December 2012 Grocery Challenge!!!!! REALLLY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

jumblejack

Quick lentil and carrot soup with JJs herby cheese bread for tea



I also made my first 2 granny squares today :j


Yay:j

nicknack

Hi all

First of all, could I please have this month's budget as the usual £200? I know it's Christmas but I'm hoping not to spend too much more than usual and have already got a few bits stashed away.

I've already spent £56.46 but have got tons of stuff in the freezer so am going to do my very best to come in under budget.

By the way, does anyone have an email address for Tesco to complain about a product? I've searched on their website but can't see one. I bought their EV Rice Snaps last week - we've been having these for a few months now and really like them, actually can't tell the difference between these and the branded ones - but this time round they are absolutely disgusting. I don't know if they've changed the recipe or if we just got a bad box but both OH and I took a mouthful of them and then had to scrap them, they just had a bizarre taste. Anyone else had this problem? TIA.

Bluegreen143

Solstice_3 Welcome to the GC and best of luck for your first month

Small spend of £1.60 today on Value Laundry Liquid, unplanned as I knocked over our bottle yesterday and spilled it all :mad: obviously can't go a week without doing laundry so had to nip into Mr M today. On the plus side, this makes this the second value bottle we've bought and I'm perfectly happy with it so far :j

Making butternut squash, caramelised red onion and feta pie for dinner with a big salad, new recipe so dying to see if it's nice

[Deleted User]

Coxy - sorry im late - can you put me down for £120. This is going to include everything, except for xmas booze. I have had a couple of spends and have updated sig.

jumblejack

Loving the sound of your tea, bluegreen

Bluegreen143

Well I'm really impressed with my new recipe - not very cheap but pretty healthy and very tasty. Definitely making it again

Butternut squash, caramelised red onion & feta pie

1 red onion, chopped into slices
350g butternut squash, chopped into chunks most of a small one or half a big one
100g feta cheese I used value and it was fine
1/2 tbsp chopped rosemary fresh from the garden but dried is fine I think
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, kept in their skins
For the pastry
125g plain flour
55g butter or similar
Pinch salt I skipped as used salted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Toss the squash and garlic in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 25 minutes or so.
2. Gently fry the red onion in olive oil for a few minutes until soft. Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for 10 minutes or until caramelised but not burnt. Add the onions and rosemary to the squash once it's roasted, squeeze the garlic out of its skins and mix through, then leave the mix to cool completely.
3. Make the pastry by rubbing the fat into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add a little water at a time until the mixture sticks into a ball shape. Leave in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
4. Roll out the pastry into a rough circle. Add the feta to the cold squash and onion mix and pile into the pastry. Pull the edges up to make a rough pasty (you could also make an open tart in a tin, I just fancied a pasty). Egg or milk wash and bake for 25-30 minutes or until nicely golden.

Served the two of us with a lovely green salad.

Nicky_Noo_Na

£20.05 + £8.66 spent at the weekend - not bad for a whole weeks shopping although we do have a 5 week month this time round:eek:!

DanielleNic87

£1.20 spent on 2 small loaves of bread. Really thinking about starting to make my own.

mummyyof5

nicknack...dont think you had a bad box...been buying these and the EV cocopops for a while...kids loved them ,then last week they refused to eat both boxes as they were"terrible"...not fussy kids they are 18 and 16...rice pops are almost white now..Im NOT impressed.

XSpender

MrsCD wrote: »

No, it's never too late to make a Christmas cake. I've heard of people baking, marzipanning (?) and icing a cake all on Christmas Eve! You just won't have as long to 'feed' it if that's what you usually do.

Thanks MrsCD:)

I am going to prep the fruit to soak in brandy overnight and bake it tomorrow after work. I haven't got any lemon or orange zest to add but I am sure it won't make too much difference. I just hope there I enough brandy as DH has nicked a couple of glasses worth;:mad:

NSD today but need to send DH to Mr T tomorrow for Italian herbs as I have run out and have 2 swede in my veg box this week to turn into ww Italian veg soup as its DH favourite and he has promised some to one of his staff who is very overweight but working hard at losing it.