From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Jellytotts said:

...... I much prefer them soft and spongy done in the IP, slow cooking doesn’t tend to work well with GF dumplings, they tend to just stay the same size and sink.

GF cooking is a law unto itself.

Hey Jellytotts thanks for that 😁I don't think it's just GF dumplings that don't take to slow-cooking.  I don't seem to have had much luck with them either.  

Greying X

themadvix

How long do you do them for in the IP Jellytots?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

"Warm" (everything is relative - and I'm measuring against the past 3 days of 🥶) start with us, which is soooooooo nice! The slush has pretty much gone - it's still quite dark, so I can't see, but it just looks wet - but at least the pavements look navigable now.  I've never liked icy conditions much anyway, but I'm definitely getting 'scared of falling over' old lady vibes as I age ☹️

I soaked some chickpeas overnight (go me! 🤣).  I'd like to claim that it was down to my lazer-sharp, focused organisation skills, but truth to tell, I was lying in bed, unable to get to sleep (but warm by that point) and I remembered that I'd intended to cook up some chickpeas for a dish I'm making in the SC for tea tonight.  Pre-soaking isn't always necessary when you're using a PrC, but I find that dried beans (even well in date ones), can be variable in their cooking - sometimes depending on brand, so a soak usually helps with more 'uniform' cooking.  

DH's workwear dried in front of the dehu (3hrs in total I think), and on the airer overnight.  I'm still behind with one set of the heavier weight clothes, but he has dupes for those.  Although with the weather forecast this week, heavens knows when I'm going to be able to get them laundered.  I am, however, mostly 'up to date' with everything needed for everyone this week.  

I was just watching the latest episode of peas etc vlog and Linnea was talking about Swedish Potato Dumplings, which are stuffed dumplings.  She mentioned that northern Sweden households typically make the dumplings with raw, grated potato in the dough, whereas southern Sweden households more typically use cooked potato.  They looked substantial anyway!  I have to say, she explained why she was making the raw potato dumplings (her heritage), but on the issue of pressing the potato water out or not, I would have to go on the side of pressing it out - my dumplings would have disintegrated the second they touched the boiling water - I know this from gnocchi making, many, many moons ago........ 🫤

Right, can't think of anything else MSE to add, so will shuffle orf and set uniform out. 

Ta for popping in.  Greying X

Jellytotts

themadvix said:

How long do you do them for in the IP Jellytots?

I bung them in at the end of cooking, give them a gravy/stock baste and then pop the lid on and bring back to pressure.  Quick release on the pressure and they’re normally fine (I make golf ball sized dumplings from my mix) if you’re going bigger then maybe give it a few mins before pressure release.

Greying_Pilgrim

I am - by my own admission a luddite.  On a luddite-o-meter, I would be at Ye Olde Medieval Peasant grade.  I make no secret of the fact.  But go me - I have managed, by myself, and without the aid of a small person under the age of 5..... to get Liza T's show from the weekend on R2, playing thru eye-player, thru blootooth and 'cast' onto the new DAB radio.... 🤯  For one thing, the beetee system couldn't even pair up anything blootooth, never mind (esp with DH's phone) work 2 rooms over from where the box thingummy is located.  Wow.  The radio speakers - which aren't brilliant - are a much easier listen than the 'puter.  Well chuffed 😁I ought to write in and tell Liza, shouldn't I?  Her and and the 'Murm' would be impressed, wouldn't they???? 🤣

I can't wait for the beetee contract to end.  Still miffed to be paying out the 30 days notice, but still.

The chickpeas have just finished cooking in the PrC.  1079g from just under 500g of raw product 👍I think the recipe calls for around 400-500g, but I might reduce the quantities of the recipe a bit - still, there is plenty for today and a punnet to put in the freezer for another day.  Win.  These were YS'd chickpeas from MrL.  I don't think they were the cheapest available dried chickpeas 'ever', but they were possibly the cheapest at that moment.  

Greying X

Jellytotts

The “murm” would be very impressed! I absolutely love Liza, my menopausal brain is just like hers and it’s a treat to listen to someone who gets it.    I must admit that our Saturday evenings are timed to sit at the dining table with a glass of something cold and a board game so we can enjoy the show.  

Simple pleasures.

EssexHebridean

Harking back briefly to the PC convo, I've got a similar IP multi cooker to the one mentioned somewhere further back by the sound of it, and one of its attractions was having the PC option...having tried it though I was reminded of the thing that I had forgotten before, and that my Mum confirmed. We had a PC (an old style terrifying one) when I was growing up, and it was used for a while before we all agreed that in fact PC'ing food seems to leave it with a certain flavour - can't begin to describe it, but we found it was common to all foodstuffs cooked in it - that we were none of us keen on.  Sadly the IP does exactly the same thing - I tried it for cooking a batch of daal (yellow split peas) and that had the "PC tang" - then gave it a try with chickpeas and found exactly the same - it was "diluted" a little with the chickpeas as they were then used in other things, but it was definitely still present. It's relatively unlikely I'll use it again as a PC I suspect, although the machine is earning its keep just with the air fryer mode in fairness! (And I must remember that I can use it as a SC as well, of course) 

As for using italics for emphasis - we all generally always used to use *this* to designate something we wanted to emphasise until I think (see what I did there?!) one of the phone platforms changed it's autocorrects so the asterisks around a word did something specific - bold text perhaps - and so people mainly switched away from using that over to italics IIRC. I love the way language on forums evolves though - and how we all learn ways of making ourselves understood and reducing the risk of misunderstandings/finding ways of ensuring that humour is made obvious when present! 

Good work on the radio streaming Greying - I can't remember the last time I listened to R2 now - I largely switched away when the old Chris Evans brekkie show started going down a pseudo-science-food-demonising rabbit hole, but continued with Ken Bruce/Simon Mayo until they disappeared elsewhere and that was me done! 

teapot2

Another Liza fan here - 'PAULINE' [has to be shouted📢📣 ]  Has anyone watched The Change on Ch 4?  Liza pops up in that, its very meno and written by another funny woman, Bridget Christie.

Greying_Pilgrim

Definitely has to be SHOUTED teapot! 🤣 I shall have to look that series out - thanks for mentioning it.  

I don't like all the presenters on R2 - I don't listen to Jezza, and I personally couldn't stand Mr Bruce, and did not cry into my coffee when he left.  Mr Mayo was OKish, on his own - I think they did the dirty on him really, and the Whiley/Mayo partnership just wasn't what was needed.  Did anyone hear Sally corpsing on Romesh's show?  Who knew Badges and Badgers could be so confusing? 🤣

I've set the tea going.  It does seem very liquidy, but we'll see - I have only put in 1 cup of bulghar wheat, and could have put in 1.5 cups, so maybe I've shot myself in the foot before I've started.  

I went out for a walk too.  I know that I am guilty of not having moved much of late - blaming the inclement weather.  And whilst snow and ice is to be treated seriously, I did enjoy being able to stride out today.  I didn't go anywhere that wasn't 'urban', but heard quite a few birdies, and spotted some daffodils already beginning to burgeon in the stem, some dinky little snowdrops that "looked" like January snowdrops (if that doesn't sound too silly), and saw lots of hazel catkins too.  So Mother Nature is pootling on, regardless.  

Greying X

beanielou

Faints. How can anyone not like Ken Bruce?! 

I followed him to GHR but still listen to R2 at the weekend on a Sunday.