The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

apple_muncher

I was going to pop on here and comment on the quality and size of our recent aldi eggs. Dh even called me into the kitchen, took the box of eggs out of the fridge and made me look at them, as he was so impressed by the size of them! But the second of the two eggs I broke into a bowl was all runny and a little whiffy, thus ensuring that I had to throw away two eggs. Most miffed. Cannot recall when I last had an egg that was off! (plus, I also had to bin a whole pot of in-date-by-11-days, still-sealed pot of cottage cheesenthis morning). Sigh.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Updated Economy Gastronomy would be great :T

I know I've been recommending it for years and really like both of them.

Soup was delicious and I sprinkled finely sliced chilli, finely chopped mint both from garden, finely sliced spring onions to serve.

Night Tilly xxx

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

apple muncher - I'm not surprised to learn that about the eggs. I've been thinking for ages that there are 'older' eggs getting packaged these days. And of course, it only takes a tiny crack for bacteria to get in and ...... Last time I had 'orf' cottage cheese, it was from h3r0n F00ds - discounted because it was on it's use by date, but there is no way that it should have been that off, food doesn't know it has a use by date........

But I feel your pain at the inadvertent food and money wastage. We can't have too many episodes like that, otherwise we'd bankrupt the household kitty!

Tilly - glad you enjoyed the soup - I reckon the HG produce 'completed' the soup

Tea for us ended up being 'fusion' - Italiano Arabesque.......... :rotfl:Is there such a thing? Anyhoo, t'was my salad bowl, so I'll do what I wunna....... :rotfl: The core was a new recipe for Italian Bean Salad that I picked up in a book from the library. I didn't put olives in my version tonight, as our tea last night was heavily olive based, so I thought I'd leave them out. I used some of the 10 Bean Salad beans that I got in MrW in January or February, when they were reduced to 97p for a 500g packet. Bit disappointing. Dried in the pack, they look like exotic jewels, cooked they look grey....... Anyway, I teamed this up with some lemon Bulghar (just bulghar with lemon zest and a bit of juice stirred through), Pugilese Beetroot Salad, Falafel, rocket and grilled nectarines. The inspiration for the grilled nectarines comes from THIS blog, but I've made this salad several times now, and about the only common denominator is that I usually use nectarines! I usually make it with feta etc, but the nectarines were more of a supporting cast in this bowl, than the lead singer The 'drizzle' was yoghurt, miso and lemon juice, not brilliant, but just about ok - I couldn't be bothered to make tahini, so it had to do. Picture here;



The rocket was actually YS'd from m&$ - the day mrL had rocket in their PotW!!! :doh:However, whilst the bag was 70p rather than 45p, it is bigger, so I've not been quite so profligate with the pennies! As it happened, DH went to mrL on the way home, and so we do now have a couple of aubergines that are going to find their way into a curry over the weekend :j

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

a varied diet

watching people interacting with BG and vice-versa - lots of free smiles all around today

the power of good

Ta for dropping by, reading and joining in the conversation. Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

End of the week already - gosh time really is flying!

We had our strawberries with ice-cream last night. Nice and summery. We don't always have dessert, but it's nice when it's seasonal fruit

Tea tonight will probably be pizza and oven chips - although I will have to check the weather, it's grey at the moment, but I don't fancy the oven on if it is going to get roasting by this arvo.

We need several things from up the high street, so will go for a wander just shortly. I'm hopeful that I can copy out a recipe or three and return some of the library books that I have out - and I must not get more, I must not get more........

I need to box up the rest of the (now frozen) falafels that I made yesterday, so that they can come in for future meals or future adventures. Good picnic food me thinks :think: I'm going to also try to make some vegan breakfast sausages to put into puff pastry, so that we have some 'sausage' rolls available for any adventurising that may occur I wonder what flavour to make - maybe I'll stick to my tried and trusted 'chorizo style'. I think I've only one roll of the puff pastry left - I've a couple of blocks, but the rolls make sausage roll making an absolute cinch.

