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

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

yes please. Excellent secretary. Nice perm BTW....

You're just jealous because my nail varnish is pinker than yours

Right, people, both the Month 1 Planner and List of all the month's meals have now been updated again, and are being updated on a regular bases, so keep checking them so you don't get left behind !

artybear

hmmm..the oven is fan and I think I put it on 200 and left the bread in there for an hour. Maybe too long??

However I left it that long because it just looked dough like till that point so not sure what I can do?

When I say crusty- what I'm trying to say without offending the recipes writer is 'brick like'.:o However the inside tastes like nommy bread (with a bit of a floury tang) so I have eaten the insides. I'll try cutting it from the bottom that may work.

So any thoughts? Thanks for the help so far guys-I know you're probably rolling your eyes as its simple but I'll shut up soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

weezl74

aless02 wrote: »

Just a word of caution, but I just threw out green, furry lemon that I bought only last week! So keep an eye on your oranges & lemons, ladies. How are we going to use them up before they go off?

thank you so much for that reminder! The orange flim flam uses the carcasses of the 4 zested and squeezed oranges and 2 further ones. It then keeps a goodly while in a sterilised 2lb jam jar, while the juice and zest of the oranges can go in icecube tray ready for your nect batch of carrot cake

With the lemons, we have 2 options: 1 mostly with Frankie's Los in mind we have Jenny and Jason's lemon cordial, and for those who are happy with tea/don't like cordial, then I was thinking we can add the juice to the risi e bisi a little would be lovely in that I feel, the houmous and the raisin scones and the zest can go in the raisin biscuits... I'm sure there was somfing else I had it in mind for...

Oh tired brain!

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

Does landlady have a fan oven? Mine isn't, so if she does, you could also try reducing oven temp slightly, or removing the loaves when the colour is a little less dark this time?

I have a fan oven, and I bake all bread on 190 degrees - any lower and you won't kill the yeast and the bread will stay doughy and runny inside :eek: Don't ask me how I know

As for cooking times, I'll try and remember to time mine tomorrow, but do remember that all ovens vary - what I do is open the oven when I see th loaves start getting golden brown, pull one out, and give it a tap - when it starts sounding hollow it's done.

weezl74

artybear wrote: »

hmmm..the oven is fan and I think I put it on 200 and left the bread in there for an hour. Maybe too long??

However I left it that long because it just looked dough like till that point so not sure what I can do?

When I say crusty- what I'm trying to say without offending the recipes writer is 'brick like'.:o However the inside tastes like nommy bread (with a bit of a floury tang) so I have eaten the insides. I'll try cutting it from the bottom that may work.

So any thoughts? Thanks for the help so far guys-I know you're probably rolling your eyes as its simple but I'll shut up soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

oh boy arty that sounds bad poor you. Do you want to have a stab at the other one that aless and howlin both wrote helpful additional methods for? that one seems to work for all the folk who haven't got on with the no-kneed one

poohbear59

Allegra wrote: »

Oh, and another thing - Poohbear, regarding the cheese - this is why I grated and froze the whole block on the batch cooking day, because I know that, if it was hanging around, someone would eat it.

Someone, in this case, being me

Thank you for that brilliant idea! I usually grate it to make it last longer but hadn't thought of freezing it too.


We have just finished the onion tart and DH said' That was a lovely starter, what is the main course?' So after thumping him I have suggested he waits 20 minutes for his food to go down and then if he is still hungry he can have some carrot cake.

The rest of the tribe enjoyed it too. I served it with potato wedges.

weezl74

Bigjenny wrote: »

Cooked a single portion of Thrifty Cottage Pie tonight to use up some tinned tomatoes.

Quartered all ingredients easily and just a pinch on chilli and garam masala, veg and potatoes as listed.

Absolutely huge portion, probably ok for Shirley's lot but found it a bit too much for meas an older lady:D, ate meat part but couldn't manage all of potatoes.

Would probably leave out oats next time to reduce portion size as I also had to add extra water, might have cooked it a bit to long though. Wasn't keen on spices so would leave them out too.

Also think it was carrot overload with carrots in recipe and as a veg. Perhaps if Shirl has some spare cash next month she could have cabbage or cauli with it instead.

Would you like me to try it again with out oats and spices.

it would be better to have just peas or a different veg jenny, you're quite right

Although probably a bit annoying for you if you have leftovers it's very reassuring to know that the portion sizes are generous, thank you for the feedback, I'll incorporate it I would be interested in your tweaks and how they work out

Allegra

artybear wrote: »

hmmm..the oven is fan and I think I put it on 200 and left the bread in there for an hour. Maybe too long??

However I left it that long because it just looked dough like till that point so not sure what I can do?

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I think that might have been a tad too long, Arty. Mine took 25-30 minutes in a fan oven, I'd say.

When you say "looked like dough" - do you mean the colour ? Or did it just look weird and runny ? If the former, I wouldn't worry - I'd just do the tap test, mine were quite pale. If the latter, try mixing it for longer.

And when you say "brick like", do you mean squat and thick, or just hard-crusted ? That is to say, how much did it rise ?

poohbear59

weezl74 wrote: »

poohbear, Thinking about the lads not liking porridge, I found this recipe for you, which would use the hot oaty cereal so your men would get their vits, one egg from your girls and everything else is on the list you bought, you'll just probably need one more bag of SR flour over the month

but I hope it helps you,

Love from Weezl x

I have had a look at the recipe and it seems like something they would like to eat. Thank you x

Oh, and I have been invited out for lunch tomorrow so I am leaving DSs x 3 in charge of making dinner tomorrow. We will probably have a pasta dish and have the risi e bisi later.

DS3 made the onion tart with me supervising. The pastry was scrummy!

weezl74

Allegra wrote: »

I think that might have been a tad too long, Arty. Mine took 25-30 minutes in a fan oven, I'd say.

just checked with DH and we reckon ours take between 25 and 35 mins, but our oven is not fan assisted.

Hope that helps

do people think a youtube vid of making the no-knead would be handy?