Living richly; simply and debt-freely

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, today has been good - if a little unproductive. Still, it was nice to watch the tennis. Pity about the result But good to support Andy - he could have done it, he had the skill and athleticism.

We went out for a walk this afternoon, I had to get some milk - as despite being in . S.H.O.P's yesterday, DP forgot we had almost run out - as he is the main user, and I have a separate stash for yoghurt making, I can but *sigh*........ :rotfl:

Still, I only got milk and was tempted by nothing else.

I made a new recipe for dinner. It was from Anna Jones' book ' A modern way to eat. Anna has worked with JO and wants to bring veggie food up to date to satisfy a new audience. I made 'Beetroot and Bay Bourginon' - for which, I'm afraid, I can find no internet based recipe It's a keeper of a recipe as far as I'm concerned. Inexpensive, interesting and uses pretty much things that you'd have about in your storecupboard/larder.

My picture is awful, the light wasn't good, and the food a contrast in light and dark. However, Beetroot and bay bourginon, served with buttery mashed potato and diced swede;



The recipe called for Portobello mushrooms, but I got some valoo mushrooms and picked out the largest ones to slice. I also used vac-pac beetroot - funnily enough, the plastic wasn't so hard tonight, so not too much of a *muddha-scene* (channeling my inner Taggart ) in the kitchen :rotfl: The dish seemed quite *special* - it'd certainly be good as an dish when you're entertaining non-meat eaters I think

We had plum crumble and yoghurt to follow. Just because

So, I've started off stoodent February with a recipe not in my student cookbook :rotfl: But it hits the frugal buttons, so it's a keeper for me Just in case you want to see what the dish could look like in better light, this blogger has done the dish, but sadly didn't include the recipe; Beetroot and bay bourginon

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

fresh air and sunshine

for returning health and vitality

for what I have

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and joining in. I really appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Hopefuljoy

Lovely to have you back Greying. I feel all is right with the world again. Dinner looks delicious. Xx

wishus

Glad you are back and feeling much better GP. :j

Over at Crumbling House, we are "approved" to transfer equity, and I am now well-placed to get into the big bad debt that I need to sort Crumbling House out. So scary debt is coming soon, but I will spank it. It has been emotional, and OH and I are feeling the pressure, but we're surviving and happy.

The repairs can't come soon enough. I was too cold to work in my office last night, and skived off early to huddle under a blankie with OH, drinking cocoa, watching Broadchurch and demolishing a chocolate Santa. :A

mrsinvisible

Wishus, what a lovely way to spend an evening, chocolate santa, yumm.
Greying, so glad you are back and up to speed. You asked about fave couz, and finland, well, they went last year to see the northern lights and ride some sort of dog sled, but the lights were absent, (nobody paid the bill?) They discovered some lovely crisp ginger biscuits, so they went back for more, and the lights were back on, she said it was magical, (which is close to poetry for her!!).
My lovely friend/neighbour is redecorating her bedrooms, and has given me, for DD, a memory foam mattress topper and a lovely thick continental quilt, which are practically unused, and will hopefully help DDs back problem.
I have a new quilt cover too, so she can have that as well.
Now, l must really get cracking and clean this tip, as the tidy monitor may call later. xx

7_week_wonder

Is it just me who keeps reading GP's meal choice for yesterday as Beetroot and Baby Bourginon

Anyway - it was lovely to be tucked up in bed on Saturday night after a rather fraught day and come on here to see that GP's back and posting pictures of yummy food. So welcome back, we definitely missed you.

We have just stuffed ourselves silly with sweet potato and cauliflower tagine. It was truly scrumptious and even meat-eating OH enjoyed it (he only asked once exactly where the protein was in the meal!)

Have a lovely evening everyone and stay warm.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

I'm definitely flagging. I'm gonna hit the hay just now, but had to drop by

wishus - all down to you now - but you'll do it rooting for you :T And yep, snuggles with hubbies, blankies and choccies sounds just dandy!

mrsinvisible - BRILL! Did you send fave couz off with 50p for the meter this time? :rotfl: Oooh, the northern lights - fantastic. Although I think tescimos stock ginger biccies too........ [just joshing ] Wish I had lovely neighbour like you have. Might just have to step up to that jaunt over to Cumbria after all

7 week wonder - I'm gonna have to issue a elfin safety notice now.........

