From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rtandon27

@in_need_of_direction & @Greying_Pilgrim - I found a bottle of said seasoning in MrL last time they had their themed week that includes the McK line of products!  It's really very nice too, not nearly as pricey as the options on the big river site and a decent enough dupe instead of mixing my own up.  I sprinkle it on steamed potatoes on the days OH insists that is our starch of the day - with a pat of butter almost makes them bearable. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Wash of some workwear is on.

Hoping to go to a craft fair today.  It's housed in an "interesting" building that I've wanted to see for many years.  Plus it's a chance for us to go out together as a family, which seems to have been woefully lacking this year.  I've most of the summer to entertain LG by myself, without DH, so I want to take this opportunity today. See something different.  Picnic lunch will be packed.

Tea last night was potato and chickpea curry, using some of the MrS YS'd tatties, with lentil dhal and boiled basmati.  The weather changed here, so it was actually a nice eat - not too heat inducing.  Ice-cream for pud. 

Amongst other herbs and spices being low, I am all out of fennel seeds, so I need to do a stock up shop - very soon, as curry blends are difficult to make without key spices.  I also need to cook more dried chickpeas as that was the last box from the batch I did a while ago.  I need to pick a cooler day, as whilst the PrC makes light work of it, it's still additional heat in the kitchen.  

I haven't thought about what is for tea tonight.  

Go The Lionesses & the Dragons in the footy tonight!

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good afternoon MFW'rs

Just watching the Dragons play...... gosh, thank heavens for goal-post woodwork......

We've had a nice day out today.  We went a different route, to avoid a notoriously dangerous cross-roads.  Got to see some new scenes and passed somewhere we'd walked to when LG was much younger.  Good Memories, and an idea to return and explore a bit further, as we can drive to a certain point, and then walk, rather than walking a long linear route.

The craft fair was OK.  Nice things, well crafted, but actually very little that appealed, and the one stall that did appeal was charging prices that were entirely fair for the time, effort and materials that had gone into the products, but a £5 bookmark would have lasted about 10 minutes before getting battered and bashed in LG's school bag.  

Exploring the building and grounds was interesting.  It's great that people recognise the significance of trying to save it, but I'm sure that it is an uphill struggle in today's economic climate.  It was free admission, but you had to pay to park, so I hope we've contributed our support, even if we weren't able to support the crafters on this occasion.  

We then went on to a little village beyond the one my grandmother used to live in.  Nice to see that the 'OAP's bungalow' that my gran once lived in has got solar panels on the roof.  Progress.  Anyhoo, we couldn't find a nice viewpoint in the village, so we went on an adventure (DH knows that there is likely to be grass growing in the middle of the road when I say 'just turn right here.....' and he wasn't disappointed......). We ended up at a teeny tiny little church in the middle of nowhere.  We ate our picnic lunch in the car park, but the surroundings were lovely and we watched a couple of red kites, presumably hunting, flying low and close up.  LG and I went for an explore in the church.  There were swallows nesting in the porch, and whilst you were able to switch on a light whilst you were in the church, it was nice to see that there was a 'candelabra' (very plain and utilitarian), hanging from the ceiling.  I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to attend a service by candlelight.  

Pizza out of the freezer and wedges for tea.  

Sorry, can't think of anything MSE worthy we've done today, although it's a low spend day, £3 car parking and £4 'stoopid' tax for a couple of lottery tickets.  

Wales have it all to do, but fingers crossed that they can pull the score back. 

Greying X

themadvix

That sounds like a lovely day GP! Fingers crossed it’s not stoopid tax and you get a win! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

tmv - stoopid tax reigns, we only matched one ball and the bonus, and even with the 'must win' prize fund changing things a little, we didn't win anything, not even another free play ☹️  It's the first time in an age we've even had numbers that were drawn.

Showers forecast for much of today with us, so not much chance of getting any washing done, but at least I got the workwear done yesterday.

We had pizza from the freezer and wedges made with the M&$ YS'd potatoes for tea last night.  I sprinkled the wedges with the Greek seasoning for everything, it was very nice.  Yoghurt and banana for pud.  DH and I had mushroom pizza, LG had black olive, and that is all the HM pizza used up from the freezer now.  

We watched the footy.  I don't think there's any doubt that the Welsh team were outplayed by the Netherlands.  The French team were extremely strong opposition, and on balance, worthy winners, but I don't think the England team turned up - and as for emulating the men's team and passing the ball back to their own goalkeeper, when they've progressed into the other half, within striking distance of the opponent's goal 🙄  You can tell France were dominant, it always looks like there are more players on the opposition when England get trounced - all you could see were dark blue shirts flocking around each England player, neutralising them.  

Doubly glad we got out and about yesterday now.  It's as dark as a winter's day outside 🫤

Other than perhaps snagging a NSD, I'm not too sure what other MSE inspired activities I can report for today.  Meals will all be HM and from stores I suppose.  

Hope you all have a great day.  Ta for popping in.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

I remembered to soak some chickpeas overnight, so those need cooking in the PrC today.

I've noticed that I have green lentils in my smartieprice offers this week - for a price less than the n*ctar price offering a couple of months ago.  Annoying, but I may well partake, as they can be stored and we will use them.  It's prompted me to consider, due to the inclement weather, making Greek Lentil soup (Fakes) for lunch.

LG has been badgering to make some biscuits or cakes lately, and I've not been able to incorporate it into what I've been making, in terms of oven use etc, so I'll have another look at what I can make today using the oven, or I wonder if some welshcakes would scratch LG's itch 🤔 Those can be made on the stovetop.  

Greying X

edinburgher

@Greying_Pilgrim - you could copy me and charge yourself another "stoopid tax" by popping a few quid in your pension to offset the lottery loss

Greying_Pilgrim

edinburgher said:

@Greying_Pilgrim - you could copy me and charge yourself another "stoopid tax" by popping a few quid in your pension to offset the lottery loss

You're right sweetie 😁👍

LG and DH are back from a pootle around on their bikes, and we've just had our lunch (DH asked if lunch could be a bit later, so that the bike ride could be undertaken before the British GP starts - happy to oblige).  The soup was nice, and we finished off the last of the loaf of bread.  I've made some bread rolls, and will cook them in a while.  In theory (and I stress it's theoretical), they are for veggie sausage hot dogs for tea.  We'll see how they turn out.  It's been a while since I've made anything other than pizza with dough, so we'll see if it works.  

The chickpeas cooked up to 3 punnets.  iirc each punnet holds something like 400g, so 1.2kg of chickpeas for cooking up the dried peas that were left in the bag seems to be very little effort for culinary gain.  The thing I find the hardest is remembering to soak the peas overnight.  

I'll see if LG wants to make some chocolate biscuits in a while.  At the moment the washing up from lunch needs doing (DH's domain).  If that is done with enough time to spare, then I'll embark on biscuit making cheerleading.  

Greying X

themadvix

I don’t bother soaking overnight for chickpeas with the PC. I do still soak, but only for 8 hours or so - so put them in in the morning and cook ready for dinner (9 mins HP, NPR seems to produce a pretty good chickpea for me). I have never been organised with the pre-soaking, which was one of the attractions of the PC for me, but I definitely find they are better with some soaking than none, no matter how long you cook them for!

Greying_Pilgrim

LG ended up having a tantrummy flounce this afternoon, so they were cooling down when I needed to have the cooker on for the bread, so I had a go at making chocolate biscuits myself.  They're OK (bero recipe), but I don't think I'll bother again.  The bread did OK, I had put a bit of wholemeal flour in too, so they were slightly better nutritionally than the all-white flour shop offering.  

We had hot dogs, grated carrot, shredded lettuce with a 'Caesar salad' type dressing (no anchovies, obvs), cucumber slices, and a potato salad with an oil & vinegar dressing and some of the greek seasoning, and I scattered toasted seeds over everything.  The potatoes were OK, but had gone with the water slightly.  Actually, I'm sure 'smashed seasoned potatoes' is a thing - tasted OK, but didn't perhaps look the best.  Yoghurt for pud.

There are 2 finger rolls left, I will see if I can palm them off on LG for snap tomorrow 😁  I must remember to grate some cheese tonight too.  I came down the other morning and came across DH cutting cheese for his sangers..... let's just say you could have held a door open with the wedge he cut 🙄

Ta for popping in.  Greying X