Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Sun_Addict · 5 June at 8:14PM

Good news about the PB win.

My balance is worse on my left leg possibly because it’s held together with screws and plates although it’s normal to have better balance on one side than the other.

Lucy Wyndham-Read is good for short but effective exercise sessions on YT and she doesn’t do anything crazy like burpees.

Don’t let Mr F beat you on that steps challenge 😆

Suffolk_lass · 6 June at 10:34AM

Good to see you. I do love reading your updates and they keep me sane and reminded of the things I need to do. x

foxgloves · 6 June at 4:42PM

@Suffolk_lass - It's a funny old world if reading all my guff on here is keeping anyone sane, lol, but thanks for the kind comment.

@Sun_Addict - Re the steps challenge…more of that in today's post…..Mr F will almost certainly win, but I intend to make him work for it.

@KajiKita - Yes, you're welcome to the recipe, which is from an old vegetarian cookbook that Mr F brought with him when he first moved in with me. No longer have the book (I'd guess at 1980s) but copied this recipe out as we both liked it.

Lentil & mushroom gratin

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed

225g split red lentils

600ml water

2 tbsp soy sauce

Salt & black pepper

Right that's all the stuff you need for the lentil mixture.

For the mushroom layer, you need

2 tsp oil

225g sliced mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Then for the top, you need

75g grated cheddar

Right….there's no mystery to any of this, it's really easy once you've done all the chopping. I make the lentil bit first. Heat oil & fry onion, garlic, celery & carrot gently until softened. Add all the remaining lentil mixture ingredients, season with salt & pepper & simmer gently for about 30 mins until the lentils are tender & the mixture has thickened.

Meanwhile, prep the mushroom layer. Heat the oil & saute the mushrooms with garlic, parsley & seasoning until cooked.

Put half of the lentil mixture in an ovenproof dish, spread over the mushroom layer, then cover with the rest of the lentil mixture. Sprinkle with the grated cheese & bake in a pre-heated oven at Gas 5 until bubbly & golden.

We just like this with a mixed salad but it would go nicely with some steamed veg too.

F x

foxgloves · 6 June at 5:02PM

Hello Saturday Savers,

Today has simply flown by. Builders this morning. Problem wall now re-boarded & plastered along with a tiny ceiling repair where the water ingress had brought a bit of corner down. Paid the balance, all budgeted from House & Garden Pot, in fact, the interest on the Savings Pots account covered the entire bill. A bonus was that we were expecting them to quote for the replacement floorboard this morning, but when he took the carpet up, it needed a repair rather than a replace. Builder asked if we had any narrow pieces of wood & I remembered that Mr F insisted on saving 2 laths which the roofers left behind "in case they came in useful". I had to eat a small forkful of humble pie, as at the time I remarked that they will doubtless still be cluttering up the shed this time next year. This meant that with it just being a repair & us being able to supply the wood, he did it then & there & just charged us £40 for labour. The landing carpet has gone back down again very neatly too, so happy days.

I did a little bit of baking this morning & also used my box of trimmings & oddments of fillets from sorting out last month's fish box to make enough fish pie to feed us tonight & tomorrow. Nothing done in the garden as it rained all morning & I was busy anyway, but I did pop down to stand the french beans outside for another day of hardening off & to pick some parsley. We're both looking forward to a productive gardening day tomorrow.

Apart from that, I can't say there's been much else of a budget-friendly nature. Mr F decided he needs more veg with the fish pie so went out for some carrots & spring greens & he filled up with the lowest priced petrol in town while he was out & about. I've done a YouGov survey, but that's all.

Re our June Steps Challenge. Mr F is ahead of me by about 1500 steps. Before lunch, I announced that I was going for a walk & he said he'd come with me. I said, "Oh, are you sure?", it's the weekend, wouldn't you rather have some leisure time?" But he said he fancied a walk, so we did my short circular village route which is about 1.3 miles. He kept saying I was walking much more slowly than him, but I said that he knows he is a much faster walker & he chose to accompany me! Anyway, as I find ANY exercise which is simply for exercise's sake stultifyingly dull, it was nice to have the company. But of course, the upshot of it was that while the walk boosted my steps, it also boosted his, so I am going to be a bit crafty. The Beloved is now busy firing at some of other XBox alien & thinks I am on my laptop. Well, I AM on my laptop, as I'm talking to you, but the minute I've signed off, I am going to do several perambulations of the garden. From one end to the other & back is 200 steps, so a few of those & I shall be putting on a wodge of secret sneaky steps.

So without further ado…..

Enjoy your weekends, all.

F x

KajiKita · 6 June at 5:13PM

Loving the Stealth Steps! 😂 You really weren’t joking when you said you are competitive! 😉

Well done for the bits of lathe saving the day 👏👏 How satisfying to get it to a fully finished, carpet down state 😊

Thank you for the recipe 😊 Roughly how many portions does it yield / what size dish do you put it in?

KK

foxgloves · 6 June at 5:36PM

@KajiKita - I'd say it serves 2 generously, 3 with plenty of side veg. Difficult to say as living with Mr F tends to skew my sense of portion sizes. I make it in what I'd describe as a generous 2 portion rectangular oven dish of the Swedish Emporium variety.