Living on next to nought - is that the key?

7_week_wonder

Good evening,

I'm loving hearing all about the seeds, and you've reminded me that I must sew some beetroot and carrot seed this weekend. I've been really lucky this year I've been allowed to use part of a greenhouse at work to start things off, so I've got courgettes, tuscan kale and chard going great guns. In fact one of this weekend's tasks is to work out how to use some of the chard forest - any suggestions?

I'm another one who loves A girl called Jack's blog. I quite often make her veggie and bean receipe but add a bit more oil and vinegar and use it as a veggie pate for sandwiches/oatcakes during the week. I've also been making some of her courgette pasta recipes which are great.

I agree with your comment about being grateful for sharing. I work with a fantastic bunch of like-minded people and we quite happily barter/share things. So this week I traded some of my hens eggs for a jar of homemade relish, and I gave away quite a few pepper and chilli plants in return for a couple of months ago when one of my colleagues away her excess chard plants. The alternative economy rocks!

Have a good Friday, and here's hoping you manage to add a bit extra to your key fund!

CUL8R

Hello again.

I would agree with all who say MSE forums are wonderful and what a great job the guides do. Like putting together all the recipes in one place - how useful is that:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/471813#Comment_471813

Good to hear all the seeds are doing well. I garden indoors and will be starting another batch of peashoots using MrT dried whole green peas. I sprout various seeds and pulses in jars. With my omelette tonight I had sprouted alfalfa, radish and brocolli as well as tomato and avocado.

Bad Weather you can cut avocados in quarters and freeze rather than throw them out then later use them as a spread or in a blender drink with apple juice.

Bed time for me now. Sleep well.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

I for some reason couldn't sleep, so decided to get up and do something more useful (gosh, that dates me )

Upsidedown Bear - the sweet peas are Spencer type, and very perfumed. I must admit a preference for the 'Matucana' type though. But my friend was so thoughtful - and the scent is really strong again this morning.

7 Week Wonder - bless you! You have reminded me of a bean spread that I used to make with kidney beans. I haven't made it in an age! I haven't written the recipe down, basically because it is most part the ingredients for burgers, and then Cajun spice mix ingredient list. I must write it down and make it again. Thank you.

Actually, have you e-mailed Jack with your suggestion? As you'll know, she's got a book deal for her frugal recipes and is working on it at the moment. Wouldn't it be cool if at the end of a recipe, she could go - if you use these ingredients like this, you get a burger. If you (I'm making this bit up) use the ingredients + 1 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of vinegar you have pate. If you use the ingredients, + 1tbsp of oil, + 1 tbsp vingegar, + 2 tbsps of lemon or lime juice you have a Mexican 'style' dip for crunchy vegetable sticks? I reckon Jack would like it - go on e-mail her your version and see what she says.

I used to make a pasta bake with chard. Admittedly it is more of a winter dish, but basically use the stalks chopped up with onion, carrot, garlic. Fry them off in oil. Wilt your chard leaves in whatever method you normally do and squeeze dry. Boil up some pasta and drain. Make a cheese sauce (add in nutmeg). Combine all the ingredients and season. Put in an oven proof dish. Top with bread crumbs or cheese (or even better the 2 combined). Put in the oven at 180 degree for about 25 minutes until golden and bubbly.

I am envious of your 'like-minded' work colleagues - what a boon.

CUL8R - I've never got into sprouting seeds, but they are supposed to be terrifically nutritious aren't they? You're inspiring me to get some pea shoots underway, you really are. And yes, Memorygirl froze avocados on her blog the other day didn't she - I didn't know that you could freeze them either. Thank you for the link to the OS recipe index too.

Right, well I'm starting off another batch of yoghurt. I am currently waiting for the milk to cool down to the right temp. I'm trying 1 tablespoon of starter to 500ml of milk today. I will use 25g of milk powder though, as I am opening a new box. Fingers crossed! I'm also trialling a different flask. At the back of my cupboard (where else :rotfl:) I have a food flask that we bought years ago. It carried soup on many a day out, but 1 litre of soup is a bit much to stomach, so it got made redundant. Again, I was going to send it to a charity stall last year, but it is plastic inside and we'd carried tomato based soup in it. So although clean, it was stained, and I was worried it would put people off. Am I glad I kept it now, as it is much easier to clean inside than the flask I used the other day.

I've lots to do today - perhaps it is as well I've made an early start :rotfl:

It should be a NSD, but I fear that I can't see any spare £'s floating into the key fund, 7 week wonder. But, small steps - I'm really focussing back on the household expenditure and savings are being made, which will eventually turn into surplus cash - I'm sure of it

Right the milk should be getting toward temperature. I'll finish the yoghurt off, pack up snap boxes and then head out to check on the seedlings and set them out on the shelf for the day, so they get light but not frazzled Then it will be breakfast time.

Thank you for reading and posting. I appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

toothfairybuttkicker

Good morning. I've stumbled upon your thread while trying to motivate myself to get back to sorting myself and my finances out. I hope you don't mind me popping by to say hello.

