Weezl and friends Phase 3 - sitting pretty with Kitty

MadDogWoman_2

DH has sampled the scones - delicious he won't eat the cake as it contains dried fruit

Carrot cake - absolutely fabulous, I used ground ginger instead of garam masala, I saw it before the garam on my spice shelf.

I also made Houmous at 7am yesterday morning! I'd done the chickpeas the night before, used my stick blender as my mini chopper is a bit noisy for that time of day in a terraced house It's lovely, I did contemplate popping in some tahini as I have some in the fridge but it doesn't need it.

nopot2pin

My dad popped down early, as my boiler wont turn on... seems its got no electric to it... anyway, we checked the fuse, which was ok. It appears that I will have to call the gas people tomorrow to get it fixed.

Anyway, as soon as my dad walked in the door, the conversation went along these lines...
Him - What did you have for your tea ?
Me - Nut roast
Him - Nut roast ?
Me - Aye. Why ?
Him - Because it smells lovely in here.
Me - Do you want to try some Dad ?
Him - Oh aye !!

So he had a wee half of a muffin size bit... He said it was lovely... but a little sweet.. but he would definately eat it
Happy Days

VenusFlytrap_2

Thanks Allegra, your reply to my post is brilliant :T you've given me more than enough to go on there - Bigjenny's tips make an excellent start to the single living bit and there's loads of info from testers about how they got on doing half, quarter or double batches of recipes etc depending on family size - especially the ones involving bread dough, lots of questions on that so think it needs addressing!

There's plenty of feeback about portion sizes for various dishes as well, so that could be relevant too I think? How far things will stretch will surely depend on whether you're cooking for say, two adults and a small child, or a family that includes two strapping teenage lads (think poohbear59 can help there with all the hungry men she manages to feed - I salute you girl! )

The oven size issue seems well worth mentioning too, as like you say a smaller oven is more likely to be found in smaller household. I've rented 2 flats and 2 small houses and they've all had not very big ovens with only one shelf - so I concur with ariania that it's a right pain when you're trying to cook lots of things at once! You're right too about those damn grills you can't close, they're a nightmare, thankfully my present abode doesn't have one... but instead it's part of the actual oven, so you can't use them both at the same time! :mad:

My solution to the problem of not having enough space for oven trays when wanting to cook separate things is to use two narrow trays - eg when making a Sunday roast I do the meat on a little roasting tray with a rack and put the potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls etc on a small/medium baking tray and put them both side by side on the one shelf (obviously the chicken takes longer so it has at least an hour right in the centre of the shelf before being moved to the side to fit the other tray in, so no worries about it not being cooked through all over!) I'm very naughty and use frozen Yorkie puds that only take 5 mins to cook rather than making my own , so I cook them on the roasting rack while the meat is resting. If you need space for roasted veg too, potatoes and stuffing can be cooked in the roasting tin, but that might not appeal to more health-concious folk trying to avoid eating too much fat, although the meat juices make them taste delicious IMO!

Allegra your tips on how to utilise other appliances (slowcooker, microwave, hob) etc might also apply to the article, unless you think it fits in better elsewhere? You saying not to be afraid to state the obvious is a massive help too, that was something that worried me but will aim to be as clear as possible. Have found plenty of stuff too on how people have worked around likes and dislikes or substituting ingreds for things they already have in or using up bargain purchases and homegrown produce (I'm looking at you, LesleyGaye!), as I said before just don't want any of this to clash with PinkHayley's Alternatives article - Hayley if you're reading this, could you let me know what kinda thing you're putting in there so I won't be stealing your thunder? Anything I've found already that will be useful to you I'll gladly pass on.

And please don't worry about scaring or overwhelming me, the advice I've been given has been a great help, had a bit of an explosion of ideas in my head that needing organising! I have got a few little queries about things that have come up already but they'll have to wait til tomorrow - I'm falling asleep at the keyboard... and so are all of you I imagine, if you've managed to read all of this post!

