Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Ay up Beanie - ta for popping in Yep, the CU figure is in my signature line. It is now updated with the £11 savings I deposited yesterday. Hopefully, next week it will go up again, when I move the monthly budget of £50 from wages. And I'm thinking that the council tax/water rates can go in there as well - we do the 10 month/8 month payments, and as I've met all big bills thus far, the money might as well go into the emergency fund. I've still time to save for our holidays.

little_sweetie - I've only seen a couple of minutes of any of the CTM series - so I've no idea what Sister Assumpta/Agneta/Mary or Susan's bread looked like - so I'm envisaging something absolutely marvellous :D:D:D You keep at it

I'm glad there is another positive vote for Jack's book. Hope the husband retrieval went well

kem 10 - a bungee jump :eek: You know how to drop things into the conversation don't you :rotfl:Were you raising money for charity, or just doing it for the thrill?

So, we took advantage of the sunshine yesterday afternoon and went for a lovely walk. So many folk were out and about walking with their families (multi-generational) and playing with their children in the park.

At DP's request we sauntered over to a quiet little pub and had a sneaky sherbet...... My defence is that we were supporting British Brewing And as he was paying - not from the household budget - who was I to dissuade?? :rotfl: Actually, we were working it out, and we think we haven't been in an actual pub since our holiday in June last year. So once every nine months treat isn't too bad......

Dinner last night ended up being curry, dhal and rice. The curry was the chickpea cinnamon chole from 'Prashad', with lentil dhal and basmati rice. Photo here;



If you would like to have a go at making the curry, the recipe is HERE It is a reasonably cheap eat, even if you use tinned chickpeas - mine were dried and batch cooked, so a really frugal meal

Today will see me formalising the March meal planner and sorting out stores. In addition, I am going to set aside more things for de-cluttering. I had set aside a book, it is a veggie cookbook. When it came out originally, it was £30, and although I desperately wanted to 'own' it, I could never justify the price tag. Fast forward a few years and whilst on holiday in St Ives, I spotted said book in the window of the Oxfam book shop (sadly, no longer there??). It was mine Dear Reader for the princely sum of £6.99. Well, in the years that I have owned it, I would like to say that this book has become be-splattered with food; has made the meals for all our memorable dinner parties and is in my hand more often than it is out of it. However, that would not be the case, and I have to say, I have cooked a big, fat ZERO of the recipes included in the book......

It is time for it to go and be loved by someone else.

Right, well DP is up and about, so I better get a wiggle on.

Dinner this evening is yet to be decided, but it'll definitely be something 'off the planner'

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

mrsinvisible

Morning, you all did so well last month, I'm behind you, 'faint but pursuing' as they say. Please can you give me the recipe for your dahl, it looks lovely, it is my favourite indian dish, but all the recipes I have tried are poor. I was in the greenhouse all day yesterday, it looks good, I feel wrecked! onward and upward, it was a NSD

Greying_Pilgrim

Hi mrsinvisible :wave:

I'm afraid I can't give you the exact recipe I use, as it's not published on the net. However, the recipe I use was in the book, Living the Good Life - written by this lovely gal.

But, if you were to use THIS recipe, as your base, but omit the bay leaves, chilli flakes and cinnamon. But add in 1 teaspoon of coriander powder, 2 potatoes - peeled and chopped and either one tin of chopped tomatoes or some passata, you would have a very near replica of the recipe I use

HTH

Greying

satchmo1

I don't know whether you're interested, but my dahl is super-simple.


One large onion, finely chopped, sweated in butter, add lentils (I never measure - perhaps 100g) and boiling water (perhaps 2pints) and turmeric. I also add a stock cube, but that's optional if you're limiting salt. Stir well, simmer for perhaps 40 minutes until the consistency you want. That's it! Like most Indian dishes it tastes better the next day, and freezes really well. The above vague recipe usually makes enough for two people for three meals.


Dahl on seeded wraps with rocket is a really tasty quick lunch.

kem10

Haha it was a bit of both. A friend wanted to do it and for some reason best known to my adrenaline junkie side I agreed! I am however part of a group called "skelpin' cancer" and we are trying to raise lots of money in 2014 for various cancer charities so I imagine I'll throw it in that I've already done that when trying to get sponsorship for other events.

Dinner looks lovely and I'm nabbing that close-ish recipe

Sun is shining - happy sunday everyone!

little_sweetie

The CTM nun's harvest loaf was a great nondescript lump of charred bread bearing no resemblance to a sheaf with mouse at all :rotfl:

I have tried my first recipe from Jack's book: pasta with onion and a splash of red wine with grated cheese melted on top. I didn't have any parsley but I sliced up 3 button mushrooms to cook with the onion. It was very tasty and CHEAP!!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Thanks satchmo - recipes always welcome I often think folk make dal overly complicated - I've always assumed it is there to balance and compliment the curry dishes, not to actively compete in taste or 'hottness' terms. Therefore, simple would normally = best in my book, but maybe I've missed the point....

kem 10 - bravo to your charitable endeavours :beer:

little_sweetie - ah, I understand Glad Jack's book is practical as well as good to look at - still, we all knew it was going to be brill didn't we?