Love your upbeat tempo and your veggie style

Xxx

Greying_Pilgrim

:wave: Toothfairybuttkicker - of course I don't mind you popping in to say hello. Welcome I hope you find the motivation you need and then the organisation just flows on from that. You know you're in the right place on this board at least - you won't find better.

Well, I better get a wriggle on. I hope everyone has a great day.

Thank you for reading, commenting and dropping by. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

Happy Friday all

Upsidedown_Bear

beanielou wrote: »

Happy Friday all

Happy Friday beanielou :j
Happy Friday Greying and all readers and lurkers :j

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well how wonderful - what lovely positive and upbeat posts - Thank you Beanielou and Upsidedown Bear for stopping by.

Well, today has been another great day. It's probably getting a leetle bit too muggy for me now, but I refuse to complain, as this weather is welcome, welcome, welcome after the seasonal aberrations that we have been having.

Today was a no-spend day - hurrah!

Nothing has been put in the 'key' fund, but there was a rumour today that one invoice for the changed locks didn't come in at as much as originally quoted :money:, so there may be a refund on the horizon. Watch this space.

I also have successfully made another batch of yoghurt - hurrah. I only used 1 tbsp of starter to 500ml of milk today and it has worked fine. It occurred to me after I had made it, that I had already watered down the milk - but it hasn't unduly affected the end result. I suppose you could say it was a tiny bit thinner, but not really a problem. Freshly made yoghurt tastes so much different to any shop bought stuff. I still wonder where the slight lemony note comes from, but I like it anyhow.

I did stir it after getting it out of the flask (which performed brilliantly by the way; is much easier to clean and is now promoted to the front of my cupboard :rotfl:), which altered the texture of the yoghurt. It is more like shop bought yoghurt consistency - I think I prefer the texture of unstirred, but golly, that's a nitpick and a half - it's still brilliant.

I can see further [STRIKE]experimentation[/STRIKE] *tweaking* can be done. But I have to say, where I can, I will be making my own yoghurt in future. It really is a reasonably easy process and very satisfying - not to mention :money:

Dinner this evening went in a north African direction. We did not bother opening the bottle of wine that I bought yesterday, so that will be kept for another time.

It was a 'made up' concoction. I made vegetable bulghar pilaf; fried off some onions, garlic, celery, red pepper and courgette. Added in some spinach (frozen) then seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh mint. Made up the bulghar wheat using veg stock. Seasoned and added just a pinch of dried mint and a pinch of ras-el-hanout spice mix. I ran the veg through the bulghar and set aside.

I cooked a couple of quorn filets. We don't have them very often, and I know quorn products seem to divide opinion, but I use them occasionally. I also made a tomato and red pepper sauce; onions, garlic, celery, carrot, red pepper fried together, a tsp of ras-el-hanout spice and then some passata and a little water to thin down - blitzed to a smooth sauce. We also had some sweetcorn on the side. A very nice tasting combo - which (by accident) was very colourful and summery. I'd definitely make it again.

I made the ras-el-hanout from my spices and I used THIS recipe - but I think there are as many versions of ras-el-hanout as there are ways of getting from a to b. Oh, and just to clarify - anise seeds are from the carrot and parsley 'family' (I used fennel seeds), not the star anise spice that is such a pretty shape. I hope that doesn't patronise anyone, that really is not my intention, but if you use star anise, your spice mix would be located further East than north Africa

Well, I've got to go and make some bread dough to rise in the fridge overnight, so it's a 'short' post from me tonight

The 3 things that I'm grateful for today are;

- 'good' yeasts and 'healthy' bacteria - look at the yummy stuff they help to create.

- *tweaking* - some may call it OCD/perfectionism, but boy can it take you on some adventures

- the internet - you can find out so much 'stuff' all because someone bothers to take the time to write things like, 'don't park there because it is really expensive, take the hidden little roadway to the right and you'll find a much cheaper car park - or better still, go 3 miles down the road and you can park for FREE'. Priceless for MSE'rs

Thank you for reading, commenting and participating. It really is appreciated by me. And if you're lurking, thinking about joining in, well, please feel free to do so.

See y'all soon.

Greying

beanielou

I had courgette risotto & beetroot salad~twas most yummy.

7_week_wonder

Evening all,

Gosh I am enjoying this thread - it is just so upbeat and sunny!

I too had a lovely day, OH and I both took the day off work and we went to the nearest seaside town. We treated ourselves and had lunch from the lobster-shack in the harbour followed by an ice-cream an much walking along the beach. On the one hand it was a wee bit expensive, but on the other, we had great day out and feel like we've been on holiday!

After that, we didn;t really fancy much for supper so the chard forest lives for another day.

Greying, I had a thought: do you do online surveys? I've been doing them for about 18 months now and can recommend them. They aren't going to pay off any major debts, but I get at least £15 a month either into my paypal account or as a Marks and Spencers voucher. I use them either for food treats or save them up for Christmas, maybe they would be a way of topping up the key fund. If you want any recommendations for which sites I use, let me know.

Completely agree about good bacteria and yeast: it's coming up for the second birthday for my sour dough starter and I wouldn't be without it.

Have a good weekend everyone.