April 2008 Grocery Challenge

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Well my NSD yesterday didn't quite happen although in my defence...it wasn't me ..hubby came back from golf weilding a carrier bag from the Naffi and declaring "thought you might want these"..... nearly broke out into a sweat as their "proper prices" are scary..... but NO... hubby removed 2 big blocks of extra mature cheddar...which had been whoopsed to €1 each :j ... don't know if i was more excited by the price or by the fact that hubby thought to get them
Apparently they had "allsorts" but he knew i had no freezer space and he wasn't buying any of the readymade stuff -cos he knows i don't normally have it :T ....so i will add €2 to my signature in a moment.

Im NOT spending anything this weekend.... hubby has requested shepherds pie, roasties and veg for dinner tonight..haven't had that in a while so I'm looking forward to it too....
Have been out in the garden this morning... planting some of my beans into troughs.. in the rain (neighbours must think im mad )... but they were getting out of control in the spare bedroom... only the borlotti beans and blue beans have been done this morning....and have covered them with an old mosquito pannel from our old gazebo... the bloomin pidgeons are not having them I have more getting ready to go out and im planting more today ..... my garden is going to be a little bit full at this rate ... i also have lettuces, spring onions, courgettes, butternut squashes and loads of beans and peas appearing in the windowsills...some were only planted earlier this week:eek: ....some beetroot, carrots, cumbers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes are allready out...need to get everything organised out there..think i will sit on my bum this weekend and do that

right enough waffling..have a great day everyone

sashanut

CHORLEY CAKES

PASTRY


8oz plain flour
4oz strong white flour
1 teasp baking powder
1 oz caster sugar (I use ordinary)
pinch salt
6oz butter cut into pieces (I use half butter half stork)
4 fl oz milk approx
egg white or beaten egg to glaze

FILLING

8oz currants
2oz soft light brown sugar (I use ordinary white!)
1oz butter melted

Sift flours & baking powder into a food processor, and then add sugar salt & butter. Process until mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then slowly pour in just enough cold milk to form a fairly stiff dough. Wrap in clingfilm & put in fridge for 30 mins or freezer for 10 mins. Preheat oven to 190/375deg.
Combine filling ingredients in a bowl. Roll out pastry in rounds – use a small plate as a guide – you should get approx 6 rounds diameter 8in. Spoon about 2tbsp filling onto middle of pastry round, wet edges & make into a little round parcel. Turn over with join underneath & roll out gently with rolling pin, can of beer, bottle of milk, whatever! You should see the currants show through & they should be a diameter of about 4in - the cakes, not the currants that is....Brush tops with egg wash/milk – make 2 short cuts in each one & bake for 30 mins or till golden brown & pastry is cooked through.
Eat warm or when cold apparently you can butter them – though I’ve never done that! I just blast them in the microwave for 20 secs.

Sounds a bit fiddly but very nice.....BTW, FWIW....

- eccles cakes are made with puff pastry, chorley with short
- chorley cakes contain only currants, no other dried fruit
- eccles cakes have 3 cuts in them, chorley only two!!

Thanks for the answer to the currant mystery Weezl.....at least it wasn't a dream I had.

teedy23

Morning all, I,m going to get ready to nip up the shops for a few Daily Mails to bump up my coupon stash, then come back and have me brekkie. Apart from the aforementioned papers I,m hoping not to spend anything today. No sign of my tomatoes germinating yet, it,s so frustrating.

WELL DONE WITH THE MAN TRAINING MRSMACAWBER.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi teedy23

You might know this..but just in case

You know when your tomatoes appear and are big enough to be planted out.... sink them into the compost so that the 1st true leaves are just above the soil... tomatoes grow extra roots from their stems...they take water in from the bottom roots and feed through the side roots ..so you should get sturdier, healthier plants.... making them less leggy and prone to snapping :T ...I had some that were about 4" tall in the bedroom... now they are potted up they are only about 1" :rotfl: god I need to get out more..how can someone get so excitable about growing veggies ..i will slink off now and carry on reading my gardening books

Kaz2904

Wow you're doing well with your garden too mrs mc. I'm hoping to get ours sorted over the next 2 weeks. I've still not even planted any of my seeds- I don't know where I can put them tbh?
I only have 1 windowsill that gets the sun and that's DS's bedroom. I will eventually get them going but hope they do OK. The weather by us has been so awful I think they'd probably just die at the moment.
May need to go to farmfoods today to get some more granulated sugar but that will be all.
Saw a lovely recipe for barm brack on another thread so I've copied that and will try it in the near future.
I just looked up a recipe for chelsea buns but it wanted 6 tsps of yeast- wow that's a huge amount when I only use 1 1/4 for a loaf of bread. Anyone got a tried and tested recipe?

