How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

HariboJunkie

shegar wrote: »

Yes I will miss it to start with cos ive been buying it for about 7 yrs now.......I must admit I do love the wildlife page in there each week................oh dear im getting withdrawal symptoms already just thinking about not buying it....or perhaps I should do a prescrition for it,:cool: that works out £1.00 per week so that would be half price.........;):j....I use to love having the home mags when we first moved in here, for ideas... but those mags are just glossy, most of the readers homes you see are like show homes, and mine is to live in......I cant keep cream carpets cream, not with 2 small dogs, and a wheelchair ...... and I cant ask guests to take their shoes off, thats rude to expect that, so I settle for tiles and laminate floors........so those mags are not practical to look at..........thats my excuse for not buying them anymore.............

If you still want to treat to treat youself THIS might be an option. *Edited to add, I see you've already thought of it*

charlies-aunt wrote: »

On an OS note - it was day 2 of slow cooked corned stew tonight - well stretched out with carrots, swede, onion and pearl barley - properly lovely it were!

We've had a week like that. Sunday was Roast Pork (just a small joint so no leftover meat) but the leftover spuds, carrots, parsnips and cabbage were made into a potato cake and fried, served with whoopsied mince and onion on Monday night.
I cooked double the mince on Monday which has just been turned into bolognese for Thursday. Tuesday was Meatballs which I cooked in the oven at the same time as some bread and served with more mash, (HM pepper sauce) from the freezer and salad. Tonight's meal was sausages, potato scones (made with the rest of the leftover mash) and veg which alerted me to the fact that I have an unused bag of geriatric parsnips so I made curried parsnip soup for Friday (with stock from the freezer). Saturday night's tea is home made pizza to use up all the odds and sods of cold meat and cheese from the fridge and Sunday is Roast chicken and it all begins again.:rotfl:

Meanwhile I've stewed all the bruised apples which the children refuse to eat and they are having them on their porridge.

I love weeks like this but it's only doable with organisation and time and sometimes it makes my head hurt.

My name is Haribo and I HATE WASTE.

Sorry your job is getting you down Charlie's Aunt.:(

lostinrates

Och...plans have changed and DH is back here to work from home this week.....which means meal plans all have to be made and thought of. Tonight's surprise easily dealt with from the freezer. I have a pheasant pie he can have tomorrow fished out too. I'm of course delighted that he's back home, and I really do need to start getting in the the freezer stocks so maybe the kick I need to do that.

All set for the function here at the weekend...after a fashion. Its not how I'd like it to be, but it won't be for years. Its clean (ish), its safe and its functional where it matters too. I'd like to get the grass cut if there is a dry moment between now and then too.

SunshineBear

SunshineBear wrote: »

I don't know if anyone is interested in this but I make a Chick pea Dahl which costs very little.

1small cup red lentils
1 medium onion
1 small hot pepper
2 cloves garlic
oil
spices: (these are all powders) 1 teaspoon cumin, 1ts corriander, 1/8 ts cardamom (Ground down), 1/4 ts cayenne, 1/8 ts ginger, 1 ts salt, 1/4 ts pepper.
Tin Chick Peas
water
spinach

Cut the onion and gently fry in oil untill golden brown add the garlic and small hot pepper (chopped)
Add the spices and continue to gently fry for 5 mins. (this releases the flavour)
add the lentils and take off the heat for 5 mins (this allows the lentils to soak up the flavour)
add water (aprox 2-3 times the amount of lentils)
Add the drained tin of chick peas (or pre soaked dried ones)
Keep stiring, leave it on a low heat untill you have a consistancey of stoggy porridge (or however you like it)

If it sticks to the bottom simply turn off the heat and leave for 10 mins and stir.


This freezes well and is best served with chupatties, rice or naan bread. Or all of them.

I have an equally delicious recipe for Potato curry if anyone is interested.

For a variation take out the chick peas and replace with cooked cauliflower.

Follow the recipe as above and simply leave out the chick peas.
Cook the cauliflower until the stalk end starts to soften.
gently fry the caulifower in oil. I feel this adds to the flavour.
You can if you want start the cauli off in oil and put a lid on to gently steam it. You end up with more crunch this way.

Then pour the dahl over the cauliflower. Yum
Use brocholli (sic) as well for variation.

If you are in the habit of throwing the stalks away, DONT.
Chop them and cook them and add to either the Chick pea or plain dahl.

ginnyknit

I love magazines, free ones make me happy but those big glossy Country life and craft mags make my heart sing - but I gave them all up! I love people who give me their old mags and I devour every page. Its like Kindle's I guess they are very nice and useful for many people but I need a real book in my hands, and on the shelf to admire

Ok off to plant more cauliflower seeds, fab recipes on here guys, thank you all.

SunshineBear

lostinrates wrote: »

yes please! As some here know, I love potato curry!

This is from memory so forgive the style of writing.

