To new beginnings. To the pursuit of...somethingness.

Cheery_Daff

Oh dear Cheri!

Perhaps you need to be more specific? He didn't actually go against what you said - he did bring reduced things - just beer! Oh dear, I shouldn't laugh, what a rotten situatino for you! No idea what you should do I'm afraid Good luck. xx Perhaps just feed him nothing but lentils and rice??

MrsMoo2U

Thanks Cheery, as luck happens I also found it very funny! There is absolutely no point in being mad as he has never been pushed to budget properly (Mr Senior always jumps in to sort it all out - he (Mr Senior) cannot understand why I will not just take money off him.) It is just a case of me working out how to get him to the point of not always thinking that there is a safety net when he runs out. In fairness to him he does usually do very well when shopping now, he is the one that now checks out the prices of everything and I mean everything (ie weight to price on the bargains) and does really well. This is a massive step forward because when we first got together he couldnt even tell me the price of milk. He did get a very good bargain it has to be said on the beer!

Ok, here is my first ever attempt at sharing a meal plan. It isnt scientifically costed out. Most of the things are home made from scratch so cant always promise that we will stick to it. But I am going to try.

Meal Plan

Week 1
Breakfasts
porridge with seeds, carrot juice
porridge with raisins and apricots, (almond milk)
Fresh Fruit
Beans, wholemeal toast
grilled tomatoes, wholemeal toast
homemade muesli
veggie sausage, hash browns, beans, scrambled eggs
Lunch
homemade houmous and crudites
homemade walnut spread with bread
pasta salad (leftovers)
vegetable soup (leftovers whizzed)
quiche and salad (leftovers)
minestrone soup
late brunch
Dinner
baked potato, cheese, beans, salad
pasta with lentil bolognese
vegetable kebabs (courgettes, onions,pepper,brocolli,pepper) or whatever is in box with rice
Quiche, potato wedges and salad
Vegetable curry, beer :rotfl:
Falafel, green salad with peaches, avocado, pine nuts and oil dressing
Red Dragon Pie
Snacks
rice cakes, peanut butter, vegetable crudites, fruit

gilligansyle

OK - I give up - what's Red Dragon Pie?

MrsMoo2U

It is vegetarian sheperds pie made with aduki beans. I follow the Sarah Brown recipe and it is a firm favourite here. Even my non veggie friends like this one.

Ingredients

2 x 410g tins of aduki beans, drained (or 200g dried beans, soaked and cooked according to packet)

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

250g carrots, diced

½ pint tomato passata

¼ pint stock (I use 1 large teaspoon of vecon which has a fabulous flavour)

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped (or a generous teaspoon of mixed dried herbs)

1-2 tbsps soy sauce

black pepper

450g potatoes, sliced thickly

25g butter

olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C
Fry the onion and carrot in a little olive oil until softening, add the garlic and fry for a further minute
Add the beans, tomato passata, stock, herbs, soy sauce and freshly ground pepper to taste, bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on before removing the lid and reducing the liquid to a thick delicious sauce. Pop into a pie dish (mine is 23cm)

Boil and mash potatoes and put on top of the filling.
Dot with butter and a drizzle of olive oil
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are nicely browned


Serve with steamed vegetables or salad.

To ring the changes you can top the pie with mashed potatoes for a veggie shepherd’s pie or sprinkle the potatoes with grated cheddar. Leave out the butter and cheese for a vegan dish.


PS - you can boil the potatoes and slice them, place on the top and bake for those of you who think mash is evil

Triciaxx

I've copied and pasted that Cheri, thanks. I already do several versions of cottage pie. We're not veggies so I do shepherds pie (lamb minced), Cottage pie (beef minced), Swineherds Pie (sausage meat), Gardeners Pie (veg - whatever I've got) I see a pattern developing - Mr T would happily live on mashed potatoes. :rotfl:

niccatw

:eek: Who thinks mash is evil? But what do you have for comfort food in the winter if mash is out of bounds. I don't understand.

Cheri, Mr C getting beer really made me laugh. Nope, there's nothing you can do. Your gentle nudging is working. You just have different priorities on what woopsies or treats you would buy when they're on offer. :rotfl:

Glad to hear the German is imroving daily! Veil spass! It's always been on my list of things to go back and do. I've done very little since high school, which is getting further and further away. And the few times I've been to Germany since, I try to speak it and they try to be polite and not laugh, but respond in English as my grammar is all over the place (or rather, non-existant!) Pigeon school girl German! :rotfl: It's a start!

satchmo1

Hi Pippi

MSE Lidl aloe vera toilet rolls are superior toilet rolls, and smell lovely when you first put a roll on the holder

Satchmo x

MrsMoo2U

Glad it was useful Tricia, it is absolutely delicious. I mix it up sometimes and add different veggies in and less beans. Aduki beans are really nice and have a meaty texture so your hubby should like them. I forgot to add that I usually put a bit of Soy sauce or Tamarind.

Nic, few of the ladies who post elsewhere HATE mash and think it is evil. I think that is just WRONG :rotfl: Yes it was funny about the beer (albeit exasperating at the same time) What is even funnier is that he couldnt understand how the bill came to £12 given that he thought that it would be £7 by his calculations. When we went to the same supermarket last night I pointed out that the beer that he bought was not on the list of beers as 2 for 1 despite being on the same shelf :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: His face was a picture - he hadn't checked that but hey, there is another lesson learned. He won't do that again in a hurry.

Yes, it is the grammar that I struggle with. I get my verbs and subjects in the wrong place all of the time. The Germans are uber polite and I am always astounded when they say that they dont speak good english and then go on to speak better english that I do.

Satchmo, i will remember that tip. I also buy Nikki aloe vera from the little supermarket CKs which I think is the same company as Home and Bargain. I used to buy it from there when I lived in England. I get 4 rolls for 99p when on offer.

Just back from a very lovely long walk. I cleared out my office today and found all kinds of things. The best being an OS map of the area that I live. Looked up a new walk and went for a wander. Stopped off at the fairy woods to say hello to the Jersey cows. They came galloping across the fields to say hello so I had to give them some of the sweet grass from over the fence. They were nudging me, licking me and mooing. Max was not best pleased that he wasnt the centre of attention.

gilligansyle

Laughing at Mr C and the beer. My XOH used to go to the shops and come back with wine (because it was on offer!) when I'd sent him with £20 expecting loads of change.

Karmacat

Laughing at the cows! And Moo

The recipe sounds lovely, Cheri, and the HM walnut spread sounds great too. But both of those are the sort of thing I come a cropper on - I'm likely to do the shepherd's pie base, yes - but going through the faff of mashing potatoes and laying them on top, no not cos mash is evil, cos good mash is lovely :jjust because its more work. Same with walnut spread - that sounds fantastic, but what I do to get my walnut (and other) nutrition is just sprinkle stuff on a side plate - couple of brazil nuts, handful of walnuts, couple of big chunks of shredded ginger, and some other dried fruit for sweetness - and just eat it as finger food :o:o When I'm eating tatties, I'll peel (as little as possible) and steam, and thats it. I wish I did the stuff that you're describing, in a way, but dealing with the stuff that *has* to be cooked is probably as far as I'm going to get .... Love hearing about it tho :j