Hard Times: How to cope with everyday living.

boultdj

Beccatje, toad in the hole is sausage cooked in a batter mix, the one used to make youkshire pudding's with, hth.

Beccatje

grandma247 wrote: »

Beccatje is in the Netherlands so is unlikely to have a Mr.T

"Peasant" food can be popular with kids because they think it is "cool" to eat food from other countries. Think Mexican or Spanish, lots of veg and spices.

Also Beccatje do your family like pea and ham soup or other old fashioned recipes?

No we don't have MrT. I've never heard of it. ;-)

peasant food... hmmm.. if I can make it sound and look exotic.. they'll be enthousiastic about the idea.. that's for sure. We all love taco's and such...I would love to do lots of pie-like dishes. A pastry crust on top is very filling. But don't know what to put under the pastry! lol!

Beccatje

One dish that I make frequetly.. and isn't too expensive. (Too bad I can't get away with making it every day..)

My family does love this one..and the crumbs get sucked up down to the very last one.

Tatties.. peeled and cut into chunks. Boil them until nearly soft.
Carrots.. same

Onions.. last time I used a variety of white and red onions. Peeled and cut into large chunks.

Bell pepper.. cut into chunks.
Mushrooms that were in need of using up.
bacon.. we have something that we call "speklap".. I'm not sure if you all have it or know it. It's thick slices of streaky bacon I think.. really thick.. like thumb thinkness. You can buy them sliced or cut up into chunks.. salted or not..
For this I used about 200 grams of chunks.. and gave them a quick fry to make them crispy.

When the tatties and carrots are nearly soft.. throw the whole lot into an oven dish.
Add lots of garlic cloves, skin on.
Add a few spriggs of rosemary. (I have a huge plant)

Drizzle on a good amount of olive oil and sprinkle coarsely ground seasalt on top.
A good stir and shake. And in the oven it goes. Untill all is roasted and getting a golden crispy coat.
You know your dish is done when the garlic cloves are soft.

The kids will suck the garlic right out of their skins which comes off easily when cooked...
It is a lovely dish and you can use pretty much any veg that is cheap and does good with roasting.



Now this is as I said, a dish my family will hoover up. It uses very little meat and I use veg that is in season and cheap. But we can't eat it every day obviously.

And well, I was just a bit miffed about the moans concerning the liver and beans..

Beccatje

boultdj wrote: »

Beccatje, toad in the hole is sausage cooked in a batter mix, the one used to make youkshire pudding's with, hth.

Oh ok.That sounds good. What do you eat it with? veg and tatties?
and how do you cook it? In the deep fat fryer or in the pan? (How would you keep the batter on the sausage?)

boultdj

Toad in the Hole is cooked in the oven, you put the sausage's and a spoon of oil in a metal dish [ I cut my sausage's in to 3 or 4 bit's],place in the oven at 220c/425F/gas 7for abbout 10 minute's, then you pour the batter over it and put back in the oven for 30 minute's, and yes serve with veg and potatoe's

Batter mix

100g plain flour
1 or 2 egg's [depend's on how fresh egg's are and the size]
300ml milk

mix it all together till smooth




Might help to get the rest of the family to eat it if you know that the batter mix when cooked tend's to get called Yorkshire pudding here in England, it can also be done in small muffin/bun tray's, take 20 min's then and served as an extra to roast beef/chicken dinner, and can aslo be eaten with jam as a pudding.

alex21

So many tips and ideas from people i think i should actually keep a notebook next to my lappy [/QUOTE]

I just cut and paste into an MSE folder on my desktop all the tips that I am likely to use but may forget. Then when there are loads you could sort them into sections such baking etc:D

notjustlaura

Beccatje wrote: »

I am finding it very hard to cut costs on our food budget. My family is pretty finicky to be honest. And actually I think they are pretty spoiled. We've always eaten pretty well. I always cook from scratch, that is not the problem. But they are not too keen on budget kind of food. Last week I made a lovely meat/veg pastry roll. With porkliver chopped up into little cubes. The liver was/is very cheap! It was absolutely lovely! With lots of onions, peppers, mushrooms and the liver chopped up.. rolled into puff pastry and baked in the oven... I thought it was fab! But ofcourse DH complained... he doesn't like liver.. said it tastes like a wet dog smells...

sigh.. ...

That was a good moan As I was reading, I thought of the following:

1. Do all the family members know why you're making changes and what will happen if you don't? Could it be time for a family meeting to get everyone on board?

2. Depending on your circumstances, would it be possible to make smaller, more gradual changes? Say, for example, having one frugal meal a week to start of with.

3. With regard to snacks ... can you bake? Alternatively, I'd give each family a snack budget and let them spend it at will but when it's gone, it's gone till the next pay day.

Hope some of that's helpful.

queenie68

Beccatje wrote: »

One dish that I make frequetly.. and isn't too expensive. (Too bad I can't get away with making it every day..)

My family does love this one..and the crumbs get sucked up down to the very last one.

Tatties.. peeled and cut into chunks. Boil them until nearly soft.
Carrots.. same

Onions.. last time I used a variety of white and red onions. Peeled and cut into large chunks.

Bell pepper.. cut into chunks.
Mushrooms that were in need of using up.
bacon.. we have something that we call "speklap".. I'm not sure if you all have it or know it. It's thick slices of streaky bacon I think.. really thick.. like thumb thinkness. You can buy them sliced or cut up into chunks.. salted or not..
For this I used about 200 grams of chunks.. and gave them a quick fry to make them crispy.

When the tatties and carrots are nearly soft.. throw the whole lot into an oven dish.
Add lots of garlic cloves, skin on.
Add a few spriggs of rosemary. (I have a huge plant)

Drizzle on a good amount of olive oil and sprinkle coarsely ground seasalt on top.
A good stir and shake. And in the oven it goes. Untill all is roasted and getting a golden crispy coat.
You know your dish is done when the garlic cloves are soft.

The kids will suck the garlic right out of their skins which comes off easily when cooked...
It is a lovely dish and you can use pretty much any veg that is cheap and does good with roasting.



Now this is as I said, a dish my family will hoover up. It uses very little meat and I use veg that is in season and cheap. But we can't eat it every day obviously.

And well, I was just a bit miffed about the moans concerning the liver and beans..

thanks for this it looks great and i will be serving this upto my family at some point this week:D

Gintotmelinda

Me too! I have a pack of Tesco cooking bacon and a big head of garlic. Perfect!

Thanks for the recipe!

suki1964

Beccatje wrote: »

Oh ok.That sounds good. What do you eat it with? veg and tatties?
and how do you cook it? In the deep fat fryer or in the pan? (How would you keep the batter on the sausage?)

You can always google a dish to get an image so you get an idea of what we are talking about and what to aim for

Heres Toad in the hole