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

got-it-spend-it

Potty- I don't really have a recipe for the lentil lasagne! It's a standard cheese sauce (with a dash of mustard in) and the traditional meat ragu is substituted for a lentil bolognese. Personally I make mine with an onion, garlic, half a cup of red lentils, veggie bouillion, a couple of grated carrots, and a chopped red pepper. Once this is cooked, I like to stir in some chunks of roasted butternut squash as it adds a delcious sweetness (and our local veggie stall has them at a really good price). Then I just layer it all up with SP lasagne sheets, then bung a bit of grated cheese on top.

boredofbeingathome

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

I do and i *would* drink them up if you hunted me down:D:rotfl::rotfl:

In fact i would give you the 28p:) well virtually any way:rotfl::rotfl:

DS has had a brew as well and commented how nice it was...don't think you can go for two dips though, but i might try it and see. I do know that in the cafe they are the same ones in the general tea pots...and they charge 70p ish for a tea pot. So if the general masses are drinking them unawares and paying for the privilege then who am i to argue:D

Just reporting back on *Two dips*- obviously it loses something but providing you leave it in a bit longer and get a bit of colour in the brew- it's not bad- not great, but not bad.:D I will drink it and i need at least two first thing.:D:D

Thanks- NPTPI- i am mega impressed by the survey, really good resource.

Hope young Weezl is a resting.:D

T'other Bob x

HowlinWolf

weezl74 wrote: »

T
And more specifically: In which ways did this version differ from the Delia? I can't remember if it was eggs or cheese you went lower on, sorry it's hard to keep up with what different people are trying

Do you think you will give it to DP without the meat now he's enjoyed it without?:)

I made your frugalised version, Delia's has wholemeal flour in place of the plain and cream instead of milk. I think it was the richness of the cream that I missed.

Hmm, would he eat it without meat. He would definitely eat without meat for a lunch I think. I don't know whether he would eat it without meat for an evening meal but I'll test that one next month!

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

A further chutney I had in mind was a non sweet one, with onions, chilli, garlic, salt and tomatoes. No sugar. 320g each of chopped tomatoes and chopped onion. I'd like it to condense down for quite a while. And the onion to be prefried with the spices and 30ml oil.

It will be served with onion bhajias. More like an authentic old style Indian Ketchup before they became all sweet.

Would anyone like to play around with that idea?

You have to be pretty brave, but I'm sure your inner Delia will emerge!

Would you like an onion Bhajia recipe to go with it, or perhaps the falafels?

A Frugalisation of either of these would be most welcomed

xxx

No sugar chutney:D - rubs hands....sounds good...

A vote here for falafels with that.:)

aeb_2

I've seen this thread mentioned a few times and wondered why I hadn't come across it - then I realised it has only been going about a week. Wow!!
I shall be watching and pinching ideas but I really haven't time to become involved at this moment in time.
I really pleased that you are putting an emphasis on healthy eating and nutrition. I another life which seems so long ago I was a Home Economics teacher, before it became Food Technology. My degree before that was in nutrition and I do worry sometimes that folks cut back on the wrong things and that this might have long term consequences.
Family calls but I shall be with you in spirit.

ceridwen

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Weezl.................rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rotfl::rotfl:...and even a "remarkable young lady" like you undoubtedly are DOES need rest. I've never been pregnant - but I imagine an afternoon nap if possible would be a good idea.

.....and as I just have this mental picture of you lying there at nights with all sortsa ideas whizzing furiously round your head ("gotta remember that/what about THAT angle?/that person would be a good one to contact for....."). Yep...been there...done that....I betcha its loads of that type of thoughts that whirls round your head in the early hours - closely followed by cooking thoughts - followed by the helpful thoughts again
- then, at a practical level, I found it helped to keep a notebook and biro by the side of the bed to note stuff down as it came to me - so I wasnt lying there going "Thats a good idea...I must remember that...mustnt forget...come the morning I'll start that one up and running...."

I do worry about the amount of sleep you seem to be managing on - when I look at all the times you are posting - and guess maybe a lot of that is that "whirling brain"...:)

Lesley_Gaye

I make onion bhajis quite often. Once I assembled everything in the bowl and left until the evening when I was going to add the water, but the salt had drawn moisture out of the onion and it didn't need any more water. Didn't seem to make any difference to the bhajis.

For the 2 of us, I tend to use a med to small onion, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric and any other spices I fancy at the time, usually a little ground coriander and cumin. I do Indian type food a lot and have lots of spices. Then enough gram flour, when the whole is mixed with water, to cover the onions in a thick batter.

I'll do some and be more precise with the quantities. I think we could get away with no, or minimal spices if these are going to be eaten with a strong tasting chutney. Maybe a little chilli to give it kick?