Night all

Venus xxx

PS - re Skype, I will sign up tomorrow, I'm more of a Facebook kinda girl at the mo.

shanks77

Hi folks sorry im not around at the moment but my lappy has a virus and is getting fixed so having to use work one when its quiet.:( Everyone sounds like they are getting on so well. We had the risi last night (we use sweetcorn instead of peas as ex is not a fan) and had HM pizza tonight both of which have become staples in this household. We are using stuff from the freezer over the next couple of nights before i have to do a shop.
Hope to be back soon and hope you all have a great day look forward to catching up properly xx

artybear

Oh Shanks that is rubbish about your lappy, hope it gets fixed soon.

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned on here but thought I would write it again for all the people who have just joined us. Myself, Allegra, Hayles and a few others were planning on testing the Christmas day meal on Halloween. We thought it would be fun if we all did it on the same day, this gives us plenty of opportunity to ask questions if it goes wrong, offer advise on ways to make it better, also (for me ) it will make it seem really christmassy and fun!!!

So just wondered if anyone else wanted to join in too??? Remember piccies are a must :-)

life_in_termoil

Just a random thought............

Come dine with me are looking for contestants from various parts of the UK, would be great to see a CFR meal on there!!

aless02

artybear wrote: »

Oh Shanks that is rubbish about your lappy, hope it gets fixed soon.

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned on here but thought I would write it again for all the people who have just joined us. Myself, Allegra, Hayles and a few others were planning on testing the Christmas day meal on Halloween. We thought it would be fun if we all did it on the same day, this gives us plenty of opportunity to ask questions if it goes wrong, offer advise on ways to make it better, also (for me ) it will make it seem really christmassy and fun!!!

So just wondered if anyone else wanted to join in too??? Remember piccies are a must :-)

Me me me!! :T:T

Also, for those without an ASDA nearby, Sainsbury's have boneless pork shoulder roasts on sale, making them roughly the same price as the ASDA one . So stock up now for Crimbo!

Oooo we gonna do pudding and everything? DH will be overjoyed .

artybear

Yay well Aless is in (with lots of enthusiasm) I think it will be a good way to see how people with different setups cope too...im really looking forward to it lolxxx

Allegra

Venus, here are the links to Hayley's two alternatives articles:

Planner 1 alterantives: http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/p1alternatives.html
Planner 2 alternatives: http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/p1alternatives.html

Anything useful that's not in either of those can be included in your article Ta muchly.

VenusFlytrap_2

Been looking at the recipe for this nut roast and think I might give it a go... I do like cashews and cranberries and can handle eating garlic and onion when they're cooked into something. Never tried nut roast before so it'd be a first for me! Will have to do it next week as don't have all the ingreds in and won't be shopping til then, but given the positive reviews for it so far, am looking forward to it!

Might also steal Nopot2pin's idea of doing it as 'muffins' rather than a loaf... as I don't own a loaf tin (yet!) and there's no way in hell my sort-of OH will eat nut roast (he lives on waffles, beans and sausages most of the time :rotfl:), so will make the leftovers easier to freeze in individual portions.

Might also be up for the Crimbo dinner testing on Hallowe'en... need to look at all the recipes to see how the veg elements can be adapted and wouldn't be doing pork (it's the only roast I don't like... sorry I'm so fussy ), so mine would be an alternative version with a little chicken, would that be OK? Small chicken is only £1.89 from Netto, fellow frugalistas - easily feeds two (greedy) people with leftovers, which makes my doggy and cats very happy!:rotfl:

Bit OT here but most fresh meat from Netto near me is brilliant, have had sirloin steak (2 for £4), minted lamb steaks (6 for £4) and bacon (4 packs for £4) and all have been excellent quality, much better than Asda, Tesco etc and half the price. Know some people can be snobbish about Netto but if you've got one near you and you don't mind eating produce that isn't free-range/organic etc, it's well worth checking out. :money: