EH - Keeping on track. (AKA focus Woman! FOCUS!)

EssexHebridean

Small Money Saving thing to declare today is that the £1.14 which has just become payable from TCB is now being converted to £1.19 in Tesco CC points and should land in our CC account shortly. We only ever use these on deals, so it'll be worth at least twice its face value, and potentially 4 x, done that way.

NSD yesterday was achieved, as was squeezing an extra days dinner out of one pack of sausages - two were set aside, are now in the fridge, and will be being eaten with pasta in a tomato & onion sauce tonight. Tomorrow night is meant to be omlettes but I must confess I'm not feeling wonderfully enthusiastic about that at the moment so might re-think. Hmmm. I'm quite tempted to do one of Greying's buddha bowls instead.... Must freezer-trawl tonight and see what's what.

starnac

Tea tonight sounds lovely. Mmm we have all the same ingredients so might have to steal that for tea one night this week.

Omelettes go down really well here. I throw a load of veg in and with cheese and tomato ketchup (for the kids) on top, plates are always cleared

cazmanian_minx

Omelettes are fab We do Italian or Mexican omelette here - chop an onion, fry gently until golden, add leftover bolognese or chilli, whisk up six eggs, pour over meat and onions, once it's nearly set, sprinkle a generous serving of grated cheese over the top and stick under the grill to finish until cheese is brown and bubbling.

EssexHebridean

That sounds a bit fab! I usually love an omlette so not sure why I wasn't in the mood for them this week. usual favourite here is either tortilla style with loads of veg and some diced boiled tatties thrown in, or filled with garlic mushrooms and a bit of bacon.....

Oh, Psssttt.....Caz - don't tell anyone but I've ordered the lens.... :whistle: Just need OneStop to play fair now and hurry and deliver it! :T

Invoice got paid today so money shuffling has been done - and another chunk has gone into the mortgage OP account. MrEH's car got fed last night - £49 of diesel-juice, but a helpful offshoot of that was that we got to the right number of points on the fuel card to get given another £5 MrM voucher. That'll go against a shop - probably next week.

I'll need to see what veg I can get at the farm shop tomorrow as veg supplies are getting horribly low. I've still got half a bag of frozen mixed, and a fair bit of frozen sweetcorn, but there's only enough peas to add to a risotto next week. The fridge has swede, carrots and a couple of parsnips I think. I'll see what they've got - will I come back with a cauliflower again I wonder?! :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

MORNING!!! :T

Still enjoying my bed here this morning - need to get up & at 'em in a bit, but though I'd pop in here first. This feels like my first "proper" Friday off so far this year although I do have things that need doing...

Must take the walking boots back to the shop - I can tie that in with a slightly different route coming back to get the sack of dishwasher salt we've been waiting for. "All-in-one" tablets or not, it certainly only washes properly when the salt is topped up also! Just need to hope that the road I need to use isn't flooded - it rained solidly here all night and apparently even the motorways are struggling this morning. Nothing like they are facing in Somerset though thank goodness.

Food-wise, dinner tonight will be the chickpea curry from Rick Stein's India book. I must explore the bready possibilities from there too to go with. I'll substitute a carton of chopped toms for the fresh that he stipulates, and will use the garlic paste I have in, or even some of my frozen roast garlic might be nice actually... Other than that I just need to buy a small piece of root ginger and I have all the other ingredients I think. I put chickpeas to soak last night and remembered to do some extras so I can do HFW's Merguez chickpeas too. Once again I'm going to make the full recipe of the curry and freeze half for another week.

Tomorrow we're off for our day-trip to York. While we do intend to buy our lunch and dinner, I might well make some cheese, onion, tattie & bacon pasties this afternoon to reduce lunch at least to more of a "tea & cake" requirement. if I get the chance I'll also make breakfast flapjacks too.

Right - the shower and the rest of the day is calling!

EssexHebridean

Small Money saving Thing - deciding against having the bit of cake and cup of tea I was planning at the shopping place this morning. yes, I know, :A or what?! :rotfl:

Boots are exchanged for a shiny new pair - might take them for a walk this afternoon just to see how they feel, the sooner I start wearing them in, the better.

Shopping is also done - £11.26 spent at the farm shop but got loads - 2.5kg of tatties, 1kg leeks, a savoy cabbage, some kale, 3 blood oranges, clementines, apples, bacon bits...couple of other bits too. Every time I shop there it surprises me how cheap it is - if it was slightly nearer I'd happily offload tesco for fresh stuff.

cazmanian_minx

Hooray!!! Hope you love yours as much as I love mine

EssexHebridean

I just want it to turn up NOW!!

I can confirm that Mr Rick Stein's Chick Pea curry is delicious. I can also confirm that his Pilau rice and chapattis are also excellent, and dead easy to make, too. I made a half recipe of the chapattis, but I think next time I'd make the full thing, cook all 8 and freeze half - bet they'd reheat brilliantly in a dry pan. The recipe is buried in the middle of this one should anyone be interested - I used a mix of plain white and strong wholemeal flour as that was what I had, and they were delicious. we now have the other half of the curry to freeze ready for another time, and a third of the chick peas I soaked overnight ready for merguez chickpeas on Sunday.

The new walking boots have been out for their first walk, and I'll be wearing them tomorrow for our trip to York too so that should be a good start with wearing them in.

Greying_Pilgrim

Hey EH - great to hear the chickpea recipe went well. That's your *new* recipe for the month isn't it? Glad it is a keeper for you

And well done on the Buddha bowls too! I assume that you enjoyed yours - and as you said MrEH only commented on the lentils of which he is not fond - will you make them in future? I like the simplicity of them; grain, vegetable, protein, dressing. Dinner .

Have a wonderful day out. I'm assuming photography will be on the agenda? Hope so - love seeing a place virtually:D

Greying

EssexHebridean

Definitely will be doing buddha bowls again Greying - might have to temper any use of lentils with some meat though or there may be mutiny! I had the leftovers of the bulgar, veggies & lentils along with a thin omlette as my lunch on Friday too. Must remember what I did for the dressing, that was very tasty.

I took the compact camera for a walk round York's City Walls yesterday - and there will indeed be a blog post on that in due course. It was a lovely day - the sun was out until just after lunch, so we got our walk in glorious if breezy weather, then after lunch stayed dry in the Railway Museum, before repairing to the pub, where we got wet - on the inside!

I have scored an unexpected NSD today - dontcha just love it when they creep up on you?! :rotfl: It's very nearly been a "no movement day" too as I've barely even stuck my head outside. :oDinner was a quiet triumph though and will be being repeated - slow roast Moroccan style leg of lamb, with Bulgar wheat (AF cheapie, naturally), steamed savoy cabbage and merguez chickpeas. I've stripped all the meat off the lamb and there's enough stashed in the fridge for another 2 meals for the two of us - one lot will get used this week and the other will be frozen I think.

This weeks food:
Mon: Eggs on toast
Tue: Stew of some description. Using some of Sundays lamb?
Wed: Salmon, jacket potatoes, veg.
Thur: Chicken Risotto *use up last of the peas*
Fri: Remaining chickpea curry from last week
Sat: Lunch: I’ll eat something that needs using up. Tea: Crumpets & cheese
Sun: something portable if we're walking – couscous salad? Tea: Cheese & crackers

This may be a little "subject to change" - we'll see.

Other than that, I'm hoping for NSD's through the week - although a lot will depend whether MrEH remembers he's got no milk, and works out where he can buy some that's not a supermarket. If I need any then I'm planning to use the paper shop & convenience store along the road, but I don't think he's thought about that yet.