October 2010 Grocery Challenge

Diflower

Hippeechiq I make a shepherdess pie quite often.
What I do:
First put on green lentils to boil/cook a bit in the pan I'll later do the pots in.
Put onion, carrot plus celery if I have any into processor, blitz then put into pan with oil. While it starts, blitz some mushrooms - chestnut or field. I find these essential as they add that 'meaty' taste. Add to pan, then add thyme, s &p, sometimes garlic, small squidge tom puree, the veg stock. As you're not veggie you can add a splash of Worcester sauce too. Add the lentils, cook while you do the pots, taste and adjust seasoning.
Also if I have any bits, I mix sweet potato/parsnip/cauli with the pots.
Hope this helps.

Oh yes the butternut - rich, sweet, kind of a cross between a carrot & parsnip would be close?

cookiemum

Just a few small items totalling £8.77 - apples, bagels, yoghurts and cough medicine and cough sweets for a poorly DD.

Keep up the good work

LannyLee

Hippeechiq wrote: »

S

Made a Shepherdess Pie - anyone got any suggestions for pepping it up a bit please?

Could you not try adding a small amount of strong cheese & mustard to the potatoes before mashing? Or sometimes I poach (?) some onion in a small amount of milks with loads of black pepper & add this to my mash to give it some flavour?

Failing that, maybe small amount of smoked bacon just to give a bit of a kick, I know you said you wanted it to be meat free, but I got the impressiion that this was due to budget rather than you being a veggie & I very often get catering packs of bacon bits for not a lot from MrM.

HTH

rosieben

I've added the Rice Pudding, Slow Cooker Rice Pudding and the Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler recipes to the front page index. I've run out of space now, so will need to have a third post to the index.

Any preferences as to how I re-organise? are there any sections that you don't use that I could get rid of? all suggestions welcome, this is YOUR recipe index

Shysarah

Right I am a bit behind myself this week, I have decided even if I do not pay for it myself it will be going on the total so I have a fairer representation of my spends. I badgered my mum post Mr M trip on Tuesday and know now I would have spent £24.61. It seems a lot but then I got two ham hocks, two big purple ones (hehe), stocked up on tinned tomatoes and puree, treated myself to a morrisons salad (not moneywise but oh it was good) and stocked up on bread too. Oh and sweetener tablets which came to £3.98 alone.

I am thinking if the month goes well all I am going to need is fresh bits and bobs like salad and veggies. I have plenty of portions of meals in the freezer and meat and am still working through the pasta and rice mountains. Also lots of veg in freezer from bargain buys last month so should be ok... hmm we will see eh lol

Keep smiling everyone xx

Phoolgrrrl

Hippeechiq wrote: »

What does butternut squash taste of/like? Please don't say pumpkin as I've never eaten that either, but I'm just curious.


I use Lazy Garlic in all my cooking. 1tsp = 1 Clove (always been a bit shy of using the real thing, as I don't want to walk around reeking of garlic) .

have u had sweet potato before? It's similar to that imo, and carrot and parsip with lots of butter as said before. Sweet and creamy, i suppose 'buttery' tasting hence the name.

What abt using a garlic masher? We used to use lazy garlic but use cloves now since we got the masher, we just peel it and squeeze straight into pan, hardly touch it!

BlimusOreilly

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Made a Shepherdess Pie last night for tea - it's probably the fourth or fifth time I've made it, but there's no escaping it....it's boring and bland, and my least favourite tea of the month, and I so don't want it to be, as I don't have many veggie meals, so really don't want to drop it from the menu. Last night I used Leek instead of onion, and it was even more bland than usual :rotfl: - anyone got any suggestions for pepping it up a bit please?

1 Clove Garlic
1 Onion
125G Carrot
1 Tbs Flour
½ pint Veg Stock
110G Red Lentils
1 Tin Baked Beans
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes
Lots Freshly Ground Black Pepper
500G Potatoes

It all got eaten, but it was bland beyond belief for all the faffing about involved in making it, and as the recipe stands, I don't think I can force myself to be bothered to make it again.

I know what you mean exactly! It is soo bland. Someone on the meal planner thread passed on this recipe to me :http://www3.sainsburys.co.uk/littleones/pregnancy-recipes/item/recipes-pregnancy/lentil-and-leek-casserole-with-cheesy-dumplings and it's absolutely delicious!!
As you can see, it uses pretty much the same ingredients as the sheperdess pie (give or take a couple) but instead of a potato topping, it has very easily made cheesy dumplings. It is my seven year olds favouritest tea EVER and it is so packed full of goodness.
Trust me - you will never need to make a sheperdess pie ever again after you've tried this!

Hippeechiq

Thanks for the input girls

Diflower could you give me a rough idea of quantities at all?

Based on my recipe, do you use more onion than me? and what amount of mushrooms would/do you use? I'm afraid I'm not a chuck it in and guess cook

I've got some tinned green lentils that I bought for a different Sheperdess Pie recipe which also uses a glass of red wine.....that would pep it up a bit, but would also add to the cost. Is there much difference in flavour between red and green lentils?

Re the Butternut Squash.....not for me then, as I eat carrots under duress, but I can't be doing with parsnips at all _pale_

I force myself to eat carrots (though not as often as I should) I adore Sweet Potato, and love Potatoes in any form, but apart from that, I'm not a fan of root vegetables unfortunately, and swede......bleurgh _pale_......am glad I asked now, as I had been considering trying a Butternut Squash Tart

Lannylee I don't really want to add bacon, for budget reasons, but also as I like to have at least one meal a week (two if I can manage it) where we don't eat any meat at all - but thank you for the suggestion of adding onion cheese and mustard to the mash....that would be bound to help. I did add grated cheese mixed with wholemeal breadcrumbs on top last night and it didn't make much difference, but maybe I was too stingy with the cheese

blimusoreilly Thanks for the link to the $ainsburys recipe - love the sound of the dumplings

sistercas

blimusoreilly I am definitely going to try that recipe , sounds delish

back from sainsbugs and t3sco, spent £50.51 between them :eek: it was supposed to be a small shop

sainsbugs have homepride sauces in jars £1.42 buy 1 get 2 free :j
and t3sco have elida( i think) 200ml bottles shampoo and conditioner £1.70 each or 2 for a £1 :j

have got plenty in now even with MIL coming for the weekend , planning on a pasta bake for saturday with garlic bread and sausage casserole and mash for sunday

Chloris

Mr M weekly shop £58.73. My weekly shop is less than it used to be and I'm doing less 'top ups' and 'oh doesn't that look nice' buying but I feel that I want to get it down further! Not quite sure how I'm going to do that! :mad: