Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Karmacat

Just checking in to say hi - all fine here (and today is the day I put some coriander seeds in the mortar and pestle ).

Have a good'un

mouche

What were the cakes like after tasting Greying?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Visitors - how luverly

Beanie - thanks for starting us off so cheerily. I have used powdered milk when we used to go camping. Not brill I have to say, but palatable.....

Pippi - thanks for dropping by. It'll soon be November - a new month for us to start counting the pennies in

Karma - well? well? What did you think?????

mouche - my dear thing - I forgot! Yes, I said I was going to report back didn't I. Right. Well, I found the texture very spongey, actually like a sponge (big air holes, bouncy etc) IYSWIM. I thought I had make carrot cake with oil before now, and I seem to recall that having a texture much more 'crumb' like, as in a 'normal' cake. However, taste wise, the cakes (have now had 2) were lovely. The 'free' apples were really tasty and cinnamon is such a good accompaniment I grated the apple in my cakes because I thought chunks might just sink - if I were making a cake, I'd of probably done chunks as per the recipe. DP has just said the cakes were nice and moist - which is true :DSo, would I make the recipe again if I didn't have access to butter/marg and needed to make cake - yes probably. Would I make the cake as per recipe if I had access to butter or marge. I have to say, probably not. I will keep the recipe though, as I have a collection of 'without eggs', 'without fat' etc recipes and you never know when they'll come in handy. I would definitely use less sugar than stated though. I used about 50g less, (remember I was making half recipe) and the cakes were sweet enough - even for sweet-toothed DP.

However, if you would like to have a go yourself, Deb's recipe is HERE I must say, it is a very easy recipe to make.

Today has been a NSD and AFD. Must change siggie. No *roadkill* again, but it's a rarity these days anyway.

Dinner this evening wasn't the soup and flatbread that I talked about this morning. I've had a funny day - I think it can be summed up by the fact that bitter people seem to do their damnedest to make like difficult for others, seemingly blind to the fact that it makes them look like complete and utter buffoons in the process. Greying makes mental note: never get bitter..... Anyway, the soup that I was proposing to make is nice and savoury and tasty 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time, it can seem a bit of a 'worthy' eat. I did not need a 'worthy' eat for dinner - today was a 2% day :rotfl:Therefore, I chucked the soaked chickpeas in the pressure cooker, boiled em up. Got a green chilli, some 'fresh' coriander and a pot of Memory Girl's curry in a hurry pasteout of the freezer and before too long, a couple of portions of chickpea curry with basmati rice were dolloped on some plates Pic hopefully here



And in honour of KC and because I had no lemon, I lightly toasted some coriander seeds, ground them round in the mortar a couple of times and scattered them on top. Even DP liked the citrusy vibe from them

We had a quick convening of sub-committee no. 5 tonight. 2 things not progressed (onto week 3 now :mad:) and 2 things agreed and will be actioned at the weekend. We are still in total agreement that taking time out to have a chat about things is paying back in spades

So today I am grateful for these 3 things;

our emergency service personnel - The footage I saw showed some incredible bravery in appalling conditions. They have to work on when all that remains is hope. And sadly, also when all hope is lost.

for balance - and for knowing that even if things aren't going well in my life, taking out my frustrations on others won't tip the scales back in my favour......

for inspiration - thank you for having conversations with me, asking me questions, challenging me and making me think. I love it. Thank you.

Right, I'm away to finish up a letter to my friend. I've left it too long since I last wrote, and think that it is important that I get a letter sent off - not that I write a letter that contains every last snippet of news, detail of recipes or remembered funny scenarios that have happened in the last x months......:rotfl:

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

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

Agree re letter.
I meant to send a letter to a friend the weekend before last and dident get round to it,I got a phone call this weekend to say that they had died

Upsidedown_Bear

beanielou wrote: »

Agree re letter.
I meant to send a letter to a friend the weekend before last and dident get round to it,I got a phone call this weekend to say that they had died

Sorry to hear that :grouphug:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Beanie - thanks for timely reminder. I've addressed the envelope and put a stamp on it. I shall just finish off the letter and pop it in the post box on my way out.

Upsidedown Bear - nice to see you and thanks

Right, well today is my dedicated 'spend' day. So I need to get the TV listings guide. In addition, I will get some milk (see, I'm not hard-hearted really ) and some bananas. If there are any pennies left over, I shall be 'investing' a butternut squash. Wish me luck

Dinner this evening is something of a quandary and will depend on what happens during my [STRIKE]hunter/gathering [/STRIKE] shopping spree. Let's hope I at least choose something off the plan

So, let's get up and at 'em and seize the day. I've a letter to finish off

Thanks so much for dropping by, reading and commenting. It is greatly appreciated by me.

See y'all later.

Greying

Update for Beanie - letter finished off, popped in envelope and will be dropped into a post box within the hour

brizzledfw

Hi Greying :wave:

Know what you mean re the 2% day ..I think today is one of those so I am going to ask the kids to choose their dinner from the freezer. They will be thrilled and I won't have to think..maybe I can even get them to help me make it!

Right had better get on...stuff to do!

Karmacat

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Karma - well? well? What did you think?????

I *used* them, and they smelled divine, you're right, but I couldn't *taste* them :o:o, but you know what, I did exactly what I said I shouldn't do - bung cookery, just chucking stuff in and not following a recipe. Its really not good enough.

And in honour of KC and because I had no lemon, I lightly toasted some coriander seeds, ground them round in the mortar a couple of times and scattered them on top. Even DP liked the citrusy vibe from them

Wow!

I think I need to acknowlege that I'm really, really not good at cooking each day - I need to do something the size of a pesto bottle of sauce, so I can get a good heaped teaspoonful out of it and just throw it over the food, like I use shop bought pesto itself. I'd love to pay the attention to food that you do, Greying, but I have to bow to self knowledge here, and know that no matter how much I *mean* to do it, I won't. And my willpower has to be spent on things like exercise, and improving my financial situation. But spending ten minutes or so each month with the seeds in the mortar, after a little roasting, thats doable, I can do that.

I do appreciate your taking the time, thank you! :A

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

And it's good evening from 'Grumpy Greying'.........

Well, actually, I am possibly being a little unfair on myself there. I'm feeling a little out of sorts - and I'm wondering if I just caught a chill whilst out and about and it's sapping the auld energy levels a bit. Dunno, but I will try to keep my post upbeat - as actually, I feel fine 'inside' IYSWIM.

I had a 'spendy' day. Got the TV listing mag - Kat is BACK - whoop :j I also picked up bananas, garlic and a butternut squash. I did get stared at for removing all 3 of the butternut squash boxes off the stand to pick out the best one (which of course was in the bottom box ), but there you go. Oh, and of course I got milk too

I also found 3p *roadkill* on my travels - a tuppence and a penny. Given that I had about £3 in my purse, that is a yield of 1% - better than most savings accounts and nothing lost to the taxman :T

Today has been AF, so I'll update my siggie later.

Dinner this evening was 'Three Sisters Stew' - basically a stew made with beans, pumpkin and sweetcorn - named from the native American way of growing these 3 crops. I also intended making 'Navajo dumplings' from a Jaymee O recipe to accompany the stew. Dear Reader, if you are doing any baking/recipes that require accurate measures, don't try and *wing it* because your battery has run out in your scales....... Not only did I have the dumpling ingredients proportionally wrong (I used what marge I could scrape out of the tub, it wasn't the right amount), a momentary lapse of concentration meant I added too much water. Jaymee instructs you to 'knead the dough for a couple of minutes, before shaping'...... Dear Reader, I scooped the mixture into the stew in extremely loose quenelles and quickly shoved the lid back on the saucepan :rotfl:So, where does the epic save come in to it?



Somehow, the cornmeal/flour/marg mix responded and I ended up with the lightest, fluffiest, crumbliest dumplings that I have ever made......:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Hopefully you can see by the broken dumpling in the pic, the airy texture. So, nowt to do wif me guv - I dunno how it happened - take no notice of my poncing on about food - I clearly have no hand in it :rotfl:The stew ended up being just right for tonight - it has gone cold all of a sudden. I wish I'd had more interesting beans than haricot to put in the stew, I used to love making this with the beans I used to grow; Cherokee trail of tears, Ireland creek Annie, Hutterite soup bean etc. Oh, and the sweetcorn was the last cob from the gardening parental's harvest

I'm not sure Jaymee's dumpling recipe is on the net - it's from his 'America' book, but if you google 'Three Sisters Stew' you will get any number of recipes coming up.

brizzledfw - I love that your children are involved in the cooking. Just great

Karma - good health and wellbeing is priceless, you look after you

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

people who don't value their coppers - no, not their neighbourhood bobby - their loose change. I'm happy to employ the mantra, 'look after the pennies...............'

for my guardian angel - who - despite my best efforts - made dinner turn out much better than it should of!

for cheerful shop staff - different shops, different times but they were all pleasant and smiling. Wonderful.

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

See y'all later.

Greying

Pippilongstocking

Yay to roadkill, angels saving dumplings and good service.

Boo to feeling a bit out of sorts.

Time change in this house has left me floored. I realise the rest of the UK also has the time change - its just my house inhabitants who appear to be suffering some kind of post clock change jet lag.

The dear ex-cellist made a very lovely cheese sauce tonight as per previous instructions, all by herself - she nailed it. Can tick the sauce box now and move on. I love that food sustains us but also provides bonding activities and closeness.

Tinned tuna casserole (tuna layered with , corn, onion, rice and topped with cheese sauce) for tea - cheap as chips and would work meatless too with beans or other veg.

AF here too - must look through my diary and update myself - not a whole month (wedding in the middle) but mainly an AF month too.

Hope the sun shines tomorrow - your dumplings stay risen (which does sound a bit dodgy) and more road kill provides increased investments for you.