Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello Campers,
No sooner had I decamped to the bottom of the garden with my book & a bunch of grapes from the greenhouse than the rain started. Ah well, I retired indoors just as Mr F was putting the kettle on, so not all bad.
Both of us enjoying Mr F's leave. We are alternating inexpensive trips out with days of doing jobs at home. Yesterday we went to an NT place in a neighbouring county & thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air & change of scenery. Today, Mr F rounded up assorted crud & did a tip run, then he announced he was cleaning & polishing all our boots ready for autumn. Surprising how refreshed old boots can look with a good massage-in of dubbin.
 I've done post-weekend budget updates, a bit of financial admin & ordered the yarn for knitting my sister's Christmas present. Then a bit of free fitness bending & stretching cutting back the remaining front courtyard border.
Today's garden pickings: blackberries, spring onions (they are 'Lilia' variety so are more like pink shallots now), lettuce & grapes.
I've made a big bowl of salad, but no other effort required for tonight's nosebag, as Mr F made double WW lamb & marrow bake (great use of large courgettes) on Sunday so it just needs warming up.
On the subject of food, the lamb bake requires 400g lamb mince & the pack was 500g. I usually make a tamale pie base in that situation, as it's a filling tasty use of 100g mince. Last night I tried something different....I stir-fried an assortment of chopped veg - onion, green chilli, peppers & courgettes, then added the 100g leftover lamb mince & browned it, before stirring in 2tsp of curry paste. I really like Mr Huda's general one, but any will do. Meanwhile, basmati rice simmering with half tsp of turmeric. Drained it & stirred it into the curried mince & veg mixture, bit of salt & pepper, job done. Mr F pronounced it 'just like a fake-away' & said he'd like to eat it again, so that's one for me to remember next time there's just a little bit of mince needing to be used up as it made two decent plates of food.
Will persevere with 2nd cardi sleeve later as I do want to get remaining Christmas present onto the needles. Much, much fiddlier pattern so I want to be able to take my time & make a good job of it.
Oh deep joy.....Ash has just come in soaking wet & is now purring his head off while trying to dry himself on my dress!
F x

foxgloves

Thanks @milann. I'm definitely going to try that approach with cheese & see how we get on.
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer - I think it's always worth getting coffee if it's on offer. Re butternut....have you tried the Hairy Bikers' recipe for lentil & vegetable curry? It uses butternut squash (or sub with similar - for instance, I use Guatemalan blue squash because that's what we grow)..It makes 4 generous portions, is v nice & freezes well.
I haven't watched 'Spiral', but you are the 2nd person to recommend it to me, so I think I definitely need to watch a couple of episodes to see it it's for me. I'm sure it will be. Thanks.

F 

Hi 

I haven't tried that hairy recipe - i did a quick search without luck but i'll try again. 
One of the early series of Spiral was a bit too disturbing for me so I had a break then restarted with series 4 a few weeks ago. I stayed up to stupid o'clock last night to finish series 5!  I started watching it on BBC4 with series 6 i think so now i've gone back to the beginning and it makes more sense with the characters. I also like Beck. And Borgen - there was a new series of that in summer so need to find that somewhere and have a break from crime!
I had better stock up on cheese as it is my staple diet!!  
My washing got soaked yesterday but it is now almost dry on the line so i will bring it in soon

love Deni 

foxgloves

I think that recipe is in their curry book, @Deni_debt-free_dreamer.I borrowed it from the library a while back. 
Yes, I like 'Beck' & 'Borgen' too & we also enjoyed 'Follow the money' & 'Deutschland'.
F

foxgloves

I've run out of day today. Hello Diary Friends,
Went out this morning, then baked the sourdough I left to prove. What I should have done this afternoon was gather & deal with oodles of garden produce. It really needs doing.
What I actually did was finish knitting my black cardigan. This is on my winter plan, so feels good to have got it finished ready for the cooler weather.
Mr F has spent this afternoon behind the TV doing stuff with cables (one of his favourite pastimes). Apparently ALL gizmos (except wi-fi router) can now be fully switched off at night. I think there may have been a bit more sitting around on standby mode than I thought. Anyway, I have duly sanctioned the spending of £5 on an additional cable, lol. He did start explaining why it was needed but I think I must have glazed over, as he made me some coffee instead & brought me a biscuit.
Shall need to achieve a bit more tomorrow & Friday,
F x

foxgloves

Morning Frugalistas,  Am mad busy in the garden this morning & will almost certainly need to do some kitchen witchery this afternoon. Can't get to the stove yet, as Mr F is about to make another batch of ratatouille with the last of our aubergines & the peppers I've picked this morning. No fixed plans for next week when he is back at work, but I think it's going to involve 🍅🍅🍅.
Anyway, that's my coffee finished, must get back to chopping up spent veggie plants for the compost bins & do some sort of triage of the veg baskets.
F x

milann

Wow, what an impressive haul. Did you grow the grapes…..

Tescodealqueen

Grapes grown not far down the road from me Fantastic

foxgloves

Hi Milann, That's without the bucket of apples & basket of pears I gathered afterwards! I shall be busy next week with batch cooking, etc. Yes, we did grow the grapes & we've had lots of bunches this year. We have a 'Black Hamburg' grapevine in a very large pot in the greenhouse, where it's been for about 18 years. It doesn't seem to need much attention, which is fine by me.
F

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen - Re grapes being grown 'not far down the road' from you..... I didn't know that you live in this neck of the woods. It's a funny old region....neither South nor North, though having said that, my family in London always seem to think they're 'up North' when they visit. 
F