Tea tonight is going to be pasta with an 18p sauce and salad. Followed by carrot and parsnip cake.

DH sampled the cakes last night and said hmm- I can't detect any beetroot but I was a little gutted that they cholcolate drops I saw on the bottom of the brownies were in fact sultanas!

teedy23

Thank MRSMACAWBER but I havent seen hide nor hair of a shoot yet, I,m too impatient for this lark. I know nothing about planting veg so all advice is very welcome.

saver03

Does anyone know if you can freeze tinned tomatoes? They are are not mixed in with anything, they are just in a tupperware. It says on the tin they can be kept in fridge for 2 days but won't need them for another week or so and it seems a shame to throw them out. Has anyone frozen them and lived to tell the tale?! Also, did it impare the flavour?

cheerfulness4

Another £26.90 spend for me last night. Restocked the fruit in Morrisons as they had masses drastically reduced.
£1.98 'the best' pears reduced to 29p (got 4 packs as loads there)
mandarins net 29p
'the best' cheese board 1/2 price
assorted herbs 29p
smked haddock (big piece) 59p
salmons fillet 48p
etc etc

That really helped the budget. Also bought one of those 50p 'smoothie fruit pks' from Asda. Have just mixed some into natural yoghurt with a little maple syrup and it was yummy!

Just a couple of bits to get from Tesco this weekend to use up my clubcard extra points vouchers. Freezers are nicely filling up again.

Off to update.

BigMummaF

[quote=cupid_s;
Plaice fillet cooked in wine and cream with dauphinoise potatoes and veg
Pasta with chicken and bacon in a lemon sauce
Chicken wings in a jack daniels glaze with onion rings, corn and jacket potato
Drunk chicken noodle stir-fry
Chicken thighs stuffed with sundried tomatoes/spinach with hassleback potatoes
Chicken fricassee
Lemon chicken and jacket potatoes
Uncheesy lasagna


Could you elaborate please Cupid? These are just possibly something the offspring may be generous to taste before dismissing with a look of disdain:p

Mind you MrDT, I may just have to marry you! One of the offspring was highly impressed with your ingenuity re: kitchen impliments & has suddenly declared an interest in cooking:rotfl: Hope the contents didn't splurt too much when you opened the tin...but you can tap the top a couple of times first & that's supposed to stop fizzy fizzing all over isn't it?

Had a NSD yesterday, & the offspring's dad has to pass a Lidl to get here today so I asked him to pick up a couple of bags of bread flour; he has to show off so brought in a whole case:eek: Even better, he said I didn't have to pay, just make a cuppa:T

I'm trying to talk me muvva into letting me commandeer her window sills for some seeds..this house is bluddin useless as a "family" home with a north facing kitchen at the front of the house, no window sills & the 3rd "bedroom" 7'6"x 6'....bit of a mess ain't I?:o

weemissy

Hi everyone
just a quickie as I'm supposed to be getting sorted to go away for the week, OH has taken the dog to the kennels, and for petrol etc, told him I would pack while he was away! Feeling I was missing something, took myself off to asda the other night and to my great joy there were whoopsies:j However as I approached the first lot a woman overtook me on the inside lane then her OH tried to head me off at the pass :mad: so I used my elbow as advised here (sorry if it was one of you). Anyway filled up my freezer with rolls - all sorts from 5p - 10p a packet, got a freezer pack of rolls (24) for 28p :rotfl:will update spends when I come back as I was also at lidl this am when I came out my work, feel I may be over budget this month what with going away, mum coming too and she is a spender! Better go before OH comes back, I've just noticed DD is mopping the dirt in the garden with the kitchen mop:eek:
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