Weezl and friends Phase 3 - sitting pretty with Kitty

domesticgoddess789

Winter Squash Risotto- The Verdict!!

Having never attempted to make a risotto before I don't think I was at all prepared for house labour intensive they are. I spent what seemed like forever stirring and angsting about whether the rice would ever cook but am pleased to say that it did (so stick with it!:))

And rather nice the risotto was too. The butternut squash gave it a lovely taste and it just goes to show that you don't need any fancy aborrio rice to make a risotto the Weezl way!

Although, I will just add that I only used 400g of rice instead of 500g and even this made four HUGE portions for us with a little bit to spare too. It was incredibly filling too and there's definitely no room for pudding this evening, am completely stuffed.

queen_of_string

Hi everyone, really pleased your meet went well.

Lesley, is your tank big enough to consider growing some edible fish? I was reading about people with tanks of edible fish on a homesteading blog. Might be fun!!

Tonight I had planned for sag aloo. On returning from a shopping trip, I discovered I had no potatoes :mad: So instead, I have made a cauliflower curry with the same spices, a spinach curry with the one potato I found rolling round the back of the drawer, using the old sag aloo recipe from 50p days (mmmm cumin mmmmm), and a lentil and bean dahl from the half can of beans lurking in the fridge. We will be eating these for days LOL. I have also made some naan breads from this recipe http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/05/22/naan-bread/. This website is a real gold mine of vegan and vegetarian indian recipes. The naan are stunning, we love them, you can even make them on the bbq . it's bit dull here today so a good day for something warm.

I have also dehydrated some cherry tomatoes and put them in some oil, ready for doing the pepper pasta this week. We are off on hols on Thursday, so that might be a good one to do then.

Hope everyone is having fun with the new recipes.

queen_of_string

Quick update, the spice combination in the sag aloo recipe is very nom, we have nommed it all with out yummy breads. OH voted for it over the old, original sag aloo flavour OMG!

Allegra

Potty - sorry I'm late with the reply, I came on yesterday afternoon to catch up with the thread, but that was as much as I could do as all the travelling over the weekend took it out of me so much I ended up collapsing into bed before and then again after dinner

Anyway, I am having saag aloo tonight, red pepper pasta on Wednesday and winter squash risotto on Thursday.

Hayley, I don't really bother with constant stirring when I make risotto - my mum never did. Just add all the stock in at once, give it a stir, then check a couple more times while it cooks and then take off the heat when almost all the stock is absorbed, slap the lid on and leave it to rest for another 10 mins or so. Totally against all usual advice, but never failed to work for me

All who came to the meet - thanks ever so much for coming and eating the food It was wonderful to meet you all, but Arty is quite right - I know I did my usual trick and was too preoccupied by doing and helping and feeding that I kinda forgot to talk to anyone properly :rotfl: Well, I did have a good talk with Ferg over his coloured pots, that kept me happy for ages ! Fergie is such a character, so happy and easy going. Kessie is a beaut, as is Finn, who is a spitting image of Mummy, and is ever so intense and concentrated on whatever he is up to. He'll be taking apart the stereo and putting it back together with parts to spare before you know it, Aless !

And thanks again for my lovely surprise - amused to see Lesley is thinking figs (as they are a native tree where I come from), whilst I was considering damsons (a native tree here) - either way, think we have not disappointed by our frugal impulse to go for edibles

Allegra

Oh, and forgot to add - I am fine with the group photo going up, and I believe I have a copy also - about to go and sort them out

artybear

I am amazed at how strong your accent was Allegra-I am now reading your posts in a whole new light because I'm trying to do your accent in my head LOL!

Your sausage rolls and pork pies were yummy, so we will forgive you for being less talkative than normal.:p I know I was quiter than normal too

Im happy to do red pepper pasta on Wednesday, apart from it will be yellow pepper pasta as Mr arty chopped my red pepper up LOL. And also happy to do the risotto on Thursday!

The picture Julimk has sent me is so nice that Im going to frame it-so you will all be forever in my living room:D

weezl74

allegra's pork pies are scrumptious and mr weezl is very jealous of !!!!!! here whom he suspects has these every day i reassured him that usually it is kitty and shirl but he will not believe me!

I LOVED meeting everyone who came- thank you all so very much, I was nervous and a bit preoccupied with practicalities (and delia's bara brith turned out a spectacular disaster-more of a dried fruit grenade ) it makes a change for a recipe to be ill-defined and it not to be one of mine:rotfl:) and so i did not get chance to talk to a few of you as much as i'd have liked which is often the way with big groups i find.

marru, if your slocooker lid is well-fitting (as it should be cos that's how they get their temperature up!) the steam shouldn't be lost so I'd start with around an inch and a half around your pudding basin, and possibly just peer in after a long time just to check it's not gone dry- how does that sound?

I'm loving all the verdicts on the recipes too! Keep up the good work all:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Allegra

Oh, the pork pies are a very special occasion food. Not even for frugal reasons - more cos we are not blessed with a speedy metabolism like Mr Weezl and if we had them every day, we'd be the size of a small castle each. Which is not a good look if you ever wanna do stuff like walk through doors or the like

frugalmumof4

hi we had the calzones for tea yesterday! didnt come out looking like the pictures as the dough was a little stretchy and doughy, as bread dough should be!lol, ours ended up with interesting holes in them, but they tasted delicious! will be making again! have enough tomato mix left to make a normal pizza also as it was a little too much. all the kids had half a one and hubby has taken one cold for work!
when i made the tomato and lentil steam pudding i filled the slow cooker up until half the bowl was full and cooked for 3 hours!

Dick_here

artybear wrote: »

I am amazed at how strong your accent was Allegra

Live with her for a few years and you won't notice it at all...