A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

fuddle

It's the ditches that have me frightened. Reverse on flat tarmac with not a problem, add in the fear or a ditch a path of mud or a little drop into a field and I'm hopeless. I really do feel your pain Byatt but hey, a true toughie for not only facing your fears but sort a way around it

I made a bread and butter pud, just a little one for the kiddies. I added raisins, sugar and mixed spice - really nice. DH won't go for it as he can't stand 'squishy' textures but I thought a couple of ramekins for the kids woud be no trouble at all

Thanks for the ideas

Uniscots97

lucielle wrote: »

Please can I ask a quick question....ok. I normally cook gammon in the slow cooker and it tastes great but usually drops to pieces, so instead of having nice slices its usually ruddy great chunks. I have splashed out and got a very large horseshoe gammon which I want to cook in the slow cooker but how do I avoid it dropping to bits (plus it should help with portion control and an over zealous OH who will scoff the lot)?
Thanks
L

Lucielle, I normally tie mine with string to help keep it together.

fuddle

oh Mardatha, just been on the phone to my mil and she freezes cream. She said to give it a stir when it's defrosted and you won't know the difference.

I freeze milk all the time but never cream. If I find it on offer I now know what i'm going to do

7_week_wonder

D&DD wrote: »

My friend arrived back from her dads in Gloucester with 3 carrier bags full of pheasant,rabbit,partridge and venison for me :jand while she was there she found the Mary Berry cake mixes for £1 so I now have 6 of those too bless her :A

Are they the cupcake mixes? If so I can definitely recommend them - but next time I make them I am going to use fairycake cases rather than cup cake cases and only use half the quantity per cake. If you do the size she recommends they are enormous! I also made some with the brandy frosting and some with the brandy replaced by orange juice and most folk preferred the orange flavoured frosting.

GreyQueen (or should that be goddess of the pumpkin) was it you who posted about how you'd roasted pumpkin seeds? If so could you remind me what you did, and do you think it would work with squash seeds? I made some squash and parmesan soup this morning and gave the seeds to the hens, but thought next time I might have a go at roasting them. (The seeds not the hens, but then again if they don't start laying soon........)

Mrs Chips - big thanks for your pudding suggestions. I'm fine at meal planning for main courses, but when there's just me and OH we don't bother with puddings, but with my mum here I needed some inspiration.

Fruball

I bought some whoopsied MrT Value lamb a couple of days ago... It was barely recogniseable - lots of bones and fat (but it was £1.25 for a kilo!)

Anyway, I roasted it yesterday then slung it in the slow cooker overnight - left to cool today and picked the meat to find I only got 350g... The rest was fat and bones.

For the price I paid, £1.25 that makes it approx £3.50 per kilo which is fab and very MSE :money:

BUT... If I had paid full price... a little over £5 - that would have made it around £15 per kilo of actual meat :eek:. Mr T do thin cut lamb steak (no bones) on offer atm for £10.16 per kilo, and obviously little if any wastage, and normal lamb steaks for £13.24 per kilo and organic lamb steaks for £16 a kilo.

The lamb steaks would be just as tasty, far far less work and similar price, if not cheaper!!!

Sooooooo, tell me... where on earth is the VALUE in that?!!!

Most people wouldn't even know what to do with a pile of fat, bones with hidden meat.

So glad I got it yellow stickered :cool:

Anyway, I divided it in half and put one in the freezer - the rest is sitting between layers of potato and carrot for a lancashire hotpot :T

fuddle

Toughies, can I ask why it is that we should blanch veg first before freezing. I'm mainly thinking carrots and broccoli. I shop at the beginning of a week and wanted to do a Sunday lunch on a Saturday and rubber chicken curry on Sunday. My broccoli would have gone yellow by then

Will it be ok frozen? I don't want to buy frozen broccoli as we plan on having it freshly steamed on a previous day, would half that one.

Dragoncry

Hi Fuddle

I am usually a reader not a poster but have wanted to say hi to everyone on here as I am an avid reader and think all of you are marvellous

Regarding the blanching of veg before freezing I found this...

Blanching

Blanching (scalding vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short time) is a must for almost all vegetables to be frozen. It stops enzyme actions which can cause loss of flavor, color and texture.
Blanching cleanses the surface of dirt and organisms, brightens the color and helps retard loss of vitamins. It also wilts or softens vegetables and makes them easier to pack.

Hope that helps and I am sure your broccoli will be just fine frozen then cooked. Hope you enjoy your meal.

DC xx

lizzyb1812

fuddle wrote: »

oh Mardatha, just been on the phone to my mil and she freezes cream. She said to give it a stir when it's defrosted and you won't know the difference.

I freeze milk all the time but never cream. If I find it on offer I now know what i'm going to do

Pink either answered this question for me or for someone else and I took great interest in the answer .... apparently it freezes better if it is whipped.

Re the blanching of veg - I just don't. But I couldn't guess the result with broccoli as I don't like the crumby texture so don't eat it

MS soup on the go - my home grown squash, Aldi BOGOF parsnips, onion, garlic, bit of curry powder and stock. The squash have lasted really well - only one of about a dozen started to rot and I even rescued most of that. Still got 8 left.

Fruball

If you are going to use the veg in soups, I don't think you need to blanch. there is a thread about it somewhere and lots of people don't blanch.

I don't freeze veg unless its already cooking in something else, so haven't tried it myself.

katieowl_2

My New Year's resolution (don't laugh ) is not to buy any more books until I've read all the unread ones in the house, but I've got loads of Amazon vouchers, from surveys and an Xmas gift, so if I get in quick before Sunday it won't count

I've had Nella's war on my wishlist for a while, and just added that for 1p plus postage...what else would fellow frugals recommend? I've also popped in two cook books that were on the list....

Kate