Medium onion chopped and cooked in oil untill golden.
Give it 20 mins on gentle, it will taste better.
Add a spoon of sugar for the last few mins.

2 cloves garlic crushed

Spices:
1TS termeric
1TS corriander (powder)
1TS Cumin
1TS Salt
1/2-1 TS Chilli powder (cayenne)
1/4 TS Ginger

add them and warm through

1/4 tube tomato puree in next
add drop of water and make a paste don't burn it.

Potatoes, same amount as for family of 4 on Sunday roast.
(use spuds that dont go to mush when boiled but hold together)
peel and cut into 2" pieces
Dont rinse as the starch will help thicken it.
mix into 'paste'
add water but dont quite cover the spuds
put lid on and boil gently for 15-20 mins until cooked.
Remove lid turn off the heat and alow steam to evaporate.

It can be eaten cold. I had it for weeks when dieting as my packed lunch.

It is tastier if you use fresh toms, ginger, chilli but more expensive
If you do use fresh fry them off with the garlic.

Add pepper and cardamom crushed with spices to taste.

We often add spinich to the potato and chick pea curry to add greens!

Buy your spices from an Indian wholeseller works out very cheap.

:D

SunshineBear

With both the chick pea and potato curry you can add a bit of gara masalla but only 1/4 teaspoon as it already has most of the spices already put in. It does add a bit of 'depth' just like the cardamon does.

Which reminds me, if you fry cauliflower and brocholli in oil add gara masalla and turmeric and add it to and plate of curry.

chupatti flour becomes chupatties with a dash of oil salt, and water.
Roll it out very thin and dry fry. Great with the dahl.

SunshineBear

My comments a prob in the wrong thread. Should I start a new one??

Annie56

Phew finally caught up with all the new pages, many thanks for your kind replies, Im well on the mend now, and am slowly wading my way through Montys freezer and mine, now have :eek:a clearly written list of contents and meal plans for the next month or so..hes frozen every type of fruit and veg he grew so were not short of much and with the half pig/lamb and various chickens hes bartered for his tree surgeon skills we seem to be pretty much ok till about May.

Am just amazed at what folk round here offer on Freecycle, Monty put all the baby stuff on there, we have decided that we will be happy the way the three of us are...I gave it all to various folk who have promised to keep the favour rolling along:D

I asked rather tongue in cheek for some girls clothes aged 2 to 3, have been inundatedwith bags full of lovley things..some to be reoffered along with her things she has outgrown, folk are so kind.

W:De have gone from comfy and some money in the bank to a small mortgage on this cottage and the 2 acres, though god knows what were going to do with so much land...Montys on about trying some kind of communal gardening thing where we all get together and grow for a group of folk and share the workload and the crops, sounds good in theory but hes all fired up so will leave it to him to sound out the folk he has in mind...

Im thinking of returning to work for a couple of days a week as Montys job ends near Easter time and hes only going to be doing part time so makes sense to share the load/childcare etc am enjoying bieng at home doing my housewifey things bit miss the intereaction working as well and the moneys tight now,,hope we have done the right thing buying this place, I know we have deep down, just the state of the conomy etc it doesnt bode well for lots of folk...am glad I came on here when i did, I have learnt so much on how to cope with it all and still learn everyday am grateful for what I have..

One thing picked up on the mortgage valuation was the need for some roof tiles and ridge tiles that need replacing, luckily one of the local LETS team is a roofer so were bartering some of his time against Monty clearing out his large rockery and relaying his lawn, plus we get to keep the large rockery stones:T that takes care of the dull corner round the back :rotfl:now just need to find a plasterer and then were on the home run, least till something else goes ping....

Have a visit to local hospital tommorw for a check up and will saunter down tothe my old maternity dept and sound out the personnel office re part time or some bank work, luckily Im all qualified pin numbered and ready to go in a few weeks

Hugs to all who are not too well, and keep up the good work everyone I love hearing all about how we all manage week to week, who needs magazines when we have OStyle to read and its free, full of info we can use by folk in similiar circumstances and the topics are of out own choosing and best of all not advertisements to lure us into daft buys...

Right enough of me, of to do some more number crunching before the calculator batteries run out

Warmest thoughts

Annie56;)

Annie56

SunshineBear love your recipes....feel a curry night coming on later this week, just priced one up from a leaflet that was put through the door...£18.45p:eek::eek: will use your suggestions they have me dreaming and virtual smelling a lovley Indian meal..oh the power of the written word :rotfl::rotfl:sure iIhave some Mango Chutney in the fridge and some crackers am off to have a sneaky dip :rotfl:I have weird food cravings

A:rotfl:nnie

BitterAndTwisted

SunshineBear wrote: »

My comments are prob in the wrong thread. Should I start a new one??

I'm not sure that it's necessary: this thread must be the most read one on here so anyone interested in your delicious recipes will be able to see them.

I've certainly jotted them both down for future reference.