Away From The Madding Crowd

uralmaid

We see a lot of geese flying over. Our property is only a very short walk from a couple of nature reserves (literally down the road) and this time of year there are lots of them. I went for a walk onto the beach yesterday and whilst on my walk saw rabbits, ducks, moorhens, geese and a buzzard swooping and flying after a group of crows. 

Katiehound

Today's free treat:
saw another small skein of geese flying (and calling) looks like they were heading towards the coast.

Also saw a Norway maple in a stand of trees but this one had almost all the leaves intact in a wonderful deep yellow. There is also  a Ginko tree which has lost few leaves and they are a similar deep yellow, both very uplifting on a very dull day..

Humboldt

@Katiehound, @Nebulous2 and @uralmaid thank you for taking the time to share your simple autumn pleasures.  Nature provides such joy whatever the season.

Today's simple pleasure - a frosty start to the day, with a low mist over the ponds and a golden sunrise (I was dog walking with a family member).

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted - John D Rockefeller Jr.

Money saving.

Our monthly budget for me and my DH is £250 per month.  Week 2 spend for November was £53.67.  Total spend to date for November is £132.23.

Took advantage of some offers in B0ots and saved £36.17.  Bought a Christmas gift via £10 Tuesday, saving £28.00 on that item alone.  Also saved 10% on some of the Bo0ts brand items with my advant@ge card, collected 8 points per £1 on some Bo0ts products because I am a ‘over 60’s rew@rd member’, gained an extra 100 advant@ge points by buying a particular item, and last but not least, gained a free product via a 3 for 2 offer.  Postage was free because I spent over £25.

I downloaded the M0risons app and registered for a ‘M0re card’.  Whilst we do not have a large M0rrison’s supermarket in our actual town, we can use it to purchase any good offers when visiting friends and family.  

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Chilli con carne with a small portion of brown rice.  I will replace the beef mince with Quorn (on offer at S@insbury’s £1.50 for 300g, Nect@r price).  I will make enough chilli for tomorrow’s meal.

Tuesday – Chilli stuffed peppers, with a whole-wheat couscous salad.  To utilise the oven, I will bake a homemade focaccia to enjoy with tomorrow’s meal.

Wednesday – Pasta e Fagioli (a traditional Italian dish that is a cross between a chunky soup and a stew, Tesc0 recipe) with a hunk of homemade focaccia.  I will add homegrown tomatoes and rosemary to the focaccia.  I will use the other half of the bacon in the soup on Sunday.  The stew will be cooked in the slow cooker.

Thursday – Salmon in chilli ginger sauce (H@iry Dieter’s recipe) with stir-fry vegetable and noodles.  I will add homegrown rainbow chard to the stir-fry.  Salmon was bought when reduced in price and frozen until required.

Friday – Fish pie, broccoli, and roasted carrots. I will use homegrown parsley when making the sauce for the pie. To utilise the oven, I will bake a homemade sourdough loaf.

Saturday –  Ping meal as above – cook once, eat twice (saves on time and energy costs)

Sunday – Bacon and lentil soup with homemade toasted sourdough.  I will use a mixture of green and red lentils, and homemade chicken stock from the freezer.  The soup will be cooked in the slow cooker.

Healthier lifestyle.

Completed 2 free online workouts.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Step count last week was 52,456.

Simple pleasures.

This year I am participating in the food bank reverse Christmas advent calendar challenge. The idea is that you pick one item every day throughout November and give them to your local food bank.  My pleasure is knowing that my efforts will hopefully bring some joy to others over the festive season. My thanks to @Brie for making me aware of this on the ‘food shopping & groceries’ thread.

The bouquet of oriental lilies that I purchased at the reduced price of £2.14 over a week ago are now at their best.

Rather than baking chocolate and raspberry muffins on Wednesday last week, I made Christmas Stollen (N!gel Sl@ter recipe).  We enjoy this festive treat, but I have never made it before.  The recipe made two stollen's that were a similar size to the M+S luxury stollen currently retailing at £10, and the overall cost was less than half that price. I halved the baked stollen's, froze three pieces, and shared the remaining one with friends.  If you also like stollen, I would recommend giving it a go.  You may already have most of the ingredients, and you can adapt the dried fruit to your taste, i.e. we do not like mixed peel, so I used chopped dried dates, the zest of an orange and lemon, and sultanas (soaked overnight in an orange liquor that I found at the back of a cupboard).  The only item that I did not already have was marzipan, but there is enough left for the Christmas cake.

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

bluenose1

Great update @Humboldt. Your stollen sounds absolutely delicious. Love the idea re the Food `Bank, will do that myself.
I got a Morrisons midweek delivery pass, think it was £40 for the year. I use it at least once a fortnight for mostly items they price match with Aldi/ Lidl which they list on their website. Plus a couple of times a year I get an email for £10 off a shop. 

Have been rather remiss with my meditation lately, need to get back into good habits.

Humboldt

Morning all

@bluenose1 as always, thank you for your kind words.  I was so pleased that you too have decided to join the Food Bank Reverse Christmas Advent Calendar Challenge.  If you pop over to the shopping & freebies thread, then click on food shopping & groceries, there is now further information and ideas regarding the challenge. After your recent winter sun holiday, you must be really feeling this current weather, although I'm sure that your local woods look even more stunning with a dusting of snow. 

Today's simple pleasure - woke to a winter wonderland.

Brie

Have a look!!!

Food Bank Reverse Christmas Advent Calendar Challenge! - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Humboldt

Welcome @Brie and thank you for taking the time to share the link.  As I have said previously, we should never underestimate the positive impact sharing such information may have on others.

Today's simple pleasure - warming porridge with pears and ginger for breakfast.

Organgrinder

Reading all these food comments has made me think of Christmas.

I usually make gravadlax. Did a beetroot cured one last year. Highly recommended and so much better than shop bought 

mark55man

Love the sound of that OG - I do prefer smoked fish to sushi although I'm not against sushi