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lilrahi

That onion soup looks amazing. I love this thread!

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

Tonight we went with Leanne Brown's 'Vegetable Quiche, Hold the crust' from Good and Cheap pg 114.

I thought that this recipe was OK. I think my issue was that it was *too* eggy - ie quite boingy on the tooth as there was so much egg in it..... I think I prefer something a little less boingy and with a little more *wobble*..... However, I followed the recipe and we got 6 slices (BIG slices) out of the dish. If you have access to top quality freshly laid organic/free range eggs, that would be awesome. HOWEVER, any eggs will make this dish for you.

In terms of veggies, I used 2 out of 3 of my 25p for 3 M&$ YS'd bell peppers, a red onion, a yellow onion, a courgette and some mrM frozen broccoli. I think that it can be quite a frugal dish - had I been feeding 6 for supper, this would have done perfectly well I'm not sure I'll keep the recipe, as I have (better) alternatives. But frankly, if you've a half dozen eggs that you need to use and you've some veggies - then make this dish, it'll make a filling meal for a family.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

Dinner this evening was from Leanne Brown's 'From Scratch' We had Green and white chilli on pg 75.

I've never made/eaten a chilli that didn't have tomato in it before, so it was a first for me. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised, and I liked it a lot. I substituted heavily in this dish, as I used what I had/could easily purchase. However, I had Jalapeno peppers (jarred) so included them, I used white haricot beans in place of the white kidney beans. I didn't put any beer in the chilli, but did use half a stock cube. I used 2 yellow romano peppers, in place of the bell pepper and the jarred green chillis, as I had them, having bought 4 for £1 from the greengrocers.

I didn't add in any type of cheese, so I was thinking of using cornflour to thicken it, at the end. However, instead I hit upon the idea of using the stick blender for a couple of whizzes to partially blend a portion of the chilli. Worked a treat and didn't add any 'thickeners' to the dish I did put in a handful of sweetcorn, as I had it. Good dish, relatively inexpensive and I would definitely make it again Pic here;




EDIT: Forgot to point out something IMPORTANT about ^ Leanne says (and gives relevant instructions) that this chilli can easily be made in a Slow cooker. I don't have one of those, but I know that a lot of MSEr's Do, so I think that it is important to POINT THIS OUT and soz fer shoutin'

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

Dinner this evening was from Leanne Brown's 'Good and Cheap' - it was the Savoury Summer cobbler on pg 110. I don't think that I have made a 'savoury' crumble before. I differed from Leanne's recipe for the filling, as I hadn't lots of courgettes, but I also put in some YS'd mushrooms, some kidney beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes - which were quite juicy and made it more 'tomatoey' than I intended. However, I made the crumble (cobbler) topping 'as per'. And just for info, 1/2 a cup of butter is approximately 113g - or a 'Stick' of butter in US baking parlance. Picture here;




It was OK, not the best thing that I have ever eaten in my entire life, but a good dish. I wouldn't rush to make it again, but I possibly shall make it again, if I have a similar set of ingredients. I think that my choice of veg 'bottom' lent a late summer/early autumn feel to the dish.


Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:


Monday night's dinner was from Leanne Brown's 'From Scratch' PDF pg 59 - Tomato and Courgette (Zucchini) pasta;



Unfortunately, Leanne's site doesn't seem to be letting anyone access the PDF's So sorry, no link. I did jazz it up a bit, and included onion and celery in with the courgette and tomato. The pasta is mrM basiks/valoo.

Pleasantly surprised how nice it was - I was expecting it to taste of very little, but actually, it worked well, and I would make it again.


Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

A couple more recipes tried out from Leanne Brown's From Scratch recipe PDF - which you'll recall isn't the one for the $4 a day SNAP food programme, but contains good, frugal recipes none the less.

Firstly I made the Cauliflower soup from pg 21. I was intrigued what difference cumin and jalapeno pepper would make to the soup. And as I had dropped on a couple of cauli's YS'd to 25p each in mrW, I decided that one would be used in this soup. Pic here;



I have to say, it isn't a recipe that I would rush to repeat The cumin actually worked well with the cauli, but I'm really not sure about the jalapeno, I don't think it worked at all. However, you may feel differently

I did add in some white beans - because I had some, and as it was a main course, to ramp up the protein content. I also dropped on some 'West Country Extra Thick Double Cream' *swoon* that had been YS'd in M&$, so I used some of that too. If you're wondering what the red sprinkles are, that is just the spice sumac.

