Valentines Day
I had a u3a group on Valentines day - Cookalong, where we all make something to a theme, bring it along, and we all try each others dishes. I'm usually pretty stuffed after trying 8-10 recipes, and certainly wouldn't want a slap up meal in the evening. The picture is of a gorgeous olive oil and lemon cake that a member brought, with a pre-tried slice.
So this year, we had that slap up meal on the day before. I popped into Waitrose and got one of their meal deals. We had tomato soup, chicken Kiev, roasted vegetables, lemon tart and a coffee cocktail. I couldn't have the cocktail of course (can't have caffeine or alcohol, both give me a migraine). It was all delicious and a relatively inexpensive £20.
There was also a passion fruit cocktail on offer. Mike only had little of the coffee cocktail and I took it along to Cooking for the girls to try.
I was thinking about that passionfruit one, so on the way home, I popped in and got another meal deal, with that passionfruit cocktail!
This time I chose spinach ravioli, beef lasagna, dauphinoise and millionaires shortbread. Mike had the pudding, they were only small and we had the lasagna on Friday. The ravioli was Saturday and the dauphinoise will be used up over the weekend.
I now need to think of a way to use the rest of the cocktails - they are almost 15% proof, and the teeny tiny sip I had was completely delicious!
Two Big Birthdays
We've got two big birthdays in March, so there are two family meals out to look forward to. Neither birthday boy wants a anything like a party, so lunch out it is.
I can't quite believe the number associated with Mike, my husband. How did that happen!
Big family lunches are a real treat for me. I've never been much of a party person. I'd be the one talking to one or two people all evening in a corner, or lurking in the kitchen with fellow lurkers.
We're going to Mike's favourite restaurant for his, Gianni's in Eastbourne. They can accommodate both my coeliac brother and vegan sister. Not an easy combination. We go there often and no matter what he has for lunch, Mike always has to have 3 scoops of their wonderful home made organic ice cream, and a flat white :)
Alegria
For some years I have been wanting to go and see Cirque de Soleil. They put on a different show every year, and this year it is called Alegría: In a New Light.
I have organised a trip for several family members to go and see it at The Royal Albert Hall this Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll stay over at my daughters when we get back - it will be a late night, and drive back home in the morning.
We're intending to get to London earlier in the day and have a bit of a look round in the surrounding areas, bit of lunch and make a day of it. A real treat.
Recipes this time revolve around wonderful home made bread.
Home Made Bread Making
Absolutely delicious, there’s nothing quite like bread straight out of the oven!
I experiment in this post with various ways of making bread at home. None of them involve any kneading!
A Spicy Ginger Loaf
The ginger syrup loaf is SO good!
The instant oat cereal is there for those following the monthly plan fully. The cereal has added calcium which is needed if this plan is all you are having during the month.
If you are not following the full months plan, feel free to swap the cereal out for the same weight of flour.
Tomato and Chive Loaf
Twenty five years ago, I was, and still am, a great admirer of the chef Lesley Waters. She used to make a lot of vegetarian recipes, using ordinary ingredients to make lovely tasty things. I bought two of her books way back when, including Broader Than Beans, from which this lovely recipe comes.
This is my version of Lesley’s Tomato Scofa Bread
I buy large kilogram bags of sundried tomatoes, amongst many other things, from Healthy Supplies . That’s why I soak the tomatoes and use the soaking water. If you have tomatoes in oil, use some of the oil from the jar. It is these tomatoes that I use to make my own tomatoes in oil.
Got Leftover Bread?
Bread is the most wasted food item. WRAP says that 240 million slices are thrown away every year. I find that such a huge number, that I had to break it down to something that I could visualise.
So I divided it by 22 slices into loaves. Nope still too big. 365 days, still huge. I ended up with about 148 loaves being thrown away every HOUR. That’s a lot of useable bread
I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August 2021 and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting. I repriced it again in June 2022 and it was still holding on, even in these scary times. Now we are in September and prices have shifted again and I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here.
I was busy recooking, photographing and updating the recipes for Meal Plan 2 and putting them into an ebook as well. The meal plan was first written in 2013 and still prices up, which is fabulous and that is finally complete. The book is done now too, prices seem to be stable enough to do it.
I've finally completed the e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series. Took me absolutely ages to finish it off!
Do come and say hello on the Fantastically Frugal Food Facebook group, or the Sensational Slimming Sustenance group. I'd love to see you. Lots of useful tips, recipes and ideas. The over 17,000 membership are brilliant, brimming with talent.
And don't forget Thrifty Lesley, where there are 800+ recipes of fantastically frugal food and many weekly meal plans. And Cheap Family Recipes where you can find all kinds of delicious things that don't cost much, with two family monthly meal plans.
I've also got a few YouTube videos up, not many yet, but I'm planning to do more. I've done a couple more, need to edit them now. So much to do, so little time!
With all best wishes, until next time
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