From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

in_need_of_direction

I totally agree. Im in the worst nightmare camp in terms of hugs being inflicted upon me by people on a first meeting

Greying_Pilgrim

Cherryfudge said:

You've got a woodpecker! Lucky you! Never knowing had one round here.

We seem to get them for a couple of weeks - usually in February/March. It's usually before the 'drumming' starts, and I can only assume that is because here there aren't any big mature trees. But yes, oh so lucky to see them 😁

Yes, the love-languages is interesting. But don't you think that they - like everything else - has been mangled to the extent that anything can be deemed a love language? I regret to say it, but I think that I'd be running short of examples to cite 🫤 I mean, one of our chums definitely has food as their love language, they are such generous hosts, and although it is part of their cultural heritage and understanding - they excel at it 🥰 I would find it hard to think of examples - particularly amongst classmates - for affirmation, service and time. I realise physical touch can be a difficult one, although we could instantly think of 2 people who give the BEST hugs 😁 "I've got all the stuff" is the be-all-and-end-all, there isn't even the sharing, and enjoying those 'physical gifts' through play with others. They think they are doing the world a favour in permitting us to watch them play with their toys 🙄

Anyhoo, I have made the bean dish for tonight. I think it's going to be a keeper. I used THIS recipe for Creamy Southern Black-Eyed beans. I did tinker a little - I used smoked tofu rather than sausage or smoked turkey, and I did use her recipe for cajun seasoning as a guideline, but used what I had, which didn't include white pepper nor cayenne pepper, but i did put a spoon of Gochujang in, as LG will eat stuff with that in, and in general it doesn't make meals too hot. I will do some brown rice at tea time, and may even steam up some more cauli, so that we are making good use of it, before it goes over (currently it is looking very good and fresh). I have left the stew to meld the flavours - it can only get better, right?

Greying X

themadvix

That sounds delicious GP, thanks for sharing. I've never used smoked tofu, but you seem to quite a bit - is it just improved flavour as a result of the smoking, or are there other benefits? I think I'll have to give it a go - and it sounds like this recipe would work well with it. One for next month when I have food budget back!

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - as far as I am aware, it's just a taste thing - like you can get chilli tofu too. Plus, I have to be honest. whilst perhaps if it was artisanally smoked in a bijou smoke-house, over 100 year old pecan branch shavings or something, there might be some benefits. But my tofu is either MrAl, organic smoked, or T0foo organic smoked, so I suspect additives (which may err on the natural side….), are doing the heavy lifting. But I do love it as a veggie product that can do the replacement work in alot of dishes that usually use smoked meats, sausages etc. I used smoked paprika in this recipe too (I think the recipe author points out you can), plus I added some additional paprika for colour (it can be brown otherwise…..), and it's got a nice, interesting flavour profile now - as long as you like 'smoked' of course.

Phew! Just in from my walk around the block. Another 40 mins or so. The birds were really tweeting today - even on the bypass I could hear them above the cars. I also saw a lovely display of snowdrops, some very yellow daffodils and some great swathes of crocus. The majority were golden yellow, but there were some purple blooms too.

I need to go and check how the washing is doing. No rain is forecast before the school run, but there is the odd drop in the air, so I don't want to reverse any good work of this morning - but also it is still nicely breezy, so I'll take all the drying I can get!

Greying X

teapot2

@Greying_Pilgrim, I mostly use smoked tofu too these days. For me, its big advantage is that it doesn't need additional marinating for flavour. I find the plain tofu gets extra 'wet' with the marinade and then 'spits' at me if I'm doing a stir fry etc.

I guess there will be some recipes where the smoked version doesn't 'fit' though 🤔 x

Cheery_Daff

I much prefer smoked tofu too. In fact, I had some for lunch today, in last night's leftovers (wholewheat pasta, veg, a teensy bit of cream cheese, smoked tofu & green beans).

LovLovely that you heard a woodpecker! I heard the first skylark of the year yesterday 🥰

badmemory

I suspect LG is still a little young for the concept of those presents buying love. Hopefully the kind most of us will never come across. But maybe a hint that not all presents are given for the right sort of reason.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81877402#Comment_81877402

That is true in some cases, but in the instance of "I've got this, that, the other and I'm going to shove it under your nose at every opportunity", the reason is entirely different. If we could harness the understanding of quality over quantity, we could probably move towards it being less of a problem. But the sheer volume of "stuff" is, unfortunately, proving a big distraction to LG.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

A good day. The washing came in just before the school run - it started to mizzle literally as I stepped out of the door. By the time I had gathered everything in, it had stopped 🙄 Never mind, I got a bonus line dry today, no doubt about it. I put everything in front of the dehu for 2hrs which helped enormously and the airer is now in front of the radiator.

Tea was munched and it's got Fam. Greying 👍of approval. I served the black eye pea stew with brown rice, and LG commented how nice the rice smelt whilst it was cooking 😁 I steamed the last of the MrS cauliflower, and did a quick pickle of some of the radishes that I got in the box - but I forgot about. I also toasted some sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Everyone had something of everything - LG didn't make a peep about the cauli (I think they may have eaten it with their stew), and they even ate some of the radishes - which were definitely less fiery after pickling, than 'raw'. Pudding was yoghurt for me and the leftover crumble with yoghurt for DH & LG.

No money spent, and some exercise undertaken. Pretty spiffy - and I know it's important to recognise when you get a good day. As well as the forgotten radishes, the green box did also provide some nectarines. At this time of year I didn't have high hopes, as they were rock hard - but one has already begun to ripen, and may well be useable by tomorrow.

Greying X

Blackcats

I think it's probably the week before half term and I usually found this is the time when kids become fractious and they need a bit of time and space from each other. It's so hard for a child to see other kids getting lots of stuff - it's often hard for an adult to see friends, families and neighbours acquiring stuff. If it was easy to manage these emotions then no-one would be keeping up with the Jones's. Keep doing what you are doing - your family values will prevail. It's tough in the here and now though.