The next cab off the rank was pizza, using the 'Fast' pizza dough recipe from pg 45. I had already made the 'greatest' pizza dough recipe on pg44, which got a definite thumbs up So I hoped for the same from this dough. I was not disappointed, and it worked really well. I'd even say that it was easier to roll out than both my conventional dough recipe, and the 'great' dough I used one of the pizza 'suggestion' ideas from pg 50 and we had 'spinach and garlic' pizza, for dinner last night;



For information, I always use mrL*dl bread flour and 2 1/4 cups is approx. 300g. I did, again, use more water for my dough, I'd guess about 1 cup, rather than the 3/4 stated in the recipe - so about 250ml of water (or 230g if you are weighing it).

HTH

Greying

[Deleted User]

I've just read through the thread and am sitting drooling at the pictures you've all posted, such lovely food and so many good ideas. Thank you all, I'm off to read through the book if I can get it to downloadon my ancient machine, Lyn xxx.

Greying_Pilgrim

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I've just read through the thread and am sitting drooling at the pictures you've all posted, such lovely food and so many good ideas. Thank you all, I'm off to read through the book if I can get it to downloadon my ancient machine, Lyn xxx.

Hey MrsL - lovely to *see* ya I think you'll like Leanne's style - good honest home cooking

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

Today, I tried out another of Leanne Brown's recipes. I made up a batch of Black Bean Chilli from the recipe on pg 76 in From Scratch. I chose this as I had some black beans in the freezer (PC a 500g bag and froze in batches) and all of the other ingredients in the store cupboard - although I chose not to put the 'dark beer' into the dish. I actually thought that this was a wholly veggie recipe, until I came to make the dish.... What the h3ck was '1 package ground round'?????

Well, thanks to lovely g00gle, I have discovered that it is what we in the UK would call mince and I suppose in a chilli, is more likely to be beef, but of course, you could add in whatever minced meat you wanted And I think that the most likely size of the 'package' referred to in the recipe - given that the dish is to serve 4 - 6 would be 1lb or 500g. And, I have it on good authority, from helpful MSE chums, that the UK pack size of mince would be in the 400/420/500g range - so on a par with this recipe As this is not Leanne's $4 a day recipe booklet, I suppose that the meat quotient can be a little more generous

As it was, for my version, I simply omitted the meat or any meat substitutes. I have to say, 2 tins of black beans could work out quite pricey - unless you managed to drop on certain brands that sometimes discount, so if you need to keep this dish frugal, I would look to substitute with either soaked and cooked dried black beans (aka turtle beans), which are about £1.10 a 500g bag or look to substitute with tinned red kidney beans, which are significantly less costly.



The chilli was OK, I used a little coffee, not too sure I'd use it again, I'm sure I've used coffee before, and it doesn't do anything for me, so I'd leave it out, but perhaps it works better with meat? In the picture, you can see that I have topped the chilli with some soured cream - actually some left over YS'd West Country extra thick double cream from m&$ (:p) with a little lime juice added - sprinkled over a little lime zest and some fresh coriander. Served with 75g portion of basmati rice.

A dish that can be made relatively cheaply, or made more 'luxurious' and expensive. But definitely filling and a reasonable version. I'll probably not replace the version I have in my recipe card box, but I'm happy to try out Leanne's version - I think she sets a very high standard

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello Dear Reader :wave:

Well, did I pick a corker of a recipe from Leanne's PDF to try tonight I actually made this yesterday, as I knew we would be short on time tonight. I have to say that the dish standing overnight did it no harm what so ever - especially as I didn't actually cook it for the length of time specified in the recipe The recipe I chose was on pg 78 of From Scratch and it was 'Gumbo Inspired veggie stew' - and it was lush Pic here;



Whilst I have made a roux for a white or cheese sauce before, I have never made a Louisiana/New Orleans/Cajun style roux - and I made this one a lovely chocolate brown colour, just as Leanne suggests. And boy, is she right about it adding 'depth' to the dish - how can oil and flour do that? I used the oil (plus a bit extra) that I had fried my sausages in, and just added plain flour straight into the pan. Being veggie, I used veggie sausages (mrT Lincolnshire ones), but of course you can use any type of sausage; Andouille, chorizo, finest meaty, valoo, whatever So go on make this dish

I served mine with a 75g (dry weight) serving of boiled rice, I would love to do cornbread but didn't have the time, but I certainly will as this is a keeper of a recipe. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that green bell pepper is the 'norm' for this dish, but I had one yellow romero pepper left so I used that instead

Sure is a keeper of a recipe - thrifty (only 2 sausages used), tasty, filling and interesting :T Well Done (again) Ms Leanne Brown.

Greying