reach for the right food that they needed at that point. I've never had children myself - so havent had the chance to see if thats correct or no...but it sounded feasible to me - ie the idea that we have to be "trained" in the wrong ways by food manufacturers to choose their unhealthy products.

Reading about the health levels of a few (ostensibly more "primitive") peoples in various parts of the World - before they took up the Standard Western Diet is a very strong incentive to remember that the bad health many of us take for granted ISNT the way things are supposed to be. Obviously - we still have to deal with the facts that the air we breathe/water we drink/etc leave a lot to be desired as well and we dont have much control over these things (car fumes in the air and fluoride in the water for instance) - but at least we DO have a large degree of control over what we eat.

...sigh...life would be so much easier if we could trust the Government to regulate these food producers properly (instead of wondering just how many of them have been "bought" by the food industry)....makes a change I suppose from finding that they've been bought by the oil industry....