Living on next to nought - is that the key?

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...Although I cannot repeat what was said when I revealed the mystery ingredient as this is a family thread...

:rotfl:GP your comment has made me giggle! - great way to start of a Monday! - My OH has a similar vocabulary for when he discovers mystery ingredients in some of his favourites! I'm still considering it a victory that he did not realize that our last lasagne was all veggie! (Mostly bottom of the fridge veggie too!) He has wised up over the years and eats first, before asking what's in my concotions!

When we've had a glut of parsnips in the past, OH took great delight in taking 'cake' to work and then announcing what was in it, after it had been downed to the very last crumb! That particular recipe didn't contain chocolate but was dolled up with cream cheese icing (YS's of course!) & filled with raisins.

Over the pond we seem to use a lot of veg in dessert baking - carrot cake, sweet potato cake, zucchini cake (definately not posh enough to be a courgette!) - I'm guessing it's because of the glut of veg we have in the fall around harvest time that needs using up before the winter sets in. Most of those cakes freeze really well!

beanielou

Have a great week GP & friends

Karmacat

Oh my word ... right, I've downloaded the recipe this time, not just bookmarked it "for later" - can't do it today, but I have *lots* of space on Tuesday and Thursday, so thats the plan

Oh. I have no parsnips :rotfl: okay, chocolate porridge cake ... :j I might even try to make it in my new halogen oven :eek:

mizmir

Oooh - those look lush! Know what to do with the next glut of parsnips we have. I love them roasted but OH is not keen so we always end up with some left. Might sneak them by her disguised this way.

boredofbeingathome

Someone asked for a banana cake recipe

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=186215

Post #7 really easy and very yummy xx

miss_empty_piggy

Hi greying and fellow frugallers

Been MIA and am off sick today and tried to get caught up with posts missed but have given up. Just read today's. Hope everyone's ok. Still love reading this diary it's so inspiring. X k

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Visitors, how luverly :D

rtandon - DP said exactly the same that if he took them to work- everyone would wolf them down and not believe there was parsnip in them/be violently sick that they had been tricked into eating......veg.tay.bulls........ :rotfl:

Beanie - thanks for starting the week off so cheerily for us :D

Karma - oooo, experimentation - when you get round to it, let us know how it goes

mizmir - if you like roasted parsnips - the risotto/orzotto may be the one for you

Bob - CAKE!!! YUM!!!! :D:rotfl:

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Hi greying and fellow frugallers

Been MIA and am off sick today and tried to get caught up with posts missed but have given up. Just read today's. Hope everyone's ok. Still love reading this diary it's so inspiring. X k

Ay up miss empty piggy - hope it's nothing too serious? Great to *see* you, ta for popping in

Well, today has officially whizzed. I did however, nab a NSD :j

The suit was dropped off at the charity shop - kept with the theme for the month and dropped it in at a CRUK shop. I also sent off a cheque for £11 to the Cancer Research UK Breast Awareness appeal Unless I win the lottery this month, I think that may well be my charitable donations for now

Oh, in terms of NSD - yes, I sent off a cheque today, but the money had been 'moved' out of the budget on Saturday, so mentally 'spent' IYSWIM. As I have no control over when the cheque is cashed, I count it as spent on Saturday. Hope that is not stretching the 'rules' too much

miss empty piggy if the ^ above doesn't make sense, check out post #1319 I've set myself a challenge, or two for February :D

Dinner this evening was..... well, not quite as good as I had 'envisaged' in my head, but perfectly edible, filling and nice to eat.

So. I made a Buddha bowl. The base was the fine bulghar wheat (AF) that looks like cous cous. I fried some onions, garlic and ginger and added some garam masala. I then put the last of the spinach in (about 3 frozen 'portions') and some grated carrot. Cooked through and then mixed it through the soaked bulghar wheat. I had made up some smoked aubergine, basically onion, garlic, diced aubergine cooked down. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric and smoked paprika and finish with a little lemon juice. Put bulghar in a bowl, top with a 1 egg thin omelette. Put a serving of the smoked aubergine on top and drizzle some white bean dressing over. Then sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over.

So, no recipe, but not really 'leftovers' either. But I did get to use up the last of the spinach (wished there had been more ) so worthwhile Picture here;



Definitely frugal. Some room for improvement with the aubergine part - although the longer it sat, the better the flavour, so that would be one thing that I would do different next time. The aubergine was YS'd (50p in mands last week), the bulghar AF, all spices out of the cupboard and veg what was in stock I'd say somewhere in the region of 65p a bowl and there is some bulghar and (plenty of) sauce left over for snap tomorrow. Oh, and although I used plenty of spices, none were 'hot' so no overt chilli useage or anything (although you could if you like ).

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

that I don't feel a sense of 'entitlement' for anything - and I'm happy with what we have

that we have sufficient resources for ourselves and to share with others and donate to charity - ich habe genug

for seeing the sheer delight of a little girl, who's mum took time to teach her how to ride her scooter........

Thank you so much for popping by, reading, saying hello, commenting and supporting me. You know how much it means to me

Right, I'm away to make yoghurt

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Not a good start to the morning, I overslept

I'm starting to have those silly unconnected mini dreams again - so wake up exhausted Then stupidly fall back asleep

Ah well, here now

So today will be a NSD. The milk is low - after making yoghurt last night (a success :j), but I'll try to eke it until tomorrow. Everything else we have, and the TV guide can wait, so NSD I'm coming to claim ya!

Dinner this evening will be a Yotam recipe. I've not done it before (although I'm not counting it as one of my 'firsts') it could all go very wrong and we'll go hungry....... watch this space :rotfl:


Better dash.

Thanks ever so for popping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Hope its a good day, Greying! When you have time, tell us about the "thin" omelettes, I've seen you mention it before, sounds interesting. And that Buddha bowl, with said thin omelette, looks lovely

EssexHebridean

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

I was absolutely amazed that Brian O'Driscoll was playing. I thought that he'd been forced into retirement after the world cup battering? Edit: I meant autumn international of course - against NZ

Always happy to support good play - the team matters not But I do wish England would improve

Greying

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

It's his last 6 nations but he has such charisma he lifts the team and the crowd. Interesting to see how the wales game will unfold given he was dropped from the final lions game. Apparently he doesn't bear a grudge but he has very loyal team mates

More comebacks than Status Quo...! :rotfl: My reaction when I saw he was on the field was "What the bloomin' heck is HE doing there?!"

Parsnip cakes sound fab - it occurs to me that I could make those and MrEH would assume that they contained carrot if I told him that there was a "secret ingredient" - he'd then refuse to eat any, leaving me to have them all! I've made Hugh FW's beetroot brownies many times - including for family meals - and they have always been declared delicious too - I'm a big fan of vegetable-based cakes!

Not got into a MrM for a while, but do always try to make a point of looking at their beer supplies when I venture in. I've got to factor in my "supermarket free" week for this month yet too....

Catching up with your food pics - that orzotto looks amazing - was it as creamy as it looked? definitely must give that a go - how long does it take to cook compared with an ordinary rice version? Buddha Bowl looks lovely as ever also - I must try that idea. Also must remember the idea of the single egg omlette to top off a dish - I've often had two left and nearing their date and struggled for a use for them.

Hope your oversleepy start doesn't drag your day down too much.