Well, a day of pottering has had the place a little tidier than it was. I've not amassed oodles of tat to chuck out - nor any chintz But stuff has been moved purposely from pillar to post and is headed in the right direction The meal planner is set, and I've even managed to cook the meal that was on the planner for tonight... erm, tonight! We had soup and flat bread for lunch. DP has been tidying and sorting outside, so all in all a positive and productive day

As I've not left the confines of Greying Towers, I have also been able to legitimately claim a NSD

So, dinner this evening was actually a dish out of the veggie cookbook I'm contemplating ejecting from the homestead. A quick peep at the rainforest site, indicates that these books are on offer for masses more than I paid for my copy. Dilemma. However, cooking the dish tonight, confirms that it is not the book for me......

So, I cooked broccoli and cauliflower bake. A glorified version of cauliflower cheese, really. I can't find a link to the version I made, but if you were to make JAmes MArtin's version, and once you have the cooked veg and sauce, combine them in a food processor and whizz, then you'd have the version I made Edit: the version I made also used 2 eggs - the yolks were supposed to be added into the processor with the veg/sauce and the whites whipped and then folded in. Pffft. I just added the eggs in with the veg and blitzed. I also topped my bake with a little grated cheese - I did contemplate breadcrumbs, but couldn't be bothered in the end. Naturally, there were no brioche crumbs in the version I made......James........ tsk. The bake was ok, nothing more. Picture here;



Sorry for the hazy photo, the lens kept fogging in the steam, as the oven had been on. The broc and cauli for the bake were from a bag of frozen veg from Ald*. It is a vegetable medley (broc, cauli and baby carrots) 1kg for 99p. Cauli is the major constituent, then carrots and broccoli is the least amount in the bag. However, the veg stayed nice and firm whilst I steamed it in the microwave and I have to say, I think it is a good product for the price. Yes, fresh is great, but these were good substitutes. I will be using the carrots in tomorrow night's meal.

In addition to the bake, I made a batch of the Hairy Biker's *bangin banana, walnut and date* cakes. They actually used sultanas, but I substituted with what I had. It is from their '12 days of Christmas' cook book - and I'm afraid I can't find a link to a recipe. Still, probably a bit previous, as they have not been taste tested/quality controlled yet I also threw some tatties into the oven to bake for snap later in the week.

I had to laugh, the bag of dates (HB 89p for 500g) were on the side from my baking and DP asked if he could have one (where's the faints at the thought of voluntary application of *health food to gob* smilie when you need it??? :rotfl:) I said yes, DP asked if they had stones in them, I replied no, and he said, 'I used to hate these'. Huh, just shows doesn't it, our taste buds evolve and take us to polar opposites of what we think we like/dislike. I think he may well like them even more, encased in a bun, though

I listened to the Food Programme at lunchtime. It was about the renaissance of butchers/butchers shops in light of meat scandals. Whilst I am a veggie, I thought that the programme was very balanced and loved that all the contributors were passionate about providing good product and information/education on how to cook it (if they required it) to the purchaser. Interesting that the Italian butcher said that as his family were butchers, he grew up eating all the 'less saleable' bits of the animal, and that he didn't have steak until he was 18. But my! the offal recipes that he reeled off sounded interesting - because of what herbs/spices or other ingredients were put with the offal to make it a filling, tasty meal.

So, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for indoor work on a cold day

for a day 'fiddling' about with food - Heaven

for knowing that a decision made (however small and seemingly trivial) was the right one - the book goes

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I continue to appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Ellidee

Lovely post as usual GP. I think you should name and shame aforementioned cook book

Greying_Pilgrim

Ellidee wrote: »

Lovely post as usual GP. I think you should name and shame aforementioned cook book

Nah Elli - I look at it that for folk who just want to try dishes without meat, then this book has something to offer. But I think that the internet, coupled with travel and food 'fashion' (after all, Brazil is the culinary focus at the moment....) has made access to *interesting* food so much easier.

I'm loving your siggie quote by the way. VW is one interesting lady.

Greying

brizzledfw

Just popping in GP...the way you manage to eat so well whilst spending so little. Awesome!

Know what you mean re evolving taste buds. A meat ball curry went down well with DDs yesterday...and they loved a Claudia Roden whole fish ( we did trout, it should have been sea bass but I didn't have any in, funny that :rotfl:) recipe and a couscous with vegetables recipe by Ottolenghi which was totally lush. Not their usual fare as it had star anise, cinnamon etc...but it went down well. Baby steps!!:)

PS off to check out jack's book..not that I really need another one...but well this is different..she is 'one of us';)