April 2008 Grocery Challenge

weezl74

Here as requested is the icecream recipe, enjoy! :T

5 smallish lemons (all bar one of a bag of smartprice ones)- 50p
sugar 700g approx, depending how sweet you want it- 54p
600ml carton double cream -£1


whip the cream with 75g of the sugar, so it won't split when you add the lemon.

cut the very top and tail off each lemon, only a couple of mm off each. halve them, then put them, with the rest of the sugar (reserving 75g for after your taste test later!), and 100ml cold water in your food processor and blitz until liquid. Juice, zest pith and pips can all go in, makes a lovely tart ice cream. (if your food processor can't handle this, push the resultant puree through a sieve afterwards). Taste the puree at this stage to see if you'd like to add more sugar.

Gently fold the lemon puree into the cream to avoid knocking too much air out.

Freeze for a couple of hours, then rewhisk.

Freeze until required. Makes a large batch of wonderful lemony ice cream. I estimate it at 10p a serving. (depends how hungry you are!);)

Weezl x

miss_saver_3

Girl_least_likely_to wrote: »

I freeze portions in old takeaway tubs and tesco value tuppaware style containers. I have used pre-frozen mince before and then frozen again. I believe it's ok to freeze things twice just as long as the status is changed from raw to cooked. I think it's ok to keep stuff frozen for about 3 months . I've never had any problems anyway. Does some boffin who knows more about freezing stuff want to commit themselves ?

OK, recipes are below........

Veg Risotto - Serves 4

I think I got this from a weight watchers magazine, my meat loving hubby loves it, either on it's own or with some sausages or chops.

2 large onions
4 garlic cloves
2 diced courgettes
2 red peppers
450g mushrooms
250 brown rice
500ml passata or chopped tinned toms
600ml veg stock

Fry onions & garlic in a little oil until golden.
Add other veg and cook for 5 mins
Add stock, rice and passata/tinned toms and bring to boil
Simmer for abour 30 mins until rice is cooked.

Chilli - makes 6 portions for 2 adults & 1 toddler

2 diced onions
2 diced peppers
4 garlice cloves
200g diced bacon or pancetta
1 tbsp ground cumin
4 tbsp tom puree
1/2 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp sugar
1kg beef mince
2 grated carrots
1 large or 2 small grated courgettes
200g diced mushrooms
750ml beef stock (I use 2 oxo cubes)
250ml red wine
3 tins chopped toms
2 tins red kidney beans

Fry the onions, peppers and garlic in a little oil until golden.
Add bacon or pancetta and cook for few mins.
Add cumin, tom puree, chilli powder, oregano, sugar.
Add the beef and cook for 5 mins until browned.
Add the everything else and bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 2 1/2 hours. Stir now and again. Serve with rice, baked spuds or pitta bread.

I know this makes a huge quantity so you could half it to try it out first. I have a huge stock pot I cook it in. I think because it has to cook for so long I may as well cook a larger quantity and shove it in the freezer . I do my spag bol like this too.
The recipe came from a combination of one in Delicious magazine and a Tana Ramsey one. I had about 6 attempts before I finally stuck to the one above. I'm sure if anyone tries it they will change it to their own taste buds. Any questions give me shout

Thanks ever so much for those recipes, I will be trying those out this month! Can I put shepherds pie in the foil trays too? Fully cooked with the potato on top too?? I know I sound daft asking all these questions but want to make sure first. Also can a chicken casserole made in slow cooker with fresh chicken be frozen and reheated in the foil trays?? Also veg sausage casserole - I have seen one on here somewhere with veg sausages and baked beans which sounds nice and something my little boy would eat too.

Many thanks for your help in answering my questions. It is most appreciated.

Jen
xx

JayneC

Hi everyone,

Only went to butcher's yesterday and spent £7.25 on a large chicken and 2lbs of mince which should make enough meals for the week!! (used to spend £20+ every week at the butcher's:eek: )

Will have roast chicken today and then will make a chickn n veg pie and chickn n veg curry with the leftovers, plus some chicken stock/soup from carcass.

1lb of mince will make burgers for 5 and the other 1lb will be split in half to make a tomatoey based mince (spag bol for 3 and tacos for 5) and a mince in gravy (shephards pie for 2/3 and cornish pasties for 5).

I will probably not eat them all this week tho, will add in some non meat meals too, might even have enough in for 2 weeks worth of meals.

Last night we had HM pizza toasts (made with crusts of the loaf that i used to bin) and crispy potato skins (with potato peeling also used to go in the bin), with salad and HM coleslaw:j

fedupnow

Hello everybody

I made the hob nobs!!!!!!:T

My 16 year old said they were really nice 'cookies'. I said they're supposed to be hob nobs and he said 'well I'm glad they're not because I hate hob nobs!'

So...............I don't know if I went wrong or not but it works in our house.:j

I haven't got the ingredients to do it and I'm not going into a shop specially for them - I'm frugal don't ya know - but my next effort is going to be the lemon icecream so big huge thanks to weezl!!!!!:beer:

Can't wait....must wait....nsd today.

