Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

CathA

CathA wrote: »

Minimising- I've made a tiny cardigan for one of the girls at work from some odd bits of wool. She's in hospital until her baby is born, poor girl, and it looks like baby may be early and she can't arrive with no clothes! I've done one tiny bootee as well, do the other one tonight. If the baby is too big for the clothes then she can leave them behind for the hospital to use so everyone's happy!

Just to let you know, the tiny cardigan was a success and she loves it. Her mum came and collected the stuff I had ready for her to take to hospital, I can't go because I'm looking after my baby grandson full time for 10 weeks and also I'd never find the hospital!

Been a very worrying time for her family and her mum loved the cardigan. She got a bit teary about it, so I have her a hug to pass on to her daughter.
Nearly finished the bootees, no time the other night. If I've got enough wool left I'll do a little hat to match.
Minimising-does it count that I've saved all the puzzle pages from the papers to send in to her? The rest of the papers go to another work friends for her guinea pigs.

silvasava

Plumduff - I never have much luck with scones either. I've tried umpteen recipes, the taste and texture are good but they don't ever rise that much. I don't know what I'm doing wrong!
Fairly productive day today. Minimised DH's hair, beard and eyebrows for him. Made some soup from the leftover frozen scraps of broccoli and the remainder of some fresh and some Roquefort cheese.
Got 3 loads of washing done. I also had some leftover vynyl flooring that I've trimmed and lined so e cupboards with - pleased that I made use of it.
DGD came round to minimise my grey roots lol. Those of a squeamish nature look away now - I have a long haired cat & she had a stinky problem as she'd poo'd and it had got stuck in her fur. She's very good at letting me round her nether regions but it takes a while Funny how DH always manages to be busy at times like these

DawnW

plumduff55 wrote: »

MAKING DO - I had no bread left for toast this morning so had a scone instead. It was a recipe I had just tried and although the texture was good and it tasted lovely it had not risen very much. My scones are always flat - if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, I would really appreciate it.

Scones:
(sorry old measures as this is an old recipe )
1lb SR flour
heaped teaspoon baking powder, or more, experiment!
(sieved together)
3oz margarine, any kind
3 oz sugar
half a pint of milk (if I have milk that is a bit past its use by date I use that, sometimes I add a bit of yogurt if I have some going past its date, but you need about half a pint in total ) to which I add a squeeze of lemon juice if I have it.

Rub margarine into flour and baking powder mixture, add sugar. You can add a handful of dried fruit (or a chopped up eating apple, or grated cheese, but omit the sugar if the latter) if you like at this point.
Mix to a soft but not sticky dough with the milk, you may not need quite all of it.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and this is the important bit - DON'T roll it out thin - in fact don't roll it out at all. Knead briefly and gently (and minimally to get a smooth dough), flatten the dough a bit with your hand, but it needs to be about 2cm high. Flat scones are usually the result of rolling the dough out too thin.
Cut out rounds and place either on a greased baking tray, or preferably, on one covered with baking parchment.
You can brush them with more milk if you like, egg if you prefer, or just dust with flour (or do nothing at all)
Cook immediately in the hottest possible, preheated oven, gas 7 or equivalent if electric. They will take about 10 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack

They freeze very well if this seems a lot to make, or you can halve the recipe

plumduff55

DawnW wrote: »

Scones:
(sorry old measures as this is an old recipe )
1lb SR flour
heaped teaspoon baking powder, or more, experiment!
(sieved together)
3oz margarine, any kind
3 oz sugar
half a pint of milk (if I have milk that is a bit past its use by date I use that, sometimes I add a bit of yogurt if I have some going past its date, but you need about half a pint in total ) to which I add a squeeze of lemon juice if I have it.

Rub margarine into flour and baking powder mixture, add sugar. You can add a handful of dried fruit (or a chopped up eating apple, or grated cheese, but omit the sugar if the latter) if you like at this point.
Mix to a soft but not sticky dough with the milk, you may not need quite all of it.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and this is the important bit - DON'T roll it out thin - in fact don't roll it out at all. Knead briefly and gently (and minimally to get a smooth dough), flatten the dough a bit with your hand, but it needs to be about 2cm high. Flat scones are usually the result of rolling the dough out too thin.
Cut out rounds and place either on a greased baking tray, or preferably, on one covered with baking parchment.
You can brush them with more milk if you like, egg if you prefer, or just dust with flour (or do nothing at all)
Cook immediately in the hottest possible, preheated oven, gas 7 or equivalent if electric. They will take about 10 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack

They freeze very well if this seems a lot to make, or you can halve the recipe

Thanks very much DawnW. I might be rolling it out too thinly but I think the oven temperature may not be hot enough. I shall try them at the weekend and will be ecstatic if it works. Scones are the one thing I have never mastered and I don't like failing :eek:
Thanks again xx

mrs-moneypenny

MrsCD wrote: »

I've just filled in the online form for transferring my Married Couple's Allowance to DH. Very easy to do, and hopefully will mean he won't pay as much tax from now on.
THANKS MARTIN :T:T:T:T:T

I did that a couple of weeks ago and Dh got the paperwork to confirm he's got an extra £1100 from me.:T

Ches

Scones - just to add, don't twist the cutter when cutting them out. I don't know why but it stops them rising. Also try Paul Holywoods scone recipe (BBC Good Food site) as they are amazing.

plumduff55

Ches wrote: »

Scones - just to add, don't twist the cutter when cutting them out. I don't know why but it stops them rising. Also try Paul Holywoods scone recipe (BBC Good Food site) as they are amazing.

Hi, it was Paul Hollywoods recipe I tried. The one with some bread flour and they were lovely just flat . Going to try them again and hopefully get them right this time.
Many thanks xx

Lynplatinum

Evening all

weird sleep pattern carrying on! So posting now!

FunBrum - brilliant - gifted food - savings for you and the planet

samanthaneww2d - you did make me smile :T I too am very good at minimising chocolate

Re scones - I have a very old recipe as well but, as I recall it is quite similar to the one posted but I thoroughly agree - I put more baking powder in than it says!! Also baking powder does go off either with age or if not in an airtight container - it literally oxidizes - its not harmful by the way - just doesnt cause rising! Also you need to be sure your dough is wet enough and not too stiff so that it can rise. Hope these ideas help.

Strangely busy day today - calling banks etc re move! I now enter the shark infested waters of Estate Agents; solicitors; surveyors and banks I already know I am gonna hate it! They outright did not believe me when I told them my food + water +fuel bills!! Claimed that folk could not live on the amounts I was stating!! Apparently I will have to provide Bank statements to prove my frugality!! :rotfl:

Make do - more of the bean and tomato casserole!
Mend - my finances!!
Minimise - a tin of rice pudding (well I ve eaten half of one tonight the other half will do for tomorrow!)
Nite all

silvasava

Thanks for all the advice on scones. I'm going to try again later today. I think maybe a bit more baking powder and thicker! I'm wary of too much BP cos I had some in the tearoom at Brighton Pavilion once - they looked beautiful but had so much BP they tasted salty!

Dizzy_Imp

Delurking again to say how much I love this thread - everyone is so creative, inventive and thrifty. Once we are back on our feet and our house repairs are done, I'll definitely be joining in more.

WRT to MMMing - my girl pup minimised her back left toe yesterday as she severed it through the joint and had to have it amputated. Consequently, I minimised my lunch The vet mended her foot as best she could and we are making do with a food bag and elastic band to keep the bandage as clean as possible...

I'm hoping today is better.