Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

weezl74

Murrell wrote: »

These look nice and I guess you could make them with any type of beans too if you didn't like kidney beans. Understand why you chose kidney beans though, they are so much cheaper than the other beans aren't they.
I made the new nut roast recipe tonight and its was delicious. I didn't use white bread though, but all other ingredients the same. Yum.

Sandra
x

thanks sandra

I'm extremely touched by your offer of the book too:A, are you sure there isn't someone you'd like it as a gift for to save yourself cash at christmas?

With the nut roast, did you make a marmitey gravy? Also did you find it too dry, I think that was some folks fears about it

shanks77

have published ingredients and photo of vegan risi e bisi mark 2, but before I add the method, arty/anyone else is the method for the original risi clear enough, cos I was going to borrow heavily from that one [/QUOTE]

It is clear enough for me and ex was able to follow it with no probs so unless anyone else can think of anything i would stick with that

Ps just looked at picture and it looks fantastic so does the onion tart. You are very talented both in the kitchen and with photographs

kezlou

Well its a good job someone had the right recipe , good job i was making them tomorrow .
I was too ill today to do anything.

I thought the risi e bisi instructions were really easy to follow, considering i get 9.5/10 :rotfl: and end up with tasteless mush.

going to make a cuppa now and make myself heal.

Murrell

weezl74 wrote: »

thanks sandra

I'm extremely touched by your offer of the book too:A, are you sure there isn't someone you'd like it as a gift for to save yourself cash at christmas?

With the nut roast, did you make a marmitey gravy? Also did you find it too dry, I think that was some folks fears about it

Although I know someone that is in heavy debt and could do with such a book, she would just shelf it and not even read it. I spent about a year trying to help her before moving out of the area and it was a lost course unfortunately. She would rather eat out and get more into debt, hoping that they will get a council house and sell the house to pay off the debts and use the rest to go out with! I know you would read some if not all of it and probably try some of the recipes or at least use them as a idea to make a more frugal dish, so I feel I would like to give it to you in return for you doing this wonderful resource for us all and it may help with more ideas. Although I am not in debt and I am lucky enough to have money in the bank, I am such a frugal girl at heart, that this thread appeals to me so much. I do intend to print off a few recipes and give to colleagues and I may send some to the friend that was a lost cause too.

Monday night is my only night to cook something different and so tonight was nut roast. I had warmed up for my dad, what I had cooked at lunchtime, so I could have a play in the kitchen, on my own whist hubbie was out playing football and then badminton. Just as I was putting it in the oven, my dad asked if I would nip to the shop before it shut in 30 mins. So I did and as I got back, there was just 2 mins to go. So I had it on its own without gravy of veg, which wasn't my intention at all. I has 1/4 straight away and it was quite soft and fell apart, but when I went back about 15 mins later it had firmed up and I had another quarter. It wasn't dry, but I think with gravy and veg it would of been a better meal. Luckily I had vegetables at lunchtime, so I don't feel deprived. I have never made yeast extract gravy, how do you make it? I don't actually like yeast extract on its own, hubbie does, so this is why we have it in and so I use it in recipes which I find ok and I know I am getting extra vits, so that is good too. I am prepared to try it and if I don't like it, I can save it and add it to something else.

Now i've used the juice from the roasted peppers, what dish should I be looking at to use the peppers. I guess I should of used them first and then be using the left over juice.
Thanks
Sandra
x

jinky67

Delurking once again to say.....I love this thread:j:j:j and all the hard work you are putting in to it:D:T

Lesley_Gaye

just had a call from a woman I do some work for now and again and she needs me to go in tom, and maybe Thurs/Fri as well, so that will help the bank balance. Out all day Wed, otherwise I think she would want me to go in then as well

DP finished up the vegan brownies today, so I made him some of the carrot cake and he had 2 pieces for his pudding. There's nothing like home cooking warm from the oven is there. Think I may take a couple of pieces in with me tom for the 2 other people that I will be working with, they usually supply the biscuits, so only fair. I will take a piece to have with my lunch which is a Weezl lentil pate sandwich taken from the freezer with chunks of cucumber added.

this month has gone fairly well, better than I may have expected. I have to remind DP now and again about the relative cost of what we are doing and how much other type of food costs. He bought a cake for instance earlier this week, and then kept commenting on how much it had cost when he had noticed it on the receipt. It was 98p and I said I could feed you for most of the day for that and I think I might be making an impression. He asked how much the carrot cake was tonight! Every time I put food in front of him now I say how much it cost

we are not in debt and don't need to be so frugal, but our business is vulnerable to interest rates and I want to improve that situation as much as I can while we have the opportunity

DP has got a few days work again (outside our work from home business) and he has lunch in the pub often when that happens, I suppose it is extra funds, but I would still prefer to put it all away, but don't mention it as I don't want to get obsessed about it

we had the lasagna tonight. I was a bit concerned it was going to be too sweet, esp as a couple of comments have been made that it was sweet. I got some mixed peppers in the cheapy box for 5p each on Monday, so a couple of those went in, and a few elderly mushrooms, 1 tin of toms instead of 2. It made 3 x 2 portions, and our portions aren't small. Had it with some HM coleslaw and we both liked it, although I think I would reduce it down to 2 x 2 portions so it was a little more meaty. Two more portions (for 2) stashed away safely

Got a huge Bramley from the cheapy box for 10p, so had that yesterday baked with some ancient mincemeat in the middle, very tasty

off to bed to read my book now, good night all and hope your testing is still going well

Allegra

Been too frazzled and incoherent to post, and am by no means sure I am past that particular state of mind yet, so if my post is not making much sense, don't worry, it's not you

Now, when was I last on properly - Thursday ? Had pasta with amatriciana sauce from the frozen batch, and very nice it was too. !!!!!! came back fairly late that night and was not particularly hungry, so we had his portion split for our lunches next day, and it was still nice cold. Just as an aside, as I normally don't use passata in place of tinned tomatoes, does anyone who uses them as a norm ever find that when frozen, tinned-tomato based sauces tend to smell and taste... Well, of tin, really ? It tends to more or less disappear once they were warmed up, but it has left me ever so mildly worried that I might have had a contaminated batch of tins or something. It's probably - hopefully - just me being oversensitive and not really used to the taste !