Right, I don't think that there is owt else MS to witter on about. My challenge has naturally slowed, but things are ticking along in the background - DH is still on board and helping, so we are moving forward. We're just a little bit like a river on a hot, lazy, summer afternoon at the moment, rather than in full spate

Ta for popping by and reading - APPRECIATED.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

A sunny start at Greying Towers. Think it may be wise to get all outdoor chores finished soonest.

I didn't manage to do much of what I intended yesterday. BG's nap patterns are changing once again, so it's getting difficult. However, we do what we can do.

Tea last night wasn't Pizza & Chips (sorry rtandon), although I did use the oven. But because we'd had pizza on Wednesday, I wasn't in the mood to have it again. Instead, I had a nugget of an idea about 'Smoked Aubergine' - no, I've no clue either :think: Anyhoo, ideally I would have liked to have made a quiche, but lacked the wherewithall to make shorcrust pastry (no hard fat), so made a crustless version instead. I didn't follow a recipe - I actually couldn't find one for quiche - which makes my 'idea' even more bizzare quite frankly! But I used the stove top to roast the aubergine, and let it sit in a bowl to steam and cool before removing the skin. I then chopped it up with red pepper and capers. Used cinnamon, cumin, coriander and turmeric to flavour and mixed in some cooked red onion and garlic. I'd picked up some YS'd Ricotta in m&$ - not a huge discount compared to mrAl and MrL prices, but at 70p, a little cheaper I think - mixed it with eggs, the smoky liquer from the aubergine bowl and seasoned. Plopped it in a dish and cooked it until it was done. Served with a potato/tomato salad, green beans in Italian dressing (oil, vinegar, dijon), the rest of the YS'd rocket and some Tzatsiki. Picture here;



It gave me my 'Smoked Aubergine' fix And there are 2 portions leftover for another day.

Listening to the travel news on R2 last night I was grateful I and my family were safe at home. Reading the local news, I was grateful I could hold BG close and tight. Sitting at the table, eating tea with my husband, I was just grateful.......

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

We took a trip up the High Street, dropped off the library books and pootled around to HB to get a couple of things.

I always have a peruse of the *bargain* (?) bins at the front of the store, and usually walk on by. However, today I spotted these;



At 29p each, for a 120g carton, I thought that they would be worth a punt. I needed some 'wholemeal' type flour to make a Molly Cake, and thought that the Freekeh flour might fit the bill. I think I might have a go at pancakes with the Quinoa Flour. There was chickpea flour too. I thought that it might be 'store specific' with them being in the bargain bins, but according to HDUK, they could be in stores across the land. Just the right size to try out these types of flours, and at about 1/5th the cost of the supermercados, a pretty good deal. 2 of them have August BB dates, the Freekeh, which I'll be using today has a BB November 2017 :rotfl:(typical ).

Greying X

rtandon27

oooo - envious of your bargain bin finds GP! I'd love to try some of the weird and wonderful flours that are out there these days!

We find ourselves down to two shops a week these days - the main one is delivered to our door - Mr S basics & value brands make up most of what we buy - haven't yet weened the OH off of his carnivorous fare, so our most expensive purchases are of that variety! The rest are standards such as bananas, oats, milk, cheese, wraps, green veg, tatties, root veg, eggs & some in season fruit (the occasionally pack of loo roll too) - I'm always floored at just how much basics cost these days! Is it my imagination or has everything doubled in prince over the past 10 years?

The top-up shop is at the local village c0-0p - they do really good sticker deals and we often walk out with special things we'd never buy otherwise - a couple a weeks running we were the proud owners of pigildy pies - regularly 4 pounds each:eek: - reduced down to well under a pound - the cost of the ingredients would be more than that! OH rustled up some home wedges (inspired by you!) and we had ourselves a luxurious dinner!