No babbies are ever hurt in the production of Greying's dinners.... :rotfl:

The tagine sounds nice - did you make up the recipe yourself? And *stay warm* backatcha

Dinner this evening was a recipe from the student cookbook :j We went on a curry theme again. And I recycled Tina's dhal from the other evening (made plenty in one go), so extra brownie points for saving beer time by batch cooking :rotfl: (just joking, no beer has been consumed this evening ). This accompanied the Potato Massaman Curry and some plain boiled rice. I'd really forgotten how much we enjoy this potato curry. It really is simple to make, and you really don't need a host of 'poncy' ingredients. Green Cardamon pods are a feature of massaman curries. You can get these from most of the supermarkets (although the best are usually to be found in Asian stores) quite easily - and they are a great spice to have for sweet and savoury dishes. Anyone following the Australian version of 'river cottage' will know that Paul flavoured his pound cake with cardamom this week. The recipe makes enough paste for a couple of curries - I freeze the half I don't use.

I decided to leave the skin on my potatoes. It perhaps looks a little strange, and students definitely wouldn't be interested in 'added fibre', but I think it was a good idea (no wasted peelings either) and didn't deflect from the taste of the dish at all. I topped the curry with some chopped (valoo) peanuts instead of incorporating them into the curry, and used the lime zest to sprinkle over at the end too. Picture here;

I think that the coconut milk was probably the priciest ingredient at 69p for a tin, from H0me bargins. But I have to say, it was half solid coconut cream and then coconut milk/water. Really rich and scrummy. Oh, and I did par boil my potatoes before adding them to the dish. The recipe infers that the coconut milk will cook the potatoes. Mmmmm, nowt worse than an under cooked spud........

Oh, I forgot, I made another 1L batch of yoghurt too - fingers crossed for this, as I used some really inexpensive UHT milk from H0me bargains. If it doesn't work, what on earth am I going to do with the other 6 litres???? :rotfl: Still, it was 25p a litre and good until the end of the month, so worth a punt........

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

zero queue in the post office - and a reasonably cheerful employee behind the counter :j:rotfl:

a really nice dinner that tasted much more sophisticated than the sum of its ingredients

for feeling better - if still tiring a little too easy......

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. Always appreciated. Always.

See y'all later.

Greying

liltdiddylilt

I had some half solid coconut/cream/water in my korma the other day and it was amazing!!! loved swirling it in

Glad to see you better GP and yum at your dinners!!! xx

Upsidedown_Bear

Smilie of the day.

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...what on earth am I going to do with the other 6 litres???? ...

Paneer? or Ricotta?
...with the whey for cooking liquid for various recipes?

I've discovered that whey freezes well in silicon muffin cups & adds a lovely flavour to soups & stews & even used to cooked rice instead of water!:D

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Quick whizz in from me, running late......

rtandon - I wondered what to do with the 6l of UHT if the yoghurt didn't work. However, it DID work - albeit with a slightly strange taste - reminiscent of evaporated milk....... it's milk from elsewhere in the EU, and was destined for a market that wasn't the UK, so that may explain it. Still, it works, so it can make our yoghurt for the stingey student month of Feb I'll probably get a new starter and will return to British milk :j for March - but for frugality, this stuff wins as it works for 25p a litre :j

Dinner last night was soup and scones. It was from the student cookbook, but am I allowed to say that I thought this quite an elegant and sophisticated soup? Very, very nice and a keeper of a recipe - if you have those sort of ingredients in your cupboard/freezer. I made the scones from Nigella's recipe, but I'm sure the book recipe would have worked. I had cheese and chive in mine and topped with a smear of yoghurt - hence the dark top, it is actually as good as egg Picture here;



And the recipe for the soup and a version of scones is Bean Soup with scones . Well worth making if you have those sort of ingredients - very tasty.

We're off to Italy tonight - Caponata and wet polenta, YUM :j

Gotta dash.

Thanks for dropping in, reading and commenting. I appreciate it, greatly

See y'all later.

Greying