Weezl and friends Phase 3 - sitting pretty with Kitty

SusanC_2

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

I have never done it before but am using american measures as the site is american and I actually find the cup measures easier to do. It is wholemeal and I am using equal flour and water. It is only myself and my housemate at the moment so 4 loaves sounds immense! It certainly seems to be developing at the moment though, day three and it has produced the 'hooch' on the top. I am by nature an experimental cook so I am enjoying the science of it all, will have to let you know how it turns out. What does it taste like? I am also going to try using it for sourdough pancakes as I hear they are amazing!

I used to do it by cups but I find I get better results doing it by weight (1 cup flour is 5oz and 1 cup water is 8oz). It's hard to describe the taste - it tastes slightly sour (I guess compared to other breads, it's a bit like marmalade relative to other jams) but I think it's more satisfying and flavousome. Four loaves is frugal because it fills the oven - I freeze it in half loaves and sometimes freeze some as sandwiches if I've made a big batch of something like hummus.

System

Allegra wrote: »

Okay. Shall we do pasta funghi, panzanella and shepherdess pie in the first week ? Dates to be fitted in as suits, if we can manage same nights all well and good, if not, at least we'll be roughly on the same page

Jenny, Hayley, Sian, HG and anyone else who is considering joining in, no matter on how part-time a basis, how do you feel about the three meals above, and would you want to test them some time next week ?

I'm in! I'll make all three recipes, but it will have to be towards the latter end of the week, because I'm just back from holiday and I'm away again for the next couple of days so I won't have any food in the house until Wednesday. I'll be using different brands from those on the shopping list, but I don't suppose this matters too much to the overall outcome, since the ingredients seem fairly generic.

I'll also make a full batch of the bread recipe from this planner, because I see that it is needed for the panzanella. Actually, the thought of the panzanella (with its cold tinned tomatoes, and its potentially slimy/soggy bread) fills me with dread, but I'll give it a go with an open mind and with hope in my heart. :-)

Two questions:

1. I can't get garlic powder. How much fresh garlic should I substitute for each teaspoon of powder? Or would you rather I bought some garlic granules (in which case, what is the equivalent number of tsp of garlic granules, because I have never tried them before)?
2. Do you know what volume of stuffed-olive liquid is used in the pasta funghi recipe? The green olives I have in the house are in a much larger jar than the 340g one on the shopping list, and it would be easiest for me if I just drained off the appropriate amount of liquid. Don't worry if you don't know the answer -- I can buy an extra 340g jar for the purposes of the experiment. (I'm assuming that it is OK to use the liquid from unstuffed olives for this particular recipe, since the olives themselves aren't included and since the recipe also includes garlic powder -- please correct me if I'm wrong and if the garlic-stuffing contributes something essential!)

Looking forward to the experiment.

System

By the way, I've noticed a couple of anomalies on the web site. Apologies if these have already been noted; I've been away and haven't fully caught up.

~~ Broken link on page: http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/planner-option3-month1-weeklyshopping1.html Click on "Option 2" in the breadcrumb trail at the top. Page not found error, with message "The requested URL /planners-option3-month1.html was not found on this server."

~~ Using Omniweb browser, with a window size to fit a laptop screen, the images on http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/planners.html overwrite the last two headings and the top half of the checkboxes in the last two columns of the first row, so you can't see what the checkboxes refer to. Reducing the width of the window moves the columns and changes their position in relation to the image, so that it is possible to see everything with a bit of fiddling, although the window width is so narrow that "Before putting together our meal planners we surveyed over 600" constitutes a full line of text. The page displays fine in Safari, regardless of window size, so I imagine it's just a browser issue.

Allegra

Avocet wrote: »

Actually, the thought of the panzanella (with its cold tinned tomatoes, and its potentially slimy/soggy bread) fills me with dread, but I'll give it a go with an open mind and with hope in my heart. :-)

Yep, that's exactly how I felt before testing it out for the first time ! And it was delicious.....

I can't get garlic powder. How much fresh garlic should I substitute for each teaspoon of powder? Or would you rather I bought some garlic granules (in which case, what is the equivalent number of tsp of garlic granules, because I have never tried them before)?