Off to peruse the store-cupboard ingredients - you have me craving something quiche-like...:D

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up rtandon :wave:

rtandon27 wrote: »

Is it my imagination or has everything doubled in prince over the past 10 years?

Mmmm, sometimes I definitely think the same. But then 10 years ago, were we paying 36p a kilo for bananas? 50p for 4 pints of milk? 22p for a bog standard wholemeal loaf? I don't actually know the answer to that, but my punt is that we weren't. BUT, do I seem to recall my housekeeping money going further 10 years ago? - yes, it certainly seems like it.

rtandon27 wrote: »

we were the proud owners of pigildy pies - regularly 4 pounds each:eek: - reduced down to well under a pound - the cost of the ingredients would be more than that!

Wel Jel is the response to that! - entirely agree with not being able to make it yourself cheaper. Bravo rtandon :T

The sausage rolls - that aren't - are in the oven, and I'm about to combine the wet and dry ingredients for the Molly Cake. Rock & Roll, rock & roll............ :rotfl: I'm only able to lead this giddy existence because DH is back looking after BG

Right, best check me pastries!

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

I can't believe it's after 10pm. Where'd the time go?

So just a quick duck in and out from me. The not-sausage rolls turned out well. The Molly Cake...... mmmm. The recipe quite clearly stated to use baking parchment to line your tin. I unthinkingly just shoved a cake case in. The cake stuck to it. Big style I've yet to taste it, but I think I will give it one more go, and line the tin properly. I'm also not sure that my mixture was 'wet' enough, despite following the recipe verbatim.

I made Curried Roasted Eggplant with Smoked cardamon and Coconut Milk, which I was surprised to learn was originally a Nigel Slater recipe. I don't cook alot of Nige's stuff. His writing about food is ok/informative/interesting, but he's not really a cook I have much time for. I certainly cannot watch his programmes........ However, I have to say, that despite using passata, because I had some, and not having enough coconut milk as per the recipe, this curry was nice and I would definitely make it again It was the wrong day to roast aubergine, but then it was the wrong day to have the oven on full stop. But as I was using it, the aubergine roasted quietly away. I cut the aubergine into bite-size pieces, not factoring in how much it would shrink. I think I could have been bolder with my 'chunking'. I did like the use of black cardamon in the dish though. I love green cardamon anyway, but have had black cardamon forever and have used it very little. I was a little hesitant, and only used 3 in my dish, but I would put the full 5 in next time. I did however remove them before serving - DH always ends up eating things like that and it puts him off! As it was, he actually commented how nice and fragrant it was, and a mild curry - he liked it, another reason to make it a keeper. I served it with lemon basmati rice and a swirl of yoghurt topped with Nigella Seeds. Picture here;




Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

DH still trying to do chores/make stuff work, despite being tired out - he didn't know when he started that a part was missing (thank you internet!)

Accomplishing what I needed to achieve today

that BG finally found their way to the land of nod.....................

Ta for popping in. Appreciated.

Greying X

Verbatim

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

We took a trip up the High Street, dropped off the library books and pootled around to HB to get a couple of things.

I always have a peruse of the *bargain* (?) bins at the front of the store, and usually walk on by. However, today I spotted these;



At 29p each, for a 120g carton, I thought that they would be worth a punt. I needed some 'wholemeal' type flour to make a Molly Cake, and thought that the Freekeh flour might fit the bill. I think I might have a go at pancakes with the Quinoa Flour. There was chickpea flour too. I thought that it might be 'store specific' with them being in the bargain bins, but according to HDUK, they could be in stores across the land. Just the right size to try out these types of flours, and at about 1/5th the cost of the supermercados, a pretty good deal. 2 of them have August BB dates, the Freekeh, which I'll be using today has a BB November 2017 :rotfl:(typical ).

Greying X

How strange! I went into an unfamiliar organic gocer/greengrocer today because there was a pop up prformance (local festival). While there I had a mooch around and saw the self same tubes of flour. Don't think they were at those prices though!