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

It's a good point that Shirley and Bob might be in full time work with long hours. I guess that's the toughest thing about the UK and it's personal debt crisis.

Those who are extremely poor in the developing world at least have some time to devote to their subsistence living.

It is troubling isn't it that due to credit card debt there can be people who still have to work in a huge job, and yet from a food point of view they should have the time to go foraging, batch cooking, shopping around....

I guess if I was in that situation, I'd be spending weekends doing it, I'd certainly have my teenagers following a recipe when they came in from school, on pain of grounding if any ingredients went missing, and I guess when faced with the type of financial crisis we're talking about, I'd certainly be willing to use a day's leave or a bank holiday monday to start getting sorted on the domestic front.

But I know that for me personal debt represents a great deal of anxiety so I would be very keen to fix it!

I'm in the "gets anxious about debt" camp. Hence what personal experience I have of "long hours culture" - in my case spending quite a bit of time doing extra paid work (on top of a full-time job). I was very aware of the difficulties of making sure I ate properly on particularly work-busy weeks. There were times of resorting to ready meals. By and large I managed to stay in control of that by reminding myself of my basic food criteria - ie about it being filling enough/is there enough Vitamin C in there?/is there enough protein in there? etc. I've often resorted to (wholemeal) bread/a chunk of cheese/large glass of milk and as much fruit as I can cram down my gullet...oh...and handfuls of nuts and/or seeds when I remembered and thought "well - it aint exactly a meal - but I must be covering all my nutritional bases". Hence my own personal preference for loadsa fruit - it doesnt need time preparing/cooking - so I have often resorted to getting darn nearly ALL my Vitamin C needs from fruit (rather than balancing out between fruit and vegetables). If time-rich and particularly cash-poor - I would turn that equation on its head and have extra vegetables to make up for shortage of fruit.

It helped to have worked out just what those basic nutritional bases ARE - so I could just throw the constituent parts down my throat without having to resort to a ready meal when I simply didnt have the time to cook a meal. In a previous very busy spell (not to do with my own financial circumstances - just a huge voluntary project at that time) - I just used to "throw money at it" as regards my own needs to get some food in my stomach and had a couple of cheap/healthy cafes/etc where I knew I could go in and get fed a proper meal for that day. One of them certainly got to know me quite well - as I went in so often and basically just held out my purse to pay and said "Whats for dinner tonight please?:)" But then - that was a period in my life where I managed to find the money to "throw at the problem" of how my stomach was going to get filled whilst I kept right on doing that (voluntary) work.

*********************************

I DO notice an increasing number of people having what I call a "Patchwork Job" - ie they are full-time workers - but cant find a full-time job. Instead they get up at the crack of dawn and head off to one low-paid part-time job/have a couple of hours break/head off to another low-paid part-time job/have another couple of hours break/head off to yet another low-paid part-time job. Some people are making up a "package" of a full-time job from constituent parts of several part-time jobs from different employers. So - say that would-be full-time employee has decided they need to spend 8 hours a day earning their income - they might actually have to spend 12 hours or so a day focusing on that. Reason = they have to return home after mini-job 1, then walk to work again to mini-job 2, then walk back from mini-job 2, then walk back to work AGAIN (the 3rd walk to work that day:eek:) for mini-job 3. I've asked a couple of people following this job pattern - and its not been by choice and I've been astonished by how much stamina it must take to spend 12 hours to earn 8 hours money for instance. I asked them "when do you find time/energy to lead your own life then?" and one of them certainly was quite blunt in their reply "you DONT".

At least a lot of the time I was doing huge mega-long workdays - it was because of all the voluntary work I have done at intervals - and not a "parcel of employers" dictating how I ran my life.

Lesley_Gaye

when I did the onion tart, my onions also took a long time to caramelise. When I was salaried I always cooked from scratch. If it took half an hour or less, I would cook it. If I had planned something like this that I knew would take longer, I would start it the night before. So while I was preparing one nights meal, I would chop the onions and leave them to brown on their own. I might even do the whole thing to give me a 'free' night. It didn't take long to do the pastry and get it in the dish (I am very comfortable with pastry, might not be true if it is a new thing for you)

ceridwen

weezl74 wrote: »

This thread has only been live for a week and I'm amazed how unbelievably far we've got. I'd never have thought I could do even the bits I've managed this week, and you all have inspired me to do more than I thought I was capable of. :T:T:T

Well....our Weezl....it is NOT more than I thought you were capable of. Do not under-rate yourself Weezl. Never underrate yourself.

I know its possible to tell you how remarkable you are - without you going off and getting a "swelled head"/huge ego attack - as you are simply not like that.

Fortunately too - a large bunch of willing good helpers has emerged.....yay!



:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D