Get a grip woman!

themadvix

Suffolk_lass said:

Still well under my average Grocery Challenge of £250 a month but I am over the target I set myself to start low. I shall not shop again this month unless DH runs out of cat litter (his job to refresh) or BranFlakes. I could not bring myself to pay £1.75 for 750g when they are a similar price for 1k in MrM. What am I like!?

Thrifty and wise!

I have spent more than I would like this month too, but that being said, we didn't have much in. I am going to aim not to shop bar fresh fruit/veg and milk for the rest of this month and intend for Feb to be a low-spend on groceries month too.

redofromstart

I like the sound of the butter nut fingers - is that a recipe you have previously shared?

Suffolk_lass

I can't remember if I have shared it previously so here it is - they are a cross between biscuit and cake. An old, quite frugal one I add half again to the dry ingredients to fit in my 8" square enamel tin (which I line bottom and sides in greaseproof paper).

Original version of Butter but fingers (with my substitution of walnuts for almonds)
6-7" (150-180cm) diameter square tin - better if you line it with greaseproof paper of foil
6oz (180g) SR Flour
4oz (120g) butter or something like Stork
pinch of salt
4oz (120g) demarera sugar
1oz (30g) sultanas (or mixed fruit)
1oz (30g) glace cherries, chopped
1oz (30g) chopped (still good sized) walnut pieces to use with the fruit or 1oz (30g) sliced almonds to sprinkle over
1 egg, tablespoon milk, mixed together

Rub the flour, fat and salt together to breadcrumb texture (I use a stand mixer)
Stir in the fruit, optional nuts and sugar, keeping back about a spoonful of sugar for sprinkling 
Pour over most of the liquid (keep back enough to paint the top) and bring it together to a quite stiff dough
Press it out in the tin - quite thinly to mostly cover the bottom (at this stage I always think there isn't enough dough)
Paint the top with the leftover egg and milk mixture
Sprinkle the sugar (and almonds slices) over
Cook in a moderate 180c oven for 30-35 minutes - it will spread and rise a bit. You want it so it is firm but springs back when you press the top with a finger
Cut into fingers then allow to cool completely in the tin (this is why I line with greaseproof paper, I lift it out after maybe 5-10 minutes cooling, cut, then replace to cool completely and stiffen a bit)

I used to always forget the sugar and almonds at the end, and often ended up painting with just milk too, but it's quite forgiving. Good quality walnuts work well in it and it is the only thing DH thinks glace cherries add anything to. So these days I just paint the top with egg and milk so it's shiny and there is less mess when you eat it! Oh, and you could easily substitute your own choice of fruits and nuts

foxgloves

Oooh, thanks for the recipe, @Suffolk_lass. I was sure they were going to be 'Bishop's fingers' but they are not, as your recipe has a greater variety of ingredients. Just the sort of thing I like to bake to go with coffee.
F

Suffolk_lass

Well, good morning everyone reading this! It is currently -3c here and the ground bears a heavy frost, so I have been through two freezers and retrieved all the bags of tomatoes I prepared and froze last summer. I have one more freezer to explore, which normally accommodates meat and bakery items, but I know I put some overspill veg in there last autumn. So it needs searching.

DH is going to write down what is in there while I do the rummage (a technical term, referring to a detailed search activity by Customs officials, when looking for contraband in hiding places on a vessel - it seems to fit). I shall mostly be wearing gloves and hat, (in addition to my warmest clothing! ) and we will be as quick as we can, as my fingers and toes were dead after the first two (one is a commercial upright, two full bags deep, 5 across, so each shelf is minimum 10 bags and there are 6 shelves - the other is a small domestic FF in the toolshed, with three small drawers. The Chest freezer in the cartlodge is the most difficult to search so we will use plastic crates to temporarily decant the contents. While this may be a daft day to be outdoors, it is a good day for stuff not to melt while we undertake our audit!

In other news, I Tilly-tidied £2.06 to the savings account (just passed £170 this month so far) and totted up all the spending (hmm) - my CC was a nightmare with DH's new iPad and DS's phone both on my CC for voucher accrual purposes, but so was DH's as I bought bee equipment in November sales, and we topped up anything from Big River while a free premium service was running for two months until 27th December.

My other success was that DS managed to separate my phone account into its own Mye2, so yesterday I rang 150 and the lovely Claire in Cardiff changed the account from his name to mine, DOB the same and address too. Then I was passed to the lovely Kate, who went through the rogue transactions and it was me, texting our Australian visitor over Christmas, without realising he had not switched his Sim card! Finally I queried the deal I was on that was not the 10gb of data I thought it was, it was showing 1+1, so she increased it to 10 and no charge. Not quite a haggle but all I need and zero cost. I was so happy. I dared to look at the phone offers before closing the site. Then I got a text, "Hello DS's name..." Well their systems (4 apparently, all legacy/heritage), might be a pile of wink but their people in Tech Support and CS are lovely so I will take that!

Suffolk_lass

Come on tomatoes, defrost!!

redofromstart

Thanks @Suffolk_lass, I have everything but the cherries so I I will pick those up next time I'm out. First time I make something new I do try and follow the recipe, although I did eye up my marzipan cherry mincemeat in the fridge given that I have the oven on for bread 🤣

Suffolk_lass

Off in a minute to finish defrosting my car  (teeth chattering not grinning emoji), before collecting fellow beek. Maybe back later to report on tomato progress 

Humdinger1

Thank you; my mind is now at rest on the matter of the Crimped Ferrule...mystery no more.  Could that be the first of our short stories: 'MSE and the Infernal Mystery of the Crimped Ferrule'.

Humdinger1

Thank you; my mind is now at rest on the matter of the Crimped Ferrule...mystery no more.  Could that be the first of our short stories: 'MSE and the Infernal Mystery of the Crimped Ferrule'.