Friday night we had chilli - again from the frozen batch, and it tasted even nicer defrosted and heated up than it did fresh - except again for that tinny smell. I had to add a tsp of paprika to it as I was reheating to get rid of the smell, and then it smelt fine to me, and as I already said, tasted great

And then came Saturday and DD went off to a sleepover, and as !!!!!! had some unexpected funds to spend, I'm afraid we said "sod Shirley and Bob" for the first time this month and went out and spent them If I was Shirley, I'd have spent that money on stocking the storecupboard and freezer; if I was Weezl, I expect I'd thoughtfully lob it onto the mortgage; as it was, we happily handed it over at the local curry house, and came back barely able to move for stodge. The almost-forgotten experience of being able to dine out, just the two of us, was more than worth it though.

Sunday !!!!!! was out with his son and DD out with a friend, so I had the BNS risotto to myself, and being in an experimental, as well as labour-saving frame of mind, I tried making the risotto without roasting the squash seperately, just to see if there was any difference to the final result. Well, there was - especially if one, like ISOM, is not into the texture of BNS - when cooked on the hob, there is no disguising the fact that BNS is what you are eating; and the caramelised taste of it roasted does add to the dish - but the dish was still nice enough for me to happily indulge in my usual trick and eat !!!!!!'s portion, too. Nom

Given the fact that by the time I came to cook dinner DD was suffering from the after effects of a sleepover night (lack of sleep, surfeit of sugar), the meal was really a bit too much for me to take on - that is the issue that I always have with the "roast and trimmings" type of meals, especially as they are traditionally eaten on a Sunday which traditionally is the last day before returning to school and that means that usually DD is in full flow.... There's just too much going on and the whole performance is in constant danger of flopping spectacularly, more so when I am preparing stuff I am not 100% familiar with (two culprits here - bubble and squeak and stuffing, neither of which is a regular on my menu plan). I got it all together in the end, even if it was all, as per way too often in such situations, in various states of tepidity by the time it hit the table - not a steam cloud in sight. The bubble fell apart in the frying pan and had to be "deftly" reassembled en route to the plate (after 15 years of such kitchen exploits, I now have asbestos hands); the stuffing was herbed by a makeshift combo of rosemary, thyme and parsley, which more by luck than judgement ended up smelling and tasting exactly like sage, and the frugalised version of onion gravy was the exact colour and texture of the contents of a baby's nappy, despite the fact that the onions were, by the time I remembered they were in the oven, pure carbon, so I'm afraid I caved in and added a splash of Lea and Perrins to the mix, with the result that made me feel a little less like Nigel Planner and a little more like Nigella Lawson.

Anyway, the end result was colourful, tasty and filling - I sneaked a bit of bubble onto DD's plate, and it got eaten without comment despite containing cooked carrots, so we were all happy

Monday was cottage pie from the freezer, and apart from !!!!!!'s mirth at the vivid orange colour of the base, we very much enjoyed the dish - !!!!!! thought that the sliced potatoes topping it were a nice change from our usual mash - and the tomato was undetectable, and the tinny smell of it conspicuosly absent, which made us both happy. I also made another batch of bread (I'm sticking with Paul Merret now as it's a favourite with all of us) and a batch of sweet scones - using my usual scone cutter which did not take into account the fact that the hot oaty stuff would expand in the oven, so I ended up with 12 humongous scones rather than 24 normal-sized ones; plus I think that 12 minutes in the fan oven must have been way too much as they ended up very hard and biscuity. The verdict - edible, but not desirable, and not really what we would call a scone. I'll try a savoury batch next time, make them smaller, and get them out of the oven sooner.

What else ? Oh, when we were in Asda on Saturday, !!!!!! reminded me that Weezl needed someone to count soft citrus fruit, but sadly our little Asda does not carry it. so we couldn't help

Risi e bisi for us tonight, as there's no way I can cope with the making of veggie burgers atm We will hopefully be able to test them next time they are on the plan.

weezl74

hi just a brief one as not a chance to catch up properly. I have a very swollen throat and am going for a lie down as my mum's here!

sandra I was going to use the peppers in houmous, pasta alfredo and a pasta salad. For the pasta salad I may have to go back to the drawing board, because I was going to get shirley to use bean sprouts sprouted from the mung beans, but I have been spectacularly unsuccessful with them here and changing their water every 8 hrs seems a bit much given the other things we're expecting like baking bread so often

going to lie down now, see you soon

artybear

Oh no weezl:(

Is there anything we can do to make you feel better-not very practical I know as we are all so far away but still......?

Hope you feel better after your lie downXXXXX

kezlou

Aw Weezl, you've been struck down by the plague .

If there is anything we can do, just let us know xxx