When I did Shirl's planner I used fresh garlic for a while until I managed to get some powdered stuff - I took a blind guess and used a mid-sized clove in place of every tsp. When I then later on had the same dish with granules, the taste was nigh on identical, so I'm happy to recommend you use that as a guide !

Allegra

Mooloo wrote: »

I will be digging into the menu planner more, (again), to slow down the spending on food. Which has been out of control lately, again,

You can always come round for dinner and share ours

artybear

Righto!

Went to tescos today and got the bits I need, so I am offically doing the pasta fungi on Monday, the Panzanella on Wednesday and Calzone on Friday (unless anyone wants me to change my days). I have worked out the WW points for all days so I'm ready to go!!!!!

Weezl would I be able to see the Shirl planner spreedsheet? Mr arty can and I cant:(:p and Im trying to figure out all the points for those meals too.

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weezl74

Avocet wrote: »

I'll also make a full batch of the bread recipe from this planner, because I see that it is needed for the panzanella. Actually, the thought of the panzanella (with its cold tinned tomatoes, and its potentially slimy/soggy bread) fills me with dread, but I'll give it a go with an open mind and with hope in my heart. :-)

Two questions:

1. I can't get garlic powder. How much fresh garlic should I substitute for each teaspoon of powder? Or would you rather I bought some garlic granules (in which case, what is the equivalent number of tsp of garlic granules, because I have never tried them before)?
2. Do you know what volume of stuffed-olive liquid is used in the pasta funghi recipe? The green olives I have in the house are in a much larger jar than the 340g one on the shopping list, and it would be easiest for me if I just drained off the appropriate amount of liquid. Don't worry if you don't know the answer -- I can buy an extra 340g jar for the purposes of the experiment. (I'm assuming that it is OK to use the liquid from unstuffed olives for this particular recipe, since the olives themselves aren't included and since the recipe also includes garlic powder -- please correct me if I'm wrong and if the garlic-stuffing contributes something essential!)

Looking forward to the experiment.

Hi avocet, very nice to see you and that's great that you're up for some testing, about your questions, I think that one medium clove of garlic equates to a half teaspoon of garlic powder.

About your second question, I'm slighly concerned that the juice an another brand may be significantly more salty than the asda kind, so.... I had a look on the mysupermarket website to see if I could work out the saltiness for you so you'd have a good comparator, but they do not specify, other than I know salt must be more than 3% by volume.

Would you be willing to try making a thicker sauce first with some of the olive liquid, taste and then depending on saltiness, please make up the rest of the liquid requirement with either more olive juice or just water if already too strong?

How does that sound as a strategy?

Thank you very much for the two technical points too, first one fixable immediately, but second one a bit outside my current fixability:o as I don't have access to a mac as I am not at work during maternity leave. I think I shall ask on the techie board for some support with that one! (edit-I'm not excluding anyone on here as a possible source of help, just no-one mentioned web skills when we were building our list of skills/talents in our team!)

Can I ask a favour though, that you could do a screen grab of the issue in omniweb? I can mostly picture what you mean from your description but a visual would be great

weezl74

artybear wrote: »

Weezl would I be able to see the Shirl planner spreedsheet? Mr arty can and I cant:(:p and Im trying to figure out all the points for those meals too.

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hi arty,:) why's that? Is it something to do with dropbox?

weezl74

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

hello

You lot have been busy ............2 planners launched and a new website, have i really been awol that long?

been busy with degree ,my last year coming up in september where did the last 2 years go?(weezl had 2 babies for a start!)

Not been visiting MSE much but still living it! need to update my MFIT figures too ....all good though

Not sure i will be doing much recipe testing but i will be lurking on the sidelines , just in case

Shaz

hey shaz! lovely to see you

glad you're still around a bit on mse, and really glad you mortgage challenge is going well yay!

nopot2pin

Hello all :wave:
I hope everyone is well

I think I will be joining you for some of the evening meals
I am trying to use up what I have in already, so I may be substituting some ingredients on some of the recipes..... breakfasts and lunch will be also using up whats in the cupboard.


Pasta Funghi for tea tomorrow