Have a nice day all

jessica_rabbit_3

I haven't spent anything for the last week, but husband came back from Cornwall yesterday so went to the shops.
Spent £5 in Somerfield on mainly value items (beans etc)
£3 in Iceland on milk eggs and salad
£2 on the market for avocados, onions and potatoes.

Made a cheesecake to use up the grapes I had - (and gingerbread! Thank you for your suggestions about that!) and some scones as DH had brought back some clotted cream - yummy!

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

my 2nd NSD today....helps a lot when everywhere out here is shut on a sunday -apart from the naffi

Hubby got back from golf yesterday -having been fed ..so last nights dinner of shepherds pie has now become todays dinner...shame ehhh :rotfl: .... double bonus as it also means i don't have to cook today . Sat out in the garden this morning up to my elbows in compost filling more tubs and planting potatoes, beetroot and my strawberry plants.... Hubby declared i was mad sat out in the cold ...hmmm who was just getting his stuff together to go golfing :rolleyes: ..let me think -I was 2ft away from a nice warm house..he is in the middle of nowhere in the rain..and I'm the mad one :rotfl:

I have only one potato left....but have re-jigged my meals so i don't need potatoes for a couple more days .... so :-

• tommorow will be tortillas with salad
• tues - pasta bake
• wed- chilli and rice -for hubby, i will have sweet potato mmmm
• thurs -hm chicken, bacon n veg pasties with vegies n gravy or salad

I guess i can give in and go fetch some potatoes on Friday ..just don't want to have to shop for 1 ickle thing...as i know i will find something else :rolleyes:but by then i will probably need a couple of other bits....
Im nearly half way through my €50 budget..but im not stressing as most of what i have is actually going to be used next month and beyoned... the 2 big blocks of cheese, 5 packs of bacon etc... and im sure i can manage as i should only need fruit, veggies n yoghurts :T ..mind i started the month only needing that :rotfl:

Got excited this morning as i have taken 2 containers of soup out of the freezer for hubbies lunch tomorrow and know i will be fetching a big bottle of milk out later... then i will officially have some space in my freezer :j
"must not buy anything to fill the gaps this month"..must keep telling myself this

teedy23

JayneC wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Only went to butcher's yesterday and spent £7.25 on a large chicken and 2lbs of mince which should make enough meals for the week!! (used to spend £20+ every week at the butcher's:eek: )

Will have roast chicken today and then will make a chickn n veg pie and chickn n veg curry with the leftovers, plus some chicken stock/soup from carcass.

1lb of mince will make burgers for 5 and the other 1lb will be split in half to make a tomatoey based mince (spag bol for 3 and tacos for 5) and a mince in gravy (shephards pie for 2/3 and cornish pasties for 5).

I will probably not eat them all this week tho, will add in some non meat meals too, might even have enough in for 2 weeks worth of meals.

Last night we had HM pizza toasts (made with crusts of the loaf that i used to bin) and crispy potato skins (with potato peeling also used to go in the bin), with salad and HM coleslaw:j

Jaynec, You could make that mince go further by adding a handfull of porridge oats, there was a fair bit of discussion about this earlier in the thread. I tried it last week for the first time and it definately made a difference. The son even commented on it :eek: . Well done with the bread and potato skins though.;)

arkonite_babe

Jaynec, I threw lentils in my mince yesterday to bulk it out for lasagne, DD1 tasted it last night as it's for tea tonight and said it was really yummy, she never noticed the lentils

Moniker

Special thanks to Weezl for the ice cream recipe - will try that soon. Also thank you to JayneC for giving me the idea to make bread and butter pudding with leftover hot cross buns. I had some in the freezer from a batch I made for Easter and which were a bit too dark (not quite burnt!). I sliced them in thinnish slices discarding the overdone tops and bottoms and buttered them then made the custard with about 12floz of semi-skimmed milk and three whole eggs. I added 2oz sugar to the custard then sprinkled the buns with extra sugar and cinnamon. The result was delish! I served it warm with a scoop of ice cream..nom,nom,nom! Real comfort food as I was feeling a bit below par.

Am still at home nursing a bad throat. DH is going out for lunch with his mum and sister and BIL, but I'm not going as I want to stay in the warm! I have bunged some soup in the slow cooker and will have that for my lunch later. am hoping that the cold/throat thing will be gone soon as we are supposed to be going away for a short break next Friday.

Also meant to thank whoever it was who suggested using half a dishwasher tablet instead of a whole one each time - it works brilliantly, especially if you rise off any nasties first. I usually run my dishwasher once a day - over night as I have a white meter (old economy 7 tarrif) so the overnight rates are much cheaper and I try to do washing overnight too - every little bit helps!

Sorry for the ramble - hope you all have a nice day and enjoy the snow (though most of it has melted here now).

love Moniker

teedy23

I forgot to take sasijiz out of the freezer for breakie this morning so it,s a mushroom omelette for me today. Will nip down to Asda later armed with one of my £4.00 DM coupons and see if they,ll take it in exchange for today,s bread and milk, will get a huge carton to do me the week, if they wont take it I,ll leave the stuff and do the Tesco trek. I,ll have thighs like Graham souness before long, all this walking uphill!