make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

Homemade Yorkshires are great but as a single person, I just use those that are already made and heat them up for 3-4 minutes...

Pooky

I think the halogen extender ring needs to be used wisely when cooking things that you don't want to dry out, as in putting them on the lower rack and moving the lid higher on the extender to have a more gentle heat. A medium chicken takes around 70 mins in mine, give or take.

The whole point of it is that the fan in the top circulates the heat more effectively than a standard fan oven so it's not designed to be much quicker, just more even and effective.


Pops - dumplings are twice as much flour to suet and a little water to form a dough. I add herbs and chilli flakes to give them a kick.

fuddle

pops dumplings:


100 g (4 oz) Self-Raising Flour
50 g (2 oz) Suet
1 x 2.5 ml spoon (½ tsp) salt
cold water to mix
pinch salt

mix altogether and separate into balls. I made 4 out of this so you could half the quantities if you just wanted 2.

I just dropped them on top of my mince in slow cooker for the last hour as per good advice on here today. They were beauties.

sorry pooky, cross posted.

Mrs_Chip

Now is it me or is it really strange that everyone is talking about dumplings in August ???? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

fuddle

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Now is it me or is it really strange that everyone is talking about dumplings in August ???? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

August? It's still March isn' it?! I have not had a salad yet believe it or not. Oh, a nice feta salad. Have not bought feta cheese in an age

Popperwell

Pooky wrote: »

Pops - dumplings are twice as much flour to suet and a little water to form a dough. I add herbs and chilli flakes to give them a kick.

fuddle wrote: »

pops dumplings:

100 g (4 oz) Self-Raising Flour
50 g (2 oz) Suet
1 x 2.5 ml spoon (½ tsp) salt
cold water to mix
pinch salt

mix altogether and separate into balls. I made 4 out of this so you could half the quantities if you just wanted 2.

I just dropped them on top of my mince in slow cooker for the last hour as per good advice on here today. They were beauties.

Thanks for that, when I do make mine it will be first time ever...

Just have to buy some suet...

No electric blankets in Tesco's so though I have to add taxi fares(but at least I am using my money)I may have ride through to Sainsbury's or ASDA over the weekend...and I may buy a single and a double...

I may need Aldi next year but if I am having to spend my cash at present perhaps I should continue to buy brands and go for the cheap priced stuff when the s*** hits the fan! Still glad it is coming to town, as Andrea said it really is moving now...

Mrs_Chip

More like November!

We now have a standing joke here - our only bbq of the season was in March !:rotfl:

fuddle

Might not be a good idea to have too much money in the house pops but what about hiding an electric cash fund in one part of the house, a gas fund in another, an emergency fund, a rainy day fund, food fund, taxi fare fund all over the house so if you need some cash when the poop hits the whirly thing you won't have to freeze or go hungry?

Popperwell

I have to watch the Hairy Bikers later and I'll watch Sarah Millgan later(I don't watch much TV these days)or comedy but will these later...

May have to put the main oven on for that quich! unless it says I can do it in the microwave...

grandma247

Been out most of the day today. Took some gch. to another dds house then took ds3 climbing.Got back in the car ready to come home and found a message on my phone from ds2. Could I bring his amp and speaker for his guitar as have a gig tomorrow? So quick chippy tea and shoot off to Blackpool. Didn't stay because he was working. He looks well though, I havent seen him for three weeks.

Fuddle I haven't made any dumplings in the slow cooker but I don't see why you couldn't once it is hot enough. I did make a whole load in the remoska a while ago. They were from a big pack of mix from AF and I kept forgetting the mix so I made the whole lot and cooked them a few at a time in some gravy mix, cooled them then bagged enough for each meal so we have them with anything that has gravy or sauce if we want. I do prefer them with a crispy top anyway.

I have hand washed and then spun out in the washer if money has been tight and I am being careful with the electric. I do it anyway if they are hand knitteds that need a delicate touch. Mine has a slow spin for that. I found that laundry gloop was the best for hand washing because it didn't make my hands sore like washing powders do. I just put a blob in a pan and melted it with more water and added it to the washing water. I did that for the machine too.

I told one of my daughters to stop washing so much. She always had mountains of it. If the kids are playing inside they only need to change jeans and tops every three days, same with pjamas. Towels get dried and re used here as we tend to keep the same one we used to ourselves and put it in the wash after a few showers since we shower every day.

Tvs can run away with a lot of electric even when on standby.

I got an email from bil's electric company today. They said the warm home money always gets put on the main meter so they have given me a phone number so they can sort out what to do about him not getting it or any benefit from it.

Mardatha that view is breathtaking.