Away From The Madding Crowd

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week

“Dolce far niente.”  Italian translation is 'sweetness of doing nothing'.  Definition from the Oxford Dictionary is 'pleasant idleness'.  Quote made famous in the film Eat Pray Love.

Money Saving

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 1 spend for April was £73.97.

April’s premium bond win was £25 (2024 total to date is £275).

Took advantage of offers at Bo0ts, saving £5.60 on the Liz Earle moisturiser that I use and £12.16 on the overall order.  Used my Bo0ts Advantage points to pay for the order, so ‘free’ shopping.  Postage was free too.

DH went to Specs@vers and was able to use a ‘buy one get one free’ offer on his new glasses. Those who are aged 60 or over are entitled to a free NHS eye test, so an extra saving.

This week’s main menu

Bit of meal shuffle last week.  We had bean and pepper chilli with rice on Friday (the skinny beef lasagne remains in the freezer) and ate lemon roast chicken, stuffing, roasted veg, spring cabbage and gravy on Sunday. 

Monday – Ping Meal – same as yesterday (cook once eat twice – saves time and energy costs).

Tuesday – Chicken enchiladas with mango salsa (He@rt UK recipe).  I will use leftover chicken to make these.  Green chillies were reduced in price and frozen until required. The mango was reduced in price.

Wednesday – Macaroni cheese surprise (He@rt UK recipe) with salad.  

Thursday – Ping Meal – same as yesterday.

Friday – Salmon with chilli ginger sauce (H@iry Dieter’s recipe) with stir-fry veg and noodles. Salmon was reduced in price and frozen until required. Her0n sell Sh@woods medium egg noodles for only £1 a packet (enough for 6 portions).

Saturday – Homemade wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza. The pesto was homemade and frozen until required. Wild garlic pesto has got to be one of the many joys of Spring.

Sunday – Fishfingers served in a wholemeal bread bun with tartar sauce and salad, homemade sweet potato oven chips, garden peas (frozen) and sweetcorn (tinned).  ‘Taste the difference’ frozen chunky cod fillet fish fingers from S@insbury’s, bought when on offer 8 for £3.75.

Oats in various guises continue to be our breakfast of choice (not quite true, we would prefer a full English but for health reasons we choose oats lol).  Lunches will include some of the homemade soups from the freezer.

Healthier Lifestyle

Completed 2 free workouts via F@bulous50s.

Step count last week was 49,033.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Simple Pleasures

Noticed the first tulip to bloom in the garden. Lots more to follow.

My string of garden solar lights has been staying on a little longer each evening.

Made a batch of rhubarb and ginger muffins and a rhubarb compote. We will enjoy the compote with our breakfasts this week.

The first of my vegetable seeds have been sown. 

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

uralmaid

All sounds delicious @Humboldt.  You have had a busy time.

bluenose1

Great diary update as ever and do enjoy more than my fair share of pleasant idleness, now for example….
Just reading Eat, Pray, Love for second time, nice light, amusing read, though she comes across as rather needy. I should be more sympathetic.
Love the splash of colour tulips bring, ours have been out a few weeks, in fact nearly dead.
Great menu plan, we have done a 7 day one based on our over 20 potential meals when my husband went though the freezers this weekend!!!!  One of our freezers isn’t frost free so want to empty it as icing up again.
In no particular order

• Basa fish curry, one pot meal with rice from Gousto recipe card.
• chicken roast dinne
• left over easy chicken curry
• salmon in teriyaki sauce, with veg. Recipe off internet.
• shepherds pie with veg
• Pasta Viali - Delia recipe
• Steak and roasted veg - good to have a friend who is a butcher.

Need to empty freezer as well so I can do some more batch cooking.
made a home made tomato soup yesterday, a slimming world recipe which was ok but very  boring.

The fire fitter came out yesterday so just waiting on the final quote to decide.
We are also planning new kitchen so had someone out for quote this week for that. None of it is desperately urgent, apart from fact oven broke this week and not sure whether to replace it with cheapo one for now. Air fryer has been brilliant, even made bun loaves in it and as nice as ever. Plus our microwave is a combi one so can use that for now.

 

Dizee123

Update on the Tuesday 'different' meals - for partner who usually only eats food accompanied by some form of potato and baked beans!

Last week we had pork marinated in BBQ sauce, but instead of potatoes I dished it up with some Korean BBQ rice (cheated by buying a packet) and some sugar snap peas as they were in the Aldi cheap veg section.

Tonight we had chicken thighs in a creamy mushroom sauce (BBC good food recipe) with rice.

Only comment was that the chicken should have been on a bed of crushed potatoes, but it was demolished anyway.

Success .

Savvy_Sue

Dizee123 said:

Update on the Tuesday 'different' meals - for partner who usually only eats food accompanied by some form of potato and baked beans!

Last week we had pork marinated in BBQ sauce, but instead of potatoes I dished it up with some Korean BBQ rice (cheated by buying a packet) and some sugar snap peas as they were in the Aldi cheap veg section.

Tonight we had chicken thighs in a creamy mushroom sauce (BBC good food recipe) with rice.

Only comment was that the chicken should have been on a bed of crushed potatoes, but it was demolished anyway.

Success .

It's not so much that DH won't eat certain things, it's just that his first thought is ALWAYS a jacket potato. So unless I want to cook, I have to be prepared to eat ... a jacket potato. 

Even if we're out for lunch (which happens reasonably frequently), he'll often choose a jacket potato. 

mark55man

A jacket potato with Coronation chicken is my simple pleasure for lunch if I am at a Garden centre sort of place.  But everyday would get a bit wearing

Humboldt

@uralmaid I am never bored that's for sure.  My tasks for the day are sometimes dictated by the weather and often include things that are seasonal.  A couple of days ago when it was raining yet again, it felt quite cosy to be baking strudel topped rhubarb and ginger muffins, whilst listening to the radio.  I have so many jobs to do in the garden, but have to wait for a break in the weather to complete them.  Our clay soils have not faired well in this wet weather. 

@bluenose1 I have never read Eat, Pray, Love, but I am sure that we have the DVD somewhere in the back of the cupboard.  On one of these endless rainy days, I might watch it (another addition to the 'to do' list). Funnily enough defrosting the freezer is also on my ever increasing 'to do' list. You have some great plans on the go.  At least when you know the cost of things you can then make an informed decision. Very yummy meal plan and great that you are using up what you have in the freezer. 

@Dizee123 success indeed! I always check out the weekly fruit and veg offers at Ald! and L!dl, and sometimes plan our meals around them.  Your yummy pork in BBQ sauce reminded me that I have some pork in the freezer, so I might add that to next weeks meal plan. 

@Savvy_Sue I would just be happy that DH wanted to cook! That said, I don't mind a jacket potato now and again.

@mark55man A great choice for lunch.  

Thank you all for taking the time to comment, I so appreciate it.

Today's simple pleasure - the tomato, beetroot and courgette seeds that I planted indoors a few days ago have already germinated. I never fail to be in awe of this; nature is truly wonderful.  Hopefully they will continue to grow and will be ready for planting out just in time for a change in the weather conditions. 

Katiehound

Sorry, just whizzing through the posts as I have been away for 5 weeks

Just to say if you get wild garlic in the garden it can go....mad & thuggy. A friend has it and hates how it goes mad! I think that is known as too much of a good thing. I was going to plant some in my garden and another friend warned me......

[Deleted User]

Wild garlic is a real pest. I spend hours digging it out of my garden. I have had to dismantle the rockery to get it out of there. It spreads like wildfire throughout the garden and the lawn if not checked. From November onwards I am on the look out! It still manages to grow. A constant battle!

Humboldt

Hello @[Deleted User] and welcome back @Katiehound.  Thank you for taking the time to comment.

I too would not recommend growing wild garlic in the garden, unless like mint, it is contained.  As the name implies, best left in a wild setting, and foraged responsibly. I am lucky enough to be able to forage on land owned by friends.

If you are removing it from the garden anyway, perhaps consider using the young leaves to make the most wonderful pesto and/or wild garlic butter which is delicious when melted over a steak. 

Today's simple pleasure - homemade wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza planned for this evening's meal.