Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

jenagain

Pheasant was really nice! Tim made proper gravy too which was fantastic, so a huuuge thumbs up for tonights dinner!

We've made some pasties, a few mince pies to use up the leftover pastry, and I've got a sour cream cake in the oven (with hundreds and thousands to make it a 'magic' cake as a special treat for DS If it's a success I think I'll use that recipe to make his birthday cake this year. Last year I made a huge chocolate cake with chocolate ganache as the filling and icing - seeing as I'd never made anything that came out as it should I was very pleased with myself and have made lots of those cakes since! I will find the recipe and post it tomorrow, it is fiddly but worth it.

Here is my DS (Dylan) showing off his first hair cut yesterday (his hair was long and curly before!)



And my DD (Daisy):



She is a very grumpy baby though so most of my baking is done with her in a (very floury!) sling on my front :rotfl:

sammy_kaye18

Morning all

No bakign for me today , have the dentist at 12.30 so am about to announce to bf who decided to tell me at 6am he wasnt workign today (day off) thathe is goign to have to do the school run later - hes startign to bug me with having days off because he gets in my way and sits on his bum doing nothing, then even when i clean he decides he needs something and wrecks the place again - i cant win.

Either way today should be a good day. Im going to do a rough tescos shop, check the cupboards for bits we need etc first and get a sort of list together and see how much its goign to cost - have to get my brother and step sisters hampers together today as they are down the beginning of december so want to get them sorted for them to take back. Also got to get my fathers done too.

Hope youall have good days, think carrot cake will be my next offering

cheerfulness4

Jen - your children are so sweet. Is Dylan the little angel he looks? So unusual to have blonde hair and brown eyes. I was the same when little.

Well I was thrown a curve ball in my menu plans when I learnt that DS1 had invited my nieces to dinner yesterday. We had the toad in hole on Sat and turned the chicken pilaff into Chicken, cheese and leek flan. All worked out in the end. A huge batch of sugared and chocolate doughnuts saved the day on the 'sweet' front and they went away muttering about making some themselves.


JCR - your baking looks scrummy. Which Delia book had the carrot cake in? Planning on trying out a few till I get my 'perfect' one to add to my file.

Thanks for posting the carrot cake topping recipes, cheeky, much appreciated. I've c & ped them into my recipe folder for future reference.

Going to make rainbow cakes today. Can't wait to see how they turn out. :j

Just a thought, has anyone tried making the beetroot and chocolate cake that was in the mega index. I noticed I've still quite a few beets growing in the garden that I want to use up before the dig over.

jcr16

cheerfulness4 i not sure what book it is from. i did a google search.

here is the link

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/low-fat-moist-carrot-cake,1130,RC.html

i feel like i want to get on today , but done some xmas shopping this morning and i feel shattered. i've got a few tummy pain's due to pushing the buggy up and down all the kerb's. and with all the shopping on , buggy wasn't light

CheekyLittleMonkey

Pakore - Makes about 10

1 cup of Gram Flour (125g/4 1/2oz)
Oil for shallow frying (enough to cover the Pakora)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garam masala
2 green chillies chopped finely (remove seeds if req if too hot for u)
A good handful of chopped fresh fenugreek (methi) leaves
1 potato, peeled cut into thick chips then sliced widthways
1 large onion, halved again then sliced thinly widthways

Take the gram flour and place in large mixing bowl. Heat the oil in a medium sized deepish frying vessel. Add 1 tablespoon of oil when its just warmish to the flour. Add the salt, garam masala and fenugreek leaves.
Combine the flour mix with water using yr hands to make a slightly runny mix but not too runny tho, it should be able to hold all the ingredients together. Add the potatoe and onion and mix with yr hands.
The oil should be heated to around 170c, test this by dropping a tiny bit of the batter into the oil, if it rises quickly to the surface immediately, then the oil is hot enough. take little handfuls of the mixture and with yr fingers (or you could use a perforated spoon) drop them into the oil. Make sure they are dropped very close to the surface of the oil so you dont get splashed. Keep turning with spoon and fry until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Serve with ketchup or chutneys.

bellaquidsin

D&DD I have a book here published in 1986 by Shirley Goode and I wondered if it might help you with your 'shop from home' challenge.

Her policy was to cost everything out to the penny, then every time she used something she 'paid' herself for it. That way she had money put aside to restock as necessary. I know it's a fiddle and time consuming but I thought it might save you getting panic stricken when the stocks run low. She does point out that it's easier to save if you can see something mounting up rather than running down. Her book 'The Shirley Goode Kitchen' does contain lots of money saving tips and recipes which I have found really useful over the years.

I have checked on Amazon and they currently have 42 in stock from 1p each. I would recommend it to any OS money saver even if you don't want the bother of 'paying' yourself which I never did, but who know's what we will be driven to if food prices continue to rise the way they are doing at the moment.

Yategirl

D&DD

GF pastry... HELP! well I made it.. had to add extra water to get the dough to hold together and then left it to chill... tried to roll it out but it just fell apart... no way will it hold a round shape for the mince pies... now I know it will be more crumbly but that seemed a bit too crumbly... any suggestions??

belladquidsin - Shirley's book is great - I have that one too! She has written a few but some are very difficult to get hold of. She has a blog too!

rosieben

oh goody!!! another blog......

bellaquidsin

Yategirl. Thanks for info on Shirley Goode blog. I'm so delighted to find her again after all these years. I had been wondering whether she was still around.

I will devour that blog avidly AFTER I have finished making my butternut squash and root veg soup and put together a cottage pie to feed the family (six of us tonight) into which I have put meat that I have stretched so far it will be a wonder if it doesn't go ping......., Never mind a couple of eggs in the mashed potato and some cheese on top should make up the protien shortfall:j

Yategirl

Shirleys blog is great - loads of useful info and recipes... if you look back far enough (think it starts about this time last year) you will find the challenge she set for herself of using what she had in stock (plus buying a few extras) to last a month (I think!)


We are having "freezer" soup for tea.. along with the last few buns I made yesterday - I made the "apple braid dough", rolled it out and spread hm choc spread (which was made with icing sugar instead of sugar and I added cinnamon and mixed spice), rolled it like a swiss roll then sliced it into "rolls" and baked then... iced. Was very like a danish pastry in taste - YUMMY! Went down well with the kids but dh wasn't as keen :rolleyes: